Even in dreams did Kuya's actions haunt him. Night after night, he woke up screaming and panicking. Each time, fatui nurses came in and had to medicate him to put him back to sleep. A couple of those times, he had woken up the more light sleeping inmates, causing disruptance within the institution.

The Asylum knew no piece for the past month that he was there. And it didn't help that Kuya never exited the room. Ever. So the inmates could never see him. Therefore, they pinned the blame on others, causing fights. The more these fights happened, the more Dottore heard about them.

It was getting out of hand. Him, Akira, and Estrella knew so as Kuya's primary caretakers. This had to end, and they knew so. Not knowing how was the issue, however.

One night, it happened again. Kuya woke up in a cold sweat, but this time, it was only silent panic. He had heard the things they and the other inmates were saying about him. It made him feel bad. It made him feel unwanted. It was a familiar feeling he had known even prior to being in the asylum. However, he felt a little more bothered now at the thought that he was the reason people were getting hurt.

So this night, it was the last that anyone would have to deal with him. His late night attacks had provided some help with this sudden plan. Every time the nurses came in, they were in night clothes. Which meant they slept. There were guards, but almost never in his ward. In other ones, he had no clue, so he had to be careful of being caught.

Kuya swung his feet over the bed and sighed, wiping his tears from his already red eyes. He sighed, slipping on his warm clothes to protect himself from the elements. Before taking a step out of the door, he took one last look at the neatly folded kimono of his. Still stained from that day, and still torn from the time he had first come her. Kuya quickly grabbed it, but he didn't know why.

With one last look, he exited the room, closing the door quietly. His bare feet made noise against the cold, tiled floor, but he paid it no mind as they wouldn't be enough to alert anyone. He began his journey to find an exit, hoping silently that he wouldn't be caught.

~~~

A pair of eyes watched as the purple-haired fox made his escape. They grinned and giggled to themself quietly. This was from the confines of the camera room. The guard was knocked out and sleeping on the office chair. The being clicked the 'erase footage' button and smiled to themself once more before slipping out of the room. It seemed that Kuya had an angel. For now...

~~~

Kuya was finally at an exit. He breathed a sigh of relief as he pressed up against the strong, metal doors of the asylum. Now, he wouldn't be an issue for anyone else anymore.

He pushed up against the door and was yet again happy that there was no alarm set. Perhaps his caretaker truly believed that no one would dare escape.

'How cocky.' Kuya thought before slipping out. To his surprise, Estrella stood out on the steps in her snow clothes, crossing her arms and looking at the foxian with an expression of disappointment.

"Kuya. Get back inside now. You're not leaving."

"Doct..." He trailed off, his breathing picking up and coming off in small chuffs in the cold climate.

"Now." She ordered calmly, taking a step forward towards him. Kuya's wide eyes looked behind her. Estrella noticed and sighed. "Don’t. You're not going to get past me."

Kuya muttered a small 'sorry' before attempting to sprint past her.

Estrella caught him immediately in her arms. Her hold was tight, and unwilling to let the squirming man go. She was surprised at what happened next.

Kuya had suddenly become...smaller...?

And a lot more furry.

A purple fox was now in his stead, and her hold faltered, giving him the perfect opportunity to run on his four legs. Kuya landed in the snow and ran.

He ran like his life depended on it.

Having the advantage in the climate, he was able to borrow through the snow easily and efficiently, and his body was now more covered, so he was warm. Kuya heard her shouting and panicking, but he was too far into the snow despite being his bright purple color. Hopefully now...everyone can forget about him, and the Asylum can be reverted back to what it was before he came.

~~~

Morning came, and the inmates had all had the best sleeps of their lives last night. It was peaceful once more and the place seemed a little more livelier. Everyone in the cafeteria, talking and laughing with each other. It was great!

Until it wasn't.

The doors slammed open, revealing an angry Akira, and a...odd seeming Doctor. Instead of greeting them and grabbing their own specially made food, they just stood, looking around for something...or someone.

Akira's dark, sparkless eyes searched for a bright purple head with ears, and became more panicked when he couldn’t find him.

The Doctor was doing the same, however, he seemed a little more passed off than panicked.

Needless to say, everyone in the lunch room was put off by their intrusion.

The man whispered something to Akira, causing the feline to gasp and smack him across his cheek.

Everyone went silent, even the nurses and lunch staff. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Even the Doctor himself was put into shock as his hand reached up to touch the slap mark.

He couldn’t even believe that it happened. He was more surprised then mad. Though, that would come soon enough.

"You idiot! We haven't even checked the camera's yet! And you dare make that sort of statement to to me!" Akira yelled, storming off to the surveillance room. Dottore grit his teeth before striding off after him, the doors slamming behind them.

Everyone in the cafeteria breathed a sigh of relief, going back to what they were doing before, but a little more on edge than normal.

Well...almost everyone.

Kuya was missing, yes.

But there was one more.

One that wasn't noticed as much as everyone else. But possibly the most dangerous.

~~~

Kuya woke up, buried under the snow the next morning. He transformed back into his hybrid form, bones cracking painfully.

He winced, not being used to staying in that form for as long as he did.

Kuya remembered what he did the night before, sighing and beginning to tear up again. He leaned up against the tree he slept under for the night, and just stared.

It was cloudy, but not more than the usual gray. It was still lightly snowing, but it was bound to pick up during the night, causing another god knows how many inches of snow.

The fox curled up, thinking of how he was going to manage to get out of Snezhnaya without the fatui or anyone on his trail. He could go to any of the nations, but going back to his home in Inazuma would cause problems.

He decided Liyue would probably be the best to go if he wanted a ride to Inazuma on boat.

He would wait out another night in this forest before going though, just to look out for anyone willing to shoot their shot at the target on his back.

Looking up from his curled up position, he was met with a smiling face and wide eyes.

Kuya yelped and got up, kicking up the snow in the stranger's face.

"Oh come on~ You were so calm a minute ago..." He sighed and got up from crouching.

"HI THERE!! I'm Billy. And I sorta aided in your escape yesterday. However...they seem to care more about you than me."

"A-Aren't y-you cold...? You look like you're drenched..."

"I'm fine! You however...you ran away. Ooo~ the Doctor and that grumpy one are pissed! I wonder if they'd favor me finally if I got you back!"

Kuya froze and shook his head.

"P-Please! I don't want to go back!"

"Why silly? It's so fun there! That's the place you'd wanna be on this stupid nation!"

"I-I...I'm a problem...Billy..."

"How? I see you as perfectly normal! And that's a place where normal isn't normal!"

"I...am a problem...I wake everyone up with my stupid nightmares...a-and I can't let go of what I did...I-I'm hungry...all the time...but it's not normal..."

"Pfft! You're funny! What silly thing or you clinging onto?"

"I killed all of them...I lost my family... sure... they were mean... but I could've endured for longer if it meant that I could keep them..."

"...Hm. So it looks like you still believed that anyone loved you."

"They did! I-I swear!"

"Mmmm. But they didn't. Look at all of those bruises."

"Wha..." Kuya blinked and suddenly, all of his healed wounds were back. And...he was back in his house.

Billy stood next to him. Smiling. He walked in front of Kuya, morphing into a disfigured version of his brother. All the wounds that Kuya inflicted on him were there. And his skin was so very pale.

"...Brother..."

"Your fault." His brother, (Billy), spoke.

"N-No..." His other brother stepped up next to his twin.

"Pfft. Why do you still care? We never did."

"Y-You don't mean that! Surely!"

"Of course we do. Let us go. Because we sure did as soon as we laid eyes on your pathetic face." His sister spoke.

Kuya covered his ears and began to sob. Billy appeared in front of him, grinning.

"Let go." He said, placing his hand on Kuya's shaking frame. Kuya looked up at him and nodded, closing his eyes and going limp against the snow.

He felt himself being picked up before going out yet again.

~~~

Akira was sitting in his bedroom. He felt a dip in the empty spot next to him. He didn't bother turning around though. It had been hours since they had checked around for Kuya. The footage was erased. And there was no getting it back.

"Akira."

"What."

"I can't get the footage back. I already have agents out for him. I doubt he'll be back."

"Don’t say that.." Akira hugged himself weakly, his eyes welling up.

"He's dead. No one can survive Snezhnaya's snows without the proper gear."

"STOP!!" He yelled pouncing on the Doctor. The man did nothing to stop him.

"You know I'm right-."

"YOU'RE NOT!!"

Akira's tears stained Dottore's blue dress shirt. The Doctor just sighed and avoided eye contact.

"Am I interrupting something?" A voice came from beside them.

It was Billy. Holding a snow covered Kuya in his arms with his signature smile.

Akira immediately got off of Dottore and pushed Billy away from them, grabbing Kuya into his arms.

"He's freezing..." Akira panicked, rushing into the bathroom to begin a bath.

Dottore was still processing.

Billy giggled and skipped out of the room without another word to the two men.

It looks like everything was going to be okay after all...

~~~

The Asylum/Dottore - -Asa_No_Y0ru-

Akira - T0TALLY_N0T_AKiRA

Estrella - Shirleyis_okay

Billy - NormalToasterLover

❝𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟶 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜! 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝙸'𝚟𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚜! 𝙸 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚞𝚢𝚜 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚜 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚊𝚜 𝙸 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚝.❞

❝ɪ-ɪ'ᴍ ꜱᴏ ꜱᴏʀʀʏ...ᴀᴋɪ...ɪ-ɪ ᴅɪᴅɴ'ᴛ ᴍᴇᴀɴ ɪᴛ...❞