"I...am...me..."

"No, you're not." Baba Yaga marched over to the fireplace and took a ladle off of a hook, dipping it into the pot. "Get me a cup, girl."

Karina moved to obey, only to have her feet give out from beneath her. She slammed against the floor of the house, immediate pain pounding against her jaggedly formed body. When she tried to get up, her feet hung like dead weights, restraining her. 

Baba Yaga whispered a curse, and Karina felt her cheeks heat. Was she really this much of a disaster? 

"I can't get up," she said, and Baba Yaga shook her head. 

"I suppose I have to do everything myself, don't I? Well." She tapped her foot four times, then let the ladleful of potion plop back into the cauldron. The ladle was hung back on the hook, and Baba Yaga was soon pulling her down the stairs as best as she could, grunting every time the girl winced and clucking her tongue with every yelp. When they reached the lower levels, Karina was forced to shuffle herself across the floor while Baba Yaga marched upstairs muttering things about "incompetence" and "since when did getting a cup someone turn into a screamer".

Karina found that she was able to stand up again and did so, moving to the room where the beast was kept. He sat in the same corner he had earlier and she sat beside him. A moment later, Baba Yaga came through, picking her way past the disorganized mess that Karina had left during her cleaning, and handed Hans a clay cup. "Drink it," she ordered, and so he readily gulped it down. Then blinked at the two women with clear, blue eyes. He looked almost innocent that way, and for a second, Karina felt a stab of compassion.

What a monster.

"What was that potion for?" Karina asked. 

"To make him human again. He's no use to us in that form--which, I assume, was the intention." The crone raised a sharp eyebrow, making her face look even more shrewd than usual, and left the room, slamming the door behind her. "If he doesn't ever change back he's your meal!" she called, and Karina could hear the soft tap of footsteps

She rushed over to the door, wiggled the knob. Locked. She was stuck in here with him until the eclipse, whenever that was. Or until he turned.

Her stomach clenched. Even if he was human, he'd be no less of a monster.

You...can still...kill him...

But could she?

It was doubtful, considering how things had went the first time, but there was no harm in trying. She would attempt it later, when she had the advantage of surprise.

For now she would wait. 

****

The snapping started a few hours after she had been locked in. Accompanied by the roaring of Karina's stomach, it made for a thoroughly unpleasant song. 

The beast stood in the center of the cluttered room, his bones cracking and snapping as his body contorted in too many ways to count. He looked like a doll made of sticks, all of which were bending so hard that he would be a useless toy afterwards.

For a moment, the thought that he might not have to be killed by her--that Baba Yaga had done her job for her, that the crone's intentions had been just as crooked as the beast's breaking limbs--crossed her mind. But it was disproved, because it was clear he was just transforming back into a human from the way his fur seemed to shrink back into his body, and his ears, which stuck up, were pressed down into his body.

She wished he was dying.

But no, he was a disaster, slamming his body against the boxes. A puppet with a corrupt master who had a mind for punishment. He was crashing, he was panting, whimpering, screaming.

He let out a solitary howl, his back arched, his face turned towards the ceiling--

and then he collapsed.

After a moment of silence had passed, Karina inched her way forward. It might be best to examine him, now that he was incapacitated. No, not examine--erase. She didn't need to wait for the element of surprise if he was unconscious--and either way, it might be easier for her to kill him if she didn't she the life that seemed to burst out of him.

But not without defenses. Sweeping her surroundings with a cursory glance, Karina searched for her weapon. A broken arrow had been discarded on the floor, and she picked up the half that would hurt the most, that would get the job done the quickest. She didn't want this to take any longer than it had to.

The beast was a heap of bones and flesh, but still, he looked much the same as she remembered him. Longer hair, which was at least twenty shades darker than the white gold it had been back in Moracia. And he seemed taller--though whether or not that was his positioning or her mind was up for debate.

He was a broken boy.

No--no, he was a monster. The arrow was slick against her fingers. She could save herself from Baba Yaga's potential murder of her, of her soul, if she could get this right. If she could just kill him now--everything would be alright. 

She started to drive it towards his neck, and this time, she swore, she was going to get it right. She wouldn't have any hesitations, wouldn't have any--

His eyes fluttered open. "Hello?" he whispered, and Karina felt the arrow roll out of her grip. The head of it grazed the side of his face before it clattered to the floor. Red was welling up over white, darkness over light. He clutched his cheek and winced. "Ah--"

"Hans," she said in spite of herself, clapping a hand over her mouth. He hissed in a breath. "Monster," she murmured, and the hand went slack.

This was going to be harder than she expected.