𝑩𝑳𝑼𝑬 𝑫𝑨𝑵𝑮𝑬𝑹 || 𝗞𝗻𝘆 𝘅 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗰𝘂𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝘁

『 Cruelty 』

While breakfast was being made by Frankie, Doc Greene helped with setting the table and Aoba going to check on how Cody was doing first. As he walked out of the kitchen, he could hear the ringtones of Doc's phone and the sound of Chief Burns' voice once the call was answered. The man was worried for his son, Aoba knew that, so he needed to make sure Cody was just as okay as yesterday.

" Cody, it's me, Mr Aoba. " The botanist knocked on the room's door. " Frankie made breakfast. Can I come in? "

There was a few seconds of silence before he could hear a quiet " Sure " coming from the inside. Thinking the boy was just sleepy, Aoba entered the room. He paused in his steps at the sight of Cody being wrapped with a blanket and sitting on the corner of the bed with his back against the wall.

" Everything all right, Cody? Did something happen? Let me check your status. " Aoba walked to the table besides the bed and picked up that tablet that supposed to record any progression in the boy's body system.

Something did happened last night. The records displayed on the tablet screen showed a sudden spike of Cody's body temperature and his blood pressure rising unexpectedly. It all happened in the span of three hours. By what the charts were shown on the screen, Cody's body had gone through many changing in order to adapt to something. Aoba wasn't that expert in human biology, but even be knew there was something very odd with the readings. Now Cody's body system had went back to normal but everything seemed different at some point.

" We need to get you to Doc Greene now. And maybe even the hospital. " Aoba turned back to face Cody but let out a scream upon being tackled to the ground.

Cody was on top of him, pinning him to the ground with his hands on the shoulders. Aoba's eyes were wide opened in shock, noting that he was unable to move with how strong Cody was. The boy snarled down at him, his eyes had turned blood red and had black slits like a cat's. When he opened his mouth, his fangs had grown sharper and thick saliva dripping from his mouth.

" C-Cody...? " The blue-haired man called.

The boy blinked at hearing his name and shook his head. His eyes looked like a human's again ( still in red colour ) and he looked visibly upset. Cody got off him and took a few steps back. There was a tense silence before he grabbed Aoba by the coat's collar and dragged him outside of the room. Aoba stared in shock as Cody went back into the room and slammed closed the door, leaving the botanist sitting on the floor with a bewildered expression.

⊰᯽⊱┈──╌❊

" Cody? Cody, it's me. Can you hear me, son? " Chief Burns knocked on the door.

The Burns family had went to check on Cody immediately after being notified by Aoba. The botanist had sped off into his garden lab trying to find the problem in Cody's body system based on the information recorded, with Doc Greene offering to help while letting the Burns calming down their youngest. Frankie was told to watch over Cece in case something happened.

" Cody! We're here to help! " Kade knocked on the door with more force. " Are you okay? Talk to us! "

They heard something shuffling from the other side, and a timid voice of Cody's replying. " Please leave...I don't want to hurt you..."

" Let us help, Cody. If you're hurt, we can patch you up. " Dani said in a soft voice.

" I...I attacked Mr Aoba..."

" We know you didn't mean it, Cody. " Graham placed a hand on the door. " Can we come in please? "

Silence was the answer to the question. Chief Burns clicked on his comm link. " Chase, are you and the others are outside the room's window? Can you try to talk to Cody?"