Work Text:
"Hullo, Beef," Xisuma greeted, looking around at the flat, multicolored landscape more than he was looking at Beef himself.
"Hey X!" Beef gestured around at the area. "Welcome to my... well, it's not really a base, I guess. Welcome to the card area, heh."
"I mean, it's at least as impressive as a lot of the other bases around here," Xisuma insisted, spotting and walking over to the wall of chests and finished cards. "You have put so much work into this, Beef. It's absolutely incredible. And it'll be ready to play soon, I hope?"
"Yup, just two more hermit cards after yours," Beef replied. "Which, as you know, is why I called you here today."
"Yes! I'm here to press buttons, right?"
The two chatted more about card designs and Beef's game as Beef showed Xisuma his card. "Ah, I see you've captured my usual look and not the bone mage stuff," Xisuma observed, unclipping the draconic skull from his helmet to demonstrate. "I suppose I'm a bit more recognizable that way, eh?"
Beef chuckled. "Yeah, just a little less sinister. I know he was never quite so, uh, visually dramatic, but the bones and dark cloak and stuff still kinda remind me of Evil X anyway."
"I'd imagine you're as thoroughly done with thinking about him as I am," Xisuma said. "Thankfully, he was too stubborn to come with us, and now he's had a moon dropped on his head, and we're all back to normal!"
"Yeah, back to normal is nice." Beef shuddered at the thought of what Evil X had done to him. Remembering the exoskeleton that slowly overtook him over months, the way his body had rearranged itself, inside and out, into something insectoid and alien... it made him nauseous just thinking about it.
Beef's stomach twisted. No... it was more than just nausea. It was organs moving, changing shape, it was happening again. Beef clutched at his stomach with a horrified noise.
Xisuma's eyes widened. "Beef??"
There was a loud cracking that Beef was sure Xisuma could hear, as his legs changed, bones stretching and warping into too many joints, too few clawed toes. He staggered and leaned with both elongating hands against his chest wall. "I-I-" His throat and mouth and face were all changing too much to talk. Chitinous shell grew at hyperspeed from his skin, formed plates across his body, shot spikes and sharp ridges through his clothes. Xisuma took an unsure step forward, hoping to help, just as a second set of arms erupted from Beef's sides. Beef felt a hardened, clawed fist connect with something, heard Xisuma let out a whoof as he took a hit to the gut. "S... S-kk-k-k-" Beef tried to apologize through nearly-formed mandibles. Muscles writhed and rearranged in Beef's back and shoulders, strengthening the new arms, and forming a new lump of flesh and carapace. Beef clawed at his tightening shirt. Xisuma helped get it and his elytra off of him just as a set of gossamer wings unfurled in their place.
Beef staggered back out of Xisuma's reach, staring at his four arthropodic hands with fear in his yellow eyes. He made an agitated clicking sound in Xisuma's direction.
Xisuma just stared in shock for a moment. "...Oh, my word," he finally managed.
Beef made another noise, somehow looking even more distressed. One hand drifted to his throat, then to his mandible jaws.
"Hey, hey," Xisuma said. "Don't hurt yourself, okay? You figured out how to talk like this before, remember? Can you still do... whatever it was you did then?"
Beef considered this, trying to relax his posture a little - though still twitching whenever an upper arm touched a lower one. "I. I k-k... could. I can?" He swallowed awkwardly. "I can. X... What is happening??" His wings fluttered nervously, threatening to lift him off the ground.
"Maybe... Evil's magic on you was more... permanent than we thought?" Xisuma theorized.
"Permanent??" That did send Beef into a hover.
"Not like that, not quite!" Xisuma amended hastily. "I'm also wondering if perhaps you have more control over it than we thought. You changed because we were remembering what happened; maybe with the right thought, you can change yourself back and forth at will!"
"If I could do that, wouldn't I have changed back already?" Beef dropped into an odd sort of pacing that sent him fluttering up and landing and fluttering again every few steps. "I don't want to be like this, X. I-I want to be normal again. Just normal, regular, human me..."
"Oh, Beef," Xisuma murmured. He put a hand on Beef's arm. "We'll figure it out, okay? And even if this is you now... You know you're always safe here, right? You've got plenty of support for... this."
“...Thanks.” Beef let Xisuma pull him into a tight hug. As his tension rolled away, he realized something else: he hadn’t just been thinking about Evil X’s spell; he’d been thinking about how it had felt for his whole body to change. If Xisuma was right, maybe wanting wasn’t enough - Beef had to imagine it all reversing again.
And just like that, it did. The extra limbs vanished, skin softened again, everything returned to its normal place. Xisuma let out a small gasp, then hugged Beef even tighter. Beef returned it gladly. He would always have that other, monstrous form, waiting to come out... but in the end, he would always be able to come back from it, too.