Tricky Footing [open]

[emmy]

It had started out accidental, this trip he'd been on. One second he'd been on the beach back home, just taking a walk to clear his head, basking in the Light and peace of his restored homeworld, thinking about what to do that night for dinner, how to get Sora to stop being so lazy and get up and train with him. Or hey, maybe even with Kairi. But then something had changed, something shifted in the wind, something sinister started causing the waves to lap angrily at the shore. It was only where he was, since he could see how the sun was still shining on the mainland, how the sea was calm and gentled a few dozen yards away. Yet where he was it was windy, wild, the sky slowly darkening. And before he knew what was happening, Darkness was swirling up around him, flashes of what happened back at the beginning coming back to him... and then, he'd been gone. Just like that, he'd felt himself slip from the Islands, stuck in Darkness.

He knew something was wrong from the first bit of Darkness he smelled, just... not that wrong.

Which was why he hadn't gone back, why he hadn't found his way back to Sora and Kairi. He knew for sure they'd be upset, looking for him... just as he knew they would face the newfound Darkness head-on, while he was the only one who could go around the back and figure things out that way. Could combat the Darkness from right in the middle of it. So he'd stuck around in the Darkness until he'd figured out how to work the portals again, and since then... well, he's been traveling, visiting the different worlds in an attempt to get to the bottom of all this.

Which explained his current predicament. Portals were exhausting, things he could only use on occasion now as he struggled to keep that balance. So, he'd gotten into a few strange situations when world hopping, but this... this took the cake so far. After all, it wasn't often he found himself stuck in a wall of all places. Not to mention the fact he was currently a grand total of three inches tall. He'd tried to fix it, had tried wandering into other parts of the house, even went outside for a while before almost walking right into a mouse trap of all things. So he turned right back around and went inside again, skirting around a fat, evil looking cat, and scrambling up a sofa to make it back into the mouse hole. He could scent the Heartless lurking just around the corner, which was why he needed to stay here, needed to find the keyhole, it was just... he couldn't exactly do that when he was this small. And there was a whole lot of world out there yet to explore. And really, he didn't want to find the keyhole only to have it be five feet up somewhere with no way to check it.

But getting larger wasn't really his immediate goal. No, he had something he needed to do before that. Climb.

Which is why he'd been standing at the bottom of an intricate maze of boxes, spindles, and forks stuck precariously in walls for a while, arms crossed and scowling up at the hi-potion he could see glinting at the very top of everything. Mice stocked the most random items, it seemed, and he was in desperate need of some good healing potions, especially after his latest run-in with Heartless. It was just a matter of facing a six foot fall to his death that was proving difficult.

"Figures," he heaved with a sigh, dropping his arms and jumping up the first little step, wrinkling his nose at the rather funky smell the cheese was letting out now that he was right up on top of it. "Of all the places it could be it had to be at the top," he wasn't one to grumble as he did things, normally, but this... well... this really took the cake when it came to annoying situations. But, he just shoved his hands right into his pockets and heaved another annoyed sigh as he went forward, eying the fork in front of him suspiciously. "Just what I need-" his foot slipped as soon as he jumped up onto the jutting metal, balancing on one leg before slowly, carefully lowering the other, glaring down at the tricky metal ledge. One slip already and he wasn't even that far up. "....-ed. Okay."

And with a few little bounces to stretch the metal and test it, he grunted and jumped up into the air, springboarding up just enough to snap his hand out and catch a ledge, vaulting up onto the support beam easily enough. One jump down.... about fifteen more to go.

[zid]

"...Huh."

Well, this was new.

In a way, anyway. After encountering the kind of magic he did in Gaia, Zidane wasn't that unaccustomed to being petrified, frozen, blinded, shrunk, poisoned, put to sleep, and occasionally outright murdered with only the power of a lovely young summoner and his own will to keep him from actually dying. But generally that stuff was temporary.

This clearly wasn't that flexible, and bouncing on the balls of his feet and waiting around and coaxing with "C'mon, wear off already!" and a few choice oaths didn't change that. It only meant he had to find the fairy godmother chick, which would be a helluva lot easier if she hadn't faded away into purple haze already.

And the point was he hadn't been stealing. Much. Honestly, he'd only picked the lock because he was curious! Mostly. And the people who lived here were probably just upper class snobs, so he didn't see what the big...deal...w...

The shadow looming over him gave him just enough warning, and when he turned around to see a huge claw swiping at him he could swear those claws caught the light just like three deadly daggers. He didn't have time to think about it, though, just vault out of the way with a yelp and a somersault that brought him just out of range--not that it'd matter once the cat geared up again. "Whoa whoa whoa--hey, c'mon--I know I've got a tail but I'm not a mouse, I promise, what..." Talking his way out of a situation was just a reflex, but at that point his subconscious chimed in with Zidane, you're talking to a cat, and all bets were off. He wouldn't be completely surprised if it talked to him, actually--stranger things had happened--but the only thing he knew for sure right now was that he'd never seen that kind of satanic smile on a cat before.

No. Now'd be a good time to run.

Sharp turns, daring leaps, and near misses quickly turned the room upside down as clothes slid off the furniture in waves and jewelry hit and scattered. An ill-placed skirt fell over Zidane--what was this, karma?--and all but trapped him, especially when one giant of a paw crashed down in front of him and another pinned his tail behind him. "Sorry kitty!" Orichalcum drew blood, but it wasn't much more than a pinprick, and as the cat howled Zidane darted out from under the cloth and towards freedom, now just where where where where--mousehole? Ugh no--there! Another coat or blouse was draped over a table, just close enough to the floor that Zidane could reach it at a flying leap and clamber up it at what felt like the speed of light. He reached the top just in time for a thunderous crash behind him as the cat leapt, missed, and fell back, which knocked him to his hands and knees for a scary second before he was on his feet again. Gotta hide gotta hide gotta hide--! What, another mousehole? It'd have to do, he was out of time. Hopefully the rats around here were nicer than the cats, because the second Zidane got clear of the hole there was a furry paw with dagger-length claws at the end of it feeling around for him. He stayed right where he was, not relaxing until the leg moved back and he heard the cat's low groan of frustration.

At that point, his legs turned to jelly and he collapsed in a heap on the barrel, panting.