XIII. The Difference Between Crocs and Gators
In which one's a horrible fashion choice and the other wants to eat you.
As most children often did, Emryn loved to pretend she could shapeshift. The idea was like a siren's call to the little girl's adventure seeking mind. To change your appearance at will, to become whatever or whoever you so desired― any child would leap at the chance possess such a power! It made all the stories of her games that much more interesting.
Her particular favorite thing to become was a cat. A stray had once paid her a visit when she was playing in her backyard, allowing her to pet it and play with it just a little. From that moment on she'd been a goner, her little heart dedicated to learning how to be a cat, because a cat was the only one who knew where it was at. She learned that meowing correctly usually required her to not open her mouth too much and to keep the back of her tongue close to the roof of her mouth. Loafing was an incredibly comfy sitting position, but not nearly as nice as laying on her side like a spoiled rich kitty laying in front of the fireplace. She even learned how to distribute her weight in order to walk or even run lightly on her feet. (The grace and flexibility of an actual cat, though, were beyond her means of attainment.)
So, as she got older, and in a more hypothetical setting, she always imagined that if she could turn into an animal, it would have been a cat.
Imagine her surprise when that hypothetical setting suddenly ceased being hypothetical. Except, she wasn't a cat, like she'd have expected.
Emryn placed a small paw up against the mirror, the words Devil's Bayou slowly fading away to leave nothing but her stunned reflection. Beady little eyes, large ears, a twitchy little nose, and incredibly long whiskers. The fur on her face made her look like a puffball, dark brown in color at the roots, but the tips where speckled red to give her a russet dusting. Her glasses had shrunken to sit on the tip of her nose like a miniature pair of granny glasses. As for her clothes, the shirt and cardigan remained, but her pants and sneakers had vanished.
A mouse.
She was a freaking mouse.
Emryn exhaled slowly and tried not to freak out.
"A transmutation of species shouldn't be possible," she muttered to herself, running her other hand― paw ―through her fur. Everything she touched tingled uncomfortably. "What am I saying? None of this should be possible. But it is. It's Kingdom Hearts. If Sora can get a fursona when he goes to the Pride Lands then of course I can become a mother freaking mouse. Magic logic Emryn, gotta think magic logic."
Breathing deeply, Em turned and leaned against the mirror, sliding against the smooth surface. She closed her eyes as a sudden wave of exhaustion washed over her. A pulsing ache resonated heavily in the back of her skull; the ever present hum she had been experiencing had tripled in intensity with her transformation. The painful sensation had cycled throughout her entire body, leaving her feeling as if she were experiencing the most tortuous version of acupuncture ever.
Eventually the pain ebbed away and she got up. Em stumbled towards her bag, not quite grasping the sudden size difference. Or body type difference. Species difference. Whatever. There was no point in reflecting on the odd ended details when there were bigger fish to be frying. She continued to talk herself through her actions as she collected her things.
"Okay, so I'm a mouse. A mouse in a place called Devil's Bayou. Assuming that I'm wasn't sent anywhere other than a Disney universe― a dangerous thing for me to be assuming ―then it shouldn't be too hard to discern. What movie has mice and a place known as Devil's Bayou?"
The first mouse themed movie to come to mind was Cinderella, but that was quickly scratched because she highly doubted there was such an American name like Devil's Bayou in the little French kingdom the story was based in. That tossed The Great Mouse Detective out as well, considering that one was set in London. Princess and the Frog, perhaps? Had there even been any mice or was it all just frogs? Gosh, it'd been so long since she'd watched that movie.
But what else was there?
The surface beneath her feet tilted somewhat, bobbing delicately from side to side. The wood creaked as the place rocked. Emryn slung her bag over her shoulder and peered around the place. It felt like she was on a boat, but looked like she was in a bedroom.
It appeared she had landed on a vanity. The area was cluttered with fancy boxes of many sizes; noxious fumes came from a few of them while beads almost as large as her head spilled from others. Large bottles with clear cut cases and shiny liquid lined the edges of a dusty mirror, their pumps looking like oversized dodgeballs from her perspective. A hideous pair of purple nylons were draped haphazardly across the the mirror like a used and abused tissue. Last but not least was a bristly brush overflowing with snarls upon snarls of obscenely bright orange hair.
Further out in the room was an unmade bed. The metal frame and posts were gilded with fancy spirals. The golden sheen would have looked nicer if it weren't obvious that cheap paint had been used, causing it to wear down, revealing many silver spots all over the frame. The sheets were an unpleasant shade of red, reminding her of sickly pastel Valentine's cards made from used cardstock. Even worse were the pillows, which she assumed had once been pristine, white, and fluffy, but were now misshapen and patched with yellow spots where someone had frequently drooled.
Across from the bed was a dresser, feathery, frilly clothes spilling out of it like it was auditioning for an episode of Hoarders. Next to that disaster was a square window covered by the saddest pair of shutters she had ever seen, all crooked and nearly stripped bare of its paint― much like the rest of the room.
If Emryn didn't know any better, she'd have said she'd wound up in the next hot location for the Mystery Haunts Tour. The disarray this room was in certainly seemed scary enough for it.
Sighing, Emryn peered over the edge of the vanity and immediately kicked herself for it. Under normal circumstances, in a normal body, she wouldn't have even thought twice about hopping down― It barely would have even been considering hopping, not that she would have even dared to get on this decrepit looking thing in the first place. But now that she was no taller than an average crayon, and undoubtedly just as fragile, the distance from the top of the vanity to the floor was a daunting one.
Em backed away from the edge, biting her lower lip as she repeatedly nodded her head. She glanced at the bed, wondering if maybe she might be able to reach it with a running leap, but one look at that distance didn't seem any better that the one that led straight to the floor. Her jaw clenched in an effort to keep her expression as neutral as possible.
'Don't think about that height. Stop thinking about the height. You're gonna end up making yourself pass out, and quite frankly, I don't really wanna know what that's like as a mouse.'
Groaning, the young woman settled into a crouch and began to rub her eyes. She could already feel the pins and needles in the tips of her fingers.
'Yep. That settles it. Guess I'll die up here, unless that stupid mirror will take me somewhere else.'
A low creak sounded from the opposite side of the room. Em jumped, her sensitive hearing making noise sound like a gunshot in the silent room. She dove behind one of the boxes with a little squeak and collapsed on her knees. Her heart thudded rapidly in the adrenaline's wake.
The creaking paused― for a beat it was silent again ―and then it started up again. Her ears flicked from side to side, and ever so cautiously, the little mouse peered around the corner. A small shadowy form loomed in the doorway, glancing over its shoulder repeatedly as it shuffled into the room. The mystery person hopped around a bit, avoiding certains spots in the floor that must have been loose and noisy, as they made their way closer to the vanity.
As her eyes adjusted to the light, Emryn noticed that the shadowy figure was more than that― It was a child. A little girl, to be exact. She squinted at the kid, watching as she continuously cast nervous glances over her shoulder towards the door. She froze when a particularly loud groan echoed from the hall. After a few seconds she returned to her original task, clutching what appeared to be a teddy bear close to her chest, taking a deep breath.
The child reached the vanity and began rifling through the drawer. As the child rummaged through its contents, the little mouse in hiding was about to start hyperventilating. Em's eyes practically bugged out of her head upon getting a clear view of the little girl. Even if the lighting was not working in her favor, she could recognize those funky little pigtails anywhere.
"Penny?" she said out loud. Immediately she clapped a paw over her mouth, but it was too late.
Penny flinched, dropping her teddy bear. She gasped and dove for the floor. For a minute she stayed there, perhaps thinking that if she remained hidden then whoever or whatever that had said her name wouldn't notice where she was. Likewise, Emryn pressed herself even closer to the box, hardly even daring to breathe. Cautiously, the child stood up again, looking around.
"Is someone there?" she whispered.
Emryn gulped. Slowly, she turned towards the mirror to give it a look that was somewhere between fervent shock and exasperation. Things had finally clicked into place.
'I have so many bones to pick with you right now that I don't know which one I should hit you with first,' she seethed at the mirror. Her whiskers gave an agitated twitch. 'The Rescuers? Really? You couldn't send me somewhere that would actually help me? Like, I dunno, Hollow Bastion or Yen Sid's tower?
'And why couldn't I stay human? I'd be of more use in my original size and species. What can I do as a mouse? Bite people to death?!'
The mirror didn't respond, not that she expected it to anyway. She was going to have another chat with Dreamself though. Granted, she also doubted that anything useful would come out of that thing's mouth, as usual.
Em turned around when she heard the little girl moving around again. She must have decided that she had been hearing things, for she had gone right back to digging around the drawer. A couple seconds later she finally pulled out a dirty, crumpled― Emryn squinted some more ―sheet of paper? Moving some of the clutter to the side, Penny set the paper on the desk and smoothed it out, revealing that it was also a very holy piece of paper. She dug a stubby pencil out of her dress pocket and bent over the sad little sheet; sticking her tongue out and furrowing her brow, the child began to write.
'She's still sending messages in bottles,' Em deduced. 'How far back in the story does this put me? Would I be close to the start of the movie, or in the weeks prior to the rescue?'
If this instance was closer to the beginning of the movie, then it wouldn't be long before the Rescue Aid Society sent Bernard and Miss Bianca to help. But if this was in the weeks prior to anyone receiving one of Penny's messages then Emryn had no idea what she was supposed to do. Not that she had a clue what she was going to do once the story really started picking up, either. What could she do anyway? This world's story was already made up, and she wasn't in it.
She looked at the mirror once more. It hadn't shown any sign of being active again, since she had touched it already and it hadn't done anymore of its inconvenient version of transportation. Even though she wanted to leave, there was no way off this world; with Sora asleep, and Riku busy trying to repent and bring said boy back, Emryn was, to put it bluntly, shit out of luck.
Emryn was starting to sense a trend where her luck was concerned, and it wasn't a pleasant one she wanted to continue.
But what was she going to do? If she was here then there had to be a reason. Was she supposed to help Bernard and Miss Bianca save Penny? Or was she just supposed to observe everything from the shadows? Maybe she really should just go around biting people.
Or― she paused as an idea suddenly struck her ―what if there was a clue here that would help her solve Dreamself's riddles?
Her mind raced with the thought. The movie's plot flashed by like frames slapped onto cards, cards meant to prep her for a quiz. She questioned all that she remembered about this movie, wondering just what, exactly, would apply to her. The only thing she could come up with, though, was that she had once really enjoyed this movie (although the sequel was her absolute favorite), leaving her stuck at square one.
Resisting the urge to groan, she rubbed her temples in defeat. How was she supposed to figure out anything if she was never given a proper lead to follow? And could she not go one second without overthinking things?
'Wait, wait― Didn't Dreamself say something about my overthinking problem? Cast the riddles from my mind and to my soul, for surely it knows the way to go? Or something like that?'
Perhaps, in simpler terms, Dreamself had merely meant she just needed to roll with the punches as they came? Unless she was being semi-literal, in which case she― No! Now was not the time to be overthinking that too! For now she was going to follow her first conclusion and hang around Devil's Bayou and see what would be unveiled for her. Not the most solidest of plans she'd ever come up with, but it was good enough for her indecisive little mind at the moment.
'Well,' Emryn peeked around the corner again, eyeing the child. 'If I'm going to stick around then the least I can do is keep an eye on Penny. Maybe even keep her company until the cavalry arrives.'
Whether it was just the paternal genes she'd carved into herself or just her natural big sister tendencies, she knew she couldn't just leave little Penny all on her own. She was a simple being after all; she saw a lost or sad child and she just had to latch onto them. And this little girl could use all the comfort and support in the world right now.
Emryn crept from behind the box and cleared her throat.
"Hello Penny."
The pencil slipped from her fingers as her head jerked up. Penny glanced every which way, trying to find the source of the voice.
'No one ever thinks to look down,' Em thought, softly snorting as she waved her paws in the air. "Down here!"
Round little eyes grew wide as they fell upon her, mouth forming a surprised little 'o'. Slowly, Penny knelt down, resting her chin on the lip of the vanity to make herself close to eye level with Emryn. Up close, Em found that Penny was a terribly adorable child. Her chubby face was perfectly framed by a wavy, dirty blonde fringe, as well as complemented with a cute button nose and dark, pretty eyes. She had the kind of face that could melt a heart; Emryn seriously began to question how blind people had to be to not want to adopt this child on the spot.
"Hello," she whispered. "Who are you?"
Emryn shuffled a little closer, trying to appear as kindly but mature as possible. This little girl needed to know she was a reliable adult despite her less than impressive size.
"My name is Emryn. I found one of your messages and I'm here to help." She licked her lips as the lie slipped from her mouth, quick and unbidden. Penny's eyes lit up hopefully.
"You are?"
Emryn nodded, shoving aside the sudden lump of guilt pitting itself inside her gut. Lying was such a tricky thing for her. The ability to speak untruths and falsehoods was one that varied with each person she interacted with. When it came to people she disliked, like most people in the Organization, it was an easier feat because she held no attachment to them. Yet all members were practically hand fed lies on a daily basis, and some had trained themselves to be bloodhounds for fake words, making it difficult for her. But it was easier on her conscious to try lying to them that it was to lie to a six year old. Children, especially ones as young as Penny, were so trusting if a word was spoken with enough kindness. She hated lying to children.
Unfortunately, her white lie seemed like the only believable way she could get away with knowing certain things. It certainly made a lot more sense than claiming she could see the future, that's for sure.
With a somewhat heavy nod, Em confirmed the girl's question.
A large grin split across her face. She squeezed her teddy bear tightly with an ecstatic giggle. Hope shone from her like a rising beacon.
"See Teddy?" She buried part of her face into the stuffed animal. "I knew someone would get my messages. I just knew it!"
The joyous mood didn't last long, her smile suddenly falling as she looked back at Emryn. "But how come you didn't bring someone taller?"
'Not everyone is as okay with mice suddenly talking as you are kid,' came one thought, which was immediately followed by, 'That and my means of arrival aren't what one would consider typical, either. One could say I didn't have the time to stop by a police station.'
What she said though was, "No one really knows that mice can talk, you see. Adults would go crazy if we just went up to them and started speaking― Especially the ladies."
She winked before miming a woman panicking because she saw a mouse, and then pretended to faint. Her act got another giggle from the child.
Emryn stepped closer to pat the girl's face. "But don't you worry sweetie. My friends sent the letter we found to the Rescue Aid Society. They'll send some professionals to help. I came now because I was so worried about you."
Penny tilted her head. "What's the Rescue Aid Society?"
"It's a group made by mice that help children in trouble all across the world. They're very good at what they do," she said, despite having only seen two instances of a successful rescue. Both of which had been performed by the same two mice.
An uncomfortable silence bridged between the two, neither quite knowing what to do next. Em racked her brain for something to say. She figured she at least needed to keep up the charade that she didn't really know as much as she did, so a question or two was probably in order.
"Penny, can you tell me how you got to be here? Parts of your message had been washed away, so I couldn't read everything.'
Scooping Emryn up, Penny backed away from the vanity and settled on the bed, which groaned loudly despite how small the child was. She set Emryn on the pillow, absently smoothed out her skirt, and clutched her bear close as she started her story.
"Medusa stopped me on my way back to the orphanage. She said she was on a treasure hunt but she needed my help, 'cause the treasure was somewhere a grownup couldn't reach. She said it would only take a day to find, but she lied."
The child grew more distressed with each word. Emryn slid down the pillow and patted her hand. She made soft noises to comfort her in place of the words which she was at a loss for.
"I don't like that hole." Her lower lip trembled. "It's dark, and there are scary noises, especially before the water starts coming up. Teddy hates the water."
She held out the stuffed animal and made it shake its head, as if agreeing to the statement. As the child hugged her toy again, Emryn could feel her blood pressure rising. It had honestly never really hit her just how frightening this whole situation must have been to the little girl. Medusa and Snoops had been more like comedic villains to her; people she knew from the beginning were set up to fail, thus she'd never actually taken them seriously. Even when she was a kid, the first Rescuers movie hadn't ever set home just how precarious Penny's predicament really was.
But now it was dawning on her, and it made her downright livid. More than anything, she wanted to be a human again, if only just so she could punch two sorry excuses for human beings right in their stupid faces. And then she would wisk Penny away and probably outright adopt her if she had to. Just… Anything to make the little girl before her feel safe and unafraid.
'But that isn't how the story goes.' The downing little thought nagged at her just beneath the surface of her anger. 'You don't have any place to be doing that here. Don't stick your nose into a problem that's not yours.'
Instead of getting her to agree with it though, it merely invigorated her fury. How dare she even think such a thing! Yes, she'd had some doubts about being here, about what she was supposed to do. But that did not mean she would back down now. Just like with Naminé, and Repliku, and even Sora, she wasn't going to just stand by while a literal child was in distress. Maybe she couldn't go toe to toe with the baddies. Maybe she'd make a mistake that would cause change and cost her all that she thought she knew, but it was something Emryn knew needed to be done. After all, despite her major fuck ups in Castle Oblivion, things had still managed to turn out alright. Who was to say that the same wouldn't happen here?
Such a line of thinking wasn't the smartest, as she well knew. It was almost too cocky of her to test her luck like that. For all she knew, fate would hear her thoughts and take it as a challenge, making what could have been a harmless decision the worst one of her life, perhaps even costing it (again). But at the moment Emryn didn't care. She knew what she needed to do, and she was gonna stick to it.
"Alright, I'll tell you what we're gonna do." She pointed at the abandoned letter on the vanity. "We're gonna finish that letter and send it on its way. We'll send as many as we have to!"
"But why?" Penny asked, sniffling. "I thought you said help was coming?"
"It will be, I promise, I just don't know when. Think of this like a back up plan, yeah? If you keep sending out SOS's, someone else is bound to pick one up. If there's even the smallest possibility of more people coming to the rescue, the better."
Penny rubbed one hand over her eyes. She sniffed loudly and looked over at her note. "I don't have enough paper though," she sighed. "Mr. Snoops knows I sent messages in bottles before, so he's hidden most of the paper away."
At the mention of Medusa's partner in crime, the little girl suddenly looked around, a nervous shiver creating a tremor in her shoulders. Leaning closer, she added, "This is Medusa's room. I'm not supposed to be in here. If he catches me I'll be in big trouble!"
"Then let's finish this letter now and hurry to send it out. We can worry about the other letters later." Emryn hopped onto Penny's lap. "Come on, I'll help you finish this one."
For the next few minutes Emryn helped the child compose the last of her SOS. When they finished, Penny crawled beneath Medusa's bed and retrieved a discarded bottle. Emryn rolled the note up as best as she could and shoved it into the bottle. Penny shoved the cork in after, giving it a few good hits just to make sure it was on tight. It wouldn't do much to keep the water out once it hit the ocean, but at least it was better than nothing. If the letter the RAS received was just barely legible then it shouldn't be too bad.
When they were ready to go, Penny held open the pocket on her dress, allowing Emryn to hop into it. Her bag slipped over her head as she scrambled around in an attempt to steady herself. It was a lot harder to stand in a pocket than it had looked in the movie, that was for sure. Eventually, though, she became used to the gentle swing of the skirt as it moved with the little girl, and she managed to get a good grip on the lip of the pocket.
Just as slowly as she had come in, Penny cautiously crept from the bedroom and into the hallway. Her little mary janes tapped along the floor, searching out the boards that creaked the least, and she was swift as she shifted her weight from one piece of wood to the next.
Looking around as they moved through the old boathouse, Em noted how much more worn down things looked than they had in the movie. It was a miracle that this place even passed as livable to begin with. Parts of the walls were rotted through; some spots in the ceiling seemed close to caving in, and others she could see right into the next room. The whole boat must have been ready to collapse at any given moment. Emryn shuddered to think about what might have even been growing in all the dark, dank corners, too. How Penny managed to not hurt herself in here was beyond her.
The moment they were outside there came a notable shift in the temperature. The air inside the boathouse had been bearable simply because she hadn't noticed it, but the humidity outside was tortuous to her. Within moments Emryn had become a sweaty, panting disaster. Humidity was the absolute worst, and she wasn't saying that just because she was a desert rat. Every breath was a chore, as if she were trying to breath through water instead of air, and she couldn't help but equate it to drowning. But with no actual water to drown in, the sensation was eerily similar to being compressed in the dark corridor.
A sharp twinge lanced through her chest in response to the idea, the feeling evoking with vivid clarity the feel of steel sliding between flesh and bone, cutting through veins and sinew, creating holes where holes should not exist. Em clutched her chest as a sudden burning panic flared through her. She fought to keep her breathing level.
"Are you okay?" Penny whispered, pausing mid step to check on her passenger. Emryn took a deep breath and nodded.
"It's just really muggy out here, so it's a little hard to breathe," she partially lied. "I'll be fine once I get used to it. Don't worry about me."
A low hiss from the right caused both of them to jump. Penny picked up the pace, shooting past the spot the sound had originated from, making Emryn bounce uncontrollably against her leg. The little mouse attempted to crane her head back towards the spot they'd abandoned and spotted a dull yellow gleam in the shadows.
Shuddering, Em looked away. Those had to be Medusa's… Crocodiles? Alligators? She could never remember which species they were. What were their names again? Brutus and…? Her face screwed up as she tried to recall the other reptile's name, but to no avail, it evaded her.
While Emryn ruminated on what the other pet's name was― it was also a Roman name, of that she was certain of ―Penny finally reached the prow of the boat. Gently, she pulled the mouse from her pocket and set her on the railing. They looked over the edge and at the water below. In the fading light, the water looked ominous.
'I wouldn't be surprised if there were more creatures like Medusa's pets down there,' she thought with a shudder.
Penny held the bottle out over the water as far as she dared, her little feet just barely lifting up off the floor as she leaned over the railing. As useless as the action was in her condition, Em nervously put a paw on the girl's sleeve to steady her. They held their breath as the bottle was released, falling into the murk with a heavy plop! The bottle submerged completely for a few seconds before bobbing back to the surface. Slowly, the SOS they had crafted together floated away, and, hopefully, towards the sea. Emryn wondered if this would be the message that would make it to the RAS.
"Do you really think someone will get my letter?" The child's voice wobbled as she uttered the question. She looked at Emryn, dark eyes wide with a mixture of fear, hope, and a very concerning tiredness. Emryn knew that tired shadow, dull and heavy, lurking just beneath the stronger emotions and growing without restraint. It was a weariness that did not belong in a child's heart.
"Someone will see your message," she promised fervently. Her grip tightened on the fabric. "Someone will see it and come rescue you, I swear it!"
"How can you be so sure?"
'Because I know how this story goes!' she wanted to scream. 'I know because I've seen it time and time again! I can't get more certain than that!'
But she couldn't say what she thought. It wouldn't make sense to the little girl. Hell, sometimes even she still couldn't make sense of it. And she was becoming exhausted, being burdened with all this knowledge. She wished she could be just as unknowing of what the future held as this innocent child before her, yet still as confident and hopeful as she was trying to behave now.
Emryn tilted her head towards the sky. It was an overcast night. Yet through the clouds peeked a few stars. They almost looked like a little bird.
"Faith is a bluebird, we see from afar," she murmured, recalling the little speech the the cat from the orphanage had given Penny to make her cheer up.
Penny gave a little gasp. "You know that too?"
Em smiled. "A little. I only remember the first line, but it's always been enough for me. It's like a little night light for when things seem too dark, y'know?
"Faith is like a bluebird, we see from afar," she began again, hoping it'd prompt Penny into reciting it. Hoping it'd give Penny the hope that her own certainty gave her.
"It's for real and as sure as the first evening star. You can't touch it, or buy it, or wrap it up tight," Penny squeezed her teddy for extra emphasis, "but it's there just the same, making things turn out right."
They giggled together, relief evident in the way the tension left the child's body. Emryn opened her mouth to say something, perhaps suggest that they go back inside and discuss what they would do next, when a large, meaty hand suddenly clamped around Penny's arm. Emryn squeaked in alarm, whirling on the intruder.
"Now― Now see here young lady. What are you doing out here? You better not be sending any more of those― of those letters again, ya hear?"
Mr. Snoops looked every bit the cartoonish stooge in reality as he did in the actual cartoon. He was short and stout, with a cheap tacky thrift store suit that made him look like he worked for a crappy real estate agency managed by a devil named Helen. Clothes aside, the man himself looked like an extra large bowling pin with a balding clown afro and a permanent puberty 'stache. He was the epitome of the ultimate desk jockey that couldn't do his job worth a shit but thought he could pull of an easy get rich quick scheme by kidnapping a child.
Emryn growled at him, absolutely ready to launch all three inches of herself at the man and violently persuade him to get his hands off Penny.
Snoops took note of the mouse with a frown.
"Go on, shoo, shoo. Get out of here. Nasty little rodent. Shoo."
He swiped his hand across the railing, slapping the mouse and sending her flying into the swamp. Emryn felt all the air rush out of her in one giant gust, causing the lights to temporarily go out. She vaguely heard Penny give a terrified yelp as she crashed into the water.
Instantly, Emryn slapped a paw over her glasses, because she was not losing another pair so soon after she just got them! She continued sinking all the while.
'Dammit! Dammit, dammit, dammit!'
By the time she had leveled out and became less disoriented her lungs were on fire. She paddled furiously towards the surface, desperate to breathe. Her eyes remained shut for fear of what she might catch― Or for what she might find in the water with her.
The moment she broke through the surface she released the tension within through one long wheeze, before greedily sucking in― albeit noxious ―air as she treaded water. After a few minutes spent trying not to pass out and drown, Emryn turned around and attempted to gauge how far away she had been sent from the boat house. Granted, everything from her shrunken point of view seemed terribly far away. And judging now, she'd have to swim what must have been the mile in mouse terms. All that was excluding the extra distance she'd have to swim to find a place to climb up on the boat, too.
Emryn took another deep breath― resisting the urge to gag at the rotting smell the swamp produced ―and began to swim. Her muscles ached, wanting nothing more than for her to stop and take a moment to relax, but she wouldn't listen. There wasn't a moment to waste; she had to get back to Penny!
Just as she completed her first stroke, however, a high pitched keening exploded within her head. Emryn floundered as pain clouded her vision, accidentally inhaling water and choking. The water went over her head as she lost control. A familiar twang resounded through both water and air, causing her to freeze. But it wasn't just one noise, no. It was multiple, and they were coming from all around her.
'The Organization?!' Emryn started paddling erratically despite how disoriented she already was.
Something hissed not more than a few meters in front of her and Emryn splashed to a halt. Slowly, she reached a paw up and rubbed at her eyes, squinting at the dark shadow. What she saw was like one of Medusa's pets, but infinitely worse. The first thing that came into focus was a pointed, scaly snout. Farther down that nose, dipping in and out of the water, were several long and balloon poppingly sharp teeth. When her gaze reached the eyes she could practically feel her soul slipping from her body; they were glowing amber, and marked plainly between those two lantern like spheres was the sigil of a Heartless.
Emryn spun in a circle and counted three more equally terrifying creatures. She was surrounded.
It was in this moment that her panic stricken brain just had to bring up every dangerous fact she had ever learned about crocodiles. Like the knowledge that their jaws could apply three thousand and seven hundred pounds of pressure per square inch, allowing them to bite through things like arms and legs with pretty much zero resistance. Or that they could swim up to twenty miles per hour and hold their breath for about an hour. They were also known for drowning prey by rapidly rolling around and around in the water.
And the ones in captivity were usually fed rodents.
Although she was certain that none of these Heartless had seen the inside of an inclosed compound, she didn't doubt that they wouldn't pass up on the taste of fresh mouse when it was presented to them.
Under ordinary circumstances she might have actually been able to fend them off. But being only three inches had its drawbacks, as Mr. Snoops had so kindly made her aware. Add in the whole weaponless detail and she was, in essence, screwed. The little mouse audibly gulped.
The Heartless submerged themselves and Emryn desperately attempted to keep her remaining brain cells from going full on ape shit in panic. This was probably a slightly more advanced, thought out version of an actual crocodile's main form of attack, where they would lunge rapidly from the water to catch their prey. These guys were probably trying to lure her into a false sense of security before attacking. Unfortunately for them, Emryn hadn't known even a real sense of security since she'd left earth.
'This would be the part where the Jaws theme song would start playing.'
As if on cue, said theme began to loop in the back of her mind, making her heart beat faster. Em treaded water in a small circle, trying to figure out which reptile would leap at her first, or if they'd all stick with the synchronized swimming routine and attack at the same time. The swamp fell eerily quiet. Watching. Waiting.
The first attack came from the left. The Heartless shot out of the water surrounded in a terrifying spray of water, creating waves that threatened to completely capsize her. Emryn rolled away with one of those waves while the creature crashed into the water with an unusually loud snap of its jaw.
She felt the second one brush just beneath her hind paws. Blindly, she backpaddled away just as the next attack came. The same pattern continued in a similar manner, and much to Emryn's alarm, not only was she growing exhausted, but they were all getting further and further away from the boathouse. The mouse panted, eyeing all three reptiles circling her.
Wait, three?! Where was the―
Just as she realized one of the Heartless was missing, the currents changed, swelling up instead of around her. Emryn's eyes grew large, looking down just as the fourth Heartless propelled upward, its dark maw wide open, and clamped its jaws shut around her.
Emryn floated up to the roof of its mouth and dug her claws in deep. Her head felt like it was about to split open from all the ringing that had flared up the moment the creature's jaws had clamped shut on her death warrant. She clawed at the fleshy parts of the mouth, vainly attempting to keep herself from going down its gullet.
'A weapon! I need a weapon!' she internally screamed, wishing for something sharp enough to shank a creature of darkness from the inside out. Hell, even a bludgeoning weapon would have been welcomed! Emryn didn't want to die again, let alone have the cause be that she was eaten. Save that kind of death for the horror movies!
The pain in her head suddenly ebbed, flowing down in to her chest, warming it so fiercely, so quickly, that she felt as if she were on fire. In a flash, something heavy sprouted from her chest and speared its way through the reptile's mouth. Emryn jerked to a stop mere inches away from a black hole of no return. The creature opened its mouth, thrashing.
Emryn flew back into the world like a mouse out of hell.
"Aa― Aaa― Aaaaah! Someone get me off this thiiIIINNGG!"
Just like that, the thing that had been keeping her attached to the raging Heartless vanished. And now, instead of being given whiplash, she was flying freely. Right into a tree.
She smacked into solid wood face first, falling through several wispy branches. She finally came to a halt by landing on her back with a crack that would have been pretty impressive for her size, if it hadn't of hurt like one huge bitch of a son.
Em gasped in such a way that would put a real fish out of water to shame, struggling to remain conscious while she was at it. Below, she heard the Heartless congregating. With a lot of effort, the mouse rolled onto her stomach and peered over the edge, huffing.
She was greeted with several loud snaps. The Heartless formed a semi-circle around the tree, opening and closing their mouths like wooden puppets. All together they sounded like those clacker toys. One of the reptiles inched up the base, but it's body wasn't really built for climbing, so it snapped its mouth a little faster in irritation. All of them were pretty fixated on her, but for how long they'd remain that way, she didn't know. And if they lost interest in her, would they go back to the boathouse?
'I've gotta get rid of them somehow.' Flipping onto her back again, Emryn couldn't help but snort at herself. 'Who am I kidding? I'm not cut out for melee fighting― Especially not like this.'
She patted her chest, as if that would convince the chains she knew were in there to reappear and make themselves useful. There was still a burning weight residing in her heart, but for the life of her, Emryn just couldn't figure out how to make it come out again. Every time thus far had seemed more like a coincidence than anything. No matter how hard she tried, or how hard she thought about it, she just couldn't connect with that energy. The divide simply continued to grow between her and her own power.
Emryn closed her eyes with a frustrated sigh. Her own power, huh? The sudden realization that she was magical was surreal. And it kept getting in the way of something that probably would have come naturally to her― If she had actually been born where magic was commonplace, that was.
"Please," she whispered. "Please, just come out already."
How did most people describe the ability to use magic? A lot of introspection, perhaps. And didn't some people say that they thought of it as an extension of themselves? Like an extra limb or something? If she were to think of it like that, would it heed her call then?
It was worth a shot.
She took three slow, deep breaths, trying to calm herself. Emryn drowned out the angry snapping of the Heartless and focused on the beat of her own heart. It was a drum, beating in time to the steady flow of her breathing, of her blood. She imagined her heart, a forge that was alight with the wildest of flames, and in the center was her power, ready to be forged.
Her hands became submerged in the fire, grabbing the hottest piece of all to make it solid. She molded it, pushed and pulled, stretched and rolled it, creating one link. And then another, and another, joining them together and feeding them through a small opening to deliver them outside of her body. Her chest grew heavier link by link.
"Ugh." She grunted as the weight continued to grow. Metal clinked and jingled when she shifted uncomfortably.
Her eyes shot open.
The mouse held her breath, not quite daring to breathe for fear that doing so would make the chains vanish. Gingerly, Emryn slid a paw beneath the pile and lifted them up. The chains were warm― almost scalding, really ―as if they really had been pulled from a fire. A faint red glow surrounded them.
'Holy shit― That actually worked?!'
She sat upright, letting the chains clatter against the bark. It was just one long chain. One end was still connected to her, while the other was spiked. Emryn wasn't entirely sure how she was supposed to wield it, especially since it was still attached to her. Was she just supposed to throw it and hope it did damage? Or was there some sort of code word to get it flying on its own?
She stared intently at the chain, as if that would make it divulge its secrets. Strangely enough, she did get an impression from it. 'Pick a target and go.' Realizing that was as good of an idea she was going to get, Emryn peered over the edge of the branch and observed the Heartless. She eyed the one that was still attempting to climb the tree, deciding that it'd probably be the best practice target. Twirling the chain like a lasso, Emryn built up speed and let it loose.
The chain seemed to come alive, partially, as if having just woken up to find that it had been assigned a new mission. It picked up speed, creating sparks in its wake, shooting down the length of the tree to spearhead the creature of darkness right through its emblem. In an audible puff of smoke, the Heartless vanished. The remaining reptiles repeatedly snapped at her as they backed away from the now dangling chain.
Euphoria, glorious and satisfying, budded within. She reeled the chain up and geared up to try again.
However, the moment she sent the chain flying, her target opened its mouth as wide as it could. Unable to stop or even maneuver the chain, it shot right through the Heartless and was trapped with a mighty clap as the jaws shut on it. The vibrations traveled up the chain and rocked her to her core. Emryn teetered dangerously towards the edge.
With a yank, the Heartless pulled the little mouse off her perch and sent her sailing in the direction of its two companions. Emryn squealed as she hurtled towards another open mouth and rolled, midair, out of the way. Unfortunately, what she landed on was not any friendlier than what she avoided.
Bright eyes narrowed and she gulped. "Uh, how's it going?"
It flipped its mouth open, tossing Em into the air, hissing.
"Well sorry for asking!"
The creature holding on to her chain yanked it again and this time she sailed towards it. Desperately, Em tried to summon another chain. For a brief moment her chest flared with an almost painful heat. Another chain protruded from it, but it barely exceeded the length of her arm. Her eyes bugged out of her head while she released a barely muffled scream. What was she supposed to do with this?!
She smacked into the creature's nose, burying her smaller chain between its scales.
'Oh no.'
Emryn ripped the chain out of the beast and started to slip and run. She leapt between its eyes while it reared its head, driving her spiked chain through the emblem.
"Disappear already!" she snarled. Both chains reacted with a vengeance, the littler one burrowing deeper into the Heartless' skull, while the larger shook so violently that it rattled Emryn through the creature. The Heartless hissed so loudly that it almost sounded like a scream. In a dark burst, Emryn was flung off the reptile's back, choking on what smelled like smoke, but was… darkness?
She landed in the water face first. Pins and needles stabbed the entirety of her frontside and she almost inhaled the brackish water. Stunned, Emryn could only sink, watching and swearing as her chains dematerialized.
'Welcome to Destination Fucked! I'm your host Emryn Chae, and I'm currently about to get mauled by two overgrown lizards because my weapons decided to fuck on out of here without me! Stay tuned for screams of the damned and bloodshed, because shit's about to get real.'
Quickly, the mouse swam back to the surface, determined to try and reach land before she got swallowed like a midnight snack again. She spun around the moment she broke through, disheveled, utterly exhausted, and completely out of ideas for what to do next.
Squinting, Em managed to pinpoint the location of the remaining Heartless via two sets of glowing eyes. They hadn't appeared to have moved from their original spots, which concerned her. What were they doing? Were they trying to wait her out? Were they just waiting for her to tire herself out and drown? Were they even going to attack again? When was she going to have to start paddling for her life?
After another beat, the two Heartless turned and swam away, long tails gracefully swishing back and forth behind them. Her mouth fell as a pair of portals opened, sucking the creatures into them. Flabbergasted, the mouse could do nothing but dumbly tread water for a full minute.
Was that it? Were they really gone? Did she, Emryn Chae, a three inch mouse, actually scare two creatures of literal Darkness off? These questions bounced around her head in a dizzying manner.
'What am I doing?' Emryn slapped herself. 'If they're not attacking, then I've gotta get back to Penny!'
She searched for the boathouse, a deep frown forming as she realized how far away the Heartless had managed to drag her. Her body practically cried in protest once she spotted the sad excuse for a building, but with a determined grunt, the little mouse ignored her aching muscles and set forth on her next greatest obstacle.
'When I get back on land, I'm asking the mirror for a goddamn refund.'
Heaving and shaking, Emryn finally pulled herself over the last hurdle on the gangplank. Every breath she took possessed a strange wheeze, sounding something of a mixture of a dying frog and a deflating balloon. She wanted nothing more than to collapse right where she stood and sleep for an eternity. But her stubbornness continued to exceed her exhaustion. Once she got to Penny, however, then she'd gladly pass out.
Wobbling, stumbling, damn near crawling, the battle worn mouse trudged across the deck and towards a now darkened doorway. Large shadows were everywhere, and although she flinched a couple times here and there, hardly anything phased her. Not even when she passed a particularly lumpy shadow and it hissed at her.
Instead, she stopped and hissed back at it. "Put a cork in it ya oversized handbag."
That seemed to do the trick, but it wasn't like she stuck around to make sure it stuck. Emryn marched towards where she thought the stairs were in a daze. She barely even noticed where her feet were taking her, only really grasping the fact that she was going up, because that's where Penny's room had been in the movies.
It was only when she found herself in front of a closed door, with a faint glow casting dancing shadows coming from beneath it, that Emryn snapped out of her stupor. Noting that the door wasn't entirely closed, she carefully pushed it open and slipped through the crack.
Penny sat curled on her bed, her face buried in her teddy bear, sniffling. Her shoulders went slack and Emryn almost started crying herself. She had gone and turned herself into a beacon of hope for this little girl, and what did she do? Nearly get eaten and subsequently almost destroy what fragile faith she had managed to build up. Couldn't she ever get anything right on the first try?
"Penny," she croaked.
The little girl looked up with a start. She twisted and turned every which way, trying to find the source of the voice, before finally looking down. The moment she laid eyes on the waterlogged mouse, she burst into even more tears.
"T-Teddy and I were― We were so wo-worried!" sobbed Penny. Guilt clawed its way up Emryn's throat, but she swallowed it down and tried to offer a crooked smile. It must not have looked very reassuring though, because now the child was hiccupping. She stumbled towards the bed, eyes and limbs growing heavier by the second. As much as she wanted to comfort the fretting child, her body had other ideas.
Penny hopped off her bed and hurried to scoop Emryn up. She wrapped the mouse in a handkerchief that had been discarded on the nightstand and cuddled her. Em wiggled around, grabbing some of the stiff fabric and used it to pat the girl's cheeks dry, softly cooing to her.
"There there, honey," Em mumbled. "It's okay. I'm sorry for scaring you like that. I'm alright now. It's okay."
Eventually, the child calmed down. She set Emryn on the musty pillow next to her bear, settling on her knees. She sniffled loudly and wiped her face with the back of her hand. Without saying anything else, the little girl folded her arms, closed her eyes, and began to pray.
"Dear Lord, thank you for keeping my friend Emryn safe. Please bless her, and Teddy, and the others that will be coming. And thank you for sending Emryn to me. Even though she's a mouse, she's the best blue bird ever. Amen."
Emryn kept swallowing down the guilt while Penny crawled beneath the sheets. She swallowed, and swallowed, and swallowed, until she swallowed so much that it turned to stone in her throat. As sweet as Penny was for having said all that, she didn't feel like she was worthy of such a praise. Not long after making all sorts of promises she had practically abandoned the girl. What kind of so called blue bird did that?
"G'nite Emryn," Penny whispered with a yawn.
"Goodnight sweetie."
But while Penny fell into a peaceful sleep― and she wished her every happy dream imaginable ―Emryn could not follow suite. For no matter how exhausted she was, or how much she ached, she knew sleep would not come for her. Sweet dreams and restful bliss were not made for the guilty mind.
And so, as the evening deepened, Emryn turned towards a withdrawn vigilance. It was just her, her thoughts, and the shadows that lingered to greet the night now. And oh, what a familiar reunion it was.