Chapter 2: The Soul-Swappening
Prompts: Blackout, Vintage themed Christmas Party, Strolling through the city late at night (SttCLaN), Festive Meet Cute, Palm Trees, Baby (It's Cold Outside!)
Challenge words: cobblestone, floor, rude, instrument, Apple, wood, liquorice, singing, choir, caroling, dancing, voice, courage, embarrassment (embarrassed), crowded
Something was wrong.
Horrifically wrong.
It felt like he had been thrown across the manor into a brick wall. His head swam, he attempted to focus on the cobblestone floor in front of him but closed his eyes when his vision blurred.
There had been some sort of celebration for something - no, a party of some sort. And there had been…
He lost his train of thoughts for a while, being still somewhat half asleep.
- Drinks, he remembered with startling clarity. There had been drinks, and food such as apples and a candy called liquorice; with singing and various instruments, with a choir and dancing and caroling and -
Focus. One thing at a time, he told himself as he slowly opened his eyes and looked up to find that he was lying under some table. Cherry wood, he absentmindedly noted as he moved his gaze to in front of him. The room was empty, save for various remnants of the party, like left over food and drinks and scattered objects.
He sighed and began to make his way out from under the table, stopping halfway when he felt feathers brush up against the wood and his back.
Feathers. Why were there feathers? He shook his head, there wasn't time to worry about that, not now, not when there had been a mishap of some sort and he needed to figure out what had happened, and where the others were.
He stretched to his full height once he managed to free himself from said table and looked around. There was one other occupant of the room, an elderly man dressed in red and white. "I was wondering when you would wake up." Stated Nicholas in a relieved voice. "How are you feeling?"
He shrugged. "Just wondering why I was under the table." He then paused, his eyes wide. "That's not my voice." He hesitantly looked down and saw that he now wore something like a toga and brown sandals instead of his normal attire. He felt something brush against his back and he looked behind him at a set of large white wings. "No, this - can't be -" His gaze moved to the old man, who nodded solemnly.
"I don't know if you remember, but my wife showed up last night and cursed most of you. Soul swapping, it's called. Now then, which one are you, I wonder."
"Soul swapping?" He shook his head. "No, you're explaining what happened in further detail. Now. Why did I wake up in Pit's body?"
"It's simple, really. You of all people should know of unnatural circumstances, Lincoln, although you're not exactly yourself at the moment, are you?"
Link, who was now somehow in Pit's body, turned to face a man who hadn't been there before. The strange man had purple eyes and white hair. He wore a very unique outfit that consisted of a white handkerchief around his neck, a purple shirt, and black pants and boots. "Who are you?"
The man clapped his hands together. "Surely you know who I am? Heard of me at least? No?" He shook his head, then spread out his arms in a dramatic gesture. "I'm Sheogorath! The Mad Prince, Fourth Corner of the House of Troubles, the Skooma Cat, Lord of the Never-There, Raver, Comforter of Men, and Sovereign of the Shivering Isles!"
"Right, and I'm the God of Courage. Who are you really?" The body swapped Hylian narrowed his eyes.
Sheogorath tsk'd. "How rude. I merely decided to take a trip to this lovely grand manor and then all of these events happened. I've decided to stick around to see what happens next-" The Daedric Prince found himself on the end of a drawn bow.
Link stared at the bow he had summoned unconsciously. "Huh." He slowly eased back on the bowstring and lowered the bow, examining it in silence.
"There's another reason that you decided to show up, isn't there?" Questioned Santa. "People like yourself just don't appear for no reason."
"Fine, fine, it's because your wife - I suppose she's your ex wife now - was contracted by one of the other Princes to do away with all of these "'prophecy good doers', including yourself." Sheogorath responded. "I couldn't stand for that, being that the entire multiverse would be in shambles, so here I am."
"Jessica had been acting strange for a long while." Santa muttered. He turned to the body swapped youth. "Others no doubt also swapped souls. You must find them."
"Okay. And what am I supposed to do then?" Link asked in a slightly panicked voice, twisting his head around to gaze at his wings.
"Find a way to swap back. Simple, really. I can't stay, have things to do back at the Chateau, was nice meeting you!" Sheogorath clapped his hands together and vanished in a puff of purple smoke. Santa tapped the side of his nose and also vanished, this time with white clouds of snow.
Link drew a deep breath and shivered as he felt the wings move on their own. "How does Pit stand this?" He resisted the sudden urge to hug himself. That was odd. Then again Pit had… certain quirks. Now that Link was in Pit's body… Link's eyes went wide.
He was going to have to drastically adapt. Sure, still being a guy was good and all, but he was short - it occurred to him that he now couldn't read - and he had to learn to fly.
Link began to wonder if "drastically adapting" was an understatement.
Lucina was in Cloud's body, and Cloud was in Lucina's. Naturally, this had led to lots of… experimenting.
"How do you even wear this!?" Cloud gestured at him… herself.
"Never really thought about it." Lucina made her new body comfortable on the bed. "Just…" She shrugged. "Wore the dress. How are you feeling?"
"…Well all of the rumors about women turned out to be true…" Cloud looked to the side, feeling his new face burn with embarrassment.
Lucina grinned. "Oh really? Like which ones?"
Thankfully, Cloud was spared from answering when someone opened the door and stumbled inside the room.
"Link?" Lucina questioned.
"No, no, I'm not…" The new occupant stopped to catch his breath. "I'm Sora. In Link's body, there was some sort of soul swap - who are you two?"
The two others looked at each other, then told "Sora" what had happened.
"That's… No good. I myself haven't dealt with soul swapping before. Are the two of you alright?"
"I guess." Cloud muttered. "If you count not panicking 'alright'."
"We have to find the others, try to find a way to return to normal." Sora started to pace the floor. "Whatever that spell is, we have to find the reverse effect and then find someone who can cast said spell."
"Maybe Robin?" Lucina suggested.
Sora nodded. "Sounds good. I'll start by looking for some others. Meet me in the common, alright?"
Both Cloud and Lucina agreed and the three went their separate ways for a while.
The village at the bottom of the hill was having their yearly festival. There were snow globes with palm trees, miniature houses, or various Christmas themed activities. There were crowded stalls with lights and food and objects to waste money on. This is where Pit, in Sora's body, found himself, along with Robin, who somehow hadn't undergone the swap.
Robin was just making sure nothing happened. Pit didn't seem to mind though, he just liked to have company.
There had nearly been a disaster with the Keyblade though.
Their stroll through the village after dusk was interrupted by a few familiar faces headed their way. Introductions were made, there was some general confusion, but eventually Robin determined who was in which body and then pulled everyone aside, then got to work.
"Could have been worse."
"Yeah." Cloud responded to Sora as they and the others stared up at the star filled sky.
"Isn't it strange how there's mixed constellations?" Lucina asked the others.
"I've learned to really not question things here." Link stated, somewhat disappointed that he hadn't had a chance to try out flying before being returned to his rightful body.
"I wonder what will happen tomorrow?" Pit wondered aloud.
The teenagers/young adults spent the rest of the night just being themselves and having a good time.