Trapped – Part 3

“Ugh!” Mai’lyth slashed at the stone walls of the dungeon in frustration, the black metal easily ripping through the stone walls, leaving behind three narrow slits. It had been quite the quest to find the metal the blacksmith had made her weapon out of, one that had ended with an encounter with a dragon that might have killed them all, had Korinn not managed to calm the beast down, finally, thanks to their shared blood, but it had been worth it. It had gotten her through pretty much every trial she’d had since then… Until now.

“Oh, my,” the sorcerer they’d hired turned around, looking over her glasses at Mai. “Is everything all right?”

Mai glowered; she hated everything about this. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to rescue Hana… She was a good teammate, even if she could be a bit of a nag from time to time, and it was nice to not be the shortest member of the party. If there was one thing she hated dealing with, however, it was the undead; if there were two, she’d add elves to that.

As a half-elf, she’d never really fit in with either humans or elves, at least until she’d met Donovan. His powers had made him something of an outcast, too, and they’d become fast friends… She’d never had that with any elf. They were all so tall, and lanky, and looked down at her for choosing to deal with things using her fists, instead of magic.

They needed someone who understood that, though, to figure out how to rescue the halfling, and, unfortunately, all the most powerful mages were elves. Mai had avoided the woman the whole trip back to the dungeon, not wanting to cause trouble, but now, as she waited for the woman to actually do something to earn the gold they were paying her, Mai couldn’t help herself.

“We didn’t bring you here to read books!” she glared. “Open the stupid portal!”

“Mai…” Korinn said, as gently as a giant lizard-person could. “It’s not as simple as that…”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Mai shook her head. “Does the great elf not know how to do the one thing we hired her to do?! I told you we should have tried going to the next town, to…”

Her eyes widened as she realized it was getting harder to move her mouth, until, finally, it stopped altogether, silencing her. “That’s better,” the elf smirked smugly. “It’s much easier to study without the prattling of children.”

Mai’s nostrils flared, head snapping towards Donovan, looking for back-up. That was another thing she hated about full-blooded elves… They thought, just because they were usually hundreds of years old before they ventured out into the world, that they knew better than her, or anyone else… If that woman hadn’t had her magic, she’d be no match for Mai in a fight; even with it, Mai was pretty sure she stood a good chance.

“Let her go,” Donovan ordered, summoning one of his energy knives threateningly.

The elf shrugged, the spell fading with the motion, Mai opening her mouth, then deciding to close it without saying anything. She looked to Donovan, the pair having worked together long enough not to need words.

Except now, apparently. “Mai,” he sighed, “maybe you should just calm down for a minute and give her the chance to get this done.”

Mai couldn’t believe it; he was taking her side?! She should have known that, once a real elf showed up, she wouldn’t be good enough for him anymore… That’s how it always happened. “The longer we stand around here, the more chance that wraith has of finding us!”

“Your shouting,” the elf lectured, in a tone that only made Mai angrier, “is going to do that far quicker than me reading.”

“Fine!” Mai spat, storming to the heavy, wooden door of the room they’d sequestered themselves in.

“Mai, no,” Korinn reached out towards her. “We need to stick together!”

“I don’t need you idiots!” Mai informed them all.

“She’ll be fine,” she heard Donovan say from the other side of the door, after slamming it shut with an echo that bounced down the long, stone hallway to either side of her. “She just needs a little time.”

“I’ll have plenty of time once I put that old biddy in the ground,” she grumbled, storming down the corridor. She wasn’t really going to murder the elf…. probably… but thinking about it did make her feel the tiniest bit better. Honestly, if she got the chance to kill anything, that would likely improve her mood.

Which was why, when she saw the giant spider-web, she decided to take care of it on her own. It shouldn’t have been that big of a deal, but, as Hana loved to tell her, there was no telling how large a dire creature could grow to. The party had killed plenty of huge spiders in their time, and they’d all been weak enough that Mai was positive she could have handled them on their own… She didn’t see this one, however, only its web.

“Come on, eight-eyes,” she taunted, reaching up for the web with a grin. “Let’s dance.”

Was the webbing thicker than what they’d seen with their previous encounters? It had been a while, so it was hard to judge. She knew it was going to be sticky, so she was careful to position to blades of her gauntlet where she could easily slice through it before she grabbed ahold and gave it a tug.

She was right; her gauntlet refused to budge once she’d done that, stuck fast in the spider’s web. “Great,” she huffed, knowing she was either going to have to spend hours cleaning it up after they got out of this dungeon, or beg the elf – or Hana, when they’d saved her, as a way for the halfling to say ‘thanks’ – to use a spell to do it. “You’re really in for it now!” she threatened the unseen menace, giving the gauntlet a twist, glad she’d been smart enough to prepare.

Except… The blades didn’t cut the webbing. She frowned, trying again, with the same results. “That’s impossible,” she mused to herself. They went through stones, and bone, with very little problem… Why would they have any trouble with some spiderweb, no matter how big it was?

She gasped, feeling a response tug, one so strong it nearly pulled her off of her feet. “That silly little halfling was right,” she muttered, right before she felt another pull, throwing her off balance, pulling her forward… She tried to brace herself, but there was no need, since she didn’t hit the stone floor at all… Instead, she landed on the web.

“Get off!” she ordered, struggling with all of her might to break free, feeling her rage build up more and more when it did nothing, until, finally, she was about to explode…

And that’s when it happened. It was a sting at first, and then a burning, spreading slowly through her body, as she fought to turn herself, to see what that had been… “Oh, gods,” she groaned, seeing the spider above her, venom practically dripping from its fangs. She wasn’t sure if the poison was already affecting her vision, but its legs almost looked like shadows, and more similar to the tentacles from some sea creature than what she’d seen on any other spider…

No. There was no time to be afraid… She needed to get angry, mad at this monster for taking her by surprise, for biting her, for daring to mess with her in the first place, even if she’d basically begged it to… A grin crossed her face as she felt it flow through her, ready for the surge of strength that came with it, sure it would be enough to let her cut her way out of the web, and tear this thing apart…

“Whoa!” she frowned as her hand slipped out of her gauntlet. That was strange… She’d had it made to fit her perfectly, to never have to worry about that happening in a time like this… She reached up for it frantically, only to discover the spider must have pulled the gauntlet away from her, because it was too far away for her to reach…

“Come on,” she shook her head, swallowing nervously, heart starting to race. How could she have let herself fall out of her rage so easily?! “I don’t even need that stupid thing… I can kill a spider with my bare hands!”

She let the anger overtake her again, but, this time, it ended with her tumbling out of the web, landing hard on her backside, stunning her for a moment before she could look up and see her tunic up in the web now, a split second before she felt the cool draft of the dungeon on her bare chest. Her rage was already surging back through her, intermingled with humiliation, as she glanced down at herself, trying to scramble to her feet, seeing, in horror, her legs shrinking right out of her pants, leaving them behind as she stood.

The poison… It had to be the poison. She didn’t know how, but it was making her smaller, every time she tried to use her rage. She snatched up her pants, trying to cover herself, turning to run down the corridor, back to the party, knowing she was no chance for the spider now, only to feel the cold embrace of a tentacle wrapping around her ankle, pulling her down, dragging her backwards, towards the web…

“Let me go!” she squealed, struggling helplessly. “Let go of me!”

“It’s all right, it’s all right,” an unfamiliar voice told her gently. Mai flinched as she opened her eyes, seeing a huge woman’s face over hers, looking down at her, blushing as she felt her bladder dribble out into… She wasn’t sure. She’d thought she was naked, and yet, there was definitely something there now, something big, and thick, and bulky… “You were just having a bad dream, dear…”

“No, I wasn’t!” Mai insisted. “A-And who are you?!”

“Don’t be silly,” the woman chuckled, peeling back the covers. Mai was shocked to realize she was able to move again, although she refused to believe some blankets were the only thing that had been keeping her pinned down. “Let’s get you into a fresh diaper, sweetie, and then you can play.”

“D-Diap…” Mai’s eyes flashed in humiliation and anger at the implication that she’d need to wear such a thing, just to see the woman seem to grow even larger in front of her. Thankfully, it didn’t appear that she’d shrunken out of her clothes again, though, less pleasantly, when she looked down at herself, so could see a definitely bulge beneath her fluffy, pink pants that made her suspect that perhaps the woman was telling the truth after all.

“L-Let go of me, giant!” Mai demanded as the woman picked her up, resting her on her hip.

“Giant?” the woman laughed. “Such imagination… I’m no giant, cutie.” She laid Mai down on her back, tapping her lightly on her nose. “Just because you’re so small doesn’t mean everyone else is a giant.”

“I-I’m not small!” Mai fumed. For a half-elf, she was fairly average… It wasn’t her fault she spent her time surrounded by a particularly tall human, a dragonborn, and now some big, spindly full elf… Though, all of their heights paled in comparison to this woman.

“Hmm,” the woman thought for a moment. “Not compared to the little babies, I suppose.” She slid Mai’s pants off, revealing a shiny garment beneath, one that made noise with each of Mai’s frantic squirms. “Compared to the other kids your age, though, sweetie, I’m afraid you are…. Not that it’s a bad thing!”

Mai blushed, watching the woman tear open the garment, leaving her naked, exposed, too tiny and weak to stop her from wiping her privates with a cool cloth, take away the garment, replace it with a new one, after sprinkling some sweet-smelling powder on her. “Isn’t that better?” the woman grinned. “A nice, fresh diaper for you!”

“I-I don’t need diapers,” Mai whined, pawing at the thing.

“Mai,” the woman raised her eyebrow. “Do you need your gloves?”

Gloves… Mai nodded frantically. She didn’t call her gauntlet that, but she could see how someone uninformed might. If she had it, then she might have a chance to escape this place, wherever she was, and get back to the dungeon…

The woman looked surprised. “You want them? All right…” She stepped away a moment, not long enough for Mai to escape, then returned not with Mai’s bladed gauntlet, but a pair of pink, fuzzy mittens, which she easily pulled over Mai’s hands, despite the girl’s protests. She didn’t feel stronger with these on, like she did with her gauntlet… She felt weaker, like a kitten, her fingers spread far apart, useless…

“I don’t think you need your little PJ pants now, do you?” the woman asked. “Not to play.” She picked up Mai, wearing her shirt, a diaper, and mittens, and carried her into another room, one filled with children, setting her down among them.

Mai’s stomach roiled, realizing the woman might not have been lying after all… Either these were all giants, or Mai truly was the one who had become small, rather than the woman being huge. She was smaller than most of them, even the ones dressed similarly to her, in diapers…

This was wrong… This was all wrong. “I don’t belong here!” she yelled angrily at the woman, racing after her, nearly falling thanks to the unfamiliar bulk of the diaper between her thighs. “Put me back right now!”

“Oh, Mai,” the woman stopped, turned around, kneeling down with a grin. “You are exactly where you belong.”

Mai could feel the rage building up inside her once more, and she let it out the only way she could at the moment, as tiny as she was, with her hands useless… She threw an epic tantrum. Tears stung her eyes as she stomped her feet, screaming at the woman, “No, I’m not! I’m not a baby, I’m a big girl! Let me out of here right now!”

She gasped as she lost her balance, falling flat on her padded bottom, but that didn’t stop her. She flailed and kicked, wailing and screaming, until she’d tired herself out, doing nothing except, as she realized once the woman plucked her off the ground, making herself smaller, and weaker.

“I think somebody has earned themselves a time-out,” the woman lectured, putting Mai down on her feet in the corner of the room. “I’ll tell you when it’s over, and if I see you out of here before I do, you’re going over my lap, little lady!”

Mai was a fearsome warrior, one of the strongest and most deadly on the team, despite her small size… But, in the moment, she didn’t have much of a choice, other than to do as she was told, like a naughty child. She’d been shrunken, she’d lost her gauntlet, and even her rage, which, at one time, was scary enough to make any grown man quiver, had been reduced to a toddler’s tantrum… And, if she used it, she’d get smaller, still….

And the scariest part was, she couldn’t help herself. She’d spent years developing her rage, learning how to more easily fall into it so she could access it when she needed it… It was second nature to her. How tiny was she going to get, she wondered, before the venom finally wore off?

“M-Mai?”

Mai turned, forgetting the order she’d just been given at the sound of the voice. Sure enough, there was Hana, standing there in a tiny dress and clearly wet diaper, thumb in her mouth, clutching a stuffed animal in the shape of a bird. “I-I thought that was you… I-I mean…” She frowned, nibbling on her thumb, confused. “Y-You are real?”

“I am,” Mai told her, rushing forward, pulling the girl into a hug… Only to realize, to her horror, that she was already shorter than her, that, even as she said the words, “I-I came here to rescue you,” that she’d utterly failed. “Y-You can use your magic to get us out of this place… Right?”

“Magic?” Hana shook her head. “N-No, I can’t do that… Th-That was my imagination… B-But… So were you…” She chewed harder on her thumb, tears starting to fill her eyes. “I-I don’t know…”

“Mai!” the woman swept back in with a flash. “I told you to stay in the corner! And now you’re upsetting Hana… I’d say you definitely deserve a spanking now, young lady!”

“B-But…” Hana was still sputtering uncertainly.

“It’s okay,” the woman knelt down in front of her, giving her a hug. “There’s nothing to be scared about, sweetie… She just like to play pretend, like you… But don’t worry… She’s nowhere near as clever as you. I’m sure she’ll forget all about it even quicker than you did. Now, come along, Mai… It’s time for your punishment.”

 

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Trapped – Part 2

Hana closed her eyes, shaking her head, heart pounding in her chest. She knew something was wrong… This wasn’t real. There was no way it could be! There were teleportation spells out there, of course, that could have taken her somewhere else, but something told her that wasn’t what this was… That was very high level magic, well beyond what she was capable of. Perhaps it was wishful thinking that the master of this dungeon couldn’t, either, since it would mean she and her friends likely had no chance of beating them… This didn’t even feel like her own plane of existence, however, and transporting someone to another one of those was a more complicated spell than ‘simple’ teleportation.

“This isn’t real,” she told herself, keeping her eyes shut tight. “This isn’t real…”

Alfred cawed at her, no doubt berating her for just standing around when they had so much to do. When Hana opened her eyes again, she was back in the dungeon, surrounded by stone and torches, in that same long, empty hallway she’d been in before. “Oh, thank the gods,” she breathed a sigh of relief, giving her familiar a kiss on the forehead, which earned her a reproachful stare. “You would not believe what just happened,” she said. “Come on, we need to find everyone and get out of here.” Donovan, especially, worried her, after what she’d heard, if that had truly been his voice and not some decoy, which seemed rather possible at this point.

Alfred chirped at her, hopping around on her shoulder. “Calm down,” she rolled her eyes. “I was glad to see you. It wouldn’t hurt you to show a little more affection, either, you know.” He wasn’t happy about that, but Hana didn’t have time to deal with that now; she’d give him some extra berries once they escape this place, and if that didn’t make him feel better, nothing would.

“Ouch!” she winced as he gave a shrill warning call, one he normally saved for the most dire circumstances. She turned, of course, to make sure nothing was trying to sneak up on her, but, as far as she could tell, she was alone in the hall, other than her increasingly tiresome bird companion. “Honestly, Alfred… What is wrong with you?”

She spun herself back around and began to head further into the dungeon, not seeing the grim silhouette that appeared out of the shadows behind her, glowing white eyes following her every movement as it clutched its staff.

“This place is a maze,” Hana shook her head, after turning a few corners, seeing more halls stretching out past each in more than one direction. “I told them we should have waited…” Not that it really would have made much of a difference… It did make her feel a bit better, knowing there was more to this place than met the eye, although even if they’d rested up, they still probably would have done basically the same things.

Alfred had, fortunately, calmed down a little, the further in they’d gone, but he chirped at her again, in a different way. He didn’t sound alarmed now, more like he wanted to tell her something; she’d been with him long enough to know what that usually meant. “You think so?” she asked, examining the walls closely. Sure enough, she noticed a stone, jutting out slightly from all the rest.

Just like at the door where the party had gotten separated, Hana hated to potentially waste a spell, especially when she didn’t feel the presence of any magic… But, after what had happened last time, it was easier to convince herself to do it, just in case. She cast dispel magic, hoping it would clear out any magical traps, then pushed the stone. The room beyond looked innocent enough, although she knew better than to trust that.

She took out her dagger, casting a Light spell on it to make it glow, since that was easier than trying to jump up and grab a torch from the wall. She jabbed her dagger forward, cautiously inching forwards, looking around at the walls of the room to see what was there, finally stepping inside…

Instantly, she was back to that place, her robes and weapon gone, naked, staring out at all those children. There were more mature adults around, too, including the one who stepped forward, bending down to look her in the eye. “And what are you doing out here naked, hon?”

Hana’s eyes shot to the kids, slowly starting to piece together what was happening, her mind racing, wondering how she’d gotten back here. She wanted to banish it, to remind herself it wasn’t real, yet, with this larger woman there, over her, it would be dangerous to take her eyes off of her.

“Well?” the woman asked. “What do you have to say for yourself, little girl?”

The words stung, even as they started to make things more clear. It was a mistake, clearly… She didn’t know how she’d gotten here, but, somehow, these humans thought she was one of them. “I-I’m not a kid,” she told the woman, as calmly as she could manage. “I’m a halfling, and…”

“A what?” the woman smiled. “A half-pint?”

“No,” Hana shook her head. “A halfling! I come from the village of…”

“Yes, I know you’re a cute, little half-pint,” the woman poked Hana in her bare tummy, earning an involuntary giggle. “That doesn’t mean you aren’t a kid, though… And it definitely doesn’t mean you can just run around nakie all day! Come on!”

“No!” Hana fumed as the woman picked her up, opening the door again. “Just listen to me!”

“Somebody’s cranky today,” the second woman smiled as she handed Hana back to the first.

“Yes, she is,” the first agreed, carrying Hana back to the place she’d escaped from, setting her down on top of a fresh diaper. “And she’ll be getting a spanking if she keeps it up!”

Hana gulped as her bottom sank into the soft padding beneath her, her mind blanking for a moment as it absorbed the feeling. “Wh-What is wrong with you?” she asked finally, as she was pushed gently backwards. “I’m a halfling, not a baby!”

“Of course you aren’t a baby,” the first woman said, perking Hana up briefly, until she continued. “You’re a big girl, but even big girls need diapers from time to time.” Hana squirmed helplessly as the diaper was pulled up between her legs, pushing her thighs apart with its bulk. “And you need them now.”

“No, I don’t!” Hana insisted. “I am a fully grown woman! And a wizard!”

“Oh?” the woman smirked. “A wizard? Can you do magic, sweetie? Let’s see it, then.” She pulled one of the sides of the diaper up snugly, pushing it on the front, where it stayed, somehow, without pins.

It should have been simple enough to send a cone of flame into the air above her, past the women – in case they were innocent pawns, since they hadn’t physically attacked her yet – but when she uttered the words, nothing happened. She frowned, trying again, as the woman repeated the process on the other side, fastening the diaper onto the little wizard completely.

“Here,” the second woman handed the first a pink dress, which she pulled over Hana’s head before picking her up, setting her down on the floor. The skirt was so short, the diaper was almost entirely visible… But that didn’t seem to bother either of the women nearly as much as it did Hana.

“Sorry, sweetie,” the first shrugged. “I didn’t see anything, so I guess that means you’re just a cute, little girl after all.”

“No, I’m not!” Hana stomped her foot. “I-I just don’t have my spell book, that’s all!” She didn’t have anything… Although, in reality, she knew she did, that it had to be in her bag, around her shoulder…. “I am twenty-two years old, and…!”

“Aww,” the second woman smiled. “That’s so cute… No, hon, you’re only this many,” she held up two fingers on one hand, then the other as well. “Did you think if you put them together like this, that makes you twenty-two?” She moved her hands together. “Sorry, but that isn’t how it works.”

“I am not two!” Hana yelled, offended at the very idea. “I am an adult, and you people had better let me go right now, or…!”

She yelped as the first woman picked her up, carrying her easily over to a rocking chair, sitting down and positioning the squirming halfling over her lap. “You are two!” she declared, punctuating it with a swat to Hana’s bottom. Through the diaper’s padding, it didn’t hurt, not really, but it was still humiliating, and surprising, enough to earn a squeal from the girl. “You need your diapers! I don’t want to argue with you about this any more!”

For a human, the woman wasn’t even that large, but she was still more than twice Hana’s size, and, despite the padding’s protection, Hana felt tears welling up in her eyes as her hand kept smacking against it, making her wriggle and whine. She tried to remind herself this wasn’t real, that it was surely another trap of some sort; the growing soreness in her bottom made that hard to fully accept.

“It’s okay,” the woman finally stopped, pulling Hana up into a hug as the halfling sniffled, tears trickling down her cheeks. “I know it’s fun to play pretend, but sometimes, you have to accept the truth, okay? Now, how old are you, dear?” Hana stared up at her, nibbling on her bottom lip, until the woman pushed something into her mouth. Hana wasn’t sure what it was, simply that it was filling her mouth, and, as she tried to work her tongue around it, to figure out what it could be, so she could spit it out, she found herself starting to suck on it involuntarily, finding it oddly soothing. “Is it this many?” the woman asked gently, holding up two fingers.

Hana shook her head. “No!” she insisted, struggling to speak around the thing in her mouth. “I’m twenty-two!”

“All right,” the woman sighed, standing up and carrying Hana over to the corner, setting her down on her feet. “You’re going to stay here until you can tell me the truth, okay. Keep your nose facing there, and your paci in your mouth, got it?” When Hana hesitated to answer, the woman knelt down, staring her in the eye. “Do you understand, Hana?”

Hana gulped, sucking harder on the object – the paci, the woman had called it – in her mouth, squirming in her diaper, listening to the soft, subtle noises it made under the short skirt of her dress. Bashfully, she nodded, not feeling like she had much of a choice here, without her spell book, or even her dagger.

She could hear movement behind herself, and wondered if the humans were still there, watching, but there was no way to know for certain without turning around, which she’d been told specifically not to do. What would they do if she disobeyed? Would they spank her again? Or something worse? She couldn’t believe this… How dare they treat her this way?! And act as if they didn’t know what she was talking about, when she told them what she was…

She gasped, blushing slightly; what was wrong with her?! None of this was real anyway! She’d gotten so caught up in it, she forgot this was a trap, either something that was happening purely in her mind, or, at worst, something that had taken her to another plane, perhaps one where halflings truly didn’t exist until now…

She needed to do what she had last time, remind herself of what was real, break free… She sighed, starting to close her eyes, only to, fortunately, glance downwards first, and see the shadowy tentacle inching towards her foot. She gasped into the paci, jumping back, right as the thing reached out, winding around her leg, yanking her down, making her fall onto her diapered backside with a soft thump.

“Get away!” she whined, swatting at the tentacle, her hand passing through it like smoke, although it still kept its iron grip on her leg, creeping further and further up…. And, once her hand touched it, another sprang up, grabbing it as well. “Let me go!” she sniffled, not thinking before trying, frantically, to pull that one away with her other hand, creating a third tentacle to restrain that hand as well, leaving her all but helpless to watch as the first slithered up her leg, slipping into the leghole of her diaper.

She couldn’t see it past then, though she definitely felt it, wriggling in the tight, thick garment for a moment or two before pushing inside her body. “No!” She knew it was doing something to her, could tell things were changing, but her mind was starting to cloud up again, too… “Let me… go…” she squirmed, groaning.

“I-It’s not… real…” she told herself, shaking her head, sucking on her pacifier. She forced herself to close her eyes, to ignore what was happening, since it didn’t matter anyway. “It’s not real…”

And, when she opened her eyes again, she was back in the dungeon, sitting on the floor of the hidden room, still glowing dagger in front of her. “Oh, thank the gods,” she mumbled, frowning momentarily before realizing she had her thumb in her mouth, though she didn’t have long to worry about that, as there was something else more urgent to notice.

She squealed, pressing her free hand to her crotch, eyes widening as she felt a wetness there, frantically ordering her muscles to tense back up, to stop what they were doing. They listened, but not before she’d already peed in her undergarments more than she would have liked to admit, leaving behind a small puddle on the floor when she clambered to her feet.

This wasn’t good… It wasn’t good at all. “Alfred!” she looked at the bird, staring down at her from a table in the room. “You have to find the others!” she told him. “I-I don’t know if I can do this on my own… Bring them to me, okay? Please?” The raven almost appeared concerned for a moment, then bobbed its head and flew off, leaving her alone, still, unknowingly, sucking her thumb.

She stepped over towards the table Alfred had been perched on, and saw what she thought at first was just a drawing; it was quite worrying how long it took her mind to recognize it as a map. She snatched it off, sitting back on the floor since there were no chairs, holding her dagger over it. It looked like it ought to be fairly simple, but trying to decipher all those lines made her brain hurt. She knew this was important, though… Very important… She shoved it into her bag, then stumbled to her feet again, back out into the hall…

And out into the room with all the other children. Or, rather, the human kids… She wasn’t one of them. She shook her head, confused, having a hard time remembering what had just happened. She’d been really worried about something… She had to get away… But what was it?

She squeaked at the sight of the grown-up, recalling how she’d been put into the corner, and told to stay there. That had to be it, she decided; she needed to make sure she wasn’t caught outside of her time-out. She toddled forward, finding it difficult to move easily in her big, bulky diaper, nervously nursing her paci.

“Hey!”

Hana’s eyes went wide at the word, shrinking back a bit when she saw one of the kids looking at her. She was bigger than Hana, and it didn’t look like she was in diapers, either. Hana blushed, inching away, feeling scared of her for some reason, even though, somewhere in the depths of her increasingly fuzzy mind, she knew she was much older than her.

“Do you wanna play?” the girl asked, shoving a doll towards Hana.

“I-I’m busy…” Hana told her, and she knew it was true… There was something she was supposed to be doing, although, for the life of her, she couldn’t remember what it was, and, the more she looked at the doll, and at the other kids playing, the more fun it looked…

She wasn’t sure how much time she lost, playing with the doll with the other girls, bobbing it up and down, taking it on little adventures… All she knew, when she felt the pain in her tummy, was that she was happy, and having fun, and far too busy to worry about anything else, so she just gave a little push…

She didn’t connect that with the weird feeling her her diaper at first, the icky sensation that was starting to spread, making her wrinkle her nose and try to wiggle away. By the time she did, it was too late, her hand shooting to the expanding seat of her diaper as she frantically fought to stop what her body was doing, and discovering there was nothing she could do about it.

“Ew!” the little girl who had given her the doll exclaimed, turning to one of the others. “Go tell Ms. Marie Hana needs a change!”

“No!” Hana wailed, cheeks warming, tears springing to her eyes. It was bad enough her playmates clearly knew what she was doing… If they told the grown-ups, she’d really be in trouble! She’d told them she didn’t need diapers, and she was supposed to be in the corner! She’d get another spanking for sure, at least!

She scrambled to her feet, the mushy mass in her pants shifting with her every move, making the diaper even harder to walk normally in. She’d really done it now… How was she going to convince them she wasn’t a baby, now that she’d pooped her pants?! She needed to get away, she needed to…

There was something more important she needed to do. She’d forgotten all about it, while she was playing, but it was coming back to her now, slowly. Her book… She needed her spell book! If she had it, she could prove she didn’t belong here! She scurried away from the girls, looking around for the book. She should remember what it looked like… She’d spent hours hunched over it, jotting down new spells she’d learned; it ought to be burned into her mind by now.

But there were a lot of books here. There were bookshelves full of them, some scattered on the floor, some sitting in front of kids, who had them open, gawking down at the pictures. Which was hers?! It must be there somewhere…. She’d had it on her at some point, had carried it, though, since she’d wound up nude, she must have set it down, and now it could be anywhere…

She toddled past anyone that had a book, getting a good enough look to try and confirm if it was hers or not; none of them seemed familiar. Luckily, although the big humans were tall, the shelves seemed to be built for the children, so she could see all the books without much trouble, unless they were on the top shelf, when she had to get on her tip-toes… But those didn’t look right, either.

“Where is it?!” she pouted, stomping her foot, wrinkling her nose as the mess in her diaper moved, reminding her that, if she failed, she was going to look more like a baby than ever.

“Umm… What are you looking for?” She turned to find a little boy staring at her, blushing as she looked down at her feet. “My Mommy says it’s easier to look with two people than one, so…”

“I-I need my spell book,” she told him after a moment of hesitation. “It’s really important…”

“Oh!” he smiled. “I know where those are!” He hurried off, with her struggling to keep up, following him back to one of the shelves she’d already investigated. “Here!” he gestured proudly, plucking one off the shelf and handing it to her. “This is my favorite!”

Hana frowned; she didn’t think that was what her spell book looked like, but she decided to open it anyway. There didn’t seem to be nearly enough pages, and there were so many bright, cheery pictures… And only a few words per page, with one letter in particular written large on each one, although she couldn’t decipher even them.

“It’s really good,” the boy promised. “I learned my ABCs from it, and now I’m learning to spell, and…”

“No!” Tears stung Hana’s eyes. This wasn’t what she wanted… Was it? She couldn’t even remember for certain, but she was willing to assume it wasn’t, since she had no idea what it said. She hoped it wasn’t, at least. Hana grabbed one of the pages, ripping it out in anger, throwing the paper on the floor. “This isn’t right! I want my spell book, and I want it now!”

She should have known better than to raise a fuss when she was trying to keep a low profile, but she couldn’t help herself… She was upset, and that was the only thing she could think to do about it. All it accomplished, however, was drawing the grown-ups to her, to snatch the book out of her hand and demand, “What has gotten into you today, Hana?” before swatting her on the bottom. “Oh, I see,” the woman nodded, picking the halfling up, earning another wrinkled nose as she rested the dirty diaper on her hip. “Let’s get you changed again… And I guess we’d better keep you away from those books from now on, huh? Are you too young for them, still? Don’t worry, we have some nice board books you can read, or ones with plastic pages you can’t destroy…”

“I-I want my spell book!” Hana sniffled, surprised to find herself crying again. It was all so overwhelming…

“Hey, it’s okay,” the woman bounced her slightly. “Accidents happen… And I’m willing to believe that was an accident, this time. You don’t have to be upset.” She laid Hana down again, started to change her diaper, which was nice, since it got Hana into something clean, and far less icky, but didn’t stop her tears. “What’s wrong, honey?” The woman frowned down at her for a few seconds, then lit up. “I know! You don’t have Alfred! Is that what you want?”

Hana perked up; he would help! She’d sent him to get help, in fact, hadn’t she? If he was back, maybe her friends were there, too… She nodded eagerly, sitting up, feeling slightly better as she watched the woman step away, and return with… a stuffed animal. A toy. She shook her head, whining, wanting to tell the woman that wasn’t Alfred…

But it was awfully cute, anyway… And, when the woman held it out to her, she couldn’t resist grabbing it, cuddling it, sucking on her pacifier… It did make her feel a little better, she had to admit. Maybe she was wrong; maybe this was what Alfred truly was, and she’d imagined him being a real bird… She squeezed him tighter as the woman put her on the floor again, not noticing the black tendrils trailing off the toy, reaching into her, clouding her old memories, making them feel more and more like dreams, the games of an imaginative toddler…

—————————————

“Get back!” Donovan commanded, summoning a throwing knife of pure energy and hurling it at the cloaked specter, the weapon passing through its shoulder and sinking into the doorframe. It let out an unearthly hiss, turning to glare at them all, then floated away from the doorway and through the hard rock of the wall on the other side of the hall, well out of his reach.

“Was that a wraith?” Mai asked.

“I believe so,” Korinn nodded, turning towards the raven that had found them all in this maze of a dungeon. “Is that what you were trying to tell us, Alfred? Did Hana try to go up against that alone?”

“Look!” Donovan pointed, urging the others onwards, into the room the wraith had been in front of. There, he saw Hana’s bag, her spellbook in front of it, pages torn out, and a glowing portal. On the other side sat what he had thought, at first, was a human child, although, the longer he looked, the more he realized it was Hana.

She looked up, confused at first, eyes blank and empty, before starting to fill with surprise then horror, her cheeks turning red. She glanced down at the toy she was holding, at what she was wearing, squirming uncomfortably… Then, seemed to notice the portal was shrinking. Frantically, she reached out, as if begging them to get her out of there, to save her… But it was already too late, and it closed, leaving behind an empty room, her adventuring gear, and a map.

Korinn pushed past Donovan, examining the area, but she didn’t know nearly enough about magic to be able to tell how to open the portal again. She knelt down, picking up Hana’s belongings, tears stinging her eyes. Mai, on the other hand, went for the map.

“Here,” she pointed. “There’s the other exit. If we go back this way, I think…”

“We can’t just leave her here!” Donovan insisted. “She could be in danger!”

“And so could we,” Mai reminded him. “We got lucky the wraith left when it did… If not even your weapons can hurt it, I don’t know if the rest of us have a chance… We can go back to the town, and maybe there’ll be another magic user there that will know how to beat it, or how to open that portal back up. Unless you know how to do that?”

Donovan had to shake his head; he knew she was making sense, but that didn’t take any of the sting out of the idea of leaving behind a teammate. “We’ll come back,” Korinn promised, clapping him on the shoulder, urging him to get moving, choosing not to mention how doubtful she was they’d find anyone powerful enough to be any help in the town they’d come from… That would require a much longer journey, she had the feeling, and she could only pray, by the time they returned, Hana would still be safe.

—————————————

“They were right there!” Hana insisted, pointing. “My friends!”

“I’m sure they were,” the woman chuckled, patting her on the head, leading her back out into the play room, turning to the other worker. “Isn’t that cute? Imaginary friends…”

“No, they aren’t!” Hana pouted, glaring at them angrily as they giggled at her, hugging her stuffed birdie tighter, sucking on her pacifier while she stormed away. They were real, she was sure of it… Even if she couldn’t quite recall how she knew that, or where she knew them from.

She plopped down on the floor, feeling the squishy, wet spot that had already appeared in her diaper. She also knew this wasn’t right, that she didn’t need to be here, that she wasn’t a toddler… But nobody would believe her! She sniffled, shaking her head. She closed her eyes, thinking she recalled that helping before. “It’s not real,” she mumbled to herself, from behind her paci. “It’s not real…”

But, when she opened her eyes again, she was still there, still the same as she had been before. She swallowed nervously, a doubt starting to form, making her wonder if she was wrong, if it really was just her imagination, and she’d been a little girl all along. She could only hope her friends would come back to help her, so she’d know they, and everything else, was real, before the rest of her already hazy memories of them faded away, like the dream she was beginning to worry was all they’d ever been.

 

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Trapped – Part 1

“Can we just get going?” Hana grumbled, swinging her legs boredly in her chair as she watched the others finish off their latest round of drinks and begin pondering ordering another. “We have no idea what this place is going to be like, I don’t think…”

“Calm down,” Korinn said, patting her on the back with a huge, scaly hand, nearly knocking the halfling off her seat unintentionally. “From what I’ve heard, we have nothing to worry about. We’re just preparing for the journey.”

Hana rolled her eyes; she could usually look to the dragonborn for support, but, clearly, not this time. She probably shouldn’t have been surprised… It was a feast day for the god the woman served, so they were lucky they’d managed to convince her to come along at all. Hana suspected that somewhere, deep in her lizard heart, Korinn was starting to get attached to them… Although she still demanded they donate a portion of any treasure they found to her church, besides her percentage, so she must not like them too much yet.

“Why do we always use the tavern as a meeting place?” Hana sighed. She knew the reason – Mai’lyth and Donovan liked to drink, and, on special occasions, apparently so did Korinn – but that knowledge did little to make her feel better. She’d had some cider, though she hadn’t even managed to finish the whole mug before starting to feel tipsy. Halflings were not particularly well known for their alcohol tolerance; she had even less than most. It didn’t help that this tavern didn’t have cups sized for her kind, nor chairs.

She glanced across the room, towards the window, where, sure enough, a raven was sitting outside, watching disapprovingly. Some might have said she was imagining that, but she’d been with her familiar long enough to tell that’s how he felt… The same way she could tell he hated it when she called him ‘Alfie’, rather than Alfred. She gave him a big shrug, then settled back down in her chair, nearly losing sight of the top of the table. She hated this place…

Thankfully, her companions actually stuck to their promise of ‘one more round’, stumbling outside once they were finished. Alfred flew over to Hana, landing on her shoulder and cawing at her to show his displeasure. “I’m sorry,” Hana rolled her eyes. “They don’t like birds in there, and I don’t want you getting baked into a pie or something.”

“Nobody would want to eat that old thing,” Mai smirked. “I’m sure he tastes awful.”

“Not as bad as you probably do,” Hana shot back. The half-elf shrugged in reply; it seemed, at times, she was trying to distance herself as much as possible from the elegance of full-blooded elves. She was quite the impressive fighter, however, despite how barbarous she could act, so Hana was willing to put up with her… Not that she really had much choice, since without Mai’lyth, she wouldn’t have Donovan.

Hana wasn’t sure he was a better warrior than Mai – she’d seen the half-elf fall into rages where she was nearly unstoppable, taking out entire rooms of enemies almost single-handed – but he was very skilled with the glowing axe he could somehow produce with his mind. It was strange… Hana had studied magic for most of her life, yet had never come across anything quite like that before meeting him. He’d apparently learned it at some monastery, far away, although when she asked him specifically which country it was in, he’d never give a direct answer.

He’d never tell her where he and Mai had met, either, or why his eyes glowed blue… Sometimes, Hana wondered if there was really a story behind any of it, or if he just liked to tease her by pretending there was, and not elaborating. Honestly, she wouldn’t have put it past him, and, even though she was smaller than him, Mai’lyth intimidated her too much to go to her for answers.

Ultimately, it didn’t matter anyhow… They’d needed somebody to help them open a magically locked chest they’d found in a dungeon near Hana’s hometown, and, after she’d helped them out, Donovan had asked, seemingly almost on a whim, if she might want to come see a little more of the world with them. There were times when Hana wondered why she’d said yes, and left her nice, comfortable home… For the most part, though, she was enjoying her adventure.

Their little group had gotten quite the reputation, which was, she assumed, why they’d been hired to go investigate this dungeon. Hana wasn’t sure where Korinn had gotten the idea that they had nothing to worry about, since, from what she could tell, nobody had gone more than a few steps into the place until now, other than, of course, whoever had built it… Together, however, they’d been through a lot by now, so she was probably right, even if she had been making it up so Hana would feel more at ease.

The dungeon was further from the town than she’d expected, and the wind colder. She shivered a little, pulling her cloak tighter around herself. “Maybe you should have joined us in that last round,” Mai told her, scooting forward slightly on her horse, closer to Hana, seated in front of her; they’d decided when they’d first started to travel together it would be silly for her to bring a pony, since it would struggle to keep up with Mai and Donovan’s horses, and they didn’t want her to slow them down. She always felt so silly and childish, sharing the saddle with them, especially once Korinn had joined them, with her own, specially bred horse, which was even bigger than the ones Mai and Donovan had, so, technically, they were slowing her down, like Hana would have done with them… “You’d have warmed yourself up a bit for the trip.”

“I’m fine,” Hana grumbled.

“I hope so,” Mai said. “A frozen wizard isn’t going to do us much good.”

Fortunately, beyond the cold, it was an uneventful journey; Hana almost wondered, when they came across the entrance, waiting there for them, open and inviting, if Donovan, who had taken the lead, as usual, had gotten the directions wrong. Surely, there ought to be some sort of creatures guarding this place, or something, right? It was almost too easy….

“I don’t know about this,” Hana fretted, nervously toying with her dagger as she watched the other tying their horses to a tree outside the entrance and prepare themselves, Donovan summoning his axe, Mai attaching blades to her gauntlets, Korinn readying her mace. “Maybe we should rest, and wait until morning, or…”

“Aww, are you tired already?” Mai teased, her concern gone now that they weren’t alone, on the horse. “Need a nap?”

“No, I don’t need one,” Hana glared. “I just think we should prepare ourselves… Something doesn’t seem right here.”

“Let’s take a look inside, at least,” Korinn suggested. “We’ve come all the way here… Let’s get an idea of what we’re up against, anyway.”

Hana couldn’t really argue with that; even if she could, the others clearly had their minds made up already. “Come on, Alfred,” Hana sighed, calling the bird down from his perch on the tree, onto her shoulder as she headed towards the dungeon. The place gave her a very bad feeling, the sensation that something wasn’t right… But what could it be?

The entrance was thrown open, large, wooden doors leading to a long staircase downwards. It all looked normal enough, she supposed, if not a bit ominous… Yet, she couldn’t shake that funny feeling. “Wait!” she called, stopping Mai in her tracks, about to start down the steps.

“What now?” the half-elf asked.

“There’s just…” Hana sniffed the air, then sheathed her dagger to free up her hands so she could cast a spell to dispel any magic in the area. It was harder than she expected, a sure sign that there was more going on than met the eye, but after a moment, the area shimmered, transformed, the formerly green grass around the entrance becoming black, charred by magical flames, explaining the scent she’d picked up. There were a few small skeletons, though they looked more like animals that had, unfortunately, flown too close and triggered the trap, rather than other adventurers.

“See?” she shook her head. “We need to take our time with this!”

“Did your little spell disable the trigger, too?” Mai asked.

“I think so,” Hana shrugged. “I mean, I don’t know for sure, but… Mai!”

Hana winced as she watched Mai’lyth step over the threshold, onto the first step; thankfully, no burst of flame came shooting out of anywhere to incinerate her, or anyone else. “Come on,” Mai turned back towards her. “Clearly, you need to keep an eye out for us.”

“But…” Hana rolled her eyes. She hated when she got stuck doing this… It made sense, she supposed, since she was shorter than the rest, closer to most tripwires, or switches in the floor, so it should be easier for her to see them… And, generally, arrow traps, and things of that sort, were aimed over her head… She still wasn’t a fan, though.

It didn’t take long for her to be reminded why. It wasn’t really her fault… She had been paying attention, and spotting nothing out of the ordinary. It was only when Donovan called from the back of the group, “Can’t you got any faster?” that she got distracted.

“No, I can’t!” she yelled back. “These stairs aren’t made for halflings, and… Oh, crap.”

She felt the stone sink into the step, eyes widening as she looked around to see what she might have set off. At first, she didn’t notice anything, thought maybe it was a decoy, or the trap associated with this trigger had malfunctioned…. Then, she heard the loud thumping behind them.

“What was that?” Korinn asked.

“I-I think I…” Hana spoke up, only for her voice to be overpowered by Donovan’s.

“Go!” he commanded, rushing down the steps. “Go, go, go!”

“What is..?” Hana turned to see Mai and Korinn doing the same, and, behind them, the sight of the steps they’d been climbing down starting to collapse, falling down, one by one. Hana scrambled down, her teammates brushing past her as she hopped from step to step, trying desperately not to trip and tumble down the rest of the way and break her neck, or get caught up by the falling stairs.

“Come on!” she gasped as Korinn scooped her up, having turned around and seen how far behind she’d gotten. Hana was small enough, any of the others could have done that with no problem, although they all knew how much she hated it… In this instance, however, she was grateful, as the dragonborn could easily descend the stairs faster than her, depositing her at the bottom, beside Mai and Donovan, as the staircase crumbled into the dark pit below.

“Well, then,” Donovan said, once he caught his breath. “I guess we’re going to keep exploring, then.”

Hana stared up at the faint light of day, shining at the entrance, looking quite far away now. She could cast a levitation spell on one of the others, but she was pretty sure she wasn’t powerful enough to get them that far… They were just going to have to hope there was another way out, further in.

“I-I guess so,” Hana nodded.

“It’s all right,” Korinn smiled down at her, in the light of the ever-burning torches lining the walls. “Don’t feel bad… Those two have set off more than their fair share of traps on their own… It happens to everyone.”

Hana shrugged, looking back up at the entrance again. She could send Alfred up, and he was smart enough to repeat a few words… If only they’d left somebody up there for him to deliver them to. Splitting up the party was almost never a good idea, but at least if they had, whoever was there could have gone back to town for help, if nothing else. “Thanks for helping me out.”

“No problem,” Korinn told her. “Now, come on… We’d better catch up.”

Mai and Donovan had, of course, gone ahead, down the hallway further into the dungeon. Thankfully, they’d stopped when they came to a large, ornately carved wooden door, rather than barging ahead with only half the team. “All right, little miss smarty,” Mai teased, as Hana and Korinn approached, “Are there any traps on this you want to set off?”

“I didn’t do it on purpose!” Hana glared at her, before turning her attention to the door. She didn’t sense any magic coming from it, although there was no way to know for sure… The caster could have been more powerful than her, and able to hide their work. Or, like the staircase, there might be a trap that had nothing to do with magic… “I think it’s safe, but…” If they were definitely going to go through the door, she probably ought to use a Find Traps spell, just in case…. If they were going to try something else, however, it was better to wait, and not waste a spell she might need somewhere else.

“Well, it’s locked,” Donovan said. Of course they’d already tried; she had her doubts they’d searched for traps first, either.

“Maybe there’s a hidden passage somewhere we missed,” Korinn suggested. There had been no other obvious paths from the bottom of the staircase, but that didn’t always mean anything. “Or we could… Oh, come on, you two…” She rolled her eyes as she saw Mai and Donovan backing up. “Not again… Didn’t you learn anything from last time?”

“We survived that,” Mai shrugged. “I don’t want to spend all day looking for a loose stone to push on. Hana said there wasn’t a trap on this one, anyway.”

“No, I said…” Hana interjected, hurriedly starting to cast Find Traps, but it was already too late. Mai and Donovan were already charging forward, slamming their shoulders into the door. It shuddered, burst open… And the floor began to shake.

“You said it was safe, you stupid…!” Mai raged, before her words were drowned out by the sound of grinding stone, as the floor began to turn. Hanna was thrown off her feet as the ground shifted beneath them, the section of hallway they’d been standing on splitting into four pieces, each rotating away from the others.

There was, it turned out, a secret passage… Or, at least one. Hana scrambled to her feet, turning around to see a solid wall behind her, all her friends gone, and an unfamiliar new hallway ahead of her. She hoped the others had been at least that fortunate, and hadn’t been dropped into a pit of spikes or something.

“Hello?” she called, pressing her ear to the wall, hoping she could hear them on the other side, but there was nothing. “Well,” she gulped, looking over at Alfred, perched on her shoulder, “I guess we’d better keep going, huh?”

He cawed at her, tilting his head. “What else are we going to do?” she sighed. “Stay here?” She pulled the dagger out of its sheath again, creeping forward. “N-No, I’m not scared… I would just feel better if one of the others were here, but for all we know, they’re all waiting for us to rescue them… We should…”

“Hana?”

Hana’s ears perked up. Maybe she wasn’t as alone as she’d thought… “Donovan?” she called back. “Is that you?”

“Hurry! I don’t know how long I can…”

“Hold on!” Alfred was chirped at her, but Hana shook her head. “We have to be brave,” she told the bird, gripping her knife tighter as she rushed onwards. “I know it’s his fault, but…”

If she hadn’t been moving so quickly, she might have sensed the glyph before she stepped on it; instead, she felt it as soon as her foot touched it, and knew she was in trouble. A sinking feeling grew in her stomach, then she felt something wrap around her ankle. She gasped, looking down in time to see a shadowy tentacle there, pulling on her, curling further up her leg.

“Get away from me!” she demanded, starting to draw back her knife to stab at it, as another reached up, winding around her arm, squeezing tightly enough to make her drop her weapon. “Donovan!” She twisted, staring down the hall, searching for any sign of him, the glow of his eyes, or his axe; there was none.

Her mind raced, trying to decide what the best spell to use was. The tentacles were coming from a growing shadow, one that ought not even be there, since it was right under a torch…. She was pretty sure they were purely magic, but, if they weren’t, a Dispel Magic spell might be useless, and there was a chance she wouldn’t have time to cast anything else before it was too late…

Another tentacle shot up, wrapping around her middle, squeezing her slightly, holding her more firmly in place, as one more began to rise out of the shadow. She opened her mouth, trying to cast a spell, but couldn’t even get the first word out before the tentacle zoomed forward, right at her head, magically passing through, and into her mind…

“Hey, hey, calm down…”

Hana gasped, eyes she couldn’t even remember closing shooting open, staring up at the human looking down at her. Everything was different… She wasn’t in the dungeon, certainly, but a strange, brightly colored room, although it seemed like she had been taken prisoner, since she was surrounded by bars…

“You just got all tangled up in your blankets, sweetie,” the woman told her, reaching down and tugging them away from Hana’s arms and legs. “Were you having a nightmare?”

“Who are you?” Hana demanded. “Are you the one who built the dungeon?”

“My, such a big word!” the woman chuckled. “Where did you hear that, dear?”

“I have…” Hana started to say, prepared to brag about all the adventures she’d been on, when she tried to sit up. It was more difficult than it ought to have been, mostly because of the strange, bulky garment around her waist. She frowned, glancing down to see her usual wizard robes gone, replaced by a fuzzy, pink garment, of a rather unnatural hue, covering her from toe to neck. Beneath the crotch, she could see something bulging, as if barely able to be contained, and, as she moved, it rustled softly. “Where are my clothes, you fiend?!”

“You’re in a silly mood today, aren’t you?” the woman smiled. “And such a vocabulary! Well, sweetie, you fell asleep playing with the dollhouse, so I brought you here for a little nap… Don’t worry, as long as you stayed dry, you’ll get your Pull-Ups back.”

“What are you talking about?” Hana shook her head. “Let me out of here, I need to…”

The woman reached for Hana’s neck, and the halfling raised a hand to defend herself automatically, only to have it swatted away as the woman grabbed at something on the garment’s collar. With a tug, she pulled it down, and the clothing split in two, revealing Hana’s bare body beneath… And the thing wrapped around her waist.

“Oh, Hana,” the woman sighed. “I don’t even have to check… Your diaper is soaked!”

Hana froze at the word; maybe she should have realized that’s what it was before, after helping care for her younger siblings for so long, but this was nothing like any other diaper she’d seen before. It was so smooth, almost shiny… And she hadn’t heard the noise it was making from a normal diaper, either.

“I don’t need a diaper!” she gasped, squirming, only to notice the garment did feel warm, squishing slightly beneath her bottom. It had been a very long time since she’d worn a wet diaper, and that was almost certainly not what they had felt like then, yet she still knew what was going on. She also knew, at last, that those bars she saw around her weren’t a jail cell, built just for someone her size… She was in a crib.

“Obviously, you do,” the woman said gently. “I’m sorry, but that’s your fifth frowny face on the chart this week, and that means no more Pull-Ups for now.”

Hana had no idea what she was saying, only that the woman was carefully helping her out of the garment, leaving her in just the diaper, before picking her up, lifting her out of the crib, setting her down on a soft surface, one that made much the same sound as her diaper when she moved on it. “It’s all right,” the woman told her as she grabbed something on the front of the diaper, giving it a tug, making a ripping noise as it lifted off. “Everyone learns at their own pace… You’ll be ready eventually…”

She repeated the process again, then opened the diaper, wiping Hana’s privates with a thin, cool, damp cloth a couple times before lifting her up, taking the diaper away. “Now, I don’t want you to be fussy about this… I know you’re upset, but rules are rules, Hana; you need diapers.”

“No, I don’t!” Hana whined, sitting up as the woman looked away for a moment, gasping as she spotted one of those shadowy tentacles, reaching up from beneath the thing she’d been set on, grasping for her. “No!” she whimpered, trying to kick it away, only for it to wrap around her leg.

“N-No…” she shook her head, her vision swimming slightly; she could tell something wasn’t right, that the tentacle was doing something to her, taking something away, but she couldn’t tear herself free.

“Don’t be such a little drama queen,” the woman chuckled. “Just give me a second to get you a fresh diaper…”

“G-Get… Get away…” she gasped, kicking at the thing with her free foot. It was around her leg, but it was really her mind that was being attached… There was little doubt of that. She closed her eyes, steeling herself, gritting her teeth, trying to force it off that way, unsure if it would even work…

After a few long, worrisome moments, she felt it loosen, and she ripped herself out of its grasp, rolling away… And, without meaning, over the edge of the thing she was on. She let out a yelp as she tumbled to the floor, glad for the soft rug to break her fall somewhat.

“Oh, no, sweetie!” the woman exclaimed. “Are you all right?”

Hana could see the woman approaching; she could also see, across the room, an open doorway. The fall had knocked the wind out of her, but she managed to scramble to her feet anyway, racing for it, hoping her friends would be there, waiting, ready to help her… She hated that they’d see her naked, though better that than the alternative, she supposed.

“Where are you going?!” the woman demanded. “Stop right there, young lady!”

Despite her smaller size, and how stunned the fall had made her – and how much her head was still swimming from the tentacle – she was still faster than the larger woman, reaching the door ahead of her and bursting through, slamming it shut behind her before turning back around to get a lay of the land, to see where in the dungeon she was, to try and figure out where her friends might be…

What she saw in front of her was no dungeon; there was no sign of her party. There were plenty of other people, many her size, but it was immediately apparent they weren’t halflings, like her. These were human children, many obviously wearing those same diapers she’d just been taken out of, toddling around, playing with unfamiliar toys… A sudden, dreadful thought hit her, made her feel almost sick to her stomach. Did that woman actually think she belonged here? As a baby?

 

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