Though their orders had been simple, the assassins knew from the start that the execution would be anything but. To kidnap a Nohrian noble and spirit them safely back to Hoshido for use in negotiations would be the riskiest, most difficult task ever assigned to them in all their years of service. An airtight plan was necessary, and for that they first had to focus their efforts on gathering intel.
It took them nearly two months in Windmire to get all the information they needed, but at last they had settled on the time, place, means, and of course, target: Elise, the youngest Nohrian princess. Then all that remained was to make preparations and pray for success.
Come the day of the kidnapping, Everything was going off without a hitch. They stole into Castle Krakenburg undetected and made their way through the corridors in silence, led by one of their number who had secured a position as a castle servant to gather intel. Soon they arrived undetected at the door to Elise's bedroom, where their intelligence said they would find the young princess.
Gripping the doorknob, their leader quietly tested it and, finding it unlocked, he nodded to the others. The moment he threw the door open they all rushed in, ready to pounce on the young princess and silence her before she could raise the alarm. But as soon as they stepped into the room and saw that their target wasn't there, a brilliant circle appeared at their feet, shining with magical energies—a trap!
Before any of them could do a thing, the bright glow enveloped them, and in that moment all went dark. It was a long time before their leader awoke and, groaning under the headache that accosted him, picked himself up to see what sort of dungeon he had been thrown in. But what he saw when he looked around was no dungeon at all. Why, it was the very room he had passed out in... yet to him it looked like a whole other world, as the room and everything in it was in all dimensions near a thousand times larger than he had known it.
That trap, it hadn't just knocked him out; it had cursed him and his companions, shrunk them so small that they were of a size with ants.
How had this happened? There had been no such trap here when he had come before as one of the castle servants. Had someone, somehow, learned of their plan and set this trap for them? If so, why hadn't that someone come for him and his companions yet? Surely that would have been the first thing they'd want to do.
Whatever the case, the fact that they hadn't been found yet meant they could still make it out alive, but they would have to move quick. Wasting no time, he went and roused his nearest companion from his sleep, helping to ease him into an understanding of their predicament, before getting his help in waking and assembling the others.
Soon each of them had woken one more, and all four were making their way towards the last, but they still hadn't reached him when they all noticed a thumping noise drawing near, and a tremor shaking the floor. Then came the singsong voice of someone humming a tune; a girl's voice.
As soon as the leader recognized that sound, he ran towards the last of his companions to wake him up with the others running after him, but before he could get there, the door suddenly swung open, and the gust of wind it blew scattered them and pushed them back. Then all of them were left gaping up at the massive figure at the entrance, the Nohrian princess Elise.
Taller than any building they'd ever seen, Elise stunned her would-be kidnappers with her mere presence, especially the just-awakened fifth. Their puny minds struggled to come to terms with the sight of a human being the size of a mountain, moving at speeds which seemed unnatural. All of them were still struggling to understand it when she closed the door and turned towards them, her black boots wrapped in pink ribbons thumping against the floor, each step an earthquake for them. The spell was only broken when they saw that gargantuan foot of hers rise and swing towards them, then fear took over and sent them running.
Boom Boom BOOM! came her steps, each louder and stronger than the last, until the floor was shaking so hard that the Hoshido agents could no longer keep their balance and fell down. From there they watched as her foot, now but a single step away from them, swung closer. In less than a second the sole of her boot appeared overhead, threatening to crush them all. It came down in still less time than that, and the shrunken men didn't even have enough time to follow its descent and see it fall on the distraught fifth, granting him a swift end to his nightmare as the countless tons of weight crushed him on the spot, leaving him a little dark stain on the floor, hardly worth any attention.
Even his companions wouldn't notice his passing until later, being more concerned for their own lives as the impact of Elise's foot sent them flying back again and they tumbled head over heels along the floor for dozens of yards—or, to Elise, a couple inches. By the time they stopped, she had already stepped past them, and soon left them behind entirely on the way to her desk.
While Elise pulled back her chair and took a seat, grabbing her diary to jot down her thoughts no the day's events, the Hoshido agents reconvened around their fallen comrade, still shaking from the adrenaline rush, feeling sick to their stomachs as they looked at his remains. What in the world were they to do now? Was there anything they could do, mere insects that they now were? It had been easy enough to be somewhat optimistic at first, before now that Elise had shown them a mere fraction of what they'd be up against, their situation seemed hopeless. Their leader tried to calm their fears, even though he could hardly calm his own, and to keep them focused on finding some way to escape the castle, but the others wouldn't listen to him now. There was no way they could get out by themselves, they said—their only hope was to get the princess's attention and ask her form help. She was a kind, innocent girl—maybe she'd take pity on them.
But their leader was unconvinced, and since no agreement was found, they were forced to part ways, he going by himself towards the door to try and find some way out of here, and the three making their way to the princess.
After trekking for several minutes, the three assassins approached Elise's feet, looking warily at her giant boots. One of them tapped to the beat of the song the young princess was still humming, shaking their minuscule world each time it hit the floor; the three gave that one wide berth on their way to her other foot, until they arrived at her heel, the first stretch of what would be the hardest climb of their lives.
Despite their trepidation, the assassins walked forward and began climbing the princess's boot, finding it easier than they'd expected thanks to their meager weight and the tiny imperfections so prevalent on the leathery surface, just the right size for them to use as footholds. The climb went fast relative to their size, but it still took them half an hour to reach her knee and start walking along her thigh, and a few minutes more to reach the inch-wide gap between the collar of her boot and the hem of her dress.
Climbing down the former onto the skin of the princess's thigh, they started making their way towards the dress, but only two had climbed onto it when everything started moving. Having finished writing now, Elise pushed her chair back and stood up, her thighs going vertical and sending the fourth of the unnoticed assassins falling into her boot. Briefly he stopped around her knee, wedged between her leg and boot, but her next step snapped him loose and sent him falling further in, sliding deeper and deeper until he arrived at her foot.
The experience was terrifying for all of them, but for none more so than the one at her foot. The poor man screamed as he found himself swung at an incredible speed, only for his ride to end abruptly with the impact of her foot on the floor, which sent him bouncing back and forth between her skin and the boot. Each bounce bruised him painfully, and by the time he stopped bouncing he had a couple broken bones. He cried out in pain, calling for help from his companions, from the princess, from the gods, but his pathetic pleas made it no further than the girl's toes.
A second step came shortly after, and this time when Elise's foot was swinging forward, he was sent rolling back along her boot until he bumped into her sole. When her foot came back down, her weight fell on him, and though her flesh didn't crush him as quickly and painlessly as her boot had crushed his companion, within a second he was just as dead.
Sitting on her bed, Elise reached down and took her boots off, breathing a soft sigh as each of her feet were released. Then she swung her legs up onto the bed, rubbing her tired feet without ever noticing the little red splotch that now adorned her left sole.
The two remaining assassins could only hope their companion survived somewhere in her boot still, and that in time they might be able to help him, but for now they can only help themselves, and they had much further left to go. They walked onward as far as they could, then start climbing when they could walk no further. They gripped the threads of the princess's dress, more like ropes to them, and pulled themselves along towards her face, hand over hand. In time they passed her modest chest, and then their goal was nearly at hand; if they could but reach her ears now, maybe she'd be able to hear their voices.
The pair couldn't help feeling a touch of relief, but it would prove to be short-lived as right afterwards Elise yawned and stretched her arms overhead. The sudden movement caught one of them unprepared, and he fell, tumbling all the way down her dress to land back on her thigh.
As she finished her yawn, Elise felt a little something on her lap, and she looked down curiously to see what it was. “EEK!” the princess gasped as she saw what could only be a little bug crawling on her skin. Her cry must have scared it, because the thing immediately started running, but no matter how fast it ran, it couldn't avoid her hand when she slapped it away, killing it on the spot.
When she pulled her hand away and saw the little red splotch the poor bug had left behind, Elise felt a twinge of guilt. Now that she reflected on it, it hadn't looked like a harmful bug, and she probably could have just blown it away, but she had been so startled to find it on her that she had only thought of killing it.
Ah well; no point in dwelling on such things, she thought, and after licking the tip of her thumb she scrubbed the bug's remains away, unaware of the other “bug” on her chest watching in horror as she wiped away all trace of his deceased companion.
Loneliness weighed on the last of the trio like never before, and so too guilt over the decision made—if only they had listened to their leader and followed him outside, maybe now the others would still be alive. Still with the goal so close now, there was nothing left for him to do except keep moving forward.
So, after Elise lay down, not asleep but just staring at the ceiling, the lone survivor hopped down from her shoulder and went to stand before her ear. Though he was feeling a tad nervous, he put his hands around his mouth to channel his voice and yelled, “Princess! Princess!” Over and over he called to her, hoping she'd be able to hear him through her humming. He kept it up for a while, long enough that his throat started getting sore and he considered stopping for now, but just then her humming came to a stop and he saw his chance. Again he yelled as loud as he could.
“Hmm?” Elise muttered. Was someone calling her, or had she just imagined it? “Is someone there?” she whispered, turning her head to the side and listening closely to see if she heard that sound again. But of course, she wouldn't—not when the man whose voice she'd heard had just been crushed beneath her scalp.
Meanwhile, the leader of the assassins, standing on the floor a couple feet away from the entrance, looked over at her, wondering if his companions were nearing success. Though he could have left the room already if he'd wanted to, he felt guilty leaving the others behind, and chose to stay behind for a bit and see if they could find success, or if they changed their minds and came back. He truly hoped they would, but he couldn't shake the feeling that they were all dead.
The man sighed and shook his head; he was just wasting his time here. He turned around and started heading for the door, when all of a sudden he heard and felt a pair of big THUMPs on the floor, and when he looked over his shoulder he saw Elise had gotten up and was coming closer.
“La, la-la la, la-la la,” the young princess sang, waltzing around the room to her song's rhythm, blissfully unaware of the shrunken man she came so close to crushing underfoot, while the tiny assassin, overwhelmed by her movement and the constant booming of her feet all around him, could only lie down and pray for his survival, at least until her foot smacked down beside him and blew him away. Then he scrambled to his feet and started running as fast as he could go, keeping his eyes looking forward, not daring to look back no matter how close the tremors got.
He had gotten halfway to the door when Elise, casually glancing at the floor, saw him scurrying away and walked over to get a better look. She knelt behind him and, taking him for another bug like the one from earlier, she felt an urge to makeup for killing that one by helping this one out. Putting a hand down in the little bug's path, she stopped the poor thing in its tracks and carefully reached over to pick it up. At that point it started running again, trying to dodge her fingers, but at last she managed to corral it against her other hand. “There, there, it's okay; I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to help you out,” she said. Strangely, it almost seemed like the little bug understood her, since it climbed onto her finger of its own accord when sh moved it closer to it. Then she slowly lifted it up, cupping her other hand under it in case it fell.
There was something curious about the little thing, she thought, though she didn't quite now what it was until she put it down on her desk and sat down with it. Then she noticed that it wasn't a bug at all.
“You're a human?” she said, not sure whether she should believe her eyes. The tiny man hesitated a moment before nodding. “Wow! This is incredible! I never knew something like this could happen. How did you get so small, little guy? And how did you get in here?” The man tried to say something, but even when she leaned in really close she couldn't make out anything he was saying. “Sorry, little guy, I can't hear you. But wait, don't I know you?” Elise asked, leaning in so close that her little find looked plainly uncomfortable. “I do! You're the new servant that started working here a month ago! Is this why I haven't seen you in a few days? Poor thing; I bet it must have been so scary being lost at that size. You probably came here to ask me for help, didn't you? Well, don't worry; as your princess, I promise I'll keep you safe.”
The shrunken assassin didn't know what to say. He supposed he should consider himself lucky that she had so easily settled on her own explanation of what he was doing here. As long as she didn't piece together the real reason for it, he'd probably be safe enough with her. And as long as he was safe, there was still some hope that he might be able to escape and get back to normal some day. He still wasn't entirely comfortable around her, but right here and now, he didn't have a choice but to go along with whatever she wanted.
“Are you okay? You look a tired. Why don't we get you to bed?” She offered her fingers to him again and he climbed on. He expected her to put him in a box or a drawer or something of the sort, but instead she took him over to her own bed and, sitting down, she put him down right in front of her feet. From there he turned to her, and found her looking back at him expectantly.
The assassin didn't understand. Did she want him to fall asleep here? Even if he'd been sleepy, he didn't think he could fall asleep with her so close to him. Just seeing her feet lying nearby had him on edge—he knew just how easily either of them might kill him.
Seeing her servant staring at her feet, Elise wiggled her toes to see how he'd react. She couldn't help but laugh at how scared he got—even if they were so much bigger than him, it was still funny to think she could spook a grown man just by curling her toes a bit.
“What's wrong, little guy? Can't sleep? I guess you weren't so tired after all. Well, in that case, I hope you don't mind if I ask you to do a little something for me. You are still my servant, after all, so it's only right. Don't worry, it's nothing too hard; all I want is a little foot rub. You can handle that much, can't you?” Elise said, turning her feet over to present him with her soles. The man looked at her uncertainly, like he couldn't decide if she was joking or not. “Come on, don't be shy. Here, let me give you a little push to get you started.” She put a finger down behind him and, scooping him up with her nail, she carried him over to her left foot, dumping him right int he middle of her sole.
She watched intently as the tiny man got up and looked all around, taking in his new surroundings. Her foot must have looked so impressive for a tiny little thing like him; just seeing how little of her sole he actually covered really put into perspective how much bigger and stronger than him she was. It was even more apparent when she scrunched her sole and her little servant ended up caught in a mere wrinkle on her skin.
“You still haven't started working? What a lazy servant you are! Well, I guess that's fine. You're too small to be a good servant anyways; I'll just have to make you my toy instead!” Elise happily announced just as she released the shrunken man. “Com here little guy; let's have some fun together.” Gently gripping her new toy between her fingertips, she carried him up to her face, holding him right in front of her eyes.
He looked so scared now, almost as much as when she first saw him. She should have felt bad for him, seeing him like that, but for some reason, his fear just made him look even more adorable than he already was. “You're so cute I could just eat you right up! And maybe... maybe I will!”
The young princess lowered her toy until he was right before her lips. Even before she opened her mouth she could already feel him squirming in her grip, and his struggles only grew more desperate once her tongue slid out of her mouth, reaching for the tiny thing, until it was hanging right under him. That's when she dropped him right on the tip of her tongue, where her spit quickly fastened him to the broad, pink surface, so that he could just barely manage to crawl along it, and even though he crawled out past the edge, her saliva still held him to her tongue.
The feeling of her little toy struggling to escape her tongue was so delightful! It made Elise feel a warmth spreading from her heart down to her belly. Even more amazing was when she carried him into her mouth and when she closed her lips behind him, shutting off his only chance at escape. Even though she couldn't see him, she could feel the panic in the increasingly scratching of his limbs against her tongue. He wanted so badly to escape~! He might even be begging for her to let him go, however pointless that was; just the thought alone amused her to no end.
And yet, Elise still wasn't satisfied. Her toy's fear was intoxicating; she wanted more of it, wanted him feeling like he was on the verge of death. To that end she started pushing him around her mouth with her tongue. She was careful not to hurt him, but even so she recognized his growing terror as he was made intimate with her cheeks, gums, and teeth.
“Ah, you're so tasty, little guy~! Maybe I was wrong to make you my toy; I think you're better off as a snack!” Elise said, her voice a powerful humming that made the shrunken man's body buzz all over. “Anyway, it's been nice but I think it's time we finished playing. Now let's get you out of there and put you somewhere safe and warm: in my stomach!”
Elise giggled as she felt the tiny man's struggles reach a new level of intensity. Pressing him to the roof of her mouth, she pushed him back towards her throat and finally gave a great, big, GULP!
“Ha ha! That was a lot of fun, don't you think, little guy? ... Little guy? Hello?” Frowning, Elise opened her mouth wide, stuck out her tongue, and poked a finger deep inside. She scratched up the very back of her tongue,and when she pulled her finger out she saw her little spit-drenched toy lying all limp on her fingertip. Poor thing must have passed out in those final moments when she pretended she was going to swallow him. Well, he'd be in for a pleasant surprise when he woke up and saw that he wasn't dead after all.
Until then, there were still a few good hours of daylight left, and Elise meant to enjoy them. But, since she didn't want to leave her new toy behind, she reached over to her foot and smushed him nice and firmly into the gap between her first two toes, giving a nod once she saw that her spit was keeping him nicely in place. With her pet secured, she put her boots on and left her room, wondering who she might show her adorable little find to.