Lost in Transition

CH 3 Cruel and Unusual Punishments

"Beast! Beast where are you!" yelled Ferris looking considerably older now then he had several years prior yet then again for an elf that hated with every fiber of his being the thing he had to live with for the last several years then one could understand just why he looked far older then the magical restorative properties of Felarya would have let him look like.

"Show yourself and claim your responsibility for this mess you have made!" Ferris shouted again walking throughout the first floor of the house having already checked the spot in the house he had designated as her living area already.

"If you don't show yourself now I will ensure your punishment will be as such that you never forget it!" Ferris continued to shout

Meanwhile a few yards away outside of the house a now nineteen-year-old Sala played happily with her great friend Sascha playing one of their favorite games tag.

"Ha! I got you now Sala! There's no escaping me now!" Sascha shouted cornering Sala in a dark corner within a small abandoned back alley that allowed the both of them room to run and remain unseen to any but the most avid searcher who knew what to look for.

"Heh so you think Sascha!" Sala hissed happily. At that, even Sascha who had been Sala's friend for the last several years began to back away slowly.

"Easy now Sala. No need to get... Ahhh!" Sascha screamed as Sala launched herself at him and bowled him over in an embrace as they rolled forward until Sala crashed into a wall.

"Haha! You should have seen your face! It was priceless! Hehe" Sala laughed as she slowly uncoiled herself from Sascha and helped him back up with her tail.

Looking at Sala now, she now stood at exactly the same height as Sascha while her tail was now more than four times her height. Her red hair hung loosely down to her shoulder blades and her green eye's more full of life and hope then when she had been at five. Yet her body was still covered in more and more scars to the point both Sala and Sascha doubted they would ever go away. But the pain she got from those were a small price to pay for spending her days with Sascha in their little hideout that Sascha had found and had helped Sala dig a tunnel from Ferris house to it.

"Very funny Sala. You know you’re stronger than me." Sascha said with a laugh as he stood up

"What? Little ol' me stronger than a boy? Oh why I never would have thought!" Sala laughed grinning widely showing her "teeth" which were actually fangs that were recessed into her gums and only came out when she had to use them.

However, much unlike most other naga's who only had two she had four fangs thus was now why whenever Ferris came near her he always had an anti-venom at the ready. Yet Ferris had yet to actually distil a proper anti-venom to her poison as she could hear him loudly cursing every night as each time he "milked" her venom it would have changed some different property and thus why Ferris would always keep his distance from her mouth and a dagger constantly at his side dipped in a poison of his own making while anywhere near her tail.

"Beast!" Sala barely heard coming from the tunnel they had dug gave a heavy sigh as she began to head back to her home.

"Looks like he is in need of me again Sascha I'll talk to you again same time tomorrow okay?" Sala explained to Sascha waiting right outside her tunnel

"Okay Sala I'll hold you to it but you had better come back here with something to eat I'm starving!" Sascha bemoaned grabbing his gut and walking around like a starved beggar.

"Hehe, Sascha you do know you’re going to have to return there sooner or later otherwise they might just put you up for lost for good!" Sala said playfully pushing him gently with her tail "Besides at least there you have people who don't hate you with every fiber of their being and show their hate by leaving scars that are visible to all to see." Sala said holding her tail in front of him to remind him of what she had to deal with

"Alright Sala but if Father Yorik says it is time for me to become a monk to the temple of Oth like he and the rest of the teens my age I'm leaving no question asked!" Sascha said giving Sala a very serious look

Sascha had revealed to Sala several years ago that he did not actually have a family but rather lived in an orphanage with the other kids who had been orphaned in Felarya because their parents had been eaten by one thing or another in the Felaryan jungle. Yet Sascha had explained that even though his living quarters may have been slightly better the other kids their still hated and despised him and one another. Fighting each other until a priest or monk came in to break up the fights. Therefore, Sascha had to deal with a world that still hated him but unlike Sala, he had people who may not genuinely love him but still cared enough to ensure his health.

"Heh well you could always get a job and do something productive." Sala said sarcastically rolling her eyes "Or..." Sala added locking her eye's on him and giving him a smirk that even he knew was her being serious

"Or I could help break you out of Ferris's place and the both of us become the most widely known adventurer's in the world." Sascha said with a smile crossing his arms with a smile the both of them having contemplated and thought out the idea for a while now ever since Sascha had become of the age where he had to choose between coming a priest of the temple of Oth or finding a job in Negav or becoming an adventurer. Risking his life and limb for almost no gains or promise of any rewards what so ever.

"You do know you could do so right now and he would never be able to stop you right? You are by now stronger than him and can easily overpower him should he try to stop you from escaping." Sascha reminded her

"I know! I know! Yet I keep having the feeling that if I tried to escape while he was still around I would have to deal with him constantly chasing me for the rest of my life! That is just one prospect I don't want to have to live with knowing that some where he is just waiting for me to slip up and catch me again!" Sala cried as the idea of always being on her guard from a vengeful Ferris constantly haunting her quickly came to the fore of her mind

"Well whenever you’re ready to try you know exactly where to come find me." Sascha said crossing his arms behind his head as he sat against a wall

"Yeah, yeah right here I know. Bye Sascha see you soon!" Sala said waving her hand and tail goodbye as she entered her tunnel returning back home

"Hmm... maybe I should go back... if just for the one night to get something to eat and then leave for good as they give me the question on what I'm going to do." Sascha said standing back up and looking skywards and towards the tallest building he could see in Negav the Isolon Eye before turning back around and leaving the alley abandoned yet again heading back to the orphanage ran by the temple of Oth.

"Beast! This is your last warning show yourself now and I might go easy on you!" Ferris shouted into the empty house.

"I am right here master. What is it you would have me do? All my chores and tasks are complete and everything is in fine enough order that I really do not see the reason for you raised voice." Sala said bowing slightly but nowhere as far as she had when she were a child.

"Beast where the hell have you been! I have been searching for you for the last hour!” Ferris demanded without a hint of concern in his voice but every bit of anger and malice

"I have been inside my new domicile that you have so graciously deigned to give me." Sala said sarcastically rolling her eyes quickly as she blinked

"No you have not! That was the first place I looked and you were not there so tell me now where you have been or so help me I will force you to tell me!" Ferris demanded picking out a yellowish potion from his belt and held it before him.

"And don’t tell me you weren't playing with that boy! I can practically smell him coming off of you!" Ferris yelled pointing an accusing finger at her as if she had actually eaten her one and only friend.

Ferris had learned about Sascha about a year ago when he had caught him escaping from the house after helping Sala with her latest shedding which had helped her reach her current height. That night Ferris had warned Sascha upon pain of death that if he ever caught him within his house again he would ensure that he never left it again. It was also that night that Ferris had begun collecting ingredients for another secret potion he had researched a long time ago and started working a new.

"Very well master if you must know I was outside and I was with my friend and we were playing together enjoying our time after I had completed all of my chores and tasks." Sala informed him feeling smug in the fact that she had managed to work within Ferris rules yet still disobey him to the point but not quite past his set rules, after all he had never yet said she could not leave the house.

"You did what!" Ferris practically exploded his eye's almost as wide is a stop light at a Negav intersection "You dare to make a mockery of me! I who have given you everything and shown you more care and love then the rest of the entire world and you dare to mock me!" Ferris shouted his eyes becoming so blood shot Sala could see the individual veins in each of his eye's pulsing

"Apparently I have been too lax on you lately and now it seems I must crack down on your rouge behavior and show you the punishment for disobeying me!" Ferris shouted reaching for something on his belt

"Oh no not the knife! Don't hurt me!" Sala cried sarcastically giving her most frightened look possible. Her adolescent behavior truly showing it's self as she rolled her eyes at Ferris having long since learned to ignore Ferris and his punishment.

At that Ferris paused and stared at Sala as if studying her looking for something he could use as leverage against her to put her into place. Then with a look of malice and hate, Ferris stared Sala down as he spoke very eerily calm.

"Very well then. It would seem have learned to build up a tolerance to pain and torture of your body." Ferris spoke calmly releasing whatever it was he had been holding back into his belt. "Tell me then beast how old is that human friend of yours?" Ferris asked giving a particular emphasis on what Sascha was.

"Why what's your sudden interest in him." Sala asked catching the sudden change in how Ferris was talking

"Ah yes, he is just slightly older then you isn't he? And the fact that he's an orphan means that the priests at the temple of Oth are going to either kick him out or accept him into their order. And knowing you and your influence on him he isn't going to take the choice of joining the priests" Ferris stated with an smile so crooked and evil it would have caused a succubus to pause

"What are you getting at master?" Sala demanded coiling up not liking where this was going

"Never you mind beast! Your mind controlling of one life is about to cost someone their life! Now shut up and return to you area while I plan out your punishment!" Ferris shouted pointing Sala to her spot near the window

"Not until you tell me what you’re going to do to my friend." Sala said oh so quietly both her hands balled into fists and her staring at him at the first time as a threat to not herself but to someone else.

"What’s this? Does the creature have a sort of attachment to its mind slave?" Ferris said watching Sala with an amused sneer

"You will not touch him or come anywhere near him or so help me I will kill you." Sala warned Ferris not willing to risk him doing anything to her only friend

"You will do nothing!" Ferris shouted as he reached into his belt and threw a dart that punctured into her neck

"Ow! What the hell!" Sala cried out removing the dart and suddenly feeling very dizzy as the room started to spin "What have you done to me!" Sala cried out trying to keep her balance focusing on Ferris

"A simple poison that I have improved on cause’s dizziness drowsiness and once the affected comes to they obey without question. It's actually one of my signature concoctions I made about twenty years ago." Ferris said remembering the brief and intense encounter with Sala's mother as he unconsciously rubbed his neck

"You... you bastard!" Sala shouted trying to stay up unsuccessfully crashing down onto the ground "I'll... I'll kill you!" Sala shouted at the top of her lungs from the ground unable to move tears in her eye's

"Oh do shut up." Ferris said lifting a foot and stomping on Sala's face knocking her out cold

"Sala, hey Sala wake up!" Sascha whispered tapping on the window seeing her laying right below it like normal "Common Sala wake up and let me in already!" Sascha said tapping the once more

Sala slowly awoke from her sleep her mind in a very very deep fog and at hearing, being told to wake up did so slowly.

"About time you woke up sleepy! Come on open the window and let me in!" Sascha urged

Sala hearing Sascha asking her to let the window open did so and it was only then when the cooler outside air rushed in hitting her in the face did she realize something was wrong. However, it was already too late to warn or stop Sascha as he climbed in the window.

"Oh... Sascha don't come any closer... I don't... I don't feel." Sala said barely able to speak before Ferris stepped in

"Don't feel? Don't feel what?" Sascha asked

"Grab him!" Ferris ordered from somewhere within the shadows of the room. At that, Sala shot her tail out and coiled it around Sascha tight enough to where he would not escape.

"Ah! What the hell! Oh no! Sala quickly let me go! Ferris is here!" Sascha pleaded struggling in her grasp yet Sala gave no response her face as expressionless and emotionless as a golem "Sala! Salafeta wake up!" Sascha cried out

"Silence him" Ferris ordered at that Sala squeezed Sascha harder with her tail causing him to cry out in pain

"Ah! Sala whatever he's done to you snap out of it you’re hurting me!" Sascha cried out in pain feeling something break in his body

"I said silence him!" Ferris ordered again and Sala squeezed harder causing Sascha to be in more pain

"Ah! Stop this please Sala your hurting me!" Sascha cried out with tears in his eyes

"Shut up boy or do you want me to have her squeeze you tighter." Ferris demanded starring Sascha directly in the eyes

"What have you done to her you bastard elf!" Sascha yelled unable to move at all sure, now that one or more of his ribs were broken

"Nothing I have made my pet simply more obedient seeing as how independent thought for herself proved to be too much for her to handle and do her tasks as I have expected of her!" Ferris yelled at both Sascha and Sala giving Sala a cold stare as if expecting her to say something back before returning to Sascha

"Now then boy I do recall that I had warned you not to enter my house ever again." Ferris said walking up to Sascha removing a brown colored potion from his belt

"What... what is that!" Sascha yelled watching Ferris pull out the potion

"This dear boy is something I have been working on ever since your last visit to my home. And trust me it's not so much as what this potion is going to do to you that you should worry about as much as what will happen to you after." Ferris said stopping next to him coiled in Sala’s tail unable to move

"If you think I'm going to drink that stuff your more crazy and stupid then I thought." Sascha said trying to get away from Ferris

"Oh you'll drink it one way or another." Ferris whispered into Sascha's ear before taking a step back "Squeeze him!" Ferris ordered and Sala squeezed harder breaking another bone in Sascha's body as he cried out.

"Ah! You fucking bastard!" Sascha cried out at the increased pressure

"More!" Ferris shouted watching the display before him with a strange sense of satisfaction. While Sala increased, the pressure on Sascha not knowing what she was doing to her friend.

"AH HA! Sala stop this! I can’t take much more!" Sascha cried out as he cried in pain as he felt every single part of his body hurt

"Then take the potion and it will stop." Ferris offered from where he was

"F... Fuck you!" Sascha shouted spitting at Ferris best he could

"Tsk typical squeeze him some more!" Ferris ordered

"Ahhh!" Sascha cried out as it felt as if his body was about to be squeezed to a pulp. However, while he screamed out he felt a cool liquid start going down his throat as Ferris shoved the potion into his throat and closed his nose shut.

"Drink it or she turns you into an unrecognizable pulp!" Ferris shouted holding the potion in Sascha's mouth

Sascha unwillingly drank the majority of the potion choking on some of it but eventually emptied the whole container for the potion and swallowed as Ferris stepped to the side and watched. At first Sascha was about to start shouting again but then he felt strange and then looked around and noticed how everything seemed to be getting bigger.

"Wha... what have you done to me!" shouted Sascha as he slowly shrunk from his normal height

"A rather complex potion using ingredients that are rare enough to cost a small fortune to buy or dangerous enough to collect from the wilds. You should feel fortunate boy your my first test subject for this potion though most certainly my last as I had to go through extreme lengths to collect those ingredients and had to call in favors from those I'd wished better off forgotten. But to answer your question that potion specifically causes the drinker to in what was once theory shrink in size from their normal height to that of a three inch tall neera." Ferris explained walking around Salafeta watching Sascha disappear within her coils until he dropped out down below on the ground in pain on top of his clothes. As Ferris reached down and picked him up holding him away from himself in disgust.

"Alright you shrunk me and tortured me now let me go!" Sasha yelled from within Ferris grasp

"Oh no this is only the beginning as I am not just punishing you but her as well." Ferris said with an evil grin pointing at Sala

"What are you going to do to her if you hurt her in any way I'll!" Sascha started

"You'll do nothing!" Ferris shouted shaking Sascha in his hand reminding him of the size difference "Beast! I have decided that seeing as how punishing you for your misbehavior no longer works, I have decided to try something different," Ferris said calmly and with enough care, one would have thought he had actually meant it

"And what is that master?" Sala asked calmly eying him cautiously

"Instead of punishing you as I used to I will now offer you a treat for your good behavior and to demonstrate just how sincere I am I will give you a very tasty sample which I am sure you will enjoy." Ferris said walking to the heavily entranced Sala

"Now hold out your hand." Ferris asked Sala as he approached her his hand with Sascha out to her.

"Take your treat from my hand and hold it tightly ignore any sounds or movements that may come from it." Ferris said holding his hand out to her. And much to Sascha's horror watched as Sala took him from Ferris holding him tightly.

"Now then beast you may eat your snack but please do enjoy it first." Ferris said face looking like he had just won some giant prize as he watched Sala lick her lips and lift Sascha up above her mouth holding him by a leg

"Sala don't do this! Please don't do this! If you do, you'll... AHHH!" Sascha yelled as Sala dropped him into her mouth and closed it shut behind him "Oh god, oh god. Sala please spit me out! I'm not a snack I'm your friend Sascha! We've known each other for nineteen years!" Sascha cried out to Sala, as she tasted him moving him about inside her mouth with her tongue enjoying his taste. Wrapping her tongue around his entire body and squeezing gently she lifted him to the roof of her mouth and rubbed her tongue over him even more.

"Salafeta stop this I'm not a snack! I'm your friend! I'm a human! A person just like you!" Sascha yelled out as she pushed him to her cheeks giving a quiet "mmm" sound as she enjoyed his taste having never tasted something living before only the spare scraps that Ferris would give her or food that had gone past its expiration.

Closing her eye's ever so softly Sala enjoyed her tasty little treat ignoring anything Sascha said just as Ferris had instructed her to. And from how delicious he tasted Sala decided that she might actually behave a little more around Ferris if the snacks he promised all tasted this good.

Sala probably would have stayed like that for the next thirty minutes enjoying this surprisingly great tasting treat if Ferris had not spoken up again. "Are you enjoying your little treat beast?" Ferris asked walking around in front of Sala his hands clasped together behind his back.

At which her only response was a delighted "Mhmm" as she nodded her head up and down slowly still enjoying Sascha's taste

"Good now then. Swallow it and do not spit it out cough it out or puke it out or anything. I want you to enjoy it to the fullest so digest it so thoroughly that you will never forget what it feels like to have fully eaten a treat as tasteful as this one." Ferris said with an evil crooked smile as he stared at her.

"But this one taste's so good! And it moves! I don't want to eat it just yet I can still taste its flavor!" Sala pouted looking at Ferris much like a child would their parent at being told to stop playing with their food

"There will be many more where that came from beast. Now do as I asked and we can continue and you just may earn yourself another treat by the end of the night!" Ferris said excitedly egging her on with promises that she had no idea were false

Looking Ferris in the eye's Sala tilted her head backwards letting Sascha fall to the back of her mouth slowly allowing her to get one last long final taste of the first of many such tasty treats she thought hopefully.

"Sala! No don't! If... if you swallow me, I'm never going to come back out! Please Sala don't do this I don't want to die!" Sascha cried out trying to get a hold on her tongue somehow as he slid towards the back of her mouth and closer to her throat. However, just before he reached her throat he managed to get a hold of the tip of one of her bottom fangs and held on for dear life.

"Please Sala don't do this I'm your friend Sascha can’t you even tell it’s me! Please Sala don't eat me I... I don't want to die... I... I want to live... please don't... don't eat me!" Sascha cried out tears in his eyes as Sala moved the tip of her tongue closer to him. "No... no... please no... NO! AHHH" Sascha screamed out as Sala pushed him off of her fang and to her throat where upon she swallowed him all at once with one satisfying gulp.

"Mhmm thank you master that was a most... delightful treat you gave me." Sala said still licking her lips and swallowing the saliva that had built up from having tasted her treat for such a long time.

"Good I am glad you enjoyed it creature now..." Ferris said pausing as he enjoyed the moment to its fullest with Sala completely unaware of what she had just done. Having just tasted and eaten her one and only friend as if he was nothing more than a snack to her much like one of the giant naga's in the wilds would have. "Awaken... Awaken and face the truth of reality and what you have just done." Ferris said as he saw the confused look on her face as she slowly tried to get an understanding on what had just transpired.

"Wha... what just happened?" Sala asked nobody confused as to why she felt so good as she lowly tried to piece her memory together from the fog of Ferris's poison that had kept her under his complete control

"What has just happened beast." Ferris spat at her with every bit of the exact same malice and hate as he previously did "Is that you have just eaten your one and only friend and I must say it looked like you enjoyed him quite a lot." Ferris said with devious satisfaction seeing the look on her face as she stared at him and then at herself.

"No... you... you lie! That's impossible I would never eat him! I could never eat Sascha!" Sala yelled using her tail as a spear and stabbing at Ferris who stepped to the side as she missed.

"Oh do I now? Who's the one really lying now? Think real hard beast for the first time in your useless life use what little bit of a brain nature deemed fit to give you. Were you not sleeping not that long ago? And were you not awakened by your friend to let him inside MY house." Ferris said with a sense of self-satisfaction as the pieces finally began to click into place for Sala

"No..." was all she could manage to say her eyes starting to go wide with realization

"Then think yet more still why would I ever deem to be nice to something like you? Why would I give you anything that might be anything close to resembling an award for behaving when I already demand it of you? And then finally look around and tell me just where exactly your friend is right now." Ferris said smugly crossing his arms narrowing his eyes at her giving her a knowing smirk

"He's... he's..." Sala could barely speak her eye's wider then dinner plates as she stared down to her stomach "No Sascha please speak to me tell me this isn't true!" Sala pleaded looking down at herself while Ferris watched in amusement

"Sala! Help please spit me out now! Your stomach it... it thinks I'm food quickly before it starts to digest me!" Sascha called out weakly from within her

"Sascha! No!" Sala cried, as she wanted to get him out yet try as she might... for some reason her body would not let her do it. It simply would not cough him up or spit him out it was as if her own body was working against her!

"Master you have to stop this please! I don't want to eat him!" Sala begged turning to Ferris tears in her eyes

"Why on earth would I ever want to do that?" Ferris said maliciously a grin on his face as he soaked up the look upon her face

"I promise I'll do anything you want! I'll stop speaking to him I'll stop leaving I'll stop failing and... and.... please just make this stop! Just please help me get him out of meee!" Sala cried loudly as she stared at Ferris as her only hope her only savior for both herself and her friend.

"No" Ferris said flatly and with the authority of that of a judge jury and executioner.

"Sala! Help me!" Sascha yelled again hitting his fist against her stomach drawing her attention back to him.

"Sascha! Hold on I'll... I'll get you out somehow just hold on!" Sala panicked rushing off through the house to find something to help her get him out faster

"You will do no such thing beast stay exactly where you are!" Ferris yelled ordering her once more as the poison still maintained its hold on her causing her obey him to the point.

"You can’t do this! It's just not right! This isn't you master! You don't just kill innocent people for no reason! You have to help us please!" Sala cried out once more turning to Ferris

"I am not the one that is going to kill him beast. You are the one that's going to digest him to the point where none will ever recognize him. And you will be unable to let him out at all as your body digests him just like all your damned vile giant cousins in the jungle that destroyed and ate my entire village!" Ferris yelled stepping forth and punching her right into the stomach "Now be a good pet for once and do as you’re told and digest your meal!" Ferris shouted backhanding her hard enough to send her falling to the floor crashing into one of his tables spilling and tossing his potions that were on it.

"Now then my job is done here tonight. I will expect you awake and ready to perform your duties early in the morning beast." Ferris said calmly, turned around, and left the room and Sala alone as if nothing had ever happened. Once Ferris had left Sala kept crying for Sascha promising she would try to find some way to get him out while Sascha kept begging her to let her out.

"Sascha! Please I... I'll get you don't panic!" Sala cried looking about the room unable to move and grab anything that might have been of help

"Sala hurry your stomach is starting to get hotter and making something liquid like! Hurry please I don't want to die inside of a friend please!" Sascha cried out pounding on the walls of her stomach in the hopes he might trigger some hidden reflex that would let him out

"I'm trying! I'm trying! Just hold on!" Sala cried as she tried to again force herself to spit him out and only finding her body unresponsive even the natural gag reflex would not work at all.

"AH! Why can’t I get you out!" Sala shouted grabbing at her hair and staring at her stomach with tears in her eyes after having exhausted every option and found herself back right where she started in the middle of the room. Then her eyes locked onto something that she knew she could use and slowly slithered to it shakily.

"Hold on Sascha... I think I may have found some way to get you out..." Sala said her voice broken and shaken as she grabbed a knife that looked like it had seen better days and too much use.

"Sala what are you doing? What are you thinking? Sala don't do anything crazy!" Sascha warned sensing that something west right

"I... I have to Sascha I don't want to lose you..." Sala cried holding the knife over her stomach guessing where her stomach might be

"Sala whatever it is you’re going to do... don't do it... I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you did something horrible to yourself," Sascha warned having some inkling of an idea of what she may have been thinking about doing.

"I... I have to do it Sascha... it's... it's the only way that I can get you out alive!" Sala cried holding the dagger out ready to plunge it into her stomach.

"Sala don't do it! Stop for a minute and think! Whatever it is your about to do stop and think! If you hurt yourself while trying to get me out what do you think your chances are of hurting me in the process are?!" Sascha cried out trying to reason with her

"I... but I!" Sala tried to argue

"Sala you are a smart person I know you are slow down and think. I want to be out from inside of you just as much as you want me outside of you... but I don't want you to risk hurting yourself to get me out at your expense!" Sascha yelled breaking through to what little remained of her rationality when her panic and need to save Sashca had pretty much taken full control of her

"Rah! Haa aaah!" Sala cried dropping the knife on the ground closing her eyes and falling down on her side rolling her body in frustration "Why! Why can’t I do anything! This is unfair! I haven't done anything to deserve this!" Sala continued to cry tossing and turning on the floor

"Sala calm down" Sascha said softly yet loud enough for her to hear him

"It's not fair! I'm so close to you yet unable to help!" Sala cried into her hands unable to do anything else but cry.

"Sala it's... it's alright just please calm down." Sascha repeated himself again

"But I can’t your still inside me! I still have to get you out of me otherwise your... you’re... Ahhhaaaa!" Sala cried yelling in aggravation slamming her tail into a wall denting it. Sala sat there crying to herself rocking herself back and forth; as she slowly rubbed her stomach, trying to show Sascha that she still cared for him.

"Sala... I... I know I'm not getting out of here... So please just... just calm down so we can at least talk to each other one last time before I... before I... just please calm down Salafeta I know you can." Sascha said trying to calm her down accepting his fate though trying to keep his mind off what was going to happen to him barely.

*Sniff*"Okay Sascha I'll calm down just let me..." Sala paused taking a deep breath closing her eyes and then breathing slowly holding her breath for a couple of seconds. However, as she tried her mind instantly went to Sascha "Sascha! I'm so sorry I... I never wanted this to happen please I am so sorry!" Sala cried out as s stream of tears came down from her eyes

"Sala its okay this is not your fault I know that and so do you!" Sascha cried out to her trying to get her to calm down "Now please calm down... can’t we just talk one last time... as close friends?" Sascha asked her

"Oh... okay Sascha." Sala barely managed to stop herself from continuing to cry as she wiped her eyes and wrapping her tail about herself slowly. "So what do you want to talk about... *Sniff* Sascha?" Sala asked sadly sitting down on top of her tail

"Well you know back when we first meet... when we were still kids I had originally came here intending to steal something anything of value... Heh imagine my surprise when instead of finding something to steal... I found you instead." Sascha laughed a little the memory just as vivid now as it was then.'

"Heehee... *sniff* I remember that night... you were so afraid of me you would have thought you'd have peed yourself." Sala giggled remembering as well

"Hey you were just as afraid of me as I was of you! Don't forget that is was me who had to convince you to talk to me!" Sascha said defending himself

"Heehee... maybe but who was it that had kept you from getting hurt when you were getting chased by that group of neko's?" Sala giggled at the thought of a younger Sascha being chased by a small group of Nekos who had been upset by something Sascha had said or done to them.

"Hey they doesn't count! Those neko's had always had it out for me! They just choose that day to follow me!" Sascha yelled back

"Heh yeah following you as you ran yelling for my help." Sala laughed cheering up a little and starting to smile

"Fine then how about the time when you got so stuck trying to get through the tunnel I had to push you back through it!" Sascha said with a triumphant grin

"Yeah and you almost got stuck in there with me? Yeah don't think I forgot that incident either Sascha. Hehe I also remember you saying that if you ever got out of there you would swear off ever chasing after women in hard to get places." Sala giggled at the thought

"Well... it would seem I broke my vow... as I still chased after you still... even after that little situation of ours" Sascha said with a laughed with her both of them laughing together again. Even if it was in fact just for these last few moments alone together.

"Sascha... do you like me?" Sala asked him from out of the blue

"Huh? Yes of course I like you were friends aren't we?" Sascha said slowly trying to see what she was getting at

"No do you like me?" Sala asked a little afraid of the answer

"I... oh... Sala I..." Sascha paused having to look inside himself for the answer to that and the pause was all it took for Sala to start to tear up again.

"I... understand if you don't Sascha... I just had to ask" Sala sniffed sadly hating herself for having asked that question

"Sala... you are my friend and I love you as such... heck I love you as though you were the sister I never had! And you pretty much were for me... you were my strength and my will you gave me hope when I had none... when I felt like nothing was ever going to be right and fair... you helped prove to me they would..." Sascha said slowly trying his best to save his already low supply of air while answering her. "So don't think for a second... that I don't like you... I might even love you but I... I just don't know I just can’t be certain right now... I can’t tell if it’s my fear making me try to find comfort in the one I am closest to... Or if it's actually real and not some product of the situation that we are in..." Sascha said slower and slower his air getting lower with each breath

"Sascha... I... I didn't mean...!" Sala cried realizing she may have upset him unintentionally

"It's... It's okay Sala... I like you and I know you like me to... so why don't we leave it at that okay?" Sascha said trying to calm her down so that she would not return to her wallowing in self-loathing and loss and thus being unable to talk with him while they still had a chance.

"Okay... Sascha thank you for telling me... I just... I just figured no one ever would like me because..." Sala said sadly stopping her rocking but still with tears in her eye's

"Salafeta don't you ever... ever listen to what that... that heartless bastard of an elf... says about you!" Sascha yelled really getting mad that even now in their last moments that Ferris still somehow managed to affect Sala's judgment of herself and making their time together that much shorter

"You are a better person then him... in every sense of the word!" Sascha shouted disregarding his air for this to remind her that she was a person as well not the monster Ferris kept trying to force her to think she was. "If you... if you continue to think of yourself as less... then I will never rest... and you will have let him win!" Sascha shouted cutting his air dangerously low

"I... I understand Sascha... thank you... for everything..." Sala said rubbing her stomach thankfully and slowly

"You know Sala... I... no matter what happens to me... I... I just want you to know that you were the only one... that made all those years I spent at the orphanage bearable... and I just want to thank you... for being my one... and only... true friend... for all these years and please don't cry when I... I... you know..." Sascha said sadly feeling his time almost running up

"Sascha..." Sala cried sensing the same thing as well

"Please don't cry Sala... You know how when you always cry it makes me sad as well... so please don't cry for me anymore... after all if you think about it... in a way... I will never ever leave you... hehe so you don't always have to be alone." Sascha said sadly nearing the end of his time

"Sascha don't please... don't..." Sala stuttered

"Sala none of this was your fault... though you may feel as though it was... I want you to know... that I forgive you... and that I will always be your friend... Salafeta" Sascha said slower and slower as both the lack of air and Sala's stomach finally kicking in finally got to him drowning out whatever else he might have said as it made the all too familiar sounds of digestion.

"Sascha? Sascha..." Sala cried poking her stomach gently still barely able to feel him moving about inside her "Sas... cha?" Sala asked one last time feeling his movements slowing down and then.

"Sascha?" Sala asked one last time feeling his movements stop once and for all. Her eye's one full of tear's now slowly wept as she both heard and felt nothing from Sascha. Her body frozen in place unable to move Sala just stayed there for a while the only thing she could move was her mouth as if to say something. Then just like that, she broke down and began to cry thrashing her body around crying out to any that would listen. And hearing nothing or feeling nothing but the sense of loss and hurt just kept on crying and thrashing about in the room.

And upstairs in his study Ferris sat writing down his notes into his book on his latest successful potion. Finishing the last note closing it on a single note.

"The use of the prototype potion that is aptly labeled as the Shrinking Potion. Is very effective in doing what its name suggest, but is by far more trouble to collect its ingredients and then make it then it is to use. The current ingredients required to make the potion are as such so rare and few and far in between, that any further such renditions of the potion should be made from far more readily available sources. However, nothing currently available and easily reachable is suitable for such a complicated potion and thus mass reproduction is not advisable. Alas it would seem that the secret to shrinking others and things with ease shall once more rest within the hands of the fairies. Highly recommend using less complicated means of achieving whatever plans that would require such potion. If not to simply rethink the entire plan over from the beginning."

And with that Ferris closed the book put it on a shelf and returned to his chambers unaware of that which he had set into motion. For down on the floor below the last straw had been pulled that had kept back that which had been years of tortured pain and hate for one being. Which had as of until that night been kept in check. But were now set lose and the plans for revenge and escape set to the fore of the mind so much so that it would only be a matter of time until Ferris got exactly what was coming to him.