Chapter Text
Klavier didn’t remember the journey to the upper floor; he was too busy trying to stay conscious, or otherwise prevent himself from descending into a panic attack. Between the massive halls swallowing him, and Sebastian’s overwhelming presence, Klavier was surprised that he hadn’t already gone hysterical from panic and stress. All he could do was hug his knees and hope his coworker didn’t think any less of him for being so pathetic.
Before he knew it, Sebastian had arrived at Simon’s office and began rapping on the door urgently. “Simoooon!” Sebastian shouted, causing Klavier to flinch at the volume. “We have an issue! Please come to the door!”
Oddly enough, though, there was no reply. The door remained closed, and there was no shout of ‘go away, I’m busy’ from the other side. Tentatively, Sebastian reached for the doorknob, surprised to find that it turned freely, and let himself inside.
Sebastian glanced around hesitantly as if he expected the enraged face of Simon Blackquill to appear before them. “Helloooo…?”
Instead of Simon’s reply, Sebastian was greeted by the harsh squawk of a bird. Taka, Simon’s pet falcon, was perched on the curtain rod above the office window, cocking her head at the intruders.
Sebastian smiled brightly at the bird. “Oh! Taka! Hello, pretty girl!”
Perhaps that was the wrong thing to say. As if offended at being called a ‘pretty girl,’ Taka swooped down at Sebastian, talons unsheathed and prepared to strike.
“Yikes!” Sebastian ducked out of the way. Taka flew right over his head, but immediately circled back for another attack. Klavier latched his arms around Sebastian’s thumb, his heart pounding violently in his chest.
“Calm down, girl!” Sebastian cried, shielding Klavier from Taka’s line of sight with his hands. “It’s me! Your best friend, Sebby!”
Taka screeched piercingly. He aimed his talons at Sebastian’s face, striking true and carving a shallow cut along his cheek. Sebastian reeled, cupping his free hand over his injured cheek.
With Sebastian distracted, Taka made another dive—but instead of aiming for Sebastian, Taka made a straight shot right towards Klavier.
Klavier could barely bite out a single word before the bird’s talons were upon him. For a brief moment, right before Taka descended upon him, Klavier was sure that he was going to die in the worst way possible.
But instead of being torn to shreds, Klavier’s arms were suddenly pinned at his sides. He felt the wind rustling his hair, and when he opened his eyes, he found himself soaring through the air, trapped in Taka’s talons. He screamed in terror as the office floor shrank away.
“Confound it!” Sebastian hissed. He leapt into the air, swiping his hand in Taka’s direction, but the bird was too far overhead for him to reach.
Klavier’s entire body froze up as the office floor grew more and more distant. How high was he, exactly? It should have only been a few meters, but Klavier felt like he was hundreds of feet in midair. A drop from this height would certainly be fatal.
Miraculously, Taka finally put Klavier down. But the falcon didn’t set him on the floor or the desk—instead, Klavier was deposited on top of a massive bookshelf, far out of Sebastian’s reach. Klavier could almost touch the roof from here.
Taka, now thrice his height, loomed over Klavier and began strutting towards him menacingly. The bird was incredibly terrifying now that it was large enough to swallow Klavier whole. Klavier scooted away on his backside, hyperventilating and bordering on tears. But with no way down from the shelf, and with nowhere else to run, Klavier was totally trapped.
“H–Hallo, lieb Vögelchen,” Klavier hiccuped. “P–Please don’t eat me.”
“Taka. Down.”
The bird froze in its tracks. It lowered its head, almost looking meek, and backtracked a few steps to give Klavier space.
Klavier tried to force himself to look up, but he was still curled in on himself, struggling to breathe. He only opened his eyes when a cold hand gripped his shoulder. Someone appeared in his vision—a man Klavier’s size—donning a menacing glare.
“Get ahold of yourself, Gavin-dono. Taka is harmless.”
“H–Herr Blackquill,” Klavier croaked, surprised to see his coworker atop the bookshelf with him. Simon’s hand shifted away from Klavier’s shoulder and snagged his chin, twisting it in various directions to examine Klavier’s face. “Wh–what happened to us? Why are we…?”
“Who knows,” Simon grumbled, his scowl only deepening as he checked Klavier for injuries. “Who’s the kid carrying you around?”
“…S–Sebastian is only two years younger than you, Herr Blackquill.”
“Klaviiiieeeer!” Sebastian whined from afar. “Please don’t be dead! I really liked your music!”
“Sebastian?” Simon seemed genuinely surprised. He rushed to the edge of the bookshelf, down at the distant floor. Klavier followed suit and knelt beside him, staring down at Sebastian. “Ah… My apologies, Debeste-Dono. I couldn’t see who you were.”
Sebastian rubbed his bloody cheek, shooting Simon a shaky thumbs-up. “It’s alright, Simon! Just a scratch! Um…” He tilted his head curiously, craning his neck to peer up at Simon and Klavier’s far-away perch. “…Why is everyone tiny today? Did I miss a work memo?”
Simon huffed irritably, folding his arms. “Unfortunately not. I have clue how this happened to us.” He glanced over at Klavier, the faintest hint of worry crossing his face. It was strange seeing the infamous Twisted Samurai so obviously distraught. “I hadn’t realized Gavin-dono was caught up in this mess, either. Are there any others?”
Sebastian opened his mouth to answer, but paused and let his mouth slide back closed. “I’m not sure,” he finally admitted. “We should… take a look around, I think. Just in case!”
“Agreed.” Simon stood up, grabbing Klavier’s arm and guiding him away from the edge of the bookshelf, back towards the wall. “Taka, sit. Good boy.”
Taka, who’d been keeping his distance from the two shrunken men, lowered his body to the ground and fluffed his feathers a bit. Simon reached up and stroked Taka’s beak gently, whispering words that Klavier couldn’t quite make out.
Simon glanced at Klavier, scowled deeply, and gestured to Taka’s backside. “Well? What are you waiting for? Get on.”
Klavier stammered a halfhearted protest, but Simon ignored him. He reached forward and practically threw Klavier onto Taka’s back. The bird eyed the pair warily as Simon clamoured behind Klavier, seating himself closer to Taka’s tail. Klavier had no time to imagine how ridiculous they looked—he was far more worried about what Taka was about to do.
“Taka,” Simon began, pointing down in Sebastian’s direction. “Fetch.”
And before Klavier could open his mouth to properly object, Taka was suddenly airborne, soaring through the office like a paper airplane. Klavier’s stomach dropped. He instinctively clutched a handful of feathers and buried his face in Taka’s neck.
Thankfully, the ride back down to ground level was infinitely smoother, and Klavier didn’t even mutter a scream this time. Whether it was because he wasn’t trapped in Taka’s talons, or because of Simon’s instruction, Klavier wasn’t sure. But within ten seconds, Taka slowed to a stop on Simon’s desk. Ten more seconds passed before Klavier’s head stopped spinning.
“Oh!” Sebastian rushed over to them, scooping both Klavier and Simon up in his cupped hands. He whisked them skyward and held them tightly against his shoulder, stroking their backsides with his thumbs. “What a relief! You two almost gave me an art attack!
Simon growled, squirming uncomfortably against Sebastian’s hold. “A what?”
“Nevermind.” Sebastian held them a bit tighter, heaving a relieved sigh, before pulling away so they could sit freely in either of his open hands. “It’s a good thing Taka was here with you, Simon! She’s really well-trained!”
Taka’s feathered ruffled up indignantly.
“Down, Taka,” Simon chastised. The falcon visibly relaxed, although his piercing eyes continued to bore into Sebastian’s skull. “Taka doesn’t like being called a girl, Debeste-dono. He gets annoyed.”
Sebastian’s eyes practically bugged out of his head. “Taka is a boy?!”
Klavier rubbed his face and sighed, trying his best not to let himself be annoyed with this needless loitering.
“Down to business, then.” Simon jutted an accusatory finger in Klavier’s direction. “Tell me what you know. How did you shrink?”
“I–I don’t know,” Klavier admitted, holding his hands up in surrender. “I felt sore for about an hour, and then I collapsed. When I got up, I’d lost my height.”
Simon silently mulled Klavier’s story over for a moment. “That’s what happened to me too,” he muttered, running a hand through his tousled hair. “We really have no leads, then. What a pain.”
Klavier shook his head, clearing some of his nerves away. “W–We should look for the others,” he said. “There might be others stuck at our size… We have to find them before any of them gets hurt. And perhaps see if they know something about our predicament that we don’t.”
“Correct, Gavin-dono.” Simon stood up in Sebastian’s palm, turned around, and sat back down. He gripped Sebastian’s curled fingers to keep himself steady and upright. “Alright. Let's move.”
Sebastian nodded firmly, spinning on his heel and dashing out of the office. Klavier felt himself being thrown forward at the sudden motion. He regretted not having Simon’s foresight to find a handhold so he wouldn’t fall.
“Slower, damn it!” Simon hissed, tightening his grip on Sebastian’s fingers. “If you drop either of us, so help me—!”
“Don’t worry, Simon!” Sebastian chirped. His footsteps thundered beneath them rhythmically. “My hands are steady and even-peeled! You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
But as Sebastian ran down the hallway at an alarmingly fast pace, causing both shrunken men to sway and jerk in every direction, Klavier found himself doubting that sentiment.