There was silence around him, his eyes hurt, his body hurt. All he wanted to do is just lay there. But he heard someone moving around. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to sit up. He saw a vague outline of a boy bent over a thick blur. The blur turned to him. "Are you alright Alec?" He heard Andrea's voice ask.
Alec rubbed his eyes, trying to get the image to focus. "My eyes hurt, what's going on?"
"You made a mess. Hold still." He felt her soft feminine hands over his face. "Heal."
Her hand was pulled back. He could see again. He blinked against the sudden influx of light. "Thanks." He surveyed the area. There were three bodies around the campsite.
"Where's Neka? Is she okay?"
"She is better than okay. She happily carried off one of our attackers."
"What? How? Where's Vivian?"
"Here." Came a tiny voice. Alec gasped, Andrea sighed and shook her head.
A tiny toddler stepped uneasily towards them on bare legs. Her shirt hung loosely around her neck, dragging across the ground as she stepped. Her now oversized armor and pants lay uselessly behind her.
"What the fuck?" Alec said dumbfounded.
"That wast time I save youw butt while youw howding a wand." The toddler said and crossed her chubby arms.
"Vivian?"
The toddler nodded, her blond whispy curls bouncing as she did.
"Who else would you expect this to be?" Andrea asked.
"I'm sorry that not everyone is used to their friends becoming babies."
"This is not a baby, this is a toddler." said in her usual factual tone.
"Seriously?! We were just attacked and our attackers may still be here. Your friend and our best fighter just turned into a b...toddler and you think correcting me is the most pressing action you can take?"
Andrea motioned around them as she spoke, "Look around you. Our adversaries have been defeated and either ran away or have been slain. As for her condition, I am currently weighing my options. This works best when you are thinking calm and collected and give things their proper descriptors."
Alec clenched a fist, eliciting a disdainful look from Andrea. She was so frustrating to deal with.
Vivian sniffed. She never liked it when her friends fought, but now. It felt like it was hurting her. Her eyes were burning.
He took a deep breath. "Okay, you know what. Never mind. So what's the plan here Andrea? How did this happen and can you fix this?"
"Well, you tried to stab another man with a loaded wand, breaking caused the loaded spell to ricochet around. The man may have had some magic protection on him to elicit this effect. It hit your pet and displaced her age regression spell and some how ended up in Vivian after she saved you. We were lucky the Nekomata settled for taking one of those men instead of mauling us."
Alec glared at Andrea, she responded by simply looking back with a blank expression.
"Guys...pwease focus." Vivian's tiny voice sounded.
"As for me fixing this. I can try, but she might be stuck until we can get to town. This spell did not break after we defeated the witch, so it is a powerful spell. I will need some herbs which we might find in the area. I shall take a look around right now."
Andrea held a branch in the fire to light it. "Please stick close to Vivian, while I do a sweep around the area."
"Guys. I think I have a pwobwem."
Alec and Andrea looked down at Vivian. She stood with her tiny legs wide and an embarrassed expression on her face as a tiny stream of pee streamed from between her legs to the ground, messing her shirt. "I can't stop this."
Alec looked at Andrea who returned his stare, "As I said earlier, I do not do diapers. Please help Vivian while I survey the area."
"Wait, that's a bit easy isn't it? Just go 'Oh, I don't do diapers.' Well, maybe I don't do diapers? Why don't you help her? You're both women!"
"Guys, pwease don't awgue. I feew wike I'm going to cwy." Vivian said, through watery eyes.
Andrea scoffed, "Being a woman does not mean I automatically have to take care of the children. Besides, it would not be logical for me to take care of her. You have no idea what I am looking for to help her, you have no experience as a magic user."
"That's not what I meant! I meant that I'd imagine it's a much more comfortable feeling for her if another woman helps her out."
Andrea didn't reply and just presented her torch.
In his mind Alec had already taken the torch and run off to look for the herbs, but he didn't do it. He couldn't. Loath as he was to admit it, Andrea had a point. "But you do have a point on that last bit. I guess... I have no idea what you're looking for."
"Is that okay with you Vivian, If I...please don't cry." He said as he saw the toddler fighting back the tears.
"I...I can't help it. I...I just don't wike you two fighting." She said through sobs, tears running over her face.
"Console her and take care of her. I will be back shortly." She stepped away from the camp leaving Alec and Vivian behind.
Alec picked her up carefully holding her at arms length, her shirt dripping with urine. He looked around the campsite and sighed. He had no idea what to do.
"Youw giw pickup game has impwoved." Vivian smiled.
He put her back down. "Can we...not do this? Right now? I'm freaking out over here. I literally have no idea what to do."
"Take it easy Awec. Take deep bweath." She patted him on the leg with her tiny hand. The thought was nice, but it didn't feel reassuring at all.
He took a deep breath. "Okay...I...I...guess we need a diaper or something?"
"I don't want a diapew."
"Are you kidding?" He crouched and looked her in the eyes, "I can't tell if you're kidding anymore. Do you know how to make a diaper? Is that in the same skillset as making bras?"
"I don't want a diapew."
"Seriously? The woman who told me to suck up my pride and wear a bra is throwing a tantrum over a diaper?"
"It's not the same. Bweasts swing in the way, I don't. I can leawn and be potty twained."
"Ah, yes. A toddler is much better in a fight than a pair of breasts. Besides, we don't have time for you to be potty trained! Andrea will fix this, it's just a temporary stopgap. You know what, I have an idea." He searched Vivian's bag and pulled out some clean clothes, a blanket and some towels.
He took off Vivian's oversized shirt, picked her up and laid her down on the blankets. He shreds the towels and pads them together.
"I don't wike this at aww." Vivian crossing her tiny legs.
"And ..that's.. why I suggested Andrea do this."
"Pwease don't fight with hew. She doesn't mean it wike that."
"She's..just... so infuriating, to deal with. All stuck up and constantly correcting me, how the hell do you manage?" Said as he said inspecting how he would apply his makeshift diaper.
"She's not so bad. Most of the times she doesn't mean it badwy."
"Really? Doesn't seem like that to me. Just now she was pretty clear I broke the wand and caused this mess and pretty much called me dumb."
"She didn't caw you dumb. she sees it as stating the facts, thewe's no iw intent. You did bweak the wand and you don't know what youw wooking for. She just says it a wittwe bwunwty. It takes getting used to. Twy not to take it pewsonawwy."
"Fine, I'll try. Now stop procrastinating and let me try and give you a diaper before you have an accident and pee on your blanket. Besides I've already seen you naked, so really what are you worried about?"
"Twue, I'm just so smaw now, I feew vewy vuwnawabwe." She says sadly, but still opens her legs to him.
Clumsily Alec tries to use his shredded towels as a diaper. It takes a few tries and some complaints from Vivian on how tight and rough the fabric is before he finally manages.
He helps her up. The thick cloth around her hips looks ridiculous, but it's better than nothing, he thinks as he puts a clean shirt on her and ties it together to it won't immediately fall off.
"Thanks mom." She says smiling.
"You're welcome. But please don't call me that."
"But you wook wike a mom."
"Right, best not to get used to that. I noticed during the battle, but the bra you gave me feels looser now than earlier, I think I'm finally losing these stupid things." He patted his large breasts.
"I can bawewy wawk in this diapew." Vivian complains as she waddles along.
Still, together they collect Vivian's gear, putting it in her pack. With great difficulty Alec drags their fallen attackers from the campsite before putting on a pot of water on the fire.
"You were amazing how you handled that guy with the huge sword." Alec says as he sits down next to Vivian huddled together in her blanket.
"Thanks. It's called pwactice." She said with a wink.
The narrow sickle of the moon was high in the clear skies, it's meager light doing little to alleviate the darkness. Andrea rejoined them late in the night. "I have not found the necessary herbs here to make a decent attempt. I shall keep my eyes open when we resume our journey."
"That sucks."
She spots the hot water. "I shall make some tea. Alec and I shall take turns sleeping."
He didn't really feel like it, but he did promise to make an effort to Vivian. "Andrea..." She just looked at him, her usual expressionless face. "I... I'm sorry I lost my temper just now."
She handed him his tea. "Apology accepted. I understand your emotions. A lot has happened and I would imagine someone with your lack of experience would be overwhelmed."
She didn't make apologizing easy. He sighed again, this was going to be a long trip. A snore next to him roused him from his thoughts. He smiled and carefully laid Vivian down in her bed.
"You did well. Do you mind if I take the first rest?" Andrea said.
He straightened his back. "Thank you. No, I don't mind." He was looking forward to waking up without tits. He looked in his shirt. They were definitely shrinking.