Thank you ChaosDancer12 who helped edit and write parts of this chappy. make sure to read there 'Seeking Solace' series which also has ties to this series.

Mana would never have thought that foxes could be scary, but as a cat he was itty bitty small.
Bite sized.

His tiny claws dug into the tree's bark as he clung on for dear life, really wishing that he hadn't left Echo's room.

Being a pet couldn't be that bad, right? RIGHT!

Okay, it would have sucked, but now he wouldn't be exhausted, weeks later, clinging to a tree branch to escape from animals that want to eat him.

"Hey YOU! Shoo!" A voice shouted, the foxes fur fluffed out in fright, and with a high pitch cry, ran off.

Mana peered down, not sure if he should feel relief as a figure stepped below the tree.

"Mewwww!" He cried unhappily, a bit stuck.

"Poor thing." The monster said, and reached up, gently untangling the kitten.

A squeak escaped him, and he was cuddled to the monster's chest, and then, purring as he rubbed his fur just right.

He was carried to a cave where he was cleaned, and then, fed fish that likely had been caught in a nearby river.

"I thought that you was a lost pet, but your emotions are a bit too advanced.... They're more like a Monster's emotions." The monster said, and Mana's ears twitched. The monster felt.. familiar, deja vu?

He was still having trouble understanding concepts that Malice had forced into his mind.

"Mew..." Mana agreed.

"Rest for now, I'll see what I can do about whatever this is, in the morning." They said, Mana purred, and he fell asleep, exhausted.

---

"I'm pretty sure that you can't eat that." The Monster said, pulling Mana away from his food, and tiny cat ears folded back, sadly.

"Don't try that kiddo, I know that you understand me, but a cat body can't eat this." They said, tapping his nose, he sneezed, but he stopped trying to get to the food. Still, he was curious, and tapped the Monster's face with his tiny paws.

He wanted to know who he is, and why he felt that he should know him... he must have come across a version of them when he lived with Blue.

Blue.. he wanted to go home to Blue.

"Oh, are you asking who I am?" The Monster asked, and Mana nodded their kitty head.

"Well, I'm a Nightmare type. I'm a bit stuck in my passive form right now, but my friends called me Oriental." The Monster said, fondly, and Mana stared at him in surprise. The nightmare that he knew was all gooey, did passive mean no goop?

For the next few hours, Oriental told him stories of his friends, of how when visiting Japantale, Dust had worn a kimono... a women's kimono, for hours, and Cross had used the wrong type of knot to keep his kimono closed.

Not that they knew this fact for hours.

Oriental stopped and coughed, dust escaping from their mouth, Mana mewled, and he nuzzled their face worriedly.

"I'm dying." Oriental admitted.

Mana mewled, unhappily, dying was bad!

They'd go away forever, he would be alone again. Didn't Oriental want to find his friends again?

"Hey, none of those sad emotions." Oriental said, with a snort, and a grin actually appearing on his face. "My Dream is gone, my boys are gone... I'm just glad that I lived long enough to meet you."

"I think that I can, at least, get you out of cat shape, I don't know how it will effect you... But you, little guy, should hopefully be normal again." Oriental said, setting the kitten down on the ground, and Mana flinched, startled at the sound of the collar being pulled off.

"Don't worry, it's still yours. I won't toss it." Oriental promised him, feeling a spike of sadness from the feline as it was removed.

Would it hurt? Going back to normal... this Mana wondered.

"Time to sleep kiddo."

Wait.. sleep?

------

Oriental sighed as he gently cradled the small kitten. It reminded him of the fur balls that Killer would sneak into his room at their castle, when he thought that no one was looking...

He missed his boys... Their end had come in a storm of betrayal and death.. He didn't even get to say goodbye to them.

But now that his time was up, maybe he would get to see them again, if he was lucky...

He knew that it was selfish of him to die before he really did know what happened to the rest of his boys... Two of them were still unaccounted for...

He really did not know... And it hurt to know that he would be leaving this world without knowing that...

But maybe, if he was lucky, and they were alive, he hoped that they would be happy, wherever they were...

He just hoped that Hurt hadn't killed all of them, like he said that he would..

Still... he had no issues using his remaining Magic to save this child.

------

Fingers... that was the amusing thought Mana had waking up, the second was that he was naked, under a blanket.

"Welcome back kid." Oriental greeted, seeing him awake.

"Thank you, my name is Mana." He said, and then, he mewled, he blushed, and the older Monster laughed.

"It may take a while for you to kick that." Oriental giggled. "Specially with your new... appendages."

"Appendages?" He asked, confused, and then, he squeaked and blushed heavier as Oriental touched something above his head.

He still had cat ears!

And a tail!

"Well.. they seem to be made from ecto, so let me teach you how to call it forth, and dismiss it." They said, still giggling, and Mana sighed.

------

"Why do you have something my size?" Mana asked as they rested around the fire, a few days later, he was wearing a purple tunic type shirt, and black pants. No shoes or socks, but pants and tops were okay, for now.

"There might have been an issue with Sci Sans, he accidentally turned me back into a child. I just hadn't gotten rid of the clothes yet." Oriental admitted, remembering fondly how the boys had looked after his innocent self, and kept Dream from trying to keep him that way.

"Neat!" Mana chirped.

Oriental gently pulled out a silver chain from under his clothes, a beautiful sky blue gem was hanging from it.

"That's pretty." Mana said, looking at it, he made an oooh sound as he realized that it actually glowed deep inside the gem, and the blue shifted shades.

"It was a gift from our local Blue, I think that you should have it." He said, placing it around Mana's neck, Blue would have loved Mana as much as Mana's Blue seemed to love him, from their stores.

"But it's yours?" Mana asked, frowning, as he held the gem up to eye height.

"Something to remember me by kid." Oriental said, and he passed the cat collar to them too. 

Mana stared at it for a moment, and then, snapped it closed around his wrist.

A promise, that one day, he'd meet Echo again.

"I think that it's time for you to go home Mana, your Blue must be quite worried about you." Oriental said, but he was surprised when Mana hugged him, crying.

"But you'll be alone!" Mana cried, and in his stress, his ecto cat ears and tail popped out again. "Don't die"

"Hey.. hey now, it will be okay, I'm ready. I know that it doesn't make it any better. But I don't want you to see me go." He said, gently petting their ears. Slowly, their sniffled and sobs quieted, but tears still slipped down his face.

"How... how do I get home?" He asked.

"Let me teach you about portals, you're certainly strong enough to jump Multiverses." Oriental grinned.

"Thank you!"

Anytime kid."

------

Aiming into another Multiverse was awkward, but he landed, with a crash, in a bush in front of the burned ruins Malice had stolen him from.

"Is.. that Mana?"

"Why is he a kid?!"

"MANA!" Blue cried.

------

"Alone again." Oriental hummed, staring at the full moon, and he looked down at his hand, glad that Mana had not noticed that it was starting to dust.

"I'm so tired..."