Jim had fallen down into the pocket of Fran’s leather jacket.  His body hit the bottom side-ways, and he ended up lying on his side as he landed.  “Oof…” he muttered as he stopped moving.  He tried to move his arms and push himself up, but everything around him started moving around and his body was pushed back and forth.  Blood rush into his head and back out and he was pushed forward and backwards countless times as she heard the small quake-like sounds below him.  Fran had begun to walk away from the Cafeteria.

“La La La, got a new friend to play with.  La La La,” sung Fran as she happily walked across campus.  She had a huge smile on her face and her hair blew in the wind as she walked along, trying to figure out where she wanted to go with her tiny little friend.  As she walked, an idea sparked and she called down to Jim.  “Hey, cutie!  I know exactly where to take you for some nice, private fun, hehe!”

Unlike most jackets, Fran’s pockets were on the inside of the jacket and had a warm felt material.  Not only was Jim getting a workout from being tossed back and forth constantly, but the inside of the pocket was very toasty for him.  After a few minutes, his body started heating up and sweating, feeling nearly 80 degrees to him.  His mind was completely blank at this point, overwhelmed by all of the movement and tossing he was having to endure.

Within a few minutes, the blood rushing to his head was making him dizzy.  He forced his eyes shut, trying to keep him from becoming nauseated.  He fought hard in the minutes to come, but he could slowly feel the sick feeling of nausea creeping closer and closer to him.  He wouldn’t be able to prevent it, but he could at least try to postpone it as long as he could.  Holding his eyes shut and trying to keep a hand over his face, he continued to endure the strange sensation of being tossed about in Fran’s jacket.

The ride continued for several more minutes before finally stopping.  As Fran did stop, Jim’s head flew back and bounced against the pocket, which had nudged against her left breast.  From above, past the nausea and headache he was enduring, he could hear her voice calling down towards him.  “Oooh!  Feisty little man, aren’t you Jim?  We’ve just met you’re already trying to caress my breasts with your tiny, little self!”

Before Jim could understand everything that was going on, a pair of black-polished fingers entered the pocket and yanked him out, holding him around the waist area.  A blast of wind hit him as he was raised out of the pocket, making his headache all the worse.  He was having a hard time dealing with how Fran was handling him.  She was much, much different than Abby had been.  Abby had been calm and gentle, letting Jim make all the moves.  Fran, however, was much more forceful, taking it upon herself to make all the necessary moves for him.

Jim was then set into Fran’s bare palm, and brought close to her face.  She looked into his eyes and tilted her head.  “Hey…what’s wrong, cutie?  You don’t look so good.” she said.  Jim, now on the brink of puking, blinked his eyes as much as he could, but the nausea had overtaken him.  He ran to the side of her palm, kneeled down and forced everything out his mouth, over the side and down towards the ground. 

He coughed and hacked for several minutes as the nausea had gotten the best of him.  He wasn’t even thinking about his situation, but only the fact that he was sick and needed to throw up everything that was building up in his stomach.  He hadn’t realized that everything had shifted and Fran had sat down in a field, taking her boots and socks off.  Tears began to run down his face, he’d been going at it for so long.  When he’d finally finished, he wiped his face off with his sleeve and fell backwards into Fran’s palm, breathing heavily, worn out from his phase of being sick.

As he was sitting there, he felt Fran’s finger tip gentle patting him on the head, and her face approaching him again.  “Aww…poor cutie got a wittle sick?  I’m sorry.”  She gently rubbed the side of his face with her finger for a minute, as he readjusted to the situation of what was going on.  Finally being able to think straight again, he wiped some of the tears from his face and looked up at Fran.

“F-fran…Please, don’t carry me like that anymore. That…That was scary…”

Fran let out a small smile when Jim had told her he was scared while he rode in her jacket.  She puckered up and leaned her head in for a quick kiss.  As he was partially thrown down into her palm again, he saw her with a big grin on her face, and her face had gotten a little red.  “Don’t be scared of little old me, cutie.  I really like you and want you to feel better.  Besides, I can’t play with you if you’re too scared of me.”

Jim was a little hesitant to think of what Fran meant when she said she wanted to ‘play’ with him.  What could play possibly mean?  Could she mean something little like having them talk to one another, or would she be doing something physical with him, like rubbing his body or throwing him into the air?  Some of the ideas and thoughts coming into his head were scaring him a little, even though it didn’t seem like she would mean to hurt him.

Looking back up, he could see that Fran was examining the expressions on his face.  She looked down to him again and began to talk to him some more.  “You know, if you’re so scared, then you’re going to have to get to know me better.  Why don’t I introduce you to my great, beautiful body, huh?  That ought to help you out.  After all, I do have a great figure, you know.  I wouldn’t be surprised if you fall for me by the end of the day” She winked as she finished this statement and pushed her hands forwards, letting Jim take a look at her body.

“So?  What do you think?  Pretty great, huh?  I bet you’d just love to spend the day walking all over me, wouldn’t you?  What’s your favorite part of me, huh?  Jim?”

Jim was so busy looking around everywhere and thinking about being scared that he hadn’t even contemplated any of the questions Fran had given him.  He didn’t look at much of her body, though.  He almost became fixated on what laid behind him.  Turning around, he could smell something in the distance.  He wasn’t sure what it was, but it almost smelled like fruit.  The smell was of strawberries, in particular.  He looked back and saw Fran’s legs and feet.

His eyes widened as he saw them.  Much different than Abby, Fran had very large feet.  Her ankle led to a long, soft foot, paired with long toes, all covered in dark-black nail polish.  From them came the strawberry scent he had noticed only moments before.  He took a few deep breaths in, almost captivated and trapped within the scent.  Before long, he heard Fran speaking to him again, at which point he turned around.

“Oh, now I see, Jim.  Do you like my big old feet?  Ya know…they are really soft and sweaty right now.  I’d bet you’d feel better if you were down on the ground by them.  By the look on your face, I can tell you’re just dying to be down there by my sexy, sweaty toes, having them tower over you and take in the smell and wet perspiration, filling your soul with their happiness.”

Jim looked up at Fran, a little worried about what she’d just said.  Be down there, by her sweaty feet?  Smell and Perspiration filling up his soul?  He definitely enjoyed feet, but wasn’t sure what she had in mind.  “W-what?  What are you talking about, Fran!?” he asked, surprised at how the conversation was turning.

“Not a word!  Don’t you worry about a thing, you little cutie, you!  If you wish to be down by my sweet, soft feet, I will happily provide!  You will be surrounded by their warm, soft, sliky, sweaty charm!”

Fran slowly leaned forward and whispered to Jim.  “You know…I’ve always wanted to have someone down at my feet to pamper me, hehe.”

She then moved her hand and Jim towards the long, soft feet that were propped up on the ground below… 

As Jim was being moved closer and closer to the ground and Fran’s enormous, sweaty feet, he started to get very nervous.  She was acting very strangely.  She was almost teasing him with her voice, talking about being surrounded by her sweaty, sexy toes and even told him how she secretly wished for someone down at her feet to pamper her.  He started to sweat as he came closer and closer, but something crossed his mind and made it wander.

As he came closer and closer to Fran’s feet, his environment began to change dramatically.  The air was the same, and nothing physical was different, but the scent was getting stronger, and different.  From near her face and chest, he could smell the faint scent of strawberries coming from her feet.  As he came closer, that scent was still there, getting stronger, but he smelled something else, too.  It was something that was not sweet or enticing at all.  It was sour and almost made him feel like gagging as he passed over her knee and it became clearer to him.

Taking a deep breath in, it finally hit him.  The rank, sour smell he was catching onto was from her boot.  After sweating all day, Fran’s boot smelled terrible!  It was on it’s side, open right next to her foot, and it’s stench was slowly entering his system, mingling with the sweet, strawberry-like smell coming from her feet themselves.  Jim’s eyes opened wide and turned back to Fran, who had a huge smile on her face.  It was almost evil or mean-looking to him.  He tried to call and yell up to her.

“Please, Fran!  Don’t put me down by your feet!  Don’t p-”  As hard as Jim tried to call up to her, Fran was in no mood to listen to his reasoning and please, at least not seriously.  She started laughing and called back down to him.  “Oh, you’re so funny, little guy!  You’re so into this that you want to act like you don’t want to be down there, by my feet!  Aww, you’re so sweet, trying to make me feel like I’m in some sort of power-like position.  It makes me feel great!  Don’t worry, you’ll be down by my beautiful soles within moments and you can get to work!”

Jim’s body was shaking a little at Fran’s tone of voice and what she’d just told him.  As he inched closer to her feet, he passed by her ankle and saw her feet, propped up.  Her hands were close to the ground at this point, and he witnessed the towering foot.  As he was set down, he looked at the foot before him.  It was an incredible sight.  Her foot, all by itself, must have been at least 20 feet tall, each toe as tall as he was.  His eyes widened further as he saw it above him, an incredible sight by any standards.    

The two scents also were filtering into his system.  They spread throughout his entire body and eventually found their way to his brain.  They provided an incredibly powerful feeling.  Jim felt a little dizzy and dazed as they filtered into his system.  He was almost losing himself, as if falling into some sort of trance.  The two together…strawberry and the sour smell of her boot were surrounding him on all sides.  They took him over, and his vision almost seemed blurred.  Blinking, he could almost see a soft echo in her feet, making them seem radiant.

 “W-what’s…going on?” he said to himself, trying to keep a grasp on reality.  His mind and sight were slipping away from the incredibly powerful scents that had engulfed his entire body.  Although he felt dizzy, he didn’t have any problems keeping himself balanced.  It was a very strange feeling to him, but it didn’t seem too surprising to Fran, who was looking down at him, bringing out a big, teethed grin.  She then called down to him, talking to him about his current situation.

“Well, how do you like it down there, little man?  Aren’t my feet simply intoxicating?  Irrestistable?”  As her voice came down to him, they echoed in his head.  They swirled around inside him and repeated over and over, even though she’d only said it to him once.  It felt like a voice inside of him, telling him what to think, what to do, how to act.  In his trance-like state, he merely nodded up to her.

Still grinning, Fran continued.  “I’m glad you like it down there, little guy.  I’m sure you’ve realized by now that the two smells you have enveloped yourself in are making me seem very echoed and enticing.  I first learned about this from my sister, but I’ve only used it once, right now.  I know you like my feet, so I’m going to help you express it to me!”

She cleared her throat and held her head up high.  Sliding her feet back, she lowered them down until her toes were directly in front of Jim, hovering about 4 feet above the ground.  Giggling a little, she began to speak to him, and provide him with what she wished for him to do.

“My sweet, sweet little Jim.  Listen to my voice.  Hear it echo throughout your head, your arms, your legs.  Let it influence your entire body.  I will be your guide, your master, your teacher.  Listen closely to my words and do exactly as I say.  But don’t worry.  I won’t be mean.  I’ll only help you express your own desires.  The desires I saw in your eyes when you saw my feet.  The desires I know you have, deep down inside you.”

Her voice was swirling in Jim’s head as he lost himself in his scent-induced trance.  He had a blank stare and nodded towards Fran again.  He couldn’t say a word.  Although part of him was screaming for him to stop this, it was being held back by the incredible environment that Fran’s feet and boot-smell were providing him with.

Crossing her arms, she looked down to Jim again and started wiggling her toes in front of him.  As the Jim-sized toes moved, more of the strawberry scent entered his system and a slight breeze hit his face, making him lose himself further in his trance-like state.

“Now, little Jim, you will drop to your knees.  You will pledge yourself and your life to my sexy toes, and you will lick them clean this very instant.  Do you understand?”

Jim’s body was trying to resist, but the state he was in was too powerful.  His weak mind failed as he dropped to his knees…

 As Jim dropped to his knees, his mind was in great conflict.  There was a war waging in his head.  Two sides were fighting.  One side was his mind, and the other was the intoxicating sensation and influence that Fran had given to him mere moments before.  His entire mind racing, he couldn’t win the fight.  He was weak from being sick a few minutes before, and the influence had taken control of his actions.

His mind screamed at him, telling him to stop what he was doing, but it was almost as if the influence of this gigantic lady had completely taken over his body.  His head bowed as he fell to his knees, and his lips produced words.  Words that he didn’t want to see, but deep down, felt he did want to say.  The words left his lips and brought a smile to Fran’s face.

The words were: “Yes, Master.  Your toes are my life.  Your wish is my command.”

Fran let out a deep, maniacal laugh that echoed throughout the area and down into his body.  It shook him up as he bowed to her, and she looked down at him again.  “Good, my little Jim.  You will live for my long, sweaty toes.  You will worship them, kiss them, lick them, and smell them every day to show them your affection.  You will submit to my will and, in return, will receive my love.  You are all mine, tiny one.” 

Fran then began to move her toes around and leaned forward, towards Jim.  She plucked him from the ground and proceeded to roll over, lying on her stomach.  With her feet on the ground, soles up, she moved Jim back towards them.  Many fierce winds whipped across his face as he was brought up, over, and back down towards her feet.  As she let go, his body fell about 5 feet and he landed in the crevice between her toes and the ball of her foot.

As he landed, he was still under her influence and couldn’t move at all.  He felt the soft, warm flesh around him, and the strawberry scent got overwhelming again.  He was lying against the source of the smell and it made his eyes water, it was so strong.  He tried to move, but the toes that surrounded him to the side began to curl and bend.  They pushed him against the ball of her foot, pinning him against the soft flesh around him.

Pressure increased as the toes snugly pushed against him.  He was in slight pain, but his current condition wouldn’t allow him to scream and yell.  All he could do was bear with everything he was going through at the moment and, deep down, hope she didn’t break him.  Soon enough, Fran began to laugh from above him, enjoying the site of how helplessly trapped he was in her toes.

“Now I’ve really got you trapped, little one!  You are all mine, stuck between my gorgeous toes and the rest of my soft foot.  How does it feel down there?  How does it feel to be surrounded by the toes of a beautiful woman, such as myself?  Exciting?  Exhilarating?” 

Jim was too scared and far gone to say a word, even under the influence of these toxic scents.  He took in everything and was nearly silent as Fran continued her speech, starting to get into the whole situation, in a way that he could never have guessed was coming… 

“Or maybe…maybe you feel a little aroused?  Tell me, little one, do my pretty feet turn your little self on?  Do you feel exciting, being hugged on by my toes?”

Jim still couldn’t say anything.  The influence of her was compelling him to answer, but his face was pressed against the ball of her foot.  The only words he forced out were muffled.  Not being able to hear his responses, Fran began to get frustrated.  She opened her toes up and moved him between the first and second ones, gripping him there.  Rolling over, she rose her foot up to her face and looked at him with a cold stare.

Jim’s body felt his head spinning as he was pushed in between Fran’s toes and gripped by them.  They’d gripped him right on his stomach, and he started to feel sick again as the pressure combined with the wind of being turned around and brought up to Fran’s face.  As he reached the height, the toes let off slightly and he slid down a bit in her grip, her toes now around his chest.  He shook his head slightly as he looked at the face of the one he was now calling “Master”, with a cold look in her eyes.

“Excuse me, little one, but your Master asked you a question!  If you refuse to answer her, she will become angry and punish you!”

As she ended her fierce words, they echoed in his head and the pressure on his body increased.  The pressure was hurting him, but he couldn’t do anything right away.  Her voice was echoing in his head.  All he could think about was her punishing him for not answering her.  The thoughts swirled around in his head and, finally, words blurted out of his mouth.

“I’m sorry, Master!  I love your toes!  Please forgive me!”

Fran’s cold stare slowly turned back into the innocent smile she’d had before.  Her eyes almost squinted as she was smiling and she brought him down to her lips.  She softly whispered to his face, saying “Good boy.  I knew you liked them.  But…words are not enough!”

Her breath hit his face like a big wave of heat when you first open an oven and don’t cover your face up.  His face turned red and his eyes began watering from the feeling that she’d given him.  He coughed a couple times and then opened his eyes again.  Still having submissive thoughts towards the girl, he watched as she plucked him from her toes.  Wind blew down against him again as he was moved through the air, hardly being able to tell that she’d moved her foot back down to the ground.  It hovered just above where he’d been sitting earlier when this whole thing started.

Jim felt more wind blowing from below as he was dropped to the ground right next to her foot.  His nerves were all tingling as he hit the ground and fell onto his back.  A small amount of pain had entered his spine when he impacted the ground.  Before he had a chance to try to think and move, her foot shifted and began to hover over his body.  The smell flew down into him again, destroying any logic and thinking he had at the time and nearly hypnotized his mind.  The enormous toes wiggled above his body.

Fran giggled from high above him as her toes came down further.  The ball of her foot hit his feet and legs, pinning him to the ground.  The bottoms of her big toe pushed against his legs and waist, and she kept the tip of her toe slightly hovering over his face.  Nearly all Jim could see and focus on at this point was soft, sweaty toe flesh.

“Now, prove to my toes that you love them!  Let your soft tongue slide across them, and take away all of the nasty sweat!”

Jim slowly nodded in reaction and pushed his head off, giving the toe a soft kiss, and then began to lick the flesh that was above him.

As Jim’s lips came up and touched the soft toe that hovered above him, he could feel the flesh in his trance.  It was soft and warm, like a giant heated blanket.  As he finished his kiss, he removed his lips and, as commanded, proceeded to part them.  Approaching the toe again, he pulled out his tongue and slowly pushed it and the rest of his face against the toe that was above him.

His tongue ran across the toe and took in its flavor.  Tiny droplets of sweat came off the toe and drenched his tongue, as they poured into his mouth.  As Jim finished his first lick, he closed his mouth and swallowed the sweat, filling his entire being with a salty, sour taste.  Deep down, he almost enjoyed the feeling of it going down his throat, despite his trance-like state.

As the sweat traveled down his throat and dropped into his stomach, he opened his mouth again and began a second lick across Fran’s big toe.  Starting lower, he made this lick go across as much of her toes as he could.  Bringing more sweat into his mouth, he closed his lips and swallowed again, quenching his thirst with her perspiration. 

From high above him, Fran was giggling as she felt Jim’s tongue going across her toe.  She could feel the tiny man’s warm tongue touching her.  Although it was very small, she could still feel the ticklish feeling of him cleaning the sweat off her.  Smiling as she giggled, she called down to him, acknowledging his work. 

“Oh, that tickles, Jim!  You’re doing a wonderful job.  My toes are pleased with your commitment!”

A smile came across Jim’s face as he went between licks again, and heard what Fran had told him.  Within his trance-like state, his mind was open and vulnerable to influence, and hearing her gratitude brought him great joy.  After a moment, he took more sweat in to quench his thirst, and then continued kissing and licking Fran’s big toe.

After many rounds of kissing and licking, Fran moved her toe and foot up into the air, releasing the force that had pinned Jim down to the ground.  Feeling a slight wind above him, Jim watched as the foot moved high into the air and stopped in front of Fran’s face.  She looked at him, and then at her foot.  She examined her big toe for a minute or two, and then looked back at him, smiling.  She moved her other foot moved towards him, and the big toe softly patted him on the stomach.  He let out a quiet grunt from the pressure she’d put on his stomach.

“Good job, Jim!  My toe’s all clean and void of any of that nasty sweat.  I might have to make this a full-time position for you!” she giggled at him. 

She kept smiling at him as she held her foot up by her face.  Still patting his stomach with her other foot, she slowly raised the toe off of him and began to extend it past him.  Accidentally knocking her boot away, she set her foot on its side, directly next to him.  Her toes stretched as long as he was, and the ball of her foot was just beyond where his feet were lying.  Jim looked to the left and saw the wiggling toes that were next to him, almost towering over him from his position.

He laid there for a few minutes as Fran playfully wiggled them towards him.  The scent of Strawberry Lotion was stronger than ever in his system, but he started feeling strange.  Something was…different.  He blinked a few times and tried to look around.  He saw Fran’s enormous foot and toes his left.  Slowly leaning his head forward, he saw that he was on the ground in front of her.  Shaking his head a little, he felt a piercing headache flowing through his head. 

“Ouch…w-what happened?  Where am I?  My head hurts…wait…wait…I think I remember now…”

Jim had to think hard about his position.  He remembered getting sick on Fran’s palm, and then he was being moved towards her feet.  Everything afterwards was foggy in his mind.  He vaguely remembered being commanded to do something for Fran.  He couldn’t remember much else after that.  Sitting up, he started to feel something in his mouth.  Moving his tongue around and trying to stuck on the taste he had, he started to experience something sweaty and sour, almost like a giant glass of perspiration.

As Jim was figuring out what was in his mouth, Fran let go of her foot and began to lower it back down to the ground.  As she set it down, it was on its side, just as the other one was.  She looked down at him and tilted her head a little, wondering why his head was leaned up, turning from side to side.  She laughed a little at his strange actions, and began to slowly slide her feet towards little Jim.

“Hey, little guy.  You made my toes very happy, so now, they’re going to repay you by giving you a big, soft hug!”

‘W-What!?’ thought Jim, as he saw Fran’s other foot set down beside him.  Out of his Trance, he was starting to think about his situation.  He’d heard her talk about a big foot hug, and shook his head from side to side.  Her feet were on either side of him, and her long toes were wiggling as they slowly moved towards him.  He started sweating at the idea of Fran’s feet becoming two soft walls that were going to compress against him.

“F-FRAN!?  WHAT ARE YOU…” he cried up towards the girl.  As he yelled, he tried to get to his feet and stop her feet from grabbing him, but she was much too fast for him.  As soon as he’d lowered his hands to push himself up, two sets of gigantic toes hit his body.  He turned and ended face-first against the 2nd toe on her right foot. 

Fran had heard Jim start to question what she was doing, but she was having too much fun to just stop and explain everything to him.  She was well aware that he’d come out of his trance.  She’d kicked her boot away on purpose for that very reason, as she would soon explain to Jim herself, as she played with him in between her feet and toes.

“Don’t be alarmed, little Jim.  I know you’re starting to think a little more now.  After you did such a good job of worshiping my toe, I wanted to repay you in kind.  I kicked my boot away so you could be in your normal, natural state while I play with you.  I want you to remember everything I can do for you.  I want you to feel and cherish my feet in honesty.  I really like you, and want you to like me in a real way, a non-hypnotic way.”

Jim was struggling against the overwhelming strength of Fran’s toes as they started wiggling and shifting him.  He was turned and rolled around them until he was held between her two big toes, his chest and head above the actual toes.  His head was spinning and he shook his head to regain his concentration.  Blinking, he felt a slight headache, but soon changed his attention as he felt everything moving again.  Looking up, he saw that he was coming closer and closer to Fran’s face.

As he came up to her face, he tried to say something, but couldn’t.  Fran looked into his eyes with a sad look on her own face.  She was blushing and her eyes had started to water.  He stared up at her, unable to say a single word.  Her face was so innocent and sad.  He couldn’t tell her to stop what she was doing.  Not when she looked like this.

As Fran began to sadden and blush, she looked down at the tiny man between her toes.  She lowered her head down to look at him.  She did so to make his head level with her eyes.  As she did so, she began to softly whisper to him.

“Jim…you are such a nice person to do those things for me…would you…love me?”

“F-Fran…I..”

The entire world froze after Fran expressed her true desires with Jim.  What she said utterly shocked his entire being.  Nothing was moving at all…not Fran, the birds in the sky, not even the wind in the air.  His entire world had melted right then and there.  His entire body turned ice-cold as he’d taken in what she’d told him.  As he tried to process the fact that she this tall, pretty lady had asked him to love her.

His mind was going nuts at the thoughts the statement had produced.  So many things were flying through his head.  This girl had just met him, but already opened her heart to the point where she was wishing for his love, his compassion.  She’d even partially played their entire conversation up to this point.  She’d nearly drugged him with the smell of her feet and boots to get him to worship her feet and try to learn to love them.  Then, she pulled him out of the trance and asked for his love.  There was no telling what she’d been through in her life to get to a mental state such as this, and Jim was at a loss for words.  He didn’t know what to do.

There were only two real answers to the question she’d posed to him:  Yes or No.  However, Jim couldn’t stop thinking about the consequences of each individual answer.   She was on the verge of tears as she asked him, as if it took a lot out of her just to speak those words to him. 

On one side of the coin, he could say Yes to make her happy and offer her his love.  Although she was very rough with him, she seemed like a kind girl, someone who deserved to be loved by someone.  Her situation, and her face, made him feel bad for her.  However, he would have dire consequences to face from Ruby were he to offer her his love and compassion.  How could he possibly betray his wife and give his love to this tall lady? 

On the other side of the coin, he could say No to her, explaining that he was already married.  However, the girl was on the verge of tears as it is and could completely break down at rejection.  If she broke down, not only would she be heartbroken, but she may also move her feet out of reaction, and cause Jim to fly to the ground, resulting in injury or worse.  The decision was so hard to make, his mind was racing and couldn’t decide on anything. 

As this thought passed, time continued again as it normally should, and he realized she was still looking down at him ,tears running down her face, waiting for an answer.   As she watched him, he looked up at her and started shaking, afraid to answer the question.  Nonetheless, he knew he had to say something, so he took a big gulp, and prepared to open his mouth to say something.  As he tried to speak, he had completely ignored the small quake-like sounds that were occurring nearby and getting louder with each impact.

Fran saw Jim’s nervousness and could feel him shaking between her toes.  Reaching down with her hand, she pulled Jim from her toes and set him in her palm.  Bringing him right up to her face, she puckered her lips and gave him a soft kiss, telling him to take his time and that she wanted his complete, honest answer.  Jim, even more diverse in thought after her kiss, he finally managed to get some noise from his mouth and say something to her.

“Fran…I…I do-”

 Jim’s statement was cut off when something plowed into both Fran and him.  As it hit, Fran was knocked down to the side, the source of it landing on top of her.  They both crashed to the ground and landed with a huge tremor-like sound.  Jim flew from Fran’s hand as it happened.

As Jim flew, he tried to look around at his environment, but the wind blowing against his face forced him to squint his eyes.    Trying to see as best he could, he could see light around him for a moment, but suddenly, most of the light disappeared.  He flew into what looked like a giant bush of thin, plastic material.  He hit one of the rectangular pieces of plastic and grabbed onto it where he could.  As he gripped it, he slipped down to a large, white piece of hard plastic and stopped moving.

Fran slowly leaned forward to see a young cheerleader with shoulder-length Crimson Red hair lying on top of her, one pom-pom laying on the ground next to her.  Shaking her head, she watched as the girl was looking at her, blushing.  Immediately leaning forward, she pushed the girl off her and shook her head again.  Glaring at her, she began forcefully yelling at her.

“Hey!  Watch where you’re going!”

As the girl picked herself up, she giggled a little at their situation.  Wiping off her skirt, she smiled towards Fran and apologized for running into her.  She quickly said she was late for Cheerleading Practice, and that she was in a hurry.  She was suddenly taken out of her happy mood when Fran didn’t seem amused by her stunt.  She immediately told the girl to hurry up and keep moving and said that she could’ve hurt someone.  The cheerleader slowly nodded and walked over towards her pom-pom to pick it up and leave.

As Jim got himself situated on the large, white piece of hard plastic, the rectangles had all moved downward, showing light coming from above him.  Turning up, he tried to see out of wherever he was.  Standing up, he barely stood higher than the folded-down rectangles of soft plastic.  He could see Fran slowly getting herself up next to him, and heard some distorted yelling coming from her.  Throwing his hands over his ears, he tried to muffle the noise and understand what was going on.  He thought he heard Fran telling someone to hurry along and leave. 

As she stopped, he moved his hands and opened his eyes again, only to feel a shaking sound.  The same kind of tremor Abby had made when she first approach him, Jim shook a little as a number of the tremor-like experiences happened.  Looking around, he tried to find the source of the tremors.  Fran wasn’t moving, so it couldn’t have been her.  After a few more tremors, however, he looked as a large figure stood over his position.

Just beyond the object he’d fallen into came down a large sneaker, almost stomping in frustration.  It created a quake that shook everything around him.  Falling on his butt on the white plastic, he looked up to see a red-haired cheerleader towering over him.  His eyes widened at the sight of her.  Unlike Fran and Abby, this girl was showing a lot of skin.  In her cheering outfit, Jim could see her long legs that led up to a short white-and-red skirt.  Beyond that was a curvy bare belly, leading to a small top, extending out far, accompanying the girls large breasts.  Above that was a tall face, accompanied by shoulder-length crimson hair. 

As Jim was sitting there in shock of the girl standing over him, she began to lean down and reach for him and the object he resided in.  His mind froze as he looked around at the object and suddenly realized where he was.  ‘I…I’m in her pom-pom!’ his mind screamed.  Realizing that she was reaching down to grab it, he tried to get up and run off of it before he got carried off. 

Jim had gotten to his feet and taken a single step by the time the girl’s large fingers had reached the plastic he was standing on, which was the ‘handle’ of the pom-pom.  Trying to dive out of the way of her fingers, Jim fell to the side.  A rush of wind blew against him as her hand came down and gripped the handle.  As it came down, her pinky finger caught his legs, pinning and dangling him on the pom-pom.  He screamed as he could feel the pom-pom being lifted into the air and carried off by the girl.

As the girl left, Fran shook her head and looked back down at her hands.  Not paying attention, she began to talk down to it, as if Jim were still in her palm.  “I’m sorry about that, Jim.  Some people just don’t have any manners…Huh?”

She looked into her palm to find that Jim was no longer there.  “Jim!?  Where are you!?”  She frantically looked around at the ground around her for the tiny Jim, but she couldn’t find him.  A cold thought came into her, thinking about the cheerleader.  Forcing herself up and taking a look around, she tried to see where the girl had gone, but she was nowhere to be found.  Being so frustrated earlier, she had paid no attention to where she was going.

“Oh, no…I…I’ve lost him!”

Fran’s eyes began to water again at the realization that she’d lost Jim when the girl had plowed into her.  She ran off through the field, hoping she could find her before anything happened to him…

Fran was rushing through the fields, barefoot, trying to find the cheerleader who’d run off with Jim.  Her mind was going crazy as thoughts of everything that could happen to the poor man were playing in her head.  He could get thrown around in a pom-pom, or stomped to death during a routine, or worse.  She was banging on her head in frustration as she ran and searched the campus.

“I have to find him…I have to!  Who knows what those cheerleader sluts will do to poor Jim if they find him!  They have terrible manners, and can’t even see where they’re going.  If they start practicing with him around, he could get thrown or stomped or….No!  I can’t let that happen to my little Jim!  I have to save him!  It’s my fault he’s in this position, and I have to rescue him.  I have to…OUCH!”

Fran stopped running and fell over to the ground as something pricked the bottom of her foot.  Grasping her foot tight, she looked around and saw that she’d accidentally stepped on a sign by the sidewalks of the campus.  The sign itself had a small metal point above the sign itself, and she’d hit that point with her foot.  Pulling her foot up to her face, she looked at her soles to judge whatever kind of damage it may have done to her.  Looking carefully, she looked and let out a sighed as she saw a small scratch on the bottom of her foot.

Quickly dismissing the injury, she threw herself back up and continued running through the campus, but moving out into the fields, away from the walkways and other signs and objects that could hurt her feet.  Rushing through the area, she finally saw someone she finally saw another tall person like herself.  She disappeared behind a building before she could get a good look at them, but continued on, praying that it was the cheerleader girl that had stolen her tiny friend.

Zipping around the building, she finally saw the person who was standing there.  She nearly plowed into them, but they immediately reached out their arms and caught her as she impacted them.  Being caught into a hug, Fran jolted as she thought about Jim again.  ‘She…caught me…Oh, no!  What if Jim was on her somewhere!  I could’ve just…I could’ve just crushed him!’ she thought to herself, as she moved her arms and pushed off the girl she’d collided with. 

As she pushed away, she noticed that the girl looking at her was not the cheerleader she’d encountered before.  Blinking, Fran realized that the girl before her wasn’t even a student at the University, it was Abby.

As Abby had caught Fran in her arms, she was more than surprised to see her in such a rush.  After having Fran push off of her, she took a step back and took a look at her.  The girl looked absolutely terrible.  Sweat from dripping from her face, her face herself was red, and she wasn’t even wearing her boots.  She was running around the fields in her bare feet.  Grasping onto the situation, she began to speak to Fran, as Fran was panting and trying to catch her breath while looking at her.

“Fran?  Are you okay?  What’s with the rushing?”

Being more than a little surprised at seeing Abby, Fran started panting and forcing statements through her deep breaths.  She’d realized that she ran into the one person on campus that she would be able to get to help her.  Deep down, however, she knew that she would be in trouble for taking Jim off somewhere and losing him.  Looking down at the ground for a few minutes, she thought of the fate of the poor little guy.  She’d just wanted affection from him, and now he was on his way to Cheerleading Practice.  There was no telling what kind of dangers he’d be facing there, especially if they didn’t know he was there with them.  As she thought about it, she began to cry.

“A…Abby…I…I have to….I have to save him!  I…need to!” 

Fran had immediately started to run, grasping Abby’s arm, aiming to move out towards the field, but her movements were quickly stopped when Abby gripped her own arm and pulled Fran back into her arms.  Slowly letting her up, Abby kept a tight grip on her and turned her around, looking her in the eyes.

“Fran!  Slow down for a moment.  Who do you have to save, and where are your boots!?  Don’t you know you will ruin your feet, running around here barefoot?  Think about this for a moment.  Pleas-“

Abby was interrupted by Fran trying to run again.  She started screaming as tears ran down her cheeks, pleading Abby to go with her.  “No, Abby!  I don’t have time to think!  I have to save him now!  I can’t wait!  Please…you have to come and help me find him!”

Pulling Fran back once again, Abby tightly wrapped her arms around her chest and held her against her own chest.  She brought Fran’s head back near her own, and leaned towards her ear.  She then began to forcefully whisper into her ear, trying to calm her down and get her to express the information she needed as to what was going on and what she needed her help with.

“Fran!  Listen to me!  I am your friend, and I want to help you.  But, I can’t do anything unless you calm down and tell me exactly what’s going on.  If you think that whoever this is doesn’t have much time, then the sooner you calm yourself and tell me everything you know, the sooner we can go and find him.  Okay!?”

“But I….okay, Abby” said Fran as she stopped resisting the grip Abby had on her and tried to calm herself down.  Abby slowly let go of her and sat her down on the ground, sitting next to her herself.  As she sat down, she could tell Fran was a nervous wreck at the moment, so she reached out and held her hands with her own.  Taking a deep breath, she asked Fran what had happened.

Slowly, Fran began to explain to Abby that she and Jim were spending some time together in one of the fields, and that she’d gotten run into by one of the young campus cheerleaders.  She talked about searching for him, but having no luck.  “And then…I ran into you just now…”

Abby nodded and took the entire situation in.  She now understood why Fran was so upset at the moment.  Shivers went up her own spine when she found out that their new friend had mistakenly gotten himself kidnapped by one of the Cheerleaders.  When tall folks aren’t aware that there’s a small person with them, they can cause all kinds of danger and possible injury to them with simple movements, such as swaying an arm or clapping your hands together.  As she was thinking, Fran started talking again, getting worked up from this situation.

“Please, Abby…I have to find him!  I have to save my little Jimmy before he gets hurt!  I wasn’t careful enough…it’s all my fault!”

Abby gripped Fran’s hands tighter to get her to stop talking and looked her in the eyes.  She sat there for a moment, trying to pierce her friend’s spirit with her serious gaze and prepared to tell her what they needed to do in this situation.

“Listen, Fran.  What happened to Jim is not your fault, okay?  Things happen because they happen.  You can’t change the past.  All you can do is try to do your best in the present and build a bright future for yourself.  I want to help you find Jim.  He’s touched my heart as well and he could be in danger this very moment.”

Abby stood up, and then, still holding Fran’s hands, helped her up as well.  Fran started to move away, but Abby held her position and gripped Fran’s hands, making her unable to leave.  As Fran turned around, Abby shook her head at her and pointed down to the ground, towards the girl’s scratched up, bare feet. 

“Fran, your feet are being torn up as you’ve run around campus today.  You need to go back to where you lost Jim and put your socks and boots back on.  At this rate, you’re going to end up ripping your soles open, and that is not acceptable for someone with pretty feet like yourself.”

“But…what about Jim? I’m responsible for him.  I need to save him!” Fran asked, worried more about her tiny friend’s life than the damage the ground had done to her feet.  Abby quickly dismissed her worries with assurances of her own as she pointed Fran towards the direction she’d come from. 

“Don’t worry, Fran.  You’re not alone in this anymore.  I know where that girl was headed.  You go back and get your feet safe, and I’ll head to the Cheering Practice Zone.  It’s on the North side of Campus, right over there” she said, as she pointed to the North.  “Go get your feet taken care of, and meet me there.  You can trust me.  I won’t let anything happen to him.”

Fran sniffled a little and slowly nodded at Abby.  “O..Okay.  I’ll…meet you there.”  She then turned away, heading back towards the place where she’d taken her boots off and lost Jim, as Abby turned herself and began to head towards the North side of Campus…

The red-haired cheerleader ran across the fields with her pom-pom in her hand, swaying back and forth in the air.  Her face was red from her encounter with Fran, and she was embarrassed.  Not only was she embarrassed for tripping into Fran, but also the fact that she was going to be late for practice.  She’d just joined the squad recently, and she wanted to make a good impression on both her coach and the other cheerleaders.  As she rushed across campus, she had no idea that she’d accidentally brought a friend along with her, giving him a ride that was anything but smooth or fun.

Screaming as loud as he could, Jim tried to get anyone’s attention as he dangled in the air, pinned against the plastic handle of the pom-pom.  His eyes were full in tears from the moment the girl had grabbed the handle and pinned his legs against it.  There was excruciating pain just above his knees, where her fingers had pressured them against the object she was carrying.  He was sure she had no idea he was there, or she wouldn’t be gripping it so tightly.  It felt like someone was holding a brick wall against his legs.  He was sure his bones were getting ready to crack open.

“Please…Please, someone help me!!!” he screamed, desperate to get some help.  He knew he was small and the only person around that may have been able to hear him was the very girl causing his torment, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to stay conscious for long in his currently situation.  He was swaying back and forth with the pom-pom, upside down no less.  The constant movement and position was causing blood to rush into his head and it was making him dizzy.  Alongside that, the tight grip the fingers had on his legs made his lower legs feel numb.

Jim knew that he wouldn’t be able to last long in this state.  He would either pass out from the swaying or from the pain in his legs if the girl gripped even tighter and managed to fracture or break them.  His arms started shaking and sweat was gathering in his forehead and hair as he continued screaming.  He had to get this girl’s attention.  He couldn’t fall unconscious.  If she was heading for cheering practice, who knows what could happen to his unconscious body.  He might never wake up, accidentally killed by her or any of the other cheerleaders of the campus.

Suddenly, the girl stopped in the middle of a field.  She looked around, almost confused about something.  She calmly asked the area around her if anyone was there.  She thought she heard someone yelling and calling to her, but heard no response.  She stood there for a moment, but then assumed she’d been hearing things.  About to get back on track with getting to her practice zone, she pulled the pom-pom up in front of her chest and shifted her hand’s position to the side, rather than the handle. 

When Jim realized he was no longer swaying, he tried to focus as hard as he could.  He heard a high-pitched voice above him as the girl asked if anyone was around.  His mind immediately clicked and screamed ‘You did it, Jim!  You got her attention!  Now, just scream to her again and try to get her to notice you!’  He tried as hard as he could, but he’d used up too much energy and voice in his previous screams.  When he opened his mouth, trying to get another calling out to the girl, nothing happened.  A raspy exhale happened and he lost his breath.

Realizing he wasn’t going to be able to get the attention of this girl, having lost the energy to scream, he looked around at the calm, still environment he was in the middle of.  Trying to think, he reached for and grabbed one of the long pieces of rectangular plastic that extended out from the core of the pom-pom.  He could barely reach one, but he pulled it towards him and wrapped his arms around it.  At the very least, he would be able to have the swaying cause less of an impact on him if he was against this piece of plastic.

As he tried to secure himself, he could everything start to move again.  Blood rushed to his head and his dizziness returned, but he could feel himself going in a very different direction compared to before.  Wind blew down against his body from above.  Realizing he was being lifted into the air, he tried to look up.  Before he could see anything, however, he felt the pressure on his legs leaving.  The girl’s fingers left the handle and grabbed a section of the pom-pom to the side.

As the pressure had left, Jim’s legs fell and he nearly did a somersault on the object.  Holding onto the rectangular plastic as tight as he could, he quickly was right-side up again.  He tried to scream as the flip occurred and Blood was running all over his body was the drastic change in position, but he still didn’t have the energy in his lungs to do so.  Now hanging from the plastic of the pom-pom, he tried to look around to see what the girl was doing with it.  As he looked back, he saw something enormous approaching his side of it and his eyes widened.  He was moving towards her chest, just above the open top of the girl’s cheering outfit. 

She’d slowly pulled it into her chest, just above the top of her costume.  She held it tight against her.  As she did so, Jim was smothered against the skin above her cleavage.  He tried to scream again, but being impacted against the flesh knocked the wind out of him.  The hard plastic came in right below his waist and slammed against his right leg.  His eyes widened and he finally let out a whimpered cry.  The plastic pushed against his leg, causing it to compress.  A piercing pain flew through his entire leg, and he was sure it had been fractured, at the very least.

As he was thrown into her flesh, the pain of the injury he’d just had made him lose his grip on the piece of plastic.  He slowly slid down her chest-flesh, shaking.  He looked down slightly, to see where he was going, but everything immediately went dark.  He fell between two enormous mountains of flesh and was enveloped in darkness.  As he finally stopped, he felt like he was being snuggled in between two giant, soft mattresses.  Beyond the pain, he tried to look up.  As he did, he saw light above him, and beyond it, the girl’s tall neck and head.

Almost feeling something fall off on her chest, she looked down for a moment, then shrugged it off and began running towards the cheering zone, unknown that she’d just injured a small man and dropped him into her cleavage…

As Abby was walking across the campus, she was wondering a lot of things about the story Fran had told her.  She’d taken Jim from the cafeteria building, sat down with him in a field, and somehow, got plowed into by a tall cheerleader.  Were Jim in her hands right then, he probably would’ve fallen straight to the ground, injuring himself.  The fact that he had somehow gotten mistakenly kidnapped by the cheerleader was quite astounding.  The one thing that didn’t click is how he managed to get himself kidnapped.

“According to Fran, the girl landed on top of her, which meant that Jim, more than likely fell in front of both of them.  The only real explanation for his kidnapping would be the pom-pom Fran said she dropped and picked back up.  I suppose it’s possible that he could’ve fallen into the pom-pom and gotten carried away.  But that would mean…”

She started getting chills again.  The only way Jim could get carried away on a pom-pom and stay with the girl would be to hang onto something, or get held against the handle of the actual pom-pom.  “If she didn’t know he was there and pinned him to the pom-pom…Oh, no.  He could easily get injured under the pressure of her fingers!”

Thinking that Jim could be injured at that very moment, she stopped walking across the field and started running, carefully trying to avoid all of the walkways the smaller folks walked across.  She was starting to sweat as she ran, worried for the safety of the tiny person that was on his way to the Cheering Zone.  Being carried by someone would be alright for him, but being injured and carried against a pom-pom could be very dangerous.  She had to make sure she got there before the girl did so she could get Jim to safety as soon as she could.

“Okay…” she said to herself as she ran and looked around the fields.  As she talked, she was starting to tire and panting, talking between breathing.  “Fran said…the girl had…crimson-red hair…hopefully I can at least…beat her to the Cheering Practice Zone…but maybe…I can find her…on the way there…and keep Jim…out of as much danger…as possible!”

The girl ran for quite awhile, searching the area for the cheerleader in question, and heading for the practice zone.  Many of the other students stopped and gave her strange looks as they saw her in the state she was in:  Sweating, panting, running across the fields, turning her head every which way.  It was something she’d never really done since coming to the university years ago.  As soon as they looked at her, they looked away as she passed by, going on with their business.

As she ran, a few of the tall people were very close to her.  Seeing them in the same fields she was running through, she occasionally would stop by them to catch her breath and ask them about the cheerleader.  After asking nearly 10 people about the girl Fran had described, Abby had the feeling that the girl was a new student.  Not a single person recognized the description she’d given them.  Most of them suggested that she just head to the practice zone and ask the head coach for the Cheering Squad about her.

Following their advice, she waited until she could catch her breath and continued towards the North side of campus.  She was tiring herself out, but someone’s life could be at stake in this situation, so she was trying to push herself.  Jim had made a huge impact on her when they’d spent time together earlier, and she wanted to make sure he would stay safe, so long as she was around.  She pushed herself more and more as she ran.  Despite being a tall lady, it still took her quite awhile to get across campus. 

“Gotta hurry…Can’t waste time…” muttered Abby, almost wheezing with her breaths as she ran.  Her condition was slowly declining with each extra step she took without stopping to rest.  She was so bent on reaching the practice zone and helping her friend out that she’d neglected her own health.  She was pushing herself to her limits and didn’t even seem to realize it. 

As she was nearing the practice zone, she started slowing down.  He legs started to fill with pain and her lungs felt like they were screaming as she breathed.  With each exhale, she coughed and her stomach was turning and causing her to feel nauseated.  Despite all of this, she forced herself forward.  Slowing down to a slow walk, she moved forward, chanting “Gotta hurry.  Can’t let him get hurt.” to herself the entire way there.

With her considerable decline in pace, it took Abby nearly 15 minutes to cross the single field that had stood between her and the practice zone.  Her pace continued to slow down as she stopped walking and began to drag her feet, causing her sandals to make tear-marks in the dirt.  One of the professors came up to her, asking if she was alright.  Not paying any mind to them, she just kept walking and chanting to herself about hurrying.  They watched as she went on and blinked, not sure what to think about her behavior.

Finally making it to the Cheering Practice Zone, Abby looked through her now-squinted eyes and saw many of the girls already practicing.  There were two sets of stages set up in the field that they practiced in.  One stage had a huge fence around it, and another one had a long building with matting set up on top of it.  On the matted building were the cheerleaders that were small folks.  They practiced up at about 90 feet in order to be able to see and talk to the taller participants. 

Beyond both stages was a large tower-like structure that stood 95 feet in the air.  The tower itself was nothing more than a large elevator.  Mr. Brim, the official coach for the cheering squad, was standing in at the top of the tower, speaking into a microphone, talking to all of the girls.  As he finished telling them that they would begin practice soon, he looked over and saw Abby stumbling in. 

She slowly approached the tower and put her hand on it.  Almost pulling on it for support, she caused it to slowly shake.  Out of the microphone’s speakers came the voice of Mr. Brim. 

“Ms. Abigail!  What can I do for you today?  Ms Abi-..Hey!  This isn’t meant to support tall folks, Abby!”

He quickly called over one of the cheerleaders to help Abby, who’d slowly pulled harder on the tower while muttering to herself.  A tall, blonde woman slowly grabbed around Abby’s stomach and pulled her away.  Abby, almost in a daze at this point, was worn out and could barely think to speak.  Her vision was starting to fog up and, just before falling unconscious in the girl’s arms, let out a small, whimpered “Have to make sure I keep him saf-”

Mr. Brim looked at Abby and then back up at the blonde woman who’d been supporting her weight.  He gave her some quick orders and she took Abby to their fenced-in practice zone.  She laid her down on the soft material they used for practicing and then went back to the tower.  Pulling Mr. Brim out from the top of the tower, she walked back over to the girls, who were all kneeled over, looking at Abby. 

“Girls, we’ll be postponing practice today.  We need to make sure she’s alright.  She went through a lot of trouble to reach us.  We have to make sure we’re here and ready to hear what she has to say when she wakes up.”

The girls nodded as they all sat down, waiting for poor Abby to wake up… 

‘H-how could this happen!?’ thought Jim, as he realized where he’d just slid down into.  Not only did this giant cheerleader bring him into her chest and break his right leg, but she did so in such a way that he slid directly down into her cleavage.  Was she truly unaware of his situation?  Could things have just randomly worked out like this?  He was nearly snuggled into place, surrounded by two huge, bubbly walls of soft flesh.  He couldn’t see very well, the area mostly dark aside from the opening from above him, but he knew that his ride was about to get much, much worse.

As soon as he’d slid down into the position he was in, his entire body started heating up.  Not only was he embarrassed that he was stuck between two gigantic breasts, but it was so tight in here, it was as if all the heat from her body had gathered in this one spot.  He began to sweat and his body was heating up very quickly.  His head started to shiver slightly, unprepared for the drastic change in temperature that he’d just experienced.

His body started to tire from the heat and he slowly laid his head to the side, resting against her body.  Within moments, his head would make a drastic move.

*THUMP  THUMP*

“A-AHH!” he whimpered, as his head jerked outward.  His body got a huge chill when he heard and felt something enormous.  As soon as his head had hit her skin, he heard and felt an incredibly powerful thumping noise.  As it happened, all of the skin around him felt like it was pressing on him from all side.  It pushed on his head as it whipped away and pushed on all of his limbs.  A slight shock of pain flew through his body as the thumping feeling hit his right leg, almost directly on his injury.

He started to breathe heavily, afraid of what that noise had been.  Within seconds, he heard it again.  Grunting from the pain in his leg, he desperately looked around, trying to figure out what it was.  A few seconds later, it happened again…and again…and again.  As he started to get used to the fear and the pain, he tried to listen more closely.  As the noise entered its sixth cycle, his eyes widened and he realized what it was.  “It’s H-her…heartbeat!?”

He was absolutely stunned at how powerful the girl’s own heartbeat felt to him, particularly because of how close he was to her heart.  He was in her cleavage, which meant that he must’ve just been on the other side of where her heart is on her body.  Feeling each massive beat of the girl’s heart was shocking to him.  A simple thing like the heart was instilling fear in him and causing his injury pain as it beat through her breasts.

His mind had wandered off; amazed at the heartbeats he was feeling.  He’d nearly forgotten about the fact that it was blazing hot inside of the girl’s cleavage and that he had a broken leg.  He hadn’t been around larger people for that long.  While he knew that some things would seem powerful to him that would be simple to them, he never imagined that the beating of someone’s heart could be so thrilling and astonishing.

His thoughts about her heartbeat and the temperature of where he was at were briefly repressed when the girl took a deep breath before continuing her run across the campus.  As she breathed in, he felt everything around him moving outward, as if it were all pushing against him.  As her chest moved back into place when she exhaled, Jim could feel everything moving again.  Although he couldn’t feel any wind from where he was, the two giant walls of flesh were moving around rapidly. 

Her breasts pushed themselves up and down as she ran.  Jim, being caught between them, was pulled up and down with each step the girl took.  He felt like he was in some bottle-shaker amusement park ride as he was risen up for a second and then sent back down with the breasts that were holding him in her top.  As he came back down, his legs hit the fabric of her top, causing a shock of pain to pierce his broken leg and cause a grunt to come from his mouth. 

He completely forgot about the heartbeat as the girl ran; only focusing on how much pain he was enduring.  With every step the girl took, Jim’s head began to spin and have feeling of nausea from being tossed up and down repeatedly in such a short amount of time.  He squinted his eyes and tried to hold onto his forehead as the ride continued, but every time he came back down, his arms shook from the pain that was sent through his leg.

His head lowered after awhile, trying to keep himself from getting sick and succumbing to the pain that was flying through his body every second or so.  It immediately reminded him of the ride he’d had in Fran’s jacket, but this seemed much, much worse.  At least when he rode inside his friend’s jacket, he wasn’t receiving a jolt of pain with every step they took.  Just nausea was better than Nausea and pain at the same time. 

As the girl ran across campus, she started to sweat, tiring herself out with running, but she didn’t stop.  She knew she was late for practice and, being her first day on the squad, she wanted to get there as quickly as she could.  She knew where the Practice Zone was, so all she had to do was get there.  She ran through many walkways and fields on her way up there, unaware of the torment she was putting her little passenger through.

Jim felt like he was on the verge of throwing up.  He was being tossed up and down like rag doll in this girl’s enormous cleavage and was receiving a sharp pain every second.  His entire body was shaking at this point, and he didn’t know how much longer he could take of this.  His stomach was weak from having thrown up not that long ago when he was with Fran, and he knew he was going to get sick.  As much as he didn’t want to puke inside this girl’s shirt, he could feel it coming.  It wasn’t an ‘if’; it was a ‘when’.

As the girl continued running across campus, she was about to cross another small walkway.  Much to her surprise, though, this walkway would be putting an end to her dash towards her practice.  As she approached the walkway itself, her ankle hit a bent sign, similar to the one Fran had stepped on earlier that day.  The point of the sign struck her ankle, and she began to trip.  As she began to lean forward as she fell, the point started digging into her skin.  The thin skin around her ankle was easily punctured by the sign and started drawing blood from her.  She screamed as she fell, in pain from the sign’s digging.

As Jim was sure he was about to throw up, he felt a massive shaking happen around him.  Her breasts were moving, but much more drastically than they were before.  Above him, he could hear a deafening scream, as if the girl carrying him had been struck with some sort of pain.  Shaking his head, he tried to figure out what happened, but he would figure it out before he’d have time to think about it.  From above him, the light quickly changed from sky to ground and grass. 

As the girl fell onto the ground, her breasts retracted and expanded, sending her passenger flying out of her top and onto the grass in front of her face.  Not noticing him, she looked back and tried to grab at her ankle, but a surge of pain swept through her body and she screamed again.  Looking down when she could open her eyes, she noticed blood on her ankle.

As Jim landed on the grass, his nausea had caught up with him and he began to vomit right into the field.  After a minute or two, he finished and tried to look around.  He was near a walkway on campus, but there weren’t any buildings nearby.  As he looked, his ears were deafened by a scream from behind him.  Quickly turning himself around, keeping off his bad leg, he saw his captor from before.  The towering red-haired cheerleader was now on the ground, tears running down her face.  She was trying to grab at her foot.  Looking that way, Jim gasped as he saw her wound.  One of the signs had nearly impaled her ankle, and blood was running out from where the sign was sticking in.

Jim looked at her for a moment and then back at the wound.  The sight of her frightened him to death, but she was badly hurt, and there was no one else around.  His arms slightly shivering, he began to hobble his way over to her, hopeful that he could help her out…

Jim was shaking a little as he approached to enormous girl that had, until moments ago, caused him a lot of pain and misery.  His stomach still hurt a little as he hobbled across the field and a small jolt of pain was tingling in his leg as he dragged it along as he went.  He wanted to just fall over and start crying, but he knew he couldn’t.  He knew he had to do more and go out of his way to help the cheerleader that had been carrying him around, for she was in much worse shape than he was.

She’d tripped on a spiked sign and, in fallen, the sign had dug deep into her ankle, nearly impaling it and sending a constant stream of blood out from the wound it had made.  It was still suck in her ankle and she was on the ground, in tears.  Jim was frightened, but he knew he couldn’t just leave her miserable like this.  He knew she wasn’t aware of what she had done to him, and seeing her crying made him feel terrible.  He had to help her, if he could.

As he approached her face, he saw thick strands of red hair lying on the ground, leading to her head.  He looked down towards her ankle, and then towards the huge face in front of him.  He stood there for a moment, both giving himself a break from the pain in his leg, and to think about his options.  While he could just waltz down to her ankle and try to pull the sign out, it probably wasn’t the best plan.  He decided that the best course of action would be to try and get her attention.  She was obviously distraught at the moment, in shock from her injury.  He wouldn’t be able to help her unless he was able to calm her down.

Continuing on, he stood in front of her face.  It was nervously shaking, two streams of tears flowing from her eyes.  It went down her face and into the ground, where it was making two small puddles.  She was whimpering and sniffling as she cried with her eyes shut, causing a breeze to fly towards Jim.  His hair blew in the breeze and he immediately stopped when he’d first felt it.  The air was hot and he immediately closed his eyes, waiting to get used to it.  Once he’d become accustomed to the constant breeze that blew towards him, he continued forward and walking up to her cheeks. 

At his height, his head was up past her nose and eye level with her ‘top’ cheek.  He rose his shaking arm up at eye level and prepared to get her attention.  Softly pressing his hand against her cheek, he called up to her.  “H-Hey!  Miss!?”

The girl’s sniffling came to a stop when she felt something touching her cheek.  She slowly opened her eyes and took a look around, moving her eyes, but not shifting her already-shivering head.  As he looked, she could feel something on her cheek again.  Looking down, she could see a small person looking up at her, rubbing away part of one of her streams of tears.  Slowly pulling her face away from him, she lifted it up slightly and looked down at him.  “W-w..who are you?” she asked, almost scared.

Jim was in awe at the girl’s attitude towards him.  She was in so much pain at the moment, that seeing someone of his size, not much bigger than her own finger, made her afraid.  She, a gigantic lady, was afraid of little old Jim.  He slowly lowered his arm down to his side as he made a slight bow to her, and prepared to exchange greetings and names.

“H-hello, miss.  My name is Jim.  I work here at the school.  If I could…I’d like to be of some assistance to you.”

The girl blinked a few times, trying to process what he was saying.  He said he worked for the school and wanted to assist her in some way.    She was about to reply to her when she tried to move her leg, reminding her all too well of her current situation.  Pain soared through her leg as the sign moved inside of her ankle.  He head came crashing down to the ground, where it was before, and she screamed in pain.

Jim was blown off his feet as her head came back down.  Her mouth opening almost as wide as Jim was tall sent him rolling a few feet away from the force her screaming breath had produced.  He slowly picked himself up and hobbled back over to the whimpering girl.  Her eyes were squinting, but not completely shut, tears running out of them once again.  Her entire body was shivering as she endured the pain she had instilled on herself and slowly watched the small Jim approach her face again.

He walked up to her cheek again, but instead of pushing his hand on it, he leaned his entire body against it, almost snuggling against her flesh.  He was just above her lips and below her nose as he pushed up against her, trying to give her some of his warmth.  She started blushing as he did so, but couldn’t say anything.  She was crying too hard and the pain was too much for her to take along with talking.

As Jim leaned against her, he could feel the stream of tears hitting him.  It was rolling against his face and rolling down the front of his body, changing direction when it couldn’t continue down her cheek with Jim in the way.  He could feel his body getting drenched, but he didn’t move from his current position.  He closed his eyes for a moment, and then opened them back up, speaking to the girl.

“Listen…I know you’re in a lot of pain right now.  You’ve got a sign suck into your ankle and you’re bleeding, badly.  There’s no one else around right now, and I want to help you.  Will you allow me to go down and get the sign out?  It will cause you a lot of pain, but we have to get it out before any dirt or infection enters your body…”

“B-b-but I….it hurts,” the girl whimpered.  The pain was tormenting her and the idea of getting even more pain with someone trying to remove the sign was terrifying to her.  Her head was shivering even more at this point, proving to Jim just how frightened she was.  The pain must have truly been unbearable to get her into this state of mind. 

Jim started rubbing his body around on her cheeks, and gave her a soft kiss as he tried to convince her to let him help her.

“I…I know, but it’s only going to get worse if you leave it stuck there.  You’re hurt, and we need to get you better.  I understand your pain.  You feel like it’s unbearable as it is, and the very thought of the pain being worse makes your situation even worse.  I wish there was another way to help you, I really do.  You are a beautiful young lady.  Those tears and the fear you’re experiencing don’t suit you.  But those tears are only going to get worse if you don’t let me help you.  It’s going to be painful, I know, but I promise you’ll feel better afterwards.  So, please…can you trust me and let me pull that nasty sign out of your ankle?”

The girl was suddenly filled with a mix of emotions and new tears.  She started crying worse, but not because of her pain.  She could feel the kindness and love this man had for others.  He’d gone out of his way to help her.  He’d pressed himself into her body, called her beautiful, and even kissed her.  She’d never experienced anything like this before, and it brought her to tears.

She took in his words and compliments.  Trying to suck up as much pain as she could, she slowly moved her head back from where he was.  Softly nodding, she said “o…Okay, J-jim.  I…I trust you.  I’m just…scared.”

As the girl’s head left him, he stood there, holding his broken leg slightly in the air.  Partially smiling up to her, he nodded and called up to her once before turning to go and help her out.  “Thank you for trusting me.  I promise I won’t do anything to hurt you that isn’t necessary to get that sign out of you.”

“W-wait!” said the girl, causing Jim to immediately stop his movement and turn up to her.  She looked down at him and tried to crack as much of a smile as she could.  Softly whimpering, she said one last thing before he would be leaving her face.  “E…Emily.  I’m…Emily.”

Jim smiled up at her and nodded.  “It’s nice to meet you, Emily,” he said.  Standing there for a moment, he smiled up to her, his fear having gone down dramatically from comforting her and convincing her to let him help her.  He stared at her own smile and then turned to head down her body and to her ankle.   

Jim slowly walked his way across the field, making his way down Emily’s body.  He could see and feel her trembling next to him, well aware of how scared she was.  As much as it pained to see someone in pain, he knew full well that he’d be inflicting a lot more pain on her when he got down to her ankle to get the sign out of her.

Each step brought forth pain in him as well.  Each time his broken leg moved as he hobbled, it hurt him.  He, however, had a high tolerance for pain.  He was starting to get used to all the pain he was enduring, knowing that Emily’s was much worse.  He had to take care of her before himself.  He could live after a broken ankle, but Emily could get sick if her wound wasn’t taken care of quickly.

Making his way past her breasts and in front of her bare belly, he started to feel the exhaustion of walking with one leg.  He stopped and stood still for a moment, trying to catch his breath.  Taking a few deep breaths, he looked around.  Emily’s soft belly was to the side, perfectly curved and decorated with a small, cute belly ring.  Smiling as he saw it, he couldn’t help but notice how pretty this girl looked.    She was tall, had a nice figure, and the belly ring just rang around in his head.

Trying not to get lost in his own thoughts about her, Jim shook his head and started hobbling again, working his way further down the field, his eyes set on the bloodied ankle down below, just above her white sneakers.  It wouldn’t be easy to do what he knew had to be done, both physically for him and for how much pain he’d inflict on the poor girl, but he knew he had to do it.  She was in trouble, and he was the only one who could do anything about it.

Making it past her knee, Jim started thinking about everything that had happened during the day.  He’d come in, expecting to just have a simple clean-up job.  What he got was something much, much better.  He’d made 2, possibly 3 new friends who were kind to him.  While he knew the Larges were as tall as they were, but their attitudes were a pleasant surprise to him.  Not only were they ridiculed all the time, but they still remained a happy race of people.  He didn’t understand why people couldn’t just accept them.

As he worked his way further, he reached her calves and, finally, her ankle.  He looked at it and started to get a nervous feeling in his stomach.  The site of her injury was nauseating, especially at its size.  He approached her ankle, but made sure not to touch it.  If the sign had dug deep enough, even the softest touch to the skin around the injury could hurt Emily.  He closely examined the sign and the injury itself for a few minutes before deciding to do anything about it.

The injury itself looked awful to Jim.  She’d completely uprooted the sign when it had gone into her.  There was a huge hole in the ground where the sign originally was.  She was lying on her side at the moment, the sign sticking straight up in the air.  It had gone in just about a foot above where her sneaker ended.  Unfortunately for her, she was wearing low-top shoes.  Had the cheering squad assigned high-tops, the sneaker might have been able to catch most of the injury. 

Her ankle and foot were trembling as he inspected them.  Looking up, towards her upper body, he could see Emily’s head and face.  She was looking down at him, with tears running down her face.  She was obviously scared to death about this.  Calling down to him, she asked him if he would be able to help her, stuttering a little as she talked.  In reply, and trying to keep in high spirits, Jim smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

“No problem, Emily!  I’ll have this out and you’ll be all smiles in no time!”

Emily tried to crack a smile at hearing the almost-muffled response from little Jim.  She remembered how he’d told her that she’d experience a lot of pain from this, but she thought it was thoughtful of him to try and cheer her up, despite the pain he’d be inflicted on her.  She nodded down to him, saying “Okay, Jim.  What…What do you need me to do?”

Jim thought about her question for a moment, and then went back to the thought of how he was going to get the sign out of her ankle.  By the looks of it, about a foot of the sign had dug into her, so if he were to get into a good position, he should be able to pull it out himself.  The sign didn’t look that heavy, and he wasn’t exactly a weakling.  Gathering his thoughts, he called back up to Emily, telling her that she just needed to lay still.

“I’m going to have to climb on top of your sneaker to get to a good position to pull it out.  Is that alright?”

Emily nodded to him.  “O-okay, Jim.  Just be careful.  I don’t want to accidentally knock you off or anything…”

Jim smiled at her statement and then looked at the sneakers and legs before him.  Her sneaker, on its side, was almost as tall as he was, so it would make for a fairly easy climb.  The fact that the sneaker also had a pretty thorough design of imprinted stripes gave him a lot of possible climbing points.  Looking around, he knew that he would likely instill some pain near her ankle, so he began hobbling over towards the toe end of her shoe.  There’s be much more pressure during the climb than simple walking, and he wanted her to feel as little pain as possible.

Reaching his arms up and over the sneaker, he found some grooves to grip onto and pulled himself up.  The material itself felt almost like soft plastic. It was very smooth, yet soft, and had a cold-ish feeling to it.  As he pulled himself up, he looked down at the material, seeing how smooth and detailed the design was.

He couldn’t support himself with his broken leg, but as he pulled himself up and over, he brought up his good leg and began to stand himself to a crouched position.  As he did so, he looked up at Emily, who nodded to him, clarifying that she was doing alright.  He then began to hobble forwards, as comfortably as he could, taking each step slowly and trying to be as light and soft as he could.

As he made his way to the ‘ankle’ of the show, he firmly planted his foot down and tried to get into a good position in front of the sign.  A small whimpering could be heard from above.  Emily’s face had started to shake.  He kept himself still and gave her a slight bow, apologizing for having hurt her.  She, nervously, told him it was okay and that it wasn’t that bad.  He started to feel bad for her.  He’d just put a little pressure near her injury and it hurt her a lot.  He couldn’t imagine the pain she’d be going through when the sign was coming out.

Looking in front of him, the sign was still sticking up into the air.  Leaning forward and down slightly, he reached his arms out and gripped the post, where the sign ended and the spike that had punctured her ankle began.  As he gripped it, he looked up at Emily, who was intently watching him.  Calling up to her, he needed to remind her of what would happen next.

“Emily, please forgive me for this.  I’m going to pull this out of your ankle and it’s going to hurt.  A lot.  Just hang in there and everything will be alright, okay?”

Emily, her head starting to shake again, gave a soft nod.  Not wanting to keep her fear going any longer, Jim tightened his grip on the sign and began to pull upwards, hoping for it to come out as quickly as possible…

Emily closed her eyes as Jim reached down to pull the sign from her ankle.  She was preparing for the pain she’d have to endure, but she didn’t know how well she’d actually be able to take it.  It was now getting to the moment of truth, when the true pain of her injury would rear its ugly head.  It might only last a short while, as Jim suggested it would, but she was scared.  She was slightly whimpering before he even tried to start pulling it out.

Jim stopped and looked up at Emily’s face, saddened by it.  Her expression showed all too well that this was probably the most frightening event of her life.  She was deathly afraid of the pain she’d have to endure.  He didn’t want to put her through this, but he knew he needed to.  The important thing was that she was alright with him doing it.  She had enough courage inside her to let him pull it out of her, knowing that she’d be going through a lot of pain when it happened. 

He smiled to himself, thinking of her.  Before this injury had happened, he viewed her as a tall woman who was tormenting and torturing him.  She’d shaken him around in a pom-pom, broken his leg against her upper chest, and put him through a lot of pain inside her cleavage.  She wasn’t aware of any of it.  She was a scared, sensitive person, it seemed.  He couldn’t believe that he’d thought poorly of her up to this point.

Regaining his focus on reality and what needed to be done, he began to pull up on the sign.  He’d wrapped his hands just below where the sign ended and the spiked pole began.  His thumbs were pushing against the sign, causing a lot of tension and pressure on them.  As he pulled, he could feel it moving slightly.  His body strained as he pulled, but he knew he was making progress.

Emily’s entire face went red and she grunted as a piercing pain shot up through her leg and into her gut.  She clenched her fists and tried to hold herself as still as possible as she endured the pain.  Her nerves were tingling from the pain and she could hardly stand it.  She barely had a grip on reality at this point.  All she could think about was the pain and trying to keep still so she wouldn’t knock Jim around too much.

Jim could feel some slight shaking below him as the sign began to pull out.  He swayed a little from the pressure Emily’s shivering was causing.  He wanted to stop, almost losing his balance when doing so, but he knew she had it far worse than he did.  Not stopping, even to take a breath, he started pulling harder on the sign.  As he looked down at it, he could see a blood-stained pole slowly inching its way out of her ankle. 

“Only a little more….Only a little more” he softly chanted to himself, feeling a lot of his strength leaving him.

Far above, Emily’s condition was slowly getting worse.  The more of the sign that came out, the worse her pain was.  At this point, nerves were tingling all the way from her toes to her chest.  Her entire body was trying to shake.  Her leg had even started to shake, but thankfully, her arms had remained free from the pain.  Knowing her legs were about to shake, she reached her hand down and gripped it, trying to keep it steady by Jim.  At his size, he would easily get thrown off her sneaker were her leg to start shaking.

Jim felt a slight breeze hit him as he was pulling the sign up.  Turning his head up while pulling, he was almost terrified at what he saw.  Emily was sweating and nearly her entire body was shivering and shaking.  The breeze that had hit him was from her hand gripping just above her knee.  She was looking down at him and, although looking the way she did, she smiled and nodded towards him as a tear ran down her cheek.

‘What a brave girl she is…’ thought Jim, realizing what she was going through.  Despite pain that was enough to shake her entire body and send sweat and tears running down her face, she was aware enough and brave enough to reach down and grip her leg, keeping him from falling off.  He tried as much of a smile as he could at the moment, but the strain on his arms was forcing his lips to a frowning expression.

Immediately looking back down, realizing that he didn’t have much time before her arms would be affected by this pain, he started pulling as hard as he could.  The pole came out more and more, showing more and more blood-covered steel.  His mind was set on one thing:  Emily’s safety.  He wanted it all to end at that moment.  He wanted to end her torment quickly, but it was almost as if this sign was never ending. 

“Jeez…how long…is this thing!?” he muttered to himself in frustration.  As he yanked more and more, he saw something out of the corner of his eye.  The fingers that were wrapped around Emily’s leg had started to move.  He glanced up and sweat started dripping down his own face in fear.  Her arms were starting to shake.  He had very little time to finish this.  He had to get the rest of it up now, or he might not be able to get it up at all.

As if he’d found a newfound strength in the impending throwing that awaited him from her leg, he slid his hands down to the very bottom of the pole, inches above her ankle.  Gripping it as tight as he could, he made one final statement.  “You’re coming up NOW!”  As he finished the statement, he used every ounce of strength he had left and shoved the sign upwards.  The point came flying out and the entire sign started falling to the side, off of Emily’s sneaker and fell to the ground, Jim with it. 

He fell to the ground, hitting his back on the metal of the sign.  His body was aching from both the fall and the effort he’d put into removing it, but his worried were far from over.  Though his ears came a window-shattering scream.  He pushed himself up and gasped as he saw Emily, shaking all over and screaming, with tears running down her face.

“J-Jim…” Emily whimpered “H-help…”

Jim was saddened by Emily’s tear-struck face and tried to push himself up so he could try to help her.  As he pushed up, he back let out a multitude of cracks and cracking noises.    It had gotten bent out of shape during the pulling of the sign, and the kinks were working themselves out right then and there.  As he finally stood up, he looked over towards Emily, trying to analyze her situation.

She looked about the same as before, savor the tears and the shaking.  As he studied her, he noticed that both of her arms were grasping her leg, the same leg that had the injury before.  Realizing that the pain she was experiencing must have had something to do with the injury from earlier, he looked directly in front of him, at her ankle.  There was a wound where the sign had stuck into her.  It had a faint red ring around it and there was a slow, steady stream of blood pouring out of it, creating a puddle on the ground.

“Oh!  That’s not good!”

Jim, tired as he may have been, hobbled over towards her ankle as quickly as he could.  The girl was screaming because she was losing blood, and quickly.  It needed to be stopped before she lost too much and fainted.  As he tried to run, his bad leg tripped on a small stone in the field, sending a piercing pain flying up through his leg and sending him face-down into the ground.    He grunted and let out as soft of a scream as he could as he felt the pain coming through his body.  His hands were slightly trembling from the shock of it.

As Jim pushed himself back up, Emily had been watching him the entire time.  Her eyes stared down at him, but they were no longer of fear.  They stared down at him with a saddened look of concern.  Jim was a little afraid at the glance she gave him.  He could almost tell what she was about to say.  ‘Oh, great…’ he thought.  ‘She’s probably noticed my injury by now.  Well, nothing I can do about that.  Just gotta…keep going and help her!’

“J-jim…” called down Emily, “You’re…are you hurt?”

Jim kept moving as he heard Emily’s call for his own concern, looking past the injury she’d been feeling pain from.  As he moved, he simply nodded and told her that he was fine.  He knew she wouldn’t believe him, but that didn’t matter.  All that was important, for the moment, was getting her blood to stay inside her body.  He hobbled further and further until, finally, he came back up to her ankle. 

Quickly pulling himself up onto her sneaker, Jim got on his knees in front of the wound.  To him, the stab wound from the sign was about as big as a fist, so covering it up and keeping the blood inside would be no easy task.  He very much doubted he could do it all on his own.  However, he couldn’t just let her suffer like this.  He had to do something, even if he wasn’t anywhere close to being a doctor.

Taking both of his palms, he pushed down, covering the wound with them.  The flow of blood put up a resistance, but he tried his best to keep pushing and pushing to keep it inside.  As he finally got his hands to make contact with her skin, small amounts of blood were squirting up between his fingers, showering his face with small red droplets.  He could also feel pressure slowly building up against him and more blood was trying to escape through the wound.  Nonetheless, he held his hands there, not willing to let Emily lose any more blood than she had to.

Emily had been concerned for Jim’s well-being when she saw him trip and stumble on his leg.  He was very small compared to her, but it looked like his leg had been somewhat disfigured.  She was, in no way, a person of the medical field, but it didn’t look healthy.  She believed Jim when he said he was alright, though.  She wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop him from helping her, whether she believed him or not.  The pain she was experiencing from her ankle was almost unbearable and both her hands were latched onto her leg, trying to reduce the pain she was experiencing.

She carefully watched as Jim came up onto her sneaker again and threw his palms down on her wound.  She grunted and whimpered from the pain the pressure he was putting on her was doing, but it was nothing compared to the pain she had experienced the moment the sign popped out.  She carefully tried to watch him, wiping her face on the shoulder of her uniform from time to time to clear up her own tears. 

Jim was struggling to keep his palms down against her skin.  The blood wasn’t slowing down from the pressure his hands were putting on the wound.  The pressure resistance was doing nothing but getting stronger.  For each moment that passed, a slight amount of force added to the strength of the pressure.  He was at a standstill.  He couldn’t keep the blood in forever.  He couldn’t stop the blood flow; he could only delay it.  There had to be some other way to fix this problem.  If only he were a little stronger or had something to wrap around the wound that would be strong enough to keep the blood from escaping.

As he tried to think, he looked up towards Emily, trying to keep the pressure down the best he could.  Surely she had to have something with her that could be used to patch up this wound.  He likely wasn’t strong enough to hold the blood back because of how much smaller he was compared to her.  Were she to get some sort of cloth or other sort of material that could be wrapped around the wound, they might be able to patch her up and stop this blood flow.  He called up to her and, between deep breaths, tried to explain the situation.

“Emily…I’m sorry…I’m not…strong enough…to hold…the blood…inside…Do you…have anything….we can use…as a bandage…to wrap around…this…?”

Emily was hesitant to answer Jim’s request.  She knew that he was asking her to help him patch her up, but she was scared when he told her he couldn’t do what he was trying to do.  Her mind immediately filled with a lot of negative and scary images.  She didn’t want to move at all, knowing that the pain would likely get worse as soon as her arms left her leg.  She soft whimpered “B-but..I…I…”

Jim heard Emily’s words and knew she was scared.  Despite this, he couldn’t do this without her.  He didn’t have anything on him that would be strong enough to hold this wound shut and the pressure was almost getting too much for him to handle.  As he thought about it, his broken leg twitched.  Weakened by the strength he’d used to hold back the blood, Jim let out a soft scream, pained from his own injury.  His hands then began to move slightly upward, more blood squirting up into his face.  He shook his head and tried to lean away from it, but he knew what was happening.  He was about to lose his hold on the situation.

He then called up to her, knowing he couldn’t hold onto the wound for very much longer.“Emily…I…I know you’re scared….but…I can’t do this…on my own…I need...I need...your help.”

Emily’s hesitation was being questioned as Jim let out his last statement.  She looked down at him and immediately saw the bigger picture.  She was in pain, but when she heard his scream and saw how much he was struggling against her wound, she realized that he was also in pain.  His leg had moved and he had screamed.  He was far from alright, and yet he ignored his own pain to help her with hers.  She knew she had to confront her fears and do what she did was right.

“Okay, Jim…I’ll…I’ll see what I can do…” said Emily, softly, as her right hand trembled, slowing letting go of her leg and reaching up towards her head…

Emily’s leg was partially quivering and shaking when her first hand had loosened its grip and departed from it.  The shaking caused Jim’s body to move around a little.  His leg twitched again and it put a lot of pressure on his other leg, which was the only thing keeping his bottom half in the air.  As the moving continued, his foot began to slip and slide.  Pushing as hard as he could with his palms, he was trying to keep the blood in as long as possible.   At this point, he was just waiting until Emily could produce something to wrap around the wound.

Emily’s right hand was shaking as it slowly lifted into the air and came up, towards her face.  The pain she was experiencing had risen in strength when she removed her hand and it was hard to keep still.  She could feel her leg shaking and was intently watching Jim, making sure he didn’t get thrown off from her movements.  She then slowly reached her hand up to her face. 

Wiping some of the tears from her cheek with it, she slid her hand up her face and began to comb her fingers into her hair.  Traveling up the side and towards the back, she felt around while trying to keep the rest of her still.  Eventually, she finally made it to the back and felt a soft material in her hair, the cheering squad’s required hair ribbon.  She slowly found the bottom end of the ribbon and began to tug.

Her head began to tilt and fidget to the side as she tugged on it.  The ribbon was moving, but very slowly, pulling her head to a cramped position more than it becoming untied.  She tried to readjust her hand and tug from another end, but it produced the same results.  As she tried more and more while dealing with the pain in her leg, she soon began to realize that she wouldn’t be able to do this with one hand.  She’d have to remove her other hand from her leg and use both hands to undo the ribbon.

She looked down at Jim, who was twitching as he struggled to keep the blood in her wound.  Her leg was shaking a little and she could see him shaking and moving along with it.  She was starting to get nervous about what she’d soon have to do.  Her ribbon was the only thing she had on her that would be long enough to wrap around her wound and, hopefully, hold all of that blood in. 

Her eyes were beginning to shake again, knowing that Jim would probably get thrown off from the pain and shaking that would happen when the second hand would leave her leg.  She looked at him for a second, and then tried to call down to him, with as clear a voice as she could, to let him know what was about to happen.  “J..Jim.  I’m going to have to...take my other hand off my leg to get the bandage we need.  My…my leg will probably shake, a lot.  So…just be careful down there…I don’t want to knock you off…”

Jim had known his struggle was starting to come to a close just before Emily called down to him.  He was sweating further from the heat the blood was producing on his palms and his palms were slowly being pushed upward, the pressure countering the strength he was throwing into his attempt of keeping the blood at bay.  After she’d called down to him and told him what was about to happen, he immediately looked up and nodded.

“Yes…Emily…that will be…fine.”

Jim knew that more shaking would likely result in him losing his grip on holding the blood back and throw him down or to the side, but he also realized that it was something that had to be done to reach their goal of patching her up.  They would not get out of this mess without doing this, and he wanted it to happen and get over with as soon as possible.  He was going through a lot of pain and fatigue, and wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to stay conscious.

Emily, upon hearing Jim’s statement, lowered her free hand for a moment and set it on her leg.  She applied a little pressure, aiming to keep some support on it while she removed the other one.  Although it was trembling, it created a firm grip, a little above the ankle and her other hand began to retract its fingers and move away.  As it moved, her leg began to shake from that side.  With her other hand as support, the amount of shaking hadn’t change very much, as Jim was able to stay in the position he’d been in before.

After reaching her newly freed hand back to one side of her ribbon, he looked down at Jim, and glanced at her other hand.  Jim leaned down a little and nodded to her, notifying that he was ready to endure the shaking her leg would enact as soon as her support hand was gone.  Nodding back to him, she slowly removed it and quickly pulled it back to the other side of the ribbon.  As it left, her leg began to shake much more violently and she felt a surge of pain in her ankle.  She grunted and closed her eyes, trying to ignore the pain and get the ribbon untied as quickly as she could.

Jim had begun to lean forward when Emily’s second hand had let go of her leg.  As he imagined, her ankle immediately started to shake much more violently than it was doing before.  Her entire leg began to shake and move back and forth.  As this happened, Jim’s legs slid down either side of her ankle and the wind that blew against him hit his hands and forced them out of the position they were in. 

As they got sent out, there was nothing to hold the blood in.  It started pumping out as it had done before.  Knowing that Emily would be going through much more pain without something holding the blood back, he did the only thing he thought he could do to hold it in while also not getting thrown off the girl’s ankle.  He slid himself forward and forced his chest down onto the wound.  Wrapping his arms down the sides of her ankle, he gripped onto her flesh and pulled his body against the wound, trying to keep it in that way.

As he held himself against the blood, he could feel the pressure rising and pushing against his chest.  Unlike the last time, the pressure built up much quicker and pushing straight into the middle of his chest, causing a lot of stinging pain.  The sensation made him close his eyes and let out a small, hissing sound.  The pain, along with the area it was being inflicted upon, gave him a strong sense of heartburn, but from the opposite side of his skin.  It almost felt like the blood was being pushed out at a much faster and stronger rate than before.

The pain in his chest was making his entire body twitch.  As his arms and legs twitched, the pain in his broken leg added to the pain he was already experiencing in his chest, making everything in between feel strange.  His nerves were tingling and stinging all over, but he kept himself in the position he was in.  He wouldn’t let his hands lose their grip.  He knew he had to get through this; If not for his own good, but to keep Emily as painless as possible while she was getting ready to get this leg patched up.

As he was enduring his pain, he felt something pushing up on him.  Unlike the blood pushing on his chest, however, it felt like the leg below him was moving.  Soon after, he felt pressure against his hands from some sort of hard material.  He opened his eyes as he heard Emily’s voice, speaking down to him.  “Jim, it’s okay.  You can stop now.”

Jim had looked up to see Emily’s face above, looking down to him, along with her arms on either side of the ankle.  He blinked and looked around while enduring the pain the blood was throwing on him when he realized that her leg wasn’t shaking anymore.  To the sides were two huge pieces of what looked like a felt ribbon material.  Attached to the material on either side were her hands, holding the material up tight, no doubt the reason her leg wasn’t shaking anymore.  To his right, she began to lower the material down over her ankle, until it was hovering over his body.  He looked at it, and then to her, not saying a word.

“Jim, could you…get up from the wound, please?”

Shaking his head and realizing that he was in her way of patching up the wound, he began to lean backwards.  As he did so, a rush of blood came through and shoved him backwards.  He fell back on her sneaker, drenched in warm, sticky blood from head to stomach and began to cough from the relief of pain in his chest.  Wiping the blood from his face, he looked forward, towards the wound and towards Emily’s face.

She’d brought the ribbon down on top of the wound, but her hands were shaking again.  The sudden rush of blood that had left her wound when Jim got up had sent a cold chill throughout her entire body.  She held the ribbon on the wound, but her hands were almost frozen in place.  The rush of pain had killed her concentration and sent her into a trembling state.  Her head shook and she let out quick, hard breaths, as if she was in the middle of a cold chill.

Jim, realization that she’d stalled, pushed himself up and tried to get back over to her ankle.  Upon getting up, however, he fell forward, feeling a piercing pain coming from his injury.  As he landed, he let out a soft scream into the material of the sneaker, as if he’d been screaming into a pillow.  Pushing his face up with his hands, he saw Emily’s standstill again, and knew he had to get up to her and help her again.   Reaching out with his hands, he grabbed onto the top of a sock that was just above the top of the sneaker and dragged his body forward.

Ending the sock and starting with flesh, he dragged his body off the sneaker and onto her skin, just below her ankle.  Once he reached the ribbon material, he pushed himself up and forced himself on top of the ribbon, forcing his hands down on the area where the wound was at.  His muscles screamed and burned from the force he was putting them through, but he stuck with where he was.  Looking up to Emily, he watched for her to come back into reality. 

As Emily was in shock, the pain soon began to die down again.  Looking down, she saw a small trail of blood from her sneaker up to her ankle, where Jim was, pushing down against her wound through the ribbon.  The two of them traded gazes and Emily quickly came back into reality and knew what had to be done.

Quickly grabbing the two ends of the ribbon, which were now handing over one side of her ankle, Emily tried to throw them over one another and twist around.  Her hands’ shaking didn’t help matters, but she eventually got them around each other into the first stage of tying and pulled the two ends as hard as she could, bringing the ribbon to having a tight grip around her ankle.

As the ribbon moved when she tightened it, Jim lost his grip and fell onto the wounded area.  As he hit, he felt very little pressure pushing against it.  Thinking it was a little odd, he tried to push himself up.  As he did so, he looked down at the ribbon.  Getting to a sitting position on the flesh between the ankle and the sock, he blinked as he saw the ribbon; tighter on her leg than he believed was possible.  Looking to the side, he saw Emily finishing up her tie, making a nice bow on the side of her leg.

As he looked up at her, they both shook as they realized the job was now over.  Jim smiled up to her as his body began to relieve itself of all the stress and pain that had been put on it.  ‘It worked’ he thought to himself.    Emily softly nodded to his smile as her head began to go back down to the ground.  She laid it down and felt most of the pain leaving her.  The pressure of the ribbon was keeping the pain down, just as it had been when Jim was pushing down on it earlier.  She closed her eyes as she rested there, and whispered down to Jim.  “T-thank you…Jim…” 

Jim looked up towards her to respond to her kind statement of appreciation, but before he could, he could hear slight snoring coming from above.  Emily had quickly worn herself out and fallen asleep.  The idea of it made him yawn as well.  Not thinking about anything else, he lowered his head down, resting it on the ribbon that had been tied around Emily’s ankle and dozed off.

The two of them napped together, Emily on the ground and Jim curled up on her ankle for the rest of the day…

“Mmm…” muttered Abby as he slowly opened her eyes, awakening from her sleep.  Her vision was blurred, but as she let out a deep yawn and shook her head, everything started to come into focus.  Directly in front of her, she could see the blue, clear sky.  Opening her mouth again, she let out a long, deep yawn and began to sit herself up.  As she came up, she blinked a few times and looked to the side, seeing Mr. Brimm and a blonde cheerleader right next to her, smiling.

“Miss Abby!  You’re awake!” exclaimed Mr. Brimm, nearly jumping off the cheerleader’s long, soft palm in excitement.  Slowly picking himself back up, he looked at Abby, who was still in a bit of a daze. 

Rubbing her eyes and letting out a third yawn, she started sleepily talking to Mr. Brimm, still half-asleep.  “I’m… I’m awake.  Where am I?  What am I doing here?”  She rubbed her hands over her eyes as she groggily asked her questions.  Still in the process of waking up, she had not remembered the urgency of her trip over to the Cheering Practice Zone, nor could she even tell that she was in that very place.

“Maybe we should give her a few minutes to wake up, Coach,” said the cheerleader, looking down at Mr. Brimm.  He looked up to her and nodded in agreement.  Abby seemed very out of it at the moment and, even if they told her where she was, it was unlikely that she’d remember what she was doing there until she’d woken up anyways.  The two of them sat down in front of Abby and watched as she continued to wake up, blinking and shaking her head.

Abby’s head was a mess.  A lot was jumbling around in her head, but she couldn’t remember much while fatigue was rolling around in her head.  She could vaguely remember rushing around, trying to get somewhere.  Where was that place, though, and what purpose did she have for rushing around, trying to get there?  A lot of questions were running around in her head, but the answers would slowly come back to her.  She closed her eyes and listened to voices and memories that were playing in her head.

‘You seem like a very kind lady, Abby…I understand that you want to tell me, but please, take your time…I’m sorry, Abby…please, no more…We need to get you cleaned up...I have to save my little Jimmy before he gets hurt!’  The collection of memories swirled around and finally made Abby jolt her head up as she woke up the rest of the way.  She gasped as she did and she frantically turned her head every which way.  She finally remembered where she was, and what she was doing there.

Throwing herself to her feet, she began to run up and down the Cheering Practice Zone, looking for Jim, panting and screaming out his name.  “Jim…Jim!  Jim, where are you?”  Mr. Brimm had quickly been set down on the ground and the blonde cheerleader had gotten to her feet, making her way towards the frantic Abby.  Quickly grabbing her by the arms, she turned the girl around and looked her in the eyes. 

“Hey, calm down, Abby!  What’s wrong?”

As Abby had been grabbed, the frantic thoughts going around in her head came to a halt as she looked into the eyes of the woman who’d stopped her running.  She looked deep into her eyes, her own eyes started to tear up from all the thoughts going through her head.  “I, uh…I…I’m trying to find someone.  I know they have to be here somewhere.  I have to find him now before he gets hurt!”  She then tried to wiggle herself free from the woman’s grasp, but the woman just pulled her into her chest, holding her tight so she couldn’t even move.  Leaning her head forward, she began to whisper in her ear.

“Listen, Abby.  You’re not going to be able to find anyone in this condition.  If this person is one of the smaller folks, you’d crush them underneath your shoes before you’d be able to find and bring them to safety.  Now, I want you to calm down.  I’m going to take you over to Mr. Brimm, and you can tell us what’s going on.  Okay, hun?”

Abby felt restrained, but as she listened to what she was being told, she calmly nodded in agreement.  As soon as she’d heard that she could’ve crushed Jim under her feet, she started getting scared and nervous.  If she was being that careless, she would need to calm herself down.  She was then lead back over to where she’d been sitting before.  Mr. Brimm had quickly run out of their way as he saw the two towering ladies approaching. 

After they’d set themselves down, he slowly walked back towards them.  The blonde lowered her hand for him, and he was soon up at eye-level with the tear-struck Abby, who was sniffling and taking deep breaths.  The blonde’s other hand was on her shoulder, trying to comfort her.  Taking control of the conversation, the blonde began to speak to Abby again, asking her to explain who she was looking for, and what led her to this part of campus.

Slowly, taking deep breaths between her statements, Abby explains the events that had unfolded earlier.  She spoke of how she ran into Fran on campus, and learned about a cheerleader with crimson-red hair becoming in possession with Jim King, someone who was new to the school and she’d befriended. 

“She…probably doesn’t even know she has Jim.  Fran thought she’d accidentally picked him up in her pom-pom after she’d run into Fran earlier today.  I needed to get her before she did, so I could try to find him and keep him from getting hurt while you ran your practice.”

Mr. Brimm looked at the woman, and she back at him.  They thought for a minute or so about the description of this young girl.  Mr. Brimm didn’t think they had any crimson-haired girls on the squad.  After a moment, they started conversing with one another.  Although Mr. Brimm didn’t know who Abby spoke of, the blonde seemed to. 

“Mr. Brimm, I think she’s talking about that new recruit.  You know, the cute girl that just finished tryouts yesterday.  What was her name…Emily, maybe?  Yes…I think it was Emily.  She must be the one who has this Jim person.”

Mr. Brimm went into thought about it.  He did remember hearing about some younger woman coming to the tryouts the day before, but he couldn’t picture her face since he hadn’t been there.  The lead cheerleading woman had taken charge of the tryouts this year, so he didn’t know who the new recruits were until today.  He remembered the name, though.  He’d been told that Emily was a brand-new student to the university, of the tall variety.  She’d seemed shy and nervous, but she’d made the cut.  He was about to call up to the blonde and ask about her, but she seemed to be on the same thought as he was, and spoke to him and Abby before he had a chance.

“I remember Emily very well from yesterday.  Her hair would have made her stand out among the rest of us, and she was not here today.  She wasn’t among the students who came to practice before we sent them home when Abby here strolled in and collapsed.”

Abby started feeling a little nervous after she heard that this “Emily” person hadn’t made it to the Practice Zone.  If she was the one who’d taken hold of Jim and she hadn’t made it to this place yet, then where was she?  It’s not like a cheerleader would instantly forget where the Practice Zone was, especially a single day after she’d tried out for the squad.  Something must have happened that kept her from reaching this place.

“W-Well…” said Abby, a little nervous, as she stood up, pushing away the woman’s hand from her shoulder, “If they’re not here, then…where are they!?  She probably doesn’t even know she picked him up!  We’ve got to find them.”

The woman then stood up and grabbed a hold of Abby with her free hand before she could run off to look for them.  She quickly put Mr. Brimm up on her shoulder and looked Abby in the eyes.  “Abby, you’re right.  If Emily is out there, unaware that she has a small person in her possession, they need to be found right away.  But don’t go running off on your own.  Wait here a moment, okay?”

Abby softly nodded as she looked at the woman in the eyes.  Closely watching, she saw her leave her current position and drop Mr. Brimm off in the tower he’d been in when Abby first arrived at the Practice Zone.  Walking back over to Abby, she smiled and put her hand on her shoulder once again.  “I’ll come with you, and help you search for her.  I’ve seen Emily before, and may be able to find her in a crowd more quickly than you can.”

Abby, although still nervous, smiled towards the kind woman and muttered a soft “Y-yeah.  Thank you.”  The two then turned and walked away from the Practice Zone and back into the main set of fields that spanned the campus…

Fran’s pace had slowed down considerable when she’d left Abby to head back and retrieve her boots.  She wasn’t the athletic type and she’d run around for quite some time before she’d managed to catch Abby and let her know what had happened.  After taking several breaks to catch her breath, she finally saw her boots in a field in front of her.  Her aching feet were very happy to see those big, black boots.  As much as Fran had ignored it earlier, the ground had not been kind to her big, soft feet.  It would be nice to get them into some boots again.

As she approached her boots, she plopped her butt on the ground and pulled her legs up near her.  She reached over and grabbed her right boot.  As it came over to her, she set it on the ground next to her.  Bringing her foot up off the ground and to the side, she took her hand and quickly brushed off the dirty and grass that had stuck onto it.  She couldn’t get all the dirt off, being so small compared to her big feet, but she got as much as she could.  Quickly slipping her foot into the boot, she fastened the buckles and extended the leg out, preparing to grab the other boot.

As she reached over and grabbed for her left boot, she noticed it lying on its side.  She let out a deep sigh as she was reminded of the time she and Jim had together.  As she thought about it, she picked the boot up and rested it on her right leg.  She stared at it for a moment, losing sight of her current goal of putting it back on. 

Images were flying through the girl’s head of the fun she’d had with Jim.  So many things came out of the memory of him servicing her feet.  Jim’s soft mouth and tongue had felt so warm on her feet.  She started to blush as she thought about it, and about Jim’s attitude towards her.  She stared off in the distance, thinking long and hard about the fate of the poor man, having been accidentally kidnapped by the cheerleader who’d bumped into them.

Quickly shaking her head, she got a partial grip on reality and moved her boot to the ground in front of her.  Slipping her left foot into it, she buckled it up and began to pick herself up.  She began to look around in every direction.  Her mind was still stuck on the thought of Jim and what might happen to him in his travels with that cheerleader.  The thought of how careless the girl had been when she ran into them made Fran’s stomach curl. 

If the girl was so careless that she couldn’t even see another person her own size sitting on the ground, there’d be no telling what she could accidentally do to Jim.  Fran’s mind was starting to fill with fear for the poor man that she’d begun to grow attached to after such a short amount of time.  She took a deep breath and looked out into the fields.  Holding her head up high, she began to mutter to herself.

“Don’t worry, my little Jimmy.  Fran’s coming to rescue you from the big, bad cheerleader!  I’m coming for yo-”

Fran had begun to run off in one direction, but stopped herself as she immediately started realizing that she had no idea where she was going.

“Uh…which way did Abby tell me to go again….?”

She thought hard about what Abby had told her from earlier.  She’d specifically given her directions to getting to the Cheering Practice Zone, but she could not remember which direction she’d pointed to.  Being too worried about her little Jim, she’d just nodded and agreed to Abby’s plan so she could get moving.  Bringing a hand up to her face, she softly bit down on one of her fingers, still looking around.

“Okay, Fran…you can do this.  You just have no idea where Jim and that girl ran off to.  Come on…think.  Abs told us exactly where the Practice Zone was, now where was it…?  Wait…what if they don’t even make it to the Practice Zone?  What is Jimmy gets thrown off in the middle of a field somewhere!?  He could be lying on the ground somewhere, hurt and unable to get up.  He might need me!”

As Fran’s mind and thoughts were slowly making her paranoid, she simply picked a direction and began to run off, only worried about finding her small friend and getting him out of harm’s way, assuming he wasn’t already hurt.  Although she hadn’t known him long, she felt an attachment to the tiny man and would do anything she had to in order to find him and bring him to safety.

As Fran flew across campus, she stomped her boots down into the ground.  They shook the ground as they took each step.  Each footfall sent many normal-sized students falling off their feet.  The foot steps of taller folks made quakes by themselves, but when you added running and heavy boots to the equation, Fran was like a moving earthquake as she ran.  She sent out a tremendous force that caused everyone to quickly dash away from, making sure they weren’t beneath those thick, heavy boots as they came crashing into the ground below.

Running and panting, Fran closed her eyes for a moment, trying to catch her concentration as she ran, looking around for any traces of her tiny friend and the girl who’d taken him captive.  She came up with nothing for quite some time, but didn’t give up in her search.  Her eyes scanned the ground as she ran, trying to pick up any traces of smaller folks.  She’d seen plenty of smaller folks, but not the one she was looking for.  She soon turned away from the main pathways and moved out into the fields.

Coming out from behind a few buildings, she ran, following a small path.  As she continued running, she saw what looked like a small hole in the ground.  Moments later, she saw someone lying on the ground, seemingly asleep.  Confused at first, she took a closer look at her and noticed the crimson hair.  A chill went through Fran’s entire body as she realized she’d found the girl.  But why was she lying on the ground? 

As Fran approached, she tried to tilt her boots to stop herself and examine the girl that was lying on the ground, but she’d built up too much momentum.  Her boots slid on the dirt until hitting a sign, causing her to trip.  She fell to the ground, her head landing right next to Emily’s feet. ..

Jim had been lying on Emily’s ankle, fast asleep, for a good while as the two of them were recovering from their exhaustion of the task of wrapping up the girl’s ankle.  They’d both worn themselves out during that trial and needed to rest to regain their strength.  Emily’s ankle wouldn’t be very usable right after it had been patched up anyways.  He was in a deep, dreamless sleep, until his body started to feel a tremor from below him. 

His eyes bolted open as a jolt of pain shot up through his leg when a tremor has made it twitch.  He sprung up to a sitting position, reaching down for his injured leg and shook his head as he realized that he’d been sleeping.  Yawning for a moment, Jim’s vision was soon focusing for him, revealing that he was sitting on Emily’s foot, just below his ankle.  However, he was more distracted by an enormous object that was now lying next to the foot he was currently sitting on, accompanied by a cloud of dust.

As Jim coughed from the dust that was falling down towards him, he struggled to see what had caused it.  As he looked more intently, he finally realized that the enormous object in question was no object at all.  It was a tall person.  Blinking a few times, he could see the person’s face directly next to the shoe, and as they picked themselves up, he immediately recognized them.  “FRAN!” he yelled, called up to his friend.

Fran was a little out-of-it when she was slowly picking herself up, recuperating from her fall.  As she raised her head from the dirt, her eyes stung a little from the dirty cloud she’d created.  After wiping on her eyes, she thought she heard something.  She raised her head, finding the voice curiously familiar.  “Huh?  Who’s there?”

As she looked around, the voice continued calling her name, until she finally looked down, and to the side.  Waving his arms at her was none other than Jim, smiling up towards her and calling her name.  Her jaw immediately dropped when she saw him, alive.  The fact that he was right there, in front of her, filled her with a feeling of joy.  Her irresponsibility of losing him didn’t end up killing him.  She smiled down at him, and her eyes began to tear up.

“Jimmy!  You’re okay!” she exclaimed.  As she looked down at him, her eyes began to focus on everything in the area, and her smile began to sink and turn into a frown.  Jim was safe, right there in front of her.  He was, however, sitting on top of some girl’s ankle.  Her eyes quickly judged the person in question and upon seeing her head, realized it was the same Crimson-haired cheerleader who’d kidnapped him earlier that day, sending her into a state of paranoia.

She quickly looked back at Jim with a frown on her face.  Her mind had filled up with strange images.  She thought to herself, about this whole situation of him being there, on this girl’s ankle.  They swirled around in her head, just begging to come out.  As she felt tension and nervousness at the situation, she began to let the thoughts come out, in the form of questions for Jim.

“Jimmy…what are you doing on that girl’s ankle?!”

Jim was immediately frozen in place at Fran’s sudden change in tone.  He’d been so happy to see her.  She was a familiar face and would likely be able to help both him and Emily get the proper help they needed.  While Emily would likely be fine with the patching they’d put on her, Jim would not.  He had a broken leg and no amount of ribbon would be able to fix it.  However, hearing Fran’s change in tone, from sweet to very forward and direct made Jim feel nervous.  He felt like he was about to be interrogated.

“W-what do you mean, Fran?”

Fran then got on her knees, towering above him.  Putting her hand on her hip, she raised her eyebrow at his rebuttal question.  Starting to feel agitated at the sight of her little Jimmy on this cheerleader’s ankle, she asked the question again, a little bit louder.  “What…are you doing on her ankle?!”

Jim had started to understand the reality of the situation.  Fran had seemed so happy when he was at her feet, servicing them for her, but now she had seen him sitting on Emily’s ankle.  It was likely getting her a little upset.  Trying to form his words the best he could, he tried to begin explaining what had happened to the two of them and how he’d come to being on her ankle.

“Y-you see, Fran…I was…helping her with a problem in her ankle, and I-”

Jim had been immediately cut off by Fran, the agitation slowly raising higher and higher, her face starting to get red from the situation.  “Help her?!  She kidnapped you, and ran off with you!  Why would you help her?! ”

Jim, realizing he was only making things worse with her, decided that explaining all of this to Fran at present was a bad idea.  She was obviously flustered at the sight of him on Emily’s ankle and explaining that he was helping her with an injury would only make Fran more upset with him.  Not seeing any other choice, he lowered himself to his knees and made a slight bow towards Fran, aiming for an apology, but before he could get one out, Fran’s enormous black-painted fingers had reached down and snatched him up into the air.

He felt a fierce wind as he was quickly raised into the air, being held tightly by Fran’s fingers.  The pressure sent a jolt of pain through his leg, but he tried to keep as quiet as he could, knowing that Fran was upset with him and he didn’t want her to get any more upset.  Once he’d reached eye level, the wind stopped and he opened his eyes to see Fran’s face before him, her pupils quivering, producing small tears.

He looked into her eyes and felt something from them.  Seeing those big, saddened eyes brought a sad look to his face as well.  His lips quivered as she looked at him and began to speak down to him.  “How could you, Jim?!  How could you spend time with that kidnapping cheerleader and not try to come back to me?!  I…I love you….”

Jim opened his mouth to speak, trying to say he was sorry, but before he could say anything, she snapped at him, telling him that he didn’t want to hear any excuses from him.  She stared at him, her tight grip causing a lot of tension on his body.  Looking up at the sky for a moment, she started to look angry and called down to him again.  “I won’t lose you, Jim.  I’ll make you love me, if I have to.  It’s getting late, though.  The school day is almost over, and you’re coming home with me, whether you want to or not.”

Jim’s body felt a cold chill as he heard Fran’s words.  Looking up at the sky himself, he did realize it was getting late.  The sun was starting to set, meaning that the school day would be ending in the next few hours.  He looked back at Fran, who still had an upset look in her eyes.  His body shivered with a cold fear, afraid of what she’d said to him, afraid of what Ruby would think were he to not come home that night.

Before he could say anything to Fran to try to get her to stop, she forced her hand down, sending a rush of wind and blood soaring up to his head.  The feeling was so forceful, that he could almost feel his organs being thrown around inside his body.  His head spun like an umbrella and he immediately started hacking up more puke, leading it straight to the ground. 

Without having time to react after his sick phase, he felt himself moving again.  He moved further down, with her other hand coming with him.  It reached down for the top of her boots, which from this angle, looked one size too big for the girl.  Pulling the hole in the to between boot and leg open, she moved her fingers and began dangling him above the opening.

High above him, Fran looked down, and called down to him.  “I’m sorry, Jimmy.  I love you, but you must be taught a lesson.  My boots are a little big for me, so you’ll be fine in there.  Spend some time riding with my legs and feet while you think about what you’ve done.” 

Jim then felt his support leaving him as he was pushed down inside Fran’s tall, smelly boot.  The smell he remembered from before surrounded him as everything was shrouded in darkness.  He tried to scream upward, but he couldn’t.  As he landed, he felt a good amount of space between the enormous leg behind him and the boot in front of him.  Fran was right.  There was plenty of extra space in here.  Whether the ride would be pleasant or not, he would be likely be okay in here.

As Fran lowered Jim into her boot, Emily had started to wake up, hearing the end of their conversation.  Reaching her hand out, trying to get to Fran, she called out Jim’s name.  Fran then looked at her, glaring.  She then dropped Jim into her boot and walked away, towards the school’s main gates…  

Abby and the blonde cheerleader had been walking around the fields for quite some time with no luck at finding Emily or Jim.  Although they realized that the campus was a very big place, even for tall folks, they pressed on and spent the better part of the day searching the place up and down, trying to find the two missing people, hoping that Jim was alright. 

As the two of them were strolling down one of the fields, passing the cafeteria building the blonde decided that she needed to start up conversation with Abby.  The two of them had been dead silent for hours and their search was going nowhere fast.  A little conversation between the two of them might be what they needed to help speed up their search and not feel like they’d been searching for the two of them all day, even if they had been searching all day.

“Abby, may I ask you something?”

Abby turned at hearing the question coming from her current travel companion as they walks.  Looking at her, she tilted her head a little, confused at how she’d worded her statement.  Everyone around campus knew how open she was, and she didn’t understand why they would ask for permission to ask a question.  After thinking about it for a moment, she nodded back to them, approving their request to ask a question.

“Of course, umm…”

The cheerleader softly smiled as Abby struggled to remember her name.  Although she’d seen Abby around a lot, the two of them hadn’t really talked much.  Abby was normally busy, running errands around campus, and didn’t seem to have time to stop and say hello to her.  She put her hand on Abby’s shoulder, patting her for a moment, before telling her what her name was.  “Helen.  My name’s Helen.”

“Oh!  Well, Helen…of course you can ask me something.  What’s on your mind?”

Trying to keep up her smile, Helen took her hand off Abby’s shoulder and looked forward as they continued walking and searching for the two friends that had gone missing.  She took a deep breath and began to ask Abby something that she’d been wondering about ever since she’d explained the situation about the man she called “Jim”. 

“Abby, tell me about Jim, if you don’t mind.  Since we’re searching for both him and Emily, I’d like to know a little about him, so he’s not a complete stranger when we end up finding him.”

Abby blinked in response to Helen’s question.  She expected her to have a lot on her mind, but she never imagined that she’d be asking her to talk about Jim.  They were searching for the people, and she wanted to know about the one she didn’t know?  Abby didn’t quite understand the logic in this question, but, holding true to her word, she began to respond to her question.

“Well, Helen…today was Jim’s first day of working here on campus.  He’s going to be working in the Cafeteria, kind of like an aide for me and my work there.  The two of us met just this morning, and I had to take him around campus for awhile, to show him around for a little while, and to help him adjust to how things work here.”

Helen became a little confused when Abby talked about helping Jim adjust to ‘how things work’ around the campus.  Curiosity overtaking her, she began to inquire Abby about it before she could get a chance to go on with her explanation of the man.  “How things work?  What do you mean, Abby?”

“Well, Helen,” replied Abby, realizing she wasn’t comprehending what she’d meant with her previous statement, “Jim seems a little new to what this university does, in the aspect of Larges and Minors both going to school together and interacting with one another.  When I’d first met him, he was very nervous around me.  I think I was the first tall person he’d ever interacted with in his life.  So, I took it upon myself to carry him around and help him get used to my size.”

“Oh, well that was nice of you, Abby.  Was he alright with you carrying him around today?” asked Helen, thinking that Abby’s gesture towards Jim sounded a little cute.  In her mind, she imagined Abby, being as kind and friendly as she was, carrying around a Minor in her hands, showing them around.  It seemed a little out of the ordinary to her, though.  Of all the times she’d seen Abby around campus, the girl had never been carrying around any of the smaller people.  She was always walking around by herself.

“He was a little nervous at first, but he got used to my stature pretty quickly.  We sat down in one of the fields and talked about one another for quite awhile, and he really started to get comfortable and talked with me about a lot of stuff.  It was nice to have him, the nervous guy from before, so comfy and normal around me.  I thought his change in attitude and thoughts towards me were really cute.”

Helen began to make a wide grin upon her face as she listened to what Abby said and started to get an idea of where she was coming from.  The girl had not interacted with many Minors, to the point of actually touching and spending time with them, for many years.  She’d heard the horror stories of what happened when Abby had first come to the University.  The tragedy of the three young girls and the AL terrorist group in the city was well known, although few people dared to speak of it.  It brought a smile to Helen’s face to know Abby was opening up to the smaller folks again.

“Aww, that’s cute, Abby.  Maybe you’re so worried about this little guy because…you’ve got a crush on him?” said Helen, raising her eyebrow, peering over into Abby’s eyes. 

Abby immediately started blushing at the thought of having a crush on little Jim and immediately shook her head, nervousness settling into her head.  “N-no!  Of course not!  Don’t be silly, Helen.  I just met the guy!  We’re just friends.  I don’t have a crush on him, or anything weird like that!”

Helen giggled a little at Abby’s nervousness and looked forward to see that the sun was starting to set.  “I thought so, Abby.”  She was about to continue her statement when she looked ahead and saw someone limping their way through the field ahead of them.  Helen looked more closely and saw the sun shining down on the girl’s crimson-red hair.  Immediately stopping the conversation, she ran forward, calling out Emily’s name.

Helen and Abby both ran up to Emily, who had been limping her way across campus for several minutes.  She had a lot of pain in her ankle, but she was trying to push it back, hoping to find someone to talk to about what happened to her small friend, Jim.  When she heard a familiar voice calling out her name, she stopped and looked forward, seeing Helen, the leader of the cheering squad, running towards her with some other woman she’d never seen before.

Helen reached Emily and tried to hold her up, having seen the limp in her walk, something obviously wrong with one of her ankles.  Looking into her face, she could see a lot of stress and worry in it.  Something had happened to her that had generally spooked her.  Holding the girl up, off her bad ankle, she began to whisper to her, trying to find out what happened.

“Emily, are you okay?  What happened to you?”

Losing some of her strength from the stress of walking on her bad ankle, she let out a weakened response, only one thing on her mind.  “J-Jim.  I have to…help Jim.”  Upon hearing the name, Abby realized that Emily had not been completely unaware of Jim’s presence.  She’d somehow either found him or he made himself apparent to her.  Running up to her, she looked the worn out girl in the eyes, inquiring her.

“Jim’s in trouble?!  Where is he?” Abby asked, getting slow reactions out of the girl, who was obviously worn out and under a lot of stress from her injury.  She rose her head up and looked at Abby, then over at Helen, who was holding the girl up the best she could.  She looked over at Helen, and began to talk about Jim, talking about how he’d helped her when she got hurt, and eventually got to how he was taken from her.

“A girl…in all-black…yelling at him…saying she loved him…took him away…took him…home.”  As Emily finished the last statement, her strength gave in from the stress of agitating her injury and fell unconscious, still being held up by Helen.  Helen, who seemed genuinely worried for Jim, looked over at Abby and asked her if she knew what she was talking about.

Abby, who had a cold chill having run up her body, knew exactly what happened.  She wasn’t there, and she didn’t have to be.  The description the girl had given, along with the way the person had acted towards Jim, screamed only one thing to her: Fran.  Looking back at Helen, she slowly nodded her head, preparing to explain.

“I know who took him.  It was Fran, the one who’d lost him in the first place.  She must have gotten attached to him and gotten jealous when he saw him and Emily together.  She’s a sweet girl, but when she gets jealous, she’s a force to be dealt with.  If she’s taking him home, then…we need to try to catch up with her before she gets there.  If she’s in a jealous rage, she might accidentally hurt him.”

Helen took a deep breath as she listened to what Abby had told her.  She knew that she was right, and that Abby knew exactly what she was talking about.  The serious tone in her voice just screamed that she knew exactly what was happening.  Looking over at Emily, she realized that the poor girl had somehow gotten hurt today, and would need to be taken home as well. 

“Alright, Abby.  I’m sorry, but I can’t go with you, if you’re chasing after Fran.  It’s getting late, and Emily needs to be taken home.  It looks like our search is over.  You know where Fran lives, so you go after her and try to find your little friend, and I’ll take this girl home and get her taken care of.”

Abby nodded to her and the two parted ways, one heading forward down the street once reaching the school gates, and the other dashing to the side, heading for the Large district that was just outside the city, where Fran lived…    

From the moment Jim’s body fell into the depths of Fran’s enormous boot, his environment had changed, as did his attitude towards the girl.  The inside of her boot was filled with the strange odor that her feet gave off.  Although it was pleasant to him, smelling of strawberries, the situation he was in made it impossible for him to enjoy it.  Even before Fran started moving, his body had started to shiver.  Not from cold, but from fear.

He knew from the look in Fran’s face and the tone in her voice that he was in trouble, major trouble.  The girl had gotten so attached to him quickly, and seeing him on Emily’s ankle had somehow sent her spiraling into some kind of jealous rage.  She had been much more forceful with him as she had become flustered and now he was on his way to her home.  She’d told him that she was going to make him love her.  That statement sent chills down his spine.  She’d been so gentle before.  Rough, but gentle.  Now she was enraged and he feared for what the girl had in store for him.

As his ride began when Fran started walking towards the school gates to head home, his body had already heated up from the enclosed darkness that surrounded him.  He was between a dark black boot and Fran’s enormous ankle.  He’s fallen down most of the boot, it seemed, and he could feel the perspiration coming from the ankle he was now against.  He started to sweat himself, realizing that this was going to be a very rough trip.

Each time Fran’s leg moved, Jim shifted to the side.  The boot’s extra room had almost made it snug in there for him, but there was plenty of wiggle room for him to be tossed around, likely Fran’s plan all along.  She knew he’d started to like being with her feet, so the only reason she’d toss him into her boot as punishment would be for a rough ride as she walked home.

As he shifted and tumbled, his broken leg was constantly nudging against the side of the girl’s boot, sending a sharp pain through his body.  He grunted every time it happened, wishing the pain would stop.  He’d managed to suppress most of the pain when he was helping Emily because of how important it was for him to help her.  Now, however, he didn’t have any important task or thought keeping him away from his own pain.  The piercing, stinging feeling set goose bumps up his legs as he kept grunting, trying not to scream.

 As the ride continued, Fran’s leg began to sweat more and more, causing a lot of heat to be thrown out of her skin and straight into the air around him.  He was sweating a lot, the heat rising, feeling like he was in an oven, similar to the feeling he had when he was riding in her jacket pocket and in Emily’s cleavage.  As the heat rose, Jim tried to reach for something to latch onto.  Anything he could use to climb up and hold himself away from the girl’s legs. 

He didn’t end up finding anything, the heat soon becoming too overwhelming for him.  As he reached up, his head fell backwards, his entire body, almost snuggling against her ankle, him having fallen unconscious during the painful ride. 

Fran had been walking for a good while, the images of what had just happened playing in her mind over and over and over again.  It enraged her that Jim would not only spend time with the slut of a woman who’d kidnapped him, but even lied on her ankle, as if he were snuggling with her?  It was inconceivable for Fran to think that Jim wanted to spend time with that girl, even if she hadn’t hurt him. 

Her rage was swelling along with other emotions from deep inside her.  She began to walk faster, aiming to get home as soon as possible as she neared the edge of the city, outside of which the Large District was, where her home was located.  As she walked faster, she only thought about one thing: Jim. 

During her walk, a thousand emotions were swarming through her mind.  Fran had adored the fact that Jim accepted and worshipped her feet for her.  Seeing him near that other girl’s feet was starting to get to her.  As flustered as she was at the moment, tears began to appear in her eyes, saddened at Jim’s betrayal of her, or what she thought was betrayal.  ‘Does he…love her feet more than…mine?’ she thought to herself, almost heartbroken at the thought.

As tears ran down her cheeks, she started whimpering to herself.  She was frustrated, but her emotions were sending her into a state of sadness and depression.  As she felt the tear coming down her face, she quickly shook her head and wiped it away.  “No…” she said to herself, nervously.  “I…I can’t…I can’t do this!  I just…I have to get home…I know he’ll love me…I’ll…I’ll make him love me!  I will!”

Her rage was getting ever-stronger from the tears that had run down her face, realizing how much this situation was truly hurting her.  She yearned to love him for the rest of her life from the moment she’d seen him, and the idea of rejection was too much for her to handle.  She couldn’t handle not being able to love him.  Even if she had to take him home and keep him around at all times, she would find a way to acquire his love.  As she thought about how desperate her heart was, she began to get other thoughts in her head about the situation.

“I will…” she whispered to herself, “I will do whatever it takes to make sure he falls in love with me.  He…He won’t have a choice in the matter.  He’ll fall in love with me…and stay with me forever or …or I’ll start punishing him…Yes…he’ll have to love me…he’ll have to.”

Her frown soon turned to a soft snickered expression as the ideas whirled around in her head.  She soon had entered the district where she lived.  Walking down the street, she partially sniffled as the tears were still on her face.  Stopping at a house that would be considered normal for her, but would be towering to Jim, she smiled and approached the door.

Upon walking inside, she approached a couch in the living room and sat down, preparing to take her boots off…

Fran softly planted her butt on the soft, leathery couch as she came in the door, finally home from school.  She stretched her arms into the air at an angle, letting out a loud, long yawn as she got comfortable in her sitting position.  Her mind too set on Jim and the events that had just happened, the girl hadn’t even paid enough attention to the rest of the world that she left her front door wide open.

As her arms came back down and her yawn ended, she took a deep breath and looked down to the floor, towards her boot-clad feet.  They felt hot and sweaty from walking that long distance and being inside those tall, black boots all day.  Wanting to get more comfortable before she started her little chat with Jim, she reached down and started unbuckling her right boot.  Feeling the pressure of the boot and its buckle leaving her leg, Fran closed her eyes and smiled at the unrestrained feeling.

Slowly pulling her leg out of the boot, she revealed a sweaty ankle and foot.  As they came out into the fresh air, her long toes stretched out on a small table in front of her and started wiggling.  Fran, enjoying the moment, smiled and let out a soft whisper to herself.  “Mmm…it feels nice to get out of that hot boot.”

After a couple moments of feeling the fresh air blowing on her feet, she opened her eyes back up and reached down for the other boot, which contained her other foot along with Jim.  As the buckles came undone, she tried to wiggle her foot around in the boot, feeling to see where her tiny traveler had managed to land himself in there.  Nudging something small and soft next to her ankle, she smiled at the realization that Jim had been down by her feet this entire time.  She then began to lift her foot up, letting the tiny body fall under her toes.

Jim, who had been unconscious and in the middle of a restless, dreamless sleep, was sudden blown awake as his body fell and his broken leg fell into the soles of Fran’s enormous boot.  Pain flying through his body, he nearly screamed and bolted awake.  Looking in all directions and trying to hold his leg, his heart began racing and he breathed heavily.  As he was there, trying to get a hold on the situation, he looked up as an enormous shadow was over him.

Above him was a slightly darkened, but powerful sight.  Fran’s foot, more specifically her toes, hovered over his body and were slightly wiggling.  All the fear and memories of what had happened just before he feel unconscious suddenly returned to him, and he let out a scream when he saw those very toes descending towards him.  He fell over and started shaking as the softly set themselves on top of his body and curled, grasping his tiny body.

The pressure the enormous toes had put on him was tight and painful.  They pressed against his body with a force that felt like a gigantic vice grip that had a hold on him and wasn’t about to let go.  The air quickly left him, making it hard to breath.  His face was trapped in the valley between her toes and the ball of her foot and each time he tried to breath, he tried to cough and hack as a slight amount of her foot smell came into his system, completely overwhelming him.

Before long, the foot began to make it’s way upwards and left the boot.  Jim, almost pressured and gasping for air, could feet a breeze of wind blowing against him as well as Fran’s foot.  He soon felt the breeze coming from the side, realizing that Fran must have been moving her foot to the side after pulling it out of her boot.  Chilling at the realization that he was leaving her boot, he knew that he must have been at Fran’s home, and he was likely in for a rude awakening with whatever the jealous girl had in store for him.

He was dangling in the air, but it didn’t feel like dangling.  Past all of the pain and pressure of not being able to breathe, Jim felt surprisingly snug and secure where he was.  Fran’s toes, being as long and big as they were, created a nice ‘harness’ for him.  They’d wrapped around his whole body and he never felt like he was swaying as he was dangling.  The feeling didn’t last forever, though, as he soon felt the toes moving.  He gasped for air as his body left her food and fell down about 5 feet onto a hard, wood surface. 

As he hit the hard surface, a wave of pain flew through his body.  The surface had impacted his back when he hit it.  Letting out a series of coughs from the pain, he soon started gasping again, taking in huge breaths of air, finally not being suffocated by a giant set of toes.  He held one hand over his heart as his breathing continued, thankful that he was still breathing.  However, he immediately looked up and started quivering.  To his left and right were the huge feet that had imprisoned him and far above on what looked like a giant couch sat the angry face of his captor…the once-gentle girl, Fran.

Jim’s hands were shaking as he saw her.  Her arms were crossed as she sat there, and there was an evil glare striking down on him.  The look in her eyes almost made it look like there were small flames sprouting inside them, and Jim felt like there were daggers soaring from her gaze and striking against him.  He was getting scared when he heard the girl starting to call down to him.

“Stop shaking, Jim.” she said, almost like a command, still glaring down at him.  Her head tilted down slightly, showing him more of her eyes and her glaring expression.  More fear running through his body, his legs started shaking along with his arms.  This infuriated Fran, making her rage swell even higher.  Quickly removing her arms from her crossed position, she slammed one of her palms down right next to him.

“I Said STOP SHAKING!” she screamed down at him.    The deafening tone of her screaming, angry voice sent more fear into him.  The impact from her hand had shaken the table he was standing on, sending him down to the ground.  Bringing in her words, he forced himself still.  He looked up at her, almost getting tears in his eyes.  The girl was scary like this, and he was starting to fear for his well-being, and for his life.

As he looked up at her, trying his hardest not to quiver in fear of her, she brought her hand back up and crossed them again, still having that glare pointing down at him.  She took a deep breath, sending a small breeze flowing down towards him, blowing his hair back.  She moved her feet in front of him, and lowered them, setting her ten huge toes in front of his body.  Parting her lips again, her rage began taking over as she towered over the tiny person, realizing how hurt she was and how much power she had over him.  She spoke down to him, continuing with the conversation of what she had planned for him.

“Kiss them and beg for my forgiveness”

Jim’s mind had contradicted itself the moment Fran called down to him and ordered her to kiss her feet.  He was surprised that, with all the rage she seemed to have in her, that this was his ‘punishment’ for spending time with Emily, but at the same time, he wasn’t surprised.  Fran seemed to think highly of her feet.  When they’d spent time with her before, she went out of the way to make him rub and be around her feet in an attempt for him to become attracted to her.  The girl obviously thought her feet were one of her more attractive qualities.

As he slowly got himself up, he looked up at her glaring face and was getting more nervous.  He knew very well that the girl was in a huge bit of rage.  She’d even gone out of the way to nearly smash him into the table with her hand when he wouldn’t stop shaking his legs.  The girl was very scary like this, and it made Jim very aware of what needed to happen.  He had to do what she said or he might not make it out of this mess alive.

Hesitantly nodding, he got on his knees, squinting a little at the pain of putting the pressure on his broken leg, and looked at her toes.  The long, smooth toes before him sent out a small feeling of warm air as they wiggled around and had the intense smell of Strawberries.  His head was, for the moment, directly in front of the big toe of her left foot.  After taking a deep breath and recovering from the stinging in his leg, he did what he knew he had to.  He leaned his face in and moved his lips onto her toe.

As hesitant as he was, he’d remembered playing with Fran’s feet before.  Although he can’t remember everything from the trance she’d put him in, he remembered enough to know that he enjoyed her feet.  He liked feet and, even if it had been unwilling, he enjoyed it.  He only hoped she would be more careful than careless right now, and that his kisses would be enough to satisfy her.  At least until he could buy enough time to get him out of this mess. 

If he knew one thing, he knew that this wasn’t the way Fran wanted to act.  She’d been playful and forceful with him before, but she never acted mean, like she was trying to hurt him.  She seemed like a gentle person who just didn’t have their screws on straight.  Although she’d forced him into foot servicing, afterwards, she seemed very kind and emotional.  She may just not know how to handle little people, or maybe she just didn’t realize she was being too careless with him.  Knowing this, he just needed to obey her until she was able to get over this rage and get back to the old Fran.

As Jim had started planting kisses on her toes, Fran’s smile widened.  With rage all around in her mind, she was enjoying Jim’s submissive behavior.  In her mind, he was the one who was in the wrong in this scenario.  She’d taken him in, let him kiss her feet, and had fallen in love with the tiny person.  He was the one who not only helped the girl who’d kidnapped him, but also snuggled with her feet.  If it came down to a question, Fran currently felt that she had the right to do anything she wanted with Jim to punish him.

She watched intently, though still glaring, as Jim finished up the kissing of the big toe and crawled over to the next one, moving the kissing onto it.  She felt empowered by how much influence she had over Jim at this very moment.  Despite being afraid of her, he’d willingly started kissing her toes from a simple command and the look she’d given him.  He was under her control.  He now belonged to her.  She began to get a huge grin on her face, realizing that her dream of obtaining his love was not far off now.

She let him worship her for awhile before plucking him from the table between two of her fingers and began to stand up.  She grinned up him and loudly spoke to him as he dangled in front of her mouth, her voice making his body sway.  “Good, my little Jim.  You have taken the first step to gaining my forgiveness.  Now, tell me you love me”

Jim’s head knew he needed to do everything Fran asked of him to stay alive, but the last question she asked had killed his concentration on anything.  Did he love her?  His mind was screaming at him to simply nod and agree that he loved her, but his own emotions told him that it was wrong.  He was, after all, a married man.  How could he express love for Fran when he already had Ruby at home for him?

With Jim being a little hesitant, Fran immediately started becoming irritated.  Her head immediately took his silence as a No and she knew what she had to do.  If she were going to make him love her, she would have to let him know the gravity of the situation and that he did not have a choice in the matter.  Tightening her grip on his body, she continued to talk loudly, making him sway even further.

“Why are you so hesitant, Jim?!  I would give you my heart and forgive everything you’ve done to me if you would simply say you love me.  You may not think you love me right now, but you will learn the truth soon, very soon.”

She walked over to her front door and was yelling at him while she closed and locked the door.  Looking back down at him, she stared into his eyes.

“Listen to me, Jimmy.  You will give me your heart, as I have given you mine.  You will love me, whether you like it or not.”  She then gripped him tightly in her hand, causing him to scream as she walked past the door, further into the house.

Meanwhile…

Abby had been rushing down the streets, trying to get to Fran’s house as soon as possible.  Although she was outside the city at this point and no longer needed to be careful of where she stepped, she was still frantically worried about what she was doing.  She was running after her best friend, aiming to rescue Jim from her ‘clutches’.  The very idea of it made her sad on the inside, but the fact that she knew Jim was in a lot of potential danger kept her moving on the thought of saving him.

She’d known Fran for a long time and, if she knew anything about her, it was that she was a mental bomb, ready to explode.  If you were on the girl’s good side, she was the sweetest, most playful person you’d ever meet.  Although her all-block attire made her look threatening, she was as cuddly as a teddy bear.  Get on her bad side, however, and you’re in for a world of hurt.  She’d heard stories of Fran having given her own family major injuries for getting on her bad side.

She’d never believed these rumors before, but the very idea sent a chill down Abby’s spine as she continued moving across the landscape, trying to get to her destination.  If Fran would get in so huge of a rage that she could seriously hurt someone her own size, what would happen if Jim made her upset any further than he may already have done?  He’s only a Minor, and is she were to strike him with very much force, it would likely completely overwhelm his body and give him life-threatening injuries, if not instant death.

The thought of her punishing him along with the rumors of the violent tendencies made Abby start sweating.  For every second she thought about it, a little more fear would swarm through her body.  She thought about Jim, and started to lose her cool, realizing that he could be under torture at this very moment.  Not wanting to waste any more time, she changed her job to a flat-out sprint as she saw the Large houses directly in front of her, one of them which now housed both Fran and poor Jim…

Abby had been looking around the Large district for a few minutes before she saw what looked like Fran’s house.  She had only really been there once, so she couldn’t be entirely sure.  As she looked at the house, she noticed that the door had been left wide open.  She took this opportunity to begin crossing the screen and going towards the house.  As she got about halfway across the street she stopped as she saw someone walk in front of the doorway.  Not only someone, but it was Fran.

As she saw her, she tried to call out to her, to which she received no reply.  Fran seemed to be yelling at something she was holding in her hand.  Abby could vaguely make out her words from the street.  Something about…love?  She tried to listen more carefully, and made out the last statement.   ‘You will love me whether you like it or not’.  Abby looked closer at Fran’s hand and realized she was yelling at Jim, who was being tightly gripped in her hand. 

Abby started moving again as soon as she’d heard a tiny scream coming from across the street.  Although Minors were small compared to her, she had an excellent sense of hearing.  The sound of Jim’s painful scream sent chills through Abby’s body.  She immediately started sprinting across the street, aiming to get into the house before Fran could hurt Jim.  Her efforts, however, were thwarted.  As soon as she reached the porch, the door slammed shut and a small clicking noise could be heard as Fran locked the door, walking off with Jim.

Running up and into the door, Abby started banging on it, yelling in at Fran, trying to get her attention.  She knew that Fran must have been very upset with Jim, and she needed to make sure he didn’t get hurt by her.  “FRAN!  FRAN!  It’s me, Abby!  Please, open the door!  FRAN!” 

Many moments went by, to which Abby got no answer.  From the moment she started calling in, Fran had left the area, only concerned with what she had planned for her tiny friend.  Abby, realizing that Fran wasn’t going to let her in, started sweating and feeling nervous.  She knew the situation had just gotten a lot more complicated.  She was on the clock with no way into the house.  It was only a matter of time before Fran’s rage swelled enough to hurt Jim and she had to make sure she could get inside and stop her before that happened.

Frantically looking around, she looked under anything she could find for a spare key.  She looked inside the mailbox, under the door mats, on the windows, and many other places.  When she found no key, her arms started shaking as she realized how much time she’d just wasted.  “Okay, Abby…you can do this.  You can get in there and save him.  You just have to be able to get in there....”  Frantically thinking, she found only one solution coming to her mind as she stared at the door.  She took a deep breath and then started ramming her body into the door, trying to break it down.

Jim was going through a lot of pain from Fran’s grip.  Her pinky finger was tightly putting pressure on his broken leg, which sent a piercing pain throughout his body for him to deal with, along with the pressure of her grip.  Everything felt like it was about to explode as he screamed and began to tear up.  Fran was being incredibly forceful with him and acted like she was trying to hurt him to get him to love her.  It was a lot for him to bear, and he didn’t know how long his body would last under this much pressure.

Beyond the pressure, he could hear the echo-like pounding on the door and a familiar voice screaming in through the door as Fran continued to walk away from the door.  His scream stopped for a moment as he recognized the voice.  It was Abby, and she was yelling at Fran to open the door.  What was Abby doing here?  Had she somehow figured out what had happened, and that Fran had kidnapped him?  Regardless of the reason, he let out a whimpered cry upon hearing the voice of his gentle friend.

“A-Abby!  H-Help me!”

Fran heard Jim’s reply and immediately  tightened the grip she had on him for a moment, bringing in more pain to Jim’s body.  He cut his own plea off and screamed as he felt his body being pushed against.  Although Fran wasn’t doing any permanent damage, like broken bones, it still hurt Jim like nothing he’d felt before.  As he screamed, Fran called down to him, more upset than she’d been before.

“No one is coming to rescue you, Jim.  You are mine now, and you will learn to love me again!”

The girl then continued walking through the house, faster than before, completely ignoring the loud poundings on the front door as Abby struggled to break down the door.  Making her way into her bedroom, she sat down on the bed, legs stretched out towards the end of it.  She set Jim down between her legs as she removed her jacket, throwing it to the side.  Looking back down, she called down to Jim, who was sitting down, looking up at her.  She could tell he was frightened, but her rage was still in control, and she couldn’t care less.

“Jim, you listen to me, and listen well.  I love you with all my heart.  I would do anything for you, but what you’ve done to me today is inexcusable.  You loved on my feet, but then immediately started loving and even laid on some strange girl’s feet after she kidnapped you?!  Do you have any idea how much that hurts me?  You’re all I’d ever need, but I can’t let you go out and betray me like this every time you find another woman!”

She then reached down with her hand and gripped Jim’s body, slightly raising it into the air.  At about 10 feet off the ground, she called down to him again.  “I want to hear you tell me you will love me and only me.  I am your world now.  You will love me, and you will like i-OUCH!!!!”

Jim had taken enough of the torture.  He was in so much physical and mental pain from how Fran had been treating him.  Emotions were swirling around in his head and he knew one thing, he had to get out of this mess.  If he stayed with Fran, he would only upset her further and likely get himself killed.  Finally fed up with everything, he used as much strength as he could and bit down on Fran’s thumb.

Fran, feeling the stinging of the biting, immediately threw her hand around, loosening her grip on Jim and incidentally tossing him down to the edge of the bed.  She immediately pulled her hand up to her mouth and started sucking on her thumb where she’d been bitten.  Making slight whimpering noises, she tried to easy the pain she was experiencing, not seeing it coming.  By the time she took her thumb back out, she vaguely heard a loud crash from elsewhere in that house and noticed that Jim was nowhere in sight. 

Finding no place else to turn, Jim had immediately pulled himself up after the impact from being tosses into the giant, soft comforter.  There was a long string on the side of the sheets that lowered all the way to the ground.  Taking the initiative and the distraction his bite had made for him, he grabbed the rope-like string and slid down to the floor.  His hands felt a burning sensation from the friction of the tiny string, a rope compared to him.  As he reached the bottom, he fell on his butt, only to see Fran’s face looking down from above.  His body went cold as she called down to him.

“Jim!  What are you doing?  Why did you bite me?!”

Jim, knowing his situation was grim anyways, uncontrollable started screaming up to the girl, speaking everything that was on his mind at that moment, whether it was actually true or not.

“FRAN!  I’m sorry, but I can’t love you!  You showed yourself as a kind, young lady earlier today, but all I did was lay on that girl’s ankle and you completely changed!  You’re been nothing but mean, selfish, and violent tonight!  You say you love me and want my love, but you use force and manipulation to achieve that goal!  If you truly loved me, you would trust me and calmly have asked me about why I was on that girl’s ankle.  But you didn’t!  You assumed the worst and assumed that I had betrayed you!  I could NEVER love a woman like you!  I’m sorry, but I’m leaving!”

Jim then began to hobble away, his face red from what had just happened with him.  Unknown to him, Fran’s face was also going red.  Hearing everything that Jim had just told her was the last ounce of strength left to flip that little switch in her head.  Within that instant, her rage swelled further than she ever thought was possible and she snapped.  Jim not only didn’t love her, but he claimed that she didn’t love him and that he could never love her.  How could he do such a thing?

Filling with rage, Fran pushed herself from the bed and slammed her feet into the ground, just in front of Jim’s hobbling body.  The force from her footfall shook the ground and blew Jim off his feet.  He looked up at her, his entire body shivering from the sight of her.  When he saw her eyes, all the way up there, he could see it.  There was no longer a spark in her eyes.  There was a flame.  A flame that burned brightly and was glaring down at him.  He filled up with fear as what he’d just done.  In telling his current feelings, he’d just set off a bomb.

“How DARE you reject me, Jim!  I do so much for you, and you will never be able to love me?!  NEVER?!  I won’t allow you to say such things!  I won’t allow such denial to go by unpunished!  You’re breaking me apart, and if I can’t obtain your love, then I will just have to return the favor, you ungrateful worm!”

Fran then rose her foot into the air and hovered it over Jim’s body.  Jim froze in fear as he saw her enormous foot now hovering over him, as if threatening him.  He was getting very scared and wanted to move, but couldn’t.  He screamed up, trying to apologize, but it was too late.  Fran was no longer there.  All he screamed to was the rage and jealousy that had filled up her mind. 

“Jim, if you won’t love me now, then I’m going to have to hurt you until you do!”

Fran then shoved down with her foot with as much force as she could muster, enraged at Jim’s actions.  Jim screamed and cowered as he saw it descending towards him, afraid of her.  Many moments went by with no feeling of being stomped by Fran.  Jim looked up to see….

Jim had been expecting a quick death at the bottom of Fran’s foot.  He knew she’d said she was going to hurt him until he would love her, but he knew exactly what would happen were she to stomp on him.  He would immediately be flattened and would be nothing more than a small puddle of blood.  He would likely feel some extreme pain for a few seconds before everything went dark.  However, nothing happened.  No pain, no flattening, and no puddle.  He was just fine.  He looked up, curious as to what had happened.

He gasped as he saw what had happened above him.  Fran’s foot was still hovering above him, as it had been before, but it was behind help up by something.  He saw two hands just above him, one pushing up on the bottom of her foot and one clenched around her ankle.  Someone else was in the house and was trying to help him!  Looking up, his eyes ran past the long wrists and arms to see a familiar face, although a little bruised, looking at Fran while holding her foot back.  It was Abby!

Abby had broken down the door after several attempts and creating many bruises on her arm.  She’d made it to Fran’s bedroom just as she seemed like she was about to stomp Jim into oblivion.  She’d lunged over to her and caught her foot at the last second.  She was sweating and her face was red as she struggled to hold up Fran’s foot as it pushed down on it.  She was in a strange angle and the bruises and pain in her right arm made it a lot harder to push up on the foot.

Fran had immediately felt the pressure that was put on her foot as she had aimed to pound it down on Jim to make him feel the pain that he’d need as persuasion to love her.  Looking down, she almost fell over from the awkward pressure she’d felt.  She saw Abby, holding her foot up, looking up at her with an icy glare.  This made Fran’s rage all the worse.  Why was she intervening in her business?  How did she even get into her house?

“Abby!  What do you think you’re doing?!  Get out of here and let me handle this little love-betrayer!”

Abby still struggled as she felt Fran trying to put more pressure on her feet, still aiming to force it out of her grip and onto poor Jim.  She tried to push as hard as she could, but she could feel a stinging pain in her arm, a result of the bruising she’d endured when she knocked down the front door.  One of her eyes twitched it’s way shut as she tried her best to hold back Fran’s foot.

“N-No, Fran.  You can’t do this!  Jim didn’t betray you!  You have to let him go!”

Fran was not getting anything that Abby was telling her.  Why didn’t she understand?  Her heart was being torn asunder by everything, and Abby was trying to tell her that she was wrong?  How could she possibly do such a thing to her friend?  She stood for a moment, unable to understand why Abby was acting this way towards her. 

As Fran seemed to have been lost in thought, Abby turned her head, although straining, and looked over towards Jim.  Staring down at him, she began to whisper to him.  “Jim…listen to me…I don’t know how long I can keep her held like this.  You need to get in my pocket…I’ll take you someplace safe.”

Jim, frightened at this whole situation, listened carefully to Abby’s words.  She was the first person of the taller folks that he’d met.  When he had been with her, traveling around campus, she was always very gentle and kind with him.  He knew that if she’d come to rescue him or something, that he’d be safe with her.  He slowly began to push himself up, but immediately fell back down, pain piercing through his entire body.

His arms were shivering a little, but he could also hear Abby’s breathing getting heavier and heavier as she struggled to hold back the foot that towered over his tiny body.  Realizing that there was nothing else, he could do, he tried to force himself up again.  He immediately fell forward, onto his face, his legs screaming with pain as they hit the ground.  Realizing he wasn’t going to be able to walk or run to Abby, he reached his arms out and grabbed the carpet fibers, pulling himself across the floor.

As Fran was lost in thought, she peered down towards Abby and it looked like she was talking with him.  Her train of thought immediately ended when she heard him talking about taking him someplace safe and saw Jim crawling over towards Abby.  Her rage soared once again as she came to what she thought of as a realization.  ‘Abby…’ she thought to herself.  ‘Not only do you stop me from punishing him, but you’re trying to steal him from me too!’

“No, Abby!  You aren’t going to steal him from me, too!  I won’t let you!”

Fran used as must force as she could muster and broke the grip Abby had on her ankle, forcing her foot down and slamming it into Abby’s other hand as it hit the ground.  As it hit, Abby screamed as she her hand being forced into the ground.  Fran’s full weight had been put on that foot and she could feel one of her fingers cracking.  She reached up with her hand to try and pull Fran’s foot off, but the hand immediately quivered and fell as the girl started grinding her foot on her hand.

Jim, who had made a fair amount of progress, felt an enormous rush of wind as he heard the quake-like sound of Fran’s foot finally breaking free and hitting the ground.  He was sent tumbling across the floor as it hit.  He landed against the heel of Abby’s sandals and fell over to the ground.  He shook his head and looked up, seeing Abby’s hand being pinned to the ground.  A loud sound rang through his ears as Fran began to grind the girl’s hand into the floor and she screamed in pain.

“A-Abby!” he screamed, realizing that his tall friend was in pain.  He knew that Fran was hurting Abby.  He forced himself up and tried to hobble forward.  The pain immediately returned, but he caught himself on his way down.  He couldn’t stand the pain, but his friend was in trouble.  “I…I have to help her.  I can’t let her get hurt because of me!” 

As he hobbled his way further, he passed by what looked like a Needle Cushion laying on the ground.  Stopping next to it, he looked at all the needle handles sticking out of it and struck an idea.  Abby had hardly moved since she’d gotten hurt, so he may have been the only one in a position to get Fran off of her.   He hobbled to the cushion and grabbed the shortest needle he could.  He fell to the ground as he tried pulling it out, but kept pulling as it had fallen over with him.  Before long, it nudged and a huge needle, seemingly 4 feet long, popped out. 

Using the needle as support cane, Jim tried his best to get up to Abby’s hand and Fran’s foot as fast as he could.  The girl was still grinding on Abby’s hand, making her whimper and scream.  Jim felt awful about it and knew he had to do something.  He only hoped that he could help Abby and not get plastered in the process.

He came around behind Fran’s foot and stopped, gasping for breath.  He fell over as he’d used up a lot of strength just getting up there, bearing with the pain that was in his entire body.  Holding the needle in his hands, he stared at it and then back at Fran’s foot.  He didn’t want to hurt Fran, but he knew he had to.  If he didn’t Fran was likely to completely break Abby’s hand and who knows what else.

He forced himself up when he heard Abby whimpering again from the pain.  ‘Don’t worry, Abby,’ he thought.  ‘You helped me, and it’s my turn to help you.’  He picked up the needle and started hobbling towards Fran’s foot.  Waiting for it to stop, he grabbed the needle with both hands and forced it at the back of her ankle…

Fran wasn’t thinking at all as she ground Abby’s hand into the floor.  The only thing that was playing in her mind was the thought of Abby trying to take Jim away from her.  Her mind had been shattered at the thought of her own friend trying to keep the two apart.  It was inconceivable.  When that happened, all of her logic left and all she cared about was keeping Abby away from Jim.  As she hurt Abby, she suddenly felt something prick the back of her ankle.

“This is what you get for trying to hurt me and my-OUCH!”

Being as sensitive as it was, the skin easily pierced and Fran let out a scream.  She jumped off Abby’s hand and fell on her butt, grabbing at her ankle.  Taking a few moments to look at her foot, she noticed that a small sewing needle had been jabbed into it.  There wasn’t a whole lot of pain running through the injury, but it was enough to have scared her and gotten her off what she was doing to her friend.  She quickly plucked the needle out of her ankle and began to look to see how it had gotten stuck in her. 

 Off to the side, Jim could be seen, slowly hobbling towards Abby’s hand.  He knew that what could be described as a Raging Volcano would be very unhappy with him from behind, but he wanted to get over to Abby.  If he was going to have any chance of surviving against a raging-mad Large, it would be with the only other person that big in the room.  He called out to her as he slowly came closer to her, almost reaching the hand that Fran had been crushing.

As Fran saw Jim down there by Abby, she realized that it was him who’d jabbed her.  Abby didn’t have any free hands with the pain she was enduring, so the only explanation was that Jim had done it.  This made Fran’s head start quivering and shaking with anger.  She made fists in both of her hands, and screamed down at Jim.

“JIM!!!!  You’re going to try to betray me again and run off with Abby?!  You’re going to pay for that!!!”

Jim immediately froze with fear from that statement.  He knew that there was something bad coming his way, and could only hope that Abby would realize it and try to protect him before Fran could get to him.  He slowly turned and prepared to back towards Abby, but he gasped when he saw something soaring to his position.  He began to leap towards Abby, hoping he wouldn’t catch the entire blast.

Abby, looking up, saw Jim running towards her.  She began to slowly move her head and arms to reach for him, but her eyes widened when she saw that it was already too late.  Fran’s hand was sailing down towards Jim’s position, looking like it was about to smack and crush him into the ground, as if he were a fly.  Abby cried out for Fran to stop, but it was too late. 

The hand hit just after Jim leaped.  It slammed down just behind him, but the force that Fran had used caught Jim’s airborne body.  He was blown straight into the watch around Abby’s wrist.  As he went closer, he used his right arm to try and shield himself from the blow.  As he hit, his arm immediately popped out of place, and he let out a loud, fear-filled scream.  He slowly slid off the watch and hit the ground, his entire body shivering from the pain.

Abby gasped as she saw Jim’s tiny form being thrown into her watch and then to the ground.  As she saw his tiny, shivering body, she immediately moved her good arm and reached down for him.  Slowly picking him up and letting him lay in her palm, she looked down at him.  His eyes were wide open, but he didn’t seem to notice that he’d been picked up.  He just shivered and stared off into the distance, almost unaware of everything that had been happening around him. 

“Jim?  Jim?  It’s me, Abby!  Hey, Jim…are you alright?!”

The tiny form known as Jim could hear every word Abby was saying to him, but he couldn’t move at all.  The shock of being blown back by Fran and injured against Abby’s watch had been too much for him.  He was just lying in her palm, shivering, wanting to speak up, but his body just wouldn’t let him.  As he was there, unresponsive, Abby started to get worried, a tear coming into her eyes.    

“Jim…Jim, please say something!  I know you’re moving and that you’re okay, right?  Right?......Jim?  Jim?!”

As Abby was holding onto Jim, breaking herself down into tears from her friend’s unresponsive behavior, Fran had frozen herself after she’d smacked the ground with her hand.  Her rage was so great and powerful, but one simple action had caused a conditioned response in her that immediately snapped her out of her fit of rage. 

Hearing Jim screaming out in pain, in that much pain had flowed through her head and snapped her back to reality.  The tiny person she wanted to love was hurt, truly hurt, and she’d finally caught wind of what she was really doing.  She looked down at the two of them, and began to contemplate everything that had just happened, a tear growing in her own eyes at what she’d done. 

She’d merely felt a little jealous, and had somehow spiked into a cruel rage from within her.  She got so caught up with her rage that she’d kidnapped Jim, tortured him with her feet and hands, and even tried to hurt him.  Even when Abby, her best friend, had come in to smack some sense into her, she’d ignored her and hurt both of them.  So caught up on getting his love, she’d let her rage take over, thinking that she could force him to love her.  But she was wrong.  It had only made things worse.

Abby had slowly picked herself up, holding Jim in her palm, as she noticed Fran’s sudden change in attitude.  She took a quick look at the girl and saw regret and lament in her eyes.  Abby knew what had happened.  Fran’s rage had come to an abrupt stop, thanks to a conditioned response, just like she’d heard.  She gets angry, the rage swells in her, and she loses control of her logic.  She rages and, when she hurts the person in question, she snaps out of it.  She never wanted to believe the rumors, or that she would even want to think about hurting their new friend, but she’d been wrong.

As she watched, she saw Fran slowly trying to approach the two of them, reaching out and whispering “J-Jimmy…?  Are…Are you okay?”

In response to this, Abby immediately started backing away from her, glaring into her eyes.  Now she was the one who was angry, angry with Fran for doing the unthinkable.  She started yelling back at her, making sure she knew exactly what she had done.

“No, Fran!  Jim isn’t alright!  Neither of us are!  You got too caught up in your rage, and hurt both of us!  He is seriously hurt!  You almost killed him!  You went too far, just like I told you not to!”

“I…I’m..sorry, Abs…” replied Fran, who was almost whimpering at this point, lamenting everything she’d done, realizing that Abby was upset with her.

“No, Fran!  Sorry doesn’t cut it!  You got a little jealous and if I hadn’t come along when I did, Jim would be dead right now!  DEAD!  So, you just stop talking and think about what you’ve done!  I’m going to take Jim and get him some medical help.  I’m going to tell the Dean that you’re going to miss the rest of the week of school.  You just stay home and keep away from us!”

Fran had started to cry at this point, but stayed silent, not saying a word.  She realized now that everything Abby had said was true.  She’d merely gotten a little jealous and it went so far that she’d almost killed Jim.  She wanted to nod to Abby, but was too shocked to say anything.  As Abby was walking away, she turned as she came to the doorway.

“Listen, Fran…you’re my friend and I care about you.  But you can’t act like this.  Our little friends are fragile, and can’t take that much abuse before they break.  I’m sure Jim is going to be broken up about this for quite awhile, both physically and emotionally.  Come back to school next week, and I will try to help you make amends.”

She then turned her head and walked out the door with the shivering Jim still lying on her palm…    

Abby was extremely flustered as she walked away from Fran’s house, Jim’s tiny body cradled in her hand.  She was very upset with Fran, but at the same time, sad and worried about poor Jim.  She looked down at him, tears in her eyes, as she walked down the street.  She knew he had not expected so much to happen in one day, especially something so dangerous and scary. 

The poor guy had just wanted to get a job and meet some new friends, but he’d nearly gotten himself killed, thanks to Fran’s jealousy.  As she watched his shivering body, she wished he would say something to her.  As far as she could tell, he was alright, savor injuries and bruises around his body, but he didn’t even seem to realize what was going on.  It was as if the shock of that blow to the watch had killed his awareness. 

As she continued to walk, she started to think about what she could do with him.  He needed medical attention and Abby was, in no way, a doctor.  She could think of a few places where he might be able to get some help, but she was hesitant to go to some of them.  In the city itself, there were 2 hospitals for smaller folks like Jim and there was an Infirmary on campus.  The hospitals would probably be the best option for Jim, but having a Large delivering a beaten and bruised Minor to a hospital in the city may not have been the best idea.

She took a deep breath as she exited the Large District and headed back towards the edge of the city as she contemplated what to do with him.  She knew he needed immediate medical attention, but also didn’t want to create a huge incident on the news that would attract the attention of all the Anti-Large activists.  Figuring it was the only way to accomplish both goals, she decided to head back towards the University.  She lived there, so she knew there was staff at the place 24/7.  She’d be able to take him to the Infirmary and stay with him while he healed up.

After she’d made it about halfway back to the University, Abby felt something moving in her hand.  She stopped moving and peered down at Jim, realizing that he’d turned his head and was looking up towards her.  She looked down at him, seeing the tears running down his own face, hurting from the pain of his injuries.  The two stared at one another for a few moments.

Jim had been out of it, physically for quite some time.  Although he could see and hear everything that was going on after he’d been slammed into the watch, his body wouldn’t let him move.  He had received a lot of pain during the impact, which had broken his arm.  Tying that with the broken leg and a host of pains he’d received when Fran had gripped him in her grasp, he was one hurt person.  At this point, he’d finally mustered up the strength to move and he called up towards Abby.

“A-Abby?”

Abby looked down at Jim, taking in his one word and letting out a big smile.  The realization that he was okay had finally settled into her mind.  Although she thought he’d be okay before now, this confirmed it.  She’d had a little voice in the back of her head all this time, whispering the possibility that he might not have been alright.  As she smiled she softly whispered down to him.  “Jim…you’re okay.  You’re…really okay!”

Jim looked up at Abby, smiling back towards his friend.  He was, indeed, alright, and he was as amazed as she was that he’d come out of that house in one piece.  He was sure Fran aimed to kill him at that last action with her hand.  He thought a lot about what they’d just gone through, but got distracted when he saw a tear slowly rolling down Abby’s cheek.  The tear soon fell and hit her palm, right next to him.  Small droplets of water splashed around him as it hit and he called up to her again, in regard to that very tear.

“Abby?  Why…why are you crying?”

Abby stared down towards her little friend for a moment, contemplating what she could possibly say to his question.  There were many reasons that she’d teared up:  Fran’s behavior, him being okay, the pain in her hand, and many other reasons.  When she’d finally made her response, however, she decided to tell him the reason pertaining to him.

“Jim…I’m just…happy that you’re okay” she said, grinning down towards him.  “I thought…I thought I’d lost another friend, just like years ago…”

Abby wasn’t exactly lying when she told him that she thought she had lost him, just as she’d lost her friends many years ago outside the city.  Although that wasn’t the first thing on her mind at the moment, she’d thought about it as she’d made her way from campus to Fran’s house.  Jim had made a huge impact on her from the moment they began talking with one another.  When she’d talked with him, she almost had felt like those three friends were still around, in the form of Jim.

Jim smiled up towards Abby after hearing her answer for why she’d been crying.  It felt nice that Abby was so caring and gentle.  He’d been in such a rough time with Fran and the unaware Emily that he’d nearly forgotten how careful Abby had been around him.  He tried to nod his head towards her, but it sent a stream of pain through his body.  “Thank yo-AHH!”

As Jim’s head came back down, Abby realized that he was in a lot of pain and this was no time to be standing around the city, not doing anything.  The man was hurt and needed to get checked out to make sure that blow hadn’t started any internal bleeding or anything else that could threaten his life.  She quickly spoke down to him, telling him of the matter.

“Shhh, don’t talk, Jim.  You’re hurt, badly, and you need help.  I’m going to take you back to campus and let you stay in the Infirmary.  They’ll be able to fix you up in no time and all that pain you’re feeling will be gone.  Is that okay?”

Jim stared up into Abby’s face as she told him she was going to take him back to campus.  He wasn’t really big on the idea of being at the school where some of these problems happened, but he decided there really wasn’t much other choice.  He began to call up to Abby, agreeing to her suggestion but had a request for her.

“O..Okay, Abby.  We can go back there, but can I…ask you a favor?” he asked, coughing as he spoke, the pain spreading through his neck and lungs.

Abby tilted her head a little, confused as to what this ‘favor’ Jim was thinking about could be.  It must have been important to him for mentioning it in the conversation.  He’d been coughing as he talked, so he could likely only afford to speak what was most important to speak.  Respecting his question, she replied to him.  “Of course, Jim.  What is it?”

“When we get there…will you…stay with me?  I…I don’t want to be in a hospital room, all alone…”

Abby smiled at his request.  Little did he know that was Abby’s plan all along.  After everything that had happened to Jim when she wasn’t around that day, there was no way she was going to leave him alone, even for a second.  She felt like she needed to watch over him during this entire ordeal, and that she’d need to be careful of what he did in the future, to avoid further incidents. 

“Of course I’ll stay with you.  That’s what friends are for.  Now, hang on for a few minutes while we make our way back to campus.”

She smiled and looked up for a moment, looking to see where, exactly, she was.  She could see the campus off in the distance and began to walk towards it…

Jim’s body had been aching during the trip back to campus, no doubt hurt a lot both by the injury he’d received on campus with Emily, but also the pain and tension he’d suffered at Fran’s house.  Being tossed into a giant watch was no a very pleasant feeling.  Of that, you can be sure.  About halfway there, he’d fallen asleep, laying in Abby’s hands.  His sleep was a pleasant one, dreamless and peaceful.

Abby, however, knew that his sleeping wasn’t as peaceful as one would have thought.  As they walked back to campus, she was spending a lot of time, just watching him.  As he slept, he was tossing and turning, letting out all sorts of grunts and painful screams.  The sight of him immediately saddened the girl.  She knew it wouldn’t take all that long to get back to campus, but seeing him like this made her want to do something for him at that very moment.

Realizing that Jim’s turning was likely the main cause of the painful grunts and screams he let out as he slept, she tried to figure out a way to restrain his body, so he wouldn’t be able to move around and aggravate those injuries.  Taking a deep breath, she carefully moved Jim’s tiny body around in her hand.  She slowly wrapped her fingers around him and tried to create a gentle grip around him.  Once she’d formed this grip, she whispered down to him, hoping he hadn’t woken up by this and feeling slightly bad for what she was doing to him.

“I’m sorry, Jim.  I hate restraining people like this, but the pain you may feel from my fingers will, without a doubt, be better than the pain you must be feeling from tossing and turning in my palm.  We’re almost there, so just keep sleeping and hold on.”

Jim had, surprisingly, not woken up from the actions or the words.  Abby tried to wipe a tear into her shoulder as they continued across the border of the city.  As much as she would hate to admit it, her best friend had nearly killed him.  Had Emily not seen Fran take him, Jim could, very well, be nothing more than a stain on the bottom of her friend’s foot right now.  The thought was scary, to say the least.

Abby stopped and shivered for a moment as that very thought passed through her mind.  The thought of Jim, her new, tiny friend, being dead, thanks to her friend’s temper, was beyond her comprehension.  Her tears began to reform as she began to talk to herself on the matter, not caring who may have been around to hear her speaking of it.  All that mattered to her, for the moment, was getting her own feelings out to herself and getting her friend to safety.

“I…barely made it in time.  Fran’s jealous side...I never…I never knew how bad it was until today.  She was always a little forward and strong about her emotions and attachment, but I never thought she would go that far.  I…I know you probably can’t hear me Jim, but please try to forgive her and forgive me for arriving so late.  I don’t know what all she may have done to you, but I’m very sorry and I’ll do whatever I can to help you cope with all of this…”

Abby stopped speaking at this point, realizing her voice was slowly getting louder.  Turning her head from side to side, she looked at the city they strolled next to, enveloped by the darkness of the night.  The sun had finally gone down, and the atmosphere seemed perfect to keep her little friend sleeping.  Even if he were to wake up, the darkness around him might help him sleep.

As Abby walked, the campus slowly came into view.  Her tear-drenched face was slowly drying up at this point and a huge smile came to her face.  They were nearly there, nearly to the help that poor Jim needed.  She let out a sigh of relief as they slowly made their way to the main gates of campus.  Turning towards the campus, she began to walk inside, but immediately stopped, nearly gasping as something caught her mind.

Looking back towards the city, she looked down at Jim, trying to remember something he’d told her earlier.  She wasn’t exactly sure what had gotten her so excited, but she felt like she was forgetting something important.  Watching his sleeping form, she replayed the day’s event in her head until she finally caught onto what had hit her so hard.  There was someone in the city that might be worried about Jim at this very moment.

“Ruby…” whispered Abby, as she finally remembered the memory she was seeking.  Jim had a wife, and it was nearing the head of the night.  She was, surely, worried sick about her husband, but how would she be able to get the news to her?  She couldn’t just wake up little Jim and ask him for directions.  She couldn’t get anyone to look up his file, either, due to how late it was.  The only staff that’s around the school during closed hours was the nurse and doctor that stay in the infirmary. 

Abby was puzzled as to what action she should take from this.  After a few moments of thinking, she heard a tiny grunt from her friend and immediately turned her attention back to him.  Looking down at his, seeing a tear running down his face, she’d decided to worry about his wife later.  She needed to get him to safety as quickly as possible to get his injuries treated.  That was the most important matter at hand, at this moment.

“I can ask about her in the morning.  Jim may be able to tell me when he’s better, or I could get the Dean to send someone to his home after school starts.”

Abby then, eyeing the infirmary in the distance, began to walk towards it, preparing to get her tiny friend settled in for the night.  She’d begun to stare off at the building, letting her vision fade slightly as she made her way there.  She was distracted and not really paying attention to where she was walking, accidentally kicking a couple benches from their place as she walked.  The pain in her friend was all she cared about at the moment.

As she finally reached the infirmary, she got down on her knees and took her free hand away from Jim.  She softly tapped on the wall next to a large window, hoping someone was nearby.  Much to her satisfaction, the window opened in a matter of minutes, revealing a nurse with long, blonde hair and a mouth open as she yawned.  She blinked a few times as she looked up towards Abby and cocked her head, asking her what she could help her with.

Immediately afterwards, Abby raised her hand up, uncurling her fingers and revealing the beaten, grunting Jim.  The nurse nearly screamed as she saw him and immediately ran off, pulling a rolling bed up to the window.  “Quickly, get him on the bed!  We’ve got to get these wounds treated right now!” yelled the nurse, who seemed wide awake now.  Abby complied and gently set Jim’s body in the window and onto the bed. 

Upon reaching the bed, Jim’s eyes bolted open, his head shaking and letting out a soft scream.  Turning every which way, he found himself outside of Abby’s hand.  Frantically looking around, his shaking blurred his vision and he called out for his friend.  “Abby?  ABBY?!  Abby, where are you?!  Where am I?!  What’s going on?!”

The nurse immediately pressed her hand on his chest and held him against the bed, looking down at him, bringing a small flashlight to his pupils.  His eyelids were trembling at the time and she noticed that his pupils were dilated.  Trying to speak down as softly as she could, she forcefully, but gently said “Easy, easy.  Listen to me, you’re in shock.  I’m Sarah, a nurse at the University, and I can help you with these wounds.  Now, please, try to calm down.  Abby is right here next to us, see?”

Sarah then pointed towards the window, to which Jim’s eyes quickly followed.  As they looked, they did, indeed, see the giant face of his friend, who was trying to make as much of a smile as she could as she saw the pain he was going through.  Looking back to Sarah, Jim’s entire body was starting to slow down, breathing deeply.  His heart was racing and it was hard for him to catch his breath. 

Sarah kept him held down as she whispered down to him, trying to ease her new patient’s stress.  “Take it easy.  No one is going to hurt you.  You’re in the Infirmary now.  You need to sleep, though.  I’m going to give you a sedative to help with that, okay?”

Jim took in Sarah’s words and then looked towards Abby.  Abby simply nodded and whispered to Jim that it was okay to trust Sarah.  Looking back to her, still shaking, he slowly nodded his head.  “Y-yeah…sleep”

Sarah, smiling at his acceptance, no doubt thanks to the giant lady in the window, reached off Jim’s body and walked to the side, preparing a needle of sedative for the man.  His body began to turn a little on the bed but, even by the time Sarah had returned, he was still on the bed, trying to hold himself still.  Holding one of his arms down, she smiled to him and softly said “This might sting a little, but I promise you’re going to be asleep in no time.”

Jim’s arm was trying to shake, but was held still as the needle swiftly punctured his skin and inserted the sedative into his body.  Within moments, he felt all sorts of feelings rushing into his head and his vision was going blank.  Just before drifting off to sleep, he reached towards Abby with his other arm, as if to grab her.  She had tried to reach her finger into the window to help him with all of this, but he’d fallen asleep before she could reach him.

Sarah took a deep breath as she pulled the needle out of Jim’s arm and looked towards Abby.  “Miss Abby, I’m going to immediately care for these wounds.  After I’m done, however, I’d like to hear how this happened.”  After receiving a quick nod from Abby, Sarah, moved the bed away from the window and began to collect supplies to help the man with his many injuries…

With Abby’s giant form waiting by the window of the infirmary room, watching what was going on, Sarah was nervous, to say the least.  She had no idea what had happened to this man, but she knew it would not be easy for her to get him patched up alone.  Unfortunately, though, the doctor was out for the night and there wasn’t really anything a Large like Abby could do to help her.  She knew what to do, but didn’t know if there was any internal damage on the man’s body.  She sighed as she got to work on him, hoping there wasn’t any permanent damage on his body.

To say the least, the man was lucky to be able to move around as much as he did before she’d sedated him.  By the looks of things, he had a few broken limbs and some cracks in his ribs.  Despite this, his breathing while sedated was slow and steady, telling her that his lungs had not been hurt by whatever caused this damage.  Before moving on, she looked to the window, telling the giant girl that she’d have to close the curtains to work on him.  Although Abby didn’t seem to like the idea of not being able to watch, she complied with the nurse’s wishes and did nothing as she closed the curtain around the bed.

She’d started reaching for her supplies as she moved her attention to his leg, which looked misplaced.  Carefully moving it, she forced it back into place, all while watching his face, hoping she wouldn’t rip him from his sleep.  As much as she wanted to give him something to ease the pain, it was not wise to mix a sedative with that substance.  There was a chance the mixture could make his pain even worse.  Thankfully, his eyes stayed shut and he wasn’t awoken by this.

After a few hours of working, Sarah had done everything she believed she could.  She ran test after test after test to make sure his blood was okay and none of his internal organs had been damaged.  His left arm was in a sling, and his leg in a small cast.  He had bandages around his gut and back, protecting his ribs from much outside pressure.  He was in a sitting position, though still fast asleep by the time Sarah felt that it was alright to open up the curtain and let Abby see him.

Abby nearly screamed as she saw Jim in so many bandages.  Although she knew that he’d been greatly injured, she didn’t think he’d had so many broken bones.  The vision of all these bandages made her think back even more to what had happened earlier that day.  It was only his first day at the University and he was already hospitalized.  What kind of effect would that have on poor Jim once he’d woken up from the nap Sarah’s sedative had given him?  She almost didn’t even want to think about it.  She didn’t get much of a chance to think about it, anyways, as the nurse walked to the window.

Sarah approached the window and immediately threw her hands on her hips, looking up towards Abby’s face with a serious look on her face.  She knew that Abby knew about this man and his injuries, and she planned to find out exactly what had happened.  She was responsible for the safety of the students and staff on campus, and the fact that he was brought to her in the middle of the night only made her worry even more. 

After taking a deep breath, she called up to Abby, a very serious tone in her voice.  “Alright, Miss Abby.  Your friend’s all patched up now, but we are far from done here.  This man is my patient now, and I expect you to tell me how all of these injuries came upon him in the middle of the night.”    

Abby felt a bit of fear and nervousness as she was asked this question.  Although she would have no problem telling the nurse what had happened, the very fact and nature of the cause of these injuries made her worry about Fran’s position at the University.  Were the entire campus to find out that she’d kidnapped and nearly killed Jim, she could face expulsion.  Nonetheless, she knew she had to tell Sarah the truth about what happened. 

After taking a deep breath, Abby began to weave the tale of the latter part of the day.  She started with Fran coming to her, talking about losing Jim and talked about everything that had happened afterwards.  She spoke of her collapsing at the Cheering Practice Zone, traveling with Helen, meeting Emily, traveling to the Large District, and of the blow Jim had suffered against her watch.  It was a fairly lengthy tale, but she told it as slowly and clearly as she could.

As Abby finished her story, Sarah’s jaw had dropped.  No amount of physical or mental training in her 33 years of living could have prepared for the bomb that was just dropped on her.  If Abby were telling the truth, then this man had come here for his first day on the job, met three people that befriended him, got kidnapped by one, taken home and nearly killed, only to be saved by Abby, who had also suffered wounds at the hands of this other girl.

Sarah took a deep breath as she thought about all of this.  She’d heard of Fran before.  The energetic black-clad girl of the campus.  She always knew that the girl could be a little rough with Minors, such as herself or her patient, but never in her life could she have guessed her to be the type to get jealous and kidnap someone because of the reasons that she’d apparently kidnapped this man for. 

It was a lot to take in at once, and she took a few deep breaths.  As she finished them, she looked up at Abby, remembering that she’d gotten hurt as well during her ‘rescue operation’ in the Large District.  Planning on using that to help distract her and cope with all of this, she took a few steps back and called up to Abby again.  “Miss Abby, you said you got hurt, right?  Lean your hand into the window so I can fix it up, too.  I need something to do to help me cope with the story you just told me.”

Sarah’s mind was racing as she saw Abby’s hand slowly entering the room through the window.  She slowly walked forward and started examining and feeling around her hand, feeling for any fractured or broken bones.  She made a few trips around the hand, feeling around a lot longer than she’d needed to.  She knew her index finger had a small fracture in it, but her mind was keeping her from continuing, stuck on the tale she’d been told, and the dangers it held.

Sarah began to think to herself as she ran her hands across Abby’s fingers again.  ‘If all of this is true, then what does that mean for us, or the Larges in general?  What if someone was around and heard all of this happen?  Were the media to catch light of this incident, the Anti-Large Activists would never leave us alone.  They’d trash all the hard work we’ve been trying to accomplish all these years.  I have to make sure this never goes public.’

As she finished her thought, she looked at Abby, telling her to keep her hand in the building, discussing the small fracture she had in her index finger.  Sarah soon left the area around the window and went into a closet, grabbing a very large roll of what looked like over-sized bandages.  Bringing it back over with a bottle of medication, she covered a good portion of the girl’s finger in the medication.  After taking a moment to softly rub the medication on her finger, she pulled over the roll of bandages and began to wrap up the girl’s finger.

After wrapping the girl’s finger, she looked up at Abby and let out a sight.  “Alright, Miss Abby, your finger is patched up.  Be careful with it for a few days and it will be as good as new in no time at all.”  She then looked back at Jim, wrapped in bandages and walked over towards him, sitting down in a chair, watching him sleep.  She looked at Abby and simply said “It might be awhile before he’s awake.  You’ve had a long day.  Who don’t you lay against the building and try to get some rest?  I know you’re worried about him, but you need to rest, too.  Nurse’s Orders?”

Abby, fatigued at the moment, didn’t want to stop watching Jim.  However, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to stay awake much further, after all the tiring events the day had given her.  Since her friend wouldn’t be waking up for awhile, she nodded towards Sarah, agreeing to her ‘orders’.  She nudged herself a little and sat down, leaning against the building.  She closed her eyes and tried to get some rest, under the moonlight. 

The campus infirmary had been silent for many hours as the two patients slept.  Abby leaned against the side of the building, letting out soft breaths as she slept.  Jim sat in the bed, near-silent himself, and next to him sat Sarah.  The dedicated nurse had been studying the man’s body for many of those hours.  The entire night, she was worried about the story she’d been told.  There were so many things that could go wrong as a result of this incident with Fran.  Were the correct people informed of this, it could drastically change the progress the government was making as they tried to reintegrate Larges into Minor society.

Aside from the implications from the media, she was also worried about this man’s own reactions to what had happened.  To be hired at a University and hurt like this by one of the Larges on campus…It had to have been traumatizing for him.  Even if someone was used to being around the larger folks, having them kidnap you and hurt you would likely be too much for any Minor to handle.  The very idea of how much power they had over you would be frightening when you realize that they not only have the power, but intend to use it for their own means.

Sarah was no psychiatrist, but she was mentally trying to imagine how the man was going to handle all of this.  Were he to wake up before the rest of the staff’s campus arrived, it would be up to her to help him begin his recovery from this incident, both physically and mentally.  She let out a deep sigh as she thought about all of this, not really wanting to have to go through all of this.  As much as she would hate to admit it, all of the night’s events were starting to scare her.  What Fran had done, the risk to the entire university, it was all frightening.

She slowly brushed her hand on Jim’s head as she continued to examine him and think about all of these things.  His head was, surprisingly, around room temperature at the time.  His skin felt soft against her bare hands, and she felt goosebumps forming on her arm.  As she pulled her arm away, she looked at his shirt.  Within a pocket was a small card.  Curiosity filling her up, she pulled the card out and took a look at it.  It was a small business-type card used for identification.  It had a picture of him on it and read “Jim King”. 

Upon reading the last name “King”, Sarah felt some sort of familiarity.  She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she felt like she’d heard the name “King” before, recently even.  As she slipped the card back into the pocket, she sat back against her chair, arms crossed, and tried to think about the name. As she sat there, she kept muttering it to herself, almost in a chant-like form.  “King…King…King…where did I hear that?”  As she chanted further and further, she slowly found herself dozing off and falling asleep.

Sarah slowly opened her eyes to the sunlight from the window.  Her eyes began to blink as the sleepy feeling she’d had was slowly moving out of her.  Shaking her head a little, she looked forward, seeing the side of Abby’s face next to the window, eyes shut and sleeping like a baby.  In front of her was Jim, still unconscious from the sedative and she opened her mouth, letting out a long, deep yawn.  It took her a moment before she’d realized that it was morning.

Her head immediately flinched; eyes opening wide as she felt something touch her right shoulder.  Her gaze shifted to the right to see the infirmary’s secretary by her side.  Blinking a few times, she spoke to her when she got the strength, asking her what she was doing in the room with her and her patient.  The secretary then began to talk about how she’d come in that morning, only to find her, asleep, with a patient in one bed, and a rather tall patient laying outside, against the building.  Sarah blinked again and looked over towards her two patients as she heard the secretary’s words.

The secretary then went on to talk about the card in Jim’s shirt pocket.  Sarah, apparently, wasn’t the only staff at the University who was curious about things like that.  She said she’d gotten his name from the card and had found his home address and phone number.  Realizing that he was injured, she’d called his home and informed his wife of his injuries, explaining why he hadn’t come home that night.  All of this was going somewhat over Sarah’s head as she was still half-asleep at the time.  The next statement, however, would bring her from dreamland into reality in no time at all.

“I contacted his wife and informed her of the situation.  She seemed a bit frustrated and nearly yelled into the phone, claiming she was going to visit the campus sometime today to see how her husband was doing.  Ruby King sure is a strange one.”

Sarah’s entire face felt ice-cold for a split-second as she heard the secretary’s words.  Those two words, the name, had pierced through Sarah and filled her body with an icy-cold shiver like no other.  Her fear was rising higher and higher as she thought about the name and finally realized why the name “King” had sounded so familiar to her.  She gave the secretary a concerned looking, asking her to repeat the name.  Without hesitation, the secretary repeated the name ‘Ruby King’.  Sarah’s hands immediately curled into fists, slightly shaking at the realization of what had happened while she was asleep.

She began to think to herself about this matter.  ‘Ruby King…I knew I remembered that name from somewhere.  My brother, who works as a ‘spy’ of sorts in the ranks of the AL Activist group once mentioned her name.  She was an extremist who hated Larges with a passion.  She had been a new recruit for the organization when he’d told me about her.  That couldn’t have been more than a week ago.  If Ruby King is coming to campus to see how this man is doing…we could be in a lot of trouble’.

Sarah began to take deep breaths, holding her hand against her heart as she looked back at her secretary.  The two locked gazes for a few moments before Sarah’s face went red and she started to sweat.  Looking at the secretary still, she told her to go back down to the office, and that she wished to be paged when Ruby King arrived at the infirmary to see her husband.  The secretary simply nodded in agreement and left the room.

Sarah looked back at Jim’s sleeping body and put both of her palms into her forehead, colleting the droplets of sweat that had formed there.  She let out another sigh and whispered to herself.  “What am I going to do?  A member of the AL is coming here to see her husband badly injured.  How do I handle this without letting out that a Large was responsible for this?”

Sarah had spent quite some time contemplating what she was going to do about the fact that Ruby King was going to be visiting the University later on that day.  The fact that a member of the AL Activist group was going to come to the University was bad enough, but they were coming in to see their husband badly hurt, injuries that were the result of a Large having a negative reaction from a jealous feeling.  That, alone, could cause a multitude of issues. 

Sarah felt responsible, though.  She knew what would happen were Ruby to find out what happened to her husband.  She would immediately report it to the rest of the group and they’d go straight to the media with their fresh story about “Large Violence” in the city.  The University’s name would be tarnished and it was possible that all of the work the government had done to get Minors and Larges together would be ruined. 

“I have to make sure that doesn’t happen,” said Sarah, speaking to herself, “Only a few people know about this, and it’s my job to make sure no one else finds out.  We’ve all worked too hard to let one incident completely tear down the walls we’ve set up.  This man may have to lie in order to keep this a secret, but I’ll have to make him promise not to tell anyone, especially his wife.”

Sarah’s more forward side was showing itself as she spoke to herself about all of this.  She was a kind-hearted nurse, but was level-headed and knew what to say and what not to say in certain scenarios.  She had always tried to avoid the bad consequences and do things in a way where consequences would not happen. 

As the nurse was thinking and speaking to herself about all this, she heard something from directly in front her.  Curious about the source of the sound, she slowly moved her hands from her forehead and looked up.  She blinked for a moment, unsure of what she saw, but looked again and confirmed it.  There was movement in her patient.  He eyes were moving under the eyelids and his head was moving from side to side.  He was waking up.

Realizing that his eyes weren’t open yet, Sarah quickly ran over to the window.  If there was anything she’d noticed when he’d first come into her care the night before, it was that he seemed a little attached to Abby.  He’d even reached out for her before the sedative took in it’s full effect, as if he was trying to call out to his friend.  Knowing this, Sarah wanted to wake up the girl so she could be there for him as he awoke and tried to cope with everything that had happened to him in the past 24 hours.

Reaching out the window with a small, metal cane, Sarah began to poke against Abby’s face, which was right next to the window.  As the cane hit the girl, she saw no initial movement, but Abby’s form began to slowly move to the side away from the window.  Sarah, getting nervous as her chance was slipping away, began to lean herself out the window to get the cane within reach of Abby’s cheek again.  Poking more forcefully this time, she had hoped to at least cause something in the girl.

Fortunately, the girl seemed to be waking up.  She let out a soft moan and one of her hands came up towards her face.  As it did so, however, her elbow nudged into the side of the infirmary building.  The building shook slightly, not enough for most people to notice, but enough that it caused Sarah to shift forward, falling right out the window.  The nurse screamed as she fell out, but she quickly grabbed onto something that was moving upward.

Dangling off one of Abby’s fingers, Sarah gripped onto it very tightly  and pulled herself into it as she saw the ground, some 50 feet below her.  At first, she couldn’t say a word, but she soon saw her coming closer to Abby’s face.  The hand she dangled off of slowly began to touch on a cheek, gently rubbing Sarah’s body into said cheek.  Sarah could feel some pressure on her body and she finally called up to the girl.

“H-Hey!  Abby!  Abby, wake up and help me!  WAKE UP!”

Sarah was pushed a little harder into the cheek as Abby slowly began to open her eyes.  She let out another soft moan and began to yawn, her hand still against her face.  Sarah could feel the muscles in Abby’s cheek quickly tightening and rubbing past her body as her lips opened as she yawned.  Realizing that she still wasn’t moving anywhere, she tried calling up to the girl again.

“Hello?!  Rise and shine, Abby!  You have a nurse planted against your face who would like to go back inside now!  Wake up and help me!!!”

As she slowly woke up, Abby could hear the voice in her ear.  It took a few moments to register, but she soon realized that she had Sarah’s tiny body pushing against her face.  Quickly removing it and seeing the nurse in her palm, she looked down at her and began to speak to her, wanting to apologize.  “Er..I’m sorry, Sarah!  I didn’t realize I had you up there.  You’re not hurt, are you?”

Sarah, taking a big sigh of relief as she found herself in the giant girl’s palm, shook her head towards Abby as she was asked if she was hurt.  She didn’t think she would have gotten hurt with Abby, but she felt nervous all the same.  Were Abby to quickly move her hand, she could easily have lost her grip and fallen towards certain injury.  For the moment, she was just happy to be on solid palm.

“No, Abby.  I’m fine.   Just, be more careful with who you’re carrying around in your hand when you’re waking up, okay?”

Abby, who was still a little confused about everything, simply nodded down towards the nurse before speaking to her again, inquiring about something that anyone would have been wondering about, had they seen this situation happen.  “Okay, Sarah.  I’ll be more careful.  If I may ask, though…why are you in my hand in the first place?  Weren’t you in the infirmary?”

Sarah took a deep breath before telling Abby about how she noticed that Jim was waking up and her face had moved when she tried to wake her up.  Abby’s face immediately brightened at hearing that Jim was waking up and stood herself from the ground.  Turning towards the building, she reached her hand inside to drop off Sarah and to see for herself how Jim was going to be able to take what had happened to him…

Jim slowly opened his eyes as he woke up with a swirling headache.  Blinking a few times, he stared off at the hospital wall in front of him, slightly moaning and yawning from the sleep.  He tried to move his limbs, but as he did so, he felt something against his arms.  Looking down, he saw an some medical instruments sticking in him.  Blinking and shaking his head again, he pondered why he was stuck with all of these instruments and why he was in a hospital in the first place.

 Was there some reason he’d been placed in a hospital?  What’s more…why was he alone?  There was no one in the room with him at all.  Was this place even a hospital?  There were so many things flowing through his head that he just could not remember anything.  As he continued to wake up, however, he heard something from his left, near an open window.  Before long, a nurse had seemingly climbed in the window, settling herself down.  He was staring at her as she came in, but that wasn’t the biggest clue that he got from this situation. 

Through the window was an enormous female face.  She looked past the nurse, directly towards him, and smiled.  As the warm smile headed towards him, he naturally smiled back, but it also had a reaction in him.  As he saw Abby’s face, all of the memories of the prior day came rushing back into his head.  That day, he’d met Abby, Emily, and…Fran.  The torture he’d gone through that day and the near-death event he had experienced.  His arm twitched as his smile turned to a frown, remember what had happened. 

His arm and head twitched and shook as he remembered the events the unfolded at Fran’s house.  Everything he saw was shaking as he started shivering, as if he were having a long cold chill.  He was filled with a cold fear at the thought of being back at the University.  What would become of him now?  What if Fran came to see him at the Infirmary?  What would she do?  What would he do?  How could he possibly react and talk with her after what they’d been through up to this point? 

All of the thoughts were scaring Jim, but as he shook, a hand clenched onto his wrist, causing him to immediately stop.  His head jerked as he saw Sarah’s face looking down at him, smiling towards him.  She held his arm in place as she placed her other hand over his forehead.  “Easy, Jim.  You’ve been through a lot, but I promise you’re safe here with us.  I’m Sarah, your Nurse, and that big face at the window is your friend, Abby.  She’s been here all night, concerned about you.  We don’t want her to see you scared and nervous like this, do we?” 

Jim’s body couldn’t help but immediately halt as he heard all of what Sarah was telling him.  He was safe here?  No one like Fran would be visiting him?  The thing that hit him the hardest was her comment about Abby.  He stared at her, his jaw dropped a little.  He couldn’t believe that she, a friend of one day, stayed at the infirmary all night, concerned about him.  His expression soon turned to a smile as he nodded towards his friend, calmly thanking her.  Afterwards, he looked back as Sarah started talking about his injuries. 

“Now, you won’t be able to walk properly for a few weeks  and using that arm is a definitely no-no.  You were hurt a lot with all of this, so you’re going to have to take it easy and be very careful around all of the larger folks around  campus, okay?” 

Jim slowly nodded towards the nurse, taking in all of the advice she was giving him.  He’d looked at his injuries multiple times during the conversation, realizing just how much he’d gotten hurt.  He wasn’t just going to be able to get up and walk out of the Infirmary today.  Not without crutches or a wheelchair, he thought.  Letting out a sigh, he looked back at Sarah with a question in mind.  “E-Excuse me, Nurse, but...how am I going to move around when I get out of here?   Will I have a wheelchair or crutches to use?” 

Sarah looked over at Abby and then back at Jim.  She had a very conflicted look on her face, troubled by the thought Jim had intruded onto her.  The guy obviously couldn’t get around on crutches or a wheelchair.  The campus didn’t carry those items.  The rules for the injured were a little different at this University, taking advantage of some student volunteers around campus.  As she looked at him, she began to talk about everything that she was thinking at the time.

“You’ll be here for today, so let’s not worry about any of that yet.  If push comes to shove, I have a feeling that your friend over there will be the one to help you get around campus, and home.  You wouldn’t mind helping his recovery by taking him to his work station and home, would you, Abby?” 

Abby widened her smile and immediately nodded towards the nurse.  Slowly speaking, she expressed that she would be more than happy to take care of him while he recovered from everything he’d suffered and been through the previous day.  Jim’s face held less concern at hearing this.  He felt safe with Abby.  She had, after all, come and gotten herself hurt while protecting him from Fran.  She was the one he trusted the most at the campus and would’ve been happy to be around her. 

“Thank you, Abby…for everything you’ve don-“  Jim was in the middle of thanking Abby when a very loud phone alarm rang on the wall next to him.  A bright red light came up on a phone, to which Sarah immediately walked towards.  Picking the phone up, she began to answer.  “Yes?  Huh?  Hey, what’s wrong?”  Sarah seemed to start getting a little stressed out as her voice heightened through the phone.  “Wait…what?  What do you mean she’s here already?!  He just woke up!  He’s not ready to…what?  She’s already up on this floor?!  Okay, I understand.  Yes, thanks…bye.” 

Jim and Abby were both a little confused as to what was wrong with Sarah, who was sweating as she slammed the phone down and looked towards Jim, a worried look on her phone.  She was getting nervous and fidgeted as she began to talk to Jim.  “Um…J-Jim…y-you have a visitor, coming here right now.  She’s h-here already and should b-be here any minute.  It’s, umm…your…your….” 

The speech was broken as the door on the other side of the room flew up, slamming into the wall.  Within the doorway stood a shadowy figure, not yet having come into the light.  From it came an ear-piercing scream.  “WHERE IS MY JIM?!  WHAT HAVE YOU PEOPLE DONE TO HIM?!” 

Abby stood there, confused at the voice, while both Jim and Sarah froze in place.  They stared towards the doorway, chilling, arms shaking.  Their reactions were almost in complete unison as Ruby King stormed into the room, walking straight towards the bed, which held her husband, face red and sweat running down her own forehead.

The big situation that no one in the room wanted to happen was finally happening.  The room was dark from Abby’s face in front of it.  Everything was going near-pitch black; savor the dim lights at the top of the hospital room.  In Jim and Sarah’s minds, it was like a scene from a piece of horror art.  The rooms in the hospital get dark, a siren goes off, and they are plunged into the ‘other’ world.  In this other world, there is a creature before them.  A terrible, terrible creature, born of the darkness itself, carrying an enormous knife, a butcher’s robe, and a gigantic triangular helmet, ready to make Jim and Sarah face their fear of what was about to happen.  That’s how they envisioned it, anyways.

Words could not describe the amount of emotion and frustration pouring out of Ruby King at that moment.  Her face looked like it had just been plunged into a bucked of boiling hot water and there were daggers flying from her eyes, straight at Sarah, as if she were about to kill the poor nurse.  Sarah shook her head, trying to regain her senses, hoping she could make the most of this situation and get out of it without an immense incident with the AR faction.  That was the last thing they needed, and she was going to make sure that did not happen.

Sarah stood walked from the side of the bed and put her palm in front of Ruby, whom had nearly made it to the bed where Jim was sitting.  She took a deep breath as the enraged woman came forward, pushing against her hand.  As she struggled to hold the woman in place, she spoke to her, not wanting this to turn too huge.  “Mrs. King, please calm down!  Your husband just woke up and the last thing he needs right now is screaming from his wife!”

Ruby King, being the stubborn woman she was, took great offense to both this nurse telling her what to do as well as the hand trying to push her away from her husband. She snarled at the nurse and shoved her back about ten feet before proceeding towards her husband.  “Get your hands off me!  Who do you think you are, telling me what I can or can’t do?  I’m Jim’s wife, and I know what’s best for him.  Not you, blondie!  He needs his loving wife, not some filthy giant-hugger like you.”

Sarah was so close to just running up and punching the woman in the face from that last comment.  That kind of talk could not be tolerated around this University.  It was bad enough that a racist like Ruby King was on campus in the first place, but spreading that kind of talk was unacceptable.  Brushing herself off, she walked forward again and kept her posture as best she could, lowering her voice so as to not upset Jim.  “Listen, Mrs. King.  I am the nurse responsible for your husband.  He was brought to me, in pain, and I helped him.  I’m the one with the Medical Degree here.  I’m the one who put those bandages on.  I’m the one who nursed him back to health.”

Abby was still standing by the window, confused as to the situation.  There was so much tension in the room, and she had no idea why.  Giant-Hugger?  What did that even mean?  Her eyes simply looked back and forth, switching between the two ladies inside the building as they continued their conversation.  She only hoped that she would eventually begin to understand just why there was so much tension and why this lady, whom she assumed was Jim’s wife from the sound of things, was screaming and yelling instead of seeing how her husband was faring.

Ruby had completely left her focus with Jim and was appalled at the amount of arrogance this frilly nurse had.  She had spent the entire trip up here, knowing all too well that these people had done her husband wrong.  They’d no doubt intentionally hurt him and kidnapped him overnight in this “hospital” place.  These bandages were probably all wrong.  She’d heard so many times from AR members about this place’s hospitals.  They were crudely trained Minors who had warped judgment from being around the giant people so much.  Sure, it seemed like a good image from the outside, but she’d heard that they were quite ineffective.  These bandages probably weren’t even by her husband’s injuries.

“Oh, I can tell!” barked Ruby, continuing to debate with Sarah, cutting Jim off as he was trying to speak with her.  “Just look at him.  He’s covered in wrapping paper and hasn’t said a word!  That’s better if I ever saw it.  I know Jim, I’ve been with him for a long time.  So, if you’re such a wonderful Nurse, why haven’t you completely cured him and gotten him out of here by now?  Or is that too difficult of a task for you poorly trained Giant-Hugger nurses?”

Oh, this lady was just asking for trouble.  Sarah couldn’t help but go at her again, even her having stopped to pay attention to Jim, who was getting a terrible headache from all this.  The two of them were nearly shaking the room with their screaming, Ruby yelling about the poorly trained nurses, and Sarah speaking back, explaining everything she’d done for him and that she’d done it all the right way.  It was a battle of wills, and neither Jim nor Abby wished to see how it turned out. 

Jim had waited a few moments, but held a hand over his head, the headache settling in and surging through his brain.  ‘I have to get out of here’ he thought to himself.  He did need to.  Were he to not, the headache would just get worse, and add onto what was happening to him with his other injuries.  He started looking around for some way out of the room and saw a pair of crutches.  Reaching for them, still watching the two arguing ladies, he began to quietly lower himself from the hospital bed, slowly making his way over to the window, where Abby was.

As he came over, she looked at him and cocked his head.  She was about to ask him what he needed before he put a finger on his lips and said “Shhh!”  Abiding by his request, she kept her mouth shut as he reached the edge of the window and motioned her closer.  She slowly lowered her head and ear to the window and listened, thinking that he had something to tell her.  As she did so, he began to whisper in her ear.  “Abby, listen, all of this is not going to end well and it’s giving me a terrible headache.  You and I both need to get out of here.  Can you carry me someplace else?” 

Abby wasn’t exactly sure how to react to Jim’s request.  He was injured.  Would it not be better for him to stay in the hospital, where Sarah could fix him up if he ran into problems?  She had no idea, but he began to speak again and she started to feel for him.  “I know you probably think I should stay here, but I really, really need to leave.  Please, Abby.  Can you please do this favor, for me?”

Abby sighed and smiled, unable to resist the words he’d spoken to her.  He needed her for something.  He didn’t want her for something, but he said he ‘needed’ her.  This was giving her a sense of purpose.  She nodded and reached her hand into the window, slowly picking him up and pulling him out with it.  He was smiling and even hanging onto her hand.  They were almost out when Abby’s watch hit the side of the window-frame, making a loud, clanging noise.  Jim tensed up as he saw both Sarah and Ruby looking towards him.  “Hurry!  Go!” 

Abby quickly pulled Jim out the rest of the way as Ruby came running towards the window, swearing and cursing towards them.  All of this arguing was starting to give her a headache, too.  Despite feeling that the right thing should have been to simply let Jim back inside to see her, she felt like she didn’t want Jim to be around her, even if she was his wife.  As Ruby screamed cursing out of the building, Abby had set Jim’s tiny body down in the middle of her left palm and started to walk off with him.      

Sarah’s head had whipped around in a matter of moments when she heard a loud clanging noise against the wall behind her.  Though she was deep in her debate with Ruby, she still had somewhat of a grip on her senses.  As she turned around, however, a cold chill flew up her body.  Jim and Abby were both at the window and it looked like he was getting her to pick him up, out of the room.  Her eyes widened at the sight of the two of them, assuming they intended to leave.

This was not good at all.  What could they possibly be thinking?!  Jim can’t just leave the Infirmary!  He was injured and needed time to rest!  Not only that, but Sarah was afraid at what sort of reaction him leaving, let alone leaving in the hands of Abby, a Large, would have in Ruby.  She quickly looked back, hoping to continue the debate and distract Ruby, but it was too late.  That woman had already seen more than she needed of what was going on.  She was already on the move, shoving through Sarah and heading towards the window.

Sarah was pushed back by the plowing Ruby, the middle of her back slamming into the metal edge of the hospital bed where Jim once laid.  Her eyes squinted and she slowly brought her hands back, one pushing her off the bed and the other rubbing along her back.  Opening up one eye, she brought herself back up to a standing position, grunting and rubbing her back some more, trying to work out all the pain that had worked it’s way in from that shove.  It hurt quite a bit, but all of that pain was minimal when she heard what Ruby did as soon as she came to the window.

“Thief!  Kidnapper!  Criminal!  Come back here with my Jim right now!  I’ll have you arrested for kidnapping!  I’ll have you ALL arrested!”

This was not good.  This was not good at all.  That lady was yelling and screaming out the window, for the entire campus to hear.  This situation was progressing into a very bad situation, just as she’d feared.  She knew it was a bad idea to have this woman on campus, and the situation was turning very bad for her.  She had to do something, and fast.  She had to shut that woman up and try to convince her that Abby wasn’t ‘kidnapping’ Jim.  If this went on much further, it could lead to potential consequences, of a global scale.

Letting go of her own back, she ran up to the window as Abby and Jim were walking away and Ruby was leaning halfway out the window, screaming and yelling.  She was sending all kinds of crude terms and profanity towards Abby, and she could not let that continue.  As she reached Ruby, she grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back into the room, trying her best to forcefully get her to stop.  “Mrs. King!  Calm your butt down right now!  Abby is not kidnapping your husband!  She is a sweet, gentle, and kind girl!  She would never do anything with anyone without their permission!  Now, stop yelling thi-“

Sarah was trying her hardest to convince this frantic woman, but she was too stubborn, too warp-minded to be reasoned with.  In the middle of her speech, Ruby had turned herself and elbowed Sarah right in the face, sending her falling down to the ground below.  Pain was swirling around in Sarah’s back and face, a slow stream of blood slowly flowing down from her forehead.  She tried to push herself up, but was knocked back down to the ground when a sneaker-clad foot pounded into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her, causing her to start coughing.   

Above her stood Ruby, the anger swelling up and down in her face.  She held her foot down on the nurse as hard as she good, enraged at what she’d said to her and making sure she couldn’t get back up.  “Shut up!  I know a kidnapping when I see one!  My husband would never leave me, especially not with one of those filthy, dirty, unimaginable Giants!  If you’re such a good nurse, then why don’t you tell me!  Tell me why Jim would want to leave while I’m around here to take care of him?!”

Sarah was struggling to move and breathe under the weight of Ruby’s boot.  It was hard and she struggled hard, feeling the pain in her head, her back, and now her stomach.  With every breath she took, she let out a couch.  With a crack in her voice, she tried to start speaking to the woman, hoping only that her words would get her to stop hurting her and yelling around this place about the Larges.  “H-He p-probably…wanted to leave…b-because of h-how much you’ve b-been s-screaming!  Y-You…You haven’t been w-worried about his s-safety at all!  You’ve just b-been using this as an excuse to b-bash on Larges!  All you d-did since coming i-in here was yell and s-scream at me and Abby!  Y-You never o-once asked your h-husband if he was o-okay!  You’re j-just…trying to force us to t-think we’re in the wrong!”

Ruby couldn’t believe what she was hearing.  Jim, her husband, left because of her?!  Impossible!  He loved her.  She loved him!  There’s no way he couldn’t have seen the concern in her eyes.  This nurse was asking for it.  She lifted her boot up in the air and slammed it into the nurse’s stomach again, causing her to whimper and start coughing again.  “SHUT UP!  Don’t you dare try to make this look like it’s my fault!  You start talking the truth right now, Giant-Hugger!  Jim would NEVER leave me!  He knows I care about him!  You people hurt him!  You wrapped him in fake bandages, and now you’re kidnapping him from me!  Don’t even think that this won’t be between you and me!  Once I’m done with you, we wi-“

Sarah’s coughing and pain in her stomach slowly came to a stop as Ruby’s body came crashing down to the floor, by her legs.  Sarah’s arms and legs were shivering from all that she’d just endured.  She stared up at the ceiling, slightly whimpering, wondering what had just happened.  Soft footsteps quickly approached her as she saw her secretary kneeling down above her.  “Miss Sarah!  Miss Sarah, are you alright?!  Please, talk to me!”

Coming back to her sense, she looked around, realizing that there was a large dart in Ruby’s neck, as she laid there.  Her secretary must have come in and used her spare Tranquilizer Gun, the one they kept outside for emergencies, to get the woman off her.  Taking a deep breath, she started coughing, feeling all of the pain softening, but still hurting her all over.  “T-Thanks…C-Can you h-help me up?”

Smiling, though with a look of concern on her face, the secretary slowly reached down, lifting Sarah’s body off the floor from the back and the legs, slowly carrying her over to the bed Jim had once been laying on, preparing to take care of her, completely unaware of a small radio attached to Ruby’s pocket, a red light slowly blinking as she was laying on the ground, unconscious. 

As the mayhem was unfolding in the hospital, there were two things happening elsewhere that would play critical roles in the events of the following days.  One was off the campus, at the destination of the radio signal Ruby’s radio was sending out.  The other, however, was on campus.  Abby and Jim were walking away from the hospital, completely unaware of Ruby’s aggressive assault on Sarah.  Jim was laying down in Abby’s palm, his crutches set beside him and his head resting against one of her fingers.  He was in slight pain from the walking, but anything was better than what was happening with Ruby.

Abby made her way across campus, eyeing Jim the entire time.  He acted like he desperately wanted to get out of that situation.  Was there something wrong between Jim and his wife, or was it merely the headache, as he’d suggested?  There were a lot of things troubling her at that moment, and she couldn’t help but wonder about that woman and the things she’d said.  She’d been extremely rude around Jim, and kept talking about “Giant-Huggers”.  All of it was rather unsettling for her as she tried to understand all of this.  However, she soon planned to get the answers she desired from the only person she thought who could, the man laying down in the palm of her hand.

It didn’t take Abby much time to find a nice field to sit down in.  She wanted some answers, and she was sure the constant movement wasn’t good for Jim’s injuries.  She held her palm steady as she slowly sat herself down.  Unlike the last time they’d sat together, Abby slipped off her shoes and crossed her legs.  She looked down at her legs, trying to find an ideal spot to set Jim down.  She’d initially thought of putting him on her lap, where he would be the closest to her.  However, she looked at her leg.  One leg was being held up by her ankle.  Getting an idea, she slowly set Jim down on her leg, right next to her knee.

Jim had been trying to keep himself steady as the two of them walked across campus.  When Abby had stopped, Jim wasn’t very surprised to see they were in a field.  After all, that’s where he and Abby had sat together before, when they were getting to know each other and sharing their histories with one another.  He slowly leaned up as the giant hand that was holding him slowly came down.  He expected to be put in her lap, where he’d be close to her, were anything to happen, but he wasn’t.  Instead, he was lowered and slid onto the side of her leg, by her knee. 

He took a few deep breaths as he got used to his new environment.  To the side, sticking out just below was one of Abby’s feet.  In front of him was a stretch of leg, leading to Abby herself.  Unlike when he was on clothing, he could feel a good deal of warm air coming into his system.  Being on Abby’s bare flesh like this definitely had it’s perks.  He was cold from his time in the hospital, and this was helping to comfort him.  He looked up towards Abby, whom had a strange look on her face.  She was smiling, but it was almost like she was concerned about something.  Unfortunately for Jim, she was concerned about something.

As Jim was looking up, getting used to his new position, Abby was watching him with a warm, yet nervous smile on her face.  There were a few things going through her head at that moment.  She was curious about Ruby and the things she said, but she also felt something strange.  Something had driven her to put Jim on her bare skin, where he might’ve been able to fall, rather than her clothed lap, where she could grab him easily were he to lose balance.  There was just something about the idea of him being on her skin that made her feel strange.  She wasn’t sure what it was, but she had it all the same.

Abby was looking him up and down, covered in bandages.  The previous day had definitely taken its toll on the poor guy.  He was introduced to the large folks that day, and he’d been kidnapped.  Deep down, Abby knew Fran hadn’t meant to take things that far, but she could not even begin to imagine the stress he must have been going through before she’d arrived and taken him from the house.  It must have scared him to death.  She was amazed he still trusted her, or any of the bigger people around. 

Abby knew that in order to find out what she was curious about, that she would need to start getting Jim to talk.  She was unsure how comfortable he was, having woken up from all of that medicinal help from Sarah so quickly, so she decided not to drop the question on him right away.  Taking a deep breath, she stared down at the tiny man and slowly parted her lips.  “So, are you doing okay?  Does anything hurt?”

Jim had merely been staring up towards Abby, concerned about her face, almost knowing she was about to ask the thing he didn’t want her to ask.  Fortunately for him, though, she didn’t.  She’d merely asked him if he was doing okay.  He started to feel a little more comfortable, despite the soft aroma of feet and the heat from her body being all around him at that point.  “N-No, I’m okay!  My leg hurts a little bit, but I’ll be okay!  T-Thanks for bringing me here, Abby.” 

Abby was very happy to hear the words and statements Jim had spoken to her.  Not only had he responded, confirming that she had not hurt him on the trip over there, but he was also giving her the perfect chance to flow the conversation into the topic that she wanted to discuss with him.  Widening her smile slightly, she began to respond as she nodded towards him.  “I’m glad to hear it, Jim.  I was a little afraid the trip from the Infirmary had hurt you.  Speaking of the Infirmary, Jim…I have a few questions I’d like to ask you…about your wife.”

Jim’s optimistic attitude immediately plummeted as he heard those words coming from Abby.  He’d been much too bold to think that this conversation wouldn’t end up with him talking about Ruby, telling Abby what she was really like.  He sighed and took a gulp as he looked up at her, nervously responding.  “W-What would you l-like to know, Abby?”

This was definitely not good.  Jim could tell that this situation was about to take a turn for the worse.  He had wanted to leave the Infirmary to get away from the topic of his wife.  He was both surprised and scared when he saw her bursting into the room with him and Sarah.  He knew exactly what kind of person Ruby was, and how she felt about this University.  It would likely be a miracle if she didn’t start some kind of incident before she ended up leaving, which was a very sad thing to think about.

To make matters worse, Abby wanted to ask him about her.  What did she want to know?  There were so many things she might have gotten curious about in that room.  Ruby had been very rude the whole time, yelling at Sarah and throwing out slang like ‘Giant-Hugger’.  She hadn’t paid any attention to him, only seeming like she was worried about making herself known in the debate that started between her and Sarah.  She’d frustrated him so much, just as she’d done in the past.  The topic of Larges just wasn’t good with her, and now she was in a campus full of them.

Jim had hoped the day would never come when Abby would meet Ruby.  As much as he cared for his wife, she was racist in the worst possible way.  She could not stand the topic of Larges at all, and would get into long arguments with him over it.  She tried so hard to convince him that they were monsters, but he tried very hard not to give into all of that.  With his current situation, he knew she was wrong about them.  He was sitting on the bare leg of a sweet woman who seemed to want nothing but his well-being.  The only difference was that Abby was the size of a building.

Still, he knew he wouldn’t be able to get out of this.  Abby had likely seen too much of Ruby’s behavior not to be curious about her.  He would have to answer any questions she had.  If nothing else, he would be able to get the truth about Ruby out now, and not have to worry about it later.  He just feared for how Abby would react to obtaining this knowledge.  Her town and friends had been killed by people with thoughts and beliefs like Ruby.  Jim wasn’t sure if Abby would be able to handle that.

Abby was looking down towards Jim as he’d nervously asked her what she wanted to know.  This was going to be a strange conversation, that’s for certain.  She almost didn’t want to ask him about her, but curiosity is a very strong, convincing force.  From the way Ruby acted, especially how she acted towards Jim, she wanted to know what he could tell her.  Something didn’t seem right about her, and she planned to find out what, exactly, that was.  She took a deep breath before calling down her first question.

“Ruby seems very…different.  I know I am in no place to judge your wife, but it didn’t look like she was very concerned about your health.  She didn’t once look towards you and ask you how you were.  Is she always like that?”

These were the bad questions.  Jim didn’t want to answer this question.  She was absolutely right, though.  Ruby had shown little to no interest in how he had been doing.  She was too obsessed over where she was and getting into a debate with Sarah.  He tried to keep a smile on his face, but it wouldn’t let him.  The smile lowered and turned into a frown.  His mind started to emotionally droop as he nodded and spoke back to her.

“You’re…right, Abby.  Ruby is a sweet woman, when she wants to be.  She cares about me, but when she gets into a discussion or debate, it’s all she cares about.  She, especially, loses herself in a debate when it’s on the topic of…certain things.”

Abby had a feeling, deep down in her heart, that she knew exactly what Jim meant by ‘certain things’, though she was a little afraid to find out.  Ever since she’d met Ruby, she had this strange feeling in her gut about her.  She wasn’t exactly sure what it was, but it didn’t feel right.  It felt strange, as if this person was some person she did not want to be around.  Nonetheless, she was her friend’s wife, and she needed to try to respect her because of it.  Still, she wanted to know more, and she impulsively started speaking a thought to further the conversation.

“Certain things…like Giant-Huggers, right?  Jim, you’re around Ruby a lot more than I am.  Surely, you’ve heard that term before, right?  Could you explain what a ‘Giant Hugger’ is?”

There was the crucial question Jim wanted to avoid.  Now, he had to explain what a Giant-Hugger was to Abby.  This would require a nice, long explanation more than just the term, and he did not want to put Abby through this.  However, he also respected her, as a friend.  She had, after all, saved his life and brought him to safety.  He’d grown attached to her these past 2 days, and was willing to give her all the information she wanted.  He hated it, but he would tell her anyways.

“W-Well, Abby.  You see…a Giant-Hugger is someone that, well…Okay, let me start over.  Abby, you’re a Large, since you’re a lot taller than I am.  Some people call Larges by the term ‘Giants’.  Compared to someone like myself, you would be referred to as a giant.  Were I to find someone small enough to me as I am to you, they would likely be only 4 or 5 inches in height, like a doll or toy.  To that smaller person, I would be considered a giant.  Such is the same with me and you.  Compared to me, assuming I use my own height as the basis for the comparison, you are a giant.  In essence, a Giant-Hugger is a person who loves Giants, or Larges.”

“Now, what I’m about to tell you, Abby…might be hard for you to accept.  I…don’t want to tell you, but I know I need to.  It’s something that you need to know, about my wife.  I just want you to be prepared.  Is that okay?”

Abby was slowly listening to what Jim was talking about, but didn’t understand the need for this ‘Giant-Hugger’ term.  If it’s just a person who likes or enjoys being around Larges, why the need for a special name?  A lot of people around campus love being around her and the other tall students, but they’d never called themselves ‘Giant Huggers’ before.  She didn’t understand it at all.  However, when Jim started speaking about something that might be hard for her to accept, she lost the thought and stared down towards him.

What could possibly be hard for her to accept about Ruby?  Once again, she didn’t understand, but she agreed to hear what he had to say.  She quickly nodded her head.  “Of course it’s alright, Jim.  Please, tell me.”   

This was going to be an extremely hard thing for Jim to do.  Abby wanted to know everything about Ruby that he hadn’t told her yet.  There was a very good reason that Jim had kept certain things about his wife a secret when he and Abby were sharing their pasts with one another.  There was a good reason that Abby may not like his wife, at all.  Ruby was a kind woman, sure, but not to certain people.  There were certain kinds of people that Ruby didn’t like at all.  He could even go out enough to say that she hated those people, and Abby was one of them.

He was thinking hard about everything he could tell Abby, and he didn’t exactly know where to begin, or how to word anything.  He’d learned the day before that Abby wasn’t the strongest person in the world, when it came to emotional scenarios or when it came to certain groups of people.  She’d had a history with the AL Soldiers and, unfortunately, they would be one of the topics they were about to discuss.  He didn’t know how he could break to Abby that his wife was a member of the same group that had attacked her and killed her friends years before.

As he stalled himself more and more, he started to feel nervous.  He could feel his body heating up, his back and hair itching all over the place.  He kept his arms and hands still, though, making sure that it didn’t look like her was nervous.  The last thing he wanted was to Abby to know there was something wrong before he even got to the point of telling her all of this information and causing a reaction within her.  He had to keep his cool and stay calm.

Abby had been intently watching his movements since he talked about this next bit of information seeming important.  He was silent, though.  Why?  Was this information that hard to explain, that he had to spend full minutes, just to think about what he could say to her?  Surely that wasn’t the case, right?  Then again, the fact that he was injured could have influenced the amount of time it was taking to be able to talk about whatever it was that he was about to talk about.  Seeing that possibility, she just stayed calm and smiled down at him.

Shaking his head, he finally got the courage to begin speaking again.  He looked up at that huge, smiling face that was a far bit above him.  He almost wanted to stop right then and there and apologize for what he was about to say.  He didn’t, though.  He kept his willpower going and began to speak to her.  “Abby, umm…Ruby is a little…different than you or me.  She has, uh, certain…views about people that you I…don’t…agree with.  What I’m trying to say is…Ruby’s a little different in how she views taller people…like you.”

Jim’s facing was sweating a lot as her nervously forced out all of this information.  He already felt terrible and he hadn’t even told her anything yet!  This conversation was going to be torture for Jim, and not the good kind.  He stopped to take a few deep breaths.  ‘How am I going to tell her?’ he thought to himself.  Indeed, how would he be able to tell her?  All of this was likely going to hit her soft spot.  He was looking down at the leg on which he sat until he saw a shadow coming towards him.  Looking up, he saw the thick, long fingers the girl held coming down towards him.  Her index finger slowly rested on his head, giving him a slight rubbing.  Above him, Abby smiled and whispered down to him.  “Don’t be so nervous, Jim.  Whatever it is, I’ll be okay with.  After all, I’m your friend, and I care about you.”

Jim’s body didn’t know how to react to all of this treatment.  He saw Abby’s face start to blush as she told him she cared about him, and he blushed as well.  He saw that warm, smiling face looking down at him and couldn’t help but not want to do anything that would take that smile away.  Yet, the warmth coming from her finger and her face was helping him calm down and concentrate.  He could do this, with her help.  He could manage to pull through and tell her all of this information, so long as she was there, helping him.  She might not like some of the things he was about to tell her, but it was something he just had to do.

He took a nervous breath and spoke again.  “T-Thank you, Abby.  I…really appreciate this.  W-what I was saying was…Ruby has a set of moral values that greatly d-differs from yours or mine.  She has a certain viewpoint towards Larges that I don’t necessarily approve of or am proud of.”  He took another moment to breathe before continuing on, knowing he was about to get into the deeper portion of the conversation.  This was going to be bad, and he knew it, but he had to say it.  He had to tell her the truth before she found out on her own.

“Ruby is…no, I’m sorry.  Forgive me, Abby, but I just have to get this out.  I can’t sugarcoat it.  As much as I want to, I can’t!  Ruby is…Ruby hates Larges!”  Time stood still for a moment as those last three words flew out of his mouth.  The two of them could think during this frozen moment, contemplating the meaning behind all of this.  Abby, especially, felt a strange, nervous feeling in her stomach.  Ruby…hated Larges?  What would cause her to do something like that?  The Larges always tried to avoid contact with smaller folks and keep their business in their own place.

Abby lowered her face, readying a question for Jim, but before she could ask it, time had resumed, and he continued yelling, tears coming to his face.  “She hates Larges.  She says awful things about them!  They were awful things that should never be felt towards someone else.  She’s a part of…She’s a part of the Anti-Large Soldiers!  The ones who…did all those horrible things to you…to you, and your friends…Please forgive me, Abby.  Please forgive me for never telling you this sooner.”

Jim had then fallen on his side, tears running down his face, soaking himself into Abby’s leg.  Meanwhile, Abby was staring down at him, her smile slowly fading as she processed what she’d just been told…

Time was standing still at that time, at that lonely field in the middle of Large n Minor University.  The clock was turning elsewhere, but in that little area that held Abby and Jim, time was no longer present.  They were stuck in that moment of confession, unable to move forward or backwards for a large amount of time, or what they thought was time.  Something heavy was going on in their minds, both their minds, and little did they know that big things were happening elsewhere as well.  For the moment, though, they only focused on the big events happening to them at that moment.

Jim was on his side, body completely shaking from what he’d just done to Abby.  He never wanted her to find out about Ruby, about what Ruby was truly like.  Yet, here he was, spilling his guts out upon Abby’s request for information.  He hated the part of his wife that despised the big folks, and hoped that he would never have had to tell Abby about it.  He also trusted Abby, though, and he knew he could no longer lie to her.  The truth was going to come out sometime, so it might as well had happened sooner, rather than later.

Despite knowing he did the right thing, he couldn’t help but feel horrible about all of this.  He knew Abby’s past with the AL Soldiers.  They’d done some pretty awful things, and were the cause of most of Abby’s poor parts of life.  They’d even killed the ladies who used to be her best friends.  How would someone like that possibly deal or cope with the fact that her new friend’s wife is part of that same group?  Abby seemed to trust Jim quite a bit, and he trusted her, but how long would that trust last once they’d both processed what had just happened?

Abby was about to give Jim the answer to that mental question, as a matter of fact.  Her face sat high above him, and the smile she’d been keeping on her face was losing its form.  Her lips started to tire and lower themselves, removing the smile and turning it into more of a frown as she kept staring down at him.  She had been curious and worried about Jim with how his wife had acted towards him in the Infirmary, but nothing could have prepared her for the blow he had just thrown at her.  Nothing could have prepared her for the reaction she would now have.

Everything was coming in slowly, but her mind was relatively busy as her face turned to a frown.  She adjusted her vision, blurring out everything in front of her, including Jim, as she thought about what he’d just said to her.  Ruby, that sweet man’s wife, apparently…hated Larges.  What’s more is that she was a member of that “Anti-Large Soldier” group.  It was the same one that she remembered all too well.  Her cheeks started to redden as she thought about what that group had done to her, and to her friends, years back.

The giant woman blinked her eyes a few times as birds flew by, right in front of her eyes.  Her breathing was starting to get deeper and longer, and her heart was beating faster and faster with every second.  Her bright and cheery attitude was slowly drooping down as she thought about it more and more.  She had really come to like Jim over the past day, but this news of his wife troubled Abby, a lot.  It troubled her, not because there was an AL Soldier on campus, but that her friend’s wife was like that.  She’d been so excited to meet Ruby, but she could never have imagined she was like that.

She sat there still, not saying a word, as her body was telling Jim and anyone else around, how this information was making her feel. With every exhale, came a nervous, fidgety breath, her stomach slightly quivering.  Her cheeks were slowly getting more and more red, and as she blinked, her eyelids began to form tears.  Her pupils were shaking as she moved her head back down, focusing her vision on Jim, and only Jim.  Her mind was in so much conflict and stress, she didn’t know what she was supposed to do.  All she could do for a good few moments was stare down at her little friend, who was obviously just as freaked out as she was.

Jim, eyes closed and on his side, slowly stopped his whimpering and crying as he felt something grazing his body.  He bolted his eyes open and turned, looking to see that large, smooth hand of Abby’s had come down, towards him.  As he eyed it, he saw one of her fingers, the same size as he was, lowering and softly grazing across his side.  The feeling sent chills through his body, and he looked up towards Abby’s face, confused.  He didn’t understand this at all.  He’d clearly thrown some very emotional words towards her, and she was rubbing him with her finger?

Not even Abby fully understood why she was stroking Jim’s tiny body with her index finger.  She hadn’t said a word to him, and her mind was in complete conflict.  Part of her hated what Jim told her, and it wanted to show her anger towards Jim, but part of her didn’t.  Part of her wanted to stay with her friend and help heal the wounds he was having in him right now, rather than finding a way to heal her own wounds.  No words could explain it, but hearing about this, for some reason, made Abby feel for Jim’s position, despite her dislike of what she’d just been told. 

After a moment, she started to slowly curl her fingers around Jim’s body, pulling him into her palm.  Jim was stuck on her face as she began to pull her hand, and him, up towards her face.  She blinked down towards him as he was brought up to her, a tear slowly rushing down her cheek.  Pulling her other hand up, she allowed Jim to stay in both palms, and just stared at him for a few minutes. 

Neither one of them said a word, but Abby had made a move, slowly pulling him forward as he tried to speak.  He had started to say he was sorry, but was knocked down as he was pulled forward, Abby’s face, lips, and cheeks slowly creeping closer and closer to his body…

Jim was at a loss for words for what was going on.  Just a moment before, he was expecting a disastrous response out of Abby.  After all, he did just tell her that his wife was a member of the same organization that had basically caused every last bit of negativity and sorrow in her life.  The AL Soldiers had not only wiped out her original village, but also attacked her when she was younger and killed the three girls she’d become friends with after coming to the University.  By all accounts, he expected her to get mad or sad, or both.

She didn’t seem to be reacting in the expected way at all.  In fact, she wasn’t showing any form of discomfort in her actions.  Instead of crying or screaming or breaking down, she was doing something completely different.  She had reached down and started rubbing and stroking Jim’s tiny body with her finger, and was pulling him up towards her face.  Why would she do this?  What would drive a girl who should be angry and sad towards him, or at least his news, stroke him as if she were trying to make him feel better?  Jim didn’t understand it at all.

Fortunately for Jim, he wasn’t the only one in this mass confusion.  Abby, herself, didn’t quite understand what was happening.  Part of her did want to be sad and upset.  That part of her wanted to just break down and cry and question her friendship with Jim, but that part of her wasn’t coming out.  Another part of her was coming out.  That part of her could see the pain in Jim’s eyes and actions as he’d told her what he’d just told her.  She could see how hard it was for him to say it, and realized that it hurt him just as much as it did her.

For this reason, she’d started getting affectionate towards him.  She had reached down to his crying body and started stroking on it, trying to show him that it was okay.  She wanted him to feel better about saying what he said, and not beat himself up so much over all of this.  He simply looked up, confused, and that puzzled her a little more.  She wanted him to know that everything was okay, but to do that, she started thinking and came to the conclusion that it would take more to show him what he meant. 

She didn’t want to just up and talk to him, so she’d decided to bring him into her palm and get him closer to her.  She stared down towards Jim’s confused expression as she brought her hand, and him, up towards her face.  He’d started to say something in the process, but she didn’t want him to say anything.  She’d purposely moved her hand a little faster to knock him off his feet, so he wouldn’t continue what he was going to say.  They were both in distress, and she felt that she was the only one who could stop it, for the both of them.

As Abby brought Jim up to her lips, she’d stared at him for a few moments, letting both him and her get into the air of what she was about to do.  Deep down in her gut, she knew this is something she had been feeling for awhile, and another part of her felt like it was wrong.  A mutual feeling, however, was that this is something she needed to do.  She couldn’t explain why she needed to do it, but it’s just how she felt.  She slowly moved her hand, pulling Jim closer to her lips.

As Jim was pulled forward, his eyes widened upon seeing those huge, soft lips targeting him.  He started to yelp as they pushed into him, their softness cushioning his entire body between them and the giant woman’s palm.  His face completely blushed under the pressure of Abby’s lips as they pushed into him, giving him the pressure and affection of a long, 2-minute kiss.  He could feel the moisture coming from her lips and could even see her own lips starting to blush as she did this with her eyes shut. 

Jim could not even begin to contemplate what was just going on.  He gives Abby bad, emotional news about his wife and her reaction is to love on him and even kiss him?  None of this made any sense at all!  He didn’t fight it, though.  His entire body weakened under the pressure of her kiss and his nerves calmed down as an affectionate chill ran through his body.  His own eyes closed as the kiss went on further, letting Abby show him as much affection as she wished to.  They both knew it was wrong, on some level, but there was a feeling of ‘right’ in it somewhere as well.

Before long, Abby ended the kiss and pulled her face away from her palm.  Her eyes slowly creased and opened up, showing an enormously embarrassed look on Jim’s face, still laying in her palm.  Her cheeks were still turning crimson as she looked at him and thinking about the moment they had just shared.  From the look in that tiny man’s face, she thinks she got her point across.  The look of both shock and pleasure in his face made her smile.

After she began to smile, she used her other hand to slowly start stroking the side of Jim’s body and laid herself on her back, lowering her hand right in front of her leaned-up face.  She could see Jim trying to say something, but she immediately put one of her fingers in front of her lips for a moment.  “Shhh…not a word, Jim.  You’ve said enough today.  Just relax and know that everything will be just fine.  I forgive you for keeping that in.  I’m not mad or upset.  All I need is for you to stay here with me.  Can you do that?”

Jim was feeling chills all over from how Abby was reacting.  He wasn’t sure what to think of this behavior.  She, truly, was the most forgiving person he’d ever met.  He dropped a bomb on her and she’d kissed him and asked for him to stay with her.  Was that truly all she needed to cope with this?  He didn’t want to ask.  He simply nodded his head towards her.  From the moment he had done so, she lowered him and set him on her blouse, right on top of her right breast.  This made Jim very embarrassed.  He looked up towards her, and only saw a smile on her face.

After patting on Jim’s body, she whispered down to him.  “We’ve both had a rough time lately, and you’re injured.  Please, let me be your new hospital bed.  Let me take care of you.”  Abby had gotten a huge smile on her face,  a deep sense of protection spawning deep inside her, both from the feelings she’d acquired for her new friend and from the news he’d just hit her with.  That smile didn’t fade as she watched Jim willingly lay himself down, overwhelmed by the situation…

Far from the walls of Large n Minor University, where Sarah was being rescued from Ruby, and where Jim was taking a nap on Abby's chest, was the city the University was built by.  The city was near 30 square miles.  At the very heart of it, was a large, brown building.  The build was 3 stories high, and was beat up on the outside.  Most would pass it by, thinking it was some old, abandoned warehouse.  To others, however, it was a very crucial area.  It had a few things that no one would ever expect of it.

Deep into the building, a man was walking through a steel hallway, wearing a tight, military-like suit.  His legs and arms moved in unison with one another, snapping as each step was taken, his stride in a very precise fashion.  Above the uniform was a oval-shaped head with slicked back brown hair.  Above that hair as a hat, as black as the suit he wore.  Walking towards a door, he slowly opened it, disappearing from the hall, into the room beyond.

The man walked into a large room that once resembled a computer lab.  Adorned on the walls were large computer screens.  In the middle of the room were several rows of computer terminals, each with a person sitting at them, typing away and speaking to one another.  They all wore white dress shirts and were adorned with blue-tooth headsets.  They all looked transfixed on their work.  No one had flinched or moved a muscle as the tall, stern man walked in.  Seeing this, his eyes slowly scanned the room, picking up on a man in the corner of the room, working on a terminal that was set aside from the rest.  He kept his eyes on him and began to move towards him.

The man’s boots tapped against the steel floor, creating a high-pitched echo go across the room as he made his way to the other side.  Workers were busy with their monitors, which displayed various things.  Some shows charts and graphs, others showed maps, and some showed asterisk-covered text documents, the confidential reports being written and hidden as they were being typed.  Above the corner where this lone terminal stood was an emblem on the wall.  It read “Anti-Large: Keeping your Lives Small and Safe”.  The man eyed it for a moment before stopping, just behind the man working at the terminal. 

The terminal, itself, had a display of a few sound-wave patterns.  The man was finishing up a listen towards an audio track as he noticed the shadow of the man whom was now standing behind him.  Noticing the shadow and a slight reflection on the monitor itself, he turned around and removed his headset.  Quickly bringing his hand up, he waved a salute towards the man who stood there, waiting.  The man looked down at him and, with a stern and deep voice, he spoke.  “I was informed that you had something to report to me?”

Removing the sale, the man at the computer nodded his head and looked back at his computer screen.  “Yes, Captain Hayes.  Thank you for coming.”  As he looked back at his computer screen, he quickly pulled the cursor to the beginning of the audio track he’d just gotten done listening to.  “If you would, put on the headset, Captain.  I think I have something you’re going to want to hear.”  Captain Hayes picked the headset up, but cocked his head a little towards the man, as if waiting for something else.

“Excuse me, doctor, but I would appreciate it if you would tell me what I’m about to listen to, so I know why it was so important that you had to call me all the way down here, if you don’t mind?”  The man at the computer shivered for a second, and then spoke again, removing his hand from the computer terminal.  “Oh…of course, sir!  My apologies.  About half an hour ago, we received a transmission from one of our Reconnaissance Radios that was quite interesting.  It was attached to that new recruit, Ruby King.  The signal is coming from somewhere outside of the city, possibly the…university, and….”

Captain Hayes’ eyebrows raised and got a sense of curiosity in his eyes as he heard about the signal possibly coming from the university.  If he meant THE university, then this could be very good for them.  After a brief moment of silence, he spoke again.  “…and?  Go on, Doctor.”  The doctor took a deep breath as he sat at the computer and slowly continued.  “Right, sorry.  Anyways, some of us think this may be tied to the kidnapping rumors that happened in ‘their’ district last night.  We think this might be it, sir.  The case that can finally see our dream made.  We can-”

“Doctor Raine!  Doctor Raine, there’s another transmission coming in from Radio RK1!”  A voice from the other side of the room got the attention of both the doctor and Captain Hayes.  Quickly clicking on a window of the terminal, Doctor Raine brought up a new feed for the audio coming in and motioned towards the Captain.  “Go ahead and take a listen, Captain.  I’ve got it recording. 

Captain Hayes took the initiative and slipped the headset over his head after removing his hat.  He took a few deep breaths as he carefully listened to what was coming in through the headset.  Holding one ear shut, his eyes squinted with curiosity as he made out the faint words coming in.  “Hmm…I hear two females talking.  Sounds like Minors.  I think they’re talking about Rub….wait…wait!”  Captain Hayes almost froze in place for about 2 minutes as he listened further, after which he threw the headset to the table. 

Turning around, he started forcefully walking away from the terminal.  “Doctor, make sure you record that!  Get it ready for a media broadcast within the next day.  I’m heading down to the labs to see if our ‘little’ project is ready yet.  This might be it, people!  Keep your eyes and ears on those transmission frequencies and be ready for anything!  If the project is ready, we could be moving out within the day!”

Captain Hayes quickly went through the doorway he’d come in through, and everyone quickly returned to their work…   

Jim had willingly curled himself up on top of Abby’s chest and fallen asleep, unable to resist the temptation she was giving him.  He almost felt like she was his mother, trying to take care of him, despite the fact that he was a little bit older than Abby was.  With his injuries, and the pain of what he’d told her earlier, it was easy for his willpower to weaken and accept the situation.  He wasn’t sure if it was right to let Abby do this for him, but he couldn’t stop.  He was tired and sore from the previous day and almost naturally just collapsed on her, falling right asleep. 

Abby, herself, wasn’t entirely sure why she had acted the way she had.  She knew that Jim was married, and also knew that this was getting quite close to him.  She hadn’t even considered the implications, in case someone had seen her or had been around when she was trying to show him the affection she was showing him, but she didn’t care, at that point.  All she knew was that she wanted to protect him, even if it meant protecting him from his wife. 

Abby felt a sense of purpose after she’d found out everything from Jim that she’d just been told.  The fact that Ruby was so prejudiced against Larges did shock her quite a bit, and there was a part of her that was saddened that people could do that, but she knew from experience that people were like that.  People like Ruby were the reason that Abby lost her original home, and why the three girls she’d spent time with on campus had died.  The Anti-Large whatever-they-were-called were the reason for all her sadness and all of her grief.  She felt an obligation to protect her new friend from that.

She had never fallen asleep as she was lying on the ground with Jim.  All of her effort and concentration was on him, and making sure he was as comfortable as possible.  She slowed her breathing down, so he couldn’t get pushed off from her chest rising and falling.  The longer she stared down at him, the more she wanted to protect him.  The voice of reason was in the back of her head, telling her it was wrong to want to protect him from what she wanted to protect him from, but she was too caught up in the moment. 

Several hours passed by, and all she did was watch him, and occasionally graze her fingertip along his body, trying to comfort him, but not wake him.  She pondered the events of the past couple days, how far things had gone.  Never, in her entire life at the university, had one person made such an impact on her.  Jim’s arrival was doing a lot, not only for her, but for the entire campus.  Things were getting very interesting and little to any of them know, that in the near future, things would become far more interesting for everyone.

----------------

Back in the Infirmary, Sarah was getting herself wrapped up by her assistant.  As the last touches were being made on her stomach and her arm, she sat on the side of the bed and took deep breaths, trying to process what had just happened and what would have happened were her assistant not to have come along.  As the bandages were finished and secured on her, she took a good look at her assistant, whom had a worried look on her face. 

“Thank you, Melinda.  Thank you…for stopping her and patching me up.”  Melinda, the secretary of the Infirmary, let out a brief smile and patted Sarah on the shoulder, happy to be of service.  She soon sat down on the bed, next to Sarah and wrapped her arm around her.  “You know I’d do anything for you, Sarah.  I knew that woman was trouble from the moment she’d stammered in.  I’m just sorry I didn’t get here sooner.  She got you pretty good!  Had I not gotten here when I did, you might very well not be sitting on this bed, but lying on it instead.”

Sarah was comforted by Melinda’s presence and nodded to her, laughing under her breath for a moment.  She was absolutely right.  Ruby wasn’t holding anything back when she’d attacked her.  Had Melinda not arrives, she might be gravely injured at this point.  She wasn’t too big on Melinda’s touchy-feely way of returning her gratitude, but that’s something she’d gotten used to, over the years.  Poor Melinda had never been able to grasp a husband, so Sarah let her hug on her every so often, to help her out a little.  Sarah then looked over at Ruby, who was still unconscious, on the ground.

“You’re right, Melinda, and you have my thanks for that.  You’re a good friend and co-worker.  For now, though, I think we need to do something about her.  She’s unconscious now, but when she wakes up, she’s probably going to be furious.  We need to restrain her before she can cause any more harm to anyone else.  Go get a straight jacket from my office.  I’ll have her on the bed by then.”  Melinda briefly tilted her head, slightly confused at the extremity of Sarah’s request, but followed it, all the same.  She quickly got up from the bed and headed out the door.

Sarah let out a yawn and pushed her hair back, above her forward for a moment, before getting up to move the hostile Ruby King.  She knew that Melinda didn’t approve of her suggestion of using a straight jacket.  Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t either, but this person was a threat to the entire campus.  Until she could get be straight with her, she had to be kept in the hospital.  Who knows what she’d do or scream about were she to get out of the Infirmary and around the others around campus…

There was a lot going on in various parts of the city.  In the middle of the ‘abandoned’ warehouse, there was a group of people, preparing for some form of action that could be bad for the entire world.  At the University, there were two new friends, sleeping together and a woman about to be tied up and held against her will at the Infirmary.  There was more than just this going on, though.  Outside the city walls was the district of the Larges.  One district, anyways, and there was a home with a young woman whose entire world was being thrown down on top of her.

In a bedroom, there was a young woman, wrapped up in a large, black blanket, weeping and staring out her window towards the city beyond.  Her eyes were filled with tears as she thought about the past two days.  There was a lot on the mind of the student known as Fran.  There had been so many actions she’d taken in the past 48 hours that she had not been proud of.  Yet, they had happened and she couldn’t do anything to take back a single one of them. 

Next to the bed were the remains of her clothing.  Eye-liner was staining Fran’s cheeks as she held her blanket against her as tight as she could, covering up everything, from her feet up to her neck.  She was shivering at the thought of what she did, and what she could have done.  A lot of choices had been made, and all of the events had brought her whole being down.  There was so much that she didn’t want to do, but did anyways.  Her emotions had gotten the best of her, as they had in the past.  They had hurt people, people that she loved.

As her vision blurred, she began to think of what she’d done, and wished that she could make things right at that very moment.  She called out to her friends, in the hopes that in some way, shape, or form, they could hear her and forgive her for what she’d done.  “Abby…Jimmy…I’m…sorry.  I…I don’t know what happened.  I lost control of myself, and I hurt you.  I hurt…both of you.  I got mad and just…lost it.  If you can hear me at all, if you can hear my cries, please forgive me.”

Fran closed her eyes, letting a few newly-formed tears roll down her cheeks as she ended her cry.  Deep down, she thought that her friends were connected to her and could hear her thoughts, even when this far away.  Maybe that was just a false or desperate hope, though.  Maybe she only thought that way because she wanted to be connected to them in that way.  She wanted to believe in true connection, where a person will know when their friend is hurt, even if they would have no possible way of knowing, other than just a feeling.  She was hurting, and she knew Abby and Jim were hurting, too, from what she’d done.  She just hoped that they could understand that the situation was hurting her as well.

“I never…wanted to hurt either of you.  I just got too caught up in the friendship, in some desires that were buried deep inside me.  I overreacted…I know that I did.  Deep down, I knew it when I did it, too.  I can’t…do anything about it now.  It’s over now.  I freaked out when I saw you with that girl, Jimmy.  I…I couldn’t control it.  I lost control of myself and let myself do terrible, terrible things to you!  I dropped you inside my boot, I hurt you, I…I almost killed you.  Oh, god…I…I almost killed my friend!”

Fran’s face was doing nothing but becoming more and more emotional as she gripped onto a pillow and pushed the side of her face into it.  She was replaying the events of the previous night, and it was scaring her.  She was scared that she was capable of losing herself and doing such things to people she wanted to call her friends.  She was absolutely horrible to Jim, and she didn’t even give him a chance to talk about what he was doing with that girl.  She just overreacted, made assumptions, and took him hostage.  Her breathing started to get heavier as she thought about how those two had to have looked at her now.  She thought about whether or not they’d ever trust her again.

“I…I’m sorry!” she screamed as she pushed the side of her face even harder into the pillow.  Her hair was an absolute mess outside of the blanket, having stayed up all night long, curled up and thinking about what she’d done.  Jim coming into her life had done a lot.  Before she’d freaked out and kidnapped him, she had wonderful feelings about him.  She forwarded her own pre-emptive feelings on him and she thought she could get attached to him so quickly.  Afterwards, though, all she felt was regret and pain.  Pain that she had completely ruined the friendship she’d made, both with Jim and with Abby.

Her hands tightened into fists as she started shivering again.  She thought of where the two of them were at that point.  Jim was surely in some sort of care by now, and Abby would, no doubt, stay with him.  Fran knew the girl all too well.  She was much too motherly and caring to just drop him off at the hospital.  She was probably there, by his side, making sure he was being cared for, not even bothering to think about Fran.  She took a deep breath and started to think that was a good thing.

“Abby…Jim…I’m sorry.  I’m…a terrible person!”  Fran’s pillow was moved as she buried her entire face in it, letting out every ounce of tears that her eyes could produce as she wept in her bed, wishing she could do nothing but go back in time and fix the previous day’s events, fix the relationships she had shred apart. 

Far off from where everything else was going on, even from Fran's regret and sorrow, there was another district outside the City, dedicated to the housing of the Larges. It wasn't very big, however. The entire district may have contained a dozen homes. Within this district was a small, wooden home, that belonged to a young student from the University. In the house, however, she was in bed, but not alone. She was snoozing away and was accompanied by a friend, someone who worked with her at the school.

Helen sat on a small, wooden chair as she watched her fellow cheerleader sleeping. The poor girl had been restless all night long. She tossed and turned, sweating like a big. It had taken a great deal of effort for Helen to maintain her own consciousness and try to keep the girl from moving around too much and aggravating her injury. After many hours and the next day had arrived, though, she was calming down, laying peacefully. Her forehead was still red, though, and Helen's hand softly grazed it, pushing back the girl's crimson-red hair as the eyes were shutting tightly.

The heat from her forehead began to move into Helen's soft, tender hand as she finished grazing her. She got a frown on her face and let out a soft sigh. She knew what kind of heat this was, and it wasn't good for the girl at all. Pulling her hand back, she slowly got up from the chair and whispered down to the girl as she began to walk away. “I'll be right back, Emily. I'm gonna go get something to help you with your head.” Helen then turned and began to walk away from the bed, hoping that Emily's restlessness wouldn't return as she walked to the kitchen and looked for a cloth to make an ice-pack out of.

As she made her way to the kitchen, she stopped and took a look around. She saw a normal-looking kitchen, much like her own. A refrigerator in one corner, attached to a counter that extended halfway around the walls of the room. Above the counters were many cabinets, and on the end was a sink with two handles on it. Helen had her arms crossed for a moment, trying to think of where she kept her towels and cloths. This house was made just like every other house in the Large District, so it shouldn't be too hard to find it.

As she thought about where the towels might be, she thought about when these homes were first built. Ever since the government had started to accept Larges and tried to incorporate them back into society, in little ways, it was agreed upon that they couldn't live inside the cities and towns with the Minors. They were simply too big and they couldn't re-design every city and town in the world to accommodate for those people. After a couple months of planning, it was decided that they would build Districts for the Larges, just outside some cities. That way, they could be close to the other people, but not cause problems by living inside the same towns.

Little by little, materials were gathered until they could start building these districts. They were made, where all of the houses were identical. None of these districts were very large, but once they had designed the first home, it was easy to replicate the process and get other homes built. The governor of each state oversaw these projects in person, to make sure that the homes were built with utter care. Minors weren't the ones who built the homes, however. Not alone, anyways. The construction teams consisted of some Minors and some Larges, despite the differences many of them felt towards one another.

Before long, there were a lot of Districts being built. While they did have some trouble, from time to time, with workers getting upset with the Larges, the job was done with a fair amount of peace. The Larges who helped with the construction of these homes were the first people to move in and make sure everything was alright for their fellow Larges to live in. Helen's parents had been one of the first couples to volunteer on building and testing these homes. She had been around during the construction, when she was a little younger, and could still remember all of the issues they had, and the feeling of accomplishment her parents shared as they finished their first home.

She smiled as she continued to think of the past, still walking towards the sink, having spotted a small wash cloth hanging over it's edge. As she soaked it in cold water from the sink, she spoke to herself about what she was thinking about. “That first day, moving into that first house. I remember it like it was yesterday. We didn't have to live off the land anymore. We didn't have to sleep out in open fields. We had a place we could call home. That was the day Mom and Dad started getting along better. They stopped fighting after working together on building the house and providing them and me with a real home.”

She turned as she ended the thought, a smile on her face and wrung the cloth dry, heading back to the bedroom, where Emily was lying, sick. As she went back into the bedroom, she thought about the girl's condition. She felt like she had a fever, no doubt due to the injury in her ankle, as well as all the stress and struggling she'd gone through when her friend, Jim, had been taken from her by that girl, Fran. She sat back down and set the cloth over Emily's forehead, partially soaking her bangs. Emily's body chilled for a moment, but then stopped, her rest starting to get more peaceful before ending.

Helen smiled as she saw Emily's eyes opening up and letting out a quick cough, muttering out that same name from before, 'Jim'. Quickly putting her hands over the girl's head and chest, she whispered to her. “There's my girl. Don't worry about Jim, he's fine. You, on the other hand, have got a bit of a fever. Try to rest. I'll stay here and take care of you.”

She held the girl down until her muscles lost their tension and she laid herself back down on the bed, slowly nodding towards her friend. “T-thanks, Helen.”

Over the several hours that it was taking for Abby to watch Jim sleep, Helen take care of Emily, Fran to cry all of her emotions out, and for the situation in the warehouse to continue, Melinda and Sarah were about to have a very serious discussion.  However, what they didn’t realize is that this discussion was something that would have a major impact on events to come.  It was a simple fill-in that could change the outcome of events and of the political status of two races of humans, who could live in peace together or not.

It had not taken Melinda long to return from Sarah’s office.  Sarah hadn’t had Ruby’s unconscious body on the bed for more than a few minutes before her assistant came back in, ready to wrap her up like a Christmas Gift.  Sarah watched her coming in, trying not to move a whole lot, still understanding that she’d been hurt in her scuffle with the Anti-Large crazy woman.  She smiled as Melinda came back in and quietly thanked her for getting the jacket.  Sarah reached for a few small objects attached to Ruby’s belt and set them on the table on the side, radio included, not even bothering to look at them.

Melinda had stopped before handing the straight-jacket over to Sarah.  She still had her doubts, which she spoke of when she finally did hand it over to Sarah.  “Listen, Sarah…I know you’ve been more than kind to me, all this time, and I think the world of you, but…I really don’t like this.  These things are supposed to be for patients that are threatening to hurt themselves, not visitors who come in here, like she did.”  She paused for a moment, before reaching down and pulling Ruby up.  “I’ll go along with your decision, because you’re my friend, but I’m just saying…I don’t agree with this.”

Sarah nodded towards Melinda for a moment, making sure she knew that she understood what she meant.  Melinda was absolutely right.  It wasn’t right to use a straight-jacket on someone like this, but the circumstances were hardly normal.  There was a lot that Sarah was intending to protect, and she couldn’t let Ruby leave, for the time being.  She let Melinda know that Ruby couldn’t leave as they finished fastening the jacket on her body, after folding her arms. 

As they set Ruby back down, however, Melinda came over to Sarah and sat by her, on the bed.  She looked at her, trying to pierce her with her ocean-blue eyes and got a worried look on her face.  “Why, Sarah?  What’s so important that she can’t leave at all?  I mean, I understand that she was a raging breakdown of a person on her way in here and she was incredibly rude to me on the phone, but…there’s something else.  I know there is.  I know we haven’t spent that much time together, outside of work, but I always know when something’s bothering you.  Your pupils are quivering.”

Sarah was starting to feel a little nervous at what Melinda was saying.  There was something else.  Plenty of it, in fact.  Her pupils were quivering, just as Melinda said they were.  She gulped for a moment and kept herself quiet.  However, she didn’t for long.  After her pause of silence, Melinda wrapped her arm around Sarah’s shoulders and spoke to her again.  “Listen, I’m your friend.  I’m here to listen to your problems, to help you with them.  Please, tell me what happened.”

Sarah’s body chilled from feeling Melinda’s touch.  That woman may not have had many friends around the workplace, but she was a constant stream of emotions.  She knew just what to do when someone was having a problem.  The feeling of her arm, the look on her face, the tone in her voice, it all started making Sarah feel more comfortable around her.  In all the time they’d spent together, Sarah had enjoyed being around Melinda, just as Melinda had enjoyed being around her.  She felt that they’d created a friendship over time, from that first day that Melinda had walked into the building, a nervous wreck, until today, when she was being comforted by Melinda, herself.

She softly nodded and looked to the ground as she said “Alright…I’ll tell you what’s wrong, Mel.”  Melinda was ready to hear what she had to say, but stopped for a moment.  She repeated that last statement in her head, time and time again.  Sarah hadn’t called her by her name, she’d given her a nickname.  She called her Mel.  A smile came to her face as she nodded towards her.  She didn’t say a word about it, but she felt very happy to be given a nickname by her.  She simply pulled Sarah a little closer and whispered in her ear.  “Tell me all about it, Sarah.”

Over the next good while, Sarah wove the tale that she’d found out from Abby, all while having Melinda’s arm nearby.  She spoke of Jim coming to the University, meeting Fran and Abby, being kidnapped, being hurt, being brought back to the Infirmary, and of the conversation and scuffle she had with Ruby.  She left out no detail, ensuring that the full scope of what happened came forward with her statement. 

Sarah was ending her story by talking about how she had to work hard and protect the campus, that she could not let anything happen and that she, alone, would ensure that nothing would come about, because of this.  As she was finishing up, she started sounding more and more emotional in her voice before Melinda let a warm smile out and provided her with more actions.  She wrapped both arms around Sarah and gave her a warm hug. 

“Don’t worry so much, Sarah.  You don’t have to stand up and protect the school, all by yourself.  You’re always the tough one, the protector, the one who wants what’s best for everyone.  Well, you’re not alone.  I’ll help you with whatever you need to make sure nothing happens.”

Sarah couldn’t help but let out a little smile and impulsively let her head rest on Melinda’s shoulder as she stared out into the room, whispering back to her.  “…thank you, Mel.”  They sat there, next to the wrapped-up Ruby, still not noticing the little red light blinking on the radio, not realizing they had just given all of that information straight to that lonesome, yet busy warehouse. 

Helen covered her mouth up as germs flew into the air when Emily let out a series of coughs.  She had backed away from the bed as she let it all out.  Helen stayed close to her, so she could take care of her, but she also didn’t want to catch the infection that Emily had gotten.  They were the only two in the house, and she couldn’t afford to get sick, herself.  Emily let out a painful moan as she stopped coughing and Helen put her hand over the cloth that was on her forehead. 

The girl’s eyes were closed tight, yet she was wide awake.  Helen had advised that she go back to sleep, which she was trying to do, but the sickness just wouldn’t let her.  She’d gotten a quick infection from when she had gotten hurt earlier.  Signs aren’t exactly the cleanest things in the world and it had gashed her leg up pretty well.  Jim’s bandage had covered up the wound, but not before some germs had managed to infiltrate it and get some sickness into the poor girl’s body.  Even Larges were susceptible to disease and sickness, despite their size.

The medical conditions for the Larges had long been a topic for debate in the medical community, before the government started allowing them back into society.  It was well known that germs were micro organisms that dwelled inside the human body, but how would they be able to effect Larges?  A White Blood Cell that deals with those kind of organisms, in a Large would be drastically larger and more efficient than those in a Minor.  At least, that’s what scientists believed, at the time.  Since they didn’t have any blood samples to test, they could only judge by the bigger height.

Once they had been re-integrated into society, however, a lot of research was done with blood samples from the Larges.  A few Larges had agreed to donate some blood for the research, in the interest of Medicine.  Not all of them wanted their blood on the table, where they were too big to see anything happening to their stuff, but research was done, and it was discovered that their theory was wrong.  Larges did not have drastically larger white-blood cells, or even cells at all.  It was discovered that their cells were the same size as cells of the Minors.

This astounded the scientific community.  They could not imagine how or why that could even be possible.  The Larges had enormous bodies, going up to 100 feet in height.  How could cells of that small amount be enough to manage a body like that?  More tests were done on the matter and it was discovered that, not only were the cells the same, it seemed that the amount was also the same.  They had the same amount of cell-reproductive capacities.  Everything was exactly as it would have been in a Minor, so…how did that happen?  Why did that happen?

It puzzled the Scientific Community for years.  How were they THAT similar to Minors?  Some people theorized that the Larges weren’t always Larges.  Some theorized that, at some point in time, the Larges used to be Minors and, under some strange fluke, were expanded far enough to become as big as Larges are, and that the basic building blocks never changed their size.  Those theories were mostly mocked by the community.  The thought of Larges once being Minors was laughable, at best, and the medical community was full of Anti-Large people at the time, who were disgusted by the idea of those people once being like them.

It led to one conclusion, though.  Larges were just as susceptible to disease and illness as Minors were.   No one understood why, but that’s just how it was.  A Large could just as easily catch a fever as a Minor.  Emily was living proof of that, right then and there.  The poor giant woman was lying in bed, coughing and hacking her lungs out, sick and in pain.  Her entire face was red from her fever and she couldn’t talk much.  After her thank you to Helen from earlier, she pretty much stayed quiet.

As her coughing began to slow down, she turned towards Helen, and offered her a soft smile.  She could see the smiling face of her cheerleading ‘leader’, who had given up her time to make sure she was well.  She held the smile and thought about all of the friends she had around campus.  She was a new student and hadn’t made many friends yet, but she had both Jim and Helen, which made her feel less bad about being sick.  Her eyes were barely open at all, but it was enough to see that she was being cared for, and that made her happy.

Her breathing started to slow down as she reached her own hand up and touched Helen’s.  Helen looked at her and took her other hand, softly brushing her fingertips along the icy-cold hand of her sick friend and asked her if she needed anything.  Emily, normally, wouldn’t have asked for anything at all, wanting to do things herself, but at this time, with how she felt, she couldn’t hold anything back.  Helen was the only one who could get her anything, so she decided that she needed to tell her when she needed something.

She couldn’t talk much, but she let out what words she could.  She softly whimpered “S-soup…could I…have some soup, please?”  Helen stopped brushing along Emily’s hand and then stood up from the chair.  Taking a moment to brush against the girl’s hair, she spoke down to her, the smile still on her face.  “Of course you can.  I’ll go make you some right now.  Don’t get up or anything.  I’ll be right back.”  Helen began to walk away as Emily let out a weakened nod.  She held onto her covers and watched the woman walk off, into another room, and started thinking more on the past couple days.

A lot was going on everywhere, at that moment. There were plans being made, people getting well, and in the middle of the University, an injured man sleeping on top of his giant friend. Jim had spared no time in falling asleep upon being set down on Abby's chest and, for the first several hours, slept calmly, having a dreamless sleep. This, however, did not last forever. After those first several hours had been spent, a dream started to dwell in his mind, a dream that was the product of a lot of things he felt and would soon start to affect him in bigger ways than he could know.

He tossed and turned as the dream began. His eyes opened up and he was in an open field, lined with a steel fence at least 40 feet high. It was made like an alleyway, giving him about 10 or 15 feet between the two fences. He looked around and asked himself what he was doing there. He didn't think it was the University, since he saw no buildings, but it also didn't look like anyplace else he'd been in his entire life. Where was this place? From behind him, he hurt a sound. It was like footsteps. As he turned around, he saw the face of Ruby, his wife.

He approached her, wanting to know what was going on, but his questions fell on deaf ears as she pulled a knife from her pocket and lunged at him, screaming to him. He was so surprised by this sudden action from someone who was supposed to be his wife, he fell down, on his butt, the knife landing and impaling the ground mere inches from his foot. His eyes were bulging and he screamed, begging her to stop and tell him what was going on. To this, he only got screaming as she yanked the knife out of the ground and went towards him again.

He didn't know what to do. Was his wife trying to kill him, for some reason? If so, why? What reason would she possibly have to kill her own husband. He wanted to stay and find out, though he was shaking in fear, the fear that Ruby would actually go through with it. He definitely wanted to know what was going on, but not if it meant he would get stabbed and die from it. As she lunged towards him again, a voice echoed through the air, speaking “Run, Jim! You've got to run!”

Taking the voice's advice, he got up and jumped out of the way, just as the knife came down and impaled the ground again. He ran off, towards the voice at the other end of this 'alley'. He knew the voice, all too well. It was Abby, his giant friend, calling to him. She might have been the only other person around. He ran as fast as he could, noticing that he was no longer in casts and bandages. Shortly behind him was Ruby, trying to catch up as much as she could, that knife still in her hand. Jim didn't let her, though. He used all of his energy to move as fast as he could as Abby's voice kept speaking to him. “You can make it, Jim. I'll protect you.”

Jim felt butterflies in his stomach as he heard her say that she would protect him. Even in a dream, it was affecting both him and his feelings. He ran and ran, as fast he could, desperate to get away from Ruby. His wife hadn't said a word to him, but it was clear that she was trying to hurt him, if not kill him as well. He had no choice but to run to Abby and hope that she could get him away from this situation. As bad as it felt to be running from his own wife, he felt like this was the correct choice. It would, at the very least, give him a chance of not getting stabbed to death.

He kept on and on and on, until he could finally see his goal. Abby was kneeling down at the very edge of the fenced alleyway, her hands held out, as if to grab him and take him out of harm's way. His legs were burning from the run, but he knew he had to make it. He told himself that it was just a little further to safety. From behind him, he heard Ruby screaming at him, finally speaking words. “No! You get back here, right now! I love you, and I'll show you what happens for liking those big, Large freaks! Come here right now, Jim! It's time to take your medicine!”

Jim knew what that meant, and it wasn't good. At this time, however, he did not feel like he wanted to be around Ruby. He wanted to be around Abby, with Abby. His heart pounded and told him he needed to go to Abby. Finally reaching the end and jumping towards Abby's palms, he saw Ruby jumping towards him, aiming to bring the knife down into his heart. He started screaming as he heard Abby's voice coming down at him.

“Jim! JIM!” Out of the dream world, Abby saw Jim tossing and turning in her palm. His body was shivering and he was screaming out, calling to Abby. “Jim! Wake up, Jim! I'm right here!” Abby shook her hand around a little and poked into Jim with her finger, shaking his shoulders around. Within a few moments, Jim's eyes bolted open and saw her worried face looking down at him. His face was still shaking and his breathing was heavy as she spoke down to him. “Jim, thank goodness. Are you oka-”

Abby was cut off as Jim yelled for her and lunged into her index finger. His arms were wrapped around it and his face was half-buried in the skin, tears producing. Abby blinked and didn't know what to say. He was obviously having a horrible nightmare and something was making him feel better with being around her. After a minute of realizing that her presence was comforting him, she smiled and started rubbing on his back with her thumb. She slowly rubbed on him and spoke again.

“Don't worry, Jim. I'm right here, and nothing will happen to you while I'm around.”

From the moment that Jim has, literally, latched onto Abby's finger, she felt that she needed to comfort him, more than she had been trying to beforehand. She had no idea what he had just been dreaming about, but something had terrified him enough to want to be around her, and not go back to that dream world. She stared down at him as she rubbed on him back with one of her fingers, slightly curious about what this dream might have entailed, but keeping her curiosity held back, realizing that if it had freaked him out this much, he may not have wanted to talk about it.

After she'd assured him that she wouldn't let anything happen to him, they sat there a little further, Jim taking in what Abby was giving him. He wasn't sure why, at the time, but after that dream, he wanted nothing, but to be close to her. She was his big, giant friend, the first friend he'd had at the University. She had always been so kind and caring towards him, and now, they were sharing many moments together as he recovered from his illness and the shock of having Ruby barging into the Infirmary and pulling the stunt she'd pulled.

Actually, Abby was probably one of his only friends, at all. Ever since Jim had gotten married to Ruby, she separated him from his old friends. He didn't have many friends from school, other than her, but she'd made sure that they moved away from where those friends were going. So, in essence, he didn't have any friends at all before the University came, and he met up with Abby, Fran, and Emily. Unfortunately, they were the kind of friends that would bring out the bad side in Ruby, and it did. She came into the University, raging made, and throwing around rumors and assumptions.

Jim had known about her hatred for Larges, but he never realized just how obsessed she was with it. He never thought he'd see the day where he was lying on a hospital bed, and she came there, with intentions other than just to see him. She had come to the Infirmary, not to see him, but to have an excuse to bash and throw out accusations on the Larges. He had tried to hold it back, but it lasted until just then, when he was in Abby's hand, looking up at her. Tears were rolling down his cheeks at the thought of his wife wanting to come to the Infirmary and completely ignoring him.

Why would she do something like that? Why would she be so obsessed with her own prejudice that she would completely ignore her husband's health? She'd just used his injury as a way to come in and start screaming at the people of the University about the Larges. When he'd seen her doing that, he wanted to get out of there, with Abby. He had never told Abby, but he wanted to get away both to keep Abby from Ruby's screaming, and to keep him from completely breaking down in the Infirmary.

Now was the time, though. There was no one else around, but Jim and Abby. There were no other students walking around this area of campus, so the tears had formed again and came forth. His face was buried in Abby's finger as he started whimpering and crying. He hugged onto Abby's finger as tight as he could as he cried out to her. “W-Why? Why did she do that?! Why did she have to come here for that reason?! Why did she...use me?!”

Abby wasn't quite sure what Jim meant by all of this. He had, out of the blue, started breaking down, after he had clenched onto her finger. She blinked and tilted her head to the side, confused about the situation. Was the dream still haunting him, or was it something else? She had no idea what was wrong, and she was almost afraid to ask and find out. She tried to pull Jim away from her finger, so she could talk to him, but it was relatively difficult to do, at first. He didn't want to let go of her, but he eventually felt the pressure pulling on him and did let go.

He sat in the middle of Abby's palm, tears running down his face, as she looked at him, for a moment. She was sitting up and had him held in front of her face. His eyes were quivering and he just stared up at her, as if he were waiting for something from her. Abby was planning on doing something, too. Using a finger, she patted Jim on the head and tried to give him a smile, past all of the worried looks that were plaguing her face and expressions. She was worried about him, and she was trying hard to make it look like she was strong and not getting emotional, herself.

“There, there. You're okay now. There are no bad people around anymore. No more bad dreams to haunt you. Just take a look around, Jim. No one else is here. It's just you and me, for right now. You have nothing to worry about, in my care. You know I won't let anything happen to you.” Jim sniffled a little and tried his best to nod towards Abby, agreeing with the situation. Being with her was getting more and more comforting all the time. Of all the people he knew, he felt the safest with her.

Abby let out a small grin as she saw Jim agreeing with her. After a moment, she actually started getting up from the field and walked off, towards another. “I'm worried about you, Jim. Worried about a lot of things, and I'd like you to tell me what's bothering you. Let's take a little walk, and you can tell me all about it. She kept her smile up at Jim as she held him, with both hands, against the top of her chest, making sure he wouldn't fall off anywhere.

Helen had taken no time in finding the soup in Emily's house and getting it into a large coffee mug, warming up for her. Since the houses in this district were so similar, in design, to her own, it had not taken her very long to find where she kept her food. She also wanted to get this stuff made as quick as possible. As much as Emily was appreciating all of the care she gave her, Helen knew that the girl had a very strong will, a will strong enough to push past injuries and illness. It had not been easy to get the girl home the night before.

Emily had passed out soon after Helen had gotten to her, but her will was shown right then and on the way home. The girl, despite had an injury in her ankle that the Minor, Jim, had somehow managed to patch up, pushed herself very hard to try to go and help him when he'd been taken. She wanted to help this man very badly, no doubt to repay him for helping her. The man had done a world of good for her, from what Helen could tell.

On the way back, Helen pretty much got the whole story in little segments of muttering as Emily slept. Helen had pieced together that she had badly injured her ankle and, despite being hurt, himself, Jim came forward and befriended her, helping her patch up that wound. It was an amazing thing, to be sure. There were a lot of nice folks around the world, but not many people would have been able to fight off an injury, just to help someone else with theirs. She'd never met the man, but she could understand the respect both Emily and Abby had for him.

The beeping of the stove had pulled Helen out of her trip through Memory Lane. The soup was finally ready. Taking the soup and pouring it into the mug, she grabbed a small towel and started walking back towards the bedroom, where Emily was in bed, hopefully. Helen knew the girl had a strong will, so if she wanted to go and see Jim, instead of being well-rested, she had to be ready to stop her and keep her from getting even more sick than she already was. As she made her way back into the bedroom, she saw that Emily was sitting on the side of the bed, looking out the window.

Helen came next to her and set the soup down on a night stand. She looked Emily in the eyes, which seemed to be staring out into space. Putting her hand on her forehead, she said “Emily, what's the matter?” Emily didn't say anything at all. She just sat there and stared out into space. Helen could guess what she was probably thinking about, and she couldn't let her leave. Slowly, pushing Emily back into a laying position, she reached for the soup and tried to encourage her to stay in bed. “Let's get you back in bed so you can rest up. I have some soup for you.” Emily, without saying a word, blankly stared and accepted the mug of soup, slowly bringing it to her lips, her mind elsewhere.
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Melinda and Sarah had been sitting next to one another for a good while now. They were just looking at both each other and at the restrained, unconscious Ruby. That tranquilizer would keep her down for a good while, but they both knew it wouldn't last forever. Eventually, she would be waking up and realizing what they'd done to her. She would, without a doubt, be very angry, and probably start screaming again. They both knew this was coming, and they knew they couldn't really stop it from happening, unless they just wanted to keep giving her tranquilizers or sedative to keep her under control.

Sarah had thought about this, but she knew that Melinda would never let her do something like that. Melinda cared too much for people, all people. It was very likely that the only reason she agreed to help put the straight-jacket on Ruby was because she'd hurt Sarah. It was no secret that Melinda had always cared about Sarah. Sarah was one of the only people who paid attention to and listened to Melinda. She'd probably felt worried about Sarah when that fight broke out and tranquilized the woman to protect her.

As Sarah considered her options, she started to get up from the bed, leaving the comfort of Melinda's arms and walked over towards the window, where Jim and Abby had left the Infirmary. She stood in front of it and sighed, looking out towards the fields and other buildings of the University. It was still relatively empty out there. She could see Abby walking around, way out there, but nothing else. She had yet to see any of the other Large students. Could it still have been that early in the morning? After taking a look at her watch, she realized it was.

Melinda soon joined her at the window and looked out there with her. She smiled as she looked off into the vastness of nature, and put her arm around Sarah's shoulders. Always the touchy one, Melinda. Whenever she was around someone that cared about her and she cared about, she wanted to touch them. She loved the feel of the warmth from that other person's skin or clothes. She liked having those she cared about closeby, at all times, and with as few people that cared back towards her, she took in all that she could get when she was around Sarah.

Their little moment was cut short, however, when a loud beeping sound came from behind them. Both of them turned around and heard that the beeping was coming from a small radio Sarah had placed on the table, that had come from Ruby. As they approached it, they realized it was emitting a bright, red light. The two looked at each other, confused, until it spoke “Battery running short. Transmission Terminating...” The two looked at each other again, a shiver going down Sarah's spine. “What did that just say?!”

Both Sarah and Melinda were starting to sweat as they stared at the radio that sat on the counter. They'd both heard the words that had come over it, but didn't want to believe it, at all. As the lights on it dimmed to a stop, Sarah's hands were shaking. So many fears were running through her mind, at that moment. If there had been some sort of transmission being sent from the radio, had it been recording what was happening in the room? There was also the matter of who this transmission was being sent to. Every answer that came into Sarah's head scared her to death.

In the back of her mind, she knew who that transmission was going to. She knew, all too well. The radio had been attached to Ruby. That could mean only one thing: The AL Soldiers had her wired. They probably heard the entire scuffle that had happened in the Infirmary. This might have just been the event they needed to try to find a way to take down the University. Still, the scuffle between Ruby and Sarah wouldn't be enough to go public or anything. It was just a small cat fight. Sarah almost let out a sigh of relief, but soon remembered what else had happened in the room before that radio had turned itself off.

She gasped as her hands started quivering more violently. She had, not that long before, sat down, near where that radio was, and told Melinda the entire story about how Jim came into the hospital. The kidnapping, the injuries, everything. Now, if that transmission was sent to the AL Soldiers, they had everything they could possibly need to throw something against the school, in the media. This was bad, extremely bad. It was so bad that Sarah didn't know what to do. She back up, into the wall and slowly slid down until she was sitting on the ground.

“W-What am I gonna do?! This is terrible! It can't be happening!” Sarah's palms flew up into her face as she shook her head, obviously claiming responsibility over what just happened. “I was so stupid! The radio was right there and I fed them everything they could have wanted. The very people I need to protect...I've just...” Sarah was starting to get more and more emotional. The more she thought about the situation with the radio, the more she began to blame herself for whatever might follow. She fed the radio that information. It was her fault.

Her whimpering was soon halted by something, though. She didn't stop weeping, but she soon felt her body being moved. She gasped and moved her hands to see that Melinda was down, on the floor, just like she was. Sitting next to her, Melinda was pulling Sarah towards her. The woman had a sad look on her face, seeing and hearing the pain Sarah was going through. Before Sarah knew what was happening, her head was laying in Melinda's lap. She looked up at the now-smiling face of her friend and felt her nerves letting off chills as Melinda's bare hand was starting to rub and stroke down her hair.

“M-Mel...” said Sarah, not knowing how to approach this situation. She was half-freaked out about the radio, but this sudden action of Melinda's took her by surprise. Why did she sit down and pull her head into her lap? Why was she stroking against her hair? Why was she doing any of the things she was doing? Sarah didn't get a straight answer right away, but she did receive something from Melinda. As she was lying on the floor, her head laying into the lap of her friend, Mel started to speak to her, talking to her.

“Shhh...” whispered Mel, trying to get Sarah to calm down and be as quiet as possible. She knew, all too well, that the odds would be against them and the situation was grim. However, she couldn't stand to see Sarah like that. Every fiber in her being told her that she needed to be there for her, as much as she possibly could. “There, there, Sarah. I know this seems frightening and stressing, but you just need to calm down. Sit here, and rest against me for awhile. We can take care of this situation in a few minutes. But, your health should come first. Don't over-worry yourself. Just let Mel take care of you, for right now.”

“Mel...I don't...know what to say...” Sarah was a little shocked at everything Melinda was doing. It was so caring and gentle. She wanted to get up and continue going crazy over the radio situation, but the soft touch that Melinda had against her was soothing her and telling her to stay put. She didn't want to leave, and Mel was telling her not to. “You don't have to say anything, Sarah. Just stay right here, with me. Try to send your worries away for awhile. Enjoy my presence, as I am enjoying yours. Close your eyes and rest. You've more than earned it.”

Sarah was almost hypnotized by Melinda's words. They were almost enchanting to her. Although just words, Sarah was moved by them. She smiled and let out a quick nod and pushed up against Mel. Helping her up, Melinda pulled Sarah up against her as she pushed herself against the wall. Soon, she had positioned Sarah's face against her chest. Her arms were wrapped around Sarah's stomach, holding her there, against her, as the Nurse was drifting off to sleep.

As the important events were playing in Melinda's head, she pushed them away, for now. She'd now been able to do something she had wanted to do for a very long time. She simply helped onto Sarah and leaned her head down, softly pushing her lips against the Nurse's face, kissing it. “Sweet dreams, my Sarah. When you wake up, we'll fix this mess. You and me, as a team.” Melinda got a huge smile on her face and her cheeks were starting to get a little red as she held Sarah against her, snuggling her head against her chest.

Hayes had been walking down the metal hallway for quite some time before finding the elevator that went down into the -real- place that the warehouse was hiding. The AL Soldiers weren't just a few small groups that had ransacked a warehouse and made it into a small little 'base of operations'. It was much, much more than that. More than some of it's own members knew, in fact. There were many secrets to this organization. Some people could even say that their secrets had secrets. There was that much going on in the organization, at any given time.

As he came to the end of a hall, the elevator dinged and created a deep, scratching noise as the two steel doors slowly opened up, revealing the inside of the elevator, a poster of the organization's logo on the back 'wall' of this place. Steadily walking inside, Hayes turned and looked into a small speaker-like interface. Within moments the two steel doors had closed themselves and a mechanical voice spoke into the room. “Voice Recognition, please.” As the voice stopped, he spoke to it. “Tom Hayes. Rank: Captain” He took a quiet breath as he adjusted his hat and awaited the confirmation of his voice from the speaker.

Almost immediately, there was another high-pitched ding from the elevator as the mechanical voice continued it's normal protocols, recognizing the man's voice. “Welcome, Captain Hayes. What is your destination?” This voice-activated system was definitely state-of-the-art. Some people would kill to have technology like this. It was, however, only a small piece of what the AL had in their complex. They had a lot more than they led the public to believe, and the world would soon know just what they had access to. Some of it was good, and some of it was bad, depending on your point of view on this matter.

“B12, Science Lab” replied Captain Hayes, a specific destination in mind for this trip. It wasn't often that he got a chance to go all the way to the bottom level of their complex, and every time he did, it was a matter of utmost importance. Based on what he'd just heard through that radio transmission, this was definitely one of those times. He needed to know if the 'experiment' was ready for deployment, or would be soon. They needed to make their move, and they needed to do it soon. Some fears that the organization had could be coming to light very soon, and they also needed to do something about Ruby.

A crank-like sound made itself apparent as the speaker recognized his command and the elevator began moving downwards. “Yes, sir. We will arrive at B12, Science Lab, momentarily. Please be patient and enjoy the ride.” The trip down towards the bottom level was a slow one. There was a lot of space to this complex. In their time in the City, the AL organization had been able to build a substantially complex facility, right underneath the city. There were catacombs all around, underground, from the old days, where people went into hiding, from various threats. The AL force discovered these catacombs and fashioned them into their own special complex.

There were 13 levels to this place. The top level was the warehouse, which held “Mission Control”, where the soldiers had all of their computer labs and monitoring equipment, for their operatives that were given auto-transmitting radios. Below the warehouse were 12 “Basement” floors, all underground. Hundreds of feet down, all owned and operated by that organization. There were R&D floors, a floor for a Lounge, and much, much more. The bottom floor, however, was the most important. The bottom floor housed a small science lab, where the organization had been doing research on an experiment that would give them an amazing advantage against the “Large threat”, were they do complete it.

As the elevator reached it's destination, the two doors opened up, leading Captain Hayed into a single, steel-covered hallway. As he entered, he could hear muffled footsteps and pounding noises, coming from the floors above him. The further down you got in this place, the more echoes and noises you could hear. At the end of the hall was a pair of 2-way doors, which led to the main laboratory for this facility. Hayes went through the doors, revealing a small observatory. The room housed computers on either side, along with a set of chairs in front of a large glass window.

This place was used to observe experiments. There was a scientist, dressed in a lab coat, turning towards Hayes as he walked in. She had extremely short, blonde hair and she adjusted her glasses as he approached. She looked at him and straightened her posture. “Captain! What brings you down here today? I thought the inspection was for anoth-” “Save the pleasantries, Janet. I'm on official business. Surely you got my message before I came down here? Asking about the progress of the experiment?” Hayes gave Dr. Janet Ristle a serious look, which made her arms get goosebumps.

“W-well...of course we did, sir! I just...it's not ready! We're just now getting to the testing phase! We need months to be able to see if it even works and to perfect the formula!” She was, unfortunately, rudely interrupted by the Captain. “We don't have that kind of time, Janet. There was an incident last night. A kidnapping. We need that weapon finished NOW! You have 24 hours to perfect it. That's when we're shipping out. Have a nice day.”

As Captain Hayes turned and left, Janet looked through the window and saw a bunch of scientists looking up at her, next to a large, pointed machine, all looking a little nervous. She knew things couldn't be done in that amount of time. The calculations needed for this kind of experiment were very precise. She only hoped they would get lucky in the next 24 hours. Otherwise, would they have to use a weapon that they didn't even have working?

Janet's short, blonde hair was as still as a mime as she walked down the stairs, into a small room the scientists used as a lounge. It was connected to the testing area, where the observation room was, and housed the normal lounge equipment. There was a refrigerator, microwave, pantry, and a few booth-filled tables, where the staff could sit down for meals and chat with one another. Her lab coat was covering up a white button-up shirt and a pair of white dress pants. She sat down in one of the booths and crossed her right leg over the left, dangling her feet as she thought about the information she'd just been fed.

Captain Hayes had always been a person to jump into things rather quickly. He wanted things done quick and fast, not slow and efficient. She would, oftentimes, question why she still worked for the organization. Deep down, she knew why. No one ever quit the AL organization. No one that she knew of, anyways. Rumors flew around, every so often, about people wanting to leave, and not being allowed to, for whatever reason. She shook her head on this thought and sent the desire to leave this place out of her mind. Even if she didn't like some of her superiors, it got her a good paycheck.

Money. That's what Janet was in this organization for. She could care less about what happened to the Larges, at this point. She, in no way, enjoyed their company, but at the same time, she realized that they were hardly hostile people. It had been years since any incidents with Larges, and Janet knew very well that most of the incidents that did happen weren't the fault of the Larges, but people like this organization who tried to force them away from civilization. She never made it apparent to her co-workers, but Janet could see why the government was trying to re-incorporate Larges back into society. She didn't agree with being around them, but she also knew that they were an important part of human history.

People like Hayes didn't care about that, though. Janet knew that all he wanted was to make sure all of this huge 'freaks' were put in their rightful place. He's the reason they started this project, in the first place. It wasn't because of the good of science, and the ease that society would be able to have, were it to work and be implemented on a global scale. It was because Hayes wanted to get rid of the threat those tall people posed. He'd hated them, from the day he was born, and Janet was sure that if he had access to this weapon, he would not hesitate to pull the trigger on even the gentlest of Larges.

Janet sighed as she heard footsteps coming from nearby. One of her colleagues, another woman scientist, by the name of Jessica Moore, had come into the room. Dressed much like Janet, she sat down on the booth across from Janet's, pushing her black bangs towards her ears. Jessica was a sight. She had an athletic figure, and glossy black hair, leading all the way down to her stomach. The youngest member of the team, Jessica was only 19 years old, compared to Janet's 31. Janet had always seen Jessica's figure and told her she belonged in a fashion magazine, not an underground laboratory.

As she sat down, she looked at Janet, with a look of worry on her face. There was a moment of pause before Janet spoke. “Good afternoon, Jessica.” She sighed as she could probably guess what the girl was about to say, and then she did. “Good...afternoon, Miss Ristle. The expression on your face makes me think that you have some bad news for the team. What did he say?” Janet looked at Jessica momentarily, grinning a little at the girl's polite way of acting towards her. Jessica had looked up to Janet since the day she joined the organization, which hadn't been that long ago. From the 2 months before, Janet had been Jessica's personal mentor, getting her up to speed on what they were doing and what lied ahead for them.

Putting her hand on Jessica's, she let her voice take on a serious tone. She looked at her, both pairs of eyes, blue from Jessica and green from Janet, meeting as she spoke. “He wanted to know if it was ready. It seems there was an incident last night, a kidnapping.” Jessica's expression took a turn towards confusion as she spoke back to her. “Kidnapping?! Wait, you don't mean...” Nodding Janet confirmed Jessica's suspicions. “Yes, I do. I don't know the specifics, but it involved a Large. Hayes is taking this very seriously. We may have to put the experiment into use any day now.”

Jessica's eyes flew open as she put her other hand on the table, slapping it down. “WHAT?! You, of all people, know how experimental this is right now! I've been with me, every step of the way, and you know we're just now getting to the point of testing this thing! We can't take this thing out of a laboratory yet. We haven't even tested it!” Jessica's face was getting red, but Janet pushed down on her hand as she tried to calm the girl down. “I know, Jessica! I know. It wasn't my call. For now, we just have to get ready, as best we can, and get it as far as possible before he decides to mobilize this plan of his. Is the...test subject ready?”

Jessica tried to calm down as both she and Janet got up and started walking back through the door, avoiding the stairs and walking into the testing area, where the large object was. “Yes, Miss Janet. She is ready.” The two of them walked next to the huge machine and looked forward. On the other side of the room was an enormous steel cage, easily the size of a building, all in itself. Inside, through the steel bars, was a person. A large, with dirtied, long red hair was curled up in a ball, whimpering as she looked at everything going on around them.

Janet almost couldn't stand the sight of this. She looked at the ground for a moment and waved towards one of the other scientists. “Proceed with the experiment.”

As events were unfolding underground that would completely change the lives of a select few people in the coming days, there was plenty going on elsewhere in the city. In the Large district, we are once again shown the inside of the house of a young woman who had thought to have tarnished her reputation and friendship with two people she cared about. The young woman, Fran, sat up in her bed and finally decided that it was time to get p and move around. The bed could not be her home forever, and she would have to face everything she had done, eventually.

She stood up, pulling herself out of the sheets, letting her soft feet touch the hard floor. She took a deep breath and twitched as the cold surface infiltrated her body. Bumps appeared all over her legs as she pulled herself up. She looked down at the floor and sighed. She was filled with thoughts of what had happened in this room. Images of her hurting both Jim and Abby were constantly playing in her head, not willing to leave her alone. Her cheeks had dried tears all over them from her reaction after the two of them had left. They may not have known it at the time, but Fran had never intended to hurt either of them. She had control over her actions, but she never wanted to hurt either of them.

Hoping to get some of these images out of her head, she started walking across the floor, towards the doorway. She left her clothes behind, walking nude through her house, her head looking forward. She knew she couldn't do what she'd been doing forever, and that she needed to push her life forward. Even if she couldn't come back to the school for a few days, she had to do something. “You can't mope forever, Fran” she said to herself, as she came to the doorway, looking down the hall. “I need to get cleaned up. Then I can worry about what to do next.”

She made her way to the first door on the left, which led to a bathroom. Her hair was flowing through the air as she walked along, bumps now coursing all over from body, from her legs up to her shoulders. The cold feel of the floor, for once, had an effect on her from walking barefoot. She could normally take any kind of terrain with her feet without wearing shoes or socks, but this day, she was more sensitive to all of that. She made her way into the bathroom and shivered for a moment, putting her feet down on the even colder floor of this room.

She closed her eyes for a moment, but then pushed forward again as she opened up a wood door inside the bathroom, pulling out a set of towels. Turning around, she set them down on the toilet that sat next to the shower and slowly began to pull open the shower curtain. The rings clanged across the pole that held them up as she opening it up. She stepped into the shower and shut the curtains again. She reached forward, gripping the shower handle with her hand, but stopped herself. She blinked, her mind wandering back to Jim and Abby.

She let out another deep sigh as she pulled the handle up and a soft, stream of water flow out from the shower head and impacted her body. The water was cold at first, and made her shiver, but soon began to get warmer as the seconds rolled by. She hugged onto herself as she let the water bounce off her skin and drip down the length of her body. She had her eyes shut and almost let herself drown in the feeling, so to speak. Cold, and then warm. She may have been just like that water. She had a cold, depressive scenario, but may there was a way that she could turn it into a warm, happy scenario, in the end.

Leaning against the wall of the shower as she let the water drip down her body, she started talking to herself, trying to think about what she could do. “Will they ever forgive me? Surely, there's something that I can do to try to make all of this up to them. Surely there is, right?” The woman was trying to stay as positive as she could. She'd already broken down enough this day, and she needed to be strong. She had always portrayed herself as this fun-loving, strong girl, yet that girl hadn't been around at all in the past few hours. All that was there was some weak, broken girl who couldn't do anything but hurt the ones she cared about.

She opened her eyes and nodded to herself as she grabbed a small shower poof and began to spread body wash over her body. “I'll find something nice to do for them. Something...that neither of them would expect. Maybe a party? No...a party would be a little strange for them. Jimmy might not want to do something like that, being injured and all, assuming they even want to be near me right now...” Her progression quickly changed to her hair as she muttered to herself and finished rubbing her body with soap and lotion. It flattened against her neck and back as the water through it down.

She continued her speech as she started scrubbing shampoo all over her head, turning her jet-black hair into a big, foamy mess. “I need to make a proper apology. Tomorrow, I'll go up to campus and find them. I'm not supposed to go near there, but it's something I need to do. A proper apology and, maybe, something that I could give them or promise to them. Yeah, that would work! I'll make them something here, today, and I'll go and give it to them tomorrow, along with my own apologies.”

Her face was looking a little happier as she rinsed the shampoo out of her hair and shut the water off. Yanking the curtain open, she grabbed one of the towels and began to wrap it around her hair. Stepping out of the shower, she dried herself off and wrapped it around her chest, stomach, and hips. She walked towards the bathroom doorway and stopped, thinking to herself. “I just hope they'll forgive me...”

Fran had gone back up to her bedroom to get ready for the day she had planned ahead. She still had no idea what she was going to make or do for her two friends, but the day would have to come in steps. It was still relatively early, judging by the position of the sun as her eyes were blinded upon walking back into her bedroom. Since it was still early, she would have plenty of time to brainstorm and think about what she could do for them. It had to be something special, so she'd need a good amount of time to be thinking. She only had a day before she wanted to do it, but a day was quite a bit of time.

She walked over to a dresser nearly as tall as she was and grabbed the gold-trimmed handles, pulling two drawers open. She stood in front of it for a moment, before pulling out a pair of panties and closing the sock drawer. She looked down at her feet as she bent over, slipping her panties on. She took a moment to flex her toes a little and realized that she had gotten used to the cold feel of the floor. “I'm not going anywhere today. It couldn't hurt to go around barefoot, or at least sandals. I don't think I'm quite ready to wear my boots again. Not yet...”

Fran sighed as she dug through some more drawers, pulling some more clothing out to wear. She was deep in thought as she pulled on a black bra and started to slip on a pair of dark-colored jeans. Her feet were on her mind, but more importantly, her boots. Ever since she was a little girl, Fran had been fascinated with boots. Although she liked letting her feet out to get some air, she wore boots everywhere. It didn't matter where she was at. If she was out, walking, boots were on her feet and legs. She loved them, but she was now getting mixed feelings about it all.

Her boots had been brought into her bedroom and, as she pulled on a dark, sleeveless T-shirt, she looked at them and stared off into space. Boots weren't an object of love anymore. Not after the day before. Every time she looked at those boots, her mind was filled with thoughts and images of what she'd done to Jim with them the night before. She'd been terrible to him when she took him. His entire ride to her house consisted of being stuffed between the boots and her foot and leg. She stared further, her mind getting deeper and deeper into what she'd done.

A tear started to produce from her eye and flow down her face. “I'm...sorry...I...I...no!” Quickly closing her eyes and shaking her head, she tried to take her mind off what it had been straying towards with those thoughts. She turned herself and marched out of the room, aiming to get as far away from those boots as humanly possible. “I can't think about that! I need to be more positive. Think about the gift, Fran! Think about the gift! What's done is done! Just cram with that head of yours until you can think of something good to do for them! Nothing else matters right now! Nothing else-”

Oh, the pains of getting off on a tangent while storming around on the second floor of a house. As soon as Fran hit the stairs, she was so flustered that she didn't grab the railing and her feet immediately tripped over one another. She yelped as she began to fall down the stairs Her arms covered up her face as they banged against the steps, her body tumbling down the set of stairs. She could feel bruises being formed as she tumbled and fell. She wanted to scream, but she just held it in, waiting for her trip down the stairway to end. That's all she could do. The stairs were wood and they were slick, so grabbing out would likely only serve to hurt her even more.

As soon as she landed, she was on her belly, face pushed against her arms as her elbows hit the floor below. “Ouch...” she said, slowly picking herself up. She rubbed on her elbows as her feet flattened themselves on the floor and pushed her up, aches in her knees and back. Closing her eyes, she took a moment to breathe before heading towards the kitchen. She had thought to head towards the living room at first, but the sight of the coffee table made her think of what she'd done with Jim in there. She didn't want to be reminded of those memories, at this time, so she took her aching body and went into the kitchen.

She took a seat at the kitchen table and folded her arms, resting her chin on top of them. This would take some careful and lengthy thinking, on her part. This had to be a nice gift or gesture for her friends. It had to be something that would both display her apologetic feelings and show that she still loved them both. She had to think of something that was just right for the two of them. It had to be absolutely perfect. As she looked around the kitchen, she pulled her head up, getting an idea. She pulled herself from the chair and started pacing around.

Her feet hit the floor as she walked over towards the counter, picking up a small book. Flipping through the pages, she started pondering an idea. “Hmm...maybe I could bake them something! Yeah, I could make them food. Something that would be absolutely delicious. It's perfect It's...no, wait...Jim's just a little person. He wouldn't be able to eat Large food....” Fran put the book down and sighed, looking towards the window, trying to think of another idea for this gift thing. She couldn't cook for them, but there had to be something she could do...

Helen's blond hair was blowing, brushing against her forehead, as a strong wind blew in the window in front of her. She had been taking care of Emily for a good amount of time, and the work was starting to get the best of her. After having eaten the soup that had been made for her, Emily was sitting up in bed, chatting with Helen, listening to her talk about her life, trying to stay awake. The two had been talking for several hours and Helen had been bested. Emily was smiling, watching her as she sat down on the floor and rested her head on the side of the bed, just below where Emily's elbow and arm was. She watched her as she sat herself there.

“Don't worry, Emily. I just need to rest for a minute. I'm not gonna...fall asleep on you...or...any--” The day had been hard on poor Helen, even though not very much of it was gone yet. The woman had been up all night long with Emily, doing her best to make sure she was alright. Thanks to her care, Emily felt a lot better and even thought she could get up and walk around. She'd mentioned this to Helen earlier, shortly after having her soup, but she wouldn't have it. Helen kept her in bed and practically held her down to it whenever she wanted to try to get up.

'You're injured. You need rest!' she would say. Emily greatly appreciated the help she was getting, but feeling better was feeling better, right? She didn't understand why she couldn't just get up and move around for awhile. Sure, she had been injured quite a bit, but she knew what she was doing. She just wanted to move around and not be stuck in bed all day. She knew she needed rest, but she wanted to do something. If she had to keep her mind off of going to see how Jim was doing on campus, she needed to be able to get up. Talking was nice, but physical movement would help even further.

Helen sitting down was the break she needed, too. She hadn't been down there for more than a minute or two before she was out like a light. Emily peered over the side of the bed and looked at her. The blond's cheeks were red, her eyes were almost twitching with dark bags under them and her lips were completely dry. Her peachy skin almost looked like it was about to crack, in place. The woman knew how to overwork herself, alright. After taking a moment to watch Helen, Emily started to think about the fact that she was asleep. She could finally get up and walk around for a little while.

Pulling her arms back, she slowly began to move her sheets up. She breathed as softly as she could with moving them, but they stuck on something after a second. She raised her eyebrow at it for a moment and began to gently jerk it up. It didn't budge at all, and she gave it a sour look. Her grip tightened a little and she jerked it up with a little more force. It forced itself up, but had embarrassing results. It had been held back by Helen's head and the moment it moved, her head fell to the side, along with the rest of her. Emily gasped as she heard a loud thump as Helen's head impacted the floor.
Emily's first reaction to knocking Helen over was to hide under her blankets. Her body immediately curled up and she tightly wrapped the sheets around her. Her arms hugged her body, pushing her breasts together and she stared at the wall of sheets, her cheeks reddening more as the seconds went by. She couldn't believe she'd just done what she just did. She was absolutely silent, listening for any movement from Helen or indication if she was hurt or not. A minute went by and she heard absolutely nothing. No floor creaks, no voices, nothing.

She started to get worried about Helen, thinking that she might have hurt the woman enough to knock her out. Slowly uncurling herself and removing the sheets, she looked over and her expression turned to a very surprised one. Her jaw dropped and she blinked as she saw Helen on the ground. Not only was she on the ground, but her arms were hugging around her body and she was sleeping. She was still asleep, after that big fall! Emily shook her head, not believing it at first. How could someone possibly not wake up after a fall like that? She could hear the thumping. It was loud and sounded quite painful. How could Helen have slept through that?

She shook her head for a moment before smiling and realizing that she hadn't hurt the poor woman. Getting her mind back on track with what she'd wanted to do before, she lowered herself down to the floor, slowly moving her legs over the side, dropping them down towards the floor, right in front of where Helen slept. First came her good foot, covered in a sock with an anklet. As it softly touched the ground, the floor creaked a little, the golden anklet sliding down and resting atop her foot. She then put her injured leg down, lightly putting her bare foot down on the ground.

Emily looked down at Helen, making sure she was still asleep. A smile came across her face as she realized that she was, indeed, still asleep. “Don't worry, Helen. I'll be right back. I just wanna walk around for a bit and, maybe I'll go and see Jim since you're asleep!” Emily giggled and began to walk off when she was stopped. Right before she lifted her good foot into the air, she felt a tight grip come onto her ankle, pushing the anklet into her skin. She yelped and fell down as she heard “You're not going anywhere!” from directly behind her.

“You're not going anywhere!” These words rang through Emily's head as she was pulled to the ground. There had been a tight grip onto her ankle, pulling and pushing the anklet she wore into her sock and her foot. Getting out of the house to go take a walk wasn't going to be an easy task for Emily. She, honestly, should have realized that it wouldn't be so simple as to just get out of bed and walk out the door. She knew Helen was watching out for her, and she'd honestly thought the woman was still asleep. Sure, she'd taken a good fall, but she looked like she was asleep!

Unfortunately for Emily and her desires to leave, Helen wasn't asleep. She had dozed off when she'd put her head against the back of the bed, but that fall had woken her up. Her eyes had bolted open when she hit the ground, but she didn't say a word when it happened. She just closed her eyes, trying to get some more rest. She was tired out and didn't care if she had a bump on her head. She just wanted to get some sleep after taking care of Emily for so long. As she'd been trying to drift back off, she heard Emily moving. A fruity scent had come into her nose as she'd opened her eyes, seeing the injured, bare foot right in front of her. After Emily had giggled, Helen reached for her socked foot, not about to let her leave.

As Emily fell and impacted the ground, she landed on her front side and ached all over. She groaned and whimpered as she mutter a weakened “Ouch...”, reacting to being yanked down and practically thrown onto the floor. It didn't take her long to get back to strength to get back up. Her arms still hurt from the fall, as did her injured leg, but she thought she'd be able to push back up, at least to talk to Helen about wanting to leave and feeling better. She was sure Helen wasn't in a talking mood, but you never know until you try, right?

No sooner had Emily's palms touched the floor, trying to push her body off the ground had something hit her back, forcing her back down. She felt heat coming down into her neck as she felt a body on top of her own. She looked to the side and saw Helen's face, right next to her own, a little pressure as she was laying right on top of Emily. Emily felt as if she were stuck to the ground, not able to get up or move at all. She looked back at Helen and heard her speak to her. “Going somewhere, Emily?”

Emily let out a deep sigh as she realized she'd been caught and she probably wouldn't be allowed to be going anywhere, in this condition. Calming her body down, she just rested against the ground, trying her best to breathe with Helen's body weighing down on her. She knew what she wanted to say, and she knew what she should say, but she couldn't decide which she really would end up saying. She wanted, very much, to go back to campus to see how Jim was doing. They didn't know what happened to him. At the same time, however, she knew she needed to stay in bed, in case she wasn't fully healed yet.

This was a hard decision to make. After a moment, Helen started to get up, whispering in her ear as she did so. “I told you, Emily, you need to stay in bed. I understand that you're feeling better, and I understand you wanting to see how everyone is doing. Trust me, I know that all too well. I just don't want to risk you getting sick again” She got up and sat on the floor, next to Emily. Emily began to speak to her, as she began to help her into a sitting position as well. “I don't...want to see how they're doing, Helen...I need to.”

Sporting a very confused look on her face, Helen put her hand on Emily's shoulder, looking into her distant, quivering eyes. “You...need to? Why, Emily? Why do you need to go and see how they're doing. You were just sick from an infection! You need to put your own needs in front of others. Everyone will still be there tomorrow, if you wait one more day to get better. Your health needs to come first, to you. I understand that other people are important to you, but seeing how someone is doing isn't more important than your own health! Do you, honestly, want to be on your way there and--”

“Yes, I do! I need to! His health is more important than mine! I feel just fine! I've been trying to tell you this for awhile, Helen. I'm all better!” Emily's face was starting to get red as she spoke up and began a rant towards the woman who had been taking care of her. “I can walk, I can talk, I can be up and about, and I'm not sick anymore! I don't need to stay in bed anymore!” Helen could tell the girl was flustered, and that she was worried about that man, Jim. Convincing this girl to stay in bed would be no easy task. While she did look a lot better, a sickness can always make a return visit.

Letting out a sigh, she nodded towards Emily, admiring her conviction. “Okay, Emily...we'll play this your way. You can go back to campus, but only if you let me come along with you. You must also agree that the first small sign that you're getting sick again, you will agree to turn right around and go back home to get better. How does that sound?”

Emily wasn't hugely fond of the idea of going there, part-way, and turning around, but it was better than nothing. She nodded towards her and agreed. “Thanks, Helen. I agree. Now, let's get going!” The two of them helped each other up and headed out of the bedroom, through the house, and out the door, Large n Minor University their destination.

There was a mix of both good and bad going on nearly everywhere, at this moment. There was a Militia mobilizing their forces for who-knows-what, Abby and Jim were off somewhere on the University, talking with one another, Fran was straining her mind on how to apologize to her friends, and Emily and Helen were walking back to campus, pushing Emily's condition from her worries and desires to see the little friend who'd helped her when she had gotten injured. Things were beginning to move to bring everyone back together, in one place again. For what, though, none of them knew, completely.

Back in the Infirmary, Ruby was slowly starting to gain consciousness back. Her eyes slowly opened, blurring and focusing on the white ceiling of the room. She slowly opened them at first, but then was reminded of everything she'd just gone through before. She didn't remember everything, but she did remember coming to the University, seeing an injured Jim, and seeing a giant woman taking him off, away from her. As this memory came into her mind, her eyes bolted up and she tried to scream. She tried hard to scream, but couldn't get anything but a muffled voice out of her system.

As soon as she head the muffle, she felt something soft, pushing against her lips. Moving her eyes down, she still couldn't quite see what was binding her lips. Letting out another muffled scream, she pulled her head up, only to see that her mouth wasn't bound. Her entire body was. From her feet all the way up to her lips, she was wrapped up in a straight jacket, like a caterpillar, trapped in it's own cocoon. Her eyes widened, realizing that she'd been restrained. She looked around, but no one was awake to do anything to help her. Her radio was nearby, on a table, but she was in no condition to reach it, and the light had dimmed out. The battery had obviously died since she came into the building and turned it on.

She started squirming around, trying to get out of the bed she was in, at the very least. Tossing and turning, she finally did get out, but not in the way she had planned. Sweat was dripping down her forehead as she got herself into a rolling motion and rolled right off the bed. Her body feel as she saw the ground coming closer and closer. After another moment, she hit the floor, sending pain up her body. As she impacted, she let out a soft, muffled “Ow....” She tried to roll over, but had aches all over her body, from the position of her limbs in the jacket and the blow of her fall.

She tried to push and shove her way around the room, but she was parallel with the wall and the bed she'd been on. She couldn't move to get herself up, so she could only move from side-to-side. She still tried rolling around, not thinking, only to bang herself into both the wall next to her and the bed on the other side. She whimpered out, as if she was crying for someone to help her, but no one came into the room. Little did she know that she had company, but they were not about to get up and go to help her. For the moment, she was stuck.

Over on the other side of the room, were two women, laying together. Sarah was laid and held back, her back pushing against Melinda's chest. Her eyes were shut, tight, and her own chest rose and fell with each and every breath she took. Her hair was down, covering part of her eyes, and she had a peaceful look on her face. She looked as if she didn't have a single care in the world, and that nothing bad was going on in her life. She looked, for the first time this day, happy with what was going on. She seemed happy, as she was off in dream land.

Behind her was Melinda, who had yet to fall asleep at all. She was just staring at every inch of Sarah's form. She had been waiting years for this moment to come. It was the moment where she could let go of everything that was holding her back and show Sarah just how much she cared about her. She'd been holding her for a good few hours and had not lost that transfixed gaze she had on her form. Her lipstick had come off on Sarah's cheek when she'd kissed her earlier, and she stared at that lip mark. She smiled as she looked at it, her fingers reaching up and brushing the hair away from Sarah's eyes.

She held Sarah into her and had so many thoughts in her head. Her breasts had swelled against Sarah's back earlier, many thoughts not pertaining to their current situation running through her head. The feeling of having the woman held against her, in a hug, made her feel absolutely wonderful. Even she almost forgot about the situation at hand, and the extremes of what might happen soon. She was with her Sarah now, though, and she would take care of her until she woke up, and they went to take care of the mess that they'd helped create.

She heard Sarah slowly begin to wake up as soon as a loud thump happened on the other side of the room. Melinda's head had looked over, seeing that Ruby had awakened and fallen out of her bed. She sighed, realizing that she'd woken Sarah up. Knowing that Ruby wasn't going anywhere, she wanted to give the woman a kiss and tell her to go back to sleep. However, reality set in her mind and told her that they had to do something. She stood up, picking Sarah up with her, and brought the woman to her feet.

As she brought her to her feet, she turned Sarah around, whom was just waking up, blinking her eyes. Giving her a little wake-up call, Melinda pushed forward, letting Sarah's breasts push against hers as she kissed the woman's forehead. “Good morning, Sarah.” Sarah stopped and blinked again, remembering what had happened right before she'd fallen asleep. The radio...The radio! Her eyes opened wide as she looked at Melinda. Her mouth opened to speak, but a hand immediately covered it.

“No, Sarah! Don't get all excited. Calm down, and we'll handle this, together. Now...let's go to the main building and tell the Dean about this, alright?” Sarah almost felt controlled by Melinda's actions, it having a strong effect on her. She remembered the time before...having her body pulled into Melanie's arms and nurtured as she fell asleep. She blushed as she thought of everything Melanie had done for her. She quickly nodded towards her and pulled away from the hand. “R-Right! Let's go!” The two of them then turned and ran from the room, leaving the squirming Ruby behind...

“Bring the machine to the surface! The experiment is complete and we're going to need it in order to do this!” Captain Hayes' voice echoes through the speaker system as the experiment in the science lab came to a close. Soldiers rushed into the lab and began to disassemble the machine that had been used, in order to transport it through the building and back up to the surface. The scientists were surprised and shocked at how quickly Hayes was trying to move this along. While a couple of them knew the situation on the surface, and that he would want to do something quickly, they had no idea they wanted to go the direct route so quickly.

The AL Forces were very radical, indeed. They had done many un-prideful things in the past towards the Larges. They'd organize themselves and assault Larges waltzing through the city, or even around the city, were they carrying minors around with them. Their beliefs were strong enough that they thought Larges should never be allowed back into society, dismissing the slightest possibility of them getting alone with their shorter counterparts. The organization was made of radical idealists that were willing to do anything to accomplish their goals.

There had been one incident in the past where the normal authorities were able to punish this secretive organization. Years back, a rogue who had led his own band of men out of Headquarters had spotted a Large woman leaving the nearby university, carrying three Minor women with her. They had watched them closely, seeing them interacting together and disturbing some of the neighbors. They waited for the woman to come back, towards the University as they were on the rooftops nearby. When she came up, they called for her and brought her over to them.

As the woman came over, they opened fire on her, by the orders of their captain, the man Hayes replaced. By assaulting the Large woman, whom they later found out was a refugee whom had been taken in by the University, they had killed the three young women she was carrying with her. She had made an effort to protect them, but she was too late. She woke up, hours later, only to find that the gunfire that bruised her body up had torn through her friends. The local authorities had been nearby t help settle the fiasco, helping the woman to calm herself, notify the families of the lost women, and punish the group responsible for the killings.

This had tarnished the reputation of the Anti-Large force and they were forced underground. To be able to maintain what they had going, they secretly moved their equipment to a warehouse that connected with the underground tunnels of the city, under the advisement of Captain Hayes, whom had been recently appointed as the 'leader' of the Headquarters of the organization. After this, the organization kept up with it's experiments and it's monitoring of the Large community. Their name had been tarnished by one rogue captain, whom didn't think about the lives of Minors. Hayes would not make that same mistake.

For years, they had been trying to figure out a way on how to eliminate the problem that Larges posed. For many a time, there had been an idea on how to get rid of them, one at a time. Experiments were done, one after another, until an experiment, done this day, was successful. Now, a set of machinery was being shipped up into the upper part of the warehouse, to be pulled outside, assembled, and sent out with the rest of the assembled AL Soldiers, in an attempt for Captain Hayes to put his plan into motion. This experiment would change everything, and he believed that the government would be forced to stop and consider their organization and abandoning the treaties and bills on Large Rights.

He knew, very well, that taking action so quickly would likely lead to an immediate problem with the authorities, but with the nature of this experiment, they would only be able to prove their point by actually using this machine on a Large, and not just the Large they had captive at the base. They would have to go out in public and use it to prove their point. He had a destination in mind as well. The same place where the kidnapping Large had come from, and the same place where one of their operatives already was, whom notified them of the kidnapping, in the first place.

Soldiers were assembling and Captain Hayes joined a team of Soldiers whom were taking up parts of the machine. A Monitor in the elevator was showing the results of the experiment. The cage that held the Large looked barren and empty, only a cloud of smoke in the middle. The experiment had been a complete success and Hayes saw it as good enough of a reason to get this machine out and use it in the field. He didn't think there would be much time that he could act within before it would be too late to use what he'd gathered as justification, so he had to work fast.

As the elevator got to the top, the Soldiers took the final piece of the machine out of the elevator and began to carry it down the hall, towards the front doors. Hayes followed them out the door and he came out to see the reassembling of the machine in progress. The machine, itself, wasn't that big. It might have been the size of a queen-sized bed and was being fitted in the back of a large truck, in the bed of said truck. A Soldier up top, whom was helping to assemble the final piece saw the captain approaching and saluted him.

“Sir! We're almost ready to go.” Hayes saluted him back and nodded. “Good. I want us out there as soon as possible, so we can finally get our name back and show the world that we don't have to live with these huge people anymore. Now, I want you to--” “Captain! Wait! Please, wait!” Hayes looked behind him to see the doctor from before running up towards him, sweat dripping down her brow. She got up to him, only to find him shaking his head. “I told you, Doctor. We don't have time for more tests!”

“That's not why I'm here!” said the Doctor, looking as if she was worried about something. She looked up at the machine, then back at him, her mind on a lot at that moment. “You'll need me along, to work the machine!” Hayes looked back at the Soldier and asked him if he could work it by himself. The soldier, in turn, looked at the controls on the machine and shrugged his shoulders. Sighing, Hayes looked back to the doctor and nodded to her. “Fine...you stay back with the machine and work it when we get to our destination.”

The doctor smiled towards him, knowing full well what the Captain really had in mind for this machine. She hopped into the truck, thoughts running through her head on making sure he did not overuse this, and to make sure he didn't go overboard with any of this. As she sat herself down, she thought to herself, thinking about what was going on, and what might come from it, the true results of that experiment still in her head, and the look on the subject's face...

Janet's short hair was perfectly still, even with the wind blowing against her. It had not taken the soldiers long to finish assembling the device and fit it onto the back of the truck. She had been watching them fumble with the pieces, though she never said a word about the actual assembly of it, or offered to help them. She just sat on a small 'bench' on the inside of the truck bed and watched them perform the assembly. Even without her help, it had taken them less than an hour to finish the assembly and get themselves on the move.

The truck was moving very slowly through the streets of the city. A large tarp had been placed over the machine and, due to the lack of proper shocks in the truck, they had to go at a very slow speed, so as to not dislodge any part of the machine. Traveling at a good 15 miles per hour through town, the AL Soldiers' new mission would not take place for awhile. Their destination, Large n Minor University was several miles away, and they would have a lot of intersections and busy streets to go through before being able to get there.

One of the soldiers looked over, as he rode next to the device, and saw Janet staring at the floorboards, as if her mind was distracted on something. “What's eatin' you?” he asked, to which he got no response, whatsoever. Janet didn't care about him right now. He didn't care about any of them. Her mind was, indeed, distracted, by the very reason that caused her to want to come with them so badly. Within her mind were the mental images of what she'd witnessed in that lab. In her mind was something that was scratching at her, making her doubt a lot of things.

She thought long and hard about the experiment. After she and Jessica had returned to the main room of the laboratory, everyone was ready to proceed with the experiment. Their test subject was, in actuality, a Large woman. They'd had this person in 'captivity' for nearly a year. She'd been kept in that cage all that time, being fed food and water daily to keep her alive. It truly was a torturous scenario, to be honest. Janet had not agreed with keeping her caged up down there, but the administration insisted that she was overreacting by thinking the woman should be allowed to be out of the cage.

The idea for the experiment had come along, which Janet went along with. The idea was to fix the problem that Larges posed. It was, obviously, the fact that they were a great deal “Larger” than most people. The goal of the experiment was to see if it was possible to fix this issue, and cause enough Molecular compression in a single Large's body to miniaturize their cells and thus, the rest of them. This was not the first suggestion for the experiment, though. The first few ideas had to deal with killing the larges, but she fought to find a solution that would be less violent.

In the best-case scenario, they would be able to introduce a 'field' to the Large's body, which would compress their cells, eventually reducing their overall size about 1/16th scale, rendering their overall height the same as that of a Minor. This would, effectively, eliminate the threat posed by the Larges' overall height and they would become “normal”, like everyone else. Some people were opposed to this idea, but the voting went for this. If they were to get their reputation back, as an organization, mass-killing the Large population was not the right direction to go.

By the time the experiment came around, Janet had mixed feelings. Despite giving the order to proceed with the experiment earlier that day, she felt some level of compassion with that woman in the cage. Were the experiment successful, she would be a normal person, just like her. She would have normal feelings, a normal job, normal everything. The fact that she could so easily go from being a freak to a normal person made Janet think for awhile. If she would only go through a physical change, what stopped her from being like a normal person at her towering height? Were Larges really that much different from Minors?

The thoughts plagued her as the device fired off the field and engulfed the person in the cage. She felt a tug in her chest, almost wishing she could go back on what she'd ordered, but she knew she couldn't. She walked forward as the experiment went on, trying to see what was going on, wondering what that tall woman was feeling, at that moment. She'd been whimpering and crying before the experiment took place. What was she feeling right now, and what would she be feeling when it was over? Janet would soon find out.

A loud scream could be heard from the laboratory as the experiment ended. A cloud of smoke filled the cage, and Janet stuck by it, to see what happened. Coming up to the cage, she even put her hands up to the bars as the smoke cleared. She looked as she saw the same woman from before, only now...the experiment had worked. She was standing in the middle of the cage. The two traded glances, though the red-haired woman was shaking, violently, covering her chest and crotch, walking towards where Janet was standing. She came up to her, and looked at her, blinking, before removing her hand, running her fingers on Janet's.

Janet felt the warm fingers on her and she clenched the woman's hand with her own. The woman came up to the edge of the cage and looked her in the eyes, tears running down her face. “W-Why?” she said. “Why did you...do this to me? Why did you take my life away from me?” Janet didn't understand what the woman meant. She tilted her head a little, confused. The woman then continued. “How can I...ever go back to my family like this? What could I possibly say....to my little girl? What would...they think? Why....”

Janet didn't know what to say to her. Something struck her, at that moment. She thought about her own family and what would happen if she was suddenly changed and tried to go back to them. Those thoughts of the Larges being just as much people as Minors came back to her, plaguing her mind. She felt for this woman. She felt a connection with her. The more she looked into this woman's eyes, the more she saw someone like herself in it.

Back on the truck, her mind was distracted on a lot of things. The soldier in the back would never understand what she was going through. She wasn't sure what she could do, but she wanted to do...something.

The Dean was calmly sitting in his office, taking a look at his propped-up clock. The day was nearly halfway through and he blinked as he felt the soft rumbling of a Large student strolling by the main building of campus. His fingertip tapped down on the wooden desk as he was reading through some papers he'd been handed earlier that day, pertaining to attendance and sign-ins. There were a few people whom had been absent that day, and he'd been on the phone, trying to find out where everyone was.

Four students were missing from the sign-in sheet, as well as one employee. The attendance sheets were divided into two sections, one with full names and ones with only first names. Since they didn't have a terribly huge amount of Larges in the school, they only included their first names on attendance sheets. Their full names were on file, but with no two Larges with the same name, it was easier to differentiate them with. He sat there, re-reading the list of Larges whom were missing, getting a little confused, especially at the first name on the list: Abby.

In the many years he'd been Dean of the University, he had never, once, seen Abby not report in for attendance at the beginning of the day. She lived on Campus, and she was always such a hard worker. The girl was a giver, at heart, and had always come to make her presence known. He still remembered the second month she'd been there. When she'd arrived, it looked like she was about to collapse where she stood. She had a terrible cold and was practically falling over when she'd gotten there. It took her blowing a group of Minor students away as she sneezed and a few of the other Large students, dragging her away.

The other students on the list were Fran, the overly emotional goth girl, Helen, the captain of the Cheerleading squad, and Emily, a new student whom had recently joined the cheering squad. The coach of the cheering squad had come to the Dean first thing in the morning, after attendance, speaking of Helen and Emily's situation. He'd gotten a call from Helen that morning, stating that Emily was sick and she was staying home to take care of her. Those two had excuses for why they weren't there. Abby, Fran and the staff member did not.

The staff member was Jim King, the recently-hired man to help with Cafeteria duties. The Dean had not heard from him since he'd left him with Abby to tour the campus and get into his new work environment. He'd called the cafeteria that morning, and the other chefs said that Jim did, indeed, get to the workplace the day before, but wasn't there long. The two other absentees, Abby and Fran, had something to do with him leaving. He was a little skeptical of why Abby would want to keep someone from their work environment, but he just didn't have the facts straight. He was planning to meet with the chefs later that day to find out what happened with it.

He sighed as he pushed the paper away, thinking about what he wanted to do about all of these seemingly-absent faculty and students. He had heard some of the students walking by the building, talking about seeing both Abby and Jim that day, but he had no way of confirming the rumors, not having left the building left to find out for himself. Finally deciding that he needed to get up and find out where all of them were, he pushed himself back from his desk. Halfway out of the chair, however, he went back down when the door to his office swung open, banged against the wall, as two people rushed inside.

The Dean blinked as he now saw two faculty members right up on his desk. The first was the head Nurse of the Infirmary, Ms. Sarah. She had slammed her palms down on the front of the desk and looked at him, the energy knocked out of her. Sweat was dripping down her forehead and her face was completely red, as if she had just run a marathon. Behind her was her assistant and secretary from the Infirmary, Melinda, whom had a calmer look on her face and stood behind her, a hand on Sarah's shoulder.

“Trouble...radio...Ruby...Fran...Abby...need to do something!” The Dean, not knowing what to say at first, blinked again. Sarah was completely wiped out and the sound of her voice stressed that something was bothering her. Upon hearing two names of absentees, he opened his mouth, trying to calm her down and find out what she wanted. “Ms. Sarah, please calm down. You sound like you've just seen a ghost. What about Fran and Abby? Did something happen to them?” The Dean's voice was calm and steady, but Sarah wasn't able to calm down. Her breathing get heavier and heavier as she fumbled her way through more statements.

Seeing that this was going absolutely nowhere, Melinda put a little pressure on Sarah's shoulder and pulled her back. Sarah's bad expression from trying to tell the Dean what was going on slowly disappeared as she felt Melinda's chest pushing against her back. The Dean couldn't see it, but she was blushing under all the red in her face. Moving to the side, Melinda stepped forward and made a soft bow to the Dean. “Dean, allow me to explain. We have a bit of a situation on our hands and need to make you aware of it.”

The Dean, calm, had nodded and allowed Melinda to explain the situation. She began to divulge information about the previous day's events, Jim coming to the Infirmary, Ruby's visit, and everything Sarah had told her and, incidentally, the radio that Ruby had brought with her. He sat in his chair, with a strange look on his face. “So...you're sure this radio had recorded everything Sarah had said?” With a quick nod, Melinda replied to him. “Yes, sir. We are certain that the radio was transmitted some sort of record. Miss Sarah had been very stressed out about it. We think it was the, uh...AL force.”

The Dean immediately got a knot in his stomach as she spoke of the AL. He remembered, all too well, the mourning and funeral that he had prepared when Abby had left the city and gotten attacked by that force, as well as what they'd done to her in the past. He was hoping he'd never have to hear that name again, since they'd since gone underground. If they knew about all of this, though...it could be very bad. “Okay...thank you for coming to me with this information. I'm going to contact who I can, in case they try to take this to the media.”

The Dean then got up and began to leave the office. Before leaving, though, he turned towards them, seeing the look on Sarah's face, and hearing an apology blurting out of her. “Ms. Sarah...don't worry about this. It was an accident. No matter what comes of this, it's not your fault and we'll take care of things.”

The Dean slowly walked out of his office and Sarah turned towards Melinda. The red was disappearing from her face, but the look of guilt was still there. Melinda took her arms and wrapped them around her friend, patting her on the back. “We should go find Abby and Jim.” Sarah nodded as she let her face bury into Melinda's embrace for a moment. She knew that, as optimistic as the Dean was, things could lead to be very bad from this. They had to be ready for anything.

Fran had been thinking for a good while on what to do about Jim and Abby. There were a lot of ideas popping into her head that might have been good, but then again, they might not have been good, at the same time. She could make them something, cook them something, or she could always go and try to buy them both something, as an apology. Nothing she thought of seemed good enough, though. No matter how she looked at it, nothing she thought of seemed like it was fantastic enough to fit with an apology for something as big as what she'd done.

Another problem was getting gifts for both of them. Abby was a Large and Jim was a Minor. Two people of completely different heights were hard to shop for. Fran was too big to carrying around stuff that would be small enough to give to Jim. His entire body was no bigger than her index finger, so things to give to him would be even smaller than that. It was simply a hard situation, and she didn't know what she was going to do. She started thinking about everything and was starting to think that she shouldn't get them anything at all.

“Maybe this...isn't the right thing to do. Maybe gifts isn't the right approach to doing this with them...” she spoke to herself, thinking about things and about how forgiveness works. She had been on the idea that if she'd gotten the two of them some fantastic gift, that they'd forgive her for what she'd done to them. Would it really be that easy, though? Would Abby and Jim be able to forgive her for hurting them both and nearly killing Jim from receiving a bag of baked cookies or a giant teddy bear that says “I'm Sorry”? The more she thought about it, the more she thought that just wouldn't happen, at all.

She leaned her forehead and eyes into her left palm as she let out a sigh, hitting another dead-end on her 'quest' to finding the perfect gift for them. “This just...isn't working. If I can't get them a gift, then what am I supposed to do? How do I get them to forgive me?” Her brain was straining, harder and harder. She wanted them to forgive them, badly. She wanted to make up for all of those bad things she'd done to them, but she just didn't know how. As her brain strained, she started thinking about forgiveness and thought about something Abby had told her, when they had first met.

Fran's first day at Large n Minor University had been a bad one. No sooner had she gotten onto campus had she gotten hungry and the medication her parents had given her had kicked in. Fran's parents, while no one knew them very well, were bad at giving their daughter medication for her spontaneous behavior. Unfortunately for Fran, they didn't take prescription medication from a doctor. They got drugs and medication from anywhere they could find, to get any sort of medication, or what they thought was medication to give to her. This day was a day where they found out the bad results of getting random medication from random people.

That morning, Fran had taken a new kind of pill, given to her by her parents before they'd moved out of the house, down to another district. She didn't know what kind of medication it was, but they told her it would help her, so she believed them and took it. Little did she, or they know, that the pill wasn't medication at all. It was laces with some sort of Hallucinogen that would make her first day on campus a very strange one. Things were going well at first. She met the Dean, a few of her professors, and she'd been making a fairly good impression, having fun at her new school, seeing all of the her-sized faculty and students, and all of the smaller ones.

As the day went on, however, the pill started to take effect and she started to think very strange thoughts. As she was wandering around campus, during her free time, she ended up walking towards the cafeteria building, her stomach growling from not having eaten anything that morning, other than a pill. It wasn't anywhere near lunch time yet, but she wanted to go up there and see if she could get some food, anyways. Approaching the cafeteria building, her vision started to get a little foggy. As she made it up to the building, she fell to her knees and looked around at it.

Blinking violently, she saw the building, but her mind began to get clouded from the pill. The borders of her vision were white, as if they were glowing, and all she saw was that sandwich-shaped building. It was a lot smaller then than it is now. The university hadn't the funds to create a full-sized cafeteria, so the building back then was basically only a small kitchen, where students could come around the outside windows to pick up their food. The entire building was only about 25 feet long or so. The smaller building size was a mistake that they would regret.

Looking down at the building, Fran's clouded vision only saw what looked like a foot-long sub sandwich. “So...hungry...” she said, yanking the building from the ground and pulling it up towards her face. Screams and crashed could be heard below, as tables, chairs, grills, and everything else were tossed to the other side of the building as Fran had them all trapped, bringing the building closer and closer. One of the janitors was hanging onto a side window and saw her lips getting closer, letting out another scream as she saw her long, pink tongue showing itself. It crept out and slowly grazed over her lips as a loud gurgling sound could be heard from below, her stomach rumbling.

Fran was so hungry, she parted her lips, letting all those inside the building see those pearly white, crate-sized teeth, the soft, damp tongue that had licked on her lips, and the bottomless abyss that was her throat. One of them grabbed the phone and tried to alert the Dean before the power went out in the building. As soon as the phone had gone through, the entire building shook. The ceiling began caving in and the floor gave out as they saw those gigantic teeth crashing through the building. The man hanging onto the window let go, just in time, the teeth crashing through the floor mere inches in front of him. He slid down, with some debris and hit the wall on the opposite side of the building.

Everyone was panicking as they saw Fran taking bite after bite of the cafeteria building, somehow able to chew up and satisfy her stomach with electrical cords, bricks, and all the other materials of the building. Before long, there was much left to the building, but a small section, where all of the chefs, janitors, and Minor student volunteers were huddled together. They saw her mouth coming forward and they screamed, but the building shook from around them and Fran's mouth disappeared, the ground taking it's place. They all sprinted out of the building as fast they could, trying to get out and cope with what had happened.

As they ran, scared, a younger Abby was shown, grabbing onto Fran's shoulders, shaking her. “What do you think you're doing?! You could have eaten those workers! You ATE the cafeteria! What are you thinking?!” Fran, not knowing what happened, just stared into the girl's eyes, showing her dilated pupils. Abby took her home that night and found out what had happened. Afterward, Fran realized what she'd done and had tried hard to apologize to the workers she had unknowingly 'terrorized'. The workers didn't forgive her easily, though. She baked them food, bought them gifts, and everything else, but it didn't help them at all.

She had spoken with Abby about it, which she said... “Fran, was it? You have got to realize that forgiveness does not come with a gift. Forgiveness doesn't come with roses or cookies or any sort of tangible object. Forgiveness takes time and effort. You can't make someone forgive you by showering them with gifts. It can only be obtained by trying hard to be friendly with them and show them that you are truly sorry about what happened. Anyone can go and get gifts once they realize they did something wrong. You must be more careful with what you throw into that body of yours from now on. Whenever your parents send you medication, come and see me. Let me see if it's good for you or not, okay? Be your kind self and they will forgive you, in time.”

Back in the present, Fran was thinking about what Abby had told her, that long time ago. She couldn't give them gifts to gain forgiveness. She just had to...show them that she was sorry. Getting up and slipping on a pair of boots and a black jacket, she spoke to herself. “I have to show them that I'm sorry for what I've done. I need to go to both of them and apologize right now. No gifts. Just me, and my feelings. I have to work to gain their forgiveness, and I need to start with it right now.”

Fran headed out the door, unaware of what she was about to walk into when she got back to campus...

Emily and Helen had been walking for a fair amount of time and had, more than likely, covered about half the trip to the University by now. The district where Emily lived was a pretty fair distance from the University. It meant that it would take them longer to get there, which had been a problem with Emily, but had not been a problem for Helen. The girl could have gotten sick again, at any time, and the more time they took it easy, without Emily getting into a stressed-out mood from seeing her friend, or not seeing him, the better.

They were now at the very edge of the city, and were walking, slowly. Emily had begun this trip by running, but Helen had quickly stopped her. She expressed to Emily the importance of maintaining a slow and steady pace, in her condition. While it was true that Emily felt a lot better, if Jim was at the University, he would still be there, whether they got there in 20 minutes or 60 minutes. “It will be better for us to take it easy on our way there, for your sake. I don't want you to get sick again, Emily, okay?” Emily had not liked the idea of taking it easy, but she agreed to go a little slower, afraid Helen would take her back home if she got sick again.

She was just worried because of what had happened the last time she saw him. That girl who took him looked like she was angry with him. With the way she'd treated her when she called up, trying to stop her, she worried for Jim's safety. If she would forcefully kick Emily, what would she do to Jim? Would he be hurt? Did anyone even know where he was? She had faith that he was back at the University today, but those thoughts of him being hurt lingered in her mind. She was worried about him, and about how he was doing.

Helen could see the worry in Emily's face. The girl was stressing herself way too much for this guy. She almost wanted to hurry up and get there, just to get the stress off Emily's head, but she didn't want to risk her getting sick again. Having some stress on the mind was a lot better than collapsing and getting sick. Not wanting the stress to weigh too heavily on her, she decided to intervene and start conversation with the girl. “So, Emily...you've been worried about this Jim person for a good while now. What's making you so worried?”

It was an interesting question and definitely made her think for a moment. She felt Helen's arm go around her shoulder as they walked, both as a friendly gesture and to be there, in case the girl fell over. She looked at Helen's face, seeing an innocently curious expression pointed towards her. She started collecting her thoughts and spoke of why she thought she was worrying about him so much. “Well, he helped me. He helped me a lot yesterday, and I suppose I just want to make sure he's okay, and to help him if he needs it, to return the favor.”

Helen smiled, inquiring further about what had happened. She knew what happened, as Emily had told her earlier. She wanted to keep Emily's mind busy, and to let out as much of this stress as she could before they got back. “Helped you? What did he do to help you, Emily?” Emily got a soft grin on her face as she heard the curious tone of voice that Helen was giving her. She was pretty sure she'd already told Helen about why she was so worried about Jim and what he'd done to help her out the previous day, but she saw no harm in telling her again.

“Well, Helen...” she began. “It was yesterday, when I was trying to get to practice. I had just run into two girls on campus and I was late, so I was rushing across the place to find where the squad was meeting. On the way there, I ended up tripping and my ankle fell into one of the small Path-Signs they used to direct the Minor students and faculty around campus.” She took a deep breath as she looked down towards her ankle, which was still patched up. “I was hurt pretty badly. The sign had stabbed right through my ankle, and couldn't take the pain. That's when he came closer.”

Helen held as interested of a look on her face as she could as she listened to Emily's story unfolding, watching the wind blowing at the girl's crimson hair. “He was right there, in front of me. With an injury in his own leg, he came forward and tried to calm me down. He convinced me to let him me with the injury. Trying to take all of the pain, I waited and screamed as he yanked the sign out of my ankle. This got me very emotional, but aside from that is what he did next...”

“Next...my ankle was bleeding out, uncontrollably. He had pressed his own body down on my ankle, using everything he had to hold the blood in and keep my injury from getting worse. I could tell, by the look in his face, that he was also in a lot of pain. He wasn't willing to let any more blood out than he had to. My blood had even started to push him away from my ankle, but still, he held on.” Emily's face was red and she was smiling as they walked along, further down the road, the University off in the distance.

“I ended up wrapping the injury up, but I would never have gotten the courage to look past my pain if he hadn't been there for me. He helped me fight back and endure the pain I felt. He did so much for me, like a true friend would. We both napped together, in the field after that. So, I guess I just really admired what he did for me, a complete stranger, and would like to return the favor, somehow.” Helen was smiling and held Emily closer to her. “Emily, I think that's great. Maybe when we get to campus, you'll be able to help him with something, like you want.”

Emily looked up at Helen and smiled back, ready to say something, but then saw the campus a short distance in front of them. “Oh, wow! We're here already!” The two of them walked a little faster as they approached the front gates. Helen's plan had worked out perfectly. Emily was smiling and having fun now, rather than staring at the ground, stressed out.

Abby and Jim had been walking around campus for a good while now. Ever since they had left the place in the field, they had really just been idly walking, discussing things every so often, as they walked around, looking at everything around the campus. Abby had been worried about Jim, and was hoping he would divulge some information to her. He'd nearly had a breakdown before they got up, and she wanted to be able to calm him down. Unfortunately, she just didn't know how, other than being there for him.

The location, she hoped, would calm him as well. She was holding her hands, and him, against the upper part of her chest, above her cleavage, so he'd have a stable part of her that he could rest against as they walked around. A few of her fingers were also tilted upward, in front of him, so as to block the wind that would be blowing against him with Abby's fast-paced steps. She needed him to be as comfortable as possible with all of this. At least, if she was going to get him to calm down and talk to her about what was wrong.

By the time she came to the very back of campus, there were no students or faculty around, and she came to a house, about the same as the ones in the Large district. She smiled as she saw it, recognizing it as the building where she stayed, when she wasn't out on campus, doing this and that. It was, essentially, her home. Sure, the campus was her home, but this was more along the lines of her 'house'. It's where she went to eat dinner after the school closed for the night and where she slept and bathed. She walked up onto the porch and sat down in a wooden rocking chair that sat there.

Slowly bringing herself down, she held her hands forward, letting Jim lay in one of her palms. He looked up at her, and she looked back down, giving him a smile, slipping her feet out of her sandals and slowly pushing one of her toes against the floor, pushing the rocking chair back, into a rocking motion. She did it ever-so-slightly, not wanting the movement to be too much for Jim. He seemed alright, though. He was just sitting there, staring up at her. She figured that this was as good a time as any to be able to find out what she could about what was bothering him. At least, more than she already knew.

As she looked down at him, she got a serious look on her face and spoke to him, asking her question. “Jim...earlier, you talked about being used for something. You know I'm very worried about you. It may not be the best subject in the world, but it might help to talk about it. Please, tell me.” She let one of her fingers softly rub against his head and down his side as she asked him, trying to find some way to be more persuasive towards him. She was feeling a lot of things towards him right now, a slight blushing in her cheeks as she looked down. She only hoped that he would come forward and speak about what was wrong.

Jim sighed and wasn't sure if he wanted to talk about what was bothering him. He remembered the nightmare he had, very clearly, and knew that he was clinging to Abby so much because of it and the feelings behind it. He then looked up at Abby again, seeing that warm, reddened face that looked down at him, with so much affection. He almost impulsively forced a grin onto his face as he thought about it. She was worried about him, and he knew she was. She'd done a lot, just to make him feel better. She had a right to know what was bothering him, and who was he to deprive her of that information? It was part of him.


He nodded towards her and sat up, in her hand. “Abby...yes, I'll let you know what's on my mind. We're friends, and you deserve a chance to hear this, from me. It was about the dream and about, well...Ruby. I don't think her being here was an accident. I think when she heard that I was injured in the incident with Fran, um...” He stopped to pause for a few moments, staring down at Abby's palm again. He was taking deep breaths and his face was reddening. He was clearly not able to get this out with much ease.

A finger came and pat him on the head, with Abby's voice gently coming down. “Take your time, Jim. Don't rush it. I'm just glad you're talking to me about this. I feel like we've gotten very close over the past couple days, and I want you to trust me. So, please, take all the time you need.” Jim was smiling, warmed by this honest message from Abby. After a few minutes of breathing, he was able to continue. “I...think she was just using my injury to make a jab at Larges, and at you. I...she didn't even ask me how I was doing. She, just...she said some mean things, and I'm sorry.”

Jim lowered himself back down, the emotions starting to build up in him, once again. He wrapped his arms around a finger that was in front of him and snuggled himself against it, like a pillow. He looked up at Abby, whom was wearing that gentle smile she'd always had on. She simply let him hug against her finger and spoke down with her words. “It's okay, Jim. I understand why you're bothered by this. It's not your fault. She may you, um...wife, but she is who she is. She may not like me, but that's her business. The important thing is that my little Jim is here with me, and he doesn't hate me.”

Abby let out a giggle as she spoke to him, staring down, not noticing the small footsteps of Sarah and Melinda, whom were approaching her home from the direction of the rest of campus.

Sarah and Melinda had stopped when they heard some of the things that Jim and Abby were saying to one another. Especially from the mentioning of “my little Jim” and speaking of people who hate others and people who don't hate others. There was a tree nearby, where Melinda yanked Sarah to. Sarah had been caught by surprise and nearly yelped, had it not been for Melinda putting her hand over her mouth as she dragged her over there. By the time Sarah had turned herself around, they were behind the tree and Melinda had a smile on her face, giving her a hushing gesture.

Sarah pulled the hand away from her face and started whispering to her, questioning why she was just yanked and pulled behind a tree. She pushed towards Melinda, pushing her into the tree. “W-What are you doing?! We need to tell them about what happened! They right there and--” “...and it sounds like they're having a very emotional conversation” said Melinda, calmly and sternly. She didn't seem very worried about pulling the two of them behind a tree, at all. In fact, she seemed more worried about what they were talking about than telling them about the radio incident.

She put her hands on Sarah's shoulders and continued, expressing that they should just stick to the sidelines for now. “Listen to them for a moment, Sarah. Can't you tell they're having a heart-to-heart? Something's obviously bothering Jim to death, and she's trying to help him with it. If we rush in there, right now, we're going to completely ruin that moment. I know you want to let them know, and I do too, but please, just wait a little while longer. They've been through a lot these past couple days. Don't we owe that to them, at least?”

Sarah let out a quick sigh and looked into Melinda's eye, smiling a little. The woman had a way of affecting her. Ever since they'd had a moment earlier and slept together in the Infirmary, Melinda had seemed a little different to Sarah. She seemed to be able to influence her a lot easier and she seemed to make a lot more sense than she did before. Maybe Melinda was always like this, and she just hadn't noticed. Closing her eyes, she pushed herself forward, against Melinda. “Alright, but just a few minutes.” Melinda wrapped her arms around Sarah, giving her a brief hug as she thanked her for that, and began to listen to what was going on between Abby and Jim.

“Abby, I...of course I don't hate you.” said Jim, looking up towards his giant friend with a smile on his face. “You're been nothing but kind to me this entire two days. You've shown me around this place, welcomed me to campus, shared a lot about your own life with me, and you even saved my life last night.” Jim stared up at Abby's face as he realized what all she'd done for him. She really had done a lot. She'd even helped him become comfortable around other Larges. Although she hadn't been there with him the entire time, she helped make his experience at this place all the better.

A finger softly brushed over his head and he continued. “You've spent almost all of your time with me since the incident with Fran. You brought me to the Infirmary and stayed while the nurse patched me up. You took me away when Ruby had come and now, here we are, at your home, and you're treating me like I'm some sort of wonderful person, rocking me in a chair and listening to everything I'm telling you. You've done more for me in the past 2 days than anyone has done for me in my entire life. At least, the most that I can feel, other than simple touch.”

Jim thought deeply about what he had just said, and it was all the truth. Although Ruby had helped him a lot in the past, none of it felt quite like what he felt right now. His emotions were all swirling around as he was held in Abby's hand, her finger brushing against his head, being loved on and cared for. Ruby had never done anything like this for him. Abby was different. He started to feel like Abby was becoming something a little more than just his friend, despite how short of a time they'd known each other. Finding her finger, Jim latched onto it and let his lips graze against it. “Thank you, Abby. You're the sweetest person I've ever met and, despite all the chaos of the past two days, I'm glad to have met you.”

All three of the others went into a quick surprising moment as they heard what Jim had just said and done. Abby, in particular, got more red in her cheeks than she thought was possible. Hearing Jim coming out to her like this, saying that she was the sweetest person he'd ever met meant a lot to her, and she immediately felt her heart rate picking up it's pace. Her breathing got a little deeper and she moved her lips to create a smile. “Jim...I'm...glad I met you, too. I'm really glad we're here, and we have time to be together, alone, away from everyone else. I...”

Abby stopped herself mid-sentence. There were many thoughts going through her mind, but she wasn't sure it was right to come out like this. She wasn't sure if it would be right to spill out her feelings while Jim was married. She thought for a moment, until Jim clenched tighter on her finger, catching her attention away from those doubtful thoughts. “You...what, Abby? You can tell me. You let me tell you what was bothering me. Please, tell me what's on your mind. You can tell me anything. You know your secrets are safe with me.”

Abby was grinning bigger and bigger with the more time that was passing by. She giggled for a moment and brought Jim closer to her face. She let her lips softly graze across his body before bringing her lips next to his head. “Jim..I...I think I love yo--” As soon as Abby was getting the words out, Sarah had slipped on a leaf on the ground and both she and Melinda screamed as they fell from the tree, to the base of the porch. The blow had hurt her head a little, not knowing how, exactly it had happened. One minute, they were listening and close to one another and the next, they'd tripped and fallen.

“Ouch...” said Sarah as she picked herself up. She was scratching at the back of her head, but immediately stopped, realizing that both Abby and Jim were looking down at them. Quickly grabbing Melinda and pulling her next to her, she called up to her. “H-Hi, Abby! We've, uh...been looking for you!” They both smiled and started climbing up the porch steps, realizing they'd just completely ruined a wonderful moment, seeing no reason not to come forward and talk about what they'd come there for...

Talk about your case of bad timing. Jim and Abby were having a heart-to-heart, and right in the middle of the most mushy, most emotional statement in the entire conversation, Sarah decides that she needs to slip and knock both her and Melinda down to the ground, screaming in the process, alerting the two others to the fact that they were not, in any way, alone back here. They had completely ruined the big moment Abby and Jim were having. Although it might not have ended the best way possible, anyways, they had still completely ruined it.

There were four red faces at that small house, at the back of Large n Minor University. Abby and Jim had both immediately noticed the presence that both Melinda and Sarah had shown them. There had been no noise sounding, other than the two of them talking, until the scream happened. It was painfully apparently to both of them, and they felt a nervous chill running through their bodies as they realized that someone was nearby, and had probably heard a good deal of what they had been talking about. They both watched as Sarah and Melinda scrambled their way up the steps, to the porch.

The two nurses came up to the porch and came to talk to Abby and Jim about what they'd heard and what they'd run to the Dean about. As soon as they got close to Abby's feet, though, Sarah's legs gave out and Melinda grabbed her, trying to keep her from falling. Abby's rocking chair was shaking the porch for them, having too much force for their tiny legs to support themselves against. Both of them falling to their knees, they sat in front of the giant girl and her small friend. Sarah was still embarrassed and, for some reason, let Melinda take charge of things while they were together. Melinda, seeing Sarah's embarrassment, called up to Abby.

“Um, Ms. Abby! Sorry to interrupt you right now, but we need to talk. Something's come up that we think that you, of all people, need to be aware of, and Mr. King, too! Could you come down here, so we can chat?” She said 'come down here', as if she could just come down to their level. Abby understood their meaning, though. She was sitting, high on a chair, and her head was nearly 70 feet above them. Pressing her feet on the porch, she slowly picked herself up from the chair and lowered herself down to the ground. Making an indian-style sitting position, she set her hand down in front of her crossed legs and feet, allowing Jim to come down to the ground to talk with them as well. “What's this all about, Ms. Sarah? Do you need Jim for another test in the Infirmary or something?” asked Abby, looking towards the still-quiet Sarah.

“Go ahead, Sarah. Tell them.” said Melinda, softly nudging Sarah's shoulder, seeing Abby getting into a comfortable position and Jim sitting down, leaning back again the tops of one of Abby's feet, as if it were a chair or couch. Sarah looked at her, and then at the two of them. She thought about it, but soon realized that she was the one who needed to talk to them about all of this. Shaking her head, she tried to get her thoughts together. She realized that she hadn't been good with speaking to people about things, ever since Melinda had held her against her. She'd been dependent on her for a lot of things. She couldn't do that. Not all the time. She had to take charge and do things, herself, as she'd done before.

“R-Right.” she said, slowly sitting herself up, straightening her back up. She looked right at Jim and then up and Abby as she began to speak. “Mr. King, Abby, we have a situation on our hands that you need to be made aware of. It is something that the two of you were directly involved with. It has to do with what happened to Jim last night and... the AL Militia.” Her face took a serious expression as Abby and Jim looked at one another, feeling a little strange after hearing that this had to do with those AL soldiers that had done many things to Abby in the past.


“Ruby?” asked Jim, starting to get a little worried about this situation. If the AL Militia was, somehow, involved in something that had to do with their incident from the night before, with Fran, he figured that it had to have been Ruby that had sparked it. Sarah closed her eyes and made a simple nod towards Jim as she continued. “Yes. Her trip to the Infirmary was, apparently, no accident. She had a radio with her, and had caught wind of when I...” Melinda put her hand on Sarah's shoulder as she took over the conversation, seeing the red in her cheeks getting worse. “It overheard Sarah explaining, to me, what happened last night. We're pretty sure the radio transmitted everything back to the AL Militia. They know all about the kidnapping and the injuries you both suffered from that incident.”

Jim got a knot in his stomach and pushed back against Abby's foot, pressuring his body against it, grabbing onto the soft, warm flesh, realizing how bad this situation really was getting. The implications of a group like them getting information like that was very bad, to say the least. He looked back at them, sweat starting to run down his face. “They...know everything?! Then...you have to tell the Dean! I've heard stories about them, from both Abby and from Ruby. There's no telling what they will do now that they know a student from the University has, well...done what Fran did to us. They'd probably go to the media, or...come here, to take some sort of action!”

Abby could feel Jim's shaking against her skin. She reached down to him and softly patted his head. “Don't worry, Jim. We're not going to let them do anything to you. Even if...things are bad as they could be, it isn't like the past. Even if they come here, we won't let them hurt anyone.” Jim looked up to Abby “I know we won't want to see anyone hurt, but...” Abby swiftly cut him off as she felt her own adrenaline pumping up. “We won't let a single person get hurt. Right, Sarah? Melinda? We'll make a stand, if we have to. We'll show them that they can't just storm onto our Campus and take action, just because of an accident!”

Abby was starting to get pumped up, a lot more than anyone realized. She put on a touch face as she quickly collected all three of them into her hands and started walking away from the house. She walked off, a confident and strong look on her face. Jim was surprised to see it, especially at the mentioning of the AL Militia, and about them possibly coming here. The girl was strangely confident, in fact. In reality, Abby felt a knot in her stomach as well, feeling incredibly nervous about past events coming back to haunt her. But, she was stronger now, and she would do whatever it took to make sure they didn't get their way and that her new friends would stay safe. Walking off into Campus, she could see two other Larges off in the distance. The two cheering squad members, Helen and Emily, waving to her.

Emily's mood had brightened up quite a bit since Helen talked to her about why she was so worried about Jim, and how she wanted to repay him for helping her. With Helen's arm around her, she had a big smile on her face as they'd entered the campus together. Helen was happy as well. She knew that stress wouldn't be helping Emily's condition, in case the fever had decided to spike again. With little to no stress bothering her, she would be that much less likely to come down with the fever again today. They walked into campus, both happy and ready to start searching for Abby and Jim.

Helen had been the one to suggest they look for both of them, rather than just walking around, looking for Jim. Abby would be a lot easier for them to spot, and she thought they would be together. The last time she'd seen Abby was when she was taking Emily home, and Abby was going after Jim. If she had managed to safely get Jim back to the university, from that girl's house, she seemed like she would have wanted to stay with him. She could tell that Abby had some sort of attachment to him. So, Helen had gotten the idea that they should just look for Abby. Even if he wasn't with her, she would likely be able to point them in the right direction.

Helen had been at the university for quite some time now, and was well aware about Abby's special 'living conditions' on campus. The girl had no place to go and, while she had offered to find her a place a year or two back, the Dean went against the idea and decided to just build her a home on campus. Abby had a bad history with being outside campus, what with the AL Militia and everything. They'd attacked her twice in the past, three times if you include her original village. The Dean wanted to make sure she stayed close, to ensure that no more incidents would occur, and if they did, they could do something about it.

Knowing about the house that was on the back edge of campus, Helen decided that's the first place they would look. She kept her arm around Emily at all times, ensuring that they watched where they stepped and were able to make it back there in one piece. She knew that Emily's entire condition was because she wasn't paying attention to the signs they'd made for the Minors to use on campus. She also was slightly hobbling around, thanks to her ankle still being hurt. They walked around the paths and just stuck to the fields as they made their way past the main building of the campus and worked their way back further.

Thankfully, Helen's suspicions were correct. About halfway between the main building and the very back edge of campus, they came to a field and saw a tall figure in the distance. Well, tall wouldn't quite be the way to describe it. To make things simpler, they saw another Large walking around, a female, which Helen quickly recognized as Abby. She smiled and waved towards Abby, pushing Emily along further. As they walked closer, she whispered to Emily. “That's Abby. Take a look. She has a few people in her hands. Maybe one of them is Jim, and you can finally thank him and see how he's doing!”

Emily started to smile as she looked and she did see three tiny figures in Abby's hands. They were still a good distance from Abby, so they couldn't really tell who or what they were, but hope was coming up in their minds, and they started to think that their search was finally over. Finally running up to them, they greeted Abby and her three little guests. As they got closer, however, they saw that both Abby and Jim had bandages on them. Abby had some around one of her palms and Jim had some over his one of his legs. “Abby!” said Helen. “So glad to see you again. You and Jim are okay, then?”

Abby slowly nodded as she stopped for a moment, seeing Helen and Emily, the two girl students from yesterday. It took her awhile to realize it, but she remembered that they'd been the ones to clue her into the fact that Jim had been taken off-campus, and had led to her finding him at Fran's home. She held her hands out in front of them and responded towards them. “Yeah. We both got hurt a little bit, but we're doing alright. Jim went through a lot yesterday, but that was yesterday and this is today. For the moment, we're doing just fin--”

“Oh, my god! What happened to you, Jim?! What did she do?! What did--!” Emily had nearly freaked out when she saw Jim in bandages. Her worries had all come flying back to her as soon as she saw that he was injured. She shouldn't have been surprised. She had seen Fran drop him inside her own boot as she took him home. He had to go on a ride with her feet, ankle, and legs. That would, obviously, be a rough ride for anyone. Helen had quickly stepped in and gripped her shoulder. “Calm down, Emily. He's fine.”

Abby had blinked, surprised at Emily's reaction to this. Couldn't she see he was just fine? He was standing up in her palm, looking at her as Emily's hand came forward, coming close to Abby's hand. He'd been sitting between Melinda and Sarah in Abby's hand and he slowly walked to a fingertip. Reaching out, he softly patted his hand on top of Emily's crimson-painted fingernail and smiled up towards her as he rested his hand there. “Hi, Emily. How's your ankle doing?” He sounded honestly concerned, more about her than himself.

“Oh, I'm...I'm doing fine, Jim.” Helen then patted Emily on the back, loosening her grip on her shoulder. “See? You're all worried over nothing at all. There's nothing wrong here, and everyone is just fine, right?” Her eyes went to Abby and her three little friends as she asked that question, to which they all lost their optimistic looks. “Well, actually...” started Abby, remembering the situation at hand and what could be coming. Helen looked a little confused as Sarah and Melinda stood, joining Jim at the edge of Abby's hand. “We might have a little problem on our hands right now...” said Sarah, getting ready to explain the situation to the two cheerleader Larges.

Fran was on her way back to the University, slowly walking, trying to think of what she could say or do when she did finally get back and found Jim and Abby. The incident and how she was going to be able to fix it were all that was on her mind for a good while now. She'd made a big mistake by letting her emotions get the best of her, with far worse consequences than she could ever guess at this point. All she could do now was to get back on campus, find her two friends, and apologize to them, as best she could. She owed it to them.

What she could say, however, was something that she pondered about often on this trip. She'd hurt both Abby and Jim, badly, and there weren't many words that would be able to overcome such an immense incident, such as that. 'Sorry I kidnapped you and put you in the hospital' probably wouldn't cut it. She had to think of something more. Something...better was in order. The only problem was that Fran wasn't very good at thinking of these things. She normally had Abby suggest these things to her. Now, however, she was on her own. She thought long and hard, starting to whisper to herself about what she could say to them.

“I'm sorry, you two. I didn't know what I was doing. Please forgive me...no. No, that won't work. I can't lie to them.” Fran frowned at herself as her boots calmly moved across the fields on the outskirts of the city, each calm step creating a small cloud of dust. Thankfully, the outskirts had been made, specifically for Larges, so she didn't have to worry about any Minors wandering around, to get accidentally stepped on or run into or anything. She looked straight, staring off in the distance as her mind strained to think of something.

“I...have to be honest” she said to herself. “I was in complete control of my actions. My emotions just got the best of me. I have to accept that.” She stopped for a moment, crossing her arms and looking up to the sky. The sun was shining past a few clouds that were gathered near it. She thought hard about what Abby had told her about forgiveness, that time was the only thing that could re-create trust. “I wish I'd never done all this to him, to them both. If I hadn't been such a jealous jerk, none of this would be happening...”

Fran thought on her own actions, realizing that this was all her fault. From her perspective, it was. If it weren't for her making her rash action at seeing Jim with Emily, she wouldn't have kidnapped him, he wouldn't have gotten hurt, Abby wouldn't have gotten hurt, and the three of them might have been doing something fun together right then and there. She felt a tingling in her nose as she thought about things, slowly shutting her eyes, dwelling on what she had done. It had been awful, and she didn't know how some words and time would be able to erase her actions.

She let out a sigh and looked in front of her again. The University was far off in the distance. She still had quite the distance to travel before she would arrive there. That meant she had plenty of time to think about what she wanted to say to Jim and Abby once she had arrived. She had plenty of time to prepare for things. Since it was still relatively early in the day, she sat herself down in the field she was standing in and put both her palms to her forehead as she thought. “I have to find the perfect apology. I have to be honest, and I have to show them that I truly am sorry, but how...”

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As Fran was sitting in the field, brainstorming, the Dean had finally caught up with Abby and the rest of them, hearing the full length of the tale, and had some news for the six of them. By the time he told them he'd found something new of the situation, they were all a little scared at hearing just what was going on. They knew the situation could turn sour, but they really didn't want the situation to do so. There was too much out there already. To get worse would only mean that things would get worse for all of them.

“When I was looking for you, we got a report from one of the staff for the evening classes” said the Dean, calmly talking in the middle of a field, the three Larges each sitting in a circle around him, one of the Minors in front of each one, resting against their legs and feet. They all had looks of curiosity and concern on their faces as they heard of this 'report'. The Dean looked at all of them, not wanting to tell them what he knew he had to tell them right now. “It seems that the incident in the Large District, as well as the incident in the Infirmary has caused a reaction in the AL Militia. It seems they're on the move.”

Sarah and Abby both tensed up at this statement. While they had yet to realize just what 'on the move' meant, from the Dean, they both knew that it wouldn't be anything good. Everyone looked at one another and then back at the Dean, asking about the situation. He took a few moments of pause before continuing. “It seems that many have seen an armored truck slowly moving through the city, heading in the direction of the University. We're not sure just what the truck is holding, but we do know that there are several members of the Militia on board, and they have something huge on the back of the truck that's covered up by a big tarp. I can only guess what that can be, but we have to do something, to ensure that they don't get here to do whatever they're doing.”

“Excuse me, sir, but...how do we even know they're coming here to do something hostile towards us?” Emily had asked this, her naivety strong. She was young, and still had a lot to learn about the AL Militia. The Dean looked at her and smiled. “I would like to believe that, Ms. Emily. I would like to, very much. However, my instincts tell me they're planning something else. Were they just to pick up Ruby, they wouldn't need an armored vehicle, or a group of soldiers. I fear they have something else in plan. There have been rumors going around that the organization has been working on some compiling large amounts of arms to combat with Larges.”

The Dean took another breath as the group was looking at one another, trying to ponder the meaning of this 'fix'. He looked at them and looked towards the main building, not far from where they were all sitting. “I can only assume that whatever is under that tarp is going to be a problem for us. We need to be ready and, although I have faith in all of you, we need some sort of group to help defend the university from any sort of attack, whether it be conventional or biological. I'm going to go the main building and call in Argo Drake. He's a Large I've known for quite a long time, and I think I can get him to come and help us figure out what's going on.”

The Dean didn't give them much of a chance to respond before he started to walk away. “You six need to be careful, especially you, Abby, Helen, Emily. If they really do have something to use against the taller folks, you must be extremely careful. I know you are tall and can stand a lot, but you're still human, and you're not invincible. I want you to stay together and keep a close watch from the main gates. I'll be in my office, making calls and taking measures to prevent whatever is coming...”

With that, he walked off, heading to the main building, while the six remaining looked at one another, trying to process what they were just told...

Abby sighed as she watched the Dean walking away from the group. He had been very serious in that discussion, and was even planning to call in Argo Drake on this matter. That told her that it was very serious. It wasn't too long before the Dean was out of sight, his pace having picked up rather quickly. It was clear that he wanted to get back to the main building and get all of this calling and work done as quickly as he could. If he was right about this supposed armored truck that was moving through the city, they may not have much time before things would start to get even more serious around.

Jim leaned against Abby's calve as he heard the long, wind-filled sigh from above him. They all looked at her, actually. All of them except Emily, whom was looking down, still looking at Jim's injured form. There was a load on her mind as well. The six of them had finally gotten together to talk about how everyone was doing, and the Dean just dropped this bomb on them. He just came up, like “Oh, by the way. The AL Militia might be on their way, right now, to attack us. Don't worry. I'll just go make a call. Okay? Thanks. Bye!” They all knew he had a job to do, but all of it seemed so sudden, even to Sarah and Melinda. They thought they were planning to do something, but full-out assault on the campus wasn't what they were guessing.

They all knew what was happening, and knew where the Dean wanted them. They just weren't sure what they were going to do about all of this. “How did it come to this? It was just an accident!” cried out Jim, his face starting to get red, the pressure pushing down on him. The fact that he was directly involved with what caused this whole mess made him feel a little responsible, even though it, ultimately, wasn't his fault. “If only I hadn't taken this job. None of this would be happening, right? Fran kidnapped me. Abby came after me. All of this is because of m-” His statements were suddenly muffled into strange, wordless noises as Abby's finger came down and covered up his face.

His voice stopped as she looked down at him and shook her head, from side to side. “It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself for this.” Her eyes gazed past her glasses as she looked down at him and slowly pulled her finger away. “But, I...” “She's right, Jim.” called down Emily. She was trying to hold as much of a smile as she could, a lot weighing down on her, but knowing that she owed him a debt, and she would start repaying his debt with some confident advice. “You didn't do anything wrong. You helped me when I was hurt and no one else was around. It's not your fault you got caught up in this.”

“That's right. No one person can ever be held responsible for what happened” said Sarah, slowly coming into this conversation. “I'm the one who basically told the AL Militia what happened and alerted to them of this chance...” Sarah let out a sigh as Melinda let out a nod, bringing more conversation from in front of Helen. “...and I was the one who asked Sarah about what happened.” Jim was looking around at all of them, seeing everything they were putting into the conversation. They were all trying to show him that it wasn't his fault, that there was something more to all of this, and there definitely was.

Helen reached down and patted Jim's head. She paused for a moment, this being the first time she'd actually touched a minor. She blinked feeling the tiny, little head under her fingertip. It sent a chill up her arm, to realize that this little thing was a person. She'd always known about minors, but it felt very interesting to actually touch one, to feel one. She rubbed across his hair for a few moments before retracting her finger and continuing the conversation. “They're all right. I know I wasn't around for most of this...” As she spoke, her hair was dangling down towards him, a smile coming to her face, trying to seem as encouraging and convincing as possible.

“...but we all made this happen. It wasn't just you. It was Abby, me, Emily, Melinda, Sarah, Fran, and everything else that's going on. Fate deals you a hand, Jim. You just have to deal with what you've been dealt.” Jim kept looking around, trying to fix his hair after what Helen had done to it. It was sticking out everywhere, and just looked bad. “But if I hadn't come here...” “...you couldn't have avoided what happened. It just happened. There's nothing any of us could have done.”

“We're all in this together” came the voice from directly above him. Abby looked down at him, letting her own finger graze down his body, pushing him against her leg. He could feel the heat coming from behind him and the soft touch her finger had always granted him. Abby was definitely a gentle, caring person, even in the middle of a stressful and dangerous situation. She knew what to do, all of them did. “No one would ever blame you for this, Jim. We are all in this together, and we will all come out of this, together. Nothing the AL Militia can throw at us will stop what we have. I'll make sure of that. Remember...I told you that we won't let anything happen to anyone.”

“Abby..” said Jim, as he was quickly lifted into the air. She stood up, holding him in her palm, close to her shoulder. She was then followed by Helen, holding Sarah, and Emily, holding onto Melinda. They all had a task to do, and they planned on doing it. They turned towards the gates of the campus, and then back towards each other. “Let's go” said the three Larges. They then began to walk towards the gate, one pair of sandals, and two pairs of sneakers pressing into the ground with each step, causing small clouds of dust as they moved across the campus area, slowly moving towards their location, unaware that the AL Militia's truck was closer to the campus than they realized...

The six people on Campus were on the move and getting closer towards the front gates, unaware of just what they were walked into. Events were unfolding right now that would be doing a lot more than just a political impact on the media in the world they lived in. They would find out, very soon, that there was a lot more to it than that. The Dean didn't know just what he was asking them to walk into, but soon, he would find out, as would everyone else involved in this matter. But, as it stood, the six were still on their way to the gates, not knowing what truly awaited them. Or, rather, not knowing what was still coming for them.

The truck containing the AL Militia's new experiment was still a good 4 blocks away from the edge of the city, where the University stood. It, as it had been before, driving very slowly to make sure that the trip wasn't too bumpy for the machine in the back. They hadn't exactly bolted the thing into the bed of the truck, so it was just sitting there with some straps holding it in place. It was an extremely heavy object, so heavy they had to disassemble it into dozens of separate pieces just to get it up to ground level and put it on the truck. Were they anything but slow and careful, it could tilt, move, fall, break, and who knows what else.

The Militia didn't want anything to go wrong with this mission. They were taking a big risk by going straight for the university with this. The wiser course of action would have been to go through to find the people involved in the kidnapping and take the story to the media. Forming a political attack against Minors would have been more prudent than just taking this new experiment and testing it out on the people of the university. Hayes was like that, though. He was a bit of an extremist. He didn't like attacking their views. He would rather take the fight to them. So, he was taking this risk, imagining some glorious victory for him, with all of the minors there having been 'fixed' and more to come.

The man had been over his headset to the others on the truck, ranting and raving about this supposed victory. “We will finally make our stand against those giant freaks!” he said. “They want to be among us? Then, they can be like us. They can be small, like the rest of us, and they can live amongst us, without constant fear of our family, our children, getting harmed by their over-sized, disgusting bodies. We ride into the Campus now and we'll show them that our way is a better way!” Many of the soldiers were being rallied and influenced by this speech. It was helping to give them a better vote of confidence about what they were doing. His words made them think they could win this, no problem.

The speech was powerful, and Hayes had obtained a leadership position among the organization a long time ago, but there was one person aboard the truck that his speech didn't reach. Throwing a finger up, Janet shut the headset off, not wanting to hear any more of this speech that he was making. She just sat there, staring at the machine, still covered by a tarp. She was staring at it, blurring everything else out of her line of vision. She couldn't look or think about anything else, but what they were about to do, and whether she wanted to go along with it or not.

She still remembered the experimental test of the Large woman, and what she had been told, by her. The process had been initially harm-free, but the people of that organization were only worried about one form of harm: physical harm. None of them were worried about the emotional repercussions of doing this to someone, making them smaller, like they are. The woman had been perfectly fine, as far as her health went, but her words still rang through Janet's ears, as if she were still there, right in front of her. She still remembered, all too well, what she had said and what Janet had thought.

Perhaps she had a change of heart with this, but she didn't feel like this was right anymore. She thought about her own life, her own family, and wondered what it would be like for someone to change her, forever, just because she wasn't like them. How would she feel? If she was irreversibly different, how would it affect her life? How would it affect her relationship with her family? What if she was suddenly shrunk down to the size Minors were to the Larges? If she came back to her husband and her children, how would they react, knowing that their mother was now only the size of their finger?

She didn't know what to do about all of this. They were going to go to the University and do the same to who knows how many people that they did in the experiment. Deep down, she felt like it was the wrong thing to do, but what could she do about it? Even if, stressing the if, she tried to sabotage this device, she would never succeed. She was surrounded by officers and Hayes. Once they realized she was trying to ruin the device, who knew what they would do to her? Not only would they overpower her and stop her from ruining their plans, but what would they do with her? Would they lock her in some sort of prison? Would they hurt or kill her for interfering? It was hard to ponder and guess.

She sighed and stood up, looking past the truck. She spoke as she stood and looked forward. “I have to do something...I can't let more lives be hurt and shredded because of this thing. But...what can I...oh, no...” Janet looked forward and her thoughts suddenly drooped down and she felt an emotional weight against her entire body. The truck was turning and, just about a block away, she could see the gates to Large n Minor University. They were much closer than she had hoped. She heard Hayes give the order to uncover the device. As she heard the soldiers at work and felt the truck slowly turning to aim the bed towards the gates, she got a strong sting in her gut. It might have been too late to do anything. Off in the distance, she saw some Larges approaching the front gate. The experiment could go underway at any time, if Hayes noticed them. “What am I going to do...”

Abby and the others had wasted little time and got to the gates of university in a pretty short amount of time. Of course, they didn't need a lot of time. With legs the size of small buildings, one didn't need a terribly amount of effort to be able to get from one field to another. Each of the three carried a Minor in her palms, all six of them set to see this thing through, whatever 'this' might be or might become. They were to stand watch and make sure no one came in or anything of the sort. Were the AL Militia to try to waltz in, Abby, Helen, and Emily would be enough, without the knowledge of what the Militia was really planning.

The Dean had told them to watch over the gate, likely until Argo Drake and the people he'd called arrived to take over the situation. For now, though, it was up to them. Jim looked up towards Abby as she was walking. Below, he could hear the loud footfalls of his friend, as her sandals slowly touched and pushed down the ground. Melinda and Sarah did the same for Emily and Helen, though with sneakers, as opposed to sandals. Before long, they'd arrived at the gateway, seeing the road and city just ahead of them, on the other side of the University Gates. As they looked onward, the trio saw something close by, and squinted as they looked, while the three Minors they held watched their expressions.

“What in the world is that?” asked Helen, looking to the road just in front of the gates. “Is that the truck the Dean was talking about?” She could see where the Militia was preparing for it's strike against the University, and saw the device on it's bed. There was a group of people standing around the truck, itself, and there was something on the back of it. The steel plating of the device, or whatever it was, shone in the day's sunlight. Abby and Emily soon joined Helen in their skepticism as they saw the device. It almost looked like some sort of necked projectile cannon from those old, japanese Kaiju flicks. It confused all three of them as they looked at once another. “If that's them...what do we do?” asked Jim, slightly nervous, pushing himself against Abby's finger.

Abby looked down at Jim, and then back at this...thing that was in front of them. They could see it moving, as if they were directing it towards something. As she stared at it, she started to get a nervous feeling and also felt as if she needed to step up. Jim had looked to her for what they were to do. He was looking up to her, wanting some sort of advice. She tried to go through her thoughts, but the look on that thing just didn't seem right to her. Soon, Abby began to lower herself to the ground. “Helen, Emily...we need to put our friends on the ground, behind the gate. They'll be safe there. If that is a weapon of some sort, we can withstand it, but...they can't.” The other two Larges concurred with Abby's suggestion and began to lower themselves down, dispatching Melinda, Sarah, and Jim on the ground, in fear of what this thing might have in store for them.

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As the group of Minors were being set down by Abby, and the AL Militia preparing for what they wanted to do, there was someone else, off in the distance, in another direction. Fran, having given her ideas and this situation a lot of thought, got herself up from her sitting position in the field. As she stood up, she collected the remaining thoughts of what she could say to them, and decided it was about time to get her butt moving and head to campus. There would be no more stalling, no more thinking. She just had to get over there, as soon as possible, and find them, so she could apologize. It didn't matter anymore, whether she said the right thing or not. She just had to go and do it. Otherwise, she might never do it.

She let out a deep breath that doubled as a sigh. She had been under a lot of stress this day, and had caused a lot of stress for those she felt were close and that she cared about. Her heart, her mind, he body. It was all weighed down by a great number of things, especially the thoughts about making everything up to Jim and Abby. She turned her body and let her boots touch the ground, causing small dust-clouds as she walked towards the University. Now was the time to return, and she had to do it now. She tried to wear a smile on her face as she continued walking.

As she made her way across the fields, she'd halved the remaining time to the University. Now it would only be a short walk and she could even see the gates of the University from where she stood. An eyebrow raised as she continued her walk towards it, seeing three Larges standing in front of the gate, watching the other side, as if they were looking at something or keeping something out. It looked quite confusing to her. She slowly watched them, but smiled as she saw that one of them was Abby. She was getting closer and closer, not realize just how serious and how close the situation was about to become.

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Hayes had come out of the truck and immediately saw the three Larges that were at the gates of the University. They had made a slow approach and had even ducked their heads, disappearing behind it for a moment, but they were there. The truck was in a proper position, given the test that had been done with earlier that day. They were ready, and he was ready to do something about these people. Three Larges were there, all women, just like the woman they'd experimented on earlier. In Hayes' mind, everything was flawless. They were in a perfect position to be their first field test.

The device had been turned towards the gate, where the three Larges were. It took several minutes to get it repositioned, the main device being much too heavy to move quickly, but it was in position, soon enough. Janet had been pushed back by several Militia soldiers, and started to get a nervous feeling in her gut. She looked towards the Larges, and then back at Hayes. She then looked at the device, and the soldiers that were now holding onto the device's control mechanism. Were they really planning on doing this? Were they really going to try to do this to these people?

Her instincts told her that they were going to. They had no reason not to, given most of the organization's beliefs and views towards Larges. They thought they were a scourge to society and had to be 'fixed'. As she looked to the three Larges in the distance, her mind was filled with images. She saw their faces, deep with despair, just as that woman from before. She stared into the distance, sighing and trying to move forward, towards the device. “H-Hold on!” she said. Holding her back, three of the soldiers looked to Captain Hayes. He looked to her, then to the others. “You may fire when ready.”

Janet's head was shaking as Hayes gave the order to go ahead with this “Test” of sorts. She looked at the three Larges and could see the looks on their faces when this thing would hit them. The look on that other Large's face when she'd spoken with her. The sorrow, the despair, the sadness in her eyes. How could Janet let them do this to anyone else? How could she allow them to take away their lives? Sure, they could live as Minors, but what kind of effect would being so much shorter than before have on a Large? The other woman had immediately gone into a bout of depression, not thinking she could ever face her family again. What would these Larges do in reaction, were the test to work?

She didn't know, but she felt as if she didn't have a choice in the matter of watching or not. She saw the soldiers messing with the dial and the levers and the device was being turned on. She could see the spinning discs within the device turning and a loud, buzzing sound occurring, just as it had in the laboratory. They were really going ahead with this. She looked at the device, and then off at the Larges. She had to do something, didn't she? But she couldn't. The soldiers were still holding her back, far out of reach of the device, and she wasn't even sure what sort of effect would happen were she to shut the device off in mid-firing.

Abby and the others were intently watching the truck, the soldiers, and the...thing on the back of the truck. They weren't exactly sure what was going on, but they noticed that things were changing, a little bit. Melinda, Jim, and Sarah were at the bottom of the gates and, even then, they could hear the buzzing sound the device was emitting. They all looked up and screamed up towards the three Larges, Jim to Abby, Melinda to Helen, and Sarah to Emily. If this was some sort of weapon, the three of them needed to be out of sight. At least, that was the idea they had. “Abby!” called Jim. “W-What's going on?!”

They had no idea what was going on and the three Larges were too occupied in looking at the thing that was buzzing to have any sort of clue as to what was going on. They just looked at it, Helen raising an eyebrow. What was the point of all this? Were they going to attack the Larges using buzzing noises? If so, then they were a little un-prepared if this was to be any sort of assault on the University. They could defend against sound, though Helen was taking a closer look at this thing. It was pointing towards Abby now, and she suddenly felt something beating against her ankle. Looking down, she saw Sarah, on her shoe, trying to get her attention.

Finally out-of-it enough to pay attention, Helen knelt down and scooped Sarah up into her hand. “Sarah?” she asked. Sarah, panting, deep breaths, screamed to Helen. “I...I think I know what it is!” The three Minors, along with Helen and Emily, were focusing on each other, hoping that Sarah could shed some light on whatever this device, or whatever it was, is and what it did. Helen spoke first as the group started listening, other than Abby, whom seemed to be transfixed on the device. “What do you mean, Sarah? How would you know what that thing is? I've never seen anything like it.”

“Okay, listen closely...” said Sarah, the idea and thought suddenly coming to her mind as she thought about this thing being something to use against Larges. “You know that most weapons don't affect Larges much, right? Bullets and such can hurt and penetrate the skin, if at a close proximity, but with the thickness of their skin, most sort of bullets only leave bruises on the body. Well, someone in my family is on the inside of the organization and awhile back, I remember him telling me about some sort of research they were doing on a way to 'eliminate' the threat posed by the Larges.”

The three looked at one another and nodded as the buzzing started to get louder and louder. “Well, at first, he thought this was some sort of way to hurt Larges. But, a few weeks later, he came back with a crazy rumor. He never thought that it was true, but he said he heard one of the scientists talking about some way to take away the threat and make them the same as Minors. He thought that this experiment, were the rumor true, were some way to not hurt Larges, but to alter their physiology, to make them smaller, like Minors!”

They all raised their eyebrows at this situation. Making a Large smaller? Was that even possible. The buzzing was getting louder and they could hear some sort of energy stored up in the device. Emily, not willing to take any chances, looked to Abby, whom was still transfixed on this device. She grabbed onto her ankle and called up to her. “Abby! Get down here! Get down here right now!” Abby wasn't looking anywhere but the device on the streets. She had heard Emily, but she only muttered a small response. She saw a light building up in the device, which made a peculiar glare in her eyes. It was almost as if it were attracting her vision. “Huh...just a...minute, Emily.”

Emily looked to Helen, Jim, Sarah, and Melinda, with a worried look on her face. Helen pushed herself up to move towards Abby. “Abby, you're coming down here, whether you want to or--” Helen was knocked off her feet as they heard a loud crashing sound from the streets. Lights flew through the sky, and a loud shining filled up everything any of them could see. They all covered their eyes, but Jim called up to Abby, hoping she had gotten out of the way. He didn't know what was going on, but he had a bad feeing, about her. “Abby! Abby, are you alright?!”

They were given an answer soon enough. A deafening, ear-shattering scream could be heard from above them. It filled their ears and the three Minors screamed as well, their eardrums feeling as if they were about to explode. As the sound was deafened and the light was starting to fade away, Jim jumped towards where Abby was, trying to get close to her and make sure she was alright. However, when he jumped, he didn't feel anything. He fell onto the ground on some sort of material or soft object. The situation was very strange to him. Thanks to the light, however, they still couldn't see anything. He moved around as best he could, calling for her, hearing the movement and from the four people behind him.

The situation was turning chaotic. The entire block had been blinded by the light that had shown itself from the device that went straight for the gates of the university. There were so many things going on. Janet was screaming and shoving at the soldiers, trying to see what happened and to get towards the device, a giant knot in her stomach. Jim was falling on some huge material, trying to find Abby, as were Helen, Emily, Sarah, and Melinda, whom were behind, trying to see things. Abby, too, was confused, from her own situation.

They weren't the only ones in confusing and chaotic situations, though. A few blocks away, Fran was walking down the edge of the city and could see that bright light showing itself. Her head whipped itself back as she saw it coming from what looked like some big truck. She had no idea what was going on when she saw it. How many trucks were out there that made shining lights? Then again, how many things in general were out there that could make lights that had that amount of illumination? Not even the lights they install in the Large District homes were that bright. Something wasn't right about it. She could tell.

For a split second, Fran thought she heard a screaming sound. She looked over to the gates as she heard it and just past the light, she thought she say something falling. The light was shining for several minutes, but as soon as it had faded, she was the first to see it. Hanging off the gates of the university was a pair of glasses, the same pair Abby always had in her shirt pocket for when she read at home. Her hands immediately went up to her face as she thought about what that light might have done. Abby never took her glasses out, so how could they have possible gotten on the gates?

She didn't care about how, but she was now starting to get worried. Putting her legs into motion, she had to hurry over there, to make sure her friend was okay. What if something had just happened to Abby? What if she had Jim with her and they had both gotten hurt. “ABBY!” she screamed, running towards the gates, hoping that what she was feeling in her gut wasn't true. She's heard a scream, and Abby seemed to be gone. There was just no way...She forced the bad thoughts out of her mind as she rushed over, telling herself she'd see Abby stand back up, just fine.

Abby awoke from her pain in complete and utter darkness. She tried to look around, but it felt like something was pushing down on her. She felt something all over her skin, as if some incredibly heavy blanket had been dropped over her. She could feel the weight of it against her bare skin. She yelped again, as her hands moved around her body. Her fingers crept up the curves in the darkness. Through her touch, she realized that she was no longer clothed. All of her clothes were gone! What had that beam done to her? Was it some sort of perverted beam that destroys clothing and any sort of material? Who would make something like that? Did they just want to look at a giant naked woman? Who could possibly have the nerve to do such a thing?

After feeling herself, up and down, she could hear voices coming from nearby. No, it was more like one voice. It was muffled, but she could definitely hear it. A brief amount of light was coming from some sort of hole from wherever she was. She couldn't tell who the voice belonged to, but she could hear what it was saying. “Abby! Abby, where are you?!” it called out. She also heard another voice, from another direction, which seemed...different, also calling out her name. Someone was looking for her. Was she someplace else? Had she been taken somewhere, because of this...thing that just shot light at her? She didn't know, but she called back to the voice. “I'm...I'm coming out!” She then started crawling her way towards the hole, looking some 20 or 30 feet away.

Jim could hear Abby's voice as his sight began to return. It was a lot more faint than he had been used to, but he definitely heard it. He was on top of whatever this material was, still not able to completely see around the area. It was definitely soft, and it felt somewhat familiar to him. He looked in further and around, trying to remember. He just couldn't put his finger on it. Everything was so blurry. It was a hint of color, and it definitely wasn't the ground. But, if it wasn't the ground, what was it? What had happened to Abby? He hoped that he would be finding out the answer to that soon.

No more had a minute more gone by that they all heard the ground shaking, from both sides. Emily's sight was beginning to return, and she was trying to look around. Everything was blurry to her, too. Whatever that light was made of packed quite a bunch on their vision. She thought she could see some figure coming in from the East, a Large, but couldn't be sure. Of course...it looked pretty big, and what else was there that was big that could move quickly, other than a Large? She started shaking her head as she heard a mechanical sound moving in front of her.

“Something...coming?” she spoke, softly, as something was happening both beside her and in front of her. The soldiers around the device had been shielded from the light and were moving the device. Hayes had a huge smile on his face and had ordered them to fire it upon the Large that had just stood up, Emily. Janet heard that scream playing in her head, again and again. She saw the woman's face, what she said, and it wouldn't stop playing in her mind. She had to do something...she had to do something now. She tried to push forward, towards the device, when she heard him yell “FIRE!” through a megaphone.

She didn't have a chance to do anything, though. Before any of them could move, the ground violently shook from beneath them as an ear-shattering yell came through the air. “NO!!!!!” Before they knew what was going on, they could see a vehicle-sized boot coming down, right towards the truck...

The chaos of the situation was escalating, perhaps further than any of them expected. The loud voice that Fran had produced shot through the air, as if a dozen loud-speakers were going off, all at the same time. There were screams from the streets, gasps from behind the gates of the university and they were about to be joined by another loud, crashing noise. Fran had seen these people re-aiming the device and assumed they were getting ready to fire off another round of whatever they were doing. She didn't know what it had done, but she wanted to make sure she put a stop to it.

Just before one of the Milita's soldiers had reached the controls to fire off another round, to make Emily join Abby in what had just happened, Fran had arrived at the intersection they were at. It was advised that Larges never actually enter the city, for obvious reasons, let alone show hostile actions towards Minors, but her mindset was different right now. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt people, but the desires to protect the ones she loved outweighed that. Abby might have already been hurt, and the ones with her may have followed. There wasn't really a choice. She had to do something. There was no one else around, it seemed, to do so.

Fran had intended for her boot to come down and hit the front of the drop, making sure that no one would be able to fire the weapon or whatever it was. Her footfall should have been enough to completely knock those people off-balance and make sure the Firing that she had heard ordered would be delayed enough for her to do something about it, or for someone else to. She didn't want to hurt those people, but at the same time, she wanted to protect her friends. Sometimes, to protect the ones you love, you have to hurt others. Her foot came down and slammed against the ground, her thwarting of their second firing underway.

The shadow of the boot narrowly missed the actual truck, bashing into the ground, next to it. As her foot came down, an immense quaking sound occurred and it felt like the entire block was shaking. Street lights were swaying out of control, half a dozen car alarms started going off, and the people on the truck, itself, started screaming at the tops of their lungs. Fran was creating quite a commotion past the confusion that had happened from the light-filled experiments that were being done by the AL Militia. As the shock wave took effect, everyone on the truck collapsed, Janet and Hayes included.

Hayes had just started to climb out of the side of the truck when the shock hit them. Everything shook and he was shoved out of the truck by the impact. His face hit the ground and pain was sent through his cheek as he landed. Quickly pulling himself up, he and the other soldiers saw Fran's boot, less than 10 feet away from the truck. He got up and stared up at her, trying to send an intimidating look towards her. Tried, but didn't quite succeed. The girl was focused on them and sending an intimidating look of her own. Her attire and her attitude sent a chill through all of them.

“S-See! Everyone, look! The Larges are trying to kill us! They want us all dead!” His speech gained him a lot of gasps throughout the streets and made Fran, herself, gasp and drop her jaw. She was getting flustered by him and she shook her head. “I am doing no such thing!” she called down to him. “You attacked my friends, the people that I love! I am doing what I can to make sure they are safe from the likes of you and your little Militia! You're the Anti-Large Militia, I can tell! What did you do to my friend, other there? I only see part of her attire on the gate. What was that light? What was--”

Fran looked back down, in front of her boot, and he was gone. She shook her head, from left to right, trying to find him. She had him right there in front of her. How could she have possible LOST someone that close to her? He'd used his ability to fluster and frustrate her to his advantage. Now, he was gone, but where had he gone? Was he still near the truck? Was he down the street, running like a coward? He was obviously trying to sow discord in the people of the area with what he'd said, so surely he wouldn't be that far away.

The only problem she had right now was just where he was. His uniform had looked considerably different than the uniforms everyone else around the truck was wearing. How hard could it possibly be to find him again. She sighed as she knelt down, near the truck, trying to find him. After a moment, however, she thought she had an idea of where he was at. She heard a mechanical noise near her. It was faint, but as her black hair dangled down, towards the ground, she could hear it, coming from the truck. She eyed the truck carefully, until she saw that the device was moving, somewhere.

Emily was off in the distance, everyone else having heard the commotion that Fran was creating. Both she and Helen had looked in the distance as their vision was finally clearing up. They both heard Fran's voice, flying through the air. Emily, for a moment, shook her hands for a moment, remembering the last time she had seen Fran. It was when Jim had gotten kidnapped, and she was hurting both him and her. She looked down for a second, sighing, but then looked back up, getting back to focusing on the matter at hand. It looked like she was trying to keep them from doing whatever they did to Abby.

Fran was still frantically looking around, when she finally saw where the device was turning to. On the back of the truck, she finally saw Hayes again, after hearing a buzzing sound coming from the device, itself. All of the soldiers had been knocked off the truck on impact, though Janet was still on the bed of the truck, just behind where Hayes was at. He saw that she saw him, but he knew it was too late. He'd already input the controls and moved the levers into the right position. “You won't be 'hurting' anyone else when this goes off. Your threat and your people's threat will soon be-..” As the device was still powering up, he fell over and yelped, after hearing a loud “Stop!!!” from below him...

Hayes was nearly flipping his lid, at this point. They were about to fire the machine on Emily, but with Fran coming in to 'rescue' the University, or so it seemed, Hayes had felt so much nervousness about his plan not working out. He had to do something, and the only way he could keep this operation going was to eliminate the threat that Fran was posing. He figured he could easily distract her by acting as if she were the bad person here, attacking the poor, innocent Minors. It was also a way that he could hope he could instill some fear in the people around, who could hear him. If he could get the people to think all this was the Larges' fault, maybe he could start pushing more people against the bills that are passing to reincorporate the two societies.

All in all, though, he wanted her taken care of. That was the important thing, to him, at the time. He had the device turned around, and he was about to fire upon Fran. Fran was still slightly confused at what was going on, and wanted more answers. She felt threatened and was about to reach forward and do something else towards this man, but her hand stopped moving when she heard that scream from below, from somewhere near Hayes. It had been just like her, screaming “NO!!!” It hadn't come from her, though. It came from someone else. Someone else who also wanted to stop what he was doing.

Hayes had finally gone too far, even for Janet. She had been in a constant conflict of interests when she had seen the experiment go through at the base. She'd felt an even bigger amount of conflict when he saw what Hayes did to that first Large at the university. This, however, this was something that made her completely flip out. She had been stunned at Fran's arrival and, although she'd been tossed around on the truck when she had arrived, she felt like her being there and being so close would bring a swift end to this little 'crusade'.

It didn't, though. Hayes had called out to this woman and distracted her long enough to get back to the device. Janet was recovering from her fall when she saw Hayes standing above her, moving the machine. He saw that look in his eyes. He was doing this out of pure spite. He didn't want this woman normal-sized because he felt it would better the world. He wanted to do it to her because she was throwing a wrench in his plans. Janet remembered the fact of that original woman again, the look of depression. She had to stop this. With that scream that Fran had heard, she jumped at Hayes from behind, trying to restrain him.

Hayes was just about to fire it off when he felt his own arms being pulled back. “W-What?” he yelped, realizing that the final set of controls had not yet been set. He struggled as he saw one of the arms holding onto him, attached to a white coat-clad arm. He was in shock as he realized who was behind him, trying to stop him from doing this. “D-Doctor! Doctor, let me go! What do you think you're doing?!” He struggled harder and harder, trying to break free. He knew he was stronger than Janet, but she had gotten him in a tough spot. He tried to pull an arm forward as he heard her from behind him.

“No! This isn't right, Hayes! This isn't going to make lives better. They're just going to make them worse. You have to stop this! We're not fixing anything by doing this to these people! They have the right to be their natural, intended height! We can't force them into our own society like this!” Janet was trying her best to hold Hayes back, but she could feel her grip weakening every second. She wasn't strong enough to overpower him. Her arms loosened up, not able to take the strain, and Hayes' arms had some wiggle room, finally. She didn't want to give up, though. She had to stop this.

Hayes had the upper-hand now. With his arms somewhat free, he struggled against her grip, bringing one arm forward, grabbing onto the controls. Janet was pulling him back, but he held on. “Be quiet, Doctor! You can't have cold feet, just because we're doing this to them! This is for their own good, as well as ours! Let me...” As he struggled, he lunged forward and, out of the impact, started turning the dials on his own. They went out of place and went for all sorts of combinations and dial placements. The device then began to move. It wasn't aiming at Fran anymore, but just spinning around.

Janet had landed outside of the truck and was letting out a grunt and sigh. As she began to push herself up, she looked and heard the noise that Hayes was making. As soon as it entered her system, her body shot up in the air. On the truck bed, she saw Hayes, moving dials around with his hands now, trying to get it to stop moving. “Come on, you piece of junk! Stop and aim at her! HER! Stop moving! I'll run through every dial if I have to to get you to do what I want!” “NO!” yelled Janet. “You can't mess with the controls like that. You'll overload the circuits! You'll--”

The sound coming from the machine got louder, and louder, and louder still. It was getting to a point where it was deafening, even to Fran. Everyone in the area was holding their ears shut until the sound disappeared, and then reappeared again. The entire machine started to glow an eerie color as the power was overloading it from Hayes' reaction on the controls. Janet jumped up and started running, straight towards Fran. She looked up at her and started beating on her boots. During one of the moments of silence, Fran looked down at her, with a mean look on her face.

“Please!” called Janet. “You have to...you have to get that truck out of here! You have to...” As she was calling up to Fran, the ground was shaking, a group of Larges coming towards them, from the other side of the street. Fran and Janet both looked to them, before Fran looked back down to her, a frantic look on Janet's face, as if she knew something terrible was about to happen...

The red radiance of a setting sun was illuminating over the entire city, providing a gloomy glow to everything in the area. The day was nearing it's end, and half the residents were gathered around the streets on the edge of the city, trying to get past layers upon layers of police tape and roadblocks. About 4 blocks from where Large n Minor University sits, a camera crew jumps out of a van and they set up near one of the road blocks. They're planning to start shooting a news reel soon, and the woman with a microphone starts combing her hair back, getting ready for this.

“Am I on?” she asks, her long blonde hair partially illuminated by the sunlight. Within a few seconds, she gets a thumbs up from their crew as large shadows are moving in the distance, behind the road barriers that are keeping citizens from passing into the area. She clears her throat as she looks straight into the camera, getting ready to speak on behalf of what she knows. “This is Tamara Wilson, and I am here to bring you startling news this day. Something has happened in this innocent city that may change our society forever...”

She turns her head as they all look at a small passage in the barrier, where people are walking through, bringing injured people through on stretchers. “What has happened here was something no one could have foreseen. I am sure you all saw the bright flash of light that illuminated out skies mere hours ago. According to reliable sources, we have come to believe that this light was caused by some sort of weapon, developed by the group now labeled as Terrorist, the Anti-Large Militia. They marched on our very own college, Large n Minor University, and were performing an experiment with this creation, when all things went wrong.”

The woman and her crew slipped through the opening in the barrier, watching people being carried out on more stretchers, EMS personnel everywhere. “As we walk into this Hot Zone, you can see that the injured are being carried out of here as fast as the EMS can carry them. Women and men alike were victim to some sort of radiation from the light we all saw, and they suffered dire side-effects. As we walk along, these people are not only hurt, but they have been changed, for their entire lives. The Militia brought forth an element that was not meant to be tampered with in our society. Something that was crucial to the lives of Larges and Minors alike, size.”

As she walks further, we see a few of the stretchers, one of them carrying Helen on a stretcher, covered in a sheet, and the next held Abby, and then Jim, all the height of Minors. “This light affected Larges the most” the woman continued, moving closer towards the University. “As unbelievable as it sounds, the light managed to rob people of their very size. Only two of the Larges involved in this event managed to escape the radiation, both students of the University. All the rest in this part of the city are, as some would call it, 'normal'. They are not taller or shorter than Minors. How this happened to them, we do not know. All we do know is that this radiation had that effect on everyone and everything in the area.”

The woman turned her back to the camera and walked onward, showing all of their viewers a truly terrifying sight. They came to the blocks around the University, and things changed dramatically. The woman was walking and hugged the walls of the university, her heels narrowly dodging a car, at her feet. A car that couldn't have been more than 6 inches in length. “As you see below me, the Larges weren't the only ones who suffered from this.” The camera tilts downward and they see people down around the cars, and beyond the cars, entire blocks of road, tiny and miniscule. “The radiation affected everything. Nearly a third of our wonderful city is now at a ratio comparable to a model town. The small Minors aren't so small anymore.”

“As we look down at what's happened to our fellow citizens, we realize that the society we live in is becoming more and more complex. Not only do we have Minors and Larges now, but many of the people who were once Minors are now miniscule, as small to us as we are to Larges. We do not yet know if there will be any sort of solution to this mess. We don't know if we can right the wrongs done by the AL Militia and restore everyone and everything, but according to our sources, the government is doing their best to dismantle a hidden Militia facility and find out just what they did.”

“The more important question is, though...” she continued, leaning back against the walls of the university, holding a tiny PT Cruiser in her palm. “How will these people be able to adjust? How will Larges be able to adjust to life as Minors, and how will Minors be able to adjust to being this small? As you can see, this car is now the size of a model car, which is how small our cars are to Larges. However, can Larges and these people interact at all? If a “Micro”, if you will, is the size of my finger, how small would they be to Larges?”

“It brings forth a lot of questions...” she said, as she got back up and started walking back, towards the police barrier. “What we do know, however, is that the problem has been dealt with. The leader of the force that attacked the University has been caught, an unlucky victim of his own assault. The threat of this happening to anyone else has been taken care of. What we must deal with now, though, is facilitating the victims, and finding a way to help them fit in. I have been told that the City will go under a lock-down in approximately 12 hours. No one will come in, and no one will come out, to avoid any accidents.”

“How will things go from here?” she started, getting back out of the barrier area. “Not even I can tell, ladies and gentlemen of our city. But, we must go onward. For our childrens' sake. For the victims' sake. We must go onward, into the future, whatever it may hold. Bless you all, and I implore you to do what you can for the victims you may have in your friends and family. Support them, and try to help them adjust to their new lives as easily as possible. This will not be easy, but it must be done. This is Tamara Wilson. Have as good a night as possible, everyone.”

As she lets the camera crew shut down, we can see a normal-sized Janet walking past one of the trucks, carrying a finger-sized Hayes in her hand, quickly depositing him into her coat pocket and moving towards a group of police in the area. Behind them, we can see Emily and Fran, still having their full-height, following one of the ambulances, which had just loaded Helen, Abby, and Jim inside, taking them to a local hospital.

The future of the city has changed, dramatically, due to the AL Militia's assault. Lives have been changed, and adjustments must be made. How, then, shall the victims, no...the world react to this? How will Abby and Helen react to their new lives? Will they ever find a cure to all of this? These answers can only be obtained in the future. The future of them. The future of Large n Minor University.

THE END?