Naomi couldn't help but lick her lips as she looked down at the tiny redhead standing on her desk, her little eyes staring up in awe at her massive friend.

"N-Naomi?" Marion stuttered, clearly confused by this sudden predicament. "What's going on?Why are you an Omega?"

"Oh, that's not really important, little Marion," Naomi replied, her voice husky. "Things are just going my way for once."

As a light whimper escaped Marion's lips, Naomi couldn't contain herself anymore, her lips parting into a toothy grin. Bringing her right hand to bear against her miniscule friend, fingers wiggling in anticipation of gripping their quarry, Naomi had to stifle a moan.

"As if," Marion stated, her confidence suddenly back, her composure regained as if it had never been lost. Naomi found that her hand suddenly stopped, and no matter how much she willed it, she couldn't move it another inch.

Marion laughed.

"God, you're pathetic!" Marion said, pointing at Naomi's frozen body as her laughter continued. "Even at the size of that bitch, you can't do shit to me!"

Marion began to strut toward Naomi's hand, her left hand raised. Marion's tiny hand eventually met with Naomi's palm, but she continued to move forward, To Naomi's shock, she found that Marion was pushing her arm back a bit with every small step.

"I was right, wasn't I?" the tiny girl questioned, teeth bared, still slowly pushing Naomi's hand back as she continued her march. "Your stupid brain did rot, didn't it? It fucking must have if you thought you could ever stand up to me, to think you would ever have any power over me."

All Naomi could do was stare, mouth agape. Why was this happening? How was Marion able to do this?

"Because this is your place," Marion seemed to answer. "Just like this. Doing what I will you to do, and nothing else. You're a leech, Naomi, and that's all you'll ever be. I took you in during middle school because you were the prettiest girl in class, and I wanted you as an accessory. I had daddy buy you your first car, because it pleased me to see you so thankful. I'll send you through college right there with me, because we both know you won't be able to go otherwise. That's you in a nutshell, you stupid bitch. Completely dependent on other people to lead you through life, incapable of ever truly doing anything for yourself."

"But that's why people like me exist isn't it Naomi?" the arrogant redhead asked. "To guide pitiful little people like you into a life of some meaning. Even if that meaning is to serve as an extension of me."

Marion had reached the edge of the desk now, having pushed Naomi's arm fully beyond the threshold. Naomi wanted to respond, to tell her that she was wrong, but...why bother lying? Marion was right. She really couldn't do anything for herself. She couldn't accomplish anything. She wasn't smart like Marion. Her family wasn't well-off like Marion's. Her life may as well be defined solely by her relationship to the girl. The only thing she had really had any control over in years had been...

"That Beta trash," Marion answered again. "God, wasn't that great, Naomi? To find someone more pathetic than you are, helpless and alone, no way at all to stop you from doing what you wanted? Of course, that just shows how pathetic you are, doesn't it? That the only thing you've ever been able to take for yourself is some three-inch tall trash that's more pet than person!"

Naomi had begun to cry, her warm tears streaming down her cheeks as she continued to endure Marion's verbal tirade. She was pathetic, wasn't she? She had to be. Only a pathetic person would see a such a small, helpless figure out for a jog as something to make herself feel better. Something that existed in that moment solely for her. Something to overpower and entrap, to tease and mock.

To hurt and break. Because he didn't have the power to stop her, and she had wanted the little guy to know that. To understand that.

"Aw, what's wrong with my sweet, stupid Naomi?" Marion suddenly cooed from below, her voice saccharine, a look of false tenderness upon her face. "Did I make you feel bad? Well, I can't have that, now can I? You lose so much beauty when you pout, girl! I can't leave you like that, it's all you have! So, I'll tell you what..."

Marion's little arms suddenly reached out, finding Naomi's still frozen thumb and gripping onto it. Slowly, Marion began to backpedal, dragging Naomi's hand back across the threshold of the desk as Naomi could only watch in confusion until Marion suddenly halted and flung herself fully onto Naomi's thumb, grasping it in a tight hug.

"Why don't you just go ahead and whatever it was you were wanting to do earlier?" she said, looking up to Naomi with a wide grin. "I'll let you do it, whatever you want. My treat."

Naomi didn't have to be told twice. Her arm had become mobile again immediately after Marion had finished, and a quick tilt of of her hand had the intended effect of scooping Marion right up into her palm, the massive thumb rolling her until her body rested lengthwise across her fingers. The thumb pinned her down onto the four digits as Naomi simply glared.

"Not wasting any time, huh?" Marion remarked with a giggle, some strain present in her voice due to the soft appendage pressing into her chest. Marion simply hugged it tighter. "That's good, Naomi! Now, what do you want me to do? Wiggle around? Beg you to reconsider? Oh, I know! I bet you want me to talk about how great and strong you are!"

Naomi considered her for a moment, her lips pursed. She considered those options, and a few more, but every time her mind drifted back to one option she found particularly appealing.

"I want you to scream."

"Oh!" Marion exclaimed. "I can do that. If you're willing to work for it, anyway," she said with a smirk and an idle stroke of Naomi's thumb.

"I think I can manage," Naomi spat, her lips curling into a snarl. Ripping her thumb from Marion's grasp, she quickly brought it back down onto her stomach, eliciting a wretch from the smaller girl, and nothing more.

"Gonna need to do a bit better, hon," Marion said, still with that same stupid smirk.

Naomi gritted her teeth, her eyebrows furrowing in annoyance. She retracted and brought down her thumb again, receiving nothing more than a giggle in response. Grunting in frustration, Naomi lifted her thumb up and down, up and down, each blow becoming steadily harder as her anger grew with each ineffective strike. It didn't matter how hard she struck the little girl, or how often. Marion simply continued to grin up at her after recovering. Naomi was getting flustered, and it was showing. Her cheeks were flushed, and her breathing labored. Why would she not just fucking scream?

"I think you might want to try something different," Marion croaked up at her, extending her right arm and swinging it back and forth.

"So much to choose from," she started again, "and you just. Keep. Going. For the same ole' thing."

Naomi pinched the waving arm between thumb and forefinger, halting that annoying waving. The little sing-song voice Marion had used for that last little bit hadn't gone over well with her, either.

"Oh, that might be a good choice!" Marion called up, smiling wide to show off her teeth. "Might get a good scream from that!"

"Then let's find out."

Naomi pinched her fingers, a crunching sound emanating from the limb. She watched with carnal anticipation as Marion's eyes went wide, her lips partings as if in slow motion.

"Here it comes," she thought, lips curling into a smile as she readied herself.

It disappeared as soon as the scream reached her ears. That wasn't Marion's voice, and it wasn't Marion in her hand anymore. It was Claire's brother, wailing in pain, tears streaming from his eyes as he held his shattered arm.

***************************

"No!" Naomi screamed as her eyes slammed open, a cold sweat permeating her body as it trembled. Staring at the wall of her enclosure, she pulled her pillow out from under her head and brought it in for a tight hug against her body.

Within a second she felt something push against her back, slowly rubbing back and forth. Naomi froze, holding her breath.

"Bad dream, little one?" a voice asked from above.

Oh, God.

Naomi slowly turned her vision upward and toward the front of her enclosure. Sure enough, Claire was kneeling there, the Omega's toned arm outstretched in her direction as she slowly massaged her back. Her face was unreadable.

"I'm sorry," Naomi found herself saying, tears beginning to leak from her eyes. "I'm so, so sorry. It wasn't supposed to be him..."

Claire's neutrality broke for just a moment, a mix of confusion and compassion briefly expressed on her face, but that passed quickly.

"Come on, Naomi," she said, "it's time to get up. I have a lot to go through today, so we need to get started. I want you to take a shower and use the bathroom, then change into the wetsuit that's in your cupboard. None of this is optional. Especially the bathroom thing."

Her tone brooked no room for argument.

"What are we doing?" Naomi asked nervously, still clutching her pillow tightly

"Your first disciplinary session," Claire deadpanned. "Now get up. I'm going to go get a drink and file a report, so be ready in twenty-five minutes or I will discipline you further."

The massaging digit gave one last rub before the arm returned to the side of it's owner. Naomi watched as Claire rose to her full height, and couldn't help but notice that she seemed to be in workout attire of form-fitting spandex shorts and a black tank.

She didn't have time to loiter or take in the sights, though. Despite feeling like she had woken up from one nightmare into another, the fear of prolonging whatever...experience Claire had planned motivated her to roll out of bed and scurry to get ready.

Claire returned twenty-five minutes later, right on the dot. Naomi let out an eep as Claire unceremoniously snatched her up without a word, bringing her up to her nose and taking a sniff, the suction pulling lightly at Naomi's hair.

"Good, nice and clean it seems," she commented, bringing Naomi down in front of her chest after her little inspection. "Wetsuit's on, too. Did you use the bathroom?"

"I-I did," Naomi said. She could feel her face blushing at the rather embarrassing question. In addition to it just kind of being a personal matter, it felt like Claire was treating her like a child she had to check behind as they readied for a trip.

"Alright, I suppose we should get started," Claire stated from above, and she watched her free hand head to the base of the enclosures. Three rapid clicks followed, and Naomi's attention was caught by the glass on the enclosures seemingly fogging up all at once, to such a degree that every inch was a thick, solid white. Naomi couldn't help but look up at Claire in confusion.

"It's a bit of a blinding feature," the giant woman stated in response. "The enclosures aren't actually made out of glass. It's like glass in feel and texture, but send a little pulse of energy through it and...well, this happens. Stays like this for about two hours, assuming I don't send a counter-pulse through it."

"In any case," she continued, "your friends can't see us, and the sound dampeners make sure they can't hear us. I prefer for these little sessions to be private, but keep in mind that I'm not required to do so. This is a courtesy, one I will strip away in a heartbeat if given reason to. Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am" Naomi confirmed with haste. She felt pressed to answer as quickly and, more importantly, as affirmatively as possible.

"Good. Now," Claire started, beginning to rise to her feet, fingers firmly gripping her smaller charge so that only her head was popping. Naomi found herself being lifted up as well, passing the larger woman's chest and neck before being brought to a halt before her large, plush lips. "Let's get down to business."

The Omega's lips parted, and a shiver shot down Naomi's spine as a large pink mass slipped between them, it's surface thick and wet with saliva. She didn't even have time to scream before it quickly darted out, the tip of Claire's tongue impacting her square in the face. Naomi closed her eyes as she felt it begin to probe around, the hot, sticky muscle slowly tracing over her face, coating it in saliva.

Naomi felt the tongue suddenly retract from her head, paired with a loosening of Claire's grip. Now lying in Claire's flattened palm, her first reaction was to bring an arm to her face, wiping away the sticky saliva from her eyes as she opened them.

Her next reaction was to scream as she watched a little over three feet of pink, slimy tongue come toward her, the surface slowly lapping across her shins and moving up her body. The organ was not being particularly gentle, and Naomi found that it firmly pressed her body into the soft, firm skin of the palm that held her as it passed over. Naomi had watched in fearful awe as it ran over her body, the rough feeling of Claire's tastebuds against her exposed shins thankfully coming to an end as it came into contact with her wetsuit. That relief was short-lived, however, as the tongue showed no signs of stopping it's advance as it began to crest her breasts.

Out of reflex, she lifted her arms in an attempt to halt the advancing muscle. She could only whimper as it effortlessly rolled over arms, pressing them down into her chest and coating them in it's signature trail of spittle. The only resistance she had left was to close her eyes and turn her head to the side, flinching as she felt the tongue begin to drag along the side of her face and press on her even harder than it had previously been. Soon enough, she felt the tongue leave her again, another drop of saliva dripping down on her face as an apparent farewell present.

"Did you know..." Claire suddenly remarked, a minty breeze cascading over Naomi as she spoke, chilling the saliva that now covered the smaller girl.

"Did you know that Alphas used to actually eat Betas?"

Naomi's eyes surged open at this, a prayer on her mind that this wasn't leading to her immediate instinct.

Claire had seemingly been waiting for this, and the massive tongue was suddenly on her again. It had eschewed the rest of her body this time, immediately coming into contact with the side of her face, pushing it into the soft palm underneath once again while it's surface passed over Naomi's peripheral vision.

"They did, you know," Claire continued. "Apparently they felt that was simply the food chain at work..."

The tongue arrived again, this time delivering another full-body lick before departing.

"...that the Betas were there to satiate them..."

No lick followed Claire's monotone this time. The tongue simply shot straight out of her mouth, even faster than it had the first time, delivering a blow right into the side of Naomi's head. The smaller girl felt as if she had just been decked.

"...to serve them..."

Another blow from the titaness's tongue.

"...whatever the need."

One last shot, this time into her abdomen, knocked the wind out of the little girl.

"Of course, that was one of the first things we put a stop to when we were born."

The tongue returned once more to Naomi's face, but did not strike her this time. Instead, it slowly passed over her skin in a gentle lick, exerting none of the pressure it had before.

"It was actually kind of easy, you know..."

Another gentle lick.

"...we weren't nearly as lenient and we are now..."

And another.

"...we simply killed anyone who ignored our order to stop until our vision on the matter became the norm."

Naomi shuddered at this, and tried to prepare herself for the return of the striking blows that had previously followed Claire's darker words. Instead, the tongue simply returned to her face once more, delivering another tender lick. Then another, and another. The giant woman was lapping at her now, and for Naomi's own nerves she wanted to believe that it was in some manner of affection. The feeling of Claire's tongue now...wasn't unpleasant. The experience was still weird, of course, but it had seemingly reached the apex of what Claire wished to do.

The bigger problem for Naomi right now was that saliva was now seeping off her and pooling around her head, drenching the side of her face that she had been hiding from Claire in the spittle. Her hair had not fared better, and was now stuck fast to her own skin. Attempting to solve at least one of these problems, she turned to face Claire once more. She was somewhat surprised when the tongue's soft slaps against her adjusted as well, beginning to work on the previously hidden side of her face. This seemed to go on forever, but eventually Naomi's apparent new friend left her for the last time, and she opened her eyes to see Claire staring down at her silently.

No words were said, but the Omega didn't seem to have any desire to continue at the moment. Naomi decided to take the chance to get her bearings straight, sliding back on the large palm a bit to at least get her head out of the pool of saliva. Looking around, she noticed that Claire had actually moved since beginning the session and was now leaning back on her bed, her back propped up by stacked pillows.

The silence didn't last, unfortunately.

"Do you want to know how we preferred to kill anyone who broke that law, Naomi?"

Naomi instinctively shook her head, and she noticed Claire's lips curl into an almost imperceptible smile.

"That was rhetorical," she answered. Of course it was. The hand she was resting on now began to rise, eventually putting her at eye level with with the woman, who seemed to be studying her.

"How we preferred to go about it, little Naomi, was that we would eat them."

Claire's palm immediately tilted, and Naomi desperately wanted to soil herself as she began to slip off the increasingly vertical platform and toward the destination Claire had planner for her: Her open mouth. The reason for Claire's insistence on the bathroom was suddenly apparent to the smaller girl.

"Please, no!" Naomi yelled, fear and desperation dripping from her voice as she edged closer and closer to the giant maw. "Please! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, please don't!"

She watched in horror as her feet passed beyond Claire's lips and deeper into the waiting mouth, her pleas apparently falling on deaf ears. Claire's lips suddenly sealed shut, trapping her legs below the knees beyond the soft, plush gate. She felt the giant tongue beyond probing at her bare feet and shins.

Then she felt the teeth close in on them, firmly but without cutting through, and a shrill scream escaped her lips.

"Please, Ms. Lindon!" Naomi cried. "I'm sorry! I wish I could take back everything I di-"

She was interrupted as the mouth suddenly opened again, causing her slide to begin anew. As her waist passed through the lips and over Claire's teeth, she began to thrash and sob. Claire apparently decided to put a halt to the former, closing her lips once again, this time right below her chest. Once more she felt the waiting tongue probing at her, poking at the upper legs, crotch, and buttocks that had entered it's domain. As before, the teeth soon made themselves known once again, this time fitting her stomach in their grip.

"Oh, God," Naomi sobbed, only her chest and head now visible outside of Claire's lips. "Please don't do this, Ms. Lindon! I was so selfish and made such a huge, awful mistake, and I'm so sorry! Please!"

Claire's only response was to open her lips once again, and Naomi once again screeched in fear. Slowly, she watched as she sank fully through Claire's lips. Desperate, the smaller girl attempted to latch on to Claire's soft upper lip, but was foiled as a massive finger pushed her fully inside and beyond her tormentor's teeth. Naomi's body was now lying fully on Claire's powerful tongue in the dim interior of her maw, and she could only sob as even what little light there was began to disappear as Claire's lips sealed her in.

Immediately after being left in this hot, humid darkness, the tongue Naomi rested on immediately flexed slamming the girl into the roof of Claire's mouth. Naomi couldn't help but smile grimly to herself, thinking of the tongue as welcoming the friend it had made into it's abode. The pretense of friendship didn't last, however, as she felt the tongue shift underneath her until the tip was pressing into her back. What started as a light pressure gradually escalated, until it felt as if the tongue was about to crush her against Claire's palate any second.

Thankfully, the pressure suddenly halted, and Naomi felt as if she had immediately fallen upon the length of Claire's tongue again. The muscle beneath flexed once more, again slamming her into the palate above. This time, however, the tongue began slowly gyrating below her as if delivering a massage.

Claire was sucking on her as if she were a candy. Moreover, she was being surrounded in a veritable sea of saliva now as Claire's body responded to the prospect of an oncoming meal. Naomi was soon utterly drenched in the viscous liquid, which had begun to seep through her nostrils and even into her mouth. Naomi had to spit and snort to clear her orifices of the invading liquid, but each time it seemed to immediately return.

The tongue eventually halted it's gyrations, but Naomi was given no time to recover as it casually swished her into a new area of the mouth...the interior of Claire's cheek. Naomi, for her part, wasn't sure whether to be thankful that Claire still had more games to play, or frustrated that she wouldn't simply get it over with. The latter soon won out, though, as the excited muscle returned to Naomi and began pressing her face first into the yielding cheek, the soft membrane cushioning it slightly. The tongue began to roll her along the soft surface, saliva swishing all around her, for God knows how long before she found herself resting once more upon the tongue.

"Maybe she's finally going to get it over with," she thought, her whole body aching from a combination of exhaustion and the gradual pounding she had taken from her current bed.

Her prison was suddenly illuminated, however, and Naomi found her shoulders gripped on both sides as if between a vice. Slowly, she was pulled out of the humid cave and back into the cool air of Claire's bedroom. Now soaked in the massive woman's saliva, the cool air was chilling her to the bone. The grip that held her gingerly laid her on a waiting palm, her head propped up by the curl of the hand's fingers and enabling Naomi to look up at Claire's face. That unreadable expression was gone now, replaced with a more tender look. The underside of Claire's free hand suddenly entered her vision, slowly descending upon her. Naomi began to panic once again, but Claire gently shushed her before tenderly laying the massive hand onto Naomi's tiny body. The warmth was...God, that warmth was great compared to being out in the open air. Naomi felt like she was under the warmest blanket she'd ever seen as she found herself nuzzling into the tanned flesh.

"Naomi," Claire said, her voice soft and considerate, "that's all for today. But I'd like you to stay with me a while longer, because I'd like to ask you some questions. Would that be fine for you?"

"I-I h-h-have a c-choice?" Naomi shivered out. Claire gave her a polite nod.

"You do," Claire confirmed. "If you want, I'll put you right back in your enclosure and you can clean off and take a nap. But I have some time before I have to begin with Stephanie's session, and I'd love it if we could do something constructive with it."

Naomi closed her eyes, considering her options for a moment. Claire was being nice now, but she had seen how often and easily she could switch gears. What if she didn't like Naomi's answer to a question? Would she find herself being "disciplined" again?

"I-I-I'll d-d-do it," Naomi finally answered, opening her eyes. Claire gave her a thankful smile.

"Thank you, sweetie," she said. "Now. before we go further, I want to tell you that I passed along your apology to my brother. I think it made him feel a lot better, and he wanted me to thank you for him."

"R-Really?" Naomi asked, a hopeful look on her face.

"Mmhmm," Claire replied.

"I'm really glad it made him feel better," Naomi said, allowing herself a small smile.

"Now with that said," Claire started, "this also leads to the first question: Why did you attack him to begin with? Your record is perfectly clean, no history of this kind of behavior at all. I want to know what made that change."

Naomi couldn't help but look away. She didn't want to answer this question. She was ashamed and embarrassed of the answer.

"Please, Naomi. I just want to know why a girl that seems so sweet and has been so remorseful did what she did. I want to know why someone like you did that to my big brother."

Naomi grunted to herself. She still didn't want to share, not in the least, but..in her head, Claire had a right to know. To know how awful the girl in her hand really was.

"Because I wanted to feel in control, for once. To feel powerful. Just to feel better about myself."

Claire seemed to consider that answer for a moment, but Naomi couldn't help turn away again as she saw a frown form on her face.

"I'm pathetic, aren't I?" Naomi asked. "A pretty girl that got mad about not being able to do anything for herself and took it out on someone even weaker than she was."

"Naomi, why in the world would you feel that way about yourself?" Claire asked after a small moment of silence, a hint of confusion in her voice.

"Because it's true," she replied, turning to face Claire once again. "I have nothing going for me besides my looks. I'm not smart, my family doesn't have money, I'm not good at anything! The only reason I'm even going to be able to go to college is because Marion is basically taking me with her. The only things I have are the things she's given me...I never would have gotten them myself. I'm just...I'm just the type of person that's better off doing what someone else tells me to do."

"And who told you that?" Claire snapped, her eyes narrowing and frown intensifying. "Marion?"

Naomi nodded meekly, a lump forming in her throat.

"Then Marion's a shitty friend, Naomi," Claire replied with a snarl.

There was an awkward silence between them for a few minutes, and Claire's face slowly began to revert back it's usual stoic expression.

"I want to share a little story with you, Naomi," Claire stated, breaking the silence.

"A story?" Naomi questioned. What good would a story do?

"Yes, a story. You see, there's one thing I always, always do whenever I talk to my brother: I put him somewhere where he is directly eye level with me. Do you have any guesses as to why I do that?"

A shake of her head was all that Naomi could give her.

"Part of it is because I want him to know that in my eyes, he matters just as much as me. I don't want to sit or stand somewhere and talk down to him, as if his only place is below me."

Naomi nodded. That made sense...it was certainly really sweet of her. She couldn't help but feel even more pathetic compared to her, Claire seemed like such a great person...

"The other part," Claire continued, "is because when I was thirteen years old, I realized something for the first time. You see, I adored my big brother, Naomi. I thought the world of him. He was so smart, so nice, incapable of doing anything wrong."

Claire halted suddenly, seemingly trying to prepare her next words. Naomi had begun to tremble, and it took her a moment to realize that it was because Claire's hands were shaking around her as she began to tell her story.

********

Then one night, and note that he was seventeen at the time, he stumbled home drunk from a friend's house down the road. He had forgotten his house key, and had to use the doorbell at our Beta entrance. I was the only one home at the time, so of course I was the one that had to let him in. So I step out, take one look down at the walkway for him, and I can immediately tell he is drunk. He was barely even able to stand, and then he went and confirmed it when he started slurring his speech.

And as I stood there and looked down at him, Naomi, I got mad. My brother wasn't supposed to be off getting drunk. He wasn't supposed to be stumbling around the neighborhood like an idiot, slurring his speech, forgetting his keys. He wasn't supposed to be breaking a law. These weren't things he was supposed to do, you see. Because they didn't fit with what I wanted.

And you know what I did? I told him that. I told him how he was supposed to act, and what I expected him to do. And he stood there at my feet, nearly three thousand feet below me, and listened to his little sister tell him in a voice louder than thunder what he was supposed to be. I don't think he could even see my face, Naomi.

So early the next morning, he shows up in my room, hungover as hell and wanting to talk to me. To thank me. Because he had a dream after he got to bed and went to sleep, and he wanted to tell me about it, about how enlightening it was.

The dream, you see, boiled down to him walking down a road. And every time he got to a fork, or an intersection, or whatever, he would simply look into the sky. And I would be there, towering into near infinity, and I would tell him which path to take. Because I knew which path he should take, because I was bigger and obviously that meant I could see which would be better for him. And if he tried to take the wrong path, the one I didn't pick, I would just reach down and remove it. Scrape it off the face of the Earth, as if it had never been there to begin with. And he was so thankful, because nothing bad ever happened to him, and that was just the greatest thing in the world to him at that moment. He was utterly infatuated with the idea of some comparatively all-powerful being guiding him through life, because he felt his decisions would make him worse. Because he felt he would be better off if he lived the life I wanted him to live.

He left after sharing that, went straight back to his room and passed right the hell out. I'm pretty sure he's mostly forgotten about the whole thing now, and I thank God every day for that fact, because as I listened to him talk about that dream and realized the effect five minutes of talking down to him had, I realized something else shortly after he left my room.

I realized for the first time that, for all intents and purposes, I was a god to him. It had taken eight years, but it had finally hit me how much power my size truly gave me over him. Sure, I knew how easily I could hurt him if I had the mind to do it. But I hadn't realized the authority I could exert over him due to it. It was different with Mom, she had parental authority at least. All I had was the fact that he was a mite in comparison.

I loved that realization, Naomi. I loved knowing that if I made just one more little push, I would make that dream he had into reality. I knew I could guarantee him a good life. I knew that I could keep him safe. I knew I could eventually find him a good girl that he would be happy with. I knew all that and so much more, because my ideal life for him was just so perfect and everything I could ever want for someone.

All it would take, of course, was me ignoring what he wanted to do in favor of what I felt he should do. And that was a little bit of a hangup. So I went to the only person who I felt could help me decide if I really wanted to make that push: I went to my mom, and I told her what I thought, and how I just knew I could make life so great for him. She didn't have much to say. She simply said that she would trust my judgment on the matter. In hindsight, I think she was lying on that, but I think she wanted to see what decision I would come to on my own. The only other thing she said to me was that she expected me to do what was right for my brother, what would best support him. I thought on the matter for a few days, and it eventually occurred to me what she meant by that.

If I had went along with that little idea I'd had, I wouldn't have a brother anymore. He wouldn't even be a human anymore. I'd simply have a little extension of my own will, doing whatever I wanted it to do, obliviously happy as it meandered through life without ever expressing any desire of it's own ever again. It wouldn't be a person anymore. I wouldn't respect it. I don't think I would even love it anymore, at least not as the brother I had known.

I will never stop being ashamed at how I felt that day. The real reason I hold him close is because I never want him to consider handing his humanity over to me like that ever again.

********

"People like me don't exist to stand above it all and dictate what other people do with their lives, Naomi," Claire stated, a look of purpose in her eyes. "We exist to help others realize their dreams, their desires. To give them the strength they need to push toward them and make them a reality, to help push the obstacles they face out of the way. Marion is a shitty friend to you, Naomi, because she doesn't care about you as a person. She cares about you as a thing that she can dress up and set on a path of her choosing, as a part of her life."

Claire took a deep breath, but all Naomi could do was stare up blankly at her as she processed all this.

"The point, Naomi, is that you should do what you want to do. So I have a goal for you, that I'd love to see you meet by the time you finish your sentence."

"What kind of goal?" Naomi asked.

"I want you to find that something you want to do, to get away from that toxic "friend." I want you to realize what all you have to offer, and if you can do that then I promise that I will do whatever I can to assist you when you find that thing."

Claire was staring down at her, her face confident and reassuring. And Naomi could barely see it as her eyes welled with tears. She couldn't remember the last time someone had been there for her like this, cared so much about her, and the fact that it was someone she had hurt and who had hurt her...

"Thank you," she mouthed, no words emerging from her mouth, but Claire seemed to understand nonetheless.

"It's nothing you need to thank me for, Naomi. I told you, this is why I exist. Betas may be my primary focus, but I'm not going to ignore someone else in need of help right in front of my eyes."

Naomi wiped at her eyes, and she noticed that Claire was getting out of her bed and beginning to kneel down in front of her enclosure.

.

"Naomi," Claire started, her tone somewhat apologetic, "I want you to know going forward that I took no joy in the pain I caused you today during the session. That's...just how they are, and how they're going to be. But I want you to trust me when I tell you that I will never cause you any long-term harm during them. I think they will go by much easier for you if you can do that. Can you trust me on that?"

"I...I think I can," Naomi replied. She did trust what Claire said, but...God, she didn't know how she was going to make it through all those sessions.

Claire gave her a warm smile as she began to lower her into the enclosure, gently leaving her on the floor.

"Alright," Claire said as her hands withdrew, "How about you get cleaned off and I'll go get you a meal and leave it with you before I start Stephanie's session? You can have the rest of the day to yourself. Sound good?"

Naomi nodded up eagerly, food did sound strangely good despite her earlier...experience. As Claire stood and began to leave, Naomi began to undress, her thoughts focused solely on the hot shower to come.