Chapter 9
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Only a night had passed, but to Almika, it felt like an eternity. An eternity in which Chris could have met his end. From the moment she woke that morning, she was up, searching for him yet again. There were few giantesses in the hallways at the start of the day, but it soon became busy again, just as it always did. Heather, still worried about Almika, had warned her:

"It's way too early to be up, you don't need to be out there in your condition. Do you intend to keep looking forever? I'm sorry to say it, but he's pro-"

"Shut up. You don't know a damn thing, do you. You could never know how much he means to me, especially not after the way you used him."

"I'll...help you." Heather said hesitantly.

Heather made good on her promise to help. She had split up with Almika earlier on when they began the search. The difference between them is that Heather made sure to go straight to her class in the morning when it was time. Almika couldn't give a damn about her class, her best friend was more important at the moment.

"Chris.....where are you..." she said drearily. By now she was getting quite a few stares from the student body. Many of them had seen her many times over looking for this 'pet' tiny.

"Why bother looking? He's probably already shoe-paste."

"I think I ate him this morning, hahaha..."

"If you love tiny people so much, then maybe you should be one. And you look like you'd go wonderfully with my breakfast..."

"Can we help?" finally said a blonde-haired girl. Almika stopped, and looked over at her. She was...gigantic. Around 500 feet, bigger than Almika by 300 feet. Clearly an older student, with her experienced, emerald-colored eyes telling as much of a story as her body height. She sounded legitimately concerned.

"How could you help me?" Almika asked.

"My name is Sara," she introduced herself, "and I..."

"There you are," rumbled another voice from behind. Almika turned to meet another giantess, even taller than Sara. Instead of a green schoolgirl uniform, she instead wore a formal businesswoman's outfit, grey as smoke. "Have you been enjoying yourself all morning?"

"No, I'm looking for Chris," Almika said, her hands shivering as she looked up slowly. A pair of accusing, red eyes met hers.

"Who's Chris? This 'pet' I keep hearing students tell me you're looking for?" the woman said, her voice chilling Almika to the bone. "Do you realize that you've been disrupting others with your pathetic little games?!" Her hand lashed out, and clasped tightly around Almika's. It was far from a warm embrace.

"Ow......get off of me!" Almika said, protesting. Could staff do that?

"Come on. We'll let the headmistress decide what we should do with you," said the woman with finality. And before she knew it, Almika was on her way to what felt like certain doom. Even though she felt like she didn't do anything wrong, the feeling of inevitable tragedy built. It was just like in high school, when you found yourself walking to the principal's office for a reason unknown to you. You wouldn't know how screwed you were until you actually got there...

The woman eventually lead Almika to a heavily furnished door, and pushed her a little towards it. "In there. Now. She'll be with you shortly."

Almika turned the knob with a shivering hand, her other crossed over her body as if to protect herself. She shut her eyes as the door opened, and stood there for a moment before finally opening them.

A small office stood before her. It was suited exactly for someone around her size. The shelves were decorated with awards, written in an unknown language. Latin, maybe? The books were similar in language. Then she looked closer at one of the decorations. It was a tiny person, in a cage, and he was waving his arms silently, mouthing the words, "Help..."

Instinctively, she reached for the cage. She knew she could help him...except, her hands jerked back involuntarily when another door, to the side, turned. She closed the door that was behind her just as the other one opened, and a young woman walked in.

She was beyond the accepted words for 'beautiful'. Creamy, smooth skin, black hair styled perfectly and tied back into a bun, a beautiful outfit, colored like a reaper's robe, that could never have come from even the most expensive clothes store, because of the way it seemed to fit just for her. Colorful, blue eyes that had all the youth in the world, and yet a hundred years worth behind them. It was like looking at a painting that had come to life and began walking around. Hesitantly, Almika sat down in the chair across from where she sat, and waited, her own eyes meeting the headmistress'. The woman folded her hands and rocked a little in her seat, silently studying Almika for a while. The only sound for a full minute was the slight squeaking of the chair, but Almika never dared start the conversation. That honor was for the headmistress, who finally began with...

"Candy?" She reached under her desk and pulled out a bowl filled with chocolate squares. Almika looked at them with distrust. The woman didn't blink. "Silly, I promise they're not poison."

Almika took one finally, feeling as if she were obligated to, and bit down on the end of one. "Thank you..."

The woman smiled slightly. "I am Headmistress Rydia Young. You may address me as "Headmistress" or Ms. Young, whichever you prefer. I don't care which."

"Yes, Headmistress..." Almika said, as if she were automated. Ms. Young continued, even as she reached back into one of the cages on the shelf and pulled out a shivering, small red haired man.

"Now, what seems to be the problem?" she said, her soft, red lips curling into a smile...and then closing around the man's right arm gently. He begged silently for a few seconds, but when they withdrew, the man was crying, and missing that arm. She swallowed as if it were a wet noodle.

"Uhm, uhm..." Almika said, her hands beginning to shake again. "T-th...well..it's...you see...I..."

"Go on...." Ms. Young said even as her lips sucked on the bloody stump, as the little guy let out an inhuman scream for his life. Almika didn't dare show a defiant eye towards the headmistress, but she somehow saw the hidden anger anyway, and was amused.

".......I lost my best friend, Chris, and I've been searching for him since last night," Almika finally blurted out. "I wanted to find him before....."

The headmistress casually ran her smooth tongue along the red-haired boy.
"Is that all it is?" she said, reaching over and patting Almika's head a little, her heart skipping a beat as she went pale. "Then you don't need to worry. Just go on to your classes, and don't worry about him."

"But I have to find him," insisted Almika, now showing a little bit of anger.

"He'll be...well taken care of," she said, smiling, and then the smile descended on the young man once more, engulfing more of his body. Almika went completely silent as she heard a tiny crunch, and a scream as the lips were removed from his body, nearly half of his torso removed, his inner warmth spilling out onto the desk. Ms. Young's smile was now a crimson death.

"Stop it!" Almika said, covering her mouth immediately after. The headmistress seemed amused.

"If you insist..." said the headmistress, who gently eased the red-haired boy back into his cage. The agonizing screams had turned into hopeless cries and shudders as blood poured out of his mouth, and he reached helplessly with one arm out to Almika. He tried to say something, but he only choked on his own blood. "Did you not take vore class?"

"I don't want that class," Almika said, standing up. She wanted to reach out and help the suffering man, but felt as if it would be futile.

"Yes, you do," Ms. Young said. "If you did not like vore, then perhaps you would have noticed what's in that chocolate square...."

Almika looked down, and let out a scream of horror. She had bitten a millimeter away from the arm of a tiny man, still moving, encased deep in the chocolate.