Carl flew down to hover just out of Astrid’s reach. He could see the anger on her face and knew that if he wasn’t careful she could easily kill Crystal. He slowly floated forward, still making sure he was far enough so she couldn’t reach out and grab him but not sure what else he could do so he tried reasoning with her, 

“Astrid, please don’t do this”, he pleaded, “I’ll come back and do whatever you want. Just don’t hurt Crystal”

Astrid chuckled grimly and said, 

“Sure you will. If you’re so willing to come back to me why are you staying just out of range of the house?”

He tried to find an answer but was unable to think of something before she interrupted him,

“Don’t bother coming up with an excuse, just get your tiny ass in my hand in five seconds or you can kiss your friend goodbye” she put the scissors in the front pocket of her dress and held it palm up for Carl while starting the countdown

“Five” He started going toward her, desperately looking for a way out of this but unable to find one. Even with his magic he couldn’t make a weapon fast enough and he didn’t know what he’d make that could hurt her at this size anyway

“Four” He was closer now, this time looking at the scissors in her dress pocket, wondering if maybe there was a way he could reach it and maybe use it against her but looking at it he remembered his trouble with something as small as a nail polish brush and realized that wasn’t going to happen

“Three” he was now close enough that his magic was gone and he could feel himself slowly descending into the waiting hand

“Two” his feet touched down and stood there waiting for whatever would happen next, hoping Cassy and the others would be back soon. Looking up he saw the fingers start to close around him and braced for what would certainly be a tight grip.

“Good!” He could hear Astrid say high above him, “You shouldn’t have tried to escape. I’m going to make y-…” she stopped abruptly as he could feel something crash into her followed by the feeling of falling and a large jolt as they hit the ground. He waited for a second to see if she was going to get up or at least open her hand but when nothing happened he managed to squeeze out between her fingers.

As he stood up he looked over at Astrid and saw that she was unconscious with a large gash just above her eye that was bleeding quite a bit. That was confusing enough but it was nothing compared to what he saw when he turned around. As he turned toward whatever it was that did this to her he found himself looking into the face of another giantess, this one a lot more friendly and familiar which only made it even more confusing. 

“Hi honey”, Cassy’s booming voice called out as she bent as low as she could get so she could see what to her was a now tiny Carl staring up at her in awe. She was wearing jeans and a T-shirt with white sneakers and joked, “Human shoes are so weird. The bottoms are too hard”. Carl stood speechless.

The two stood like that in their now reversed size roles until Gemma landed next to them and said, 

“Come on. We need to get inside and get this spell cancellation field disabled”, she tried to take off again but as Carl had learned on his first day there all they could manage was a low hover without magic so she looked up to the giantess Cassy and asked if she could help them. 

Cassy placed her hand palm up and the two fairies climbed on. Just before she stood Crystal ran out from the direction of Astrid’s body and joined them. They all sat for better balance as the giant woman stood and made her way into the house.

“You didn’t tell me your girlfriend was a human”, Crystal said to Carl

Carl looked back over his shoulder at his once tiny girlfriend’s enormous breasts as she held her hand at chest level to keep them secure as she went inside and said, 

“It’s hard to explain but she wasn’t always”, then he decided that he should tell Crystal the whole story so he waited until Cassy placed them on a table and told them she was going to make sure Astrid was secure before she woke up and told her the truth.

When he was done Crystal looked him up and down and said, 

“So you used to be a human?” he nodded, “But now she is” she pointed in the direction Cassy had gone. Carl nodded again and Crystal asked, “But how did she become human?” Carl had no idea but Gemma spoke up,

“When that other human was going to capture him Cassy begged me to use the spell we’re going to use to make him human again on her”, she saw the look of concern on his face and quickly reassured him, “don’t worry, we can still turn you back. I just have to revert Cassy to her fairy form then you two can head home for her to turn you back”. Carl was relieved to hear this

“Good. I can’t wait to be human again so I can come back here and teach this bitch…”

The three fairies were knocked off their feet as a massive fist slammed on the table

“Teach this bitch what, exactly?” It was Astrid. She leaned in close enough for her giant face to fill their vision 

“So, your name isn’t Emma, huh? And you’re not even a fairy or even a woman? Wow!” she said excitedly “This changes everything. We have so much to discuss”. Carl, now worried how Astrid had gotten past Cassy asked

“Where’s Cassy? What did you do to her?”

Astrid furrowed her brow and said, 

“Who?” she asked, then “Oh? You mean that girl who sucker punched me? Don’t worry about her, you have much bigger things to deal with at the moment” as she picked him up by a wing, shaking him so much he thought it might tear. “Now then”, she said taking a seat while still holding him this way, “How about you tell me all about your little adventure”

“Don’t tell her anything!” Gemma yelled up to him which got Astrid’s attention. She picked her up by a leg with her free hand and holding her upside down in front of her face said

“And how do you plan on stopping her, I guess I should say him now?” she thought and then said, “nah, her is more appropriate, isn’t it?” and laughed. “But anyway, like I said, how are you  going to make her listen to you instead of me? In case you haven’t noticed I’m the biggest one here so I make the rules”

“Second… biggest” Cassy called from the doorway. Carl couldn’t see her from his position in Astrid’s hand but he could tell she was breathing heavy and sounded hurt. Astrid dropped both him and Gemma back onto the table and turned to face her, giving Carl a glimpse. She had a black eye and swollen lips plus she was leaning against the wall. He was more afraid for her than himself at this and tried to call out for her to stop and offered to cooperate with Astrid but neither giantess would listen as they charged each other.

Despite Cassy’s height advantage Astrid managed to get the upper hand quickly with a hard punch to Cassy’s good eye, causing her to stumble back. She followed up with a knee to the stomach sending Cassy to her knees. 

Carl wanted to look away but couldn’t abandon his love in her time of need. He looked to Gemma, 

“Is there anything we can do for her? She’s going to be killed!”. Gemma took a quick look around and saw the scissors lying at the other end of the table

“It’s a long shot but if we get those to the floor we might be able to use them to distract her” 

Carl nodded and the three of them ran over and with all their strength managed to get it over the edge where it landed with a loud clang. He worried that Astrid might hear it but she was busy with Cassy and didn’t.

Once it was down Carl, Crystal, and Gemma floated down and with some effort got it on its side. Being the tallest, Crystal raised the sharp end onto her shoulder and the three fairies ran with all their strength into Astrid’s ankle. 

Carl had hoped that they’d hit a tendon or maybe an artery but to his dismay all they managed to do was barely puncture the skin. Astrid yelped in pain and reached down

“What the hell?” she asked when she felt the scissors barely stuck in her ankle. When she looked down and saw the three fairies that were no longer on the table running for cover she laughed and said, “Nice try but thanks for the assist”, then to Cassy "Looks like your little girlfriend just made my job easier”. She brought the scissors up over her head ready to plunge down but Cassy, having been given a small window of opportunity, managed a punch to the side of her head. Shocked, Astrid dropped the scissors and Cassy was up and reaching for them at the same time.

The two women struggled to get the upper hand, Carl and the others could only watch helplessly as the titans battled. Once again Astrid overpowered Cassy and was ready to deliver the final blow when Gemma let out a wild battlecry and charged toward them, moving faster than he’d seen anyone move before. She reached the two in seconds and leapt up to Astrid’s hand where she grabbed on and wouldn’t let go. Carl couldn’t see what she was doing but he could tell it was hurting.

“Shit! Stop that you little pest!” Astrid cried out shaking the hand she was on. When that didn’t work she began to bang her hand on the floor. The first time had no effect but after the second, then the third it was obvious Gemma was losing steam. By the sixth she had stopped moving and fell limply to the ground. Carl and Crystal tried to rush over to help, danger or not, but as they were on their way Astrid lifted her knee and brought it crashing down on top of her. The two paused and looked on in horror. 

Luckily Gemma’s sacrifice wasn’t in vain. Cassy used this moment to grab the scissors and seeing her friend crushed like that sent a wave of adrenaline allowing her to pin Astrid down. Astrid started to say something but in her rage Cassy didn’t care and she plunged the blade into her chest over and over until she collapsed from exhaustion.

“You check on Gemma, I’m going to see if Cassy’s ok” Carl said to Crystal as the two split. 

He reached Cassy’s giant form and began to climb up her shirt, coming to rest on her chest. Her could from the rise and fall of the surface he was standing on that she was still alive but not conscious. Unsure of what to do, he climbed up onto her chin where he knelt down on her cheek and began slapping her, gently at first but quickly realized that at his size even his hardest would be gentle to her so he stood up and began jumping and yelling at her to wake up.

Eventually he saw her eyes begin to flutter and finally pop open. She sat up immediately, causing him to fall off his spot on her face and landing in the open neck of her shirt. Cassy reached in and plucked him out, sitting him on her palm and slowly standing, wincing with pain from the fight. When she was up she looked down at Astrid’s body and gave it a light nudge with her foot but received no response.

“Is-is she…?” she trailed off

“Yeah, I think she is” Carl answered before she could finish, “You didn’t have a choice. She was going to kill you and then do who knows what to all the rest of us”. He could tell she was upset at having taken a life even if it was the only option and wanted to console her but then her heard Crystal calling up to them. He pointed down to where she was with Gemma and Cassy laid on her stomach to be closer to them after placing Carl at her feet.

He could tell before he reached them that it was bad. Crystal was hunched over Gemma using all the magic she could but nothing seemed to be working. With Cassy looming over them she turned to the giant woman and said, 

“Please. Get us out of here. Maybe if we’re outside our magic will be strong enough to fix this”

Cassy didn’t hesitate and carefully scooped them all into her hand and carried them outside. Once there Carl and Crystal went to work trying with all their might to heal Gemma but once again with no luck. Finally Carl placed his ear to her chest and when he heard nothing he looked up at Cassy and shook his head. Upon hearing this Cassy sat up with her knees to he chest and said 

“No no no no no. This can’t be happening” while rocking back and forth and crying.

Carl, having his full capabilities back, flew up and landed on her knee to try consoling her. 

“I’m so sorry. She saved all of us and didn’t deserve this” she looked at him briefly then started crying even more. He flew off of her knee and hovered next to her face, giving her the closest he could get to a hug with their size difference which resulted in him being soaked in her tears. He backed away and when Cassy saw what had happened she managed a small smile despite still sobbing.

“Look at you”, she said, “you’re soaking wet” and he just shrugged and went back to embrace her some more, not concerned about it.

“What do we do now?” he asked, “Should we bring her back for a funeral? Do fairies even have funerals” 

Cassy said that wouldn’t be necessary and pointed down toward Gemma’s body which was now glowing brightly as what looked like glitter began to rise from her. He saw Crystal kneeling in reverence in front of her while Cassy rose to her knees as well so he sat on her shoulder and did the same. The three sat there until the body was gone with just a small sparkling outline of her form which soon disappeared as well.

When it was over Carl flew up in front of Cassy again and said, 

“We should check out this house to see if we can find any clues about what she was doing” Cassy nodded and the two were joined by Crystal as they approached the house to begin the investigation. Before they got there, however, the ground began to shake violently causing a wide pit to open and swallow the house. Once it was completely sunk the hole closed leaving an empty spot of land with no sign a house had ever been there. The three looked at each other and Carl said, 

“You should definitely let your people know about this when you get back” he looked around, “Speaking of which, how do we get you back to a fairy anyway?”

This caused Cassy to begin crying all over. She collapsed to her knees and sobbed louder than before as Carl once again tried to comfort her. 

“I can’t go back!” she shouted between tears, “Only the fairy who cast this spell can reverse it. I’m stuck like this forever! And…” she cried even harder now, “…and so are you. If I’m stuck as a human that means I don’t have the magic to restore you so you’re stuck as a fairy”

Upon hearing this Carl felt a pit in his stomach as he dropped from the air and landed in front of her knees where he sat in silence, contemplating spending the rest of his life like this.

While they were lost in thought Crystal flew over and landed next to Carl,

“I heard what she said. I’m sorry, is there anything I can do to help?”

Carl remained silent, unsure what to say. He knew what she could do to help but changing either of them back was impossible now that Gemma was gone. Cassy, however, spoke up with a few requests,

“Thanks Crystal. I think I’m going to need currency to get back to Carl’s house. It’s far enough by air and that’s no longer an option for me so I guess I’ll need to take”, she looked down at Carl and asked, “what’s that thing you take when you don’t have a car?” Carl, still trying to wrap his head around his new reality, mumbled “Uber. But you’ll need a phone too”. Cassy, at her new size and with her hearing reduced to human levels couldn’t hear what he said but Crystal did and relayed the message to her. 

After some quick magic from Crystal, Cassy had a new phone and credit card with enough money to get back to Carl’s place. She also had Crystal make her a purse so she’d have somewhere to hide Carl who wasn’t too thrilled about riding in a purse but when Cassy persisted he agreed. As they waited for their ride, Crystal said her goodbyes to the two and went home for the first time in years, promising to visit once she had settled to check up on them and help Carl adjust. Carl said nothing while Cassy extended her index finger which Crystal shook then flew away.

The Uber arrived shortly after and Cassy carefully picked up Carl and placed him in the purse. Before she did she asked if he wanted to make himself some clothes but he said he was ok for now and climbed into the purse before Cassy gently zipped it closed.

The ride took a lot longer than she had expected and by the time she arrived she had fallen asleep and had to be woken by the driver. 

“Huh? Oh, sorry” Cassy said as she opened the door and exited the car and it drove away. As she walked to the front door she realized that she didn’t have a key. She opened the purse and saw the tiny fairy her boyfriend had become sleeping and gently nudged him with her index finger. He woke with a start and she asked him to fly up through the window they broke and unlock the door. 

Wiping the sleep from his eyes he did as she asked and when he got to the lock realized that like with so many things now he was too small to move it. Concentrating on the lock he focused on making it move and after some effort he heard a click followed by the knob turning and his giant girlfriend walked in.

“So, um, now what?” Cassy asked hoping Carl would have some ideas. He just looked back at her and shrugged his shoulders, 

“I don’t know. This is new to me too” and suggested they have a seat at the kitchen table to talk about their next step and flew off toward the kitchen. Cassy followed, but not before fumbling for the light switch so she could see more clearly. 

“Is this how bad all humans see?” she called out, “I need a light for everything now”

When she reached her destination she saw Carl standing on the table waiting for her, or at least she saw a shape that she assumed was him since her human eyes seemed very weak. Remembering what Carl used to do when their roles were reversed she went to a cabinet, took out a coffee mug, and placed it upside down in front of Carl so he could have a seat while they talked then she sat down in front of him and watched as he floated up and landed on bottom of the mug. 

Carl sat looking up at his now giant girlfriend, noticing that his feet were nowhere near the ground while sitting on the mug and answered,

“I never noticed any problems when I was human”, he answered, But I can see how you’d think  that, compared to fairy sight you must feel blind” he paused, feeling bad for having said that but when she didn’t say anything added, “once we’re settled and if we can’t find a way to fix this you might want to visit a doctor to see if you need glasses”

She didn’t know what to say to this news so decided to change the subject. As scared as she was, she knew Carl must be just as scared. Looking down at him she realized just how tiny she used to be and now he was even smaller than she was and in a whole new body that seemed very likely to be his forever. She lowered herself as much as she comfortably could and asked him how he was doing with this. He thought for a moment before answering, 

“Honestly, I don’t know. On hand, and don’t judge me, but being in this new body feels pretty nice. I don’t know if it’s because of the magic running through me or maybe just my way of coping with this but I feel comfortable like this”, he looked around at his giant surroundings then added, “well, almost comfortable. This being tiny thing is pretty scary, I know I can protect myself with the magic but I had several reminders of how small and weak I am while with that monster”

Cassy smiled down at him and said

“I’m glad you’re ok with some of this” she reached down toward him and lifted his chin with her index finger, “and if it helps, I think you’re adorable like this” then leaned in and gave him a giant kiss on the top of his head. While there she inhaled and noticed how great he smelled, “Mmm. You smell like strawberries”

Carl took a handful of his hair and sniffed and realized she was right. 

“There’s something else” Carl said, “If I’m going to be like this I should probably go by a different name” Cassy nodded and he continued, “I thought of going with Emma because of how I look but after my ordeal I don’t think I want to hear that name ever again so I was thinking maybe you could call me Daisy”

“Daisy’s good”, Cassy said. “How did you come up with that one?”

“I don’t know”, Carl, now Daisy, said. “I just like the sound of it and I was trying to think of a name that I didn’t know anyone had and this is what I thought of”

“Well it’s beautiful” Cassy replied. 

The two were interrupted by a phone ringing in the other room. Daisy listened to the voice caller ID and heard it say “Call from Rachel - mobile”

“Oh shit!” she exclaimed, “She must be worried sick about me. Cassy, can you go get my phone and bring it here? I can’t call right now but I should at least send her a text so she knows I’m ok”. He looked down at his body and added, “Well, mostly ok”