Between Borrower and Giant#2
BBAG: 1/X/? - A/N
Oh wow! I didn’t expect it to take off 0.0
Thanks guys for showing your appreciation ^.^
I’ll try to keep doing my best!
Note: I don’t use the word “human” for any realm because, as I said, it’s a perspective matter. They are technically all humans but with two different scales. Giants and Tinies. Borrowers are Tinies who ventures in the Giant realm, but not all Tinies are Borrowers. - Some backstory in this one, and Virgil being a protective brother. (I really love my OC squad as much as Virge XP)
Warning: mention of dark past, nightmares, discrimination, mild fights, Tinies massacre.
=====BBAG=====
Power: (noun) A specific capacity, faculty, or aptitude.
Different: (adjective) Differing from all others; unusual.
Discriminate: (intransitive verb) To make distinctions on the basis of class or category without regard to individual merit, especially to show prejudice on the basis of ethnicity, gender, or a similar social factor. - Everything is just a question of perspective.
Virgil’s eyes fluttered softly when he caught the sound and the smell of Cara cooking breakfast.
He wanted to stretch out from his cramped position, before remembering that his young roommates where sleeping on him once again.
They came from very far before reaching this closeness.
Especially the youngest and smallest one, Björn and Milka, his childhood friend. The two were like brother and sister.
Their first encounter with Virgil wasn’t really the best.
- Flashback -
The two lost their parents because of Giants when they were even younger, during a Big Raid. Some Giants had come down to the other realm just for playing Smash and Grab in some nearby Tiny towns. It was like humans playing with ants.
After the raid, Amos and a few other Borrowers from other towns went to check the ruins, in case there was any survivors.
It was a real disaster.
There was giant footprints, crushed houses....and stomped corpses...
Virgil was accompanying Amos, at that time he was a lot smaller, but still bigger than everyone.
10ft for 15 years old.
In that situation, his size was rather convenient for working through the ruins.
The young Giant looked around.
It reminded him when Amos found him in the forest with no memories of what happened to him nor his family. He was just lying in the middle of a destroyed village, with no one else around but him. He was so scared and confused when the man, clearly older yet smaller than him by a foot or two, came to him -
Virgil’s breath started to get shallow.
The massacre surrounding him was making him anxious and scared.
When he heard a small whimper from a pile of rubble.
He immediately went to it, calling the rescuers.
“Leave the clearing to Virgil and secure the place.” Amos instructed. “Get the medical kit ready if they are severely injured.”
They are counting on me... It’s my first rescuing mission...I can’t mess up...
Virgil’s hands where shaking.
“No pressure. You have to stay calm.” Amos said.
The Giant teen exhaled softly and started to work. He delicately peeled off the big pieces of concrete, making sure to set them in a safe place, away from the ruins who threatened to collapse.
Soon enough, with the help of the other rescuers they cleared a path among the rubble.
“See anything yet?” One asked. “No, it’s still too narrow but it’s too dangerous to try to jostle the building any further.” Another shook their head.
Virgil couldn’t help but think he messed up.
When he saw what they were looking for.
“Move away.” He told the team, before grabbing a great handful off the building.
It revealed a small ginger haired boy, curled up on himself.
Instinctively, the teen went to pick him up.
Immediately, the boy let out a shriek of fear and tried to back away from his hand. He shot Virgil a terrorized look.
The sight of the boy’s icy eyes froze him to the core.
The boy was scared of him.
Of course he would be scared of you. He just got attacked by Giants...
Amos was about to tell the boy there was no need to be scared of Virgil -
“LOOK OUT!”
A big piece of concrete flew out of nowhere, aimed at Virgil.
He would have easily avoided it, if only he wasn’t frozen in place, the boy’s eyes locked into his.
The Giant teen got the full blow and was sent crashing down a few feet away.
“VIRGIL!” Amos yelled and ran to him.
“STAY AWAY FROM US! MONSTER!” Another child shouted.
They were probably a few years older than the first, standing rather tall, with short blond hair, glaring at Virgil with their valid brown eye while the right side of their face was badly injured. The smaller boy went to hide behind his friend.
As soon as the icy eyes were off the emo teen, he suddenly unfroze.
“Are you okay?” Amos asked him.
“I don’t know why but I was completely frozen...” He groaned softly. “But I think I’ll manage...”
“Are you siding with that...thing?!” The blonde snarled, trying to be brave.
But they were as shaking as the other child.
“His name is Virgil. And he’s not a thing.” The bearded man scolded.
“H-He’s a Giant!” They protested vehemently.
“He’s actually a special case.” Amos said. “As special as you two.”
The children’s eyes widened.
“How...” the smallest whimpered.
“When you locked eye with Virgil, you totally froze him. So I guess you have the ability to paralyze anyone who looks into your eyes.” The boy looked down.
“As for you...” Amos looked at the oldest. “The piece of concrete didn’t fly on its own, did it?”
“That’s quite some strength you have in here, lil guy...” Virgil grunted, rubbing the sore spot where he received the blow. Luckily nothing was broken, but that would surely leave some bruises.
“Milka not boy!” The little one huffed cutely.
“Björn!” The blonde hissed.
Virgil blinked.
“Sorry for assuming -”
“Keep your apology!” Milka cut him. “Girls aren’t supposed to be strong... so I can be as strong as I want as a boy!”
Virgil snorted.
“You can be a girl and strong at the same time, you just proved it.”
He poked her, as she growled and shoved off his hand with a surprisingly great ease.
“Where Björn and Milka go now?” Björn sniffled. “B-Bad Giants taken Björn’s and Milka’s parents... no family...”
“Did he always talk like that?” Amos asked, wanting to check if it was from the beginning or a trauma.
“Björn is...well...” Milka tried to choose her words, but the boy already looked down in shame.
“Hey, now, it’s okay.” Amos knelt down to their level. “You see, I have a daughter, and she is slow on her growth too.”
The children slowly eased down, but they were clearly still scared of Virgil.
“I get it...” he stood up and went to help on another site.
The kids exhaled in relief.
“Don’t be too hard with him...” the bearded man mumbled. “After all, he lost his family in similar conditions...”
“Are you sure he’s really not one of them?” Milk asked once again, trying to fight the urge to feel bad for the teen.
“We cannot be sure, but in scale speaking, it’s the same as you with him.” Amos tried to explain. “He’s merely doll sized to the Giants.”
Milka still wasn’t conviced but didn’t press the matter.
While the children were getting a medical check, Virgil helped the rescuers by clearing the rubble or carrying injured people toward the safe zone.
The team noted that thanks to him, they managed to save a lot more people that they ever did during all their previous after raid rescue missions.
Sadly for the teen, as expected, rescued people were scared and some even mad at him. For everything Giants did to them.
“You’re not like them.” A rescuer tried to comfort him. “These people are just scared.”
“B-B-But what if I really become a Giant?” Virgil rubbed his eyes.
“Just the fact you’re worrying about it makes you different from them. Also, you grew up with us. Another reason for us Tinies to trust you because we know you’ll never hurt us. At least not intentionally.”
“Exactly! What if I accidentally hurt you?” Virgil whimpered.
“Hey, it can happen to anyone. Everyone makes mistake. Now stop worrying over things that didn’t happen, a storm cloud is literally growing over your head.” the rescuer chuckled.
Virgil smiled slightly.
The night fell.
Everyone was gathered in the safe camp.
Well...almost everyone.
Virgil was a few feet away from there.
He could feel the people glancing at him warily, sometimes glaring. But the worse were the not-so-quiet whispers.
Either despite being the greatest sized type, he was still a Giant who could attack them any time. Or worse, he caught a disease that caused him to grow and was turning him into a Giant and they were afraid it might be contagious.
Virgil was scared about that one.
What if it was true? What if something was clearly wrong with him? What if he did turn into a Giant? What if -
“You should eat something.”
The teen got startled by Amos touching him. He looked down, seeing his foster father with a plate of food.
“That thing is going to eat all the food... They should give it to the ones who really need it instead...” Someone muttered.
Virgil hugged his knees, trying to make himself smaller.
Amos wasn’t the one to get mad easily, but there were lines that shouldn’t be crossed.
“His name is Virgil, and he’s not a thing.” He said sternly. “He’s my son.”
“It’s a Giant!” Someone else protested.
“So what?” Amos glared. “If he really wanted to harm us, don’t you think he would have done so a while ago?”
He rested a hand on the teen’s leg.
“This young man here is the one who helped us to rescue you. So instead of throwing stones at him, you should give him some gratitude.”
The rescuers who worked with Amos for a long time and who knew Virgil since he joined the Andersen family went to the teen’s sides. Maybe not all liked him, but they at least showed some respect because he was a good person despite the great bumps on the road at the beginning. If the teen could be a real moody pain in the @$$ sometimes, he still tried to do his best to help people he cared about.
“Everyone is tired and stressed out. I think it’s better for all of us to call it a night and go to sleep.” Amos said.
Virgil stood up, his hair shadowing his face.
Of course, people whimpered and cowered, expecting the Giant teen to be mad at them and attack.
“I’ll take the first turn.” He said, walking away from the camp.
Despite his size, he was pretty swift and quiet.
Björn and Milka watched him go, saying nothing.
The next day, they woke up on the sound of someone scratching the earth and wood snapping.
They went outside, looking for the source of the noises.
The other villagers had the same idea because they joined the children outside.
Their breath got caught in their throat when they found it.
Virgil was digging holes in the ground, bare handed. Then he carefully put down the deceased Tinies, planting a wooden cross next to each holes.
There was at least a hundred of corpses.
Each were ceremoniously placed in the improvised graves, a flower in their hands.
“Virgil.”
Said teen jumped out of his skin when Amos went to him.
“O-oh...good morning Amos...”
As the sun was slowly getting up, Virgil’s state was getting visible to everyone.
He looked really exhausted, like he hadn’t slept at all but also got a very rough night. He was all dirty with several injuries that looked like claw and bites marks
“Virgil...what happened?” Amos worried
“Hm? Oh you mean these?” Virgil showed his injuries before shrugging “I had a “little” skirmish with a bear, that’s all, haha...”
Dread fell upon the villagers. Seeing the Giant teen’s injuries, it was certainly not a little skirmish like he said. He had a bad gash on his flank, barely patched up and deep bite marks on his arms.
“You went to fight a bear?! On your own?!”
“Of course on my own, you guys wouldn’t be any helpful...” Virgil huffed.
“Virgil...” Amos muttered.
The worse was to admit that the young Giant wasn’t completely wrong. If Virgil, being almost at the same height/length as the bear, struggled to fight it off, what a bunch of Tinies could have done against such a beast?
“It was sniffing around the corpses.” The emo muttered, starting to work again. “I thought they deserved at least funeral...”
He laughed weakly.
“Too bad I’m not dead, huh-”
A resonating slap echoed through the ruined town.
Virgil was shell shocked.
Amos had grasped is shirt and downright slapped him.
“A-Amos....” Virgil teared up.
“Don’t you ever say something like that again.” The older man’s eyes were really stormy.
Virgil tried not to weep when, Amos hugged him tightly.
The teen broke down, the lack of sleep and stress catching up.
That was the only time Amos raised his hand at him. He was very angry and scared at that moment.
“Let’s get you treated, okay?” Amos spoke softly.
Virgil nodded.
Before collapsing.
“Still think he’s a nuisance?” A rescuer asked the villagers while the others rushed to help Amos with Virgil. 8 persons were needed to move the 10ft Giant.
Though, the teen was worryingly light for his size.
When Virgil woke up, he was surprised to find Björn and Milka seated by his sides.
“What are you guys doing here...” he muttered
“Hey, Björn, look! Mr Giant is awake!” Milka said.
Before deliberately placing the little boy on Virgil’s chest.
“Is Mr Giant okay?” the small Tiny fretted around the teen. His impossibly icy blue eyes locked inton Virgil’s dark violet ones.
“!!!” His entire body froze up, causing him to be unable to move or talk.
“Yeah, Mr Giant ~” Milka said sweetly. “Are you okay?”
“...” Virgil couldn’t even twitch an eyebrow.
While he did believe that Björn wasn’t aware of the use of his ability on him, he was definitely sure that Milka did that on purpose.
Just you wait you sneaky little -
“Björn, my boy, I need you to come with me. Amos wants to discuss about something very important with you.” A rescuer picked up the boy. “Ah! Wait -” Milka reached for him “Don’t worry.” The rescuer said, cradling the small child. “He’s not in trouble.”
Björn cooed softly in their arms.
Closing his eyes.
“Oh and Virgil.” The adult looked back. “Be nice to her, okay?” They walked off.
“Oh no...” Milka whimpered.
She slowly turned around, seeing the Giant form of Virgil towering her.
“Don’t worry.” he grinned dangerously as he slowly creaked his knuckles. “I’ll be V-E-R-Y nice to you.” “I’ve discussed with the village’s elders. They agreed to let you two live with us since you don’t have anywhere to go.” Amos told the boy.
“Huh?” Björn blinked, not sure to have heard right.
“Yes Björn.” Amos said, trying to focus on the boy’s flamboyant hair instead of his big teary eyes. “You and Milka will live with Virgil and I.”
Big fat tears flooded out the boy’s face as Amos hugged him tenderly.
“I wanted to tell you first because I think Milka would have done everything to make you refuse...” He ruffled his hair. “I know she just wants to care about you. But if it’s you who wants it, I’m sure she’ll follow you with no hesitation.”
“Björn is so happy!” The boy bawled out, creating a big wet spot on Amos’ shirt.
“Now now. Dry up your tears and let’s tell the news to Milka and Virgil. Okay?”
Björn paused.
“Does it mean Mr G- Virgil will be Björn’s brother?” He whimpered softly.
“Don’t worry.” Amos reassured him. “I’m sure you three will get along just fine.” SLAM
“GOTCHA!” Virgil said triumphantly when he pinned Milka under his hand onto the ground.
“Oh yeah?” Milka glared, before biting into his finger.
“OW!” The teen drew back his hand and glared back. “Oh really is it now!”
“Bring it on!” She challenged.
While Virgil was clearly advantaged by his size, Milka’s terrifying strength wasn’t something to scoff at.
The two bickered and fought over ferociously.
Every time Virgil immobilized her, Milka easily broke free from his grasp. She tripped him off his feet several times, but he was quick to get back up.
“Milka! Milka! Guess what!” Björn ran to them before stopping abruptly.
“AAAAAAH!” He screamed.
“Björn?!” Amos ran to him, when he saw the scene.
Virgil was restraining Milka by her waist as she was pushing his face away.
“ENOUGH!” Amos’ voice thundered.
Virgil froze and Milka used that opportunity to elbow him in the ribs and made him drop her.
“What on earth is going on here!” Amos crossed his arms.
“He/She started it!” They both said before glaring at each other.
The older male pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing heavily.
“So, since you two seems to get along very well, there’s no problem in me saying that Milka and Björn will live with us, starting today?” Amos told them
“WHAT?!” Both screamed.
“I never agreed -” Milka protested. “I already asked Björn and he accepted.” She quieted down
“What about Cara and the twins?” Virgil spoke up.
He already had to deal with Matthias all the time. There was no way he could stand Matthias AND Milka.
Amos scratched the back of his head.
“I’ll face the consequences later.” He said sheepishly.
Virgil groaned and covered his face.
- End of Flashback -
“Hn..Hn...”
Virgil was pulled out of his reminiscing when he heard soft whines.
He looked down, seeing Björn curled up, crying softly. He was probably having a nightmare.
Björn didn’t grow much over the years, both physically and mentally. On cue, Björn still slept with a pacifier and his teddy bear.
Virgil sighed soft and sat up, careful not to wake the others.
He gently scooped up the ginger haired boy and rocked him against his chest like a baby.
“There there, it’s okay. I’m here.” Virgil hummed softly. “Shhhh.”
The boy cooed softly, gripping his shirt.
Virgil smiled lightly.
“He had another nightmare, didn’t he?”
The young man looked over the person who spoke.
Milka.
“He really likes you.” She said, standing before him. “I’m jealous.”
“Don’t say that.” Virgil shuffled, letting her sit on his lap. “You will always be his big sister and best friend.”
She sighed, crossing her arms.
“Do you want me to comb your hair?” He asked her.
“Huh?” She looked up at him.
“Your hair. Do you need help with them?”
“...” She looked away. “Fine.”
She went to retrieve the hairbrush before giving it to the young Giant and carefully sitting on his knee.
Virgil moved lightly his right arm so he could support Björn against his chest before taking the hairbrush and starting to work.
Despite his size, he was very gentle and careful.
“A lot happened since you grew them out, huh.” He said.
Milka just hummed.
Her vanilla blonde hair now reached just below her waist, as long bangs completely covered the right side of her face, hiding the reminder of the scary event.
Amos came over, about to wake the children for the day, When he saw the scene.
Despite everything they went through, it was clear that Virgil cared about each member of his family.
The old man chuckled softly, deciding to let them bound a little longer.
=====BBAG=====
(EDIT 19/05/2020: art of Virgil and Bjorn here )
BBAG: 1/X/?
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