Must Defend Him

Chapter One

Warning: misgendering (if any of you get offended by that?)

"Dad, why don't you understand! I am ready! Let me go out! I'll kill her in her sleep!" Theo stomped his foot on the wooden floor in anger, glaring daggers into his father's eyes.

"Theodoric Grelamin, you are not going to kill the giant! You are not ready! Go to your room and sleep!" Henricus sternly pointed his finger toward his son's bedroom.

"I thought you wanted to 'avenge' Garnier," Theo grumbled under his breath as he stormed to his room. The teen made sure to slam the door to annoy his father and to express his anger.

Theo walked to his bookshelf and took out a book. Then he threw it across the room, hitting the wall on the opposite side. A frustrated groan escaped from his mouth before jumping on his bed and punching his pillow.

When he finished abusing his pillow, Theo dropped his head on the pillow. Then turned it right to look at the wall. His sword was in the corner of the room. It was a gift from his father for his birthday a month ago. Henricus told him that Garnier used that very sword before he was taken.

An idea popped into Theo's head as he sat up and stared at the sword. It was reflecting the moonlight coming through the window. Without a second of hesitation, he prepared to leave.

Unfortunately, Theo didn't have any armor, so it was ride or die. The impulsive teen grunted before grabbing his wooden shield. He grabbed his belt with a scabbard attached to it. Then put it around his hips, buckling it to a sturdy hold.

His head snapped to the sword's direction, a confident smirk growing on his lips. Theo walked over to it and slid it into his scabbard for the time being.

Quietly, Theo opened the window and swiftly hopped out, landing on his feet. Thankfully, his house was only one story. Immediately, he dashed into the forest, ready to slay the evil she-giant.

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After what felt like an hour, Theo was out of breath, exhausted from running so much. His throat was begging for soothing cold water. The teen had already come this far. He wasn't going to turn back now. Also, his father would ground him for a year if he found out.

Suddenly, the sound of faint sobbing caught Theo's attention. Instinctively, he ran in that direction, worried if they were hurt. He had to run through bushes as the fastest way to where the sound was coming from.

Theo stopped in his tracks, shocked to see what was only five feet away. It was a giant, curled in a ball, crying. The giant had the same description as he had told many times. Dirty blond hair. Except she had short hair that was floofy. His father told him it was long and straight.

"HYAH! Surrender you, fiend!" Without thinking, Theo jumped out from the bushes, holding out his sword. For some reason, the giant flinched and looked down at him in fear. Her eyes quickly looked at him and a tree next to her. She ripped it right out of the ground, bringing Theo's guard up.

Then, she held the tree in front of her as if she was... protecting herself...? The tree was trembling in her hold, confusing Theo even more.

"What are you doing?" Theo's posture slumped, dropping his guard altogether. At the sound of his voice, the giant winced.

"D-Don't kill m-me!" The giant pleaded, but something was odd about her voice. It was way too deep to be a woman's voice. In fact, it sounded a lot like a male teenager. Theo brushed it off and got back into a fighting stance.

"You have killed thousands of innocent humans, you evil giantess!" Theo shouted, now annoyed that she was completely different than he had expected.

"N-No, I haven't-! Wait? Giantess? I'm a boy!" The misgendered giant tilted the tree so he could glare at Theo. Once again, he dropped his guard, now very confused.

"But, dad told me it was a woman?" Theo muttered to himself as he began pacing, deep in thought. Then he stopped to get another look at the giant. Now he could actually see him. His features were more masculine.

"...It was probably my mother." The giant mumbled, looking to the side as if he was... guilty?

"Your mother?" Theo repeated before his eyes widened, and he held out his sword for the third time now. "Who are you?!" The teen demanded, now irritated for mistaking the giants.

"Z-Zelphar! My name is Zelphar..." The giant answered he seemed to have regretted giving him his name.

"You are a bad giant. Can you even fight?" Theo responded bluntly, causing the giant to look hurt?

"I-I can fight! And I'm not a b-bad giant!" Zelphar's knuckled paled, grip tightening around the trunk of the tree.

"Then why are you cowering behind a tree?" Theo asked flatly, unimpressed by the giant's attempts to be threatening.

"You scared me! Er- so I could, uh, hit you!" Zelphar claimed, earning an outburst of laughter from Theo.

"Stop laughing at me!" Zelphar threw the tree to the side, making the ground tremble beneath the human. "You p-probably never met a giant before!" The giant was becoming very upset at the idiotic human.

"You are correct about that, but my father has." Theo couldn't get rid of the wide smirk on his face. "Besides, if you a real giant, you would have at least attacked me by now." The human put his hands on his hips, staring up confidentially at the giant.

"SHUT UP!" Without thinking, Zelphar kicked the human, flying back, hitting a tree from behind him. "Nononono, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!" The giant got on his knees and crawled closer to the human. They fell unconscious from bashing his head against the tree.

Zelphar knew it was a bad idea to go to the human town to get help. He would get killed on the spot. Gently, he cupped his hands around the human and lifted him off the ground. There was no reaction from the human, worrying Zelphar even more.

The giant frantically looked around himself, trying to find a safe place for him. His pant pockets caught his attention. He unbuttoned his left pocket and carefully slid the human inside. The button snapped when Zelphar closed it.

Then, Zelphar stood up from the ground, gently pressing his hand against the pocket that the human was inside of. The giant began walking home, careful of his movements not to hurt the human even more than he already has.