Must Defend Him

Chapter Two

"Is there anything you're good for?!" A loud female voice shouted, jolting Theo awake. He immediately lost his balance, falling on his back. The material around him was some fabric, even from above him.

"You are a pathetic excuse for a giant! You can't even kill a bear, so what are you even good for?! Tell me!"

"I-I...nothing..." The second voice was quieter than her's, but it reverberated all around Theo. The human would have thought it was soothing in any other situation.

"That's right. Nothing." Theo heard her coming closer to whoever was keeping him on their person.

"Zelphar, know that I love you. You are my son, after all. I am only trying to prepare you for the real world." She gently cupped her son's face in her hands, using a soft voice now. Tears were pooling in Zelphar's eyes, blurring his vision.

Zelphar nodded, not trusting himself to say anything without breaking down into tears. Her hands slowly trailed down to his neck, frightening him. Her fingers grew tighter around his throat, hurting him.

"Grow some balls, m'kay?" A sickening sweet smile spread on her lips, but her eyes were glaring at his.

"Y-Yes..." Once Zelphar said that, she let go of his neck, allowing him to breathe. He gasped and stumbled back, favoring where she had squeezed his neck. Faint bruises were appearing where her fingers previously were.

Quickly, he rushed out of the cave, tears breaking out of his eyes. He knew his mother would hurt him more if she caught him crying. Thankfully, she didn't stop him from running, knowing full well, he will come back.

Not too far away, there was a cliff peering over to the ocean. It was always Zelphar's safe space because humans don't have a reason to come here.

When he took a seat, his legs hanging off the edge, the feeling of squirming in his pocket made him remember the human in his pocket. Immediately, Zelphar unlatched the button and reached in. The human kept squirming, avoiding his touch.

Finally, he had two fingers, pinching the human's sides so he couldn't get away. Zelphar gently placed the human onto his palm. It looked horrified, but that was natural for humans.

"Uh, hi." The giant shyly waved at Theo. It didn't comfort him because he was still in Zelphar's clutches, waiting to be crushed any second now.

"Just... please don't..... DON'T make me suffer when you crush me!" Theo begged before using his arms to shield himself, even though that would do nothing.

"What? Oh, no, I'm not going to hurt you or anything like that!" The giant looked shocked for a moment that he would think that but relaxed shortly after.

"W-What are you gonna do to me?" Theo asked, slowly lowering his arms to get a good look at the giant. Now that he was actually looking at him, there were visible scars on his face.

There were very prominent five scratches on his face. They looked like someone cut him badly. The marks started above his right eyebrow, trailing down to his cheek. Luckily, whatever had hurt him, missed his eye.

"I accidentally... knocked you out, but I-I didn't know what to do! I wanted to take you back to the human village, but I don't want to die. My pocket was the safest place because if I left you, the wolves would have found you."

Theo was speechless, surprised that the giant didn't have any intentions to hurt him. At least, not yet. His eyes searched Zelphar's face to find any lies, but none were found, just guilt.

"...You-"

"I didn't mean to hurt you- I'm sorry." Zelphar interrupted as he looked away, ashamed for what he had done.