Must Defend Him

Chapter Six

Zelphar felt the ground shake beneath him, jolting him awake. There were three hyenas in his hair that shrieked and ran on top of his head. He brought up his hands and took them off, and carefully placed them on the ground.

Other hyenas ran around to avoid the giant to injure them. Zelphar crawled his way out of the cave to make sure that his mother wouldn't hurt the cackle of hyenas.

When he stepped out, he was face to face with Alavara. Subconsciously, Zelphar took a step back, his back hitting the cave. She grinned as she approached him.

"Aww, baby, have you been sleeping out here, all alone?" Alavara cooed as she held up his chin with her index finger.

"You left me!" Without thinking, Zelphar shoved his mother away from him, almost pushing her over. He froze in place, staring at her in fear.

"I only do these things because I love you, you know that, right? I don't want to hurt you, but you make me so angry sometimes." She hissed the last part, beginning to look annoyed.

"Y-You do..?" Zelphar was searching her face to find any clues of her lying. Alavara's lips curved into a smirk at him. She went back to the spot she was, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Yes, I am your mother, after all." Alavara chuckled before she placed her other hand on his other shoulder, giving him a grimace. "I know you have been with humans." She hissed at her son, making him wince.

"I-how did you know?!" He stammered, and his hands began shaking. What if she hurts Theo?

"Do you take me as a fool? You reak of human." Her nails began to dig into his flesh, almost breaking the skin. Zelphar whimpered in pain, but he was too afraid to fight back.

Alavara's right hand released his shoulder and cupped his cheek in her hand. "They left you." She stated bluntly, surprising him.

"What?! N-No, he wouldn't do that!" Zelphar felt tears grow into his eyes, blurring his vision.

"And why is that?" She asked innocently, giving him a sympathetic face.

"He told me were are friends!" Tears burst out of his eyes, trying to prove her wrong.

"Aww, sweetheart, he was lying. I'm the only one who could ever love you." Alavara released her other hand and pushed some of his hair out of his face. Then planted a kiss on his forehead. Zelphar gave in, sobbing into his mother's arms.

"If you have learned, you would have known not to have compassion toward others." She held her son close, protectively. "You wouldn't be in this circumstance in the first place."

"Your wrong." He began. "Theo cares about me, and I care about him!" He pushed himself away from her again.

"You are just like your father." Alavara hissed as she came close to him. "Useless!" She grabbed him by the throat and threw him to the side. He crashed into a few trees, knocking them over. She stormed off, pissed off at her son.

____

Theo had gone out to the forest, bringing along his old sword. He still had to train himself to kill the she-giant, now with more motivation. He found a thick tree and attacked it, slicing it from left to right. The human was in deep concentration, focusing on the idea of freeing Zelphar from an abusive mother.

"Theo-" Surprised by the sudden loud voice, he turned around and swung his sword at whoever that was. Zelphar hissed in pain as he pressed both hands against his cheek.

The human looked up at his friend, dropping his sword in shock. "Oh shit! Zel, I didn't know it was you! I'm so so so so sorry!" Theo took a few steps closer.

"NO! Don't touch me!" The giant cried as he scooted away. Tears were pouring out of his eyes. He had his knees against his chest, hand on his scratch.

"Please come back. I didn't mean to scare you." Theo went closer to him, but this time he didn't back away. The giant used his free hand to wipe his tears but more came. "Can you move your hand? I want to see if you are okay." He kindly smiled at him to assure that he wasn't going to hurt him.

"O-Okay." Zelphar removed his hand from on top of his scratch and reached down for him. The human stepped on and held onto his thumb to keep himself stable.

When he was at eye level with the cut, he sighed with relief. Thankfully, he didn't hurt him to the point of bleeding, but he still felt awful. "I am so sorry, Zel," Theo said as a tear rolled down the giant's cheek.

"It's okay. All I do is cry..." Zelphar sniffled as he looked down, resting his head on his knees.

"What-?! Who told you that?!" Theo's eyes widened, shocked that he would say something like that.

"...My m-mother." He didn't bother to lift his head to look at him. The human felt his heart sink at the poor sight.

"She is wrong, okay? If she says stuff like that to you, don't even believe it for a second!" Theo thoughtfully rubbed his hand on his cheek to help soothe him. Zelphar leaned into his loving touch, a ghost of a smile on his lips. It disappeared shortly after.

"She has told me many times how caring for others makes you weak?" He muttered under his breath. Theo stopped rubbing Zelphar's face and furrowed his brows at him. The giant took a shaky breath and looked up at him in fear.

"Caring for others does not make you weak." Theo sighed. "It makes you stronger." The human smiled up at him. "One, you protected those campers even though you didn't have any reason to. Two, you sacrificed your home and your general well being for them and me! Three, You treat all of us humans as equals, not taking advantage of our sizes. Four, you never listened to your mother about how you should kill and/or eat humans. Zelphar, you did all of that because you care."

"T-Thank you, Theo!" The giant had more tears pouring out of his eyes. He quickly, but gently, wrapped his fingers around Theo's sides and pressed him against his cheek.

____

After a while of shed tears, Zelphar and Theo had grown exhausted. They were lying down, the human on his chest, watching the sky turn blue, orange, pink, and black.

They were both quiet, but it was a comforting silence of Theo listening to the thuds of the giant's heartbeat. Their silence was interrupted with a loud yawn from Zelphar.

"You tired?" Theo asked in a joking tone, beginning to feel sleepy himself. The giant hummed before his hand protectively rested on top of Theo. For a moment, he panicked but calmed himself down, knowing that Zelphar would never want to hurt him.

"You know I can't leave staying trapped under your hand like this, right?" The human asked, half-joking. He tried to wriggle his way out, but his hand kept restarting his progress.

"'t's better when you are here-" Zelphar interrupted himself with another yawn. His voice rumbled throughout the human, sending shivers down his spine.

Knowing full well that he would be trapped here for the night, he decided to get comfortable. "Goodnight, Zel." Theo curled in on himself to preserve the warmth.

"M' night." He murmured in response before falling into a dreamless slumber. Leaving the human to stare up at the twinkling stars and listen to Zelphar's heartbeat until he fell asleep.