You're Never Alone (rewrite!)

[Satal]

Ok... so this was my most read story on shrinkingman...

I got stuck and cannot continue it for the life of me, but looking back I found more than just writer's block. My style changed in the middle of it! DX

So, while I am moving here, I decided to take it and compleatly rewrite the story. The characters will remain the same with only minor details changed hopefully for the better.

I hope it is well accepted here as it was on SM. Thanks! <3

[Satal]

The heat was almost to the point of being completely scorching as the sun went down, but I held my ground. I was pretty determined not to go back. I had nowhere else to go though. My closest friends were at summer camp. I began to unroll the only thing I took with me, my sleeping bag.

Sniffling, I crawled inside the padded dark green fabric and lay on my stomach to watch the light die in a magnificent arrangement of pinks, oranges, and dusky purples. The sky remained blue, just blue, for now. Sighing, I rubbed my tear-stained face.

The dry shale of the creek bed poked through the sleeping bag at some points, but I was comfortable. I watched the stagnant water swirl and flow along its slow and steady way. A snail fought against the current, its black shell shining like a spot of oil.

"Mom hates me and I have nowhere to go," I sighed in a faltering voice to the unfeeling snail. I was about the pluck it from the water when it answered in the deepest voice I have ever heard.

"Why?" My stomach turned to lead. I finally noticed the darkness that had fallen on the spot where I was laying. I looked behind me and saw nothing, only the dirt wall of the creek. When I looked up, all I saw was blue. I hesitantly shrugged it off. But the voice did not go away.

"You... are you crying? I knew you sounded sad." I turned my gaze up again and the blue remained, but the sun's dying performance had begun behind the blue. Looking further up, my blood froze in fear's icy grip. Outlined in the orange and pink of the sunset, was an utterly massive human-shaped creature. He was kneeling to peer down into the creek bed and directly at me. Stuck in my sleeping bag, I couldn't exactly run. I lay perfectly still, like what they said to do when faced with a dinosaur.

A frown crossed the giant's youthful features. "Hello? Little human? Are you... afraid of me?" With a quiver through the shale, he was on his stomach instead of kneeling. He was closer now. One of his thick arms dangled into the creek bed cutting off my main escape rout if I chose to run.

"A-afraid?" I croaked out, surprised by the roughness that had crept into my voice. A smile broke out upon his face, his jade eyes sparkling with joy.

"You spoke!" he cheered. He leaned a bit closer as if to hear me.

"Y-you asked if I w-was afraid?" I stammered my mouth running without help from my brain, "Of c-course I am! I don't e-even know what t-the hell you are! What the hell is going on! I wanted to j-just escape my mother not th-this!" Tears dripped down my face and I dove into my sleeping bag to escape the look of hurt on the giant's face. I zipped the bag up completely, sealing myself from him.

"Wait!" he cried. I felt the earth tremble under his girth and a tightness around my hips and then nothing. I felt nothing. I felt nothing for the longest time.

"Little human?" The voice was closer! I began to shiver and shake as my sobbing escalated. I was going to die and with that knowledge, I reserved myself to my fate.

"You can just eat the bag too!" I shouted at him. I heard him sigh.

"I don't want..." I never let him finish.

"You can digest it! I know you can! Look at you! Just end it! Monster!" A chuckle vibrated through the air. It wasn't full of malice, but a lonely gut-wrenching sorrowful sound.

"I get that a lot here," the giant sourly replied. With a thump, I was placed onto a hard surface. With a muttered apology, I felt the giant walk away. I remained in my sleeping bag until the frog's began to sing and a deep darkness had settled upon the woods around me. I poked my head out and looked around. I saw no giant. He had put me back in the creek bed and vanished. I inched completely out of my hiding place. Guilt gnawed at my core. Had I really hurt the giant enough to make him leave? Why had he visited me?

My body moved on its own. I was scrambling up the dirt wall and into the woods. He wasn't that hard to track, his massive footprints littering the ground. By the size of his feet alone, he had to be at least 100 feet tall! I hesitated before taking a step forward.

"Where are you going, Little Human?" I froze. Looking up, I saw his green eyes illuminated by the starlight gazing down at me. His face was dirty from tears. He wore no real expression. If I had to say one, I'd call it disappointment.

I never answered him, so he continued, "I heard howling in the distance as I was trying to leave. I don't know what that means on this plane, but on mine it isn't something very good. It didn't feel very right leaving you alone in your state." I nodded blankly.

"It isn't good," I replied, my voice still rough and scratchy. He smiled and shifted his sitting position to look at me better.

"My name is Catra. I'm not going to eat you," he stated in his deep tolling voice.

"I'm A-Amy," I replied offering him my hand for some reason.

"Are we making a truce?" he asked cocking his head to one side. The meager light bounced off his white hair making every movement seem exaggerated. I found myself laughing.

An amused look crossed his features. He leaned forward, fingers first, and wrapped them around me before I could bolt. He lifted me into the air. I freaked and my laughter turned to screams.

He put me into the palm of his other hand. A worried glimmer flashed in his eyes, which were unbearably close.

"I didn't hurt you did I? I am trying to be kind!" he asked. I clung to the nearest digit, his thumb, in a death grip. "Amy?"

"I am afraid of heights!" I yelped. He smiled.

"I will not drop you, I swear," he sighed, his breath washing over me like a swealtering breeze. I looked up at him, still not uncoiling from his thumb.

"I trust you, but..."

"Old habits die hard," Catra stated with a nod of understanding. The marshmallow-head didn't put me down despite my fear though, he held me closer to his shoulder.

"Why are you alone? All the humans I've seen travel in packs or with animals," the giant asked kindly. Sadness swept over me.

"I got in a fight," I explained, "with my mother. I'm running away."

"Oh good!" Catra exclaimed, "That makes two of us! Though my fight was with my retainer and I jumped planes to come here. My retainer isn't very nice. He is strict and cold and unfeeling! I don't want to go back! But I don't want him to attempt the jump. He could die!"

"Die?" I asked.

"Our planes are parallel and should, no, never will cross. I have a certain trait in my bloodline that allows me to jump across the gap with some divine help. He doesn't so he could be ripped apart!" Catra explained in a matter-of-fact tone. I blankly nodded. "I am forced to return tomorrow or I will be stuck here until someone comes and gets me. I wish we could have met sooner."

The giant suddenly looked crestfallen. I loosened my grip on his thumb and thought about a proposition.

"Can I go with you? I don't have any better place to go..."

[giantblackcat]

I love this story! The old and the new version! ;D

[Satal]

Thanks blackcat! You... you read the old one too? Noooo! It is horrible! *hides*

Keelan: There she goes again. It wasn't that bad.

This one shall be better! I shall work hard to make it so! Watch me Kool-aid!

[giantblackcat]

I think the older are good too!! >w<!!

Hehe!! Kool-aid! *point and laugh*

[natalie]

I like the rewrite also as well as the old one. This is great!!1

[Satal]

Keelan: *glares daggers at blackcat* I DARE you to call me that again. I CAN hurt you.

Kool-aid, calm yourself. You never go through with your threats anyways.

[giantblackcat]

You? Hurt me?

HA!

I like to se it!!

[LightHeart]

OO!! I LOVE THIS STORY!!!

[Fang]

OOH! This sounds interesting...Love the intro...^__^ Though, I never had the pleasure of reading the original...TT^TT
>_>
<_<
Errrr...could I read the original one too?! :3 Peas??

[giantblackcat]

www.shrinkingman.com/

Go here, in fiction and go down to find it! ^^!!

[Fang]

OOH! Thanks, Yoyo!! X3

[giantblackcat]

^^!!

You're welcome! I really enjoy with this story!

[Amayasama]

^0^ Ohhh! Big friendly marshmellow head!!

[Deleted]

Oh yaaaay~! I loved this story! Glad to hear you're working on it again!

Heehee... Kool-aid... <3~

[Satal]

Keelan: Can I squish that one? *points to blackcat* Please?

Catra: No! What are you thinking!

Keelan: I'm thinking of my dignity. *sighs and flops onto a chair* This is all your fault Amy.

And I'm sorry.

Keelan: No you're not.

You're right. But I am sorry you hate the nickname. It's cause I luv yoooou! *makes a face at Kee and types up the update*

[giantblackcat]

I only like make angry the people like he! XDXDXDDD It's too funny! ;D!!

Hey! Kool-aid!

www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Park/2070/ohyea3.GIF

XDXDXDXDD

[Satal]

Keelan: *lunges from the chair and grabs blackcat* That is it! I'll kill you!

No you won't Kee.

Keelan: I won't?

Ask kindly and maybe the nickname will be used less often. Hm... That is why I dropped the nicknames for Gill and Arrow.

Keelan: Gill is a nickname.

Shall I call you Keylime instead?

Keelan: ........ *turns to giantblackcat and sighs* You can call me Kee, but please not that. v____v

[Satal]

"You want to come home with me?" Catra gasped. I nodded. The sinking feeling returned to the pit of my stomach as I thought of leaving my friends, but the fight with my mom dulled the pain.

"Of course you can't!" the giant yelped, "If the jump can kill one of us, imagine what it would do to you!"

"But you have divine protection, right?" I injected.

"I do. You don't!" His massive green eyes were wide with worry. I glared at him. Why did he come to visit me again?

"Amy? Please understand," he said in an attempt to sooth me.

"I can't," I hissed like a wounded cat, "You come to a world you were not supposed to exist in, meet a girl who wanted to be alone, and then protect her from coyotes to tell her that is all a larger-than-life-man-eating-building-tearing-void-hopping-GIANT can freaking do!? You stupid Marshmallow-head!"

Catra looked wounded, "But that is..."

"Go away! I never asked for you to come back!" I snapped, "And put me down! Don't touch me! GO MARSHMALLOW-HEAD!" He set me tenderly onto the shale. I heard his pre-sob sniffles.

"I'm sorry Amy," he whispered in a broken voice. He stood, and turned to face the wood. With his face buried in the crook of his arm, he ran from me causing the ground to rumble and shake violently. No longer able to keep my ground, I tumbled to the earth in a flustered heap.

I had to say, I felt worse than our first meeting.

I crawled back into my sleeping bag and looked up at the stars. Howling echoed in the distance. I could also hear the giant's sobbing.

"That had to be a first. A giant running away from a human girl," I muttered to myself as I heard words forming in Catra's cries, "He was cute too.... for a marshmallow-head."

"She hates me!" I heard clearly over and over again. I also heard something in what seemed like another language.

I listened to him for a while until his crying seized. The silly giant must have cried himself to sleep. I felt awful. Something told me to go find him to apologize, but sleep claimed me first.

I woke time and time again to the mooing of cows and the barking of dogs, both wild and tame. My bouts of sleep were fitful and spaced apart. I got up once and began to head towards where I had seen Catra run off to, but I always stopped myself. A sleeping giant had to be more dangerous than one awake and aware. Dawn broke, a beautiful rose tint splashing across the land. And with dawn came shouting.

I saw what looked like police tromping towards me with flashlights. A neighbor even brought a large dog baying and yelping at the end of a leash. Mom must have reported me as a runaway, or worse. She did have a nasty habit of lying about me. Not thinking about what she might have said about me, I ran.

I wasn't thinking about where I was running either. All I knew was that police at this hour was not a good sign. I pushed my way through thick brush and overhanging trees. I was hit in the face by a branch, a stinging red line appearing on my cheek. Tears flowed down my face. Suddenly, I tripped over a thick patch of thorny vines and fell down into a valley, of sorts, created by the creek flooding over and over during the fall rains. Instead of landing on earth, I landed on cloth.

I grabbed a handful of the sky tinted cloth and use it to pull myself up. I was panting and hot tears dripped down my face. The mass shifted from under me as the giant used one arm to prop himself upright. I looked behind me to see white hair and groggy jade eyes. A soft chiming noise mixed in with the giant's shaking head as he tried to wake to see what exactly had landed on him.

"Amy?" he yawned rubbing his eyes. When the sleep had been cast from him, he took a closer look. "You're crying! Why? Did I...?" I shook my head. The dog's baying had become apparent.

"What is going on?" he demanded. I shook my head harder, my sobbing overpowering my voice. Catra's eyes focused on the police and the one guy with the german shepard dashing towards us.

"She might have a weapon and could be dangerous. Be careful. She's already assaulted her mother," one shouted to the others. Catra turned his bewildered gaze to me.

"Did you?" he asked. I shook my head no.

"She was yelling at me... said I was worthless.... so I slapped her and ran," I choked out. I clutched the fabric of his shirt closer.

"Do you still want to come with me? All the people in the world are my sized," the giant rumbled biting his lip. I looked up at him with bloodshot eyes. Did I? To get away from my mother's newest mess, I would want to go anywhere. I would even agree to be transported to man-eating-dinosaur-plant-world. I nodded.

"Keelan's going to hate me," Catra moaned. He stood up, using one hand to firmly push me against his stomach. With his other, he lifted a large leather satchel and slung it across his shoulder.

"What the hell is that?" heard a police shout. They took out their guns. The dog was let off its leash.

"Divine fire, melt into shadow and call upon the place I was born. Blood and flesh return to the...." I didn't hear the rest of his spell over the howling whine of the sudden gale that had picked up. I heard the last part as the giant shouted it to the sky. "Adonai! Father let me return!" His stomach muscles tensed as we were ripped from reality and tossed into a void where nothing, not even god it seemed, could last very long. I looked up at Catra, the only thing visible in the soul devouring darkness, and saw him mouth the words, "Hold on." I nodded and squeezed my eyes shut, tightening the grip I had on his shirt, a sharp pain seeming to tear at my skin. My mouth opened in a silent scream of pained terror. I was pulled away from his shirt and tossed into the cavitiy that was his mouth. As soon as his jaws closed around me, the pain ceased. I banged against his teeth, my feet slipping on his sandpaper tongue. The heat of his stagnent breath was suffocating. Suddenly, it was over. All the rocking movement ceased.

Nothing moved, but birds sang from the trees. Catra lowarded his head, doubling over and coughing me out of his mouth. Sunlight splashed upon my body, instantly warming me back to a life-like temperature. From above me, Catra groaned.

"I am never doing that again! Less than pleasent that was! Amy? Are you hurt at all?" he asked looking at me with a light look of extreame disgust. I was woozy and disoriented. He lifted me carefully by my sides and put me in the grass. As soon as my knees and hands hit the dusty earth, I threw up. I felt Catra place a finger on my back.

"I was like that my first jump," he stated attempting to comfort me. He petted my back, my favorite place to be pet if anywhere, until my stomach was good and empty.

"How many times have you jumped?" I asked, my voice raw.

"Three times to earth and back. I was aiming to see a good friend in the north, but this last time, I landed in your land," he admitted. I laughed weakly, wiping my mouth in the process.

"You missed by a long shot. Texas has to be one of the most darn hot states in America!" He smiled.

"Well, welcome to Graeus," he retorted lifting me back up. I had not the strength to fight back.

"Lord Catra!" a clearly annoyed voice shouted as a stranger stomped up to us. Thinking fast, Catra dropped me in his breast pocket. The new giant, as I saw from a hole in Catra's pocket, was an exact copy of Catra, except his eyes were more blue than green and his hair more silver than white. I looked up at Catra's nervous smile. A scar shined on his neck, dark and deep. It made me cringe.

"I came to the temple to pray to Adonai for your return and I find you goofing off!" the other scolded.

"Keelan..." Catra said trying to calm the other giant.

"Don't 'Keelan' me! Your butt comes back with me. NOW!" the twin snarled moving behind Catra to shove him foward, "good thing I brought two mounts. Hurry it up. I cannot take your place forever." I could feel the deep, loud pounding of Catra's massive heart speed up in fear.

"Keelan," Catra groaned giving into the other's demands. He patted the pocket in worry and I kicked his hand back. He looked down, and I gave him a thumbs up. Marshmallow-head.

[giantblackcat]

Aww!! ;D!!