Everyone Has Their Own Giant!

Standing behind him was Jennifer, her hair a mess and breathing heavily.

"No, no I'm pretty sure you didn't." Sky said as he slowly rose up.

"Yes I did, why else do you think I'm here?" She started regaining her breath.

"Cause you ran from Bjo- Hephaestus' house." Sky corrected himself.

"ANYWAY, what do you think you're doing?!" She angrily pointed at him.

Sky blinked a few times, and stared emptily at her. After a few seconds he started dusting off his knees.

"DON'T IGNORE ME!!" She shouted.

"I came to give my condolences to Striker." Sky finally replied, starting to head back towards the town.

He stared emptily at the trees ahead as he passed Jennifer.

"Condolences?! For a giant?" Jennifer looked taken back, "You do know what they do to humans right?"

Suddenly, Sky stopped. "It was a fun battle..." he said, his voice sounding bittersweet.

"He fought me the same way that he fought Kronos, Prometheus, Hepahestaus..." Sky continued.

"He treated me as an equal even though I'm just a kid… It doesn't matter if he was a giant, he was a great warrior..." Sky started walking again. "And I was giving my condolences to the loss of one..."

Jennifer turned around and stared at him, there was a strange sense of defeat in his posture as he walked back. She thought she had started understanding him but these last couple interactions with him had taught her that she still knew nothing about this person that stood in front of her. She clenched her teeth in frustration at how simple his thinking was.

"WAIT!" She shouted.

Slowly, Sky came to a stop and twisted his head around, staring at her through the corner of his eye.

Jennifer clenched her teeth as a tight knot formed in her stomach. A sense of unease came crashing down on her, making her knees weak and her hands fidgety.

"Do you know why they call me a witch?" She said, her chin quivering.

Sky fully turned around and faced her now. Something told him this would be heavy. "No." He calmly responded.

With her whole body she took a slow breath, filling up the bottom of her lungs and letting it out, being washed in a wave of chills as she did so.

"My useless old man was a gambler and a money-lover, but was also a smoothtalker and very handsome..." She started.

"That's how he seduced my mother Aphrodite, you see he always had a way of making money quickly and losing it just as quickly..." There was an unsettling pause as Sky braced for what was to come next. "One day, when I was seven, he noticed some of the older guys fawning over me when we went shopping, and that's how he found his next source of money."

"He turned our house into a hangout lounge and charged visitors while he had myself and two other women dancing on a stage, of course making me the focus." She started shaking.

"One day, after the lounge had closed, my father left to go gambling and I was cleaning up, he must've left the door open..." The shaking became violent as she quickly rubbed her shoulders and squeezed her eyes shut. "One of the visitors came back and tried to take me with him..."

"I fought for as long as I could but he was too strong… Then suddenly everything went black and a moment later he was on the ground with foam coming out of his mouth, shaking." Tears started streaming.

"I ran out of the house, in tears and full of fear… I kept running and running until I found myself lost in the woods where I met another group of men… kinder men… who helped me… fed me… clothed me..." She continued.

"I started traveling with them when again it happened, but this time a group of five powerful giants appeared," She slowly lowered down into a crouch. "The giants killed them all and took me prisoner in a cage… I went days, maybe weeks without food… but that was how I met the white-haired tribe."

The name sounded familiar to Sky, he had heard of it before, one time when he asked his mother about her parents.

"One night while the giants were resting their camp was attacked by powerful warriors who slaughtered the giants handily and found me," The shaking continued, "They took me back to their home and fed me, clothed me, but still I couldn't trust them… because it could happen again."

"But it never did, no matter who I was with… where we were… for the next two years… it never happened and I slowly started trusting them… believing in them… that's when they started teaching me how to fight and how to use my abilities." She smiled a little as the shaking slowed.

"I trained with them for the next three years until finally they told me that it was time that I visited a place, and so I did and that's how I ended up at Hero's Stronghold..." She looked up once she had finished, afraid of what was to come next.

"Who are the white-haired people?" Sky asked as he lowered himself to a squat.

She stared emptily at him. "Is that all you're going to say?!" Her voice was faint, slow and full of pain.

"Hm?" Sky looked confused.

A sudden rage, reeking of pain and hurt filled up Jennifer. She thought that if anyone could understand what she went through it would be him, that anyone could feel the pain she felt, it would be him.

"YOU-"

"We all… have our giants..." Sky looked at her and for the first time Jennifer saw fear in his eyes, but right behind it was something else.

Jennifer froze. She was looking at him but could see nothing. She had withdrawn into her own head.

"And each of our giants bring their own burdens… but we have to fight them..." He sounded closer.

"We have to fight them... so that we can be free from those burdens….... and we can't always win by ourselves... no matter how long we try..."

A gentle warmth started at the top of Jennifer's head. It felt comfortable. Relaxing and inviting, easing her heart with each passing moment. "So if you ever need help fighting your giants, give us a shout… we'll be there for you." He said in a gentle, deep voice.

Jennifer's head shot up as uncontrollable tears started streaming from her eyes. She stared at Sky, his hand gently placed on her head as he crouched over. His red eyes radiated a welcoming warmth.

"Mhm…" She started nodding as she desperately wiped the tears from her eyes.

Sky gently moved his hand over the top of her head. "The people around us are all trustworthy you know… with them you don't have to worry..."

"Mhm...Mhm...Mhm..." She kept nodding.

"I'm not asking you to do so immediately but eventually you'll trust them too, I know it." He smiled.

He watched as Jennifer emptied her heart through her tears. He wondered how long she had waited to tell someone and whether he had said the right things, before realizing that he had only said what he wished someone would have told him in the streets of Rhiner. He took in a shaky breath and clenched his teeth, subduing his tears. I'm sorry, Jennifer… He said silently in his heart as he watched her ball in the small, quiet battlefield.