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clumsiestgiantess · 5 months

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A while ago I posted a list of some Other-world Universe AUs, and while I neglected to mention some of the darker ones, there is a pretty heart wrenching one: Fallen Erica AU

In other words, enjoy the angst!

I was biking home from school, my dorm not too far away, when I was nearly run off the trail by a fox dashing in front of my bike. It shrieked, dropping whatever it had in its mouth as I came to a halt directly in front of it. As quickly as it appeared, the fox raced away into the woods, abandoning whatever prey it had held on the ground beside me. “Oh no! Poor fox, I didn’t mean to scare you from your food!” I leaned over, glancing at what it had caught. Confusion, quickly followed by an intense kind of fear, flooded my veins. The little creature painfully tried to move, wheezing labored breaths as it slowly reached out to haul itself up. But the creature.. as small as it was, it looked like a person. That was impossible — should be impossible, yet.. there it was.

The moment it spotted me it screamed, quickly and desperately scrambling upwards. Dropping my bike to the side of the path, I rushed to the tiny thing. “No! Please! Please, I don’t want to die!” Oh god. Carefully, I knelt down beside the small person as she struggled to get away. She’d gotten upright, but one of her legs dragged limply behind her. “Hey, it’s- it’s ok; I’m not going to hurt you.” The tiny woman stared up at me, teary-eyed. “Wh- What are you? Where am I?”

She doesn’t know? She flinched harshly after I leaned down over her, trying to see her better. Why is she so small? The tiny person was around the length of my longest finger, nothing more. “Did you shrink?” I asked, “Why don’t you know where you are?” A whimper escaped her throat, making me cringe. “I.. I just.. don’t know.” “Here, let me help you.” I reached to help her up, but she cried out in fear. “Wait! Don’t!” Her tiny hands reached out to shield herself from mine. When they touched my skin, a jolt spiraled through my nerves, and I was frozen in place.

The woman yelped, and suddenly I had the strong urge to get away from her. The next thing I knew, I was on my feet, backing towards my bike. What? Why am I leaving? I don’t want to leave her alone like this. I had just mounted it before realizing what I was doing. Coming out of whatever daze I was in, I knelt again. “Alright, I won’t pick you up, but I’m not leaving you out here. What if the fox comes back?” She shuddered at the mention of it. “I can help you.”

Her face distorted indecisively before falling into reluctance. “I don’t believe you, but I-“ her voice cracked, “I don’t think I have a choice.” My heart stung painfully. “Of course you have a choice. Do you want me to leave you here, or should I take you with me?” I knew the decision was so much harder that those two simple choices — so many other factors weighed into it. Her options were limited by her height, her injury, her little knowledge of.. anything happening. Finally, she nodded. “I’ll go with you.” She said it almost unwillingly, but I still reached for her.

She’ll understand after I take her home. I’ll get her cleaned up, get her something to eat, maybe some sleep, too. Hopefully she’ll realize I won’t hurt her — that I just want her to be safe. Why am I so adamant about this? Well, I admit she was fascinating at such a small scale, but I couldn’t stand the thought of someone being that utterly helpless. Powerlessness has always frightened and taunted me since I was little. Seeing it in such a dramatic scale made my nerves spike so awfully, all I wanted to do was wrap her in a comforting blanket and find her somewhere safe to be.

As gently as I dared, I slid my hand beneath her. She whimpered again and pulled away from me, but as I lifted her she leaned more heavily against my palms. Her tiny form shook between my fingers as I lightly moved her hurt leg to keep it steady. “Hey, you’re alright, I promise,” I told her quietly, “I don’t want to hurt you.” Slowly and hesitantly, she turned to look up at me. “What’s your name?” “E- Erica.” I smiled slightly, trying to seem as least threatening as I could. “I know I must look scary to you, Erica, but I swear there’s nothing to be frightened of.” She said nothing else the entire way back, silently curled up in the palm of my hand. I felt so badly for her, but I pressed on, walking my bike with one hand and holding her in the other.

By the time we got back to my room, Erica seemed solemn. That was until I tried to nestle her in a small blanket. She grabbed my hand in a sudden ferocity. “Would you just leave me alone?! Stop coddling me like I’m pathetic! Just pretend I’m not here!” Right before my eyes, she faded in my vision. What am I doing messing with this little cloth? Shouldn’t I be working on my essay? I left my nightstand and sat back at my laptop for an hour or two before readying myself for bed. I fell asleep completely unaware of the tiny woman on the table, begging me to bring her something to eat, or even acknowledge her.

When I woke the following morning, everything came racing back to me — the person that I’d taken in, and how I suddenly stopped caring about her. What was that?! Why did I completely ignore her? Why couldn’t I see her?! I scrambled out of bed to find her sitting dejectedly in the little blanket I’d given her before she told me to forget her. Wait. She told me to pretend that she isn’t here. Ever since, I couldn’t see her. She.. She did that to me somehow. As I stepped closer, Erica gave me a nasty glare. “You ‘promised’ to help me,” she spat, making air quotes when she said the word promise. “I-” “If you’re going to starve me, you should just put me back in the damn woods.”

“Erica, I’m so sorry, but.. I think you forced me into thinking you weren’t here.” Her eyes burned with hostility. “And what the fuck is that supposed to mean? I told you to ignore me, so you played along and starved me to teach me a little lesson?” I gawked, “N- No! That’s cruel! It happened when you grabbed me! I- I couldn’t even see you or hear you!” “So you’re telling me,” she began, shuffling threateningly to her feet, “That I forced you to stop believing I exist.” “I know how it sounds, but yes.” “Give me your hand.” “W- What?” I stammered. “Give me your hand. I want to see if it’s true.” My hand shook as I hesitantly reached for her. “What are you going to do?” “Find out if you’re lying.”

Taking a long breath, I held out my hand. Her tiny digits slid over a single one of mine. “Go get me something to eat, then come right back with it.” I did. I wanted to anyways, but I found that even if I tried to stop myself.. I couldn’t. When I came back with her meal, her expression grew curious. “Alright,” she huffed, putting her hand on mine again. “Umm.. take everything off your bed and wreak your room with it.” She’s testing me, and it’s working. Gnawing fear grew in the pit of my stomach as I watched myself tear pillows, sheets, even my mattress, off the bed and scatter them on the floor. “This- You aren’t tricking me with this, are you? How am I even doing this?” As my hand neared her again I spoke, trying to keep nervous fear from entering my voice. “E- Erica?” She paused mid-reach. “I think that’s enough.” A cruel sneer spread over her face as she quickly forced her hand into mine.

“No, you don’t. In fact, you’re willing to come listen to my commands every time I call your name. Which is?” “Alexis,” I replied numbly, almost robotically. “Good. Now go clean everything up.” The sickening lurch of bile rose in my throat. For the first few minutes of cleaning I stayed quiet, disbelieving my sudden awful predicament. “You know I was just trying to help you, right?” I asked her, finishing my task. “Well now I know for sure,” she replied haughtily, “because I’ll make sure of it.” “You don’t have to do that-” “No, but I want to. And what are you gonna do? Stop me?” Genuinely afraid for my safety, I lunged for her, quickly trapping her in a pillowcase I still held in my hand. “Yes! Yes, I will! You can’t just.. control me! I’ll help you, but this has to stop.”

I could feel her struggling, trying to find a way out as I hauled the writhing bundle into my hands. She shouted commands at me, and I assumed they wouldn’t work because she wasn’t touching me, but when her hand managed to slide to a thinner layer of cloth, I snapped into obedience. Immediately, I let her down. “Nice try, asshole! I don’t know how or why this works, but you follow my rules now! You listen to me.” “Why?!” I spat, “Why do you want me under your control?! I didn’t do anything but try to help you!” “You abandoned me on a table for hours!” “Because you told me to pretend you didn’t exist!” “You were going to hurt me!” “No I wasn’t! Never have I once said I wanted to do anything but help!” She marched up to me and I stepped out of her reach. I made it to the door before she called my name and I returned to her like she’d told me to.

“I want you to gently and non-maliciously get me off of the floor,” she commanded with a hand on me. I slid my own hand around her, lifting her back to the nightstand. Erica paced its surface, thinking aloud. “Well, that’s one less thing to worry about. Let’s see.. until I find a way back home, I guess I’ll just live here. But if I let you go, you’re going to rat me out for sure. If I don’t, people will probably come looking for you… What if.. Nah.. Oh! But- Hey giant?” “I’m not a giant.” “Yeah, yeah, sure. What do you do?” “Excuse me?” “Like, what do you do with your life? Do you have a job? Something else? This looks like a dorm; are you in school? College?” I nodded, keeping my mouth shut unless I was forced to speak. “Ok, I guess college won’t be so bad… Then whenever I’m done with pretending to be you, I can try to figure out how to get home! Perfect!”

I cleared my throat, sitting down on my desk chair across the room. “What are you planning without me?” Erica shrugged, “You don’t need to know.” “But what if I want to?” “That’s too bad.” I groaned, spinning around to let my head fall on my desk. The rest of the day I spent at Erica’s beck and call, completely against my will. Is this what I get for being a good person and helping someone not die? How long will I have to do this until she realizes I’m not a threat? That night, I slept on the floor with a single pillow and blanket. Erica decided she needed the bed to ‘make up for the awful night yesterday’. My back ached the next day, but that was the least of my worries.

After breakfast that morning, Erica commanded me to find the biggest hoodie I had. “Alright, I want you to keep me in your hood all day while you’re in class. I can make it so you can’t speak, but that’ll be suspicious, so I’m going to come with you instead. And if you even try to tell anybody, I’ll stop you before you utter a word, understand?” I rolled my eyes. “Erica, please. I know you’re scared of me, but you don’t need to force me around!” “Scared of you?” she yelped, “I- I’m not scared!” “Then let me go!” She shook her head angrily. “You’re trying to trick me and it’s not working! Now get going before you’re late.” I did as she asked, gently bending down to lift her in my hands. Fortunately, she hadn’t specified that I should lift her up without malice like she had before. I had the ability to end my problems right there — to crush my puppeteer in a single swift movement she couldn’t react to. However, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

She was a living person, albeit a small one. I couldn’t get rid of her with a clear conscience. Instead, I settled her into my hood beneath my hair where no one would see her, and headed out. It was near impossible to concentrate in class with her there. She’d shuffle around every so often, and I’d feel her tiny limbs stretching out and moving positions against my back. Then there were the commands she’d give me, whether it was to stop sitting a certain way because it was squishing her, or if it was to sneak her some food to snack on, I couldn’t get a moment of peace.

Over the week, I grew a small hatred towards her. I kept trying to remind myself that she wasn’t controlling me purely because she could, but because she was scared of whatever she thought I might do. That whole week, whenever we were alone, I tried again and again to convince her that I wasn’t malicious, but that only got me a ‘be quiet’ command, which Erica quickly had to revoke because my breathing was considered part of my loudness. When she wasn’t accidentally suffocating me, Erica would walk me out to the woods where she’d appeared, trying to find where she’d come from and how to get back.

It was strange, Erica wanted me under her control almost every second, especially when we were alone. However, she didn’t actually know what to do with me, just what she didn’t want me to do to her. I’d kinda just stand in whatever corner she wanted me in, or busy myself with work so I wouldn’t seem interested or threatening. All things considered, she was living a pretty good life. Erica had whatever she wanted from me, even if I didn’t want her to have it, and she got to lounge around all day, letting me deal with anything she couldn’t.

Yet, day after day we would search the woods she appeared in for a way home. Apparently, she’d been a bit drunk when she first arrived, and didn’t quite understand where she was. When she’d finally sobered, she found herself somewhere way too large in scale to be anywhere she knew. Erica had wandered for hours, frightened and lost, before she was hunted down by that fox and dragged around until I’d spooked it. Desperately, she wanted to find her way back.

A month into living with me, she was becoming restless. We stayed outside for almost the whole day, Erica wandering the ground while I chaperoned her like she asked, making sure nothing else would try to come snatch her up. The sun began to set through the treetops, and I was starving. “Erica, we’ve been out here forever! How long do you want to keep searching? We can do this another day; let’s head back to the dorm.” She grumbled angrily, “No! I- I need to find where I was! I had a dream about it last night! I think I remember what it looked like; if I could just find it-” “You’re not going to find anything in the dark.” “I have to!” “That’s what you said last time.” “Would you just shut the fuck up for five minutes?!” she yelled, hostility sharp in her voice. “God, why are you so annoying? I just want to go home!” I didn’t argue with her, even though I could’ve. I didn’t feel like testing her patience any further. She didn’t speak that way to me unless she was really upset.

Silently, I followed her until it was barely light enough to see. Erica only gave up after falling down an animal burrow in the dark. A hiss came from deeper inside and she screamed, fearfully calling my name so I’d be forced over to her. She commanded me to take her back after that. By the time we ate and she showered, Erica must’ve been dead tired. She forced me to sleep on the floor so she could have my bed again. Usually she slept in a stuffed tissue box with a little blanket that had belonged to a stuffed animal, but obviously my actual bed was more comfortable, so sometimes she’d take it if she was having trouble sleeping.

I lay awake on the floor, trying to get comfortable, when I heard a shaking sob. Sitting up, I waited to listen for it. Again, a small whimper echoed through the quiet space. I stood, leaning over the mattress towards the sound. A muffled scream tore into the night as she noticed me above her. Reaching beside me, I quickly flipped on the light. “Hey, it’s ok! Erica, it’s just me.” I swallowed nervously when I saw her. She was sitting hunched up with a blanket tightly wrapped around herself, shaking. Her face was red with tears, and her eyes were bloodshot. I expected her to command me to leave, or even wipe my mind of the event, but she just put her head down and continued crying.

“Erica?” I whispered, “What happened?” Very slowly, her head lifted to stare at me. “What happened?” she asked, tears catching in her voice. “I’m trapped somewhere terrifying and gigantic. Everything can hurt me, a- and I can’t do anything for myself without a giant puppet to do it for me. So far, I haven’t found a single clue how to fix everything and I.. wanna go home.” Her words sank quieter and quieter until it became a whisper. In two sharp breaths, she started bawling. Carefully, I slid into bed beside her. A gasp exited her throat as I lay down, curling myself protectively around her. As annoying and sometimes even threatening as Erica might be, I had a suspicion that it was some sort of guise. That night proved it. Beneath the threatening display she loves to flaunt, she’s just really… lost — stuck in a place that she wouldn’t survive in alone.

Erica stilled as I shifted closer, tears drying on her face. I curled around her until we were nearly touching, but I was still afraid of closing the gap. Briefly, she hesitated, then stepped up to my chest, burying her face into me somewhere just above my stomach. With caution, I pulled my arms around her, keeping her snugly against myself. A few more minutes of sobbing carried on before she lay down beside me, the curve of her back aligned with my chest. Twined between my fingers, she finally drifted off to sleep.

Gradually, we fell into a weird schedule. I wasn’t overly thrilled about it, but she hadn’t made me do anything dangerous or uncomfortable since that night, so I let her controlling tendencies slide, hoping she’d grow used to it and let me go. She did start releasing me more often, and she let me have more time to myself rather than forcing me to go search the woods with every free second I had.

Unfortunately, there was always some incident that would deter her from releasing me entirely. Once, it was her nearly falling out of my hood after a friend jokingly threw it over me. Another time, she accidentally told me to do a task that required me to leave her behind. Mostly, it was our fighting. We’d start up a normal conversation, but something would happen to come up related to me being stuck with her or her being stuck here, and we’d suddenly be screaming.

It was after one of those incidents, when Erica thought she could ‘punish’ me by having me go out to her woods in the pouring rain. I’d dropped her off like normal, letting her search the ground, which ended up getting her more of a mess than me. “You’re so petty, bringing me out here like this,” I grumbled, “I know you don’t want to be out here, either.” “Of course I want to be out here!” Erica spat, “I want a way home.” “Why bother? You can basically do whatever you want here.” “Because I’m fucking sick of feeling so small! You wouldn’t understand!” Just to rile her up, I kicked some wet leaves at her. One stuck to her side, plastered on by mud. “Ok, that’s it. Get over h-” She told me to do something, but a clap of thunder roared louder, drowning out her voice. “What?” I asked before clapping a hand to my mouth. If I can’t hear her call for me, I don’t have to come to her!

Adrenaline rushed my system as I plugged my fingers into my ears. Then, I could hear nothing but the very light noise of rain on leaves and another clap of thunder. Yes! Yes, I’m finally free! Good riddance you little nuisance! I’m out of here! I ran as fast as I could towards my dorm and didn’t unplug my ears until I was safely inside. Finally! I threw open my door as my chest swelled with relief. Flopping happily onto my bed, I nearly cried. No longer would I have to fear another inescapable command from that menacing tiny woman. Nothing but good sleep came to me that night, but by morning, the rain outside hadn’t stopped. Somehow my first thought was: Wow, Erica must be absolutely drenched.

At first I smiled at the thought, finding the karma almost amusing. Then the picture of her vulnerable three-inch-tall form drifted into my head, covered in muck and grime from the woods, wandering in circles because she couldn’t see far enough to gauge where she was. I have to go back for her. I don’t have to go back for her. But I do. I shouldn’t. She’ll be grateful. She’ll be pissed. I’ve wanted her gone for months. She might die. She might be dead. I groaned loud and long, realizing what I wanted to do. I’ll go back and bargain. Her safety for my freedom.

Minutes later, I stood under an umbrella, staring out into the trees. Erica had always told me the way. Hopefully I could find it again. After trekking to what might have been the spot, I called out to her. “Erica! Erica, I’m back, I.. I want to make a deal!” I called her name every several feet, gradually becoming more and more worried that something horrible had happened to her. Then, faintly; “A-Alexis?” Now that I heard my name, I was summoned directly to her. I came prepared though. When I spotted her, I quickly stuffed earplugs into my ears. From then on, I couldn’t hear her.

Erica looked awful, though. A good two thirds of her was covered in grime, and her eyes were completely bloodshot like she’d been crying for a while. Fury tore into her features as she spoke, her lips moving too fast for me to try guessing what she had said. “Erica, I can’t hear you. You can’t control me anymore.” Her eyes widened, mouth dropping open in shock. “I’ve come to bargain. My freedom for your safety. I can leave you here right now, and ensure that no one will ever see the likes of you again.” She shook her head rapidly, clasping her hands together pleadingly as she spoke. Anger boiled in my chest. “Don’t shake your head no! I can and I will! You’re lucky I felt sorry for you! Your pathetic little self can sit here and rot in the mud while I go live my best life without some manipulative little bitch whispering commands to me from behind my back!”

I hadn’t meant to say all that, but I couldn’t take it back. Erica sobbed, reaching out for me. I quickly dodged her, standing up to my full height. “ARE YOU SERIOUSLY TRYING TO CONTROL ME RIGHT NOW?!” Her arms slid over the slick ground as she scrambled away from me. Behind her, a small muddy drop caused her to tumble over backwards, rolling down the bump in the earth into a large swampy puddle. Shakily, she tried to stand, but her arms and legs stuck fast. I watched as if in slow motion as fear made way for panic. She thrashed around for a moment or two before releasing a wail that I even heard through my earplugs.

Honestly, it was the most pathetic thing I think I’d ever seen — the kind of thing I think I’d wish on only the worst of people. I stepped down the slope in one long stride. “You have a choice,” I told Erica, mimicking the first time I’d seen her, “Do you want me to leave you here, or should I take you with me?” I couldn’t hear her reply, but I could read it on her lips. Hesitantly, I pulled out my earplugs. If she was touching me, I couldn’t avoid her commands no matter what; she could even make them mentally. There would be no reason for me to have my ears plugged once I picked her up.

“Please!” Erica sobbed, despair clawing at her throat, “Please, I’ll do it! I’ll stop controlling you! Don’t leave me here!” “Swear.” “I- Will… Are you going to hurt me if I give up my powers?” I was so shocked by her question, I took a step back, unintentionally frightening Erica into believing I was turning to leave.

“Ok, ok! I- I don’t care! Do whatever you want to me! Abuse me, humiliate me, f-fucking hurt me! Just don’t leave me here! I’m begging you!” Erica’s voice tapered off into sobs. I was so utterly distraught that I immediately knelt down to get her, covering my hands and pants in filth. Slowly and gently, I lifted her limp form out of the muck, clutching it to my chest. She gasped, struggling in my arms. “Calm down; it’s ok, Erica, it’s ok. I told you once, I’ll tell you a million times: I don’t want to hurt you.” “It’s.. ok if you do. Everyone does.” “Not me.” “… O- Okay.”

On my way through the main door, I stuffed her under my coat. Someone commented on my muddied clothes and I hastily told them I fell. Back in my room, I took Erica to the sink, letting the water run warm before placing her down in it. She stared up at me, unmoving. Reddened eyes scoured all of my features, searching for malice, but they wouldn’t find any. I stood outside the bathroom, letting her clean herself up. She called me back in with a washcloth around her like a towel. Her clothes were in a small pool of water at the bottom of the sink. She scrubbed desperately at them, trying to get the dirt out of the one pair of clothing she had.

I sighed, resting my arms on the counter. “Do you need any help?” I asked gently, “Are you hurt at all?” Erica shook her head numbly. “Hey, I’m sorry I left you out there, but you have to understand.. I ran because I was scared of you.” She flinched as I stressed the word, turning slowly to look up at me. “I want to help you, but we have to trust eachother for that to happen, ok?” “How?” she asked in an almost whisper. “How can I trust someone who can hurt me so easily? Y- You didn’t even have to be there to hurt me! All you did was leave and I was helpless!”

I tried not to look at her too pitifully. “I’m sorry I left you there like that. I promise you, if you stop controlling me, I’ll try to help you however I can.” “I was making you do that anyways,” Erica muttered. “Yeah, but I’d like to do it of my own free will.” She sighed, wringing out her clothes. “And you’ll still take care of me? You won’t.. kick me out or something if I fight with you?” I thought about it. If I tried to rebuke her for something she said or did, how would that work? I couldn’t kick her out or refuse to take her anywhere, because she wasn’t self-sufficient. I couldn’t physically scare her, mostly because I was afraid I’d take it too far without realizing it and severely injure her. All that left me with was verbally scolding her. Hopefully, I wouldn’t have to make that decision often.

“That.. wouldn’t be fair to you. I promise that I’ll try not to take things nearly as harshly as I did just now. If I do, remind me of this. I’ll back off you.” Erica considered me for a moment, then nodded slightly. “Alright, I- I’m sorry for being such a jerk to you before,” she sighed, “You were right when you accused me of being scared. I don’t expect you to understand how I feel, but it is.. horrible sometimes. Like in the woods…” I watched guiltily as she set her clothes down to dry on my countertop. “And I know that’s not an excuse for what I did to you. I was just so worried that you wanted to hurt me or.. I don’t know. But you can imagine for yourself what was running through my head when you snatched me away the first day we met.”

Gently, I slid a hand around her. It came close, but wasn’t quite touching her, just hovering nearby. “Is it still alright if I pick you up?” Erica shied away from my fingers, pulling her makeshift towel tighter around herself. “I- I think I’m gonna wait for my clothes to dry.” I understood, taking my arm back to my side. “Should I go, or do you want me to stay?” Erica thought for a moment. “Stay,” she said decisively, “I want to try properly explaining myself to you, like what my life was like before I got here. It- I realize you know practically nothing about me. I kinda just forcefully moved myself in, huh?” A nervous chuckle bubbled in her throat while I sat down beside her on the closed toilet seat. “That’s ok. It’s in the past. I won’t hold it against you unless you do it again.” “Thank you,” she replied, genuine relief in her voice, “Thank you for coming back — for.. for letting me be your roommate until I can find my way home.”

We talked for a while. Her clothes dried off and I briefly left so she could get them on. Together we shared a meal, but midway through it she started to yawn. I was about to joke about her tiredness, before realizing it was because she’d been stumbling blindly through the woods all night. Erica glanced up at me almost guiltily, as if she didn’t want to admit how much of a strain it was for her. “Do you want me to go pull something comfy together for you?” I asked hesitantly. She stubbornly shook her head. “I’m fine; I just needed some more oxygen. I’ll sleep whenever you do.”

Usually I’m up late into the night. However, I wouldn’t force her to wait that long. She really was stubborn about staying awake while I was. Either it was another facade, or she was genuinely too scared to sleep with me awake. The moment I finished dinner after rushing through homework, I flopped into bed.

Before Erica could say anything, I sat back up and brought her over to the dresser where she had her bed. I was on the verge of sliding beneath the covers when I heard her small voice. “I- I don’t want to be awful…” My eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. “Hmm?” “I mean.. I want to sleep through the night tonight. It’s- I’m really fucking tired. And I.. I used to kick you out of your bed to do that.” I stepped back over to my nightstand, bending down slightly to see her fully. She seemed so conflicted, but I was willing to help her with that. It was my fault for her tiredness in the first place.

“Here,” I whispered, gently tucking her into my hands. Erica shuffled between them anxiously, but didn’t object. Slowly, I slid into bed and shut off the lights. Sunlight still streaked in from the sunset outside, lighting the small space where she sat. “You.. never go to bed this early,” Erica noticed, glancing sheepishly away from me. “I was a bit tired today,” I lied, laying back on my soft mattress that Erica so greatly adored. Shifting her between my hands, I lay her down where she’d slept that one offbeat night before — positioned snugly against my stomach.

I swear her face was bright red when I glanced down at her, but it might’ve just been the reddish glow from outside that caused it. Her head cautiously lifted to glance near-vertically upward to see me. A small smile cracked through her lips. Returning it, I reached down and rested a hand gently across her little form. “Get some rest, Erica. You need it.” She nodded tiredly, shifting to fit more perfectly between my fingers before drifting off into sleep.

#Hopefully Erica will stumble across the rift she fell through and go home #Though something tells me she’ll be back for Alexis soon enough :)#g/t #giant tiny #other-world universe

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