KINTSUkuroi
[Chapter III] - I Will Heal Your Pain

Throughout history, the relationship between Giants and Humans has undergone many stages. In fact, there was once a time when both races inhabited the planet without actually being at opposite ends of the spectrum. Though the war between Humans and Giants lasted for many centuries, the whole conflict falls under the scope of very recent history.

Humans and Giants came to exist at the same time. As a matter of fact, many historians theoritise that they may even have belonged to one single race in the beginning. According to a large number of biologists and anthropologists, about two million years ago, when 'humans' were entering the anthropomorphic stage in their evolution, many of them —especially those in the northern part of the world— were exposed to a gene that was present at the time in dinosaurs and other similarly large creatures. This gene, which scientists refer to as Macrogena Crescendia —popularly known as Macrosia, for the sake of simplicity—, allowed the 'humans' who were exposed to it to experience an otherwise unnatural growth spurt.

This is, by a far cry, the most accepted theory to date regarding the origins of Giants as a separate race from Humans.

During many hundreds of thousands of years after the Giants became a separate race from Humans, they completely disregarded their much smaller counterparts. They very much preferred to devote their energy to hunting much larger preys that would provide an immensely greater source of nourishment. The only Humans that were killed by Giants during this time were those unfortunate enough to replace themselves in the way of a Giant's foot or similar as these Giants hunted for their meal.

However, as Giants and Humans both evolved in terms of smarts, standing far above every other species in that regard, Giants began to consider the possibility of using their physical advantage over Humans to make the Humans work for them. Naturally, the Humans refused to give up on their hard-earned liberties just because of the Giants' whims, and so, two thousand and twenty-two years ago, the bloodiest age in the history of the planet, the Macro Age, began.

The next twenty centuries witnessed the absolute massacre of the Humans at the hands of the Giants. It was an unspeakably horrible bloodbath that very soon became naturalised, and therefore accepted.

It would take Savan Surelle, and later on her daughter Ciel, to write the first pages of a new age in history, or at least so they hoped.

Ciel's eyes remained closed as she continued to hold Nicolas in her arms. With his head gently pressed against her chest, she hoped he could replace relief from whatever was hurting him. She desired for him to replace inner peace, whether it be in the warmth of her skin, in her soothing voice, in her relaxing heartbeat or in the softness of her bosom.

"You're not enjoying this more than you should, are you~?" the tall female teased him, causing his cheeks to turn a shade of red that challenged the notion of how darkly a person could possibly blush.

The short male was thrown off by Ciel's teasing. It was certainly not the first time the beautiful ravenette teased him, but the twenty years they had been apart seemed to have made the Giant woman far more skilled in this area. Not to mention that Nicolas wasn't exactly good at keeping his cool whenever Ciel teased him.

Stuttering heavily, the curly-haired male attempted to pull his head away from Ciel's cleavage, but the female held the back of his head firmly in its current position. Her hold wasn't painful by any means, but it was tight enough to render him unable to escape. Naturally, this caused the timid male's heart to pound violently against his chest.

"Now, now, Nic. You don't need to worry. My only concern is for you to feel better. If my chest can get the job done, then feel free to rest your head on it for as long as you like." Ciel commented. There was a slight hint of teasing in her voice, but for the most part she was pure sweetness. The ravenette smiled and closed her eyes, pleasantly surprised to see that Nicolas' head remained gently pressed against her breasts even for a few seconds after she had released him from her caring hold.

Once he regained his composure, though —if only ever so slightly—, the short male pulled his head away and looked at Ciel.

There was deafening silence. Nicolas wanted to tell Ciel everything, but didn't know how to start. This much was obvious to the Giant woman, who deemed it necessary to grant him some space and some time to talk to her at ease.

"T-The night you d-dreamed of me —he began— was the n-night I learned t-that my now-ex g-girlfriend was cheating on me..." He explained with a very shaky voice.

Ciel went wide eyed. So that was what had happened! No wonder Nicolas felt so miserable. It all made sense to her now.

"Nic, I-" she began to speak but was abruptly cut off by the short male.

"I-If you're going to try to make me feel better, then thanks b-but there's no need... I used her... I didn't love her... I just wanted someone to be with me because I was scared to be alone... So I deserve what happened..." he said in a matter-of-fact manner.

Ciel shook her head, her amaranth red eyes piercing deep into Nicolas' soul. She always knew how to get her point across, especially when she needed to set Nicolas straight.

"I swear in the name of our friendship that if I hear something like that from you ever again, I will slap your cheeks until they're as red as my eyes." she spoke sternly.

"C-Ciel..." the short male could only speak his friend's name. She clearly knew how to make a strong statement, that much was for sure.

"Who cares if you were with her only because you didn't want to be alone? You saw in her someone who would take your loneliness away from you, and so you stayed by her side! You remained faithful to her! And how did she repay you? By betraying your trust on Valentine's Day of all days!" Ciel exclaimed, indignant.

"...and on our first anniversary..." Nicolas mumbled.

"She what!?" Ciel bellowed. She had heard Nicolas' words.

The Giant woman felt her anger building up, welling up within her body. She wanted to let it all out; to grow so large that the whore that dared toy with her best friend's feelings would regret the day she even considered such a preposterous idea. Ciel wanted Setsuna to suffer. She wanted that more than almost anything else in the world.

But she knew that would not solve anything. It would be the same thing as twenty years before. She wasn't going to make the same mistake again.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and looked at Nicolas, holding his hands with her own.

"Please don't take this the wrong way, Nic, but I do believe there's a good opportunity to be found in this. Think about it: right now you could be stuck with a woman that never loved you. Instead, you can now try to replace someone who does love you; someone who is willing to stay by your side forever; someone who would happily devote themselves to you in heart, mind, body and soul as you would do for them. And that person would be so very fortunate to be chosen by someone as amazing as you. So please, never again say that you deserve to suffer because you do not. You only deserve the best, Nic, and I will say it as many times as needed until you finally choose to believe me." the buxom ravenette declared.

Still, her words had a bittersweet taste to them. She honestly longed for Nic to replace someone who would love him like he deserved, but she also experienced a strange feeling in her chest when she brought that up. It was as if something was tightly gripping her heart. She wanted to cry, but didn't allow herself to do so. She had to be strong for Nicolas.

'If I'm not strong enough for him to rely on me, then who will he rely on?' she thought, forcing herself to keep strong for the sake of his best friend.

'Friend' —she repeated in her head—. It is a beautiful word that conveys beautiful emotions, and still, Ciel wasn't able to understand why that word made her want to cry when she used it to address Nicolas.

No.

That wasn't true.

She already knew the answer.

She knew. She was certain of it, but she couldn't bring it up. Especially not at that point. She would only make Nicolas more confused.

She definitely couldn't bring it up.

She would have to endure. She would have to keep her feelings in check.

At least for now. At least until Nicolas had healed.

Until then, Ciel resolved, she would be his —she dreaded saying the word— friend.