Chapter Text
Logan gaped like a fish, floundering about on the deck as the storm threatened to overtake their tiny vessel. Another wave came over the side, dousing Logan in the salty spray and threatening to drag him back into the depths with it.
“Look alive, men!” The captain cried out, attempting to navigate them through the wretched waters. The sky above was in turmoil, dark and ominous as though warning them they never should have dared come upon the sea this day.
A crack of lightning lit up the air, revealing the crew of seamen scuttering about like lost penguins surrounded by a pack of sea lions waiting to swallow them whole. For indeed, that was what the sea had become- one by one she began to pick unsuspecting sailors up and toss them over the rail, her bloodlust never satisfied.
And unfortunately, it seemed Logan was destined to share a similar fate. With a startled yell he felt himself pulled over the edge, miraculously tossed to the surface once more.
“Gulliver!” One of his colleagues called out, but Logan could not make out who it was in the darkness of the storm. He struggled to stay afloat as it was, finding solace in a piece of driftwood torn from the ship.
“Help!” Logan cried out, watching with growing dread as he was tugged further and further away. “Man overboard!”
Whether the crew heard him was of little consequence now; for better or worse Logan was at the mercy of the waves. He sputtered along, every so often finding himself drenched once more as wave after rocky wave crashed above his head. What was he going to do? He was adrift in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of a storm, with no ship in sight, and far from any… land?
Logan paused, feeling his feet touch sand. Perhaps he had merely stumbled across a sandbar by luck, but Logan knew that this was not a structure that would form on its own. If Logan could touch here, land could not be far off.
Coughing up a bit of seawater, Logan tried to look around, disoriented as he continued to swim. It felt like several hours had passed since he was sent adrift, and by now the scientist was exhausted. As if to finally show mercy it seemed the storm had decided to die down, and in the pale grey light, Logan spotted a tiny island in the distance.
Spurred on by the sight, Logan used his last bout of adrenaline to paddle to the shore. When he finally made it, Logan walked several paces inland to ensure that if the storm returned he would not be taken back to see.
“Shelter,” Logan muttered. “I need… shelter…”
But he felt too exhausted to find a proper shelter. Letting his emotions overcome him, Logan simply laid down in the surprisingly soft grass and wondered if he would ever wake again.
Roman wrapped the scarf tighter around himself, making sure no one could make out his face. He didn’t need to be recognized. Not in this section of town.
Stomach grumbling, Roman slid past a fruit stand and when the owner’s back was turned, grabbed an apple and walked away. When he was far enough, he smiled and took a bite. He loved the thrill of taking something, even if sometimes it was so easy.
“Stop! Thief!” Okay, maybe he spoke too soon. Roman turned around to see a number of the castle guards running toward him. He cursed and took off running. They must have recognized him, which wasn’t good.
Roman tried to lose them through the crowd but they were keeping up with him pretty well, despite having to disturb several innocent people in the process. Roman continued to run and weave his way through the market square, deciding to run into the incoming forest.
He heard the guards following, but with so many trees and all his weaving, they started to sound farther away. Until suddenly, he couldn’t hear them anymore. He came to a stop and grinned. If they kept sending men like that, they were never gonna catch him.
He continued to walk more into the woods, knowing what lay beyond the other side. A nice trip to the seaside sounded like a good idea. Besides, he always found a few pieces of treasure worth keeping or selling in the sand.
He came up to the cliffside, looking down and out towards the sand and sea. But all his thoughts halted when he noticed what lay upon the sand.
Was…was that an actual giant. Like-like in all the stories? Roman couldn’t believe his eyes. But the image didn’t go away as he rubbed at them. No, the giant was still there, clear as day.
If Roman was anyone else, he probably would have run off and told someone.
But he wasn’t anyone else and instead he found himself sliding down the cliff with practiced ease, carefully coming up next to the giant. Was it even alive? How long had it even been here? He gripped and tugged at the thing’s tunic, before deciding to hell with it and started to climb up the massive body.
He made it up on to the chest and looked at the giant’s face. “…Hello?” He called out cautiously. Half of him was hoping the giant was in fact dead. Because the last thing he needed was the thing to come alive and eat him.
Logan let out a groan, feeling the sun beating down on him as he lay still. How long had he been asleep? He should probably get up, get some shelter, get some food, and yet…his bones still ached so terribly. Not to mention, he was clearly seasick as well, if he was already hearing voices.
As the giant groaned and started to move, Roman’s eyes widened. So it was alive…oh heck no. Okay, maybe it would be a good idea to get out of here before the thing was fully awake. Yeah, he was gonna do that. He started to move towards the edge, but an especially heavy breath caused the chest to rise too much and caused Roman to become unbalanced and fall. “Whoa!” He cried as he rolled a bit and fell onto his back.
Logan tensed, feeling a weight on his chest and hearing that voice again. Slowly Logan opened his eyes, squinting in the bright sun before looking down at his chest.
Logan’s eyes widened. Was that…? Surely it couldn’t be. A man, standing no larger than Logan’s own hand was resting upon his chest.
“Surely I’m delusional.” Logan murmured, reaching up with his left arm to see if his claims were true.
Roman’s head snapped up at the voice and his eyes widened as he realized the giant was actually looking at him. He scrambled to his feet but then noticed the hand, the giant-sized hand, coming right for him. “N-No!” Roman booked it, trying to make it towards the edge of the giant once again so he could get off this thing.
Logan tensed, feeling the peculiar sensation of tiny boots running across his body.
“Now wait just a moment!” Logan quickly blocked off the man’s path with his arm, propping himself up on his other elbow so his neck did not need to bend down so terribly low.
“Ah!” Roman screeched to a halt before he could run into the arm, blocking his path. He turned to face the giant for but a moment, before taking off in the other direction, towards the other side.
“Stop that!” Logan scolded, moving his hand to gather up the little man in a fist.
“H-Hey!” Roman cried, struggling as the giant got his hand on him. “Release me, you beast!”
“Beast?” Logan supposed that would make sense, given the man’s stature he must appear rather ghastly in comparison. “I am no beast.” Logan brought the man closer, entranced by his animated tiny features. The way Logan could feel his peculiar little struggles only solidified the fact this was no delusion. Or if it was, it was a rather detailed one.
“Who are you?” Logan questioned. “What were you doing on my chest?”
Roman struggled even more as he was brought closer to the giant’s face. Closer to his mouth. He shivered at the idea of being eaten. Hopefully, he could escape before that happened. “I-I should be asking you such things!”
“Perhaps, but I asked you first.” Logan reminded the man. Though he was clearly cowering, it must have taken tremendous courage for him to stand up to Logan. The scientist was not yet sure if that was a good thing.
He supposed the giant had him there. “Well, I am a Lilliputian. And I was trying to see if you were still alive or not.” Roman spoke, trying his best to keep the fear out of his voice. He thinks it was working, he was a pretty good actor after all. “Now, who are you? Why are you here? And I demand that you let me go!”
“I don’t think you are in a position to be making demands,” Logan said, his tone more observational than threatening. He sat up fully, noting the forest to his left with trees that were only just taller than his head when sitting straight. How peculiar- then perhaps everything was to scale with this funny little man here? A lilliputian, he had called himself.
“My name is Logan Gulliver, and I became shipwrecked here during the storm last night,” Logan explained.
“Storm?” That was strange, he didn’t remember there being a storm last night. Roman narrowed his eyes. “Likely story, beast. You’re here to terrorize us, aren’t you!”
“Why would I do that?” Logan sighed, still far too tired for this sort of nonsense. “No, I assure you, I mean you no harm. Are all the people here your size, by chance?”
Roman looked at him strangely. “Of course they are! Why wouldn’t they be?”
“Well, take a look at my own stature,” Logan argued. “It can be reasonably assumed that I am used to a population that’s of my size and not yours. You are the first ‘lilliputian’ I have ever seen, and quite frankly if I was not seeing you myself I would believe it to be impossible.”
Roman’s eyes widened. “You’re saying there are more giants!” His eyes narrowed. “Well…if you are really telling the truth, about not planning to harm us, why have you not let me go yet?” Roman asked. Not buying into anything this giant was saying.
“I am still fascinated, I admit,” Logan said. “But regardless, that does not negate my claim, as I have not harmed you within my grasp. Aside from perhaps a mild heart attack, but you were the one who invaded my personal space and tried to wake me first.”
“Yet. You haven’t hurt me yet.” Roman pointed out. After all, he was currently at this giant’s mercy. He could do whatever with him and Roman wouldn’t be able to stop him. “There is no way for me to know your true intentions.”
“Fair enough, think what you will.” In any case, Logan did not feel the need to try and convince the Lilliputian otherwise, especially when there were more pressing matters at hand. “Then perhaps you can assist me, and then I will let you go. Do you know where the nearest body of freshwater is? I’m terribly parched.”
Yeah, that did nothing to calm Roman’s fears. And he didn’t think for one second that he would be released but…maybe if he did lead him to some water, he could escape while he was distracted. “…There is a freshwater pond just around that hill over that way.” Roman said, pointing in the near distance.
Logan started to stand up, peeking just over the edge of the trees to try and spot the pond the lilliputian mentioned. Rising a bit further, Logan noticed what appeared to be a miniature town just on the other edge of the forest. Of course, Logan now realized that it was just to the little man’s scale and perhaps ‘miniature’ was not at all the correct term.
“Is that a castle?” Logan observed, going higher to try and view the kingdom within the distance, his curiosity growing.
Roman’s eyes widened as he remembered the kingdom was not far from here and if Logan was seen…that meant he would be found as well. “Get down!” He yelled suddenly.
“What?” Strangely, Logan felt complied to listen to the command as he ducked beneath the treeline one more. He looked down at the figure in his hand, perplexed. “What for?”
“You can’t have anyone seeing you. I would-I mean, you would cause a mass panic!” Roman explained himself.
“Oh, I suppose you’re right.” Logan winced. He hadn’t taken his size into account. While he could easily overpower one sassy Lilliputian, having an entire army after him would be quite troublesome. Certainly then Logan would have to go around the forest, as there was no easy way for him to maneuver between the trees on his hands and knees.
Logan sighed, realizing that this would also make it incredibly difficult to carry the Lilliputian along. Though Logan did not intend on keeping the man captive, he certainly would prefer to have an ally on his side who knew the way of this world if Logan expected to survive.
“If I set you down, would you mind leading me to the pond?” Logan requested.
Roman tried to keep himself from looking too happy at this notion. If he was put down, he could certainly escape far easier. But he had to play it cool. “Fine.” He huffed.
“Alright.” Logan relented. “But I implore you not to go running off. Not only is it terribly rude, but I imagine I could catch you with ease.”
Roman felt a shiver run through him at that. Well…he could just wait until he was distracted. Like he originally planned. “I won’t.” He sighed.
“Thank you.” With that settled, Logan placed the Lilliputian down on the ground, giving him a head start as even crawling Logan knew his strides would be much larger.
Roman was very thankful to be back on solid ground. He took the time to dust himself off and look himself over before looking towards the giant. “Follow me, I guess.” He started off the long way towards the pond.