Chapter Text
While Sam waited in his hiding spot, almost holding his breath, Jacob was oblivious to everything else in the clearing. His eyes were fixed on the tiny winged man he'd managed to get his hand on, despite those speedy little wings that continued to flap and strike his hand. He sat down with his back against the boulder in the clearing, hardly even noticing that the glider he'd found was no longer where he’d dropped it.
The creature in his hand was far more interesting. And the little guy could talk! "What are you?" he asked in awe.
The little guy huffed, his potent little green-eyed glare losing none of its intensity. If Jacob wasn't eighteen times the size, he might be intimidated by the anger thrown his way. As it was, he was amazed that such a thing could even exist, at such a small size, out here in the woods. There were wolves around, or so he’d heard.
When Jacob didn't relent in his expectant look, the tiny man paused in his fruitless efforts to pry the fingers pinched around him apart. "What am I?" he asked, crossing his arms. "I'm blasted annoyed for one thing. Why don't you climb a dead tree, you ... you shit! " He almost sounded unsure of the final insult, though Jacob couldn't be sure why. He laughed anyway.
"Okay, annoyed ... and pretty funny. I'm not gonna hurt you, little guy," Jacob finally spoke, managing to stow his laughter enough to form the words. He reached out with his free hand and brushed at the wild hair atop the little fairy-like person's head before nudging at his little kicking leg to check out his boots.
"Stop that! Leave me alone! Let me go!" the tiny guy demanded. "You stupid human!"
Jacob smiled in what he hoped was an encouraging way. "You're fine," he assured the little guy. "What's your name? I'm Jacob," he offered, hoping that he might yet find some normal train of conversation that might calm the little guy down.
"Oh, hi, Jacob, sun shine on you, it's real interesting how you won't listen and keep pinching me! " the little guy snapped back. To punctuate his words, he shoved at Jacob's fingertips again and flared up those amazing, leafy wings of his.
Jacob frowned thoughtfully, contemplating his hand and the tiny figure trapped within. After a pause, he shifted his grip on the little guy, catching him off-guard and causing those wings to flutter and the tiny legs to kick. Soon, however, his bottom half was wrapped up in a fist. Jacob was careful not to squeeze, and he wasn't pinching the little guy anymore, either. He was curious, but he didn’t want to hurt anyone. "There, how's that?"
All Jacob got in return for his trouble was an exasperated look before the little guy pounded his tiny little fists on Jacob's hand. Jacob lifted his fist up higher to take a closer look. That itty bitty, brown-skinned face had vibrant green eyes staring out of it, filled with as much ire as the little guy could manage while he was so determinedly punching at the grip around him.
"C'mon, won't you chill? I said I wouldn't hurt you. Won't you talk to me? At least tell me your name and what you are!"
"I don't want to!"
"Why?"
"I don't owe you a reason!" The little guy flared up his wings defiantly, and Jacob had to smile at his spunk. He was so bold for such a tiny person. Jacob found his free hand reaching up and gently pinching the edge of one of those flared wings, holding it open while he looked it over with interest. The little guy fell still, and his eyes were wide as he watched Jacob's hand warily.
Bowman wasn’t the only one holding his breath while Jacob was examining the wings. Sam was trying not to panic at the sight of how small and fragile the sprite’s proud wings were compared to a hand that could just about eclipse them entirely. At least if the human damaged the glider, Sam could just fix it. If Bowman’s wings were damaged, it could maim him for life.
Those wings were everything to Sam’s little brother.
Sam’s grip tightened on his rapier. He was insane for considering what he was about to do, but he had to get Bowman out of those hands. Jacob might not even mean to hurt the sprite. He was just that big compared to them.
I wonder if Dean’s that big.
Sam had to shake off those thoughts. It didn’t matter how big Dean was. After so many years, they didn’t know if he was even alive or had been cursed just like Sam. And if he hadn’t been cursed, there was a chance he would be killed anyway. He wanted to be a hunter growing up.
Hunters didn’t have the longest life expectancy.
Taking a deep breath, Sam steeled himself. Adrenaline was surging through his body. The alien sensation of huge eyes looking for him had him on edge, and now it was time to face that head on. Before Bowman got into worse trouble than he was already in.
Leaping out from behind the backpack, Sam yanked out his rapier and held it towards the human in a practiced stance. There was no doubt in his mind that he would actually use the sword if he needed to.
Sprites were pacifists. Sam was not.
“Let my brother go, you mountain of snakeskin!” Sam called out in a commanding voice. It wavered slightly at the sight of how much bigger the human was compared to them both, even just sitting down. He pressed stubbornly on. “He never did anything to you!”
Both Bowman and Jacob turned their attention towards Sam's voice in surprise. Bowman leaned awkwardly forward to see around the wing Jacob was holding out. Jacob didn't let go of the wing right away, as startled as he was by the sudden appearance of another tiny person.
He glanced back at the one he held in his hand, and then focused on the newcomer with interest. The second little guy had no wings, and a scan of the ground revealed that little glider was now gone. Jacob almost smiled as he put two and two together, but kept himself in check for the most part.
"Your brother?" he echoed, looking between the two of them. They looked nothing alike, though he supposed he shouldn't take that as any indication. They were both four inches tall, and already defied a lot of conventional rules about how things were supposed to be.
"What the hell are you guys? Some kind of fairies?" Jacob asked, trying to get to the bottom of things.
Bowman irritably shook his pinched wing, actually managing to free it from the absent grip on it. He used it to slap at the hand around him. "No! We're not fairies!" he replied in frustration. He remembered Sam mentioning something about it in the past, about how humans had a very sprite-like image in their head for what fairies looked like. Though he was warned, that didn’t mean he wasn’t irritated about it.
"Let me go!" Bowman demanded again, pushing his hands against the fingers coiled around him. He could see Sam standing there with his sword out, ready to take on a giant by himself, and knew that wouldn't work. Bowman hadn't bought him enough time, and now they were both as good as caught.
Jacob still glanced between the two of them, confused and wishing he'd just get a straight answer for once. He leaned towards Sam to get a better look at him, the hand around Bowman close to his chest as he moved. "Where'd you get that little sword? What is up with these woods?" He was beginning to think he'd fallen and hit his head or something.
Sam’s hand shook slightly as the human leaned in, and the deep sound of his voice reverberated around the cursed human. “I earned this sword,” he found himself insisting, the thin veil of warning wrapped around his voice. It took everything in him not to back away at the reminder of how much space the human could cover just by leaning in. Sam was already within arm’s reach. His body tensed.
The sword glinted in the sun. It was a better weapon to use against a giant than the silver knife tucked against his chest. Sam took a step forward, all of Scar’s lessons echoing in his head. He’d learned how to use it from the High Knight himself, throwing his all into the lessons every day for years. In all that time and all that training, he’d never thought he would find himself wielding it against a human. Any thoughts of humans had always been colored by the hopeful expectation of reunion with his older brother.
But now Bowman was trapped in a huge hand and it didn’t look like this Jacob was going to let him go.
“Now let him go or I’ll make you regret it!” Sam shouted up, false bravado covering up the fear in his voice. His hazel eyes were hard and determined. His knees remained slightly bent, ready to leap out of the way if the human snatched at him.
Jacob's eyebrows shot up. "Woah, woah," he said, trying to head off the fear and nerves directed at him. He didn't want to terrorize the little guys. His curiosity kept his hand wrapped securely around the winged one, despite the tiny kicks twitching against his palm and the bitty hands pushing on his knuckles. "I'm not gonna hurt anyone," Jacob insisted.
He kept his eyes on the little swordsman even as the winged guy barked out a laugh at him. The little jacket the swordsman was wearing had some kind of designs in the hem and the sleeves, and there was a similar design along the side seam of the pants tucked into those boots. He definitely looked the part of a swordsman right out of a novel, and Jacob wondered what the cape-like attachment fixed to the side of the jacket was for.
"Seriously, I'm just trying to figure out what's going on here," Jacob tried again. "Why don't you have wings, too?" He reached down towards the little guy, trying to keep his hand lower to avoid that sword if he could. It might be tiny, but it looked sharp.
Bowman twisted around to keep an eye on his adopted brother and his frantic heart sped up even more. "Sam!"
Sam’s eyes went wide at the size of the hand as it swept towards him and he almost went to stumble backwards instead of stay in the forms Scar had taught him. The sprite’s lessons focused on methods to take on animals bigger than the sprites. All of their enemies were bigger, and so they had to be ready for them.
The enemy is strong, and he is dangerous. But he will be strong and dangerous whether we cower and doubt ourselves or fly out to meet him.
Sam’s nerves solidified and he lunged forward with his sword to meet the human’s grab on his own terms.
The slash with the rapier met flesh, slicing across the human’s hand at the same time as Sam leapt out of the way of the grab. He was bulkier than any sprite, but light and spry on his feet after training for a good portion of his life. The lightweight boots and uniform helped him move like a leaf, designed for the sprites so they could swoop and dodge and not be hindered by the fabric.
Jacob’s hand moved too fast for Sam to completely avoid. To his shock and eternal consternation, he found himself landing on the back of the human’s massive hand. The flesh gave slightly under his boots and his heart pounded.
Sam vs Jacob, by lamthetwickster
Jacob winced and sucked in a breath of pain. He lifted his hand up and away from the ground again, surprised by how fast the little guy was. He'd thought for sure he'd be able to draw his hand back if that little sword swung at him. Already there was a stinging cut on the back of his hand near his thumb, an inch or two long. Yet Jacob wasn't looking at the cut.
He was staring in shock at the little fighter standing on the back of his hand.
He hadn't even noticed the tiny boots landing there in his haste to get his hand away from the threat. Now, he wasn't safe from the threat, but he did have the little guy more or less in hand. He kept himself as steady as he could to avoid tipping the little guy right off the side, and stared openly. "Woah," he breathed, in awe at the dexterity just displayed to him. "Holy shit."
Bowman blinked a few times too, staring up now that Sam had been lifted to a higher level than he. Sam really had earned his sword. Bowman knew his skills were formidable, but seeing them in action against a giant were amazing all on their own. Hopefully Sam's luck could last.
"Yeah, yeah, it's amazing, now put him down and let me go," Bowman snapped, using his wings to slap at the enormous chest in front of him the best he could. It was probably barely more than a tickle through the thick fabric of the human's hooded shirt.
Sam stared back at the huge brown eyes, caught off guard by how fast he’d been lifted up into the air. He could strike out at any time, considering that he was standing on a hand, but his mind yelled how bad of a plan that would be. If Jacob moved the wrong way, he could get hurt or land into an even worse situation.
He needed to be in control of the battlefield, and so long as he was standing on a hand that was under a giant’s control, that wasn't going to happen.
Whirling in place, Sam sprinted for the edge of the hand and leapt off. As he was falling, the wind caught under the ‘cape’ that was attached to his jacket, and the excess fabric billowed up.
Instead of crashing to the ground from a height of three feet in the air, Sam’s wingsuit let him glide safely down. It was another failsafe for being wingless while flying with his glider, and had saved his life more than once. Today, his boot touched down against the ground and the sword was already held in preparation for another attack.
Before Sam had pivoted around completely to face his foe once more, a hand was approaching him again. The ground rumbled from Jacob shifting, but instead of a grab, Bowman was deposited hastily on the ground next to where Sam landed. The hand retreated as swiftly as it had approached, leaving neither of them any time to bat or slice at it.
"What are you blasted--" Bowman began, stumbling and opening up his wings with an outraged look. He was cut off when he looked up, and he drew his wings close to himself yet again as the sky was blocked off.
Before they could even realize what was happening, the bucket from Jacob's backpack slammed into the ground around them, blocking the world from sight.
Leaving them trapped, and at Jacob's mercy.