I'm bored… so here's another one-shot.
Reviewer Thanks
Elizabeth: Interesting idea you sent me, but I think I'll decline (my head is full of enough of them as it is). Keep in mind, Blu's versions tend to be WAAAAAY more different than the original fairytales (though you got me on the 'transformation' part, I may fix that later). …I agree. Rabid fan-girls = psychotic! Glad you still liked it!
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Jack Klihmer was a hansom boy, and very athletic, full of charm, and had quite a heart. He wasn't born that way, though. Oh, no. His father raised him to be that way. "A man isn't based on what he's worth, but the worth of his heart." he would always say. "Your spirit is either pure of gold, or rancid like sludge."
Jack loved his father, more than life itself…
Life ended for him when his father passed away from appendicitis. He left his family broken-hearted… and broke.
Yes, when Jack's father died, so did their profits for their farm. Crops stopped growing, livestock stopped reproducing, animals grew sickly… it was as if everything Jack cherished was dying all around him. After the winter of his father's death, he and his mother had gone into debt, and hardly had enough money for one of McDonald's Dollar-Menu offers.
Jack took a walk one day, heading for the cemetery, seeing a girl kneeling in front of a couple graves. He walked over, noticing at a closer range the solemn look on her face. "I wouldn't get any closer, if I were you." A voice out of nowhere said.
Jack paused, looking around. "Who said that?" he asked himself.
"Down here,"
Jack looked down, seeing a small boy next to him.
Really small.
Very, very, very small.
Heck, the kid was so small, an inch-worm would look like an anaconda compared to him!
"Hi, I'm Tom Thumb." The boy said, sticking out his teeny-tiny hand.
Jack blinked once, then stuck out his index finger for Tom to shake. "Uh, Jack Klihmer." he replied, trying to overcome the fact that he was talking to the world's tiniest person. "So… why can't I talk to that girl over there?"
"You've never met Bluskyrobinaquamarine Carson?" Jack shook his head 'no', and Tom shrugged. "Well, I suppose some people are considered lucky…"
Not from my perspective… Jack thought, bitterly.
"I'd wait a while before you decide to introduce yourself. She's in a pretty sour mood… well, more sour than usual."
Jack looked over at the girl again, watching as she walked away from the graves. "Did someone she know die?"
Tom sighed. "Her parents. They died a year ago, and she's been depressed ever since."
"Whoa… How did they die?"
"House fire. She was the only one who made it out, and she's living with her aunt, uncle, and cousin now." Tom watched the girl walk into the woods, shaking his head. "It's hard to remember a day when she actually smiled."
Jack looked over at his own father's grave. I guess I'm not the only one who's lost something. he thought.
"So, what brings you here?"
Jack shrugged. "My father died a while back. Just thought I'd visit his grave," he replied, solemnly.
"Oh… I'm sorry to hear that,"
"Yeah, you and everyone else," Jack began to walk off.
"I never knew my parents."
Jack paused, looking at Tom. "Huh?"
"I'm a hybrid. Part nymph, part sorcerer. My father didn't want me, and my mother died while I was an infant. I was raised by an old couple who found me in their garden. …Funny thing is, an old woman who lived down the road from them happened to find a girl the same size as me in her flowerbed the same day." he then sighed, shaking his head. "Though, I'm an orphan now, since my foster-parents grew fatally ill and passed away last month."
"Ouch…" Jack cringed. His father had just died, yet so far today he found out a girl had lost both his parents, and Tom had no family at all. "So, where do you live, now?"
Tom shrugged. "Anywhere, actually. Sometimes I share a hole with a few rabbits, sleep in an empty bird's nest- though, since they keep trying to feed me to their chicks, I decided to stick to the ground… But, you know, anywhere that's comfortable."
Jack sighed. "Well, that makes two of us."
"What do you mean?"
"My mom and I are in debt. If we don't come up with some money soon, we're going to lose our house." he sat down, resting his head in his hands. "It's basically hopeless for us…"
Tom walked over, sitting on top of his shoe. "Nothing's hopeless. You just need to find a way of making money."
"Well… Mom talked about selling some of the animals, except they're all sick. The only good one we got is a cow."
"Have you tried looking for a job?"
Jack gave him a sneer. "I'm ten! I can't get a job yet!"
Tom cringed. "Sorry. People look taller from my perspective, so I mistake their ages sometimes. Heck, others hardly know… my…" he then snapped his fingers. "Wait, I've got an idea!"
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Tom and Jack stood on the street corner, with a cardboard box booth set up with a sign reading "Guess My Age- $1.00 per try". In a few minutes, people were stopping by, taking a knack at trying to guess Tom's age.
By the end of the day, they had made fifteen dollars.
By the end of the week, they made fifty.
By the end of the month, two-hundred.
…Yet it still wasn't enough, and Jack had to sell the cow. Tom met him in the woods, catching up with him. "What's the matter?" he asked, seeing the sad look on Jack's face.
"We're still in debt… and I've got to market-off Ol' Nelly if we're going to have dinner tonight…"
Tom climbed up his pant-leg and onto his shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm sure thing's will look up-"
"No, they won't!" Jack's words came out harsher than he intended, and Tom nearly fell off his shoulder. "Don't you get it? We've tried all month, and nothing's worked out! It's hopeless! H-O-P-E-L-E-S-S! HOPELESS!"
*SMACK!*
…For a little guy, Tom could throw a good punch. "Listen up, Jack! You may be on the verge of losing faith, but there's others who have lost more than you have, let alone never had any of it, and they still managed to look on the bright side! Just because things look bleak now doesn't mean they'll stay that way! Someday, your luck will make a change for the better, and before you know it, you'll be living the high life!"
Jack sneered. "Well, I don't have a castle in the sky, yet."
Tom hopped off his shoulder and onto a low tree branch. "Just keep your head up, kid, and you'll get one."
Jack continued to walk, then paused, looking back at Tom. "You know… you never DID tell me what your actual age was."
Tom shrugged. "13." With that, the incredibly-small boy walked across the branch and disappeared in the leaves.
Jack nodded, then continued his way.
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13 years later…
Jack stood at the large grave-stone, the largest in all Fairytale history. He sat on his knees, reading the name on it over and over until it stuck in his head:
Tom Thumb
Age, Unknown
A Tiny Lad
A Big Hero
He winced, recalling how he had grown a bond with Tom. The boy, though small, had a heart big enough to spread throughout the world, and he had sacrificed his own life in order to take down the Red Fairy's dragon and help save Fairytale Land.
But, in Jack's perspective, he had done more… He had gave him confidence he thought he never had, telling him about all the heights he'd achieve if he put his mind to it.
And he did. When he saw that bean-stalk grow out of the ground, he was scared, but recalled Tom's words, as if he was still standing on his shoulder talking into his ear. Before he knew it, he had enough gold to save his farm and have a new place… on a cloud in the sky.
It was almost as if Tom knew Jack would succeed… though, it probably surprised him to know that Jack wanted to share the castle with him, considering the ecstatic look on his face.
Jack was still successful… though, now that Tom was gone, he felt as poor as he did when he lost his father.
"Thank you, Tom…" Jack whispered to the grave, then turned and left, tears falling from his eyes.
At the end of the road, he saw Blu- the other hero of Fairytale Land- watching him, though she turned away, deciding to leave him be, and he sensed a bit of déjà vu. He shook his head and continued on, his hopes plummeting…
'Nothing is hopeless…' Tom's voice resounded in his head.
Jack looked back at the grave, noticing a beam of light shining on it. He smirked a bit, feeling a bit of confidence returning. "Even in death, you manage to show me the bright side," he said, then continued on, his heart no longer feeling empty.
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A/N: Review.
No flames.