I.

Hogarth was in the midst of a deep sleep when he felt something nibbling at his nose. What the hell? He jumped up and hit his head against something hard. "OW!" The boy pulled himself out from under the Giant's hand and saw that he was still fast asleep in the early morning light. He smiled warmly, noticed an opening in the forest, and felt the pit in his empty stomach. Breakfast was most likely fish today.

It was always fish.

...

The Giant awoke to find himself drifting in a vast, dark sky. Amazed, he looked every which way and sought out signs of life. There were no dots of light tonight, only a big moon. He looked closely at it as the glow around it dimmed to reveal what it really in fact was. The Giant gasped. A rock. He looked around for safety.

For the sun or Earth.

When he looked back, however, the Giant saw that a new light enveloped the rock on all sides. He was drifting back much quicker now as he saw himself in the black, open sky. It was a reflection. His reflection. The Giant tried to grab for something solid but it was all for naught. As he fell out of orbit he saw the ocean below him. Two, huge blue eyes opened and stared up at him. Unfriendly and unwelcoming.

He tried to resist falling...

But could not.

"Hogarth. HOGARTH."

The Giant startled awake and immediately looked for his best friend. He saw that his boots and various articles of clothing were tossed off in random places. When he looked up he saw something bounding off into the forest. He would have jumped to his feet but he remembered last night: Be patient. Stay there, buddy. No following.

He was puzzling over what the word "buddy" meant when he noticed a figure that stood away from him through some trees. The black suit made him react a moment until he saw the mop of red-brown hair on top. His shoulders dropped and he began to relax as Hogarth moved his arms back and forth; he then plunged off carelessly.

"NO!"

The Giant pushed himself to his feet with one hand and sprinted forward.

...

Clouds were coming in again and the morning sun was fleeting.

Warm wind whipped through his hair as the embedded stone cliff left his toes. He felt gravity shift as it tried to catch him and it was his best moments suddenly. The boy gripped his hands into fists. "Backwards... SUPERMAN!" He swung around now.

The Giant was looking at him, stunned.

Hogarth blinked.

"Hey, buddy." He grinned sheepishly.

" 'Buddy?' "

"Yeah. It's means you're my-,"

After a moment, the robot's afterburners kicked in and he tried to catch Hogarth. It was with an impish grin that the boy slipped out of his fingers and he landed in the vast ocean like a drop of water. The Giant made contact soon after him and waves ballooned out. When Hogarth surfaced, he was laughing so loud his sides hurt. The idea that the Giant would be upset with him was erased when a "sea monster" head poked out, looked around, and then nudged his cheek. Hogarth cracked up all over again over this. He watched as a huge shadow swam gracefully under his suddenly small self, and stared open-mouthed. Only the Giant could make him feel this way.

But as the waves rippled past, he also felt such a wave of protection.

He watched as the sentient submarine looked around once more before the orange glow of his afterburners came to life and Hogarth was consumed in exhilaration as his best friend burst out of the ocean with him in his hands. They shot into the air.

A torpedo shooting out but only exploding in laughter.

Hogarth felt the Giant cradle him to his chest and when he looked up, joy was there in the arch of his closed iron eyes. He grinned and hugged himself even closer now.

...

Rain had predictably arrived and they spent the rest of their morning under a stand of tall conifers. Hogarth chuckled as he watched the Giant hold out his hand and let the water travel in rivulets down between his fingers. The robot had made good on his underwater voyage, collecting scraps of metal. He even tried replicating the fire pit Hogarth had and it was actually kind of cute. The boy shook his head, smiling. It was only the Giant who could make the ordinary...he felt the bot's eyes fall on him.

"Buddy?"

"What 'Buddy' ?"

Hogarth smiled winsomely. "It's what I call you... well, used to. It's means 'friend'."

"Buddy," The Giant said approvingly.

His little one chuckled. "Well, we should definitely move on after the rain stops..."

As the deluge angled his way, the Giant positioned the branches into a big lean-to.

"Thanks, buddy." Hogarth said softly, but his smile was a little off.

He grew quiet as he took a slow bite of his BBQ'd cod and the Giant tilted his head.

Hogarth felt something poke him.

"Giant, stop." Hogarth pushed his finger away. He tried to sound patient.

The boy took a bite of fish, fighting his irritation.

Poke.

"Come on, now. I said knock it off." The tinge of salt lingered on his tongue.

Poke.

"I said 'knock it off'!" Hogarth snapped at him.

Shock shook the Giant and Hogarth's eyes widened, a million memories flooded in.

"Giant! Giant, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have... buddy, I-I I'm so sorry. I didn't..."

But the Giant was still confused... and hurt.

Hogarth shook his head, confused himself, and jumped up quickly to his feet.

"Look, I'm... I'm just sick of eating fish, okay?" He tried explaining in a rush. "You know. 'What's for breakfast?'" Hogarth mocked. "Fish. Lunch? Fish. Dinner? Flippin' FISH." He flipped the spigot away and stalked off into the rain that was letting up.

The Giant looked down sadly at the broken piece of wood. What had he done?

He then heard a small gasp.

"Giant, c'mere. Quick!"

"Hogarth?" He looked up in surprise.

"C'mere, buddy. Come on!"

At the soft, excited tone, the robot rose to his feet and walked over to him. Hogarth was grinning up his way and he felt more at ease. "Look, Giant," he folded a stringy mass of greenery away to reveal small, furry little creatures nibbling on tiny things.

"Hogarth..." He squatted in amazement.

"No wonder the season's off, we're right in the middle of spring."

" 'Spring?' "

"Look at the flowers... and the bunnies." Hogarth ran his fingers through clusters of pink and yellow. He leaned down to inhale the scent. "I never got to see any... the goon bots didn't give me time to." The tone of his voice changed, became off again.

"Hogarth," the Giant tilted his head in concern and then he noticed the vine-strewn mass above him. Sliding his fingers in curiously, he raised up the webbed canopy to reveal an entire underside of purple, yellow and white flowers. "Hogarth... flowers."

"Whoa, buddy, look." His eyes had followed what the trail of colors led to.

The two looked out to see an open area of sunlight.

Hogarth stepped forward and said the word, "Meadow," in awe.

"Meadow?"

His friend held out a hand to stop him as a sense of familiarity struck him. Hogarth had seen this before, but he couldn't remember. The Giant rose to his feet behind him and his familiar presence gave Hogarth the courage to out into open grassland.

There, they witnessed it...

Deer. By the hundreds. Some were as big as moose and Hogarth just knew he had to be dreaming. Being here with the Giant was having a close neighbor kid moving back in, Lassie coming home, the Second Coming and his dad being alive all rolled into one. He broke out into a disbelieving grin, his eyes misting over. Had he died?

Had he been struck dead that night his motorcycle was attacked?

Was this Heaven?

None of this could be real.

Suddenly, a mass of pink and yellow flowers were on his head.

"Buddy!" Hogarth laughed up at him, his eyes shining in glee.

The Giant then draped his own entanglement over his head like hair.

"Man, we put Bambi and Thumper to shame. We're like woodland nymphs now!"

" 'Bambi?' "

"Uh..." Hogarth gazed out uneasily at the unconcerned fauna. "Maybe not Bambi."

The Giant picked up a string of dark purple flowers in his mass, pulling it along.

"This is really amazing..." His buddy said, forgetting priorities.

He felt young, and safe, and... happy. So harmoniously happy.

Something light brushed against his cheek and Hogarth looked down. Flowers were held before him and he collected them in his hands. Without knowing what to say, he looked up at the Giant smiling down at him. His own eyes yellow and so warm they melted his heart like butter. Hogarth accepted the flowers and swallowed. He looked down again. Pansies. Yes, they were pansies. His lips tightened on a feeling.

"Thanks, buddy." He said softly.

The Giant's iron lids curved in around his eyes in a sweet way.

It was sweet. The sun, the smell, the scene...

Hogarth and the Giant looked across the open grasslands peacefully.

To be continued...