For You

Jim hurried to help his fellow crewmembers drop the anchor and secure the ship at the docks. Everyone was excited for the first resupply, though the blue-eyed teen wasn't quite as jubilant as the rest. As his feet landed on soil, Jim was preoccupied with memories and thoughts that had irked him the entire voyage. Ever since getting his acceptance letter things had been different between him and Lina. While she verbally expressed her happiness for him, it was obvious that she was upset, and—probably without meaning to—she pulled away. Even if she'd been acting normal their relating with one another probably still would have been difficult, since Jim didn't just see her as a dear friend anymore yet knew the sheer idiocy of telling this to a girl the size of his thumb. This was made worse by his suspicion—or was it just hopeful longing?—that her feelings had changed too. Maybe he was just totally projecting meaning onto her behavior that only stemmed from missing a friend. Jim shook his head dejectedly as he followed his crewmate Silver into the township. It was hopeless.

A few hours later Jim and Silver were walking hurriedly along the beach, eyes scanning the cliffs eagerly. They were supposed to be heading back to the ship, but the boys had heard some gossip in town and decided to investigate, though it was taking way too long. It's probably total hogwash, Jim thought. He was just about to tell Silver they'd better head back when they rounded one more outcropping and finally saw the cave.

Hauling themselves inside, Jim's eyes widened and he immediately understood why the locals told stories of a supernatural cave that (supposedly) could grant the right person their heart's desire. The interior glowed strangely, and was covered in a map-like sprawl of unusual symbols and markings. Of course, the same story-tellers also claimed nobody had ever gotten it to work, and more than a few had come out touched in the head, as a result people stopped going in the cave. But Jim was curious, so he'd decided to come despite the supposed risks.

His heart panged briefly as Lina appeared unbidden into his consciousness, along with the thought of how fun it would be to have her on such an adventure with him. Tracing his hands along the markings, Jim thought absentmindedly what Lina might say about them, how she'd like the shape of this one, how she'd certainly notice the way a tendril curled downwards and almost touched a little plain rock that would be just the right height for her to climb onto without assistance. Bending over, Jim moved to pick up said rock, only to grunt in surprise when he couldn't lift it off the ground. That's ridiculous, it's smaller than my hand! He tried again, same result, then added a second hand and adjusted his position, unintentionally rotating slightly. Suddenly, the rock swiveled and all of the markings in the cavern flared with light, causing Jim and Silver to yelp and cover their eyes. When they finally opened them, the boys had to reclose and reopen them several times to be sure they weren't imagining things.

A rippling image had appeared between two rock pillars, and when it settled into a clear picture Jim gasped loudly. It was a vision of Lina. He stood for a moment unable to move, or breathe, or think; just staring at the little figure asleep in her walnut shell bed. It had to be some sort of trick, she was hundreds of miles away, it couldn't actually be showing him—well, what he wanted more than anything in the world—as if she was just on the other side of a window. Suddenly, Lina rolled over in her sleep, making Jim jump with surprise. Taking a deep breath, the youth reached out a hand only to inhale sharply as it passed through the supposed barrier like air. His mind made up, Jim stepped forward and disappeared from the cave.

Instantly, he found himself standing by Lina's bed, but what really shocked him was that everything was huge. Glancing around the room, Jim's jaw dropped as he realized that somehow he had literally entered his beloved girl's world: he was tiny just like her, and standing on the windowsill. Shaking his head in wonder, Jim brought his attention back to the sleeping girl—they were the same size!—who was starting to stir. "Lina!" He gently touched her shoulder, marveling that this simple gesture was even possible. "Lina, wake up!" Holding his breath, his face broke into a grin as her eyelids slowly parted and then widened abruptly as she registered his presence. "Jim?" Briefly illuminated by a smile, her face crumpled as she wrung her hands agitatedly, refusing to look at him. "No no no, not another dream, please, it's too hard…" Alarmed, Jim placed both of his hands on her shoulders, ignoring the brown-haired girl's gasp at his touch as he shook her slightly.

"Lina! You're not dreaming! Please, it's me, Jim, I…I don't really understand what happened but I went through some sort of doorway and now I'm your size!" He stopped his rambling, trying to catch his breath. Without thinking, he brushed the little singer's hair behind her ear; cupping her cheek as her eyes finally met his. The tiny teenagers simply stared at one another, and all Jim could think about was how beautiful she really was. Wordlessly, Lina climbed carefully out of the bed and moved to stand in front of him, gripping Jim's hand the entire time. "Jim?" He swallowed hard, "I-it's me, Lina."

She beamed at him, and in that instant Jim leaned forward and kissed her like he'd wanted to for nearly a year. Time and location were rendered meaningless as they embraced, hearts pounding as their lips met repeatedly and the painful longings melted away.

After a long while they separated, breathless and smiling. Caressing Lina's face, Jim quickly kissed her again before pulling away to really look at her. He couldn't get enough of all the little details, like the speckled colors in her eyes, which had been unseen when she was no taller than his thumb. The size-difference recollection effectively brought him back to the reality that this was only a temporary situation. Unless…

"What if I stayed?" Jim blurted out, not thinking about the difficulties, just his desire to be with her, whatever it took. For Jim, there was no going back on his feelings.

"What?" Lina furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Gripping her hands and bringing them up to rest on his chest, Jim repeated: "What if I stayed?" Mouth open, Lina stared at him. "You'd do that for me?" The boy nodded. "Yes. I mean, Lina look at us, we're the same size, it's a miracle. Somehow, I'm in your world now and if I stay we could—we could be together." He watched anxiously as a flurry of emotions played across her face, and she spoke hesitantly. "Jim, I've loved you for so long, and…being this small isn't easy. It was hard enough when you were there to protect me, how on earth would Mother care for two people this size? I—we, it's just…" Heart sinking, Jim struggled to speak against Lina's logic, the impracticality.

"I was so afraid I'd never be able to tell you how I felt, and that even if you felt the same for me it would be pointless. And now that I know, now that we're like this, how can I go back?" Sighing quietly, he stepped away from the beautiful creature, scanning the room absent-mindedly in a desperate attempt not to look at her, because if he did he knew he'd loose it. "Jim—," Lina's voice and hands on his arm seemed impossibly far away as Jim stared back across the windowsill, a small smile forming on his face even as he couldn't believe he didn't think of this sooner.

"Jim", Lina shook his arm violently, finally bringing the boy back to his senses. "Please listen to me. I—" Said boy finally whirled around to face her, eyes lit up. "The portal!"

"The—what?"

"The portal! Where I just came from! Lina," Jim could have jumped up and down he was so excited, "What if you went back through it with me? You might become human-sized like how I shrank when I came here!" Seeing the girl's nervousness, he added in a placating tone, "Please let's just try, and if it doesn't work then we'll come right back here and I'll stay. I love you Lina." Eyes glistening with unshed tears, she nodded swiftly, and together they joined hands before stepping anxiously through the portal.