Pity the poor boy who managed to land in this terrible mess. Grandis lunch and her belch had already caused a more than uncomfortable situation for Jean, but of course, that was just the tip of the iceberg, as things were about to get even worse. A belch by that woman was enough to cause the stomach to shake violently and to throw Jean around terribly. Bu just as Jean thought that there couldn´t have been a more terrible event inside Grandis´ belly, he unwittingly got proof for the opposite. Because Grandis suddenly got the hiccups, probably due to her upset stomach, and Jean was partially responsible for this by having hit her stomach wall hard. So the ground of her stomach seemed to jump up suddenly as Grandis hiccups started. Jean was thrown high up into the air by the soft flesh of the ground moving up fast, and he was thrown with such force that he was afraid of actually hitting the ceiling of Grandis´ stomach. But he didn´t, so he fell down onto the ground again. The entire procedure was accompanied by this weird and familiar noise a person makes when he or she is hiccoughing. It might have been cute to experience this from inside Nadia, but inside Grandis, it somehow seemed just plain annoying.
As Jean had fallen onto the ground again, his ordeal was far from over. Grandis´ hiccups had not ceased yet, au contraire, it had just started. Only seconds after Jean´s first "flight" had ended, he heard another noise, and her stomach moved slightly and powerfully up again, with Jean being lifted high up in the air. This time, Grandis´ hiccups was even more powerful, as the noise Grandis made was louder and the force with which Jean was being thrown into the air was much more intense. So intense that he really hit the ceiling of her stomach. It just felt plain disgusting as he touched the slimy, fleshy ceiling of her stomach. Not only was he able to feel it entirely, this soft mass of flesh, but also feel its elasticity, as the impact of Jean´s tiny body on the ceiling dented it slightly, moments before the ceiling shape went back into its original position and threw Jean back onto the ground. Grandis´ hiccups wasn´t even needed to make Jean´s misery even more terrible. Falling down from the ceiling with more force than even before, the impact of Jean´s body on the ground of the stomach as well as Grandis´ hiccups, which caused the ground to shake frequently, managed to throw Jean yet again away from the ground. But this time, not high up into the air, but much rather at Grandis´ stomach walls. It wasn´t much different from hitting the ceiling of her stomach, though, and he was thrown at the stomach walls earlier already. Hitting the stomach wall with his body and being pushed onto the ground again by its elasticity, Jean was at least able to lay down on the soft ground of her stomach for a few seconds, fearing that this "divine comedy" or simply tragedy would continue to strain his tiny, frail body. But just this once, Jean was lucky. He couldn´t hear Grandis making this strange noise anymore, and he couldn´t feel the ground beneath him shaking and wobbling as much as before. Instead, he could hear that Grandis was pounding with her fist against her chest, hoping that she could stop her hiccups that way. Thankfully for Jean, she succeeded. The rumbling noise of her chest being hit by her fist ceased, and with it the terrible hiccups.
Jean´s body was trembling with fear and exhaustion. The last minutes were the worst possible experience for 1/2 of an inch tall boy, a terrible nightmare. His entire body hurt horribly, and he was moaning in pain.
"Nadia...please..."
The thought of Nadia coming and rescuing him from the depths of his personal hell was the only thing that kept Jean going. The thought that he would escape his doom with the help of his lovely girlfriend. But would she really come and save him? Or would she just forget about him and leave him here? It was actually the first time ever Jean doubted Nadia´s attempts on rescuing him. What if she was actually glad to be rid of him, a teenie tiny boy who was probably nothing more than ballast to Nadia literally. He now even smiled at himself, for being so stupid to think that a girl like Nadia could love someone like him. Ridiculous. His own grim situation, his grief and his doubts now finally managed to break Jean´s self confidence and his will. He lost control over himself and began to cry. Tears were flowing down his cheeks wildly, and he tried in vain to hold them back, having just learned that he must have been a fool to think about Nadia the way he did. How foolish he was to think she could love him. This thought made his heart aching even more than when he saw Nadia for the first time and fell in love with her. The pain was unbearable, the pain of being lost inside Grandis and forgotten by Nadia. Yes, she probably wan´t even thinking about him right now. She must have been doing one of her shows at the circus, having returned to her old life and forgotten about the tiny boy that interfered with her life. Jean collapsed on the ground of Grandis´ stomach and continued to cry like a baby.
"Nadia...you liar...why were you being kind to me? Why were you pretending you love me? You...you betrayed me! You left me all alone! I...I HATE YOU!"
It was difficult for Jean to utter these words under the flow of tears, but the hatred inside him was rising with each passing moment, the hatred toward Nadia. He wouldn´t have minded if she just told him she didn´t like him. But Nadia actually made him think that she loves him. He began to pound with his fists onto the soft ground, angry at his own foolishness. His grief and his pain had clouded his vision and his soul entirely, letting him forget how much Nadia really cared about him.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the outskirts of Paris, on some path inside a small forest, Nadia was of course on her way to rescue Jean. She knew the place where Grandis was hiding; a vision Blue Water gave her told her about the exact whereabouts. But as she was searching for the place, she suddenly stopped. She grabbed her chest as her heart was aching terribly, out of a sudden. She huffed and puffed and fell onto her knees.
"What the...?"
Then Blue Water started to glow with wondrous light, confusing Nadia. Did this have something to do with the pain in her heart?
Her question was answered quickly, as she suddenly saw images floating in front of her eyes. There she saw Jean, collapsing and falling onto some organic ground. He was crying, and Nadia knew that these images told her what was happening to Jean at that moment. She felt so sorry for Jean. Not only because she could now see how Grandis´ stomach looked like for Jean, but also because she saw him crying like that and because his tiny body now looked so frail and hurt. Jean must have gone through an ordeal, and it made Nadia almost cry, seeing her boyfriend suffering like that. Being inside Grandis´ stomach must have been unbearable and a horrible experience beyond compare. She would probably never understand the pain she must have felt at that moment. But there was one thing that caused her an incredible pain that was almost up on par with what Jean felt. She heard Jean sobbing, quietly saying her name, and then yelling these words: "You liar...why were you being kind to me? Why were you pretending you love me? You...you betrayed me! You left me all alone! I...I HATE YOU!" followed by another painful sobbing. Nadia could just gaps at these words. Jean...had lost faith in her. The pain Jean felt had broken his will and clouded his mind. And now, Nadia started to cry, just like the boy she loved so much.
"Jean...*sob* please, forgive me!"
She fell onto her knees, just like Jean, and cried in pain. It was the worst possible situation for Nadia. That Jean stopped believing in Nadia´s love and in the promise she gave him. She really, absolutely loved him dearly, and it was like a stab into her heart as she heard him uttering doubts about her love. Trying in vain to wipe her own tears, Nadia dared to look at the image of Jean again. She saw him standing up, wiping his tears with his sleeve. Adjusting his glasses, he whispered something Nadia could understand only too well.
"Don´t worry...Nadia. I will never bother you again. No matter whether I´m going rot in here for the rest of my life or whether I´m returning to the outside again. You will never see me again, I promise. I won´t be ballast for you anymore. I will find a way out, even without you."
Ballast? Jean thought she hated him because he was ballast. She had never heard such nonsense in her life before. Nadia loved him much more than anyone else, why would she think of him as ballast? Why...why did he thought of her like that out of a sudden? It must have been because everything he went through, because she hadn´t come to rescue him yet. She cursed herself for having failed him. Deep down inside her, she knew that she couldn´t have done anything to protect Jean or to get him out of Grandis´ stomach earlier. But...if she had watched over him earlier more carefully, at that moment when he landed in Grandis´ mouth. What if she had not allowed him to slip through her fingers and flying into his misery? It was all her fault! She was too weak to help him.
"Jean...no, no, no! Don´t leave me! I love you! Jean!"
Nadia sobbed like a little girl, still in shock because of what she has heard. She had no idea that Jean has loved her that much. That´s why he was now so disappointed by her. If she could have only been a better friend for him; if she had only been able to protect him; if she had only been able to give him proof for her true love.
But then Nadia stood up again and wiped her tears with her soft and smooth fingers. As the image of Jean disappeared, she found herself again on the forest path. There was something else that Blue Water had shown her: Jean´s true feelings. Only now did she realize that Jean didn´t hate her at all. She was able to look deep into his soul when Blue Water started to glow, and she learned that Jean still loved her much more than anyone else in this world, that he was still madly in love with her. It was just his traumatic experience inside Grandis that broke his will and created these doubts about Nadia´s attempts to rescue him.
"Jean...you...you still love me..."
And only now she fully realized how much he must have been suffering inside his organic prison in order to doubt his girlfriend´s love. And Nadia also realized that she had to rescue him, no matter what. She was even more eager to meet him again than before, although that was nearly impossible. She was absolutely anxious to save him earlier, for he was her best friend, but now her will to rescue him was literally shining. Not only in order to free him from the shackles of his living prison, but also in order to show him that she did not betray him, that she could never forget about him, that she would never leave him alone.
"Jean...I won´t let you down! I´m gonna save you! I promise!"
Nadia yelled these words with an almost impressive passion, and moments later, she began to run toward her destination: Grandis´ lair. And there, she would finally confess her honest and true love for this tiny and lovely inventor boy.
"Hold out, Jean! I´m coming!"
And so she went on her way to save her friend, even more passionate than she was before. And once again, Blue Water helped her in an unexpected way. It actually seemed like Blue Water allowed her to see the things she needed to know about; and maybe...Blue Water could even help her to look into the future? Mere speculation, but it was clear that Blue Water was more than Nadia had thought, and thus her parents were certainly no ordinary persons, in case they really gave her the pendant.
Back to Jean´s misery. Standing still on the soft ground of Grandis´ stomach, his entire soul had been devoured by doubt, grief and sorrow, resulting in his current state of mind: he lost the will to fight on for his life, as the only reason for his life - Nadia - had abandoned him, or at least his mind told him. He wished that the stomach acids would really be able to kill him, since he didn´t have to live on that way and suffer from these dark and painful thoughts. The kind and lively boy Nadia knew was gone, consumed by his pain. It seemed that there was nothing worth living for anymore, and all these positive thoughts he was having all his life, his entire positive nature were gone. Jean seemed to be merely a former shell of himself, waiting to die, waiting for an absolution that would never come (again...). But one sentence he might have heard by chance or by the course of fate changed his grief immediately. Because he was able to hear Nadia´s voice. Nadia´s lovely voice, saying something he would have never expected to hear.
"Jean...I won´t let you down! I´m gonna save you! I promise!"
His pain changed into complete surprise, and his empty eyes behind his glasses were suddenly filled with life again.
"Hold out, Jean! I´m coming!"
Hearing these words, Jean didn´t know what to think. Was it his imagination? Was it merely a daydream? No. No way. That was Nadia´s voice for sure. It might have come out of nowhere, but it was real, it was not an illusion. Nadia did not abandon him. She still loved him, and she wanted to save him. Instead of being happy about this, Jean´s were filling with tears again. He was angry at himself, this time for different reason. How could he have even thought of Nadia like that? Why did he let his grief overcome him? His soul was being so weak, and he hated himself for that.
"Nadia...I´m so sorry..."
But he quickly stopped crying, looking confidently. He found his will to live again, his will to meet Nadia again. He would not give into his grief and pain again. He would hold out, as Nadia had told him. Secretly, he was so thankful to hear Nadia´s voice, even if it was not really herself talking to him, but much rather a vision of Nadia, of what she was doing. Not only because it made him forget his pain, but also because it cheered him up in here, deep down in the belly of the beast.
Suddenly, Grandis´ stomach was rumbling loudly. Jean could tell that Grandis was rubbing her stomach, due to him being thrown through it earlier.
"Geez...now what was that?" Grandis wondered.
Jean was at least a little bit sorry about bothering Grandis´ stomach, but that changed quickly. Far from above, he heard the sound of some liquid being poured into a glass. And Jean was not a moron. He knew what this meant: Grandis was pouring herself a glass of water (or something else) in order to settle her stomach. This would be another difficult situation for Jean. In fearful anticipation he listened to the liquid flowing into Grandis´ mouth and her gulping it down her esophagus. Yes, he could actually hear the liquid´s descent into her stomach all the way down, this rumbling sound of the flowing liquid. Paralyzed with fear, Jean looked at the tight ring of muscles that was the entrance to Grandis´ stomach and saw that it opened, allowing a red liquid to rush into the large chamber of her stomach. According to the color of the liquid, it was most definitely wine. But that didn´t interest Jean in the least bit as he found himself engulfed by gigantic waves of wine, floating inside the stream of the rushing liquid. It felt like he was being trapped in wild water inside Grandis´ stomach, with no way to escape. He was horrified as he saw where the rushing stream of wine was heading to: the small hole that was the entrance to Grandis´ intestines! That was the last place he wanted to go, deeper into that woman´s innards, deeper into her body. He had to swim against the current quickly and powerfully in order to avoid getting drawn deeper into Grandis´ digestive tract. And he tried so hard to swim against the stream of wine, but it was flowing with such brute force that it seemed impossible for a feeble seeming boy like Jean to successfully avoid his descent into the intestines of red haired, female lunatic. And strange and gross thought, honestly. Looking behind him, he saw the entrance to the small intestines coming nearer and nearer as the stream continued to rush into its direction, and he already saw more and more wine being sucked into Grandis´ intestines. Would Jean suffer the same fate or would he be able to stay inside her stomach and avoid an unwitting journey deep into this woman´s body?