The way Nadia was staring at Grandis made the mischievous swindler she was feel uncomfortable. She had no doubts that Nadia would do anything in order to free her beloved boyfriend. Even if this meant that Grandis had to suffer these consequences Nadia spoke of. Judging from Nadia´s physical appearance, she was an athletic and strong girl, and she had a vast advantage over Grandis in this regard. Not that Grandis was a feeble woman, but being an acrobat all her life made Nadia obviously superior to her in terms of physical strength. So Nadia´s will and her obvious strength made it clear that Grandis would lose if she chose not to let Jean free. Either way, she would lose. It was a doomed decision indeed. She had to fear either Nadia´s wrath or that of her employer, with her employer being the worse choice, since she knew herself how ruthless he could be...
And she really did not want to be responsible for Jean suffering any longer or even for his death. It was not only the thought of a corpse floating through Grandis´ digestive tract that disgusted her deeply. The thought that she herself could be responsible for the death of an innocent, and somehow even cute 14 year old boy was beyond terrible. First of all, Grandis would have never wanted to hurt a person or even kill someone, no matter whether she was thief and swindler or not. Murder was something she would have never even dared to think of. And to her, leaving this boy inside her intestines was murder. Not only that. The boy didn´t even do anything wrong. It wasn´t his fault that he had landed inside Grandis´ belly in the first place. He didn´t even hurt Grandis in any way. On the contrary, he was even being rather polite toward Grandis, considering his unpleasant situation and his terribly weakened physical state. The boy just wanted to survive and see the girl he loved again. Was there anything wrong about it? Was there any way Grandis could have prevented their reunion without having a terrible feeling of guilt? No. No matter how much she feared her employer´s wrath and his possible punishment, her feelings and sense for justice were still stronger.
"So? Have you made up your mind? Will you let him out? Or do you attempt to fight me instead? This is your last chance. Free him, or accept your punishment."
Grandis was thinking about Nadia´s ultimate warning for a few seconds. Sighing deeply, she already came up with a decision.
"You won. I will let Jean out. I...I couldn´t live with the thought of being responsible of an innocent person´s death. And I...don´t want to destroy your love."
"..."
Nadia was quite surprised to see that Grandis ultimately surrendered and gave into her warnings. And she was glad that she didn´t have to make them come true and fight Grandis. Although she hated Grandis for what she did to Jean, she was still a gentle girl, and she hated violence above anything else. Not even this vile woman deserved being hurt in terrible ways, even though it was unforgivable that she failed to realize that it was indeed a crime not to free a helpless and frail boy like Jean from his dangerous prison.
"And how are you going to get him out of your belly?"
"Hm...I´m not sure..."
Getting Jean out of the depths of Grandis´ belly was indeed quite problematic. First, neither Grandis nor Nadia were able to come up with a proper idea. Yet one thing was for sure: neither of them wanted Jean to take the "rear exit". Grandis because it was a gross thought; a tiny boy coming out of her...ahem. You know what. Nadia on the other hand knew how humiliating this could have been for Jean. And he didn´t deserve such a low-grade escape, if you will. Jean was her tiny, sweet hero. Being covered in all kinds of gross masses and liquids and coming out of the most..."infamous" opening of the human body was far below what Jean truly deserved. In Nadia´s opinion, Jean deserved a good life, he deserved happiness. And he deserved an appropriate treatment, even though this embarrassing escape rout ultimately served for Jean´s sake. Nevertheless, Jean´s escape should be as "clean" as possible, and as save as possible. If they really attempted to get Jean out of Grandis´ rear exit, the tiny boy would have to go through Grandis´ entire digestive tract, and that was simply too much for him, especially since there was little to none energy left inside his weak body. So the only way for Jean to get out of his worst nightmare led up Grandis´ esophagus, yet it was still doubtful how this could have been possible without damaging Jean´s health any further.
Just then, Grandis at least got a vague idea on how to save Jean at last.
"My abdominal muscles..."
"Huh?"
"If I manage to clutch my abdominal muscles in the right way, I could make Jean move up my throat. It´s not a pleasant choice, but it could work."
"But Jean...shouldn´t he be inside your stomach if your idea shall be successful?"
"Hm...I guess you´re right..."
Nadia´s face showed a worried expression. Jean was still inside Grandis´ intestines, and he had to go into her stomach in order to make the plan work. But would Jean have enough power to make it up the hole that leads back into the stomach? If Jean only would be able to gain enough power to go through this last ordeal until she would finally be able to hold him in her hands again...
Nadia the walked toward Grandis and bowed down, so she was staring directly at her belly.
"Jean, can you hear me?"
Of course he could. Nadia´s voice managed to let him forget the terrible inside his body at least for a few seconds. He rose his head a bit from the soft ground, smiling slightly.
"Na...dia...I...hear you..."
"Jean listen. We will get you out of there, I promise. But you must gain all your remaining strength for one last task."
"...task...?"
"Jean, Grandis could get you out of her belly by clutching her abdominal muscles and making them move you up her esophagus. But it will most likely only work if you´re inside her stomach. Jean. Do you think you can do this? Do you think you will be able to climb back into her stomach? From then on, you can close your eyes and wait for the things to come. Trust me, it will only be a matter of seconds until you are on my hand again!"
"...really...?" Jean´s faint voice asked, with a slight expression of hope.
"Yes!" Nadia yelled, almost in tears.
"I would never tell you lies! Everything will be all right again!"
"...Nadia...I...never...want to be...separated from you...again...I...I...love you..."
That was too much for Nadia. Amidst all his suffering and pain, the only thing Jean thought of was Nadia. And in his weakness, he was still able to say these words Nadia desired to hear ever since she first met him, back then in her room. Nadia began to sob as tears were flowing down her cheeks, and she clutched Grandis´ lap and put her face near it. Grandis looked down at Nadia kneeling down and crying at her lap. She didn´t mind that her dress was getting wet because of Nadia´s tears. She knew exactly how the girl felt. The boy she loved, so near and yet so far away from her and in grave danger...that was an unbearable thought for every woman who was deeply in love with someone. And Grandis was no exception.
"Nadia...I´m so sorry..." she whispered, so Nadia didn´t even hear her words.
"...am I...really going to see you again?" Jean asked.
"I promise you, Jean! I will never let you alone again! I will never allow anyone to hurt you again!"
"..."
"Jean, can you climb into the stomach again?" Nadia ultimately asked.
"I...I´ll try..."
Jean knew himself that this was anything but a cakewalk. Although he could easily reach the membrane of Grandis´ intestines, he had no idea whether he would be strong enough to get there and to squeeze through the membrane. But Nadia´s words at least gave him confidence and the will to try to do his best. Seeing her again was the only thing that kept him alive in the first place. And maybe...just maybe, this would now give him the strength to do one last exhausting task. And although each muscle inside his body hurt terribly and was practically numb, or at least almost, he managed to stand up slowly. He had to prop on the fleshy ground with his hands, but after a few seconds, he was standing upright on the fleshy matter Grandis´ intestines consisted of. He was breathing heavily, but the first part was done. He was standing again. But the complicated part of his journey was still ahead of him. So spared no time as he was walking toward the valve that would lead him back into the disgusting stomach of that woman. It would at least have been nice if it was Nadia´s stomach ahead of him, but unfortunately for him, that was not the case. As he was almost under the valve, he had to cough heavily as his lungs were working under great pain. But that did not prevent him from going any further. And so he finally arrived directly beneath the muscular ring-opening he had been washed through earlier. Only this time, luck was on his side. To his surprise, the valve was open, thus it would be a lot easier for him to get through. He took a deep breath, looking at the muscular opening and seeing that it was only a few inches above him. He could jump up and cling to the flesh, then he could manage to get himself back into the stomach. So he did.
Gathering all the energy that was left in this boy, he jumped up as high as he could, reaching out for something to cling to with his weak hands. And his hands really clutched the flesh of the valve. He managed to get a tight grip on the slimy flesh, and now it was easier for him to climb back up into the stomach. Despite the surface being slimy and slippery, Jean had enough strength to pull himself up through the valve, and after just a few seconds, he felt the wobbling ground of Grandis´ stomach beneath his chest again. He crawled over the slimy and fleshy ground as fast as he could, until his entire body was out of the valve and far away from it, back inside Grandis´ stomach, the place he despised so much. Gasping for air, he remained on the practically comfortable ground for some moments, until his lungs recovered from the exhaustion and his beating heart calmed down. He then crawled over the flesh of her stomach in order to get nearer toward the hole leading into Grandis´ esophagus. A few meters away from the muscular ring of the esophagus-entrance, Jean stopped crawling and remained where he was, lying on the ground and huffing and puffing. This was the extent of what he was capable of. Now he could only pray that everything would be all right.
"NADIA! I´m...I´m in the stomach..." he yelled as loud as he could.
Back outside, Nadia´s sobbing was fading away as she heard Jean´s voice telling her the good news.
"Oh Jean...you´re so brave..."
"I´m...ready..." he yelled, faintly.
Grandis took a deep breath before she started the procedure. She looked at Nadia, who was still kneeling down in front of her. Nadia quickly understood that it was better if she stood up and went away a few meters from Grandis. And she did as Grandis wanted her to.
Being about four meters away from Grandis, Nadia closed her eyes, unable to watch the terrible spectacle. Although this would lead to Jean´s freedom, she didn´t even want to think about how this must feel, being pushed up the throat again. He had experience with this, though, as she herself managed to get him up her throat again. She was just hoping that she would hold him in her hands again soon.
Finally, Grandis began with her attempts to get Jean out of his misery. She clutched at her stomach with her right hand and tried to get a good grip at her abdominal muscles, and it didn´t take her long. With an almost rhythmic movement of her hand, she started the procedure of Jean´s escape.
Jean felt his surroundings shaking violently as the wobbling of the stomach walls was getting heavier and heavier. There was loud and thunderous rumbling noise, followed by gagging sounds echoing inside the entire chamber. It was quite spooky, but Jean knew what this meant. This was just the prelude to his trip back up the fleshy tunnel. And so it was. Jean saw the valve of the esophagus opening and a gust wind entering the chamber of Grandis´ stomach. Surprised at the power of this breeze, Jean felt that he was exposed to the suction of the air leaving Grandis´ stomach again with high speed and power. He had no control over the situation whatsoever as his body was engulfed in a stream of air and being sucked toward the valve. The pictures of the stomach disappearing before his eyes and the claustrophobic tunnel of the esophagus appearing again made him realize that it worked. Being lifted up Grandis´ throat felt like he was in some sort of elevator, some high speed elevator, unlike anything that has been created so far.
Ah! Grandis felt that she was able to suck the inventor boy back into her esophagus. At least it made the disgusting gagging worth it. So she relaxed her throat and pushed him up her esophagus and up past the curve of her throat that leads back into her mouth.
Although Nadia told him to close his eyes, Jean couldn´t help but looking at what was happening around him, looking at the walls of the esophagus and the entrance to Grandis´ windpipe passing his sight. Until he finally felt that he was lying on a familiar, soft surface, and he heard someone was breathing with a slight gagging expression. He was back in Grandis´ mouth!
With her stomach still rumbling loudly, Grandis opened her mouth wide and tried to speak to Nadia the best she could, with someone being inside her mouth.
"You can open your eyes again, Nadia."
Nadia dared to open her eyes, and she was overjoyed as she saw that Grandis´ mouth was open and that something tiny was lying on her tongue, like on some sort of fleshy bed. It was Jean, whose eyelids were closed again. She ran back to Grandis, and standing in front of her, she held her hands some inches under her mouth. Grandis was obviously pleased that she could finally push Jean out of her mouth with her muscular tongue.
Jean could barely perceive the feeling of himself sliding onto this soft and smooth surface he was missing so much. But although his eyes were closed and his senses weren´t as sharp as they once were, he knew his nightmare was over and that he was with the person he loved. Nadia on the other hand was crying loudly, whispering Jean´s name under her tears from time to time. She was shocked to see how he looked after his stay inside Grandis´ stomach. His skin had turned slightly pale, as if he was sick. And in a certain way, he was sick. Anyway, his skin being pale indicated the exhaustion his body had been exposed to. That was of course not the only thing Nadia was shocked about. Seeing Jean trembling like that, because of his fear and because his body couldn´t take anymore, made her realize how terrible it must have been for Jean and how brave he had been. And she cried because they were reunited at last. After all these painful feelings both of them were suffering from, after the pain of being separated, Nadia and Jean were finally together again.
"Nadia...is that...you...?" Jean asked, his eyes being opened slightly and barely able to see the face of his goddess towering above him and smiling down at him in tears.
"Jean..."
"Nadia...I almost forgot...how beautiful you are..." Jean whispered as he finally saw her face in all its beauty.
Nadia closed both of her hands around Jean and brought him to her right cheek, still sobbing. This was some sort of gesture, showing that Nadia was willing to protect him forever, no matter what was about to come. She would never, ever leave him alone again. Not after all he had gone through and survived because of his feeling for her.
"Jean...thank goodness..."
Grandis would have never admitted it, but there was actually a single tear coming out of her right eye as she was smiling at reunited couple. She was glad that she had decided to let go of plans and to help him get out of her belly. It was even worth this disgusting feeling inside her digestive tract now, and the slight pain in her throat. In order to ease the pain, she was rubbing her throat with her right hand. Yes, she was now in peace with her conscience, as she did the right thing. But her own fate was uncertain. What would she do now that she ultimately failed to get Blue Water and Nadia? What would her employer do to her?
Of course Nadia had no idea of all this, and she was just happy that her sweet boyfriend was back in her life after his rather short but painful absence. Painful for both of them.