"Alright you pieces of shit, line up!" Corporal Devon bellowed at the pale faced kids that rushed to form a shoddy line before of him. "I'm gonna make proper soldiers out of the slag that you are! I will break you and mould you again, even your own mothers won't recognise the men that came from the whelps they called sons!" He stared each of them down as he stalked down the line.
He stood at a smaller height than most his age and had very average features, short brown hair and eyes with a very plain face and square jaw. But now standing there and glaring at them as he berates and shouts insults about every part of them, he seemed to shadow over them as the devil incarnate.
His eyes red rimmed with fury, veins bulged on his forehead from shouting non-stop. "Yes Corporal!" They responded back in unison, well aware after harsh experience that any other answer would lead to extra training on top of the already body breaking hell on earth.
"Good! Now get to it Privates!" All of them dropping down onto their hands as they started to go through morning drills. Arthur was amongst the hardest hit by this gruesome morning regiment, as his small and frail physique from being beaten and deprived of food had barely any muscle on them.
It had taken several days to heal the bruised hand from his fight with Goliath and he didn't know how long for the strain as the morning practice made it so that he always carried that strain on his sore muscles. Even still, he never once complained or quit.
He had seen the changes as his body slowly adapted and he went from spitting blood and tasting its metallic tang in his mouth with light-headedness as he could barely lift a muscle at the very start, to now being able to make his way to the canteen before collapsing into his seat.
The others had noticed at how hard he was working as he persevered through this torment. Slowly the fear from his first display of brutality had become fervent respect, fuelling them on to do their best as well. Goliath however, was not impressed. "Puny! Weak! Pathetic! The army has no place for shit like you here scum!"
he walked over to Arthur and wiped his food on to the floor before kicking at his stool. Arthur, too tired from the exercise, simply dropped to the ground as he lost his seating. "You should quit now ant, because I will make your life a living hell. You haven't known the meaning of pain until I'm through with you." Goliath whispered into the wincing Arthur's ear as the fall had bruised his lower back.
This continued for days as Arthur was still to weak to truly stand after training and couldn't defend himself. The other boys had looked away in shame and fear as the ignored his plight.
That was until Mouse suddenly couldn't take it anymore. Goliath had gone over and grabbed Arthur from behind before throwing him onto the ground when Mouse shot up. "Stop! That's enough now I Isn't it you've more t...than gotten even now, G... G...Goliath." He started to visibly shrink as Goliath stared him down midsentence.
He had slowly regained his stutter as the big brute lumbered towards him with a dark expression. "What the fuck you'd just call me rat?" His countenance getting more and more frightening by the second. "Don't ever call me that name!" He thundered out as lunged at Mouse to slug him round the face.
All of a sudden, a blur could be seen racing behind Goliath as it quickly kicked into the back of the Large boys knee. Goliath crumpled to the ground with a groan of pain. "Who said we were done yet 'Goliath'." Arthur landed on the boys back as he pressed his knee into the center of his spine, causing a yelp to be heard from the big form under his foot.
"Bastard! You dare sneak attack me!" Goliath roared in pain tinged rage as he tried to throw the small frame from his back like discarded luggage. But Arthur simply leant in and put more pressure on Goliath, pressing his knee in and kneading it further to cause sever pain to shoot up his back.
"Don't you dare touch anyone here again! Or I'll be one to give you memories burned into that thick skull of yours so no matter how you try you can never forget. Do I make myself clear?" Arthur said, again leaning in to emphasise his point.
"Y...yes yes please just stop!" The pitiful response from the not so long ago arrogant boy came out as he let out a sob filled with his shame and anger soaking over him in waves. Arthur umped from his limp form and stood ready for something more. But it never came as Goliath just looked up at him in pure hatred and ran out of the canteen.
"T..th..thank you" Mouse's small and scared voice rang out again as he looked at Arthur with relief and gratitude. The others though, had their heads hung low not even daring to meet Arthurs eyes. They had seen and heard what Goliath had been doing and yet for their own sake they never interfered, fearing that the large boy would turn on them like he had done to Mouse.
Arthur couldn't bring himself to truly blame them as he would have done similar things in the past, but now he was different. He wanted to brave and fearless and stand up for what he thought was right. "Its okay, I should be thanking you really Mouse, your bravery reminded me of the man I want to be. So thank you." Arthur said in response to the incredibly small and shy boy.
He meant it as well. Mouse, who is known as a shy and fearful little boy who barely makes eye contact, had stood up to Goliath, a massive brute who could rival some adults in strength. "R...r... really?" The frigid thing shot back in shock. No one had ever said something like that about him before. "Yes really, hehe. You showed what true bravery is. Bravery isn't about being fearless Mouse..." Arthur said as stared at the boy to make sure he was listening.
"Its about overcoming that fear and moving past it! Everyone fears something Mouse, the difference is who can move past it and who can't." As he finished Arthur roamed his eyes over every face in the room and locked eyes with everyone he could before looking back at Mouse. "You Mouse are the most brave man I have ever known as you overcame your insurmountable fear to stick your neck out for me, and I will never forget it."
Arthur rested a hand on the boys shoulder and squeezed it gently. To his surprise, the boys eyes where shining as he looked like was about to bust into tears. " Th..That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me... Thank you." Mouse then gave a resolute look before his eyes hardened slightly. This was a day that he would never forget as this was the day Mouse decided the man he would become.
Like this time passed and Arthur slowly grew accustomed to his exercise. It, along with the food, had had a tremendous affect on him as he now stood towering over all the others and nearly at the normal height of many adults, of course those being the malnourished ones.
A long with the morning training they had been made to learn how to fight with hands, sword, spear and rifle. Arthur found, much to his surprise, that these seem to come easy to him. He found that as he focused on all his lessons he imagined a small room that stored them in. The room was slightly hazy and very messy as all of his lessons were haphazardly dumped into there.
Even with this though, Arthur was now capable of picking up the lessons much faster than his peers causing much shock to the instructors before a great laugh had erupted as he called Arthur a genius. With the sword he was quickly able to hold his own as the weight of it also trained his muscles too.
His accuracy with a rifle was slowly becoming terrifying as, although he wasn't ably to hit the bullseye every time just yet, he was capable of always hitting his target from even 200 yards! The others were barely able to reliably hit the target from a 100 yards let alone double that.
He also learnt how to load his rifle at great speed so he could fire an average of three shots a minute, only one short of the best soldiers in the Divine Grace's army.
It was on the firing range one day that the cause of the change in Goliath happened.
Arthur had finished firing his shots to see next to him that Goliath was only a few seconds behind him. Goliath had proven time and time again that, although not as good as Arthur, he was a natural born soldier, and his rifle skills were no different only second to Arthurs. Goliath had finished his final shot, just going shy of the target, and looked over to Arthur in anger and frustration. He hated that Arthur was better than him.
The shorter boy was no longer shorter as he was now taller and slightly more muscular than Goliath as well. He loathed it knowing that the ant from before was gone, replaced with someone he knew deep down he couldn't compare to. Seeing his last shot go wide after he had rushed to reload, trying desperately to catch up to Arthur, he lost his composure as he hmphed at his stupidity.
In his anger, he had already started to stride out towards the targets. He heard Arthurs voice calling out to him and thought the guy was trying to taunt him. He hated being inferior to him and so lost his temper all too easily, The truth was he had a grudging respect for the guy as he was the only one who could rival him.
It's just that due to his time on the streets he had grown cocky and arrogant so seeing him beat him soured his pride. 'Tick Boom!' The sound of a rifle firing went off as Goliath realised now why Arthur was calling him.
Before he knew it he was sent sprawling to the ground by something hard ramming into his side and removing him of any oxygen. For several moments, Goliath refused to open his eyes as he waited for the pain to come before death quickly following after.
"Get up idiot! You ain't dead just yet." Just when Goliath was getting confused as no pain came other than a slight throbbing from where he felt something hit him, an all too familiar voice caused him to slam open his eyes.
Standing over him was none other than Arthur, looking around Goliath saw a tuft of overturned dirt slightly ahead of them where presumably the stray bullet had penetrated. "W..why? I have done nothing but shit to you... Why save me?" It didn't take a genius to work out what had happened here. Obviously, Arthur had ran after him when he refused to listen to him shouting out a warning.
He had then tackled Goliath to the ground when he heard the flintlock rifle firing, risking his life to save Goliath. "Because... for all of your faults Goliath, you are a good man and a great soldier. I will not allow the death of such a person when I can stop it." Was the simple reply he had gotten from Arthur, before he had turned around and walked away.
What no one had noticed yet was that the former brute no longer raged at his moniker. Slowly as time passed Goliath realised his faults and listened to Arthur more like the others. He soon came to see the newly minted giant as someone to look up to.
Soon he came to see his name as fitting as he had been a large and dumb brute who had used his strength to remain on top, he was ashamed of his former self and so decided to keep the name to remind him of what never to become again.