Chapter 1: Hero

"Alright class" the teacher said "Your assignment is to write a personal essay on your hero. Make it as detailed as possible and it has to be at least 300 words. Remember, this will count for half of your semester grade, so have fun with it."

The sound of the dismissing bell vibrated through the school building, signaling that it was time to go home. Little Gregory had a lot to think about once he got home. Who was his hero? He would have to think hard about it if he wanted a good grade on the assignment.

He exited the building and walked straight into the chilly air of the outdoors. He had to wait for his brother to come pick him up. It was really cold outside, he hoped he could be picked up soon. He decided to start thinking about his hero assignment. Maybe his hero could be a comic book character, or a character from one of his favorite books or movies. He had to think about it.

He was distracted from his thoughts, when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. In the distance, he spotted a tall figure with brown hair, wearing a deep blue coat. "Wirt!" Greg shouted. The little boy ran across the school campus, almost tripping a few times. "Wirt! Wirt!" the little boy yelled.

When he got closer to his brother, Gregory's foot collided with a rock. "Whoa" Greg said. He tripped on the rock and was about to fall flat on his face, but Wirt acted quickly. He ran up to his brother and got on his knees. He held Greg up by the shoulders and pushed him back up, standing. "Be careful" Wirt said, sternly but sweetly "I don't want you getting hurt."

"I won't. I promise." Wirt smiled. He dusted himself off and grabbed onto his brothers hand. It hadn't been that long since the two boys got lost in the Unknown. They had barley just come back from Thanksgiving Break. Wirt would never forget about how he almost lost Greg, and even now, it still haunted him.

He had made a vow to himself that he would be a better brother to Gregory and would tolerate more of his shenanigans. He had also vowed not to judge people by the way they seemed, and would be more open to new people from now on. He was more open to his step father, and now the two were getting along just fine. He still wouldn't call him Dad, though, at least not yet. He grew more of a backbone and became less of a pushover. He started thinking for himself more often. He still wasn't keen on the idea of joining the marching band. Clarinet was a hobby he preferred to do in private, or in front of his family.

Him and Greg continued their walk home from the Elementary school. It was a Friday, so the boys had all weekend to do whatever they wanted. Greg still had his assignment to work on. The two soon made it to their front door. When they opened it, they were welcomed by a sweet aroma. "Smells like cookies." Greg said. The boys entered the kitchen and found a plate of cookies sitting on the table. Wirt read the note attached.

"We're going to be gone for a while, have some cookies to warm you up." "COOKIES!" Greg said, exited. Since Greg was too short to reach them, Wirt handed one to him. "Here you go, Greg." "mmm cookie." The little boy ate the delicious cookie in record time. Wirt took more reserved bites of his cookie. The cookies were gone in less than an hour, and that was mostly due to Greg. Wirt didn't mind so much, he wasn't all that hungry.

Greg got up from his chair on the table. "Well, gotta get started on homework." "Homework?" Wirt questioned "But its Friday. Teachers hardly ever give out homework on Friday. Especially elementary school teachers."

Greg crossed his arms. "Now Wirt, this is a very important assignment. It is worth half of my semester grade, and I need to get started on it as soon as possible." "Really?" Wirt asked, sadness clearly present in his voice. "Uh huh." Greg turned to leave the kitchen.

"Greg, wait." Greg turned to face his brother. "What is it, Brother O' Mine?" the little boy asked. "Just…" Wirt tried to find the right words. "Just, don't grow up too fast, okay?" Greg giggled. "I don't even think that's possible." He headed off to his room. Wirt smiled. He didn't think that Greg growing up was anymore possible than Greg himself did. He was okay with that. He would want his brother to have a fun, happy childhood. Wirt decided to go upstairs and practice his clarinet some.

Greg sat at his desk with a piece of paper and a freshly sharpened pencil. "Okay, who is my hero?" Gregory questioned. Jason croaked from out of nowhere. "Oh Jason Funderburker, you can't be my hero, you're a frog." Jason let out a sad croak. "It's okay, you're still my friend and I love you." Greg gave Jason a big hug, and the frog croaked in delight. "Okay now, back to work."

Greg got his serious look back on. "Now, who can I write about?" all of a sudden, he heard a knock on his bedroom door. He opened it and found his older half-brother standing in the doorway. "Hey Greg, have you seen my ligature?"

Greg looked up at his brother in realization. How could he have not seen it before? His big brother, the gnome pilgrim, was his hero the entire time. Greg smiled, than grabbed onto his brother's leg, pulling it into a big hug. "My hero" Greg whispered, so quietly that not even Wirt could hear what he had just said. "What was that?" Wirt asked.

Greg stared up at him with shiny eyes. Wirt bent down to reach his brother's height, and Greg wrapped his hands around his neck, pulling him into a tight embrace. Wirt returned the hug and wrapped his arms around his little brother. "Now, about that ligature." Wirt said when the hug ended. "Lick a chair?" Greg asked, tilting his head to the side.

"No, ligature, you know, the part that connects the reed to the mouthpiece." Greg continued to give him a confused stare. "For my clarinet." Greg shrugged. "I don't know, but you can have this golden ring I found to cheer you up." Greg opened a desk drawer and pulled out what seemed to be two golden rings connected by another piece of gold metal and two knobs for tuning."

"Greg, that's my ligature." "It is?" Greg asked, eyeing the golden thing. "It doesn't look like a chair." "No Greg" Wirt sighed "Can I please have it?" "Sure thing." Greg handed his older brother the golden ligature. "Thanks Greg, I'll just leave you to your homework now." "Okay, have fun licking chairs with your clarinet." Wirt gave a little smile and closed the door behind him. Greg smiled.

"My hero, my brother O' mine."

Later that night at about around one in the morning, Greg woke up from a nightmare. He had been having nightmares a lot recently. He had another nightmare about being turned into an Edelwood tree again, and seeing the sad look of regret on his brother's face. The little boy knew that there was only one person who was good at comforting him after he had nightmares.

He hopped out of bed. He opened his bedroom door and entered the hallway. He started walking, and stopped when he found the door to his big brother's room. He silently opened it, and closed it behind him.

"Wirt" the little boy said, rubbing his tired eyes. "Yeah, Greg?" the older boy asked from underneath the covers. "I – I had another nightmare about being a tree, c-can I sleep with you?" Greg waited a few second. Wirt pulled the covers back, gesturing for the younger boy to go over. Gregory walked across his brother's room and climbed onto his bed, with Wirt's help of course.

"Thanks Wirt" Greg said, tired. "You're welcome, Greg." Wirt wasn't sleeping all too well either. He had just woken up from a similar nightmare, this one about his brother being turned into a tree and the regret he felt for letting it happen. He figured with his brother sleeping next to him, he could peacefully sleep, knowing his brother was okay.

He wrapped his arms around the young boy, while Greg got toasty underneath the blankets. Wirt smiled. For the rest of the night, the brothers slept peacefully underneath the warm blankets. No nightmares to be spotted. The two dreamt about all the good times they had together. They dreamed about the Unknown, and Beatrice, and Sara. Well, Wirt was the one dreaming about that last thing.

Greg continued to dream about his times with Wirt, his big brother and his hero.