"Class," Ms. Chua said to her eighth-grade English class. "I want you to write about your best friend, and a memory of him or her that you have." A groan came from most of the students, but Ms. Chua ignored it.
"Now, I know that you are all thinking of how easy this is, how boring, and how you all did this in second grade. But I want you to be creative. Use descriptive words, narrate the story. Make it a memory you really cherish. Also, I want to be able to know your best friend really well. I don't want you to tell me his or her character, but I want to be able to know it after I read it, from the things he or she says, does, and I want to know what your best friend looks like."
Gregor listened to his teacher give the worst assignment she could ever have given her. Best friend? He didn't have one. Not anymore. Memory you cherish? He half wanted to forget everything that had happened in the Underland, half never wanted to forget a single detail. That is, if he were even to use someone from the Underland. He couldn't, though, because Ms. Chua couldn't know about it, and it had to be true. He supposed he could do a family member, one of his two friends back in New York, but they weren't really his best friends. None of them were.
Someone asked if they could do people they weren't friends with anymore.
"Yes. This can be someone you're no longer friends with, someone you used to know really well. You can change the names, if you want, so that I won't know who it is, but I'll be the only one to read it." Ms. Chua replied.
Someone else-Gregor didn't bother with names anymore-asked if it could be an animal. A few people snickered at this. "As long as they have a character." Ms. Chua answered.
Gregor knew who his would be. If only… He raised his hand. His teacher called on him, surprised he was even listening.
"Can we do… Like…" Gregor hesitated. If he asked this question, people might laugh and bully him. And Gregor might get mad. He still hadn't learned how to turn his rager instincts on and off, and he didn't quite know how it would end. But he had no one else to write about, so… "Can it be an imaginary friend?" Gregor blurted out.
As predicted, the class erupted into laughter. People asked why, taunted him. Other whispered to their friends about him being a loner. Some remarked about how 'typical' it was the the loser would ask that question. Gregor's sensitive ears, trained by echolocation, caught each whispered statement, and yet rang with the loud outburst.
By the time Ms. Chua managed to get her class relatively quiet, Gregor wanted to run. He wanted to kill everyone in the room, and then run out the school, grab as much money as he could, and find his way to New York. From there, he could find a way to the Underland. He wanted to take Boots and Lizzie, and even his parents, but he knew his mom would hate to go, and he couldn't just take everyone and disappear. They had lives. They were adjusting. They would be okay with time. Gregor would not.
Gregor barely even heard Ms. Chua's answer (which was a resigned yes) through the pounding of his head. He felt sick. His ears were ringing from the laughter of his classmates. His eyes hurt from the excess amount of sunlight. But, like every day before that one, he just grit his teeth and went on. He didn't go to the nurse. He didn't try to go home. He didn't bother his family. He kept his problems to himself.
That night, Gregor got started on his paper. He jotted down ideas, memories that he would be fine with writing. But he couldn't use them. There was too much violence in all the memories he had with him. All his memories of the Underland had an air of violence surrounding them.
His dad knocked on the door, poking his head in.
"Hey kiddo, what's up?" He asked, coming in completely. "Homework?" Gregor nodded mutely.
"I have to write a paper of a memory with my best friend." He informed his dad.
"Oh, that seems fun. Who're you doing? What memory?" His dad made is sound like there were so many people to choose from, so many memories to write about.
"Well, I asked if I could do an imaginary friend, so I'm gonna do Ares. That way she'll think I made him up." Telling his dad suddenly made it so much harder. Gregor hung his head. "But I don't know what memory."
"How about a memory of him happy? One that makes you happy, maybe?" His dad's voice had gone soft, as if he knew how much pain this subject brought Gregor.
"Ares was never happy. He was sad. He laughed at jokes, sure, but he was never really happy. He did what he had to do. He saved my life, saved Regalia, and yet was an outcast. And all my memories of him make me sad. Remind me…" Gregor's eyes filled with tears and he couldn't go on.
"Write that. Just write, first, deal with everything else second." His dad said quietly. "Gregor, let it out. It's okay to cry. You don't have to be strong anymore." He gathered Gregor up in his arms. It was a bit awkward, because Gregor was the same height as him, maybe even taller, but it was comforting at the same time. His dad wasn't there for him before, when he was still maturing, but he was here now, and that was enough. Enough to let Gregor finally cry, finally mourn for the death of his best friend.
Eventually, Gregor stepped out of his father's embrace, wiped away his tears, and started to write.
Ares was my best friend, He started. He was the bravest person I ever knew. He was not only a great warrior, strong companion, but he managed to get up every day. I still marvel at how he could've even done it. I still wonder why he didn't just let me die. I brought him so much pain.
The first time we met, I was thinking of how to get out of the Underland, how to escape Regalia. He was just one of the gigantic bats that could talk and that flew regular-sized humans around on his back. I didn't consider him a person. I considered him a pet.
He was Henry's bond, then, but after our quest to King Gorger and Henry's betrayal, he turned on him. We both jumped off that cliff, Henry sure Ares would save him, me sure I was going to die. The opposite happened, and my survival and Henry's death meant Ares' exile, or even death. I saved his life by bonding with him. I still remember the words that we exchanged, whilst holding his claw in my hand.
"Ares the flier, I bond to you.
Our life and death are one, we two.
In dark, in flame, in war, in strife
I save you as I save my life."
He responded, saying those same words back to me, replacing the first line as 'Gregor the human, I bond to you.'
He held true to his oath. He saved my life countless times in our next quests, all the while still ridiculed and shunned for letting his previous bond die. He was a strong bat, bigger than most, as black as the Underland without light. Eventually, he was appreciated at least a bit, for his ability to pick up full-grown rats and drop them to his death. The only time he was appreciated since he met me.
I tried to stay true to my oath. I saved his life, not as many times as he saved mine, but I tried. I went into certain death for the opportunity to save him, I gave him advice when he was escaping flesh-eating bugs. But the one time I was supposed to hold true to my promise, I failed.
We were fighting the Bane, a huge (larger than most) white rat. The rat was sharp, quick, but unbalanced, as we had already cut off his tail. Bane was angry at us. Ares was wounded, one of his wings injured. But he could still fly, and we needed just one good shot. Then the Bane would be dead, and Regalia-hopefully-saved. There was also a large chance of us dying.
We dove. We went for the kill, and only now do I realize that Ares had known, even as he attacked, that he wasn't going to make it. There was no way Ares could've gotten out of that maneuver unscathed. I hit Bane. The three of us went down.
Ares was dying. He was lying beside me, and the look in his eyes told me he knew he was dying, he knew this was the end. He welcomed it. He welcomed the end to his exile, he welcomed the end to all his pains. He welcomed leaving the world where his only friends were two humans and two bats, and his constantly MIA bond. He welcomed death. I welcomed it too.
It never crossed my mind that I was in better shape then Ares, that maybe I could be saved. Ares was dying, far past saving, and I thought I was too. I reached over, to grasp his claw. We recited our bond. We were ready to die.
In the distance, in the dark, I saw two floating lights. I thought it was heaven. Sometimes I wish it was.
When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed. Ares was long gone. The only things I have of him are my memories of our adventures together and his claw, gnawed off him because I refused to let it go. I still have it, and sometimes I imagine it were still attached to his wing, and we would be saying our oath. But then I wake up, hand grasped around his claw, and remember. I'll never see him again.
Oh dear. This is sad. Kinda unrealistic, I'm not quite sure if Ares was Gregor's best friend in the Underland (I have a feeling it was probably a human) but I needed this. Might be OOC, sorry if it is… I don't know if I should continue this or not (or if I even could…) Review if you want me to continue :)