They put him on a pedestal.
They put him on the highest pedestal, befitting the infant hero who defeated one of the darkest wizards in history. They didn't see him.
They saw the hero.
They saw a powerful wizard where he was only average (he wasn't smart like her or strategic like him and what did magical power compare to the ability to use it?).
They expected perfection, but he was normal (average).
They looked for a hero, but he was just a boy (a child really).
They praised him in one breath and scorned him the next. They found him odd for not living up to their expectations. He found harsh words awaiting him if he did something wrong (and he could never seem to get it right).
And so he fell.
Maybe he was pushed, maybe he jumped, but he was no longer on the pedestal and he was falling.
They drove him to it. They pushed him, made him jump, because he couldn't be who they wanted him to be. They had no right to criticize his descent into darkness when they are the ones who pushed him over the edge.
And so he fell (and kept falling).
She used to be a good girl (the rule follower, the one who said 'don't do it, you'll get in trouble'). She took refuge in books and threw herself into class.
Then she made friends.
Two boys, one who was held up on a pedestal and one who was overshadowed by his family. They became her boys.
They were her best friends.
But she had to watch as they fought, listen as one mocked her and the other said nothing.
She was the one who made sure they passed their classes. She was the one who told them what to fight. She was the one who told them how to win.
Then something changed. they cared about her, liked her, loved her. They became her world.
Then the one on the pedestal fell.
And so she twisted.
She followed her falling friend into darkness (because she would follow her friend anywhere because he was one of the two people who made up her world).
They called her the smartest witch of her age, thought that she was too smart to fall into darkness. She would be the first to say that she didn't fall (because to fall, you had to be higher than where you were going).
She had a choice and chose to follow her falling friend into the darkness.
And so she twisted (because she would follow her friend anywhere).
He had to watch.
He had to watch as his two best friends became dark and there was nothing he could do.
He remembered when he first met them (how he mocked her and held him up on a pedestal).
He remembered taunting her, getting attacked by a troll and how the one who fell forced him to help him save her (which relieved him to no end because if they had done nothing she would've died and it would've been all his fault).
He remembered the tournament where he turned his back on him and hurt her (all because he couldn't keep his jealousy in check and see what was right in front of him).
He remembered the hunt where he abandoned them (he had welcomed him back with open arms and she had been so angry at him).
And so he followed.
He followed them into the darkness because he had abandoned them before and he was not going to do it again.
They were his best friends, the only ones who thought of him when they heard his family name when everyone else thought of his siblings.
And so he followed (because he would not abandon them again).
