To be fair, this was a reason I started this series. I've seen a fanart showing Nassor realizing that his hamster is dead and decided to focus on their relations. If you want to see the fanart, go to deviantArt and type: "frankenweenie he won't wake up".

Bigger than others

Nassor got Colossus on his ninth birthday as a present from his auntie. At first Colossus seemed to be rather ordinary hamster, but when Nassor compared him once with his sister's hamster, he realized that Colossus is slightly bigger, even though both pets were, in fact, in the same age. Nassor liked it about him. He also was bigger than most of his schoolmates and even some of older kids. After all – the pets should resemble their masters, right?

The time was passing and Colossus was growing bigger and bigger with each month. Sometimes Nassor imagined that his hamster will grow big enough to scare off dogs that were intimidating his young master; big enough to ride on his back or even big enough to take over the world! Nassor always thought that Colossus was meant for great things. And even if he was bitten once or twice by him, the tall boy loved him with whole his heart. How could he not? Colossus understood perfectly how it was to be too big comparing to others. In all his dreams and all his child plays Colossus were always with him – the worthy companion of an explorer, pirate, detective, pharaoh… Nassor and Colossus were almost inseparable.

Until this horrible accident took place. It was a very sunny and warm Saturday. They were playing on the grass, while waiting for the guests on Nassor's parent's garden party. Nassor should have known to be careful, to be vigilant, to be protective. Even with his unusual for his kind size Colossus still was a small animal. And some of guests were coming with their cats and dogs. Cats and dogs that could easily mistook his beloved hamster with a fluffy chew toy. He should have took Colossus back to his cage for the rest of the party. But he didn't.

So it wasn't entirely their gym teacher's fault that her bulldog attacked Colossus, when he and Nassor were playing.

Nassor, at first was too scared to move, but after few seconds of watching how bulldog was chewing and shaking violently poor Colossus, he knelled in front of it and tried to reclaim the hamster with all his might. He remembered the sad expression of Colossus and his squeaks of pain. He remembered that the dog's owner quickly realized what's going on and she quickly ran to it.

"Bismarck drop it!" She ordered.

"Yes, you horrible beast! Drop Colossus or you will feel my wrath!" Nassor added.

The bulldog stopped struggling, sat on the grass and looked at both of them with puzzlement. For the longest and most horrible moment of his life Nassor waited for the dog to obey its master. When it finally loosened its teeth, letting poor Colossus go, Nassor carefully took the hamster in his shaky hands. Colossus was covered with blood and bulldog's saliva, but Nassor didn't care. He could feel his faithful companion move and breath, although his eyes was observing young boy with exhaustion like he was going to soon loose his consciousness.

"Dad!" Nassor showed the hamster to his father. "Dad, please, help him."

"I-I don't know how." He was clueless.

"Help, somebody help! Please…"

The boy was coming to every adult on the party and with every second he felt the tears coming to his eyes. But even when they were spilt nobody could help him. Even the town's vet thought it was too late, because dog completely devastated Colossus' vital organs. Nassor, however, was determined to save his friend. He ran to the bathroom, found the first aid kit and started to carefully wrap the bandage around the hamster, which became weaker and weaker with every moment. Boy's parents and the gym teacher came after him to tell him that this is futile, but he didn't listen. He desperately wanted to save Colossus' life. And finally, when Nassor finished fixing him and for the mere second thought that everything will be fine, Colossus' eyes closed and he stopped breathing. Before Nassor's very eyes was lying motionless body of a creature that was his best friend and soul mate.

"He's sleeping. He's just sleeping…" The boy tried to hold to hope, smiling bitterly.

"I'm afraid not, son." His father put the hand on Nassor's shoulder. His mother did the same.

"Nassor, sweetie, Colossus won't wake up."

"He won't… wake up?" He asked with pathetic voice and looked once again the hamster. "But, but… We've had so much to do. We wanted to see the world together. We wanted to be explorers. We wanted to… No it's impossible."

The sad truth was coming to him as he was observing the corpse of his hamster. New tears were running down his cheeks as he repeated:

"He won't wake up…" Nassor gently kept motionless Colossus closer to face to hold and stroke him one last time. "He's dead."

"He's gone." His sister embraced him. "I'm sorry."

He spent rest of the day in his room, crying and wondering what to do now. He felt despair, sadness and anger – at bulldog, at gym teacher and even at himself. He could still see Colossus' lifeless, bloodied body wrapped pathetically with bandage. The more he was thinking about it, the more miserable he felt. And he couldn't sleep.

Hearing cries of his son, Nassor's father came to him that night to talk. He sat on his bed and put comforting hand on boy's shoulder, smiling sincerely.

"Don't worry. We will buy you another hamster."

"I don't want another hamster. I want Colossus."

His dad quickly realized he made the mistake, so he retreated his hand.

"I'm sorry."

For a few seconds there was silence. And when they passed the man made another attempt in comforting his son.

"Do you remember when you were playing a pharaoh and Colossus was your royal pet?"

How could he forget? This memory was one of countless happy memories that came to his mind during this horrible day.

"Yes." He whispered and looked at his father. "So?"

"You know, when pharaoh's pet was dying, it had been buried with equal care as the pharaoh himself. You can't bring him back, but you can give him a decent funeral. Maybe not a pyramid covered in gold and jewels, but we have a crypt for hamsters on Pet Cemetery. What do you think?"

Nassor was silent for a moment, contemplating the offer. Suddenly a thought passed his mind and his spirit has been lifted for a bit.

"Yes, father. Let's give him a burial my dear Colossus deserves for his virtues."

Nassor's mourning was three months long and even when he thought that he reconciled with the fact that Colossus went to the better world, he still missed him. That was the moment, when his world stopped to be colorful. That was the moment, when he stopped to be happy and he hasn't smiled ever since.