At first I wasn't sure if I would continue this, but...

Thalia

"Hey, Gregor." Gregor groaned inwardly. Ever since first asking him out, Katie had not left him alone. Granted, she didn't ask him out again, probably figuring that he wouldn't say yes, but even sitting down at his table was annoying enough.

Gregor sat with Sam and two of Sam's friends, none of which were remotely popular. As a result, when someone popular like Katie sat at their table, people stared. Especially when she didn't merely ask a question, get rejected, and leave dejectedly.

"Hey, Katie." Gregor responded tiredly. Gregor didn't really want to be friends with her, didn't want to be friends with anyone, but he was polite, at least. If someone were to say hi, he had to say hi back, at least.

"So, Gregor, Sam, Gen, Harry," Kati said in her perky way, talking to the four people at the table, "I was wondering if you guys wanted to go to the woods with some of my friends and I, over the weekend. Not far, we'll just go to Sarah's cabin there, stay the night."

"Who's going?" Sam asked, giving Gregor a look that clearly meant 'you better come.'

"Oh, Sarah, Rachel, Claire and their boyfriends, Max, Connor, and Eric. I think Thalia's coming too." At that name, Gregor had made up his mind. There was no way he was staying overnight with someone named Thalia. No way.

"Sorry." Gregor gave as sympathetic of a grin as he could, ignoring the glare Sam sent him. "Busy over the weekend."

"Doing what?" Sam demanded. "You're never doing things over the weekend, because you have no life." No, I don't, Gregor agreed. "So why don't you want to go? Rachel probably doesn't give a damn about that time you ditched her–"

"I didn't ditch her."

"No, you two never even met up! So why not go?"

"I said, I'm busy."

"What're you doing, then?"

"My family needs me." The lie-that-wasn't-a-total-lie slipped out of Gregor's mouth.

"Then let's ask your parents and your whole family if you can go. I've met your mom, I'm sure she'd be okay with you leaving overnight." Gregor snorted.

"My mom is the most overprotective person on the planet." He said. "I tell her I'll be going to the woods overnight, and she'll stay up all night next to the phone. If I end up a minute late, she'll yell at me. No thanks."

"But you'd still be able to go, right? If you asked?" Katie interrupted, an eager and slightly hopeful look on her face. "Gen and Harry said they could probably go. There'll be booze. We'll pull an all-nighter, probably go out and explore a bit. We could use someone like you, not afraid of anything. I'm afraid of bugs, Sarah's afraid of spiders, and I'm pretty sure Thalia's afraid of the dark." Katie grinned. Gregor was about to tell her that there was no way Thalia could be afraid of the dark before remembering that the Thalia they were talking about was the human, not the bat.

"How do you even know if I'm not afraid of anything?" Gregor asked instead.

"The other day, you kept people from stepping on a cockroach. I totally heard of that. They said you yelled at people to go away, then lightly picked the cockroach up and set it free outside. So I know you're not afraid of bugs, and you care about life."

So that must be why girls ask me out, Gregor thought to himself.

"Well, they don't deserve to die." Gregor said. "You don't know what it has done in its lifetime. Maybe something it did could've saved your life." Katie gave him a strange look.

"Okay…" She said slowly. "Anyway, will you come? And you too, Sam?" She sent a smile in Sam's direction.

"Definitely." Sam said. "And I'll get this introvert to come too, I promise."

"Mighty big promise." Gregor remarked. Sam elbowed him. "I don't like the woods." He announced.

Sam shook his head. "Worse excuse ever." Sam told him. This time, Gregor elbowed him.

"Why don't you want to go?" Katie asked, and the question seemed genuine enough. "If it's someone going, even if it's me, just tell me. And I'll let it go if it's a good reason."

Gregor thought for a while. She wanted honesty, so he might as well give her that.

"Well, the main reason is because I don't really…" Gregor tried to find a way to say it. "Like people. I don't really like making friends, having any… Attachment. I find it harder when you have to let go."

"That's awfully lonely." Katie said. "And what about Sam, and Gen, and Harry?" There was a hidden 'and me' in there, but she didn't say it.

"Gen and Harry… And even Sam…" He cast his eyes over them and saw them watching him intently. "The people I count as friends are really close to me and know lots about me. I would die for them, they for me, and I trust them with my life. No offence, but there's no one here that fits that description." Sam grunted, but didn't say anything.

"The second reason, the reason I don't want to go on this particular trip, is because of Thalia. I don't want to stay overnight with someone named Thalia."

"Why not? Do you even know Thalia?"

"No. Not the one you're talking about."

"You knew a Thalia, once?" Katie's voice had gone softer, as if she knew how personal this was getting. How horribly close to his heart.

"She… She's gone now." Gregor closed his eyes and tried to fight the tears. "And she's not coming back." He managed. "And it's all my fault." Gregor stood up. He couldn't believe he had told four people, people he didn't really know and frankly didn't truly trust, about someone from the Underland. Granted, they didn't know she was from the Underland, but it was still bad. "Don't tell this to anyone." He hissed, eyes still closed, leaning towards them. He used echolocation to 'see' their faces, and it seemed like they were sad, confused, and sympathetic. He didn't want their sympathy. He didn't want to even talk to them.

~0~

Gregor didn't talk to anyone for days. Three, to be precise. He came home that day, nodded to his grandmother in bed, and locked himself in his room. He didn't talk to his family during dinner, only listened to Margaret and Lizzie chatter on about their day. Gregor didn't need to pretend to be happy. He rarely smiled these days anyway, so there was no need for a fake one.

His dad, on the second night, came into his room to ask what was wrong. He pretended to be asleep. His mom tried, while he was still obviously awake, but he just shook his head and went back to doing homework.

Sam tried to talk to him, but he shook his head, just as he had with his mother. Katie still sat at their table, but she didn't talk to him. She chatted with Gen, mostly, although also with Harry and Sam, but didn't give him a second glance. Until the third day.

"When was it?" Katie's question came up out of the blue, right after a lull in the conversation. It was a vague question, but obviously directed at him and obviously talking about Thalia.

"I was around twelve, thirteen. We moved soon after." Gregor didn't know what led him to talk, why he felt the need to speak again. His mouth was going to get him into trouble soon. Was going to get the Underland in trouble. More trouble than it was already in. (Although, Gregor didn't know how it was at the moment. Perhaps it was in the middle of peace, what with Ripred and Luxa being bonds.)

"That's really young." Sam said quietly.

"How old…" Katie hesitated. "How old was she?"

"Young." Gregor couldn't quite say her age, as bats mature differently than humans, and so he didn't actually know how old she was. "Much too young." They lapsed into silence after that, no one quite knowing what to say, and yet wanting to end the silence.

In the end, it was Gregor who cut through the silence, right before the end of lunch.

"What did the wall say to the other wall?" He asked in a somewhat hoarse voice. Everyone looked up at him, surprised. "Meet you at the corner." With that, Gregor stood up, imagining Thalia's cute laughter mixed with hiccups as she heard his joke. The last joke she ever heard.

Okay, this is really sad. I love Thalia, totally cried at her death. Kinda OOC, but I'm not quite sure how a more mature Gregor who hasn't moved on would feel like, so...