"Bellerophon…" I breathed out. "You're… a Greek hero, right?"
Harold, now Bellerophon, nodded. He still looked the same as he did before, so I assumed he was just an emo kid. I knew for one thing his name was super long and annoying, so I'd give him a nickname. Like with other characters. So, even though it's a little feminine, I called him Bell.
"Yeah," Bell said, scratching the back of his neck. "I… died a while ago. It had something to do with Pegasus and Zeus' lightning bolts. And… ever since then, I've been looking for a chance to redeem myself." He folded his arms. "Hercules got so much glory, and trust me, he's just as bad as I was. Even worse! You've met him, right? He acts like he's got a stick up his…" He sighed.
"Something tells me you weren't… the greatest hero." I said, raising my brow.
Bell bit his lip, looking away.
"I did heroic things," he said. "I am a hero."
"You were." I pointed out. Bell glared at me.
"Look," he grunted. "I'm coming back, okay? I'm coming back, reformed, as a new hero. A better hero. A hero that'll be even stronger than Hercules."
"How?" I asked.
"I made a deal with Hades," Bell answered. "I do some favours for him, I get to come back to life. One of those included going after Louisa. How she escaped, I don't know. Even the freaking god of the Underworld himself doesn't know." He paused. "Anyway, I went after her. I pretended to be her brother. I made sure to keep an eye on her, and attempt to bring her back. It was tricky stuff. She was a little leech. Always managing to slip away." Another pause. "Then I heard all about you, and I knew you could help me. You are the prophecy girl, after all."
"Really?" I asked, kind of tentatively. This guy didn't seem to be the nicest person.
"Duh," Bell said, rolling his eyes. "With your help, I can redeem myself as a hero. I'll be the greatest hero this world has ever known!"
"You think I want to help you inflate your already huge ego?" I grumbled. Quiet Sword was eyeing Bell with disdain. Bell rolled his eyes.
"Look, it sounds narcissistic, but I do want to help the world," he argued. "Poptropica's my home as much as it is yours. I want to protect it!"
"Sounds like you want the fame more." I pointed out. Quiet Sword nodded in agreement.
"Come on," Bell frowned. "You can't say that fame isn't good at all. You can't say you don't enjoy it, even a little bit."
"It's annoying to have no privacy." I said. I never liked that about being the hero. It was weird having complete strangers recognise you (and sometimes try to kill you). But in a strange way, he was almost right. People knew me. I wasn't ignored. I was... popular.
"So?" Bell asked. He folded his arms. "I swear, you are insufferable."
"Right back at you." I grunted. "I mean… you lied to me! You could've told me the truth about yourself from the start!"
"No, I couldn't have," Bell said. "I had to keep it a secret. If word got out about me and Louisa, we'd be dead! No one could know the truth until now. We had to keep it a secret. Don't you get that? You didn't tell anyone aside from your stupid friends about this Poptropica stuff, right?"
I flinched at 'stupid'. "What if the police found out? They'd take me in for testing, I'd be…" Then I understood his point.
"Exactly," Bell said, condescendingly. "These things best be kept secret. I thought you would understand that."
How was this guy a hero? I thought. He's a jerk!
"Well," Quiet Sword cleared his throat. "We have bigger fish to fry. We're the heroes of the prophecy. We need to figure out how to save the world."
"That's what I'm all about." Bell snorted.
I sighed. "Then how are we gonna do it?"
Quiet Sword smiled at me. "I think this is where I come in."
