Gregor the Overlander and the Ghost of War

Chapter 10

Gregor, who normally would have been fine, even excited, to refresh his fighting skills, was immediately apprehensive to pick up a sword.

"What if I hurt Mareth?" he said worriedly. The soldier raised an eyebrow. "Was that a challenge?" he said mischievously. Oh, what the heck. Gregor shook off the anxiety and picked up a sword, facing Mareth. It felt unbalanced and awkward, but then, nothing could compare to the perfection of Sandwich's sword, which Gregor had broke when he'd "killed" the warrior.

The two began circling each other, swords raised. A familiar buzzing began in Gregor's ears, and he thrusted the sword at Mareth, hard enough for the swords to make a satisfying clang when they met. The ringing resounded around the arena as Mareth went in for another attack. The two thrusted their at each other continuously before Ripred, lounging off to the side, drawled, "Alright you two, I'm getting bored. Show these pups what real fighting looks like."

It was as if a switch had been turned on in Gregor's brain – the idea of real fighting strangely excited him. His moves were quicker, and he slowly began to force Mareth backwards. Who's rusty now? He thought smugly as the rager sensation completely took over. The next few minutes were a blur of swishing, dodging, and attack.

Soon the smile had vanished from Gregor's face, replaced with a snarl. He had to kill it, the Underland would be lost if he didn't. It's face was spread in an evil grimace. He landed a blow on it's shoulder at one point, and the monster let out an almost human-like cry. He could distantly hear screaming, but he ignored it. They would thank him later. The monster was on the ground now, and he raised his sword to deliver the final blow. But before he could stop its heart, something hit him on the head, hard. He shouted obscenities at the thing that had stopped his heroic moment, and stabbed it before it hit him again, and everything went black.

He woke up in the hospital. He knew by the familiar comfortable bed he had been confined to multiple times during the war.

His head throbbed painfully, and he brought a hand to it, feeling bandages. He looked around, and saw Luxa, sitting in a chair and pinching the bridge of her nose. A tear slid down her cheek, and Gregor was stunned; he had only seen Luxa cry a few time before. He moved his hand to touch her arm.

"Hey," he croaked. She jumped and stared at Gregor like he was someone she didn't even recognize. "Gregor are you... well?" she said carefully, talking to him like he was a toddler. "What?" he said, confused. "Yeah, of course I'm well, why wouldn't I be?" She said nothing. "Man, I must've hit my head or something! I guess I'm not so rusty after all, huh?" She shook her head, shock on her face. "You do not recall what happened in the arena?" "What?" he said again. Now he was really confused. "Yeah, of course I remember! I was sparring with Mareth and hit my head!" Luxa shook her head, her eyes closed now. Gregor started to get scared. "What happened, Luxa?" She didn't respond. "What did I do?" She took his hand with both of hers.

"Gregor, you were sparring with Mareth, then when Ripred called for you to fight as if you were in danger, it was as if you had become possessed." Chills ran through Gregor; he did remember feeling more alive. "You began shouting at Mareth, and at one point you said something about killing a monster. You stabbed him in the shoulder, but before you could injure him further Ripred had to knock you senseless with his tail. You stabbed him in the shoulder as well before he knocked you out." Gregor started to shake. "You're joking, right? This is some kind of sick joke." Luxa tightened her grip on his hand. "No, Gregor." Tears filled his eyes, and he turned away. He couldn't be here. He was a danger to Regalia, he was unstable.

Tears fell from his eyes as he brought his knees to his chest. He cried quietly, feeling awful for what he'd done. Someone walked in and put a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to see Mareth, his injured arm in a sling. Seeing the soldier alive should've made him feel better, but it just made Gregor cry harder. "I'm so s-sorry... I didn't m-mean to..." Mareth shook his head. "Gregor, it was a mistake on our part, to allow you to fight after what you'd been through."

"Yes, I regret that choice in particular," said Ripred as he limped into the doorway. His shoulder was heavily bandaged, as they probably couldn't fit a sling on him anyway. "Honestly, I'm not sure I wasn't surprised when you lost it, boy. Remember what I told you when you left last time? I wasn't lying when I said that it's a lot easier to lose your head than to keep it." Gregor shook his head after wiping the tears from his face, embarrassed for crying. "I shouldn't be here, Ripred. I'm a danger to you all." "Well, I know someone who might be able to help with that," said Ripred, moving into the room to allow someone else to enter.

"Hello, Gregor," said Howard with a smile. "I think it is time you spoke with me."