Knights Against the Night Part 35

Mars couldn't bear it anymore.

The whispers, the looks, the pressure to drop Beano.

That hurt most of all.

Did they truly believe he would be better off without his truest friend?

No, worse than that, they thought Beano lost to the dark already, and that he would betray them in the end.

He was tired.

Worse than that, he was starting to believe Beano had the right of it.

He wasn't wanted here.

Mars started to notice how sneakily they had tried to seperate the two of them. It hadn't been obvious before, or if it had Mars hadn't noticed it.

It was obvious now.

Beano shouldn't have stayed. Beano should have left.

He was right.

Mars just didn't want to admit it.

Beano was drawing further away from him every day, their hardships forgotten, the bond formed in adversity cracking under the sly hand offered in apparent friendship.

Apparent friendship.

Beano hadn't been willing to form friendships with the others here. He had tried to be nice. He had been polite. Friendly. He just hadn't been willing to let anyone in.

Mars had.

And it hurt, this betrayal, this pressure to give up his true friend.

"Do you really plan to leave?" He asked, and Beano had sighed. Looked up from his books.

"I don't have much choice." Beano had answered.

"There's always a choice." Mars had objected.

Beano had frowned. "Fine. Have it your way. I have a choice. I can stay here and be constantly mocked and insulted and never ever trusted. I can leave and fall into the dark and become what we both hate. I can leave and find some quiet place to..." He hesitated over the words.

"To die." Mars said for him.

Beano's ears went down, the mouse looking defeated. "There aren't any good choices for me, but if I stay here..."

Mars shook his head. "You could try."

Beano dropped his head down to the desk. "I did. For you. I tried Mars. I tried..."

Mars looked at his mouse, truly looked for the first time in a while.

There was no denying Beano looked worn, there was a shadow about him that this place shouldn't have allowed, a slump to his form that had once been tall and proud.

"Try again?" Mars asked, "What's the worse that could happen?"

Beano laughed half heartedly.

"You would say that."