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The Bane, it turns out, is a pup, and that should not change a thing, except it does for Gregor, and by proxy, so does it for Ares. The pup is a whimpering thing, and they ought to kill it now that it has its guard down.
Except Gregor can’t, and he says it in a way that is matter of fact, as if the thought of a pup dying for the greater good is something infinitely foreign.
Ares supposes that it is for him, who lives in an Overland that is not perpetually at war, where there is space for small mercies.
Or perhaps the killing of pups ought to be an unthinkable thing for everyone, and that the Underland is the odd one out.
But what does he know? Ares is many things — he is strong, he may be clever, he is proficient at keeping things close to his chest — but he is not one who is known for his good judgment.
From an early age, he was known for being he who broke rules — wherever one should not go, he went laughing; whatever one should not do, he did gladly; whoever one should not meet, he met with a smile. He had reveled in danger, he had felt the safest on the edge, he had been young and had breathed what others had feared, taken chances that had gnawed at what bound him to his land and his people.
Of course, that could not last.
When his family had finally turned him away for being a danger as opposed to the nuisance he had always thought himself to be, Ares had come to realize that perhaps he did not make the most sound decisions.
Then came Henry—
Then came a like-minded prince who saw his boldness and decided then and there that they ought to become one — bonds, brothers, the whole package.
And what fool rejects a family when he has just cut himself off from one?
Yet, in the end, Henry sought safety above all, for he was afraid, terribly afraid — and safety is found in strength, and Ares had been strength.
But not enough.
His body tenses at the memory.
At knowing, in that moment when Henry had betrayed them, that no matter what, he would be done for.
Sometimes, he still wonders whether he made the right decision.
But he always comes to the conclusion that there was no right decision.
Not in the eyes of the world.
And he knows that Gregor stands in that same situation now.
He will be damned if he kills the Bane.
And he will be damned if he doesn't.
Soon, there will be somebody whom he cannot look in the eye.
Either all those who counted on him, those who would gladly kill a pup for the sake of the greater good.
Or himself, who would never draw his sword if he never had to.
Somebody will have his head at the end of this.
Just like they would have had Ares’ if Gregor had not intervened.
Yet this is Gregor’s decision to make, and anyway, Ares has never been one who is known for making sound decisions.