Ever since she could remember, he’d been by her side. They’d laughed together. They’d walked together. They’d cried together. No matter what happened, Odyssey was confident
Ganso would be there for her.
Her adoptive father,
Moscow, wasn’t very concerned when she first told him about her friend. He couldn’t see him, but from the research he’d done, imaginary friends were perfectly normal for kids to have. So Moscow played along, and even encouraged her.
And so Odyssey was quite sure that Ganso was real, even more sure than she would have been if Moscow hadn’t encouraged it. Her friend always insisted he was real whenever she had her brief moments of doubt, although there was always something off about him. He never seemed to completely grasp how things worked and never liked being around when the topic of geese was brought up. Odyssey didn’t mind though, because she loved her friend.
They did all sorts of things together. They talked. Ganso made up stories about himself and Odyssey would roll her eyes and insist that they weren't true, asking to know his real story. But he'd just make up something even sillier or change the subject, and Odyssey was quick to forget her wondering over where her friend came from. They played together, whether they be pranks or games, and Ganso was quick to do anything he could to put a smile on Odyssey's face. She felt like he was her missing half, fitting together with her personality like a puzzle piece. Ganso adored his friend as well, loved her more than anything else and would do anything for her. He was fiercely protective of her too, and though he couldn't do much because for some reason or another she was the only one who could see him, he did whatever he could to protect her.
But as Odyssey continued to not make friends with other pups, sticking with Ganso and making a loner of herself at school, Moscow grew worried. Was it alright to encourage having this imaginary friend, to play along whenever he knew Ganso wasn't real? Was it alright to stunt her socially because he didn't want to crush her spirits. Although his friend tried to urge him it was time to tell Odyssey Ganso wasn't real sooner rather than later, as the longer he took the more attached - and by that extent, more upset - she'd be when he told her - but Moscow wasn't ready to upset her so deeply. So instead, he just stopped acknowledging Gansoo as he had previously. If Odyssey prompted him to somehow "interact" with her friend, he'd hum to himself but do as she asked, but for the most part he avoided it.
Ganso caught on, and it was certainly awkward. He felt bad, especially when he crept downstairs one night and heard Moscow talking to his friend about Odyssey's lack of any other friends. He didn't want to hurt her, so he tried to encourage her alongside Moscow, and insisted she didn't have to try and make Moscow acknowledge him, even though she insisted her father's behavior was rude. Yet every time Moscow asked her if she wanted to invite a friend over, Odyssey insisted the only friend she needed was Ganso, and Ganso adored his friend too much to truly push her.
Odyssey didn't understand the big deal, or why Moscow tensed up more and more each time Ganso was brought up. Why did he hate her best friend so dearly? It didn't seem right, but with Ganso insisting it was, she let it go. Instead they would watch the stars together, or make flower crowns, or play in the stream. She could do anything and everything with Ganso by her side. He was the encouragement she needed, and despite still not having friends in school, he helped her the best he could with school, and just the moral boost was enough to help her do well.
But then, after some urging from a friend that it had gone on too long, Moscow stopped playing along. He was afraid for Odyssey, afraid that she would never grow out of her imaginary friend, and his friend insisted that crushing the tolerance for Ganso was what he had to do. Odyssey was furious at this sudden insistence that her friend was not real, which was even worse to her than when Moscow began ignoring Ganso. She knew that he was real, because he was her best friend. How could she become best friends with someone who wasn’t real? How could they do all the things together, make all those memories, if he was made up in her head? But her friendship with Ganso was keeping her from making friends with other wolves her age, and Moscow knew he had to put an end to it.
And of course, the whole time, Ganso wasn’t quite sure what to do. He knew he was real. He wasn't quite sure how he had managed to attach himself to Odyssey, to stay out of the Underworld when he was with her, but he loved being with her. Yet he couldn’t figure out how to tell her he was dead, or how to explain the fact that she could see him when no one else could, as he couldn’t quite grasp that himself either. Besides, he couldn’t bare the idea of seeing her face whenever he told her that her best friend was a goose turned citizen of the Underworld. She’d never believe it, would she?
And so, as much as it hurt him, Ganso did the only thing he thought he could do, although his heart broke as he did. He forced himself to leave Odyssey. There was no goodbye, no apology, not even a hint that he would be leaving her. Ganso was sure he wouldn’t be able to go through with it if he saw his best friend cry, and she would cry if she had any idea what he was going to do. She would beg him to stay, and he knew he would, which is why she couldn't know. And so he left her in the middle of the night, and oh how Odyssey sobbed whenever she couldn’t find him around the house. She sobbed to Moscow, insisting he must have gotten lost and that they had to go find him, but eventually her adoptive father managed to calm her and insist that this was a part of growing up, although he worried that by destroying her “imaginary” friend, he would break her.
Odyssey didn't accept his words about Ganso never being real, or about growing up. For a few days, she was furious with Moscow. She wouldn't speak to him, and the poor father didn't know what to do, or how to rectify things. Her school work plummeted, and teachers reported her as being down right hostile. To try and make things better, Moscow tried to pretend Ganso was around again, but Odyssey knew he wasn't there. And so that led to more angry tears, and poor Moscow was at his wit's end as to how to make things better.
Every night as she was going to sleep, Odyssey would look at the pillows under her window sill, hoping she’d see Ganso laying there like before, sometimes pretending she did. After about two weeks of silent wrath at her father, she finally came to terms with the fact that Ganso was gone, although she didn't know where he went or why. Her school grades went back up, although not quite as high. She was talking to her father again, although never about Ganso. She didn’t want to worry her father, or anyone else for that matter. They all thought she accepted he wasn’t real, and sometimes she felt like she did, but there was some tug inside her every time that assured her that Ganso, wherever he was, was real. Truth be told, she also wasn't quite sure she could handle a conversation about her lost friend when the other wolf would be talking like he never existed. Begrudgingly, Odyssey even began to make friends, though none of them filled the hole in her heart where Ganso had been. But Moscow was happy, and that was all that mattered, right? It didn't matter that she felt destroyed inside, did it?
Perhaps it did. And to make her sorrowful mind slightly brighter, she swore to herself that someday, somehow, she'd find Ganso. She'd find out what happened and they would be the pair they were once again. He was her best friend, and you never gave up on your best friend. All of this she kept tucked away in her heart, to think about when she was sad, and so Moscow never knew and was relieved to think that finally the disaster was averted. Odyssey was on track again to grow up normally, which was all Moscow wanted for his adoptive daughter, although he did still worry about if the trauma she seemed to have experienced with Ganso still clung to her.
Ganso traveled for a while after leaving Odyssey, seeing the world. None of it felt right though. Finally, he went back to the Underworld, too upset to keep lurking the land of the living when there was no one to talk to. Especially when everything reminded him of Odyssey and made him want to go back to her. No matter where he turned, some memory resurfaced, and he couldn't handle it. Once he returned, he went searching for some sort of sliver of information as to what had happened. He had to know why Odyssey had somehow pulled him out of the Underworld, why only she could see him, and if there was any way to make it so everyone could see him if he left. He’s still wandering, looking for some sort of answer and trying to forget the destroyed sob he heard the morning he left as he lurked outside Odyssey's window, distraught by how upset she had gotten to see him gone. At this point, whether he's started looking for a way to destroy the fraying bond he has with Odyssey to free her from him or whether he's still looking for a way to get back to her where everyone will believe he's real is unknown, but he's definitely still searching.
