Gregor bolted upright in his bed, soaked in sweat. One of his many recurring nightmares of the Underland, a war stricken world filled with a plethora of oversized creatures calling it their home, had awoken him. He sat there panting, sweat dripping off his chin.

His dream had seemed so real, indistinguishable from reality and more painful than he hoped it could be. He had seen faces of all the dead creatures he had failed, bats, rats, humans, mice and roaches. All screaming for him to return, to return to the land he had abandoned so long ago.

He dragged his scar ridden legs over the side of his small bed. There really wasn't much point in trying to go to sleep now. He looked over at his alarm clock, it read three eighteen. He might as well start getting ready for the day.

He quietly opened his door and walked into the bathroom in complete darkness. Even now that he had left the Underland, he still found many uses for echolocation. This was a skill that a very large and not particularly friendly rat had drummed into his head some 3 years ago.

He closed the door to the bathroom and flipped the light switch on. He had to close his eyes to shield them from the light. He walked over and turned on the shower, strippedd off his sweaty underwear and let the warm water envelope him.

Flashes of the underland came to him, pictures of his bond, Ares, the bat who had given his life so that gregor could take the life of a white monstrous rat known as the Bane. flashes of Luxa, the woman whom gregor had fallen in love with over the course of their many adventures together. He missed her so much, her light yet haughty laugh, the way she stood, tall and strong. The way she held gregor tight when she just didn't know what else to do. Oh what gregor wouldn't give just to hold her for a few moments.

He shook himself, frustrated that he had broken his rule. He had a rule, not unlike the one he had when his dad had disappeared, that he would not think about Luxa. He could not allow himself the fantasy of her because that would make reality just that much more painful to return to.

He shut off the water and stepped out of the shower and dripped onto the floor for awhile. Today was a friday he thought, wait no it was thursday. He didn't know, he hardly kept track of any sort of time at this point. It really didn't matter. No matter how much time past. No matter how much land separated him and the underland. There was no way he could just forget, forget all that had happened, all he had lost and learned to love.

He wrapped himself in a towel and walked quietly back to his room. He got dressed and walked into the kitchen. The time on the microwave now read four seventeen. He should probably just go out and do his chores. Gregor's family now lived on a small farm in Viriginia, it wasn't much but he had come to enjoy farm life, even though the fact that he was miles away from the girl he loved made him keep a deeper resentment for it.

He quietly did his chores and went back into the house. Almost everyone was awake now, except for Boots.

"Good morning Honey," his mom said, smiling at him."How'd you sleep?" she could probably tell by the dark violet half-circles under his eyes that he hadn't slept very well.

"Alright" he mumbled taking a seat at thee kitchen table. He just sat there for awhile not really hearing the things that were going on around him. He thought that somebody might have said his name but he wasn't sure.

Next thing he knew his dad set a large plate of scrambled eggs before him.

"Thanks." he mumbled, picking up the fork he had set beside him.

"Everything OK?" he dad said, the worry evident in his voice and face.

"Yeah Dad, I'm fine." I said, knowing that I was not fine. It didn't seem as if

Anything would ever be fine again. Not after all that had happened, not after all that he had lost. He quietly nibbled at his eggs, though he was quite hungry after his chores he just didn't seem to be able to eat. After about half an hour of sitting there eating bits of eggs, his mother came in:

"You done, honey?" she ask

"Yeah mom, thanks" he said setting his plate by the sink. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the date. Saturday october seventeenth.

Almost exactly 3 years ago he had returned from the underland, not optimistic but hopeful. This hope soon turned into fear, fear that one day he would be fine with leaving the underland forever, fine with leaving the place that he had learned to call home, and forget all about it. He knew this would never happen but he could decide if that was what he wanted, or not. He had decided that he didn't want to forget the underland and since he wasn't going to be anytime soon, it seemed like the right decision.

Gregor slumped down onto the couch and switch on the TV. He pretended to watch TV a lot of the time when he just wanted to think. His family worried when he just sat in his room all day, not hearing from him and they should be, but he couldn't help but feel frustrated at them. They were there reason that he left the underland, they were the reason he couldn't be with her. They had put their happiness in front of his and forced him to just come along for the ride.

Despite his yearning to be in the underland, Virginia wasn't all that bad, he had one friend: Sam, he didn't seem to mind the fact that he had scares covering his hands. He didn't mind that gregor just didn't want to talk about how they got there, and for this he was grateful so they got along quite well.

Gregor and Sam agreed to meet today, they had decided on getting lunch at a little diner in town. Him and Sam had gotten pretty close over the years. He had thought even about telling him all about the underland, but he enjoyed just having someone that didn't pity. Someone that just treated him normally,not like a wounded animal they had to care for.

Gregor grabbed his jacket and headed out the front door.

"Where are you going?" his dad asked.

"Lunch with Sam, I'll be back by 6." and with that he ducked out the door. He enjoyed walking in the forest, it reminded him of his venture for a cure that didn't exist, through a jungle of flesh eating plants. Not just the fact that it reminded him of the underland though, it seemed calm and serene, the occasional buzz of a fly or the chirp of a bird made it all the more enjoyable.

It made him sad, the fact that he could only feel happy when he was alone in the overland. But he supposed there really wasn't anything to be done about it.

Gregor walked silently walked for an hour to the diner, as he was opening the doors he looked up at the clock over the counter, it read six-fourteen. Sam would wouldn't mind that he was late though, he probably wouldn't even notice. Gregor looked around for sam and found him sitting in a corner booth. Gregor plopped himself down in the seat across from him.

"How you doing." he said

"Ok I guess, you?" gregor asked.

"Same, you had someone in here looking for you by the way. Said her name was lucie or something like that, she was super pale too. You know her?" he said looking up at him anticipatingly.

"yeah , i think so." said gregor, a shiver went down his spine. Could Luxa really be here? After all this time could she really be coming so see him.

The he realized, she would have come long ago most likely if she had just wanted to see him, something bad was happening down in the underland and she had come for help.

"Where did she go?" he asked sam. Right as he was about to open his mouth to answer, a finger touched him on his should, he whipped around the see the smiling face of an underlander, but it wasn't Luxa.

"Hi." gregored stuttered, somewhat disappointed.

"My apologies Gregor, but we must leave with haste." she said in a hushed voice so Sam couldn't here. Gregor was taken somewhat aback by this. Why had they come for him? Had there been another war, had someone died?

" Oh, I didn't know you guys were in town. Yeah sorry my mom must have forgotten to tell me. Uh, Sam this is my cousin." gregor said turning him. The girl seemed a little confused but saw that it was just so he could leave without causing too much suspicion.

" hello, I am lucia." she said holding her hand out which Sam weakly shook. Gregor could tell that she was doing her best to mimic the overland speech as best she could

"Nice to meet you." he said " I guess you better be getting home if you've got company." he didn't seem to mind that fact that he would now be eating alone. At that moment gregor was so thankful that he had chosen such a strange person to be his best friend, but it wasn't like he was a walk in the park either.

"Yeah, sorry, we can do something on thursday is you want." said gregor turning to leave. Sam gave a small nod in his direction as his huge platter of hashbrowns and eggs were set before him. They hurriedly walked out of the diner and a few more blocks just for good measure. They stopped by a bench and sat down.

"I am sorry to have intruded on your life so, but we are in dire need of your assistance." she said with a worried look in her eyes.

"Wait, who sent you here, and how did you know i was having lunch with sam?" he asked.

"No one, save the queen knows that i am here. As for your meal, i do not know,she informed me where and when you would be." she said rising to her feet. "As i said before, we must proceed with haste, i have supplies and rations so you need not worry." and with that she took off at a jog. Man this was really bad, what would his parents think, would they come after him? Probably not, but he knew that when he got back he'd probably be grounded for the rest of his life, for real this time.

After a few minutes of jogging and about thirty gaping mouths at the sight of a nearly translucent, purple eyed girl, they stopped and turned down an alley. There was a large object covered in a sheet which she promptly yanked off to reveal an old pick-up truck. She climbed in the passenger's seat and bckled her seatbelt.

Gregor was still standing in the alley in disbelief, was he really just going to up and leave his family to go back to the underland? He sighed, there really wasn't much of a choice. He climbed into the driver's seat and started the car then turned to the girl.

"You ever been in a car before?" he almost shouted over the noise of the loud engine. She shook her head and started to look a little green. Her knuckles were with as she gripped onto the sides of her seat.

"There is an entrance….to the underland….. No more than a few miles north of here." she gasped, seemingly going into a panic attack. It was strange, the underlanders could see death and destruction and ride around on bats thousands of feet in the are, but when they got in a car, they froze.

Gregor nodded and turned out of the alley, knocking over a few trash cans in the process. He had only driven a car a few times and that was with his dad on an empty road miles away from any cars. This however was much different. He tried his best with turn signals and stopping and such but it must have been a miracle that had been pulled over at least 5 times.

After they had gotten out of town the roads were nearly empty so it made it quite a bit easier. After about 10 minutes lucia silently pointed to a grouping of trees off the road. Gregor didn't see any road to it so he just went for it. As soon as the tire touched the grass they were bouncing all over the place, gregor couldn't help but laugh but when he saw lucia's face he immediately stopped the car and shut it off.

"I'm so sorry." he said

"It is fine." she said as she opened the door. It must have not been fine because as soon as she opened the door she puked. Gregor felt terrible. After she stopped she wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her shirt and quietly walked into the forest, gregor not far behind.

After about two or three minutes she stopped at a large boulder and brushed away a few branches that were placed at the base. When she was finished it revealed a large opening about 3 feet by three feet.

"Are you ready?" she asked crouching down to the hole. Gregor looked back and drank in the forest, he hoped not but he knew that this could very well be the last time he saw this place whether he died down here or not.

"As ready as I'll ever be." he replied letting out a sigh and with that she disappeared down the hole. Gregor crouched down looking into the blackness, he heard a strikingly familiar voice call out to him: "Jump Gregor." that was all he needed, with that he fell into the dark void known as the Underland.