Gregor grimaced as he watched the cockroach walk across the grass infront of him. He was laying on the ground right outside of the farm in Virginia. Turns out, his family did move. They just couldn't bear to stay that close to the world that had caused them so much pain even if it had made Gregor happy in the end.

These days, Gregor was never happy. He avoided the other kids at school, rarely talked to his family or at all for that matter. Gregor never smiled at all. It was just like when his father had been missing. Infact, he even had a timer in his head just like before. It had been exactly 4 years and 62 days.

Not a day went by that he remembered the old days. Now a 16 year-old teenagers, most people his age were worried about getting to drive and school. Not Gregor, he was more worried about if the people he loved were still alive or if the Underland had been sprung into a new war or not. He just could never relax.

Right now Gregor was musing over the very fact if the one he loved, Luxa, the queen of the humans in the Underland, was still alive or not. Had her bond Ripred turned on her? He was naturally wise, but he always tried to further his own means no matter what anyone else wanted. There was no telling what he wanted. Ripred also could kill without feeling anything. He was lethal and would stop at nothing.

Then there was the fact that Ripred wasn't even human. He was in actuality a giant rat. Just a little while ago the humans and rats had been at war and there were still a few tensions in the air.

Giant rats weren't the only massive creatures in the Underland. One of the more friendly ones, the bats, were great allies with the humans. There were also ants, spiders, fireflies, and cockroaches, which was why the cockroach now brought up such memories.

"Gregor! Time for dinner!" Grace, his mother, called from the door. With his thought stream now broken he saw no point in staying outside. Instead he went inside the small, one story house. The first room he went into was infact the dining room. The room was very simple, it was just a wooden table and five chairs positioned around it. All but one was already taken.

His much younger sister, Boots, who now liked to be called Rita now, was sitting at the chair closest to the empty chair. She had really grown up in the four years it had been. Now seven, her hair was much longer but she still dressed simply. She was much more mature than most seven year olds having already been exposed to much violence and hardship. Every now and then, she still spoke in crawler, but most of the time she acted normally enough.

His other sister, Lizzie, now 12 was different from the normal kids. She remembered everything just like her brother Gregor. She did the exact opposite thing as her brother. Instead of going extremely introverted, Lizzie finally turned into a social butterfly. With more friends than she could count she was busy a lot. Her hair was usually kept about her shoulder length but other than that she hadn't changed much except the regular aging.

His dad had finally grown stronger. He was now supporting the family and his mom was able to just relax and take over the controlling of the household. It was relaxing for Grace who had done so much for the family. Unfortunately, their grandma had finally died.

But Gregor, Gregor could never relax. He sat at the table and started to dig into chicken savagely, much like he had during the Great War in the Underland.

"Gregor that's rude." Grace warned. She knew she would be ignored but she had to try to get to him.

"Mom I'm going back!" Gregor blurted out. Despite how vague this statement was everyone instantly knew what he meant. "I can drive!" He knew this would produce reactions but he was past caring.

"No!"
"You can't!"
"Please Gregor! Forget it!" Half his family yelled at the same time. His dad though, just stayed quiet.
"Tell him!" Grace muttered elbowing her husband in the ribs. His dad just shook his head though.

"No. He knows what he needs to do. Let's take a trip to New York." His dad muttered unexpectantly. Gregor's eyebrows rose up in surprise.

After this statement, the family was in uproar, but no one really gave their dad any grief anymore. They were too happy to have him back. So, by the next day, they were in the car and heading to New York City.

Gregor stepped out of their family car and stretched his legs. They were just outside Central Park at night. They had already rented a room for a bit, but it probably wasn't going to be used. Their car was locked and parked in a close spot.

He led the way to the middle of the park where the stone that led to the opening of the Underland stood. He got there within minutes having taken sprinting back up. His dad arrived second and helped him move the stone and he jumped into the hole and shone a flashlight around the crevice. The rest of his family jumped in seconds later.

"Put the rock back." Gregor grunted started to head down the tunnel. He was way to impatient to wait for such trivial things. He knew the way he was going led to Regalia and started sprinting, he didn't care, his family would catch up, there wasn't danger much anymore. He kept running not even remembering how far it was from there. In what seemed like an endless time later, he saw some humans up head. "Finally!" he thought.

But, the humans weren't what he expected. Instead of greeting him, they attacked him. He stopped short and stood his ground as the two humans charged at him. "What!?" he barked out.

The first one that got there swung his sword at him. Gregor dodged under it easily and his rager sense clicked in. He punched at the guards stomach and disarmed him with the same blow. He took the sword and slashed at the other, ripping open his neck. He swung backwards at the guard he disarmed and caught him in the stomach before finishing him off.

"What the hell!?" Gregor yelped out. This was the first time he had seen a human attack another humans in the Underland. "I need to find what's up…" he muttered as he started to sprint again, this time with the sword. A few minutes later, he reached the front gates of the Underland city of Regalia, the humans one stronghold…