Before you read, please note that before I post every chapter, I write it out by hand, so some parts may seem a little short. And one more thing, this is my first multi-chapter TUC fanfic ("Goodnight Bane" was a one-shot).

Disclaimer: I do not own The Underland Chronicles, no matter how much I wish I did. Adrian, however, is mine. In fact, any character that you don't recognize is likely mine. Let this be my disclaimer for the entire story.

This takes place a few days, if not a week, before Gregor finds Luxa and Aurora in the jungle. And it's very short, but most of the other chapters will be at least double this size.

PART ONE: LOSING

Chapter One: In Which Adrian Proves Herself Lethal

"Oh, Aurora." Luxa shook her head. "Oh, Aurora."

"What is it?" Aurora stiffened only slightly; she was too exhausted. But the fear in her voice was rare and unmistakable.

"The pup." Luxa stroked the fuzz of the newborn pup, who inched closer to Aurora and curled up under her wing.

"It is fine." Aurora's shoulders trembled in a silent laugh, and she edged the little flier closer into her fur. "It is fine," She repeated, more to reassure herself.

"Yes, she is fine." Luxa nodded and tried to catch the eye of her bone. "She has Ares' fur. But also yours."

Aurora blinked, and hesitantly lifted her wing. Her pup pressed against her mother, beginning to nurse. The newborn's midnight fur clashed against her mother's gold coat, except for one stripe of glowing gold that ran down her spine like a river ran through a desert. Aurora looked up to Luxa again, and Luxa could see the mix of disbelief and sorrow on her face. They knew that feeling all too well.

"Aurora, she is part of the Prophecy of Trap," Luxa blurted before Aurora could find reason to object. "She is the blood-drinker."

As if on cue, the bat pup turned up and smiled, her eyes flashing red. And then she bit her mother.

Aurora hissed in a breath, but it was Luxa who took action. She whapped the pup on her nose, and the pup turned around to retaliate. Luxa used the position to wrap her arms around the baby flier, like reigning in a toddler in a tantrum. She would have forced the bat out of the cave and then the nibblers' lands by sword-point, but-

"No!" Aurora lifted herself up, holding put her wings to steady herself. The pup wriggled out of Luxa's slackening grip and hobbled towards her mother. The fliers both collapsed onto the floor of the cave, holding each other.

"Not my pup," Aurora muttered. "My pup cannot be the blood-drinker, Luxa. I will not let her be." She looked up to Luxa desperately. And in that look, Luxa saw herself when she had learned her parents had died. But this was different. Aurora, a new mother, had just learned that her child was a killer.

Slowly, almost apologetically, the pup began to lap up Aurora's trickling blood.

"Do you see?" Aurora and Luxa exclaimed at the same time.

"Aurora, listen to me," Luxa said cautiously. She let her hands fall to her sides, knowing that she and Aurora couldn't disagree. Not here, not now. "I know Sandwich's prophecies come true more often than not, but they come true in the strangest of ways. Your pup," she gestured to the newborn, "may be a threat. I do not know. But you have gone through so much for me and for Ares, and I cannot watch you risk your life for this pup that may cause nothing but harm."

Aurora dropped her head. Luxa felt a twang of sadness. "Do you understand, Aurora?" She asked in a gentle tone. "I want you to be safe."

"And my daughter?" Aurora set a wing over the pup that now watched the conversation as if trying to understand. "Aside from you and the nibblers, she is all I have. Ares is far away from us, and assuming he lives, he will not find us for years. She is all I have left of him." Aurora began to stroke the pup's black fur. "And blood-drinker or not, I will keep her."

"She is the blood-drinker," Luxa interjected. "The prophecy even mentions Ares. 'Bred by traitor'?"

"And the line 'born in vines'. I do not doubt you," Aurora sighed. "My poor pup…my poor Adrian."

Luxa raised an eyebrow at the name, but didn't question it. So the blood-drinker's name was Adrian. A strange name, but appropriate for such a dark, golden, evil, empathetic…unique flier.

"I will speak with the nibblers. Tell them you and…Adrian have survived. Cevian will be pleased."

"Yes, Luxa. But do not let them meet Adrian yet," Aurora said. Luxa moved her shadow away from the two fliers and paused, stricken by how weary Aurora looked. She hadn't been sleeping well lately, with all the pain that her growing pup had caused her, and now that the birth was done and her pup was falling asleep by her side, she was ready to collapse.

Luxa nodded feebly and left. Of course the nibblers wouldn't get to meet the blood-drinker until she was in control. Luxa wasn't entirely sure the nibblers would even want to hear they had saved the life of the flier that could kill them all.

A purr kept Luxa stationed at the mouth of the cave.

"You will grow to be good, Adrian," Aurora breathed to her pup, halfway asleep already. "When we find Ares, you will have a family full of light. And that light will spread through the Underland because of you."

Gentle breathing echoed through the cave. Luxa went to meet with the nibblers and tell them the news. But as she walked, she rubbed a hand on her wrist in worry. That young pup, if she didn't fulfill the prophecy, was at least going to drink Aurora dry. Why did this pup out of millions, the pup that her bond could not let go of, have to be born the blood-drinker?

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