Okay! I got it up! It's not very long, and I apologize for that, but the laptop I was writing it on was loosing battery FAST, and The Soup was on. So... Yeah...
So, I hope you all like it.
Oh, by the way, That Which Is Lost won Best Fanfic on an Underland Forum. So, bow. Bow and exalt. I am Miss Baltimore Crabs.
?
Don't ask.
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The city of Regalia was silent. Fliers slept in their caves. Men, women and children all slept soundly, which was normal for that time of the day, about 5:00 a.m.
Gregor woke up and knew something was wrong.
He never could explain how he knew, but he did.
He looked around the bedroom anxiously. He couldn't place it, but something woke him up. And something was sending a shiver down his spine. He nervously fell back to sleep.
Two hours later, they all awoke to the news that Vikus was on his deathbed.
Gregor and Luxa walked into Solovet and Vikus' apartment. Solovet was sitting at the window in a white dress, which was the pre-mourning color in the Underland. If a loved one was sick, or gravely injured, the friends and family wore white, to symbolize the thought that they would go into the light to heaven. After they died, the family wore the color of mourning, black.
Gregor and Luxa also wore white, Gregor in a white shirt and pants, Luxa in a white sleeveless dress. Solovet made no sign that she'd heard them come in. She just continued to stare out the window, eastward, a blank look on her face.
"She has been like that for nearly an hour." Ajax said softly, fluttering up from behind Gregor and Luxa. "She will speak to no one, not even me." The blood-red bat looked worriedly at his bond, who just continued to stare.
"Can we go in, Ajax?" Luxa asked softly. Ajax nodded mutely. Luxa took Gregor's hand, and they walked into the bedroom.
Vikus looked terrible. Very thin, and pale. His breathing looked painful, but he smiled when the walked in. "Hello, my children," he said weakly. "I do not look very good, do I?" Luxa smiled thinly.
"Hey, Vikus," Gregor said, taking Vikus' hand. Vikus smiled at him.
"Hello, Gregor. I am afraid it is almost my time." Luxa took Vikus' other hand with a shaky breath. Vikus turned and smiled at her as well. "Where is Solovet?"
"She is not responsive right now, Grandfather." Luxa said. Gregor irrationally realized that that was one of the few times she had ever called him that.
"We're gonna miss you." Gregor said shakily.
Vikus sighed, then had a coughing fit that left him unable to even lift his head.
Luxa winced. Euripedes fluttered over, looking heartbroken. Gregor squeezed Vikus' hand.
"Make sure," Vikus said, panting, "That you try your best. All of you. And stay true to Hamnet's words. Do not use violence to solve violence." Luxa nodded numbly. "I love you all." Vikus said softly.
Five minutes later, Vikus was dead.
Luxa stood up, her face pale and calm. She smoothed the covers on the bed.
"We will have to air the room out," she said absently. "Perhaps get some potpourri to freshen the air." Euripedes hunched over in grief. Luxa abruptly turned and buried her face in her shoulder. "Oh, Gregor!"
Gregor hugged her, his eyes finding a dark corner and staring at that, rather than his Grandfather-In-Law, or the flier hunched over across the bed, or his wife sobbing.
--
Regalia was in mourning. The entire city, and a great deal of The Fount, came for the funeral. Solovet stood at the head of the tomb, wearing thick black dress, Ajax standing behind her. Luxa, Gregor, Judith, Hamnet, Aurora, and Ares stood beside her.
Vikus was lowered into the white stone tomb. Everyone bowed their heads in silence as the guards closed the tomb. Susannah sobbed, and York, Howard and Stellovet hugged her, all the while crying silently.
The lid closed.
Vikus was gone.
--
Where do Underlanders get potpourri?