Ahem...AHEM! There! I got your attention! So. Were back. I seriously didn't expect to even finish the second story, so this is an even bigger surprise. First of all... I'd like to say thank you. Thank you for... everything. I don't deserve any of the praise I've gotten so far, or even the criticism. So thank you. For reviewing. For favoriting. And for following.
Thank you, MovingBush, Synthetic Crawler, The underlander, and uzu1 for reviewing!
Thank you, Moving Bush, For adding The Prophecy of Bane AU to your favorite and follow list!
Thank you, HaleStorm27, KEVINBAUER199, Moving Bush, neebsrlzfureelz1, neebsrlzfureelz, OliviaTokar, Realdog2002, Synthetic Crawler, The underlander, uzu1, Winterleaf123, and last but not least, BryceSyce, For favoriting/following me, as a user.
PS. This is not part 1, this is just a 2k word short story, of shortly before the beginning of book 3.
And out further ado... Gregor and the Curse of the warmbloods AU, short story!
It was his birthday. His seventeenth birthday, to be exact. You would expect him to be in the arena, celebrating. But what was he doing? He was sitting in his room. Getting his outfit picked out by a different person.. Why couldn't he just wear what he wanted, to his birthday like any normal person, you may ask. Because. He wasn't any normal person. "I think that about does it." Said Edward, his royal dresser. Gregor was wearing a surprisingly simple outfit, a long sleeve shirt, colored a royal purple, and some thick pants, colored a deep red. Each pieces of clothing had Golden lining twirling through out them, showing he was royalty. His hair, which was normally a light, light blond, had been dyed a permanent Royal blue. It was a weird tradition, but he had to admit, it looked pretty cool. It was blue near his scalp, and got lighter as it went, at the very end showing his normal hair color. On top of that blue hair was a crown. The band was royal blue, Coming to a triangular point in the front. On the face of that point, there were three crimson red triangles, in a tri-force like shape. (PS. If you can tell me where the tri-force comes from, your freaking awesome) On Gregor's feet were a pair of boots. Matching the previous color pallet, they were a deep red, with Gold buckles. Gregor nodded. "Thank you, Edward." Edward merely waved it off. "It is my pleasure, Your Majesty." Said the thirteen year old, bowing in either respect, or obligation. "Will you excuse me?" Gregor asked him. "Of course." Said Edward with a smile, leaving the room. Gregor sighed, falling onto his couch.
"You ready boy?" Asked Ripred, sauntering into the room. "Truthfully? … No." Gregor replied. Ripred shook his head. "Gregor... your going to have to get over... her eventually." Gregor sat up, his eyes narrowing. "Really, Ripred? Is that what you came in here to tell me!?" Ripred's eyes showed a little surprise at his outburst. "Gregor I-" The king cut him off. "Wow. You have no right to tell me that! Have you gotten over your mate!?" Gregor immediately regretted what he said, seeing the rare emotion in Ripred's eyes. "Ripred... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-" This time, Ripred was the interrupter. "No. Your right. I..." Gregor could tell Ripred struggled to say these next words. "I am Sorry." Ripred shook his head. "Do you think.. Do you think you can do this? I mean, I can have them post pone." Gregor shook his head. "No. I need to do this." Gregor whispered. Today was the day he was supposed to give his speech. When Gregor had come back to Regalia, he was declared king instantly, but in all the hurry, and drama, they forgot the speech he was supposed to give. Then just recovering from losing their queen, they decided to push it off till his next birthday. This birthday. Now, Gregor was fine with giving a speech, he didn't have stage fright or anything, but today was also the day of something else. Today was the day he was supposed to explain to the people of Regalia, why there queen was gone.
"Gregor, come. You need to eat. I'm sure Ares will be happy to see you." Said Ripred quietly, nudging him with his tail toward the door. Gregor almost smiled at the though of seeing Ares. How long had it been since he had seen his bat? Three weeks. With the duties of a king, trying to locate any exit Luxa could have taken out of the labyrinth, And holding off the cutters from all out war, Gregor hadn't had much time for a social life. Or a life really. He woke up, had council meetings, Then had to eat lunch in his room because of the annual meetings after, and the council room and royal dining hall being to far apart. Then, after the daily council meeting, he sometimes had war negotiations, if not Gregor had to take part in either an extra meeting, or other duties. Then, he would go to sleep. Well 'sleep', He didn't really sleep much these days. Edward had even had to put something on Gregor's face to try to hide the crescents under his eyes, that matched the color of his shirt. You would have loved to see the look on his face when he saw Gregor's eyes! After being in the underland so long, they had turned a more orange color than brown.
After Gregor's brainstorm, He realized that him and Ripred were walking into the dining hall. "Gregor! I am glad to see you! Hopefully you have a very joyful birthday." Vikus greeted him. Most people would have thought that Gregor was being blank, and emotionless because of her death, and that was partially true. But it was also his duty as a king, to appear like that. Calm. Collected. Regal. And willing to push his life to the side, and do whatever he saw fit for Regalia. Not that he had a life. "Hello Vikus." At the table Gregor saw Vikus, Mareth, Howard, — He was on a temporary trip to Regalia, To learn more diverse techniques in first aid — Solovet, Howard's mother Susannah, Howard's father York, Howard's siblings; Stellovet, Hero, Kent, and Chim. Nerissa, Nike – Who had taken a strong liking to Howard – Mareth's bond Andromeda, Vikus' big grey bat Euripedes, and finally, Temp. Wow. That was a lot of people. They all greeted him, and laughed at how loud it was, considering the amount of people. Gregor walked to his throne, and the servants started bringing the food out. "Does anyone know the whereabouts of Ares?" Asked Gregor, noting his bonds absence. Everyone shook there heads. "I am sure he just slept to late. Do not worry." Said Vikus. Gregor gave the man a small smile. "Of course." That evening was filled with laughter, talking, and catching up. "You look very handsome with blue hair Gregor." Stellovet had commented. "Thank you." Gregor replied, not noticing the flirting tone in the girl's voice. "Gregor." Ripred said, getting his attention. "It is time for your speech." Stellovet frowned, as if she was about to say something. "By the way..." She started, getting Gregor to turn toward her, half way to the door. "What is a rat doing in the presence of his majesty?" She asked, in a snide, disgusted tone. Susannah's eyes flickered wide. "Stellovet!" Gregor smiled. "It's okay." He said, to the surprise to everyone in the room, including Stellovet. Gregor knew, Ripred could hear that tone in Gregor's voice that said, i'm going to win this."If you must know," Gregor started, pacing forward a couple steps. "He's my pet. I've trained him to do anything I want, All I have to do is say one word, and he could bite your head off." At this point Gregor's smile was gone, and Stellovet's eyes wide in fear. There was a few moments of tense silence, before Gregor laughed. "Of course, I would never do that." Stellovet laughed awkwardly. "Yes, yes of course!" She said, Putting a fake smile on her face. Gregor turned to the rest of the table who was either trying not to laugh, shaking there heads, or confused. "Thank you for having my morning meal with me, I hope to see you all at the party. Good bye." Said Gregor in his most sweet, yet formal tone possible.
As Gregor approached the 'stage' he took a deep breath. "People of Regalia." Gregor stopped for a minute, waiting for there cheers to subside. "Now, I know that I am supposed to... give my speech. But, I am going to skip to the part you actually want to hear." Gregor saw a few people raise their eyebrows. "Queen Luxa." Gregor tried to hide the struggle it took him to say that name. "Obviously, the story of the her... loss, is not known publicly. That is going to change today." There were a few gasps from the crowd. "Now, I am not going to subdue this any longer, and skip strait to the story. We were in the serpent's layer. Because of the shiners betrayal, the Gnawers protecting the Bane knew we were coming. When we arrived, they dumped boulders into the water to wake the serpents, who otherwise would have been asleep. It only took us a few seconds to figure out there plan, but in those seconds, they awoke. In the panic we abandoned our boat, My sister on Ares, with me. Of course, at some point Boots, – My sister – and Temp Fell off Ares, only to be caught by Aurora, Luxa's bond. We all shot into a tunnel, only to find that Aurora, my sister, Temp, and Queen Luxa was no where to be found. While Ares was gone, trying to get a response from Aurora, A Gnawer by the name of Twitchtip Informed me that Aurora had gone under water." There was a gasp for the crowd. "How did this gnawer know this? Did it push the Queen under itself!?" There were a few people who nodded in agreement. "She was a scent seer, and would have gained nothing from assassinating the Queen." Replied Gregor, barely keeping himself calm, and collected like usual. "How can we trust anything this rat said!?" The same woman spoke. "I trusted Twitchtip with my life!" Gregor replied again. "Though it does not matter who trusted her, as you are about to find out, she was right."
"Not long after I returned to my home of Regalia, I found that my sister, Boots, was also in that same Palace." There was another gasp of surprise from the crowd. "Now, since Boots was only the age of seven at the time, she was a bit confused. But we still got a general idea of what happened. Aurora and Queen Luxa, along with my sister, had escaped into a tunnel half submerged in water, hence Twitchtip thinking they had gone under water. They had. On their journey out of the labyrinth, they ran into Twitchtip, who me and my bond had left, as she insisted, due to the fact that she could barely walk. Luxa had urged Temp to run with my sister, as Twitchtip and Queen Luxa defended them." Gregor saw the woman who had called Twitchtip out lower her head in shame. Along with a few others. "The location of Queen Luxa to this say is unknown. Though, I can assure you, as king, and as the Queens closest friend, We are doing everything in our power to locate her." Gregor paused. "Any questions?" A few people in the crowd instantly rose their hand. Gregor flashed back to doing this in kindergarden. It was funny how formal it was considered here. "Yes?" Gregor turned to one of them. "Is the location of the gnawer... Twitchtip known?" Gregor smiled, but it fell as he realized the answer to that question. "It is not known as a fact, but our scouts have confirmed a Gnawer similar to her description in the Gnawer's prisons." The person nodded. "Do you plan a voyage to release her?" Gregor nodded. "Yes, actually, in twelve days time." Gregor turned to another questioner. "Yes?" The young man lowered his hand. "Is there a known exit the queen could have escaped through?" Gregor sighed. "Sadly, the labyrinth is not known well enough by humans to map, and no known gnawer in line with the humans knows the labyrinth well enough to know. That is a benefit of having Twitchtip, should we save her, she knows the labyrinth like the back of her... paw." Gregor was about to turn to another Regalian, when Ripred walked over to him with a grim face. "I need to speak with you privately." He whispered. Gregor, sensing the seriousness, Turned toward the crowd. "I am sorry but you must excuse me." Gregor walked down the stage and with Ripred, into the armory that branched off of the arena. "What's wrong?" He asked the rat. Ripred shook his head. "The Prophecy of Blood." He simply said, resulting in Gregor's face dropping into a frown. Now, of what Gregor remembered of the Prophecy of Blood... "Who is sick?" Gregor asked. Ripred shook his head yet again. "I don't want to be the one telling you this. And on your birthday. Maybe-" Gregor cut Ripred off. "Ripred! Who is sick!?" The boy insisted. "I... I am sorry Gregor." Ripred looked Gregor I the eyes.
"It... It is Ares."
So! Thats a wrap! I know it was short, but I kind of used it more so that instead of the actual story being clogged up with explaining stuff, some of it was in this. Yeah. Please Review if you like it! And if you didn't, Review telling what I did wrong!
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