-The Gnawer's Girl-
Summary: She was a rat. Well, not physically. But to Jett, she might as well be. She had a name like a gnawer. She knew how to speak like a gnawer. And she had lived with them. She had lived with vicious, bloodthirsty gnawers for the first thirteen years of her life. And now, because even the gnawers didn't want her, she was coming to live with him. "Gnawer's girl." That's what everyone called her. And now he had to put up with her.
He was normal. He had not lived with vicious animals. If she had known anything else about Regalian life, she would have thought him lucky. But in Scar's eyes, he was like a different species. But now she had to go live with him, in his world. It didn't matter that she looked like him, that in reality, she was a human like him. Because how was she going to cope with human life if she had been raised by gnawers? How could she possibly put up with him?
How could two people as different as Jett and Scar possibly become as close as brother and sister?
Okay, so even though I'm right in the middle of two major fics, Looking Back and RotR, I had this idea and wanted to start another one. So, without further ado(besides a boring old disclaimer) here's The Gnawer's Girl!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Underland Chronicles! One more time, all together now: I do not own the Underland Chronicles!
Prologue
Bloody, anguished cries filled the air as the battle raged on and on. Rats' heads were sliced from their bodies and humans were torn to shreds by deadly claws. Fliers were pinned to the ground, never to rise again and doctors rushed among the warriors, tending hurriedly to the wounded.
It was war once again in the Underland.
But one woman was frantically trying to escape the blood and carnage all around her. But it was not for her own safety, but for that of her small newborn daughter that she cradled in her arms.
She ran through tunnel after tunnel. Her bare feet were sore and bleeding, and her arms ached from holding her baby for hours on end. But she kept on, not caring if she ran herself to death, only wanting to get her sleeping daughter away from the bloody massacre that was war. She had a feeling she herself was not going to survive it, but she was determined to make sure her daughter was.
Their home had been ambushed, and the rats had almost gotten the small baby. Even so, one of them had clawed her right over her eye. But the woman had fought off the rats, picked up her daughter, and started running, just as planned.
Finally, she reached a remote cave far away from any civilization at all. She sank to the ground, still cradling her precious bundle.
"Silvertail!" she rasped into the darkness. "Silvertail!"
It only took a second for the gnawer to appear out of the shadows. She had a stunning sliver pelt and the deepest, darkest black eyes of any gnawer. The woman looked relieved to see her.
"So you have come." Silvertail purred, in her misty, remote tone. "I thought you would."
The woman nodded breathlessly. "I could not let them kill her."
"And you found my offer to be an agreeable one." Silvertail smirked. "Pass her."
The woman gave one last desperate look at her daughter, and then passed the baby over to Silvertail, who held her in her furry silver arms and examined her.
"She is small." The gnawer reported. "When did you say she was born?"
"Just yesterday." The woman winced as a sharp pain split through her feet.
"Ah." Silvertail nodded. She unsheathed a claw and gently traced it over the scar that lined the baby's face. She raised her eyebrows. "Bladefang's work, I presume?" The woman only nodded, and Silvertail continued. "Yes, he has always been an aggressive one. One of the few who would not hesitate to take the life of a pup." She hissed. The woman gulped. "But no matter. She is still alive." The rat looked at the child again as she slept.
"She will be called Scar." Silvertail said, as if anyone who disagreed would pay. The woman was still struggling to hold back tears.
"A fitting name." she gulped. Silvertail gave an upward flick of her head.
"And now you should leave. You can trust me with the girl." She purred, holding young Scar even more closely as if to prove this to the woman. The woman staggered to her feet and made a sudden desperate movment, as if to go bid her baby farewell. But Silvertail drew back, the hint of a smile playing across her face. The woman sighed.
"Goodbye, Silvertail." She sniffed, and slowly made her painful way out of the cave. The rat looked back to the human child in her arms.
She knew what she would do. She had planned this ever since meeting the woman just after Scar's conception. She would bring up the child as her own for thirteen years. Then, when the time came, she would kick her out back into the human world, but not before appointing one of the rat's own desperate suitors as the girl's official stalker. And when the time came, and she knew enough about the human world, they would use her as a key, a key to get into Regalia and destroy it.
Of course, Scar—nor her mother—had ever or would ever know any of this.
Silvertail stroked the baby's crescent shaped scar once again. "And now, love," she began, "I shall raise you," There was a slight pause before she spoke again, "With no interruptions."
At that moment, a group of about a dozen gnawers rushed into Silvertail's cave. Silvertail smirked. Her ears flicked to the cave entrance, where the woman had left. She could still hear her antagonized moans as she made her painful way back to her city. Well, she would not be suffering for much longer, nor would she actually make it back to Regalia.
The silver gnawer flicked her tail down the tunnel. She turned to the rats.
"Kill her."