Part One: Chapter 2: Negotiations
Gregor was flying with Luxa on Aurora, and with another bat, equal to Ares's strength, named Atlas carrying Ripred. Atlas had white and red stripes, with blue speckles in the white stripes and black speckles in the red stripes.
"Well, I wish we crash on the way there..." Ripred stated sarcastically, but in-fact, he wanted to see Lizzie.
"Yeah... I really wish too..." Gregor muttered sarcastically, joining in on Ripred's sarcasm. Luxa looked back at Gregor and giggled, while Gregor studied her face. She had matured a lot since 2 years. She had slightly longer hair and her skin seemed to give off a faint aurora that seemed to be glowing, Luxa also had her birthday soon, turning 14.
"I'm so happy that you returned, especially for my birthday..." Luxa explained to Gregor with a smile.
"I thought I would die with another year without you..." Luxa sighed before turning around to face forward again.
Soon, Luxa, Gregor, and Ripred reached the laundry grate and quickly scrambled inside it. Gregor saw that the laundry room was empty and he signaled to Luxa and Ripred.
"Let's go!" Gregor whispered as he ran out of the laundry room and started climbing the stairs with Ripred and Luxa behind him.
Soon, they reached Gregor's apartment and they all ran into Gregor's small living room, closing the door behind them, and, almost immediately, Grace, Gregor's mom confronted them.
"Where have you been!" She screeched at Gregor before noticing Luxa and Ripred.
"Not there... no..." Grace muttered before raising her voice.
"NEVER!" Grace screamed. Lizzie heard the scream and walked into the living room quietly, and when she noticed Ripred she ran toward him and hugged him.
"Look who I found!" Ripred joked excitedly as he lifted Lizzie up on his back with his tail. Gregor's mom stood there, angry and surprised as all this happened.
"But... Wha- No!" Grace proclaimed. "Your not going down there again!"
"Mom... first of all, There are people I miss down there! People that are my friends! People that I haven't seen in two years! And second of all, there are a whole lot of new Prophecies, and with my experience in Prophecies, I bet if we don't fulfill them, the Underland will die..." Gregor emphasized before taking a sigh.
Grace stopped for a second, thinking, as Gregor's dad walked into the room.
"What is this!?" Gregor's dad explained as he looked at Ripred and Luxa.
"Oh..." Gregor's dad said slowly as he turned to Grace, awaiting what she had to say.
"You almost died there... I don't even know how many times!" Grace responded back with an angry tone, she didn't seem very happy about this.
"Yes I died there, but I am smarter and stronger now, I can handle myself better, and..." Gregor stopped a second before glancing at Luxa.
"I am miserable up here, and you all know it..." Gregor finished before sighing and waiting for his mom's response.
Grace hesitated a little, looking at Luxa, Ripred, Gregor, and Lizzie's desperate faces.
"I uhm... think we shouldn-" Grace as cut off as Boots, now 5 years old, walked into the living room, and, as she saw Luxa and Ripred, she burst out.
"Big Bugs?!" Boots yelled loudly as memories flooded back into her mind. Boots had grown bigger, and learned to pronounce words better, but she still preferred to be called Boots.
"Bugs?" Boots asked Grace as she too, started staring at Grace desperately.
Grace, for the first time in years, considered going back down there, and she stood there with a expression of deep concentration on her face for what was a few minutes, but seemed like an hour to Gregor, Luxa, Ripred, Lizzie, and Boots, and finally, she got her answer.
"Yes..." Grace sighed finally and everyone burst out into cheers, Luxa and Gregor hugged each other while Boots started clapping her hands and jumping up and down, while Lizzie hugged Ripred as he stood there with a not so sarcastic grin on his face.
Gregor and Luxa went down to the laundry room, followed by Ripred and hopped onto Aurora, holding hands on the way there. They had all decided that Gregor, Luxa, and Ripred would fly down on the bats to Regalia to announce that the 'Warrior' would be back, but most primarily to get more bats, the whole family couldn't fly down on only Aurora and Atlas.
Atlas and Ripred went slightly ahead of Aurora, so Gregor and Luxa could reminisce, but mostly all they did was hug each other.
"I've missed you so much..." Gregor whispered to Luxa from behind, Luxa was riding in front with Gregor behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist.
Luxa looked back at him and responded. "Me too, I cry for you every night..." Gregor felt a ting of sadness, Luxa was miserable too.
"What has happened in these 2 years?" Gregor asked Luxa, continuing the conversation.
"Well, the cutters have made small attacks, but they were all repelled, although the rats-" Ripred looked behind at Luxa. "Erm... King Ripred and the rats have reported things... on their borders..." Luxa finished slowly with a sigh.
"Things... I don't have a very good feeling about this..." Gregor slowly and nervously. "Last time I heard about things was giant creatures, that might want to eat you..."
Luxa laughed a bit before responding. "Ripred just said something about Furry..." Luxa then started laughing more as they reached High Hall. A few soldiers were marching around, when they saw Luxa, Gregor, and Ripred, and news of their arrival quickly spread.
"The Warrior is back!" and cries of excitement could be heard all throughout the palace.
"Well Luxa, I say we got get my family now..." Gregor said to Luxa with a smile as he looked over at some new bats flying to High Hall.
