Alright here we are with Chapter 2! I'm not nearly as content with the quality of this chapter versus the first. I rewrote this whole chapter 5 times, and it seemed to get worse with each rewrite to I just stuck to the second draft and worked around that. Thanks to keshaunking89 and MovingBush for reviewing. I appreciate the support and criticism.

Chapter 2

Gregor bent down to look at the rat, but before he had reached his knees, it scurried away, leaving the note behind. He picked up the note then turned around to look at his sister. Lizzie had an expression of pure excitement on her face.

"Well don't just stand there. What's it say?" Lizzie could hardly contain herself, bouncing from one foot to the other. Gregor opened the note.

Gregor,

The tensions between the humans and the gnawers are rising. As much as it pains my poor, aching heart to admit, the bonding between myself and her royal highness was not enough to make lasting peace. The council fears another war between the two species. If the conflict escalates beyond simply arguing over land, it will surely lead to lasting destruction.

There is an upcoming peace delegation at the Fount concerning the issue of the fate of the gnawers. The council is refusing to allow Luxa to go to this delegation as they believe there will be another assassination attempt when she is so far away from the royal guard. They've come to the compromise that if the Warrior would return to guard the queen during this delegation, she would be safe enough to help broker a peace deal. The meeting takes place in three days, but the council wants you to be prepped on the proper protocol if something does happen. Should you decide to come, be at the entrance in your laundry room tonight at midnight. Should you decide not to come, just know that you will be responsible not only for thousands of deaths across the entirety of the Underland, but also the death of your girlfriend.

Ripred

Gregor just stood staring at the note.

…another assassination attempt

What does he mean by another? How many had happened before? Is Luxa ok? Is she injured? Did anything bad happen to –

"Well that ended on a somber note." Lizzie interrupted Gregor's train of thought.

"Yeah Ripred has a way of doing that."

"Why would the council want a 13-year-old kid of all people to guard the queen?"

"I don't know. I guess they refuse to believe the Warrior is really dead." Gregor said.

"Well you did single handedly kill a giant white monster rat and save the entire Underland from certain doom."

"It wasn't single handed." Gregor said quietly.

Lizzie stopped talking and looked at Gregor apologetically. He knew she meant no harm, nor did she mean to imply that Ares didn't give his life trying to stop the Bane. It definitely sounded like it though.

"What are we going to tell Mom?" Gregor said, changing the subject. There was no way that their mother was going to agree to this.

"Maybe Dad can persuade her. I mean this is the lives of people who saved her family several times over." Lizzie said hopefully.

Lizzie's hopefulness was definetly misplaced. His mother didn't care about the Underland. She only cared about her family. Gregor couldn't just go to her and say "Hey mom I'm going back down to stop an assassination attempt. See ya!" Gregor thought about how that conversation would go. He winced imagining her screaming.

"I don't know. For now, don't tell them about it. Let me think about it some more. I'm going to go get the brown sugar for breakfast." Gregor moved to walk out the door.

"Seriously? Your girlfriend has had assassination attempts on her and you're worried about breakfast?"

Gregor ignored her and shut the door behind him. Maybe it would be a good idea to ask Mrs. Cormaci what she thought about the whole thing. He doubted she would tell her parents before he got a chance to, and she was generally right about what to do in most instances. Gregor softly knocked on her door and listened to see if she was up. Luckily, she was up and about in her kitchen, so he knocked harder for her to hear it.

Mrs. Cormaci opened the door with a confused look on her face.

"Gregor it's Wednesday, you don't work until Saturday."

"I know Mrs. Cormaci. I just needed to borrow some brown sugar. Err, not borrow- have. And I also need some advice if you have a minute to talk." Gregor replied, a little too quickly.

Mrs. Cormaci raised an eyebrow at his nervousness, but opened her door more and motioned him to come in. "Sit down. I'll bring you some brown sugar. Then we'll talk."

She walked back into the kitchen and filled a plastic bag with a generous amount of brown sugar, then sat down next to Gregor on the couch. Rather than saying anything to her, Gregor handed her the note.

After reading the note, Mrs. Cormaci chuckled dryly and said, "Your mother is not going to like this."

"The thing is…" Gregor debated if he wanted to say what he was really thinking. "The thing is I'm going with or without her permission. I would just rather have it than not."

"The rat said that she's your girlfriend." Mrs. Cormaci smirked.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Gregor felt his face start to heat up.

"You love her, right? You don't need to answer that. Your face is all the answer I need."

She was right. Gregor was blushing heavily.

He coughed and dodged the question, "How can I convince my mom?"

"Just tell her that."

"Ha no I'm asking for serious advice."

"I am serious. As a mother, I know that I'd want my child to be happy. I'd want him to feel what he's going to feel. She'll know she can't change your feelings. At the very least, she'll understand why you're going."

Gregor thought about it for a while. The idea of talking to his mom about a girl he liked made him nauseous. The last thing he wanted was his mom in more of his business. But from what Mrs. Cormaci was saying, it made sense. His mom would want him to be happy right?

"And if you are going back down there, there's something I want you to take with you. Wait here." Mrs. Cormaci got up and walked back into her bedroom. After hearing her rummage through a few drawers, she returned with a gun.

"This was Mr. Cormaci's service pistol. He used this when he fought in the war. I understand that most people down there use swords and bows and all that medieval crap, but if you're going to be safe, and keep this girl safe, I want you to have the best protection you can. I don't want you getting hurt, and I know that if there really are…assassins trying to kill this girl, then you might find this more useful than a sword."

Gregor was stunned. He'd never so much as fired a BB gun, much less a handgun. Would he even know how to use it? Would his rager senses extend to ranged weapons? How much aiming practice would he need? His mother would never approve of him having a gun, then again, she definitely didn't approve of him having a sword either.

Mrs. Cormaci continued, "He rarely ever spoke about the war, but I knew he had seen and done things that haunted him. When he returned, he was a different man. And considering that you have taken a lot more hits than him, I suspect that you are as well. You aren't just some kid anymore. I can see it in your eyes. The few times Mr. Cormaci did talk about his time serving, it felt like he was a million miles away. But from what I gathered, he would've died without this gun. None of my kids have any interest in this sort of stuff. But this gun helped keep my husband alive, and I want it to help keep you alive."

Gregor picked up the gun and looked at it. Mrs. Cormaci was right about it being the best protection. He couldn't think of a weapon in the Underland that would be deadlier than a firearm. But there were also the downsides of a gun. Guns were loud. Loud enough to cause permanent ear damage if use enough. And combined with the structure of the Underland, the sound would echoed throughout the caves.

"I can't. My primary advantage over other humans, besides being a rager, is having the ability to use echolocation. If I fire this enough, I'll damage my hearing and lose that advantage. It's different here, because we have the sun and street lights, but most creatures down there don't need a light to see. I'd like to keep my ability to see without needing a light." Gregor reasoned and set the gun down on the coffee table. "Thanks, but I'm ok without."

"Look Gregor just because you have it doesn't mean it has to be your first choice. I only want you to be safe. Please take the gun. Even if you never take the safety off, I'd rather you have it just in case. When your mother told me about how you looked when you were in recovery, I was heartbroken. You could've died. I don't want you to get another hole in your chest. I don't want you to die!" Mrs. Cormaci was tearing up.

"Okay. I'll take it, but there is no way my mom can know about this." Gregor said, picking up the gun. He did it mostly to make Mrs. Cormaci happy. She'd done so much for his family, and he couldn't bear to see her cry.

"Thank you, Gregor. Believe me, if you never have to raise that gun, no one will be happier than me. If I don't see you before you go back down, I hope everything goes well."

"Thanks for everything. Hopefully I'll see you Saturday," Gregor put the gun in the back of his pants and grabbed the bag of brown sugar. As he began to leave, Mrs. Cormaci called out.

"And just so you know; I hope everything goes well between you and the queen."

Gregor paused at the door. "I hope so too."

Well that's Chapter 2! Please Review with any improvements or problems with this chapter. Thanks for reading!