Hey, y'all! Same old disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins, and therefore I do not own any part of the Underland Chronicles.
Gregor
Gregor hung back from the crowd that enveloped his sister. He wasn't worried that she would feel overwhelmed anymore; her face as Howard announced her birthday had been one of pure joy. It was actually incredibly cute, and Gregor was glad that after her first troubling experience here, she was able to put it aside and enjoy herself with the people and the creatures she knew and could talk to.
"Greeeeeeeeeegor!" Boots shouted in his face, her voice high-pitched and whiny. "Greeeeeegor! I can see Temp?" She had mentioned the cockroach already twice since they arrived, but Gregor had been unable to catch the attention of any of the roaches thus far. They seemed to be in charge of decorations and were rushing about, bringing colored ribbons and indicating the places where tables should be set up.
"Yeah, Boots," Gregor sighed. "We can see Temp, okay?" He peered around the arena, looking desperately for any roach. When he caught sight of one about ten yards behind him, he started off in that direction. Gregor couldn't tell whether it was Temp or not, but he didn't think it was. This roach was much darker than most of the others.
"It be Overlander, it be," the roach said to him when he was close enough to hear. Gregor was still surprised at how well-known he was even to the creatures he had never met. The roach clicked his legs together a couple of times, and then changed his wording. "This be Princess, this be?" Gregor nodded.
"Hey, yeah." Gregor was still unsure of how exactly to talk to the roaches. Temp was used to him, but if his instincts were correct and this was not Temp, he didn't know how the roach would fare with his informal and sometimes confusing answers. "Are you…"
"I be Chant, I be," the roach told him with a click, and Gregor felt immensely relieved that the roach had introduced himself. He would have hated to offend him; the roach knew who he was, and Gregor would have looked inconsiderate had he not known the roach.
"Right! Chant," Gregor said. Boots reached down to the ground and he let her go. "Boots - she's looking for a good friend of hers, Temp. Do you know where he is?" The roach perked up.
"I know Temp, I know," Chant said. "Find Temp, we will, find Temp." And he lowered to the ground, letting Boots clamber awkwardly onto his back. Chant took off without a goodbye to Gregor, but he was used to it.
With the relief of not having to watch Boots, Gregor turned around and began searching for his other friends. His heart pounded. He hadn't yet seen Luxa, and it had been five months ago that he'd told her goodbye for what he thought was the last time. Unfortunately, there were literally hundreds of Underlanders, roaches, bats, and mice down here; Gregor couldn't have spotted her if his life depended on it.
"Overlander," purred a voice behind him suddenly, and he spun around. A large golden bat was staring at him.
"Aurora!" Gregor beamed, walking up to her. "It's great to see you!"
"It is good to see you as well, Overlander." Aurora shuffled forward a bit. Gregor knew that ground travel was uncomfortable for her, and he hoped she wouldn't be stuck down here for long. "I did not believe I would see you again. This is a welcome surprise."
"Same here," he said, putting effort into talking to her. As much as he wanted to see Aurora's bond Luxa, the bat had only ever been kind to him and he was sad that he hadn't really gotten to know her. "How are you? How is Regalia?" He refrained from asking about Luxa, afraid to pass over Aurora in favor of her bond.
"The city is well. We have rebuilt the damaged areas and are building new facilities to accommodate the many visitors now that there is peace once again. Luxa is doing very well, Overlander." He hadn't fooled her, but there was no hint of sadness or jealousy in her voice, and she even laughed at him for a moment. "She was greeting your sister at the food tables. I would try to find her there."
"Thanks, Aurora," Gregor said gratefully. He reached out to pat the bat's golden fur before jogging off in the direction of the food tables. Most of the crowd had migrated away and now sprawled out on the arena floor with plates, baskets, or cloths full of food. He spotted her near the far edge of the tables.
As he approached, his heart began to beat more quickly. Would she be angry at him? Would she have moved on and found another, more dashing boy of Regalian blood? He ran through scenarios in his head: he might get slapped, or ignored, or yelled at. But she caught his eye and beamed, and Gregor felt only joy.
"Gregor," she said happily. She reached her hands out to him and he accepted them, pulling her into an embrace. Her pale arms came up to his shoulders and as she pulled out of his embrace she planted a kiss on his cheek. Gregor was stunned for a moment. "You have returned!"
"Yeah," he said, feeling a bit lame. "I'm sorry about that… the whole, 'I'm leaving forever' thing and then coming back…" He looked at the ground.
"It is fine," Luxa assured him. "I am happy to see you! We all are. No matter what you think we believed of you when we parted last, the city is very fond of your family. One mention of Lizzie's birthday and half of the city turned out to greet her." She smiled once again at him and Gregor felt his cheeks redden.
"I'm glad you're okay," he said. "I was hoping you didn't, like… hate me, or something."
"Hate you?" Luxa exclaimed. "How could I hate you, Gregor?" She rolled her eyes adn Gregor had the sudden urge to kiss her, but he felt uncomfortable with so many people around, so he just smiled awkwardly.
"Come. Lizzie and your parents are already seated on one of the blankets with food. We should join them, and we can talk a bit more." Luxa grasped his wrist and dragged him through groups of Underlander humans and creatures.
They approached the blanket Luxa was talking about, and it was massive. Gregor's parents, Lizzie, Howard, Aurora, Hazard, two mice Gregor hadn't yet met, Boots, and two cockroaches were already seated around the edge and there was plenty of room left for Gregor and Luxa. There were open seats between Aurora on the right and Howard on the left.
"We are all together again," Howard said with a grin as they sat down. "One large family, yes?" There was agreement around the circle, and Luxa took Gregor's hand in her own. "Now that our last two guests have arrived, let us eat!" He opened the basket in the middle of the table and everyone reached in at once. Gregor's parents were the first to get food and Howard was quick after. Lizzie reached in and grabbed a couple of rolls, handing them to the mice before she got anything for herself. Once most of them had their hands full, Luxa reached in to get something for Aurora, and a cockroach that was not Chant (and Gregor assumed to be Temp) scuttled forward to get food for Boots.
"Let us all catch up to one another," Luxa suggested, her mouth full of bread.
So they went around the circle, one by one. Lizzie thanked everyone first for the party, looking absolutely thrilled. Gregor's mom and dad thanked everyone as well, but didn't seem to have much else to say. Howard told them all that he was still working in the hospital, and that he had been assigned mostly to the children's ward, which included Underland children as well as mouse and rat pups who came in sick.
"It's great fun," Howard said, and truly seemed happy. "I get to play with the children and help keep them healthy. And Hazard has been helping me as well. He is able to communicate with the pups."
Hazard, as it turned out, had been instrumental in gaining new ambassadors within the city. He could now communicate almost flawlessly with the roaches and mice, and when Ripred was in the city he continued their lessons in Rat. Gregor's dad looked very impressed at these mentions.
"It's been a week or so since their last lesson," Luxa interrupted at some point. "Honestly, our bond means more to the entire gnawer population than it does to Ripred. I believe he stays in Regalia for our food, and the moment our cooks take a break he is gone once again." This brought on a laugh from Aurora, who seemed completely content with not being Luxa's only bond anymore.
Continuing around the circle, Gregor learned that the two mice sitting next to Lizzie were named Apex and Kite. Apex was one of the new ambassadors and was also the math teacher whom Nike had mentioned on their ride here. The cockroaches introduced themselves as well; or, rather, Boots did it for them. She introduced the darker roach as Chant and the lighter roach as Temp, and sounded incredibly happy doing so.
When they were nearly done eating, Gregor felt a hand on his shoulder. He wiped his mouth and looked behind him, and nearly spit his food out again.
"Mareth!" he cried, standing up immediately. He passed over the pleasantries and gave the soldier a big hug, which was returned with enthusiasm. "It's awesome to see you, man!"
"It is very good to see you as well, Gregor," Mareth replied. He looked very healthy now, with more muscle than he had shown when Gregor had left five months ago. "You look almost the same."
"You look like you've been back out training," Gregor observed, and Mareth nodded.
"If I could interrupt," Howard said, "I am going to announce the games we have for the children to play. If you two will help me set them up, that would be much appreciated."
Gregor sighed and followed Howard and Mareth to a large open space on the field, leaving Luxa with a wave. As directed, he grabbed a number of large hoops from one of the boxes and began placing them on the areas designated by Howard. Mareth seemed to know what he was doing, and Gregor remembered how out-of-place he sometimes felt down here. As Howard announced the rules of the game, Gregor finished placing the hoops and then jogged back to Howard, standing close to him. Mareth joined him after adjusting a couple of the hoops.
"What exactly is this game?" Gregor asked, confused. The hoops weren't aligned in any particular order, and it seemed that as the kids filed out onto the field to stand in them, they weren't waiting for anything he could see.
"Did you not hear my explanation only moments ago?" Howard teased. Gregor blushed, embarrassed.
"It is a logical game," Mareth told him, leaning in closer. "The pups love it because it is also math-related. Howard thought your sister would enjoy it as well." He pointed out the children inside the hoops, now facing one direction. Gregor saw Lizzie, swinging her arms around nervously. "Howard will yell a number every half-minute or so. The children must count their steps together, and make it to the next hoop in exactly the number of steps indicated. They must learn to judge the distances of the hoops, because some will require small steps and some may require very large steps."
"Oh," Gregor said. That actually sounded relatively fun. "That's cool. I've never heard of a game like that." He watched the progress around the ring of hoops. Most of the children were very good at it, including Lizzie. She was laughing and counting along with all the rest. He noticed that when one of them miscounted or didn't make it to the hoop, they went into the middle of the circle and spun around while the other children continued counting. Howard changed the numbers rapidly as the game went along, to the point where the kids almost had to run to the hoops.
When all of the children had gotten out, Howard called them in for the next game. This one was more like a puzzle - Gregor had a feeling Lizzie would love it. It was like charades, but you had to play blind. Howard would call a bat, a mouse, and a human up to the front row and would pick a child to stand in front of them. The three participants had to pretend to be one of the others - for instance, a mouse would pretend to be a bat - and then the child or pup who was blindfolded would have to feel the participants and try to determine from their posture and actions which being they were imitating.
This game went on for a good thirty minutes at least, and after a while Gregor wandered away. He found Vikus talking to his parents with Mareth (who had snuck off some time before Gregor) and Luxa holding his wheelchair.
"I'm not sure…" Gregor's mom was saying as he walked up.
"Not sure about what?" Gregor inquired.
"Ah, Gregor," Vikus said softly. It seemed it was harder for him to talk now; Gregor hoped he wasn't overexerting himself. "I was speaking to your parents about the possibility of you, Lizzie, and Boots staying the night with us."
"Look at how peaceful everything is here, Grace," Gregor's dad whispered to her. "You know the kids will have fun. We can go home and have a little alone time." Gregor's mom looked worried, but she agreed quickly, and Gregor hoped his surprise (and glee) didn't register too obviously on his face.
"They need to be home by noon tomorrow, though," she insisted. "They can have breakfast here but please send them home after that."
"That will be fine," Luxa assured her, holding herself upright. "We will be tired of them after that anyway." His mom smiled for the first time since coming to Regalia today, and Gregor shot Luxa a look of gratitude.
"Let's just make sure that's okay with Lizzie and Boots," his dad said.
"Boots is fine," Gregor snorted. "She's running around with Temp and Chant. She probably won't even realize she's staying the night until we get home tomorrow."
They walked toward the field where the games were still going on, and Gregor fell back to walk next to Luxa. He reached his hand out to her and she grasped it firmly, swinging her arm a couple of times.
"Lizzie," Mareth called softly, and she left from her place in the back of the game line to come over.
"Is everything okay?" she asked worriedly.
"Absolutely, sweetie," Gregor's dad said. "We just wanted to see if you would be okay with staying the night in Regalia."
Lizzie's face lit up like the sun.
"Could I? Really?" She wrapped Gregor's dad in a hug, and then his mom as well. "Thank you so much!" She beamed at them and then ran back to her place in the line, squeezing in between a young brown bat Gregor didn't know and an Underlander girl who only looked a year or so older than Boots.
"I guess that is it, then," Luxa said to Gregor's parents. "You are welcome to stay longer, but I think your children will be happy here."
"We can leave now," Gregor's dad said, his arm around his wife's shoulders. "Or whenever you have a flier available to take us."
"We can call Erasmus," Vikus said. "He will be able to take you." Gregor's dad patted Gregor's shoulder once and then turned around and walked away with Vikus and Mareth, leaving Gregor and Luxa alone.
"Well, tonight will be fun," he said to Luxa with a grin. She returned it.
"Yes, it will be." She began to drag him toward Howard. "For now, let us play the games!"
Well, then! That's that!
Once again, if there are continuity errors or grammar/spelling issues please let me know. I'm not the best with remembering details. Hopefully this is still interesting! I promise I'm still going somewhere with this plot.
I changed the name of this fic, based upon suggestion by Val - thank you very much for that name! I quite like it.
Also, hopefully Gregor and Luxa's reunion is all right... I never actually shipped them that much in the books (I mean, I wanted them to be together but it was never a big worry of mine) so for you major Gluxa shippers, hopefully their reunion was okay? You'll see more of them together later in the plot.
Thanks again for reading and please leave reviews. :)
