Author's note- IMPORTANT! This story does not belong to me nor my friend. My friend Anna wrote this, you can find her on , her username is Kyomi, I believe. She wasn't able to upload it to fanfiction cause of stuff happening so she asked me. Please NO flames, read and review!

"Speech"

Thoughts

Ch. 10 Bats, Rats, and Cockroaches, oh my!

When Ares landed in the hall, Howard jumped off his back right away.

"I must find Corona and inform her of these recent events...e-excuse me." Howard managed to get out before running off.

"Yeah..." Alma muttered, waving after him. "And I need to find Rosie... where is...?"

"Pluto." Ares replied. "But it is unlikely he still has her. He would have dropped her off with other children."

"Can you take me there? If you don't have anywhere else to be...?" She pleaded.

"I don't have anywhere else to be, but..." he ruffled his wings, and looked down a hall. Then he shook his head. "No, I can take you. Will it be alright if we fly?"

Alma blinked. "In these halls?" The hallways weren't small at all, but Ares was almost as big as Orion, who was full grown. In a few years, he would probably outgrow his teacher.

"It is of no trouble." he said, offering his back to her.

Alma looked at him nervously, but she climbed on his back anyways. "Just don't hurt yourself..." she muttered as he took off.

But he was right. It was easier than walking.

There were many times she thought Ares would scrape his wing on the walls. But he was surprisingly agile for his size.

"Hey, Ares...?" She muttered. "Who's your, umm... who's your bond...?"

"I do not have one. Nor does Columbus or Pluto. Orion probably would have made one in the past, if he was not an instructor."

"Oh..." She knew the whole bond thing might be possible for her. But she was going home as soon as possible.

And then there was that council. She couldn't explain it, but something about them unnerved her. What would they say about an Overlander having a bond?

But... Wait, why do they even need a Council anyways?! Luxa was Queen, shouldn't she make all the decisions?! But then again-!

"Overlander, we are here." she herd Ares slip in before she went on a mental rant.

"Oh, thank you." she said as she slid off his back. But she didn't move too far away. All of a sudden, she felt safer by the bat's side.

"Rosie? Are you in here?" she called into the next room.

Then a little blond head poked around the corner of the wall.

"Hi!" Rosie said cheerfully, and ran over and hugged Alma, even though she only came up to her knees.

"Oh, there you are! What have you been doing, Rosie?" She replied as she picked Rosie up.

"I went on ride! Ride with green bat! Ride with bug! Big bug!" she said, emphasizing with toddler hand-gestures.

"B-bug, huh?" she said with a nervous smile.

Just as she said that, a new Underland woman walked out of the room Rosie had come from. Alma figured she was the nanny. "After Pluto left Rosie, the crawler carried her here very swiftly." she told Alma.

"What's a crawler?" she asked.

"The crawler, I be, The Crawler." A strange voice said. Alma followed the voice to the right of the hall. And out of the shadows scurried a Cockroach almost twice her size in length.