So much was going through Gregor's mind. If he hadn't have left them for so long they wouldn't have come looking for him. He would have brought them with him, but mom would have freaked. It was bad enough that he had gone, but if all her children disappeared, then what? Why didn't I just bring them with me anyways? Regalia wasn't at war. They could have all came to visit and then gone right back up. Gregor felt Luxa's breathing. No, we wouldn't have. I could have never left her again. But now Lizzie and Boots are lost in the Underland and it's all my fault. How am I going to find them?

Luxa leaned back against Gregor. "We will find them Gregor," she said as if reading his mind. "I have every creature available searching. Do not blame yourself." She sighed, "The blame will only take over you. Harden your heart. Leave you lying awake at night regretting. That gets you nowhere." Gregor let his head rest on hers. Breathing in her scent. Feeling what she was feeling, like they were one.

"Luxa... all that happened... everything we went through when we were younger and everyone we lost... none of that was your fault..I just wanted you to know that. Ok." Luxa lifted her lips to meet Gregor's. But just as they got close enough to touch she stopped. He could feel her breath on his lips when she whispered.

"...and Ares is not yours."

It amazed Gregor how much he and Luxa understood each other. She would never forgive herself for the war, and he would never forgive himself for Ares' death. She had shared her grief with him. But he could not help but think that she was still holding something back. Hiding. Sitting here on the back of Aroura was not the place to discuss it though, whatever it was. "Ok," was all he said.

"Ok," Luxa replied.

They spent the rest of the trip laying on Aroura's back, searching the waterway below them with flashlights. Time passed and they saw nothing. Aroura purred,"We are here Luxa."

"Well, this looks familiar," Gregor said as they touched down. They had arrived on a sandy beach. The last time he was here they were attempting to fulfill the first prophecy. Howard pulled a map out of his back pocket and began to explain where the search parties would be located.

"Our group will be splitting up. Three of us will be flying over the waterways to search from above, the other three will be on foot. We will set up a base camp here." Gregor thought about it for a second. Something didn't make sense.

"Wait, there are only five of us though," Gregor said confused. Just as he finished his sentence a figure stepped out from behind the shadows.

"Smart little rager, aren't you?" Gregor didn't have to turn around to see who it was. Ripred came around the front of Gregor and plopped down on his side. "Missed me so much you just couldn't keep yourself away, could you? Five years is a long time to make someone wait though. I'm not sure if things are still the same for me."

"It's nice to see you too Ripred," Gregor said sarcastically. Truth be told, he had been happy to see Ripred at first. But he knew how to get people where it hurt, and Gregor didn't like where he was going with this conversation.

"Suppose I've moved on, and found myself a new warrior, then what?" Gregor was becoming angry. "What about you, your highness? How do you feel about his abandoment? Is five years too long to wait?" Gregor stood up in front of Luxa, as if to shield her from any more comments Ripred may attack her with. The rat got up as well. "Oh, so the little rager isn't so little anymore, is he?" No, he wasn't. Gregor now stood nearly two inches taller than Ripred, and he wasn't afraid of him.

"I didn't abandon anyone!" Gregor half shouted.

"Is that what my human bond thinks Overlander? Is that why your sisters are now down here alone, without you?" Ripred snarled through a devious smile. His words were clearly getting to Gregor.

Before it went any farther, Howard stepped in. "That is enough, from the both of you. Have you forgotten why we are here?" Howard planted himself firmly between them. Gregor decided to be the first to back away. "Get some sleep for now. It will do us no good to search with tired, unfocused eyes."

There was no real reason to keep watch. No known enemies were lurking in the darkness, waiting for the chance to strike anymore. But Gregor was restless, so he sat up and looked around. Hazard was laying next to Pneuma, Howard and Nike were but a few inches apart, Ripred was sleeping close to the fire, and a couple feet from him was Aroura...alone. Alarmed, Gregor looked around for Luxa. He finally found her, sitting by the edge of the water. He walked over to her and sat down. Solevet's knife sat in the space between them. "I never could stop carrying this thing," she said looking down at the weapon. "No matter how much peace there was said to be in the Underland, I always kept it with me." Luxa placed her hand on the hilt. "I've never been one to let go of things very easily." She sighed. "I had tried many times to just let it go. Or to just leave it in the museum with everything else. There was a time that I thought I was over it, so I did just that and left it there. But that didn't last very long, and I had to fly back and get it. It pained me to carry it when there was no use for it. But I knew it would never call the museum its permanent home. I still wanted it with me, as close to me as possible. Its like, to leave it, would be to lose a part of who I was" Gregor placed his hand on top of hers. "You know...I've never been able to stop thinking of you. Not since the time you saved me, on this very beach. What you did, was something not even Henry would have done. You protected me as if we were...bonded."

Gregor opened his mouth to respond. But before he had a chance to, Luxa was yanked up in the air. While she had been talking, they didn't notice the tentacle come up out of the water. It had latched onto her leg with its deadly suckers, and now she was dangling forty feet above Gregor's head. Luxa did everything to free herself but it was no use. Gregor's vision was becoming blurry, and he could feel the rager kicking in. He grabbed Solevet's knife and dove for the monster. The knife was small but it did the job. Gregor locked onto every slimey, swinging target. Slashing, cutting, tearing them off, tentacle by tentacle. All the camotion woke the rest of them. They made it to the edge of the beach just in time to see Luxa drop to the water, still entagled in the severed tentacle. Gregor took control of his rager side and calmed down. "Where is she?", he screamed. Howard pointed to the water and yelled something, but Gregor couldn't make sense of it. So he dove down after her. He had to come back for air, but was down again in a second. The others waited on the shore for them to appear. There was nothing. No sign of either of them. Hazard was about to dive in himself when Gregor burst up out of the water. Luxa was in his arms, the tentacle still wrapped around her. He drug her onto shore and Howard began giving her mouth to mouth. Gregor and Hazard sat helplessly next to her lifeless body. Then she finally coughed up the water from her lungs, gasping for air. She had her eyes half open. "Luxa? Just hold on. Ok? I'm here. You're safe now," Gregor whispered to her. "You're going to be aright." With all the strength she had, Luxa picked up her arm, and reached out to take Gregor's hand.

After they removed the tentacles from around her legs, Howard cleaned and bandaged the wounds. They all went back to the fire to rest. Gregor sat, looking down at Luxa, guarding her and gently stroking her hair. "Perhaps...five years, is not that long of a wait... afterall." With that, Ripred plopped back down onto his side, and went to sleep.

Alright guys, let me know what you think? I have a pretty good idea of where I am going with this story, but I'm always open to any ideas you may have. Every review is appreciated. Thanks for reading :D