This chapter involves another time skip, this one about 8 years into the future, making Reyna 15 and the year 15 A.E. It is also set around the time that Operation Hollow Storm happened, so around Gears of War 2 time.

Reyna walked down the long hallway leading away from her bedroom, the heels of her boots clacking on the floor. As much as Myrrah had persisted, Reyna refused to wear heels even in her formal wear. The same formal wear she was dressed in today.

On that day, Reyna was wearing a golden dress with turquoise straps and black tights underneath. Her hair was in it's typical braid draped over her shoulder, with a golden hairpiece with a spike on the end in the middle of the braid. The silver tiara on her head clinked lightly as it touched the golden hairpiece.

There were no Theron Guards with her this time, for they were in Nexus with Queen Myrrah, which was where Reyna was going.

As she walked towards Nexus, she heard gunfire in the distance, which alarmed her. Myrrah had told her that they were still winning the war, even after the Lightmass Bomb.

But if they were winning, why were the humans fighting below the surface now?

Reyna felt the earth below her shake, and she knew that the Riftworm was moving again. Her old babysitter Skorge somehow had the ability to control the massive rockworm, and they were using it to win both wars at once by sinking the cities that the humans lived in.

As Reyna approached the massive doors to the throne room, she saw two Theron Guards, but not the ones that were hers, guarding it. They bowed in respect before signaling a Drone to open the doors.

Reyna walked over to the throne her mother was sitting on, the Locust around her bowing. She ignored then ask and walked over to the throne in front of Myrrah. "Mother," Reyna said.

"Reyna," Myrrah said. "Are you still wearing those awful boots?"

"I don't like heels Mother."

"But you are a Princess! You are even in your formal wear and yet you still wear boots?"

"Yes."

"Very well then. Do you know why I called you here today?"

Reyna thought about the question before shaking her head no. "You are aware of our plans, correct?" Myrrah asked her daughter.

"To sink the human cities to destroy the Lament? I'm aware of them."

"Are you packed and ready to leave in a moment's notice?"

"Why?"

"You heard the gunfire as you walked here, didn't you?"

Reyna nodded her head and Myrrah said, "As a last ditch effort, the humans have decided that fighting us here has a remote chance of winning the war. While we aren't completely concerned by this, we have started sending more troops to the surface just in case."

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"I believe you should go with the next group sent up to the surface."

Reyna didn't react for a minute until she finally processed the sentence. When she did, her face twisted into one of rage. "You want me to leave?!" she yelled.

"Yes I do," Myrrah said calmly. "It is becoming too dangerous for you down here. We are almost ready to sink Jacinto and have already started to send troops up to the surface. When the next group goes, I want you with them."

"But this is our home! My home! I want to stay and fight!"

"Absolutely not! You are a Princess, not a common soldier! You are to go up to the surface with the next group of soldiers and they will escort you to safety!"

"My Queen!" a voice shouted from the doors. Skorge ran up to the throne, panting. He immediately bowed and Myrrah gestured for him to stand.

"What is it?" she asked, slightly irritated at being interrupted.

"The Riftworm is slain!" Skorge said in his gravelly voice.

Both Reyna and Myrrah's eyes widened at this news, and Myrrah looked at one of the Theron Guards. "You, start evacuating more troops quicker," she ordered. "I want the Hollow to be empty!"

The guard ran out of the room while Reyna looked at her mother. Myrrah said, "Reyna, you must leave. The Hollow is no longer safe. Leave with the next group before I make you."

Two Theron Guards that were next to the throne advanced towards Reyna, but she held her hand up and said, "Fine. I'll go. But I don't need them escorting me."

Myrrah nodded as Reyna walked out of the throne room, the massive doors shutting behind her.

As Reyna walked back to her bedroom, she heard her mother's voice over the speakers that lined the Hollow. "There are no greater warriors anywhere," she said over the speakers. "We cannot be stopped."

Reyna continued to walk to her room and grabbed her bag full of supplies. As she packed, there was a knock on her door. She opened it and saw her two Theron Guards standing in the doorway. "Let's go," one said in Locust tongue.

"I'm coming," she said, also in Locust tongue, slightly irritated.

Once she grabbed the bag, the guards stood on both sides of her and walked her down a series of halls until they were with a group of Drones. "Let's go," one of them said in Locust tongue.

Just as they were about to emerge, Myrrah's voice came on the speakers again. "We cannot allow the Lambent to pollute the surface," she said, earning cheers from the group Reyna was with. "We must bury their infection here. The world is rightfully ours and we will-"

Myrrah was cut off as another voice came over the speakers. "Delta Squad's in your house bitch!" the voice shouted, earning looks of confusion from everybody, including Reyna. She had never heard another human voice besides her mother, especially one that loud.

"You hear that shit?!" the voice continued. "You grubby-ass bitches are going down! Like way down-dead down so down you ain't even gonna know which way is up! Your asses are gonna be cryin' to your skank-ass queen, 'Oh mommy, don't let the bad men hurt us!' Fuck you! We gonna whup your momma's ass! Woo!-"

The voice cut out and all of the Locust looked at each other in confusion. Reyna looked up at the guards and asked, "Who was that?"

The Theron Guards looked at each other and nodded their heads. "Watch her," one of them said to the group of Drones.

As the guards turned to leave, Reyna sprinted past them, causing them to yell in alarm. "Princess!" they both yelled, running to keep up with her.

Reyna ran all through the Hollow until she got back to Nexus and burst into the throne room "Reyna?!" Myrrah asked. "What are you doing here?! You're supposed to be on the surface by now!"

"Who was that voice over the speakers?" Reyna asked.

"That doesn't matter. What matters is your safety. Now go."

There was then gunfire near the doors and Myrrah said, "Reyna, hide."

"But why should I-"

"Now!"

As the doors opened, Reyna quickly hid behind the throne. She heard heavy footsteps approach the throne and saw her mother stand up and walk towards the other people.

"You're the first humans to ever desecrate this palace with your presence," Myrrah said.

"It's her…" Reyna heard a different voice say.

"And I assure you, you will most certainly be the last," Myrrah continued.

"That's the Locust Queen?" a third voice asked.

"I thought she was supposed to be butt ugly," a voice that Reyna recognized as the one that was on the speakers said.

"If you're planning on flooding the Hollow, I guess we would be the last," a gravelly voice said. Reyna could have sworn she had heard that voice somewhere before, but couldn't quite place it.

"Yes," Myrrah said. "Though you destroyed the Riftworm, there are still ways for us to sink Jacinto. You will perish along with the Lambent."

"Not if we sink it first," the gravelly voice replied.

"Skorge informed me of your plan to sink Jacinto before us. I'm afraid it won't work."

"Don't be so sure."

As the gravelly voice said this, Reyna peeked her head out slightly from behind the throne. She looked at the humans and stared in awe.

Reyna had never seen another human besides her mother and was fascinated by how different they looked. They all looked like they could be different species.

Two of them had cream colored skin, one of them had light brown skin and the last one had dark brown skin. One of the ones with the cream skin had bright yellow hair with glowing blue goggles on his forehead. The second one had a black do rag tied around his head and a scar across his right eye.

The lighter brown skin man had black hair and looked very upset. The darker brown skinned man had short cropped black hair with dark brown eyes. They were all wearing full body armor that covered them neck to toes.

The darker skinned man looked over at the throne and Reyna ducked behind it again, hoping he didn't see her.

"Oh, but I am," Myrrah said to the gravelly voiced man. "We already have an army en route to Jacinto to prevent that from happening."

Reyna heard the men shift around a bit in their boots and then heard Myrrah ask, "Tell me, is it true… you're the son of Adam Fenix?"

As Reyna tried to place the name, the gravelly voice asked, "What's it to you?"

"He spoke highly of you," Myrrah said. "It's a shame that you didn't follow his path."

"The hell you talking about?" the gravelly voice asked.

"It no longer matters. Skorge-destroy them."

Skorge growled in response and advanced towards the humans while the gravelly voice shouted, "Baird, Cole, go after the Queen!"

Reyna saw that the yellow haired human and the darker brown human ran after her mother. Skorge jumped to the ceiling and used his dual chainsaw staff to cut down the chandelier, making Reyna cover her ears.

As the massive chandelier shattered on the rock ground, Reyna yelled in alarm. Luckily, the noise was so loud that the other two humans didn't hear her shout.

Reyna ran out of the throne room through the same back door her mother had and saw that she and the two other humans had disappeared. Past the door was a long hallway with several doors that even Reyna didn't know where they lead.

Reyna started to walk down the long hallway, opening doors. "Mother!" she shouted as she walked down the hall. "Mother! Mom!"

A pair of arms came from one door and pulled Reyna in, covering her mouth. Reyna attempted to speak, but the hand was muffling her voice. "Quiet!" a harsh voice whispered.

The hand moved away from her mouth and Reyna saw that it was Myrrah who had pulled her into that room.

"Mother!" Reyna exclaimed in a whisper. "What is happening?"

"We need to leave now," Myrrah said. "Come. We need to escape."

Reyna looked confused and Myrrah said, "Those humans plan to sink Jacinto first. We cannot be here when that happens. Now come on."

Myrrah grabbed Reyna's hand and pulled her along add they walked down the hallway and away from Nexus. "Where are we going Mother?" Reyna asked.

Myrrah said nothing but continued to lead Reyna into a section of the Hollow she had never been in before. "Mother, this is one of the restricted areas you said I couldn't go into," Reyna said.

"Conditions have changed," Myrrah responded. "Come on. We're almost there."

As they continued walking, they eventually walked into a hangar of some sorts. There we quite a few Drones and Theron Guards there guarding the…

"Reavers?" Reyna asked.

"Yes. This is where we keep them."

"Is that how we're going to escape?"

"Not quite."

A giant beetle covered in golden armor then landed in front of them, causing Reyna to shout. "Do not be alarmed," Myrrah said. "This is my personal mount. This is my Tempest."

The Tempest buzzed it's four wings as it landed carefully on its four legs. Myrrah mounted the Tempest and held out her hand to Reyna. "Come," she said.

Reyna carefully climbed on the Tempest and the second she was secured, it took to the sky, flying far away from the Hollow.

Man this chapter was long! I wanted to write this to show Reyna's POV during Operation Hollow Storm and how she reacts to being forced away from her home. This chapter actually took me quite a bit of time to write, mostly being due to the fact that I had to pull dialogue from Gears of War 2's campaign. Here's a link to the particular video I consulted to help me with the script. watch?v=Oqy4oeiO34Q