This is my first fanfiction so please go easy on it. If you like the story I'll keep chapters coming. If not keep it to yourself, please don't hate on it. If you find any errors, whether it be spelling, grammar or anything else please just let me know. I've been reading many of the fanfictions on this site but I just wanted to add my own to them.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Underland Chronicles or any of the characters, save the ones that I will be adding. Both the Underland Chronicles and the characters within belong to Suzanne Collins.
-Ssi
Gregor woke in the midmorning feeling more tired than he had been the night prior. His ribcage was still pressed up against the couch and sore to the touch. Gregor's eyelids felt like they were glued together as he tried to blink through blurred eyes. Sitting up straight Gregor stretched out his back and yawned heavily.
When he opened his eyes Gregor was surprised to see Mrs. Cormaci staring at him. She was peering at him from behind a newspaper as she sat on the cushioned chair next to the couch. Nonchalantly she raised the paper in front of her eyes as she continued to scan through it.
"You know, I've heard of women making their man sleep on the couch before… but sleeping on the floor against the couch is a new one." Gregor could hear the smile in her voice as she jested with him.
Gregor blushed at the implication and turned his head to make sure Luxa was still asleep. Her eyes were closed and each of the muscles in her face were relaxed as she breathed slowly, which hinted towards her still sleeping. Gregor's hand had apparently remained still, on top of hers throughout the night and had fallen asleep, leaving an almost stinging sensation at his fingertips. Gregor slipped his hand away from Luxa and shook the numbness from his appendages.
"Not to rush her off at all but now that she's on her feet, do you know when Luxa is planning on going home?" Mrs. Cormaci asked.
Gregor took a deep breath contemplating the question, "Last night she seemed hellbent on returning today, but Howard agrees that she needs more time to recover first."
"Probably not a bad idea, she may be on her feet but it doesn't really seem like she's moving too easily," Gregor's old neighbor added. "Well, I'm going to get together some breakfast. Scrabbled eggs and hash browns sound good to you?" she asked as she folded up her newspaper and stood up to leave the room.
"I'm not picky," Gregor responded groggily, "I'm sure it'll be good."
"Eh, maybe I've got some sausages in the freezer..." Mrs. Cormaci said as she left the living room.
Gregor looked back at Luxa as she rolled her head to the side and stretched her neck into the pillow. The table in front of the couch buzzed as Gregor's phone vibrated. Zoey's name flashed on his phone as he stretched his arm out to grab the electronic device.
"Hey Gregor!" Zoey's chipper voice rang through Gregor's ears waking him up.
"Hi, are you and Kyle still planning on coming over here for a bit before driving home?" Gregor responded.
"Yes!" Zoey said, "we're driving back home tomorrow so if you're all ok with it we were planning on stopping by later this afternoon?"
"Sure, I don't think anyone here will object as long as we aren't all in the same room at once. It's a little crowded in this apartment, as is, with five," Gregor said as he remembered his old apartment which had housed six for a rather claustrophobic environment.
Zoey chuckled on the other end of the phone, "it'll be cozy. So around one sound good?" She asked.
"Sounds good," Gregor repeated, "I'll see you two then."
Luxa pushed out her chest and raised her shoulders in a giant stretch, distracting Gregor from the phone long enough that he almost missed Zoey's, "See you then, bye bye," before hanging up.
Gregor placed his phone back on the table and looked back at Luxa as she blinked her eyes, adjusting them to the light. "Good morning sleepy head," Gregor jested.
"My body feels more tired than my head at the moment, to be quite honest," She responded squinting back at him.
Gregor gave out a halfhearted chuckle as he shook his head, "never mind." Luxa gave him a quizzical look but didn't ask.
Gregor's mind immediately wanted to ask Luxa about her condition the prior night and her plans to return to the Underland today. However bringing either up could just as easily push Luxa away which he didn't want either. He decided upon neither and simply began asking Luxa random questions about her favorite foods while they waited for breakfast to be ready…
By the time one o'clock rolled around Gregor was overjoyed with the fact that Luxa had not mentioned any of her ideas to return to the Underland. His nerves were more relaxed than they had been in over a week now.
When Kyle and Zoey showed up, Gregor's concerns of overcrowding the apartment were a laughable idea. Mrs. Cormaci and Hazard had left to go shopping for dinner that evening and Luxa had shut herself away in the guest room, much to Gregor's disappointment. Even after convincing her that they were Gregor's friends, Luxa didn't seem too pleased with meeting anyone while in the state she was in. This meant Kyle and Zoey were met with only Gregor and his uncle when they showed up. After exchanging their regular greetings, Gregor and his friends sat around the couch and chairs and talked about the simple subject of school back in Virgina.
The conversation was dulled to Gregor as his mind stayed stationary thinking about the Underland and about how he would pick it over Virgina any day. Gregor's mind felt like it was in some overdrive that kept him from staying focused on any conversation. He cared little about how Kyle loathed his math teacher and was unhappy to be returning to classes the following week. It wasn't until Gregor heard a thud from the other room that he was broken out of his stupor.
Gregor jumped off of the couch and sprinted to the guest room, pushing open the door as he ran. "Luxa!" He called as he ran over to help her up. She was already making her way back to her feet but she looked unstable as she tried to steady herself. As Gregor helped her steady, she looked over his shoulder to see Kyle and Zoey. "Are you ok?" Gregor asked.
Luxa replied as she looked down. "I am fine. I just lost my footing," she said as she pushed Gregor away to stand by herself.
After a few moments of awkward silence, Kyle decided to introduce himself from the doorway. "Hi, It's nice to meet you. Or er I guess meet you while you're awake, or not unconscious. I'm just going to shut up now," as he finished he ran his fingers passed his lips as though it were a zipper and threw away the key.
Gregor turned and stepped to the side of Luxa to introduce them. "Luxa, these are my friends, Kyle and Zoey. Guys this is Luxa."
Kyle and Zoey waved at Luxa as she bowed her head slightly in return. "We've heard so much about you!" Zoey said as she entered the room smiling at Luxa.
"How so?" Luxa asked simply with a little concern etched in her face.
Zoey looked taken aback for just a moment before answering. "That you're the queen of the Underland, and we shouldn't get in a sword fight with you." She said and glanced at Gregor for confirmation.
"I am Queen of Regalia, not of the Underland," Luxa corrected her.
"Oh, sorry," Zoey stated as she shied away.
Luxa glanced over at Gregor before adding, "But Overlanders are not too familiar with monarchies, such as my home, so I shall not hold it against you." Luxa tried to add a kind smile with her words but Gregor could see it was more for his benefit than anything else.
Suddenly Zoey made a shriek that forced Gregor to spin on his heels towards Zoey's gaze. On the ground, under one of the table stands in the corner, there were three dead rats in a pool of blood. They were not the gigantic rats of the Underland, they were the small rats of New York; yet still something about the scene reminded Gregor about the Underland.
Each of the rats were ravaged with small cuts and abrasions but the thing that caught Gregor's attention was the fact that each of their throats was ripped open and they were spewing blood all over the carpet. In the Underland this wouldn't have been uncommon but in the Overland it was not normal to see animals rip each other apart in the same way.
"Gregor, those cannot be..." Luxa's voice drifted off.
"That's disgusting," Kyle added on. "Have you ever seen anything like that?" he asked.
"Not since I moved away from New York," Gregor replied disregarding the fact that he really meant 'not since he was last in the Underland'. "Why don't you three go into the living room and I'll clean this up before the blood really soaks into the carpet.
Gregor helped Luxa move to the couch in the living room before grabbing the trashcan and a roll of paper towels out of the kitchen and returning to the guest room to clean up the mess.
Picking up the rats, Gregor felt a little sick. Not because they were rats and not because their deaths were beyond gruesome as they were. Gregor felt sick because after everything that he had gone through, in his life up to this point, had taught him that all life was precious. No matter how small or insignificant an animal or bug seemed, it was still a waste of life.
Gregor knew as he tried to clean up the blood that it would no doubt leave a stain in the carpet unless he used some kind of bleach. Even then however it would remove the red stain and simply add a white stain.
As Gregor threw the last couple of bloody paper towels into the trashcan, he spotted two beady eyes in his peripherals. Looking up Gregor could see a fourth rat, alive, perched on top of the dresser staring down at him. Less than a second after Gregor had glanced upward the rat was gone. Had it moved merely a moment earlier Gregor may have even thought that it was a figment of his imagination.
Gregor moved over to the dresser and pulled it away from the wall to reveal the pale drywall with a hole in it. The hole was only about an inch and a half thick, but that was more than enough space for a rat to slither in and out of.
Remembering back to the time that Ripred had set rats upon his family years prior, Gregor had the uneasy feeling that they were being watched.
That's chapter 21. Once again sorry this chapter took so long to get out I've been having terrible writers block and i was dealing with finals. Last week however I was out on vacation and had more time to think of a couple ideas. This chapter isn't the best and I sort of skipped over things that I'll eventually have to go back and tweak so this chapter isn't as bad, but right now I just needed a place to work from for the rest of the story. As always please rate and review. Any and all feedback is welcomed.
Sorry no tree of transmission question to decipher this week but I may edit this tomorrow morning when I wake up and I can think of a question.
-Ssi
