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 pushed the dresser, back, against the wall. He contemplated grabbing a roll of duct tape and doctoring up the hole in the wall but, if they were being watched, it was unlikely that tape would do anything to keep the rats from spying on them.
Walking back over to the blood stained carpet, Gregor repositioned the table so that no one would accidentally step in it and made a mental note to let Mrs. Cormaci know.
When Gregor walked into the living room he caught the tail end of the conversation that Kyle and Zoey were having with Luxa on the couch.
"-but I mean, you must've met him before all of- well, you know. Everything? What was he like before-" Kyle ended abruptly when his eyes landed on Gregor.
"What're we talking about out here?" Gregor asked as he sat next to Luxa on the armrest of the couch.
"Nothin," Kyle responded immediately as Gregor laid his hand ontop of the back of the couch for support.
Zoey slapped Kyle's arm, "Kyle here was just asking about what you were like before the Underland." She answered sheepishly. "I mean it's not like you'd tell us."
"What do you want to know?" Gregor sighed at the question. "I was just a regular kid, nothing special or anything. It's not a secret or anything, it's just not that important."
Luxa looked up at Gregor, "That is untrue. When you and I were flying through the Firelands, you told me many of your adventures in the Overland before you fell." She spoke quietly and Gregor could see the faintest shade of pink flush her cheeks before they returned to a pale white.
Gregor chuckled for a moment, "What like going out for pizza? For you that would've been an adventure, but for an Overlander there's nothing special about it."
"Oh," the light red hue rushed back to her face for a moment longer.
"So then, what's a regular day like in the Underland?" Zoey asked Luxa, who thought for a moment.
Luxa turned her head towards the TV and stared off into nothingness for a moment before leaning the back of her head against Gregor's arm. "My day would not be a 'regular' one amongst nearly all of the Underlanders. Many of my days are quite boring if I am being truly honest. Meetings with the counsel and other delegates over small quarrels amongst my people and the species we share our home with now."
Gregor smirked, "That sounded a bit rehearsed, did Vikus make you memorize that?"
Luxa looked up at him and grinned, "Those may not have been his exact words, but yes, Vikus has tried very hard to make a respectable leader out of me."
"Yeah that does sound pretty boring," Kyle said, breaking Gregor and Luxa's eye contact before Zoey hit Kyle's shoulder again. "Hey! She said it, I just agreed with her."
"That's still rude!" Zoey said under her breath before turning back to Luxa, "Let's say you had a day off, then what would your day look like in the Underland?"
"How can a day be on or off?" Luxa asked perplexed.
"Um," Zoey looked at Gregor and then back and Luxa, "like, if you didn't have any meetings or anything else planned for the day, what would you do?"
"I do not understand," Luxa stated. "I always have things planned, as royalty I must."
"Luxa, it's a hypothetical question," Gregor told her. When she looked back up at Gregor with a lost expression he elaborated. "It's something that will probably never happen but if it did happen you are supposed to imagine what you would do."
Luxa stared back at the TV and stayed quiet in thought, so Gregor continued, "Like would you… race after a boat you weren't supposed to be on, or fake a picnic to visit the jungle or… I don't know, something."
Luxa's expression was vacant as she answered. "I guess I would fly out to the Beach with the crystals, or maybe… visit Ares' cave. Or his monument."
"His monument?" Gregor asked.
"Well, it was dedicated to both you and him. Did you not see it when you entered the city?" Luxa looked back towards Gregor.
"No, I must've missed it," Gregor thought as he tried to remember entering the city with Iris.
"After you left, Ripred suggested that in our first act together, the humans and gnawers should work together to construct a monument to the War of Time so that we would all remember that were we ever to turn on one another again, the Underland would crumble." Luxa said flatly.
Zoey grimaced, "that doesn't sound very… happy."
"That doesn't sound very much like Ripred," Gregor commented.
"No," Luxa responded. "It did not sound very much like Ripred at the time. I am not sure if it was a calculated move to gain more trust from both sides or not." Luxa bit her lip a little. "Honestly,I always wondered if it was not to do more with him missing you."
Gregor would've laughed at this comment but Luxa's expression was void and pale. "Ripred was never that sentimental."
Luxa looked down at her lap. "Think about it, Gregor. After his mate and pups died he had no one. He was shunned by human and gnawers alike. He was exiled not by law but by hate. Does that not sound like someone else to you?"
"Ares," the name barely escaped Gregor's lips.
"I can tell you that before Ares was exiled in the same way he was far more social," Luxa explained. "I am not sure if Ripred was similar or not, but I can tell you that as far as friends- well, maybe not friend, maybe just allies- as far as allies went, Vikus and us were probably his closest. And when Vikus and I returned to work trying to rebuild Regalia, Ripred was back to being alone."
Gregor thought about it for a moment. He understood where Luxa was coming from but whether by choice of his own, or by choice of the others, Ripred was a loner and that was unlikely to ever change now.
"Maybe," was all Gregor said, not completely convinced.
"What of your family? How fair they?" Luxa asked.
Again Gregor took a moment to answer that question. "They're doing alright. Maggie- er, Boots- started school and is growing up fast. Lizzie is in every honers class you can think of. Dad is back to teaching, and mom is… well, mom is mom."
"Speaking of your parents, Gregor, you know that when we get home without you, your parents are going to be beyond ticked off" Kyle stated.
"Yeah, I don't doubt it," Gregor sighed.
"What are you going to do?" Zoey asked.
Gregor exhaled deeply, "I don't know yet, they know George is here and they'll know he's been lying too, so they'll more than likely try to come take me home. It won't take them long to find me either. If George found me that easily I'm sure mom will track me out like a bloodhound."
"What about Luxa?" Zoey asked.
"Hopefully she'll be well enough I can take her home before either of my parents show up," Gregor explained.
"If they come looking for you and they try entering the Underland do you not think that they may get lost or killed?" Luxa asked, "with the skirmishes that have plagued the outskirts of Regalia it would not be safe for them."
"I'm hoping to be back in the Overland before they get here," Gregor said.
"Are you not staying to help us suppress the rebellion before you leave?" Luxa asked, "Was that not why you returned originally?"
Gregor sighed and leaned his head into the wall. "I didn't even learn about the rebels until after I ran into Hazard up here, I was here for a school thing. I'm planning on sticking around just long enough to help put Vellac in a cell or 6 feet under, but as much as I want to stay and help you after that, I can't, I'll have already been in enough trouble to ground me for an eternity. I promised Howard I would take care of you up here and I owe you so much but I can't stay."
For a moment Luxa's lips contorted in such a way that Gregor thought for sure she was going argue, but when she spoke her voice was even. "I understand. And you owe me nothing. It is I and my people who owe you all our lives." Although her voice was, for the most part, void, Gregor could hear the slightest sign of sorrow and fear in her voice.
Gregor understood why Luxa could perhaps be saddened by the news but he didn't think these rebels would really scare her. Besides, Vellac seemed to be the one in charge so after he was gone the rest of the rebellion would crumble, right? Cut the head off the snake and all that. In any regard this wasn't the conversation that Gregor wanted to be having right now, so he switched the conversation back to Kyle and Zoey and what they were planning on doing when they got back to Virginia.
As the next hour passed Luxa said nothing more and slowly drifted off to sleep, still leaning against Gregor's arm. Gregor wasn't sure how the next few days would play out but in the pit of his stomach he feared that Luxa would reveal sooner or later that she felt more deeply than she had let on about Gregor leaving New York again.
I hope you enjoy the chapter. If you didn't get the code, you'll just have to wait until i put up a new one :P As always please rate and review. Any and all feedback is welcome.
-Ssi
