Chapter 6

"This is bad! Very bad! If the queen finds me in her room, I'm done for!" Jagren frantically thought to himself. He found himself within the Queens bed where he was forbidden to enter this was obviously after his usual routine of patrolling through the hallways of the palace while yelling at the top of his lungs like a mad prophet saying "THE KING IS DEAD! LONG LIVE THE KING!" Jagren was tasked with daily, morning patrols by Leol.

Pouf emphasized to the Jaguar kid to never let the enemy see him. It was no secret that he was the fastest one in the palace his top speed was recorded at 700 miles per hour. He barely beat Cheetu's record despite never even meeting him outside of Squadron meetings. Jagren used to be an officer of Leol's squadron. Jagren admired Leol for a number of reasons, his presence showed that he was truly "king of the jungle". And the way he always had rallied up both Hina and Hagya to have his back at all times made a lasting impression on the kid. Leol was always annoyed by the Jagren's hyperactive nature so to get rid of him he always gave him petty tasks to accomplish like cleaning the room or patrolling the nest. Doing it as often as he did made him a lot more capable in completing tasks with speed. Each day his speed increased to a point where he surpassed even Cheetu 'the king of speed'. Jagren was honored to be in Leol's squad and was willing to do anything to make him acknowledge his efforts. After a while Leol did recognize his efforts and payed more attention to him, even if it was just to mess with him. The two became somewhat close.

A few days before the Dragon Dive incident, it was reported that Leol had gone missing after a mission he was sent on by Neferpitou to investigate the riots that were started by the citizens of a certain part of East Gorteau. Leol invited all of his officers except for Jagren. Mostly because he was worried that he would get in the way. He and his squadron went on the offensive to save Neferpitou's puppet soldiers; not for the soldiers benefit but rather for King Meruem's. A huge battle took place here. Killua fought against one unit of Leol's group and Morel fought another. Morel's battle against Leol is what ultimately cost Leol is life. Jagren never saw him again. Out of respect for the person he admired the most, he followed Leol's final order and to this day. He runs around patrolling the palace, never letting a human see him. To him, Leol was the true and rightful King. The king may be dead, but he will live on through the hearts of the Chimera ants.

"I know! I'll escape through the window out there...but then I'd have to open it! DAMN IT THAT'D TAKE TOO LONG and she'd find me!" Jagren thought to himself. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! She's coming this way, I hear her walking towards the bathroom! Did she hear me? *muffled screams* What am I gonna do?! IT'S TOO LATE TO RUN AWAY! HELP ME LEOL SAMA!" he prayed. As Jagren was panicking in the bathroom, Neferpitou opened the door. She could sense that Jagren was hiding in the octagon shaped tub with the curtains covering it. He didn't realize that his silhouette was the focal point of the room.

"He must be stupid if he thinks he could hide from me. No sound can escape my ears after all." she thought. "Hmmm! I could have sworn there was an intruder in my bathroom. I guess I was wrong, oh well." Pitou jokingly said, putting Jagren into a false sense of security.

"Did she really not hear me?" Jagren thought with his heartbeat racing.

"I guess I'll just go back to my room then, there's no way anyone would be in here. After all everyone knows just how terrifying I can be. They would instantly regret entering my room without my permission, I'd definitely make sure of that." Pitou said in a teasing voice.

Jagren's fear hit it's peak resulting in him starting to tremble violently. Then he suddenly made an unexpected move "FORGIVE ME YOUR MAJESTY!" he jumped as he shouted.

He lunged at Pitou with tears in his eyes. Pitou noticed this and thought he was about to attack her so she decided to enter a defensive stance however before she could do that, she noticed her arms were reaching forward instead of back. She reached out with both of her hands in time to catch the weeping cat boy and instinctively hold him in her arms. "Why did I just do that?" She thought to herself. Now she had the crying boy held in her arms the same way a mother would embrace their child. "Why...am I?" She questioned. She shook her head to regain focus and noticed Jagren couldn't stop crying. "Hey, I was kidding, I'm not gonna hurt you kid, come on stop crying."

He continued to cry for a while. Pitou held him in her arms for a bit longer until he calmed himself. It may have been awkward, however Pitou found it necessary. She didn't want to see one of her underlings in distress after all. "Um, y-your majesty! Th-thank you!" He bowed as he thanked her.

Neferpitou responds with "Yeah...don't mention it. And just call me Pitou-sama. I'm not used to being called that right now."

"Of course Pitou-sama!" He responds with a smile.

Pitou explained to Jagren that she found him sleeping in the hallway when he should have been on duty. She was evidently bothered by his lack of awareness at the time, but it seemed to be trivial to her much more than it did earlier. She just wanted to know why he fell asleep while on duty. Jagren looked down in embarrassment and explained his back story to Pitou. It was obvious that when he first saw Meruem he was terrified of him. He ran the moment his nen was exposed from the queens womb. Meruem frightened a lot of the other soldier ants as well but not as much as Jagren. Jagren swore loyalty to his squadron leader Leol and only Leol. He didn't care about Meruem at all. When he found out that Leol decided to work for directly under Meruem, he thought about running away and never looking back, however he knew he had nowhere else to go. Humans were everywhere he knew that they would hate him just for existing. That reality was a harsh one indeed.

"I promised him I'd obey his last order your majesty. I can't just disrespect that. I patrol the hallways...because that's what he wanted me to do and it's all I know how to do." Jagren lamented.

"I see. So that's why you insist on patrolling the hallways." Pitou figured as she put her finger under her chin.

"S-so Pitou-sama. What do you think?" He asked.

Pitou looked at him and made a devious smile and said "I think...you still haven't answered my question I don't care about your past y'know."

Jagren was once again frightened by her "Um, well I-" he was interrupted by her.

"Because, I only care about your future. What can I do to help you not fall while on duty?" She asked.

Jagren's eyes lit up. He was once again blindsided by Pitou. He always thought the former Royal Guard member was scary and dangerous. Out of respect he approached her earlier in the day just to greet her; thinking that if he can make a good first impression he would be spared any trouble with her. But now, he saw who she really was. She actually cares for her people. That one sincere question gave Jagren confidence in his new queen. Fortunately they got to know each other better.

It has only been one day and already she has found three unique soldier ants that were loyal to her without question. Pitou finally realized what it meant to be a ruler. Unconditional love, trust and devotion was something she figured was exclusive to the Royal Guard when it came to the king. However Hippotsu who admired for Meruem's leadership qualities and Pitou's work ethic, Inuka who's personality really resonated with hers, and Jagren the hard working young chimera ant all had those same qualities to her as she did for the late king. This gave her an idea.

Sometime after having her heart to heart with Jagren, Pitou realized a lot of the soldier ants were often disorganized and disorderly. The three Soldier ants she met in particular, Hippotsu, Inuka, and Jagren obviously had personal issues that would get in the way of their service to her. She decided to call a mandatory meeting for all three of them. All three of them obediently gathered into the main hall of the Palace. Pitou made the following declaration "The three of you are very interesting. You have certain aspects about yourselves that I never would have expected." She complimented.

"Thank you very much Pitou-sama, but you needn't waste your words on us milady!" Hippotsu humbly replied. Inuka was just looking down at the floor, seemingly too nervous to talk to respond to her while Jagren was staring into space.

She continued with "But meow I understand that you each have something holding you back. As your queen I think it would be best If I helped you in the areas you are weak in to further improve on what you already excel at."

"Hm? Is that really necessary Pitou-sama?" Hippotsu said. "I feel you needn't waste time with your soldier ants who are dedicated to you." He added.

Inuka was still looking down, obviously still bothered about the conversation she had with Pitou earlier that day. Pitou said "It's important to me that you three become the best of the best. From now on think of me as more than just your Queen. Think of me as someone you can rely on. After all, we're friends...right Inuka?" Pitou asked.

"Huh? Oh, yes. That's right, Pitou-sama!" Inuka answered with glee. She seemingly felt better knowing that Pitou didn't hold anything against her.

Jagren was scratching his ear in utter confusion. He still didn't know why this meeting was necessary. "Uh, Pitou-sama?" He said.

"What is it J?" She abbreviated.

"What are we going to be doing exactly?" He tilted his head as he asked her.

Pitou smirked and shut her eyes in confidence. "I'm glad you asked. The reason I called you all here is: to tell you that I'm going to train the three of you become my Royal Guard, meow do you get it?!" She said as she waved her index finger.

The three of them looked at Pitou with utter shock in their eyes while Pitou laughed to herself.

Meanwhile back in Saherta. Reina calls Colt into her room. "What is it Reina?" said Colt.

"It's Kite. Anyway, I have a huge favor to ask." She said.

Colt looked at her and then with a smile on his face he said "Sure! Anything you need."

Kite delcared to him "Colt. Take me back to the NGL. I want to see the place where I died and the place where I was reborn."

End of Chapter 6