"Darkness, shadow…it was a lovely thing, this absence of light."

Deepest Night.

Chapter 1. And Life Goes On

Gregor groaned quietly and let his head drop to the table, stupid science. He was in Study Hall staring at a physics book, well, he had been staring at the book until he banged his head on the table. The report was due next week and he had no idea how to explain the different chemical properties of the ten elements he had been assigned, what were they? Plutonium, Carbon, Lithium, and-and…oh who cares.

His head pounded the desk again, Rae, sitting at a desk a few feet away from him looked up. Her eyebrow raised slightly, he only shook his head and she smiled a little and looked back at her homework.

Rae Kenton, man, that girl was brilliant. Gregor hated to admit it, but she really was, a month ago he had told her about the Underland. Rae had taken the Underland in complete stride, something told Gregor that she had had more than her fair share of odd experiences. If you looked at all the supernatural or paranormal things that happened, an underground society of mutant creatures and violet-eyed humans wasn't too strange after all. Yeah right.

Gregor imagined himself telling a counselor, 'Yeah I'm having some depression because a giant black bat died.' They'd have him in a straight-jacket faster than you could say rager. It had been enough having to come up with a crazy explanation of his scars and frequent 'illnesses' to the New York child services people, Rae had helped with that, thank God.

The teenage boy sighed, this was useless, Gregor knew he was going to fail his end of the year science exam, why even try? He closed his book shoved his notes into his backpack, and left the hall.

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Luxa stared at her ceiling. "Kill me. Someone just kill me." she whispered earnestly. She had been living in a hell ever since the end of the fiasco with the white rat. The darkness lifted only slightly when Gregor came down to visit, other than that even Howard and Erin couldn't break her of her melancholy.

Not that it wasn't understandable. Luxa was still trying to hold together the Underland, relations between the humans and gnawers were flourishing, but the spinners were getting more and more distant. Ripred was holding up his end of the bond without too much trouble, but Luxa had grown to rely upon his council, and he wasn't around hardly at all.

The Council was going insane from boredom, they had tried to stir things up so many times Luxa was just about ready to say 'Forget it' and let them reduce Regalia into a pit. Vikus had a recurring stroke, worse than the last one, and he wasn't recovering he couldn't speak or move only stare at the wall and sometimes cry. It was torturous to be in the same room with him.

And then there was that rat. That thrice-damned gnawer. Why had she brought Flay to Regalia? Why? The white pup hadn't deliberately caused trouble but she was still more trouble than she was worth. Flay drove the kitchens mad with her inconstant eating schedule, intimidated visitors, and scared servants. The white rat was only allowed in her room, a small room off of the kitchens, and Erin's room; sometimes the library after hours. Even so, everyone in Regalia knew the white rat was in the Palace, and half the populace woke every morning waiting to hear if the gnawer had slain half of the Palace occupants. No one trusted her.

No, there were some who trusted Flay. Erin simply adored the white rat, and Howard tolerated her for Erin's sake. Hazard also enjoyed Flay's company, he was the only other human that Flay was generally fond of. Preypounce, a grey gnawer who was friends with Ripred, had unofficially adopted Flay. Flay loved the grey gnawer, and regarded her as an odd mixture of a sister and a mother. Preypounce provided an endless supply of love, caring, and wisdom to the younger rat and wasn't afraid to get in trouble along with her; more than once the two rats had Ripred swearing up a storm, after one of their practical jokes.

But it was obvious something was troubling Flay. Everyone could see it, sometimes she would go silent, or just lock herself in her room refusing to see or talk to anyone. When she was in these moods it was like a pall settled on the occupants of the Palace. In short Flay scared everyone and worried a few.

"My Queen?" A hand touched Luxa's shoulder and her eyes flew open, she had fallen asleep and not even noticed it. The teenage girl turned and found herself gazing at a young woman holding a dress folded over one arm, "You are needed to preside over a bonding ceremony. I have been sent to help you ready yourself."

The young queen sighed a little and slid out of her bed, she had fallen asleep fully clothed and with her shoes still on. She had a slight dent in her side where her dagger had pressed into her skin. This was going to be an impossibly long day.

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"I don't care! I don't!" Erin cried, her eyes were puffy and red, she was holding back tears. "It doesn't matter." She said sulkily, exhausted she fell down onto a couch. The teenage girl was in her private quarters, the person she was yelling at was Howard.

"Erin…" He didn't know what to say, he knelt down in front of her, "I'm sorry I am, but-"

"But what?" Erin flared angrily.

"It would not be for the best. I am next in line to govern the Fount, and if Luxa is killed, to rule Regalia. You are-"

"I know, I'm an Overlander. That doesn't seem to be stopping Gregor." She stung, tears were flowing again.

"No, that is not stopping him. I am stopping him." Howard said firmly.

"Get out." Erin commanded, she brought her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, her face buried into her knees, black hair tumbled over her covering her tears.

Howard reached out a hand to her shoulder, "Erin…"

Erin flared again flinching away from him like he had burned her, "Don't touch me." she cried furiously, "Get out! Leave me be." With a sigh of defeat Howard rose from his kneeling position and walked out of her room. He hadn't wanted to hurt her feelings, but she had to know. He liked her too much and at least now that she was mad at him he would find it easier to stay away from her.

As he stepped out of her quarters he met a pair of glaring eyes. A few feet away from him Flay sat on her haunches, cold eyes boring into Howard. He shuddered and quickened his pace, he was leaving for home soon he had to be at the docks in half an hour. Behind him, Flay, who had been going to visit her friend, whipped around and headed back to her own room.

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Ripred stared at Swiftstrike, "You're certain?" he asked her.

The brown-grey rat glared at him, "No I decided to waste your time with shiner gossip, of course I am certain!"

The Peacemaker shook his head, he wasn't king of the gnawers but he ranked almost as high. There wasn't a king actually, no one gnawer had the backing to claim that title. But in essence Ripred was the leader of the rats.

The large scarred gnawer shook his head, "Thank you Swift, you're dismissed."

"Yes, sir." The veteran saluted him and then she left his cave.

Ripred let himself drop onto his nest with a grunt, this was wonderful. Swiftstrike had been patrolling on the border of the cutter lands and seen a party of darters and spinners cross the border. The cutters had welcomed them.

This was not a good sign, it meant the three were banding together, and if they initiated war, the humans, fliers, and gnawers wouldn't stand a chance. "Damn." It was time to go to Regalia.

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Darkness, shadow…it was a lovely thing, this absence of light. All rats enjoyed darkness to an extent, it was only humans who feared the dark, but Shadowshiv glorified in the obscure, shadowy places of the Underland. The Dead Lands were such a place.

In the Dead Lands, Shadowshiv was as good as invisible, perhaps even more so since she couldn't be picked up by echolocation. She ate well, traveling into the human lands and picking off animals from their flocks, they never knew what hit them.

But it didn't matter that she had as much food as she could wish, that currently she was considered one of the most fearsome creatures in the Underland; her name was whispered with as much frightened awe as the Bane's was a few months ago. None of it mattered, in fact it paled when compared to the reality that Shadowshiv was bored. It was time to go to Regalia.

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"And just where do you think you're going?" sang Rae's voice from behind him. Gregor turned to look at the attractive red headed girl,

"No where," he said guiltily, his face flushed.

"Oh?" she said laughing and sauntered up to him, he was half in half out of the laundry room vent, "Gregor, you're going back down to that place, aren't you?"

"Maybe…" Gregor said evasively, even though he knew she had him. Four months had passed since he had returned from the Underland after rescuing Flay. Gregor had managed to scrape by in science, a fact that surprised everyone. He hadn't been down in a month to see Luxa and the rest of his friends. After his mom found out he had snuck into the Overland with Luxa and Howard in tow he had been grounded for weeks. This seemed to be on Rae's mind.

"So, are you going to sneak back up and go clubbing?" she asked laughing, her green eyes danced, she thought it had been a very ironic joke. Gregor shook his head, "You sure? Even if some girl with green hair says it's a good idea?"

Gregor rolled his eyes, "Rae, why don't you just go tell my mom I'm going to the Underland so she can yell at me and we can get on with our lives."

The girl pouted, "Really, Gregor, give me more credit than that." she put her hand on his shoulder, "I don't want to snitch on you, I want to go down with you."

"Seriously?"

"Don't look so surprised." Rae replied looking affronted, "I'm not some warrior queen, but I think I can handle it down there. I want to come."

Gregor shook his head, "I don't know, I don't want you to get hurt." Rae laughed and laid her head on his shoulder, her wide innocent eyes gazed up at him,

"That's sweet, really it is. But you know what?"

Gregor leaned back away from her, "What?"

"This!" she cried and slid into the vent, then let herself drop. Gregor had only a few seconds to act, he grabbed her around the waist and they plummeted down into the Underland together.

A note to this chapter: These sections were all at different times. They went in chronological order. R&R please.