Ok, last chapter you felt sorry for Flay. This chapter I command you to feel sorry for Gregor! -evil laugh- I'm enjoying writing this. The next chapter comes out when I have some good reviews. And by good I mean more than two words, not polite.

"I killed your father, and you're not even close to the threat he was."

Deepest Night. Chapter 3.

Old Wounds are the Deepest.

Rae stared like a little child. She had hold of Gregor's shirt so she wouldn't walk off, her mouth and eyes were wide in wonder. The two were walking down the halls of the Palace in Regalia. They had caught a ride on an obliging bat, and were in Regalia about half an hour after they had fallen. Gregor was still a little irritated with Rae for tricking him, but he was glad she was here. He couldn't wait to introduce her to his friends. Which just goes to show, he had no idea the way things worked in a girl's mind.

Gregor hailed a passing servant, "Excuse me?" The servant bowed deeply, Gregor resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Behind him Rae giggled a little bit, he shot her a look. "Do you know where Queen Luxa is?"

"I'm sorry, sir, the queen is currently in a meeting," the Underlander said, his eyes kept shifting to Rae. He was looking at her with interest, Rae blushed a little bit. "I can take you to a room where you may wait for her however." Gregor nodded and said,

"Ok, that works." At the servant's confused look he reiterated, "That will be fine."

The servant bowed once more and led them off to a small chamber. It had two chairs and a small table, it looked a little bit like a lobby. The servant left them, and Rae immediately began poking around: staring at the chairs, examining the table, staring up at the vaulted ceiling. Gregor sat in one of the chairs to wait.

Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long. Five minutes later Luxa walked in, Howard, Erin and Ripred accompanied her. Gregor stood up, grinning happily. Luxa immediately threw herself on him, embracing him tightly and planting a kiss on his cheek. He hugged her back, but no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't kiss her with Howard watching them. It just didn't feel right.

"Let him breath, Luxa." Erin said laughing, "It's my turn to say hello anyway."

Luxa backed off of him reluctantly. The other teenage girl replaced the young queen, giving Gregor a brief hug. When she withdrew Gregor looked her up an down. She was even paler than before, and bore striking resemblance to a Halflander. She was in Underland clothes, but still had on her combat boots. Her now had soft waves since it wasn't being straightened every day anymore, and the green streaks had grown out a bit.

"You're hair…" Gregor said, his mouth dropped open.

"What?" Erin asked worriedly, her hand rose to her head.

"It…It's gone…"

Erin laughed, "Yes, Stiletto, I cut it." Her hair which had formerly come down her back now only reached to her shoulders.

Howard walked forward to greet Gregor, embracing him as well. There was a thin band of silver circling his head. Noticing Gregor's eyes on it, Howard said, "My sixteenth birthday was a few weeks ago. I am now officially in training to be Lord of the Fount." Erin for some reason scowled as he said this, but before Gregor had time to ask about it Ripred butted in,

"I do hope you don't mind if I don't give you a hug, mighty warrior," The huge grey rat drawled, "And while this is touching, I think we have another visitor." Everyone's eyes shifted to Rae, who was standing a little behind Gregor looking lost.

Gregor blushed sheepishly, "Yeah," he said, "Nice to see you too Ripred." Then he introduced his friend, "This is Rae Kenton, Rae, this is Luxa," He gestured to the queen, immediately the atmosphere in the room crackled with tension. But thankfully Rae smiled and gave a bit of a bow, Luxa nodded to her, managing to return the smile. Neither smile had much warmth in it and the two girls sized each other up like opposing generals before a war.

"And this is Erin," Gregor continued, the girl smiled and gave a little wave,

"So you're the missing girl the News has been raving about." Rae said curiously, Erin grinned mischievously. Gregor rolled his eyes slightly and continued his introductions.

"Howard, of the Fount…" Rae looked Howard up an down, despite being too old for her, he was very good looking.

Howard bowed to Rae and then looked to Gregor, "Is she your-?" Gregor cut him off blushing furiously,

"No, she's just my friend."

Howard looked a little disappointed, as did Rae. Luxa smiled smugly.

"So…" Gregor said curiously, "Where's Flay?" The reaction to his words was not at all what he had expected. Luxa and Howard's faces darkened noticeably, and Erin looked close to tears. Ripred sighed,

"Missing. Again." He looked very tired for a brief moment, and very stressed.

"Again?" Gregor asked worried, this wasn't what he had planned his visit being. And there was no way in hell he was going to be forced to kill another white rat. No matter how crazy she was, Flay didn't deserve that. He even thought Bane hadn't deserved it, even after what he had done to Ares.

Ripred sighed, "It seems our little Flay has found a way to avoid all the guards and slip out of the palace. Preypounce reported this morning that she was no where to be found. This is the fourth time."

"Flay's been acting odd." Erin said, her grey-blue eyes were distressed, "She eats almost constantly but she's a normal size. And then…she gets these phases where, she's almost dead." Gregor looked confused and Erin shook her head, "I-I don't know how to explain it, but for days at a time she'll just lay in her room staring at the ceiling or the wall; we can't get her to eat or talk to anyone. And then when she comes back, she's furious for days."

Erin rubbed her left arm compulsively, and Gregor stared at it. There were three long scars, like claw marks. Gregor had no doubt they were from Flay, so she was crazy…like father like daughter. Erin caught his gaze and put her arms behind her back, "She's a good girl really, just upset." Ripred snorted skeptically, Erin glared at him.

And then the door opened again, as if on cue a slender white rat slipped into the room. Gregor looked at her, she certainly didn't seem insane. Flay was almost full grown and had lost the clumsiness of a pup to gain the grace of a stalking cat. She was finely muscled, but was very slim, making her look delicate. Her eyes still had that faraway, lifeless look in them, but there was a tiny spark deep inside. Like a fire just beginning to burn.

"Did I miss anything?" She asked. Her voice was low and dark, in a heavy contrast to her frail appearance. It was a lovely voice, smooth as velvet and it lacked the husky undertone of her mother. Instead she had a compelling purr much like her father.

"Oh no," Ripred said sarcastically, "We were just wondering where you were."

Flay laughed a little, "I was in my room."

"Preypounce didn't see you there." Ripred accused, his eyes narrowed,

Flay matched his hard look with one of her own, "Well she needs to look harder, doesn't she?" She challenged stubbornly. Not waiting for an answer she continued walking, her eyes met with Gregor's, and she stopped, a slight smile playing on her lips.

"How have you been, Flay?" He asked politely, those eyes still made him uneasy. He wished she would looked somewhere else instead of staring at him like she wanted to turn him inside out and see what he was made of.

"Fine." she said shortly, "Of course, I'm not allowed to go anywhere." The white rat turned to regard Luxa, Howard stepped protectively in front of his cousin.

"It is not Luxa's fault you are confined, be angry with the Council not her." Howard said firmly. Flay glared at him,

"Luxa is the Queen." she protested, "If she wanted she, could over rule the council."

Gregor put a hand to his belt, only to realize that he didn't have a sword on. He could tell things were about to get nasty. But then something unexpected,

"Why are you confined?" It was Rae, looking innocently curious with her wide brown eyes staring at Flay. The white rat walked toward the Overlander girl,

"Because I'm dangerous," Flay hissed out the last word from between her clenched fangs. "Your friend?" she asked Gregor. Without waiting for an answer she began to pace around Rae.

Rae stiffened uneasily; Flay was stalking around her examining her with the air of a tiger looking for a weak spot to pounce on. "I'm Rae." Her voice shook slightly. Flay came back to the front and drew herself up to her full height. She was half a foot taller than the red haired girl, and Rae stared at her fearfully.

The white rat snarled, and Rae jumped and retreated several steps. She bumped into Gregor who glared at Flay. The rat was laughing unkindly, "Why did you bring her down, warrior?" she said disdainfully, "She'd last about two seconds in the Dead Lands."

Gregor opened his mouth to retort but Rae found her voice instead, "Yeah? Well you'd last five minutes in New York."

The white rat continued laughing, "You wanna bet?" she said. Finally Gregor burst out,

"I swear if you don't leave her alone…"

"You'll what?" Flay spat, she stood up once more, glaring at him dangerously. "Oh, mighty warrior." The title was let out at a hiss, with the sound of a mocking insult.

Gregor stepped protectively in front of Rae, his dark look matched the rat's. She was intentionally goading him, and he knew it. His rager sensation buzzed in the back of his head, "You just leave her alone."

Flay sneered derisively her eyes burned into him, "Fine, you'll do instead."

Throwing caution to the winds Gregor retorted angrily, "I killed your father, and you're not even close to the threat he was."

"Is that a challenge, warrior?" She snarled, "There's no one to die for you this time." Flay was angry, she didn't know why. But she wanted to hurt someone, and Gregor was the perfect target.

Rage flooded him, guilt and remorse stung at his heart. He forgot he had no weapons, he forgot that the one goading him was probably insane, and he forgot that he was in the middle of his friends. Now all he knew was that he wanted to hurt Flay and make her pay for what she had said. "I'll kill you." he choked out and lunged at the white rat. Luxa, who had seen Gregor slowly losing his calm, had worked her way behind him. As he lunged she grabbed his arm, pulling him back.

"Do it, then." Flay urged. "Kill me." She wanted him to try. Gregor stared at her, murder in his eyes. The white rat snarled at him, but deep in her eyes she implored him. Do it, kill me, end this. I want to die.

Luxa had one of Gregor's arms and Howard hurried over to grab his other one. Between the two of them they managed to hold Gregor back long enough for Luxa to talk to him. On hand patted him on the back in an attempt to calm him, she whispered soothing words in his ear. Tears coursed down his cheeks. Flay retreated slightly.

"Pathetic." she spat derisively, and left the room.

Gregor fairly collapsed onto the floor and buried his face in his hands. Flay had deliberately reminded him of Ares. He had attempted not to think about Ares's death, he had wanted to remember only the times they had been happy together. And now the guilt was back…it had been his fault. No one to die for you. It was true, if Ares hadn't sacrificed himself he wouldn't have killed the Bane. But the pain was still there, it had been waiting for a moment like this. And now it jumped out at him.

Luxa knelt down beside him and held him close, still murmuring kind words. Ripred snarled, "Erin, come." he commanded.

The girl jumped slightly, "Where are we going?" Ripred squealed a single word in the rat tongue and then left the room. Erin sighed, and followed him regretfully. The word, Discipline, rang in her mind.

Wordlessly, Rae walked over to Gregor and Luxa. The two girls gave each other looks of mutual understanding and helped the sobbing boy to his feet. Howard leading the way, they brought him to his room.

Ouch. They both hit below the belt. Gregor brought up the Bane, Flay brought up Ares. Ooooh the irony.