Hey guys! I'm back with the last chapter! This was a short chapter, but it was kind of difficult to write. I hope you guys like it. All of you have been great with keeping up with this story. Again, I left a note at the end of the chapter.

-Skychip

Disclaimer: I do not own any of The Underland Chronicles, only the characters I make up and the plot itself.

Regalia High

Chapter 17: Aftermath

Luxa immediately took refuge in his arms, holding him tightly. Gregor rested his chin on her head, holding her just as tightly as she was holding him. She had her face against his shoulder, and it wasn't long before her body started shaking softly, letting him know that she was crying. That's all she could do, at the moment. Just let him be there for her and cry. Cry until the pain was somewhat bearable. Cry until she decided she could move on. Just cry.

And he let her.

-O-

Gregor propped his leg up on the hurdle and leaned forward, stretching his hamstring. It was one of the things he didn't like about running. He could run without it, but the coaches wouldn't let him compete if they didn't see him stretch out first.

The shouts from Ripred and Perdita were enough to remind him to keep stretching. They weren't yelling at him, but they were sure happy to be yelling at someone. Gregor turned his head slightly and saw that they were chewing out a freshman for not stretching properly. He knew that it was probably their favorite thing to do, but even if it wasn't, they would still be yelling. Everyone was plenty nervous, and they all had a good reason to be.

This was the State Competition for Track and Field, after all.

Regalia High had made it to State after doing well in most of the events, and Gregor was getting ready for his race. He stretched the best he could, wondering what would happen if he didn't stretch. It was a safety issue, but it still bothered him.

He closed his eyes and tried to focus on the race, but his thoughts drifted past to everything that had happened. Gregor shut his eyes tighter until he could feel his muscles pull a little too far, almost to the point where it was painful.

And pain wasn't the best thing to be feeling right now. He'd had about enough of it for a lifetime.

Two weeks had passed since the incident with the arrest. Although things were better and all cleared up now, they were far from normal, and Gregor doubted they would ever go back to being normal.

Somehow, thanks to the internet and social media, the entire school found out about Luxa's arrest. They also knew about the break in and Gorger's connection to it. But worst of all, they knew about Henry.

When school had finally opened up again, Gregor spent all day with Luxa, shielding her as best he could from the gossip and rumors that buzzed around her. He stared the kids down that gave her judgmental looks. No one was blaming her, but they were certainly thinking about Henry, and all of the terrible things that were said about him, true or not.

The test results that the officer had in his hand that day at the police station revealed much more than Luxa's innocence. To everyone's surprise and total horror, one of them confirmed that all of the boys that followed Gorger were on drugs. And Henry was not an exception.

That was the part that scared Gregor the most. How high school could affect someone so drastically. He had heard stories as a kid of how high school made people change, but he had never believed them. Now, stepping back, he realized that the stories were true. He was definitely a different person than when he had first started as a freshman. The difference between him and Henry, however, was that Gregor had changed for the better.

Choosing to hang out with the wrong people had been Henry's biggest mistake. It forced him into a world that he couldn't get out of. It forced him to make decisions that dug him deeper into his own grave, eventually affecting the people that loved him.

At the station, when the drug test results were revealed, Nerissa completely broke down. She didn't weep, but only lost her footing and fell to the ground, a dazed expression on her face. Gregor had let go of Luxa to help Nerissa up, and Luxa didn't protest against it. She only turned to look at them, her eyes still red, and tried to comfort Nerissa in any way possible.

But the girl seemed to be lost. Nerissa stared off to the wall in front of them, not even moving to get up when Gregor pulled her by the arms. It was as if she had gone into a trance, and she made no attempts to do anything. Gregor picked her up and sat her on a chair, trying to figure out what happened to her. Just as he was about to place a hand on her shoulder, Luxa caught him by the wrist and shook her head sadly. He understood that she meant to leave Nerissa be for the moment. There was nothing that they could do to help her.

Luxa and Nerissa weren't the only ones affected, though. When the news spread and it got to Ares, the boy only sat down on the closest chair and ran a hand through his hair. Henry had been shutting Ares out for weeks now. Ares was shocked to find out about Henry, and his reaction is what led Gregor to find out that everything had been very different than what he had expected.

When Henry joined Gorger's group, it was not to help Luxa out, like he had first stated. One day, Henry had gotten on Gorger's bad side as well, and he was beaten by Gorger's group. However, Gorger kept him around, promising him to keep him safe if he stayed with them. Henry had been too afraid to deny, and he became part of their group.

The promises turned out to be a lie, though. There were bruises and cuts on Henry's body that showed he was frequently beaten by someone, proving that he was a victim of Gorger as much as he was his follower.

It sort of made Gregor feel bad for Henry. It must have been hard to disobey the orders of someone you were scared of. Plus, drugs seemed to be the perfect outlet for a sad life in which your parents were dead and you had very little friends.

But drugs weren't the answer. Another way could always be found. Henry had just chosen to the easy way out. Besides, it was Gorger who called the shots, but he wasn't the one to enforce them.

Gorger's group consisted of only guys. This is what Gregor believed until a few days after the arrest. There was one girl who hung out with him. A girl everyone called Twirltongue. Gregor had never met her, but apparently, she was a very convincing person.

She was the one who convinced Henry to try drugs in the first place. She was the one who convinced him to help them out with breaking into the school. She was also the one who convinced him to leave the things in Luxa's room and let her take the blame for it.

Henry's trip to the house was a quick one. It was only to leave the things hidden in Luxa's room. However, in his hurry, Henry had forgotten to lock the door, which is why Nerissa found it open. The point of breaking into the school was to steal the computers and the money. Gorger and his group were going to sell the computers for even more money, which they were going to use for drugs.

Henry, not having much of a choice, agreed to help them. But he was not completely innocent. In secret, Henry was happy that they would soon have more money. The way his hands shook told everyone why. He had slowly become a slave to his addiction. He couldn't get enough of it, and he hesitantly confessed to it while he was being interrogated.

Although he had tried to stop a few times, his body couldn't handle it. When people started getting arrested, Gorger told Henry that they would get out of trouble in no time. It wasn't Gorger's first time getting arrested, and he always made it out. He promised Henry that if he stayed quiet, there would be more drugs to share in the future.

In the interrogation, Henry also admitted that he never meant for Luxa to be involved. What Gorger had promised him never called for her to get hurt. It was just something that eventually became part of the game. Through long moments of silence, Henry expressed his feelings of regret for the mistake he had made, but it was too late.

After hours of investigating, the police found out that the fingerprints of the mysterious second person in Luxa's room belonged to Twirltongue. A warrant was placed for her arrest, and she was brought into the station only a few hours later. Finding out about Twirltongue made Gregor feel horrible, and the moment he met up with Ares to tell him about Henry, he sat down with him and began speaking.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Why are you apologizing? It was not your fault."

"Not that," said Gregor. He took a deep breath. "When they told us that someone else was in Luxa's room with Henry, I thought it was you."

"Oh," was all he said.

Gregor looked over at Ares, noticing that there was a frown on his face now, though it was a sad one. He continued, trying to explain.

"It was wrong of me to think bad about you, I know. But you've always been with Henry, and I thought maybe you'd stuck with him on this one too."

Ares nodded slowly in understanding. "Henry was my best friend. We had a great bond between us, but he broke it the day he decided to betray us all."

"I'm still sorry."

"Do not be," Ares said simply. "You had good reason to suspect. But now, there is no reason to have mistrust, is there?"

Gregor smiled. "No. There isn't. And I hope there won't ever be. Because friends shouldn't keep things from each other."

Ares returned the smile. "They shouldn't." He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment. "Thank you for being honest," he said suddenly.

"You're welcome," responded Gregor, who had also leaned back and closed his eyes. He heard Ares let out a soft breath of laughter.

"You know what's funny?" asked Ares. "I don't really know you, and I've known Henry for a while, but if both of you were falling to your deaths and I could only save one of you, I'd save you. It's cruel, really, if you think about it, but it's true."

It was kind of cruel, to think of Henry dying for his mistake, but Gregor understood the hidden meaning behind it. Maybe he and Ares could have a strong bond too, filled with adventure and fun, instead of lies and deceit.

In the end, Gorger's group was convicted of breaking and entering, as well as burglary. They all received two years in a juvenile detention center.

Henry's fate was tragic, and though he was sorry, nothing could be done. Gregor never talked to Ares about Henry, since it seemed that Ares didn't want to talk about it. He was fine with it. It was only an uncomfortable topic anyway.

He never brought it up with Luxa, either. Gregor knew that eventually they would talk about him, but he never pushed for the day to come any quicker. Anything that had to do with Henry or even had the chance of reminding her of him was out of any conversation. He didn't want to cause her any pain.

In fact, he tried his best to keep her happy all the time. Even if it weren't for Henry, Gregor knew he would do everything he could to keep her from being sad. All he did every single moment he was with her was try to make her laugh.

The final call for Gregor's race was announced. He finished his stretches quickly and made his way over to the starting line. As everyone else lined up around him in the order that the official dictated, Gregor stole a quick glance up to the bleachers.

It wasn't hard to spot the tall shape of Ares' figure, or the soft brown color of Aurora's jacket, or the shiny gold that reflected off of a certain girl's headband. Ares and Aurora were shouting his name in support, holding hands. Larry and Angelina were cheering him on too, also holding hands. He smiled slightly as his eyes moved over to Luxa.

She wasn't cheering him on. She wasn't moving at all.

Luxa only stood in place with her arms folded across her chest, her head tilted to one side, and a cocky smile on her face. It was the smile that rose from the left corner of her mouth. The one that drove him crazy.

Maybe things weren't perfect in his life. And maybe they never would be. Things were going wrong all the time, making life a little more complicated than it needed to be. But he felt happy. He had the best friends in the world, and his girlfriend made everything better. There had been a lot of good things in his life, but he wondered if Luxa was the best thing that had ever happened to him. He had been wondering about it for days. But now, he didn't have to question it anymore.

Looking up at her beautiful smile, he was sure that she was.

A/N- I know that this chapter might have been a little dark, especially with the whole drug topic, but that's how it was in the original chronicles. War is a dark topic by itself, but all of the other things only added to it. The genocide of the nibblers and the boiling oil poured on the gnawers from later books prove my point. I also kept this pretty close to the books. In the original story, Henry wanted Luxa to join him in his alliance with the gnawers. He didn't plan for her to be killed, but only accepted it as a fact when she denied him. He never hated her. Things just turned out in a way that he didn't plan.

And I was serious. Drugs can affect someone big time. Choose carefully who you hang out with, and think your actions through. I thought I'd end this story with a little bit of a life lesson. Sort of. Anyways, there will be an epilogue, so keep an eye out for it. You guys have been totally awesome. Thanks for all the support. See you guys later!

-Skychip

It's weird when it come to drugs for me. I don't do drugs, I don't want to, and I never intend to, but that's not what other people seem to think. I usually have bags under my eyes (even though I get plenty of sleep), and more often then not I have bloodshot eyes (probably because I read and write a lot, but do both on some sort of screen). So a lot of people in my school think I do drugs. Not that I care what they think, it just gets annoying sometimes.

So I think that this was a great ending to this! It all worked out, and fit in perfectly. There is an epilogue, and it's ready to be posted, but I will probably wait until later tomorrow or early saturday to do that.

Ok, so I told you guys that there might be a sequel. Unfortunately, there will not be. But, there will be something else instead. Me and Sky will be working together (well, he will be writing, while I toss in all of my ideas and suggestions. And I always read over it afterwards to find errors (there very rarely are any)) to create a new Underland fanfiction. As of now, nothing is officially decided, so I can't give out any more. Just keep an eye out for it!

Question: Where will Gregor and Luxa to in life? Limitless answers here, so be creative!

Until next time,

-Tytonic