Hey guys, and welcome back! I know I left you guys hanging last chapter, and then waited a few days. Must be killing you! I know the feeling, its horrible. Plus, I have a bunch of you all kind of mad that I didn't post the next chapter immediately. Well, that's what you get for following a story while it's still being written. I mean, real books usually take a year, at least, to finish, and it's only been five months for this, so I'm going pretty fast. About the question last chapter, I got many answers. Most of you said Gregor, a few said Hayden. Your all wrong. Just wait and see. So, as usual, any and all feedback is encouraged and appreciated, see you guys later!

See you guys later,

-Tytonic

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

Gregor and the War of the Myriapods

Chapter 34: Never Lose Hope

With a single mighty thrust, Gregor brought the sword back around and drove it right through Hayden's chest.

Surprised by the fact that his own blow had struck him, Hayden wasted no time either. With his dying breaths, he stabbed upward, using the dagger still in his other had. It dug deeply into Gregor's chest.

And thus, two of the greatest warriors ever to live, fell to the ground. One was almost defiantly dead, the other though, his chest was still rising and falling, ever so slowly.

One was alive, one was dead. Only one question remained: who was dead, and who was alive?

-O-

As Luxa's eyes fluttered open, the first things she felt was a stinging feeling on the side of her face, and and excruciating headache. She attempted to push herself onto her elbows, and found it much harder than she had expected. It, in addition, caused her headache to spike.

She knew Hayden had no been strong enough to cause this type of injury to her, so she must have hit her head on on the stone ground as she fell.

As she finally regained clear vision, she saw, then felt, somebody hold a bottle up to her lips. She knew all too well what it was, for she had drunk it many times. Taking a large sip of it, Luxa felt her headache ease away slowly.

It was a surprisingly effective medicine, made of plants only found deep within the jungle. Luxa could not tell, due to her obscured sense of time, but she would assume a few minutes passed until the headache cleared, and she could think clearly.

The first thing she thought of it how disastrous the wedding had been. Noticing that neither Gregor nor Hayden where present, she began to wonder. She noticed that many of the people where crowded off a few meters away. She could hear the shuffle of footsteps, and she became curious. Pushing herself up to her feet, she found that she was still slightly dizzy.

Ignoring this, she made her way to the crowd. She didn't bother pushing her way through, the people just moved so she could slip in. What she saw made her blood run cold.

Hayden was about to strike at Gregor, and Gregor was weaponless, so he had no way of blocking the attack. He was also to close to Hayden to be able to dodge the attack, much to Luxa's dismay.

Gregor also looked to be severely weakened. Noticing the dagger in Hayden's left hand, she could see that only the tip of it had blood on it, yet the rest of it was glistening as if it was covered in a liquid of sorts.

Poison. He poisoned Gregor, that coward. He knew he was to weak to win, so he tried to even the odds. Just the fact that he was prepared to kill Gregor tells you that he disliked him. That bastard, he deserves to die, Luxa thought.

Much to Luxa's horror, she watched as the sword was about to connect with Gregor. She steeled herself to watch Gregor loose his light. Just, the moment never came.

She watched with great joy as Gregor grabbed the handle of Hayden's sword, which was inches from his neck, and carried it around him, using the momentum. Bringing it back around, Gregor pushed the sword right through Hayden's chest.

Luxa's joy immediately turned to dread as she watched Hayden, who was heavily injured, stab his dagger upward, right into Gregor's chest.

Luxa didn't think, she just acted. Running forward, she managed to catch Gregor just before his head hit the ground. She didn't so much as cast a glance at Hayden, who appeared to be dead.

Unaware of the tears streaming down her face, Luxa moved over slightly as Howard skid to a halt right next to her, and immediately began to bandage Gregor up. The wound was to large, and if the bleeding was not stopped, or at least slowed, he would be dead before he even got to the hospital.

Luxa was entirely unaware of the civilians, who were all watching in shock as Luxa cried over the warrior. Of coarse, until a few minutes ago they had not know that Luxa did not love Hayden. They had never seen their queen cry over anything after her parents had passed. Absolutely nothing. So this sudden display of emotions, over the legendary warrior nonetheless, came as a shock to them all.

Time seemed to move in slow motion to Luxa, yet her mind was moving to fast to care about the time. She had little medical knowledge beyond the basics, but she helped in as many ways as possible nonetheless.

Before she knew what was happening, Gregor was being torn away. She wanted so desperately to grab him and keep him with her, but she knew it would do him more harm than good. She watched he was placed on a fliers back. Normally, she would not trust a normal flier with such an important job, but he was being placed on his bond, Chronos. With Chronos's amazing speed, he would be able to arrive at the hospital in almost half of the time a normal flier would.

Luxa did not waste any time following. Aurora had since healed to the point where she was able to fly short distances every now and then, though the injury had been very large, and still needed time to heal. She landed right next to Luxa, knowing exactly what Luxa wanted.

Luxa climbed onto Aurora's back as fast as possible, and almost fell off when Aurora took off much faster and rougher than she usually did. It seemed that she was in as much of a rush as Luxa. After all, she should be worried about her sons bond, who also happened to be her bonds lover.

Time was of no matter to Luxa at the moment. Because of this, when she landed in the hospital (which has it's own private landing area), it seemed as if they had only taken off moments ago.

As they rushed Gregor to the emergence room, they passed no people what so ever. Not even a single guard. The only humans where the doctors who had followed her in order to save Gregor. Everybody had been at the wedding. In a way, that was a good thing, it meant that she would not have to explain the situation to anybody.

As they entered the emergence room, Luxa stood out of the way so that the doctors could work as fast as possible. Normally they would have sent Luxa out of the room, but with how dire the situation was, they did not, even the few seconds it would take could decide Gregor's fate.

That may have been a good reason, but that was not truly the case. Nobody, save those close to Luxa, knew of Luxa showing any love to anybody, save family. True, there was Hayden, but after she had whacked him in the face in public, and denied the marriage, they knew she had never loved him. Because of this, they let Luxa stay with her first lover.

Over time, as the doctors performed surgery on Gregor, People began to surround the doorway, attempting to get so much as a glance at their beloved warrior. A few guards were posted at the doorway, tasked to keep anybody who was not allowed entry out.

The only person who was allowed in the room, aside from Luxa and Chronos, was Mareth. Due to his temporary status, alongside the rest of the underland council, as leader of Regalia, he was granted entry.

Instead of checking on Gregor, as he would be expected to do, he went over to Luxa. Sitting next to her on a stone bench, he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Luxa, are you alright?" He questioned.

Normally, Luxa would not tolerate being shown such pity, but under such circumstances, she honestly didn't care in the slightest. If Gregor was teetering on the edge of death, others pity was the last thing on her mind.

Luxa did not need to respond. It was clear that she was no, in any way, okay. Whether she was aware of it or not, the tears streaming down her cheeks gave away that much.

"You love him, do you not?" It was a rhetorical question, as Luxa did not seem as if she was hot on answering anything anytime soon, at least not verbally.

"Does he return these specific feelings?" Mareth was asking this question for a specific reason. It is always more painful to lose something you had, rather than something you didn't have.

Luxa knew that he knew nothing of their relationship, so she gave a sad nod, one so small that you would not have seen it if you had not been looking for it.

Mareth gave a sad nod in response. "It's more painful to loose that which you already posses, over that which you do not. Exactly how long have you felt this way for each other?"

Luxa attempted to answer in a strong, sturdy voice. She failed miserable. "Since the beginning of the war of time."

Her voice came out as a hoarse whisper, much to her dismay. She hated being in a state like this. She couldn't control her own emotions, as she knew she should. She was a queen, she should not, under any circumstances, have such a breakdown.

None of this would have happened if she did not love Gregor. Truly, she didn't want to love him, but she could not help her own feelings.

Mareth seemed as if he was thinking about what she had said. After a few moments he seemed to have come to a conclusion. "Four years apart. . . So that is why you had acted the way you had. We thought it was just a simple case of PTSD. For you to have been that torn. . . Your love for Gregor is stronger than any normal relationship. As to be expected, you have been through so much together."

They both sat in silence after that, listening to the sounds of the doctors rushing to save Gregor. Luxa had seen his wound from the bane before it had been taken care of. It only made this situation seem so much worse. He had barely survived that wound, and this one was far worse.

It was also worse by way of poison. The dagger had still ben covered in it, and when the entire dagger went into Gregor's chest, the rest of the poison had entered his bloodstream. If it was a normal poison, it would have killed him by now, but this was no normal poison. Hayden had intended to weaken Gregor, so that he may kill him himself. The poison was specifically meant to drain ones energy, not to kill. Because of this, Gregor was unable to regain any energy.

This meant that until the poison was gone, which would take hours, at least, the doctors could only stop the bleeding. It was up to Gregor to push onward with the little energy he had. If he gave up, he would most defiantly lose his light.

Luxa attempted to let her mind go blank, as to ease the pain of the situation. While she succeeded in many ways, Gregor still managed to wiggle his way into the back of her head. Her breathing slowly calmed, and became more shallow. Before she knew what was happening, her eyes fell, and she drifted into a light sleep.

Gregor's Point of View

Darkness.

Darkness everywhere.

That was the first thing Gregor noticed, a thick, swirling darkness, one that seemed to close in on him.

He felt a something snap his mind, and begin to tug, as if attempting to pull him away. The touch of it felt. . . dark. It gave the feeling that wherever it was taking him, he did to wish to go.

Because of this, he resisted the pull. While it pulled at him, he pulled back with all of his might. He would not give into this, he would weather it, he would pull through.

For some reason, while he felt the tug, he felt a burning heat, and urge driving him to resist the pull of darkness. This urge, it willed Gregor on, granting him access to power he had not know he contained. With this energy, Gregor pulled back with renewed force.

He could feel himself making ground, distancing him from his own demise. As quickly as he gained renewed strength, he felt something else, a new force. This new force began to drain his energy slowly, dragging him back to his previous state.

Despite this, he pushed forward, continued to fight out against the darkness.

Luxa's Point of View

When her eyes fluttered open, the first this she noticed was that the doctors were still working on Gregor, rushing to save him. Just, they seemed to be more frantic, as if they were loosing him, rather than saving him.

With this thought, Luxa's worry spiked to unseen heights. The doctors were moving as fast as they possibly could, and it seemed as if they were beginning to lose hope. She became aware of Mareth sitting at her side. He took noticed of her awakening.

With a look of pity, he let out a small sigh. "You're finally awake. They say that it is very unlikely that he will survive, and that he will only pull through on sheer will."

Luxa did not need to respond, but she felt a fresh wave of tears stream out of her eyes, and run down her cheeks. Her worry did not ease, but her hope diminished by a large amounts. While she knew that she should not hope, that he was almost defiantly going to die, she could not help but cling to a speck of it.

Even in situations like this, she would not give up hope. Vikus was really rubbing off on her.

Luxa watched in horror as the doctors slowed, and backed away for Gregor slowly. One turned to her. "We are sorry, we did everything we could, the wound was just to great. He has little time; go now, ease his final moments."

Luxa rushed over to Gregor's side. His chest was rising and falling slowly, accompanied by shallow raged breaths. She knew that she had to take in this moment, that this was the last time she would see him alive, that he would die any second now.

Luxa took his hand in hers, and held it to her heart. Fresh tears streamed out of her eyes, falling down onto Gregor. He looked so peaceful, as if all of his troubles had melted away, ceased to exist.

Luxa sat on the bed right next to him, still holding his hand. She was unaware of the eyes of every doctor, and every body in the doorway, trained on her. Even if she was aware, she did not care anyway.

She leaned downward, and rested her head on his chest, allowing his shallow breathing to ease her pain. It did not work, instead it brought fresh waves of pain, as she remembered all that she was truly losing.

Luxa, with a fresh wave of tears, let out a small sob. A sob. She had cried before, but since her parents death, she had never sobbed. True, she had cried since her parents death, but she had never sobbed during those times.

Luxa felt his breathing begin to fade, as if his light was dimming. Just as his breath was about to vanish, she felt something squeeze her hand slightly, hardly enough to notice.

She snapped her head upward, clinging to the speck of hope, the slight chance that he may still be alive.

As he head came level with his, deep violet eyes met creamy brown eyes.

You know, I was about to get all cliché and have Luxa's tear bring him back to life; to have him feel it, and fight back with renewed strength. Well, I didn't, that would just be too. . . you get the point. This chapter took me longer than expected. Writing from a person's POV who is basically on the edge of death is no easy task. So, as usual all feedback is encouraged and appreciated, so give me any and all ideas! See you guys later!

See you peeps later,

-Tytonic

Question: What is the first thing Gregor will say?

*CLICKCLICKCLICK*

*POOF*

Tytonic: Thoughts, ideas, concerns?

*Gregor falls over, to weak to stand*

Tytonic: Right; he's in no state to talk, so Luxa?

*Luxa ignore Tytonic and sees to Gregor*

Tytonic: This again? Really? It's not like he's going to die in your hands right now, you can at least say what you think about the chapter.

*Luxa continues to ignore Tytonic*

Tytonic: -.- Okay then, I can answer for her. She would get all pissed at me, claiming that I caused all this. Well, I did, but I need to make this story interesting, don't I?

Tytonic: Well whatever, see you later.

*CLICKCLICKCLICK*

*POOF*

See ya'll pups later,

-Tytonic