Woo. Chapter 6, bebeh. Upon request, I have taken it into consideration of throwing in Gluxa. At the mention of this, you little cheaters probably scrolled all the way down, didn't you? Well restrain yourselves, you little turds. The decision on whether or not to pair Lizzie up has been made, but none of you shall know. (*Evil laugh*) Anyways, I'm sure you guys are just jumping out of your seats, beds, or whatever your arse is resting in.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. (Just this nice glass of water that I almost spilt on my keyboard.) The Underland Chronicles belong to the wonderful Suzanne Collins. [Although I'm still upset about Prim…]
After Vikus led Gregor back to the 'dark hall,' he greeted Lizzie and Boots, and gave a gentle nod to the four crawlers. Before he left, Hazard ran up to Vikus and gave him a hug. To the affection, Vikus ruffled the boy's black hair, and left.
Out of boredom, Gregor attempted to make small talk with the cockroaches, but they were far too busy with trying to learn songs from Boots. To Gregor's surprise, they actually knew a few lyrics. Probably passed on by Temp, he thought.
"Hates us princess, hates us?" Gregor heard the questionable tone from one of the crawlers, unable to tell them apart now. Looking over from his tower that he was making out of cards, Gregor saw Boots slowing down. Her small curls bouncing with every nod of the head she made out of wariness.
"No, no, no. She's just tired. Boots will play tomorrow morning, right?" He rushed over to Boots, knocking over his tower regretfully, and lifted her so he could prop her up onto his hip.
"We sleep near princess, we sleep?" A crawler, Gregor thought was Tink, scurried after him as he hefted the growing girl onto the bundle of blankets set out for her and Hazard.
"Sure, over there is your spot." Gregor waved them over to the thinner heap of blankets. "G'night Boots." He refrained from saying 'sleep tight' in fear that she would say 'don't let the bed bugs bite' in front of the crawlers. Gregor leaned down and brushed his lips on her forehead before walking over to Lizzie. On the way, he passed Hazard about to lie down.
"Sleep well, little man." He said, patting the kid awkwardly on the head.
"Sleep well, big warrior." Hazard responded, green eyes still sparking from the praise he received. Gregor offered him a small smile, and turned to continue on to Lizzie.
She was obviously uncomfortable in the bed, and in the same room as the strange, talking, cockroaches, but she didn't say a word except for, "Goodnight."
Gregor nodded, and carefully tiptoed over to where two light blue blankets that were spread out for him. Having no leftover pillows, Gregor pulled off his sweatshirt, rolled it up, and wedged it under his head. Within moments the warrior was asleep, the dark wave of slumber enveloping him in heartbeats.
Gregor awoke to somebody violently shaking his shoulder, and causing him to whack his forehead on the stonewall he was sleeping against. After not immediately responding to the shakes, his attacker slapped him in the face.
"I'm on break, mom." He instinctively groaned.
"If I ever have pups I'm making them wake up extra early." A raspy voice growled irritably. Thus jolting Gregor from his sleep.
"Ripred, what do you have against sleep?" He slowly rolled over and sat up, being sure to shove the rat as he pushed himself onto his feet.
"I'll sleep when I'm fat and lazy." Ripred sat back on his haunches and lifted a claw to pick at it. Gregor, on instinct, patted his front pocket once to check that his phone was still there before continuing.
"You already are." Gregor snorted before bracing himself for any attack from the scarred gnawer. He was right, Ripred swung his thick tail upwards, and would have it Gregor squarely in the face had he not have lifted his hand to intercept it.
"Another time. How have you been, Ripred?" Gregor glanced around, seeing the others start to stir from their sleep. Lizzie shot out of bed and cautiously stepped towards Ripred, her brown eyes widened.
"Fine enough. Being bonded to a royal has its benefits." Ripred snorted as he patted his belly. "Come here, pup." He turned and widened his short forelegs to suggest a hug.
Lizzie shot forward and nearly tackled the old rat, but couldn't do even that on account of his massive size. His dark fur surrounded the edges of her body; Gregor saw that it was noticeably longer than before.
"It's been forever." Lizzie said, though it was muffled and nearly lost in the rat's coat.
"Far too long." Ripred simply nodded.
"Oh, Ripred, meet the crawlers that helped us get here. This is Screech, Reach, Tink, and Nim." Gregor simply nodded in their direction, not wanting to accidently insult them if he mixed up their names.
"Where's Temp!" A sudden yell startled both Ripred and Gregor.
"Temp's where is always is," Ripred snapped in her direction, though softened a bit after Gregor struck him, "He's down in the nursery with the other Underland kids. Probably having a morning tea party as we speak."
The crawlers made confused clicking noises, not aware of the sarcastic tone Ripred was using.
"We get Temp, we get?" One crawler, maybe Nim, took a few steps forward and looked between Ripred and Gregor.
"Maybe tomorrow. Depends on when we break out. Speaking of which, you got any escape plans so far, Rager?" Ripred said smoothly and nonchalantly.
"You mean they aren't letting me out?" Gregor's voice cracked a bit.
"Maybe not for another week. Shame really, considering our beloved queen's coronation is today though Vikus probably told you another answer to not raise your hopes. Hazard, being her second closest relative, is a special member. And look who isn't here." Ripred turned towards where Boots lay quietly, and what Gregor saw nearly made his heart stop. There lies his snoring sister. Alone.
"You are to take me there at once." Gregor glared at the gnawer.
Ripred simply yawned, as if all of this was predictable.
"Can we please go?" Lizzie lifted her head so that her chin was pressed up against Ripred's chest.
"Well when you put it like that." Ripred stood to his full height, letting Lizzie release herself, and then dropped back down to all fours so that he could pad out the entryway. "There's a present for all of you in the nightstand, you won't get into the party without them." Ripred's voice barely carried through the doorway.
Obeying, Lizzie instantly snapped her neck in the direction of the small stand, and shuffled over. The single drawer opened with a gritty noise, but Lizzie pulled out several outfits. Gently, Lizzie laid them all flat against the bed, and took a step back for all of them to marvel at.
The smallest dress, presumably for Boots, was a faded shade of purple; like all the eyes that belonged to the people of the Underland. It was bordered by a thin, grey, piece of cloth that carefully was woven in to hold the front and back together.
In the middle was a longer dress that was a light blue; about two shades brighter than the blankets Gregor had slept on. Around the torso area, just before where the dress started to ruffle, were small white patterns. Gregor realized these to be small geometrical shapes bordering the dress.
Lastly, in front of Gregor, was probably the finest thing he would ever wear. Unlike the Overlanders, Underlanders had no wool or materials to make tuxedos and suits. The shirt and pants laid out for Gregor were a dark grey, though the pants were slightly darker. At the shoulders, there were thin white lines that looked like webbing almost. After running his index finger over the design, Gregor noticed they were slightly raised off the surface of the smooth shirt. Down the middle was the same webbed design, although it slanted at the end. Gregor assumed that normally the outfit would be worn and finished off with a sword or other sheath at his side, but since there was little chaos still in Regalia he guess he would not be provided with one.
The crawlers, Gregor, and even Boots each took turns making circles and facing the opposite way of the person getting dressed. Lizzie strongly approved of this.
Gregor was the last to change, and had to keep an arm on Boots so she wouldn't turn around and stare at him. Once he was sure he had the formal attire on correctly, and his legs in the right legs of the pants, Gregor gave them the 'all clear' to turn around.
Lizzie wrinkled her nose at Gregor.
"You don't tuck in the shirt, dummy." She yanked the shirt out of his pants swiftly, and smoothed down the front of it.
"Much better." She nodded.
"Can you all go any slower? A year has probably passed since you woke up." Ripred groaned from outside, and Gregor heard a loud 'thud' has he leaned against the wall.
After letting out a chuckle, Gregor made sure Boots' dress looked okay. All of the outfits seemed a bit big on them, Boots' left dress sleeve sliding off every once in a while, and Gregor's pants a few inches too long. They tried to leave, but Ripred thrust his hand back towards the door.
"You can't go in there barefooted! Didn't you see the sandals in the bottom of the drawer?"
The trio sulked back into the room, threw on the sandals, and went back to try their luck with Ripred once more.
"I guess that'll do." Ripred nodded sideways a bit as he lowered himself back onto all four paws and began to scurry into the darkness. Gregor looked back over his shoulder to make sure Boots was following, and sure enough she came out riding on the back of a crawler.
Gregor just sighed, and walked swiftly to keep up with Ripred. It would have been an easier task has his pants not kept catching under the heels of his shoes. All of them made scratching, shuffling, and scraping noises as they rounded the corners of the palace. It had begun to get noticeably brighter in the halls around when Gregor had started to hear music. Upbeat, cheery, music that made his heart skip a beat, and made him want to dance. Even though everybody knew well how he lacked that skill.
Ripred halted at the doors to where Gregor assumed a dining hall was. Though nobody was using it, which worried him.
"Here you are, warrior, pups, and crawlers. The royal dining hall." Ripred's maw curled into what Gregor could have sworn was a smirk, but before he could question it, Ripred's tail lashed out and swung the doors open with a loud 'thud!'
The music died, chatter stopped, and Gregor felt the eyes of all the Regalians on him. All of them filled with curiosity. All except one pair of eyes that shone with something else.
Woo. Did you expect something else? Probably. Unless you were one of the horrible little people that could not contain themselves and went ahead and read the bottom. In that case, scroll your little sorry butt to the top and start over, I'm disappointed you impatient reader. On the other hand if you were a good person and read through, you deserve a pat on the back because you listened. On account of this lovely ending I am positive that I am updating tomorrow or on a rare chance maybe later tonight.