The Banished

Chapter 2

"Come on, Gregor. Did you come here to sit in front of the TV or to get out of the house?"

The twenty-one year old hardly glanced at his mother. "Neither. It was the food."

It had been about ten hours since the man had climbed through the grate of his once apartment, after a quick check that no one was around. There were very few times that anyone ever was. The building was aging worse than him and the people populating it seemed to be dwindling more every time he came up for a visit.

"Gregor-"

"I'll do stuff later," he said, staring at the basketball game on the television. "Or tomorrow. Or something."

"You should go out."

"I should," he agreed, more to get her to leave him alone than anything else. Lizzie, who was sitting next to him with a textbook in her lap, elbowed him. "What?"

"We should all do something together."

The two older siblings frowned as their younger sister who just smiled back at them.

"You're never here, Gregor," the teen told him simply. "We should go to the park or the movies or something fun."

"This is fun." The man elbowed his middle sister in the ribs gently. "Are you have fun?"

She kept staring down at her textbook. "Not really, but Margaret, I have a test tomorrow. I have to study."

"Study this, study that. You're so boring."

"I have to keep my grades up. College is-"

"College is this, college is that."

"You're so annoying."

"You're annoying."

Gregor just stretched out on the couch, arm over the back, feet resting on the coffee table in front of him. It felt like forever ago that Gregor lived up above with his family. Years, actually. And for awhile there, he was kinda happy. Kind of. His mother had enforced her Underland ban for a long time, though they never actually were able to head out to Virginia. And he followed that ban to the best of his ability. Honest. It was just…hard.

And then his father got sick again. Really sick. They didn't have money or insurance to get him any help. All their money had been sunk into trying to save his grandmother, who had passed about a year before his father's illness worsened. It was then that Gregor let his secret be known to his mother; he had been sneaking down to the Underland for a good year or so.

She flipped out on him at first, but he quickly explained to her that he had told Luxa of their troubles and she had promised the aid of the most talented doctors in the Underland, for no cost at all. And though Grace's reluctance was obvious, they really had no other option.

The Underland doctors gave Gregor's father the most they could, keeping him alive for a whole year. A year he wouldn't have had otherwise, Grace had thanked Luxa once, in their rare moments of getting along. These days, the two more or less loathed one another, a constant battle over where Gregor truly belonged. It was a war neither would ever win, as he needed both of them.

After his father's passing, Gregor spent even less time up above. He was nearly sixteen at that point and, with so much going on as the time wore down closer to her coronation, Luxa needed all the help she could get. Dragging the warrior around with her was a very easy out to persuasion when it came to enemies. It wasn't until she had been queen for about three months that Luxa offered Gregor the chance to join her royal guard.

Though she had been lenient towards school and such with her son, Grace immediately decided to put an end to her son's misadventures in the land below. She had thought that being there would help his grieving, but the thought of him making the choice to spend all his time down there, work down there, for that girl…she just couldn't take it. And Gregor understood. He honestly did.

He just didn't care.

Things were so much easier down below. There weren't little sister's crying, there wasn't the rent that was way overdue, there wasn't a mother that could hardly think straight anymore. There was none of that in the Underland. None of that. Only a kingdom that needed protecting and a queen that was allowing him to do so. Who would ever turn that down?

"Get your feet off that table, Gregor," his mother reprimanded, coming over to shove them off, apparently ignoring her bickering daughters. "Honestly. Life is the same up here; it's not the barbaric world that you live in underneath us."

He made a face at his mother as he moved to stand. Shaking his head, he looked at Lizzie. "Come on, Liz. Studying is important, but it's not the most important thing. I'm sure you know everything under the sun and above it. College will be a cinch for you."

"It's not about getting in, Gregor," she complained. "There's scholarships to worry about, keeping my grades up once I'm there-"

"Blah, blah, blah." Margaret shook her head. "Gregor's never here. Never. And when you do go away to college, you'll, like, never be here when he's here. You guys will never see each other."

"I guess you're right," Lizzie mumbled then.

"If she has a test tomorrow, perhaps-"

"Now, Mom," Gregor began, going to pat her on the shoulder. "You never get the house to yourself, do you?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Today's your day off. Relax. We'll go out, Lizzie, Boots, and I. Have some fun. I'll get that vitamin D I came for from the sun and they'll get to spend some time with me. And then, tomorrow, when you get off work you and I can spend some time together. Okay?"

Slowly, his mother nodded her head, much to the excitement of her youngest child.

"But," his mother said after Margaret let out a slight cheer. There was always a stipulation when it came to his mother. Gregor knew that better than anyone. "I have no money to give you. Whatever you do has to be on your own dime. And since your brother's job offers up no perks-"

"Oh, there's perks," Margaret muttered to her older sister, who let out a slight giggled. Gregor just sent them a glare, staying silent otherwise.

"-you have to figure this all out on your own."

"I have-"

"And Lizzie is not to spend any of her money," her mother cut the girl off. "At all. Alright?"

It wasn't until the three children were out of the apartment that Gregor asked his sister about that mysterious cash that they had all agreed not to spend.

"I have a part-time job," Lizzie told him.

"She works at the grocery store," their youngest sister piped up from his other side. He was walking in between them, rather happy about seeing them both. It was rare that they visited him in the Underland, what with their mother's aversion to that place. During the summer, maybe, he could spend some time with them, but even then he had to work. He always had to work. Being a guard didn't just stop.

Or, well, it did. Or could, rather. Gregor could request time off. Many guards did. And they got it quite frequently. There was little threat to the queen in the capital, after all. It was when she traveled that she needed the most protection. Still, it got to Gregor, the thought of someone else looking out for her. She had requested him. She needed him. Granted, Luxa could probably live a pretty okay life without guards, as she was so equipped to protect herself, but still. If someone had to protect her, he wanted him to be him. She wanted it to be him.

"I'm saving the money though," Lizzie told their older brother, smiling at him as they pushed through the crowded sidewalks. "For college and stuff."

"You worry too much," his other sister said, shaking her head. "That's all you ever think about is college."

"For good reason," Lizzie told her, frowning. "You will too soon."

"What are you now?" Gregor asked his youngest sister. "Boots?"

"Margaret, Gregor. No one calls me Boots, but-"

"But me. That's why it's a nickname." He grinned at her. "So how old at you, huh? Thirteen, right?"

"Yes."

He let out a low whistle, causing the woman in front of them to glance behind her, no doubt thinking the noise was for her. He just kept his eyes on his sister though, who giggled.

"You'll be in high school soon," he told her. "You know that?"

"Obviously."

"Don't take it for granted, kid."

"You hardly know anything about it anyways," Lizzie mumbled. "As little time as you spent there."

That got Margaret to giggle again. "Yeah, Gregor. What do you know about school?"

"I know all I need to," he assured the two of them. "For my job."

"Banging the queen?"

"Watch it," he told his youngest sister then, not looking so jolly anymore. "I mean it."

"It's funny until it's not funny," Lizzie sighed, kicking a pebble as they walked along.

The changes in his sisters always seemed so dramatic to Gregor. He didn't see them for such extended periods of time that when he did, the things that would seem gradual to any person periodically involved with them seemed monumental to him. One day Lizzie was a timid child and the next she was an ambitious teenager. One day Boots was cute and cuddly and the next she was Margaret, the sassy teen girl. It was times like this that he wished he had brothers, if only because in his mind, guys rarely changed. Very rarely. Or at least he felt like he had never changed.

Had he?

"So where are we going anyways?" Lizzie asked after awhile.

"I dunno," Gregor sighed as he slipped his hands into his pockets. It was only six in the evening. They still had some time to fill. "I have a little cash. A little. Just what I got from the museum before I left. If you guys want a burger or something-"

"Barf."

"Boots."

"What?" She shook her head. "I want to do something fun."

"You still want to go to the park?" he asked then. "Or something?"

"No."

Gregor held down a groan. As hard as he tried to focus full on his sisters, part of his brain was constantly thinking of what was going on under their feet. What if the gnawers had found out about him going away? What if this peace was all just a façade as they awaited his departure? What if they had teamed up with the diggers? What if right at the very second someone had snuck into the palace and was slitting Luxa's throat? What if?

"-okay? Gregor?"

Blinking, he glanced to his side to find a worried Lizzie. "Huh?"

"You zoned out."

"Oh, I just-"

"We decided that we want to go to the movies," his youngest sister told him, apparently forgetting how he had corrected her before. "Do you have enough money for that?"

"Yeah," he said after a moment. "I do."

"Cool. Let's do that then."

"If there's a movie about to start," he said, nodding his head. "That's fine with me."

He let his sisters drag him along, trying to keep a smile on his face. He was struggling though, as he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. All he wanted to do was get back to the apartment to check the grate in the laundry room for a scroll calling him back. He never realized how dependant he was on the Underland until he was away from it. He loved it. He really did.

"It's your vacation, dear. Do you really need to do that?"

"It's hardly a vacation," Gregor told his mother as he continued to do sit-ups. "And besides, I don't feel good if I don't workout."

"It's three in the morning," she pointed out as she headed out of the living room area and into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry. My internal clocks a little off, I suppose."

"It always is."

"Did I wake you?"

"No," she told him as he heard her rustling around in there, no doubt starting a pot of coffee. "I couldn't sleep."

"What time do you work?" he asked, continuing his exercise. In the next hour or so, he would go for a long run. This was the way he liked to spend his free time below the earth's surface. That and sword practice. Or sneaking into Luxa's chambers. Any of the three.

"Seven," his mother called back to him. "And keep your voice down. Your sisters are sleeping."

He continued his workout for some time before standing and going into the kitchen to get a glass of water. His mother was in there of course, sipping a cup of coffee while staring off. Sighing, he went ahead and decided his run could be put off for a little bit longer and decided to take his water over to the kitchen table.

"So what's been up with you, Mom?"

"Hmmm?"

Grinning at her as he took the seat across from her, he said, "What's been going on?"

"Just work," she assured him before taking a sip of her coffee. "Things have been…tight."

"Well, you get that money I send up from the museum, right? And the things I send for you to sell?" He frowned. "I have them left in the grate every-"

"Thursday, I know."

"Then what?"

She sighed, shaking her head. "It's just tough, Gregor."

"What's tough?"

"It would be easier, Gregor, if you were here is all."

"Mom-"

"It would," she told him. "If you just got a job and-"

"I have a job."

"In an imaginary world that-"

"This," he started as he moved to push some of his hair back, showing off his healing head laceration. "This is not imaginary. Not even close."

"You know what I mean."

"No, Mom, I don't. I make a living down there. It would be no different than if I lived in Japan and-"

"It is different, Gregor."

"How? How is it so different?"

"It just is," Grace insisted. "And you know that it is."

"I know that I like being there. I like serving Luxa."

"Oh, I bet you do," his mother said, her tone accusatory, before taking a sip of her coffee, an eye roll as company.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You know exactly what it means."

"I'm twenty-one, Mom. If I want to be with someone-"

"Don't lecture me, Gregor," she said, holding up a hand. "Honestly, don't even begin to-"

"Luxa saved us. The whole Underland did. Time and time again they-"

"Saved us? Son, if your father never got sucked down there to begin with, he would have never been sick and would still be here. You do get that, don't you?"

"And when he was sick, who healed him? For free? Who healed you when you were sick? Who-"

"Who got me sick, Gregor? Who's made you sick?"

"I'm not-"

"There's something not right in you," she told him with a shake of her head. "That you would want to be there. At first, I assumed it was just a…teenaged boy thing. That when you got over that girl you would move on. Come back home. You're growing up though. You have to start your life. No more games."

"That is my life, Mom. My life is down there."

"And what happens later, Gregor?"

"What do you mean?"

She rolled her eyes heavily. "You can't honestly think that things will stay as they are. Luxa is a, well, a queen."

"So?"

"I know right now whatever game it is exactly that the two of you are playing is…fun."

He groaned. "Mom-"

"But you have to know that it can't last. She will be expected soon to bear children. Underland children. With an Underland man."

"Mom-"

"You are not one of those. Let's ignore the fact that you're so young, Gregor, and just focus on that. You get that, don't you?"

"I-"

"You're wasting your time. Eventually, she will have to marry."

"I'm not just there for Luxa," he said. "I'm there because I like to be."

"Why? Because you get to kill things?"

He frowned at her. "No. I just…belong there more than I do here."

"Oh, Gregor-"

"It's true, Mom. I do. If I didn't, I wouldn't be there. But I do, so I am. That's just that."

She shook her head at him before getting up and leaving the room, taking her coffee cup with her. Not at all amused by this, Gregor left too, going to his old bedroom first to find some sneakers and some basketball shorts before heading out for his run.

He loved it in the Underland. Why was that so hard to understand?

If there was one thing that Gregor always forgot that he missed until he was around it again, it was television. Seriously, after his mother went to work and his sister's headed off to school, he sat in front of the television for at least four hours. There was so much to watch! The local news, the national news, the international news. Talk shows, game shows, judge shows. Reality TV, sitcoms, soap opera. How did he go all that time without it? Honestly, how did he?

Eventually though, he got hungry and headed into the kitchen to find what there was to eat. As always in his family, there wasn't much, but he did manage to make a sandwich. It would do.

God, it was only day two and already he was bored. That was the problem with the Overland; there was never anything to do. Never. Not for him at least. That's another reason he loved it underneath the ground. There was always something to do there. Always. Even on thee rare days that he was off, he found something to do around Regalia. The Underland was full of adventure and wonder. The Overland was full of boredom and pain.

He spent the rest of the day that way. And that night, when his mother got home, she ignored him. Which was fine. They argued almost every time they saw one another about how he was living his life. You would think that he was a serial killer or something the way she treated his job. He was a guard to a queen. Do you know how many parents would rejoice at that? Do you?

His sisters were alright though. Great as always. He loved his mother, of course, but it was honestly his sisters that made him miss home the most. He had always loved them. Always. He could still remember all those days back when they had no idea where their father was or when he was getting home. Back when he was the man of the house. When his mother worked long hours and he had to care for his younger siblings and grandmother. And now, here his mother was, telling him about how he needed to grow up, needed to plan for life. Was it not him, planning for all their lives back then? At the age of eleven, having to go out and find his father, rescue his father. He had been taking care of his own life for a long time, along with the lives of his sisters. How dare she ever think otherwise?

It wasn't until his last day before returning to the Underland that anything interesting even happened again. His mother had been actively avoiding him and Lizzie was all stressed about school or something. She had gained some confidence, he would give her that, but she was still her old self at heart.

It was Margaret that spoke to him that night before he left though. Gregor just always thought of her as a baby, little Boots, still running around calling him Ge-go, a princess in her own right. In the mind of oversized cockroaches, at least.

So when she sat down on the couch next to him on his last nigh there, Gregor just smiled at her before scooting closer slightly and turning his attention back to the television.

"So you're leaving tomorrow then?"

He glanced at her again. "Yeah."

"This week was fast."

"Maybe the next one won't take as long to come around."

Shifting, she moved to lean against his arm. "Maybe."

"You know," he said slowly as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "If you ever need me, I'm right there."

"Not really."

"Yes, really."

"It's not like I can just come get you."

"If you leave a note-"

"Then maybe you'll see it?"

He sighed slightly. "It's not ideal, Boots, but-"

"I hate that. Stop calling me that."

"I've always called you that," he told her. "And I always will."

She just let out a soft sigh. "You're just gone so much."

"It'd be the same if I lived up here. We all can't live together forever."

"I know I just miss you."

"Maybe this summer you can spend some time with me."

That got her attention. Lizzie and his mother detested the Underland the further time went on, but Margaret had never feared it and never would.

"Really?"

"Well, if Mom says-"

"That would be so cool."

"I mean, I'll be working a lot, but-"

"I could see Hazard and Howard and Nike and Aurora and Luxa-"

"You couldn't get in the way, but-"

"I love you, Gregor." She hugged him then, leaning more heavily into him. "I really, really do."

Laughing slightly, he hugged her back. "Yeah, Boots, I love you too."

The next morning, he hugged and kissed each of the girls goodbye, including his mother. He would be leaving while they were all out at school or work and wouldn't get to se them again. His mother was still distant, but she did tell him that she loved him and couldn't wait to see him again.

No one was around in the laundry room when Gregor showed up. Still, he was cautious as he headed over to the grate, constantly looking over his shoulder.

"Greeting, Overlander," Aurora purred out to him after he lifted the covering.

"Greetings," he said back to her, grinning slightly. "I-"

"We must make haste."

"Haste?" Gregor's heart skipped slightly at the word as he quickly moved to climb onto her back.

"Something has come up during your absence," the golden flier told him.

"No one's dead are they? Not a war?"

"No to both," she assured him as they began their descent into the land below. "But it would only serve that you got to the palace as soon as possible."

"There's no place I would rather be."