The Banished

Chapter 22

"Luxa sure is mad at you, Gregor."

"Yeah, I know."

The other guy just shook his head. "She's been mad this whole time though. Since you took off."

"I could not tell her. She would have forbad me to go. I-"

"You do not have to think up defenses for me," Hazard assured him. "I leave the palace without her permission all the time. I only mean that Luxa isn't happy with you. And I do not really know what to do for you."

"She has stripped me."

Hazard glanced over at Gregor, raising a single eyebrow.

"Metaphorically," Gregor said, rolling his eyes at the other boy. "She has taken my title from me."

"She…what?"

Gregor nodded slightly. "Why do you think I am here?"

The two of them had found their way up to a top of a building, thanks to Dionysus who gladly took Gregor where he wished to go, claiming that he owed him and all. Honestly, at that moment, Gregor just wanted to go home. Home. His real home. He wanted to go back above and try living up there for a while. Luxa could suck it for all he cared.

The problem with that solution, however, lied in the fact that it was impossible for him to screw Luxa over in this without harming the others that he cared so much about. What would happen to Aurora or Hazard? Howard and Nerissa? Nike? Had he spent all that time saving Nike, saving Regalia in general, for it all just to crumble because he and Luxa had had a spat? Granted, it was a rather big spat, but still. He couldn't bring himself to just leave everyone behind. Not over something so silly.

"Then who is the head of the guard now?"

"I do not know," Gregor said with a shrug. Then he spit over the side of the building, not caring who it landed upon. It'd teach them what the rain was, at least.

"No one as good as you, I am sure."

"You need not compliment me, Hazard. I-"

"I am not complimenting you. I am simply stating a fact." The teen shook his head. "You were very good at what you did. Everyone knew it. Even those who did not like you would have to admit that."

"They would not," Gregor said with a shake of his head. "And what have I done wrong? Look out for a friend?"

"But no one know that that is what you have done," Hazard reminded him. "They think that you just went away with no reasoning. They might even truly believe that you have been conversing with an enemy. You cannot be angry with them for thinking that."

"They should know me by now."

"I mean Luxa, not everyone."

"She even more."

"Really, Gregor?"

"What?"

"She trusted her other cousin more than anyone. More that she shall ever trust either of us," Hazard told him. "Henry, yes?"

"That's different."

"It is no different. You know as well as I that Luxa does not forget nor forgive. She shall hold that in her mind for all times, as she does everyone else that wrongs her."

"Yeah, well, I already told you why we can't say anything about…you know."

"I know," Hazard said, nodding his head. Gregor had had really no choice, but to tell Hazard that he had found Nike, as it had been her that he had gone looking for. Still, Gregor trusted that Hazard above all would keep the information to himself. He was nothing if he wasn't honest, that boy.

"Your cousin, she is merely thinking of punishing me. You wait. The second she needs me, she shall be right here, telling me all the reasons I should forgive her."

"Right here?" Hazard asked with a slight smile.

"Right here. On this roof."

Hazard laughed at that one for some reason, but Gregor just grinned along with him in the dim setting. Neither had brought a torch with them, leaving their hope for light falling onto the backs of those in the cities that lighted the streets below quite well. Sometimes, when he and Hazard went up to a rooftop to talk, the way the lights looked almost reminded Gregor of a setting sun.

Almost.

Hazard sobered quickly, as he always did, before asking, "Did you like it in the Fount?"

"Did I like it?" Gregor reached over and poked the vertical boy in the side causing Hazard to shift away from him. "It was amazing. If it wasn't for Luxa…"

'If it wasn't for Luxa, what?" Hazard asked, staring at him.

Shaking his head, Gregor said, "Without Luxa, I would not be in the Underland.."

"But what were you going to say?"

"That I wish that, somehow, I could, you know, stay there."

"Stay where?" Hazard frowned. "The Fount?"

"Yeah," Gregor said slowly, nodding his head. "I think that I would like it there best of all. The Fount."

"What was there?" Hazard stared into his eyes, his serious face shining through. "Better women?"

Gregor laughed at that one before shifting to lay on his back as well. "You are deprived. Those I guess you're just in that age range."

"Then what is it that is there, Gregor?"

"It's just the whole atmosphere," Gregor told him. "I mean, yeah, there's no Luxa breathing down your neck, but there are other things too. The people are really great there."

"What is wrong with the people in Regalia?"

"Nothing," Gregor told him quickly. "It is only…different. You cannot understand the way I am treated here, Hazard, for being an Overlander, for being with Luxa. They-"

'I have seen. I do not-"

"You have seen, fine. You have heard, okay, but you have not felt." Gregor looked over at him. "It's like how I saw your life in the jungle, but I do not know how it felt to live there. You understand?"

"I think so," Hazard said slowly.

"They still like me there, in the Fount. Like how the people here do after a big battle. They think highly of me." Gregor looked back up at that nothingness above them. "It is in part the way that York speaks of me, fine, but it's not just that. I'm still their hero there."

"You are a hero here."

"No," Gregor said slowly, shaking his head. "Here, it is what you have done recently that matters. There? There is where soldiers go where they retire. There is where guards go when they are done serving in Regalia. It's a different vibe there. Everyone has a story, yes, but they do not forget them. Here, there is war constantly. It is on your brain every second. There, though, they have a chance to relax. Something that many of them did not have while they were here. That is what truly separates the Fount and Regalia. The thing that Regalians think makes the people of the Fount weak, is actually what makes the whole city great."

They were both silent then as Gregor thought of what his life would be like there. It would be much better, he was sure. Much, much better. He would not constantly have to fight, not in battle and not for his position. He was sure that York would let him be in the guard there. Surely not head, but still a part of the guard. Or he could become a part of the army that Mareth was supposed to start up. That would be good as well. The only thing was…

Luxa…

"So are you going to do it then?"

"Huh?" Gregor glanced back at Hazard.

"Are you going to do it?" he repeated. "When this is all over or whatever, are you going to move to the Fount?"

"Oh, Hazard, I do not-"

"I could go with you, yes?" Hazard almost sounded excited then. Or, well, as excited as he ever got. "We could live in the Fount, stay in an apartment together. Or a hut even. I do not care! Or the palace. My aunt and uncle would care for us, yes? No doubt. I do not care for York or his wife, but they are still my family. And that seems to mean something to everyone else."

"Hazard-"

"And there would be no Luxa," he said with a definite nod of his head. "I would come visit her here, fo course, and I am sure she would come to see me when she could, but we would not be together constantly. We could do whatever we liked, Gregor."

"It is not so simple."

"How is it not? Your title has been taken from you here. York likes you. He shall renew it or a lesser one in the Fount. And then I shall…I shall…" The teen sat up as he thought. "I shall sell fruit."

"Fruit?"

"I know much about fruit, living in the jungle," Hazard told him with a nod of his head. "I shall grow and sell fruit. Good fruit. Perhaps even make pies from it, yeah? In the Fount, they are known for their cooking skills. I shall learn to cook. Perhaps my aunt and uncle would even hire me as their cook. That would be good. We can both live off the money from that. And you would still have some left over to gamble, probably."

Gregor shook his head as Hazard shifted to lie back once more. "I am here for Luxa, Hazard. Without Luxa, I would have to return to the Overland."

"And why is that?" Hazard asked. "What makes Luxa so special?"

Nothing. Or at least that's what Gregor thought when she took his guard position away from him only a few hours earlier.

After leaving Nerissa's side, Gregor had gone out to find Luxa again. Only, that time, he actually found her. She was looking for him as well, or so he found out.

"Overlander," she said when he entered the tactics room, relieved to find her in there. She was sitting at the table, staring right at him. She almost seemed shocked to see him, as if he was a ghost or something. Then again, maybe she was just shocked that he had suited up. "I sent someone out looking for you. I thought you had run off again."

"I was in the hospital wing," Gregor told her. "To check on your cousin."

Luxa merely shrugged before nodding at the seat in front of hers. "Sit."

"Lux-"

"Sit."

So, of course, he went to sit down. She stared at him for a moment after he had, watching as he moved to take off his helmet.

"You shall go ahead and remove it all."

"Come again?"

Luxa shrugged, still just watching him. "Your other armor. Remove it. Take it back to the armory. I am sure that it will fit someone else."

"I do not understand," Gregor said, frowning at her as he sat the shiny, black helmet on the table in front of them. "Am I getting new armor?"

"If you so wish. Out of your own pocket, of course."

"What are you-"

"The armor was given to you for your position. As my head guard." She satred right into his eyes as she said, "Which you are no longer."

And he just sat there for a moment. A long moment. He just watched her purple irises, trying to remember exactly what it was about them that he liked. Because in that moment, there was nothing about her whole body, personality, entirety, that he enjoyed.

"You're firing me."

"I am doing what must be done," Luxa said with a slight shrug. "You are insubordinate. Completely and utterly."

"What are you-"

"Nothing is meant to last forever, Overlander," Luxa told him with a slight shrug. "I choose you when we were kids. A flawed choice. I have already found another to take your place as head of the royal guard. Your duties are no longer-"

"You can't be serious."

She leaned forward slightly, staring back into his green irises, no doubt finding nothing intriguing about them either. "I very much so am, Overlander."

"Then what, Luxa? That's it?" He shot up from his chair then. "You are the most ungrateful-"

"You are lucky I do not have you thrown in the dungeons," Luxa said then, frowning. "Do you know how many were in that room when you yelled at me?"

"You mean the room where you hit me? You remember that, Luxa?"

"I remember the head of my royal guard leaving me in my time of need. I remember him coming back and acting as if nothing had happened. I remember the person I thought I could trust the most-"

"You don't trust me," Gregor told her darkly. "You have never trusted me. And if you had, you would not be doing this right now. So what? I wasn't around for, gee, less than a week and that's just it?"

"You had duty, Gregor. You were supposed to be here with me. And you know where you were not? Here."

"I had something to take care of, Luxa."

"You had nothing to take care of as far as I am concerned," she told him with a shake of her head. "You will not tell me what exactly it was that you had to go do so, therefore, it does not exist."

"Do you tell me everything then? Huh? Do you?"

"Yes, Gregor," she said, still watching him. "I do. I have told you everything that there is to tell. And yet you have lied to me-"

"I haven't lied! I just haven't told you-"

"You have lied by omission. That is just as much a lie as any other type."

He shook his head at her. "You can't do this to me, Luxa. You can't."

"You may go now," she said with a shake of her head. "Return your armor to-"

"This is bull. I gave up my life for you and you're-"

"This is not about us at the moment, Gregor," she told him. "We do not have time to worry about us. This is about what is good for my kingdom. And right now, someone running off and not following orders is not good for my kingdom."

"I…I don't…"

"Leave," she told him with a sigh. "Leave now. There is nothing more to be said."

But there was. There was so much more to be said. A whole lot more. In that moment though, he had had nothing, so he only turned and head off to turn in his armor. He figured that if she didn't want him as her guard, then fine. He couldn't force her to take him. But by the same token, when the dust settled in the coming days, she could not force him to come back.

As he laid there on that rooftop with Hazard though, things didn't seem so bad. Not being a guard was…whatever. It wasn't a horrible existence, really. And what did Luxa have over him then? She couldn't very well run him out of the Underland. Not when they need him every, oh, three months to finish another battle for them.

So what would it hurt then if he and Hazard when to live in the Fount for some time? Just the two of them? And when he was needed, he would be right there, ready for battle. Rested up and everything. Would it be so horrible to not be with Luxa? To try something different? They had been together since…since ever. She was the only girl, only woman, that he had ever truly spent time together in a romantic way. It was kind of sad, really.

"She is my life, Hazard. Or at least a big part of it. I owe this all to her."

"She is a big part of my life as well," Hazard told him. "And I truly owe this all to her. Without her, I would have died in the jungle without my father. And yet, everyone must move on eventually. And I cannot have a life here. Luxa plans to manage it for me for the rest of my time. Or rather, the rest of hers. The Fount is the only place I can go, really, other than back to the jungle."

"I know, buddy," Gregor sighed. "There's just a lot going on currently. When it's all over-"

"But what if something happens?"

"Happens?"

Hazard was never one to mince words. "If you die, how am I going to get away from Luxa?"

"Hazard-"

"How?"

"If you want, I will arrange for you to be moved to the Fount as soon as possible," Gregor told him. "Alright? I have to stay here, but I'll get you down there. York shall take you in for the time being, I am sure. I'll write to him if you want."

Hazard paused. "Well, I wished to go with you."

"I can't leave right now. You know that. If something happens-"

"Luxa wants to kill you right now."

"She wants to kill my drive, my rebelliousness. She knows, deep down though, that she still needs me." Gregor laughed then. "She would call you a traitor as well, if she knew that we were together right now."

"She cannot tell me what to do. She is my cousin, not my master."

"She knows that we get along well," Gregor told him. "It annoys her, at times."

"Of course we get along well."

"Of course," Gregor repeated. "Why of course?"

"Because we are brothers," Hazard said then, glancing at Gregor as if he had done something wrong. When Gregor did not respond, he said, "We share many things. Neither of us belong here, we both put up with Luxa, we have lost our fliers, we-"

Gregor laughed then, moving to sit up, pulling his knees to his chest. Slowly, though, he said, "We are brothers, Hazard. No matter where you go. So go to the Fount. You shall have a good time there, I promise. You shall get to see how your other cousins live. And when I have a chance, I shall join you there, alright?"

Hazard just grinned at him then. "Alright."

"You took my armor, fine. You killed any dignity I have, whatever. But did you have to take my room from me too?"

Luxa hardly glanced up at Gregor as she took a long sip of the wine in front of her. "My, Overlander, you sound more like an Overlander in these past few weeks. Perhaps I have unleashed something in you."

Zander, who was at the dining table with her, giggled loudly at the sound of Gregor's outburst. Then he reached out to grab his cup and take a long drink.

"Where am I going to sleep, Luxa?"

"I do not know, Overlander."

"Then I'm leaving."

"Leaving?"

"Leaving."

Hazard, not picking up on the fact that the fight had nothing to do with him, spoke up from his end of the table. "To the Fount. Gregor and I are moving to the Fount."

Gregor made a face at Hazard before looking around the room. When he had stormed in, he hadn't even thought about the fact that there would be guards and servants in there. At the moment though, they appeared to be alone. Perhaps that is why Luxa took her chance to unleash.

"You two are the most…idiotic people I know. You are not taking my cousin to the Fount, Gregor. And what is in the Fount anyways? What were you doing there? Huh? You do not tell me because you think that I will get angry with you? Is that it? I already am angry with you! What is there then? What were you doing? You say you were not plotting behind my back, fine, I believe you. I believe you. What is there though? Whores? You think that I will not find out about whores in the Fount? The Fount is just as much mine as Regalia. Or have you forgotten? You-"

"Take a breath," Gregor told her, shaking his head. "What is with you and the idea of me keeping other women? Do you find yourself that unattractive?"

She sat up taller. "You are the one that said no one cares for me."

"Luxa-"

"You said that?" Hazard frowned at Gregor from his seat. "I care for you, Luxa."

"I didn't say that. Not exactly. I-"

"That's a horrible thing to say," Hazard told him, shaking his head. "Honestly."

"Hazard-"

"Yes, Hazard, it was," Luxa agreed. "The Overlander is most horrible to me, and yet he plays himself as the victim."

"You're full of it, you know that?" Gregor made a face at her. "You hit me, Luxa. I have never struck you. Never. I've wanted to, like a lot, but I never have. I've spent the majority of my life protecting you. I've ruined any chance I have of living a life in my homeland. A real life. For you. And you take my job from me? Then you try and tell me that I'm the one that's wrong? Is there something crossed in your brain?"

Luxa took a moment to take a sip of her wine before saying, "You have had your chance to loosen your tongue. Tighten it once more."

"You tighten it once more!"

Hazard had a giggle at that, something that was odd for him. Luxa sent him a look though and shut him right up.

"Your room was just as your armor, Gregor," she told him after a moment. "It was given to you for the position."

"What am I supposed to do, Luxa?"

"Officially?" She shook her head. "I do not know. But…you can stay with me, unofficially."

"Ew. You both just got really nasty." Hazard jumped up. "I am finished, then."

"You are not moving to the Fount, Hazard," Luxa told him as he headed out of the room. "You are listening to me, yes? Because you are not."

"I am a man."

"You are one of my subjects. You shall do as I say."

"I am from the jungle. And as far as I remember, I never swore any allegiance to you. Not even when I was a boy. I am a visitor in a land that I have grown tired of. I am going to stay with my other cousins now. You cannot stop me."

"Hazard!" She stood then, yelling at him as he left. He didn't not look back though, not even hesitating. Gregor just stood there for a moment before letting out a slow breath. Walking around the table, he went over to Zander, patting the young boy on the head.

"I have no seen you since I returned," Gregor whispered to the toddler who just giggled. "You keep everything under control for me, buddy?"

Luxa let out a long sigh then as she took her seat once more. "How was your day then, Gregor? Your first day without any work?"

"Actually not that bad."

She let out a slight noise off annoyance before lifting her cup once more. "We will have to find a new way to hide our relationship, I suppose."

"Maybe I don't want a relationship with you any longer."

"Maybe," she agreed with a sigh. "Or maybe you are upset because I punished you."

"You did punish me," he agreed. "Unjustly, but-"

"You left your position. Let's not discuss what you were doing yet, since you are so unwilling to. You left me, unguarded, without any reasoning." She gave him a look then. "That is just cause to get rid of you. Had anyone else done it, I would have done the same thing. I can only cut you so many breaks, Gregor."

"What about what I give up for you? What about-"

"What about it?" Luxa let out a long breath. "If you wish to leave, then just go. Do not prolong it. I have enemies in behind my walls. Do you understand that? I cannot waste time on this. I cannot waste time on you."

"You say that you have enemies here? Then why do you take me off duty? You need me. I can-"

"I do not," Luxa told him with a sigh. "Need you. Ha. You seem to think, Gregor, that the Underland did not exist without you, that you are for some reason entwined with the human's success. Fine, you won us wars and battles. I admit to that. You did not, however, make us what we are. We did that. And we shall continue to do that. With or without you."