The Banished

Chapter 25

"They told me that you were in here. Looking at scrolls of the long dead. They assume you are looking for battle plans or something of that sort." Luxa gave out a slight snort. "I know better."

Gregor didn't look up from the table he was at, instead staring down at the scroll in front of him. "Tell me, Luxa, that in the mere hours before I head out to battle that you have not come to fight with me."

"I have not. I have not come for pleasure either."

"Good. I am fresh out."

"You have been out for quite awhile, actually."

"Ha."

The queen continued further into the room, closing the curtain behind her. Gregor had not seen her in some time. He had heard from others that their alliance with the fliers was back on and a few people had thanked him already for rescuing Nike. Some fliers as well. The truth was out in the open. It felt very freeing.

"Tell me what you are doing."

"I wish to tell you nothing."

"You are still upset with me."

"I find that I will always be upset with you about something or other. It's for the best, I am sure."

"It is," she agreed with a sigh. "Going to battle with anger in you."

"Aye."

"Should you not rise to greet your queen then, Overlander? Offer her a seat?"

He didn't look up. "If you have come to taunt, Luxa, I have very little time left before-"

"I merely wished to know what you were doing in here. You have been my guard for many years and you have never once wished to see this room. You-"

"I am not your guard any longer." He looked up at her then, but didn't relish in the fact that she looked away from him. "I am a general. I-"

"For now. And when this battle is over, dead or alive, you shall be gone." She shrugged. "I won't be seeing much of you after this, Overlander."

"It is for the best."

"Perhaps. However, I wish to know what you are looking up before you go." She stared at him. "I believe you owe me that much."

"I owe you?"

"Aye."

He snorted before shaking his head. "Take a seat, your grace."

She stared hard at him then as she walked over to the table and slowly took the chair right next to him. "These are rather old."

"Aye."

"I suppose you are hunting for something specific?"

"Extremely."

"Lineages are kept here. Old war plans. Outcomes. Crop rotations." She gestured to the shelves and boxes all around, housing scrolls of animal parch on which little nothings were written. She did not spend much time on the past and none on the future. Only the present. "Tell me what you seek and perhaps I can help you."

He stared up at her then, their eyes making direct contact. "I'm looking for prophecies."

She stared for a moment before grinning at him. Slowly, she asked, "Tell me, Gregor, how many years have you spent at my side?"

"Too many."

"Then why are you wasting your time here instead of in the prophecy room?"

He shook his head. "I am not looking for a prophecy that you would know of."

"I was raised in Regalia, in the same palace walls as Sandwich's scripture was written upon. My bedtime stories were prophecies of the past and the future. Yet you have the audacity to tell me-"

"They are not prophecies of Regalia."

"Oh?"

"No," he told her with a shake of his head. She still thought he was crazy however and it showed on her face. "They are the dark prophecies. The forgotten prophecies."

She sat there for a moment before saying, "I have never heard of-"

"That is because very few in Regalia know about them."

"And how do you know about them then, my knight?"

He paused for a moment, not only because he wasn't sure what he should reveal to her, but also because it had been some time since she had called him that.

"Vlad told me-"

"Oh, Overlander-"

"-that I was in prophecies that his people held dear just as much as yours did the ones in the prophecy room. And then Vikus told me about how Sandwich eventually went mad and started to think that, like, he was psychic or whatever and how he predicted the downfall of Regalia and that those are the prophecies that they're talking about. Then he told me about how I was to be their key to taking back victory and-"

"If you wish to tell me of your plans to commit treason, perhaps you should rethink your stance."

"If we are to take them down, Luxa," he began, "than would it not be best to know what exactly is causing them to rise against us?"

"Us? Is there an us now?"

"The people of Regalia."

"And yet you wish to be of the Fount now."

"The Dead Lands sounds just as nice."

"I would not even take a leave there, if I was able to."

"In what situation would you be able to?"

"Should I have a king, he would send me away to other lands. It is customary. My father sent my mother to the Fount often, so she could visit her sisters."

"If you had a king, I doubt he would ever want you anywhere near him."

That got him a long eye roll. He was sure that she was craving wine at that moment.

"If I had a king, Overlander, I would be sending him away."

"If you had a king, I would be sent away."

She smiled at that, but it wasn't a happy one. "I do not have a king and yet you are still going away."

"I have brought you back Aurora," he told her softly then. "She is more than enough for you, yes?"

Instead of answering that question, Luxa simply stood up and took a good look around the room. "If those prophecies exist, Gregor, they will not be in plain sight. I have never heard of them, then I am of no help. I trust in Vikus at times and you do quite too frequently. If he has told you of them-"

"He has."

"-then they are here," she said. "They will not be in plane sight, however. They shall be hidden, more than likely."

"Where?"

"I do not know, Overlander. And I do not wish to know. If this is how you choose to spend what may be your final hours, then so be it. I have more important things to attend to than children's fairytales." She turned to walk away, but before she did so, she gave him a slight bow. He wasn't sure if it had a meaning or rather it was just some sarcastic gesture meant to get to him, but he only stared. And it was with that that she was gone.

"Overlander, you leave in mere hours and yet you have chosen to visit me?"

Gregor shrugged slightly as he came into the room. "It all began with you, after all. I assume it shall end with you as well."

Nerissa smiled at him, but he didn't return it as he stood at her bedside. "You know, they have warned me."

"Warned you?"

She nodded slightly. "For if the banished were to storm the palace."

"I promise you, Nerissa, there is nothing that shall stop me from saving your life." Gregor patted the sword at his side. "I can be a million miles away and still be back in a flash, should I need to be. If it means saving you."

"You speak kindness, Overlander, because you are in need of something."

"No, I-"

"Your time is short. Speak now before you must prepare for battle."

He took a deep breath, looking around the torch lit room before focusing back in on the frail woman before him.

"If anyone knows prophecy it is you."

"I would agree, yes," she said slowly, shifting in her hospital bed. "What is it that you wish to know?"

"What do you know of the forgotten prophecies?"

She didn't look away or hesitate like Vikus. Instead, she simply told him, "Not much. It is not well known."

"Even Luxa did not know."

"It is unwise to fill a young queen's head with fodder, they say."

"And what do you say?"

"I say that if you believe in Sandwich for your own gain, you must believe in him for your downfall."

"Then you believe in them?"

"I believe merely in what has happened. Our prophecies? I can find truth in them. The ones that have happened are readily obvious. Their prophecies are vague and seemingly unrealistic." She shrugged the best she could. "Tell me, Overlander, do you believe in them?"

"I don't know them."

She smiled at him. "Then do not waste your time on them. They shall not help you any in this battle. Unless you believe Luxa to be the foretold queen of their prophecy that shall fall. The inept woman that will only bring doom to Regalia. The one that must be taken down. The mistake in the line. Is that what you believe?"

He only stared. "I'm from the U.S. I don't believe in monarchy to begin with."

That made her smile, as for some reason that was funny. Deep down it was the truth though. Gregor had grown up being told the horrors of such a form of government and found it hard to believe in it in the first place. He told Luxa of this at times, but that only resulted in him getting yelled at or lectured.

"What do you want from me, Overlander?" she finally asked. "I have little to tell you."

"But you have found them before, yes?"

"There is a code."

"A code?"

"Yes, a code. To find them. In the scroll room. It is a sequence of numbers used to number the scrolls and verses within them. When written out in order, they form a prophecy."

"What is this code?"

She gave him an exasperated smile. "I cannot tell you, Gregor. I am…weak. I do not know any longer. Surely there is someone-"

"There is no one other than you."

"Vikus-"

"Vikus is losing his mind."

That got him a look. One that Gregor did not know that someone in Nerissa's state could muster.

"And you are not, Overlander? Here you are, speaking of prophecies and demanding to know about them when you do not even truly believe in the prophecies of your own people."

He snorted and made a remark without thinking. "The people of the Underland are not my people. I was not born here. None of you are of my blood."

"And yet your blood has been spilled, Overlander, countless times, along with the blood of our dead. You have given up more for us than you have your own people, up above. We might not be your people by blood, but we are by choice. And is not more important to be the chosen than the forced?"

Gregor just stood there for a moment, the two of them making eye contact in such an intense way that he had to look away first. Eyes on the ground, he remarked, "You are in a much better state today, Nerissa, than you are usually."

"I have not been drugged like usual. They do not have time for me. They are expecting many causalities and save their medicine for those who will come home wounded." She looked away too then. "I like it better this way. That is what Luxa does not understand. She orders that they drug me, as if taking away my pain will make things better. It does not. I would rather be of sound mind than dazed and confused."

Gregor looked back at her then and shook his head. Reaching out, he laid a hand on her arm before saying softly, "Be here when I get back, Nerissa."

She smiled at him again, but this one was weaker than all the others. "You just concentrate on getting back."

He left her then, because it was no use trying to get any information out of her. She might have been more clear headed than he had ever seen her, but he could tell that she was telling the truth about the numerical sequence; she did not know it any longer. Perhaps he was not meant to know what the dark prophecies foretold. It was probably better that way. There was no prophecy on Regalia's side in the war and should there need to be? He did not believe in them to begin with.

So why did he feel so uneasy about the whole thing?

The next person he went to see was Hazard. The boy was not hard to locate. He was in the royal wing, busy studying something when Gregor showed up. It had been hell trying to get into the wing to begin with, so Gregor was kind of glad that Luxa was not around. He did not feel like dealing with her.

"My aunt has written me back," was the first thing that Hazard said when Gregor came into the room. "She says that I am welcome whenever I please, but suggests I wait until this battle is over. And once everything has settled once more, I am welcome for as long as I like. You as well."

"That's great, Hazard," Gregor said as he came into the teen's room.

He nodded as Gregor came to sit on his bed next to him. "I thank you for helping me."

"Of course."

"I have yet to tell Luxa that our aunt has written me back."

"That is good," Gregor said. "I have yet to tell her that I actually wrote her."

Hazard looked up at him then, but did not grin at him like the man was hoping. "She will not be pleased."

"No, she shall not."

"I won't tell her then, until you have won the war."

"It is not a war," Gregor told the younger man. "It is merely a battle."

"One that you shall see first hand, participate in."

"I am a general. Not free to do as I wish any longer. I shall be commanding."

Hazard shook his head before looking back down at the scroll in his lap. "You shall be out there, Overlander."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because I know you." Hazard didn't smile, but he did not look as displeased as he said, "I heard people talking about you."

"About me?"

"About your…out there training methods."

"Yes, well, if you cannot kill me in training, I do not see how any of them plan to survive this battle."

Hazard looked up again. "Do not die, Gregor."

"I won't."

"Luxa told me that your luck will wear thin soon enough."

"If she believes that this has all be luck and not the countless hours that I have put into training, then perhaps she should try her hand at combat one more time." Gregor patted Hazard on the head, like he was a little kid again. He was not. If it was not for Luxa and Hamnet, he would be out there fighting with all the other men. "I will come back Hazard. I have to. If I did not, I would leave you at the mercy of your cousin. I have no plans to do that."

Hazard only shook his head. "They tell me that my father was a fearsome fighter and look where he ended up. You can account for your own skill, Gregor, but you never can the enemy's."

"If it is my time to die, Hazard, then it is my time to die. I could drop dead tomorrow of a brain aneurism. You never know. I would rather die in battle then sitting around here. I am a fighter, a warrior. If it is my fate, than so be it. No one knows when it is their turn to go, but when it is, it is."

"Unless you're Nerissa. Then you know."

"And yet neither of us are." Gregor stood once more. "I shall see you when I return."

"I'm sure if you return, it shall be in an unconscious state and you shall awaken to the hospital wing."

"If so, make sure that Luxa does not bribe a doctor into poisoning me, yes?"

Hazard did not seem to be in the mood for joking. "I believe this is where I tell you to fly high."

"And yet you shall not."

"Just don't die. Please."

Gregor smiled at him. "I'll try."

There was no one in the room when Gregor arrived, save Mareth, who was standing over the table, staring down at the large map laid out across it. He had decided to arrive early to seem eager and to please both Luxa and Perdita. He had been given a position and thought it best to arrive early to every event from that point on.

"Greetings, Overlander."

He was slightly shocked when Mareth spoke to him, as the last time they had spoken, it was not on good terms.

"Greetings."

"They tell me that you have taken my place."

"Aye. More or less."

"It is for the best."

Gregor paused before asking, "What are you doing back?"

"Hmmm?"

"I thought you were sent to the Fount?"

"I was. I came back."

"Why is that?"

"I did everything there that needed to be done. I arrived just in time for this meeting."

"I thought that you would stay," Gregor said slowly. "That you would help York prepare."

"Those in the Fount are not ready for war nor shall they ever be. The mocked my orders at every turn. It is nothing, but retired army men and generals that wish only to party until they finally find themselves with their lights blown out." Mareth looked up at him finally. "You have shaved your head."

"Aye."

"It looks nice."

"It is in preparation for battle."

"You are a general now, Overlander." He looked back down at the map. "You shall see battle, but no longer experience it."

Gregor came closer, walking up the slightly raised steps to stand next to the table as well. For a moment, the two of them were silent. Then Mareth spoke once more.

"I think I should apologize, Overlander. It has come out that you merely left to save the life of the flier princess. I should not have said what I did to you without knowing all of the facts."

He could tell that Mareth felt awkward and did not blame him; Gregor felt just as weird at the moment, accepting the apology.

"I am at fault too, I suppose. It is so rare that I have a chance to fight back, that when you spoke against me, I let my tongue get the best of my head." Gregor looked up at Mareth. "When I came back from the Fount, my ego was built up. They love me much more there. I came back self-righteous and thought that you should all do as I say. I must apologize too, for what I said."

Mareth only nodded. "What are a few harsh words between friends?"

Gregor smiled finally. "We shall laugh about it, when this is all over."

"Aye. Over a mug of ale, yes?"

"Of course."

Then they both grinned at one another and all was fixed. There. Why could things with Luxa not be that simple?

Perdita was next to arrive, Helix and Barrett not soon after her. Luxa was last, per usual, but it came with the position of being the leader. Gregor was slightly glad to see that it was Matthias that was acting as her guard that day and the two shared a slight smile as Luxa came into the room. She made him stay outside and guard the entrance though, given the severity of what they would be speaking of. Gregor had not had a chance to speak to him in quite some time and decided to put to memory that he must meet up with him when he was to return.

"Mareth," was the first thing Luxa said as she headed over to the table. "I was under the impression that I had sent you away."

"All the military preparations I could make have been made. The men are uncooperative. They believe that they are invincible and that preparation is for Regalia. They are the Fount, they tell me. They are the true warriors."

"Mmm." Luxa almost seemed bored then. "It is easy to become complacent in your old age."

"Aye, your grace."

"Tell me, Mareth, is that not what I told you it would be like the Fount? That attempting any military down there would be worthless?"

He hesitated. "You warned me, yes."

"Put it to memory that I was once again one step ahead of you."

"Of course."

"And yet that is not why we are here." She looked to Perdita. "The banished took off on foot an hour ago."

"Yes. And the first wave of people are ready to head out after them on your command."

"It shall take them more than a day on foot," Luxa said with a shrug. "Give them enough of a head start to become weary. They shall camp soon enough. And once they do, the fliers shall come first. We will mow them down. Then the true battle shall start."

Perdita nodded. "No better plan can be thought of, your grace."

"I know," she sighed. "I have tried."

"I trust that you all have taken care of your own men?" Perdita looked to Barrett, Helix, and Gregor. "Yes?"

"Of course. My troops have been ready for ages," Barrett said, always overly cocky. "They have not been in battle since freeing the Overlander from the Dead Lands. And that was only a few of them. Their bloodlust has never been higher."

"We are prepared," was all the Helix said, which seemed kind of weak in comparison to Barrett.

"And you, Overlander?" Perdita looked over him.

"As ready as ever," he replied coolly. "We have trained much."

"Yes," Luxa said slowly, looking him over. "I have heard of your…unorthodox methods."

Gregor merely shrugged. "What is the point in fighting dead animal carcasses? The banished shall be moving. They shall be attacking back. I move. I attack back."

"And yet not a single on killed you," Perdita mused. "Perhaps they are not as ready as you think."

"I only just inherited them," he told her bluntly.

"Regardless," Luxa said then, looking at Barrett, "the time is now. Your group shall be the first out. Assure me that you know your plans?"

He looked down at the map then, gesturing to her the different places on it. Point A was Regalia, the starting point. Then he showed the path the banished had been given to the Fount. They would take it no doubt, but would of course never reach their destination.

"Others shall follow us, but I doubt there is need," Barrett said with confidence. "My men are more than able."

Luxa only made a noise in the back of her throat. "I expect them suited up in the next half hour and gone before the second. Understood?"

"Of course, your grace."

"The Overlander follows you. Then Helix. And I trust you are both prepared?"

"Yes."

"Overly so."

Luxa looked at Gregor then. "You do understand, yes, what a general does in battle?"

"I command."

"You do not fight," she told him, slightly more forcefully than need be. "Unless it comes to it. And given the circumstances, Overlander, it should not come to it."

He only stared at her. "If I see fit-"

"I shall keep him in line," Barrett told Luxa then, grinning. "If the banished are not already all slaughtered when his troops arrive, I shall take him under my wing."

Gregor had a feeling that she trusted Barrett with his life less than she did Ripred even. Still, she merely shook her head and looked back down at the map.

"Off you all go then. I expect us all to meet back here when this is over. Less you all be dead." She looked up at them then, each in turn. "Do not all be dead. It is hard enough to train one new general and army head. This many and I might just abdicate to save myself the annoyance."

Barrett laughed loudly giving her a great, overly dramatic bow then. "I am off, your grace. Off to prepare my men. Try and contain yourself, should I not return. I know that it shall be hard for you to accept, my death, but do attempt to live a normal life after. Your face it far too beautiful to be clouded with tears constantly."

And then he was off, happy and joyful as ever. Gregor knew he would not be in the coming hours. He was a pretty fun guy, Barrett, until it was time for battle. Then he was serious, calculating. He wasn't as stupid as he tried to act.

"We should all be off then," Perdita said, nodding at Helix first. He of course bowed to Luxa far more respectfully than Barrett had before scurrying off. Then it was just the four of them.

"Come, Mareth," Perdita said, turning to walk away. "Surely you have no duties as of now."

"None that I know of."

"Then you can help me, yes?"

Mareth glanced at Gregor, but he only looked away. If Mareth was in trouble with Perdita about something, he did not wish to know anything about it.

"Of course," Mareth said, heading off with her.

"I see you are off your crutch," she observed.

"It was overly cautious for the doctors have me use it again in the first place."

"You are not young any longer, Mareth."

"I will always be young, Perdita. As will you."

After they left, it was only Gregor and Luxa. They both stood there for a moment, silently. He was not sure what they were waiting for. He knew that he was supposed to leave, but he didn't want to.

"You have duties to attend to, I am sure," Luxa finally said, looking up at him. "And I shall be busy later, so I shall not be able to see you off. Have safe travel, Overlander. Who is going to be flying you out to the flied?"

"Dionysus," he told her softly. "He shall not stay with me in battle. I shall be on the ground."

"You will not be in battle."

"We both know, Lux. I'm not a guard, I'm not a general. I'm a fighter. I'm a warrior." He took a tentative step towards her. So much had happened in the past hours, days, weeks, months. It all felt like it had been a really, really long day in that moment. "It's just how it has to be."

She looked at him for a moment. "If you die, the last time we were together would have been…I do not recall."

He smiled at her. "You asked them to kill me only, what? A week ago? Two weeks ago? Three?"

"Did I?"

"When I interrupted that meeting. You told them to throw my body in the waterway. Barrett saved me from being gutted. Remember now?"

"You told me that everyone hated me, that my own people did not like me."

"Aye," he said slowly. "We have all said things we did not mean."

"Have we?"

He reached out then, to touch her cheek gently. "Luxa, I don't wanna go to battle with us fighting."

"You are still angry with me over the child."

"I am always angry with you."

"And I you."

"But I love you," he told her softly, though he would have yelled it, had she allowed him. Who cared at that moment? They all wanted him to go win another battle for them, another fight. They would chant his name for a number of weeks after this. Then it would be back to hating him. "I'm so pissed at you right now, but I can't stand the thought of leaving without saying that."

It was her turn to reach out, though she only laid a hand over his chest, resting it against the cool metal of his armor.

"You shall not die, Overlander," she assured him with a sigh. "We have not seen our fight through yet."

"It has been a rather long one."

"It has." She shook her head slightly. "And when you get back, we can have it out finally. We can yell and scream and you can let me win and I can reward you later that night for doing so. Then we can go back to normal, yes?"

He smiled softly at her. "There is always an us, Lux."

"It was not I that said there was not."

"I feel hypocritical most of the time with you. One minute I hate you, the next I wish that you could come to battle with me. That we did not have to leave one another's sides."

"You being the one to come after my head instead of protecting it," she added.

"I remember it the other way around far more often."

"Yes, well." She sighed. "This is goodbye."

"This is until tomorrow," he corrected. "This shall be nothing, Luxa. In a few hours, I shall be back, safe, and we can have that fight, yes?"

She only looked him in the eyes. "I would tell you not to die-"

"Please don't."

"-but I have faith in you."

"I do not hear that from your mouth near enough."

"What are you plans then for Zander, Overlander?" she asked finally, the one thing that had been bothering her for some time. "They left with him."

"I have told all my people to be on the look out for him. And Barrett promised me that his men would not harm the child. Perdita as well. All I can do is hope."

"And what did you learn of the prophecies?"

"Nothing useful."

"Perhaps they are nothing."

"Perhaps."

"They will be waiting you when you return. Waiting for you to realize they are rubbish."

Gregor shrugged as she removed her palm from his chest. He knew that he really needed to leave then, that he still had to go meet his men. He just didn't want to.

"I feel like I should be yelling at you," he confessed. "Every conversation we have had the past few weeks seems like it has ended in a heated argument."

"That happens when you do not tell someone that you are freeing one of her closest friends from the clutches of the enemy."

He grinned sheepishly. "You know about Nike."

"As the banished will soon enough, when they see you all on the backs of fliers."

"I just-"

"Aurora told me that you could not tell me."

"I could not."

"I do not believe that I am that untrustworthy."

"It was under the direction of Queen Athena. I had my hands tied."

"And then York, keeping it from me as well."

He stared into her eyes. "I think there are more pressing matters currently, Lux."

"There are," she agreed. "And I too feel incomplete without yelling at you before you go."

"It is odd, is it not?"

"Feels like we are forgetting something, yes?" She smiled at him. "When you get back, be prepared. I shall have the worst things to say to you, to call you. I shall begin the process of stripping you of your position once more."

"And I shall threaten you about leaving. I shall send word to Ripred that he can kill you, should he choose. That I shall not stop him."

"And I will accuse you of the most vile of things. I will tell my guards to stab you in the back."

"And one will take you up on the order and murder me."

"And I will have to save face by acting like it was the plan all along."

"And how do I know that it is not?"

"You should have faith, Overlander."

"As should you."

"I have more than you know."

He swallowed then, taking a step backwards that time. "I shall be off then, your grace."

"Tell me, Overlander, if you cannot of the last time we were together, then of the last time we have kissed?"

"Feels like years."

She kissed him then, of course. It was not a real kiss, more like a peck than anything else, but it was enough. They only needed to prove something. And they had.

"I shall see you then, Overlander," she said, nodding him off then. "Fly you high."

He grinned at her then. "I shall not be. I am much better at running."

"It does not shock me. You more so resemble a rat than you do a human for the most part."

"I will return, my love."

"You had better. Battle won or lost, you had better."

He bowed then, much as she had early in the day. He'd hate her in the morning. He knew he would. Hell, he'd probably hate her while he was out in battle. Still, hate and love did not differ much in their relationship. "Good day, your grace."

"Good day, Overlander."

Are you guys bored yet? I'm not, but I feel almost like I'm getting off base. I had no real ending in mind when I started this story. I just meant to use it as something to boost my interest in the Underland Chronicles again to restart my other story, but it backfired and now I only care about this one. Still, it's just a fanfic. Which, I know, some of you consider life and death, but trust me. It's definitely not. And yes, I am saying that as my way of saving my ass for when someone that has a better memory reminds me of something I forgot, because I feel like I'm forgetting a lot and someone's just waiting around to point it out to me to make me feel stupid. Still love you guys though, because this fandom is a lot more interested in my writing than the Maximum Ride one has been in some time. It's nice to feel appreciated.