The Living Dead

Chapter 4

"You're what?"

"Well, do not make me repeat it."

"Luxa-"

"Shut up, Overlander. Do not-"

"You don't even know what I'm going to-"

"Go! Just go then. Back to the-"

"What are you talking about?" He grabbed her arm when she tried to poke him in the chest. Pregnant. Pregnant. What? His head began to hurt, almost like that time he had a hammer smashed against it.

Luxa was leaning against him then, her head against his chest, though she wasn't crying or speaking. Just laying there. And he was just standing there, processing what she had said.

Pregnant?

"This ruins everything," she finally told him softly after he stood there for a good three or four minutes.

He wanted to tell her that it would be okay. That it didn't ruin everything. That'd it all work itself out, but he couldn't bring himself to. He would only be lying, after all, and Luxa always saw right through him when he lied.

"Are you sure?" he finally asked. How did they even figure that sort of stuff out down in the Underland? He knew how they would back home, but it had to be completely different in Regalia. Right?

Still, Luxa only nodded slightly against his chest and he took her at her word, not sure how to ask exactly what she was attributing her knowledge to. If she was saying she knew, then she knew.

…And if she knew, then others knew. Howard at least. And she had been at the hospital for some time. Someone else more than likely knew. And rumors only spread twice as fast when they're about someone in power.

"How long have you known?"

"Gregor-"

"I mean I know you must have just really known today, but-"

"I…suspected for-"

"And you couldn't have mentioned it to me? Seriously, Luxa, that's-"

"Gregor, do not-"

"I'm just…" He took a step back from her then, but she just kept her head down, not looking up at him. "This is just…shit, Luxa. This is really, really-"

"Oh, yes, Overlander, because I am just enjoying this to no end," she remarked, glaring up at him then. "What do you wish for me to do about it then? You are the one that came here, meddling. You and stupid…Howard. I did not call for you here. I was not going to tell you this way."

"Then what were you going to do? Huh? Since you've just had to so much time to think about it. What-"

"Do not-"

"Don't what, Luxa? Huh?"

She was looking at him then, glaring almost. That was the problem before he showed up. She could not properly place the blame on anyone other than herself. Now he was there though and offered up a perfect victim.

"Why did you even come here, Overlander? Leave. I do not wish for you to-"

"Not now, Luxa. Seriously, not now," he said, turning from her then to collect his thoughts.

It was not completely out of the realm of possibilities that she was pregnant. In fact, it was actually quite likely. When he went above, Gregor would usually bring a few condoms down with him if he could, but of course those were usually gone quickly. Not to mention they mortified Luxa to no end as well as mystified her. And with birth control being a prescription thing, that was completely dead as an option. And most of the Underland seemed to follow to the whole 'pull out' method, which was quite useful…until it wasn't. And when it wasn't, it just flat out wasn't.

"Now what?" he finally whispered before glancing back at Luxa. She was standing again then and only shook her head at him.

"Now? Now I have to get to the war room and-"

"Luxa-"

"No, Gregor. I have spent most of the day on this. I have more pressing matters than-"

"Oh, really, you do?"

"I do."

It was his turn to shake his head, though it was more in annoyance than anything else.

"Are you sure that's what your kingdom will think when-"

"Do not tell me what-"

"Go then, Luxa. Whatever. I need to…I need to get away from you."

She paused at that before walking around him. "Good. I never asked for you to be here in the first place."

She was about to the curtain when he finally reached out and grabbed her, pulling her back to him. He just held her too, even when she fought him, wrapping one arm around her neck, holding her closely.

"Let go. You idiot. What are you-"

He just kissed the top of her head before letting her go. She turned to glare at him, but he only stared at her then.

"I'll go with you," he said then, slowly. "I'll-"

"Do not. I do not wish to-"

"I'm going with you," he told her then, rather harshly. "So just get the fuck over it."

She wanted to fight him on it, he could tell, but it would not look good, should the two of them be found arguing in an otherwise empty hospital room. Instead of saying anything however, she just turned and walked away, apparently expecting him to follow. He did of course, but he really had no other option.

They walked away from each other, him almost behind her, like the old days. Not the old, old days, when they were kids, but the newer old days, when he was her guard and couldn't be seen fraternizing with her, like he was a freaking prisoner of war or something.

When they got to the tactics room, Perdita was still in there, going over old scrolls or something. She rose from Luxa's seat when they entered, staring in shock at them as if they had caught her doing wrong or something.

She was really by the book, after all.

"Luxa. I have been awaiting you," Perdita said then before nodding at the scrolls that sat on the far edge of the table. "These were delivered in your absence. I would have had them taken to you, but I thought you were busy since you did not-"

"I shall look at them," she said with a sigh as she went to go pick on up. "Have you?"

"N-No, of course not."

"Why of course not?"

"Well, since you said that you were keeping these from me," she said, nodding to the pile she was then going over. "I thought that perhaps you were planning to keep those from me as well."

That annoyed Luxa, as she no doubt felt Perdita was being accusatory, but the woman looked nothing but. She was just being honest.

"We shall go over them together," Luxa finally said before glancing at Gregor. "Alone."

"Huh?"

"You are merely a general. I wish to meet with my head of the military. Go-"

"Luxa-"

"Go, Gregor. This has nothing to do with you."

He stared hard at her for a moment before turning to walk off. It was fine. He had wanted to be alone anyways. He needed to think.

"Well, I take it you know by now."

Gregor frowned as when he returned to his room, he found Howard there instead of Nerissa. His first response was worry over where the woman had wandered off to. Then it was replaced by annoyance with the older man in front of him.

"Yeah, no thanks to you," Gregor grumbled as he came further into the room. "Where's Zander?"

"Nursery." Howard was standing in the middle of the tiny room, arms crossed, as he attempted to stare Gregor down. The other man was having none of it, however.

"Look, Howard, I am having a shit day, so just-"

"What are you going to do, Overlander?"

"With you? Nothing if you leave now."

"What," Howard began again, "are you going to do, Overlander?"

"What do you want me to say, Howard? God, you're not even-"

"Do you know what you've done, Gregor? To her reign? You've completely tarnished-"

"Me? Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot the part where I fucking held her down and raped her. Just slipped my fucking mind that she wasn't a consenting adult in all of this. That she had no idea that-"

"Do not speak of my cousin-"

"I'll speak about Luxa however the hell I want! You better watch how you talk to me, if anything."

Howard looked about ready to hit him then and Gregor only sighed, shaking his head before turning to walk away slightly. There wasn't a lot of room for it in the room though.

"Look, Howard, this is still kind of new to me too, so why don't you-"

"Do you know what's going to happen now, Gregor? Do you?"

Well…no. Not really. He only looked at Howard though, who of course continued speaking after a moment.

"She's going to have to, well…"

"They can't take her crown away from her because of this, so why does it matter?"

"Why does it matter? You cannot honestly-"

"Yes, Howard, I know why it matters to us. But to them, who cares? Luxa says that kings do this all the time. It's not that big of a-"

"It is a very big deal, Overlander," Howard hissed at him then before turning his back to him and letting out a long sigh. "We should have gotten rid of you when we had the chance."

Well that was unbelievably rude. Gregor only frowned before shaking his head and looking off.

"I really just want to be alone right now. You can defend your cousin's honor or whatever later, alright? Because I am not in the mood right now and am liable just to go off back at you."

Howard left after another glaring match, but it really didn't matter much to Gregor. He knew somewhere in the back of his mind that he really should have gone to get Zander or check on Nerissa, but really in that moment, all he wanted to do was sleep.

So that's what he did.

He woke with a start. It was late, very late, he knew. He must have slept right through dinner, given the darkness outside his partitioned doorway. There were hardly any torches or people out in the halls of the palace, which meant it was probably well into the time that most people should be sleeping.

Great. With a groan, he pushed himself up before slowly looking around. The day was coming back to him slowly as he tried to remember why he was asleep at such an hour to begin with.

When everything was finally fresh in his mind again, he headed out of his room, going instead to the war room. It was late, fine, but he figured Luxa might be there. And it was closer than the royal wing, really, so it was easier to try there first.

No one was there. Huh. Luxa must have been tired then. Normally when she was stressed, she'd immerse herself in work to avoid whatever was bothering her. Though he figured they couldn't really avoid the particular thing that time.

No one stopped him from going into the royal wing, though no one could have anyhow. It was only one guard and though he regarded Gregor with suspicion, he said nothing to him. Gregor spent so much time there openly then that there was no reason to even fight him on it.

He heard him before he saw him. His little singing that he did. When he got to the sitting room, he found him there, Zander, pushing around some of those toy cars that Grace had given him around the room.

"You're supposed to be in bed, I'm sure, buddy."

Zander looked up at his voice, waving, before going back to his playing. Luxa was there of course, sleeping on the couch in a rather uncomfortable position. She must have fallen asleep while waiting for Zander to tire himself out for the night. Sighing, Gregor went over to her first.

"Lux?" He shook her shoulder gently, causing her to peek her eyes open. "Luxa?"

"Mmmm." She only stared sleepily up at him for a moment before closing her eyes. "Is it late?"

"Very." He only stared down at her, all of his anger melting from early in the day. Zander was still singing rather loudly behind them, though randomly he would stop to yawn. "Way too late for him. I'm going to go put him down, okay?"

"Wait." She moved to sit up then before looking over to him. "Zander, do you wish to sleep with me or alone?"

He glanced up at her before saying, "No. 'es. Lucka."

"What?"

"He's just talking," Gregor sighed before shaking his head. "He needs to learn to sleep alone, Luxa. And I thought we could talk."

"He has been having bad dreams recently," Luxa reminded Gregor. He knew though that she just didn't want to be alone with him. "Zander, come here. Now."

The little boy rushed over then, holding out his arms as he yawned loudly. Luxa lifted him up as she stood before going to pick up his discarded tiger from the floor and head out of the room, no doubt going to her own bedroom.

"I'm coming too," Gregor warned her as he followed behind. "Luxa, we need to-"

"Are you tired, Zander?" She bounced the boy in her arms, who only yawned in response. "You should have woken me. I would have put you to bed."

Rolling his eyes, Gregor just headed into her bedchamber with her, where she immediately set out on getting Zander ready for bed. He was mostly potty trained at that point, but it was still a good idea to change him before bed, just in case. Not to mention he liked to sleep with his shirt off, as he got over heated otherwise and would cry.

"Lucka, Lucka," Zander giggled as she laid him down on the bed, finally prepared for bed. Then he patted his tummy, waiting for her to blow a raspberry on it before he fell over with giggles again. That was probably about as loving as Luxa was going to ever get with him.

Gregor just got into bed with a sigh, laying on his back while he listened to Luxa prepare for bed herself. Zander was slowly settling down, though it took a lot of yawning and a lot of giggling.

When Luxa finally laid down, she only gave Zander his stuffed tiger, which he of course took to chewing on. Honestly, Gregor was afraid of what would happen when the thing finally broke apart and they had to get rid of it. He'd probably just have his mother send another one down from the Over-

Oh, God, his mother. He was going to have to tell his mother. And she was going to flip out on him. Oh, God.

"Lucka." Zander snuggled up to her, patting her gently before curling up and closing his eyes. "Lucka."

She only laid on her side, gently stroking the back of his head while staring at Gregor. He just kept watching the ceiling silently, not sure what to say.

"Well," he finally began. "I think that the first thing either of should do is apologize. We both acted very immature about-"

"Gregor," she cut him off. "Shut up."

It sounded just as cute as it always did, when she used Overland words. He didn't smile though, instead only turning his head slightly to stare at her. Zander was still awake, so he kept his tone even and voice soft as not to rile him up.

"What are we going to do? Huh? What-"

"Gregor, I do not know. We have to…"

"To what, Lux?"

She only leaned down to bury her head in the top of Zander's. He giggled, thinking that she was snuggling with him or something.

"Are we going to…marry? Is that it? That's what you wanted to do before. And if that's what you want to still do then I-"

"I do not wish to talk about-"

"Luxa, we have to talk about it. Alright? I mean, if we're not going to marry, then what are you going to do? Huh? Are you just going to…have the baby? I mean, people are going to talk. But if we marry, then maybe-"

"Gregor, enough."

"Luxa-"

"We will talk tomorrow. Just let me rest. Let me think. Please."

He let out a long sigh then, looking back up at the ceiling. "Alright."

They had an early morning meeting the next day, as Perdita would be leaving early the next morning. The meeting that morning was to discuss things as they stood in that moment so Perdita was certain of her goal in the mission. Then she would spend the rest of the day preparing. Basically it was a goodbye for if she didn't come back.

Zander had to come along, but he was relatively sleepy when Gregor and Luxa showed up and hardly even waved at Perdita and Mareth, who were already in the room, awaiting them.

They knew. That was the first thing Gregor realized when he saw both of their faces. Luxa must have told Perdita and she must have told Mareth. It was so obvious. Mareth was standing in his normal spot, but his stance was not welcoming. Instead his arms were crossed over his chest with a disapproving look clouding his features. He looked like a disappointed father.

Perdita, for her part, looked more embarrassed for the two of them than anything else. As if she pitied them. And she no doubt did. She seemed scandalized just by the thought of what they were going to have to go through.

"Where is Barrett?" was the first thing Luxa asked as she went to drop Zander off in one of the chairs. He immediately cuddled up with his tiger and began to go back to sleep. "I said to be here at-"

"He did not show up," Mareth said with a shrug of his shoulders, though he kept his eyes on Gregor. And for some reason, Gregor did feel shamed. He really, really did. It wasn't like with Howard. He almost saw Howard as a brother, a friend. Mareth though, he had always looked up to Mareth, even when he was young. And deep down, he knew that Luxa had as well. They had disappointed him and the thought alone was almost too much to bear.

"I believe that he is, well, upset," Perdita said slowly, blushing right after. "When you told him, Luxa, he-"

"Then let us begin without him," she said, undeterred. Gregor only went to stand off by himself, trying hard to avoid Mareth's gaze. "I have reviewed the men that you-"

"Are we not going to mention, then, the most pressing matter of the hour? I think that perhaps-"

"No, Mareth, we are not," Luxa said simply, not looking at him. "We are going to go over-"

"You could not even tell me yourselves then? Luxa? Gregor? Instead you had Perdita-"

"I had her tell you because I did not find it important to tell you," Luxa told him with a frown, finally looking over at him. "And if you speak out of turn again-"

"But you felt the need to tell Barrett? And Perdita? Sure, Luxa. Are you for certain that it is more that you were afraid of what I would say to you?"

"No," she told him, glaring now. "I care not what you think of me, Mareth, much less of my personal life. Last I checked, yours is not-"

"I am not a queen, Luxa!" His anger was bubbling up then and it was obvious that he had been holding those thoughts in for awhile. "I do not have a reputation to present. I do not have a crown to honor. I-"

"I suggest that you remember your place, Mareth, before-"

"Let us all acknowledge that this is not going to a be a…pleasurable situation for any of us," Perdita intervened. "But that does not mean-"

"Oh, it was a very pleasurable situation for some of us."

"Mareth." Perdita was blushing so heavily then that Gregor almost felt bad for her. In fact, he would have, had he had any ounce of feeling left other than embarrassment at the moment. "Enough."

Luxa was looking to Gregor to say something then and he knew that he should have, but he could not. What was there to say? And even if he did have something to say, how could he say it to Mareth? Mareth? Freaking Mareth? The guy that forgave him for not only putting his life in jeopardy, but also basically causing him to lose his leg? If the guy wanted to be a little peeved at them for completely sullying Luxa's reputation to the fullest finally, who was he to get ticked? Honestly? It was what Luxa's parents or Gregor's would be telling them, if they were around. It was what Solovet would have done, what Vikus probably would have at least thought. What Susannah and York would have-

Oh shit. Susannah and York were going to find out.

"As important as we all know this situation is," Perdita began again, speaking over them all. "I think now is the more the time to focus on my trip, yes? The Reclaimer is more of a threat than an unborn child, Mareth."

"To you? Yes, it is," he said, nodding his head slightly. "But I have already voiced my displeasure of you going along with the men you have chosen. You are choosing to be stubborn and that will be on your hands should something not turn out as it should. This though, what they are doing to their lives-"

"Is already done," Luxa said then, boring holes into him in that moment. "You speaking out against it is doing nothing, but cost us all time. Perdita leaves on the morrow. It is her that we shall focus on now. If you cannot handle that, Mareth, then you can gladly go back to bed and sleep the day off."

He took to sulking then, not saying anything else. Perdita took over then rather quickly, clearly wanting to get the subject off what it had been on. Gregor didn't pay much attention, as he truly had little to add. Only Luxa and Perdita seemed to be talking, though Mareth did randomly chime in, albeit begrudgingly, with some sort of comment or other about the Reclaimer or about the area in which Perdita would be venturing.

Zander awoke towards the end of the meeting, whining while chewing on his tiger. He was probably hungry. That was about the same time that Barrett came into the room, looking rather ragged and overly tired. Perdita was in the middle of speaking as he came in, but stopped abruptly at the sight of him.

"Late night?" Mareth remarked, turning his glare onto the other male.

Ignoring him, Barrett just looked to Luxa and bowed to her slightly. Then in a gravelly voice, he said, "I apologize deeply, my Queen, for-"

"Rise. And do not speak to me currently. You have proven yourself once again below average. Stand there silently and allow my meeting to come to a close."

He righted himself before taking his place standing at the table. Zander looked up at him and waved, but Barrett had focused his eyes on some point on the wall, glaring heavily at it, the veins in his eyes red and raging. He had clearly spent the night drunk.

When Luxa finally ended the meeting, it was with instructions to Perdita to stay safe and come back alive. Then Perdita quickly headed out of the room, to go finalize her route and practice with her men. Mareth went with her, though he did not walk next to her. It was obvious that he was going to go have a few words with her. Gregor had a sinking feeling that they were about he and Luxa.

Luxa told Barrett a place then, ordering him to go wait for her there. Once he was out of the room, she just came over to Gregor, lifting Zander into her arms when she passed him.

"Take him to eat and then to the nursery," she said with a sigh as she dumped the boy into his arms after that. "Howard wishes to speak with me again today so that we can… It will be in two hours. I will meet you in the sitting room and then we shall go to the hospital from there, yes?"

Gregor only nodded slightly as Zander snuggled into his arms. Or was he wiggling?

"Alright."

"I will go speak with Barrett then."

"Luxa…"

She just touched his arm though. "I have to talk to him, alright? I'll see you later, yes?"

He only nodded slightly before heading off as well, Zander in his arms. The little boy really was wiggling then and Gregor finally just dropped him on the ground, making the little boy follow along behind him.

"Life really sucks some times, don't it, Zander?"

"'es!"

Gregor only sighed, shaking his head. When the boy was right, he was right.

"It is not as if we are completely option less in this," Howard was saying while Luxa mostly focused on staring at some spot on the wall behind him. Gregor was listening though, as not to seem rude. "Obviously."

"Obviously," Luxa mimicked.

"Obviously? What's obvious? What are you guys talking about?"

"Well, Gregor, with the right amount of control and limited contact, Luxa's pregnancy can go rightfully unnoticed. It would take a lot of management and complete trust of those closest to you, Luxa, but-"

"But what happens when she has the baby?" he asked, frowning slightly.

"With so many Halflander banished running around, I'm sure we could pay someone off to keep quiet and take the child," Howard said with a shrug.

What? Frowning, Gregor looked to Luxa, but she was still staring at the wall.

"Or," she finally said. "You could take the child with you, Gregor."

"With me where?"

"To the Overland," Howard finished, reading her thought.

"But-"

"And then you would never come back," she finished before glancing at him. "Is that what you want?"

"Why are you throwing this back on me? What did I do to you?"

"I'm not saying that you did anything to me," she said, crossing her arms. "I am only saying what you are thinking."

"I'm thinking of leaving you? Oh, that's totally right, Luxa. You got me." Rolling his eyes, he looked off himself then. "Next option Howard, because that's bullshit. Both of them."

"Well," he began again slowly. "Of course you and Luxa could just marry. If you did it quickly, if Luxa carries the child to full term, we will be able to claim that it is premature. No one will question it. Not openly at least."

"But we can't marry," Gregor said slowly before glancing at Luxa. "Hasn't that been what the fight's been about this entire time?"

Luxa finally glanced at him then, though she just as quickly lifted her head and stared off again. "Or…or I could not marry the Overlander and have the child anyways."

"And completely ruin your reputation."

"Fuck my reputation. Fuck everyone else."

Gregor groaned. Again with that trying to sound like him thing.

"I am the Queen. Kings have bastards quite frequently. I am allowed one of my own." Luxa shrugged her shoulders slightly. "I will have my child and anyone that wishes to say anything to me on it, it shall be the last thing they say. No man is any better than I. If I-"

"Luxa, just say that we're getting married so that we can get on with life," Gregor finally cut her off. She sent him a dirty look before shaking her head.

"Who says that it is your child anyways? I-"

"Do not play me today, alright? I'm not in the mood."

Howard sighed as well then before closing his eyes. When he opened them, his expression was dead and his tone was without emotion.

"There is always the last option."

"What would that be?" Gregor asked. He was nearly certain that they had covered them all. Give up their kid, which they both knew wasn't happening, or have it and get married quickly or don't. He really didn't know what was left.

"It is very messy, of course, but it is possible to induce…a miscarriage," Howard said slowly. "Abort it. You know this, Luxa. We could-"

"That is outlawed," she told him with a frown. "You know as well as I."

"And this is a desperate time," he told her in a hushed whisper. "You think that I wish to have the blood of a child on my hand? But this is the future of your reign we are talking about. I-"

"When your mother hears that you even suggested such a thing-"

"When she hears that you have gotten yourself get into such a mess-"

"We're not killing our baby." Gregor swallowed then, his mouth dry. He had never thought of it as that, but that's what it was. His baby. Luxa's baby. Their baby. "So you can just stop yourself right there, Howard."

Luxa rolled her eyes then, shifting her feet. "The two of you are boring me now. It has been decided then, yes? That I shall not marry him and-"

"The two of you are very much so getting married, Luxa, and you know it."

"It is completely sexist and-"

"I do not care," Howard said, frowning deeply. "Let another fight that battle. You-"

"Our grandmother would be most disappointed in you, Howard."

"And not you?"

"Me?" Luxa shook her head. "I have successfully led Regalia through many battles and am attempting to lead the women into a new age of-"

"Luxa, save it. She would have destroyed your relationship with him long ago. Your mother as well. And your father would have never let it begin. So do not play Solovet back on me, because I can play every single one of our relatives back on you." Then Howard paused. "Except maybe Vikus. He might have found this to be some sort of a good thing, a coming together of Under and Over. But nearly every other would have shamed you for this."

"Do not speak to me any longer." Luxa turned to walk away then. "I am off to count the days until I can drink again. I do not wish to see either of you for the rest of the day."

It was not till she was gone that Howard and Gregor both stared at each other. And Howard only sighed, shaking his head slightly. It was Gregor that spoke.

"How exactly do you guys…do abortions?" he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. "Like…drop stones on the woman's stomach? Because I saw that once on a television show and-"

Howard frowned deeply before cutting him off by saying, "What century do you think we live in, Overlander? The Stone Age?"

Well…

"No, but… And hey, how exactly do you guys figure out pregnancy? Just because someone doesn't have their, you know, period or-"

Howard only sighed before turning to leave he room. "I have duties, Overlander, if that is all."

Gregor only kicked at the ground before following him out. "I guess so."