Gregor woke with a sweat. He looked at the alarm-clock and saw that it read 3:33 A.M. He would have to arrive at school in five hours and twenty-seven minutes for his first day of High School, at King's Fork High School. Lizzie attended King's Fork Middle School, and Boots went to Northern Shores Elementary. Suddenly, the dream Gregor had been having, flooded into his head. He had been dreaming about the Underland, again. Well, it was more of a nightmare than a dream. Gregor shuddered as he recalled the horrendous events that had transpired during his sleep. He had been having nightmares like this one often.

He was walking down the halls of the Castle of Regalia, ready to take flight with Ares, and soar above the majestic city of stone. Gregor had to admit, the Underland really was a beautiful place. When Gregor finally reached the High Hall, he called out for Ares. Surprisingly, the High Hall was empty. It was usually full of life, and it was quite unnerving to see it empty. Gregor yelled for Ares again, wondering where he could be. Ares was not one to be late, and Gregor was extremely curious as to what was holding the bat up. He would ask about it when Ares arrived, if ever. Eventually, after roughly one whole hour of shouting and waiting, and when Gregor was just about to give up on his futile efforts of calling Ares, his bond showed up.

"Where were you?!" Gregor asked, a bit harsher than he had intended, while climbing onto Ares. Ares did make him wait for quite a while, though.

"I am deeply sorry Gregor, I became distracted doing a few, other things." Ares purred, although there was a small edge in his voice.

"Like what?" Gregor demanded.

"Please. Do not take that tone with me, Gregor. You know how I hate orders." Ares replied, a little rudely. Okay, this was strange. Ares was NEVER rude. Granted, Gregor was also being a bit of jerk himself, but he was still upset Ares had made him wait such a long time.

"Hey! Be a bit nicer, would you? It's not like I'm actually ordering you around, I just asked a question!" Gregor replied, rather steamed.

"I said, Do Not Take That Tone With Me, Overlander!" Ares started raising his voice, which was still quiet, though, for he naturally had an extremely low, deep voice.

I replied in an extremely sarcastic voice, "Oh. Ok then. Ok my lord, why don't you get on my back, and I can carry you! Your highness!" I purposefully called him a royal women.

"I knew I should have saved Henry instead of you! You think of me as some pet, do you not?!" This was getting out of hand! Gregor being compared to HENRY! Things did not look good. Gregor needed to apologize, and he knew it.

"Woah! You know thats not true, and I don't mean it like that! Ares you are in no way a pet, but I would appreciate it if you weren't so ru-" Gregor started, but Ares didn't let him finish. Instead, he bucked Gregor off his back, saying only five words, as he watched Gregors fall to his death on the rocks below. But those five were enough to make Gregors heart shrivel up and die inside.

"You . . . are not my bond."

And with that, Gregors body was torn apart by the jagged spikes of stone, jutting out from the terrain below.

Gregor slowly relived these agonizing scenes his brain had formed, as he sat on his bed - one of the few things that could fit in his room. Upon traveling to Virginia, Gregors family had moved in with Gregors Uncle Mike (his mothers brother), who was, fortunately, the only inhabitant of the huge house he owned, which was right next to his barn and stables as well. How Uncle Mike could afford this, Gregor had no idea, but was thankful for the space nonetheless. Well, the space didn't happen to be one of the best traits of Uncle Mikes home, located in the more rural area of Suffolk, Virginia. Located exactly 7.5 miles out of town, in fact!

Gregor had a relatively large family of four, five if you count Uncle Mike, but there were only three bedrooms, yet for some reason five bathrooms. He says four family members, for Grandma had passed away a week after Gregor had returned to the surface, forever, and a week before Gregor had moved to Virginia, forever. Because of the few rooms, and the not-so-few people, it took a while for the rooming to be arranged. Uncle Mike had a room and a bathroom to himself. The same for his parents; a room and a bathroom. Also the same for Lizzie and Boots, they shared a bathroom and a regular room as well. That left Gregor with his own washroom, but also left him with the tiny attic for a room. The final bathroom was shared.

There was plenty of height in the attic, Gregor could jump up from his bed and he still wouldn't be able touch the ceiling, and he was six feet tall! The problem was the width and length . . . there was none. His bed, dresser, and desk took up four-fifths of the "room," so he had to practically crawl over everything to reach the door. It was very claustrophobic, and uncannily similar to the dungeon Solovet had threw him in. It was also the dungeon he had placed Lux - "No!" Gregor thought to himself. It hurt too much to think about her. He could already feel the tears coming to his eyes. He quickly wiped them away, and returned to his emotionless self. Gregor had not cried, or displayed any form of emotion for nearly four years. Because three years, eleven months, and twenty-two days ago, was the day he left the Underland. For good.

Gregor quickly averted his thoughts back to the attic.

The two nice things about the attic were, one: The Privacy. And two: The window in the corner, that lead onto the roof of the house. Some nights, when the pain was too much, Gregor would crawl through the window, and look out at the beautiful, starry sky. One of the few good qualities of Virginia. The alarm-clock now read 3:56 A.M. Gregor decided to get ready for school.

He monkey-crawled over his obstacle-course of a bedroom, and traveled to the bathroom he "owned." Gregor stripped off his clothes and stared at himself in the full-body mirror, and his first thought was of how he looked like a human map. Of his adventures, of course. Ranging from thin, silver lines quilting his arms and legs, to squid-sucker marks on his left bicep, to rat-claw and ant-pincher marks on his thighs, shins, and so much more, nothing was as bad as the five, jagged lines of the Banes claws, permanently etched onto his torso. The Bane was a giant, white rat, at least sixteen feet tall, and had nearly killed Gregor. Although Ares, Gregors bond, was not so lucky.

If you are bonded with a bat, or a "Flier," as the Regalians say, then you and that flier are sworn to fight to the death for each other. Gregor could still remember his exact words when he bonded to Ares.

Ares the Flier I Bond to You,
Our Life and Death are One, We Two,
In Dark, in Flame, in War, in Strife,
I Save You as I Save my Life.

Gregor gave a depressing sigh to mimic his personality, and hopped into the shower. Other than the Underland, and the playlist Gregor had spent years creating, the one thing Gregor loved more than anything in the world, including his parents, was showers. He loved how the hot water seemed to strip you of all of your pain and stress, and flush it down the drain. How you can forget all of your worries and troubles, as long as you are contained in the warm water of the shower.

After Gregor had rinsed off and dried, he went to fetch some clothes. Gregor didn't give a cows behind about fashion, but he was forced to wear long sleeved shirts and pants, because of his hideous scars. It wasn't so bad in the Winter or Fall, but in late Spring and Summer, he felt like he was being roasted alive. Although you could never tell by just looking at his face. It was always, emotionless.

Also, Gregor refused to wear anything that was not of the following colors and/or color schemes: Clothes the color of Forest Green, Navy Blue, Prussian Blue, Crimson, Puke Green, BrickRed, Black, Grey, Light Brown, Brown, Dark Brown, or Dark Grey, accompanied by a collared jacket of the same color scheme, or Underland Clothes, which were sadly unavailable to him.

Finally, after all was done and done, Gregor left a note on the fridge for his family, telling them he had head for school, and then, with only a water, his backpack & supplies, an apple, and his headphones & Ipod (which contained his 456 song playlist, of course) Gregor set for the 7.7 mile trek to school. To a new and exciting adventure (aka depressing and painful torture). To his first day, at King's Fork High School.

AUTHORS NOTE:

So, whadd'ya think? Not too shabby for my first FanFic, eh? Just a heads-up, not all chapters will be this length. Some might be shorter, others longer. It depends on my mood. Sometimes I'll just want to quickly finish a chapter, other times I will want to go heavy with detail and make the chapter twice as long as this one. Anyway, I tried to incorporate the classic Gregor Being in Love With Music and Showers, and I am already liking where this is going, so please Read and Review, and the next chapter will be up soon! Cya'll Later,

Rotting Hood, out!

By the way, please be brutally honest with me. I welcome hater comments, flames, and constructive criticism (flames are basically constructive criticism, right?). Again, this is my first actual FanFiction, and I want to know how I can improve. So, for reals this time,

Rotting Hood, out!