Gregor and the Hidden Prophecies

Chapter 18

After they got back, they all went their separate ways. Perdita went with the medics as they wheeled away Eno, the soldier disappeared, and Luxa mumbled something to him before running away from him. Gregor was covered in blood. He went to bath and, after that, he realized he hadn't even checked on Emmett.

They had gotten rescued almost a week ago now by Eno and Gregor had been awake for about three. The first was spent with Luxa, the second arguing about going, the next was this one. This bloody, bittersweet day. Gregor was on his way to the hospital area when he ran into Ripred.

"Well, well, well." The rat looked over Gregor. "You chopped off a hand of royalty. How do you feel? Personally, I would have gone for the annoying, girl one but hey."

Gregor shook his head, not even wanting to deal with Ripred at the moment. "Have you heard anything about Emmett?"

The rat sobered up. "He has awakened but does not remember the past few weeks."

"Will he be okay?"

"It's iffy but I'm sure he'll bounce back." Ripred laughed. "Not that that's a good thing."

Looks like old Ripred is back…not that he was gone but ten seconds. Gregor shook his head. "Have you seen my sisters?"

"They are with that Halflander boy, in the royal wing."

Gregor nodded before going off to find them. When he got to Hazard's room, Lizzie and he were fighting.

"And?"

"And…you're stupid."

"You're stupid."

Ah, the wittiness of children.

"Stop it," said Luxa from Hazard's bed. She had a scroll in front of her, studying it intently.

"Hi Gregor!" Boots called to her big brother. "Come play?"

Luxa looked up but only for a second. Lizzie smiled at her brother, stopping her fight with Hazard.

"Hi Gregor."

"Hey." He sat at the edge of the bed. "Hey Luxa."

She didn't speak for a second. "I am busy."

He shrugged, laying down. "I'll wait."

Luxa sighed, looking at him. "What do you want?"

He shrugged. "I don't always want something."

"Y-"

"But, you know what I do want?"

"What?"

"For you to say that I was right."

Luxa frowned. "This is not something to brag about being right about."

"It's not like I killed-"

"Go away, Overlander."

"Luxa, how can you be mad at me?"

She looked down at him. "If you had just killed him, it would have been easier."

"How?"

Luxa didn't answer. Instead, she just got up and left the room.

Gregor was training, just to get the feeling of holding a sword out of his system before he left. After tomorrow, he'll never hold a sword again. Howard was the one who was helping him train. Besides them and Nike, the arena was empty for once. They had been there for an hour when Aurora and Luxa showed up. Luxa got off her bond, going over to them.

Howard looked at her. "What is it, Luxa?"

"Nothing." She looked at Gregor. "But your father is here, along with your mother."

"Stellovet?"

"Yes."

Howard put his sword away. "Are we done here, Overlander?"

He nodded, letting the medic go. After Nike and him left, Gregor looked at Luxa.

"What?"

She shrugged. "I came to get Howard."

"Right."

Luxa rolled her eyes. "Are you done training?"

He shrugged. "Why?"

"Because I am going back."

He sighed, putting his sword back. "I-"

"Unless you want me to help you train."

Gregor looked at her. "You?"

"Why do you sound so shocked?"

"I could easily-"

"I offered to help you train, do drills." Luxa glared at him. "And no, you could not. I would never lose to you."

"Oh really?"

Luxa drew her sword. "Really."

Gregor went easy on her. For one, the only other option was going blazer on her and that was out of the question. The second reason being if he beat her quickly, Luxa would get mad at him. He did beat her in the end though.

He held out his hand to her to help her up from the ground. "Here."

She didn't take his hand, instead standing on her own. "That was luck."

"Right." Gregor shook his head. "Anyways, now what?"

She put her sword back before going over to Aurora. "Come on."

Gregor got behind her. "Are you mad at me?"

"For?"

"Kicking your butt."

She elbowed him gently. "I told you, it was luck."

"Okay." He laid his head on her shoulder, hands around her waist. They landed in the High Halls a minute later. They were headed back to the royal part of the palace when they ran into his parents.

"Gregor," his mother hugged him, hard. "I heard you had to fight that guy."

"Yeah." He watched Luxa continue down the hall without him. He let her go. "So we're leaving tomorrow?"

"Yes." His mother let him go. "Then, the day after we will be headed to Virginia."

"You already have everything packed?"

"Yes."

Gregor held in a sigh. This was real. They were leaving.

It was an hour or two after dinner when Gregor was finally alone. His sisters and parents were both in bed as were most people. Gregor went to find Luxa, in hopes that she too weren't asleep. He went to Hazard's room first. Boots and Hazard were both sleeping in his bed. Gregor felt slightly bad over the fact Boots hadn't even seen Temp since the jungle. He heard something in the room next to Hazard's and went to see what it was. Luxa was on the floor, going through a dresser drawer, her back to the door. Gregor stood there for a few minutes, watching her.

"I know that you are there, Overlander."

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for something."

He walked into the room, standing behind her. "What?"

She sighed, standing. Walking out of the room with out answering his question, Luxa went into another, bigger room. Gregor followed her, curious.

"Is this your room?" He asked jumping onto the bed, just to piss her off.

"No." Luxa sat started going through a dresser in there too. "It is my parents."

"Oh."

Luxa sighed. "The Gnawer's screwed everything up. They made a mess of everything."

Gregor got off of the bed. "What are you looking for?"

"It is not import- oh! Here it is." She turned to face him, a ring in her hand.

"What's that?"

Luxa ran a finger over it. "It was my fathers."

"Wedding ring?"

Luxa looked at him. "No. We do not have those."

"Then what was it for?"

"It is just a ring. It is the only thing that I have of his."

"Oh."

Luxa shrugged. "It is nothing."

She moved closer to him. "Tomorrow, we shall take you to the stairwell."

"Yeah." Gregor looked down. "I'll never see you again."

"No, Gregor. You are in more prophecies."

He rolled his eyes. "Luxa, you don't really believe in those, do you?"

Frowning, she nodded. "Yes. They are truth, Overlander."

"No. I'm gone Luxa, just except it."

She looked away for a moment. "You really think that?"

"Yeah."

"I don't."

"Yes you do. You know you have to."

Luxa sighed, looking at the ring. "I'll prove to you that I think that you'll come back."

"How?"

She grabbed his hand, opening it. She laid the ring in it. "There."

He looked up at her. "Luxa, I can't-"

"You will give it back to me when you come back."

"I'm not going to."

She shrugged, stepping away. "I believe you will."

"Lux I can't take this."

"You won't keep it. You will return it when you come back," Luxa insisted.

He closed his hand around the ring. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

He put the ring in his pocket. "Alright."

Luxa hugged him then. Against his chest, she mumbled, "I'll miss you."

The Hero hugged her back. "I'll miss you too."

Luxa leaned up, kissing him gently. "I love you."

"Yeah, I love you too."

Luxa laughed a little. "Have fun in Virginia."

Gregor smirked. "Hey, you remembered the name."

"Yes." She smiled a little.

They moved away from each other. Gregor sighed. "I guess I should go now."

Luxa nodded. "Sleep well, Overlander."

"Yeah." He walked out of the door. What was he going to do about the ring? He couldn't keep it, could he? Gregor went into Hazard's room and laid the ring on the dresser. He couldn't stand himself if he took that from her.

The morning of the day they were leaving, Luxa was nowhere to be found. After breakfast, she showed up…with Temp. Boots squealed with excitement.

"Temp!" She crawled onto the Crawler's back. "Hi Temp."

"Happy, the princess is, happy?"

"Yes!" Boots ran a hand down the Crawler's head.

Gregor laughed a little as Luxa walked over to him. "You're not as cold as you seem."

Luxa rolled her eyes. "I suppose I should take that as a complement."

"It would be nice if you would."

"You will be leaving in an hour."

"Yeah."

She started walking away, Gregor following. "Where are you going?"

"I need to find out if York is still here."

"Why?"

She looked at him. "After you leave, you I need to talk to him about rebuilding The Fount."

"Oh." He took her hand, holding it. "So, how's Emmett?"

"He is good."

"His memory-"

"Is still scrambled." Luxa sighed. "He will recover though."

"Hey Lux?"

"What?"

"Why does Eno look so much like Henry?"

She sighed. "It is not that he looks like Henry as much as he looks like my father's father."

Gregor started at their interlaced hands. "Did you think that when I almost killed him about what Nerissa said? About someone close to you dying?"

Luxa shook her head. "I guess."

"Is that what you meant by it would have been easier?"

"Yes."

"How's your head?"

"You mean from the Slicer attack?"

Gregor nodded.

"It is better. And your bite?"

"I'm a blazer, remember? I am all healed."

"Whatev-" Luxa stopped herself.

"You said it."

"I did not."

"Sure you didn't, Lux."

"Stop calling me that!"

He chuckled. "You're cute when you're mad."

She withdrew her hand from his. "Be quiet."

"What? You are."

"Whatever."

"God, you're so unintelligent."

Luxa just rolled her eyes.

"Hello Gregor," greeted Vikus as he walked into the room. "It is good to see you well."

"Yeah, you too." Gregor smiled at the older man. "Guess God was feeling like premitting today, huh?"

Vikus chuckled. "I suppose he was. How are you?"

"Good. You?"

"As best as I can be."

Gregor looked at Vikus. "Why did Eno try to kill Luxa?"

Vikus sighed. "I cannot answer all questions, Gregor."

"You can this one."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because you were talking to him the other day."

Vikus frowned. "When?"

"Yesterday, while he was in the hospital."

Vikus sighed. "You have found me out."

It wasn't hard, considering that it was Howard who told him. "Why were you talking to him?"

"They are going to execute him."

Gregor's skin turned pallor in color. "What?"

The man nodded. "He tried to kill their queen. No one takes that lightly."

"But, I spared him."

"A very noble thing of you to do, Gregor. I am sure that it would have been easy for you to just kill him." Vikus smiled. "I have always thought that it is not being a blazer or rager that makes one a killer, it is how they handle being what they are."

Gregor shook his head. "Why did he try kill Luxa though?"

"For revenge."

"What?"

Laughing a little, Vikus shook his head. "I cannot explain it to you, Gregor. Somethings mean more when you find them out on your own."

"But-"

"I will tell you this though," continued Vikus. "He was the one to kill Nash, as a message."

Gregor felt sick. What that the reason Nash died? For a message? There had to be some different, deeper reason right? Vikus noticed the look on his face.

"You know, had Nash not been killed, you would have surely kill Eno, would you have not? You spared his life to not be like him."

Gregor nodded slightly. Maybe Nash died so that Gregor could prove that he was still human. Maybe not.

"Goodbye Gregor the Overlander."

He looked at the man that had helped him so much through out the time he had been coming to the Underland. It sucked to know that he, along with a lot of others, were people that Gregor would jsut have to put into memory. "Bye."

After telling Vikus bye, Gregor went out to the docks, where his family was waiting. Aurora, Nike, and a bat Gregor did not know were taking them to the stairwell. Hazard was there, frowning.

"Say goodbye, Hazard," Luxa prompted.

"Bye everyone…except Lizzie."

Lizzie ignored him, instead hugging Ripred. "Bye Ripred."

The rat was in a surprisingly jolly mood. "Bye Lizzie."

Boots was on top of Temp and made looked sad. "Bye Temp. I see you soon."

"See princess again, Temp will, see princess again."

Emmett was there, which shocked Gregor. He smiled at the Hero, giving him a slight bow. "It was an honor to accompany you on a mission…whether I remember it or not."

Luxa rolled her eyes. "You should get going, should you not?"

Gregor frowned. "You're not taking us back?"

"I can't. I have business to attend to." She hugged Gregor. "Bye."

"Wait, what do you have to do?"

"I have to talk to York."

"Why can't you after?"

Luxa let him go. "I have other things too."

"Like what?"

Emmett put his hand on Gregor shoulder. "Come on, Gregor. You're riding with me."

"Luxa-"

"I just have things to do. I will see you later."

"Never." His mother mumbled as Howard helped her get on Nike.

Gregor's dad shook his head, climbing onto the stripped princess. "Good bye, Luxa. You have been very helpful."

She nodded at him before picking up Boots. She sat her on the bat Gregor did not know.

"Bye-bye Luxa." Boots smiled. "See you soon too!"

Lizzie stuck her tongue out at Hazard before getting onto Nike. Gregor rolled his eyes, getting onto the bat he did no know, as did Emmett. Luxa watched them take off, her arms crossed, that signature arrogant look on her face. Something seemed to click on her face and she reached into her pocket.

"Overlander!" She called out. Gregor smiled. Clearly she had decided to go with them. Instead, she just threw something into the air, amid for the bat Gregor was on. Luxa must have been good at throwing because Gregor caught it easily. It was the ring. How did she know that he left it?

Everyone looked at him but only Emmett understood what it was. He smiled a little.

"I would hold onto that, Overlander. If you lose it, she'll kill you."

"Yeah," mumbled Gregor as he held the ring in his hands. "If I tried to get you to give it back to her, you wouldn't take it, would you?"

"No but for other reasons than you believe. If she knew that I even touched that ring, she would kill me also."

Gregor cracked a smile. Even though he knew that in what seemed like only a few minutes, he would be away from the place he had come to love, come to think of as home forever, he found the thought of Luxa killing both him and Emmett funny. "Must be some ring."

"Must be."

Complete. Wow. I finished in under a year. Score.