My very first Underland fic - Yay, I finally got around to writing it! I am aware that this isn't written in the same style as the books.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Underland Chronicles, and I sincerely doubt that I ever will! :(

The Boy on the Bench

Every city has a person that everybody knows, whether it is the man on the corner that plays the bagpipes, the strange woman who walks around with a parrot and a shopping trolley or the guy in the mall who always sits in the bookstore reading. No-one knows their name or where they come from, but everyone knows them. Well, New York has a lot of those people. One of them is the boy on the bench in central park.

He's always there. Well, not always, but almost always. He's young, only about twelve or thirteen, and everyone thinks he must be homeless. The only thing is, he doesn't look homeless. He wears decent enough clothes, and he looks well fed. Some people have caught sight of his skin, which he usually keeps covered up, and have noticed that it is covered in scars. This led to the rumors that he was beaten at home. No one ever acted upon it though. Many people wonder why he is there. But all he ever does is sit there on a bench in Central Park staring at a rock and fiddling with something in his hands.

A few people that were brave enough to walk close past him – for people are usually afraid of the people everyone knows – caught a glimpse of the thing in his hands. It was a small children's toy; a black plastic bat.

Some people say that he lost his younger brother or sister, and the bat belonged to them. They say that the bench was where he used to sit with his lost sibling, and he sat there now to remember them.

As usual, all the rumors were wrong.

None of them were even close.

Nobody could have guessed correctly, no matter how hard they tried.

Unless they were either a part of the boy's family, or they lived several miles under the ground.

The boy's name was Gregor, known to some as Gregor the Overlander, or merely the Warrior. He had lost a lot, but not his siblings. Both his younger sisters are alive and well; if well encompasses depressed and missing old friends.

They were all depressed, every one of his family other than his mother. Lizzie missed Ripred, a giant rat – yes, that's right, a giant rat – who she had befriended. Boots missed Temp, a giant cockroach – again, yes, that's giant cockroach – who thought she was a princess. His father missed the beautiful city of Regalia. Gregor missed it all.

He missed the city, he missed Temp, he missed Ripred, he missed Aurora, he missed Nike and Howard and Nerissa and Mareth and Dulcet.

He missed Ares, his bond, who had been killed by the Bane, a giant – even more giant than the others – white rat. Ares had been a black bat, and had saved Gregor's life on so many different occasions. He was so brave and strong and caring. Gregor missed him so much…

His sister, Boots, had given him the small plastic bat from her play set in order to try and make Gregor happier. He hated it at first; it had only served to bring back painful memories, but he grew to love it. He didn't want to forget. Ares deserved to be remembered.

Most of all though, Gregor missed Luxa. Luxa was the Queen of Regalia, the capital of the humans in the Underland. Luxa could be mean and arrogant, but she was also very caring and gentle at the same time.

Gregor had loved her, but was forced to leave her behind in the Underland when he came back up; the Underland needed a Queen, and Gregor's family needed him.

He couldn't go back to the Underland. Not only had his mother forbidden it, but he had no means to get there. He sat only yards away from the entrance, and yet he knew that there was no way he could get down into the Underland unless he fell hundreds of feet down into deep, monster infested water. The last time he had used that entrance he had Ares to take him down to Regalia safely; now he had no one.

He couldn't use the entrance through the laundry either, as he could never be certain of when the currents were active, and again, he had no Flier. There really was no way for him to get down unless the Underlanders called him back, and he knew that they wouldn't.

He would never see Luxa again.

Hence the depression.

He knew that people stared at him. He knew what they thought of him. But he couldn't bring himself to leave. He felt that if he did, the stone would disappear and it would be as if the entire thing was a dream, and the only reminders would be his scars, Boot's ability to talk to cockroaches and a series of unpleasant memories. He couldn't let that happen.

And so he sat there, spending his numbered days in New York watching the stone he used to hate.

Everyone in his family, including Mrs Cormaci had tried to snap him out of it. His mother simply told him that he was being ridiculous and needed to move on with his life. His father told him that he understood what he was going through, but he really needed to buck up and keep going forward. Boots had tried to get Gregor to play a game. Mrs. Cormaci had cooked a cake and thrown a party, but that didn't cheer him up either.

Lizzie had been the only one to actually help. She had said;

"Gregor, you need to do something. Moping about isn't going to help us. All your sulking is only making mom want to leave even more and then we'll never get back! Do you think Luxa is doing nothing? No! She's got a city to run, she'll be doing stuff right now, not just sitting and sulking."

That had got his attention, but it was what she said next that really hit home.

"But that isn't all, Gregor. Think of Ares. This isn't what Ares would have wanted. He died trying to save your life and the life of everyone else; he wouldn't have wanted you to shut everybody else out and mope around all day. He gave his life so you could live, but Gregor, you're not living. You're functioning, you're surviving, but not living."

That had broken Gregor out of his trance, and he stood up, shoved the toy bat into his pocket and started to walk home. It was exactly what he'd done every other day, but this was different; this time he had his sister by his side, and a plan forming in his mind.

Lizzie had said 'we'll never get back.' That sort of suggested that she was planning on returning somehow.

Lizzie was smart. She'd think of something.

And Gregor was all for going back.

While he was down in the Underland, Gregor had wanted nothing more than to return home. But now that he was back, he found that New York had no more draw for him, even though he would much prefer to live in New York than anywhere else.

He always had to be careful not to get angry in case his Rager abilities kicked in and he hurt someone. He always had to wear long clothes so no-one saw his scars. He was away from all his friends that lived down there. His Overlander friends, Larry and Angelina, found that since he had 'recovered from his illness' he acted a little strange, and to be honest he didn't really like hanging out with them that much anymore… they were too… normal. He was used to the Underlanders, and the Overlander way of doing things felt too different, and made him uncomfortable.

When they reached the flat, the two of them trudged upstairs and opened the door, then threw themselves on the sofa.

"So, what's the plan?" asked Gregor.

Lizzie look at him in surprise.

Gregor wondered why, and then he realized that it was the first time he had spoken in a long while.

His voice sounded flat, plain and uncaring.

He realised he didn't care anymore. He didn't really care about anything.

But now… Lizzie had given him hope, and that seemed be all he needed.

"Sorry, what?" asked Lizzie.

"What's the plan?" he asked again.

"I… Gregor, I don't have one yet."

"But you will right?"

"Look, I know you want to get down there, and I do too, but we'll have to be patient-"

"I've been patient!" yelled Gregor. "I've been waiting for such a long time… I know they don't need me anymore, Liz, but I need them. I don't fit in here anymore!"

"I know," sighed Lizzie, ignoring Gregor's temper. "I miss them too. I've never really fit in here either – the only person toe ever like me was Jeddidiah, and he's moved away now. But when I was down there, trying to crack the code of claw, I felt like I just clicked. Even though I was the only human in there among a giant spider, a giant bat, a giant rat, a giant mouse and not to mention the giant cockroach, it didn't matter, because they excepted me and treated me just the same as the others. I actually had friends there, Gregor, and then Mom just expects us to up and leave!"

Lizzie was actually in tears by the end of her little speech, and Gregor was in shock.

He had been so focused on what he, had lost, and on the way he felt, that he had failed to notice anything else.

Lizzie felt almost – if not just the as strongly as he did, and he had not realized.

Gregor forced his body to move, and pulled his sister into an awkward hug.

"It's alright, Lizzie," he said. "It's alright. We'll get back there somehow…"

"Gregor? Lizzie?"

Gregor looked up at the sound of the small voice to see Boots, his youngest sister, standing with her arms wrapped around herself in the middle of the room. Gregor took one arm away from Lizzie, and motioned for Boots to come. She ran towards her siblings, and jumped into their embrace.

"I miss Temp," she sniffled.

"I know Boots," he whispered, hugging her tighter. "I do too."

It was right then, while he was holding onto his sisters, that Gregor decided he would get back somehow. He had to.

And not just for him.

Lizzie needed to be around people – or creatures – who liked her for who she was, rather than the help they got on their homework.

Boots may be young and may forget all about Regalia, Temp and the Underland, but Gregor knew that that shouldn't happen. It would be awful. Boots deserved to keep her friends.

Gregor, Lizzie and Boots: three children kept away from their home by their parents.

They belonged in the Underland, and they knew it – and they were willing to try anything to get back there, no matter what their parents said.

The next day, Lizzie and Boots accompanied Gregor to the bench.

The three of them sat there, and stared at the rock, willing it to move aside and let them through.

But that isn't all they did. They began to plan.

The people of New York City were amazed.

The Boy on the Bench was determined.

Because he didn't just want to be one of the people that everybody knows just because he stays in one place.

He wanted to be the person everybody knows because everybody wants to be his friend.

The sort of person he was in the Underland.

He would get himself and his sisters back home, even if it was the last thing he ever did.

Please leave me a review and tell me what you thought so I can make my next one better!