Gregor And The Empress

Chapter 2

*I'm going to ignore the fact that the first chapter hasn't gotten any likes the few days it's been up. I'm going to continue this story because I love to write it. I get that a lot of people aren't in the Underland fandom but I really hope this story gets more reads.*

Gregor's heart dropped. For a moment he thought it'd be better if she went anywhere but back down. Then he realized he wouldnt know where she was at all.

Now, he had an idea of where. She was in the Underland. But the trick would be trying to find out where in the Underland.
He had no idea why she would go back down. She knew how dangerous it was, the first time she came down she had a full blown panic attack and threw up.

Had she brought light? Protection? Was she okay?

What in the world was she thinking?
Sure his mom would never let her go alone.

He climbed through the grate. Thankfully, the currents were still active. So that meant that Lizzie would've made it to the ground safely.

He braced himself and slid down the slide-like drop.

He never got used to it. It felt like those dreams he had. Of falling. Even after many trips to the Underland, Gregor could never get rid of those falling dreams. And after he returned, with Ares gone, they became worse.

Gregor fell for what seemed like hours.

He thudded to the ground. He coughed. His echolocation showed him the vast nothingness around him.
There were a few round rocks, but nothing else.

Lizzie had insisted he practiced.

He stood. He had the urge to get out his flashlight, even if he could see in the complete dark.

He reached in his pack and pulled out his flashlight.

Clicking it on he noted his surroundings. The first time he fell, he hadn't been able to see everything.

He looked around and found a few random, smooth, brown rocks.
Wait! These aren't rocks! These are cockroaches.

"Hello."

Gregor greeted silently.

The biggest cockroach looked at him and rose to its hind legs, "Where be the princess- be she?"

Gregor furrowed his eyebrows, "She's at home, I'm Gregor. I'm the warrior."

He didn't know if he could still be called that. But people usually either laughed at him or respected him. It was usually hard to tell.
A scratchy humming sound came from all of the roaches. He figured they were laughing.

"We know- know we."

"Oh" Gregor should have figured. If they knew who Boots was, they probably knew who he was.

Yet all crawlers had probably heard about the 'princess' at this point.

"Do you know where my other sister is? Lizzie?"

The head roach thought for a moment, "Saw her- we did- saw her."

"Where?"

The roach ignored his question and flattened itself out, "Ride you-ride you?"

Gregor remembered the first time Temp asked him if he wanted to ride on a roach or run.

He thought about running like he had the first time.
But he wanted to save his energy. And map out the directions better.

"Sure." Gregor climbed awkwardly on top of the roach.

There was no warning as the roach sped off. Gregor had to lean forward and grab on to its shell to keep from falling off.

He realized now that the first time he met the roaches, they were holding back. Probably so he could catch up.

But now the roaches were going about 60 miles per hour. Faster than any human could run.

As they neared Regilia, Gregor could make out faint lights. Hopefully Lizzie was there.

One of the scouts must have spotted him because the gates opened without question.
Gregor hopped off the head roach before it stopped.

"Thanks."

"Welcome- you are- welcome."

A bat flew down to greet him immediately.
He didn't recognize who it was.

"Is my sister here?" Gregor's anger returned.

The rider nodded.
Gregor hopped on the back of the blue-gray bat and spoke to the rider. "Take me to her."

They flew to the palace and the rider instructed Gregor to go to the code room.
Gregor ran as fast as his feet could carry him.

He gained looks from several underlanders. He didn't care. All he cared about was his sister.

When he reached the code room he saw her, just sitting by the tree of transmission.

He walked over to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

She looked up at him, her eyes glossy and scared.

Gregor was fuming, "What were you thinking Liz? Mom almost had a heart attack. You didn't tell anyone where you were going. You could've died! We had no clue where you were! What made you think you could just leave like that? Mom would never!-"

Ripred slipped out of the shadows, "Exactly. Lay off. She came because i asked her to."

Gregor glared at the rat, "You."

Ripred rolled his eyes, "Yes, yes I brought her here. Go ahead tell some more. You've already got your sister shaking."

He looked to Lizzie who seemed to be holding back tears. She spoke in a hushed, scared voice, "He said he needed me."

Gregor sighed, "Listen, I'm sorry for yelling at you. But- wait- how did Ripred even tell you to come down here. Did he go up into our apartment? Send one of his little rats to come give you a message?"
Lizzie reached into her small, pink backpack and pulled out a small walkie talkie.

"I gave the other one to Ripred when we left last time. I was going to give it to mom but, she was gone. Ripred and
I have been talking. He's been keeping me updated on everything going on down here."

Now that Gregor wasn't blinded by anger, he realized that most of the city had been rebuilt after their last battle. Almost all traces of the diggers and the rats were gone.

"Why didnt you tell any of us?"

Ripred stood on his haunches and pet Lizzie's hair, "You're kidding right? Your parents would never understand. In their minds, you all finally escaped this place. If they knew she still contacted us, would they have been supportive?"

Gregor thought about it for a moment. "Probably not."

"Exactly."

"Well, didn't you know I'd come after you?"

"We were counting on it."

"Why?"

Ripred laughed, "Because, the Code of Claw wasn't the last prophecy you were mentioned in."