Lavender

Link Returns

When I stepped in the doors, all eyes turned to me. I searched around for my boyfriends, but I found the green-eyed pack instead. Sam ran to me, Vienna on his heels, Paolo after that. They all scooped me into a hug as the rest of the cafeteria smiled. I was home. They let me go, but Vienna grabbed me as I tried to run up the stairs. "Everyone is pretty tired. It's been rough. We're so happy to have you back. Okay, get going."

I took the warning and ran up the steps, down the hall, and opened the door to my home. Adam was sitting on the bed with his face in his hands.

"Hi."

He looked up in disbelief. His lavender eyes met mine and I smiled. A tear rolled down his cheek. "Link!"

He ran to me, wrapping me up in his arms. I burrowed my head into his chest as he cried. He pulled away and kissed my lips. I wiped the tears from his cheeks. I kissed him again. I heard a door open and looked towards the bathroom. Max stood in the doorway looking shocked. I ran to him and he kissed me. "Hey, princess. You're back."

Max touched my face, my hair, and held my hands as if he thought he would never see me again. "I'm back." I said with tears in my eyes.

I hadn't realized they thought I was gone forever. I could see why they thought that. Lucille said she was trading me for Luther, and then I disappeared. I was immediately guilty for making them feel like they had lost a soulmate. "I'm sorry, I couldn't communicate with you. I was always going to come back."

Adam put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. "It doesn't matter now, we have you back and we're never letting you go."

"Where's Luther?" I asked.

Max held my hand and led me into the bathroom. Luther was in the bathtub looking extremely pale. His eyes were closed and only his face was above water. Even his ears were submerged, causing him to not know I was there. I pet his faded purple hair, which made him open his lavender eyes. He sat up, extremely slowly. "Link?"

I nodded. "I'm here."

"Help me get up so I can hug you."

Adam and Max rushed to the tub and each took one of Luther's arms. They slowly lifted him so he could shakily step out of the bath. He was covered in healing bruises and small cuts, but the worst part was an "M" carved into his upper left thigh. It was scabbed and twisted, and I immediately looked back into his eyes when I saw it. I didn't want to look at it again. Adam grabbed something from the drawer beneath the sink and came back. They were bandages. Luther groaned. "Adam, it's fine."

"It's completely and utterly not fine, actually." He retorted calmly.

Luther looked me in the eye and said, "Brace yourself or look away."

I readied myself for something bad. Luther turned around. I stifled a gasp. His back had been whipped, and was still red and half-scabbed over. Some parts were cracked and oozing blood slightly. It was a horrible sight. Max grabbed my waist and led me out of the bathroom. "Let's give him some privacy." He whispered.

"How can someone... do that?" I spat.

"No one will ever understand her and her intentions. We just try to steer clear. Luther told us a little bit about what happened. She was outside the bathroom window with a gun. Luther weighed his options while being in a bad head space from seeing her. He decided he didn't want her coming inside and potentially hurting anyone. So he left. And everything for him went right back to how it was years ago. But she's gone now, so he's safe."

"How do we know she's gone?"

"The gunshots weren't muffled. The police came by eventually and arrested her. It took a couple days of questioning, though. Walking in to Sam holding the gun after us obviously having broken in was questionable. But it ended up okay. The last few days have been hell. We just finished it all today."

I hugged him tight. He hugged me back. "Let's get into bed, okay? We can talk about your time with Charlotte in the morning."