Ellie's Garden // luke hemmings au

Chapter Twenty-Eight:

Luke, the other princes and I all stood on the entrance staircase to palace watching the King of Monegro's cart drive off into the distance.

They own us. Was all that I could think of. The mere thought that later in life we would have them on our front steps with our children watching them enter made me shiver in fear. I didn't want that. I wanted them to get out of the palace hierarchy, but I guess we don't always get what we wish for.

I turn to Luke and see he's having a small, but spirited conversation with Ashton, who seems to be distraught at the least. He shuffles his golden hair and shakes his head. Luke then grabs his shoulders violently and Ashton shakes his head again. I keep still next to Harry before I speak.

"Harry..." I start quietly. "What's going on?"

He just shrugs and drags me inside.

"Luke is talking to Ashton, he wants to make sure nothing like what happened before with...you know--will happen again." He finally finishes off and walks me down the hall. I notice the tone of castle has changed. The maids are giggling and speaking of weddings, something they usually only talked about downstairs. The guards are laughing along, teasing the giddy nurses. Everyone seems so happy.

Harry stops me at Luke's bedroom, I smile and give him a quick hug and a thank you before walking into Luke's  room.

I open the door to see Andie softly sobbing on Luke's bed, her face buried in her hands.

"Andie?" I whisper softly to not frighten her. Her head snaps up. Tear tracks remain on her face before she rubs them away.

"El, wh-at did they sa-ay to you?" She stutters out, her whole body shaking furiously.

"They are uh taking the throne from the King and uh giving it to Luke..." She nods and gives me a weak smile.

"That's a-amazing El." She mumbles out. I shake my head and plop down on the bed next to her.

"Andie, I'm not doing this anymore. Tell me already." She shakes her head furiously and mumbles out soft 'no's. I wrap her in a tight hug to try and calm her down, but she starts to wail harder.

There's a shuffling at the door and Luke waltzes in with a small smile on his face.

"Ellie! I'm exhausted! If we could just maybe--" He sing-songs, but stops in his tracks when he sees us on his bed.
"What's going on?" I ignore him and turn my attention back to Andie.

"Andie? Please tell me..." I whisper quietly. She nods and gets up, dragging Luke to sit by me. Then she stands in front of us, taking a deep breath she starts. I latch my hand onto Luke's, who gives me a small squeeze.

"Louis was cornered by a man who told him the fight wasn't over and that they were going to attack us again. Then they--they um well he's in the medical wing and--" Without another word I jumped up and sprinted out of the room. My arm was shrieking in pain, but I didn't care. I had to get to Louis, I had to make sure he was okay.

I don't know if I can survive more attacks, more death. I couldn't. I know I had to, but my whole head screamed that I couldn't. I couldn't.

The door to the medical wing was easy to push open. I ran in like a psychopath, looking around wildly. He wasn't in the main room so I sprinted to the counter.

"Wh-where is Louis?" I yell at the receptionist, who jumps at my tone. She looks at the nurse behind her who just shakes her head.

"Where is he!" I scream slamming my good hand on the counter. She looks down, ignoring my gaze and speaks.

"He's holding on." And I'm a bawling mess.

***

The sounds of crying woke me. I must've fell asleep on the couch in the tiny waiting room. The voice was above me. Confused, I blinked open my eyes to see Luke sobbing. He had me tucked into the crook of his arm and his head was craned back over the arm of the chair.

"Luke?" I mumble shuffling to get closer to his face. I cup his cheek and bring his face to mine. He rubs at his face and kisses my cheek.

"I don't think I could do this without you El." He whimpers pressing his forehead to mine.

"Luke, is he okay?" Luke nods his head against mine. I sigh out loudly, close to tears but I pinch my eyes shut. No tears. I need to be strong. I need to comfort him like he's done thousands of times before.

"He's okay, just looks terrible. I'm just exhausted. This is so much and I just--I just want everyone to be okay." He whimpers. I scoot back so I can lay on his chest. He wraps his arm around my waist and presses his face into my hair.

"Prince Luke, Princess Ellie?" A voice whispers after a while of shutters and sobs.

I jump off of Luke and stand, ready to see Louis. The lady gives us a small smile and leads us back into the main room to a small blue curtain. I hold my breath as she pulls back the curtain. A loud whimper presses out of my lips and I am propelled forward.

Louis' face is covered in bruises, his lip is purple and twice it's size. His eyes are barley seen as open, a little blue glimmer is showing. I examine his face, slowly getting closer until he slowly opens his arms and I run into them.

"You're okay." I gasp out. My breath releases quickly. I didn't realize I was holding it. "Oh god I'm so happy you're okay."

"I'm here Ellie." He whispers with a croaky voice. I nod and remove myself from Louis and let Luke latch onto him.

"Stop scaring me brother." Luke chuckles through his tears.

"I promise I'll only try to steal your girl." Louis mirrors his slightly grim tone. They break away with a smile.

"So tell us what happened." Luke starts, his face changing back into his business ready face. Louis let's out a weak cough and nods.

"He caught me leaving from the medical wing alone after Ellie ran off to find Luke. He dragged me into a dead corridor and he beat me up. When he left he said 'Tell your new king that this isn't over'."

***

Kahaksjbemajshjwns. It's so f'n short I know I'm sorry. Life is getting really busy and school is cray and we are trying to find a house and ugh it's just really stressful. I promise I'll update more once I get settled <3

Thanks for the patience!

-Katy :)