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"𝔅ella!" Ellie scrambled down the stairs at the sound of Ethan's panicked voice, skidding into the main hallway as she caught sight of her boys. Her breath caught in her throat.
Ethan looked exhausted, his face covered in soot and dust, and the armour he was wearing was ripped to shreds. He was stumbling, holding Luke's taller body up with his other arm as Ellie quickly ran over to help her best friend. Her husband looked pale, his skin sickly in the light, and he groaned in pain as Ellie helped to shift his weight and get him up the stairs to their room.
"Al, grab my emergency kit from the living room." Ellie commanded, as Alabaster paled. He looked worried, his hands starting to shake as Ellie turned. "Al, go! Then you go and sit with Beans and Cai. You keep an eye on them, yes?"
Alabaster nodded, as Ellie managed to get Luke onto the bed, checking his pulse and temperature quickly. He was unconscious, and Ellie did a basic check, before turning to Ethan. Luke was fine and stable for the moment, so it was probably best for her to patch up Ethan first.
"Your kit."
"Thanks Al." The boy looked at Ethan and Luke, before hurrying off with Cai at his heels. "What happened, Ethan?"
"Kronos." Ellie helped to peel his now useless armour off of him, placing it against the wall as he lifted his shirt up. The man stayed still, wincing as Ellie examined the cuts.
She opened her pack, grabbing cleaning materials and sutures to clear it up.
"He somehow learnt about Luke bathing in the River Styx..." He hissed in pain, trailing off momentarily as the needle slipped into his skin before continuing. "...and he wanted to test it, so he tried to spar with Luke. He just wouldn't stop fighting with us and it was only when Luke passed out from exhaustion that he let us go."
"That dick." Ellie shook her head, handing Ethan a slice of ambrosia as she finished sewing the larger cut on his chest up. "Are you alright?"
"I'm so tired, Bella," His head dropped, until it rested on the older woman's shoulders as she began to wrap the wound. "So tired and I really don't know how much longer we can go on like this."
"We'll get you out." Ellie pulled back, holding the man's face in her hand as she brushed the hair from his face and the soot from around his eye. She quickly pushed his eye patch up, making sure that the scars hadn't been broken or harmed. "We will."
"But what happens if it's not in time? The final offensive is in August." Ellie sighed again, pressing a kiss to Ethan's head as she pulled the eyepatch down and hugged the man. "I don't know what we're gonna do."
"We don't need to think on that now." Ellie grinned. "Just go and shower and rest. We'll think about it later."
"Got it." She helped Ethan stand, taping a plastic bag over the top of the gauze. "Thanks Bella."
"Sleep, rest up." Ethan nodded at her command, before closing the door to the room, as Ellie turned to her husband. Carefully, she took his shoes off and pulled his armor over his head. Taking his sword was a little harder, as he clung to it with a tight grip, but she managed, and placed it all in to a pile on the floor.
As quickly as she could, Ellie assessed Luke to see if he had any injuries, but there wasn't any. He must have just passed out from exhaustion. Placing her med kit away, Ellie sat by his head, running her hand through his tangled hair as she tried to calm her heart.
"Ellie?" She perked up, smiling down at her husband as she traced the scar on his face with a soft smile. "What...? How...?"
"Don't move. You're exhausted." He stopped trying to get up. "You're okay. Ethan brought you back home."
"Ethan?" Luke tried to sit up again, but Ellie pushed him back down.
"Ethan is fine. I've just patched him up and he told me what happened." Luke flopped back down, sighing as Ellie continued to run her hands through his hair. "Are you alright?"
"Curse of Achilles. Not a scratch," She sighed once more, before lying down beside him and wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. "Hey, you okay?"
"I was so scared," Luke pressed a kiss to her forehead, rubbing circles onto her back. "You came back unconscious and my mind instantly went to the worse possible outcome."
"He didn't get my weak point," Ellie nodded, burying her face in his neck and clutching him tighter. She just needed to reassure herself that he was there, that this was real, that he was back in her arms and safe. "So, I'm fine, baby."
"I know, I just..." She trailed off, her hands still shaking as Luke pulled away and grabbed her hand. "What are you doing?"
He placed her hand against the left side of his chest at a spot between his ribs, under his arm. Ellie could feel his heart beating under her finger tips, and she looked up at him with wide eyes as he smiled.
"There's my weak point, my Achilles heel," Ellie looked back down at the spot where her hand was, tracing over the point gently. "You're the only person who knows this now, the only one apart from me, because you're my anchor. You were my tether to this world when I bathed in the River Styx and you are the reason that I came back. You'll always be the reason that I come back."
He took his hand away, reaching up to cup her face as he watched her with his intense eyes that Ellie adored so much.
"Ellie, I'm here and I'm alive," She closed her eyes as Luke leant forward to press a kiss to her head. "We're going to get out of this. Me, you, Beans, Ethan, Alabaster, all of us."
"I'm just so worried," Ellie replied, taking a deep breath as she leant her head forward once more, resting it on Luke's collar bone as he ran his fingers through her hair. "Every day I keep thinking that this might be the day that someone comes to tell me that you've died or your grievously injured or the gods have imprisoned you and it just scares me. I don't want you to leave. I don't want you hurt."
"I would never leave you, not willingly at least," Luke murmured, pulling her even tighter to his chest as he pressed a kiss to her lips, brushing his thumb along her cheek as she responded to it. "I'll always be by your side, Ellie, always."
Ellie didn't respond, wrapping her arms tighter around Luke's waist, as she listened to his heart beat, trying to remind herself that he was here, alive, safe, with her, and that he wouldn't be going from her side for a little while at least.
∘☽༓☾∘
Hiya,
So, Luke's smooth as ever, and Ethan and Ellie's relationship is adorable, Luke and Ellie's relationship is adorable, Kronos is causing too much angst for them and we've got about 10 chapters left so yay! This is just cute to be honest, and next chapter they're going to disney world in Florida for a family vacation because they need a serious break.
Let me know what you think and thanks for reading,
