Bluebirds Without Wings | Julie and the Phantoms

Time

It was less than a month before Julie was in Luke's family apartment back in Malachite helping him pack his things. Luke knew he wouldn't be able to stop his mom from obsessing over Julie, but he wished he could by the amount she was telling her. Julie didn't seem to mind, listening to every word that came out of his mom's mouth. There were a lot of them that formed sentences to cause Luke's internal body temperature to rise.

"He never stopped talking about you all these years," his mom said to her as she taped up boxes. Luke didn't have a lot of things besides clothes and some pictures he wanted to take.

"Mom," Luke groaned. He felt his cheeks heat up. "Leave her alone."

"No." Julie laughed, nudging Luke on the side. "I want to hear this."

"My mom is so dramatic," Luke mumbled under his breath before going back to folding his jeans. It was futile.

"You were the one who was angsty and dramatic all these years," his mom laughed with Julie. They were quickly becoming a mischievous duo and as much as Luke wanted to enjoy his final moments in the apartment, he also wanted to get out of there as fast as possible before his mom started making things up. Okay, maybe not making things up but she had no business digging up embarrassing memories Luke would rather Julie not know of.

Luke's dad walked over to the door frame, standing there with a hand on his hips like a supervising father would. He had been taking stuff to the helicopter for them, avoiding eye contact with Luke. Luke didn't push it or they'd both probably cry.

He took the news harder than his mom, but not in a bad way. He just seemed to believe it less at the beginning. Of course, he never did get the nonstop string of conversations all about Julie and Inmarcesible that Luke gave his mom. Those were for his mom to give him second hand so he could understand later. But by listening directly, his mom understood much much more. Understood Luke belonged in Inmarcesible. Belonged wherever Julie was.

When they were done packing, the four of them walked down to the helicopter together carrying the rest of Luke's boxes. Julie's people handled putting them away as Luke said goodbye to his parents. They wrapped Luke in a group hug, his mom motioning Julie to go over and join them. Julie took place next to her.

His dad said to her, "Take care of our boy, Princess." Luke grinned, knowing that was probably the most words he was going to get out of his father. Even if they were not directly to him, they were still to him.

"I will, no worries," Julie replied. Luke looked at her and smiled as they pulled away. His mom reached over and brushed Luke's hair out of his face. He needed a hair cut again, and his mom made sure he knew the second he had landed because he needed to keep appearances if he was going to date "The Princess". He almost regreted telling her that they were dating before he was moved in.

His mom smiled at him, squishing his cheeks together, "Call me whenever, okay?" Luke nodded as she let go of his face. "I love you very much. You're my sunshine, Luke." Luke pulled his mom into another hug before she could notice his eyes watering up. He wanted to avoid crying as much as possible. This wasn't a sad moment. It was just the start of something new.

"I love you, too," Luke said to her. When they pulled away, Luke went to hug his dad again before regretting leaving without a final goodbye. His mom went to hold Julie's hands in hers.

His mom told her, "Come visit whenever, Your Highness. You don't even have to bring Luke with you." Luke and his dad laughed as they turned to watch them.

"I will keep that in mind," Julie smiled at her. She looked over at Luke and asked, "Are you ready?" Luke looked around the island for a moment and took a deep breath before nodding. With final farewells, they were off to continue his life in Inmarcesible right where it had left off.

-

Reggie was helping Luke and Julie fix things in Luke's new bedroom as Alex and Willie did a deep cleaning of the rest of the apartment. Reggie honestly wasn't that messy, but Alex joked and said it wasn't a place for a future king to live in.

Reggie stood up proudly next to where Luke's bed would be. "Luke, how am I the one figuring out how to put this furniture together and not you," Reggie laughed at him as he finished Luke's bedframe.

"The instructions are dumb," Luke said with his arms across his chest. He looked over at Julie who was hanging up clothes in his closet. She leaned over and pulled out his old guitar that he had once gotten from Old Man Murrary.

Julie looked at him and pointed a scraped up sticker on the wood, asking, "I never wanted to ask back then but what was here?" Julie did a smart job at not asking because back then, Luke would have lied again. Luke walked up to her and brushed his fingers over where the sticker was.

"Had a sticker that said Sacrament on it. Bobby made me scrape it off, and I did it without thinking twice so that he'd let me bring my guitar. Didn't really think it'd leave an ugly mark." Luke looked around his room for a smaller box he had packed with random things. He found it in the corner and cut through the tape with his pocket knife, finding one of his mom's campaign stickers in there. He held it up and showed it to Julie who brought over his guitar to him. "This should do it," Luke said, placing the Nothing Left Unsaid: Vote Emily Patterson sticker over the remnants of the older one.

"Hey, Luke," Reggie asked as he twisted a screwdriver between his palms, "Do you know what happened to Bobby?"

"Died in the castle attack," Luke answered him. Reggie's mouth fell into a small o, and he paused his minigame. "He died defending Caleb from what I heard." What a waste.

Julie quirked a brow and asked, "How come I never heard of this? It's been years." He looked over to see her, and he saw something he hadn't seen on her face in so long. Maybe that's what would happen when they reflected on that time. They would all get that look of war. It would probably never go away.

"Not sure," Luke said and scratched the back of his head. "I thought your dad might've told you." She looked down at her feet and then at him.

"I guess I just never asked," Julie said. "You don't really try to linger on people you'd rather forget." Luke walked over to her and kissed the top of her head, catching her blush before she turned back to fixing his closet for him. He smiled before going to put together the bookshelf Reggie started for him.

Alex walked into the room moments later with an apron on, holding a broom in his hand. Luke looked over at him and asked, "Are you going to be our live in maid or?"

"Shut up," Alex rolled his eyes. "Willie wants to know if you guys want to play music tonight." Luke looked around the room and then at Julie who was looking at him for an answer. There was still so much to do but for once, they weren't running out of time.

"Let's stay in tonight," Luke told him. He grinned at him. "We have plenty of time now."

-

A/N: The last chapter should be up very soon but don't ask how soon haha. Very sad to start saying my goodbye but it's time :)

Also! A long time ago someone asked me how I picked the kingdom names. I picked Malachite because of the stone and I had actually forgotten why I picked Inmarcesible. Inmarcesible is the Spanish word for something that is unfading, unperishable. Something that can not be erased. I thought it was very fitting.