Part 2!
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“Skylar?” she heard the voice say. For a moment, she felt it was another one of those hallucinations she’d been having. She turned around, taking the hood off her head and couldn’t believe her eyes.
There was Luke, standing there. But he looked different- tired, the bags under his eyes making him look more skeleton than boy. The others were behind him, but if this was a hallucination Skylar couldn’t tell why. All of them looked like they’d been through a lot. Even Richard had bandages around his left eye, and Peter seemed to walk with a limp.
She stood there for a moment, just staring. She was in total shock.
“Skylar?” Luke asked again.
That was what broke her daze. Next thing she knew she was running to him, throwing her arms around his neck. The tears came to her eyes before she could stop it, her body shaking with the silent sobs running through her.
“Luke,” she breathed.
She felt Luke shaking as well, his arms gripping her in a hug as if he’d never let go. “Oh, Skylar,” he said quietly.
“You found me,” Skylar whispered, her voice breaking, “I didn’t know if coming here would be a bad idea, but you’re here,”
Luke let go of Skylar, holding her at arm's length to look at her.
“I really missed-” she started to say when he put his lips to her, pulling her close for a kiss.
It surprised her so much, she felt she might fall over. Luke broke away from the kiss, rubbing the back of his neck, embarrassed. But Skylar pulled at the collar of his shirt, pulling him close to her. She kissed him there, wanting desperately to be in his arms. Luke returned the kiss, his arms around Skylar’s shoulders.
Then they broke away from the kiss, and Luke hugged Skylar close again, and she let her arms grip his back.
“Skylar, I didn’t know where you were, but I held hope for so long you were alive,” Luke said, his body shaking like hers.
“For a while I didn’t think I would survive, either,” Skylar chuckled lightly at that, the tears still streaming down her face.
Luke broke off the hug again, looking into Skylar’s eyes. She looked into his as well, the blue that had been so bright only weeks ago that now looked dull and tired.
“Skylar,” he asked, “What happened?”
She saw images flash before her eyes, the memories from the last few weeks becoming almost overwhelming.
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She saw herself falling off the cliff, the wind whistling past her ears just before she went under the surface of the water.
She saw herself looking at Sebastian’s sad face as he told her how not all the Dueglesteiners were bad.
She saw Sebastian’s crooked smile, his sea-green eyes as he tried to kiss her.
She saw Tobias’ genuine smile as he congratulated her on her plan, the father she needed when she no longer had one.
She saw the Dueglesteiner towering over her, ready to stab her.
She saw the bloody blade piercing Tobias’ chest, his eyes filling with tears as he stared at her.
She saw Sebastian’s back to her, shaking with sobs as he told her to go.
She saw her looking back at their island, the events of the past few weeks finally setting in as she sobbed.
She saw herself arrive at Dueglestein, after weeks of travel. There, but completely and utterly alone.
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Skylar looked up at Luke, the tears filling her eyes once again. “I…” she said, turning away from him, “I’ll tell you later.”
She walked away from Luke, instead seeing the others after so long.
She hugged Helen first, whose face was happy and sad at the same time. Skylar saw the tears in her deep blue eyes as she approached her, and Helen hugged her tightly when the moment came.
“I always knew you were alive,” Helen said, her voice muffled by Skylar’s shirt.
“I’m glad you didn’t,” Skylar answered, patting Helen’s head.
Helen pulled away from the hug, reaching into the belt at her side as she pulled out a short, curved sword.
“And I got a kopis!” she said excitedly.
Skylar backed away from the blade, holding her hands up in surrender. “That’s great, Helen,” she said, and quickly moved on to the next person, Peter.
Peter awkwardly hugged her, and when they pulled away from the hug he said, “I may have had my doubts, but I’m glad you’re back, Skye.”
At the sound of her nickname, Skylar looked away from Peter, the memories flooding back to her. She pushed them away, however, and went up to Alice.
“Alice,” she said, holding her arms out for a hug.
Alice returned the hug, and Skylar felt her body shake in silent sobs as she hugged her. Skylar closed her eyes, feeling more tears fall down her cheeks. She didn’t know how important she was to Alice and the others.
When she got to Adalene, she didn’t know what to do. She wasn’t very close to Adalene, having only known her for a day or so before falling down the Cliffs of Abdomes.
Adalene put her hand out to shake, and Skylar awkwardly shook it.
She moved on to Richard next, who pulled her into a bear hug. “Hey, Rich,” Skylar said quietly.
“I'm sorry,” Richard answered, "For everthing. I missed you, too."
When she pulled away from the hug, she looked at his bandaged eye.
“What happened to you guys?” she asked, confused at the state of the group.
Nobody answered, each of them avoiding Skylar’s eye.
“I guess we all have stories to tell,” Luke broke the silence.
“I guess we do,” Skylar answered, although she wasn’t sure she could experience the memories of what had happened in the last few weeks...
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