"Remnants of you still remain, waiting for your return."

**

Luke's Point of View

I didn't have to look up to know who it was. I would know that voice anywhere, it was the sound my world had felt at peace with for three years. I didn't want to take my eyes off of Sierra's face and look at Ana or I would lose it. The anger consumed me with such force I had to grind my teeth together.

"I have to say, I didn't expect to see you in here."

I watch Sierra, an array of emotions cross her face all at once and then settles on shocked when she realises who it is. Maybe if I kept looking at Sierra, the witch would disappear.

"Ana." She whispers under her breath and looks back at me with a worried expression.

"Leave." I hear someone say. Me, that was my voice, my eyes still focused on Sierra.

"I haven't seen you in so long, Luke! You look great!" I can feel the fake happiness in her voice. Her presence was like a sledgehammer beating down at my head and my chest. I could feel her, even though she was all the way near the door. Her perfume spreads through the entire room, reaching me and wrapping its claws around me in a choke hold.

Sierra hesitates but takes a step towards Ana when she walks further into the room. I could feel myself physically flinch at every click of her heel on the ground, resonating through the quiet room.

"Hello. I'm Sierra." I see her extend her hand. I wanted to pull her back to me and wrap my arms around her.

"Sierra, shut your mouth," I order.

"I'm Ana Sacoma, and don't be so cold, Lucas. I know you missed me, babe." Ana says, shaking Sierra's hand but all I hear is hissing.

"Leave." I hear myself repeat.

"Your calls and messages stopped after a while. I really do miss them now honey." She coos, and I finally drag my eyes off of Sierra to look at her.

The good memories, the ones that still love her, deep, deep down in me stir and stab at my brain like a pin cushion. She still looked the same, just as beautiful as I remember her, but all I felt was anger.

Haven't you been waiting for this?

"What are you doing here?"

"The ARIAs of course. I never miss it." She smiles brightly. I used to love that smile and now it was like stepping on shards of broken glass without any shoes on.

"What do you want?" I manage to ask, Sierra gaping at us with wide eyes.

She looks around the room with disgust. "I was looking for Michael." 

"Why the fuck do you want to see Michael? You have no business with my family." I sneer at her. She raises an eyebrow at me like she always used to do when we were together and I talked about my day without noticing how she wasn't interested in hearing about it.

"Michael can see whomever he wants. It's not your decision."

"It is my decision. I keep my people away from filthy poison like you."

"Filthy poison? Oh? Not what you called me when you were begging me not to tell anyone about your secrets." She laughs and it's another stab and before I know it, I'm in her face. 

"Say that again."

"Say what? That it's not what you called me when you begged—"

"My secrets? My secrets! If it wasn't for you, bitch! I wouldn't have any fucking secrets to keep! It's all your fucking fault!" I shout, cutting her off.

She smiles, unaffected by my words. "You might want to keep it down."

"I can ruin you in five minutes, Ana, but I'm not you. So shut your fucking mouth and get the fuck out!"

"Ana, I think you should leave." I hear Sierra say over the blood pounding in my ears.

Ana turns to her with a glare. "And are you his new whore? Is that what you are? Does he fuck you hard? Bet he still says my name when he does." 

I focus on taking deep breaths so I don't punch something. "Ana, I won't tell you again. Leave now."

She doesn't reply to me but she steps closer to Sierra. My nails cut into the skin of my palms. I would never physically hurt a woman so I had to restrain myself. If I didn't, I would pull her out and away from Sierra by her fucking hair.

"You don't stand a chance. Go back to wherever the fuck you came from." She hisses down at Sierra

"Yeah? Is that what you think? That he still loves you? That he's miserable without you, Ana? Because if you do then calling you an idiot would be a bloody insult to all the stupid people out there." Sierra laughs at her and Ana stomps out of the room but turns back around.

"You will regret this." She says, looking from me to Sierra.

"If you don't leave now, you will regret stepping foot anywhere near my best-friend or in Australia," Calum says from behind Ana, the rest of the band around him.

---

"Luke."

I don't watch as Ana pushes her way out, passing Calum and the rest of the band gathered near the door.

Luke was all I could think of. He was standing in the same spot where Ana was a minute ago, staring down at the floor. His body was so rigid I was afraid he would collapse if I touched him.

"Luke? Say something." I plead, going closer to him. Ana was the last person I was expecting to see here. I didn't know what was going through Luke's head at the moment but it could not be anything good.

His body relaxes as I step closer but he is red all over. His pale skin is blotchy and I could see the blood on his right palm from the indents his nails had made.

"You're bleeding, Luke. God, just say something." I touch his hand, trying to pull it towards me.

"Don't touch me." He whispers so quietly I barely hear him over the chaos in the room behind me.

"What? She's gone. It's okay." I reach out to tilt his face up to look at me.

"I said don't touch me." He snaps louder and I pull my hands back. There was so much anger rolling off of him it chilled my bones but I didn't dare move away from him. I put my hand back on his cheek. It was burning up. 

I wanted to take his pain. I didn't want him to feel all of this just because she walked in here today, this much anger wasn't healthy for anyone.

"Please," I whisper and he snaps his head up, his hand reaching up and pulling my hand off his face and whacking it to the side. His face was bright red and I could see the veins pulsing on his neck.

"What part of don't fucking touch me do you not fucking get?" He seethes and his bloodshot eyes bore into me. I take a step back at the force of his voice and I feel hands go around my waist.

"Don't you dare." Michael pulls me away from Luke as he stares him down.

Luke stares between Michael and I, his anger still taking a huge toll on him that we couldn't see. It was happening internally, it was ruining him.

 He takes a final look at me and walks out of the room without saying a word as fast as he can, banging the door closed so hard behind him that one of the hinges on the door pops off. 

"Luke!" I shout, rushing to run after him but Michael blocks my path.

"No! Let him go. You can't make this better."

"Let me go!" I yell at him and try to pull my hand out of his grip.

"Sierra, he is blind when he feels that kind of anger. You cannot do anything!" He repeats.

"Yes, that's why I need to go after him! What if he hurts himself?" I yell at him again and tug harder at my arm but he has a steel grip on it.

"You weren't there before were you? He can calm down by himself. Now stop fighting me!"

You weren't there before, were you?

I feel the fight drain out of me.

---

Luke's Point of View

I need air. I need air.

I could feel my lungs pulling at the last bit of air that wouldn't come. It was stuck. My blood felt like ants running up and down my skin. My head was pounding so hard I couldn't hear anything except for my own body protesting against me.

I couldn't see. I passed people in a blur, everything was too loud.

I need air.

I push a door open and rush out, my vision so clouded that I couldn't see anything. I lean on the cold wall and try to drag air into my lungs.

Breathe, Luke. Breathe.

I could feel the air fill my lungs achingly slow as my chest starts to cramp with the strain.

She was here. Why was she here? How did she have what it took to stand right there in front of me and say all those things?

I feel the bones in my fingers and knuckles crack as I punch something hard. The sudden sting in my hand pulls more air into my lungs as I gasp in pain, so I punch it again. Over and over.

Fucking bitch warning me about secrets after all she has done!

I can feel my hand go numb but I keep punching the brick wall until the pounding in my head stops and my lungs fill with air again.

"Your calls and messages stopped after awhile. I really do miss them, honey."

I feel my legs kick the wall as my hands give up and I collapse onto the floor, gasping and clutching my hand.

I feel the angry tears wrack my body, washing the ants on my skin away and leaving dug out holes behind. I was empty. I was empty.

"Not what you were calling me when you were begging me not to tell anyone."

---

"What do you mean he broke his hand?" I shriek at Addy, standing up so fast that I almost trip on my heels that are carelessly thrown on the hotel room floor.

"Not really. More like a few fractured fingers. His brother found him in the back alley of the building near a couple of dumpsters. He was lying on the ground barely conscious."

"Oh, my god. Oh my god." I shake my head at her, tears streaming down my face.

"I have to see him, Addy. Please take me to see him." I beg her and she hugs me. Michael should have let me go after him, this could have been avoided.

"I'm so sorry. Sammy told us strictly to not dare step out of our hotel rooms. There are fans everywhere and they know something went down but if they find out about this..." She drifts off. I knew what she was saying. If the fans find out what happened, there would be absolute chaos.

"I just need to see him, Addy. You should have seen the look on his face when Ana showed up. I can't possibly describe it to you."

"I saw enough. I know what you mean." She pulls my hair back from my face.

"I-I've never seen someone so angry Addy. It's like it consumed him whole... And the things she said to him made it even worse."

There has to be something that went wrong. She talked about secrets... What secrets?

"Let's not talk about this right now. This will only make you feel worse. We will see what happens tomorrow morning, management is already freaking out. If he has broken bones that means shows have to be cancelled."

I didn't have the energy to reply to her or worry about what the fucking management was doing. They always found a way to fix things the easy way or the hard way. My only concern now was for Luke and Luke only.