𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐨𝐧𝐞 ─── fizz

New York, 1st January 2009

𝔈llie finally stopped kissing Luke as they officially entered into 2009. He grinned, pressing a kiss to her forehead before clinking their glasses together and turning towards Ethan and Alabaster.

"Happy New Year!" Ethan cheered, picking Ellie up with one arm and spinning her around in a circle as she tried to make sure that her champagne didn't go all over the two of them. "2009 is gonna be a good year, Bella. I can feel it!"

"Put me down!" Ethan laughed with her, pressing a kiss to her cheek, before Alabaster came over to wrap his arms around her. Luckily, he didn't attempt to pick her up, otherwise Ellie was sure that she might accidentally dump champagne all over him.

"Happy New Year, mum," Ellie pressed another kiss to his cheek, before taking a sip of her champagne. She called it champagne, but it really wasn't. Whilst all the boys had alcohol, she had some weird non-alcoholic thing, as she was still breast feeding.

"Can you believe it? 2009," Luke grinned, wrapping his arm back around her waist so that he could press a kiss to her head. "Not sure how it can top last year though considering we brought a house, got Cai and had Beans!"

"You make it sound like you ate them for dinner." Ethan joked.

"I'll eat you for dinner."

"Bella, I can't tell whether your husband is serious." Ellie rolled her eyes at Ethan's words.

"Luke's joking."

"Am I?" Ellie slapped him over the shoulder, as he began to laugh and Ethan went pale. "Yeah, just messing with you."

"You are going to give me a heart attack one day, man." Ethan shook his head, before they all flopped down on the couch again. Ellie checked the baby monitor and sighed in relief as she saw that they hadn't woken Beans up.

"What are your New Year's resolutions then?" Alabaster asked, taking a sip of the alcohol, before pulling a face at the taste of it. Immediately, he handed it over to Luke.

"I don't know. Try not to kill the children?" The boys all snorted at Ellie's words. "I'm kidding, honest."

Luke did not look amused at that statement. "Not funny."

"Sorry," Leaning up, Ellie pressed a kiss to his jaw before thinking. "Spend time with you guys and friends more, be a good mum to Beans and Alabaster and have fun."

"Aww," Ethan grinned, before thinking of his. "Spoil Beans and try not to let Luke and Bella get anymore blackmail material on me."

"That reminds me. We haven't shown Alabaster the never gonna give you up video."

Ethan groaned as Ellie and Luke began to cackle.

"What is that?"

"Remind me tomorrow and I'll show it to you," Alabaster nodded, before thinking.

"My New Year's resolution is..." He scrunched his nose up in thought. "...do better in school, be a better friend and brother and annoy Ethan as much as possible. Luke, your turn?"

"I don't know," He relented at the sight of Ellie's puppy dog eyes. "Make up with my dad, maybe. Spend a lot more time with Beans and Ellie and just spend more time with the people I care about."

"I knew there was a heart under their, Luke." The man sighed, not having the effort to throw something at Ethan.

∘☽༓☾∘

Normally the sound of babies crying at night was the thing that woke Luke up. But tonight was different. The babies weren't crying at random points in time. That alone was enough to wake Luke up and cause him to look at the baby monitor. There was nothing on it.

"Shit." He jumped from the bed, grabbing his hoodie and his sword and stormed to the nursery, knocking on Ethan's door quietly as he went. 

Throwing open the door, he froze at the sight of Kronos hovering over his children, his face paling considerably.

"Get the hell away from my children." Kronos barely looked up, reaching out to touch Alex's cheek, as the breath caught in Luke's throat. He felt like he couldn't breathe as he watched them.

"Hello, Luke." 

"Please, get away from them." Luke begged, as Ethan appeared behind him also freezing in fear. It wasn't like they could attack him without injuring the babies as well. "You swore that you wouldn't come back here."

"I haven't seen a baby in a very long time" He licked his lips, and Luke grew more and more afraid. "All of those issues with me eating my children really gave me very bad press. I love children."

He bent down as if to lift Alex up, as Ethan and Luke both raised their hands in horror. 

"Over protective are we? Is that new fatherly instinct kicking in?" Kronos replied, as Alabaster joined them at the door to the nursery, the blood draining from his face. "Relax."

"Please, don't touch them."

"What? Like this?" Kronos picked Alex up, as Luke almost dropped the sword he was holding in his hand, fear coursing through him. But the baby slept on. "Babies are such fragile things. One tiny slip and their bodies just break."

Ellie was the final one to appear, her eyes going wide at the sight of three of her boys watching a man with golden eyes in terror, who was holding onto her kid whilst Wren slept on mere metres away. She'd seen him before. This was the detective. The one that had been there when Luke and the boys had been arrested.

"And this is the famous Ellie," His voice made her want to turn tail and run, but he was holding onto her baby and she couldn't leave Alex and Wren there. "I've heard so much about you."

"Please, don't do this," Luke reminded the man, his hands trembling. He didn't know what to do. Did he make a break for the children or protect Ellie? "We've made sure that everything is alright. Please, put him down. I'm begging you."

"Are you?" Ellie stepped forward, grabbing onto Alabaster in fear as she watched the man hold onto her baby. One wrong move and...she didn't even want to think that way. Luke was trembling, and she'd never seen her husband scared like this before.

"Yes!" The golden eyed man seemed to consider that enough, placing the baby back down into the crib, as the four adults let out breaths of air in relief. Kronos walked towards them, pulling Luke off of the ground by his neck as the man began to gasp for air.

"You had better make sure that you and the rest of your little friends stay in line, Luke Castellan. I won't have you messing this up for me because of misplaced loyalties to stupid things like family," Luke nodded, scratching at the man's hand, who promptly dropped him onto the floor with a crash. Kronos continued to walk through them, slamming Ethan into the door frame and sending Alabaster flying into a wall before he turned his sights on Ellie. "I see why Luke's mind is so misplaced. You're such a pretty distraction."

His golden eyes glimmered cruelly as he ran a finger down her jaw. Luke looked up from the floor, trying desperately to reach them, but a flick of Kronos' hands sent all three boys flying backwards, their backs crashing into things as they groaned in pain once more.

"Let's hope that you don't distract him from his work," His finger trailer down coming to a stop on her pulse point on her neck. Ellie could feel her heart in her throat, beating wildly in her ears as she tried to remember how to breath. She didn't know what to do. Luke, Ethan and Alabaster were pressed into the floor, groaning in pain, and her kids were crying. "I would hate to have to come and visit once more." 

"Please, let them go." The man watched her with a cruel grin, seeming to take pride in the tear that trickled down her face, wiping it away with his hand as she flinched back. She knew a monster when she saw one.

"Since you asked so nicely, Ellie, I shall leave," He grinned, before disappearing as the spell on the boys seemed to break and they collapsed in pain.

"Luke?" He groaned, coughing as Ellie brushed past him, going to her kids first. Alex was crying, and Ellie picked him up into her arms and pressed him to her cheek. "Oh god, you're okay. You're alright, Alex, mummy's got you know. The bad man's gone. I'm so sorry, baby."

With her other arm, she picked Wren up, holding both of her babies close to her, before she turned to look at Luke, Ethan and Alabaster, who were pulling themselves up using the wall and door frames.

"Ellie..." Luke trailed off, his voice hoarse, as she watched them with wide eyes, shaking her head in terror and anger.

"What is going on?"

"Ellie, you don't..."

"Don't tell me what I do and don't need to know!" Ellie cried, glaring at Luke. She may have been being unreasonable, but her kids had been in the presence of a monster, and she knew that the boys were hiding something from her. As much as it pained her, her kids came first. "My children have just been in the presence of some...some madman. I have the right to know what's going on!"

"I know, but Ellie, please," Luke choked out, tears in his eyes. Ellie took a deep breath, seeing that Luke was just as shaken up as she was. He reached out, and Ellie allowed him to take Alex from her arms. Luke's reaction was instantaneous, as he curled his arms around his son and pressed a kiss to his head, as tears streamed down his face. 

Luke knew how close they had been to losing their son in that moment, and the fear of it shook him to his core.

"What is going on?" Ellie hissed, staring at all of them. "What haven't you been telling me? Please! I am begging you."

Ellie looked between them all, terror gripping at her heart.

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

So this was an oof cause Kronos showed up and revealed himself to Ellie, beat up the boys to keep them all in line in the war, and held Alex. Luke, Ethan and Alabaster deserve better, Luke has had his mental health shot to pieces and him crying because he thought Alex was going to die is too sad and I'm kind of sorry for putting him through this, but then again, I'm also not. But Ellie might learn some things next chapter, or she might not!

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx