Chapter One

Lucy trembled slightly, huddling up on her bed as a ruckus ensued outside. She had closed her door, but it didn't help. Her siblings were fighting, and when the entire house got into a fight, there was no drowning it out… It was her fault… She had said something insensitive to Lola about her being mean and that had gotten Lola started, and getting Lola started got the whole house started… And now everyone hated each other and it was all Lucy's fault. She felt tears rolling down her porcelain cheeks.

Bringing her knees up into her chest, she tried to drown out the screaming outside by covering her ears. It didn't work. Finally, she sighed. She was never going to get any privacy to calm herself down in her room. She grabbed the ladder and climbed up it into the vents that went through the house. She often went into them to get some time alone. Crawling around in the vents, she smelled a reassuring scent. Lincoln's room. It always calmed her down… But not this time.

She took deep breaths, trying to keep herself calm, trying not to panic… But her heart was pounding. Her breath was coming in gasps and her chest felt tight. No… It was on fire… She couldn't breathe… She was dying! She had always had anxiety, but she rarely had panic attacks. She'd only ever had two in her entire life until now. But she always managed to get away from others so that she didn't bother them with her petty problems. She never wanted to be a burden, so she suffered alone.

But this time was so much worse. Her eyes bulged as tears flooded her eyes. She was dying. She couldn't breathe, her chest was killing her. She was having a heart attack. She needed help… She tried desperately to scream for help, to beg anyone who could hear her to save her. But she couldn't get enough air to make a sound. Only squeaks and wheezing gasps came out of her mouth. She moaned miserably. She hated the thought of dying alone like this in a ventilator shaft.

Her muscles tensed up. She could feel cramps afflicting her whole body. She was sick to her stomach. She gagged and retched, vomiting, her entire body trembling as the contents of her stomach emptied into the shaft. If she survived she told herself, she would clean it up by herself. If she survived, she would do a lot of things she never had the courage to do. But how could she survive suffocating and having a heart attack at the same time. She found herself curled up in a ball, desperate to protect herself.

Rocking herself back and forth, she tried to calm herself down. Her throat was clenching as she desperately tried to get air into her lungs. She was so scared… The whole world was closing in on her. She had no space. She had made a mistake in coming up into the vents. She was so closed in. She couldn't move, she was trapped. She wanted so badly to scream… To plead… To ask anyone who cared to help her. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't speak.

She rocked back and forth increasingly desperately.

Meanwhile, below her, Lincoln had retreated back to his room, exhausted after the fight. It had mostly calmed down and he was able to get away from it. But he kept hearing a creaking sound that wasn't just the old house settling. It was something metallic, in the vents. He poked and prodded the vents, trying to make whatever it was settle down. But it kept happening, creaking back and forth. He sighed, going up into the vents and crawling around.

It took less than a minute to find Lucy, gasping for breath, clutching her chest. He crawled over to her, hoping that she was going to be alright. Sitting down next to her, he put his arms around his younger sister.

"Hey, Luce…" He whispered. "What's wrong?"

"C-c-c…" She gasped. He pushed her hair back from her face, feeling sweat drenching her hair and her body. He knew what was happening. He had seen Clyde react like this once.

"Hey… Hey, Luce… It'll be alright…" He whispered soothingly, gently stroking her hair, holding her close but trying not to restrict her too much.

"I'm right here for you, Lucy… We'll get through this together." She said.

Lucy felt fresh tears pouring down her cheeks. She leaned into Lincoln for protection. She had never been so scared in her life. He gently rubbed her back, calming her down and whispering soothing words to her. Over the next ten or so minutes, her trembling slowed down and her breathing began to go back to normal. Her muscles relaxed and she was able to stop crying. The last thing that happened was she was able to talk again.

"Th-th-thank you… Linky… You saved my life…" Lucy muttered, looking at him with a look of such intense adoration that Lincoln had never seen before in her eyes. He smiled at her.

"Why don't you come down to my room and we can just chill for a little while?" He suggested. She nodded, following him down the ladder and into the room. Gently taking her shoulder and hand, he helped her onto the bed and climbed up after her, lying down next to her and encircling her in his arms.

He felt her lie her head against his chest, still working on stabilizing her breathing as she listened to his slow, steady breathing and his rhythmic heartbeat. Lincoln held her in his arms, kissing her on the forehead and stroking her hair. He was in no hurry to go anywhere, and it seemed like she would have been happy to just stay the night in his room. He didn't mind. He got up once to turn off the lights. He immediately went back to his bed, though and pulled the covers up over the two of them.

"Why are you being so good to me, Lincoln? I-it's my fault this fight started! I just know everyone hates me now." Lucy cried, the memory of what had happened flooding back into her mind as Lincoln held her in his arms. Lincoln was so strong… But so gentle. He was an angel to her…

"It's not your fault Lucy… And none of us hate you. Listen… All of us have said or done something or other that caused problems in the past.

"Things always go back to normal after a while. And nobody blames you for what happened. Lola was being really cruel to you… She destroyed your notebook… How do you think I would react if Lola destroyed one of my rare Ace Savvy comics?"
"You would probably destroy her, figuratively speaking of course." Lucy said. He would never lay a hand on any of his siblings. But he had been known to angry on rare occasion.

And Lincoln was more than smart enough to destroy someone without ever touching them.

"Exactly. You can't feel guilty for retaliating when someone hurts you like that. That notebook was irreplaceable to you… Right?" Lucy felt tears filling her eyes. It had all her private thoughts on her family, every poem she had written about them all, about her friends… Especially about Lincoln. Her silver haired angel. Her whole world… She hugged Lincoln tighter, but Lincoln stood up and went to his drawers, taking out a large sheaf of papers.

"I know this isn't as good as having your old diary back… And I was going to give it to you on your birthday… But I think now is as good a time as any." Lincoln said, handing Lucy a leatherbound diary with a silver skull on the front and beautiful silver calligraphy that said "Lucy's Diary" on it. She could feel her eyes filling with tears at the sight of it. It was gorgeous. It had a lock on it and a key to go with it.

"H-how did you afford this? It must have cost…"

"Not nearly as much as you're worth to me, Luce…" Lincoln said gently. "You mean the world to me. I want you to have this…" He said gently, pressing it back into her hands. She was trembling again, but this time with a feeling of immense love and happiness. She hugged Lincoln tightly, kissing him on the lips. Lincoln gasped at this last gesture and Lucy pulled away, scared now.

"I-I'm sorry…" She muttered, turning a deep crimson red.

"It's alright, Lucy… I understand." Lincoln said. "Why don't you sleep here tonight… Hopefully you'll feel better in the morning." He said, moving over in his bed to give Lucy space next to him. Although he was thirteen now and had put on some muscle, he still was very thin and fit his bed pretty neatly. Lucy was still as slender and small boned as ever.

Her body was like a willow branch, so wispy and delicate looking that as she slipped into his bed, it barely felt like she took up any space at all. Lincoln wrapped an arm around Lucy protectively as she closed her eyes and fell asleep next to him, clutching her beautiful new diary with one arm and her incredible older brother with the other. She breathed deeply, feeling calmer now than she had in hours, just able to breathe in her savior.