I don't own anything. Plot credits go to Miss Meehan

Warning: Contains mentions of rape and homosexuality. If you have a problem with these subjects, please do not read.

An Unkindness of Ravens

Chapter 3

"Mom, I'm fine. I promise that everything is okay..." Lucas's stressed voice could be heard echoing through out the large room in the Scott's beach house.

The facade of contentedness was fading fast as the woman on the other side of the phone continues persisting.

"I know Mom...I'll be home in the morning...I love you too."

Nathan peered into the room from the entry way. He hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but once he heard Lucas trying to convince his mother that he was in face okay, he couldn't help but satisfy his curiosity. He felt deeply for the teenager as he heard the sheer stress coming from every time that he said he was fine and that everything was okay.

Lucas sighed heavily as he tossed the portable phone next to him on the couch. That single phone call had taken his last remaining mental and emotional strength. He brought his knees to his chest and curled up, hoping to ease some of the pain in his ravaged body.

He could feel the tears building up in his eyes as he remembered the stress of telling his mother that everything was fine. Because it wasn't. He wasn't fine, and the situation sure as hell wasn't fine.

The one thing that he had wanted to do was to run home and fall into his mother's loving embrace, but he knew that if she was informed about what had happened tohom, that she wouldn't even wasnt to be near him.

"Hey Luke" Nathan called to his brother as he watched his breathing get shallower and his expression change to a tired, devastated look. Apparently calling out to him like that wan't the best idea as Lucas stiffened greatly and ducked his head.

A shocked and terrified lucas heard the greeting that came from his brother, the one that was almost identical to the one from earlier that night.

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"Hey Luke"

Lucas turned around to give whoever was talking to him a return greeting, but as he did, a burlap sack was thrown over his head and his arms were violently jerked behind his back and secured.

"Get him in, come on, let's go..." An unknown voice ordered his assailants as he was unceremoniously thrown into the back of a car.

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Hearing those two words put together in that tone was just lik reliving what had happened to him. He knew that Nathan didn't mean it in a malicious way, but he couldn't help but to cringe at the greeting.

"Lucas, are you okay?"

Immediately when he heard the words come out of his mouth, he knew that they were stupid. Of course Lucas wasn't okay. Who would be?

He was tring to think about how to fix that little mistake as he saw Lucas give him a very dark look.

"I'm sorry Lucas, I didn't mean it like that, and I'm just not very food witht this type of thing..." Nathan rambled on as he watched his brother run his hand through his wet tousled hair in that attractive manner, meaning that he was nervous.

"What the Hell? Attractive? Where is this coming from? Come on Nate, get it together. You only feel like this because you feel sorry for Lucas."

"Yeah, whatever..."

"Well...I'm going upstairs real quick. I'll be right back." No response came from Lucas as Nathan waited for the reassurance that he would be okay.

Once upstairs in his room, Nathan went into his panic mode. His whole calm facade faded away as he stared at himself in the mirror.

His face had a few darker spots from Lucas's earlier session of freaking out. Some dried mud streaks lines parts of him, and most of all, he just looked plain tired.

He was tired of thinking how things could go so wrong so fast. It boggled his mind that a few mere hours ago he was at some lame party thinking about Haley, and now he was staying at his beach house with a devastated and ravaged Lucas, wondering if they would even make it through the night.

Nathan could even feel the sting of oncoming tears, but he would never admit that a situation could reduce him to tears.

"...I know why they did it..."

Shock and fear took over Nathan as he whipped his head around to find the mystery voice.

Lucas stood before him, his head bowed as it seemed it would forever be. Nathan's clothes hung off his body loosely as his face seemed gaunt.

Nathan examined his brother and saw the severely da,aged wrists. He had to bite his tongue to stop himself from swearing about the bruised and lacerated appendages.

"What?" Nathan spoke softly to him, trying to hide the rage and exhaustion from entering his voice. He didn't need Lucas worrying about him.

"I know why they did that to me..."

Lucas's voice seemed almost meek as he spoke. Nathan decided to take the bait and ask why, even though he knew that there was no real valid reason for the vicious attack.

"Why?"

Lucas sighed, wondering why he thought he was ready to tell Nathan this. He wasn't sure how the other boy would take it, but he just hoped that he wouldn't get hurt once Nathan knew the real truth.

"They did it because they knew I was gay."

Out of all the possibilities that Nathan had run through, he had been the last one that he had expected.

"What?" He had to make sure he heard right. There was no way that his half-brother was gay. He was sure of it.

"I'm gay." Lucas struggled to say it again. One time was more than enough. Why was Nathan putting him through the torture of repeating the fact.

Nathan didn't believe it. HIs only brother, his only sibling was gay. One part of him had already accepted his suffering brother's sexuality, but unfortunately, that wasn't the side of him that usually showed.

His side that cared about reality and other people's reactions was the side that wouldn't accept it, and of course, this side was the one that got him accepted and worshipped at school/

"You're not gay." Nathan spoke without even looking at his brother. He busied himself with looking through his drawers for an unknown object, but if he had looked up, he would have seen the crest fallen expression that crossed Lucas's face.

"Nathan...I'm gay and I just thought you deserved to know." Nathan's statement was devastation for Lucas. Clearly Nathan detested the fact that he was homosexual, meaning that there was little to no chane that the other boy would reciprocate his more than friendly and brotherly feelings.

"Shut up, you are not gay. You're just upset and that's the only thing making you think like this." Nathan's words came out harsher than expected as he finally looked up at Lucas and noticed his face.

There were many emotions making up his mask, but the most distinguishable one that he could see was bitter realization.

Nathan regretted being so harsh wit his half-brother on this traumatic night, but he couldn't accept something so shocking. And who knew, maybe it was the tragedy that was clouding Lucas's judgement.

Or maybe it was completely true and he had just crushed Lucas's hopes for acceptance.

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His entire body ached...

His self-esteem shot...

His spirit dead...

Lucas lay awake, his eyes wide open as he stared at the grandfather clock, watching the minutes go by and counting the gongs every so often.

He knew that no sleep would grace him on this night, and frankly, he didn't want to sleep. He didn't want the demons and the fears associated with the darkness of sleep.

A lamp was dimly lit in the room; lightly he chatised himself for being so childish as to need a night light at age sixteen.

But he would rather lay awake in the light than wonder what evils lay in wake of the darkness.

A loud gong sounded throughout the house, startling Lucas. He counted along with each passing gong, a sign of the hours that had passed.

One..Two..Three...

"Damn, only three in the morning." Lucas cursed in his head. He had been hoping that it was much later than that. All he wanted to do was to wait until his mom opened the cafe and then go home and wallow in all of his self-pity.

For this one time, Lucas wouldn't be ashamed about wallowing. Before, he'd always made a point of not worrying about himself, but instead of worrying about others. But this time, he wouldn't worry about anything other than his own pain and anguish.

His anguish from his attack, and his anguish over Nathan's rejection of his sexuality and his feeling had Lucas feeling like his heart feeling like it was bleeding.

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Nathan heard the seagulls squawking outside the large windows in his beach house and groaned, instantly wondering how he ended up here.

Normally he would have a naked girl in his bed with him, but when he felt the side of the bed next to him and found only an empty bed, his memory started coming back to him.

A naked Lucas bound and raped, too frightened to be touched. He remembered trying to coax the same boy to follow him and ensure that he wasn't trying to hurt him.

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"They did it to me because they knew I was gay."

"Shut up Lucas. You're not gay."

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Nathan recalled that part vividly and cringed as he realized how harsh his tone had been. His brother didn't deserve to have such a tone thrown at him at a vulnerable time like that had been.

He rolled out of bed and placed a shirt over his head. He had no idea what to do now. Was he supposed to keep Lucas until he was ready to go home, or was he supposed to just take him home and get on with his life.

Once he was downstairs and in the living room, he searched around to find his brother.

The sheets that lay on the couch were wrinkled from usage as Nathan found himself wondering if his brother got any sleep last night, and whether he had run away from the beach house or not.

Panic filled Nathan as he thought about all of the worst case scenarios. What if Lucas had run off to the police to turn the team in? What if he had been kidnapped again? And what if Lucas had tried to hurt himself in all of his agony?

"Luke? Lucas, where are you?" Nathan telled throughout the house. He searched the whole bottom story of the house before a figure that loomed outside stopped him in his tracks.

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Lucas sat outside on the beach, curled up in his little ball, trying to lose his memories in the hypnotizing tide that came forward and backward.

Many people would say that he was doing his trademark brooding in this position. He knew that Haley would probably make a joke about him being more serious about life than her parents.

Haley...

The name would have brought a smile to his face if he didn't doubt that he could ever smile again. He had completely forgotten his plans with her to see one of their favorite movies at the local theatre, "Attack of The 50 Foot Woman"

Now that he recalled it, he had been on his way to meet Haley when he got attacked and violated.

It hurt him to even think of these words and actions.

Why couldn't he have just left his house a few minutes earlier or later? Why couldn't things just have gone right for once and let him just go see the movie with Haley? Would any of those things even made a difference?

The morning ocean breeze cut through his loose shirt and pants, sending a chill down his body. He knew that he should be freezing cold and shivering, but right now he was having trouble feeling anything but pain.

"Lucas? What the Hell are you doing out here?"

A voice behind him startled him out of his catatonic state, making his defenses instantly go up.

The voice brought a different sadness to his shattered soul. It was different from the agony that was brought from his attack.

He was still thinking of the possibility that Nathan had been responsible for this particularly personal hazing attack. And last night when he tried to show Nathan who he really was, he was yelled at and turned away.

Clearly Nathan was no a homosexual and had no chance of ever returning his feelings of longing.

"Luke...Are you okay?" He heard the voice of his brother behind him and went back into his catatonic state of not reacting to his surroundings.

He really wished that Nathan would stop asking him that question. He knew that his half-brother meant well, but he couldn't really answer it.

What was he even supposed to say to that?

"Yeah Nate, I'm fine and dandy. I've gotten over brutal violation with in a few hours. Want to go play some basketball?"

Lucas just decided to continue to be unresponsive. He figured that it was the best way to deal with the situation at hand.

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Nathan was stumped as what to do with his brother as the other boy say in the sand, unmoving and without an expression on his face.

Once again, he asked Lucas if he was okay, and once again, he wanted to shove his foot in his mouth. But he thought he got away with it when he saw no change in Lucas's face.

Nathan shivered as the wind cut through his body; he wrapped his arms around his chest and peered away from the sunrise and back to Lucas.

He could see the goose bumps dotting his skin and making the hair on the blonde boy's arms rise up in the chill. It was then that he noticed that Lucas was lightly shaking from the cold conditions on the beach.

"Let' go inside, it's kind of cold out here." Nathan noted ans hoped that he wouldn't have to resort to luring his brother into the house like he had done the previous night.

Luckily though, as soon as he stood up and began walking away, he heard the rustling of clothing that indicated that Lucas was following.

He turned and looked behind him at Lucas and cringed when he saw how bad of shape that his body was in.

Lucas was walking very awkwardly, looking extremely sore, but he wouldn't mention it to him, in fear of upsetting him and causing another outburst like the one last night after Nathan had so carelessly grabbed him.

Inside the beach house, Lucas took a very tentative seat on one of the kitchen chairs.

The whole bottom half of his body was in pain, along with his shoulder sockets from the harsh handling the night before.

"Are you hungry?" Nathan hesitantly asked Lucas in an attempt to force him to communicate.

Lucas nearly gagged at the mere mention of food. He could still taste the murky creek water that had seeped into his mouth after being thrown into the water.

He could barely believe that the previous night that he had been looking forward to eating buttery popcorn, with sodas and then going to his mom's cafe for some of her famous rich chocolate cake.

At this point of thought, Lucas had no doubt that if he hadn't already drained his stomach of all its contents, then he would be hunched over the toilet, painfully heaving his guts out.

Nathan's hope drained a little bit more when he saw the slight shake of Lucas's head, signaling that food was not one of his priorities.

"I want to go home."

Nathan was struck with shock mid swallow of his cereal when he heard the first words of the morning come from his seemingly mute companion.

He knew that it was only reasonable that Lucas would want to go home after such a traumatic event, but in some selfish way, he didn't want him to go.

In some way, he felt like Lucas's recovery was his responsibility and his only, and he almost felt some pride that he was doing his brother some good after causing him so much pain.

"Uh yeah, sure, I'll drive you home, just let me get dressed first." Nathan put his used cereal bowl and spoon into the dishwasher. He peered back at his brother form over his shoulder.

Lucas was staring at him in a longing, yet guarded look in his nearly lifeless eyes. Nathan noticed that immediately when he ws caught staring that Lucas converted his eyes back down to the granite counter.

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By the time that Nathan had left the room, Lucas was about to the point of cursing himself for acting so vulnerable.

How much of a stupid ass could he be?

What kind of person that had any sort of common sense would tell his worst enemy that he was gay, and then have the nerve to expect any sort of acceptance? And then to stare at that same enemy like a little school girl with a crush!

Lucas was well aware that he had just set himself up for more than just illegitimate and bastard jokes at school now.

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"It's the fourth house on the left."

Nathan nodded while he drove his SUV through the other side of town to drive Lucas home.

He had been more than surprised as his brother gave him directions. The side of town that he lived on was not what Nathan was used to.

The neighborhood was literally on the wrong side of the tracks and as the houses got smaller and the surroundings bleaker, he grew to understand just what his father had done to Lucas and his mother by abandoning them.

He also began to regret all of the street trash and the poor snubs that he used to rub in Lucas's face during school.

The neighborhood that he was currently driving through wasn't as seedy as some in Tree Hill, but the houses were still miniscule compared to where Nathan lived.

Screeching brakes sounded as Nathan pulled his car to a stop in front of the house that Lucas had indicated.

The awkwardness suddenly became very apparent in the car as Lucas hesitated to get out of the car. He had no idea what to say or do.

Was he supposed to just say thanks and leave?

That made the whole situation sound very nonchalant while it was really such a major traumatic event.

Peering up from his blonde lockes, Lucas wanted to see what Nathan' reactions were. The only thing he dreaded seeing was an indifferent look.

If indifference was what convered those gorgeous blue eyes, Luca was sure that the only part of him that held any hope of him and Nathan being more than enemies would shatter permanently. Because it would mean that the only reason his half-brother was even doing this was because he felt guilty that such a hazing prank had gone so far beyond all limitations.

But as his eyes spotted Nathan's, he was shocked to in fact find a guilty looking face. It devastated him.

So Nathan didn't really want to do this to help him at all. All he was to Nathan was a burden, and those few nice words had been a lie.

"Thanks..."

Lucas mumbled, trying not to include his anguish in his tone of voice. He quickly got out of the car and walked as fast as he could without agitating his injuries, wanting to just escape into his room for the comfort that the familiar surroundings offered him.

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Nathan continues watching his brother's house in amazement that one decision made seventeen years ago could have such drastic and lasting consequences.

Guilt was one of the only distingushable emotions that Nathan could pull out of the mess that he was at the moment.

It was guilt that his father chose him and his mother over Lucas and Karen. There was guilt that he got to have all of the opportunities while Lucas was only given one chance on a whim from their coach.

Out of nowhere he heard a barely audible thank yo before the car door slammed.

Jerking his head over to the disturbance, he saw a clearly distraught Lucas hobbling to his front door, where he reached under the door mat to find the bronze key that went into the front door.

Nathan wanted to call out to Lucas and say something, anything really, but it came to him that there was nothing to say. He had planned the kidnapping in the first place, and he had planned many of other pranks too.

But he hadn't meant for this one to get so far out of hand. It wasn't supposed to include rape.

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Lucas slammed the front door to his house as hard as he could and slid down to the floor on the other side of it.

The smells of lemon detergent and floral decorations greeted his senses, granting him some semblance of comfort. He liked these scents more than the stiff smell of new leather furniture and ocean air that the beach house provided. And he liked it so much better than the rank stench of mud and murky water that haunted his nostrils.

For a few moments, he just rested on the wood floor of the entry way, swallowing back his emotions and attempting to deaden his senses to block out all the touches, sights, smells, sounds and tastes that so cruelly reminded him of the horrid attack that his body suffered.

The sight of the car driving away in the darkness, leaving him all alone with his pain...

The brutal touches that came from his assailants as they beat him and violated him...

The sounds of skin hitting skin, and zippers being pulled down, along with denim being removed...

The smell of the sweaty boys and the mud that he had been thrown down on to before he knew the extent of the attack...

The tastes of blood as Lucas bit the inside cheeks of his mouth and the murky water that had flowed into his mouth...

Each and every vivid sense made Lucas's breathing heavy and laborious in the attempt to stop the tears from flowing down his face in rivers.

Minutes later, Lucas gained the strength to stand up and walk over to the kitchen table to where he knew that his mother would leave a note for him.

And he was right. A piece of floral decorated paper lay on the kitchen table, along with a piece of the chocolate cake that he had been so looking forward to the night before.

"Luke sweetie, I hope that everything went okay with you and Nathan last night, you sounded very upset on the phone last night and I am just worried. I'm working an all day shift at the cafe today and I won't be home until late. I hope that you'll come by and see me today, I want to see my baby. I left you some of your favorite chocolate cake from last night, I know that it always makes you feel better. I love you baby, Mom

P.S, Haley isn't very happy that you ditched her last night. I suggest that you call and fix that as soon as you can."

Lucas wanted to crack a smile at the note, he really did, but the facial muscles just wouldn't work. He couldn't find the strength in himself to grin at the dry humor that the post note left.

Tossing the note back on the table, Lucas stared at the rich brown color of the cake in front of him. His mother was right, the sweet food nearly always put him in a better mood. But today he could hardly bear to look at it without gagging from memories of what could have been a nice and peaceful night.

Re-reading the note a few more times and relishing in the nice words of love that his mother left him, Lucas began to feel guilty. Normally he would have never hesitated to make his way down to his mother's cafe to spend time with her, maybe helpher wait on a few tables, but today, his strength was just too far gone to pretend that everything was okay.

Because nothing was...and it didn't seem like it ever would be again...

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Thanks again to Miss Meehan for permission to use her plot.