I don't own anything recognizable.
Riker walked towards the living room, a confused expression on his face. "Lillian, are they..?"
Lillian nodded. "Yeah." She motioned for Ross and Skylar to stand up, so they did and turned around, facing Riker.
Riker made eye contact with Ross and both of them just stared at each other, as if they were trying to process each other.
"This is awkward." Skylar whispered into Lillian's ear.
Lillian nodded, then tried to break the silence. "Um, well, Riker, this is my sister, Skylar." she introduced.
Riker broke the eye contact with Ross and looked at Skylar. He smiled at her. "Skylar? Wow, I almost didn't recognize you. Actually, no, I didn't recognize you at all."
Skylar giggled. "Well, I changed my look so no one would know it's me."
Lillian joined in on the conversation. "Well, Riker, as you have met Skylar, um, well, you should know that... that's-" she motioned towards Ross, "-your brother, Ross."
Riker turned to look at Ross again, and his smile faded a bit. It was still there, but it faded a bit. "Um, hey."
Ross just stared at Riker, trying to recognize him. He furrowed his eyebrows, then squeezed his eyes shut as he tried hard to remember his brother.
Flashbacks occurred in his head. He remembered having fun and enjoying time with Riker. He also remembered a few other people, but their faces were a blur. But at least, he could recognize Riker.
Ross opened his eyed and looked up towards Riker, who seemed worried.
"Ross, are you okay?" Riker asked.
Ross nodded and gasped out, "Riker?"
"Do you remember me?" Riker asked.
Ross smiled wide and immediately hugged his brother. "Yes! I miss you so much! I miss you! I can't believe it's really you! I thought we'd never see each other again!" By now, his eyes were filled with tears.
Riker was stunned at first, but then he hugged his brother back tightly. "I miss you too. I'm glad we can see each other again."
"This is so sweet. I love their reunion." Skylar whispered to Lillian.
Lillian smiled and turned to her sister. "Me too. It's just like how we had ours three years ago."
Ross and Riker pulled apart and examined each other.
"Ross, where have you been this whole time?" Riker asked.
Ross shook his head. "It doesn't matter really. At least I'm back here now and not there. How about you? Where were you?"
"I... Texas. Wait, you were in Russia, right? How did you get here? And how was it there?" Riker asked.
"Horrible." Ross muttered, but Riker heard him. Then Ross said, "Skylar helped me get here."
"Why was it horrible? And what happened there? Ross, tell me." Riker said.
Ross shook his head. "No, I... I'm tired. I think I wanna take a rest."
"Um, Ross." Skylar called. "I know you're hurt. Let Lily and I take care of you first."
"Hurt? What do you mean he's hurt?" Riker asked, then turned to Ross again. "What? Where are you hurt?"
Ross didn't answer, but then he, Riker, Skylar, and Lillian all shared glances with each other. It went on for five whole minutes.
"Okay, that's it!" Lillian suddenly broke the silence. "Ross, go and talk to Riker. Sky, come with me."
Ross and Riker somehow went into Riker's room while Skylar and Lillian went into Lillian's room.
Lillian closed the door and turned to Skylar. "What are we gonna do about them?"
Skylar shrugged. "Well, we got them reunited. We just need to find Rocky, Rydel, and Ryland."
"No," Lillian started, "what I meant was, what do we do now? Rocky and Rydel are in the same place - I forgot to mention that I found that out - , but Ryland's in some other place in Atlanta, and there's only you and me. We can't go find them and leave Ross and Riker here alone."
Skylar shrugged. "I don't know. You're older, figure it out."
Lillian thought for a moment. "We need at least one more person to take care of them."
"I got an idea!" Skylar exclaimed. "You know who kept calling me for thousands of times? And I answered her once?"
Lillian tilted her head. "Who?"
Skylar sighed. "I forgot to tell you, didn't I? Well, it's Alyssa. I think it's time to tell her the truth."
Lillian gasped and her eyes went wide. "But you know what you have to do, then. Right?"
Skylar nodded. "I know that we're only gonna tell her once we get everyone reunited, but this plan isn't working perfectly. I think we should get Ross and Riker back to their family first."
Lillian shook her head. "No! Absolutely not! It'll put them in danger again. Especially because Ross hasn't gotten his full memory back!"
Skylar shook her head. "Make sure the media doesn't know about Ross and Riker. We can discuss it with the Lynches."
Lillian thought for a bit. "Well, not such a bad idea. But you do realize that it would mean we have to come out and admit we're still alive, right? You wanna accept that fact?"
Skylar nodded. "Yes. As long as we can get them back together, it's worth it."
"Okay, so, what do we have to talk about?" Riker asked.
Ross shrugged. "How about some catching up?"
Riker nodded. "Yeah, sure. So... what did you have to do in Russia?"
Ross frowned. "I choose not to talk about it."
Riker frowned too. "Why? Ross, I'm your brother, it's alright, you can talk to me about anything."
Ross shook his head. "No. Not about this one. I even broke down when I told Cynthia about everything." he choked on his words when he mentioned Cynthia.
"Who's Cynthia?" Riker asked.
Ross shook his head again. "It's a long story."
Riker sighed. "Look, I went through tough times too, so I can understand what you feel. You can tell me everything, Ross. It's gonna be okay. Don't keep everything in, it won't do you any good, okay?"
Ross nodded and sniffed. "Okay."
Riker smiled slightly and hugged his brother for a few seconds before pulling away. "Now, what happened to you?"
Ross took a deep breath, and with tears starting to stream down, he started his story. "Well, three years ago, a day after I was moved to Russia...
*Flashback*
Three years ago.
"Come on, popstar, just do as I tell you and you won't get hurt." Dave said as he saw Ross backing up to the wall.
Ross shook his head. "N-No. What are y-you gonna do? I wanna go back home!"
Dave smirked. "Do you wanna do this the easy way or the hard way?"
Ross shook his head again, then darted his eyes all over the room, before spotting the door and running over to it. He began trying to unlock the door and pounding on it.
"Let me out! Let me out! Help! Please! Help me! Get me out of here!" he yelled, non-stop pounding.
Dave stormed over to him and pulled him back roughly, throwing him to the ground. "Shut up you little punk!"
"Please let me out! Please! Please, I wanna go home! Please! Why are you doing this? Let me go home!" Ross sobbed, curling up into a ball.
Dave roughly hoisted him up and pinned him against the wall. "You listen to me or I'll kill you, got it?"
Ross nodded. "Okay, okay! Please let go! You're hurting me!"
Dave let go of Ross and sent him a glare. "First, stop crying and acting like a baby. Act like a man!"
Ross nodded and stopped sobbing, wiping his tears away. "Yes sir."
Dave smirked. "Good boy. Now, take off your clothes."
"No!" Ross protested. "Why?"
"Just do it!" Dave growled.
Ross fought to keep his tears away as he reluctantly undressed. "What now, sir?"
Dave smirked wider. "Get on the bed."
-A few months later-
"No, please! What are you doing?" An 18-year-old boy asked as he struggled when he was forced to kneel down.
"Shut up!" Dave growled. He then turned towards Ross.
Ross looked back and forth between the older boy and Dave, and he then came to the correct conclusion. "No, you don't want me to..."
"That's exactly what I want. Kill him, Ross." Dave ordered.
"Ross? Ross, you're here?" The 18-year-old asked. He couldn't see as his eyes were blindfolded.
"Yes. I'm here, Tyler." Ross answered before looking at Dave again. "Please don't force me to do this. Please!"
Dave shook his head and handed Ross a gun, before pointing another gun at him. "Do it. It's either you or him, Ross."
Ross shook his head. "Please! I can't do it! Please don't force me to do this!"
Dave forcefully grabbed Ross by the shoulders and turned him around to face Tyler. "Do it or I'll kill you."
Ross shakily brought the gun up and aimed towards Tyler. He took shaky breaths before placing his finger on the trigger. He almost pulled, but he brought the gun down. "I can't do this! I just can't!"
Dave pulled the safety from the gun he was holding and pressed it against Ross' neck. "Just do it. It's either you or him."
Ross let out a sob as he brought the gun up. He squeezed his eyes shut, whispering, "I'm sorry." before pulling the trigger.
-One year later-
Ross was sleeping when he heard a small thud. He woke up immediately, and saw a brunette girl in front of him. She looked so scared.
Ross quickly approached her, but she crawled back in fear. "Please don't hurt me." she whimpered.
Ross smiled slightly. "I won't, I promise."
The girl seemed to examine him before saying, "A-Aren't you Ross Lynch?"
Ross tilted his head. "Uh, yeah. Why?"
The girl shook her head. "The news about you and R5 is really huge. They didn't stop looking for you."
Ross furrowed his eyebrows. "R5? What's R-"
"Why are you here?" The girl asked, subconsciously cutting him off.
Ross shook his head. "I... don't know. I was brought here."
"Me too." The girl sighed.
"What's your name?" Ross asked.
"I'm Cynthia." The girl answered.
"How old are you?" Ross asked again.
"Um, my 15th birthday's in two days." Cynthia answered again.
"Oh. Well, I'm already 15." Ross stated.
Cynthia smiled slightly, but didn't say anything.
"So, tell me about yourself." Ross said.
Cynthia nodded. "Well, I'm..."
-A few months later-
"Thanks for standing up for me, Ross. He would've done worse if you hadn't." Cynthia said, snuggling up to Ross.
The blonde wrapped and arm around her shoulders. "I'd do anything for you, Cynthia. You're the only one I have."
Cynthia smiled. "And you're the only one I have. I don't wanna lose you."
Ross smiled. "You won't lose me. I'll be with you, forever and ever." Silence took over for a moment, until Ross chuckled, saying, "We act like a couple."
Cynthia giggled. "Yeah."
Ross looked down at her. "Is that what you want us to be? A couple?"
Cynthia looked up at him, meeting his eyes. "Well, all you gotta do is ask in the right way."
Ross smiled and chuckled. "Well then. Cynthia I-don't-know-your-middle-name Gordon, would you want to be my girlfriend?"
Cynthia smiled wide and without answering, pressed her lips into Ross' and they kissed for several seconds before pulling away.
She whispered in his ear, "Ross Shor Lynch, I accept. And I am never telling you my middle name." (A/N: Small reference to couples & careers lol)
-Another year later-
"Get in here, Ross." Dave ordered.
Ross slowly got off his chair in the corner of the room and made his way towards Dave. "Yes sir?"
"What is it with you and Cynthia?" Dave asked.
Ross shook his head. "I-It's nothing, s-sir."
"It better be nothing." Dave warned. "Now, take off your shirt."
Ross frowned. He knew what was gonna happen next. Luckily, it was just a beating and not the other...thing.
He took off his shirt and squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the pain. Eventually, it came with a blow to his ribs. Then another, and another, and another, to his stomach, chest, ribs, and every other part of his body. Dave was using him as a punching bag, like, literally.
By the time he was done, Ross was on the ground, breathing really heavily.
"Get up." Dave growled.
Ross slowly got up, trying really hard to ease the pain.
"Put your shirt back on and get back to your and Cynthia's room." Dave ordered.
Ross did as he was told, and that was when his suicidal thoughts began. Although, he never really meant those thoughts as he didn't really want to die.
*Flashback over*
...it got worse and worse every time he did that. He was also gonna kill me, but Skylar came just in time. If not, I... I would've... died." Ross sobbed as he finished his story.
Riker went to hug Ross again, but held himself back as he now knew that his brother was severely hurt. "Ross, can you... lift your shirt up a bit?"
Ross sniffed and nodded, slowly rolling up his shirt. "You can see it now. What they all did to me."
Riker gasped when he saw the black and blue bruises on his brother's body. Every part was covered with those. Not a single part had it's normal skin color. Not a single part.
"Ross." he gasped. "I... I'm so sorry!"
Ross shook his head, rolling his shirt back down. "It's fine. It's not your fault anywa-"
"No!" Riker cut him off. "I'm sorry that I'm not a good enough big brother for you! I let this happen! I let you get hurt, and I let Rydel get raped and get pregnant! I-"
"Wait, wait! Rydel? Who-"
"She's our sister!" Riker immediately said. "See? I let you lose your memory! I'm not a good enough big brother for any of you! Not to mention I don't know what happened to Rocky and Ryland! I couldn't protect you guys, I'm so sorry for that!"
"What's going on in here?" Lillian asked, suddenly entering the room.
"I'm not good enough! I couldn't protect any of you, I couldn't help you! All I could do was just... nothing! I couldn't do anything! I..." Riker ranted on.
"I don't know, I'm not sure. He saw my bruises and started ranting like that." Ross told Lillian.
"...and not to mention I had that fight with our dad that morning, and I also didn't know how everything would happen! I'm so irresponsible! I let you suffer for three whole years! I can't..." Riker continued ranting.
"Lily? Ross? Woah, what's up with Riker?" Skylar asked, suddenly entering the room like Lillian did earlier.
Lillian turned to her sister. "Sky, take care of Ross. You know how to treat wounds, right? Well, do it with Ross, then let him take a shower and rest."
Skylar nodded and took Ross' hand. "Come on."
"But how about Riker?" Ross asked.
"Lily can handle him." Skylar assured as she led Ross out of the room.
Once they were gone, Lillian turned to Riker and gently grabbed his shoulders. "Riker? Riker, calm down. Hey, hey, calm down, Riker."
"...and he was right too. I mean, he could've driven us to school that day, but then again, that wouldn't make much difference as we were taken in school. But- oh wait, Rydel has kids, how could I forget that? I swear I'm gonna kill that guy who did that to her! And also the people who did this to you, I..." Riker kept ranting on. He actually thought he was still talking to Ross.
Lillian sighed and gave up on shaking Riker. She immediately hugged him to try and get him to calm down at least a little bit. When it didn't worse, she leaned up and kissed his cheek. It sorta worked. Sorta.
"...and, I don't even... I don't know how we got into this mess, and... Oh God, Ross, I can't... wait, where's Ross?" Riker snapped out of his rant when he didn't see his brother.
"He's with Skylar. Apparently, your rant was freaking him out." Lillian joked as she pulled away.
Riker panicked immediately. "Oh no, did I scare him? Did he get a flashback or something?" Obviously, he didn't realize that Lillian was joking.
"I was kidding." Lillian stated. "He's fine. Skylar's treating his bruises right now."
Riker sighed. "He wouldn't have gotten those bruises if I was a better b-"
"Stop right there." Lillian commanded, putting a finger on his lips. "You're not a bad brother. You did everything you could."
"But look, Ross is severely hurt, Rydel has kids from her rapist, and I don't even know where Rocky and Ryland are. That's if they're still alive!" Riker said as he removed Lillian's finger from his lips.
Lillian shook her head. "It's not because of you, Riker. I know what it's like being the oldest sibling. I know it makes you feel as though you have to do everything and protect everyone. But you really don't have to."
"What do you mean?" Riker asked.
Lillian sighed. "I'm the oldest out of three siblings; me, Skylar, and Alyssa. When Jedd killed our mom, I was 15, Skylar was 13, and Alyssa was only 7. Automatically, I felt the need to take care of my sisters as I knew how Jedd could be. But it caused me to almost die. Jedd pulled the trigger on me when I was 17, and I blacked out for a while. Luckily, when he thought I was dead, he threw me to the nearest river. A fisherman found me and took me to his home. He treated me until I was well, but a few days later, he died of old age. That was when I realized that I had been too hard on myself."
"What are you trying to say?" Riker asked.
Lillian smiled. "Don't be too hard on yourself, Riker. Being the oldest doesn't mean that you have to be responsible for everything. If you accept that fact, everything will fall into place and be just fine."
"So, you're basically trying to tell me that I was trying too hard to be a good big brother?" Riker asked.
Lillian nodded. "Yeah, you don't have to try, because you already are a good big brother. If you're not, Ross wouldn't remember you. He remembered the good times he had with you, and that makes you a good enough big brother already."
Riker smiled. "Thanks, Lillian. I never thought of it that way until today."
Lillian smiled back. "You're welcome."
"Ross, please take off your shirt." Skylar asked calmly for what seemed like the 6th time.
Ross shook his head. "No."
Skylar rolled her eyes. "Can you please, with a cherry on top, take off your shirt?"
Ross shook his head again. "No. I'm fine, Skylar. I don't need any treatment."
Skylar sighed. "Then at least do me a favor and roll up your sleeves if you don't wanna take off your shirt."
Ross sighed and started to roll his sleeves up. There were cuts and bruises everywhere. "There. Happy now?"
Skylar gasped at the sight. "Please tell me they did this to you and you didn't do it to yourself."
Ross furrowed his eyebrows. "Of course I didn't do this to myself. They did this to me. What, you think I self-harmed?"
Skylar shook her head. "Makes sense."
Ross rolled his eyes. "Well, I didn't. They did this to me, okay?"
Skylar nodded and opened up the first aid kit to take some cloth and cream. She took one of Ross' arms and gently applied the cream, before wrapping it up with the cloth.
Ross watched her do it and blinked. "Why does this seem familiar?" he asked.
Skylar smiled. "When you were still with your siblings, I used to treat your wounds and Riker's. Do you remember that?"
Ross closed his eyes and he remembered the time when his wrists were bleeding, and Skylar treated them. He also remembered when Riker had just been beaten up, and Skylar treated his wounds. He remembered that Skylar would bring them food, and clothes, and jackets, and that made him automatically remember Alyssa. He remembered them very clearly now.
He opened his eyes. "Skylar? I remember you! You're the one who helped us a lot! You... you look different." he suddenly noticed.
Skylar giggled. "Yeah, I know. I dyed my hair brown instead of black and blue. Do you like it?"
Ross nodded. "Yeah, looks... natural." Then he frowned. "You remind me of Cynthia."
Skylar frowned too. "I'm sorry, Ross. If I had seen that man earlier, she wouldn't have been killed. I'm really sorry."
Ross shook his head. "It's not your fault."
Skylar sighed and began applying the cream to Ross' other arm, before wrapping the cloth around it. "There. You can go clean yourself and take a rest. I'm sure you're tired."
Ross nodded, then tilted his head. "How am I supposed to take a shower when you just finished treating my arm? I mean, wouldn't the water wash the cream away?"
Skylar thought for a bit. "Nope, it'll be fine. The cloth is waterproof. Now, there are some clothes in the closet here and the bathroom's to your left. If you'll excuse me, I have to get ready to reveal myself to Alyssa."
A/N:
Yay! Ross and Riker reunited! Anyone else having a party right now?
Btw, that part about Alyssa suspecting that Ross self-harmed, he didn't. I don't know why I put that there.
No questions for today guys, but if you wanna ask me anything, please ask :)
Review response:
SkinnyJeansNLattes: Haha lol wow. Okay, I'm glad you agree on that one. Now you can see they reunited... without an 'ish'. Lol I'm also a Raura shipper. And that's okay, I can be weird too sometimes.
Florence(guest): You got it!
Shor5: Kaykay! Have fun in school :)
livelaughlovesing: They'll be in the next chapter, it's gonna be mostly about them. Kaykay?
Thanks for the reviews, and 3+ for the next chapter, kaykay?