ice || luke

by kissesforyou

Summary:

Luke has to think quickly when the ice under your feet starts breaking — literally.

Crack.

The ice beneath you cracked, leaving you standing on what felt like a ticking time bomb. Luke, Bonnie and Clem all turned in your direction, eyes widening, panic painting their expressions. You froze on the spot, unsure of what your next move was. “Y/N!” Luke called your name, already inching across the ice closer to you. Clem followed suit.

“Don’t-!” you exclaimed, “Don’t come any closer!”

Luke froze, caught between instinct and reason. “Just stay calm, alright? Don’t move,” he said, voice trembling ever so slightly.

Your legs wobbled, breath hitching in your throat as another soft crack echoed beneath your feet. The ice groaned like it was angry. “I know not to move, Luke,” you snapped, trying to keep the fear out of your voice, but your eyes flicked downward anyway. Bad idea. All you saw was a sheet of thinning ice and dark, swirling water underneath.

Bonnie grabbed Clem’s shoulder and pulled her back a bit. “We can’t all crowd her. The ice won’t hold,” she hissed, voice tight with fear.

Luke ignored her. “Y/N, look at me. Hey, hey, eyes up, sweetheart.” His voice was gentle now, like it was just the two of you again, curled up in an old cabin and not about to fall through a frozen lake. “I got you, alright? You’re not gonna fall. Just… reach out your hand, nice and slow.”

“Luke…” you whispered, voice cracking. “If I go under-”

“You’re not,” he said, still stepping forward despite your protests.

“ Luke, no! ” you shouted, warning him not to come any closer. You glanced at Bonnie and gave her a look, which she seemed to understand. She moved to hold Luke back, grabbing his arm. Bonnie gritted her teeth as she yanked Luke back. “Don’t be stupid, Luke! She told you not to move!” she barked.

Luke fought her grip, his eyes locked on you with desperation burning in them. “I have to get to her! I’m not just gonna stand here and watch her-”

“Luke,” you cut him off, your voice firm despite the terror boiling in your chest. “You can’t save me if we both fall in.”

And then, like a horror movie playing on fast-forward, groaning snarls erupted from behind. More walkers. Of course.

Clementine turned to look behind you. “They’re coming!”

You turned your head just slightly, enough to see silhouettes shambling onto the lake, their limbs stiff from the cold but still deadly. There were too many of them, and you were in the middle of the lake with ice thinner than tissue paper. Perfect. Your heart pounded harder. You knew what had to be done. “Bonnie,” you called. She turned to you, wide-eyed. “Buy me time. Shoot the walkers behind us. Now!”

Clem didn’t wait. She was already raising her gun, her small hands steady despite the situation. One shot cracked through the cold air, echoing across the lake as the first walker dropped. Bonnie followed suit, fumbling slightly but firing with shaky determination. Luke was yelling something, probably your name again, but you barely heard it. Because now the ice was seriously groaning, screaming, practically. And you knew you were running out of time.

You tried to shift your weight slowly, carefully moving one foot toward a thicker part of the ice, eyes flicking around for anything more solid. “Y/N, stop !” Luke’s voice came again.

“I’m not just gonna wait to die, Luke!” you shouted back.

He struggled against Bonnie again, managing to take another half-step closer.

“Luke, I swear to god,” your voice cracked again. “If you fall through, I’ll never forgive you.”

“I don’t care, Y/N!” he yelled. “I’m not losing you!”

A loud boom of a shot rang out, followed by a walker’s gurgling fall. “Three more!” Clem shouted.

You felt the ice shift beneath your foot. A web of cracks spread like lightning beneath you, and a chill that had nothing to do with the cold climbed up your spine. You had seconds. You looked at Luke for what could’ve possibly been the last time. “I love you,” you said, quiet but clear.

His face crumpled. “No, don’t say it like that. You’re gonna make it out of this.”

You gave him a half-smile, bitter and broken and laced with hope. “Then let me do this my way. Just keep them off me .”

Bonnie reloaded. Clem was already aiming at the next walker. Luke stood frozen, eyes wet, lips pressed tight, watching the person he loved on the verge of falling through a grave of ice and water.

And then the ice beneath you gave a snap like a bone breaking, and you dropped, straight into the freezing dark.

One second you were standing on a slippery miracle, the next you were in it, or rather under it. The lake swallowed you whole, dragging you down like it had been waiting all along. Ice water wrapped around your body like chains, shocking the air right out of your lungs. You couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t see. Everything was black and blue and blurry, like the whole world had shattered and you’d fallen straight through the pieces.

Your arms flailed upward instinctively, fighting the weight of your soaked clothes. The surface shimmered just above you, distorted and too far. You reached for it, fingers numb, chest burning. The water clawed at your skin, cutting into it like glass. The pain was instant. Unforgiving. Above, muffled voices and gunshots bled through the ice, barely audible. You heard someone scream your name. It was Luke, you knew it was Luke. And then suddenly, the blurry shimmer above you broke.

A hand plunged through the water like a lifeline sent by the universe.

Luke.

His fingers wrapped around your arm, and then both arms, and then you were yanked, violently, desperately, upward. The ice cracked further under the strain of your combined weight, but Luke didn’t let go. He refused to. His grip was iron. With a strong tug, he pulled you halfway out of the water, breath ragged. “Come on- come on , sweetheart,” he panted, locking eyes with you like he was trying to pull your soul back to the surface too. “Stay with me. Just a little more. I got you. ”

Bonnie screamed something behind him. Clementine fired another shot. But none of that mattered. Not to Luke. Not right now. He hauled you out with a roar, slipping to his knees as you crashed onto the cracked ice beside him. You were coughing violently, lips blue, soaked through and shaking uncontrollably. Your vision spun like the world had tilted sideways.

“ S’okay, sweetheart. I got you, I got you, ” Luke repeated over and over, his arms already wrapped around you, picking you up to continue towards the house.

Your teeth chattered so hard it hurt, but you clung to him like your life depended on it because, honestly, it did. You couldn’t feel your fingers. Your soaked clothes clung to you like icy cement, and your arm was burning from where the ice had sliced into it. Luke didn’t stop moving. “Just a little farther,” he whispered, almost to himself. “You’re gonna be okay. You’re gonna be okay, baby, I promise.” His voice cracked halfway through the sentence, but he kept going.

You tried to speak, to say you were fine, but your jaw wouldn’t cooperate. Your body felt like it was shutting down, piece by piece, and the pain in your arm was making everything fuzzy.

Bonnie ran ahead, kicking open the door of the unfinished house Arvo had led you to. Luke stumbled inside with you in his arms, lowering you onto the dusty floor. His hands were almost shaking worse than yours, hovering over you like he didn’t know what to do first. You were soaked to the bone, your breaths coming in shallow, wheezy gasps. His eyes flicked from your face to your arm to your chest, and then back to your face again. “Shit. Okay. Okay. We need to warm you up. Now.”

Jane spoke, “I got it.” She disappeared, searching the house for firewood or anything else that would work.

Luke held you in his arms, wrapping them around you to give you any sort of warmth for now, not caring about the fact that he, too, was now getting soaked.

“B-babe?” you asked, voice slurred.

Luke’s head snapped down to you, eyes wide and full of panic. “I’m here. I’m right here, baby,” he whispered, pressing his forehead to yours like he could will your body heat back just by being close. “You’re okay. I got you. I got you.”

Your eyes fluttered, barely staying open. “So…tired…” you mumbled, and Luke was just about able to make out the words.

“No, no, no, don’t do that, sweetheart, stay with me,” Luke whispered fast, panicked, his arms tightening around you. “You gotta stay awake, alright? Please.” His voice cracked again, more desperate now, like the thought of losing you was physically tearing him apart. “Don’t close your eyes, not yet.”

Kenny was pacing like a caged animal, his boots scraping the wooden floor with every stomp. He kept glancing at you, wrapped up in Luke’s arms, your lips still blue, your body shaking uncontrollably. The silence in the room, save for your gasps and Luke whispering reassurances, was suffocating.

Then, Kenny looked at Arvo. “You son of a bitch. This is your fuckin’ fault!” Kenny accused, choosing to direct his anger at the Russian.

“Kenny. Don’t man,” Mike tried to step in and diffuse the situation.

“Don’t what ?” fumed Kenny.

Mike responded, “It’s nobody’s damn fault.”

“The hell it ain’t!”

“He’s just a scared kid. This ain’t on him,” Mike defended Arvo, or rather attempted to do so.

Kenny glanced around the house. “Look at this place. Just a stack of fuckin’ toothpicks. Bet those magical ‘supplies’ are bullshit, too. What? No speaka de English?” Kenny lashed out, shoving Arvo.

You couldn’t do anything, and you could feel Luke tense up next to you at the argument unfolding before you.

Arvo was silent for a few beats, then he spoke, his brows lowering. “Fuck you.”

“You fuckin’ Commie piece of shit.” Kenny punched Arvo square in the face, causing him to drop to the floor.

“Kenny!” Mike called, trying to get him to stop, but to no avail. Those two words had been enough to push Kenny over the edge. Yet Kenny didn’t stop there.

He punched Arvo again, which led to Arvo repeating his earlier words, “Fuck you…”

Kenny paused, and then blow after blow rained down on Arvo. “You mother-” Hit . “Fucker!” Another hit. “Piece of-” Again. “Shit!”

“ Stop it! ” Mike yelled, trying to grab Kenny, but he shoved him off, eyes crazed with fury.

Your throat burned with every ragged gasp, your body trembling like a leaf in a storm. You could barely lift your head, but you could still hear it. Kenny's fists connecting with skin and bone, the sickening thud of each punch. The crack of knuckles. Arvo’s weak grunts of pain. Mike yelling. The whole room felt like it was spinning, and all you could think was make it stop .

Luke’s arms were still tight around you, his body heat barely cutting through the ice in your bones. His jaw was clenched so tight you thought his teeth might crack. His whole body was stiff — not just from the cold, but from the fight breaking out right in front of him, one he wasn’t getting up to stop because you were still half-conscious in his lap.

Gathering what little energy you had left in your frozen, aching body, you forced out a yell that scraped your throat raw, burning from the effort. "Kenny! Stop! " you rasped, voice louder than you'd thought possible in your state. Everything halted. Kenny’s fist hung midair, his chest heaving, blood smeared across his knuckles. Everyone in the room turned toward you. Even Arvo, blood trickling from his busted lip, blinked in disbelief.

Luke pulled you tighter into his chest. “Easy, sweetheart,” he murmured into your hair. “Don’t push yourself.”

The moment Kenny’s eyes met yours — your blue lips trembling, Luke cradling you like a lifeline, your whole body shivering — his shoulders slumped. “You should be resting,” he muttered.

“I’ll rest when you stop beating the life outta a kid who’s just as scared as the rest of us,” you shot back, though your words slurred from exhaustion and the cold.

The fight drained out of Kenny in one breath. He stared for a beat, fists clenched tight at his sides. Then, finally, he turned away from Arvo with a grunt, wiping the blood from his knuckles. The room stayed tense, thick with the kind of air you could cut with a knife, but the immediate storm passed. Kenny stomped away, muttering under his breath, leaving Arvo coughing weakly on the floor, blood dotting the dusty wood. Mike crouched beside the kid, checking his face for anything too bad while Bonnie hovered awkwardly near the door like she wasn’t sure whether to check on you or stay out of it.

Jane returned then, kicking the door shut with her boot and dropping a bundle of wood on the floor. “Found enough for a fire,” she announced, voice clipped. Her eyes darted to you in Luke’s arms, and even she winced a little. “We need to move fast.”

“Yeah,” Luke breathed, his arms never leaving you. “Help me get her warmed up.”

Jane crouched by the half-busted fireplace, her hands moving quickly as she started stacking a pile of wood. Clem appeared beside her with some matches, jaw set and eyes fierce like always. Luke pressed his lips to your temple, his breath shaky. “Hang in there, baby. They’re getting the fire goin’, you hear me? You’re gonna be okay.” He said it like if he repeated it enough, it’d make it true.

You barely managed a nod, your face buried against his chest. Everything hurt. Every nerve felt raw and frozen, and your arm was still bleeding sluggishly where the ice had bit into it. But you weren’t dead, and right now, that was enough.

“Luke,” Jane called, her voice a little softer now. “Bring her closer.”

He scooped you up without hesitation, carrying you over to the flickering flames Jane and Clem were coaxing to life. “Luke… I-I’m sorry,” you whispered, voice rough and barely there.

Luke’s head snapped down. “What? What’re you apologisin’ for?”

Your teeth chattered so hard it made your whole skull vibrate, but you still forced the words out. “I didn’t listen… should’ve waited. Should’ve trusted you.”

Luke lowered himself beside the fire with you in his lap, the glow flickering against his face, warm but not nearly enough yet. He tucked you into his chest like he was trying to shield you from everything — the cold, the fear, the guilt, even yourself. “Don’t you dare apologise, Y/N,” he said, his voice rough with emotion. “You were trying to survive. You did survive. That’s all that matters.”

“I almost didn’t.” You curled your fingers weakly into his shirt, clinging like he was the only solid thing left in the world.

“But you’re here,” he whispered, his breath catching, arms curling tighter around you. “You’re here with me, and I’m not lettin’ go. Not ever.” He paused, lost in thought for a few moments then spoke, “You scared the shit outta me.”

“Yeah?” you croaked with a ghost of a smirk. “You looked like you were gonna cry.”

He let out a weak, choked laugh, brushing your wet hair back from your forehead. “I still might. Don’t push your luck.”

The fire finally caught strong, casting flickering gold across the room. Clem knelt beside you, handing Luke a rag and motioning toward your arm. “You need to clean that. Fast.”

“Right,” he said, shifting you just slightly so he could get a better look. When he pulled back your sleeve, his stomach clenched at the sight. The ice had sliced deep, raw and angry against your skin. He pressed the cloth gently to it, and you hissed, fingers twitching.

“Sorry, sorry,” he muttered.

“It’s okay,” you breathed. “You’re better than Jane’s first aid.”

“Hey,” Jane said, without looking up from the fire, but her lips twitched. Clem cracked a small smile too, just barely. Even Bonnie let out the tiniest exhale that might’ve been a laugh, though her eyes were still on Arvo, cautious.

As Luke tended to your wound, the room slowly began to stabilise again, tense but not explosive. Kenny sat stiffly in the corner, arms crossed, clearly still stewing, but silent for now. Mike stayed by Arvo, offering quiet words you couldn’t make out. And the fire kept growing, warm enough that your fingers finally started to tingle with pain from the return of circulation.

You leaned your head against Luke’s shoulder, your breath starting to even out. “Luke…”

“Yeah?”

You reached up, fingers clumsy and shaking, and brushed your knuckles along his jaw. “You didn’t have to come after me. You could’ve fallen in too.”

“I had to,” he said instantly, like it wasn’t even a question. “I wasn’t about to stand there and let the person I love drown.”

You blinked at him slowly, your heart kicking weakly in your chest, and despite the pain, despite the cold, despite everything, a tiny smile tugged at the corners of your lips.

“You said it,” you whispered.

He frowned. “Said what?”

“You love me.”

Luke’s cheeks flushed slightly, and he looked away, somewhat sheepish. “Well… yeah. ‘Course I do. Thought that was obvious by this point.”

You let out a soft, raspy laugh and closed your eyes for a second. “Just wanted to hear you say it.”

“I love you, Y/N. I love you so damn much.”

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 3 of TWDG imagines & headcanons