Collide ♔ Tom Kaulitz

c h a p t e r ♕ f o u r t y - f o u r

I sucked in a breath at the sheer terror dripping from Bill's raspy voice. The boys fired several shots at the enemies and fire was returned back hitting the dry wall. Dust clouded the halls, filling the air with white powder.

"We have to go." Tom slid his hand into the crook of my neck squeezing slightly while he looked into my big doe eyes. His voice was anything but afraid. He was confident, ready to finish this war and claim me as his. I knelt to the ground and picked up the gun given to me by Georg. "Then let's go." I nodded.

I followed Tom up the stairs and joined our friends and comrades on the first floor of my old home. My breath was halted in my throat as i spied the dozens of bodies lying across the tan tile. The sound of a bullet zipping past my ear and imbedding itself into the white wall next to me brought my attention back to reality. I gritted my teeth and raised my gun in the direction of whomever aimed at me.

Bullets sprung from the barrel of my gun with each slight squeeze of the trigger. Shatters of glass pierced my ears from all directions as chaos erupted in the place i once called my prison. Vases exploded sending shards across the room, landing on several of the dead men.

I sensed movement coming towards Tom and with out a second to think, I shot his attacker between the eyes. Clatter on the marble stair case caught my attention and i fired two shots through the bannister before my gun clicked empty.

I flicked my thumb forward, hitting the button to release the magazine. Tom ripped my jacket backwards and shoved fully loaded magazine in the bottom of my gun grip. I slapped it shut with the palm of my non dominant hand and took my aim once more. I shot brazenly across the foyer, watching bodies drop like flies.

It felt as if it was all over in an instant. No more flashes of men running at us, no more pounding of foot steps echoing through out the halls, no more gun fire. I raised from my crouched position behind a wall and examined the madness that had unfolded.

The air was thick and heavy, weighted down with the stench of iron rich blood. The clouds of dry wall dust began to settle and i could feel death in the air. I slowly stepped over the bodies of the men who had watch me grow up, the men who i trusted to protect me. The men who died by my hand.

But the thing that plagued my mind the most? ... Why didn't i feel anything?

The guys began to clear the house, making sure we rid of every last west side soldier. Gustav shouted from the kitchen and we all reacted instinctually by running to him. I pushed open the swinging door of my mothers kitchen to reveal Gustav's gun pressed firmly under the chin of my little brother. Leonardo's eyes were as big as saucers as he pleaded silently with me.

He opened his mouth, spit stuck around the corners of his cracked lips. "Fran." He squeakily whispered. Waves of guilt and shame began to wash over my body, consuming me whole.

What kind of sister was I? Better yet, what kind of daughter was I?

I shook my head, reaching out my bruised and battered hand towards his cheek. "Francesca no." Tom commanded lowly behind me. Every pent up emotion in me then settled at once. Everything that i had done tonight made perfect sense, I went to war for the man i loved and I won.

I grabbed the handcuffs that usually adorn Bill's belt on mafia dealing nights and shackled my little brothers wrists. "Ow. Take it easy Fran." Leo spit under his breath as i tightened the steel as much as it would go. I narrowed my eyes as they bore down into his, "Oh, I'm sorry. Is this uncomfortable for you?" I asked sweetly. "Kind of." He muttered lowering his head.

I gritted my teeth and pursed my lips. "Good." I dragged him behind me, securing his arms around the bottom banister of the marble staircase. "What are you gonna do Franny? Kill your little brother!?" Leo screamed towards me as he pulled his wrists towards himself, testing the strength of the marble banister. Tom walked in slowly behind me, hanging up a call he made.

I looked into the eyes of the boy i no longer knew. He had changed so drastically in such a short amount of time.

This was a different type of heartbreak, one i had never known... betrayal.

He kneeled before me, despair painted across his face but his eyes held something i knew could never be shaken from him.

I placed the back of my swollen hand against my mouth, choking back the sob i wished so badly to let envelope me. "Please Fran... I'm just a little kid." Leonardo's bottom lip quivered. I scoffed as i stepped towards him. He shook his head, unable to believe any of this was actually happening.

"So was Alice." I muttered, pushing back the few strands of Leo's hair that were stuck to this forehead with someone else's blood. He bowed his head, refusing to meet my gaze. "I'm ashamed to say you are of my own flesh and blood." I traced the muzzle of the gun down the side of his face while his body trembled beneath my touch.

I watched a few tears escape from the corners of his eyes. I was unsure of how detached from reality Leonardo was and i was definitely unsure if he could even feel things such as empathy anymore. "I never meant it to go that far." He shook his head.

"You've always let things go too far." I chastised softly. "You just wanted her to 'relax' and now she's dead." I chuckled with pure and utter shock. How incredibly selfish could he have been? He never stopped to consider any of the repercussions or how it would impact her. No. Because he was a man in a man's world.

"You just wanted to betray me to earn father's trust and now..." I spun around on my soles of my shoes as i pointed the gun at him. "You have no father." I watched the expression fall from his face.

His jaw dropped while his breathing became jagged below his baby blue button down shirt. "No. No. You didn't- you couldn't" He shook his head as agony over took his beautiful face.

"Yes, I did."

He coughed and sputtered with heavy sobs against the white stairs. Leonardo and i were grieving for the same person, yet at the same time two completely different reasons. He grieved for a father who guided and taught him how to be a man. I grieved for the man who was always supposed to love me but never really did.

Tears stung my eyes and i bit my lip trying to keep them at bay. "Now it's a matter of figuring out what to do with you. Do i let you live and risk you snooping around Kaulitz territory... or do i kill you right now?" Leonardo's face turned pale. I don't think he had expected me to turn my back on him like he had me.

But like they say, alls fair in love and war.

"Francesca." Tom walked up behind me, placing his hand on my forearm and dragging it up to my shoulder. "It's okay i can do it." I nodded my head, letting him know that i was strong enough.

"You don't have to baby." He whispered next to my hair as it was draped delicately over my ear. Foot steps leading up to the house grabbed my attention, my jaw dropped slightly as i began to understand what Tom was saying.

A tall black man wearing a navy blue suit walked into the disheveled and destroyed front entrance to the home. His pristinely polished dress shoes stepped over one of my fathers closest men as he lie dead on the concrete steps. A smirk appeared across his face as his familiar eyes met mine.

"Leo this is Marshall. He's with the New York Police Department." Tom gestured towards the man who interviewed me at the station.

My brothers nose scrunched up in confusion as he looked to the disarray around us. "Homicide division." Marshall's husky tone broke the silence. Leo's face lost more color than i thought to be possible as he began to stutter over his words. "I- Well- Then- Then arrest them, they killed all these people!! She killed our father!!" His voice cracked as he begged with the detective in front of him.

"I don't care about the deaths of these men involved in organized crime. I do however care about the open homicide case of a teenage girl named Alice."

They guys and i watched as Marshall pushed Leonardo in the back of his black SUV and drove away. The sun was just beginning to glisten through the front curtains of the home, blanketing the death and destruction in a soft yellow glow. Walking out of the front door i stole one last glance at the Rossi manor.

And just like that, the west side had fallen.