Childe makes himself big, arms spread to push us behind him. Even with his intimidating stance, his reddening face gives away just how uncertain he is right now.
The woman shakes her head, sucking her teeth. Her heels clack against the wooden floor as she approaches us slowly.
"Tartaglia, Tartaglia," she says. "You underestimate just how large the mob family truly is. You think you can get away by just killing two of us? You'll have to try harder than that, darling."
I feel Freminet bury his face in the bottom of my shirt and start to cry. Xiao is also holding me tight, shaking in my grasp.
"Piece of shit..." Childe spits, and the woman smiles.
I'm terrified. I trust Childe with my life, but right now, I don't know what his plan is and that scares me. It's evident that he can't do this on his own—there's far too many people. And I don't want him to. If there was ever a chance to prove my worth, it's now. I, too, have had some training in combat and self-defense. I need to protect my family. I won't fail this time, even if it costs my life.
"You want to fight?" Childe says. "Then let's fight. But leave my family out of this."
"I'll fight too," I say, and Childe's head whips back at me.
"Me too," Aether says, stepping up. Childe grabs his arm, bringing him back behind him.
"No!" Childe shouts. "You guys all stay back. I can handle this myself."
"No, no," the woman says. "We want the kids to be a part of this too. Let's bring the whole family in it. Don't tell me a guy with your history hasn't trained his family to protect themselves too. How selfish. Looks like it's survival of the fittest, then."
"You're the one who underestimates them," I say, and now everyone's looking at me. I stiffen a bit, unsure of my own words, yet somehow still confident in them. "They're very smart kids. They've gotten themselves out of every situation so far with a joint effort from our family. Childe may be our lifeline, but they are perfectly capable of handling themselves too. Who do you think killed the other son of the mob boss? They managed to save Childe and me in the process."
"We're always ready to fight," Aether chimes in, grabbing the attention. He reaches under his shirt and pulls out a gun, pointing it at the woman's head. "We're always armed."
Xiao stares at Aether, eyes watery. Slowly, he pulls away from me, pulling out his pocket knife and pointing it in the same direction, though his hands are shaky.
"You won't hurt my family!" he shouts through the fear, as a singular tear trickles down his cheek.
Lyney coaches himself through his trembling, sporadic breaths and musters up the strength to tag along. "Father taught Freminet, Lynette and I many useful things," he says. "Needless to say, we've killed people before. The boss's son was nothing." Lyney straightens himself up more, putting on a brave face and looking to Freminet, who is still hiding behind me. The smaller blonde peeks out and gives a nod.
The woman cackles. "Aww, how cute," she says. "Motivational family heroes dialogue." She smiles, cocking her head to the side. "Talk is cheap, however. Let's see your skills."
She whips out a gun before I can bat an eye and immediately fires at us. But thankfully, Childe's reflexes are made of light. He pushes me, Xiao and Freminet to the side, all while grabbing Lyney and Aether, creating a path for the bullet to travel between us.
I land on my back, as to not accidentally squash Freminet, and Xiao rolls at my side. We have no time to gain our bearings, before the lot of us jump from our skin at the booming sound of rapid fire ricocheting off the walls. Our first instinct is to huddle together behind a nearby metal crate. We coward for only a second, grabbing onto each other, but the adrenaline and reality kicks in quickly.
"Xiao," I say. "Kung Fu tag team. Use your knife. Remember your lessons?" Xiao nods, and the two of us eye out our targets. I point out a pattern with my fingers, drawing imaginary lines around the moving enemies. Xiao traces them with his vision and nods once again. "Ready?"
"Ready," he breaths the word.
"Stay here," I say to Freminet. "Do not move unless directed otherwise."
I don't wait for his response, before signaling for Xiao to go. We dart out from behind the crate, splitting directions. On my route, I see Aether ducking and rolling in and out from under the table, aiming and shooting, while Lyney has a shard of glass, running up behind gunmen and stabbing them in the neck.
There are shots flying everywhere. Childe is in the middle of beating up one of the men in black. He whacks him into oblivion with his own gun, then stomps on his face. I take this chance to head more opposite Xiao, and the two of us stealth our way into the action, grabbing a different gunmen at the same time.
Mine goes to shoot, but I push the barrel up with my palm and the bullet hits the chandelier, causing an explosion of glass to rain across our arena. A single piece nicks my cheek, but I ignore the sting, grabbing the barrel and twisting it back so his arm bends unnaturally. In his weakened state, I knee him in the groin and chop his neck. He falls to the floor like soggy ramen, and I squish him beneath my feet until his neck snaps below me. And I feel no remorse for it, for someone who comes for my family doesn't gain my grace.
I go from gunmen to gunmen. Xiao and I work our way around so we can meet somewhere in the middle, as Childe, Lyney and Aether work separately, lowering their numbers one by one. Aether swipes one of the guns from a dead gunman—one much larger than his own, and starts rapid firing at the others, mindful of us.
I run at one of the men, only before I touch him, he falls to the floor suddenly. Confused due to everyone being busy on the field in front of me, my head whips behind me. There, I find Freminet sat behind the metal crate with a collection of glass shards, throwing them like darts at the enemies necks like a miniature sniper.
I can't help a small smirk, but my distraction comes at a cost, as I'm nearly shot in the chest by an approaching gunmen. I get whiplash from the body that tackles me to the ground. Childe's arms lace around me and yank me down, the two of us crashing onto a pile of glass.
Childe is beneath me, so he gets the brunt of the shards to his back. He sucks in his teeth from the sting, but helps me up and pushes himself forward. I don't have time to dwell on it and immediately charge back into action.
There's only a few left. We're doing well. There's blood and glass all over the floor—some of that blood being our own from the blows we've also received. I'm certain a bullet grazed me quiet a few times because my body is aching. All this fighting is no good for the stitching in my shoulder either. Everything hurts, but my adrenaline is stronger.
Aether catches my gaze, as I see him creeping up with a gun from underneath the table. He's aiming it at the back of that fake realtor woman's head as she fights against Childe. The two of them go at it, throwing each other around as I fight off the final few gunmen with Xiao. My eyes flash between my battle and Childe's, making sure he's okay. That woman is stronger than she looks, and has gotten in a decent amount of blows.
My eyes also flash between their fight and Aether. I want him to kill that woman, but they're moving around so much, I'm terrified that he'll shoot Childe on accident. Surely, there's a better way to do this. He shouldn't risk it right now. The thought of it is driving me mad. My mouth opens, ready to call to the blonde as he readies his gun.
"Aether!!" His name is shouted, but it's not my voice. My eyes dart to find Lyney sprinting toward Aether, and that's when I see the other gunman.
My stomach drops to my feet, eyes of a doe, as I watch Lyney jump in front of Aether. Aether flinches, and I hear the gunshot. That gunshot is much louder than any of the others I've heard thus far. It rattles between my eardrums. My first instinct is to run. I dart forward, arms out to catch Lyney as he tumbles to the ground, but I'm too late.
He fumbles onto his side, laying there, motionless. I hear Childe, Xiao, and Freminet. They all cry for him, but it's all too muffled. I drop to my knees before the limp blonde, as Aether sits in shock, unable to move, eyes glossy. I hear Freminet beside me now. He throws himself over his big brother, whose eyes are closed, and wails. A small pool of blood forms beneath Lyney, and I'm still in disbelief.
Childe is still fighting off the woman, but he knows what's happened. He cries for Lyney, more aggressive with her, as now he just wants to reach his son. Xiao rushes to help him. But none of us get the chance to morn, as the moment a window comes, the entire home rattles from an explosion. We collectively jump, and the sound of sirens screams through the large space, our heads darting to a giant hole in the wall.
"On your knees, hands behind your heads! All of you!!" A whole new group of gunmen flood into the space, taking note of the blood and bodies splattered across the floor. I hesitate, but eventually drop to my knees, eyes watering and trembling hands making their way to their requested position. Childe, Xiao, Aether and Freminet do the same. We watch each other, ignoring the people tackling us to the ground and reading us our rights.
Tears trail down my cheeks as my face is pressed against the cold wood floor. All I can do is stare into Childe's eyes. We study each other, speaking our love language through eye contact alone. With his eyes, he tells me he's sorry. He tells me he loves me so much, and that he believes he's failed us all for real this time. With mine, I reassure him that I love him too and tell him how amazing he is. I tell him that he did everything he could for us, and that I'll always be proud of him.
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(.... 👉👈 sorry....... TO BE CONTINUED 😅 Also sorry for no post yesterday! I didn't get a chance to upload. But we're nearing the end, just one or two more chapters I think. Please vote 🩵)