The dark and thick shadows enshrouded her as she walked towards the specific alleyway that had been noted in Cole's ominous letter. The cosy café that had once been lit up with fairy lights was now closed and gloomy.
Taiga's heart was hammering against her chest as she braced herself for what was to come. Checking her wrist watch, she noted it was five minutes before the meeting time, so she stealthily crept into the alleyway, not having to worry about anyone watching her as the street was rather deserted.
The scraping of her shoes against broken glass was the only thing that could be heard as she stepped further into the suspicious looking crevice.
It was silent.
Eerily silent.
Her own breathing sounded too loud for her own ears and she silently wished that she had taken a painkiller for the slight throbbing against her temples. It was a cliché time for her malnourishment to make another appearance but nonetheless, it made itself known.
Attempting to ignore the growing pain in her head, she listened in the dull silence for anyone's presence, dreading the appearance of Cole. Suddenly, her ears picked up the sound of gravel against shoes and she turned to meet the noise.
Two dark figures emerged from around the corner, accompanied by a suffocating smell of cigarettes and whiskey. The soft moonlight uncovered the sinister features of Jason and Cole as they approached the timid girl at the end of the alley.
Their presence alone was enough to terrify her and when they spoke, it made it that much worse. Perhaps it could be considered a talent with the way they spoke so much like a villain from a horror story however, being faced with such talents was nerve-wrecking.
"Glad ya' came, poppet. Guess we don't need to be worryin' about harming your brothers, eh?" Cole snickered as he and Jason approached her.
The mention of her brothers made her determined to keep the steely facade on, not wanting them to see just how terrified she was feeling. She would never let them get to her brothers.
"Now, pet, you're coming with me." Jason spoke, a gleeful glint in his eyes.
Frantically, Taiga shook her head not wanting to go anywhere with him. Instead, she delved deep in her feelings to find any sort of confidence in order to stand up to them.
"Why do you want to hurt my brothers?" Although her voice hadn't come out as strong as she wanted it to, at least she had asked them.
"Aww, little Taiga is all worried about her family." Jason mocked her. "I don't want your brothers, I want you."
"Why?" Her timid voice filled the dangerous air.
"You didn't think I'd let my precious pet go after your wench of a mother killed herself, did you?"
The way he casually poked fun at her mother disgusted her, even if she hadn't be the nicest of mothers. Her suicide was proof that she was just unwell and she knew that had her mother ever asked for forgiveness, she would've given it unconditionally.
"How could you betray them?" She directed this question at Cole, wondering how he would dare act so friendly with Miguel when he was threatening her.
"Ya' think I care about 'em?" He let out a humourless chuckle. "Gonzalez Enterprise is my family's rival company. We'd do anythin' to find a crack in that iron man you call a brother."
She understood that he must've been referring to Leonardo. Business was a risky area to specialize in, but Taiga never knew that it was so cutthroat. Someone could become so desperate and fake an entire friendship just to find a weakness.
"But why me?" A tone of pleading was laced in her voice - begging for mercy.
"Enough questions. It's time for you time home, pet." Jason grinned, disgusting Taiga and her fight-or-flight reaction began to kick in.
As soon as she made a slight movement to run out of the alley, she was instantly grabbed by Cole, roughly gripping her forearm before pushing her into the wall.
"I do love a game of cat and mouse." He cackled as she was trying to recover from the painful blow against the wall.
She was a malnourished twelve year old going up against two strong men, one of them being her psychological and physical tormentor - it was obvious that she wouldn't be able to escape without some damage done.
Honestly, she felt like her chances of escape were slim (at best) however, it wouldn't stop her from trying to fight. Finalising this, she kicked Cole in the shins before attempting to flee yet again.
Instead, Jason caught her by the hair, violently tugging at it before using it as a leash to throw her to the floor. She let out a heart-wrenching yelp as she felt the impact of the floor against her bones, bruises certain to form.
As she looked up at the two figures that had now cornered her in the alley, any sort of hope deflated from her as she quivered in utter fear.
She was finished.
She squeezed her eyes shut as Jason raised a hand to backhand her but strangely, the impact never came. Timidly opening an eye to peek at whatever happened, they instantly burst open fully as she took insight of a third figure now fighting off the two demonic presences.
Pitifully, Taiga began backing further into the back of the alley, terrified by the sounds of various hits being landed. The moonlight spilled into the alley in a particular way, only showing the silhouettes of the figures in front of her and therefore rendering her incapable of making out who this third figure was.
They seemed to be the same sort of build as Cole and Jason yet they managed to be winning the current fight. It made her more anxious - maybe they were just getting in line to hurt her.
"How dare you touch her, you bastards!" The mysterious figure growled, throwing a powerful blow towards Cole, making his head throw back and whip against the wall behind him.
He fell unconscious and slid into a emotionless heap on the floor. At first, Taiga thought he was dead but was too distracted by Jason who had now lunged at her possible saviour.
Unfortunately, they didn't move in time and they both ended up wrestling on the floor. She could no longer tell who was who - they were simply two dark shadows rolling in the ominous shadows.
Suddenly, it was over. The movement ceased and one figure slowly stood.
It was the unidentified shadow.
It quickly stepped towards her, making her cower further in fear. They managed to take down both Jason and Cole - they could do much worse to her.
Her heart stopped as a rough hand gently placed itself against her face and as they leaned in closer to her, she realised she had no reason to feel scared anymore.
"Diego?" She whispered out, more than relieved to see the familiar brown orbs and messy hair in that moment.
Taiga felt her throat close up slightly and tears begin forming in her eyes as she realized he had saved her. It didn't matter how, she was just glad that he was there.
"You're safe." He let out, clearly exhausted from fighting before pulling her in for a well needed embrace.
But their moment was cut short as he let out a slight hiccup of breath. Instantly, he ripped himself away from her before sending a swift smack towards a now standing Cole. This punch seemed to be more powerful than the rest of his attacks as he frantically fell to the ground, a cluttering sound following.
Diego turned back to his sister before staggering slightly. It was then she noticed the blood staining his shirt.
He had been stabbed.
Taiga let out a strangled gasp as she jumped up to let him lean on her as his breath was coming out in short pants. It now dawned on her that the clattering sound had been the weapon Cole had brought, making her face pale at the knowledge that he would've used it on her.
"Phone... pocket..." he managed to choke out as he was balanced on her shoulder, both of them kneeling on the cold, unforgiving ground.
Hastily, she reached for his pocket and pulled out the phone before calling an ambulance. Fear tore away at her - he had to survive. He had to.
Quickly after being told an ambulance was on its way, she phoned Leo and after a few rings, he finally picked up.
"Diego -"
"Please help, Leo! He's been stabbed." Taiga's cried into the phone, cradling her brother whose breathing was painfully shallow.
"Where are you?" His voice was immediately filled with panic and urgency, shuffling being heard signalling he was already moving.
"Next to the café down the street. Leo, w-what if he doesn't -"
"He will. We're coming now." He cut her off, not wanting to hear the end of her sentence.
"Please hurry." She sobbed before the call ended.
"Diego? Please be okay." Her voice pleaded, full of heart-wrenching sorrow.
After what felt like far too long, the sirens of an ambulance lit up the alleyway and people started picking Diego up and laying him in a stretcher. Her sobs became uncontrollable as they took him away, not wanting to part from him when he was in such a dangerous state.
Warm arms encased her and the bawling increased, her shock, terror and despair audible by everyone around her. Miguel's caress was unmistakeable as he whispered assurance to her as he tried to soothe her with calming circles on her back.
All five of them climbed into the car she hadn't noticed pull up and they soon began the ride to the hospital. Occasionally, a small hiccup and uncontrollable tears would leave Taiga as they sat in a tense silence, all sharing the same worry.
What if he didn't make it?
But all of them knew they couldn't think about that or else the situation would become a lot more chaotic and in that moment, they had to support each other as much as possible.
They needed to have hope.
Soon enough, they arrived at the hospital only to be guided to a small waiting room where they piled in, Taiga sitting on Miguel's lap as he seemed to be the best at soothing her.
"Can you tell us what happened, gatita?" Miguel finally asked her, making her body stiffen in response.
Unknowingly, his question had opened a whole can of worms she didn't want to explain but she also couldn't lie, especially with Diego's health being so uncertain.
"I-I went out to meet someone and they..." she paused, knowing they would be incredibly angry at her and she couldn't handle it.
"They what?" Miguel asked her softly.
"They hurt me but Diego stopped them and we thought they were unconscious but then -" A sob wracked through her body as she recalled the gruesome scene. "Th-they stabbed him."
"Who was it?" Rafael asked her, a dark look in his eyes.
"I-I can't..." she whimpered.
"Why not? Diego could die, so just spit it out already!" He roared, anger clearly being his go-to emotion when he was faced with such situations.
"Rafael." Leonardo stopped him. "After we see Diego then we can ask her more but for now, let's focus on him." Nobody missed the certainty in his voice, slightly reassuring them and providing slight comfort.
However, even Leo was worried sick about what was happening, he was just much more skilled at controlling his emotions unlike Rafael. Where he was irate, Leo had to act calm as the figure all of the siblings looked up to for stability.
Pablo and Miguel shared the same sense of misery and concern but Taiga seemed to be the most affected. She was too young to experience such a situation, let alone witness it in action.
Rafael huffed before storming out of the room. Normally, someone would've stopped him but they all had different ways of coping with this and each of them had to deal with it differently.
He found himself wandering outside the hospital before limply sitting on a nearby bench. He struggled to stay composed enough - despite their constantly quarrelling, him and Diego were undeniably close and he could stand the thought of losing him.
It was taking a massive toll on him as he leaned over, running his hands through his hair, extremely distressed by the entire situation. Guilt poked at him as he recalled how he exploded at Taiga.
She didn't deserve that, especially after what had just happened but he couldn't help it. Anger was his defence mechanism when he was hurt, worried or stressed.
He noticed someone's presence sitting beside him before feeling a well-needed hug.
"He'll be okay. We'll all be okay." Pablo consoled him, already understanding how Rafael truly felt.
"I'm just..." he began, sitting up straight knowing that talking to Pablo would help him. "God, he's a brat but if anything happens to him -" he cut himself off, a slight crack in his voice.
"I know, he's our little brother. I'm worried too but we just have to have faith that he's going to pull through because he will." Pablo assured him, keeping a supportive arm around his brother's shoulders.
Rafael let out another heavy sigh before they both settled in an understanding silence. It was difficult feeling so helpless and having no power, but there really was nothing they could do.
Questions ran through Pablo's head - maybe if he kept a close eye on Diego and Taiga they wouldn't be in the mess in the first place. If just one more of them had been there then maybe this wouldn't have happened.
All the possibilities made him dizzy but he knew that asking 'if' would only make it worse. It happened and there was nothing he could do about it but in the future he could try and stop it from happening again.
After it became too cold for them to handle, Pablo and Rafael headed back inside only to be greeted by the gloomy atmosphere of the waiting room.
"Taiga," he started with a matching sorrowful expression. "I'm sorry for snapping at you - it's not what any of us need right now."
She gave him the brightest smile she could muster, her way of giving her forgiveness before Miguel passed her onto him like a baby. It was difficult to deny the comfort just holding his little sister gave him and he relaxed just a fraction as he held her.
Although the room was still tense, the fact that they were all together was the stability they needed to get through it. However, nothing could ease the worry that tore at their hearts.
The only thing they could do was comfort each other as they anxiously waited for Diego's fate.
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omg 😞
I'm sorry if this was too fast paced but I also want to thank all of u that are reading, voting and giving support. you guys are seriously the sweetest thank you so much!!!!
Please point out any errors or mistakes but thank you for reading still.
-Chisaki
Instagram: @hiranochisaki