𝐶𝐿𝑂𝐴𝐾 𝐴𝑁𝐷 𝐷𝐴𝐺𝐺𝐸𝑅 | 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐆𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒 [DISCONTINUED]

𝟒𝟐 | 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐄

"𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑎 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟."
―𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝐹𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝐷𝑎𝑟𝑘, 𝑁𝑜 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑠

𝒩.

"𝐇𝐄'𝐒 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓, 𝐘𝐎𝐔 know."

Natalia frowned as she entered Diego's room and sat by him on the bed. "Who?"

"Five." Diego's eyes were set firmly on his hands, and his voice was no more than a whisper (she was sure it was taking just about all of his dignity to admit that—God forbid!—someone else was right about something). "About Patch."

Natalia kept quiet while twisting her ring. Five was right. There was nothing Patch stood for more than honour and second chances—hell, how many second chances had he given Diego?

She wasn't sure whether or not she was supposed to verbally agree. Last thing she needed was for Diego to complain that she was taking Five's side all for the sake of disagreeing with him.

"What do you think, Natalia?"

Great.

"I think . . . Five's words have some truth to them," she said carefully. "Hazel's looking for a second chance. Patch would give him that."

"And what about Cha-Cha? She lookin' to do some charity work too?"

"Well . . ." She scrunched her nose. "I'm not so sure, but it doesn't mean she's pure evil. She's . . . As shitty as it sounds, she's just doing her job."

Diego sighed. Natalia scooched closer to him so that the sides of their legs were brushing each other.

"Listen, Diego. It sucks to lose a friend. It really does." She bit her lower lip before resting her head on his shoulder. "You'll be angry for a really long time. But, honestly, the best thing you can do is move on and remember the good times."

𝒩.

Natalia's eyebrows furrowed as she sat at her desk, about halfway through the book she was reading. She straightened up, looking towards her door. She didn't like how quiet it had been for the last thirty minutes; after all the chaos in the last week, the silence was unsettling.

Her gaze turned towards her window, staring out at the sky that was beginning to darken. If she squinted hard enough, she was able to see the moon and some glittering stars that were soon to illuminate the night. A gentle breeze drifted in from the open window, lightly blowing her hair to the side and sending a slight shiver down her spine.

She got up, tucking her chair in before heading towards the window that was hardly a few feet away and leaning against the window sill.

Her eyes roamed the city—the buildings whose windows were lit with bright yellows and whites, the cars whose engines rumbled as they raced down the streets, the drunken people who strolled as they laughed and stumbled their way home, all unknowing of the death that they had just narrowly escaped.

Natalia sighed, leaning a hand against her cheek as she let the soothing wind brush against her skin and cool her. It had been a while since she felt at peace like this. 

After a few moments, her eyebrows furrowed and her back stiffened. She shook her head, biting her lower lip as she stared out of the window. Something felt wrong.

She quickly closed her window before flicking the lights off and leaving her room. She peeked into Diego's room, which was empty before doing the same for Luther and Klaus', both of them also being completely void of life. She knew Allison was still in the infirmary, and Five had left the Academy some time ago with his mannequin girlfriend, so she didn't worry about them.