No Matter What

41

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.