"Where is my daughter? Where is she? What happened to her?" Zio yelled desperately as soon as I left the jet.
I swallowed, "She's alive, zio, but unconscious and she'll need time to heal. She tried a triple suicide. Drank a bottle of pills first, then she cut her wrists, and then jumped into a pool to drown," I decided to drop the bomb right away, and he turned pale, they all did, both him, otou-san, eomma, zia Victoria, Four, and Abby, everyone else stayed back, probably anxiously waiting for all of us. "I got there in time, right, ahjussi?"
Daniel came behind me, face stone cold as he glared at all of them, that is, until his eyes stopped on Abby and the man fell down on the step of the stair, ghostly pale, eyes blooming with tears, "Felicity," he whispered, and I felt goosebumps spreading down my spine. "Jesus Christ," he covered his mouth with his now shaky hands.
"Who is that?" Eomma frowned.
"He's to Yeji what zio Silas is to me," I said in short. "Uncle. As well as their lawyer and Felicity's best friend, Daniel Saunier Ivanovich!" As I set my foot on ground again, I enveloped eomma in my arms, "Or like I like to call him, ahjussi. He came bursting after Yeji as soon as I managed to get her out of the pool, then he burst out crying, and he's been crying until an hour ago."
"You… you look… you look identical to her," he gasped, in the same tone I now know his voice takes when he's about to cry.
"Not now, ahjussi," I growled, then went back to the stairs, grabbed him by the collar of his hoodie and dragged him out of the way. "She needs to come out of the jet too, you're on the way, ahjussi." I turned my eyes to the ambulance zio had prepared.
"Felicity," he cried as if I hadn't dragged him.
"Did she come too?" Abby asked, hopeful.
And that all but made the dude burst out crying, which baffled all of us, especially because he's supposed to be a lawyer. I doubt any of us ever a saw a lawyer this sensitive for no reason. "Felicity," he cried.
"No, Acqua," I told her sighing. "I asked where she was but ahjussi here said she was out of touch, then he said the same about Felicity's parents and about her sister and brother in law, and about Seojun, the little boy. He also said he won't tell us anything because apparently, Yeji," I pointed to her, as the doctors came down with her in the ICU bed, "hacked us, knowing she was zio's daughter, and your twin, and decided she wanted nothing to do with any of us, and made him promise to never contact us or tell us about her and her life."
"What kind of bullshit is that?" Zio Silas yelled, losing his temper, grabbing Daniel by the collar, both of the same height. "Swallow your tears, and compose yourself, useless coglione. You will tell me everything, or-"
He scoffed at zio, only proving he's stupider than I thought, "If you touch a string of my hair, as soon as Missy wakes up, she will kill you with her own hands. Because to her, I'm family. What are you? Where have you been all those years? I was the one who was there when she most needed, not you, Silas Sutherland Salvatore Solomon III. Obnoxious prick," he spit.
"Ahjussi, stop playing with death, and get a hold of yourself!"
His words were effective enough to make zio get his hands off of him, but that gained him a deadly glare from all of us. "I would have been there had Felicity not runaway from me, pregnant of my daughters."
"Shut the fuck up before speaking of Felicity!" He hissed as if he had been kicked in the dick. "You have no idea of what happened, of the truth. You have no idea how much she suffered all those years, helplessly searching for-" he stopped abruptly, as if he realized who he was talking to them, then he side-eyed Yeji unconscious, and swallowed, looking down at his shaky hands. "Fuck."
"What truth?" Zio yelled at him. "Finish your sentence!"
"It's not my story to tell," he hissed. "I made a promise, and I will not break Missy's trust because of you. She's my family, even if we don't share blood, she's my family, and family is everything to us."
"Enough, ahjussi. Zio, he won't talk, he won't break her trust, all we can do is wait for her to wake up, and tell us everything," I intervened.
"My daughter," he ran to her, leaving ahjussi behind at final, tears streaming down his cheeks as he saw her for the first time. "I'm so sorry, baby, I'm so sorry for not being with you, for not finding you earlier. I'm so sorry for whatever hardships you faced, I'm sorry for whatever made you hate living enough to try taking your own life. I'm here now, daddy is here now," he caressed her long black hair. "You're safe now."
"She has your eyes, zio," I told him, coming closer. "Our eyes met in the pool before she lost consciousness and almost drowned. The water was clear and I was able to see them, they are identical to yours."
That made him cry heard, and Abby hurried to caress his back, "She is with us now, papa, my sister is home. We'll finally be a full family."
"I'll protect her," Four exclaimed, caressing her cheek. "I'll be the older brother she never had and didn't know she needed."
"You clearly have no idea who she is," Daniel snapped bitterly. "If you think she needs saving from anyone aside from herself, that will be your first mistake." He hissed when we all turned to him, "You are wrong if you think, for a second, that she'll accept you with open arms. She will fight you and try to leave, then try to leave this world again, because you will not be her family to her. Especially you," he turned to Abby, who flinched. "She will want anything but to stay here, and you will find nothing but hostility in her for you. Anger, disappointment, and hostility. And-"
Otou-san punched his face so hard, he fell down, and before I could even think, I found myself running to catch him before he fell, "Ahjussi," I called, but he was unconscious, then I turned to look at otou-san. "He isn't joking, otou-san, if she sees him wounded by us, she will absolutely hate us, and she won't collaborate or want to stay. He's her family, she doesn't know us, she won't think twice before attacking us to defend him."
He clenched his jaw, frustrated, "Well, he didn't shut the fuck up."
Rolling my eyes in dismay, I carried him to the back seat of otou-san's Cadillac, laying him down carefully, then I put his only luggage in the back of the car. "Don't use violence this time, otou-san. It won't help in anything coming to him and Yeji." Then I turned to Four, who was looking at me, worried, probably thinking about what ahjussi said. "I'll go back with you, okay?" He nodded.
"There's an extra space in papa's car," he brushed it aside.
"Now that the idiot is out," zio turned to me, "tell me what actually happened in there, Dai. How did you find her so quickly?"
I swallowed and told them everything, while the two doctors were out of hearing reach, taking Yeji to the stealthy black ambulance van we got, where two of our doctors were, then they went back to the jet. I told them about my interaction with Yor, the other cats, and with the ravens.
"I don't know who this Jungkook cat's owner is, but it must be close to Yeji, as close as Daniel, if he set the decree on all the other cats," sigh. Stressed, I passed my hands over my hair, tired of the two flights in a roll. "But what freaked me out was the ravens, I've never seen anything like that, they literally yanked me off the fucking floor," I pointed at my huge body, "flew with me from the front to the back of her family's huge villa, then threw me on the pool. All to save her."
I also told them all the doctor told us, and about the pills.
"She's like us," Four exclaimed, "there's no other reason why they would have protected her with so much vehement if she wasn't able to even communicate with them. We know the animals only respect the power they see in us, and if ravens, which are known as the worse kind of animal to connect with, were like that for her, and so were the city's cats, then she must be a strong one."
Abby nodded, "Maybe she can talk with ravens and cats. That'd awesome," she clapped her hands, which she always does when she's very excited, she does that since we were kids.
"I don't think that's the case," they all turned to me. "The only cat who reacted to her was Yor, the black female cat, the other two seemed to have heard of her, but didn't show the same intense desire to protect like Yor did. Cases of neathers being able to speak with more than one kind of animal are rare, and always full of limitations. If she can speak with cats, which I'm not sure yet, I believe she would only be able to talk with one type of cats, be it related to the breed or to the colors."
Zio nodded, taking my words into consideration, which he always does, he's the only one aside from my parents who trusts my judgment so deeply, "What about the ravens?"
"I think they are it, that's her full animal link. That's the only way to explain their reaction, their desperation to save her," I said firmly. Fully trusting my own judgement, because I know myself better than anyone.
"Ravens," otou-san whistled amazed, "what a rare gift."
"What do you think her element is?" Abby beamed.
"Maybe she's water like you," Four winked at her.
"She wouldn't drown if she was of water, dumbass," I slapped the back of his head and he glared up at me, being 20cm shorter than me, the same as zio Silas and ahjussi. "Given how she likes arson, it'll be fire."
"Maybe wind like me and Four," zio beamed with a smug.
Yes, everyone call Silas 'Four', because of the 'IV' at the end of his name, and because calling him Silas would be too confusing when there is zio Silas and nonno Silas who goes by Salvatore ever since zio turned 21, until then his nickname was 'Three'. I doubt we'll ever stop calling Four that way though. He'll forever be stuck with that.
"Or," otou-san paused his big hand on my shoulder, being 10cm shorter than me, everyone is shorter than me, period, "lightning like Dai!"
"I doubt it," Four chuckled, "lightning is the rarest element and only come to be in a one in a million chance, where both parents make the cut. We don't know what element is dormant in Felicity's core."
"She could be earth," Abby tilted her head, "that would be cool, we would be able to make plants grow together and build a greenhouse, and-"
"With her arson history, plus burning gardens, I don't think she is the gardening type like you, Acqua," I chuckled. "Twins always tend to be the opposite of one another. Your tastes probably clash."
"Don't jinx my vibe, condescending prick!" She growled.
Grinning, I brought my hands to my heart, "Me? I would never."