A Songbird's love

Chapter 31: Let go.

Black spots were starting to cloud my vision as my father's hands tighten around my throat. Never have I ever thought that the cause of my death would be suffocation. By the hands of my own father even, disgraceful.
That motivated me to struggle and try to push him off, but come on. He's a grown man, I was just a teenager, Sure, I may be stronger than the average human being due to training, doesn't mean I can throw him off me like some wild animal. I can vaguely tell Teto was trying to get my father off me as well, but he was ignoring all her attempts.

I heard something slam open and the suffocating weight was lifted off me in a flash. Reassuring hands helped me up into a sitting position as I gasped for breath. I caught a flash of light pink from the corner of my eye and I relaxed. The others were okay. Or at least, Luka and Mikuo is.

Mikuo stood in a protective stance in front of me. Through barely opened eyes, I made out Teto standing next to the twins, ready to rush them out if things started to look nasty. 

Mikuo was glaring at our father, and in his rage managed to spat out, "Don't. Touch. My. Sister." 

Ah, Mikuo. Always the overprotective one. 

Our father had a maniacal smile on his face. "Oh, there you are, my son. I was starting to wonder where you were. You missed out on the fun before all this."

"Who's your son? We're not related at all."
Damn, Mikuo. I see what you're doing. Although I can hardly blame him.

Our father - no, that stranger - cackled, "Doesn't matter. I'll let the both of you meet your mother. I'm sure she would be happy."

Mikuo was enraged, "You don't get to speak of our mother like that."

While those two were going off at each other, Luka signalled to Teto to start moving. Girl talk can do a lot of things, so Teto understood the vague body language and started to nudge the twins towards the window.

The window? What?

Luka felt me tense, and whispered, "We're all getting out of here alive."

Not all of us, no.

I spotted the gun that crazy-ass man had dropped and lunged to snatch it up. He started at my sudden movement. When he saw the gun in my hand, I could tell some sense of reason came back to him. He couldn't beat us all without a weapon. Besides, he was severely outnumbered.

So he did what no normal person would do. He reached into his pocket and took out a time bomb, before saying, "If I'm dying, I'm bringing all of you down with me."

He started the timer. He dropped the time bomb on the floor, and lunged for Mikuo.

Luka shouted at Teto, "Hurry! They're outside!"

Before I could ask who, I picked up the sound of whirring blades. I snapped my head to the window, and saw a helicopter hovering outside.

A helicopter?? Really?

Whatever works, I guess.
I pushed Luka towards the window, encouraging her to follow Teto and the twins. Once I made sure she wouldn't turn around for me, I dashed towards my brother, who was trying to beat our father in a fist fight.

I kicked our father off Mikuo with enough strength to break bones. Actually, his ribs did break, I heard the crack. I hurriedly pulled Mikuo off the ground while our father was writhing in pain and rushed us towards the window. I helped Mikuo onto the hovering helicopter and was about to hop on myself when a sharp pain blossomed across my scalp which made me hiss in pain. This asshole of a father was pulling on my hair, taking advantage of its length to stop me from leaving. 

Too bad, I guess. 

I loosened a dagger that was hidden up my sleeve and sent it flying towards him. Instinct made him defend himself and his hand let go of my hair to stop the dagger from piercing his face. Didn't stop the dagger from piercing his hand though. 

Hearing his enraged scream as we left the building in the helicopter was satisfying. 

Meiko had already alerted the police and we see them rushing to evacuate the building before the bomb went off. Kaito was flying our helicopter as far from the building as possible. 

Mikuo was scanning me for any injuries but I barely noticed. I was waiting eagerly.

Any time now..

With a loud bang, the top part of the building exploded. The sound of glass shattering and screams from nearby passersby filled the air. The impact made the helicopter a bit unstable but we're all alive and that's what counts.

All of us except the people in the building of course, but I couldn't care less.

Once Mikuo was satisfied that I had not gained any serious injuries, I was holding the twins close in less than a second. They were startled by the sudden action and were frozen for a while. Rin couldn't hold it in any longer and started bawling against my shoulder. Len on the other hand, didn't start crying in front of everyone. I felt his hand curl into a fist against my clothes and he buried his face into the crook of my neck. I felt warm tears stain my collar.

I let out a breath of relief. Apart from a few bruises, they were fine.

Safe and sound, as they should be.

I held them tighter, "Let's go home."

And we stayed close to each other all the way back to base.

I'm never letting Rin or Len get into any danger ever again.