“How do you know about that?” Nick growls, low and dangerous. 

“Hard not to.” Ran snorts, golden eyes shining with malice as he turns them away from me. “Even the sloppiest underling would notice if the Boss suddenly died. Don’t you agree, Nickie of the Purple Dragons?” 

Nick sneers at the old nickname; he hates that nickname. No one in the pack uses it. But I’m not sure why. Ian immediately puts his hand as a barrier, the movement forceful enough to make Nick take a deep breath and force himself to not jump over the table to punch Ran’s lights out. 

I’m vaguely aware of this, of course. But my mind is still reeling from the awful truth. 

“All those times you asked if I wanted to join you… I could have found Leo at the end of the night. Didn’t I?” 

Ran’s eyes soften immediately, his hand reaches for mine and I allow the touch. His image blurs in a way that lets me know my eyes are full with tears. 

“We couldn’t tell you.” 

It’s not an apology but it’s the best I’m getting from them. I laugh; the sound comes out half-sob, half hysterics. Ishmals, I had been so close. Asahi had been so close. If I had been less stubborn I could have found him months before this; I could have avoided the entire mess. 

He could still be alive. 

Fuck. 

“Touma…” Ian starts. 

“Silence.” Shun barks. 

I center myself, push Ian’s arm away and lean forward. My left hand leaves a mark in Ran’s cheek; a slap because a punch would put much attention on us. A lovers-spat is way better than whatever is this. 

“I understand.” I sneer right on his face, venom dripping from my words. “You’re not forgiven though. You never will.”

Shun laughs as Ran’s expression turns grim; the sound is cruel. Mocking. Surprisingly it doesn’t rub me the wrong way, in fact it soothes something of the rawness. Because it’s a nostalgic sound, one that brings back hard times when the only light I could find was in the form of the two of them. 

“Oh, we know.” Shun says, still teasing as he presses himself against his brother’s side to comfort him. “You don’t have to say it out loud, Butterfly. Whatever we had it’s gone now as it was our silence that shed your blood.”

I narrow my eyes at him but give him a sharp nod after a few seconds, returning to my seat. It’s in moments like this that their true background is easy to see. No matter what they claim, their mannerisms are from the slums. 

My blood, because Asahi had been my brother. 

Because adopting someone in the slums always ended with the same ritual words; blood of my blood. 

I closed my eyes for a moment; half-wanting to sob, half-wanting to rage. I did neither. Leo was dead. Nothing would change that. Meaning, I had to focus on the matter at hand. That I had to push the grief down and force myself to think about Tim, about my brothers, and the danger that the unknown attacker represented to them. 

“You’re sorry about it? Help me find the one that blew my shop.” I tell Shun, his expression shifts into something hesitant. 

“Done.” Ran says immediately, putting a comforting hand on Shun’s shoulder. 

“You already know who’s responsible.” Nick accuses, shifting on his seat. 

Ran nods. 

“You work with him.” I blink, the realization arriving slower than it should. “The one that tried to kill me is a member of Leo’s gang.” 

And it’s obvious now: The bomb was meant for me. Whoever the man, and I was sure it was a man because Leo was old-school about this matter, was aiming for me. Relief hit me like a truck before it was swiftly replaced by burning anger. 

“Who?” 

“Visla Harn.”

Ran says the name like it’s supposed to mean something. It doesn’t. Confused, I exchange a look with Nick but he seems to be as bewildered as me. Frowning I turned my gaze towards Ian, he was biting his lip. 

“The name does sound familiar but I can’t tell you why.” He admitted. 

“Ha! Good to know he’s never been important in Boss' eyes.” Shun chortles. “Serves him well to that bitchspit. I knew that his airs of grandeur were nothing but smoke.”

“Are you saying he was in Strays?!” Ian sputters.

“Oh, yeah. Fifth Division if I’m not mistaken?” Ran looks at his brother. 

“Sub-Captain.” Shun nods. 

“Fuck.”  Ian's expression twists into something ugly. “That traitorous son of a bitch. I’m gonna skin him for this. How dare he?!” 

A Sub-Captain? That was… 

A lot closer to home than I was expecting. It also brought a sense of bitterness to my mouth, ‘cause Ian may consider this Visla a traitor but the same could be said for the rest of us. After all, if the Jin siblings were telling the truth and I had the feeling that they did, this man had decided to be loyal to Leo ‘till the end. 

Beyond the end, in fact. 

“Describe him to me.” I ordered Ran, a bad feeling growing as the pieces of the puzzle started to fall in place. 

“Pink hair, green eyes. Perpetual smile. Wears striped suits that clash horribly with his hair.” Ran drawls with knowing eyes. 

I groan as I identify this ‘Visla Harn’ as the underling that had been there the night Leo died. Of course, it had to be him. Of course Raph's decision to forgive his life and my own stupidity would come to bite us in the ass. 

“We should have killed him.” Nick says, slightly pained, as he closes his eyes after having reached the same conclusion. “Damnit.” 

“You couldn’t have known.” Ian says. “And killing someone because he was at the wrong place, at the wrong time isn’t our way. Strays never involved civilians if we could avoid it. There was no way to know he would do something like this.”  

It’s a nice sentiment but it's not one I agree with. Yes, Strays’ way was the «delinquent's way.» Leo ensured we had honor; that we knew there were lines that shouldn’t be crossed no matter what— But. But this was different. 

This was the real world.

And children’s rules didn't apply in the real world.

“What is done is done.” Nick sighs. “The question is: What now?” 

“We have a name, a face.” I whisper low, dangerous. ”We hunt him down. And we make him pay.” 

“It will not be that easy.” Shun points out. “Visla is a high ranking member of ToRev, you know? And even with us and ‘Mar doing what we can so everything doesn’t collapse into chaos, taking one of us is not something little puppies can do. Especially not puppies that have lived like civilians during the last decade.” 

“That’s not of your concern, is it?” Nick says coldly, posture stiffening and scent souring. “This is a matter that outsiders should stay out.” 

“You—” Shun’s lips twist into a sneer. 

“Let us help.” Ran interrupts his brother. Meeting my eyes squarely and making a fair attempt to do the biggest doe-eyes in history. “As an apology for our silence.” 

“We do not need your help.” Ian says, glaring at the Jin siblings. 

I clear my throat and the growling stops. Really, dealing with these people felt a lot like dealing with a bunch of kindergarten menaces. So much to avoid the posturing between my pack and my exes. 

“You raise a good point.” I say, ignoring the smirk and the resulting sneers from my companions. “But what makes you think I would even consider your proposition? We’re nothing. Not anymore.”

“We understand. We really do but…” Ran sighs. “But we can make things easier for you, Butterfly. And Visla is dangerous. The sooner you're done with him the better.” 

Sadly, he’s right. 

The time with he found the shop spoke of resources, the bomb of a ruthless spirit. I had no doubt he would target the others in time to smoke me out. And if he found the house… 

“I will discuss it with the founder members.” I said, standing up. Glaring down at the brothers. “I will text you with the answer.”

“We will be waiting, Butterfly.” Ran nodded his understanding. 

…

“That was… interesting.” Ian signed, once we were all in the private-taxi he ordered. 

“We got what we came from.” Nick allows. “More than that, actually. Touma… are you seriously considering accepting their ‘help’?”

“Yes. If it can avoid more bloodshed on our side, yes. They’re right, you know? If we go against a ToRev’s executive, we’re not gonna win without more losses.”

“I know.” Nick nods. “I don’t like it. But I think that would be the correct answer here.”

I let out an unamused chuckle. 

“We can only hope the others think the same.” 

…

“You slept with the Kyden siblings?!” Paul’s incredulous remark was echoed by at least half of the people in the room. 

“Good to know you think that low of me.” I scoffed. “Is not like Tim’s my boyfriend or anything. Rude, all of you.” 

“What? That’s not what I—”

“That’s not what he means, Touma.” Tim soothed with a glare at Paul. “You’re very, very pretty. And the best partner I could hope for. You’re kind, beautiful and strong. Really, I’m surprised I don’t have to beat whores with a stick more often.” 

At Tim’s words my face grows red. 

“Aw. You’re both disgusting.” Luke deadpans. 

Tim snorts, “You’re just jealous because you’re single.” 

Luke makes an outraged sound that sends many into giggles. Momentarily distracting them from the revelation of who I had shared my bed with during jail; I didn’t expect it to last. But at the very last the response was less… Ehem, explosive than what I was expecting. 

Yet, they were still rude as shit. 

I mean, I knew Tim was out of my league. And the Kyden siblings were similar in that aspect but they didn’t have to mention it! I knew it. Alright? The slapping was absolutely not necessary. 

“You guys are so far from the point that I would not be surprised if you found yourselves lost in a dessert any day now.” Raph drawled, exasperated. “Are we not going to discuss that they want to ‘help’ us catch Visla? Or that Visla is the one that tried to kill Touma and Tim? I think those are the important points here.” 

“Yeah, sure. But Visla was always weird. So I’m not really surprised. Angry? Sure. Mild-disappointed? That too. But surprised? No. And I don’t think I’m not the only one. After all, the creepy fucker was always—”

“Calling Leo, ‘King.’ Yeah, I remember that.” Drake said with a growl. “I should've pushed harder for him to be purged after the thing with Corintos.” 

“Fuck Corintos, man.” 

“Seconded. Those fuckers.” 

There are some fists shaking in the air, I arch an eyebrow. Not really sure who or what those ‘Corintos’ are but impressed at the level of fury the name carries. Almost as bad as the Red-Vipers, huh. 

“We’re getting off the point again.” Raph sighs.

“I don’t like it but the truth is that we could do with the help… “ Drake sighs as well. “I don’t want to mourn any more of our numbers.”

The room immediately was covered by a grim aura, filling with whines and half-sobs at the reminder. We’re good at pushing the hurt of Peter and Leo’s and sense away, probably wouldn’t survive if we didn’t. But It changed little in the end. 

We’re all teetering at the edge of a meltdown. And truth to be told, I was a little suspicious about the whole thing. That I had been the only one crying my eyes out around the house was weird as fuck. 

Tim sneezed. 

And every thought about Peter evaporated from my mind. “Are you alright? Are you going to be sick?”

“What— No. I’m fine.” Tim denied, even as he sniffled. 

I narrowed my eyes on him. He slumped slightly before admitting that he was having some cold symptoms but was already taking medicine. I moved my eyes to Raph, who nodded a confirmation and Tim huffed in offense at me not taking his word. As if I didn’t know he was shot at taking care of himself! The gall of him, really. 

Drake huffed, amused. “You two are sickening.” 

“I’ve seen you and Nick do worse.” I threw back with a grimace, that had been a very awkward time at the bike-shop. 

Nick snorted from his position at Drake’s side. 

“PDA is disgusting. Guys stop.” Chris moaned. “Really, anything but this.”

“I think we should take the siblings' offer.” Daisy signed. 

The founders all made weird faces before Drake’s settled in something like resignation. 

“Text them.” 

I bit my lip before nodding. 

“And, Touma? We would appreciate it if this could be resolved as fast as possible.” Raph added, silver-like eyes shining with sinister determination. 

“Of course.” I wanted the same. 

And considering Ran’s warning, so would they. 

I doubted the offer was just to help me though. Slum-brats like us like to play the game with many ways to win in mind, more than probably they just wanted an excuse to eliminate the other competitors.  

Now that Leo was gone, his organization was for the take. The Ran and Shun that I knew would never let an opportunity like this pass. Not that it mattered to me. After all, one way or another, Visla would be done soon enough. 

That was what mattered, that he would stop being a treat to the pack. To Tim.

Creation is hard, cheer me up by comenting!

Also, don't forget to cheeck my tiktok @lonelywritingjourney as I post a lot of things about this verse in there; things like how the character's look, info about them, sketches, and side-stories that will make it to omakes after the main story is finished.