4 the fourth piece of the broken cage : I got this now so stay strong

The snow that was falling off of the dark sky, was so not helping.

Diana cursed, as she slipped for the third time on the road and fell.

her boots were undone, her hair out of place and her jacket wide open.

the chill had sat beyond her bones, it seemed like it was feeding on her soul

she stood up again on shaking limbs as she made her way up towards the thoroughfare apartments was off for the night. even owls were silent, the only sound was the crunch she left every time, she stepped into the snow-covered ground.

the veins warm from all the blood it had floating inside.

homeless people were either sitting under them or standing near them.

Diana stared straight ahead as she entered the narrow road, between two abounded buildings.

there at the end of the road, a black car had pulled over.

the fancy-looking vehicle had the driver door open and a girl had her long skinny legs over the dashboard.

her boots were familiar. .....and the blond hair.

_ TIA ?!!

she had shouted that according to how her friend jumped out of her skin, then placed a hand over her heart and stared at her as if she had grown a second head.

" what the heck is wrong with you ?! "

Tia's voice was toned down by the thick front glasses of the expensive car.

Diana threw her arms up dramatically, making the edges of the open jacket to go up, and had her golden eyes wide open as the expression she wore on her face talked the language only the two of them could understand.

Diana pressed her lips together and lifted her nose. her brows rising to her forehead.

Tia made a face that read. ' I'm _ sorry _ kinda '

Diana slapped a hand across her forehead and sighed. so much for a good night.

she gestured for her friend to get her ass out of the car before she dragged her out by herself.

Tia swung her legs over the side of the dashboard and stood up to face a very furious Diana.

" what the hell are you doing here ?! are your non-existent brain cells even working ?! do you have any idea how worried I was ?! can you even think about calling ?! there's something called freaking phone! I can't believe I'm rambling right now ! all because of a fool like you! how did we even end up being friends! why the heck did you even buy that cat ?! _

" what does puffy have to do with anything ?! "

" that piece of shit scratches me !"

Tia just rolled her eyes and leaned over the BMW.

Diana took a deep breath to calm down but the second her eyes fell on Tia, oh she wanted to jump on top of her and pull her hair out.

she huffed.

" Why the heck did you even call me here ?; oh no ! start by saying who did you steal this car from !?"

Tia looked to be offended.

" Just why did you assume I stole this thing ?! "

Diana replied with a sweet voice.

" oh I don't know ?! maybe because we can't even afford to buy a single t-shirt ?! "

Tia opened her mouth to reply something nasty but a whining voice interrupted.

" um, girls, can you keep it down please ? "

Tia just shut her mouth, while Diana jumped, and a yelp left her lips. Diana looked over the backseats to see a man, sleeping on top of the softness of the car.

one of his hands was pressed onto his abdomen, while the other one was gripping the edges of the seats.

what made her blood run cold ...was the fact that his black hands, were bloody. and he looked like he was in pain.

" Who are you ?...."

her voice was unsteady as she asked.

" the owner of the car. "

replied both Tia and the man.

" see! I told you I didn't steal this ! "

Diana could only nod her head.

" Tia, why did you call me here? "

Tia was starting to blush .... she gave Diana her best sheepish smile before saying.

" um ... I kinda scratched him with my knife_

" SCRATCH ME ?! BITCH YOU FREAKING STABBED ME ! "

" OH YOU KNOW DAMN WELL, YOU DESERVED IT ! "

Diana was looking between them ... children...they were children.

" Why am I here. "

both stopped and turned to her, the man just huffed and looked down at his wound, whilst Tia gave toothy smile and stuttered.

" um...T_to ...fix him ? "

Diana felt her vein popping on the side of her skull.

" to fix him ...."

Tia suddenly found the snow-covered ground very interesting.

" Tia, the hospital is a thing you know ..."

" can you two argue, later? ...I'm bleeding . "

Diana let out a deep sigh, she moved towards him and kneeled.

he was pale and looked to be in unbearable pain. his limbs were trembling and his gaze was spinning.

Diana swallowed as she tried to get his shirt away from the wound so that she could take a look at it.

the wound wasn't as deep as she thought, but it was swollen and it looked to be infected.

the cut was nasty and the gash was running from his belly button up to the middle of his chest.

as she was examining his wound, her eyes caught a glimpse of the same tattoo, Tia had on her upper arm.

it wasn't a rose or something, it was a sword with a dark serpent curled around it, protecting it. a raven was resting on its handle.

Diana took off her scarf and pressed into the wound to stop the bleeding as much as she could.

" We need to get him to a hospital. "

Tia looked uncomfortable. she looked away from her and nodded her head.

Tia got in the car's driver seat and started the engine.

Diana snuggled inside and shut the door behind her.

the drive to the busy hospital was quiet, only the sound of the man's moans broke the silence.

until it became unbearable.

the man was unconscious as Diana asked.

" who even is he ? "

Tia looked over at her by the review mirror.

her gaze was intense.

" an old friend. "

" I didn't know, you stabbed your old friends. "

Tia smiled.

" I used to do it regularly. "

Diana gapped at her. Tia only continued.

" Clark and I used to fight non-stop, if anyone came between us, we would attack them too. Clark and Adrian used to be friends as well ...I mean Adrian was friends with everyone, no one didn't like him ....but Clark took a while to be okay with him. "

Diana's eyes softened at the mention of her brother.

Adrian was a nice guy. Tia was right. everyone liked him.

Diana looked down at the man ...Clark.

so he was a friend of Adrian's too huh?

She peeked over at Tia with the corner of her eyes.

They shared a tattoo ...the same one Adrian had on his collarbone.

he used to show it off proudly .... telling her 10 years old self it belonged to

" The Asterion ...."

Tia looked up.

" what ?.."

" it was your gang name right ? "

" how do you know ?.."

" Adrian has the same tattoo you and this guy have . he told it was because of a gang named The Asterin ....what does that even mean? "

Tia had a look on her face and she was rubbing her arm restlessly.

" it means stars....it's Latin... Julia put the name..."

" Julia ?"

Tia shook her head. her eyes suddenly became distant. " forget it ....how is he ? "

Diana looked down at Clark who was sweating buckets...

" We need to bring him to the hospital soon ...very soon "

Tia pressed hard on the gas and drove off.

______________________________________________

the tall building was stated in the middle of a very long road to nowhere . every single building around it was either half broken or nobody lived in it .

Tia was biting her lower lip to its meat.

She couldn't go inside. they might recognize her ... but she couldn't just let Diana go on her own.

Clark was a heavy man and if he was found hurt, he might be considered useless to the queen ..... just as she was about to reach the building she stopped.

Diana doubled over, a look of genuine confusion on her face.

" what is it? "

" We can't go in there ...they might recognize me and he might be useless too ...."

"Tia _

" We can't Diana ! "

" then what should we do ?! "

Tia swallowed down her dry throat.

" B_bring him home. "

.

.

.

Diana blinked once.... twice....and sighed.

______________________________________________

Diana kicked open the door to the apartment, making puffy who was sleeping peacefully on his couch jump two feet in the air.

She cursed as she bumped into the coffee table and moved over as to make room for Tia who was carrying Clark on her back.

Diana quickly opened the door to her and grabbed the pillow and the blankets.

Tia placed the man on the bed as slowly as she could and stepped aside.

" Go pour some cold water into a bowl and come here, don't forget a towel. "

Tia nodded and went to mend her orders.

meanwhile, Diana pulled her hair behind her ears and pulled her jacket over her shoulders.

then as fast as her legs allowed her, she tried to find the first_ aid_ kit she had in her messy room.

she kneeled by her bed to see if she had put it under it but nope, only some roaches and dust.

she yanked open her closet and threw her clothes over her head.

Diana closed the door with much frustration as well as a huff and placed her hand on her hips.

she could feel the sweat run down the line of her spine.

Tia came back to the room, with arms full of water and a towel.

" place them over my desk and come help me find the first _ aid _ kit "

Tia nodded once and busied herself by opening the drawers one by one.

" Diana! the bathroom !"

" oh! god! I didn't even think of that !"

Diana rushed to the bathroom where Tia had thrown up that morning. she opened the broken cabinets and inside one of them was the kit she had so much wanted to find.

she snatched it up and ran back to her room.

" do you think we can take out his clothes ?"

Tia gave her a funny look.

" um... I guess. "

Diana looked over at the man on her bed .....and blushed crimson.

Tia blushed even harder and commanded her to go and get the supplies ready.

Tia pulled her knife out and started to cut the high priced shirt open.

Clark's muscular dark body was presented to them both.

" I feel like a stalker right now ... "

Tia cringed.

"Stop talking like that! "

Diana pressed her lips together and screwed her eyes shut.

" it's done come and do your thing ."

Diana took a breath and kneeled to the bed. she started to clean the wound first.

Tia watching close by was slowly becoming uncomfortable.

" can you ...like... go? "

Tia looked anywhere but her, as she moved up from her position and got out of the room.

then, alone, Diana started the process again.

cleaning the wound, then sewing it shut. applying some antibiotics to the gash to get the infection done.

as soon as it was done, she began to wrap the bandages around him. it was kind of difficult with him laying on his back, but she got it well.

She looked him over. his entire body was covered in scars ....just like Tias...and Adrian's.

she kept wondering...

is he a Gifted too?

Adrian and Tia were...he had to be one too.

she yawned.

Diana looked over her window...the sun had risen.

She got up from the wooden floor and padded over to the door.

her knuckles curled inside her hand as she closed the door behind her.

she eyed the living room.

Tia was on the couch, the SpongeBob blanket over her shoulders, the remote in her hand while the television was showing her favorite episode of FRIENDS.

two cups of coffee were on the table in front of her. Puffy was snoring in her lab.

Tia had changed into her normal clothes.

a baggy blue Patrick shirt with same shorts ... different colored socked one green other yellow as she sat, sleeping cross-legged on the couch.

her blond head was resting on her collarbone.

Diana moved towards the window they had in Their living room. jerked the curtain away and looked outside.

the snow had wrapped itself around the window frame and seemed to be sleeping. she sighed to ninth time that time and turned to the couch.

slowly as to not wake Tia, she slipped under the warm blanket and leaned against her friend.

Her gaze slowly darkening around the edges...

sleep had to sound good right?

I got this now, so stay strong .....