The Arrangement

panic

Fourth woke up in a cold sweat, his heart frantically beating against his ribcage as he vividly remembered being injected with a substance as a group of men held him down. He tried fighting them off but there were too many of them, the substance injected in his veins weakened him and he couldn't fight them back.

He turned to his side to find the bed empty, he so wished he had allowed Gemini to stay, especially now. He took deep breaths, a technique he learned from his psychologist he was forced to see after the passing of his parents.

"It's fine Fourth. You are fine." He whispered to himself as he tried to go back to sleep again.

After a few minutes his eyes snapped open again, he was covered in cold sweat, shaking and his heart pounding vigorously. He looked around the room suspicious and paranoid that the horror may have followed him here.

"It's okay Fourth, no need to be scared. You are home now. Accardo can't get to you now okay." He whispered to himself. Fourth didn't understand why he felt this way, he knew he was strong. He thought this whole kidnapping didn't phase him.

Maybe it was because he knew how meticulous Accardo was, maybe it was because he knew that the same man who kidnapped him was the same man who was responsible for the death of his parents. Whatever it was he needed to shake it off. He needed to get over this irrational fear he was experiencing.

How can he become the heir of the Mafia empire if he let things like this phase him? He was the falcon after all. He shouldn't feel like this, Falcon was feared! Falcon didn't have fears, Falcon was feared.

He got up cautiously, shivering, rubbed his head and eyes and tried to fully awaken. He stumbled to the bathroom, he looked in the mirror slowly, cautiously, as if not sure of what he’ll see. He switched on the lights which reflected brightly on the mirror, washing away the vestiges of the horror, leaving him relieved to return to his mundane existence.

He started brushing his teeth, until he saw a shadow move behind him in the mirror and he jumped and started looking around the bathroom. He was sure he was alone, Gem left after a heated argument they had.

Fourth was jittery the entire time he was taking a shower, he didn't want to go back to sleep. If he slept then he would not be in control, what if Accardo's men came back and took him away again.

"Stop it Fourth! You're literally a black belt, you can snap a man twice your size in half!" Fourth scolded himself as he walked back to his bedroom.

He decided to try to sleep again, he was tired. He hadn't been able to sleep well lately and Gemini's jealousy over Dunk wasn't making things easier.

Yet while lying on his bed his hands became clammy and his eyes teared up. His heartbeat sped up, taking flight, only for his chest to weigh him down and fall, into the ocean of despair. He couldn’t breathe, couldnt move, couldnt pull himself to get oxygen his brain and lungs needed.

His heart was beating so violently, he could hear it in his ears. He tried to calm down, he had to, he couldn’t be weak. If he was weak, he would die. The world he lived in was cruel and unforgiving.

He took a long, deep breath to try to calm himself down again, but it didn’t work. He started hyperventilating, he couldn’t breathe and he felt like he was being choked.

He was dying

If he couldn't get oxygen in his lungs he would surely die.

"Fourth, Fourth! What's wrong?" Fourth heard a familiar voice call out to him but he couldn't respond.

Everything around him was a blur, he felt hot. It felt like he was burning up. Maybe he had a fever he wasn't sure, all he knew was that at that moment unable to catch his breath was that he was dying. This was it, this is how his life ended.