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"Grams, I need you to bring something to stop the bleeding. I also need you to bring me a sterilized knife, and some bandages."

-

Giorno Hood was not sure how he made it back to the waiting car. Both of his legs had been shot at, to incapacitate him, and he mostly had to drag himself over to where his twin brother Hiram was waiting. He used his upper body strength to open the passenger side car door and pull himself inside. There was a gasp that came from his twin brother as he saw him with both legs bleeding from gunshot wounds. He also noticed that their seventeen year old brother was missing. "What happened? Where's Dio?"

His brother winced in pain as he adjusted his legs in front of him. He had placed both hands on top of the wounds, a purple hue emerging like an aura from his finger tips. But the pain and the injuries would not go away. That was the gift that Giorno had been born with, which in this situation was more of a curse for himself. He was able to heal others, as long as the person, animal, or being was still alive. Once they had died, there was nothing more he could do to save them or bring them back. The downside to his gift was that he could not use his abilities to heal himself. Hiram Hood, on the other hand, had the gift of cutting through time and space at his will.

There could be someone on the other side of the room, and he could move them to stand right in front of him with a wave of his hand. Their older brother Dio had the gift of travelling through dimensions like his parents. 

Giorno's voice was full of pain as he explained what happened to him. "I was caught by two shifters, and they caught Dio when he tried to save me. A girl let me go, but she shot me first. We have to call mom and dad. They'll know what to do. We need to save Dio."

Though they didn't want to, they knew they were in danger if they stayed any longer, so they sped off into the night, in the direction of their home. Both Hiram and Giorno fathomed that if they had taken their brother Dio hostage, they likely wouldn't be ending his life any time soon. There was likely something they wanted to use him for. Maybe they wanted something from the hunters and Dio was their bargaining tool. As they drove back home, Hiram had called their parents and had them on speaker in the car.

"Mom, dad, we need you to come home asap. Something happened." He said frantically into the phone. By now, his twin brother Giorno had passed out due to the blood loss and the pain he was experiencing. After calling their parents, he thought to call his uncle Jack. Giorno could not heal himself, but someone else with healing powers could definitely heal him.

He immediately heard Harley Quinn's voice from the other end. There was evident concern in her tone. "What happened, Hiram?"

"We were on a mission and Dio left with Giorno to inspect the perimeter." Hiram started to explain. His words were rushed, but he was in a state of distress with one brother kidnapped and the other sitting unconscious in the passenger seat. Their missions were always dangerous, no doubt. But he had never encountered something like this. Those shifters clearly knew what they were doing and they knew how to deal with hunters. "I was waiting for them in the car. Then Giorno came back alone, and injured. He said they took Dio hostage and we don't know what to do so we're headed home and we need your help."

This time, it was Calum who practically shouted into the phone, his voice full of outrage. "You left your brother alone! How could you, Hiram? Do you at least know if he's even still alive? Where's Giorno?" In the code of the hunters, it was usually customary for them to stick together until the very end, no matter what the consequences were. While he knew they were only sixteen, and they were still learning the ways of the hunt, Calum also knew that Diego was their brother and they just left him there. 

"He's in the passenger seat, passed out!" Hiram shouted into the phone. He didn't want to leave his brother behind either. But with Giorno injured, he knew the best thing to do was to retreat. His father was probably just in shock of the whole situation, but once he could calm down he would surely realize that it was better for them to strategize and go in as a family.

Harley then cut into their conversation full of frantic yelling. She was trying to be the voice of reason no matter how much she just wanted to break out into tears. They were her children and it hurt her to hear that Dio was taken hostage, and the Giorno was injured. But she was glad that Hiram was safe, and that her two daughters were at home safe as well. She tried to keep her voice as steady and calm as possible as she spoke. "Just get home and wait for us. We'll take a private jet back to Australia. In the mean time, call your uncle Jack and ask him to heal your brother. I'm also calling my dad. He's back at the headquarters in The Garden. We need all the help we can get if we're going to save your brother."

Hiram Hood gave a nod and assured his mother that he would do so. Then they hung up the phone. As soon as he was through talking with her, he dialed his uncle Jack Quimby's phone number next. He had met a beautiful woman in Brazil and remained there to start a family. But he was always willing to lend his help whenever the family needed him. Hiram felt a bit bad, since his uncle lived on the other side of the world, and it was probably really early in the morning for him.

But once Hiram explained the situation, Jack assured that he would catch a plane over to Australia and would be there as soon as possible. 

-

Hiram had arrived at the family home in Sydney with his twin brother unconscious in his arms. It was late at night, but Harleen was in the living room waiting for them. Whenever any of them was away on a mission, she couldn't sleep at night until she could know that they were okay. A horrified gasp left her lips as the door flew open and the two teens came in. She immediately got up from her place on the couch and Hiram went around to place his brother on it. Harleen had her hands, which were now shaking, to her face. She was completely speechless.

"Grams, I need you to bring something to stop the bleeding. I also need you to bring me a sterilized knife, and some bandages." He said to her. At least until Jack could arrive, he would need to stop the bleeding somehow. And the only way to do that was to get the lodged bullets out of his body and wrap him up in bandages. 

Harleen left the room a shaking mess and went to do as she was told. She had never been a part of that side in Arthur's life. She had been just a regular human for a long time, with her father erasing her knowledge of her abilities when she was a child, and later Arthur had made her forget her abilities as well because they wanted her to live a normal life. Now seeing her daughter involved in that life, and her children as well, it made her worry that something bad was going to happen to them. And she wasn't entirely wrong. Now she had her sixteen year old grandson laid out on the livingroom couch, losing a lot of blood by the minute. She was only glad the two youngest siblings, Narda and Liesl, were upstairs asleep. 

When she came back with the things he asked for, he next asked her to sit back on the couch, placing Giorno's head on her lap and he instructed her to hold him down tight. Harleen had grabbed both of his wrist and pull her entire weight into it as Hiram immediately went for it, digging the cold blade of the sharp knife to his brother's injuries and digging the two bullets out. Giorno was sweating buckets at the pain and he struggled against her hold. The new level of pain was enough to wake him from unconsciousness.

As soon as that was done, Harleen was already sobbing as she went to get some pain medication for Giorno. It also wasn't long before he now fell asleep from exhaustion. Arthur arrived shortly after seeing Hiram's hands stained with crimson blood, as well as the wounds in Giorno's legs covered in bandages. Harleen had gone completely pale and her hands were still shaking. As soon as Arthur came through the front door, she jumped up and ran to him, hiding her small frame in his tall body. She had gone week and almost instantly went limp in his arms, losing consciousness. It had all become too much for her.

Arthur carried her up to Harley's bedroom in the house, and returned downstairs to speak with Hiram about the incident. He wanted to hear ever detail and that was exactly what Hiram did until his parents arrived almost three hours after.

-

Harley and Calum came through the front door and saw the sight before them with widened eyes. There was the living room which looked like a crime scene now. There was blood everywhere and Giorno was still unconscious on the living room couch. Hiram and Arthur were sitting at one of the other couches, concern lining their features as they talked about what happened. Harley hurried to her son's side and knelt by him, a hand coming up to his forehead when she saw the beads of sweat on his face. He was burning with a slight fever, but she knew that was only because his body had gone into shock. Everything would be fixed as soon as Jack could arrive to heal him.

But Calum immediately went to his son for answers. His eyebrows were furrowed together in something of an accusing expression. Of course he didn't think Hiram was guilty of everything that happened. But the concern for his missing son was blinding his logic. All he wanted was to have his three sons alive and well back at home with the family. "What the fuck happened, Hiram?" He demanded to know.

Hiram looked up at his father, eyes red and puffy from the tears he was unwilling to let out. Arthur immediately stepped in. "Right now's not the time to lose our heads, son. We have to work together to find Dio. Our time might be running short with every passing moment that we wait."

Harley got up from her place next to their other son Giorno and placed a hand on her husband's shoulder. "My dad's right, Cal. We should focus on getting Giorno healthy again and finding Dio."

Calum ran a hand through his dark hair in frustration. But he finally heaved a sigh. He knew it was wrong to speak that way to his son, and he found himself apologizing for it. "I'm sorry, son. Its just that I know better than anyone that there are bad people in the world who won't feel any remorse hurting others." He thought back to his teenage years, before Harley moved to Sydney. He had been such a horrible person, and he used his powers and abilities for his own gain, not caring if he hurt others. It wasn't until after he met her that he saw a willingness in himself to change, to become a better person. That was why he had always taught his children to always think about the consequences of their actions before using their powers. "And I just want your brother to come back to us."

"In any case, it was my fault for letting them go alone." Arthur said with a sigh. Though he was already in his late fifties, all his years of training and hunting kept him looking strong and built. Still, something in his eyes as he said those words made him look tired. Since the boys had been around him and their parents hunting since they were kids, he had allowed them to do only one year of training in the garden, instead of the established two years. But he just had so many hopes in them that he overlooked the fact that above everything, they were just still kids. They still needed help and they needed guidance.

"Don't blame yourself, uncle." Calum's demeanor immediately softened. 

Arthur was like a father to him. He had taken him in when his parents passed away, despite him being the enemy. He was a shifter, and hunters were created to murder them. Yet, he had seen the good in him and gave him the benefit of the doubt. Calum would never forget such an act of kindness towards him.

"It was no one's fault." Harley said, as she sat at the foot of where Giorno was sleeping on the living room couch. This was precisely one of the things she dreaded most when her sons were given the choice to become hunters or not. She didn't want to see them ever getting hurt. She knew she wouldn't be able to bear it and it was taking everything in her not to burst out into tears. But she had to be the strong one in the situation, since Calum was easily letting his feelings get the better of him. "All we can do is wait for Jack and come up with a strategy to get our son back."

-

why am i updating this when i havent even finished the other series?

i don't know. i just felt like it because i was feeling extra inspired. so i had to write this and post it up.

on a completely unrelated note thought, my mans texted me that some man in the drive thru at work pulled up and gave him a folded note. it said  "text me" with the man's phone number. like that's so creepy. why are you harassing my crush? so i texted him and told him to leave him alone because he's not interested.

so then apparently this guy went back to the restaurant and told my mans that "he didn't have to send his little girlfriend after him."

i have no regrets though.

-clary