- Chapter 67 - "Sei al sicuro." -
Warnings: Abuse, murder, death, blood, crying, fighting, jail
Canon Era
Third Person POV

A/N, we were writing something in English (a quick-write as seen above) and I decided to turn what I got into a one-shot, and it's pretty angsty, so be warned. (Some of the spelling and stuff above is bad, we were being silly.)

The shouts sounded like they banged off of the walls and echoed louder after as Antonio Higgins covered his ears and tucked himself further into the corner of his closet.

It was dark, but he didn't mind it.

He had grown used to the darkness because of every night he was shoved in there as a punishment or shoved outside for the night.

As a eight year old, he had heard that he shouldn't be dealing with this, but he was.

His Nonna, his mom's mom, had come to try to 'save' him and now his father was screaming at her.

He hated screaming.

He hated this.

He could barely make out the screaming over the sobs that escaped his lips that came with the tears that streamed down his face, but he heard a few things.

"You aren't fit to be a father! You abuse him!"

"What would you know? Your husband and daughter are dead!"

"She had cancer! You can't blame a kid for her getting cancer!"

"I've come to take Antonio home."

"He is home."

"To a home where he'll be safe."

"You aren't taking him!"

"Stop infecting my kid with your stupid language!"

"You loved Italian when Carina was alive!"

"I hate it. Anthony will not be infected by it."

"His name is Antonio! That's the name he was given at birth!"

Tears streamed down Antonio's face.

His head was pounding as he tried harder to cover his ears, but he could still hear shouting, even if he couldn't make out their words.

The door to the closest suddenly opened, the light from the other room spilling into the closet like it was water rushing into the rooms of the Titanic.

His Nonna stood at the door, her eyes soft. "Dai, Antonio. Dobbiamo andare." She tells him softly.
(Translation: 'Come on, Antonio. We have to go.')

Antonio looks up at her hand that was out for him to take like it was foreign to him. "Where are we going?" He whispers, his eyes crossing slightly from how tired they were and how much he was straining them trying to intensely look at his Nonna's hand.

Nonna steals a look at George Higgins, who was really angry, before turning back to Antonio. "Casa, Antonio. Casa." She answers.
(Translation: 'Home, Antonio. Home.')

Antonio nods, gently placing his hand in her hand.

She gently grips his hand, pulling him up.

George stares at her, his gaze strong and angry.

It made Antonio squirm, frightened and uncomfortable, and his glare wasn't even aimed at Antonio this time.

"Leave him alone." George snarls, gripping the beer bottle in his hand.

Nonna's grip on Antonio's hand tightened slightly, but not enough to hurt him. "We're leaving, George." She tells him sternly. "You're not the same man my daughter married. I'm not letting you hurt him."

George scowls at her. "You don't get to decide that." He states.

He turns to face Antonio, his gaze softer and a smile on his face. "Anthony, come to papa." He tells him kindly, a sickly sweet tone in his voice.

Antonio knew it was fake.

He knew the smile was fake.

But a part of him felt a bit of hope that his father, the one he lost when his mother died, was back.

But he wasn't and he didn't even use Antonio's real name.

Antonio slowly moved himself a bit more behind his Nonna, clinging to her.

His Nonna squeezes his hand gently, reminding him that she loves him.

George, however, got really mad. "Anthony. I want you to come over here. Now." He tells him sternly, his voice getting louder with each word.

Antonio squeezes his eyes closed, shaking his head softly.

"Your kid is scared of you, George." Nonna speaks up. "That's a sign to stop and rethink the situation." She tells him.

George raises his beer bottle, his face almost turning red in anger, and hurls it at Antonio and his Nonna.

Antonio's Nonna's eyes widen, and she quickly pushes him out of the way.

Antonio yelps, his hands breaking his fall when he hits the ground, though he twisted his wrist weirdly.

He looks up to see the beer bottle hit his Nonna in the head with a loud smash, knocking her to the ground.

He gasps. "Nonna!" He shouts, tears stinging his eyes.

Police quickly entered the building.

Antonio crawls over to his Nonna, cradling his wrist against his chest.

Blood slowly drips from her forehead and the back of her head, her eyes barely open.

Tears stream down Antonio's face. "Nonna! Nonna, please!" He exclaims, grabbing her hand.

His Nonna's head turns to look at him slowly, smiling, but only slightly. The smile was pained and so were her blue eyes.

The same blue eyes that he and his mother had.

"Antonio, ti amo. Stai al sicuro per Nonna. Ci vediamo in Paradiso." She whispers, her hand on his grip loosening.
(Trails toon: 'Antonio, I love you. Stay safe for Nonna. I'll see you in Heaven.')

"No! No!" Antonio exclaims, sobbing harder. "Please, Nonna! Please stay awake!" He pleads.

An officer looks at him, pity in his gaze as the other officers lead George out of the house in handcuffs.

He wasn't surprised when multiple Newsies came in.

Antonio lays his head on his Nonna's chest, closing his eyes and trying to control his sobs.

It wasn't working.

They just kept sounding in his ears as his Nonna's heartbeat stopped, everything else drowned out.

The Chief turns to the Newsies.

Sparks frowns. "Yeah, that's Antonio Higgins." He informs him. "He's one of ours, but he's never stayed at the Lodge." He explains. "He's also called a 'half Brooklyn Newsie' cause he sells in Brooklyn."

Chief nods. "I'm assuming he didn't tell you why he never stayed at the Lodge." He states.

He had been a past Brooklyn Newsie.

Sparks nods. "I guess we know now." He mumbles, staring sorrowfully at Race.

Sparks turns to face Kloppman. "Should we give him a minute?" He asks quietly.

Kloppman nods.

The Newsies and few police officers stay silent for a few minutes, just watching the small, Italian boy.

The police officers were ones that Sparks knew personally as they had been Newsies when he was younger, so he went to them when he got concerned with why Antonio kept coming back with bruises.

"His father will be taken to jail." The Chief speaks up again. "Life in prison." He adds. "And his mother is sadly deceased." He explains.

Sparks nods, sighing softly. "Okay, we'll take care of him. He's one of our own already, we just need to get through to him through the trauma this has caused." He explains.

The Chief nods.

Sparks looks to Kloppman.

Kloppman nods, keeping his eyes fixated on Antonio.

Sparks nods his head towards Antonio, making a gesture for his second to follow him.

Sparks sits down next to Antonio, gently placing his hand on his back. "Hey, Toni." He starts softly.

Through his blurred vision, face covered in tears, and injuries, Antonio looks up at Sparks.

More tears stream down his face.

Sparks frowns, gently pulling Antonio into his arms. "Hey, hey, I'm here now. Ti ho preso adesso. Sei al sicuro." He whispers, his chin gently resting on Antonio's head.
(Translation: 'I got you now. You're safe.')

Antonio quietly sobs into Sparks' chest.

That was the last family member he had alive who didn't hate him.

Sparks just gently whispers comforts, playing with Antonio's hair.

After a few minutes, Antonio was almost asleep.

Sparks gently turns him over, his head still on Sparks' chest, but his body facing Sparrow.

Sparrow gestures for Specs to come over to him.

The nine, almost ten, year old goes over to him, his eyes staring over Race, his gaze sad.

"Remember how we showed you the correct way to bandage an arm?" Sparrow asks quietly.

Specs nods, pulling out the bandages that he kept in his pocket.

Sparrow smiles sadly. "I'm going to hold Antonio's wrist and I need you to bandage it, okay?" He asks.

Specs nods.

Sparrow gently lifts up Antonio's wrist, earning another whimper from him and a whispered 'sorry' from Sparks.

Specs gently, but securely, wraps the bandages around his wrist and between his thumb and fingers, and then pulled the excess bandages off.

Sparrow hugs Specs, a proud smile on his face. "Good job, Specs. You're doing really well." He whispers.

Specs smiles.

He probably would've been more happy if it wasn't at the cost of one of his brothers being hurt.

Sparrow gently lifts Antonio out of Sparks' arms, so Sparks could get up, and then places him back in Sparks' arms.

Antonio's head laid in the crook of Sparks' neck, Sparks holding him up, and his hands laid against his chest and Sparks' chest, where he cradled his bandaged wrist unconsciously.

He wasn't fully asleep, but he was almost asleep.

Sparks quietly thanks the former-Newsie officers, and leaves the house, Sparrow and Specs right behind him.

Jack watches with a sad gaze.

Kloppman leads Jack and Albert out of the house, following Sparks, Sparrow, Antonio, and Specs back to the Lodge.

When they got there, everyone fell silent when they saw Antonio.

Sparks and Sparrow went to the vacated room upstairs with him, which was basically a room that Sparks could sleep in if he wanted his own room, but he never really used it, so they could talk to him and give him some peace.

JoJo gets up, trying to go follow him.

Kloppman stops him. "It's okay, JoJo. He'll be okay." He whispers.

JoJo looks up at him, tears stinging his eyes. "But he's crying and I want to help him." He whispers.

Kloppman smiles softly. "He needs some space. I understand that you want to help, and I appreciate it and he would too, but he just lost his father and his grandma in the span of a ten minutes, so we need to give him some time alone and with Sparks and Sparrow." He tells JoJo softly. "Okay?"

JoJo frowns, but nods. "Okay." He whispers, his voice almost silent.

Jack and Albert walk over to him, pulling him into a tight hug.

1770 Words