Attack of the Mob

[Jules]

After so long without seeing head or tail of Iker, Zizzy had begun to relax. Perhaps he was busy with something else, perhaps he was plotting, but she didn’t care if he was orchestrating some grandiose plan to bring about all their dooms, she was content in the fact that he had not yet shown his face.

Little by little her watchfulness had grown lax, and she stopped concerning herself with constantly having someone with her, especially for little things for which she would’ve simply felt silly asking for company for.

But it really only took that one moment, those little coincidences, to add up to disaster. Perhaps if she hadn’t forgot her bag in the carriage…

It was a small thing, and she didn’t think much of it, she realized it the second they were in the door. “Oh, I’ll be right back, I forgot something.”

And when she’d gone back outside, something had caught her attention, the noise of shouts, and she’d walked right down the hill to investigate, never considering that it might be dangerous.

A group of Dreams and Nightmares mixed, looking haggard and slightly wild-eyed with a starved quality about them, stood outside the castle gates. The guards positioned outside were keeping a close eye on them, but although they were loud, they were not close enough for the guards to really interfere.

Zizzy approached them, not yet feeling wary. “What’s going on?”

The apparent leader, a brutish looking Nightmare, turned to face her with a sneer on his face and a small shiver of apprehension went through her. Suddenly, she wished she had Armand with her.

“What’s going on?” Repeated the Nightmare with a snort, “What’s going on? What’s going on is that my little girl is starving thanks to whatever the hell is going on with those humans. What’s going on is that she’s so hungry she’s sick.”

“I’m…I’m sorry.” Something in the way the man was talking, with such venom, as though he was blaming her personally, made her afraid. “I can get you some fear for your little girl.”

“I bet you have lots in that castle of yours.” The eyes of the entire group suddenly fixed on the Ira castle, as if it were full of Fear and Joy just waiting for the taking. Zizzy shook her head, “No, we’re all stretching, but I’d be happy to give up my serving for your little girl and there’s soup kitchens set up all around, and I heard you could go to the Hospital to—”

“Have you seen the lines for those? They’re days long, and it’s barely enough to feed a bird. But how generous of the little princess, giving up her meal for a day.”

Zizzy began to feel uncomfortable and turned to leave, but the man’s hand gripped her wrist and yanked her forward. The grip was hard enough that she felt her bones grinding together and she yelped. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the two guards at the gate hurry forward instantly, but before they could reach her, the other members of the group went out to intercept them.

Chaos erupted, the group was bigger than she’d first thought. Zizzy tried to pull her wrist away, but it proved impossible. The brute grinned maliciously, “We’re going to send a little message to you fat pigs sitting in your castle while the rest of us rot.”

It started so quickly, she had no time to prepare. Pain so hard and raw she could hardly guess the source. The brute didn’t do much except rip her shoulder out of her socket and kept her from folding over her stomach like she kept trying to do, but there were others. “Please stop…please.” Again and again she attempted to fold over herself to protect the baby, all the while begging when she could force the words out. All she could see around her were angry faces, but beyond the sound of knuckles and feet and something wooden hitting her flesh she could hear the sounds of guards coming before she blacked out.

Zizzy came to what must’ve been only seconds later. She was on the ground now, pain blotting out sense. She couldn’t fully comprehend why there seemed to be a brawl raging above her, occasionally a foot came down on her, and somewhere in the back of her mind she assumed she was in danger of getting trampled, but she had no will to move beyond finally curling around her stomach.

[Miss Jack]

Even though he'd come back downstairs because Zizzy was taking so long getting her purse, when he heard the shouts and general chaos outside, Armand wasn't thinking of Zizzy. He rushed out the door alongside several League of Shadows officers and saw the mob. The few officers that had already been outside were struggling to keep the frenzied mass at bay, and for the most part failing.

Something cold pricked his spine, and his eyes did a quick, panicked sweep of the scene, searching for a familiar crop of short, dark hair. The panic settled deeper, touching something far down in a cavern inside him he hadn't previously known existed. He didn't mean to move, but in the next instant, he was in the middle of the crowd. Amidst the fury of violence and rampage, a few of the mob recognized the prince and most likely patron of all the fear that castle clearly had stored up, but Armand was untouchable, set with a sense of purpose that was frightening.

At last, at long last, he saw her, nearly trampled beyond recognition beneath their feet. Something like a groan, though far less human, escaped him and he struggled to reach her. The crowds were too thick and too many, and in a burst of impatient fury, he unsheathed his sword; dark blood splattering his cheek in the next instant. A beat of silence washed over the crowd and then the wounded Nightmare let out a howl, clutching the bleeding stump attached to his shoulder where his arm used to be.

Someone spluttered, likely in indignation at the injustice of a member of royalty dealing out punishment, deserved or not, but Armand flicked his wrist-- his eyes the color of the ocean when it storms-- and the crowds dispersed, or at least out of range of the dangerous blade.

Using the advantage created, the L.O.S. surged forward and began herding the mob. Armand fell to his knees at Zizzy's side, delicately sweeping her up into his arms. Her name fell from his lips again and again, an involuntary action he didn't realize.

"Say something, please say something..." he murmured, kissing her temple, her hair, brushing his cheek against hers, light as a feather.

[Jules]

Zizzy made a noise of low protest that sounded way more storm than human at being moved. She didn't have enough sense to realize it was better than being left on the ground. But she did recognize the voice and the simple presence of him, but for once it didn't make anything better.

She hurt everywhere, she wanted to pass out just so she could stop feeling. Her arm was dangling loosely from her shoulder, she was bruised and bleeding, and some of her bones where so broken she could feel them poking into things they shouldn't be. Except her wrist, that one was poking out of her skin.

His voice was garbled, like she was underwater, and she struggled to understand him, and then make sense herself, but the pain was somehow preventing her from speaking, as was the utter panic she felt that she was unable to express because screaming would've hurt even more.

[Miss Jack]

She was alive. He almost choked on the relief. Keeping his hold on her, but being careful not to move, he turned to one of the L.O.S. officers.

"Send a letter to Camilla," he said in a tone devoid of inflection or emotion. "She'll be busy, make sure you emphasize that it's an emergency."

The officer nodded quickly and hurried to send the note to the family physician.

Armand turned back to Zizzy. "I'm here," he murmured in her ear, "Be strong just a little longer."

[Jules]

Camilla came only minutes later, having taken a few seconds to grab her things before poofing and then sparing only a little time to rubberneck at the sight of the dispersing mob and very probably corresponding arm on the ground. Fashion had gone out the window in the second week of absolutely no sleep, and for the first time she was bippity-bopping about in sweats and sneakers with her unbrushed snarl of curls thrown up to keep out of her way.

However, when she saw Zizzy in the Prince's arms, she felt like Elizabeth Taylor. The last time she'd been called to the Ira Castle, it had been about as stressful as this looked like it was going to be. The want for her to be okay rolling off Armand was almost overpowering, and her want for her baby to be okay was just as bad. Camilla was nearly staggered in her overworked state.

"What happened? I'll take her to the hospital, I assume you want to come?" She approached the wounded girl and felt for a pulse--weak, but there and then laid a hand on Armand's shoulder, waiting for his word to poof the three of them away.


Zizzy turned her head towards Armand, she wished more than anything that he could hold her tighter than he was, but she would have to make do with his spoken reassurances. Speech seemed to return to her with the presence of a doctor. Camilla was competent and she would be able to make everything better with the wave of her wand, wouldn't she? Zizzy attempted to think of something to say that would assure him she was going to be okay, he looked so panicked, but all she could spit out was a broken "It hurts." She felt like a child.

[Miss Jack]

"I know," he murmured, brushing her hair off her forehead, clearing the way for a soft kiss he placed there.

He looked back to Camilla, anguish in his eyes. "The mob outside the castle... she got caught underneath..."

[Jules]

Camilla frowned, there could be all kinds of issues caused by a severe beating like the one Zizzy had obviously incurred. Until she did a thorough checkup, she couldn't be sure. Clamping a little harder on Armand's shoulder, she poofed all three of them to the hospital.

Camilla moved to check on Zizzy again, the girl’s health was in precarious enough condition that she was worried about her making it through at all. The fear grew a thousand times more sincere when she realized the girl had passed out, more than that, she’d stopped breathing, she’d gone into cardiac arrest.

“Shit.” Camilla began C.P.R on her chest while she lay limp in Armand’s arms, trying to remain gentle since she knew there were at least two fractured ribs. “Quick, bring me a gurney.” A nurse nodded and ran off, bring the bed on wheels seconds later. They would have to do this right here in the hallway. Keeping up the rhythmic pumping motion on Zizzy’s chest, she directed Armand to lay her down. Another nurse, without being prompted, brought the defibrillator.

Camilla continued C.P.R until the nurse rubbing the paddles together yelled “Clear!” And they all had to back away. The nurse pressed the paddles to the girl’s bare chest and an ugly shudder went through Zizzy’s otherwise inanimate body. Camilla watched, standing beside Armand, a hand on his arm, as the nurse held two fingers to Zizzy’s neck, waiting hopefully for a pulse.

“Her heart has stopped.” Camilla tried to use her best matter-of-fact tone so Armand would remain calm, “Technically, she’s dead, but there’s a good chance we can start her heart again, if you wish away the internal bleeding.” Her first priority was getting Zizzy stable, but there was still the guilt that this was probably killing the baby. However, without the mother, the baby had no chance at all.

The nurse had given up and was rubbing the paddles together again. She turned to Armand and Camilla, perplexed, "She's....evaporating."

Camilla left Armand's side to see, and indeed the girl's form was slowly giving way to a cloudiness. "Hurry up then." She snapped.

[Miss Jack]

He only managed to keep himself distanced enough to allow the nurses and Camilla to do there job because he didn't know what was going on; partly because his mind simply refused to accept the reality. It wasn't until Camilla said the words her heart has stopped that it hit him, and then he couldn't breathe, couldn't think...

"Of course I wish for it," he snapped in return, voice shaking, both with fear and anger.

[Jules]

Camilla ignored the Prince's rudeness completely only because she understood. Taking out her wand, she did her perfunctory wave, and the nurse immediately pressed the paddles to Zizzy's skin again. She was evaporating at an alarming rate and Camilla was at a complete loss for what to do about that. Hopefully, if they could get her heart beating again, she would stop disappearing. "Again." The nurses increased the voltage, but Camilla cranked it all the way. The girl was a storm, right? The electricity could only help her.

When the nurse pressed the paddles to her chest the scent of seared flesh filled the hallway, and there were two large rectangular burns on her chest. But the voltage seemed to energize her and she solidified.

"She's got a pulse!" The nurse cried and Camilla smiled weakly, waving them onward. They wheeled the gurney down the hallway and around the corner so that it was just her and Armand. "She's not over the hill yet, but we'll do out best." She didn't want to mention the baby just yet, he looked tortured enough as it was. "Come on." She didn't think he could take being left alone out here, so she brought him with her into Zizzy's room where other staff were working on her. One broke her wrist again as to set it properly, someone had already popped her shoulder into place and another had treated the burns.

When they finally cleared out, only then was Armand allowed to get close. "Now we just have to hope she wakes up soon."

[Miss Jack]

His entire body was shaking so badly, he finally had to sink to the floor, or else collapse there in a few seconds regardless of choice. His hands were clasped and he pressed his knuckles against his lips, eyes closed-- pinched in an expression of torment.

The nurse had to shake his shoulder three times before his head snapped up. For a split second of terror, he feared the word 'death' on the young Dream's lips, but then she told him he could go inside, Zizzy would be fine (eventually).

It seemed like in the same instant he stood, he was at her side by the hospital bed. He didn't dare touch her at first, she looked so broken, so sick. "I can't believe I let this happen..." he murmured to himself.

[Jules]

Camilla came up beside him and sighed as she gazed at Zizzy's sleeping form. "She'll heal, physically. We resuscitated her quickly enough that there shouldn't be any lasting damage, but Nightmares aren't humans so we can never be sure. The baby....the baby is gone Armand. A number of things could of caused the miscarriage. I'm so sorry."

She put a hand on his arm and sighed. She'd known the Ira children since they were just babies, she remembered their first wishes, and although she was merely useful background to the Ira family members, she loved each one of them quite dearly.

"The chances she escapes such a brutal beating without some...anxiety are slim. She's strong, but it was horrific, and she's lost her baby." Camilla reached forward and unwound a bandage that had wrapped the top of Zizzy's left arm in gauze, revealing the word "PIG" someone had carved there. "This famine is only going to get worse, you might want to tell your father hatred towards the Crown is reaching a peak. He was never popular, no offense, and in times of crisis, that's only going to get worse."

She wrapped up the girl's arm again, "Is there anything else you need? Food? Drink? Do you want a cot? I can't release her until tomorrow at the very least. You could go home, too, a nurse can stay with her."

[Miss Jack]

The baby was gone.

His eyes sank closed and the weight hanging over them grew --impossibly, terribly-- heavier. "It's okay," he murmured tonelessly. He turned to face Camilla. "Thank you for bringing her back to me."

He touched Zizzy's arm, eyes clouding.

"A cot, maybe." He definitely wouldn't leave her. He was far too sick to his stomach to consider food or water.

[Jules]

She came back with the cot, that rested at the same height as the hospital bed Zizzy was on, without the guardrails or machinery. She left a pile of neatly folded blankets and a pillow at the end of the bed and left him alone, murmuring that nurses would be in to check up on her in a little while, "Oh, and she won't be feeling any pain when she does wake up, not until tomorrow, which is why I can't release her, but don't let her move around too much."

And with that, she was gone.

Zizzy woke up approximately half an hour later, feeling horribly uncomfortable and cotton mouthed, but surprisingly in no pain. She sat up slowly, confused, eyes so blurred she couldn't make out any shapes. Something felt wrong, she could hear the bleep of a heart monitor and she knew where she was, but something was wrong. She rubbed her eyes unthinkingly, clonking herself in the head with her cast.

She said "Ow," simply as a reaction, it didn't hurt at all.

[Miss Jack]

He eased himself onto the cot, but didn't lie down. Even so, the exhaustion of the emotionally-tried pulled on him, and he felt himself drifting off... until Zizzy woke up.

He reached up to gently take her shoulders, stopping any efforts she might give to sit up, guiding her cast-laden arm back to her side. He would have smiled in amusement if he could have found it in him. He couldn't.

"Hey," he said quietly, touching the back of his hand along her forehead and cheek.

[Jules]

An approaching, large, blurred shape---she almost screamed, but his smell when he got close, his voice, his touch, all so familiar that she was soothed instantly. "Hi." She murmured back. The last few hours were a bit of a squashed mess, but she remembered coming into the hospital, she remembered the beating. And although she could feel no pain, her surroundings had sluggishly focused and she could tell she was hurt.

"How bad is it?"