She died. She died, and Ghost felt it through the Mark, and it took ten people to keep the wolf on the gurney as he was being wheeled into the hospital. "Ghost! Ghost, calm the fuck down, shit!" Kai called to the man, repeatedly, but he was lost to his anger and grief.<br/>For five minutes, the gurney had to stop in the middle of the hallway as they tried to keep him from harming himself or the nurses. Kai himself to a rather vicious slash to his face, from the corner of his left eye to his jaw. He waved off the concerned medical staff. How stupid could they be? Ghost was losing his shit, they should have paid attention to that.<br/><br/>Just as quickly as it had started, Ghost's flailing stopped. Plum was alive. Faintly, and she was struggling, but alive. He panted on the gurney as they began to roll him again, blue-green eyes finding Kai. The shifter was bleeding from a clawmark on his face, clearly caused by him. "Kai." He coughed out, and the shifter just stared. "Shut up, Ghost. I don't need your apology." Kai's voice was more venomous than the wolf had ever heard it. "I'm going to see Plum. Don't die."<br/><br/>They almost didn't let him in the room, and a particularly ballsy male nurse almost died when he reached out to clamp a hand on Kai's shoulder. Luckily for him, Plum's doctor arrived. He reprimanded the nurse, and allowed Kai into the room.<br/>"How long?" He asked the human.<br/>"I'm...sorry?"<br/>Kai sighed with frustration. "How long will she be in here?" His eyes roved over the night nymph. She looked so frail, so small hooked up to all those wires and tubes. Kai had never seen her more vulnerable. Her breathing was ragged, and she likely wouldn't have been able to breathe at all were it not for the mask on her face. They had taken her eye out, too. He could see that by the way the eyelid sagged just slightly. She wouldn't be happy about that when she woke. Kai's eyes found the doctor's again, and the man quailed.<br/>"We're...not sure, sir. In fact, we're not sure how she survived at all. My theory is that it has to do with her Mark, but there's really no precedent for someone surviving injuries like hers."<br/>Kai just nodded. "Get out."<br/>"But sir, I--"<br/>"Give her whatever meds you need to, do what you have to do, then get out."<br/>The doctor just nodded, moving about the room rapidly, doing his work as quickly as possible without cutting corners. He wasn't stupid, this was a mob hospital, and the man in the red coat would most certainly kill him if he did otherwise.<br/><br/>Only when the doctor left did Kai approach the nymph's bed, taking one of her small hands in his own. "Hey. Ghost is a fucking idiot, huh? Surprised you didn't kill him. I wonder how you feel about all this, though. 'Bout that Mark on your neck. I know you. You're prob'ly pissed. Gotta wonder why he did it. I knew you guys were close. Well, in whatever way any of us can be close. Anyway. They know not to fuck around with you guys. I'm gonna have them move you both into one room when you're not trying to swallow all these tubes." A smile flashed on his face for a fraction of a second. "Maybe you guys can hash some of your shit out in there. I gotta go, Plum. I left the human alone; no doubt she's already doing something stupid." Plum would call him an idiot for that if she were awake, he thought with a mirthless grin. Finding himself unable to look at her anymore, he turned and left the room.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>The siblings both turned when Cherry finally spoke up, and Mallow frowned. At this point, she was probably right. The elemental wasn't known for staying gone long, and if neither Cocoa nor Cherry had heard from the man...<br/>"Blacc? I know where he lives." His sister spoke up, leading the other two to look at her curiously. "My friend Mira's boyfriend used to play poker with him. I would always go to pick her up when she got bored and Chuck was drunk."<br/>Mallow nodded. "We'll take your car. I'll give you some gas money. Oh! Speaking of which." Even as Cocoa rolled her eyes and started to protest, Mallow pulled a stack of bills from the pocket of his hoodie, handing it over to her.<br/>"Mal, you know--"<br/>"I<span style="font-style: italic">know</span>you don't like it, C.C., but it pays for your apartment, and everything else here. You and I both know you'd be in a shoebox otherwise, walking to work." The thief gave her a look, and she huffed, taking the money into her bedroom. She emerged in new clothes, jingling her keys. "Let's go."