America POV

I'm walking in the garden with Aspen, when an alarm sounds.

I'm not in my best shape right now, and Aspen knows it, so without any hesitation, he turns around and hoists me onto his back. He runs.

I hold on tightly as we rush toward the palace doors, Aspen running faster than I would think possible with my extra weight. But he's stronger now. Well fed and physically fit. He's healthy.

I whimper once when I'm jostled violently from an awkward step, but I bite my tongue and stay quiet. Aspen finally gets me to an open saferoom door and rushes down with me. I see the familiar metal door at the bottom of the dark staircase and Aspen only slows down to give me to another guard. I'm taken into the royal saferoom and ushered over to a cot by Sylvia, who, after ensuring that I'm unharmed and not going to break down, scurries over to the King and Queen to give her official report on the wellbeing of the girls. I see Maxon sitting with Natalie, gently patting her back and soothing her as she shivers in anxiety.

Looking around I realize someone is missing. I count quickly and find that Elise is missing. She's the quietest of us all… someone who could easily be looked over or forgotten in a high stress situation.

Shooting to my feet, I rush toward the door and start banging on it. "Wait!" I cry out. But it's locked. No one's getting in, but more importantly, I'm not getting out.

King Clarkson shouts at me. "What in God's name do you think you're doing?" he bellows.

I turn around and meet his glare with my own wide, terrified gaze.

"Elise isn't in here," I whisper. I'm certain everyone hears me because of how silent it gets, and how stiff everyone is suddenly.

I watch as Sylvia counts and recounts the girls, her face draining of color as she realizes the gravity of the mistake she's made.

Maxon is at my side, now, and he's leading me back to my cot. He coaxes me to sit down and then wraps his arms around me. "She'll be alright. There are dozens, if not hundreds of other saferooms in the palace. And there are so many guards. They'll protect her, I promise." Every soothing word just worries me more. Elise was one of the few people I thought I could trust here. She's so elegant and proper, but she's kind, underneath all of that. She's gentle and poised and compassionate.

"Maxon, what if she gets hurt?" I breathe.

Kriss wanders over to us and sits on my other side. She takes one of my hands in both of her own and leans her head against mine. "Elise is too smart to get hurt. She's going to be just fine, America. I'm sure of it."

I nod with a sniff and wipe my eyes quickly. "You're right. Both of you. I'm worrying over nothing. She'll be fine," I repeat. I say it, over and over, in my head like a mantra. She'll be fine, she'll be fine, she'll be fine.

Elise is by no means my closest friend—not in the slightest.

But she's someone I trust and even if she is my 'competition,' I want the best for her.

Queen Amberly speaks in hushed tones to her husband, and I see him reluctantly beckon a guard over.

I ended up falling asleep with Kriss, both of us leaning against one another, her head resting on mine and our shoulders pressed together.

Maxon had gone back to calming Natalie while Celeste dozed on a cot. Queen Amberly is watching over all of us calmly, and King Clarkson is reading over some papers in the corner.

I gently lift my head and blink the sleep out of my eyes. Kriss is still asleep, so I try to move as little as possible as I scan the room. Elise is still missing, I notice with a pang, but everyone else seems relatively calm about it.

Suddenly, a guard opens our saferoom and walks over to the King.

We are let out of the vault and back upstairs a matter of minutes later.

The palace is a mess. There are dark stains on the carpets, broken windows and mirrors, glass scattered over the floor.

We're sent straight to our rooms and told dinner will be brought to us.

I enter my room and my heart breaks when I see Lucy trembling on my bed with tears streaming down her face.

I rush to her side and wrap my arms around her tiny frame, wiping away the tears and kissing her temple. "Hey, shh, it's alright. We're right here. Just breathe, and listen to my voice. You'll be alright, you're safe now," I whisper to her. "I promise, I'm right here, Anne and Mary are right here. We won't leave you. We love you."

Lucy eventually calms down enough to stand and walk back to her quarters, and I have Mary accompany her. Anne draws a bath for me and helps me undress so I can wash up. She checks my stitches and gently rubs a soothing cream onto the marks. The sutures feel like they're pulling at my skin, but I ignore it until Anne clucks in dismay.

"You loosened some of the stitches from moving so much today. I'm sure it's fine, but after your bath, you should go down to the infirmary again. I'm sure it'll be fine if you just where a lounging dress and some flats to go down."

At this point, I'm pretty sure she's just mumbling to herself, so I climb carefully into the warm water and sit down. Anne gently rubs a soft washcloth over my back, using light hands and just enough pressure to clean my wounds. I'd be getting the stitches out sooner if the skin would just stop reopening. Alas, the back is one of the most problematic places to have such injuries, apparently. So instead I have to take special precautions and have them in for an extra week.

Anne helps me out of the tub once I'm finished bathing and dresses me in a grey-blue cotton t-shirt dress that reaches my knees, and a comfy pair of black flats before pinning my hair up into a messy-yet-somehow-still-elegant bun.

I thank her before starting the walk down to the hospital wing.

A/N: Hiiii... so, yeah, it's late at night, but technically... it's still Friday. So I made the deadline. I know, I know. I'm terrible. But, in my defense, I was at my grandparents' house from Tuesday to Friday afternoon. Anyways, as always, thank you so much for reading. Also, do me a huge favor and check out and review my latest story idea, currently titled, Well, This is New. I really need opinions on it and there is not a single review yet. It's kind of it's own story, so you really don't even need to be a part of the Naturals and Gallagher Girls fandoms.

Virtue01: I'm glad you liked my shout out, and thank you again for your kind words and lovely review. It really does brighten my day every time I see your screen name because I know you'll share something you like and/or offer feedback. It's something I really appreciate and I want to thank you again. Without you, I'd probably not even be that motivated to continue this story.

With love,

StormcloudPercival13