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Maxon's POV:

I vaguely remember charging at him. My muscles were alive and my mind was buzzing. America's face kept swimming in front of my vision. I slammed the palm of my hand into his nose and heard a satisfying crack as his nose shattered. This gave me enough time to grab the gun. I was about to pull the trigger when I remembered there were no more bullets. My pulse pounded in my ears and my mind raced to decide what to do with him. I wanted him to hurt. I slammed him over the head with the butt of the gun, knocking him unconscious. The stolen guard uniform came in handy. I opened a pocket and found a nice pair of handcuffs that I used to chain him to the stairs. When I had him secured, I stood to slow my breathing and the rush of blood pounding in my ears. I had almost forgotten why I was there, but then the stench of blood brought me back. America.

A door at the end of the hall was slightly ajar. "America, Darling?" My voice was quiet, suddenly afraid that I finally had found her. I put my palm to the door and it gave way easily. She was laying beautifully in a pool of blood. I almost would've thought she was asleep, just as I'd left her this morning. It was the rich color of red surrounding her that brought me to my knees. I tried to scream but my breath caught in my throat. When I fell next to her I examined her closer, discovering the wound in her stomach.

"HELP!" The scream ripped my throat. No one came, everyone already locked into safety. I lifted her into my arms and leaned our body weights against a panel in the wall I recognized as a path to the safe rooms. I made it to the very end to where the royal family's room, but the door was locked. I kicked and punched it but it didn't budge. Of course not, hadn't I spent countless hours down there in my lifetime and knew that once the doors were locked, no one was getting in? I was still desperate enough to try. Blood gushed from America's wounds in my arms.

I continued to the next door. It was just swinging shut. "Please help me!" I screamed. I don't think I could've bared it if I didn't make it into that room.

A small girl heard my cry. She saw America in my arms, bowed, and let us in. "Momma, the King and Queen are here!" A woman came running at those words and bowed deeply when she saw that her daughter was telling the truth. "Emily, let him in!" I shouldered America and I inside.

"What happened Your Majesty?" I carried her to a cot and set her so delicately down, afraid she might fall apart before my eyes. The women disappeared out of the corner of my eye for a second and came back with towel and a bowl of what looked liked water but smelled like alcohol.

"I went looking for her because she never made it to the safe room and found her like this, unconscious and bleeding. She's lost a lot of blood," Even I could hear the panic in those words. The women met my gaze, "If she loses any more blood, she will surely die. My mother was a nurse, so I know basic disinfecting and how to stitch her up. Emily, come here." She rambled off instructions to the little girl who had silent tears running down her cheeks.

The woman began cutting the cloth away from where the bullet hole was, "This is going to be a nasty wound, sir. If you have a weak stomach, I would leave the room." I looked at her and gave her a ghost of a smile. "Thank you for the offer, but I can't leave my wife," I told her.

As the cloth fell from around her stomach, I remembered the baby. "Oh my god, her stomach was shot!" The woman looked at me again, "It's nothing a good patch up won't fix. It will leave a nasty scar though," she told me, clearly trying to sound optimistic. Emily returned with her arms full, "No ma'am, you don't understand," I stood up, my voice rising. "We just found out she's pregnant!"

She looked at me in horror. "I'm so sorry Your Majesty, but I doubt the fetus will survive all of this." Her eyes looked devastated over the loss of our unborn prince or princess. She had no idea how broken my heart was.

She began to thread the needle when the signal bell that meant the coast was clear went off. "Your Majesty, you should take her to a nurse now," she said, tying off stitch she was working on. I was out into the hall in a second. I ran to the door for the royal family right as it was opening. Guards were streaming out and I yelled to get their attention. They saw me and ran in my direction. I went back to where America laid, the woman was doing her best to clean up the wound. I heard a captain spewing orders behind me as he saw what was in front of me. "

Stacy, you go get a nurse. Jacobs, go and find something sturdy to put the queen on. Williams, help me carry her off the table." I watched as they took my wife away from me and she immediately went into surgery. I'd lost my parents, probably lost my baby, and now I might lose America.

I shut my eyes against the pain in my chest. Suddenly I remembered the rebel I had chained in the hall. A group of guards walked around the corner and I stopped them. "There is a rebel down the hall chained to the wall. He is responsible for wounding the queen. See to it that he is arrested and taken to the dungeons. I hav-," I was going to say something that I had heard my father say about a rebel once, and America's words interrupted my thoughts. You are not Clarkson, stop acting like him!

"Actually, no, see to it that he is executed immediately." "Yes sir." They ran in the direction I had pointed. My heart sped up. I needed to talk to someone, I couldn't bear any of this alone. I found another guard, "Please send Marlee Woodwork and Aspen Leger to my suite immediately."

As I reached my room I saw them standing outside, talking intently.

"What happened?" They asked in unison when they saw me approaching. I realized why they hadn't gone inside. The floor was covered in America's blood behind the door. I opened my mouth to explain but broke down before I even made a sound. I couldn't hold back the tears any longer. When I was able to speak, the words came out in a rush. "I had to get up for an early meeting this morning, so she was still in bed when the attack alarm went off. She didn't make it to the safe room so I went to look for her. I found her inside here lying in a pool of blood. She was shot in the stomach. I doubt the baby made it," my voice broke. "She's in surgery now."

The weight of the situation became too much and I slid down the wall. Marlee crouched down beside me and grabbed my hand. Aspen wouldn't look at me and instead looked as if he were about to murder someone. "The rebel who did it, is to be executed," I told him. That only made him more enraged.

"I want to deal with this rebel personally," he spat. He looked at me and I shook my head. "No Maxon, let me handle this!" He sounded so desperate, seemingly more mad than I was.

"No Aspen, they're already taking him away. It's taken care of." We locked eyes for a few moments, in that time communicating more than our words could. He's the only person to ever have loved America as much as I do.

Aspen's knuckles were fists, the skin stretched wide across them. "It's not fair!" He screamed as he sent one of those fists through the wall.

"Tell me Aspen, what would you have done to the man?" He did a double take at this and looked puzzled. "Nothing, you know why? Because you are a good person, you don't like seeing people hurt. America wouldn't want you to be someone else. The best thing to do right now is to pray she's okay and stand by her." I turned to look at Marlee as well, "She's going to need both of you. I don't know if I can be enough for her through this." My voice cracked.

I pushed myself off the floor and entered my room, leaving them with those words. I locked it behind me. After a few deep breaths, I went to work on cleaning up the mess on the floor.