Little Princess in Peril

With the coming of fall, comes Vanhoover's annual Fall Festival. A weekend-long event full of all sorts of activities, tons of booths, a metric buttload of maple themed food, and live performances from local bands. Unfortunately, the number one band in the city was too busy preparing for a tour to perform at the fair, but the number 2 band was more than happy to take their place. Granted, power metal didn't exactly fit the relaxed mood of the fair. Asuka should be at the fair with her bandmates, playing games, eating maple donuts, and making fun of poor financial decisions. Instead, she's in an ambulance, waiting for the next call to come in. At least the local donut shop was doing a special on maple donuts for the fair, so they could at least pretend they'd been at the fair. The last crumb of maple donut, accompanied by a large amount of coffee enters Asuka's stomach just as a call comes in over the radio. "Responder 143, we have reports of a minor suffering a fall, and a head injury on Maplestock Avenue." Maplestock? That's in the center of the fair. They won't be able to get their ambulance in the crowded streets. Best they can do is park 2 blocks south. "Copy dispatch. We're on our way." The lights, and siren of the ambulance then come on, and Frank guns it down the road, towards the fair. The ambulance slows to a stop 2 blocks from Mapleton Avenue, just outside of the fairgrounds. After Frank grabs the stretcher from the back, the two hurry towards the center of the fair. After about a block and a half, the two find a crowd gathered next to a rather large slide set up in the street. As she gets closer, and the crowd begins to part, Asuka can hear a mare sobbing uncontrollably. However, before she can see the crying mare, she sees the blood. Dear monarchs there was so much blood. Then, the mare's wails start to click in her head. She sounds like Frank's wife. No. Monarchs please no.

Asuka looks to the small child laying in the middle of the puddle of blood. She quickly turns, throwing one of her hands/hooves up to Frank. "Frank, wait-." Too late. Franks eyes are wide. His gaze is fixated on the child in the puddle. His poor, little princess, Emerald. Asuka kneels down beside Emerald. She can see a blood drenched towel wrapped around her forehead. At least someone tried to stop the bleeding. She quickly gets to work on carefully removing the towel, and replacing it with gauze. Then, She turns back to Frank. He's completely unmoving. "Frank!" Shit. He's unresponsive. "Frank!" He jolts. "The stretcher!"

Frank comes to his senses for just long enough to wheel the stretcher over. He goes to pick his daughter up out of the puddle, but Asuka does so first. She gingerly places Emerald into the stretcher, and begins to wheel it back towards the ambulance as Frank slowly starts to process what's happening. Someone else helps his wife follow behind them. When they arrive back at the ambulance, Frank helps Asuka load the stretcher into the back, then quickly sprints into the cabin. The second the door slams closed, the lights and sirens come on again, and the ambulance peels out onto the street. A car follows close behind, with Frank's wife, and the good samaritan driving her inside. Now that they're in the Ambulance, Asuka has the chance to properly inspect Emerald. Hooking her up to an EKG shows that she still has a pulse, and heartbeat, although they're both very weak. She's likely lost a lot of blood, and if they don't get her head wound sealed soon, it could prove fatal. Asuka does what she can to help stop the bleeding, but she's going to need far more intensive treatment. After a quick ride to the hospital, Emerald is handed over to the hospital staff. Frank almost goes to follow them, but stops himself just short of the door. He knows better than to distract them. Afterwards, Asuka pulls the ambulance into a parking space nearby. She reports to dispatch, and signals that they won't be available for calls for a few minutes. Then, just as Asuka finishes speaking, Frank's adrenaline wears off. He quickly opens the passenger side door, and barely manages to throw his head out of the cabin before he begins to violently vomit onto the asphalt below. Asuka reaches over, and gently rubs his back as he violently expels all of the contents of his stomach. Even then, the retching doesn't stop. Frank violently dry heaves for nearly 5 minutes before he's finally able to stop. Asuka has to reach over, and use all of her strength to pull Frank back into the cabin of the ambulance as he nearly collapses. Then, his violent sobs fill the cabin, and spill out into the air outside. In their 6 years of working together, Asuka has never seen Frank cry like this. She continues to rub his back while trying to console him. Her words are soft, and kind, but they do little to ease Frank's anguish. Frank has been with the Vanhoover EMS for 21 years now, but after this, Asuka wondered if he'd stick around for 22.