Carnivore

ix) Octavius Missus

THREE INTERNAL BLEEDS, five individual fractures throughout both the optical floor and the right zygomatic bone, and twenty four loose blood clots later, the Pro Hero Eraserhead was deemed stable enough to put into the ICU for overnight observations. By the end of what eventually was a six hour procedure to realign all dislodged fragments of bone and clean up as much of the internal bleeding as one could, Zinnia was well and truly spent.

Any other time, when she was in far better condition, and not with what was definitely proven to be at least one hole in the heart, Zinnia would have managed that procedure without more than her usual fallout of a hacking spell and freshly purged stomach, but not this time. This time, she could feel the painful rush of her quirk through the weaker parts of her body, feel the struggling her heart had in keeping up with just the lower flow of her blood. There was a lot wrong, there, and this operation on Eraserhead was all the proof she needed that she shouldn't be using her quirk right now.

The operation had done a number on her condition, and as soon as she had managed to get herself out of the operating room, she collapsed into a hacking fit right there in the corridor.

And the rest evaded her grasp.

She had understandably blacked out shortly after, and the next she knew, she was once again lying in her hospital bed in the ICU, connected back up to the multitude of monitors, drip feeds and more. What had roused her from her small collapse was the ringing of that phone at her bedside, too quickly it seemed for the nurse hovering over her bedridden form, who had leaned over the phone and would have rejected the call, if Zinnia hadn't reached over and placed her hand over the handpiece to stop her.

Another nurse unfamiliar to Zinnia, one who appeared horribly displeased to see that she was in fact, already awake.

'You need to get some rest, dear.' The nurse had told her, tone prickly and her expression strained with the smile she forced across her face. 'Let me kindly ask whoever it is on the line to call back--'

'I want to take the call.' Zinnia interrupted.

'Doctors orders, I'm afraid.' The nurse dismissed.

Obviously not Seiya's orders.

None the less, the woman smiled sweetly as she firmly grasped Zinnia's fingers with one bony hand to remove the girl's hand, herself.

'Just lay back and rest. It's in your best interests.'

And before Zinnia could have said anything else, the nurse had flipped a switch in the side of the phone and disconnected it without so much as an apology to who was calling. Zinnia practically scowled at the nurse as she gently pulled the blankets up over her slumped form and walked straight out of the room, all the more as the woman slid the door shut in her wake.

Was that it?

Did that woman honestly believe that was enough to make her obey?

Too bad for that nurse, Zinnia was more than aware of how to work most of the machines in the facility. Disconnected the phone would do nothing more than cause a minor annoyance.

Zinnia reached her hand over once again to pull the analogue phone off the bedside table onto the bed beside her, closing her eyes as she ran her fingers along and pressed the switch that reconnected the telephone.

Within less than thirty seconds, the phone was ringing once again, bringing Zinnia to answer it.

'Oi, Zim! What gives?!' A familiar voice exclaimed from the other end of the line, bringing the girl to roll her eyes. 'I thought you picked up but the line went dead! Is the hospital line having phone trouble?'