If it hadn't been for the levitation charm Jack absolutely would have dropped her.  She fought him, just as he expected, but that didn't mean he was prepared for the power and rage behind the blows she landed to his ribs.  She was stronger than she looked and nearly as tall as she was.  An elbow to his chest drew a groan form him but he didn’t say anything else. 

When she fell limp in his arms he looked down, afraid that she'd passed out, but found it was much worse.  The fight in her was gone and had been replaced with tears.  "I'm sorry," he whispered.  What else could he say?  She was right.  With every careful step over the debris, out to the street, he was leaving her sister behind.

Emerging from the store, he was glad to see more responders had arrived.  He deposited Calla onto a conjured stretcher, avoiding her eyes, and spoke to the medi-wizard instead.  "There's more in there." he told them "Don't let her -" he gestured vaguely at Calla.  If it were him he wasn't sure he'd stay there on the stretcher; he wouldn't be surprised if she tried to go back in.  He cast a quick glance at Dahlia, marking one more Potts off his list, before turning towards the store.

He spoke to his impromptu partner with a nod as he walked, unwilling to wait.  "Daffy - she's the one that…" with a swallow he pushed past the lost words, too impatient to elaborate.  "And the other should be -" from the corner of his eye he saw a woman immerge from a the exterior door basement door.  It was Thistle and she seemed to be completely unharmed, a pair of ear muffs hanging around her neck.  "Over there!"  he called to her, pointing behind him to where the medi-wizards were tending their new patients.  He didn’t wait to see if she heard or understood him.

"Just Daffy then."  He said with resolve, pushing back into the collapsed store.

---

The following 1 user Likes Jack Dorset's post:1 user Likes Jack Dorset's post
   Daffodil Grimstone

---

The accusations of the youngest Potts sister reached Faustus and he pressed his lips into a hard line, forcing himself to focus past her cries. Daffy was the one they were looking for. Her and —

Faustus turned in the direction the constable had just shouted towards and saw who he could only suppose to be the last Potts sister among the crowd, looking extraordinarily relieved, but worried. Faustus gestured towards her too, flicking his wand toward the barrier to let her pass so she could be with her sisters. So there was just this Daffy person they were looking for. While not exactly a relief to hear, given that he'd have rather had all of them alive and accounted for, the fact that they wouldn't have to go digging through what was sure to be a fatal pile of rubble for the last sister was of some comfort.

The Head Auror turned back to the wreckage and followed the young constable in, his blue eyes aimed above them. A quick wave of his wand shielded them from some remaining light debris that was trickling down. "We must hurry." He said. "Miss Potts said Daffy was upstairs which means she must have fallen onto the ground level." His lips pressed back into a hard line as his eyes scanned the debris. The dust was hanging in the air, being blown about by their disturbances. Faustus coughed as the dust slipped easily down his throat as he spoke.

"Do you know where she might have been if she was upstairs and fell down here?" It hadn't escaped him that the young man seemed to at least know the group of sisters better than he did at present. Faustus only prayed to Merlin that it was enough to know the layout of this building. It was obviously small, but eliminating any area of the shop would buy them precious time.

---

  

Just as the words left her another man brought Calla out of the building, one look at her younger sister's face and she knew she was furious. But she nodded at the man who had rescued her. She didn't need to be told to do the one thing she would do before all else, but it was nice to hear it nonetheless.

As both men went back into the shop Dahlia rushed forward and wrapped her arms tight around Calla. Only then did the relief hit her. She hugged Calla like the end of the world was coming, held her tight thanking Merlin, and God, and the men who had gotten them that she was okay. A moment later she felt Thistle's arms around both of them and she started shaking. Her eyes were fixed to the shop and she barely even realized she was repeating quietly, to herself, to her sisters, "She'll be alright. She'll be alright." Like the mantra could make something true through the sheer power of muttered words.

The following 1 user Likes Dahlia Honeyduke's post:1 user Likes Dahlia Honeyduke's post
   Jack Dorset

---

Pretties by Bee <3

She collapsed into the stretcher as Jack dropped the levitation spell that he'd used to carry her from the building. Grey eyes kept a glare on his retreating form and until she felt Dahlia's arms wrap around her and she swore next time she saw him, he might just find her fist in his face - Daffy's friend or not. She turned back to her older sister, brushing off the med-wizard as he started to work on her leg.

"Dahlia," Calla gasped, wrapping her arms tighly around her, fingers tighty bunching the fabric of her sisters dress. She held herself together relatively well until she felt Thistle join the huddle and a knot she didn't even know she held unravelled in her chest and the tears started to flow. She just wanted to go home.

  

---

look at the pretties mj made me!!!

Jack was hit with a fit of coughs as soon he entered the crumbling building again, only thinking to cover his face after he got a lungful of the dusty air inside.  His watering eyes made it even harder to to make things out but he did see the spell cast overhead and he was once again glad there was another person here to do the thinking.  If it was just Jack… well he was having trouble thinking past finding Daffy and getting her out.

He shook he head, his arm still draped across his face to protect from the smoke as he looked up at the hole in the ceiling.  He'd never been upstairs.  He'd only recently seen the back room.  "I think I heard her…" he pointed toward one of the piles that looked big enough to hide a person but he was suddenly not sure where he'd heard her voice coming from.

"Daffy?!" he called out, partly to try and get a clue where she was, partly just to hear her voice again.  He looked to his partner, pointing his wand at a nearby pile.  If she didn’t answer - oh fuck, please answer - they were going to have to start somewhere. "How do we do this without crushing her?" his tone was a steady mix of resolve and alarm.

---

  

---

Daff's consciousness floated in and out as she tried to find some kind of focus on whatever it was that was happening around her. She was keenly aware of the pain in her head and shoulder. Her left arm felt as if it weren't quite there anymore, but she could definitely feel her fingers, so there was that. What kind of dream was this anyway? It wasn't a very good one. She had longed for a good night's sleep for a while now, but this was certainly not it.

It was eerily quiet, something of which she was also focused on, but it seemed almost deafening. What scared her was that she couldn't remember why she had been frightened by in the first place.

Hearing her name in a familiar voice, but so very far away, had her stirring. Not enough for her to come too, but she groaned as she tried to move and found she couldn't. The pain of the movement sent her spiraling downward, thoroughly slipping back into the darkness she had found herself in.

---

  

---

For all that his shield did to shield them from falling debris from above, Faustus knew that it would be difficult to find the young florist without the debris inflicting the smallest amount of damage. "It's not going to be easy." Faustus replied, though his tone was determined as he moved towards the rubble. Something had caught his eye in the pile of rocks, but he wasn't able to place the feeling.

"Make sure nothing falls from above," He said to the young man before kneeling down. The biggest rock was mercifully closer to the surface, and so Faustus had an easy time of levitating it up and out of the way. "Here!" Both elation and horror shot through him as he caught a glimpse of the hem of someone's dress. It could have been the light, but he swore he had seen something shift. He prayed it wasn't a hallucination.

Standing back up, Faustus cast a more permanent shield above them. "You lift the rocks on the right, and I'll do the other ones." He instructed, praying that the young man would stay steadfast against whatever met them. "Once we have enough out of the way, get her out of there." If his hunch was right and his current partner knew the family, it would be better for the young woman to wake up to someone who she knew, and not some stranger.

---

  

Jack thought he heard something and froze straining to listen for signs of life but he couldn't hear past his own racing heart and building shifting around them.  At the words of his partner his eyes shot up to the ceiling, grasping on to his orders like they were the only thing keeping him grounded, but his eyes only found the gaping hole where the second floor had been.  Where she had been.

Jack spun on his heel with a jolt, moving to where he was called before even processing the words, and the color drained from his face.  The rush of blood in his ears blocked out everything else as he realized that bit of cloth poking out from the rubble was clothing and she was under there.  Silent.  Unmoving. 

The next orders reached him as if from a distance and he watched himself raise his wand to the pile, mimicking his partner.  His lips pressed into a thin line and his knuckles shone white from his tight grip as he worked to carefully lift and remove the rocks and beams from the right side.  Bit by bit more of her ragged form was revealed until he couldn't stand it anymore.  He rushed forward and fell to his knees beside her, reaching out a shaky hand to carefully clear the debris from a round her head with eyes locked on her unconscious face. 

He wanted to call out to her, urge her to open her eyes, but the words caught in his throat.  With a quick glance towards the left, to confirm the other man had cleared the rest away, Jack wordlessly performed the same levitation spell he'd just used to extract her sister.  He rose with her until she was cradled in his arms. 

Even though he knew it was the spell, his stomach twisted at how light she felt in his arms, like she was already half gone.  "Hey…" he finally spoke as he took a step back toward the door, his voice hoarse and barely above a whisper.  "We're getting you out of here."

---

The following 1 user Likes Jack Dorset's post:1 user Likes Jack Dorset's post
   Elsie Kirke

---

Faustus worked on the rubble pile, looking back and forth between the two figures on the ground and the rocks he was levitating out of their way. He could see out of the corner of his eye that their shot to the door would be relatively clear, which was the good news. The downside to the young man knowing the young woman on the ground was that Faustus wasn't sure if he was going to be able to handle seeing someone he knew in such a devastating and helpless situation. There wasn't much that one was able to prepare themselves to witness someone they cared about be in such a near lifeless state, but Faustus could only watch as the young man discovered his friend underneath everything.

She floated up easily into his arms, and he could see the man struggling to keep his composure. Once everything was clear, Faustus made his way over to the pair, scanning the young woman for signs of life. Thankfully, mercifully, he could see a faint rise and fall of her chest as she breathed — well, it was something, but it still didn't look good. The sound of crackling made him look up to see the rest of the cieling crumbling, small pebbles pinging off the shield that remained above them. Even so, there was little time to waste.

"Move." He said, his hand finding the young man's back and pressing firmly forward, though careful not to shove the man so he wouldn't trip with the woman in his arms. "Now." There was little time to be extremely gentle about the matter - while he was confident in his spellcasting abilities, Faustus did not want to stick a round long enough to see that tested in a great way. Faustus' eyes darted to the floor and propelled any rubble away in their path that they could trip on as they made their way out. Raising his wand above their heads, Faustus cast another shield to go the length of what used to be the shop front to the door as the walls around them fractured even more.

He only breathed a sigh of relief when the light from outside splashed around them and they were safely outside.

---

The following 1 user Likes Faustus Prewett's post:1 user Likes Faustus Prewett's post
   Jack Dorset

Once again the firm orders reached his ears as if his head was under water.  He couldn't shake the feeling that he was moving in slow motion as he took steps toward the front.  Stumbling over the rubble and the heaviness in his limbs, the distance out to the mediwitches he knew were waiting to save her stretched out forever in front of him.

The contact of a firm hand on his back brought reality crashing back to him with a sharp snap.  It not longer felt like everything was pressing in around him and as his senses came back to him he could hear with clarity how unstable the rest of the building was, just over head.  He didn't think twice when the path before him cleared, just took the opportunity for what it was.  He strode forward with determination, finally free of the leaden weight in his feet.

As if with blinders he pushed forward, out through the door, into what felt like blinding daylight not daring to look at her until she was safely on a stretcher and in the care of those who could help her. 

---

  

---