damned_institute | NIGHT 65: WEST WING, SOUTH HALL 1-B

[from here]

She didn't need these heavy emotions right now. Pushing away the loss of her friend, Ilia tried to focus on the facts as she made her way down the hall.

She was going to meet with Seishin. They had a new place to tackle tonight. Tonight. Five more would change, whatever the hell that meant. Damn. Ilia should have paid more attention to Lana, should have offered her more support, should have--

Should have, could have, would have. There was no helping it now. Now, she just needed to keep moving. One step in front of the other. No stopping her now.

[to here]

Edited 2012-08-13 21:43 (UTC)

[skipping from her bedroom]

Aigis had to fight down a whine as she tore through the hallway and another pinching of stomach cramps assailed her. She didn't have much farther to go. Just a little more. A little more...

[to here]

Edited 2012-08-13 22:45 (UTC)

_{[From here]}

She couldn't have stopped from asking questions, but they would have to wait a little; dividing her focus too much right now was very dangerous. Even if there was still a lot she needed to know from the voices, one thing that was mentioned in the short broadcast was creatures. Even if it might be a strange possibility, this was also a strange situation and she'd be foolish not to take it seriously. It was so very dark here, too. She didn't have the luxury of being afraid of the dark just because, she knew better than that. A lot of nasty things made their homes in darkness, and more often than not, it wasn't a case of what could get her, but more what and when.

There was no one with her, right now, either. Not much of a comforting thought at all. Until she found her friends, she'd have to keep an extra sharp eye out and her guard up. Flying would have been faster, but with everything around her going by her so quickly she might miss out on important details. You had to keep a sharp eye out when flying for that very reason, but sometimes it was just best to take it a little slower. Besides, she didn't know about the lay of this place or the magic at work here, and didn't want to alert things or people best left avoided to her trail unless she had to. She wouldn't do herself or anyone else any favours if she trapped in some way or another.

This hallway here, it was a little bigger than the ones she was in, and there weren't doors upon doors, either. She must have been out of the wing. At least she hadn't hit a dead end! So far, so good. Where to go next, though? Any way seemed as good as any other.

_{[To here]}

Edited 2012-08-14 10:17 (UTC)

[from here]

The women's rooms were pretty close to here, he was sure of it. He hadn't gone this way in a while, but he remembered from the few times that he'd come to pick up Shiina--and also that one unfortunate night long ago when he'd just stumbled in by mistake.

Even though he was so close, though, Niikura kept his guard up. This hall was much quieter than the men's side, but that didn't mean another monster-person could be lurking in the shadows.

[to here]

Edited 2012-08-19 09:47 (UTC)

[from here.]

Gabriel guided Castiel down the hallway, allowing Kratos to choose where he ought to place himself for their safety. They weren't the only ones in this corridor either, but far from making Gabriel less lonely, it knotted his stomach tighter.

Five to change to monsters of a size, and this many people stuck in narrow halls--it could well be a slaughter. Just what was Lucifer's intent with this? Gabriel couldn't imagine. He hadn't been able to understand his older brother for eons.

"How are you doing?" he asked Castiel at his side, mostly in genuine concern but also as something with which to distract himself. He almost felt he was tingling with the adrenaline and the tension. It wasn't a pleasant sensation.

At this point, both of them were spending too much of their time and energy worrying over him. Castiel realized that his health was the whole point of this excursion, but that didn't mean he was used to be hovered over in this way. Kratos had at least asked, but Gabriel didn't even give him the luxury of refusing the help.

In the end, there wasn't much point in putting up a fight. It would waste time, and the fact was that with that extra bit of support from the other angel, Castiel could move a little faster. They took the turn into the next hallway, which meant they were closer still.

"It's not getting worse," he assured them both with a shake of his head as he took another careful step forward. Each time he moved, it felt like there was something eating up his guts, but he focused on breathing deeply and ignoring it. "But there's a significant amount of pain." That wasn't all that surprising, though.

He nodded to the door on their left as it came into view. "That's where we need to go," he said, his voice strained. Once again, it was said more for Gabriel's benefit than Kratos'.

Kratos had nodded curtly in acknowledgment as Gabriel hauled Castiel away and then taken up his position off to the side of the two. It was difficult to anticipate whether the next threat would come from the front or the back; this way, he would have equal chance to reach either side, a better compromise than favoring one or the other.

He glanced at Castiel and seemed to sigh as the other tried to be reassuring, looking away just as quickly into the mostly empty hall around them. They were indeed almost there; just a few more halls, and they would be at Rapunzel's room.

The door to the female block proper was already ajar, but Kratos still picked up his pace a bit to make it to the doorway before either of the two angels. He propped the door open a little wider, allowing Gabriel and Castiel to pass through ahead of him before following them in.

[to here]

Edited 2012-09-01 08:34 (UTC)

[From here.]

As though one with the darkness, Doctor Facilier strolled down the hall with the same fluidity as a trailing blotch of wet ink; he barely made a sound and with his flashlight turned off he was nearly undetectable. To further show off his confidence, Facilier's Shadow moved close behind on its own, barely mimicking its master's movements as it smiled with malevolent glee. The night seemed almost unlimited to them now!

[To here.]

Edited 2012-08-29 04:36 (UTC)

[From here.]

Once again, it had been forced to flee. But the Heartless was not capable of feeling ashamed, or of having a bruised ego. There was no emotion in it for that sort of thing. As full of light and compassion as Sora had been, now he was just as hollow. And he only craved and aspired one thing.

Which was why it didn't take much time to recover before it had caught wind of another heart nearby. This was a vicious cycle it had been doomed to now, where it would run and fight and tear into people for hearts until it met its end. And it wasn't even able to acknowledge the own sad state of its existence, or what it had once been.

Instead, it blended into the darkness and waited.

[For Tsubaki and Leanne!]

_{[from here]}

As she exited ahead of Leanne, Tsubaki's eyes were on the other girl. "Don't worry, we will."

She wanted it to be true, and maybe it was because she was so focused on the thought of her friend's well-being that she didn't immediately sense anything amiss. People like her and Black☆Star could use the darkness in ways that other people couldn't, but it was a step away from being so intrinsically attached to it that there was scarcely a difference between shadow and creature.

Edited 2012-09-10 03:11 (UTC)

Leanne nodded, a smile spreading across her face, and followed Tsubaki out to the next hallway.

Right. No matter what happened, no matter how bad her symptoms got or what they ran into, Leanne just had to believe they'd make it, that together they'd manage to figure out something. They just had to. The alternative just... It just wasn't something she could even let herself think about, not just yet, not until there was no other choice.

As she followed Tsubaki, feeling a rush of relief at her words, Leanne relaxed more than perhaps was wise, her guns held loosely at her sides.

He didn't have to wait long.

Before the two girls could move too far away from the door they'd just exited, a pair of yellow eyes shone out from the darkness as Sora revealed himself. Or rather, the transformed version of himself.

While the one he'd attacked earlier had been familiar -- and appealing for that reason -- this one here was even more so. The heart he'd fixated on now was bright, and warm, and close to him in a way that his limited mind couldn't comprehend. But he wanted that heart to be a part of him now, and that was all that he could think about.

So, after appearing out of the darkness, Sora raced forward on all fours, headed straight for Tsubaki.

Silly. Silly of her to let her guard down. For someone like her who struggled to keep her skills up to par in her human body, caution was an absolute must. It was exactly for moments like these that Tsubaki needed to be at her best.

But she didn't recognize the prickle at the back of her mind until the thing that had once been Sora was already on the move. She whirled, not knowing what she was looking for, only knowing that something was there--and by that time, Sora was already barreling toward her, a smudge of black that stood out against the rest of the darkness.

Wha--

Even as it--he--jumped at her, eyes blazing, she sensed something was amiss. Something that should be there but wasn't. Something familiar that she should recognize.

A gasp escaped her, closer to a scream than she'd have ever been comfortable with, when something barreled right past her, straight at Tsubaki.

Damn it.

She'd let her guard down, had let herself relax, a mistake that could easily cost them both their lives. A rookie mistake, at that, one she'd thought she'd already managed to leave behind... back with her early days of barely being able to shoot at anything.

But she'd have time to beat herself up about it later. Barely stopping to give it a single moment's thought, Leanne raised the gun in her right hand, keeping the other one slightly lower for the moment. She huffed out a breath, finding she couldn't quite move as agilely as usual.

This was bad. If she tried to shoot then, there was always the chance she'd hit Tsubaki instead. "Tsubaki!" she called out, keeping a defensive position. "I-I don't know if I can shoot it like this!"

The presence of the other target, not to mention the gun in her hand, was not even noticed. The Heartless was focused on one thing and one thing only, and that was the heart caged in this girl's chest.

Maybe, if he was successful with this one, he'd move onto the other. But for now, it was best to take them on one at a time.

The element of surprise meant that he was successful in knocking Tsubaki to the floor. Before long he was on top of her, straddling her as he started to make frantic efforts to claw through all that skin and bone to get at what he wanted.

It?

Leanne’s voice was a distant anchor as the humanoid figure drove her to the ground. Even with the thundering of her heart in her ears, she heard Leanne clearly and she knew there was something wrong with that statement. Yes. It wasn’t an ‘it,’ but a person. The glowing eyes helped to distort the features into unrecognizable shapes and sharp edges, but like an optical illusion when one added in all the pieces--like the spiky hair, the clothes, the size--the true form of the puzzle became apparent.

It can’t be!

The claws that swept across her torso were by far the biggest threats that Tsubaki could see. She gasped, a strained sound, and immediately brought her arm up to wedge between them as protection. She had to--

No! She could grab for her scalpels and cut her attacker, the same as Leanne could use her gun to shoot it, but--

Tsubaki clamped her eyes shut. She could do something else, something that might be better. Without warning, a golden light started to spill from her upraised arm; if the blinding core of light didn’t disarm Sora first, the small scythe that shot up from midst of it had the potential to if it connected with him. It was no ordinary scythe, as they’d be quick to notice: connected to its handle was a length of chain, and the chain itself only seemed to keep growing the longer the glow continued.

“D-don’t shoot him!” she bit out in the middle of this. “Don’t shoot!”

No, no, no. This couldn't possibly be happening.

Even if it weren't for the illness slowing her reflexes, Leanne was quickly beginning to see that the odds she'd be able to get it without hurting Tsubaki were low. No matter how she looked at it, it just wasn't a good shot. She could move in closer, could attempt to distract it long enough for them to get some distance from it. It wouldn't exactly be safe, but it was hardly the right time to be thinking about that, not when it was right on top of Tsubaki!

Before she had the chance to so much as move, however, the very person she'd been trying to help took action herself.

She turned her face away from the sudden, bright light, raising one of her arms further as she did so. What... Just what was going on? Was that light coming from Tsubaki?

It wasn't until she heard a voice again, telling her exactly the opposite of what she'd intended to do, that she looked back, at the scythe that had most definitely not been there a moment ago.

"B-but..." Leanne shook her head, eyes wide, reluctantly lowering her right arm. "You're gonna use that thing then?!"

A weapon appearing from nowhere should have been something a Heartless was more than familiar with, but that didn't mean that Sora had been expecting it in any way. The sudden light caused him to scamper backward, but he wasn't fast enough to completely avoid the scythe, which caught him in the chest.

Both of the humans were yelling at each other, and while the creature didn't want to give up on this piece of prey, it was clear that once again he was going to have to fight to get what he wanted.

But he was sick of running, and so he jerked away from the scythe and the chain, even though black ooze was now dripping from his chest. If this one had light on her side, then he could always target the other. Which was how he ended up making a panicked leap for Leanne.

"I will!" Tsubaki grunted, and the words were as much for herself as for Leanne.

She had no way to confirm her feeling, but she knew her attacker was no ordinary monster. If it was indeed Sora as the faint resemblance suggested, then she had to stop him before one--or both--parties were serious injured.

As for herself...

In one smooth movement, Tsubaki rolled to her feet, springing forward to intercept the black blur before it could corner Leanne. Her chest hurt at the movement, but it didn't matter. A flesh wound could wait. Although a part of her feared it had slowed her down, her reach was now much, much longer with her chain scythe. As Sora leaped the chain hissed through the air, swinging toward him to catch his arms in a loop and pin them together.

As focused as she'd been on finding some way to help Tsubaki, she realized just a moment too late where the creature was heading, the fact that it was heading straight at her. Having such short notice of a threat, Leanne barely had time to raise her gun, before remembering she wasn't supposed to shoot at the thing in the first place, and leap back away from it.

...Or, to make an attempt, in any case. As soon as she tried to move away from their attacker, her legs tangled, and as out of it as she was, she could do nothing to stop herself from falling backwards onto the floor, one of her guns falling from her hand and clattering away harmlessly on the ground.

Had it not been for Tsubaki leaping into the fray again just then, Leanne had no doubt she'd have been in the same position as her friend several moments ago. "H-hey!" she gasped out, already trying to scramble back to her feet. No time to waste. "How can I help you against that thing if I can't shoot it?! I don't have any other weapons!"

It was perfect. His current target had lost her footing, which meant he had an ideal opportunity to tear through her chest--

Or that would have been the case, if something else hadn't interrupted. The chain whipped around him from behind, entangling his arms and jerking him backward. He was snapped back so violently that it hurt (though the only sign the creature gave of that was a slight twitching), but the chain was strong enough to hold even a frenzied monster in place.

It started to thrash around, aiming to untangle itself, but if anything it only resulted in it being tied up tighter. It turned back toward the girl who was responsible, eyes glowing in anger as it tried to work its way back toward her. If she wouldn't let him attack the other girl, then he would stick to the familiar.

The chain that coiled around Sora's body--it was no lifeless metal object. Being a demon weapon, what Tsubaki had summoned to fight with wasn't just a weapon one could hold and wield. It was a part of her, and as a consequence the chain moved more like an appendage, snaking around him in unnatural ways.

Like with any appendage, though, it was attached to her, and that was its own disadvantage.

"I think--" She broke off as Sora started to thrash, steadying her footing. "We have to restrain him! He's not... I don't think this is one of the hospital's normal monsters!" Easier said than done, though. He was fast and determined. What could they do to stop him without risking him getting away? Or someone else getting hurt? "Are you okay?" she asked, shooting Leanne a quick glance while she fought with the line of chain in her hand. "I've got him for now."

For now, yes.

In the darkness, it might have looked like Tsubaki was merely holding the chain scythe, but the truth of it was that she'd summoned it out of the arm she'd thrown up. The both of them were locked in for the long haul.

"Stop!" she began as Sora resumed his attempts to get at one of them. "You don't want to attack us!"

Restraining him. All right, she could help with that. It was hardly her specialty, being more accustomed to just shooting at things until they went down, but if this really wasn't one of the usual monsters... Leanne couldn't say she understood what Tsubaki was getting at with that, but her voice had been urgent enough to stay her hand and keep her following her friend's lead.

"I'm fine!" she answered, barely stopping to check if that really was true. If she got hurt during this fight, it could wait until they were somewhere safe again, after all. "How long can you hold him?" she asked, frantically looking around them for anything else that could help.

Tsubaki had the chain, she was the one with the best chances of keeping him retrained, but Leanne doubted she could manage it forever. There had to be something they could do to at least temporarily incapacitate their attacker.

She had her guns, of course, but those were out for the moment. What else could they possibly use? A flashlight? Aside from using it as a blunt weapon, she couldn't quite see anything they could do to help... and she hardly thought Tsubaki would approve of that particular use.

"Um... I-I know you don't wanna hurt him, but we can try to knock him out! Just so he can stop trying to attack us!" Still, it was worth a try, wasn't it?

As the Heartless attempted to jerk back toward Tsubaki, the chain encasing him shifted around, wrapping up in his legs and sending him to the floor. When he hit the ground it was oddly silent, as if the ground had absorbed the sound, and he made no noises of pain.

The shouting around him was a distraction, but the words meant nothing and any attempts to reason with him were completely pointless. While the Heartless was completely tied up in the chain at this point, being flush against the floor gave it an idea. Because Heartless didn't have the same relationship with solid surfaces that people did.

Simply put, the thing that had once been Sora suddenly sank into the floor, turning into a black pool as it shifted across the ground, closer to Tsubaki. And when it re-materialized, it would be close enough to attack...

"Snap out of it!" Her words didn't seem to be reaching him, but Tsubaki was convinced more than ever that there was a person in there. But what could they do to bring that person back?

She stepped back, allowing more slack in the line. By the other girl's question, she assumed Leanne was worried he was going to break free and in response she said, "The chain can't be broken, so as long as we can keep him tied up..." Did he even understand what they were saying? His body felt so unnaturally slick, it worried her. Although a demon weapon couldn't be damaged in the same way as a manmade material, what if he started to figure out a way to break free?

"You're right," she said to Leanne. There was no hesitation in her voice. "We'll have to incapacitate him." It was better than the alternative.

It was then that the chain started to clink as it moved--a move not of her own volition. She felt the weapon part of her sinking where it was--or had been--coiled around Sora, sinking into some kind of soft space where the floor should have been. What the--? When the chain went completely slack, she realized there was nothing solid down there to grab onto.

Uh oh. They were too late!

Tsubaki jumped away, pulling her chain to her in the process. "He disappeared!" she shouted. "Into the floor! Do you have a light?" Sora seemed to have all the consistency of a shadow, which made him hard to spot even for her.

She fumbled for the flashlight, awkwardly shifting her grip on her guns. Not good, not good, not good. Since when could someone actually disappear into the floor? How were they supposed to fight-- or restrain, whatever-- something like that? "I've got it!" she gasped out, just barely managing to keep it from slipping from her fingers.

Leanne pointed the flashlight at the floor between them, the beam of light it produced somewhat unsteady in her shaky hands. Where was he, where was he...

There!

Or, at the very least, she thought it was him. An inky black pool on the ground didn't exactly resemble the creature she'd seen, but if he'd somehow managed to get into the floor... She couldn't see anything else it could have been, and she just didn't have the time to keep looking.

"He's there, Tsubaki!" she called, the fact that it was heading straight at Tsubaki finally making her throw all caution to the wind. She ran forward, intent on at least trying to get there before he could.

When the Heartless breached the floor and became solid once more, it was to the beam of a light shining right at it. That caused it to pause for a second, wincing back against the light, and so its planned attack on Tsubaki was ruined.

Instead, it darted to the side, out of the beam's path, to try and get at her another way. It already had some of her blood on its claws, and there was no reason not to coat them with more.

It didn't like light, but it could endure it if it had to. And it had gone too long this night without capturing a single heart.

Did you see that?

Her instincts saw better than her eyes did, and they were trying to tell her something.

Did you see that? He dodged!

Despite the danger, Leanne was running into the middle of the fight; she didn't have the time to tell the other girl to stay back. Tsubaki raised the chain scythe, ready to launch it while she tracked Sora's movements. "Did you see how he flinched?" she said. "I don't think he likes the light!"

The light?

Could it really... It'd make sense, wouldn't it? She couldn't tell what he was really supposed to be, but he certainly didn't look as if he belonged anywhere in the light. If anything, it was like he'd be more at home in the dark corridors of this place.

Breathing hard, Leanne raised the flashlight again, her trembling hands soon pointing it at the last place she'd seen him. There... No. No, there. No...

"He's moving fast, but I can try to keep the light on him! Just... Just stop him again!"

They'd figured it out, if the way that the stranger started shining that light right at him was anything to go by. The Heartless tried to maneuver as much as it could to avoid the beam of light that was now doggedly following him, but it wasn't that simple, especially in a crowded hall.

Still, it had given up on all of its previous encounters, and this time it wasn't going to back down. Not with a heart that seemed so precious in such close contact.

So, weakened though it was, it pushed past that and aimed right for Tsubaki, doing what it could to dodge the binding chains in its way.

Problem was, how did you stop something that so resembled a living shadow?

The one thing Tsubaki did know was that they couldn't just let him get away. So Sora was forced to split his attention between her and the chain ready to tangle him up, she shot forward, striking out with the blunt part of the scythe. If restraining him without hurting him wouldn't work, then knocking him out of commission was the only way.

No good. He was obviously trying to avoid the light, really didn't seem to like it at all, but it wasn't stopping him just yet, not even close. It could probably be enough to give them somewhat of an edge, if she kept the light on him, but it'd do them no good if they couldn't stop him in the first place.

Nevertheless, Leanne wasn't about to let up either. She kept the flashlight fixed on him, her steps far more careful than before as she followed after his own steps. They only needed just enough time to knock him out, just until Tsubaki's scythe had done its job.

She took a step back as Tsubaki attacked, the flashlight still held out in front of her.

Right as the Anti-Form darted toward Tsubaki, it was hit with a double-whammy of attacks. Normally, a light wouldn't seem that dangerous, but in this case it was very effective. It lit up his body in all of its blackness -- the dark smoke that lifted off of him, his glowing eyes, and his bloody claws.

And before he could get out of the way or do much of anything, the scythe smacked him right in the chest. Weakened by the light, it threw him to the ground hard. He crashed to the floor, staring up at the ceiling in complete disorientation.

And then, everything really did go black.

NIGHT 65: WEST WING, SOUTH HALL 1-B

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