NIGHT 65: West Wing, North Hall 1-B

[repelling]

[ from here! ]

Uryuu believed the newcomer would follow him, but still kept his initial pace slow, in anticipation of hesitation or his expectation not being met. As he walked, he again shut off the flashlight, saying as he did:

"I try to preserve as much battery life as I can. Of course, how you handle yours is up to you, but there's another reason you might consider acclimating to moving in the dark."

Keeping slow also made it possible to move ahead yet speak quietly. The reason for preferring the dark matched that for lowered voices. To say it before or after the stars? Would it make much difference? Suppose the night sky was overcast? Perhaps he should claim for the time being that there were guards, hostile and responsible for the kidnapping. That might have been easier to believe, had he not already given much of the actual truth (or what seemed to be the truth).

Maybe he wouldn't have to say anything. Maybe a monster would do the explaining for him.

Despite having grown up seeing ghosts and spirit beasts, Uryuu wasn't superstitious. Not in the least. Yet, for a moment, he felt compelled to knock on wood.

Comments

[lighthearted]

[From here.]

As the Heartless reentered the building, it saw one person standing nearby, and while something about its heart seemed old or recycled, it was an option. But as the creature lifted its head, almost as if it was scenting the air, it realized that there was something even more tempting than that.

There was a heart heading in this direction, but what made it special was that it was a familiar one, the first one he'd encountered since that initial attack. If it waited here for that heart to emerge and then took that moment to pounce, surely it would be able to act quickly enough to claim that heart before the prey could fight back.

Sora almost melted into the wall, the pitch black shade of his clothes and skin camouflaging into the dark hallway. And he waited.

[For a quick attack with the Once-ler and Flynn!]

[brokensmolder]

[from here.]

By the time they made it into the first main hall, Eugene thought he had the hang of his flashlight. His fingers found the button and, imitating his roommate, he switched it on and off a few times, marveling at the strange-but-convenient little light.

"I wish I'd known this was here yesterday," he remarked. "Would have made life a little easier."

[fallenbeanpole]

The Once-ler followed closely behind Flynn, slightly bemused by his apparent fascination with the flashlight. "Seems like you knew where it was just fine, but had no idea what it was. You don't have electricity where you're from, do you?"

He switched his own light off to conserve the battery life, a habit he'd picked up during the last year in isolation, as electricity was a precious commodity. So long as Flynn was leading, they only needed one beam.

The former businessman couldn't help but notice that Flynn seemed to be sporting a leg injury as well. "So, how'd that happen? Your leg, I mean," he added after a moment.

[lighthearted]

His instincts hadn't been wrong, not that the Heartless had even banked on such a possibility. No, when it came to sensing hearts, there wasn't any margin for error, and so as the pair left the patient block, Sora started to move away from the wall.

The beam from the flashlight made him hesitate for just a moment, but then it was turned off and they were left in perfect, all-encompassing darkness.

There was no reason to hold back at that point, and the Anti-Form knew exactly who it was aiming for. The heart that it recognized, even if it was one it had encountered only recently, tempted him more than the unfamiliar one. Clearly, any part of Sora that felt friendship toward that person was gone, claimed by the taint of darkness.

And so he leapt toward the Once-ler, claws extended, darkness swirling behind him as he made yet another attempt to claim someone's heart tonight.

[brokensmolder]

"I'm not entirely sure what that even is, so no. We don't," Eugene replied lightly, looking over his shoulder and trying to tamp down his growing unease. They were moving reasonably quickly for a couple of guys covered in bandages, but it was still slower going than he'd like. Even with the lights, there could be monsters--or worse, patients--lurking in the shadows.

"Huh? Oh, right. Last night a man with a really stupid helmet tried to make me a little shorter. He--"

But he never got to say what else Loki had done. A swirling mass of shadow in the shape of a person--a kid, really--emerged from the darkness and headed straight for the Once-ler.

"Look out!"

[fallenbeanpole]

Seconds after Flynn's warning, something hit the Once-ler hard. Caught off-guard, the man lost his balance, giving off a surprisingly high-pitched yelp as he tumbled backwards. A part of his mind couldn't believe this was happening again. And this time he couldn't tell what had decided to get him.

It was shadowy and dark, slightly more so than the unlit hall, and seemed to be human-shaped. No human the Once-ler had ever heard of had glowing yellow circles for eyes, though. Aside from those eyes, he couldn't make out any other details in the darkness.

With one hand he frantically tried to push off his attacker, the other hand fumbling to turn his flashlight on so he see what - or who - was trying to maul him tonight. Finding the switch, the Once-ler held the light by his head and flicked it on, using the glowing yellow circles as a target for the beam.

[lighthearted]

While pouncing at the man was enough to send him backward, it didn't knock him over, which meant that Sora was left to land somewhat awkwardly, posed on all fours as he stared down his prey. He wasn't going to give up that easily, especially since a primal part of him could sense the panic.

His yellow eyes caught on the thing in the man's hand, and he realized what it meant: light. Just in time, Sora managed to dart out of the way, his claws screeching against the floor as he rushed forward and managed to slip around the Once-ler's right side.

As he circled around, he aimed for the man's back with one claw, pulling it down in a diagonal slash. While the Heartless preferred a direct attack, such as digging into its target's chest, it knew it had to be careful if its prey had a light source on hand.

[brokensmolder]

The shadow monster didn't seem at all interested in Eugene. Instead, it was entirely focused on the Once-ler, acting as if Eugene weren't even there.

He rushed to his roommate's side, ready to help fight off the monster like he fought off the birds two nights ago. He raised his flashlight like a club, striking out at the back of the monster's wispy (spiky, too) head, before he noticed something else.

It didn't like the light.

Eugene quickly turned the flashlight around and switched it on, aiming the beam squarely at what he assumed was the shadow monster's face. "Use your flashlight! It doesn't like light."

[fallenbeanpole]

The thing was fast. The Once-ler was unable to spin fast enough to catch it in the light, and was rewarded with a painful slash on his back. He grimaced. This was all wrong; he was supposed to be getting healed tonight, not hurt even more!

Fortunately, Flynn was quick to act, first attacking and then turning his own light on the creature. Biting his lip to ignore the pain in his back, the Once-ler followed suit. It made sense that two beams of light would be much harder to avoid than one.

[lighthearted]

In the darkness, the Anti-Form was able to see the flashlight coming right for him, and an increased amount of speed gave it the chance to backpedal out of the way of the attack. It had blood on one of its claws again, but that wasn't what it wanted, not really.

Before it could make another try, though, it was pinned down by both flashlights, suddenly turned on and aimed toward it. The Heartless' eyes glowed a brighter yellow, the only sign of a response or of panic other than the way that it skittered off, turning tail like a spooked animal. It escaped further down the hall, having to give up the hunt once more.

[To here.]

[brokensmolder]

It turned out Eugene was right.

Two lights trained on it was more than the shadow could handle and it disappeared, slinking off into the darkness. Eugene stared after it for a few moments, breathing heavily. "...Light. Huh. I'm really glad that worked," he remarked at length. Fear had pitched his voice ever-so-slightly higher than was strictly appropriate for the maintenance of the sarcastic bad boy image he normally took such pains to portray. "Would've been pretty terrible if it hadn't. I mean, more terrible than it already was."

It had only gone after the Once-ler, though. Why? They were both pretty badly beaten up and didn't stand much of a chance against something with sharp, pointy claws. It stood to reason that both of them would have been a target. So how come it had ignored Eugene so entirely?

And...it had been vaguely person-shaped. Kid-shaped. Had that even been a monster, or was it a transformed patient? Guilt twisted painfully in Eugene's stomach. There was no way of knowing, and beating himself up about it could wait. The Once-ler was hurt.

Eugene moved closer to his roommate, ready to act as a human crutch if he needed to. "How bad is it? Can you get to Rapunzel's room?"

[fallenbeanpole]

The brief moment in which his attacker was illuminated was enough for the Once-ler's eyes to widen in surprise. He had not expected the shadow creature to resemble the spiky-haired boy he'd spoken with right before dinner. Before he could react further, however, it fled into the darkness, the Once-ler staring after it.

His hand was shaking slightly. Now that the threat was gone, the fear from the moment was catching up to him. Taking a few slow breaths, the Once-ler struggled to compose himself. "Good thing I explained flashlights, huh," he replied as nonchalantly as possible, but the quiver in his voice and the nervous laugh that followed betrayed him.

The man straightened up, wincing as his back injury flared in protest. "Although, compared to what happened last night, I think I got off easy." He tried craning his head around to get a glimpse of the cut, but found it to be a fruitless endeavor. "It doesn't feel too bad. I can still move, it just hurts."

The Once-ler's eyes were still locked on the darkness that the Sora-like shadow had escaped to. He'd only met Sora twice, and the first time had been hectic, but the resemblance had been uncanny. One didn't forget a kid with hair that spiky.

Breaking his stare down the hall, the Once-ler glanced at his roommate. "That thing," he started, his voice a bit softer. "Was... was that Sora?"

[brokensmolder]

"Gotta say, I like the all black thing. Much more dramatic than a cape and horned helmet," Eugene agreed lightly, steering his roommate down the hallway. Despite the convenient (and protective!) shared glow of their flashlights, the two tiny lights were casting too many shadows for him to see the gash in the Once-ler's back. Even if the Once-ler didn't think it was too bad, stopping to examine the wound more closely was out of the question. If they could, it was far better to just push for Rapunzel's room and deal with it when they had the storied benefits of magical glowing hair to fall back out. If not? Well, he'd built a successful criminal career on resourcefulness.

"Not that I have anything against the barbarian look, of course. I know some great barbarians! Lovely people. One of them is a very good interior designer! The things that man can do with bloodstains and a bear rug..."

He was so caught up in his own slightly nervous chatter that the Once-ler's question took several seconds to fully sink in.

"Sora?"

Oh no. Oh please, no.

"I...I've never met him. We've only written to each other on the board."