damned_institute | Night 72: Library

"Better idea; let's not be here." Taura wasn't breathing hard; she threw herself across the room in a few long strides, and tipped almost a third of the books on the right shelf over with one grab. One of them was right; she heard the click, let go, and bounded back towards Rita. "But no, I don't think he will."

They hadn't run into anyone in there in a while; ambushes had been constant, once. She remembered Goku, eyes wilder than usual, and didn't know whether to smile or wince. There were fewer patients, but was that really all it was? Or had Landel gotten bored with this particular show?

[to here]

[From here.]

As soon as Castiel got got himself and Kratos over the threshold, he shoved the door closed behind them, which caused there to be a sudden, deafening silence as all sound from the Sun Room was eliminated.

He took a quick moment to look around and when he identified no immediate threats, Castiel turned to face Kratos, looking him over in some attempt to determine what was wrong with him.

"What was that?" He was asking about a number of things" Lloyd's revelation about Kratos' abilities, Edward and the way he'd been able to create a wall out of the floor beneath their feet, and the fact that Kratos had suddenly doubled over in either pain or fatigue. It was up to Kratos to choose how to answer.

Dad, Lloyd said, and Kratos would have tried to punch through the wall to reach his son if he weren't so caught up in trying to regain control of his body. Unfortunately, his frustration was only fueling his Exsphere to new heights, and eventually, Castiel had to forcibly drag him into the library, where Kratos was more than happy to slump against one of the bookshelves in attempt to keep himself upright.

He winced as Castiel asked what any sane person would ask after such a display: not only was it a difficult question to answer, but in the silence of the library, the other man's voice was painfully loud. "I have..." a parasitic rock attached to my hand that feeds off of emotional and physical distress and will eventually consume my soul "...a condition." Kratos coughed, and abruptly, the shimmering cloud surrounding him fell away. "It just...flares up...once in a while."

The last time the crystal had malfunctioned, though, it hadn't been nearly so bad--although last time, he hadn't provoked it either. "Castiel, we have to--I have to..."

A condition. Castiel squinted as he thought that over, because this was the first time he'd heard of it or seen any sign of it. Kratos got weak when he used his abilities, but that was normal for anyone here, and so Castiel hadn't taken it as a sign of anything. Those odd particles only added to the confusion along with making it clear that he was hardly getting the entire story.

This wasn't the time to press on it, though. Castiel glanced back toward the door he'd just closed and heaved a sigh. It was important that they tried to get further in their search of the third floor tonight, and yet he knew that trying to tell a father to leave his son in danger would be pointless.

"What do you plan to do?" he asked instead, turning his attention back to Kratos. He kept an eye on his posture in the event that he collapsed. "We can't break through that wall." Especially not with Kratos in this state.

From Castiel's response, he knew exactly what Kratos had meant to say even though he hadn't finished his response, and it wasn't much of a stretch to guess that he also knew why he wanted to go back. After all, they must have both heard Lloyd...normally, it would have disturbed him, knowing that someone else was aware of Lloyd's relation to him, but the situation was such that it seemed like an inconsequential detail.

He would probably agonize over it later, though.

"I..." Something. Anything. He knew, though, that any effort would be wasted, and that it was probably better that they simply push forward without Lloyd. Still, that one word, "dad", held him back and kept him from fully agreeing with Castiel's assessment. It did not feel right to leave Lloyd behind when he was so clearly in terrible danger; in fact, it felt like betrayal.

Kratos sighed deeply, and his head seemed to sink a little lower in glum acceptance. The hand pressed against the bookshelf next to him curled into a fist: every instinct he had was screaming for him to turn around and spend every ounce of energy he possessed to break down that wall, and to defy them all was tall order. But, moving on was the only option left - the only reasonable one.

"Alright," he said quietly. "Let's keep going." He straightened up. "We need to find that archive."

Kratos was torn, the tension in his body betraying how badly he wanted to return to the Sun Room and take some kind of action, but there was no action to take. Castiel stood there silently, waiting for Kratos to gather his thoughts. Trying to push him to make a decision faster wouldn't do much good in this case.

But eventually Kratos got there, and Castiel nodded, remaining near his side in case he was still suffering from that "condition."

They slowly made their way to the middle aisle of the library. Even Castiel felt that he'd had the wind pulled from his sails, like continuing without Lloyd was somehow giving in, but he resisted those thoughts as best he could. Like so many other situations here, there was nothing they could do.

"He seems to be a skilled fighter," he said, some small attempt at consolation. Castiel imagined that Lloyd could handle himself even without their help. And on top of that, brainwashed patients were kept from killing, which meant that while he might get injured, it wouldn't be any worse than that.

As was the case the night before, the crystal only activated for a short while: his vision and hearing were rapidly degrading back to the level of an average human's. It was just as disorienting as when the crystal first turned on, but thankfully, Castiel was walking slowly - probably because he still looked like he would collapse at any moment - so Kratos was able to prevent his physical distress from being too obvious.

They reached the Oxford Book of English Verse, and Kratos pulled it out to flip the switch. Only after the hidden door had slid open did he address Castiel's attempt at comfort.

"He is." With several of his secrets now revealed (although not explained) and the fact that he was leaving his son behind still chafing, Kratos was feeling more vulnerable than he cared to be, and it clearly showed in his voice, a clipped, cold monotone that dared Castiel to say anything more.

As soon as the door opened, Castiel momentarily forgot about any questions he may have had for Kratos. He was waiting for any sign of an attacker, any slight sound that something had been unleashed by them taking that action, but it seemed that tonight's guard was the one in the Sun Room.

He nodded to Kratos and then stepped forward, still taking careful, near-silent steps until he neared the opening. When he shone his flashlight through the doorway and saw no sign of a threat, Castiel was finally willing to declare it safe and step inside.

[To here.]

[From here]

Korra burst into the library, breath heavy and adrenaline dying down. She was only just beginning to absorb what had happened in there. Ed had that weird power that changed the floor. Tsubaki's hair was a chain...

"You okay?" she asked over her shoulder, turning to face behind her and hoping her friend had made it through.

Korra's victory took a moment to sink in. Had they really just managed to subdue a Special Counselling victim? She'd thought for sure they were in for so much trouble...

With a sigh of relief, Tsubaki popped up from behind her couch. "You did it!"

And now not only could they proceed, but the Sun Room would also be safe while the boy was out. Metal rustled as Tsubaki followed her chain back to the prone figure, a couch pillow in her hand. After detaching herself from him, she took a second to lift his head and slip the pillow underneath it.

"Sorry, but you'll feel better in the morning," she said to him before she followed Korra out, still holding onto her chain scythe. The loop created by the chain was just long enough to brush the backs of her legs now that she no longer had a need to extend it. "I'm all right! He didn't hurt you too badly, did he?"

Korra bent over briefly, resting her hands on her knees. Her arm hurt, thanks to the beating it took last night, but she ignored it well enough.

"No, the damage was mostly done last night, actually." She almost laughed to herself at that. This was the second night in a row she'd had to fight Ed. He'd be fine. The kid seemed tough. Korra shook out her arm, standing upright and having a look around. She'd never been in the library before now, but she had a decent idea of what they needed to do.

"Last night...?" Tsubaki assumed Korra meant that she remembered what she had done during her own Special Counseling episode and the fights she'd likely instigated with other prisoners.

She didn't think last night was a particularly comfortable topic for the other girl and didn't ask any more about it. If Korra hadn't taken any serious hits, then she could rest easy.

"Yeah. I ran into him and his brother. And some other big guy. Ed's arm is made of metal. Got me a pretty good bruise!" Korra held up her arm, vaguely indicating the black and blue still spread along her forearm. At least the swelling had gone down since this morning.

She began walking through the library, shining her flashlight along the shelves. She had to look for some dictionary, she knew that much. Oxford English... something or other. From what she'd heard, the library contained mostly stories. Hopefully, that meant the book would stick out.

"Ed? You fought him then?"

She paused in surprise. Korra had run into the boy while she'd been brainwashed? Jeez, who would've guessed such bad luck was possible?

"That's bad news... Thank goodness we were able to do something tonight before anyone got badly hurt!" she said. The boy hadn't looked like he was sporting any injuries from Korra, and in the morning when he was back to himself he would probably understand what they'd had to do to subdue him. "As long as you're okay."

That was the bottom line, though with that in mind, Tsubaki had no clue what they might be facing the further they went. She glanced around the library, peering down the dark aisle in front of her. They'd only just made it past the Sun Room; beyond the library was unfamiliar territory.

"Looks like we're the only ones in here. I can take a look over here," she continued on before creeping into another aisle on her left.

"Yeah," Korra said shortly, letting her arm drop to her side once again.

Following Tsubaki's words, Korra split away from her roommate to look for the book.

"I hear it's just a lot of stories in here. So maybe it'll stand out," she called across the room. Maybe not the best idea, but it made Korra feel less scared, less surrounded by the dark. She started with the shelves along the walls. If something was going to pull a trigger, it would be along the wall, right?

Oxford... Oxford...

"Do you remember what it was called?" she asked. From a combination of Sora's help and her own recollections of skimming the books in the library, she knew the book had to be the big collection of English verse. "The Oxford Book of English Verse, I think..."

But where had she seen it before?

"Yeah!" Korra perked up the moment Tsubaki mentioned the proper title. Not a dictionary, a book of verse!

...Whatever that was.

"It'll probably be along the walls, if it's a secret switch or something." Unless there was fancy wiring or something... Which they could think about if they didn't find it along the wall.

Korra began looking through the easternmost shelf, squinting in the darkness.

"Hey, is this it?" She tipped her head sideways to get a better look at the spine. The Oxford Book of English Verse. Seemed right.

"I suppose so!" she agreed. Only Sora and Tsurugi had seen the secret passageway for themselves; Tsubaki had no idea what it might look like with the level of technology the Head Doctor had at his disposal.

Korra's cry brought her away from her side of the room and to Korra's side, where the other girl was intently looking for a large book.

"To think it'd be out in the open like this all along..." But as she drew close, she thought Korra must be right for sure. "The title looks right, that has to be the one. Should we... pull it?"

"Don't see why not." Not hesitating and hoping they hadn't already wasted too much time, Korra pulled the book from the shelf. The reaction was nearly instant: the door slid open silently before them. For the first time that night, she grinned.

"Well, that wasn't so bad." She peered into the door, relieved but still nervous for what lay ahead.

"Wow!" The slightly awed exclamation left Tsubaki once the hidde door had opened all the way, revealing an entryway behind it.

It was one thing to hear about the access way to the third floor, but quite another to actually see it in person and know that it might be the key to reaching new, secret parts of the hospital.

"It really exists..." She turned to Korra, wide-eyed. "We better go before the Head Doctor tries to stop us. But if anything happens, I'll watch your back as best I can."

She wanted badly to tell the other girl about Landel's office and what had happened there, to warn her of what might be coming, but promising to watch out for Korra no matter the danger was the best she could do.

Korra nodded once to Tsubaki and took a moment to be still before moving beyond the book shelves. Sure, she had the information from the board, but beyond that, who knew what was up there? Everyone made a big deal out of it. That much, she knew.

So what, do they just find the head doc's door and break it down? She wasn't above that.

[To here]

Night 72: Library

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sorry I charged into the library too quickly :x I should have asked about moving.

No worries on my end!

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