NIGHT 54: M21-30 HALLWAY

[autophoenix.livejournal.com]

[ from here ]

It took her a moment when she turned down the men's hallway to skim the area with her flashlight. This was the part where she got confused, the muscle memory not really carrying her the whole way. He'd given her directions once, but that felt like a lifetime ago now that she actually needed to put them into practice without Bella attached to her hip. Being alone made it harder, for some reason. She hoped Bella was having more luck than she was at getting to … wherever.

On her left, the single door of the bathroom that she suspected was the same as the women's facilities, and on her right four hallways. Peter's was … she scrutinized. Second in from the door? It sounded about right. If her room was F34 and it was the closest to the door, 24 should be one row further in. So, she hung a right and headed down the hallway.

Her flashlight beam checked the numbers on the doors as she headed down. 30 … 29 … the numbers were counting downwards, which was a good sign that this was the right hallway to get her to M24.

[ bumping into sylar peter ]

Comments

[freewill]

This was the third time this night that Castiel had flown to someone he'd considered an ally and had been threatened as a result. First had been Dean and his female friend's instinctive reaction, second Gabriel's odd switch in demeanor, and now Sam Winchester was pointing a gun at him.

Even though Castiel was well aware that the bullets could hurt him as much as any human now -- the night he'd tried to make it to the chapel with the Doctor had proved that rather clearly -- he stared at the weapon like it was a toy instead of a killing device. The truth was that Sam was the furthest thing from his mind right now, even if he was the reason that he'd come here in the first place.

No, his gaze quickly returned to Ruby, expecting an explanation. She didn't back down from facing him, even forcing Sam out of the way. And yet the way she did so was completely unnecessary and entirely too predictable for a demon.

That act of violence against someone he'd come to see as a friend (even if that feeling clearly wasn't returned at the moment) was enough to spur him into further action. Castiel lunged forward with two quick steps and seized Ruby by her arm. She could still use telekinesis; that was something he would need to file away and address later.

Instead, he pulled her close, staring her right in her blackened eyes. "How did you get here? What are you doing here?" His tone was stiff and demanding, Orihara's question and Sam's state after he'd hit the wall forgotten for the moment.

[propheteer]

Beyond Castiel having some issue with the woman, Izaya wasn't sure what kind of situation he'd found himself in the middle of. It was rather like being suddenly thrown into the middle of a drama, but without knowing any of its history... Still, that was fine. That kind of thing could be picked up as he went. But it still made him wonder why the tall, familiar-looking man had been so quick to reach for a gun (where had he found a gun, anyway?), and what the woman had done in the past to anger Castiel. Even though Izaya suspected they had come for the tall kid and she had simply been a surprise, Castiel seemed far more concerned with her than with either the man or his gun.

And then the man—Sam, she'd called him? Was it the same Sam that he'd 'heard' mentioned a moment ago?... He'd gone flying away almost like he'd been thrown, and then the woman started throwing accusations about Castiel's character. It was a personal history, then, and one that Izaya would stay out of.

He removed himself from beside Castiel, heading for where Sam had fallen instead—partly to see how he was after that and partly to keep out of the couple's issues in case it put him in the line of fire. Their spat was interesting, but right now the questions of what had happened to Sam? and how had that even happened? were foremost on his mind.