damned_institute | Night 64: X-Ray Room

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Night 64: X-Ray Room

As soon as the patients entered the dark room, the first thing they might have noticed were a couple of short bursts of static from the intercom. But no voices or cryptic messages greeted them.

Instead, their eyes would undoubtedly be drawn toward the strange picture of a human stomach carefully painted onto the southern wall, its paint casting an eerie green glow that cut into the darkness.

Although the artist had done their best to make the picture as clear as possible, they had apparently decided to leave a sharp kitchen knife perched on X-Ray table to compensate the patients for their troubles. Hopefully whoever picked it up would be able to make good use of it and the clue created for them.

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As it turned out, he had dropped her the last few inches, but Soma was in no position to care.

She lay with her face against the floor, the cool tile almost comforting against her fevered cheek, and tried to breathe. Getting up and heading back to help Rapunzel would have been her first course of action, but even supersoldiers had their limits. Judging from the way her arms and legs felt like lead, it felt like she'd reached hers.

It was a full minute before she could even summon up the energy to open her eyes, and when she did she promptly shut them again. Rapunzel was hurt--possibly dead. Probably dead. And she couldn't even move.

Maybe she could have gotten to her sooner if she'd been traveling alone. Lingormr would have hesitated to hurt her--she was almost certain of that. She could have played that to her advantage. Instead she was stuck here with a man who had physically dragged her away from her friend in some misguided attempt to find a cure.

Some part of her knew that was unfair. He couldn't have known what was going on. Not really. But she couldn't get the sound of Rapunzel screaming out of her mind. The thought that one of her friends here might have killed another of her friends, and she might have been able to prevent it.

It wasn't as if she had plenty of those to go around.

"It's not worth a cure," she said, and coughed a little as the words scratched her throat. Then, hoarsely, and a little louder: "Damn it. We have to go back."

[From here.]

The second that Sora re-entered the room and pointed his flashlight at the two newcomers, he realized just how bad things were. His hope had been that the ones joining them would be uninjured, seeing how he and Link had gotten through with no trouble, but that had clearly been wishful thinking.

The amount of blood was what registered first. What kicked in second was the fact that one of the injured people was a club member. "Soma!" Sora cried out, racing from the doorway over to where the girl was collapsed on the floor.

He took a knee and tried to move her slightly so that he could get an idea of her wounds, but it was hard to tell what was going on when it was this dark. And the other patient, someone he didn't recognize, didn't look much better. "What happened?!"

He hoped that Link had some sort of healing power, because otherwise he didn't know what they were going to do. From the looks of things, they should have gone back into the hall to check on things after all. How were they supposed to handle this? He was doing his best not to panic, but that was easier said than done.

Link grabbed his knife and followed Sora back into the X-Ray Room, jaw dropping as he saw the bloodied patients, one face first on the ground, and another limp against the door. While Sora rushed to the girl's side, Link knelt by the man. He was already in the process of taking off his shirt, cutting it into strips with his knife.

It was... painfully obvious what had happened. Link certainly didn't mention that, though.

"Is there anyone else stuck in there?" He looked up at the Once-ler as the sharp blade slid through the shirt cloth. The Hylian's expression was intense, but not panicked.

The Once-ler cracked an eye open when he heard Soma’s name called once again. Two boys had come in from another room, and the younger of the two immediately ran to Soma’s side. The Once-ler noticed immediately that he wasn’t wearing the gray shirt and pants that seemed to be some kind of uniform, instead having a very unique outfit on. Just like Lingormr, actually.

“Please tell me you’re not another brainwashed friend here to stab and taunt us,” the Once-ler said. There was no edge to his voice despite the implications of the words. “I’ve fulfilled my quota for the day. Actually, make that for the rest of my life.”

He turned his focus to the other boy, who was slicing up his shirt into strips. The kid was surprisingly calm, considering the situation, almost as if this was nothing new to him. Calm and focused. That was kind of disturbing, actually. He looked barely old enough to be out of high school, let alone having experienced a situation similar to this before.

Soma’s probably not much older, he realized suddenly. It had never crossed his mind that she might not even be twenty. And that other boy next her is even younger. Should he even be in the same asylum (however questionable its legitimacy might be) as adults?

The Once-ler’s thoughts were interrupted when the older boy addressed him. “There’s a group back by the entrance to the hall that’s fighting Li, er, Lingro…” the man’s name was surprisingly difficult to pronounce, “the guy with the horns. We only managed to get here because he got distracted by them.” Well, not completely distracted, but it had stopped him from attacking the pair. “Not much we could do like this.” He held his hands out, gesturing at himself and the three separate cuts he’d received.

“So,” he continued, then blinked. “Hold on, how’d you two get here without getting hurt at all?” Lingormr had been really determined to keep sticking Soma and the Once-ler with metal objects unless they gave up.

Soma would have prodded the Once-ler for his comment about brainwashed friends, except moving still felt like a bad idea. She settled for a feeble glare in his general direction before turning her attention to Sora and his friend.

She couldn't deny the younger boy was a welcome sight, even as worried as he appeared to be. She grunted slightly and managed half a smile before she shuffled into a sitting position, her back against the wall. "It's worse than it looks. He needs more help than I do."

And as much as she didn't want to rat out her friend, it wasn't as if brainwashing was Lingormr's fault. "Lingormr has Special Counseling," she said, trying not to look at the bloody smears she'd left on the floor. At least her voice stayed level this time. "I didn't get a good look at everyone in the group back there, but Kratos and Castiel were there, and Rapunzel--"

Right. Voice level. Professional. Like a debrief. She could do this. "I think she's hurt."

So it was Lingormr that had done this. Sora let out a sigh and frowned as he watched both Soma and the other patient struggle to move into more comfortable positions. "No, no, I'm not brainwashed, believe me." Soma would know, but this other patient was a stranger, and he couldn't blame him for being paranoid when he'd apparently been injured multiple times already.

Link was already working on getting some makeshift bandages put together, and Sora realized that he should contribute to that. With two people who were injured, both with what looked like multiple injuries, they were going to need as many as they could get. It was too bad this X-Ray room didn't stock any.

Before he could even get started with that, though, they mentioned that there were others out there who were in the midst of being attacked. More than that, among the group were some people he knew, other club members who had probably come this way on his behalf.

The question was whether he should help them or take care of these two and make sure they were stable first. "I'll go and find her," he promised Soma, "but we need to make sure you two are all right before I do that."

The stranger had asked a question, but Sora would leave it to Link to answer that. He glanced over at the knife Link was using to cut into his clothing and made eye contact with him, silently asking if he could use it once he was done.

Link had assumed the culprit was Lingormr. Despite the fact that he had seemed to leave him and Sora alone, that may have had to do with how they had known each other... Link also needed to consider that, given the way he had taunted them, Lingormr was the type to enjoy, in some sick way, changing his patterns to watch his opponents struggle.

And if Sora hadn't mentioned going out after the others, Link would have left with his knife immediately. The younger boy had mentioned having a sort of weapon on him, though, so Link would just have to trust that he could handle himself. He looked to Sora, handing him the knife once he was done cutting up his shirt.

"Get out there as soon as you feel comfortable with conditions in here. I can manage the wrappings if you want to go help the others." He turned to the Once-ler.

"I don't know," Link responded to his question, "He taunted us, and... strange illusions of him kept appearing around us, but nothing else. There was already blood on the floor when we got in there, though." Link held up one of the strips of cloth he had just cut. "Could you please show me where, exactly, your wounds are?" There was blood everywhere. It was difficult enough to tell.

Edited 2012-07-14 18:58 (UTC)

The Once-ler caught Soma’s glare, feeble though it may be, and quickly averted his eyes to the floor. He hadn’t meant to imply anything with the comment, but it wasn’t surprising that it had been taken the wrong way. Maybe when things settled down he could explain himself.

Right now, though, there were other matters at hand. He sighed at Link’s explanation. “Sounds like we just got unlucky, then.” Understatement of the year. “But you think he’d already attacked someone else too? Wonder why he let you two go.”

Oh, so that’s what he was cutting up his shirt for. The Once-ler grimaced and gingerly rolled up his left pant leg, fully exposing the gash. “I think that’s the worst one, but I also got stabbed here,” he rolled his shirt up enough to show the boy his stab wound, “and had a brush with another blade a little higher up. Don’t think that last one’s too bad, though.”

He changed his focus to the younger boy. “If you’re intending to go back out there, I guess I’ll have to move,” the Once-ler observed. He frowned. “You really sure you want to do that, kid? He’s got knives, and you don’t look like you’ve got anything.” Not that having a katana had done the Once-ler any good, of course.

“What kind of sick guy puts kids in situations like this?” he asked, mostly to himself. The boy, no, all three of them had to be younger than he was when he’d first set off to achieve success. It was just wrong.

"I trust Kratos to take care of things, but Castiel was sick yesterday. In a group that large, he might be a liability." She frowned a little at the thought; that meant Kratos would have to cover for both Castiel and Rapunzel. It wasn't an ideal situation, to say the least.

(Rapunzel had to be okay. Lingormr hadn't tried to kill them, had he? It was difficult to tell. As long as the other group tried to head back...)

"I'll be fine," she added. "I was only really cut once, and with no bandages here, there isn't too much you can do. I'll keep pressure on it. That has to be enough."

More importantly, there was the question of why they were here in the first place--and there was really only one clue she could see from her position on the floor. "Did either of you two have a chance to check this room? Is that strange graffiti normally there, or is that new tonight?"

"Maybe he's switching off between who he attacks and who he leaves alone?" Sora suggested as the stranger posed the question of why he and Link had been spared. It really was strange, because the Special Counseling patients were normally pretty ruthless. Maybe it was Landel's doing, because he actually wanted them to see this clue? But the intercom system had been hacked, hadn't it? None of this made any sense!

"And don't worry," he said, addressing the stranger once more. "I have a trick up my sleeve!" More like locked away in his chest, but he didn't need to go into that right now. "Let's get you guys wrapped up a little bit, and then I'll go help Kratos." Sora trusted in the man to take care of things for a little while longer, at least.

Taking the knife from Link, Sora started cutting into his undershirt first. It was quick work, and he soon had a few red and blue strips that should be long enough to wrap around a wound. Since Link already seemed to be working on the stranger, Sora scooted over to Soma.

"Just let me help, all right? Where'd you get cut? And... the drawing is the clue, I think." But they could talk more about that later, too. Right now there were too many other problems to deal with.

Link nodded, lip curling slightly as he looked down at the gash on the Once-ler's leg. He began wrapping it gently but snugly. There had been plenty of times he himself had been scraped up, ambushed by moblins in a valley in Hyrule Field or caught off guard by something more sinister. It was too bad they didn't have water or alcohol to wash the wounds, but... This was a hospital, right? Maybe they would be tended to? It was an optimistic, if not unrealistic sentiment.

"I don't know. But he will get his. I swear it to Farore," Link murmured in response to the Once-ler's comment on keeping children locked up here. The Hylian didn't consider himself a child. He had seen the world, saved the world, and had grown up in the process. There was a seriousness about him now. He had changed. He wasn't a farm boy anymore.

Link wasn't sure how he thought about it just yet, though.

Finishing with the Once-ler's leg, he started on the wound across his torso. He agreed with Sora. The implied "cure" could come later. Right now, they needed to keep these two, and potentially others, from bleeding out.

“If you’re sure…” the Once-ler trailed off. There wasn’t anything he could do to stop the boy; it was impressive enough that he’d managed to get Soma here before collapsing.

He winced as Link wrapped up his leg. Normally he would have asked what a Farore was, but right now he really didn’t care. He simply hurt too much. He also had no idea who was helping him now. Soma was familiar with the other boy, but the Once-ler was completely in the dark. The boy had just finished up his leg and was moving on to the next injury; now was probably as good a time as ever to ask.

“So, who are you two anyway? I met Somaaaaauuugh!” Something impacted the door he was sitting against, and the Once-ler was knocked over when someone came barreling through. The newcomer was spouting off ‘excuse mes’ as he carried another man, but the Once-ler hardly noticed. He groaned from his new position on the floor and rolled onto his back so as to not lie on his injured side. Staring up at the ceiling, the man announced his thoughts to the room.

“I really don’t like it here.”

[From here.]

Perhaps it was for the best that someone had already pushed that man out of the way, because the pair that had just rushed in was about to be followed by two more. While Rapunzel was the one who had been leading him first, it was Castiel who ended up taking the lead as he opened the door and stumbled into the X-Ray room.

Maybe he should have expected it to be crowded, but the fact that there were six other people here -- along with a copious amount of blood -- still took him by surprise. It seemed that Lingormr hadn't just targeted his party.

Castiel released Rapunzel's hand, taking in the scene and trying to determine what deserved his attention first. Soma and Kobayashi were the only two patients who he actually knew, and Soma seemed more injured out of the two. Still, those who were hurt all looked as if they were being tended already, and it wasn't as if he could heal at the moment anyway.

He didn't miss the drawing on the wall, either. Castiel moved further into the room, making sure to give the others space as he approached the wall that had been drawn on. "If any of you are in need of further assistance, Rapunzel and I are relatively unharmed," he said to the group at large, with a somewhat awkward hint to his voice. He wasn't used to addressing so many humans. He wasn't completely telling the truth, as Lingormr's hard grip had started his shoulder wound bleeding again, but that wasn't much compared to the injuries some of these other patients were sporting.

Somehow Rapunzel's crazy gambit had paid off. They made it through the illusions, and the Ram Man didn't follow them. Though, Rapunzel's heart sped even faster when she realized that probably meant he was going straight for Kratos and Eugene. The worry seized her mind so strongly that she almost missed the hall that Kratos had directed them to before, until Castiel stopped her and changed their course.

She followed the man into the X-Ray Room, moving past him after releasing his hand. "Soma?" Her racing heart stopped when she found that head of white hair on the floor, being tended to by Sora. She was bleeding bad, as was another young man she didn't recognize. Rapunzel's stomach lurched; she didn't know how much more blood she could take tonight.

Her eyes darted around the room until they landed on the picture on the wall. What was that? It looked sort of like something out of an anatomy book Gothel had brought home for her at one point (probably to freak her out, she thought in hindsight). Was that supposed to be some sort of clue? She looked to Castiel, wondering if he made anything of it.

It was all too much to take in at once. Rapunzel shut her eyes shut her eyes for a moment, shaking off as much nausea and panic as she could, before re-opening them and making her way over to the two fallen patients. "Here, let me help. I don't know how much more healing I can do tonight, but I'll do as much as I can," she said to Soma and Sora as steadily as she could, still woozy from healing Eugene and dashing down the hall. She set down her dagger and split her hair lengthwise. "Wrap this around her wound when you're done," she told Sora, handing him one half of the hair while taking the other half over to the injured young man.

"May I?" said Rapunzel, looking down at the stranger and Sora's friend, holding out the end of her hair. "Trust me, this will help."

Soma knew the type. There would be no arguing with Sora when he was like this. Wincing slightly, she rolled up the hem of her shirt, pulling back the soaked fabric to reveal the cut across her side. The bleeding had slowed slightly by now, and she was convinced it looked worse than it actually was. The sooner Sora looked at it, the sooner he could be out there helping Rapunzel.

"He didn't hit anything vital," she said. "I don't think he was aiming to. It really only needs to be bound up."

If the drawing on the wall was the only clue, then...Soma frowned a little at it, tilting her head. Was that a stomach? With a butterfly inside? Wasn't that a figure of speech? Her thoughts were interrupted by the Once-ler's yelp, which heralded the arrival of Castiel, who seemed to be mostly unscathed, and--

Rapunzel. Soma gaped; she couldn't help it. Rapunzel, who looked a little bit unsteady, but, aside from her hair, looked relatively blood-free.

"You're not dead," she said stupidly, before it clicked.

Lingormr. He'd already proven himself capable of making illusions; conjuring up voices was probably child's play for him. Soma's jaw tightened. They were going to have words in the morning.

Rapunzel was already passing her hair around, and Soma knew where this was going. She shook her head. "It's not serious, I promise. It's not worth the energy. You should save it for something life-threatening."

Her protests would probably fall on deaf ears, but it was the principle of the thing.

It was a good thing that Soma ended up relenting, since Sora wasn't the sort of person to budge. When she showed him the wound, he was quick to take the strips of his clothing and wrap them around, but he'd only just started with that when something unexpected happened.

Well, it probably shouldn't have been such a huge shock, seeing how the stranger had been sitting against the door, but the man was shoved out of the way by another patient who was carrying someone, which really couldn't be good for someone who was already wounded. Startled, Sora watched as the man dragged the downed patient to the X-Ray table and then glanced over to the Once-ler. He seemed all right, if a bit worn down.

Before Sora had even a second to breathe, though, two more patients came in, and one was a sight for sore eyes. "Rapunzel!" Sora greeted, taking in her long hair with a relieved smile. He knew what it was capable of, after all, and so he quickly finished his own bandaging and then grabbed for a strand of it to place against Soma's wound.

"Is Kratos still out there?" he asked the girl, because he still wasn't giving up the idea of running out to help. He would probably be better off out there, since he couldn't heal or anything, and this place was getting pretty crowded.

There was still the issue of the clue, though, which most everyone had forgotten about due to there being so many wounded. He glanced back at the wall and realized that he should probably fill everyone in. "Oh, and uhh, Link and I got here first, and all we saw was that picture and a knife." The one he had earlier used to cut up his outfit, so he grabbed it off the floor and held it up for everyone to see. "Make what you will of that, I guess."

He didn't like the implications at all, but he was still holding onto the hope that he and Link and misinterpreted it somehow.

Link jumped when the door suddenly open, pulling the Once-ler away from the impact as best as he could. He glanced over at the two men who had just charged in here. The older of the two seemed to be handling things, so he paid them no mind, turning back to the Once-ler.

"As Sora said, my name is Link." He tied off the bandage at the older man's leg as he spoke. The Hylian hardly had time to do that before another group of two charged in. He frowned, slightly, as the girl began fiddling with her (impressively long) hair. Was there a magic to it? He stood back, giving Rapunzel room.

He frowned as Sora mentioned the clue. The sudden pouring in of more patients had thrown Link slightly off kilter. He wasn't used to dealing with this many people.

And just like that the number of people in the room had nearly tripled. There were a lot of people now; it was slightly overwhelming for the man who had been in self-exile for a year. “One at a time,” he muttered to himself.

“ Link, hm?” Odd name, although the Once-ler wasn’t one to comment. “I’m the Once-ler. The ‘the’ isn’t really necessary, though.” Introductions were cut short as one of the newcomers came over to him and addressed him, offering aid and presenting him with her hair.

The girl’s voice seemed familiar; hadn’t she been screaming for Soma in the hall? But she looked relatively fine, aside from the blood in her very… very long hair. The Once-ler found himself staring. With a groan, he raised himself slowly into a sitting position to better reach the offered lock. He hesitated slightly before taking it; having a stranger offer her hair to him was very strange. But she said it would help, and though he couldn’t see how the Once-ler was in no position to reject any offers.

The girl’s hair was extremely silky; such a familiar feeling, yet so very distant. A brief flash of regret and sorrow crossed his face. Not now, he thought. He swallowed sharply and quashed the memories quickly. It was hardly an appropriate time for reminiscing.

To keep his mind off the silky texture in his hand, the Once-ler turned his head up to face the girl. “You seem to be alright,” he stated flatly. Making casual conversation was a skill that had gotten rusty. It was easy enough to ask important questions or make remarks on situations; he’d done a lot of that before even arriving at Landel’s, talking to his reflection or asking the barren wilderness for a hint, in some vain hope of getting some kind of response.

But holding a conversation with someone else? He hadn’t done that in ages.

Rapunzel quickly got to work with healing Soma and the other injured patient, which spurred Castiel to move out of the way, seeing how yet another group was entering in after them.

The painting on the wall took some contemplation, but he recognized a human stomach, seeing how he'd once rebuilt a human body from the ground up. The butterfly in it made less sense, although he was certain he'd heard a phrase along those lines. This was their clue -- and if the words of one of the patients were to be believed, then a knife had also factored into the equation.

Which meant that whatever this illness was, the root of it was their stomach. Castiel pressed his hand against his torso for a moment. He hadn't felt any particular pain there; instead, it had been more widespread, or just a headache. Still, this was what they had to go on...

Seeing how Kobayashi was also inspecting the image, Castiel decided to go discuss it with his roommate, in the less crowded part of the room. Perhaps they could work out what to do with the information that had been given to them.

[To here.]

"He is. So is Flynn," Rapunzel answered Sora, very nearly slipping on Eugene's name. It occurred to her that she had slipped up out in the hall, but she couldn't blame herself. Protecting Eugene's secret identity had been the least of her concerns out there. At least here, it was a little more calm, if not less tense. "They insisted we come here to find the cure and help people..."

Speaking of the cure, Castiel had gone over to ask some of the other men in the room about the picture on the wall. Here was hoping they could figure it out while she was busy healing, she thought. As much as she was glad to be helping out her fellow patients, she would be disappointed if she (and everyone else, for that matter) had come all this way only to leave empty-handed. Sounded like Sora and Link had some idea of what the knife's inclusion in the puzzle meant, but... Rapunzel shuddered faintly. She really hoped that didn't mean what she thought it did.

She let the injured man (the Once-ler? Interesting title, she thought) take the hair and told him to put it against the wounded area once Link was finished with it. As she found a place to sit between Soma and the Once-ler, the latter spoke to her. "Yeah, thankfully. There are others out there that haven't been so lucky," said Rapunzel with no small amount of guilt in her voice.

After a short pause to settle and force herself to breathe, she started the healing incantation. The glow from her scalp was fainter than usual, but it spread all the same, flowing from roots to tips and making the injuries grow warm as they started the healing process. It was slow going; with two people being treated at once, Rapunzel felt the strain, and had to put a palm on the ground to steady herself as she worked her magic. Here was hoping that she could at least get those wounds closed before she had to stop.

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Night 64: X-Ray Room

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