Night 64: X-Ray Room

[damned_intercom]

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.

Comments

[fallenbeanpole]

“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.”

[freewill]

[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.

[hairraising]

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."

[madeinthehrl]

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.

[lighthearted]

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.

[his_legacy]

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.

[fallenbeanpole]

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.

[freewill]

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.]

[hairraising]

"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.