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

[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."