Night 66: M1-M10 Hallway

[lighthearted]

[M7]

Dinner went by too fast, and as the intercom announcement came on and the change to night officially started, Sora pushed himself to the edge of bed, caught in the tight hold of dread. He didn't want it to become night. He didn't want to change again. He'd gone to a lot of effort to make sure that he didn't end up repeating the events of last night, but something could always go wrong.

Landel cut to the chase pretty fast this time around, and no other clues were given out. Did that mean that the rebel group hadn't been able to get through, or had they just run out of clues to give them? Did that mean they were on their own? Sora let out a breath and tried to manage the panic that was bubbling up in his chest.

Link was still here. Sora had hoped that his roommate would make a move to leave the second that night came, but it didn't look like that was the case. Of course not. If Sora was honest with himself, he'd known from the start that someone like Link wasn't going to leave him alone here.

Sora forced out a shaky sigh. He didn't feel anything yet, but he knew that it wouldn't be long before the darkness started to take over.

"I know you're worried," he said to Link, "but it's fine. My other friend should be here soon, so..." He wanted as few people as possible around when the change went through. Hopefully Tsurugi would get here soon, and then Link could leave.

Comments

M9

[thisisyourgod]

> Karkat: Return to original location.

Karkat pushed the door open to find the room... exactly as he'd left it. He didn't know if he'd expected anything to have changed while he was gone, but it was nice to know that it hadn't, and that this was still definitely his room and things hadn't been switched around the moment he'd left. After all, the room he was in now wasn't the same one he'd woken up in that morning - he knew that for sure. With everything being flipped all topsy-tury on him, it would be nice to know there was at least one thing that stayed constant.

He moved to the side to let the others in and spread his arms out in a 'here it is!' sort of fashion. If they knew how to make anything helpful out of what little there was to find here, then they were free to give it a shot. At least his roommate was organized. The troll's side of the room already looked slightly more disheveled by comparison, and he'd only just arrived.

[redcladidealist]

There was a sheepish moment when Lloyd realized that he'd completely forgotten to ask for Karkat's name, that he'd been so caught up with the news that Ishida was missing that he hadn't noticed when Karkat hadn't offered his name in turn.

"Karkat, huh? Well, I guess it could have been better circumstances, but I'm glad to meet you, Karkat." A belated attempt at manners was better than nothing, right? It was also true. He was glad to have run into Karkat. Otherwise he and Inoue wouldn't have realized Ishida's plight.

Once inside the bedroom, Lloyd took a good look around. For the most part it looked just like his room. No sign of a struggle, no immediate hints as to which way the nurses might have taken their friend. He glanced at Inoue to see if she had spotted anything. She knew Ishida better than him.

And if he happened to also look to make sure that she was still all right, well, that wouldn't stand out since he was already looking at her.

"What do you think?"

[faeth]

Vantas-kun. She would have to ask him about what kind of name it was later, as interesting as it was (Vantas -- it was always difficult for her, pronouncing the V in English class) -- but for now, there was the room.

If it bothered her at all, being in a boy's bedroom, then the feeling was shadowed over by more important items of interest. Her eyes were intent as she searched the room; Ishida-kun was as neat and tidy as ever, and it didn't take her long to determine which side belonged to whom. Not that she assumed Vantas-kun was messy per se, just... after knowing Ishida-kun for so long, it was really no contest.

If she had more time, she'd dust for fingerprints. Try to improvise a black light out of the flashlight she'd tucked into the waistband of her sweatpants. Alas, she had no access to luminol, and the clock was still ticking -- no time for her to play detective.

Thankfully, she didn't have to think very hard to figure out what to do instead.

"Is this your journal, Vantas-kun?" A little rude, perhaps, to open it before waiting for his answer, but... "Ah, this is Ishida-kun's handwriting, I think... Yes! I think it is!" Orihime flipped through the pages, searching -- not reading so much as scanning for key words, pictures maybe. After all, it wasn't very kind to go about reading Ishida-kun's diary, if he'd used the journal for such a purpose.

It wasn't long until she stumbled upon a picture of a... map? Yes, there was the Sun Room, the cafeteria -- it was a map of the first floor of the institute. Most of the hallways were labeled, too. A boxed space labeled 'Greenhouse' had a question mark written right next to it. So too did some of the doctors' offices, the group therapy rooms...

But despite that, a map of the second floor was nowhere to be found.

"Maybe... we should check upstairs," she mentioned, almost offhandedly as she clutched at the journal in her hands. The lines were blurring on the page no matter how hard she focused, but her gaze was firm when she lifted her head. "There's nothing in here about it, but... it doesn't seem like Ishida-kun could be on this floor."

[thisisyourgod]

Journal? They had journals? Oh right, those books. His handwriting was terrible, though. Writing on the board had been bad enough. Not to mention that, seeing as there were no computers with time jumping technology here, he could easily foresee himself getting into arguments with things he'd written a few days prior and then get irritated when his past self couldn't argue back. It was really pathetic when you thought about it.

Still, it might not help to write some things down. His roommate had some foresight in that department at least, not that it seemed to have given them any real big leads.

"Upstairs? You mean like how we were right by the staircase before you two nook-draggers decided there might be something important here? Yeah, that sounds awesome. How about we go march right the fuck back to where we were as if this whole bit of hoofbeast shit hadn't happened. It's not like I told you beforehand this would be the case or anything, except I did." Oh right, and there was that other thing he'd wanted to deal with while they were here.

He gestured toward Orihime, still glowering. "But you. Sit down first. I'm tired of watching you wobble around like you stuck your head in someone's recuperacoon for too long."

[redcladidealist]

Lloyd shot Karkat an irritated look. Did he really have to insult them like that? "Hey, we didn't know that was where we needed to go. It's not like you knew either." The fact was, though, that they were going to have to backtrack now, which did make it feel like they'd wasted time. That only made the scathing remarks hit that much closer to home. He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled roughly, trying to breathe out his frustration. "I told you, we had to start somewhere. I asked if you had any better ideas, and you didn't."

Still defensive, he nearly shot back a retort in Inoue's defense - that is, until he looked at her himself. He was still being rude, probably insulting (what was a recuperacoon?), but he was unfortunately right. Inoue didn't look steady at all.

"Inoue, are you all right?"

How much had that healing taken out of her? Or was this a symptom of something else?

[faeth]

There was something admittedly refreshing about the way that Vantas-kun spoke. And sure, there was definitely a bite in the way he spat out his unusual words -- nook-draggers and hoofbeasts and recuperacoons -- but having someone tell her that all of this has been a waste of time, was a welcome reminder that they'd been going about this all wrong.

It wasn't the time to sit back on their haunches and think, was it? When Ishida-kun was in danger and time was of the essence. But wandering around the first floor getting lost was probably worse, she thought. It wasn't too much of a waste in that sense, doubling back to check Ishida-kun's journal.

Orihime didn't try to push the unspoken point.

"I'm fine," she said plainly, still standing, back straight. Her arms felt heavy holding the book in her hands; she was tired, her ears were buzzing, but she was fine. "I'm just a little clumsy on my feet sometimes... Ah. But I guess we haven't known each other very long, so you wouldn't know. I trip a lot, but I'm durable. Thank you for the concern, though!" And it wasn't like she'd stick her head into any racoons or anything. Poor things.

"Let's go," she insisted, placing Ishida-kun's journal back on the dresser. "Ishida-kun is probably waiting."

[thisisyourgod]

Karkat didn't know why he was even surprised people didn't listen to him anymore. It had become something of a trend back in his world, so why should it be any different here? And he wasn't buying that line about being clumsy for a second. He knew clumsiness. This was exhaustion, plain and simple. Something was wrong with her and she was insisting on being difficult about it.

So why should he care if she wasn't going to? It would only become his problem after she collapsed in the hall and he and her friend ended up having to drag her the rest of the way. No big deal there, right?

He sighed, rubbing a hand down the front of his face. "So I guess we're going upstairs, then. Fine. I mean, I could sit hear and stare at the walls all night, but that sounds only marginally less entertaining then the current plan."

He hardly doubted Ishida was just 'waiting' for them, either. The way she said it made it sound as though she expected him to just be sitting at the top of the stairs looking impatient that it had taken them that long to follow the nonexistent trail of bread crumbs he'd left behind. Things never worked out that easily.

[redcladidealist]

If Karkat was skeptical, Lloyd was, too. While he was used to having a friend who constantly tripped over everything, he also knew that that same friend often tried to pretend that everything was all right and no one needed to worry even when she was slowly losing her humanity and preparing to sacrifice her life. The thought that Inoue might be sacrificing herself made him frown a bit.

"Are you sure?" He gave her a searching look. "You won't be able to help Ishida if you're too tired when we find him." He moved over to pick up the journal, flipping through the pages back to the maps Ishida had drawn. "He could stay here for a few minutes and make a plan for which way we want to go." And give her time to recover. That totally wasn't a transparent plan, though.

Still annoyed with Karkat's attitude, he huffed out a breath. "You know, you don't have to come with us if you don't want to. I just thought you would since you're Ishida's friend." Amazing how his mind made the jump from "roommate" to "friend," but there it was. Well, the other boy had come this far with them, and he had done what Ishida had asked.

[faeth]

More than anything, it was the roll of nausea that was the hardest to ignore. Orihime tried, reminding herself again and again that they'd wasted enough time already -- that as the seconds ticked by, Ishida-kun was left to the perils of experiments and unknowns. But as Vantas-kun and... Lloyd-kun continued worrying over her, the bits of adrenaline still remaining in her system were flagged back into far greater waves of exhaustion; it took all she had not to submit to the heaviness still clinging to her limbs.

"He didn't draw a map of the second floor, but... none of the rooms he drew on the first floor looked promising. Perhaps you could look, Lloyd-kun, after all..." I could be wrong, stuck to her tongue, made it difficult for her to continue as she shot the boy a meaningful look. She swallowed the lump in her throat; her hand gripped the belly of her sweatshirt. "I know... If I'm too tired, I'd only get in the way. But I'm not," I've been through worse -- "and besides -- Ishida-kun would do the same and more."

"We're friends and," she steeled herself, her voice hardening, "I have to do this. No more fooling around."

With that, she turned to Vantas-kun; her tone was serious, but her eyes were bright.

"If Vantas-kun prefers, he can stay here with his head up a recuperacoon for the rest of the night."

[thisisyourgod]

"I might be insulted if you actually knew what that was, but you obviously don't." In any other instance, her comment might have been amusing, but for now he was just going to roll his eyes.

That didn't mean Karkat wasn't a little moved by what she said, though. He had his own friends he'd do just about anything for, even if he didn't act like it, and he could respect the fact that she was willing to push herself this hard to help her own. He just wasn't going to outright say as much.

"I said we could go upstairs, didn't I? Someone's going to have to drag you around after you pass out, anyway. If I left it up to genius over here I might actually feel bad." It was a bit of a jump to assume he was Ishida's friend. Everyone always jumped to that sort of conclusion, just as he was going to jump to the same conclusion about their relation to his roommate. He wasn't even going to bother arguing about it, since it would probably just be a waste of breath.

"Just get your shit together and we'll go."