Night 67: West Wing, South Hall 1-A

[asteroidbelt]

[from here]

Shuffling along the wall would make too much noise, so Ryusei walked normally along this hall. He was worried, but with the exits at the two ends, he'd see someone coming long before they saw him. He could always duck past, but— He'd deal with that if it came up. For now, he had to think about where he would go from here. Routine said the cafeteria, but logic dictated otherwise; there was no point to going there. How about the front door? That— That was an option, wasn't it?

... It...wasn't a good one.

... He'd made it without mishap. Next.

[to here]

Comments

[freewill]

[From here.]

It was unfortunate that the greenhouse was clear on the other side of the first floor, but Castiel took solace in the fact that he didn't have to cross any large rooms to get there, so there was hope that he wouldn't run across any of this place's mutated creatures.

He hadn't even brought his blade with him, because it would be impossible to hold onto it while also using the crutches, and because -- even if he did get into a fight, he'd have no chance of using that weapon effectively in this state.

If something did come after him, his best bet would likely be to fend it off with one of the crutches. Which seemed like a ridiculous image, even to him, but he was willing to improvise.

At least he knew exactly where he was headed. Castiel sucked in a breath (this was more tiring than he'd expected, and he was uncomfortably short of breath) and continued on.

[To here.]

[complicatedliar]

[From here]

Once out into the larger hall, Loki dropped his invisibility and turned his flashlight on.

Feeling exceedingly cheerful, he set off toward the medical wing. He'd used up most of his medical supplies and needed more.

[ever_loyal_dog]

[from here]

Soushi stumbled out into the main hall with less than his usual grace. His powers had been sealed, there were some kind of monsters on the loose, some of them likely his friends, and he hadn't even a clue as to where to start. The markings on the body didn't appear to be anything the residents of Ayakashi were capable of; the attacks had been vicious, wild-looking. It was a chill reminder of Inukami and what he'd done to Karuta. Was this too, his work? He'd barely managed against the Wolf in their last fight, now, in this weakened state, did he even have a chance?

The halls were still nearly empty; were these the only patients who dared to leave their rooms? Soushi saw another light click on, up ahead, then start moving toward the rooms they'd been in earlier today. Would it be easier to go alone? Or to find a group? Information, Ryuugamine had said, was all they had to barter with here. If that was the case, the more people he found, the more information he could gather. He followed quietly, clicking off his own light as he went.

[complicatedliar]

Loki had already heard another person come out into the hall, and the fact that whoever it was tried to be quiet was suspicious indeed.

He walked down toward the end of the hall, listening, then paused there. He slowly turned, flashlight moving to reveal who was behind him. His other hand slipped to the waistband of his pants, ready to take up one of the little daggers.

[ever_loyal_dog]

Soushi cursed inwardly as the footsteps in front of him paused. Had he been found out already? What if the patient was less than willing to allow him to join in? What if he were a threat? He had no sword, no power, no anything to fight back.

Not so different from where he'd started, he thought with a bit of regret. He'd managed to escape that prison, but not without manipulating the people around him, using them, and himself as little more than tools to an end.

His power hadn't worked before, so it came as something of a surprise when it did this time, more or less a reflexive action. An adult was easy to shrug off, abandon, attack, but taking the form of a child? Not many could easily do such things to something that appeared to be so innocent.

The light hit him, revealing not a full-grown-adult of 23, but a child, little more than ten at best. His large eyes looked up in surprise and small hands held out in front of him as if to defend himself.

"I'm sorry!" he choked out, eyes already half-full of tears as he tottered forward a few steps more. "There was- There's a man back there, he was- There's so much blood and... and..."

[complicatedliar]

There was something very wrong about this. He could practically smell it. For one, a child wouldn't have been so quiet... the steps had been too far apart. And it felt wrong, in the dim recesses of the magic he'd been all but cut off from.

But he also couldn't put his finger on it. That was even more annoying.

Well. Time would tell with observation. He'd heard enough about the monsters that sometimes walked the hall that he knew better than to trust anything.

So for now he would play along. "A man?" he asked. "Is someone hurt?" Oh, he knew, but crafted his expression in to one of quite genuine concern. "Take me to him, I know some first aid."

[behind_my_smile]

[From here]

Fai was glad he had excellent hearing because it helped guide him to where people might be assembling. He paused long enough to pull the small light he had found out of his pocket. He turned it over in his hands until he was able to figure out how to switch it on. As the light burst from it he smiled, this would make traveling around much easier.

He started down the hall, humming softly as if it might help to keep himself from getting lonely while he wandered the halls. It also had the potential to alert people that he was close, if the light wasn't enough to do so.

"Definitely a strange place." A short pause in the humming to reflect on that before resuming with the soft sound as he made his way towards the next big hallway.

[seekingmystrength]

[from here]

He'd been stuck in the Institute for many weeks, enough time to know the hallways well and pass through them with barely a thought. The hallways of the patient blocks tended to blow by the ninja in moments once he left his room, regardless of the night. This night was no different, and the hallway was nearly put from his mind when his small notice of another patient gave him pause.

As with the hallways, patients were also momentary blurs to him - noticed, but disregarded. He would stop if it was one of the kids heading out without someone, but adults were different. He knew very few of them, and would bother with even less regardless of if they were alone or not. And as big as the Institute was, crossing the patient he was actually looking for took him by surprise.

Kurogane held up in his run and put both eyes on the man, focusing as best he was able with the replaced eye and sensing what he could, which was little more. He couldn't trust his eyes alone, but he couldn't get his senses straight enough to trust them either, and that made things difficult in this place. He didn't surprise often here, however traps were frequent and expected and would make things far more challenging. He'd already faced a doppelganger in Sakura before, and as absent as the magician had been recently, suddenly finding the guy struck him as suspicious.

He'd let him make the first move.

[behind_my_smile]

Fai sensed the ninja before he actually saw him. He paused in his movements and just concentrated for a moment. Looking around, it only took a moment for his eyes to land on the familiar figure. He lifted his hand in greeting. "Kuro-tan, I finally found you!" Because obviously they had just landed in a strange world and this was nothing but an issue of being separated.

He closed the distance between them easily but came to a stop a few steps away when he sensed just a little something off. That golden eye studied the other for a moment, trailing down to look at the left arm before going back up to the eyes. Something was different. Maybe this wasn't the Kurogane he knew.

That uncertainly flickered across his face for a moment as he hesitated. He had promised to be more open with his actions and his words but if this wasn't who he thought it was..wouldn't it be safer to go the route he knew best?

That smile spread across his face again, "Why so tense, Kuro-pii?"

[seekingmystrength]

If the first call wasn't enough to tell the ninja that something was off, the addition of a second nickname ensured that he hadn't heard things. Fai had been all over the place since first arriving ahead of him, however he hadn't ever changed quite this quickly. For the past few weeks the only name he'd used had been Kurogane's own, and that usage had been forced. Before then the nicknames had come in a forced manner as well, however what he heard now sounded close to natural. It was the closest to sincerity the ninja had ever heard from the man.

Nothing like the magician he'd been dealing with.

Something wasn't right, and not being able to see properly didn't help with figuring out if it was just the words. There was the possibility that this was another version, like the Sakura that hadn't known him, or the same one but from another time as Orihime had been. Another possibility left that Landel had done something to him with the recent absence, and then there was the last option.

"Show me your teeth," Kurogane ordered suddenly.

[knightspirit]

[from hurr]

Kyousuke kept a tight grip on his flashlight as left the patient block, carefully surveying his surroundings for either a familiar face, or something unwanted lurking shadows. As far as he could tell, neither of these things were present, so he pressed on, ignoring the other occupants in the hall.

[to durr]

[his_legacy]

[From here]

Into the larger hallways. There were already several others out. Link made his way toward the main hallway. The corners of his lips drooped as he kept a sharp eye out for the beast that had been responsible.

He prayed it wasn't a patient.

[To here]

[maverickhunterx]

[From Here!]

...Nobody was there.

This was where they normally met, almost like clockwork. X perhaps shouldn't have expected anyone to be waiting there, but had almost been a silent, unspoken agreement that they would meet one another.

The cold touch of worry whispered over X's heart, but he ignored it.

If he had time to worry, then he had time to...

...

...move forward and look for them on his own.

[To Here!]

[earthling]

((From here.))

As they continued down the hallway, Claude wanted to keep admiring the sheath's craftsmanship, but it was kind of hard not to get distracted by the man's form-fitting leggings. When he caught himself staring, and his eyes snapped toward the path ahead. He could feel his ears burning a little.

"You never cease to amaze me," he said, partly to distract himself, and partly to convey to Guy that he'd really meant what he'd just said.

[nobleman]

Guy couldn't say he was surprised when Claude complimented him so highly for something as simple as making a sheath. Seeing how he'd built a house back on Auldrant, something like this didn't feel like a huge task to him, but if Claude was impressed, then that certainly counted for something.

"It was nothing, really," he said with a shake of his head. "Actually, I'm kind of embarrassed that it took me so long to make it." Once again, he refrained from mentioning that the absence of his roommate had given him the time to work on it.

Guy had to wonder if Claude was ever going to get around to making his own sheath. He had a little bit of leftover leather that could maybe be combined with whatever Claude had. "If you need help with yours, let me know," he offered as he led them into the main hallway.

[To here.]

[redcladidealist]

[From here.]

As he continued down the hall, Lloyd wondered how many other rooms there were in this place. From the number of patients he'd seen during his two days here, he knew there had to be more rooms than he'd seen. He hadn't been paying attention to that when he'd studied his maps, though. He was half tempted to pull his journal out, but that would slow him down.

Instead, he focused on his path through the hall, making sure he didn't run into anyone. There were a few more people in the hall here, all heading to their own destinations. For the most part, they all seemed content to ignore him, and since he didn't have any reason to approach them either, that was fine with him.

He reached the end of the hall.

[To here.]

[fallenbeanpole]

[from here]

The hall was void of any other patients. No risk of him crashing into anybody. The Once-ler kept running, although no longer sprinting as he had through the block hallway. His shoes were not the best suited for something like this, but he really couldn't care about that slight hindrance. He just kept going.

[to here]

[vinesofregret]

[From here]

It was easy enough for him to slip into the shadows. Though they did not obey his commands as they had done for the dark-skinned man he'd fought - and he burned at the memory of that defeat - they still welcomed him. He had not found a fight, though, and he was starting to feel itchy - and the pain hadn't fully left his body. That was a weakness, and he knew it. His fall in the hallway had re-opened the wound on his stomach, and it was sluggishly leaking blood onto the clothes he was wearing.

He hissed, low, and one of his vines whipped out to score a chunk of the wall in frustration.

[For Gabriel]

[impudentsongbird]

[from here.]

Gabe came through the door quicker than he meant to, quicker than was wise--without even stopping to consider or look for anything on the other side of it. He could have run into someone. He could have run into the middle of a battle.

He could have run into something looking for a fight.

The movement overhead and to the side made the Archangel yelp and jerk away instinctively, his heart in his throat. He fumbled with his torch and it slid through his sweaty grip; the Archangel hissed in lieu of a curse as it clattered away and turned off, leaving him in darkness.

Gabe stood for a moment, paralysed, and then took a deep breath. In it he smelled something very familiar, something copper-tinged. Blood. Blood of a victim, or blood of an assailant? He stood still, waiting for his eyes to adjust, listening hard and body tingling as he extended his mortal senses as best as he could. His voice was controlled, calm and even as he asked, "Are you okay?"

[vinesofregret]

That small, human yelp brought a shiver of pleasure to Hakkai, still hidden in the shadows. Already frightened, it seemed - an easy target. True, there was no real joy in an easy kill, but as a warm-up, it would serve.

He made no answer to the question, and instead, shadow-vines shot out into the dim hallway, racing along the ground towards their target.

[impudentsongbird]

There was no answer. No answer, but Gabriel's back prickled wildly, his heart hammering in his chest to the point that he felt sick with it. What should he do? Was there even anything there? What if someone unconscious and injured?

I need light.

He needed to move. Something, some vestige of the senses he should have had, were telling him to move. Abruptly the Archangel dove for in the direction the torch had rolled, hand searching blindly.

[oyaji]

[From here]

Without much regard for what may lay on the other side of the door, Wild Tiger rammed it open as fast as he could. It hit the wall with a terrible bang like a gunshot, echoing down the hallway. Painted brick chipped off the formerly pristine wall and collected on the clean linoleum tile behind him.

Frantically his flashlight crossed the black halls on his left and right. He saw nothing out of the ordinary and he didn't find any kind of blood trail. With a frustrated growl he cursed the silence and began trying to decide which they should follow next.

[baniichan]

As usual, Kotetsu moved with the finesse of a bull in a china shop. If the situation weren't so serious, he might have had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. With a man's corpse laying behind them, however, Barnaby was mostly concerned that his partner was doing more harm than good, no matter how noble his intentions were.

But he may as well save his breath. If he nagged at him now, Barnaby figured he'd only be contributing to the problem. For now, he used his flashlight to cover the areas Kotetsu's missed, his eyes narrowed as he looked for anything out of the ordinary.

Surprisingly, there were no signs of other attacks -- not even anything left over from the mauling that took place in the hall they had just exited.

"Whatever killed that patient is likely long gone by now," Barnaby quietly remarked.

[oyaji]

His partner was no doubt right, but Wild Tiger couldn't let it go just yet. He shined his light on every crevice in the wall, the ceiling, and the linoleum floor for any signs of blood or gore that clung to the monster as it left. There was not a speck out of place, except for the dent he had put in the wall.

"Damnit..." With no significant clues, there was no telling where the damned thing had gone, and so the older man turned his flashlight on the floor by his feet. He had to relent, for now. However, he sure as hell was going to make sure no one had been mauled in the main hallway the patients liked to hang out. Silently and bitterly, Wild Tiger continued moving down the hallway.

[To here]

[idolism]

_{[from here]}

There was a faint whiff of blood in the air--no, more than one kind of blood, to be specific--and although it itched at him, the impulse to feed was no longer as strong as it'd been over the last few days. That was one good thing. Sasuke's blood had done its job.

Now, it was time for him to do his. Aidou continued toward the female cellblock, paying no mind to those scampering around in the dark alongside him.

_{[to here]}