Night 69: Main Hallway 2-West

[envy_the_sinners]

[From here]

Scar shone his flashlight down the second floor hallway. It seemed to be deserted as always, but God only knew what might come out at them.

"I don't think there's anything down this first hall. I woke in one of the rooms there last night."

Comments

[fullmetalheart]

Ed shrugged at Al to say 'I don't know'.

Then Scar spoke and he had to pay attention. "Okay, Al and I can explore there some other time then. Should we do the next hallway?"

[ever_loyal_dog]

[from here]

He wasn't sure what he'd expected of the second floor, but it was just as dingy and ill-maintained as the rest of the building. Castiel's light was just barely enough to show them the different paths open to them.

"It was not practical to hold a flashlight and my weapon at the same time, so I asked a member of the group to hold the light for me while I confronted the yurei," he continued, lifting the bat slightly as he referenced it. Whether the spirit had been drawn to him or another in his party, he wasn't yet sure, but hopefully they could avoid it tonight. He'd spent enough of today haunted by the ghostly remains of that encounter.

[redcladidealist]

[From here.]

It was starting to get more difficult to ignore the ache in his wrists and legs. How much damage had he done in trying to break out of his bonds? Nothing felt broken. Beyond that, though... With a wince, he leaned against the wall and let go of his hand so he could rub his ankle gingerly, trying to assess the damage by feel. Blood, some slick, some starting to form a crust. Some of that was probably from his hand, from when the doctor's scalpel had sliced into his skin, but he could feel the lines in his skin where he'd jerked against the restraints. Dammit, he'd need to get those clean.

Later. He didn't have anything to clean up with, and it wasn't safe to stop. Not for the few moments it took to make certain that he'd be okay to walk (or run) until there was a chance to do something more than that. He straightened up and continued on, struggling to keep his movements quiet despite his growing limp. Nothing broken, just swollen.

A sudden vision of his leg swelling, bulging, with a harsh, gray-green cast, made him nearly stumble again. His heart raced before he could convince himself it wasn't real, he was fine, his leg was normal. He shouldn't even be in any danger yet. He'd barely had the Exsphere attached! There was time. He had time.

I wonder what he would think... The doctor's voice whispered in his ear. Lloyd's breath caught and he froze before he could start forward again. If he know how badly his own son was breaking under the pressure.

He shuddered, trying to force back the thought. He wasn't breaking. He wasn't. He was handling this! His father was the one he should be worried about. Who knew what they'd even done to him when they'd pulled his Exsphere off? He had to find him, somewhere, somehow. He didn't know what he could do, wouldn't know until he saw how bad off his father was, but he was the best chance his father could have. Who else would know anything about Key Crests and dwarven runes and what it might take to save him?

Who else besides the doctors, and no way in hell-

Ow!

He'd started forward in the middle of that thought, only to smack into a wall. With a curse, he clapped a hand to his nose, probably smearing blood on his face, but that was really the least of his concerns. He knew he had blood smeared in other places already. A little more wasn't about to make a difference in how much of a wreck he no doubt looked. No, it was the added pain he was in. Dammit, pay attention! He had to take a few breaths before he could lower his hand. Nothing broken. He didn't think he'd bloodied it, either. No warm-wet trickle of flowing blood on his skin. He'd been pretty lucky, all things considered.

Lucky.

Lucky.

Suddenly, he wanted nothing more than to sit down and either cry or laugh.