Night 69: East Wing, Hall A (Second Floor)

[ever_loyal_dog]

[from here]

Another nondescript hallway with doors that all looked the same gave Soushi little hope, but Castiel had insisted the room he was looking for was this way. And injuries withstanding, even if they didn't make it tonight, the route was simple enough he'd have no trouble repeating it.

"Do you know which one it is? Or shall we just start eliminating them as we go?" he asked, turning to Castiel.

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[freewill]

This was the part of the journey where things became less clear. Hand-written maps were only so helpful, and Castiel hadn't had that much time to read it over. He frowned as he peered down the hall, staring at the rows of doors as if he could determine some divine truth if he looked at them hard enough.

But in the end, the truth was that he didn't know, and he would have to admit to that. "I'm not sure," he said. "I think that it was through one of the doors on the right, but we'll need to try them one-by-one." It was definitely a room that patients were capable of getting into, so they'd be able to bypass any doors that were locked impossibly tight, at least.

Castiel was shocked that they hadn't run into any kind of guard or monster thus far. Then again, this wasn't a well-traversed area, so that could be why. Nonetheless, he aimed his flashlight to all the dark corners in the area, keeping a careful eye out.

[ever_loyal_dog]

At least that narrowed their choices by about half. As he watched Castiel's light illuminate the hall, there couldn't have been more than a handful of doors. Odd, that the other nights had been so difficult only to reach their destination so easily tonight. For now, he'd take it as a stroke of good luck and try not to think about it too much.

"It's still much quicker than I would have found it," he admitted as he reached for the first door.

"Shall we get started?"

[to here]

[freewill]

[From here.]

As soon as Castiel stepped back out, he moved to the next door in the hall on the right hand side, grabbing for the knob with the hope of pushing it open. When it didn't even budge, he paused, putting more weight into it as he tried to get the lock to ease up even slightly. His wounds protested until he gave in and let go.

Castiel stepped back, letting out a breath. "I believe this is one of those doors that's impenetrable. We'll only waste time if we try to get past it."

[ever_loyal_dog]

Some of the patients had visitors? Soushi looked puzzled for a moment as he followed Castiel back into the hallway. This strange premise that the patients were actually ill in some way despite the fact that they were running around in the halls where they might be attacked by ghosts, demons, or any number of things was making less sense by the minute.

"They want us to accept the reality they provide?" he asked as much as stated. But what was the point?

He quieted as Castiel tried the next door. After what seemed a considerable effort for the wounded man, he admitted defeat. Some of the doors were impenetrable? Interesting. The valid point though, was it wasn't the room they were looking for.

"That only leaves a couple more rooms. I'm impressed we've made it so far without incident."

[freewill]

Of course they wanted them to accept that reality. Castiel didn't see much reason for them bothering with the front they put up during the day otherwise. But instead of responding to Soushi's obvious question, he focused on the doors.

It was true that they'd been surprisingly lucky so far, and Castiel didn't exactly like that. It should never be this easy. "Let's hope it stays that way," he said, half to himself, as he moved to the next door. Oddly, it was locked just as tightly as the previous one, which meant that they had no way of going through.

Only two more doors left, then.

The next one was also locked, but it had some give and the knob at least wiggled slightly in his hand. "This one we should be able to get open," he told Soushi as he took a step back from it. "We'll need to use force." Castiel had never properly learned how to pick locks in the end, as he'd stopped trusting Orihara and Dean had... disappeared. But he didn't mind using blunt trauma to get what he wanted either.

[ever_loyal_dog]

Castiel made no comment on their treatment, so he continued after. The possibilities seemed to be diminishing by the moment. Was this really where they needed to go?

When Castiel assessed the second to last door, he gave a nod. So some of the doors were loose enough to break open, while others were impossible? Though he wasn't certain how Castiel knew many of the things he knew, Soushi didn't have much other choice in whether to trust his judgement.

"Please allow me then," he said with a smile as he shifted the weight of his bat and prepared to swing.

[to here]

[ever_loyal_dog]

[from here]

Soushi was anxious to move on to the last door, but he made sure his injured companion was in sight before continuing down the hall toward the final door and what he hoped would be some of his belongings. His phone, a photo, any small keepsake from his master, just something to give him hope that he'd be able to find her again.

"It should be this one then, correct?"

[freewill]

Along with bandages, Castiel picked out one of the first aid kits. He'd ever exactly tended to his own wounds, but it might be helpful to have the materials around either way. He'd become far more used to dealing with physical wounds over the past few weeks and while the nurses handled most of it, he couldn't expect that to always be the case.

It was a lot to carry and he hadn't brought any sort of pack to transport things in, so Castiel spent some time juggling the items in his arms as they stepped back out into the hall. It was a good thing they didn't have much further to go. He only hoped this was the correct door. He doubted he'd misread the map, but it was suspicious that there was only one door left.

"Yes, it should." With his hands full, he couldn't even reach out for the knob, so he gave Soushi the space to do so. "I suspect it will need to be broken open as well." And he was leaving a half-demon to do it. But Castiel had to admit, Soushi had been well-behaved so far. He really wasn't like any other demons Castiel had dealt with.

[ever_loyal_dog]

Soushi nodded, but tried the door just to be sure. No sense making even more noise if they didn't need to. Unfortunately, the knob didn't turn. He consoled himself with the thought that if something were going to come after them, they'd certainly made enough noise that it should have found them by now, so perhaps that meant there were other targets. Or maybe there just wasn't much out tonight.

He tucked the roll of bandages in the waistband of his pants and swung the bat hard with both hands. Again, it took a couple of swings and the door creaked its protest, but Soushi pushed it open, feeling a bit more anxious than he had about the other doors.

[to here]