Day 72: Breakfast

[lighthearted]

They had made it. It had required leaving Tsubaki behind to deal with her brainwashed roommate, but they'd gone all the way up the escalator, and this was it, the third floor--

Good morning, patients.

Sora shot up in bed, eyes wide, and let out a huff of surprise and aggravation. That wasn't fair! They'd made it all the way up, only for it to end like this? He fell back onto the bed and slammed his fists into the mattress to vent his frustration before he realized that Link was still asleep. Whoops.

It was hard to know what to do from this point on. He needed to go back to Farwell, but the third floor was important too. He could probably rely on his friends to handle things here while he traveled back to the rebel city, but he just didn't know.

He dragged his hand down his face and then slowly sat up again, as the door opened and his nurse came to get him. On the way to the cafeteria, Sora realized that the Head Doctor sounded kind of down. Was he upset because so many people were trying to go to the third floor now? Well, that was what he deserved after everything he'd done!

Sora stood in line for his plate of french toast and then peered around the cafeteria, looking for any sign of Tsubaki. He wanted to check in with her first.

[Tsubaki.]

Comments

[skeletonenigma]

"Rebels?" The word caught Skulduggery's attention, and he leaned in over his food with his eyes unconsciously narrowed. It was a strange turn of phrase to use if Castiel was referring to the patients, and although Skulduggery hadn't heard about anyone outside the Institute fighting Landel, he also couldn't otherwise explain the note he found last night. "Do these rebels like to leave messages?"

Messages saying to aim for the third floor, if he remembered correctly. Someone really must have done well last night if they were finally throwing Landel off his game. But if outside 'rebels' existed, and they were capable of leaving notes in patients' bedrooms without detection, what stopped them from reaching the third floor themselves?

[freewill]

Skulduggery didn't know anything about the rebels? Castiel frowned, as it was something he'd come to take for granted. Anyone who had been here during the military's time controlling this place should have been well aware of the rebel's involvement, but it was possible that Skulduggery had arrived after that point. Or that he hadn't been paying as much attention, though thus far Castiel could tell that Skulduggery had a penchant for detail. He was the one who'd originally told him about the library, after all.

"Yes, that would be them," he said after a pause. "They're taking more risks now. They also somehow took control of the intercom last night." Castiel didn't know if anyone had followed that trail, as he hadn't taken a close look at the bulletin board so far, but at this point he was far more focused on the third floor itself.

"We made further progress last night," he added. Castiel owed Skulduggery the information after how open he'd been with him during their first conversation.

[skeletonenigma]

... Which would explain Landel's curtness with the intercom that morning. Narcissistic psychopaths didn't usually like their things being fiddled with. Particularly not by people they considered enemies.

But it also implied that the rebels were only able to take control at night. Whatever their methods, they'd failed by the time the sun rose. Either Landel had absolute power during the day - which Skulduggery doubted, or the Head Doctor could easily skip over the following nights and rob them of the opportunity for rebelling - or the amount of time between their blacking out and their waking up in bed was longer than Skulduggery had originally thought. Long enough for Landel to wrest back control of the intercom, perhaps?

Either way, the third floor was important. Skulduggery rested his chin in his hands, breakfast all but forgotten. "Really? Do tell."

[freewill]

Castiel hadn't forgotten his meal, on the other hand.

While french toast might not be his favorite of the different breakfast options, he couldn't ignore the hunger he was feeling, and so Skulduggery had no choice but to wait as Castiel finished the bite he'd taken.

After swallowing, he cleared his throat and nodded. "We made it up the escalator and found ourselves in a room, having stepped off of a... teleportation pad of some kind." Castiel had no idea if Skulduggery would be familiar with the concept. Kratos and Lloyd definitely had been, but he doubted they were all from the same world.

"We exited out into the hallway above the Sun Room, and then found another room with a pad, which took us to yet another. We found some keys in the last room, but night ended before we could find out what they were for." Which would be the plan tonight, naturally.