damned_institute | Day 75: Intercom, Dinner

Having spoken with Lana about the device and also reached some level of understanding with Claude, Guy had to say that today had gone better than yesterday in terms of productivity. The road ahead of them might still be long, he couldn't say for sure, but it felt like they were getting somewhere, which was more than he could have said a week or so ago.

What threw him off, though, was when the nurse didn't move all the way down the hall when leading him back to his room. Guy had been in the same room ever since he'd first woken up here at Landel's, so to have it changed all of a sudden was worrisome, if he was honest.

"Well, we needed to put you with a new roommate, Dana," the nurse explained as she led him into a different block. "This way you won't be so lonely at night."

Guy didn't bother arguing, but when he was led into M10 and then left to his own devices, he took a moment to look around. Whose room was this? It was probably silly that he felt a little nervous, but he made sure that all of his belongings had been moved with him before he allowed himself to sit down at the desk where his dinner had been placed.

What if Claude had been moved too? What if they'd found the rebel device in the process? Guy would need to call him either way and let him know about the room change before they made plans for the night, but first he was going to eat and find out who his new roommate was.

After a long day of trying to duck and run from attempts to force him outside, Aidou had very little patience for Landel's jabs about missing people and warm-hearted reunions with loved ones by the time dinner rolled around. The thinly veiled provocation made him snort.

They deserved more of Landel's personal attention? Gods forbid. Only if it involved having the man himself stand in front of him so Aidou could tear his vocal cords out with his claws. A "release" built on the blood and the broken bones of the people who worked for Landel's Institute was the sole escape Aidou looked forward to in the future.

Still busy repressing a roll of his eyes, the vampire ignored his nurse's reminder about being on his best behavior when dealing with his roommate while they proceeded back to his cell. Why would he need to care about tha--?

Oh.

Aidou realized what had changed before the woman could say it out loud. The scent and the sound of another's person pulse... They were different. He sensed as much by the time she unlocked the door and let him pass. The biggest surprise was that they hadn't run out of people to room him with, what with the dwindling number of prisoners...

Once inside, he stopped. "Oh, it's you." Ah, yes, he already knew this one.

As soon as the door opened, Guy turned in his chair to see who he'd been paired up with. At least he would never have to worry about his roommate being female, since that wasn't done here. Not that Guy would have minded so long as the person in question could keep to her own side of the room, but...

Instead, it was Aidou. The two of them hadn't interacted in quite some time, and their only significant conversation had been weeks ago. Guy still remembered it clearly, though. It was the first time the buses had broken down right outside the institute's doors, and they'd run into each other while escaping back into the building.

The morning after they'd done some speculation about the monsters that had attacked them, but that had been the end of it.

Guy realized it could probably be worse, although Aidou's greeting was enough to rub him the wrong way. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked sheepishly.

He was still getting used to the fact that he'd been moved to a different room. While he'd gone through a few roommates now, the room itself had never changed. Maybe it didn't matter since they all were set up exactly the same, but it made a difference to Guy.

Lovely, another switch in cellmates meant having to adjust to a whole new person--more than that, a person who already had a suspicion of his abilities. Aidou was, however, reluctantly getting used to a revolving door of different faces; he seemed to go through roommates like dirty shirts.

"I expected another new face," he mused. Given what had been going on of late and the obstacles he'd been encountering, sharing the cell with another person was the least of his concerns. Maybe he could be indignant about it later.

He didn't look back as his nurse sealed him inside their cage once more, just turned toward his side of the room to take a seat on his bed. The dinner made him sigh. He didn't care to eat it, but necessity said otherwise.

"Last men standing, perhaps..."

From Guy's perspective, Aidou not being a completely normal human wasn't all that surprising. There were plenty of people here who weren't human or who had strange powers. Guy's Artes might even be seen as that, although he was prevented from performing them here.

He picked up his piece of garlic bread and wiped up some of the pasta sauce with it, waiting for the nurse to leave them be. Now that Aidou brought it up, Guy realized something strange about the past couple of days.

"I don't know about you, but I haven't seen any new people recently," he said with a frown before taking a bite of his food. It was worrisome, because that was something that had always been consistent. No matter what, more people would stream in.

If Landel had stopped pulling people in, was that a sign of something?

To tell the truth, Aidou was quick to notice patterns--or changes to patterns, as the case may be. He'd been in the Institute long enough to learn its normal routine and for a mind that analyzed information as fast as his, the changes that had been taking place the last little while hadn't escaped his notice.

His express was still, but the fact that he didn't show surprise probably said enough. Yes, he'd picked up on that. Hard not to with the thinned ranks. People coming and going had been the norm, and now people were just going.

"It hasn't escaped me," he replied. "If he had a say in that, I doubt it means something good for the rest of us. And if he didn't, that still doesn't mean the circumstances are in our favor."

He was calm, the kind of calm that came with knowing the scales were tipped heavily away from him.

Guy didn't feel calm, even if he did know the kind of danger that they were in. Realizing that there were people on the outside trying to help eased up some of the stress, but there was no denying that the pressure was on now.

"We're running out of time," he said with a frown, forcing down bites of his food despite the fact that he didn't have much of an appetite; he was too keyed up to feel hungry.

"Listen, Aidou..." Guy turned in his seat slightly. "Have you gotten any closer to Landel? Have you been to the third floor? Because I think I may have a way to stop him."

They had the device, but not the means by which to get to Landel. At this point, they were all going to have to work together on this if they were going to have any chance of winning.

Time was a funny thing. Technically speaking, Aidou had far less to worry about than the others in terms of wasting away his time within these walls--his endurance and lifespan were far greater than anyone else's. A few months... even a year... that was hardly anything compared to the hundreds of years he had yet to live.

But if anything, he was the most eager to get out. Insults like this didn't go unpunished when they were inflicted on a vampire. He felt the passage of time more acutely than anyone, too.

To say they were almost out of time because some unhelpful, human rebels had assigned them a superficial timeline was irritating, all considered.

"So I keep hearing." He didn't sound impressed. "Except details are awfully scarce."

... At least the ones made public. Guy's claim got his attention; his gaze flicked to him, holding firm, ratcheted.

"I have. But that's an awfully bold claim for a situation like this."

Bold? Guy could understand why Aidou would think that. Stopping Landel had been impossible for them so far, after all. He and his friends had been skeptical when the rebels handed over the device, but at this point they had nothing to lose.

Unless Aidou had some other solution for this, then Guy didn't think that he had much ground on which to be questioning anything.

"We made it to Farwell through the caverns," he explained. "I was gone for a few days -- that's where we were." He doubted that Aidou had actually noticed his absence, and he wouldn't hold that against him either. It was hard to keep track of people here, with how often they came and went.

"The rebels are set up there, and they gave us a device that they think will be able to shut down Landel's powers, at least for a short amount of time." But if they did this right, that was all that they'd need.

When the bastard in question was likely listening to their conversation while they spoke, Aidou would only believe in a surefire solution when it involved Landel dead and having his blood mist the air. Anything short of that was speculation only.

But he was listening. Likewise, the only way to outwit one's opponent was to make use of the information one was given.

Aidou had suspected all along the caverns went somewhere, of course, but out of all of the options, to have it confirmed that place led to the rebel city... An eyebrow went up. "All along, that revolting boatman was hiding that? Unbelievable. There really is no end to this ridiculousness. How very convenient for everyone."

Yes, he certainly did question the sincerity of a so-called secret rebel base when reaching it was simply a matter of following Landel's hints like a guided Halloween theme park.

"I hope there's just the one." He stabbed his fork into his food. "That, I assume, must be the one they were advertising so unhelpfully with their paper messages."

So Aidou had interacted with the ferryman? That meant that he must have gone through the coliseum too. Guy frowned, glancing down at his food for a moment as he took another bite and thought that over. It was something they could both talk about, since they'd both been through it, but did that mean they wanted to?

No, probably not.

"Yeah, that's what he was hiding. We had to go through some more... challenges first, but after that he led us to some train tracks that we followed all the way to Farwell." It had been a long walk, enough to make even Guy's feet sore, but he still thought it was worth it.

Aidou's assumption caused Guy to turn toward him, eyebrows raised. "Paper messages? They tried to communicate with you?" This was the first that he'd heard of it.

Aidou hadn't fought on the sands, so the story of what had taken place in the duel didn't belong to him, but the entire venture was distasteful enough that he agreed with Guy for this own reasons. If a person reveled in the games Landel played, they were as disturbed as he was. By now, he'd probably shuffled plenty of people through them for whatever amusement.

But the basement in its entirety was a frustrating topic. Although he and Sasuke had put a pin in their endeavors in the caverns in favor of the third floor before they could discover these areas for themselves, he was still annoyed with it. Talking about the boatman meant acknowledging he existed. An awful creature all around.

"And no ill effects afterward, from his trade and such?" he wondered. "And what of the city?"

Of course he wanted to acquire more information, but he wasn't enthusiastic that the radio people were as helpful as some liked to believe. He doubted Farwell was a saving grace, or even a place that provided more answers than questions.

Guy's question, he answered simply and without flourish. A fair trade, if they were going to be cooperative. "You never found one within your box? It seems they might have delivered them to a number of people."

Guy had been through his box last night and hadn't seen anything. He frowned, setting his hand to his chin to think that over. "Maybe they delivered them while we were still in Farwell..." The rebels may have somehow realized there was no point in leaving the notes for someone who wouldn't be there to read them. The shuffle of his room might have also been a factor in it.

Either way, he was getting the information that he needed now, so that was what mattered. He didn't mind sharing what he knew even with someone like Aidou. When it came down to it, they were all on the same side here.

"Everything he took as a toll wore off by morning, thankfully." Guy couldn't imagine how they would manage if they were all running around with a sense missing.

He didn't blame Aidou for being curious about Farwell, but it was difficult to know exactly where to start. "What do you want to know about it?" he asked, taking another bite of spaghetti wound around his fork.

"Let's be fair, we're not talking about the most straight-laced or genius-level tacticians here," Aidou pointed out aloud, the very picture of unimpressed where the topic of the radio people were concerned.

The note, obvious by now to belong to the rebels, was a not-so-secret secret and not something Aidou felt inclined to keep to himself. It was a little late for that, anyway. He had no objections to showing Guy if it helped to connect the dots, but one thing at a time--this city was certainly of great interest.

"What does this device have to do with that place?" he prompted.

He could scarcely imagine a second set of trials could lead to Farwell for the purpose of delivering this thing, but upon greater thought that fit in quite well with the Institute's history.

Maybe the rebels weren't genius-level, but they were going to have to be good enough. They had no choice but to put their faith in them and what they'd developed, after all. As much as Guy was a fan of technology, he wasn't knowledgeable enough to be certain that it would work. Maybe if they'd had more time, they could have had another patient look at it more closely.

"Nothing, except that it was developed and assembled there. I'm guessing they scavenged for parts throughout the city to make it." So it might not look that impressive to someone from a more developed planet, but Guy respected it. Especially if it got the job done.

He polished off his food and leaned back in his chair for a moment, letting out a sigh. He wondered if his nights spent in this room, new though it was, were numbered by this point. It seemed like he'd either end up brainwashed like everyone else or they'd get out of here.

I mean to say, that's the access route they've been using? To bring it here?"

Through those caverns, ferried by prisoners who may or may not have ever succeeded in making it so far? Sigh.

"Don't tell me one of us is storing it under their mattress or something similar."

Unfortunately, that was exactly what was going on. Guy glanced over at Aidou, barely holding back a sheepish smile.

He focused on his food, pausing a moment to take a full bite before he said anything.

"We really didn't have any other choice," he admitted. "But we have it, that's the important thing." Now they just had to figure out how to get near Landel with it.

The vampire squinted. Even unrested and half-starved, one would have had to hit him over the head and concuss him to have him fail to notice the answer written on the human's face.

Seriously? All this trouble, and the radio people had handed off their so-called ace to people who had even less freedom of movement than the rebels themselves? Call him crazy, but that seemed like a counter-intuitive move when Landel had more than one way to pry secrets out of his captives. Not that this could be much of a secret anymore.

"And how exactly do you imagine he isn't already aware of what you're doing?"

In fact, there was a strong possibility that trying to fulfill the radio group's orders as they'd given them would lead to a trap. A very real danger for those who volunteered for this task.

"Is this happening tonight?" he continued.

There was no denying how crazy this all sounded. Their chances of actually succeeding had to be painfully low, and so Guy couldn't even fault Aidou for being incredulous about the whole thing.

But they were just going to have to work with what they had and keep their fingers crossed that they would get extremely lucky. Beggars couldn't be choosers, after all.

"We're basically just hoping that we've managed to slip under his radar somehow. But seeing how he's started to pick us off, I'm sure he knows something."

Guy polished off his meal and then moved over to his bed, pulling out the storage box from underneath. "It's happening as soon as it can."

Or, on the bright side...

"Perhaps he's finally just snapped," he suggested with a sardonic little smile. Really, what was worse, a madman or a madman who was still in possession of enough of his faculties to scheme?

His gaze followed Guy has he began to ready for the night. Aidou had been through enough roommates and shower periods to feel a fraction less violated by needing to change in front of other males, but he would never relish it, and especially not with the fact he and this human already had a certain amount of history.

"If you want to see the note I received, I'll show you, but it only warns of the events you've told."

Guy was looking for something in particular, which was the modified radio that the rebels had given him. He was going to need to contact both Anise and Claude, and with no idea if their rooms had also been moved, this seemed like the best option.

Once he'd found it, he set it out on his mattress and then also dug out his flashlight. His sword should be in the closet.

It would be nice if Landel was crazy enough to not pay attention to what they were doing right under his nose, but that seemed like wishful thinking. When Aidou offered to let him see the rebel's note, Guy glanced over and nodded.

"I'd be curious to see what it says all the same," he said, standing up to move over to his closet. He let out a sigh of relief when he opened it up and his sword was there.

Despite his impressive lack of appetite (at least for this kind of food), Aidou didn't need long to finish off what remained of his tray of dinner. The morsel barely made a dent in his hunger, and he sighed as he dabbed his mouth with a napkin.

Another bad thing about all these disappearances was that pickings were much, much slimmer when it came to blood donors. Sasuke was willing, but as far as tenuous arrangements went, the noble couldn't help but wish for something a little more filling...

He'd pray the rebels' plan succeeded if it simply meant having food again.

Putting the tray aside, he rolled off the bed and retrieved his clothes from the closet at the same time he fished the noted from where he'd kept it inside his journal. The clothes, he put on the bed. The note, he handed off to the young man. On it was the same message he'd memorized and read over to himself a dozen times over already:

We’ve got an awesome surprise for the dear Doctor himself, and we’re counting on you to deliver it right to his door. This baby’s got the power to stack the cards in your favor. Once we’ve sent the device to your place, it’s up to you to give him hell.

In the meantime, some other people are going to be tackling the security systems. Make sure you both complete your missions on the same night. Hit him with a double whammy!

As soon as Aidou brought the note over, Guy nodded in thanks and then leaned against the side of his desk to read it. While it was true that the information wasn't anything he didn't know, it was still interesting to see it put down in writing like this.

How were they supposed to coordinate with the people stopping the security systems? It seemed impossible, and he wondered what would happen if this "double whammy" failed. Something had to be better than nothing, right?

"Hmm... Might have to make a few radio calls then, see if anyone is working on the other half of that." He folded up the note and handed it back to Aidou. "Thanks."

With that done, there wasn't much else to do save for prepare, and so he went to retrieve his own nighttime outfit.

"Whatever "that" entails," the vampire replied, taking the note to fold back in half. "I haven't heard of one going into greater specifics, and there would seem to be more than one security center."

But then he didn't expect Guy or anyone else to just have the answers and hand them over, that would be too easy. That didn't mean this mysterious two-fold plan that involved no details whatsoever wasn't annoying. It was.

Working with so few facts chafed him, it always did.

It was true that they were limited in the information they had to work with, but instead of letting it get him down, Guy was going to focus on the fact that they could have nothing at all. At least now there was a possible way to fight back.

"Guess we'll have to hope someone finds the right one." He'd been out of the loop for too long, but now that communication was a little easier, coordinating would also be doable.

Without thinking much about it, Guy started to change out of the hospital uniform and into his outfit from home.

Hope.

That was in short supply these days, it seemed like, as short as the prisoners necessary to band together to fight this battle of wills against those in support of the Institute. Aidou was a vampire, however, and not just any common one. He knew, he knew, he'd either win or die trying, so ultimately he fell on the side of those unwilling to give up.

... For whatever that was worth in this particular situation.

The noble turned away and moved to the other side of the room so that he didn't have to think too hard about the awkward rooming arrangement he was in. Ugh, he there was a reason the Academy didn't have gym class. "They didn't tell you anything else in the city?" he questioned as a means of filling the silence and answering Guy's remark at the same time.

Guy couldn't help but notice that Aidou was uncomfortable with the idea of someone changing around him. He smiled to himself as he continued to get dressed, wondering how it was that his new roommate wasn't used to this by now.

He didn't remark on it, though, but instead focused on getting changed quickly so that awkward moment would be over sooner. Awkward for Aidou, that is -- Guy didn't particularly care.

"Hmm..." It had been a whirlwind, their entire time in Farwell, so it was hard to sift through everything they'd learned then. One thing did stand out, though.

"Well, they told us that if we stopped Landel -- actually stopped him, I mean -- then it should undo all of the brainwashing that the others have been put through." Those who had been released from this place, was what he meant. Aidou had to have some friends out there, right...?

"With his death, you mean?"

There was no hiding the fact that Aidou was enthusiastic about the idea. Killing Landel would bring him plenty of personal satisfaction outside of solving these problems.

However, when it came to the people who may or may not still be alive outside of the Institute's walls... The vampire needed to prioritize himself and who was still here, and not the others. His mind didn't travel in quite the same direction Guy was thinking.

Guy didn't know why he'd shied away from saying it in direct terms, but he didn't mind confirming it. "With his death, yes."

Plenty of people were eager to make that final blow. While Guy himself wouldn't relish in the act, he also realized that it had to be done in order to save countless innocents, and he wouldn't hesitate. Just as he hadn't with Van.

Now fully dressed, Guy went to sit on the bed. He'd be calling Claude over the radio, so beyond what he'd already done, he didn't have any preparations for lights out.

It seemed like the days just got more and more boring. There were so few of them here now that things stayed pretty quiet, and maybe that was a good thing, but it also made Sora pretty antsy by the time that dinner rolled around.

He and Link would have plenty of work to do tonight, as usual, and he was prepared for a fight after the warning that he'd seen on the bulletin board.

As he took a seat in front of his spaghetti, Sora had to wonder if there was a reason that their numbers were dropping. Was Landel slowly but surely brainwashing all of them because he knew that they were actually making progress? Was that his plan?

If it was, then they were going to have to work harder than ever.

The days were starting to drag miserably. Landel's Institute was an empty shell in comparison to when Link had first arrived. At least they were making progress. Those who remained could find their way home. He did what he could to push away the consideration of what was happening to those whose numbers were so rapidly dwindling.

At least Sora was here. Link's roommate had come to be something of his partner at night. He was thankful for that.

For now, though, it was dinner shift once again. He entered his bedroom with a nod to Sora.

"I'm glad you're still here." It was worth saying, Link thought.

Considering how the disappearances were piling up day by day, Sora was just as relieved to find that Link wasn't among them. They had each other to rely on for the nights, and if Link disappeared on him, then Sora wouldn't know what to do.

Except for keep pressing forward on his own, but he realized that wasn't a good idea.

"You too," he said, grinning over at Link in greeting. Sora then picked up his fork and started eating with gusto, wanting to make sure he was fully energized for when those doors opened.

"Did you see the map that someone put up on the bulletin board? It looks like we might get attacked up on the third floor soon..."

"Yes, I had a look at it. But things are at least starting to become more clear at this point, as far as where we are in regards to the rest of the floor at a given time." That was essential to Link. What good were they hopelessly lost? He paused for a moment as he fiddled with his dinner.

"Do I bother to mention the amount of people who have been 'released' lately?" He looked over to Sora.

It did help having a clearer idea of where everything was in relation to everything else up on the third floor. Whoever had put up that map, they'd done a really good job. Sora probably should have copied it down, but he had committed a lot of it to memory.

At the mention of more people disappearing, Sora glanced over with his fork halfway to his mouth. "Who else?" he asked with a frown. As if Tsurugi hadn't been enough...

"I just... haven't been seeing people lately. It's like the building is emptying itself. I try to keep tabs on who I've seen on which days, but I can only keep track of so many. I definitely didn't see those brothers today... Edward and Alphonse? I don't know if you met them, but I spoke with Alphonse on several occasions. He was kind..."

Was. Gods only knew where they were now.

"It all just makes me nervous," Link admitted as he continued to poke at his dinner rather than eat it.

Sora nodded, as he'd noticed the same thing. Tsubaki was still around, thankfully, but how many of his other friends were actually still here? The answer was not many, and it definitely made him feel like their days were numbered. They needed to end this and stop Landel, and they needed to do it soon.

"I knew them, but a long time ago. I think they left and came back in that time..." Not that it mattered, as the brothers were apparently gone now, brainwashed all over again.

"I wonder if Landel knows that we're onto something and he's trying to get us all brainwashed before we can get to him." It might be something that took a lot of time and effort, which was why it had been happening gradually rather than all at once. Sora took another bite of spaghetti, frowning as he chewed. The more he talked about this, the more anxious he became.

"I'm sure he knows what we're up to. But the fact that not all of us have been killed or brainwashed yet at least proves that he cannot do it all in one swoop, so to speak." Link finally took a bite out of his dinner.

"He can only get so many of us in a night." Or so Link hopes and assumes.

That meant that every night, there was a chance that one of them (or both of them) wouldn't be here the next morning. Sora had been here so long that the idea of being caught in Landel's trap seemed almost impossible. He'd held out for months now -- he could keep it up for a little longer.

"Well, for now we're both still here. We'd better make the best of that, right?" Sora rushed to finish his dinner so he could start getting ready for the night ahead of them.

Link nodded, putting on a small smile for Sora before shoveling down a portion of his food.

"Tonight, we'll finish him." Time was of the essence, and they were running out of it. Now, though, with the resources and information they had gathered, Link was convinced that it was possible. They needed to find the man himself, and finish him. The thought made him pause, both mentally and in his eating.

It was so easy, to condemn the man to death.

Link sounded so certain of it. Sora wanted to feel the same way, but it seemed like there were still so many obstacles in the way.

He finished off his plate of food, reminding himself that holding onto hope and faith that they could get this done was the only way that they would win. If they believed they'd stop Landel, it would make it that much more possible.

"Right," he agreed despite any misgivings, standing from his seat so that he could get changed before the lights turned off.

The room the nurse led Lana back to wasn't the one she'd vacated this morning, and she raised an eyebrow. It was met with a torrent of bubbly words, the gist of which amounted to the fact that she'd also noticed the population decline, wanted Lana to acknowledge her perceptive abilities. Oh, and this all meant that Lana had a new roommate.

There was no sign of the other woman as of yet, however, so Lana shut the door and quickly went through her belongings. Everything was where it should be, and she laid her gun and radio on the bed and pulled the covers up over them to hide them if the staff barged back in with her new roommate. Then she was alone, however briefly, with her dinner and her thoughts.

Where was Ema? Was Landel holding her somewhere? Was she really back home? Would Lana ever see her again?

She'd tried to avoid this chain of thoughts; there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it from here except what she was already doing. If Landel wanted to hold Ema hostage for Lana's good behavior, she'd agree, but he hadn't directly asked. Implications and vague threats, but nothing that would stop her from heading back up to the third floor.

She shoved her thoughts down another path. What about Prosecutor Faraday? He'd been in Farwell; was he still there? Would he want to stay -- or even have the choice?

Edited 2014-02-28 03:05 (UTC)

Day 75: Intercom, Dinner

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F14