Instead of the incessantly cheery voice of a man or machine, the first sound heard over the morning intercom broadcast was a loud and painful gasp.

"Dr. Landel!" was the next thing, in a much different, much more feminine voice. It might have taken the patients a couple of groggy seconds to realize that, despite the uncharacteristic surprise and worry, it was Head Nurse Lydia's. "My god– are you–?"

"I'm–" came the Head Doctor's voice, hoarser than usual, and filled with a quality that wasn't usually present during his upbeat announcements or nighttime tirades. He took a deep breath.

"I'm fine– he–"

"I know," said Lydia, and her voice seemed to have lost most of its emotionality and gone back to its usual professionalism. "Would you like me to take you to the medical wing, sir?"

"No, no, I'm fine, and... damn thing's still under construction, isn't it?" He laughed weakly. "Contractors are so... unreliable..."

He trailed off, as if realizing that the intercom switch was flipped on. However, instead of rushing to try to cover himself up, he instead sighed and the volume of his voice increased, as if he'd leaned closer to the microphone.

"Hello, everyone. I am... truly sorry for the interruptions to our daily schedules these last couple of days, and I only hope our staff has handled the changes with all the professionalism they should."

He paused.

"Breakfast this morning is french toast. Usual sides, drinks, and fruits. I hope to speak to you again soon."

After a few shaky tries, the intercom clicked off.

[ Any stragglers from the last application cycle who chose to introduce their characters during this dayshift may do so now. Please post your character waking up in a comment in response to this post with their room number as the subject line. Once awake, you may move them to breakfast. Thank you! ]

Suddenly, the intercom went silent.

No screams, no moans of pain, and no words of skewed superiority. Just a cold stillness, hanging in the air, and the shock of grief throughout the Institute.

The night faded away...

Yuffie had died.

No, really. Seriously. She had actually died. Bleeding all over the place, making a horrid, sticky mess and scaring the hell out of Suzaku; she remembered it clearly. Kind of. Sort of. Through the blood loss, the pain, and the visions. Through Aerith's voice whispering in her ear, Cloud's stricken eyes, and her own panic. As bad nights went, it had been Bad, capital B and all the trimmings, and oh, god. She sat, trembling on the edge of her bed, eyes closed and hands pressed hard over her racing heart. The by-play between Landel—Landel!—and Lydia barely even sunk in. There was nothing in the whole world, any world, that could prepare you for something like…

Had it all been some kind of hallucination?

Had she imagined the whole thing?

No… She didn't think so. Nightmarish or not, Yuffie knew reality. But if it had been real, how was she alive now? That kind of pain wasn't something you could just cook up, was it? She thought about it all the way to the cafeteria, drifting behind her nurse without focus or intent. Maybe if she tried to stay clinical, tried to step back… But she'd never been good at that when things got personal. And every time she closed her eyes or blinked, she swore that the scenes played back to her, like an overused commercial on a crappy channel on a crappy TV, in a run-down dump of an inn that smelled like mothballs and yesterday's breakfast.

The scent of blood and damp, rotted wood clogged her nose. Disgusted, Yuffie shoved her bowl of cereal—handed to her by a clucking Plucky—off to the side so that she could melt into her chair, palm heels scrubbing against her eyes. Too much. This was… Too much. She couldn't even paste a plastic smile on her face to make herself feel better. Her usual shield, the white noise of inane babble that could filter out almost any crisis, was in tatters all around her. Five minutes, she gave herself.

Five minutes (not) to think, five minutes to get her act together, because there was no way she could let herself shatter here. No way…

[Closed to Sheena]