Although the rain was still coming down heavily, it didn't seem to be deterring the nurses from their plans to return the patients back to the Institute. At the appointed time, their ringleader, the wiry woman with the megaphone, ran out into the deluge, a younger nurse racing after her and attempting to keep her covered with an umbrella.

"All right, everyone, back to the buses!" she said through the megaphone. The younger nurse grabbed a two-way radio off her belt and said something into it to the same effect.

As soon as the nurses and orderlies inside got the message, they sighed and began escorting the patients toward the vehicles. The burlier orderlies went first, standing guard at the doorways and in front of the steering wheel in case any patients got any funny ideas in the potential confusion of the storm. And it did seem as if some patients had been planning unsavory activities, from some of the items confiscated through the pat-downs just inside the tarps that they had strung just outside of the buses' doorways. Still, the nurses and orderlies were rushing under the inevitable stress of the weather; perhaps their searches weren't quite as thorough as usual...

Finally, after seating the last few patients onto the buses and taking down the tarps, the drivers – tired and grumbling – were allowed to take their places at the wheel. In no time, the vehicles were climbing up the road to the Institute, windshield wipers and the rush of rain droning back-and-forth underneath the voices of patients.

Whatever promise the day had seemed to show in the morning, it had steadily turned for the worse since then. The weather hadn't bothered Prussia at all (other than the annoying women who seemed to think he could actually get sick by staying out in it, as if a little rain was just as dangerous as economic trouble), but by the time the nurses were rounding patients up to go back to the hospital, Prussia was a little less than pleased. It seemed that anywhere he'd turned there had been someone intent on blocking his potential route out of town and getting him back inside instead. He'd finally settled on going into the bookstore just to shut the nurses up, and it hadn't taken long to confirm that England had been right about one thing: there were no history books in there, no periodicals or newspapers, nothing that might had given any indication of the date. But no matter what England might have said, all the books had been in German.

He'd been escorted from the bookstore to the bus not long after that, but the nurse left him alone after a quick pat-down and setting him onto one of the vehicles. Escaping during the day had proved to be a bust, but there was still the opportunity to escape now, especially given the turn the weather had taken. The only thing standing between Prussia and freedom was the burly orderly blocking access to the bus's controls.

If he was going to strike, he needed to do it quickly, and get the greatest threat out of the way before reinforcements from outside the bus could join him. If there was anything else he needed in blazing a trail towards freedom, he could take stock of it after the orderly was taken care of. His lack of a weapon was bothersome—a firearm would have done nicely about now, and he'd practically grown up with a sword in his hand—but it was just one guy. One human. Taking down a single human empty-handed (or maybe a couple more if reinforcements came more quickly than he anticipated) would be so easy that it almost didn't seem fair.

That was why Prussia decided to give him a fighting chance. The loss of surprise would be unfortunate, but it would even the playing field marginally. Maybe he'd finally get in a good fight.

“You're in my way,” he said to the orderly, taking a confident stance and crossing his arms so as to appear intimidating. He kept a close eye on the orderly so that he would be able to react accordingly the second the man made a move—be it offensive or defensive. “I'd suggest you move.”

[To be saved by Klavier]

Aside from sightseeing, the most Brook had managed to do by the time they were escorted back to the buses was to get all but completely soaked. A little rain had never hurt anyone, especially when it came to exploration, and since it was always a challenge just to find clothes that would cover him, finding a proper raincoat had been overlooked that morning. Not that anything would have managed to get over Brook's head of hair. There just was not a hood that existed, let alone one he could trust not to mess up his afro that would have done the trick.

"A shame we have to leave..." Brook sighed to himself since the nurse wouldn't have any of his 'lip'. He really didn't see how she could be so worried about him catching a cold when he hadn't had one in half a century! But it was nice that she was concerned, he guessed.

Taking a seat near the back, Brook glanced out the windows and waited for the return trip, hopeful that by the time they'd rolled out he would have a seat-mate that would not mind some conversation. With all of his wandering, Brook hadn't had the chance to speak to a soul all day! There was one thing he could blame the rain on - it made it so difficult to run into others on the street.

[free and soaked]

Kirk had barely begun to dry when a nurse appeared to order them to the buses, but he left the warm shelter of the sheriff's office without complaint, and without even bothering to do up the buttons of his coat. The apprehension which had been edging around his thoughts all day was unignorable now, although probably only those who knew him could read it in the urgency of his movements. To the nurses he passed, he simply seemed like another patient in a rush to get out of the rain.

Last week's trip had apparently ended with everything exploding into mayhem at the end of the day, so fact that they were getting as far as the bus was a good sign — probably. Kirk for one would let himself relax once he was sure they weren't all about to be drowned. With this rain, there was little chance of gathering the crew again to discuss their findings, but he'd still rather get there soon enough to make sure they were all accounted for.

As luck would have it, Kirk's speed put him among the first dozen to board the buses. The nurse giving pat-downs before scolded him for not dressing properly, which he deflected with a grin and a cheerful suggestion of how else she could handle him. With how quickly she pushed him on the bus after that, it was too bad Kirk didn't actually have anything to smuggle back.

He chose a seat near the front, and settled in to look out the window for familiar faces. You had to hand it to Landel's staff — at the rate the prisoners were being rounded up, they'd be off in this hellish storm in no time.

[Roxas]