damned_institute | Nightshift 27: Second Floor Hallway, Between Railing and SC Final Prep Area

[ From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/235408.html) ]

Kain's fingertips lifted from the wall as he came to the end of it. The last two doors looked like they had been broken in to; the second last door was the Pharmacy, and if people got injured it made sense that it was one of the first places to go for pain killers. Something to definitely keep in mind.

He turned to retrace his steps, absently thinking he should've brought something to write on, and froze.

Hanabusa. The shock of seeing his cousin standing right there kept him silent and still, but there was no mistaking it. He had grown up with him, knew nearly every physical quirk, and he had a very distinctive way of standing. The figure almost perfectly highlighted by the red light filtering in from above was most definitely Hanabusa.

Still, Kain hesitated, not quite trusting his eyes. There was only one way to find out for sure.

"Hanabusa," he whispered, volume pitched just high enough to be heard.

For a vampire not paying attention, another vampire's presence was like a intelligible whisper in the ear, raising the fine hairs on the back of one's neck. Normally it was hard to confuse the presence of someone familiar, to be caught off guard enough to be spooked, but Aidou was anywhere but in a good frame of mind.

And he thought 'enemy' and spun, eyes cold and red and merciless - kill whoever was trying to hurt him first -

It was only his name on the air that made him stop in mid-motion, just as he would have struck for the jugular, putting an abrupt and unnatural halt to the movement, like ice had taken route in his joints and frozen him in place. This wasn't Hinasaki Miku's inappropriate misuse of his forename, no, no one ever used his given name -

Except those closest to him, and that hurt in every fibre of his being, because that was Akatsuki, most definitely, no mistake.

As Aidou turned swiftly, Kain's hands flew up in a placating gesture, aborted before his cousin stopped moving. Time seemed to halt; the world continued around them, he knew it was, could hear people moving, but the only person that mattered was standing in front of him. The unnatural light only emphasized the strangeness to the situation, the surreality of meeting him here.

Something was seriously wrong.

Kain wasn't sure what made him think so, past Aidou's immediate, cut off attack (and it wasn't a surprise that Aidou's first response had been to attack him, considering), but there was something wrong. He'd have to tread carefully.

The first thing to escape was a sigh that spoke volumes of his relief and worry, fingers raking his hair back. "I was looking for you." He took one step forward, but no further, trying to measure how much personal space Aidou wanted.

His breath rattled, felt wet on his lips. Akatsuki, he wasn't an enemy... but familiar faces meant nothing - his body wavered between relaxing and tensing further, caught on a fine and dangerous edge.

Slowly, gingerly, he dropped his arm. Fingers curled into a loose fist.

He didn't move at the approach, didn't say anything - didn't think his voice would be steady - but his eyes remained crimson, an inhuman glitter, evidence of Aidou's suspicion. Turning his head slightly, he examined Kain, lips twisting into a indecipherable little frown.

That was his cousin's presence, a blood relative, and it felt disgustingly wrong to be accusing him silently, but there it was.

Kain's hands dropped to his sides, then slid into his pockets. He didn't move or say anything more as Aidou inspected him, fighting the urge to fidget, to step forward and check him over for injuries. Aidou was suspicious, and Kain understood why, but it still hurt, and his hands balled, nails digging into skin, at the thought that Hanabusa might not believe he was who he said he was.

The uncertainty didn't last; anger rose from somewhere deep inside him, not at the figure watching him with a look that had never, ever been aimed at him before, but at the people in charge. What had this place done to Aidou?

"I don't know how to prove to you that it's me," he finally said. "I heard during lunch that there are things that can look like people you know, but -- " But what? How was one supposed to prove their own identity? Frustration made his mouth twist up into a tiny grimace.

Aidou's head jerked like he'd been struck. It felt like it.

It felt like someone had take a bludgeon to his midsection, preventing him from taking a proper breath or gathering his thoughts - or gods forbid - take a moment to hope (or loathe) that this was, for a fact, the cousin he had known his entire long life and not an all-too easy blow delivered by his captors.

Lunch was hours ago, and if that was true, that Akatsuki had been here, then how had he not noticed? How could he have not noticed? He'd been - with that kid - talking with that kid and -

- and if it was the truth, then he was so -

He opened his mouth to say something, to relieve the sudden pressure building in his chest, but words came to a standstill in his throat. Looking somewhere to the left, with eyes fading to a flat winter blue, he tried again. "There's no real way," Aidou croaked. That couldn't be his voice. "But let's not talk about it here."

Kain took a step forward, his hands lifting, before he was even aware that he was moving. Seeing Aidou like this was a blow, not just because he was obviously hurting, but because, as a team, Aidou was the one who made the decisions. He was the one who led, and to see him this uncertain, this shaken --

His hands clenched tighter, the physical pain enough to keep his thoughts from spiraling, but still, he couldn't help but hurt. There had been a little portion of him that hadn't believed Aidou was here, because how could he not have felt him around? Had the humans really orchestrated their movements so well that they just hadn't been in the same room at the same time?

It was yet another troubling thought to add to the pile that was rapidly growing.

"There's -- the room -- " His eyes dropped to the floor, focused on it until he could think again. "Someone's broken into the room behind me. Unless there's a better place that you know about."

Having seen only one example for himself, Aidou had no definitive basis with which to judge the mimics. How well they could copy one's temperament, how intelligent and adaptable... But the embrace, however bold in an open area, was suspect for obvious reasons. And simply foreign... because he and Akatsuki didn't often feel the need to touch...

To say the least, Aidou was a house of cards under threat, but he still moved, albeit a little jerkily. What was he supposed to do? What should he do?

Sidestepping Akatsuki's broad form, he shook his head. "I don't."

_{[moving into here]}

Severus stopped to make sure Harry (and the others) had kept up. He couldn't help but feel very very cold suddenly at the sight. Everything was bathed in a red glow more prevalent now that they could see the moon. Something wasn't right. Something wasn't right at all.

Riza turned to count the other three of her group, relieved that they were still together. She had been in tense situations before, even situations that were inexplicably threatening, and yet this place seemed to do little else than find ways to unnerve.

She took a moment to breathe, but that didn't have the calming effect it might have. She realized some of that terrible smell persisted even here, and after a moment she placed it: it was the smell of blood, just as the moon was its color.

It was almost enough to distract her from the fact that the last time she had been up here, she'd been placed hidden behind the railing with a small armory at her disposal, which she had used with such certainty at the time . . .

But the present was always a bigger threat than the past. She looked each of her partners in the eye, but said nothing of the danger. She knew they could sense it, and she hoped they weren't stupid enough not to proceed with caution.

Keeping close to the walls and away from the railing over the sun room, she made her way to the door the map had indicated as the pharmacy: second door from the right corner.

The fact that the door seemed to have been kicked in already was a help to finding it. For the first time, she turned on the flashlight at the edge of the doorway, cupping her hand over it to keep the glare down. It seemed free of danger inside, though there was no way to be sure. And luckily, whoever had come before hadn't taken everything.

Glancing behind her, she gave a little nod, then stepped inside the small room.

[ heading here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/229659.html) . ]

_{[from here]}

There were more people wandering around outside. The vampire lifted the corpse a little higher, enough that the sounds of dragging were quieted. With the glow from above, it was an easier task to spot a vampire in the dark, but he wouldn't make it any simpler for them.

The scent was all that was important. Just like with Bella Swan, he had to try and eliminate the problem before any creatures came in search of it. But in this case, the creature that wore his face was already dead and nothing more than a torn and bloody ragdoll - he certainly didn't care who stumbled across it, so long as it was nowhere near him. Or Akatsuki.

Akatsuki needed blood to heal; he had no interest in dawdling. With the same hand, he hefted the corpse onto the railing. That was his face, dead and twisted into a expression of agony, but it did little to move the real Aidou's blank expression.

Noting the appearance of the pyramid-headed creature, Aidou let the body drop and turned around again.

_{[trash dumping is over, back to here]}

[ from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/229659.html?thread=16663579#t16763163) . ]

Riza did her best to ascertain the safety of the hall when she stepped halfway into it, then looked behind her to be sure Harry and Fai came with her. She wasn't sure if they had noticed the danger, or the professor's indication of it, and so she could only hope that they did not protest.

She kept her flashlight on for now, not liking the idea of more darkness after what she'd seen--or thought she'd seen--inside the small room.

He waited until his blurry vision caught sight of Hawkeye before slumping to the ground.

The bottles he'd thrown did nothing to stop the approach of the creatures and in the end it seemed his warning to Harry was all for nothing. He wasn't sure what to expect when the thing took hold of his ankle. Would it tear him to shreds and devour him like the oni in the game? Maybe it was all just a game, just... a different storyline to this one. He couldn't imagine what kind of sick people would enjoy playing a game like this, but the possibility existed.

He lost his balance and leaned heavily on the counter as the thing grabbed him. He knew he should run, but why bother? None of it mattered. He was never getting out of this place. Never going to find the others or find a way to save Ashura and bring Fai back. Life had been cruel and unfair to the twins, but there was nothing he could do. Fai would remain trapped under the ice in Celes, while Yuuhi died in this prison and no one would care. No one would miss them. People would probably celebrate. The twins only brought misfortune...

He felt himself getting shoved roughly into the hallway. It was by some strange luck alone that the drawstring to the pants and all the things he'd collected was still tied about his wrist. He wouldn't have cared to bring it along. Something had taken that emotion right out of him and left him empty and hollow inside. He'd always hidden a bit of darkness within, but now there was no humor to hide behind. Yuuhi stumbled to the ground and stayed there, sitting and staring lifelessly in front of him like a broken doll.

Someone had rescued him. Why? Didn't the professor know it was better if he didn't? Yuuhi would only bring more misfortune to them. It was their fault Valeria had fallen into ruin and his own fault that the last one who'd saved him, King Ashura had gone mad and turned into a terrible monster. It would be the same no matter where he ran.

Yuuhi said nothing, only sat quietly, alone with his thoughts.

Harry hadn't really known what was happening to him. He was attacked and then there was nothing...

Snape had rescued him, but after making out of the room there was no sense of overwhelming relieve for having still been alive. He felt cold, at least emotionally. This wasn't like the dementors at all. A dementor made you feel a lot. He felt nothing, cared about nothing. He was empty.

He was silent and unmoving. It didn't matter where they went or what they did. It didn't matter that his pockets were filled with Muggle medicine or that Snape was alive on the ground. He looked at his professor with a blank expression, ignoring the pain from where the monster had attacked him.

Riza didn't have much time to think. There wasn't even time enough to blame herself for not realizing what had happened.

The professor collapsed after he had used the bit of wood he was holding to do something, and from her experience with the colonel's alchemy, she could only guess it was from exhaustion. But Harry and Fai, there was something more wrong with them, though they weren't bleeding, and they weren't afraid.

She'd almost have preferred that they were. The blank looks on their faces nearly terrified her.

And she could only guess that those strange shadows were the reason. Shining her flashlight into the darkness of the small medicine room behind them, she reached to pull the door shut. It was broken, but it stayed shut. And yet she couldn't count on that stopping anything.

And she couldn't help them all, at least, not immediately.

It wasn't two seconds after the professor's plea before she pulled his flashlight off his clothes and turned it on, resting it on her sweater with the medicine, used only now to keep the shining light trained on him in a hopeful but ignorant attempt to keep those things from him until she could return. Her radio she also left in favor of grabbing Fai and pulling him upright.

But neither he nor Harry seemed to want to leave.

Fine. Riza didn't need a gun to be forceful.

She linked her other arm tightly around Harry's so that she could keep her flashlight, feeling that it was as much a source of protection now as of light.

"We're leaving. Now."

She couldn't inspire their movement, but she could at least declare it. Pulling them behind her, and only hoping they stayed on their feet, she all but dragged them with her to the stairs.

One step into the stairwell they'd used to come up, however, and Riza knew they couldn't use it. When she could see beyond the tousle between patients, she caught sight of creatures that glowed faintly. There were flashes of claws.

Cursing, Riza let that door close and pulled the two boys down the next hall. There were people here, but she barely saw them past the fact that they were only patients.

[ heading here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/229036.html) . ]

Severus groaned faintly and blinked his eyes open just in time to see Hawkeye disappear around a corner with Fai and Harry. At least his patronus had worked in giving them time to escape. He knew he had to move, had to get to Lily's son and protect him. Had to...do something. The exhaustion he felt was almost more than what he faced after a particularly challenging Death Eater revel. And it was physical, instead of emotional.

Clutching his wand - Harry didn't have a wand - he fumbled for the light shining in his eyes. With both hands occupied, Severus pushed himself into a half-leaning position against the wall.

Two breaths. A step, using the wall as support, and keeping the light in a swinging motion so he could see where he stepped. And possibly what monsters might lay ahead. Two more steps. Pause, a few breaths. He hoped he could reach them before they moved on.

He wasn't going to leave Lily's son without magical defense in a place like this.

[back from back from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/229036.html?thread=16909228#t16909228)]

Harry came rushing back as soon as he was in enough of a mind set to do so. He forced himself to remember how much he cared about the man who had taught him Potions for so many years. It was strange considering the positive emotions had just been developed what Harry still thought of as the night before despite how time worked at Landel's. Still, even before that there had been very strong emotions. He had hated the man after all. There was no emptiness when it came to Snape, there never had been.

That and he wasn't running away from someone who seemed injured, that would be entirely un-Gryffindor of him.

"Snape," Harry called as soon as he returned. He quickly moved to help the man who seemed to be having a lot of difficult. "What's wrong? Did they attack you too?"

[ leaving Fai here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/229036.html?thread=16909228#t16947116) . ]

Hurrying back, sure to keep her flashlight on the path before her, she found Harry with the professor. So he was mobile, if just barely.

"Forgive me," she said quietly as she stopped near them, her eyes on the professor. "I didn't know what was wrong with them."

And her mind again repeated that she would have come back, but the excuse was a weak one. In truth, she had merely panicked, and she had no other options if she wanted the two boys clear of whatever had got to them.

Glancing down the hallway, she could make out the shape of her sweater with its cargo still lying by the pharmacy. She ran quickly to it, shining her light there in the hopes of dispelling more of those things. Grabbing it by the collar, she returned to them seconds later.

She no longer acted the leader, however. She felt she'd lost that when she'd lost her grasp of the situation. Besides that, she knew better than to try forcing herself in front of Harry's concern.

Still, she was there to help. Fai might be able to run to where he was going, but she didn't know if Harry was enough to move the professor to safety quickly.

Severus resisted the urge to glare at the woman for bringing Harry back to where those things could still be lurking. Then again, now the boy was here, where he could keep an eye on him, so maybe it wasn't so bad.

Using the hand holding the torch he grabbed Harry's collar and tugged him closer, examining him from head to toe with a deep scowl on his face.

"Foolish, reckless Gryffindor, running back here without knowing what may be lurking!" His voice didn't have near the power it normally did, and he found himself glaring at everything as he was forced to use the boy for support. "At least you did not sustain any lasting injuries from the looks of it."

Severus glanced at Hawkeye. The woman seemed so out of her element, and while his first reaction would have usually been to berate her into snapping out of it, she was not some errant student.

"You did as I requested and took the best course of action for the group," he said gruffly. "Which is more than I can say for most." He had to stop speaking after that. His energy so completely drained from that one semi-powerful spell.

Harry supported Snape as much as the older wizard would let him.

"No way I was leaving you here, without knowing what was lurking," the green-eyed young man retorted, using some of Snape's words back at him. He watched Snape as much as he could considering how close they were. He wasn't going to lose Severus again! Not now that he knew everything the man had done to protect him.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked as his Professor fell in exhausted silence. "You're acting like that spell took a lot out of you, but it wasn't even a complete doe." He hadn't really been emotionally aware at the time, but he had known that Snape cast the Patronus charm and what had come out hadn't been a complete shape at all. He frowned, not even thinking about the fact that he had just blatantly shared with Snape the fact that he knew what the Slytherin's Patronus was.

Harry ignored Riza for now, not out of rudeness but because he was too worried about Severus to think of much else. The emotion was flooding him even more powerfully than he would have expected it, as if it wanted to make up for the moments when Harry had felt nothing at all.

Spell? Doe? Were these magicians, then? Was that a wand he had held?

Riza frowned to herself. She didn't particularly believe in magic, but he'd definitely made something happen with that wand. Why couldn't she have her weapon of choice with her?

She sighed quietly, to herself. Even if she'd been allowed the gun, it would need ammunition. That was why even an alchemist couldn't do much for her, not here. But a knife, a sword, anything would be better than just her own body. And even that, as strong and as trained as it was, or had been, couldn't properly rival a man of similar training.

She kept nearby the two though Harry paid her no mind. She was used to such behavior, and didn't take it wrongly. But she could sense that the professor was not pleased. Surely he understood, however. And Harry was still safe.

But what about Fai? Again, she was torn. She trusted Harry, but with the professor so exhausted, Harry would either have to sacrifice himself, or the professor, should anything attack. Fai on the other hand was completely alone, but in this case it might have worked to his advantage. She only hoped that he had run like she had told him, and that he'd taken refuge in the female block if needed, as it was closer. They could exchange the goods tomorrow night, if they even still had them. It was being out among the stranger corridors and rooms that was problematic.

She stayed close, ready to offer support, but despite the man's height, he seemed thin enough that Harry could handle it. It was with the worst case in mind that she remained.

"We should take the far stairwell," she said quietly, with less authority than before. It wasn't so much a lost confidence as a desire not to interfere with the strong bond apparent between the man and the boy. "The one we ascended is no longer passable."

Severus coughed, his hand jerking in surprise at Harry's statement. How did he even know? Unfortunately, now was not the time to be worrying. Or wondering. They needed to catch up with the other young man, get to something resembling safety.

Instead he gave a short explanation.

"Powers are...diminished in this place. A first year spell is difficult to do fully, without exhausting ones energy." He glared at the boy as well as he could while still using Harry for support. "That means don't go running around being foolish, or doing anything else Gryffindorish."

He glanced at Hawkeye. He wanted to say something supportive, but he had never been good at that sort of thing. So instead he gave her nod in response to her information.

[[Stumbling off to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/234153.html)]]

L.A. limped along slowly, one hand firmly around his injured arm, the other holding the flashlight so he could see in front of him. He still had the vague desire to find some answers, as well as Ellis, so he stayed upstairs. However, he didn't know where upstairs the answers could be found. His slow movement through the hallways took on a random, aimlessly wandering nature.

"I remember this way as well," the judge added, nodding with the suggestion. It was only the singular path he could recall - the rest of the second story might as well have been covered with an opaque fog.

Pushing through the doorway, he held it open long enough for the party to follow, before following his light to the next hallway, passing by a railed area where one could look below into the sunroom. There were noises floating to the second story from below, but it was but a black pit in the center of the room. Almost impossible to tell what was actually occuring beneath their feet, if anything.

He stopped at the third hallway, resting beside a door with a rusted lock labled 'Employee Locker Room'. Noah turned to the young boy, pointing down the hallway. "This is it, Lord?"

Celes kept her tongue; she certainly had no idea where the child was leading them and wondered at the many layers of rust on the lock. Certainly, something like this did not... she stopped her line of thought. She didn't belong here, either.

Edgar seemed grim and quiet, did he not trust the young boy and his guardian? She awaited Larsa's direction, tightening her grip upon the torch and looking out for a monster. At least she was increasing her mental map of the horrid place if nothing else.

Larsa mentally picked between the hallway he saw before him and the exact structure of the map he'd drawn earlier, frowning slightly when they didn't seem to match up.

"I do not believe that this is it..." Letting his hands rest upon the rusted lock, he gave a glance over to his left and towards the railing. If he was correct in his assumptions then the area in question would've lied in that direction. And so, without further distractions, Larsa began to lead the group in that direction.

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/241598.html).]

Ed dashed into this new section of hallway and halted immediately. There were sounds of fierce battle, but she quickly realized it was coming from below a nearby railing. She wandered over, having forgotten the race with her new friends, and peered down at the strange thing several people were fighting in what turned out to be the Sun Room. One thing was right... the monsters here were definitely spooky.

The redhead shone her flashlight down at the monster, thinking this would be of great help to those below. Meanwhile her mop was now propped up against the railing but held in place by a foot and an arm since the thing seemed to want to fall over.

Nightshift 27: Second Floor Hallway, Between Railing and SC Final Prep Area

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