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

[idolism]

_{[from over here]}

The area he had traversed only yesterday was empty, devoid of the wicked phantom and her godawful touch. Still, Aidou couldn't help but to be tense when passing through - he kept watching the stairs and the people behind him more than anything else. Better sense told him she was no longer there, but the part of him that was just about to snap from the violation couldn't calm itself.

Hesitation had never suited him, and it only made him angry. Cold, tired, and angry.

At the faint red glow that illuminated the open square over top of the Sun Room, the vampire looked up through one of the windows. And right into the eye of the moon, which was red and bloody.

"A sanguine moon that holds no delight for creatures of the light."

His mouth curved into a dark sneer. It didn't portend good fortune for denizens of the night, either.

Comments

[gun-fire.livejournal.com]

[ 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.

[truthisntsimple.livejournal.com]

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.

[undesirableone.livejournal.com]

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.

[gun-fire.livejournal.com]

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."

[truthisntsimple.livejournal.com]

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)]]