Nightshift 28: East Wing, South Hall 1-A

[broken-exorcist.livejournal.com]

[[from here]]

With the thought of food fresh in his mind, Allen found himself hurrying along, his mood just a little bit brighter. It seemed like his stomach was always rumbling in this place.  While the dinner had been sufficient, he was already hungry again after using so much of his strength just to invoke the Innocence back on the bus. 

He had to be careful though, his eyes were still adjusting to the darkness.  Usually the dorm rooms and hallways were safe, but then, usually there weren't giant automobiles and trips into town that ended with everyone being attacked by transforming nurses.  He wasn't going to take any chances if he didn't have to.

Comments

[an-empty-child.livejournal.com]

"Mummy?" The Child didn't see them right away, and so his voice echoed over the intercom again the first time he spoke. When he found the people he'd sensed, though, he hurried over to them--in the darkness, this meant he seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Are you my mummy?" he asked, looking up at them. Between the mask and his age, it was hard to tell at a glance if he was even human, let alone what gender he was.

[nobleman]

Guy might have responded to Heiji's comment, but he had also noticed something up ahead. When the voice cut in and even echoed on a nearby intercom, Guy started to get the feeling that something was wrong. He wasn't sure what, but he didn't feel particularly safe. Not that he ever did in Landel's, but he wasn't one to ignore instinct.

He watched as the child stepped forward, peering down at him dubiously. Were there actually any patients here that were that young? And what was the kid wearing?

"We aren't," he responded a little awkwardly. What kind of question was that? He sent Heiji a frown, wondering if the other man felt as weird about this as he did.

[osakapwnzu.livejournal.com]

Heiji cast a confused, sideways glance at Guy. What the heck...?

"No, kid," he gave a small, nervous laugh. "We're both dudes, so there's no way in hell either of us is yer mom. Unless you're hiding somethin' from me, Guy." He laughed over his shoulder.

"Maybe if y'took that mask off, you could see that we're both guys," Heiji said. "And you wouldn't give so many people such a scare. Why don't you go back t'yer room? It's not safe to be wandering around."

He ruffled the boy's hair.

[an-empty-child.livejournal.com]

As soon as Heiji touched the Child, the nanites activated; several of his ribs cracked and there was the feeling of being hit hard in the head. Less noticeable was the y-shaped scratch being etched onto the back of one hand--identical to the Child's.

At the same time, though, he felt flashes of heat on the side of his head and along the claw marks on his arm; those healed as though they had never been.

The Child just stood there and watched the men; the mask gave the illusion that he didn't blink, and he didn't react to Heiji's touch or either of their words. "I want my mummy," he said. This time, at least, the words didn't echo over the intercom. "Where's my mummy?"

[nobleman]

"Not at all," Guy said with a strained chuckle. The idea of him being female more or less personified his worst nightmare, actually. There was no point in getting into that at the moment, though, especially with a potentially dangerous kid to deal with.

When Heiji reached out to touch the kid, Guy tensed. He would have tried to stop the other patient if he'd had a chance, but the damage was done. And there was damage, if the way Heiji cried out was any indication.

Then Heiji started to collapse and Guy lunged forward to grab for him - he wasn't sure what was wrong, but it couldn't be good. Guy stared at the kid, teeth grit. "What did you do?"

It was probably pointless to try and question the thing, and he started looking for escape routes.

[osakapwnzu.livejournal.com]

Heiji wasn't exactly sure what had just happened. First, he was patting the kid's head, and suddenly everything fucking hurt. It felt as though he'd been hit over the head with a steel two-by-four.

"AAAAGGGHHH!" Heiji coughed a mouthful of blood onto the floor. His eyes refused to focus, his ears were ringing, he was falling.

Guy caught him before he could faceplant into the floor, which he was grateful for. But he couldn't move. The pain was way too much for his system to handle both it and moving.

"Ribs... broken," he coughed, "Need to go... right," Another cough, "Now...!"

[an-empty-child.livejournal.com]

The Child tilted his head slightly, watching them; he didn't move, even when Heiji nearly collapsed at his feet.

"Mummy?" he finally said again.

[nobleman]

It was only after he had grabbed for Heiji that Guy noticed the blood on the floor - and he knew it could only have come from one place. The other's explanation of his ribs being broken put the pieces together, but he still didn't know how it had happened.

That wasn't something to question now, though. This monster wasn't actively attacking them, so the blond did what he could to pull Heiji with him and try to skirt around the thing. All he could do was hope that it wouldn't follow them and he could get the other patient to a bed.

[osakapwnzu.livejournal.com]

"K-keep going..." Heiji hissed, "If it gets you too, we're both royally fucked...!"

The detective did as much as he could to help Guy move him, but his legs were refusing to follow his lead. His brain was still on the fritz from the previous... strike? No, nothing had hit him. He was going to feel this in the morning, no doubt.

[an-empty-child.livejournal.com]

The Child kept watching them for a moment, and then followed. He didn't try to touch them, but he didn't seem to want to just leave, either.

[nobleman]

Guy didn't need to be told twice, or at all, really. While this didn't classify as a life or death situation, Heiji had still been seriously hurt somehow and Guy didn't want to stay anywhere near something that could do that sort of damage.

The child was following them, but Guy had faith that he could move faster than it. Even though he was dragging someone else with him, they weren't all that far from the rooms, which meant it wouldn't be long before they reached safety.

He didn't even have to worry that far, however, since without warning everything went black; morning had come.