damned_institute | Nightshift 29: M31-M40 Hallway

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Nightshift 29: M31-M40 Hallway

Another unexciting dinner led into to another shot at busting out of the institution as Nightshift rolled around. Of course, Jack had other plans to attend to first. He had been rather interested in ~~crashing~~ paying a visit to M98 after the bulletin promised "cigarettes, booze, and sandwiches". The "manflesh" he could do without, but even if he wasn't welcome (last time he checked, he wasn't a hot lady, though the way things were going, who knew what tomorrow held?), he'd strong arm his way in and take what he wanted!

Sliding from his room into the hall with his maps and flashlight, the Fable set out to find his way to the party and may score some liquor and smokes.

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[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/273735.html?view=21146183#t21146183)]

Soubi paused before knocking lightly on the door and opening it. He peered round to Ritsuka, face blank, eye cast down and said, "Your orders?". He didn't step any further into the room.

Dinner had been quiet - disturbingly so since Tamaki hadn't appeared. His roommate's unexplained absence was just another in a string of strange events and it set Ritsuka on edge. What if he had been taken for those sleep trials? Or worse, what if he had been taken away?

With his food finished, Ritsuka emptied the backpack out of the supplies they'd gathered the night before, hiding them away in his desk drawers and stuffing them under his bed. He needed a plan for tonight. He didn't know where Miku and Alfons were, but he wanted to see them. As he emptied out his pockets, he found the cookies and sighed. He needed to know more about Jordan, as well.

Slipping his coat on, he turned as the door opened and saw Soubi hanging outside. Why the hell was he so downcast? Did something happen to him? "Orders? Don't be an idiot - just come in already."

Soubi hesitated before doing as he was told.
He hadn't bought the abandoned back pack. That was silly of him. But then he'd hoped, in a way, that they would finally spend time alone together. Although being torn to bits by animals, as punishment Ritsuka was unwilling to give, was strangely appealing. He'd almost starved himself today as self-punishment, but realised by dinner time that he'd need strength to look after Ritsuka. Life wasn't fair.

Soubi lingered about, inside the room but close to the door still.
He wanted to tell Ritsuka they ought to stay in. He wanted to express his wish that Ritsuka would take it easy, that he show Soubi where he was hurting... But he had to stop demanding so much.
"If-" Soubi paused. He needed the right words. As a Fighter, he should already know them. "You've been injured today," he eventually said, giving up slightly.

Adjusting his coat, Ritsuka didn't look at Soubi at first. He was too busy thinking of what the intercom had said, where the Head Doctor could have gone, and what he was going to do tonight. He couldn't sit around and do nothing, but Soubi's arm was still injured and he couldn't exactly keep putting the man in danger. He had his flashlight, the bag, the cookies, his radio, his camera, pens and journal sitting on the bed, lined up and ready to go. With Tamaki gone, he wondered if he should leave a note...or if the boy was going to show up later. Maybe he was just napping or something or...

Soubi spoke up and Ritsuka stopped brooding to glance over at him. He would never understand why the man always looked so deflated nowadays. He had a feeling that even if he asked, Soubi wouldn't tell him anyway. He looked back down at his supplies and started packing them away in order of their usefulness. He usually disliked talking about what his mother did to him. It wasn't her fault, after all, and he hated it when people pitied him or shunned her for what she couldn't control.

Still... "Yeah, I was," he said, finally, a little quieter than before. "It's nothing though. I'm still standing and it gave me an idea of what to do tonight. I wasn't able to get in contact with Miku or Alfons, so I thought we'd go find our patient files. I want to know more about this boy I'm supposed to be."

Soubi watched Ritsuka, if the boy needed something, Soubi could go alone. But he knew Ritsuka wouldn't allow it, so he kept quiet and still until Ritsuka spoke. It was heartbreaking that a mother would hurt such a beautiful son as Ritsuka. It was unjust. Disgusting. And it wasn't fair that Ritsuka should have to act like an adult by keeping it all inside to protect himself and his mother. Soubi reached out and pulled Ritsuka to him, embracing the boy gently and stroking his back. It would be ok if Ritsuka cried, he had Soubi to be strong for him.

"Jordan won't help you," he said quietly. "You're Ritsuka."
And, in Soubi's opinion, the current Ritsuka was the only truth. There was no old one and if there was, Soubi didn't want him.

He'd just put the journal into the bag when Soubi grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. He fought back instinctively, but as he felt Soubi's arms go around him, comforting him as his mother had never done, he quieted down and hesitantly hugged Soubi back. He wouldn't cry, even if he felt like it. He had told himself he wouldn't cry over what his mother did to him. If he cried, it would mean she was doing something wrong and he didn't want to blame her.

Still, it was nice to have someone hold him when he felt this powerless to help her or himself or Soubi or... anyone really. If that woman really had been his mother as he suspected, then she had been taken like he had and he had to get her back. If she was Jordan's mother and this was just some weird parallel world, then he wanted to find out about her son and how to get him back to her.

"I still want to know," he replied, trying to sound firm even when he didn't have the feeling behind it. "I have to know who this kid is - what his life was like. Just in case..."

He faltered for a moment, then clenched his fists in Soubi's shirt. "Just in case he's real. If we've just switched places and he's here somewhere, I have to get him back to her before she breaks."

It was the same reason he wanted to go home so badly. More than just escaping this place, he wanted to go home and take care of his mother since no one else would. She was so alone. It was painful to think about.

Soubi smiled a little when Ritsuka relaxed and hugged him back. Suddenly the world didn't seem to dark, now that Ritsuka was struggling less. A part of him was vaguely aware how twisted that logic was, but compared to most of his life, it really wasn't that bad.

Soubi knelt down, hands on Ritsuka's shoulders.
"And what if he's somewhere safe?"
Anywhere was safer than Landels, but that wasn't what Soubi was talking about. That woman had no right to call herself a mother. "And who's place have I taken?" No, it made no sense that this Jordan boy existed. The mother was just another of Landel's tricks.

Soubi stood and looked at Tamaki's bed. It was nice and quiet without him here, which only made Soubi wish to stay somewhere quiet with Ritsuka. But certainly not here. The wounded would still come, with or without that idiot to flap about around them.

"If he's anything like me, he wants to be back with her," Ritsuka said, eyes downcast. He didn't sound as sure about that. Ritsuka felt protective of his mother, wanting to save her in an attempt to gain her love in the same way the other Ritsuka had just by existing. If Jordan was different, if he'd run away and Ritsuka had replaced him because he hated his life---

Ritsuka would understand. He didn't like being beaten, he didn't like his curfew or seeing his mother weep for a boy that still existed, so he would understand.

But he wouldn't easily forgive someone who would abandon their family like that. Being left behind was the worst feeling in the world, and anyone selfish enough to escape and leave the ones who needed them in the dark had better have a good reason to do so beyond "I didn't like it there."

Soubi raised a good question though. Who had he replaced? "I don't know. That's why I want to find out." It wasn't as if he thought they were their fake names, but it was possible these people existed and this was just some huge experiment by the twisted head of Landel's. Soubi stood and Ritsuka kept his hold on his shirt for a moment longer before reluctantly letting go. He turned back to the bed and finished packing just as the radio turned on at the top.

Tonight was going to be a bloody one apparently. "I just want to get to the patient files. After that we can do whatever."

Soubi just couldn't understand this loyalty. If it came to it, he'd blame having lost his mother so early on, but he just didn't believe it ought to be this way. If Ritsuka just needed somebody to love and protect him...well, what did he think Soubi was there for?

Didn't like it there?
"I'll always be here for you, if you're willing to ~~use me~~ -let me in."

Soubi wanted to argue that he hadn't replaced anybody, but he was a lie, a fake, a spare. He'd replaced somebody and then that somebody had come back. And, for all he knew, Ritsuka had a Fighter too.

"If there's anybody like me out there, I don't want to know him," he said, haughtily. It might make for a good training, but what if Ritsuka preferred Soubi's double? Or what if the 'other' Soubi was stronger, or Soubi saw his own weaknesses reflected back at him in a mirror image. No, he didn't like the sound of that.

"Do you know where we can find them?"

"Don't promise that," he snapped automatically. No one could always be there. It was impossible and Ritsuka didn't want to believe in impossible things. Inevitably, reality would crash down and he'd just fall harder than before. His tone a little softer, he stared down at the bed and said, "Don't lie to me."

Taking a deep breath, Ritsuka swung the backpack onto his shoulders, wincing when the straps hit the bruises there. He didn't want to be out long tonight, but he was still worried about his missing friends. Turning to look up at Soubi, he frowned. "It's not like you could meet or anything. It'd be a paradox - two of the same people existing in the same place at the same time - and people theorized it might cause the world to end."

At least, that's what he read. It had seemed so unlikely at the time, but now he wasn't so certain. Shaking his head, Ritsuka put a hand to his forehead and thought over the places he'd seen so far and the maps he'd been able to glimpse along the way. "I'm not one hundred percent certain, but I think the patient files are on the first floor. I haven't seen anything like them on the second, and I think they'd be close to where the doctors are - first floor, near the Sun Room. Logically, that's where I would keep things."

"....I never said I promised," Soubi smiled, thinking quickly and quite proud of his bullet dodging.

Soubi twitched a little when Ritsuka winced, but he didn't do anything. He needed to give Ritsuka a chance, but... it was still his duty to protect the boy, so he sat on the bed and looked Ritsuka in the eyes.
"If there's any danger... run back here or to the nearest familiar group. You're already hurt as it is."
He raised an eyebrow at what Ritsuka told him about paradoxes and so on. "Well then, I'm safe for now," he smiled, standing up.

Soubi reached out for Ritsuka's hand and moved towards the door. "Right, we'll try this floor. And, on the way... perhaps you could tell me what that other boy said about his ears?"

Ritsuka glowered and turned away when Soubi pointed out that he hadn't promised. At least he wasn't making anymore empty promises. It was like when he used to say he loved Ritsuka. The boy never believed him because it always sounded so...fake. Lately, however, he wasn't so sure.

"I'm not going to run," he said, stubborn as always and determined to be an adult rather than a useless child. The Institute had taken what was left of his innocence as far as he was concerned - stripped him of his only proof of childhood. He didn't know how or who, but it was gone. He hated that Soubi kept trying to baby him when his injuries were nothing compared to what his mother used to do. Today had been nothing.

"And I already told you, I'm fine. Stop babying me or I'll never learn anything." Ritsuka made sure his exasperation showed through, but let Soubi take his hand as they went for the door. He really had no idea where they were going, but somehow or another they'd find it. If he told Soubi to get the patient files, the man would do anything to get them - Ritsuka just didn't want him to be alone when he did so. "And yeah... I will. First, let's get out of the room before the clinic starts up."

[going here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/277694.html?thread=21471678#t21471678)]

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Nightshift 29: M31-M40 Hallway

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