damned_institute | Day 30: Cafeteria, Breakfast

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Day 30: Cafeteria, Breakfast

Hitsugaya woke with a start.

His entire body ached, but the pain was nowhere near as bad as it had been the night before. His injuries had been tended two with clean gauze and bandages, and he found every movement wasn't agony. He wasn't in the best of shape, but thanks to the miracle of landel's strange time distortion, he had mostly recovered from the vile poison without having to waste anyone else's talents.

And in his hand, still...there was the key.

He dressed quickly, sliding the key onto the key ring from his desk drawer and stuck it into his pocket. Whether the key stood to gain them anything or not, it stood as a vital reminder that they could succeed in this place. There was hope, as insignificant as it often seemed. They could beat this place.

That small shred of hope made getting up worth it.

The nurse who escorted him to breakfast was cheerful, and commented idly about how wonderful it was to see young Tommy Winters up and about again after his unfortunate run-in with a bad case of food poisoning. He smirked slightly, knowing that any lies the institute forced into their heads were only that: lies. He wouldn't buy it for a second. And on top of that, the concept of muffins sounded almost appetizing. While he still preferred his authentic Japanese cuisine, the food here was slowly becoming more and more bearable. He would have preferred a warm bowl of sweet nattou over rice over the mufffins, but they would do. The plain yogurt and fruit, on the other hand, was excellent. He piled his plate high with fruit as usual, and got several small bowls of yogurt as well.

Finding the most convenient table to the end of the food line, he took a seat and scanned for the new arrivals. New arrivals meant people who would be lost and confused. Renji did a good job of making a bulliten post last time...he should recommend abarai-fukutaicho do the same again this time.

[Waiting for Angel]

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Sanji had been tempted to pull out a cigarette and smoke it real quick before the nurses came to get him, but he didn't get the chance. It was probably for the best, as he needed to ration them better than that, but this also meant he probably wouldn't get another chance until night came again. That was enough to start him off on not quite the right foot.

Entering the cafeteria and looking for familiar faces, however, made it clear that others were already starting off in far worse moods than he was. There was always such a depressing aura in the morning. Night plans that didn't go through? His group hadn't made it to the basement, not for the first time. Lots of new injured people also.

One face in particular stood out, and Sanji stopped looking for his crew for the moment in order to join the boy. He had only his tray of food, having forgotten to grab a second to share with him. If Allen wanted anything on his tray, though, he was welcome to it. "Oi, kid," he muttered as he sat down. "We need to stop meeting like this."

Allen glanced up as Sanji sat. He didn't feel up to company. He didn't want to talk to anyone, but here it was inevitable. "Good morning Mr. Sanji," he said dully. He saw the silent offer of food, but didn't take him up on it. He'd barely managed to get half through his muffin and wasn't sure he'd finish it.

"How... are you this morning?" he offered, more out of his polite, practiced manners than anything else. He tried unsuccessfully to push last night from his mind.

"Better than you, it looks like," Sanji responded. "What happened last night to leave you in such a mess?" Best to get straight down to it, as he didn't think it could be anything else. Allen probably wouldn't want to talk about it, but if there was any way he could help he wanted to know. He had a certain fondness for the kid now, and he hated seeing him so down.

He went ahead and started on his own breakfast, not liking how slowly Allen was working on his own. Lack of appetite was a good sign of depression, and Sanji didn't like knowing the institute might be breaking someone he knew.

Allen was quiet for a long moment, looking down at his half-eaten food as his shoulders shook slightly. He moved his left hand to shade his eyes, already red from crying last night and filling slowly with more tears. His right arm was still stiff and difficult to move.

"I lost a friend... last night," he tried to keep his voice steady, but he couldn't help the emotion that showed through. To think that he'd never see Komui again... even if the man had a wicked sense of humor, he wouldn't wish ill upon him. Not like that.

Sanji didn't know what to say. Certainly with all the crazy things that showed up here at night there were bound to be a few casualties, but he hadn't actually heard of any until now. That had to be terrible, a boy like this...

He wasn't exactly the best when it came to comforting, either, but he reached one arm over and gave Allen a couple pats on the back before laying it back in his lap. "Someone you were close to, huh?" he asked, gathering this much from the boy's behavior.

"We'll have to concentrate more than ever on getting out of here, then. For their sake." They couldn't let this hellhole keep claiming victims, after all.

"I promised... I'd keep him safe," he wiped at his eyes, salty tears spilling from the right while a black, inky liquid came from the glowing red and black of his left eye. He'd promised Rinali too, that he wouldn't leave her side. Now though, now things were different. Surely he would never be forgiven for such a terrible crime. "I couldn't..."

"Stop that," Sanji growled lowly. "Stop that right now. There's nothing wrong with crying for those you've lost, but this place" he gave a haphazard gesture at the Institute in general "isn't natural. Things happen here that I've never seen, that no one can help." He was reminded all at once of his drugging the night before last and subsequent swift defeat by an enemy he never even got to see. "There are creatures here that most of us are unprepared to meet, and we just have to prepare the best we can."

He reached forward to grab the front of Allen's shirt and pull him closer. "If you let this place beat you like this then you're just letting your friends down more. If you couldn't protect him then you're going to have to work harder to protect the others you care for."

He knew Sanji was only trying to help. He knew that... if things hadn't turned out the way they had, he might have accepted it. But it wasn't just that he couldn't protect Komui. "You don't understand!" he shouted, pushing Sanji away and pushing himself from the table in one movement.

His hands came down hard on the table, rattling the dishes, but he didn't care. "It wasn't... that I just couldn't protect him," he said firmly, his eyes grown cold. "I killed him."

The chef sat back, surprised by the boy's admission. For someone this innocent seeming to have killed someone close to them... it was a terrible thing. There must have been a reason, such as the Institute having control over one of them, like Usopp said they'd done to Luffy...

He hated this place more and more every day.

"Were either of you brainwashed?" he asked far more gently. "Sit back down. Tell me what happened."

"No!" he denied it loudly, then, looking down, said it softer, once again. "No... it wasn't like that." He hugged his arms tightly to himself, stepping back. He didn't want to talk about this, he didn't want to face it, didn't want to do anything right now but run away.

"I have to go," he told the other man, shaking his head slowly. "I'm sorry."

"Allen." The name was said forcefully, and Sanji grabbed one of the boy's biceps, pulling him back with a jerk. "Don't you go walking away from me like a little girl that's just been dumped. I said sit back down!"

He stood as well, trying to get a better grip on the shorter teen.

Why did Sanji have to make this so difficult?! It wasn't... It wasn't even any of his business! What did it even matter?! "N-no! Let go! Let me go!" his voice became louder with each word as he tugged against Sanji's grip. If he'd had more strength, he'd have been able to pull away easily. But after last night, it felt like there was nothing left. Still, he tried to get away, nearly tripping over his own feet.

Sanji had certain teachings he followed, many gained from the man who'd given his leg so the blond could stay alive. One of them involved using only his legs for combat and saving his hands for the more important task of cooking.

But he wasn't going to attack this boy. His kicks would do too much damage, and he didn't have the option of a tall hat for convenient head-cracking action either. No, sometimes there was only one thing that really got a point across. It was a rare action, one the young exorcist wouldn't even realize the significance of. Perhaps it was odd, using such a method on someone the chef had known for such a very short time, but he didn't want this place to win. Not against someone he felt could be so much stronger than this.

Pulling Allen closer again, he drew back a hand and slapped the boy across the face as hard as he could.

Allen stumbled backward, landing on his rear on the cold tile with a thud. His eyes were surprised at first, then hurt as his hand went automatically to the site of the injury. It wasn't that he hadn't been hit before; his body was accustomed to experiencing pain on a fairly regular basis. But still it shook him, he knew Sanji was only trying to help and Allen was making things worse.

He shook his head from where he sat in a heap on the ground. "I don't... expect to be forgiven, but," he took a steadying breath, "I won't stop trying to protect them."

"Sit down," Sanji repeated, though Allen was technically sitting on the floor already, returning to his seat himself. "I've got no clue what happened and you don't seem willing to tell me anything. That's okay. I get that. We're not all that close."

He crossed both arms over his chest, watching the boy carefully. "I don't know anything about your friend, either. But you should probably ask yourself what he would have wanted."

Allen obeyed, slowly and automatically. He was still a little stung by Sanji's words as well as the physical blow, but he did as he was told.

"He... he would want someone to protect his sister... and... rescue the others, keep them from... from sharing the same fate." He might have felt empty, but he meant every word. Komui would want someone to watch over Rinali in his stead, of course, and... if it was true that Kanda and Ravi had become terrible monsters just like he had, then... then maybe they'd be able to save them where they'd failed with Komui.

Allen glanced over his shoulder, eyes scanning the cafeteria until they found Rinali. She was... sobbing into Ravi's shirt. "Ravi..." he said quietly, surprise evident in his voice. Ravi was ok! He was whole and fine and not some twisted monster! Relieved as he was to see his friend, he wasn't sure he dared go over to speak with him. Not now. Rinali needed comfort and Ravi could provide that much better than he could right now.

"Ravi..?" Sanji tried to follow Allen's gaze, but couldn't quite tell who he was looking at through the crowd. "Is that another friend of yours?" Perhaps someone else that had arrived recently? Supposedly there were new patients. He'd have to keep an eye out for the remaining members of his crew if that was the case.

He was glad that Allen hadn't tried to run off again. It was still depressing to see the kid looking this way, and he'd hoped for a little more biting back just to see some spirit, but at least he was thinking. With luck he could get back up on his feet with a little more pushing.

"I don't... understand. Komui said he'd been turned... into a monster." It wasn't that he wished ill on his friend, but why would Komui have lied about that? What benefit was there in doing so? He hadn't seen Kanda yet, but maybe... maybe he was ok too?

He rubbed at his temples, the worried look never leaving his face, "it doesn't make any sense."

It didn't help that Allen still hadn't explained anything about the situation to him. He didn't know what to think about the names given. Was Komui another friend? An enemy? The one he'd killed?

"This place messes with people's heads," was all he could point out. "Are you sure everything you saw was real? Or that things, people, were what and who they said they were?" Gin, or Gary as he'd called himself, had seemed real enough. The cigarettes he left for Sanji were certainly real. But he hadn't acted anything like the real Gin. He didn't like having to question what was real and what wasn't, and maybe he was just making things more confusing, but...

Sanji's comment surprised him a little, enough that he looked up from the table and met the other man's eyes for a moment, perhaps trying to tell for himself if the other was telling the truth. "That's... what someone else said too."

He sighed, steadying himself before he tried to explain. "Last night... we went upstairs, we were trying to map out some of the rooms. Rinali's brother, Komui, had come by earlier that day, as a... a visitor," he told Sanji, trying to put the pieces together himself. He didn't mention how hard it had been to convince Rinali that she wasn't someone else, that he really existed and wasn't just some figment of her imagination. "But when we were exploring we found what'd... happened to him."

Allen's hands were folded tightly in his lap. "They'd done some kind of... experiments. Replaced his limbs with... with all kinds of strange things. We could barely recognize him he'd been beaten so badly on top of that. He just wanted our help." he squeezed his eyes shut, but couldn't stop tears from forming again. "He... he attacked Rinali once, but I don't think it was his fault. They... they did something to him. So... I was... supposed to watch him while Rinali went to get a healer."

He shook his head, "I don't know what happened. As soon as she left... it's like he... went berserk." Allen pulled down the collar of his shirt to show where he'd been bandaged. "He bit my shoulder, and... I couldn't breathe. I could hardly move..." His voice got quieter, the words slower, more thoughtful. "I... I blacked out after that. I don't know what happened, but... there were pieces... everywhere. They said... it looks like claw marks... I didn't... I wanted to save him! I promised I would! I didn't want to... to hurt anyone!"

Sanji's hands clenched in his lap, his expression becoming angrier the more Allen explained. Worst case scenario was that the monster had actually been their friend, twisted by the Institute. At best he'd just been some creature made to look like him. But Usopp had mentioned experimentations...

"I had a visitor also," the chef finally said. "He looked like an old friend, but used a different name and addressed me by the same one the nurses used. He acted the same as the nurses too, at least when it came to me being some sort of patient. I don't know if it was really him, but I can only hope it wasn't." He shook his head. "I didn't see anything that resembled him last night."

Facing Allen again, he ran a hand through his hair and sighed. No one should have to go through anything like this. "I've only been here a couple days. You should see if... if similar things have happened to anyone else."

"I pray then," Allen said sympathetically, "that he has not suffered the same fate." Rinali had said that too, that Komui tried to convince her she was someone else. If they could brainwash him to do something like that, couldn't they just as easily brainwash him to attack his own friends?

Allen slowly shook his head, "I don't know if I've got enough hope left. It would... It would certainly be nice... if... if it didn't really happen... but..." He looked down at his traitorous left hand. It had moved before without his consent. When it had destroyed Mana, and again when it went after Eliade. In the China branch it'd almost felt like it was controlling him, not the other way 'round. Maybe... maybe his friends were in more danger than he thought.

"That's what this place, the people of this place, would want," Sanji interjected, not liking the boy's tone. "They'd want you to lose all hope. If you can't keep yourself motivated by thinking there's a chance it wasn't your friend you killed, at least have the strength to be prepared to take out the ones really responsible. None of this is your doing!"

He wanted to shake the kid, but he didn't. He'd already done enough physical abuse for the morning. Allen was fragile right now. "I'm not one to try and make people shift blame, but you're kind-hearted enough that it's hurting you deeply to think there was something you might have been able to change. I don't think there was."

Allen wasn't sure he had the strength or hope for either of those, but he nodded slowly for Sanji's sake. His body language might say he agreed, but his eyes told a different story. He couldn't let what had happened to Komui happen to anyone else. And even if the people here were bad, terrible people... he wasn't sure he'd be able to actually kill them. It was just like with Rhode. He couldn't stand her, hated the things she did to people, but he couldn't bring himself to do something so terrible as to kill her either.

He knew Sanji had a point, that he shouldn't dwell on the past. But Komui's death was still such a fresh and vivid memory... it was difficult to forget. It might come, in time, though he had his doubts. It wasn't until he heard a noisy clatter across the room that he looked up again. Fights were beginning with the nurses and orderlies all over the room. It looked like some of the big bar brawls he'd seen while traveling with his master(though Cross was usually the one to incite them in the first place if only so he could skip out on his bill). "What's... going on?"

Sanji frowned and stood, trying to see what was going on over the crowd. Why the sudden outbreak? People were fighting the orderlies. And not just the orderlies! The nurses too! That was something Sanji wouldn't tolerate. Attacking orderlies was one thing, but striking a woman was unforgivable. He needed to get some of them out of the way before they were hurt!

"A mess, that's what," the chef answered in response to Allen's question. "You feel like relieving some stress? Cause now might be the time."

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