damned_institute | Nightshift 30: M81-90 Hallway

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Nightshift 30: M81-90 Hallway

The radio crackled to life, and a strange voice emerged. Archer had been wondering what purpose the radio served. He doubted it was psychological warfare via Enya, but hey, he wouldn't put it past the Institute. Deciding to pocket it, he opened up his closet and geared up. That essentially meant putting on a large gray sweater and overlarge coat. Gray definitely wasn't his color.

Archer was about to leave when he remembered his pillow. It had felt awfully hard. Searching it revealed a durable, black flashlight. He'd probably need this too.

Pausing for a final glance around the room, Archer decided he was ready to leave. He exited his room, ready to see what horrors Landel's had to offer.

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"Thank you." Ken smiled, although the action required some effort. The thought of gathering supplies still troubled him.

Any further worry, however, ceased when the intercom came to life, filling the empty room with laughter. Disturbing laughter. By the time the Head Doctor trailed off into static, a creeping sensation rested on the back of Ken's throat, every hair on his neck stood on its end.

Sadly, the boy was right to react in that way. Although barely anything in the tirade made sense, he understood the basics: someone had died--killed, from the sounds of it. And the good doctor was calling for spectators to the body.

Not the best thing to listen to right now. Ken stared at the direction of the broadcast in shock, before sharply bringing his head down in disgust.

Yukari had opened her mouth to say something more when the static interrupted her, the loud noise rendering the girl speechless. It was hardly calming; if anything, it did the very opposite. It belatedly struck her that was probably the doctor's intention the whole time, but it was hard to feel otherwise.

In all their excitement, she had nearly forgotten all about the first broadcast of the night-- about the man he claimed to kill. She wished she could continue to forget. It was like he was trying to rub the both of them the wrong way, and unfortunately it was working.

All Yukari could do was grit her teeth through out the broadcast, hands gripping tensely at the floor below her. Nobody in their right mind would actually go after somebody's body, would they? That... that was sick, not a single person needed to go looking for it. It wasn't right. Then again, nothing about this place was.

"Bastard," she muttered, just as the voice cut off and the static began to fade into silence once more.

Sick, indeed.

The earlier tune of Taps made perfect sense now. Why else would it have been played except as a tribute? And the boy had never known this "Alec". That lack of knowledge made him feel pretty guilty. One couldn't respect the dead in ignorance.

Ken sighed and gathered his legs and arms toward his torso. All this death... A part of him was tempted to turn in for the night; he was not sure if he was ready to face the Dark Hour with this new twist. It had only been a few days since the full moon, and if others were going to be murdered like Shinjiro...

The hospital's nighttime was quickly proving to be no different from the Dark Hour. Worse, even. There was no Persona for protection.

... Definitely right about rubbing the wrong way.

Beside her, Ken almost looked like he was about to be sick. She was right, he definitely wasn't in any condition to go back out there. It was a bad idea to suggest waiting for midnight, no matter how badly she wanted to hurry up and find a way to escape this place. They could wait for tomorrow, at least the daytime was safer... although not by much, if this earlier morning showed her anything.

That wasn't the point now-- there was no need to complain when someone else was most likely feeling worse off than herself.

With concern, Yukari turned towards Ken. Why did that doctor have to pick out now to ever bring that topic up, if he had to at all? "Ken-kun," she started, but she wasn't sure how to continue for a long moment. "We should call it a night." A pause, though much shorter than her previous one. "You're not..." No, maybe pointing out how unwell he looked was another bad idea. "Never mind, let's stay here."

Several objections sprang to mind. They had to do anything to get out of this place. Yukari couldn't let him slow them down. He was being selfish. The list ran on.

All of them, however, never touched Ken's lips. Instead, he offered an apologetic expression to his teammate. "I'm sorry, Yukari-san," he began, his voice barely audible. He had to admit he needed the downtime. The dizziness managed to pass by now, yes, but it was replaced with an altogether different ailment.

Between the awkward silences, the boy tried to piece together some sort of explanation. Each attempt to voice them, however, failed. Ken simply could not excuse himself. He could not even distract them both. The subject was frankly unavoidable, especially when combined with the dinner conversation (which he remembered at the worst possible moment).

This was bad. At this point, he'd rather face the spider again.

"Stop apologizing." The words escaped her before she could find a more appropriate way to put it, but there was little regret afterwards. "It's not your fault."

Yukari sank some in her spot, resting her shoulders and head against the edge of the bed once more. "I'd rather see you okay than to rush into things because we want it."

Ken nearly apologized again but fortunately caught himself. (Yukari would be annoyed with him if he did.) To his surprise, he didn't mind the actual words. Just being born with a highly rigid superego meant endless guilt for even the most inconsequential.

"Thanks," he said instead. With a slight shift, he brought his chin in between his knees and watched the glow from the flashlight. "Guess I'm not really fine right now."

That, she knew.

What she didn't was how to respond. Yukari wanted to help him, but what did someone say that really helped? She couldn't find anything looking back at her own experiences; nothing except bitterness came out of those when it came to this situation, and it went without saying that was not needed now.

Where was someone that was better at this than she was?

"That's okay," she replied in a softer voice. "I understand." More than he realized, probably.

Ken remained silent. Much like Yukari, he was not sure of what to say. Most people he spoke about death to had no idea what they were talking about. Their consolations had often sounded bland in his ears.

This, however, was not the reason for his loss of words. Yukari was different. In fact, a good number of the SEES members held experiences he could relate to. But death... It simply was a bad foundation for rapport. Every word spoken was pain from both sides. Ken had no desire to bring more into their situation. If they were home, it would be another thing, but here, there were other worries.

A heavy frown tugged at both ends of his lips. This was perhaps a giant lie, but it was something he felt he had to say. "I'll be all right," assured Ken. "I just need some time."

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Nightshift 30: M81-90 Hallway

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