damned_institute | Nightshift 33: The Labyrinth

It was starting to become easier to see, but all the straining that Wolfram had done so far in his attempts had made the irritation in his eyes feeling worse. Holding on to Aidou's shoulder, he closed them again, hopefully using their temporary break from danger to clear his vision the rest of the way, should something lie in wait up ahead for them. And with the way the last two nights had been, he wouldn't be too surprised.

The concept of the doors was indeed strange. But what Aidou said made sense to him. "So it's like... some sort of spell on the doors?" He didn't know all of the capabilities of human magic, considering that he could barely touch the stuff normally, but it definitely seemed possible, especially in a place where monsters were real.

Either way, they'd have to keep moving forward.

Ah, so they recognized now that he was an important member of the team, huh? Jack held his cigarette in his fingers and mused. Well, now that his worth had gone up, he was going to see that things went his way. "Ah, let's take a rest. I want to enjoy this," He placed the cigarette between his lips once again and smirked.

There was no reason he couldn't walk and smoke; he didn't feel like it.

“Or take a break from your wounds,” Aidou countered blandly, not giving any more wriggle room for that growing smugness he saw. Though Aidou thought it didn’t so much grow as stay at a constant. It seemed Jack was one of those who conveniently forgot old favours--just because Aidou’s motives had been insincere didn’t mean he hadn’t been overly helpful.

But Jack was only representative of half of his company. The other half was currently clinging to him once more, making Wolfram the bigger concern.

Aidou pulled his head back and dipped it slightly, considering Wolfram‘s eyes with an expression edging into suspicion. “Maybe. Probably just another game.” As the vampire had already learned, Wolfram seemed to enjoy having at least one body part touching him at all times. Such habits validated his next question: “Isn’t that getting better yet?”

Stronger acid would have been a bigger problem, but it had been mild, and Wolfram had washed it out of his face fairly quickly.

"...Almost," Wolfram finally admitted after a silent pause, looking around again to get another test on his vision. "It really stings, but I can see shapes again. Probably couldn't read anything yet."

He allowed his hand to drop, and letting his eyelids slide shut again he leaned against the cold wall, trying not to start shivering. As long as he wasn't the one making the suggestion, he would take the break to rest a little more, even if it meant dealing with the smoke. Although considering everything, and despite his appearance, he was very much wide awake, nerves still on fire and half expecting another... creature-thing like what was in the kitchen to come following after them. He tried his best not to think too hard on it, afraid that the fear would be too strong if he did.

"I haven't seen any prizes yet down here." ...Okay, that probably sounded stupid, considering he had yet to see much at all besides this hallway. But he didn't try and correct himself.

"I haven't seen any prizes yet down here."

Jack perked up. Excellent point. "Yeah, what gives?" He turned an accusing glare at Aidou, but leaned against the wall to continue his smoking. It was going to take more than a simple 'I must have been mistaken--oops!' to keep Jack from delivering a 'Oh, I'm sorry, this is for being a cryptic bastard' blow to the back of Aidou's skull.

Jack smirked slightly at the thought.

"You didn't lie to me, did you?"

Aidou hadn’t looked down on the suggestion to take a short rest simply because he agreed. The only thing stopping him from daydreaming about his bed and lavender-scented linens was the determination to finish what he’d damned well started. Resting would have been right up Aidou’s alley at that point.

But then they both had to get on his case! (Jack more than Wolfram, anyway.)

His expression returned to being rather flat, even as he put his hands on his hips and ‘hmphed’. Now free of Wolfram, the vampire turned on his heel and stalked ahead a bit, choosing to take stock of where they’d ended up rather than give Jack any more excuse to complain unnecessarily.

“How many times are you going to be make me repeat myself? I said I didn’t know.” He looked over his shoulder, pointing down the hall. “You can’t expect any rewards for only going halfway, and as you can see, we haven’t gotten anywhere yet. Well, Wolfram can’t see, so he shouldn’t be talking at all.”

He hadn't meant for the comment to turn into a bad case in point; he'd simply made an observation. So why did Aidou's comment make him sting so much? It was like the other boy knew exactly what to say to make him feel that much worse about what had already happened. As if he'd asked to be blinded. How would he have known?

Frown deepening, he straightened up and took a couple steps down the hallway as well, only staying out of touching distance from the other blond in front.

"I don't really care if there's a prize or not," he finally sighed, wrung out and not in the mood to argue. "I just want to get through wherever this is and get back out again without running into that.... thing again."

"You're right," Jack glowered, "But I also don't remember signing up for "the worst monsters at every turn" wagon either!" He folded his arms. "In my experience, it's when you kill the monsters that the "prizes" appear. I don't get the impression we can kill either of the things we've encountered and they can only get worse."

Was he supposed to feel guilt over “leading” them through two guarded areas? Please. They were both deluded if that was the case. Aidou had had enough of Landel’s freak shows getting more attention than they deserved. So Wolfram and Jack had been injured--either they accepted it and moved on or quit. Though he would never say as much out loud, that phantom witch and the other creatures who manipulated the emotions over the body were more deserving of people’s fear and hesitation then things like the creature in the kitchen.

And Jack was right, there probably would be more threats waiting in this area.

Aidou frowned slightly. Whether or not three was supposed to be a special number, it looked like Jack was going to quit. For the best. If he was expecting some kind of reassurance, it wasn’t coming. “Oh, is that how you got your key, then--dropped by a corpse, was it?”

As for the basement, he didn’t know what lay ahead, but he’d go ahead alone. The fact that the door was now locked behind them only made moving on that much more logical.

Wolfram sighed softly, shaking his head at both of them. He really wasn't in the mood for this, and 'John' and Aidou arguing wasn't helping. He fully intended to just stay out of it.

"Do you know what that key is for?" he finally asked, not really caring about the answer. He started to follow along the wall, using his hand as a guide to stay straight on the path and ignoring the other two. It was hard to keep from feeling frustrated, but he wasn't about to just sit there for the rest of the night after getting this far.

"'course I know," The Fable responded without a pause. "I've been there too."

He didn't elaborate; the questions wasn't where, just if he knew. He grinned and glanced to Aidou. "It's far less monster-riddled. I don't think they can ever get to it."

He sighed. "Yes sir, it's looking a lot better than this place right now..."

The noble had the strongest urge to cuff Wolfram, temporary cripple or not. If anyone had the right to be judgmental, it was him.

But then there was Jack.

So the man did know where his key led, and was sitting on the information like it was a golden egg. And Aidou didn't need to be a genius to tell that Jack had no intention of elaborating on the details without a reason. It sucked when undeserving fools came across discoveries that Aidou would have to pay to share. Well, whatever, he wasn't going to play games to find out. He'd do just about anything to learn more about what could have happened to Akatsuki, and the rest of his pressing questions, but the vampire knew better than to waste his time on a dead end. Bribing Jack was out of the question, and that left the easier, more roundabout methods like stealing from him, killing him, or working around him.

Aidou ignored the baiting. "If you're only going to goad, I'm not going to listen. And I'm done 'resting'." Waving his hand in a farewell gesture, he linked his hands behind his head and followed in Wolfram's wake, quickly outpacing the other blond. "Stay here if you like."

Wolfram listened to their conversation, thoughts lost in his own head as he considered their situation. There was a potential for something down here, and they couldn't turn around. And with his vision, he'd been mostly useless in the last encounter, which he didn't want to happen again. He was a fighter, and he could deal with this, dang it, crazy monsters or otherwise.

Eyes opened, he reached into his pillowcase and dug out the flashlight that he'd stashed it there before they'd gone into the kitchen. And with the extra light, he realized that he could actually almost see normally again. Now if only he could make his eyes stop itching...

"Is it just me, or is there mist floating around?" he asked softly, wondering how much was an after effect of being blinded and how much was actually there.

Oh-ho! If that's how Aidou wanted to play...

"I think I would like that." Let's see you open any doors now. He took a final drag on his cigarette and stubbed it out, making no indication that he was going anywhere.

Wolfram's comment confused him. "Mist? The hell are you talking about, Kid?"

The idea that Aidou had lucked out, and at the same time got stuck with this poor group unity, made him resent these games all the more. After all, it was one thing for a proud creature to accept that he needed help from others not of his kind, but having to lower himself any more than that was just unnecessary. Maybe he could get away with finding some answers under his own power.

Or at the very least, when he came back down here, he could handpick some meek and easily browbeat people to come with him. Who could defend themselves. A rare combination, he supposed.

“There is.” He waved his hand in front of him, disturbing the light mist around him. It looked like it got thicker the farther down the hall he went. “It’s not all that bad, but it’s making visibility poor,” he continued, and the stone corridors only made conversations over distances become a bit garbled.

Aidou kept walking, moving outside the flashlight’s range, to the point where he could see where the lip of the left wall dropped off ahead of them. An open space. He blinked, looking up to the stone ceiling and the walls that reached all the way to its height. Because of the stone, the temperature was cool, which made it odd for there to be natural mist. That was great. Probably a trap or something.

If he hadn’t tired himself out saving the ungrateful man behind him, he would’ve manipulated the mist away.

Edited 2008-07-18 18:07 (UTC)

Keeping his flashlight aimed almost straight at the floor, Wolfram moved on quietly, thankful that he wasn't just imagining the dampness that was around them. But suddenly he realized that Aidou was starting to get farther up ahead, and he didn't want to be left alone in these narrow corridors. One last look back at 'John' to see if he was coming or not, he increased his pace, confidence growing on his vision with every step as he worked on catching up.

[Jack will be waitin' right there, probably smoking another cigarette, until y'all come back for him or he gets bored. :P Go on without me for the time being and he'll probably catch up with you in a little bit]

Even with shoes and a stone floor, the vampire’s footsteps were near silent as he moved. Harder to concentrate when he was so tired, but the cool temperature kept him alert--he could perhaps call on his ice once more, depending on the necessity. The mist would be helpful for that.

He also couldn’t deny that somehow, for whatever reason, he was reminded of Hiou Shizuka and the day they’d found her crystal prison.

So cold and foreboding, that place. Something it shared with this one.

Aidou came to the mouth of the hall and stopped to make what he was seeing into some kind of sense. The wall nearest him was circular and curved away out of sight, drawing the odd architecture and branching corridors into stark focus. It was like… well, it seemed more than ’like’ at this point. A confused jumble of stone hallways. A maze.

One set of light footsteps told him Wolfram was following, and without looking behind him, he said lowly, “Maybe we should take separate paths.” Speaking softly came more from instinct rather than conscious caution.

He was surprised when their third member didn't tag along. But then again, he hadn't really seemed to be part of their group so much as going in the same direction with his own agenda, so Wolfram wasn't going to argue over it.

However, he had no plans on allowing Aidou to split them up even further. Just because he could see again didn't mean that he trusted himself to be able to fight completely on his own, should he not be able to escape. A maze? If it was, it was nothing like the one in the garden back at home that he played in as a child, of that he was certain.

"And leave the monsters to corner us separately when we don't know where they lead? No thanks. I'm following you." It was a simple matter of fact, and not a suggestion.

At the very least, he hadn't called on any flame yet tonight, and he was fairly certain that he had the energy to do so at least once if needed. But he wasn't going to push his luck, as bad as it had been.

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