damned_institute | Day 35: Bus 2

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Day 35: Bus 2

Wally woke as the intercom crackled to life and was surprised to find himself back in his room. The last thing he'd remembered was feeling relieved at finally beating off those dragonfly-lizard things. There'd been that weird intercom message, then... he wasn't quite sure what had happened after that, but he was certain it hadn't involved falling asleep. He'd be half-wondering if he'd dreamed the whole thing if it hadn't been for the nagging ache on his back and ankle from where he'd been bitten. A quick check revealed they'd been bandaged, apparently while he'd slept. He wondered if he had Kal to thank for that. Maybe he'd get the chance to ask later.

He jumped as the door swung open to admit the familiar face of the nurse who'd woken him yesterday. "Up already, are we?" she said cheerfully as she busied herself pulling out clothes. A blue shirt and a pair of jeans were passed to him. Wally blinked, he hadn't been here long, but he'd gotten the impression that the grey-and-smiley-face combo was standard.

"Does this mean I'm being released?" he asked, hope creeping into his voice.

The nurse turned back to him, pity etched on her features. "I'm afraid not, dear." She smiled brightly as she continued, "but today's when all the patients get a special field trip into town! Won't that be a treat!"

Wally stared at the clothes, his mind working away. He'd been trying to get into town and to a phone last night before he'd been attacked. But if they were going in today, this might be the perfect chance for him to contact the Justice League. He smiled warmly and thanked the nurse as she left to allow him to change, then happily allowed himself to be led to one of the buses, picking a seat about halfway down and sliding in to look out the window. It seemed like today was going to be brighter than yesterday, at least in the area of possible phone calls and rescues. About the only dark patch he could see was that the contents of his paper-bag breakfast were going to be nowhere near enough to fill the yawning pit that had taken the place of his stomach, and even that was tolerable when he was positive he wasn't going to be here much longer.

"And you say that time goes rushing by, but it seems so slow to me, and you see a blur around you fly, but it takes too long, it seems so slow to me..." he sung absently.

[Oh Captain, my Captain~]

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Senna woke up refreshed. The sun was streaming in, showing what a beautiful day it was going to be. She sat up and stretched, content.

Again the nurse came to Senna while she was still in bed. She burst into the room carrying a bundle of clothes. "You have a special treat today! We're going into town." Without pause, she thrust the clothes at Senna. "Put these on, and we'll get going." The woman backed out of the room, allowing Senna to change.

She paused for a second in the wake of the nurse's whirlwind, then hopped out of bed and slid the clothes on. The pants were those trendy lounge pants, hot pink in color and covered in hearts. The shirt was just as bad, loose-fitting and bright yellow, with the words 'c'mon get happy' on it. And sandals. Useless, Western, strappy sandals. The nurse came back in as Senna was looking down at the outfit in distaste. She gave the nurse a look. "You and I are going to have to have a serious talk. These are totally not my colors."

The nurse just laughed in response. "These are just like your old clothes, Sarah."

That weird feeling came again. "Sen-na," she repeated, frowning. The memories of Shion's fear from the previous day came back in force. Were they really trying to make you believe you were a different person? Maybe she was a different person; she -had- died, she was pretty sure of that. This still might be her next life, if it was allowed to someone like her.

That didn't seem as plausible as it had yesterday.

At the buses she frowned, still thinking about it. Senna accepted the food the nurse offered, fishing out the granola bar to munch on as she got on a bus. She wasn't really paying attention to her surroundings until she felt something very familiar. "Rukia!" She basically jumped into the seat next to the girl. Her weird thoughts and the Bulletin Board commentary were forgotten as she smiled widely at someone familiar... even if it was only a little.

Rukia was peering into the brown paper bag in her lap when someone plopped down next to her. Her head snapped up, but despite the greeting, the face was not one she recognized.

She studied the other girl for a moment, blinking. "I'm... sorry," she said, "I'm afraid I don't know your name." Maybe this was someone she had talked to on the bulletin board? She had posted a few times the previous day, but she hadn't exactly been in the best state of mind.

Senna frowned, puffing out her cheeks. "I was hoping you'd remember me if you saw me. I'm Senna." She felt ridiculous introducing herself to someone that already knew her. "You really don't remember me?"

It was that that affected Senna the most right now. Not that she died, not that she didn't know if Ichigo was okay, not that she had no idea where she was, but that she had existed, and the only person that could bear witness to that didn't know her. Had she existed like that before?

No, that was stupid. Her hand reached up to her hair ribbon. She had proof of her time spent in the human world. Time with Ichigo, and all the other beautiful things there.

[Sorry for the delay!]

"Oh, from the message board!" Rukia blurted, remembering the strange written exchange. "I'm really sorry I don't remember you, but," she paused, searching for the right words, "it might be that you're from my future. That I haven't met you yet." Hopefully Senna had already heard about the time thing from other patients. Rukia felt that she wasn't very good at explaining it.

Rukia ran a hand through her hair. "When did you get here, anyway? Have you seen anyone else you know?"

...It really seemed like Rukia didn't know her. Senna cast her eyes downward. No one seemed to. This future talk seemed fishy to her. What if when she died as a Shinenju, everyone's memories of her died as well? No, that was just as crazy. She didn't know what was going on. "Huh," she said softly. "Maybe."

"I just got here yesterday, I guess. The lady that came to get me called me Sarah. I keep telling her Senna, but she doesn't listen. And then she said these clothes were like mine but I've never worn things like this. And...." She knew she was rambling but she couldn't help it at this point. She fiddled with her fingers, still looking down. "Anyone else I know? I, ah, don't know that many people. Ichigo, his friends, his family, you, a few other shinigami... I don't know their names."

Senna looked up at Rukia sadly. "I really just know him. And he's not here anymore, someone said."

Rukia looked down, taking the muffin out of her bag and nibbling at it to hide her discomfort. She still wasn't over her doubts about who she was. As long as she was at the Institute they probably wouldn't leave her. The fact that Senna seemed to be admitting similar doubts just didn't sit right with her. If the girl had only been there a day or so, what could have happened to shake her confidence so much?

Swallowing a bite, she smiled cheerfully. "Oh, it's okay. They call me Shiori. It's all just made-up nonsense about our supposed real lives, to confuse us." It was essentially the same explanation she had given to numerous new prisoners, so Rukia delivered the information without any hesitation.

She nodded slightly when Senna looked up. "He was here. He's not now, so we just have to hope that he's back home."

Rukia was saying the same things that Shion had. But neither of them would be able to understand how this wasn't something that Senna could just write off. She didn't have a life before. (Did she? The grave... but before....) This place was giving her more information on a life she may have lived than all of her dismantled memories. It was a place she could exist.

"It's beautiful out," she said as she shifted gears entirely. She smiled as she looked past Rukia out the window. "I don't really mind it here, you know? Maybe there's monsters like people said and maybe they're lying about who we are, but I don't mind it. It's... better than what could be sometimes."

Rukia arched an eyebrow, slightly confused by the abrupt change of topic. "Uh, yeah, it is really nice out."

She just couldn't agree with the sentiment, though. "I, n-- I guess it could be worse. But, I still want to go home."

Senna stretched her arms up a little. She'd probably feel the same if she actually had a place to go to. As it was... "Yeah. So what is this place anyway? Why are we here?"

Why was she here, was the question she really wanted to ask, but she couldn't. Not when Rukia didn't know her, not when Senna didn't know if she was still the Shinenju, just... not now. She wished Ichigo were here. She didn't know how to talk to someone that she'd only seen a few times, and one of those being a pseudo-intergation.

Rukia took another bite of her muffin before answering. "I don't think any of us know. I mean, the nurses and doctors tell us it's a like a hospital for crazy people, and that we've all forgotten who we really are. But at night, well, you've seen what happens, right? Doors unlock, creatures roam around, prisoners get experimented on."

She shook her head. "We can't seem to figure out why they've brought us here, though. A lot of us have been trying to figure it out, or at the very least find a way to escape, but it's hard when people come and go so often." Explaining it like that made Rukia realize how absurd the staffs' claims were. If all of the patients were really crazy, how could they all have the same memories of what happened at night? It just didn't make sense, but she supposed that was the best explanation the staff could come up with.

"Yeah, that's what this other girl told me. Monsters and crazy people and stuff." She gave a nervous laugh. "I slept all last night though, so I'm not too sure on all that." Experiments? Shion hadn't said anything about that. Senna didn't even want to ask.

She listened to Rukia, nodding. "Okay, yeah. But who's the enemy? If we take them down, then the rest should be a breeze." Senna remembered something that Shion wouldn't answer the day before. "Why are we even staying here? We could just leave." She didn't know about everybody else, but at least the Shinigami wouldn't have a hard time leaving. Unless the people in charge were like the Dark Ones. Senna visibly shuddered for a minute. But they were definitely gone.

Then again, so was she.

"It's not that easy," Rukia said. "Martin Landel, the guy that talks through the speakers during the day, is the head doctor. He and another man who's dead now - Landel killed him, I guess - created this place. At least, that's what it seems like to me."

Rukia stared out the window at the approaching town. "People have tried to get to him before, but he's protected by shields or something. A bunch of people tried to attack him in the chapel the day I got here, but they couldn't even touch him. I didn't see it, but some people I know were there." She shrugged, sighing. "As for escape, I think some people were able to get over the walls for the first time a couple nights ago, but they just wound up back here in the morning." The whole situation seemed pretty futile.

"It all sounds like a horror movie...." And crazy. Escaping just to find yourself back where you started? Now that was a nightmare. At least she knew this guy's name now. Martin Landel. Not that she had anything to do with it. She sighed.

But she just didn't get something. Lowering her voice, she asked, "But, why can't the shinigami that are here at least escape? If we use our attacks it should be enough to overpower them?"

"Yeah," Rukia said quietly, "it does."

She turned to look at Senna again, a look of confusion on her face. "Because we're so weak... I mean, we can still fight, but you can't level buildings with regular weapons." She hesitated, her question hanging in the air for a long moment. "Are you saying that you still have your powers?"

"You don't?" Senna asked confused. Why wouldn't she? "Of course I have..." Summoning wind to her was like second nature, but when she tried only a gentle breeze came, not the strong wind she was used to. Frowning, she tried again with the same results.

Okay. Maybe there was just something wrong with that. As stupid as it was at the moment, Senna was becoming increasingly weirded out, and staring at her lap, tried to shift to Shinigami. She had never used a gigai in her life; both bodies were her own and familiar, and neither would feel wrong if trapped in them. That's why she hadn't realized until that moment that she couldn't turn into a Shinigami. And if she couldn't do that... no zanpakuto, no powers. Even her wind attacks were useless as they were. Rukia was right.

She was just a girl, who may or may not still be the Shinenju, who had no fricking idea of what was happening. Senna turned wide eyes to Rukia. "Wh... what's going on?"

Rukia was on the verge of being delighted. Had Senna somehow retained her powers?? If so, then she could--

Rukia's hair fluttered in a slight breeze, tickling her nose. And Senna suddenly seemed very distressed. It was a look Rukia knew well. "It's... It's okay," she said stupidly, trying to comfort the girl. "None of us can do much here. We're hardly stronger than humans. But, it's okay; we'll find some way to escape, you know? We're all working really hard."

She was reminded of yesterday, when she had comforted Shion, except now she was in that position, listening to someone else's hopes that might not be true. She didn't want Rukia to feel bad on her account.

But... how? She would think that she had been given another chance but Rukia made it seem that this was normal for everyone. She didn't understand.... Senna shook her head, clearing the cobwebs out, then nodded at Rukia. "Okay. How are we trying to fix this? What can I do?"

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Day 35: Bus 2

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