damned_institute | Nightshift 35: Stairwell by Nurse's Station 1-B

_{[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/456451.html?thread=37509891#t37509891)]}

This way? Seemed like.

Out of all the stairwells, this one would be the most worthwhile. Her bare feet met each step with a soft pat, drowned out by the noise above. Up she went, as quiet and humble as a ghost.

Although it was certainly cold, Diva preferred her nakedness. Without a dress, without any Chevaliers to dress her, Diva refused to wear the boyish uniform like a good doll. To be a Queen meant having her way, didn't it? Whether quickly or slowly. Diva wished it to be quickly. Being forced to accept that her revenge might come slowly was so very unfair and unwanted.

She got to the second floor landing and stopped. Now there were two choices. In response, Diva took two more steps up, looking up into the gloom, and waited for the second choice to find his way down. Dead ends for little mice. So sad.

After a few minutes of continued pounding and banging on the door, Yuuhi gave up, his fists already bruised and bleeding in some places. Whatever was behind this door, it would require a key or a lot more force than he had available.

He leaned on the door for a moment, letting out a quiet sigh. It wasn't until he turned to look back the way he'd come that he saw someone else standing further down the stairs. He quickly straightened, aware of how foolish he must look, but trying to mask it all behind his usual smile.

"Who's there?" he called.

If Diva could read the story he wanted to tell with his body, she didn't show it, and didn't care. There wasn't enough of her attentions to take heed of others and their puppet shows.

Although she carried no flashlight, her eyes weren't as good in the night as they were in the day, so she couldn't completely pick out the details of what she was looking at. But the Queen could feel and smell and taste, and that was what allowed her to focus her eyes on Fai's injuries, on the blood they issued. Blood was her domain, without a doubt.

Diva didn't say anything for a moment. Then, she lifted one hand to her mouth. In a perfect mimic of the Head Doctor's voice, she called, "Olly olly oxen free!"

While he couldn't see who the person was; monster, friend, or foe, when he heard the voice, he froze in his tracks. It was the voice from the radio and the intercom broadcasts! The head doctor, wasn't it? He couldn't sense anything, or feel anything magical about the man, but it didn't stop him from taking an instinctive step backward. Pity there was nowhere to go.

He covered his mouth, regretting his initial call as he slunk further into the corner. He shouldn't be afraid, he told himself, the doctor would have answers. The doctor knew all the secrets of this place, didn't he? How to escape, who would be the next victim, but most importantly, how to bring others back to life. Despite his fear, he watched the stairwell carefully, waiting for a glimpse of the doctor.

Diva didn't have the patience for play time, but all the same, this game was more boring when she had to wait.

"Stop being a scaredy cat," the Queen said in her normal voice. It wouldn't make much difference, anyway. He had his back to the wall whether he was cowering or not. But if he didn't come any closer, she'd have to go up.

She was indolent. Going to him was such a bother.

Even when the voice changed to that of a female, it was still difficult for Yuuhi to trust it. Words were easy enough to manipulate without changing the voice as well. He looked puzzled, but he was no longer pressing his back into the wall. The voice was familiar though, wasn't it?

He padded cautiously to the first step, pointing his flashlight's beam down and fully expecting some hideous creature, or the doctor, but instead he saw the girl from the bus ride. Diva? Not to mention the fact that she was completely naked. Yuuhi tried not to stare directly at her, as it didn't seem terribly polite.

"Ah... Miss Diva?" he said quietly, still a little baffled by the whole situation.

Shame was not something the Chiropteran was familiar with. She'd been naked in front of plenty of people. Older men. Immortal men. Men with less pure intentions. For someone who'd lived the life she had, she wasn't new to having her body on display.

Her lips quirked slightly. "That's right. Only me. Who were you expecting? I said it was safe to come out into the open, didn't I?"

That was what 'olly olly oxen free' was for in hide and seek.

Had he only been hearing things? It honestly wouldn't surprise him. As for the girl, he was really quite perplexed about what he ought to do in this kind of situation. The girl had to realize she was wandering the halls in the nude, but she still spoke as though it didn't bother her in the slightest.

"I didn't realize we were playing a game," he replied, only half joking. But strange as she might seem, he couldn't just leave her to wander the halls like this. Maybe he could walk her back to her room.

"But you know, you really should be more careful. Running around like that, you'll catch a cold," he advised, giving a slight shake of his head as he let his nerves unwind a little bit more. She hadn't asked about the toy yet, which he supposed was to his benefit. "Here, if you want, you can borrow my shirt. I'll walk you back down to the rooms, it's not even that far."

"You're not," Diva pointed out. He hadn't wanted to play before, and he didn't want to play now. Any games were all hers.

Every time she stripped more than two or three layers off, people started to notice. She didn't see a difference in what people wore at night, considering the lights were off and the nurses didn't give them any real clothes. Unless they liked the uniform. Like sheep who just followed along until someone like Amshel took them to slaughter.

Well, test subjects were like that. Diva had had enough of that. No uniform and good behavior and doll facade for her, no matter how many needles she got.

She shook her head once, saying no to all three suggestions. "I won't get sick now," explained the Chiropteran, who would not be so hungry or sleepy once she fed. As Saya-neesama knew well, if you didn't eat, your body didn't get stronger. And Diva was always strong. "Did you get what I asked for?"

He couldn't make much sense of the girl. On the bus, she'd seemed sad, then suddenly dangerous. And now? She was running through the halls without a stitch on and didn't seem to care. Maybe she was one of the few who really did belong in some kind of institution. He couldn't think of many other reasons to explain her behavior.

"I tried," Yuuhi shrugged helplessly, disregarding her first couple of comments. If she didn't want to be dressed and she didn't want to go back, what could he really do to stop her? "But I'm not so good at things like that. They wouldn't let me take the toy out of the store."

She 'hmph'ed, one hand going to her bare hip.

"So you're not lying?" she asked, a deceptive question. Like she needed to ask to know the answer to that before he had even spoken at all.

He wasn't surprised when his answer failed to please her. But he had tried, whether she believed him or not. The whole ordeal had been a little embarrassing and he was just glad that the girls and Kurogane hadn't been around during his failed attempt.

"No," he insisted, "I really did try." He took a few more steps down toward her, knowing he couldn't just leave her to her own devices, but not sure what he'd do if she did come with him. He could feel Yue's familiar sort of magic not far away too. Explaining things to him would be almost as hard as it was with Kurogane. This was going to be a troublesome night.

"I... I'll make you something nice tomorrow in arts and crafts," he told her. "But I really think we should get you back to your room for now."

"Really?" Diva trilled blandly. "I think you should make it up to me now. I don't want to see you tomorrow."

He came closer, and still she stood, looking up at him with her big, innocent doll's eyes, dark blues shadowed to murky depths. Jeez, but this guy. So annoying. She preferred Solomon's gentle hesitancy, even when his wayward heart was doing stupid things. He had steel in him somewhere to make for it, something she'd planted and he'd grown. This one looked like a wilting flower and was a wilting flower.

Undesirable.

Perhaps she just had her priorities out of order. Diva struck him as someone who wasn't used to hearing the word 'no,' so some of her attitudes weren't too surprising, but at Landel's, she couldn't very well expect the royal treatment.

"I'd love to," Yuuhi replied, an almost worried smile on his lips as he shook his head. "But I don't think the Arts and Crafts room would be very safe tonight."

He stepped down her her level and tried to make the smile believable. "Tomorrow though, for sure, ok?"

Her hand slid away from her hip. "Who said make it up with a toy?" accused the Chiropteran in her childish obviousness. She hadn't said that, now had she?

Diva had said she didn't want to see him tomorrow, though. Because Diva could guess he wouldn't have the silly toy even then, like he said he would. She hated people who made a lot of excuses. Failures, excuses, failures, excuses. Carl was always more annoying when he came back with his tail between his legs, and he was her Chevalier.

Humans shouldn't get to do that around her. Nor smile at her like that.

"You don't fool anyone," was her airy reply. She stepped into him, then, the movement resembling a controlled fall into his arms than anything else.

"Hn... then what should I-" he started to reply, but Diva stepped closer, falling toward him, and he instinctively moved to catch her. Had she fainted? It might explain some of her erratic behavior, but...

"Diva? Are you alright?" he asked, expression one of worry.

Well, well, sometimes it just took a little longer for people to realize. Some people still chose to consider a sweet, young human angel, even after she'd proved them wrong. Appearances meant a lot.

That was why physical demonstrations had always been charming for her.

"Mm, I'm very hungry," said the Chiropteran, head bowed and hair trailing all about her shoulders. She reached up with one hand to touch one of his. Just a taste, maybe, to make it up to her.

Hungry? They'd just been fed in their rooms before nightfall. Maybe she hadn't had hers? He tried to guide her down the stairs, knowing that if he could get her that far, it wouldn't be hard to locate her room and likely, the uneaten remnants of dinner.

"Did you have dinner?" he asked, already suspecting that he knew the answer. "I, um... I'll walk you back to your room and we'll get you something. Can you hold on until then?" He didn't think much of it when she touched his hand. Hers was small and seemed so weak that he thought nothing of letting her.

Diva turned when directed, though made no move to go down any farther. Stepping onto the second floor when she was done might be worth her time. She could smell blood, and not just the blood issuing from Fai's battered hands.

He was right about there being a tray of untouched food in Diva's cell, but for the wrong reasons.

"No, I said now. Didn't you say you'd make it up to me?" she repeated slowly, wriggling around enough so that she could face the torn up hand she was holding. The closeness didn't bother her. What did she care; it meant nothing. His blood wasn't in her tastes--maybe it'd be in Saya-neesama's--but she wouldn't be picky. Not right then, anyway.

Like a parody of a kitten with milk, Diva touched her tongue to one of Fai's bloody knuckles, her eyes lighting up with their eerie blue bloodglow. "I could smell you from downstairs."

Now, now, now. She was like a broken record. How could he just make food appear out of nowhere? She'd have to wait, simple as that, but he didn't want to leave her alone either.

"I'd really love to Miss Diva, but I... I really can't help you right this second. There's food downstairs I'm sure," he started, but as she began licking his bloodied knuckles, he had a feeling it wasn't that sort of food she was after.

Her blue eyes were almost glowing in the darkness and Yuuhi suddenly wanted to be anywhere but where he was at the moment. He pulled back, taking a few steps away. "Smell me?" he tried to laugh it off, all the while glancing around for the quickest way out. "You do say the strangest things Miss Diva."

"How stupid are you going to act before you stop?" the Queen asked unhesitatingly. Her eyes were like beacons, her unnatural nature the fuel for their glow. "I think you must know. You're not that big of an idiot. I smelled your blood. Tasted it. So don't bother suggesting human food to me again; I don't eat that."

No, but she did eat humans. She'd already admitted to killing them to Fai, and to her, it was no large leap in surprise to think she fed on human blood. It was supposed to be surprising when a human did it. It wasn't surprising when a Chiropteran did it. That was their food, after all.

All the same, Fai's blood wasn't much of a treat, never had been, not even on the bus.

"So what are you going to do to make it up to me?" she continued. If he had no toy, and if he wasn't going to give his blood willing, then what did he have in mind? Naturally, it mattered little, when Diva was content to do as she pleased, whether she had consent or not, and she wasn't going to stop blocking the only exit without a motive to do so.

So the games were over then. She didn't just want his blood, she wanted him to come to her willingly. The smile finally disappeared from his lips, replaced by a thin, flat line. There were many times he simply hadn't tried hard enough in a fight, or had been purposely careless, how was this any different? At least if he consented, he'd know that it wouldn't be someone else, someone he cared about, someone innocent...

"I'm sorry," he consented, eyes lowered as he made his decision. "I... take whatever you need from me." He made no move to escape this time.

Diva tilted her head, her owlish eyes observing him unblinkingly. Then, in a murmur, she said, "There, now. That's your truth, isn't it?" A rhetorical question. Of course it was.

There were many things to be angry about, many things to be violent about. Until her daughters were in her arms and she was free would the Chiropteran feel appeased. Even then, her captors and anyone who got in her way would need to die. The nurses, her failure of a Chevalier, and everyone like them. In between reclaiming her strength and her family...

Well, there was just no room for anything else. Like mercy. Diva's entire being was reserved for revenge.

Stepping towards him on her bare feet, the girl lifted her hands in a cupping motion, indicating he should lower himself to her height. She thought, maybe, he would make a good Chevalier to play with for a short while until she got bored, had she her other Chevaliers around her. But here, a failure plus a failure wouldn't equal anything fruitful for her.

His truth? He supposed that was what it was. Even if it seemed like giving in, at least he could say he'd been useful to someone. No one else could want him, not after they knew what he was. He didn't answer the question, not aloud; it wasn't meant to be.

His smile didn't return, wouldn't, as he obediently bowed down to her level, narrowing the distance that his height had created. He paused when his face was only a breath away from her fingers, pale blonde hair hanging down over his eyes.

Some people might have thought it a mean-spirited victory to take away someone’s smile. Did that mean Diva had done something good by taking away a fake smile?

“That’s a good boy,” said the Chiropteran, touching her fingers to his human flesh and baring her small, pointed canines. She bit down at his neck and fed.

Words she’d said many times, to many men, in many ages.

A good boy. It was one of the few times it'd been said to him. He made no move to resist her, not when he felt her cool fingers on his skin and not when the sharp pain suddenly hit his neck. Yuuhi choked back a gasp and clenched his teeth, but the sound was barely audible.

This time it was he who swayed on his feet as he felt the strength leaving his body. He'd lost so much blood over the last few days that even losing a little more would affect him. He was fairly certain though, that Diva planned on more than just a little. His hands reached up for balance as he tried not to fall. One at her wrist, the other at her shoulder.

Diva didn't even falter at the added weight; Fai was hardly a care, and became less so the more blood she drank.

Her sister might not have agreed, but different blood had different tastes. However, whether good or bad or just plain tasteless, blood was blood, and it was Fai's misfortune that it was not the taste that gave blood its strength.

The source didn't matter. It still filled her up, brightened her senses, coiled her muscles, warmed her belly. Having a source, that was the key, that was the natural way to feed. Getting blood any other way would have dulled its effects and her strength along with it. And Diva had been forced to acknowledge many things, if not accept them, but she would most certainly not accept food that she could not touch, bruise, or kill herself.

Her eyes never lost their glow, not for a moment, not even when she pulled away with blood dripping off her chin and onto her bare collarbone. There, her stomach was rather full.

As Diva warmed, it was Yuuhi that grew colder. The room felt like it was spinning and the moment she let go, he fell to his knees, unable to even keep hold of her shoulder for support. The wound only oozed for a short while, with how low his blood pressure was, it couldn't do much more than that. He fell awkwardly across the last few steps, a hand over his neck and struggling just to keep his eyes open as his breath started to come faster.

The pain didn't bother him. It was a dull sort of throbbing that he hardly felt through the haze of dizziness, but dull as it was, it was the only thing that reminded him he was still alive.

She imagined she'd be crossed if she'd stained a nice dress with weak blood, but when the red stain on white concerned only her skin, Diva didn't care. Licking at her lips like a cat, the Queen seemed not to notice the plight of her food, who had fallen at her feet with all his long limbs.

Diva took the steps down one at a time, where the door to the second floor stood open. The bloodglow in her eyes dimmed as she stepped across the threshold without a look back.

_{[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/465075.html?thread=38043827#t38043827)]}

She didn't so much as look back at the damage she'd done. Not that he could tell. All he could see was the blurred, pale shape of a woman as she disappeared into the darkness. His flashlight lay fading on the second floor landing, illuminating just enough of the stairwell to see by.

He could feel his heart speed up, furiously pumping his remaining blood to make up for the loss. His breathing came fast and erratic, but try as he might, there wasn't enough strength in him to push himself up, let alone retreat back to his room.

[from here]

It took a couple of halting tries to get the door open, as Yukito fumbled at the knob with hands that didn't quite seem to want to obey him, but he finally managed. He paused in the doorway when he realized there was unexpected light in the stairwell, blinking for a moment as his thoughts struggled to catch up with himself, then slowly turned toward the source.

And then he felt a hollow pit of worry sink into his stomach, and an answering flicker of alarm even from the brooding Yue. "...Fai-san?" Yukito carefully pushed off from the frame and moved closer with halting steps, somewhat fuzzily wondering at the fact that he could not only see the man but feel his presence like cold winter air and snow and...was that magic?

"Fai-san?" he repeated, the only sense he could wring out of his voice for the moment, and dropped awkwardly to one knee beside him as he reached out a cautious hand. He was hurt, there was blood darkly visible in the dim light, and as he leaned closer for a second he had the incongruous thought that Yue would be displeased if he got blood on his pristinely white hair.

He'd heard sounds and footsteps through the darkness, though it felt disjointed; there were gaps each time his vision grew dark. He'd heard his name though, and blinked a few times before he could focus on the one talking to him. Just like Yue, he didn't have to see him to feel the familiar magic. There was something off about it, but he couldn't concentrate long enough to figure out what it was.

His breathing wouldn't slow, and his heart still felt like he'd just run a five-minute-mile, but he tried to smile in spite of it.

The slight smile reassured Yukito that Fai was at least alive and responding, though it seemed like there was just so much blood. Perhaps it was because the clothing was so light, and just the contrast in the dim light - he wrenched his train of thought back on track, shaking his head a little in a vain attempt to clear it.

The blood seemed to have come from a wound on the man's neck, but the bleeding had fortunately stopped by now; just how long had Fai been lying here? "First aid class never covered anything like this," Yukito murmured to himself in an attempt to keep himself focused, the words difficult to form properly and coming out slured. He didn't have any bandages, but did he need them now?

"Does Yue know any healing magic? I don't know." Yukito sighed quietly, reaching out to gently touch Fai's neck, feeling the pulse race beneath his fingers. Argilla had healed him a couple of nights ago, but he didn't really know anything about that otherwise. "Fai-san? I don't suppose you know..."

It didn't fall into place until he heard the voice talking about Yue as though he wasn't even there. Yet the person in front of him certainly looked like Yue.

He shook his head, something that shouldn't have been that hard to do, but it didn't help his dizziness. Yue wasn't a healer, his master hadn't made him to be one. He was a guardian. "I'm... f-fine," he said between breaths. "Just..." Tired. He wanted to sleep. He was cold and tired and staying awake was chore.

"For someone who avoids the truth as much as you seem to, you're not a very good liar." For a moment his voice took on Yue's stern tone, but his touch was still gentle as he rested one hand on the magician's forehead. "You're not 'fine'."

Rapid breathing, cold and clammy skin; that they had covered in first aid class, even if it was hard for Yukito to remember what the instructor had said. Thinking was like slogging through waist-deep snow, difficult and exhausting, and he didn't have a lot of energy left after everything else. "I wish I had a blanket. Or something," he murmured, back to Yukito's softer inflection. "Could try to carry...no, too risky..." He was too weak, too clumsy right now.

He was momentarily puzzled, too, by how protective he felt of the blond man, how his other self seemed to feel personally responsible for him being here, injured and bleeding. Logically there was nothing that could have been done, but logic didn't seem to have any effect.

It was hard to be a very good liar when he could hardly even talk. Something wasn't right with Yue, no, Yuki, and yet he was still worrying over Yuuhi, who'd given up his blood with only a few moments hesitation.

"so..rry," he breathed quietly, unable to do much else. When the boy started listing ideas aloud, thinking of carrying Yuuhi back to the rooms, he knew he couldn't impose so far on the other. His hand found the floor and he made an attempt to get up on his own again. He managed push himself up for a second or two before his arm went sliding out from under him and he fell back with a dull thunk.

Yukito could see what was going to happen when Fai started to try to get up, but his slowed reflexes (slowed everything) kept him from doing anything other than reaching out with a soft gasp. Too slow, too late, and Fai collapsed again with a sound that made him flinch.

"Fai-san, please don't try to get up." Distress was clear in his voice, that and the fog clouding his mind keeping his tongue loose. "You'll start the bleeding again and I can't...I don't dare try to carry you, not right now. Just...hang on. Morning will have to come soon, then they'll have to take care of you and you'll wake up all patched up and better, right?"

He slowly bowed his head as though too weak to hold it up any longer, Yue's fall of pale hair sliding forward to partially obscure his face. And yet the babbling continued, difficult to stop once it had started. "Yue-san is worried about you, you know. Like it's his fault that you're hurt, even though he couldn't have been here. I'm worried too, you're one of the only friends I have here..."

He winced at the jarring impact, and was still for a few moments as his body tried to catch up with the sudden movement. Wait until morning, the voice said, filled with fear and worry. Yuuhi wasn't sure he could wait that long, but he'd try.

Yuki's words were enough to cause Yuuhi's expression to fall into confusion. His brows came together and eyes grew wider and though his initial response was to disregard things like that; how could they be true anyway? He shook his head and struggled for words.

"No!" came the quiet exclamation. "It's... not his- It's my... I..."

"He thinks he's failed as a guardian." They were words that Yue would never say, and Yukito could feel his other self's faint annoyance at giving voice to such things, but he didn't try to stop the words as they spilled out. "He wanted to protect you, Fai-san, like he did for Sakura-chan."

Maybe if he kept talking, he reasoned, then Fai would have to listen - would have to stay awake and not give in to his wounds. Yukito lacked any other means to help him at the moment, and hoped this would be enough.

"He told you that, didn't he?" Unaccustomed to having any access at all to Yue's memories, Yukito wasn't sure that he was seeing them correctly, so the question held a note of uncertainty. "That a guardian needs a charge."

Yue wasn't the only one who felt he'd failed to protect Sakura, Yuuhi hadn't been able to do a thing when he found out she was missing. Even if he wasn't anything as official as a guardian, he knew what it felt like to fail to protect someone, but it wasn't until he heard Yukito's words that he started to understand.

He wanted to protect you...

Why? There were so many other people here who needed help or comfort or a guardian, why would Yue choose to try to protect him? It just didn't make sense. His expression seemed to crumple into a rarely seen frown as things fell into place. That time they'd spoke before, Yue had been trying to talk to him about it then too, hadn't he?

He couldn't meet the guardian's eyes, instead glancing guiltily at the floor. "I can't..." he said quietly, trying to slow his breathing enough that he could speak. "I'm not someone... worth protecting."

Yukito shook his head just a little, reaching out to rest his fingertips against Fai's arm. "I don't believe that, Fai-san," he said, voice quiet but as firm as he could manage. "If Yue-san has judged you worthy, then you must be." He suddenly quirked a small smile, amused despite himself at the guardian's internal reaction to his words. "And if he's made up his mind, you'll not easily persuade him otherwise." After a slight pause, he added, "Nor will you convince me, either."

Before he could say anything else, though, the intercom came to life, the sound echoing oddly within the confined space of the stairwell. Yukito glanced up and breathed a sigh of relief; he hadn't been able to do much, but he was happy to at least have been there until the night ended.

[from here] (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/454507.html?thread=38229611#t38229611)

Sheena took the stairs three at a time, bounding up the stairs with much more grace and precision than any of her friends would have expected. Didn't they already know that when she was this focused, Sheena tended to not be clumsy? Plus, she had that light coming from the landing at the top of the stairs to give hr some extra light.

And there was someone sitting on the stairs, leaning against the wall. Something didn't sound right about the way he was breathing, but she couldn't take the time to check him out.

"Sorry," she said to the guy as she bounded quickly past him, Ritsuka holding onto her as she carried him on her back. "I can't stop, but I'll check back soonish!"

Soonish would come after they found Soubi. Sheena just hoped some monster wouldn't come buy and eat the boy guy before someone could help him.

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Nightshift 35: Stairwell by Nurse's Station 1-B

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