damned_institute | Nightshift 21: M41-50 Hallway

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Nightshift 21: M41-50 Hallway

It was troubling, how after only a day this was starting to feel routine.

He barely picked at dinner. The fish was... okay, sort of. The vegetables... also okay, sort of. Which was fine. He'd eaten his fill at lunch, and he didn't want to be slowed down by a stomach full of food.

Then back to the cell. Gather the equipment - such as it was - for the night. Pens, flashlight, radio, note sheets for the map. Off with the shoes. Then he waited, eyes half closed, for the door to open again.

It did, far too soon.

Renji was aware that he had the furthest to go, and night was a limited time to get things done. He ran from the room, his feet all but soundless, and headed down the hallway.

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(going here)

Squall was glad to get away from the Sun Room (and the new shadow he'd seemed to have obtained in the form of Bast), and was almost relieved at the sight of his room again. He let the nurse lead him inside, blinking when she handed him a tray of food. He went ahead and ate it, not concerned about whether or not it might be poisoned. None of the other food had been, this probably wasn't any different.

He was just lying down in his bed, ready to go to sleep, when suddenly the intercom came on again. Squall's eyes narrowed as he listened to the newly-sinister voice. He sat up slowly in bed, staring at the box on the wall.

He's not making any sense. What the hell is he going on about?

The door clicked. Squall stared. He took a few steps forward and tested the handle. It was unlocked. What was going on? He was about to step outside and stopped when he heard muffled music and then a voice from a drawer. He opened it to reveal a small handheld radio, which he stared at, listening to the voice intently. This one didn't make any sense either. Frustrated, Squall set the radio back down in the drawer and closed it again.

What kind of mental hospital gives handheld radios to their patients?

Grimacing, Squall searched the room for anything else unusual. He uncovered a flashlight and the journal he'd found when he'd arrived, but nothing else. Damn.

He clicked on the flashlight and opened the door, stepping out into the hallway. There didn't seem to be anyone out and about just yet. The lights were all off, and the silence was so obvious it was oppressive.

He needed to figure out where Zell was. Unfortunately, that wouldn't be easy. Something about the quiet shadows in this hall was unsettling. He didn't want to try calling out, recalling Zell's seemingly crazy story about a giant scorpion. The guy on the intercom had said something about monsters?

Damn. This day just gets better and better, doesn't it?

Taking a deep breath, Squall wandered down the hall to try to find a way out. He needed to find Zell. Judging by the sheer amount of rooms, it'd take forever to find them. Knocking on each and every one wasn't a promising idea. He'd have to hope the blond was out and about like he was. Knowing Zell, that wasn't a problem. It was finding out where the boy went once he left his room that was the problem.

Zell finding Squall was entirely luck(which he'd been due, after that scorpion); he'd chosen a direction when he'd come out of his room and apparently he'd gone the right way, because his flashlight beam caught the set of a familiar pair of shoulders walking away from him. Only one guy Zell know was that tense even when there was nothing and nobody around.

"Squall!" he hissed, as loudly as he dared. Even someone as naturally noisy as Zell seemed to have been considerably dampened by the atmosphere of the institute at night - or perhaps he just didn't want to attract any more scorpions.

Squall stopped in his tracks, turning and glancing over his shoulder. His muscles had tensed even more (if that was possible) at the sound of a voice behind him, but he relaxed when he saw who it was.

"Zell. I was hoping I'd find you," he said, nodding.

"Mind explaining to me what's going on?"

He didn't get it. Mental hospitals didn't unlock their doors at night. The deafening silence in the hallways was unusual, too. Not to mention that guy over the intercom...

"Look, I would if I knew," Zell replied, in a tone that was caught somewhere between anxiety and exasperation. "I mean, this is what it was like last night, and today I'd almost convinced myself I'd dreamed it up and now it's happening all over again." He raked his fingers through his hair. "I tried asking a couple people what was going on and they made even less sense. Stuff about different worlds and different times and people trying to tell us our lives aren't real." He frowned. "All I know is that the nurses keep calling me this stupid name."

"They're calling you a different name too? Hrm." Squall crossed his arms and stared at the floor thoughtfully, at a point just beyond his slippered toes.

"I don't get it either. Maybe if we have a look around we'll get some answers." He shrugged and looked around the hallway again. "There's got to be someone who knows the story behind all this... or at least enough that we can do something about it. Are your weapons gone too?" He eyed Zell's bare fists with some dismay. Damn. So they were even more powerless now.

"I take it you haven't seen anyone else from Balamb around here?"

Zell shook his head. "Just you." He gave Squall a faintly worried look. "You think everybody's okay?" He realized, after half a second's pause, that looking for reassurance from Squall was kind of like looking for water in the desert - the guy tried sometimes, he really did, but pessimism seemed to be really hard for him to overcome.

Zell flexed his fingers a few times. "They might've taken my gloves," he acknowledged, "but I can still punch!" He shook his head. "Dunno how much good it'll do here, though. I kicked that scorpion last night and it barely seemed to notice."

Zell was right in his assumptions. Squall wasn't the type to bother lying to try and comfort someone. Did he think the others were okay? No. Given what he'd been put through by Seifer, no, he didn't. But judging by the look on Zell's face, telling him that wouldn't help at all.

Squall settled for a quiet "I don't know" and a shrug.

"I can't feel Quetzacotl anymore," he said, looking down at his hands, "what about you? You still have a GF?"

Zell tried not to slump in disappointment. Maybe Squall was right - hell, Zell wasn't so unrealistic that he didn't realize Squall was probably right - but, well, there was nothing they could do about it. Getting depressed wouldn't help, right?

"I had Ifrit and Brothers before I got here," Zell offered, scratching his head. "Can't feel Brothers at all anymore, thought. Ifrit...I think he's still there, sorta. But it's like he's really far away...and I can't do magic at all. I think I might've pulled off a cure spell earlier, when I was just trying to see if I could do it? But since nothing was wrong with me, it was kinda hard to tell."

"So we might still have magic, but no GF? I wonder how long our magic will last," Squall said, closing his eyes. He had nothing junctioned, only his basic skills. That wasn't good. He felt even weaker than he was supposed to be.

I feel like I might have something, but I don't know what. Besides, we don't want to waste magic if we've only got a limited amount of it...

"You've been here a little longer than I have. What's it like here during the night?" he asked, wondering if they should just go ahead and explore, since all the doors seemed to be open.

"I dunno. I mean, I think I still have Ifrit, but I can barely reach him. It doesn't make any sense." Zell sighed. "None of this makes sense, man."

In response to Squall's question, Zell raised one shoulder and let it fall in a helpless shrug. "It's basically like this. Everything's dark, people go wandering around, there's apparently giant scorpions...kinda like a horror story, you know?" He gestured with his flashlight as if to emphasize his point. "Maybe we should just try to find a way outta here while we can."

Squall nodded. It might've just been the gist of what was happening at this hospital, but it was something he could work with, if nothing else. It got him a basic explanation.

"There's just giant scorpions?" he asked, blinking, "that sounds a little strange."

I'm willing to bet there's more than just scorpions. A giant horror story, huh? I'm not sure if there's much that's scarier than knowing my life and sanity was in Seifer's hands before I got here. Besides, the monsters in our world are probably a lot scarier than just some scorpions.

Still... without magic or GFs... who knows how powerful these monsters are?

"Okay then. How well did you learn the layout of this place?"

"Just giant scorpions?" Zell gave Squall a look of disbelief. "That thing was huge!" He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. "Anyway, I dunno about just them. That's all I ran into, but somehow I don't think there's just one giant scorpion wandering around. Probably there's lots more, and lots worse."

Zell was usually optimistic, but he considered this practical thinking; anyway, he hadn't had a run of good luck since he'd become a SeeD and he didn't figure on getting one now - probably there were plenty of monsters, just like back home. The thought was unsettling, but it was also faintly comforting; somehow he preferred the nightshift, with its huge monsters, just because that had more of the air of the familiar to it than the smiling and unheeding staff of the daytime.

"As for the layout...uh...I didn't really learn any of it." Zell gave Squall a sheepish grin. "I was looking for you or somebody I knew last night, turned a corner, ran into the scorpion - and then suddenly I was waking up in my room and it was morning. Dunno what happened, but I didn't exactly get a good look around the place."

"You just woke up in your room?" Squall asked. He felt like he was asking too many questions, but he had no idea how this place functioned. That was weird.

There must be some kind of magic at work here, but I've never heard of magic like this before. Still... if it is the work of a Sorceress, I have no idea what to expect.

"Well, then I guess we better get started," he said, crossing his arms, "any preferences as to which direction we go in?" He looked to either side of the hallway. They were dark and it was difficult to see if it had an end in either direction. Maybe Zell knew. Maybe he didn't. It didn't really sound like he did, actually, which was fine. They'd just have to learn this place together and find a way out. How hard could it be?

"That way," Zell said immediately, pointing in the direction he'd been heading when he'd found Squall. Then, clearing his throat and feeling as though some form of explanation were necessary, he said sheepishly, "I, uh, ran into the scorpion going the other way last night."

Stepping past Squall to move a few feet down the hall in the direction he indicated, he glanced back over his shoulder at his friend. "Yeah, it's weird. I keep waking up places with no idea how I got there...it's kinda like when we're with Laguna and the others except I'm not seeing 'em anymore."

Squall was content to just follow Zell for now. The man probably had a better chance of surviving than he did, considering he focused so much on martial arts. His weapons were his fists. Squall was without his own weapon, so he was slightly more useless. Unless, of course, they still had magic. He couldn't tell right away what they actually had left.

"Do you think this was brought on by the Sorceress?" he asked as he followed behind Zell. The blond might not have had much experience with this place yet, but he'd had more than Squall did. "Does it seem like an illusion? It doesn't feel the same as the dreams with Laguna."

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Nightshift 21: M41-50 Hallway

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