damned_institute | Nightshift 39: M31-40 Hallway

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Nightshift 39: M31-40 Hallway

Along with giving him an idea for a good cover story, Scourge's conversation with the soldier-human on the bulletin board had made the tracker stop and think about his place in the Decepticon hierarchy. More specifically, the fact that he didn't have one. Galvatron wasn't here anymore, there was no one who he was obligated to by virtue of creation. He was a free agent for the first time in his life, and it wasn't as scary as he thought it'd be.

Lugnut and Blitzwing probably wouldn't be too happy with him thinking like this, but who cared? They were both crazy, Blitzwing random and Lugnut stubborn, and without a stabilizing Cyclonus-like influence Scourge suspected they wouldn't get very far. Better to get himself a better footing with someone saner and just give lip service to "mighty Megatron" when it was convenient.

In the meantime, Scourge had to see a Superboy about a virginity. What exactly that would entail he wasn't really sure, but it sounded a lot more fun than raiding the kitchen with pointless idiots who seemed to be liking him less and less as things went on.

The tracker took out the wooden cooking spoon he'd found last night, set it on the floor with his foot on the scoop end, and yanked upwards. The spoon cracked and left him with a long rod with a dangerously pointy and splintered end that would probably at least distract anything with a squishy place to stick it in. Better than nothing. The makeshift wooden shiv went in one pocket, the flashlight in the other--with his eyes he wouldn't need it for anything but small details and it would be easier to hide in the dark. The handle of the pan went in his hand and the tracker cautiously went out into the hallway. Let him be a force to be reckoned with.

Or at least one that made the other guy look like a tastier option.

[To here.]

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Touya sighed, eyebrow raised. "Yeah, but I hadn't exactly talked to him much, back then. In certain aspects, you're still exactly the same. But in other ways...

"Well," he shrugged. "Neither of you can lie to me, so that's good." He smiled, poking Yukito's cheek. "That makes it really easy to understand the parts that you try to keep secret. You're just faster to admit it. I should work on that with him."

Yukito laughed quietly, even as he wrinkled his nose at the treatment of his poor face. "I don't want to make you worry, Touya," he replied, serious even if his tone was light. "Especially when there's no reason to. I --"

He hesitated there, momentarily uncertain, but shook himself from the brief reverie with a return of his bright smile. "He's not as grouchy as he likes everyone to think. You two always seemed to get along all right at home, so I'm sure once he's decided you aren't upset with him or going to just suddenly disappear..."

Touya's eyebrows came together a little. "Disappear? I'm not planning on hiding or anything--and the building isn't exactly someplace I could hide from you two in."

He wanted to go on about how he'd always worry about Yuki no matter what the situation, but he didn't think that would be helpful. "I'm not upset with with him, if he's worried about that. Grouchy I'll give him, I can't see him being anything else. But... what did you mean by disappearing suddenly?"

"People do that here. Just as suddenly as they arrive, they're just...gone. Nobody knows where they go. Or why. Some of them return as visitors, but others are never seen again." Like the other-Sakura. Or Shiki, who had just been there last night.

Without thinking about it, Yukito reached up to take Touya's hand in his own, as though seeking reassurance that he was real. Yue wasn't the only one worried about people leaving him behind - after finding out the truth about himself, and how false his memories really were, Touya had been Yukito's link to reality. The appearance of the false visitors had shaken both Yukito and Yue more than they would say.

Touya's eyes flicked down to their joined hands and Touya gave Yukito's hand a small squeeze. He could guess what Yukito was thinking now, and he wished he couldn't.

"Hey," Touya nudged Yukito with his shoulder. "I'm not going anywhere, not while you're still here. Okay? I won't let myself disappear."

Though the guardian didn't put it into any words, Yue's immediate emotional response to that comment was that everyone left - everyone betrayed him, whether by dying or leaving or giving him into the hands of sadistic doctors. When he realized that his thoughts were strong enough for Yukito to sense, though, he drew back on himself, irritably rejecting his other form's immediate sympathy.

As he was distracted by that, there was just the barest hint of hesitation before Yukito nodded, glancing down at his hand as though mildly surprised that he was holding Touya's before he gave it a light squeeze in return. "I won't leave you, either," he promised, quietly. "Ever."

Touya frowned a little at Yukito's hesitation. Was Yue saying something or doing something? Or was it another unfortunate memory of something that had happened here? Whatever it was, Touya didn't want to push it here. If Yue had problems, Touya would just have to show him that he was perfectly capable of keeping his promises.

"Good," Touya said, smiling down at Yuki. "Because if you leave me, I'll hunt you down and pull your cheeks until you beg me for mercy."

That managed to startled a chuckle from Yukito, and he looked up again as he lifted his free hand to his cheek, as though protecting it from potential tortures. "Anything but that," he replied, pretending to be horrified at the thought, but unable to keep from smiling enough to ruin the attempt. "If I'd ever had any thoughts of it, they'd be completely gone by now."

"They'd better be. Because mere thoughts of even walking out now are punishable by face-pulling. You aren't exempt either, Yue. I'll pull on your face too."

He felt a little strange trying to talk to two people--one of whom wasn't really in the room--but if he was going to get used to the idea of the two of them being in the same place all the time, he'd need to adjust accordingly. Which, he supposed, included including everyone in the conversation.

There was a momentary flicker of surprise from Yue at being so addressed, a slight softening of his stubbornly proud facade. The Touya he knew certainly would say something like that, and mean it, too. Any doubt that might have remained as to this Touya's authenticity was gone now, certainly.

The...respect (not friendship, nothing approaching fondness, never that) he had for the young man reasserted itself as he regarded Touya through his other self's eyes. But then he realized what he was thinking, gave a sort of silent huff of disgust at himself, and figuratively turned his back on the conversation once more, leaving the pair of them to their talk.

Yukito's attention went distant as he 'listened' to that, and he absently turned his hand to lace his fingers with Touya's before he focused again, a faintly wistful smile touching his mouth. "Yue-san says that he doesn't leave anyone," he replied, giving perhaps the slightest emphasis on the word 'he', but moving on before Touya could question it. "But we're still going to get out of here together. We'll find a way."

Touya nodded in agreement to Yukito's point. He was starting to get used to Yuki's focus going elsewhere, and he figured it was because he was having an 'internal discussion' with Yue.

He looked down at their laced fingers, a sort of odd blush coming to his face. Touya had no problem touching Yuki, holding Yuki, or even holding hands with him. But the laced fingers was... intimate, wasn't it?

So maybe his future self had said something? But if he hadn't, just blurting embarrassing things out would be catastrophic. But if he had, then Yukito would be expecting him to act a certain way, and...!

He continued to hold Yuki's hand, clearing his throat a little. "Yeah, we're going to get out of here together--at the same time. No leaving the other behind."

Given that Yukito was neither blind nor unaccustomed to interpreting the expression on Touya's face, he caught that little blush and moment of awkwardness. Still, though, he wasn't quite sure what to do about it - it was all too easy to act as though Touya was the same Touya he'd been with for months ever since that incident had sort of moved their relationship from "friends" to a closer and yet still completely undefined area.

He himself had already admitted to Sakura more or less how he felt about her brother, but had never managed to do the same to Touya himself - not with his own uncertainties after finding out just who and what he really was. The time he'd had had given him new perspective and he'd just been starting to think that maybe they should talk (and sometimes wondered if Touya had tried several times to start the same conversation before changing the subject, which was one of the things that made him brave enough to even consider the idea). Unfortunately, though, things had happened and before they'd calmed down Yukito had found himself here.

"Of course we are," he replied, almost automatically, glancing down at their hands for a moment before returning his attention to Touya's face. Yukito studied his friend almost thoughtfully, with perhaps a little bit of uncertainty, wondering if he dared speak of it to a Touya who hadn't been through that intervening time yet. "I'm sure there's a way. We just need to find it."

"Of course there's a way. Every way in has a way out, after all." That was just plain logic. And it was also a way to dodge what Yukito had no doubt already noticed. This was seriously embarrassing. He had to drop this before he got carried away and said something he'd really regret.

"So I'm guessing you and Yue haven't found a way yet? Or found any clues as to where the way out would be?" He hadn't seen anything to that purpose on the bulletin, so perhaps Yuki knew something.

"No...nobody has, as far as I know. Unless some of the people who disappeared found it unexpectedly." It seemed like Touya was uncomfortable, so Yukito released his hand again, reaching up to adjust his glasses as though that was the only reason he'd let go. "I've heard about some kind of entrance to a basement, but whatever is down there is supposedly really dangerous, and I've never tried to see it."

He paused to consider, hands lowering again to rest in his lap. "The other night Yue-san found some kind of a hidden door in the library, but didn't have a chance to see where it led - and every time we've tried to go back something has happened to prevent it. It looked sort of like there were stairs behind it, though."

Touya was a little chagrined to lose Yukito's hand, but he let it pass and crossed his arms in thought. An entrance to a basement, and a door with stairs. Which one? Hell if he knew, but he couldn't just lead Yukito and Yue blindly into danger. He'd have to find out more about these supposed exits.

"Maybe we should take a look around the basement. Just a look," he said, frowning a little in thought. "Now that I'm armed, it shouldn't be as dangerous."

Yukito nodded slowly, but didn't seem very enthusiastic about the idea. The baseball bat might be good enough to help fend off attacks while they were moving through the hallways, but what he'd heard about the basement seemed to imply that would be like seeking out battles. Athlete though Touya might be, he wasn't exactly a trained fighter, and Yukito would rather not try to find danger when there was enough around them.

"I could ask around and see if anyone I know has been down there," he suggested, then brightened a little. "Maybe Fai-san knows something. He's been here longer than I have." Even if the magician hadn't visited the basement, he might know someone who had.

"There are people here who can make swords, but...I almost wish I could find a bow of some kind. That's at least something both Yue-san and I could use." Even if a bow would be less useful in the confines of a hallway, and even if Yukito had never fired at anything other than an ordinary non-living target, at least it would be something. He leaned forward, resting his elbow on his knee and chin in hand as he considered. "It's not exactly something just sitting around. And then there's the problem of arrows..."

Touya nodded, listening to and processing everything Yukito said. He didn't sound too gung-ho about going into the basement, at least right now. If they had more information, though, things might be different. Also, running around a monster-infested hospital with nothing to fight with probably put a damper on Yuki's desire to go out and explore.

"We need to get you a weapon. Maybe the sword-people can make you a bow, too," Touya said, eyebrows coming together. "Though you'd have to be pretty fast with it. And we could always retrieve the arrows once we'd defeated whatever we fought."

If people could make a sword out of metal they'd collected, then it seemed reasonable to assume that they could make a bow as well. Still, though, the more Yukito thought about it the more reluctant he started to feel. Yue might find it useful, considering that the arrows he could create were limited in number, but the idea of him fighting was...strange.

"I suppose so," he replied slowly, brow furrowing slightly as he considered. "It might be more trouble than it's worth." After a moment's pause he straightened again, smiling with just a slight shrug. "It just seems odd to think about weapons for me. Yue-san is the fighter, after all."

"Yeah, it's really strange to think that I have to fight to protect myself now... considering I was just a normal high school guy a few hours ago." Touya stretched and yawned. He was starting to feel tired again. "But we have to fight if we're going to survive--and I get the feeling that if I was the one protecting you two all the time, Yue'd get upset. He only has so much power available, after all. And as tired as I am, I can probably swing my bat at things all night."

Touya resettled himself on Yukito's shoulder, closing his eyes briefly. "I'd just feel better if you both had something to fight with."

So many things had to change for those who found themselves trapped in this place. Finding himself needing to fight was rather less than most of the adaptations he'd already had to deal with. Yukito gave a soft sigh and lifted a hand to brush Touya's hair gently, pushing his worries out of his mind for a moment; now wasn't the time to stress about that.

"We can talk about it later," he replied quietly. "I'm sure you're tired, and you're hurt - I think you need rest more than anything else right now."

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Nightshift 39: M31-40 Hallway

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