damned_institute | Nightshift 41: M31-M40 Hallway

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Nightshift 41: M31-M40 Hallway

[from here]

Finally! All Tim had to do now was follow the numbers to the right room. Why the hell was everyone so far away from the room he was in? It was probably on purpose; the doctors here had to know more than they were letting on. Otherwise, why would they know his actual name, but not Raphael's?

Too many questions, not enough answers. Maybe Jaime would know something.

[to here]

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[coming from here]

The halls were still almost empty by the time Yue arrived at M36; he'd seen only a couple of others out and about in the short trip from his room, so he hoped that he wouldn't have missed Touya. Not that Touya was likely to have gone anywhere but to find him, but. Still.

He rapped on the door and waited, none of his agitation and impatience outwardly visible except to one who knew him well. If anything he seemed more still, his expression even colder than usual as he listened for the sound of approaching footsteps inside the room.

Touya was ready, surprisingly enough, and reaching for the doorknob when Yue knocked. He hesitated for a moment, a little surprised, then opened the door. Bat slung over his shoulder, he poked his head out into the hallway.

"Hey," he said, opening the door. "You wanna come in while we figure out what to do?"

"We don't have time for that." With his free hand Yue gestured back down the hallway, taking a step back himself to emphasize just how impatient he was to leave. "We have to get over to the women's rooms."

He hesitated for half a second there, glancing around as though making certain there was nobody there to listen before adding, "Sakura is waiting."

Touya's jaw dropped sightly, both getting and not getting what Yue was saying. Sakura... Sakura his sister Sakura? The twelve year old?

"But she's just a kid..." Touya said weakly, the bat rolling off his shoulder and hitting the floor with a dull clunk. This wasn't possible. It shouldn't be happening like this, Sakura wasn't supposed to be here. She was supposed to be safe at home.

"When did she get here?" Touya asked, trying to recover.

"I know." Was that maybe sympathy on Yue's expression? It lasted only a fleeting instant, if so, and he just shook his head and motioned toward the way out again. They could talk as they were walking.

And if they were walking, it might be less obvious that Yue wasn't entirely giving the whole story about her arrival. "Earlier today. I found her in the courtyard during the last shift."

"And you didn't come find me?!" Touya hissed, shutting the door behind him, but not quite up to moving down the hallway yet. "She's my sister for God's sake, you decided that now would be a good time for me to find out that a defenseless twelve-year-old--no, that Sakura is running around a monster infested building?"

Touya was well and truly angry. Both at Yue and at himself--if he'd still had his power, he would have been able to feel that she was in danger. But he was spending his time falling asleep sitting up and cleaning his plate in under ten minutes instead of doing something useful.

"Did you even bother to tell her I'm here?" Touya snapped. "Or is this going to be a surprise for her too?"

Yue froze in place at that, tension quite visible in the set of his shoulders before he slowly turned back to regard Touya with a completely neutral expression. "I didn't see you," he replied, a little of that tension bleeding over in his voice even though he managed to keep it mostly level. "And I wasn't certain at first what I sensed, either."

He lifted one hand to point down the hall, more insistent this time. "I did tell her that you were here, and the basics about this place. She promised that she would wait for us, but the longer we wait the more worried she'll be." And the more likely she might be to leave her room in search of them, was unspoken but implied.

"I was in the Courtyard!" Touya shot back. Arguing with that goddamn brat who was just insufferable. If it hadn't been for him, he would've seen Sakura. He would have been able to explain and calm her down...

"Goddammit," Touya muttered, putting his forehead in his hand. He knew that Yue was right--if they waited there too long, she'd step outside her room and that was the last thing he wanted. But he was just too angry, too upset to even think about facing his sister. He should have been there...

"I should have sensed her," he said, leaning back against the wall. "Damn it I should have seen or sensed her."

He was starting to catch on to why Yue felt so useless without his powers.

Clearly Yue had been more absorbed in his conversation than he'd thought, if he hadn't noticed Touya outside. He blinked once, surprise momentarily apparent, and then reminded himself of the resolve he'd made only earlier that day. There might be differences in memories, but Touya was still Touya and he needed to act accordingly.

After a brief hesitation, the guardian stepped forward, voice lowering to a more normal conversational tone and losing some of the coldness. "She's waiting," he observed. "We should go. She'll want to see you."

Touya nodded, not feeling the least bit better about this news. Was it normal to feel this... useless when someone you cared about arrived here? He knew that by moping about his inability to feel her, he was only making Yue and Yukito feel worse about taking his power. He'd given it up freely... but he'd never had any idea that something like this would happen. Would he have given it up if he'd known, though?

He had to. Yuki's life had been at stake.

"Yeah," he said softly, trying to will himself to move. "We should go."

The guardian watched Touya thoughtfully for a moment longer, then breathed out a soft sigh and closed his eyes for just an instant. When he opened them again his expression had once more shifted to Yukito's smile, encompassing both sympathy and his customary encouraging cheerfulness as he stepped forward and lifted a hand to rest it on Touya's arm.

"It'll be okay," he said, voice soft but with warmth clear to be heard. "I'm sure of it. And I'm sure she'd say the same thing if you asked her. But right now she needs us. We're all here for each other, right?"

"It's not okay, though," Touya said, burying his face in a hand. "She's here and I can't protect her. What kind of an older brother can't protect his younger sister? I mean, the fact that she's even here is bad enough, but I can't even sense if she's in danger anymore.

"Which is not your fault, before you even think that," Touya said, looking up at Yukito. "And it's not his fault either, if he's listening. This whole situation is just... so screwed up. Why does she have to be involved in this?"

"Touya." Yukito took another step closer, his hand tightening slightly on his friend's arm. "Don't you see? Everything here is designed to hurt us somehow, and not just physically. The lies and the experimentation and forcing people to fight their friends - they want us to be upset."

He tilted his head to one side a little, his smile a little unusual on the guardian's usually-serious face, even as it took on a sadder cast. "All we can do is take care of each other, as best as we can, until we find the way back home. And that goes for Yue-san, too."

Touya looked up at Yuki when he came closer, just a little thrown off by these words and feelings and expressions coming out of Yue's mouth. It worked, though. Touya could never say no to Yuki, and deep down he knew Yukito was right.

"I'm not giving up on getting home," he said, putting a hand on Yukito's shoulder. "It's just shocking. That she's here. And I know I made Yue promise to protect you and Sakura, but I'm right here and..." he sighed. "It's dumb. I didn't think I'd have this big of a problem leaving her to Yue. ...but she's my sister."

Touya let his hand drop from Yuki's shoulder. "I guess that's convoluted reasoning or something. I want to take care of her... I just feel like I can't anymore."

Yukito chuckled softly and shook his head. "It makes complete sense to me, Touya. After all, I've been hearing something similar from Yue-san for a while now."

His grin quirked a little wider as he stepped back again, motioning down the hallway. "But for now, we need to go find Sakura-chan, don't we? It's her first night, and I'm sure she'll be scared."

...so had Touya, now that he thought about it. And he'd gotten so annoyed by it, yet here he was in the same position wanting sympathy--wanting some sort of concrete evidence that it would be okay. Did Yue want the same thing...?

"Yeah, we should," Touya said after a long pause. "She's probably scared."

Truthfully, so was he.

As though he'd guessed the direction Touya's thoughts were taking, Yukito remained quiet as his friend considered, only watching with that same encouraging smile. There wasn't much he could do, really, but support his friends, and it seemed he'd managed to help at least a little. He was happy.

"At least it's not far away," he replied, when Touya finally spoke again. He half-turned away as his posture and expression made their subtle shift back to what was normal for Yue; the guardian gave Touya a sidelong glance and nodded down the hallway, finishing the comment with, "But we should stil hurry."

And putting action to words, he moved on without waiting for acknowledgment from Touya. They were both in agreement, and Sakura was waiting for them.

[going here]

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Nightshift 41: M31-M40 Hallway

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