damned_institute | Dayshift 22: Sun Room (Evening Shift)

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Dayshift 22: Sun Room (Evening Shift)

It was probably a good thing Penelo listened to that weird silver haired man (she never really did get his name, did she?), because her short investigation of the Bulletin Board revealed that she wasn't alone after all. Larsa and Gabranth were here too, for whatever reason.

Penelo still couldn't quite wrap her mind around the concept that Gabranth was alive, when she had heard his dying words and had later attended his funeral back at Archades. Basch had taken his place since then, and it just boggled her. How could Gabranth have returned to life? There was no force in Ivalice that could do that.

Then again, it looked like she wasn't in Ivalice anymore.

Penelo sighed, seating herself at a table near the bulletin board as she waited for Larsa and Gabranth to arrive. Hopefully, Larsa would have some answers; she never doubted his ability to dig up information, no matter what the situation. Even so, what did they get themselves into?

"At least Vaan isn't here," Penelo reminded herself. She had gone from frantically searching for Vaan to praising the Gods that he hadn't been captured in this prison.

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Maybe it was something in the water. Maybe it was the excitement of the nice Head Doctor making his little speech. Maybe it was just time for a field trip. Whatever it was, the patients were getting into more fights today than ever before.

Already, another scuffle was starting. A large, muscular female nurse bustled over immediately, before things got too out of hand.

"And just what's going on here?" she demanded, her face stern and none-too-happy.

Antagonizing the people that could throw him out of commission even further was the last thing Vincent wanted to do.

He turned coldly to the nurse, gripping Sephiroth's arm back before he could twist his own further.

"This man needs to leave," Vincent growled. "He's causing a disturbance."

Tifa was almost thankful when the nurse arrived. Her hand still on Vincent, she turned to the nurse, nodding. "You can see he's upsetting us. If you'll ask him to leave, I'm sure there won't be any problem."

She no longer cared why Sephiroth had come over or what he had to say. Even if he had any information, there was no way he'd tell her.

Sephiroth's grip tightened slightly, meeting Vincent's increase although he did stop attempting to twist it. There was a certain amount of amusement and curiosity in the idea if he could merely twist it off, but now did not appear to be the time to test that theory. While he cared nothing for these nurses and their demands, he did care about passing whatever test he was being put through.

Losing was not an option.

His fingers uncurled from Vincent's metallic arm, putting himself in an odd position of letting the enemy keep his grip for the time being. Sephiroth wasn't anywhere near his usual strength, but he was slightly above that of a human man. Whatever twisted logic that ran Landel's might have thought that would keep him alive a little longer with his legion of enemies. One on one, he stood a fair chance of winning. Against a group might be another story.

"I found out what I needed to," Sephiroth said, that unblinking gaze on Vincent's own eyes. "If he will release me, I will be happy to move on."

"Alright, Mr. Rogers. Come along now, I'd hate to have you mark you down as a trouble maker." The nurse's lips were set in a firm line as she gently took Mr. Rogers's arm and began to steer him away from the other two patients.

"And I'm sure Mr. Shepard will let go of you now."

It was clear from the nurse's tone that it wasn't a suggestion or a request.

Sephiroth had found out absolutely nothing that would help him here, and he wasn't the type to ask. Vincent hoped the nurses would rip him apart.

Practically throwing the man's arm aside, he nodded sharply to the nurse and didn't take his eyes off their retreating forms until they were safely away. Powers limited or not, he would not turn his back to Sephiroth.

Tifa waited until the nurse and Sephiroth were far enough out of range to turn back to her friend. "You should be careful..." she said slowly, looking down at his injuries. "Thanks, though."

She certainly didn't want to seem ungrateful for his help, as much as she was worried. Then her thoughts turned back to what he'd written on the bulletin. "You said you needed to talk to me?"

For the briefest of moments, Sephiroth's natural distaste at being touched by a lowly human flared and he was hard put not to strike out. That would be a failure though, and that was not allowed. Let Kadaj be the one to shout at the storm and be held up to ridicule. He would not. It was bad enough that part of himself was doing that.

For that reason alone he didn't try to dislodge the woman. He went easily enough, shutting the woman out of his sphere of consciousness until she would release him. Ignoring outside distractions was something he was very good at.

Meanwhile, his mind ran through what he had discovered, turning that information over as a man would a gemstone, searching for flaws or better facets.

Finally, as he left earshot, Vincent turned back to Tifa. The anger on his face had completely vanished, replaced by weariness and anguish as he readied himself for what had to be said.

"You might want to sit down," he said almost absently, not waiting for her to bother. Vincent looked her straight in the eye. "Four nights ago I killed Cloud."

There was a ringing in her ears. No. She could not have heard that right. There was a mistake, that was all. Vincent was their ally, their friend. He wouldn't kill Cloud. No.

Her knees suddenly felt weak, but she stubbornly refused to sit. Tifa almost felt the urge to ask him if he was sure, but there was no way Vincent would tell her that if he wasn't.

"W- why?" was all that managed to escape her lips. She was searching for something, anything. There had to be a reason.

This time he did look away. She was devastated, and it was his fault. "I think they were controlling me. It's called Special Counselling, they bring in patients and---"

It didn't matter. Regardless, he was dead. He had come back, if that hadn't just been his imagination or some other trick in this stupid place, but now he was gone again.

Vincent half-shrugged, not knowing what else to say. "I transformed with the chainsaw."

It was probably ridiculous, but now Tifa was starting to feel bad that Vincent was feeling bad. She took his advice and sat down on the couch, listening to his explanation, but her eyes were somewhere on the floor.

Controlling him?

Then that was it - it wasn't Vincent's fault. She knew there was a reason! Her eyes flickered back up to him, wanting him to elaborate. "Special Counseling?"

She tried to push back the thought of what Vincent probably did to Cloud with the chainsaw. She'd seen that transformation before and...

She swallowed, waiting for him to go on.

Vincent sat with her, his leg beginning to throb painfully from the bites. Talking about this wasn't something he'd planned on doing after Cid's reaction, but she needed to know not only about Cloud but what this place did to people.

"A few other people had it happen to them as well. It's why Barret is in that wheelchair." Torn to shreds by a little girl. "Every few nights a few patients are under this place's control, and I don't think it's preventeable..."

He drew one leg up on the couch, resting his head broodily in his arms. "But everyone else was ordered not to kill."

Her heart tightened as she thought of Barret. Another patient was forced to do that? What if she was next? Tifa's eyes drew to the floor again. Would she attack her friends without hesitation?

Her eyes turned back to him, full of sympathy as he made his last statement. Her hands were on the edge of the couch, tightening a bit as she debated whether or not to give him a reassuring touch.

"Vincent...but even still, it wasn't your fault. Please don't blame yourself."

I don't blame you.

She hoped he'd understand.

Vincent just shrugged halfheartedly. "I don't blame myself," he sort-of lied, "but I'm not innocent of it."

He caught the underlying message though, and at the very least the guilt of making her so upset faded. "He came back, I think," he said after a moment, wanting to ease away from the discussion of his own faults. "A few other people saw him, but he's disappeared. I know this place can bring back the dead, but..."

There was really no way to verbalize anything he was thinking right now.

Tifa didn't entirely believe that he didn't blame himself, but left it at that for the moment.

The idea of Cloud coming back gave her some hope, even if he had disappeared. Then again, maybe he was back home? She certainly didn't want him stuck in a place like this, but there was no guarantee wherever he was right now was any better.

Like Vincent, she had trouble putting these thoughts into words.

"Let's just do our best. We'll find a way out of here. If Cloud comes back again we'll take him with us. If not...then, I'll keep looking for him."

Tifa knew she couldn't just drop everything to look for him the way things stood now, but after this was over she resolved to. If the others wanted to come along, that was fine with her too. Family should stick together, after all.

Vincent sighed tiredly, leaning back against the corner of the sofa. He was taking tonight off. He was no help to anyone with his hand, and a full week of sleepless nights (despite the inexplicable rest he knew was somehow getting) was taking its toll.

"I don't know if escaping the grounds will get us out of here," he said moodily. This place seemed completely isolated, out of their-space time given what little he'd managed to catch over the week. Cid tried to explain it that second night, but they'd been distracted. "If you want to try, though, I think I have a key."

Tifa's optimism was dampened a bit as Vincent pointed out the flaw in that plan. She wasn't sure where they'd go once they'd left here, either.

She perked up a bit, however, at the mention of a key. "Which door does it open? Do you know?" She still wasn't too sure about the layout of the place, but directed, she could figure it out.

Coming in from the courtyard, Yuffie was feeling a little restless. Ok, maybe a little was an understatement. All this place had to do was sit about during the day and talk or do some stupid little activities. Boring! She was used to running around all day, or at least practicing with her shuriken! The entire Wutaiian continent was basically her backyard, not to say she didn't run around the rest of Gaia too, and now she was confined to one little building and only allowed to go outside once in three days.

If things didn't liven up soon, she was going to go stir crazy. Or die of boredom. Right now, both looked more interesting than wandering around this place.

Seeing Tifa and Vincent talking, though, reminded her that there was supposed to be some kind of Avalanche meeting. Ugh. More talking. Though the longer she stared at them sitting at the couch, the more appealing the situation looked. Maybe this wouldn't be so boring, after all...

Grinning, the young ninja slunk around the room, keeping as far away and as many people in between her and the couch as possible until she was well enough out of Tifa and Vincent's sight. She wasn't sure if they'd seen her coming or not, but the room was full enough to maybe hide her presence, so she was willing to chance it. Getting down on her hands and knees, she crawled up behind the couch, hiding and listening to their conversation, waiting for just the right moment to jump up.

She had to hold a hand over her mouth to muffle the giggles. So what if it looked a little weird? This was fun.

He hadn't been able to get too familiar with the place himself, even after a week, thanks to all the changing that seemed to happen near every night.

"Cid, Barret and I were trying to figure that out when we got attacked."

Beyond the noise in the rest of the room as it filled up, he didn't hear Yuffie's actually stealthy approach.

"I think it's the main door; it fit, but we didn't get the chance to try it."

Tifa nodded. "I'll pick up the key from you tonight, then. What room are you in?"

She had already taken Vincent and Barret off of any nighttime activites. They were both injured the worst, and it would be pointless to send them off into danger. Cid should show up soon, and Yuffie, so maybe they would come...

Where were they, anyway?

Vincent had a key? Now, this was interesting... And at least Yuffie knew now what the guys had been up to before they got hurt. Not that Barret would have told her anything about it... She was still a little miffed at him over that. Just a little.

But more importantly, Vincent had something cool... And no way was Yuffie going to be left out of it this time.

Slowly peering up over the back of the couch, Yuffie whispered loudly next to Vincent's ear, "Can I see it?"

Bum hand immediately going for imaginary holster, Vincent whirled around, practically jumping back and into combat mode.

...And now his muscles hurt.

Dammit.

"No," he said pointedly after a long moment of angry silence.

Tifa barely resisted the urge to giggle - she was actually grateful for Yuffie's antics. They took her mind off of what she'd just learned, if only for a second. She rested a hand gently on Vincent, already knowing that he must have strained his injuries from whipping around so quickly...plus, she had to make sure he wouldn't throttle the young ninja.

"Glad to see you could make it, Yuffie." Tifa said, smiling in welcome at her friend.

Yuffie grinned at Vincent's reaction and Tifa's greeting...but mostly Vincent's reaction. Oh, it was good. Though on second thought, it might not have been such a good idea to sneak up on him like that... Hadn't he mentioned something about being injured? Well, nothing she could do about it now...

"Spoil sport," Yuffie remarked to Vincent as she climbed over the back of the couch, planting herself between her two friends. "So, what'd I miss? Did the meeting start yet?"

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