Night 45: Basement, South Hall

[winged_moon]

[from here]

The hallway beyond was dark, and not just ordinary darkness that one might expect when there was simply no light. This was unpleasant, oppressive darkness of the sort that only made Yue even more uneasy than he already had been just for the fact that they were in the basement of this bizarre place. He stepped forward cautiously, wondering at the faint whistling sound, but he couldn't hear anything else to indicate the presence of danger. Nor was there anything visible in the light cast from behind him.

There was only the strong, very strong feeling of wrongness and dangers unseen, and the guardian realized that he didn't want Sakura to be here. For that matter, he didn't want anyone to be here, but now that they were, was there anywhere to go but forward? He glanced back at the others, waiting for those with the lights to catch up, and frowned. "I don't like this," he observed, voice quiet.

Comments

[giftofstars.livejournal.com]

A shiver ran through Sakura's spine as she walked into this hall. It was different from the other halls in appearance, and the darkness blanketing it really made her unsettled. She shined her own flashlight up and down the door so she could observe the words herself.

"But what do they mean by 'offer blood,'" she asked, trying to maintain her composure. If she showed that she was scared, there was no way that Yue and Touya would allow them to continue.

[winged_moon]

It seemed clear enough to Yue: whoever "offered blood" at the door would move on, farther into whatever lay ahead of them. If anyone was going to continue on into danger it wouldn't be Sakura, and he had to move quickly before Touya got the same idea. He was here to keep them safe, and had already been injured in doing so tonight. A bit of blood was nothing to him, and if it meant that the other two stayed behind in relative safety (he hoped) while he investigated the unknown, he was entirely willing.

He gave a sidelong glance toward Fai, wondering if the magician would catch his meaning, and quickly stepped forward. Before anyone could object or attempt to stop him, the guardian reached out and pressed a fingertip against one of the carved fangs on the snake's head. As they lacked any blade or weapon with which to draw blood he'd hoped it would be sharp enough, and found that it was. Rather surprisingly so, in fact; blood welled up almost as soon as he'd touched it.

[not-rly-fai.livejournal.com]

Despite what the others might say, Yue pushed forward, obviously not about to turn around. After giving Fai a look that seemed to suggest he follow along, the guardian reached out and pricked his finger on the snake's fang. If it was Yue and himself that offered their blood, maybe it would only be the two of them that would have to enter. And compared to the other two, Yuuhi could easily see why Yue had asked him to come along. They couldn't put Touya in danger; he didn't have any kind of magic or powers, at least, not that he could tell. And putting Sakura in danger was out of the question altogether. Which meant it would fall on the two of them.

Before the others had a chance to argue, Yuuhi took the last few steps forward and slipped off his glove, then pressed his finger into the snake's sharpened fang, just as Yue had. It made a jagged cut across the tip and he left a smear of blood on the fang before childishly placing the wounded fingertip in his mouth. He expected the doors to open or something to appear, but when nothing did, he started to slip his glove back on, only to feel a dizzying loss in balance as everything around him went black.

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