damned_institute | Day 46: Sun Room

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Day 46: Sun Room

Peter woke up suddenly, his body twisting in the bed and then forcing him to catch his breath in pain. Pain, which was coming from his middle because of the thing that had scratched him last night, and after that...

After that, Zach had jumped in front of him like some kind of martyr, like the exact opposite of everything Sylar stood for, to take the next hit for him. It got pretty fuzzy after that, so night must have ended right around then.

The man let out a pained grunt as he straightened himself up in bed. For some reason, he got the feeling that he'd slept in. There was no way for him to really tell without a window in the room, but he just knew. The fact that Sam's bed looked long since vacated was another clue.

Sam, but was he Sam again? Had the brainwashing worn off, as he and Roland had hoped, or was he going to have to go through this nightmare for even longer? He didn't know how long he could handle "Zach" and "Harrison" before he started going batty himself.

Pulling himself out of bed, Peter lifted his shirt and saw that he was tightly bandaged. The scratch most likely wasn't nearly as bad as the bite that "Zach" had received, but it still smarted. He let his shirt fall and then had to deal with a nurse chiding him for sleeping through the morning announcements. Not that Peter really cared at the moment. He was too busy thinking about last night and the fact that in a way, he now owed something to Sylar. Except it hadn't been Sylar. That was something he was sure of now.

Lost in his thoughts, Peter reached the Sun Room right as the rest of the patient populace was trickling in from breakfast. Sighing to himself, he headed over to the bulletin board and then saw a note written in familiar yet unpleasant handwriting. Holding his pen in a vice grip, Peter scribbled out a reply and then stalked over to an armchair and fell into it with a huff.

While Sylar was maddeningly frustrating, there was one good thing about the fact that he was himself again. It meant that Nathan was too.

[For Spock!]

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Kagura didn't have any siblings, at least not by blood, but the mere idea of killing them repulsed her. Kagura had killed Yomi, who was like a sister to her, before, and the act had nearly broken the teenage exorcist's heart. She wondered how Hime felt about killing her siblings? It was hard to read Hime. In the end, Kagura could only say, "Siblings killing each other... That's so sad..."

Kagura wanted to ask Hime if she had killed any of her siblings, but Kagura was too afraid to ask. If Hime had, she might not wish to share that information, and even if she did, Kagura didn't have the right to judge her.

"Yeah. My fight never seems to end," answered Kagura. The exorcist knew very well that her job would never be finished. As long as people lived, they would die and then become spirits, some of them evil.

"And it sounds like yours almost doesn't either. What is it that you do?" And by this, Kagura meant aside from killing her siblings. "If you ascend the throne obviously you'll become queen and rule over your country, but I mean right now, as a princess."

She watched the two a minute more, noncommittal. If talk was what she wanted, then physical force wasn’t what she could call on; on the other hand, getting things to conform to her way was that much more difficult--not to mention exasperating--when muzzled. She had nothing but time on her hands, but--

Her thoughts were interrupted by someone speaking to her, and Yomi blinked distractedly before tearing her eyes away to find the distraction. What?

… Oh.

Her gaze landed on another blonde, the third person who’d been with her in the basement. David… or Klavier… whatever his name was. She remembered looking up into the same pretty face that was looking at her now, though she had none of the same attachments to the awkwardly human introduction, the hand-holding, the desperate sense of companionship that Yoshiko’s memories did. But that was a lie, wasn’t it? Not the same attachments, but similar… familiar. (Teasing, smiles… so like someone else she knew… and the cowardice and callousness. Those were a part of him, too. But Noriyuki had gotten his in the end.) From faraway, Yomi could read the discomfort in the fair-haired man like a neon beacon, and more dimly, the source of his strange address. Some European accent she didn’t immediately know.

She stared at him for another long moment, spun around with memories that rightfully and unrightfully belonged to her, until she finally return to the present. Only to wonder if he wanted to commiserate with her or something else equally meaningless.

There wasn’t a trace of hard feelings in her when Yomi said, “I’m back to how I was. You must be, too.”

Oh. Oh, now he'd gone and upset Ritsu even more. From the sound of things, she was on the verge of possibly crying from being so scared, and that was the kind of thing Hanatarou could completely understand. And didn't want to make anyone feel.

He froze in place, then slowly ventured a careful glance upward which only verified what he'd thought he heard. The poor woman had just ended up in a strange place and told about monsters and scary things and probably hadn't seen anything like it before and now he'd gone and scared her even more. It hadn't been very nice of him at all and now she probably wouldn't want to talk to him ever again and he wouldn't blame her a bit for it.

"Ah, it's n-not, um, th-that bad? Er." Yes, he'd gone and said it was dangerous, and Kagura had apparently mentioned monsters, and it wasn't that bad. Oh, that made a lot of sense. "I mean, um. I-if you stick with other people, it helps, and...and I haven't really been hurt at all since I got here?" Except that night with the zombies, but it was probably best not to say a word about that.

"Sounds neat," Loz said. He pictured London and Paris as being similar to Edge. Really big, with lots of people. "Well, I've never even seen most of my world, but I know about some of the other towns in it, like Wutai. That's where a lot of ninjas and stuff live."

"Ah." 'Sephiroth': the uniqueness of it matched the man's appearance. He wouldn't easily forget the name, in that case. That Sephiroth didn't appear to have a last name made the task all the simpler.

"Yes, there are many people here from many worlds; you must forgive them for their ignorance," Kratos said wryly. "I prefer the anonymity, myself." He had long become used to the non-recognition; out of the Four Heroes of the Kharlan War, only Mithos's and Martel's names had been immortalized in name--partly by his influence. It would have diluted the tragedy to include more players.

Like I care if you don't forget.

Even though they weren't said, Sync made sure that his words shone in his eyes. The replica before him was nothing more than a steppingstone, a nuisance that tied him to his responsibilities back in Auldrant. He honestly doubted that Luke would be smart enough to keep his distance, but it wasn't like he expected much in the first place. While Sync knew full well that his stay was still short, so much has happened in Landel's that it was no surprise he didn't bother to put forth the effort to even acknowledge Luke as a threat.

Even with the ability of second-order hyperresonance the replica had, no doubt, been pinned down to their level. If he was as handicapped as Guy had been without a sword, then he was no threat at all. When it came down to raw power and skill their efforts were simply laughable compared to someone like him.

"Really now?" As much as Luke's confession aggravated him, Sync didn't show it as he continued to boastfully laugh. However, his chuckles eventually died down, a sense of calm washing over the God-General as he stood back to his full height and offered the replica a deadly smile. There was nothing worth responding to in Luke's last biting words, instead focusing on what was more important.

"It doesn't matter to me. There are only so many times he can come back before he finally gives up. Don't think some weakling like him can actually defeat me."

"Yup, that's it in a nutshell." No point in mincing his words; the full magnitude of the situation would be much more impressive.

And if Alvin had noticed the capital "G", Sanae wasn't offering any explanations. Some words just demanded that kind of emphasis, right?

His eyes narrowed as he glanced in Sho's direction. The Heaper looked like he was caught up in terrorizing Neku and some other kid with equally brown, spiky hair. "Oh, Minamimoto's dangerous, alright. The guy's like a time bomb--a really intelligent time bomb. He's got something deadly up his sleeve." He sighed. "Josh knows it too, but the conflict's unavoidable. We'll give it our best shot."

For Luke, it wasn't difficult for him to notice the uncanny—and very annoying—similarities between Sync and Asch. They both chose from what he said to respond to, choosing to simply disregard the rest because it got a little too personal. Giving answers, giving him satisfaction—he knew it was too much to ask, but it didn't remove that little twinge of nagging feeling at the fact that they were like that. It was impossible to try to reason with any of them, even the most rational, even if they had their reasons and Luke understood them.

"It'll be different next time," Luke said, but he had a feeling that Sync would just ignore this, too. "I'll be there by his side, and you won't be as strong as you were before." His tone was flat as he spoke, uneasy, revealing that Sync was getting to him in some way. Not because he feared for Guy—though a part of him did—but because of the aforementioned willingness to go around what Luke said and respond to only what he wished to respond to.

"Heh," Luke added, a little bit of enthusiasm somehow making its way to his voice. "It's a good thing I showed back up again right around this time." It was marked off as yet another thing that he was sure would be ignored, but he managed to straighten up with confidence. Sync's next fight against their group wouldn't go so well.

"Ninjas?" Allen asked. He'd never seen a ninja before. Actually, he didn't really know what one was. "I don't know what that means."

He laughed a little, almost apologetically. "But I bet your world is nice, too. I'm sure we can find some way to get everyone home."

Tim crossed his arms. "Well, there's got to be some way to at least have a contingency plan. If this guy is going to attack, then there has to be ready defense. Considering the situation, and the apparent lack of resources, I'd say a preemptive strike isn't your best bet, so we've got to rack up the defense."

All Robin, all the time. It got easier with a topic like this.

"Do you have an MO on this guy? I mean, even unpredictable people have patterns."

Unless they were the Joker. But he decided it was better not to go there. One person like that was more than enough for a lifetime. Thinking of anyone else that crazy was just too damn much.

Still no signs of impending violence. Lelouch wouldn't get it. Why would Rolo, an assassin from the Geass Order, not leap at the chance to kill him after what he'd confessed? Had he completely forgotten what Lelouch had yelled at him only two days ago? He'd been using him this entire time, didn't he realize that? Didn't that matter to him? It didn't seem like it did, shakiness aside. Lelouch was fairly certain that the emotion Rolo was so intent on hiding from him wasn't murderous rage, at any rate, which meant... what did that mean, exactly? Rolo couldn't have forgiven him for all of that, could he? Especially after finding out Lelouch had lied to him before-- and of course the question of why he had lied in the first place was one he couldn't answer just yet. What had happened to make him do something like that?

He eventually set the matter aside for later thought, deciding to simply focus on this conversation for now. The nurses had to immune to Rolo's Geass, at least, and he doubted that its range was still large enough to enclose Suzaku within its space. With as many potential witnesses as there were, too-- no, he couldn't see Rolo caring about that. There was no mission here, and Lelouch had certainly said enough to merit some sort of attack. With there still being a distinct lack of violent intent from Rolo, it was therefore... all right, that was enough. He'd figure it out later.

Somewhat more composed now, he turned his attention to what Rolo was saying. Under different circumstances, he might have taken this opportunity to drill the boy on what he'd seen, where he'd seen it, how many people he'd been with, and so on, but right now... no, even later, they wouldn't be the best questions to ask. Trying to determine how Rolo figured into his plans now was just too confusing, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to even think of this past encounter as another moment where Rolo could have died but didn't. It did bring up the notion of using the fake as monster bait, but it faded fairly quickly.

"The Activities Shed in the Recreational Field has some bats," he said aloud, trying to distract himself. "There are also knives in the kitchen, which is just past the cafeteria. There's a staff kitchen upstairs which might also have one, but both locations tend to be difficult to reach at night. The same could be said of the shed; the Recreational Field tends to house some of the institute's more formidable guards. Where we are now, the Sun Room, is similar, as is the area on the second floor directly above us." He nodded towards it. "The Courtyard and Entry Room, too. I wouldn't be surprised if the Greenhouse and the patio on the second floor were the same, but I haven't received as many reports about those areas." It had been awhile since he'd glanced over the monster report, though, so he wasn't entirely certain, but...

"You should acquire a map as soon as possible and familiarize yourself with the institute's layout," he continued, glancing away from Rolo to the board. "I'd recommend asking for one on there, but you'll have to be fairly discreet. The nurses are watching it much more closely now than they used to." That was yet another thing he had to deal with soon, but with how much shit seemed to be happening lately, he wasn't sure when he'd be able to get around to it. He had to at least make a start today, though. He couldn't afford anymore delays.

"And yes, I have someone looking after me." He didn't mention who, but it was fairly obvious anyway with how he'd brought up Suzaku's name earlier in the conversation. Far less obvious was why the hell Rolo looked so worried about it. Did he want to make sure that Suzaku didn't kill Lelouch before he had the chance? Probably not, but it was worth considering. Then again-- but why would he care about Lelouch now? Had he simply done that good a job of turning him to his side? Or was it... did Rolo still think of him as a brother, after everything?

The effort Luke put forth in order to rile Sync up was met with an uninterested scoff, green eyes grazing over Luke's head as if he was paying attention to something else. It was obvious that the replica's words meant nothing to him, just like his existence altogether. While they didn't directly affect each other, it was the redhead's sheer stubbornness that kept their plans from running as fluidly as he would've liked, and for that seeing him alive was unforgivable.

"So you really were here before." Sync's smile had disappeared by then, his tone making it seem like talking to Luke was nothing more than a chore. He glanced back down at the other replica, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly as he continued.

"Where were you when you were here then? Where were you when your friends actually needed you?"

He smoothed his hand down Schuldig's side lightly, keeping an eye out for nurses who might object to this. They could be remarkably uptight about this kind of thing. He didn't understand why they bothered pretending it was a real hospital anyway, that they wouldn't just go and do whatever they wanted during the night. None of this place made any sense though. He wasn't sure why he should expect it to in any way.

He had to lean in a little closer to hear Schuldig speak but what he heard made him pale slightly, eyebrows knotting together as he frowned. "What happened?" he asked in a soft voice. "They... they didn't take you again, did they?"

"...I don't know," Touya said, thinking that Yuki really hadn't understood what he said, or didn't want to disagree for whatever reason. "We can't go back, so we have to go forward."

That was really the only thing they could do. Fai wasn't coming back to life, and they couldn't just turn around and never think about that arena again. It would be a disservice to Fai's sacrifice. Though where they were supposed to go from there, Touya didn't know. He didn't think he wanted to know.

"It'll be hard, for all of us, but I think Fai would want us to keep going. Especially if it means getting out."

Sheena could understand needing to throw something to make herself feel better, make herself feel important. She was human, after all. So, a lot of what S.T. said made sense if she pulled the references she didn't understand. One thing did stick out, though.

"No segregation? Really?" Surprise and wonder was clearly written on the ninja's face. That was what her and her friends were fighting for back home if it was looked at with an altruistic eye. "How did you manage that?"

"'Sup, dude," Junpei replied when Ryoji showed up. He gave his friend a once-over.

"You look like you've been cramming or something as equally lame. Whatcha been up to?"

"Well, uh... It's a planet that does have a human colony on it," he mumbled, feeling a tad let down over not finding someone who knew what he was talking about, again. Oh well, he couldn't blame the one-eyed ex-VUX. "That drawing of yours just kinda reminded me of the cyborg bodies the people there stuffed their brains into. One eye and arms kinda like yours, but in short little black cubes." Come to think of it, how did those people cope with having so little expression or flexibility in such bodies? Weird...

Sechs followed ZEX's glance to see what he was looking at. Puzzled, he stretched his neck out but found nothing that seemed out of the ordinary. The former android figured it wasn't anything too important and leaned back against his chair with a shrug. Once ZEX brought his attention back, Sechs continued his challenging leer towards ZEX's single hazel eye with his own two amber ones.

"Sounds cool!" For the first time that day, Sechs' bold battle-loving grin returned to his bruised face. "I'm more of a hand-to-hand combatant myself actually. I've got a preference for blades and firearms, plus I'm known for my expertise on a variety of combat styles and techniques!" He thoughtfully cupped his chin with his hand, grinning at all the possibilities orbital combat offered. "But fighting in space with a ship? That adds whole a new set of dimensions to the game! It must be pretty fun!"

The talk of space ships reminded Sechs of one battle he dealt with once during the Z.O.T.T. It was like a metaphorical trophy that he could never resist boasting about. "I once fought a guy who destroyed star ships with a special robot suit made just for fighting big ass machines!" Now with his bragging on the roll, Sechs puffed his chest out but not so much that it bothered his injuries.

Letting that detail of such awesome power sink in for his single audience, Sechs took a moment to remove the ice pack off his arm and hold it up against another part of his sore head. With his free arm he then proudly thrust his thumb towards his chest, tilting his head back with a haughty smirk. "And I beat him in a head-to-head match! The guy had huge jet-powered weapons and a shield that he thought was impenetrable but I figured out its weakness! The guy didn't even know what hit 'em!" Sechs chuckled to himself over the memory. Heh heh, served that old geezer right for calling me a runt!

Humans with cyborg technology? Now there was an interesting thought... although it would deprive them of their beautiful bodies, and on the whole he considered it a loss. A human looking more like a VUX was a step in the wrong direction, as far as he was concerned. "Interesting... no, I don't think I heard of anything like that. Then again, information on your species was scarce during the War, unfortunately enough."

It looked like Sechs didn't see whatever it was either. These were his own personal delusions... and he had a feeling that they were connected to what had happened to him two nights ago. That thing that had been implanted in his brain... what exactly did it do?

Well, at least Sechs didn't seem put off by ZEX's interest, and even seemed to rise to meet it. That was something of a bright light in a dark time, and ZEX's smile eased and became more natural as he became less conscious of it.

"I always thought of it as an art myself." ZEX did love this topic of discussion. "So few of my countrymen had an aptitude for it like I did... interstellar tactics and warfare come naturally to me. Of course, being a skilled pilot probably had some part in it..." Not that ZEX was bragging. These were really just facts, even if his countrymen had rewritten him out of history now.

ZEX's interest was piqued by Sech's story... more things he'd never heard of before. "A suit designed for fighting starships... for infiltration onto enemy ships, you mean?" Like the Orz with their marines, although ZEX had only heard of skirmishes with them. While some of his fellow VUX had run afoul of the Orz once or twice and paid the price for it, the Ur-Quan frowned on their thralls getting into battles they did not manage, and there was to be no full-scale war or attack or vengeance against the Orz for what they'd done. Not that ZEX hadn't insisted on getting all the details of the encounters.

ZEX watched him shift around the thing he was holding curiously. What had he done last night? Sechs had certainly gotten himself beaten up doing something. ZEX smiled in response to Sechs's, unconsciously mirroring his expressions without understanding what they meant. "That's very impressive, human... what was its weakness?" It was unlikely that any such information would ever be useful to ZEX, but it was still fascinating on its own merits.

What was it the Sphinx had told them, exactly? Something about how if they survived what was behind that locked door, they would be able to explore farther into the Institute, wasn't it? It had been vague, but was there something past the arena for those who survived it? Yukito's brow furrowed slightly as he tried to concentrate, feeling his thoughts sliding away, difficult to grasp.

He did know that giving up hadn't been an option to begin with, but was even less of one now. It would be like saying Fai's death hadn't meant anything, wasting the opportunity he'd given them. And whatever "prize" it was that Landel had mentioned the night before. The idea of taking something from Landel, especially for the reason he'd supposedly "earned" it made him feel vaguely ill, but...again, he couldn't just throw away any potential advantage, especially when it had been paid for in blood.

"We'll get back home," Yukito agreed, giving another brief glance around the room. No Sakura, still. It was a good thing Yue was distracted, else he'd probably be trying to find her himself. "But...not tonight?" he added, a little hesitant. "I think...maybe we need a night to rest."

"Yeah. Sorry dude, you're probably gonna get eaten tonight now that it's got a taste for your blood." Badou gave him a look that managed to be mostly sympathetic. The guy looked a little younger than him, but not so much younger that he felt really bad ~~for trolling~~. After a moment's consideration, and another glance at Alkaid and Alle and Haine and some skinny dude to make sure they weren't all killing each other, he flopped down on one of the couches beside the guy. What the hell. He could do with a break, especially if he landed in therapy after lunch.

He made a vague gesture at the thanks, brushing it off. "If you find some smokes around here, pass 'em along and we'll call it even. I'm Badou. You? I mean, I could call you 'dead meat' but that's not nice."

Edited 2009-12-20 03:24 (UTC)

Suzaku looked a little surprised before he managed to cover it. Of course, the other guy wouldn't have had to be here long to be sick of it. Suzaku had been sick of it pretty much right away.

"It used to just be the monsters," he started. "But other things have been happening, too. A couple days ago we got stuck in the town overnight, and there were zombies everywhere. It was chaos. And then there was this night where a lot of people. . ." And here he hesitated, but tried to cover it once again. He could give clinically detached information to someone who might need to know. He could. He wasn't weak enough to be affected by every reference to something painful, not anymore. "They seemed to die, but then woke up again in the morning. And yesterday they started censoring the bulletin, and a bunch of people got brainwashed into believing Landel's lies. But they're fine today."

Ken sighed as he settled down onto one of the chairs in the Sun Room, feeling exhausted and thoroughly sick of all the bullshit this place dealt out. At least Yohji wasn't still pissed off at him for yesterday. His head tilted backwards to rest on the back of the chair, and his eyes slipped closed.

Now he just had to find Aya, and hope to God it didn't end up with him getting floored. He'd rather not have more bruises, or get sedated, and he knew that if Aya started punching, he'd punch back. That was just how they dealt with one another, it seemed.

A sudden warm, furry pressure in his lap caused Ken to sit up straighter and look down. One of the therapy cats had decided he seemed to be a decent cushion. Ken smiled slightly and scratched behind the feline's ears.

"At least you're not mad at me, right?"

[Aya~]

...Then again, most people weren't Nel. And here he'd thought Airyglyph was a little cold. Celes was polite at least, and that wasn't too bad. He leaned back automatically, arms resting directly parallel to the armrests, hands curled loosely into fists.

"And you, Lady Chere." She carried herself like a noblewoman, maybe a fighter too, but he couldn't tell just yet. He didn't know what that shudder was about either, but he hoped he wasn't all that hideous first thing in the morning.

"Just call me Cliff if you don't mind. I woke up here last night and... someone gave me a crash course on the basics. If can spare a helpless newbie and fill in some of the hows and whys, I'd appreciate it."

Wow. "Wow," Tobias said, impressed; even on good days, the Animorphs had barely saved more than a handful of lives, and he doubted they'd managed two thousand in over two years. (Had it really been that long?) "He sounds pretty awesome," he added, admiringly.

Haine snorted. He'd heard this zombie crap from Badou. Even if there were really zombies, well, they were gone now, weren't they?

"So, what, it was an illusion that these people died? Charming."

Something clicked in his brain, half a body clutched in his hands, a girl smiling, a girl screaming.

His jaw clenched, but he shook it off.

"I heard people were brainwashed. Guess they got better." His tone had changed somewhat; the death thing struck a chord with him that he'd never admit it had.

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Day 46: Sun Room

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