Night 48: West Wing, South Hall 1-A

[inherited]

[from here]

Another hallway, which meant that he needed to slow his steps to a jog and turn on his flashlight. His light shifted over the walls quickly, up, down, around him, and even toward the floor, as if little black heads with yellow beady eyes would suddenly pop out and attack him. Though he didn't have any idea what most of the monsters looked like here, Riku doubted that he would see anything like the heartless. They may have the Darkness to change Kairi completely, but it didn't seem like the type of thing they would use against their patients. Making them into heartless would only be useful in the situations where Nobodies might be involved. Some people here might be strong in heart, much like Sora had been, much like Kairi had been, but he doubted that would be the intended result of their experiments. No, they were probably going for something else.

But what?

Riku shook his head uncertainly before he picked up his pace again. Nothing seemed to be clear. Not even the Darkness of this place seemed like that Darkness, even as he tried to see if it was the same way. But with every aspect of him feeling relatively weaker, it was no surprise he couldn't really check, couldn't really differentiate to tell for certain. He also knew there was a possibility that his senses were weakened. That would slow him down more, but they didn't bother to remove his experience or knowledge. Those were still things Riku pocketed and kept. They were what would help him help his friends.

[to here]

Comments

[lighthearted]

[From here.]

Even though Sora knew that he'd be meeting up with his friends, just as he should be, he still had to admit that it was strange not to be working with Arts and Crafts tonight. Worse than that, he hadn't even responded to Hitsugaya's posts on the bulletin today. He hoped that he hadn't worried the other boy, but it was just that he'd had a hard time getting a solid answer out of Riku about what to do until later on in the day.

Still, he hadn't even told Hitsugaya about the bat that he'd retrieved. It was still sitting around in his closet, waiting to be put to use by someone. Sora knew there would always be other times to deliver it, but it was enough to make him feel guilty. He couldn't pull away simply because Riku didn't think the club was worth anything.

Sora had known from the start that Riku wouldn't be big on the idea of clubs, though. He kept a few close friends and left it at that; he wasn't fond of crowds or working with lots of other people. They were going to have to work out a compromise, though. Either that, or Sora could team up with Kairi and try to make their friend see some sense.

Kairi was always better at convincing Riku of stuff than he was, after all. If she stepped in, things might get a little easier.

Smiling to himself at that thought, the boy moved on. He was just about at the stairs already.

[lighthearted]

[To here.]

[itneverwas.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/843016.html?thread=67433224#t67433224)]

Xemnas entered another corridor shrouded in darkness, which - after calmly gazing around the area - proved to be devoid of any presence; patient nor monster were wandering the darkness. Neither was there a sign of a Heartless, yet their lacking presence was one the Nobody had come to expect even despite such curiosity. Naturally, they would have little interest in one that held no essence to consume, but every world held a natural population of these inky shadows.

This Landels Institute was remarkably different.

Choosing to retrace the steps he had taken one night prior, he headed into the direction of the main hallway.

[itneverwas.livejournal.com]

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/839647.html?thread=67434463#t67434463)]

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

[[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/839647.html?thread=67435999#t67435999)]]

She turned the corner quickly and traced the wall, staying clear of the other patients as she continued. Time here seemed to pass so strangely. Some nights lasted forever while others were over in a blink. It was hard to say what might happen on any given night and harder to explain away, but for now it wasn't her concern. There was more to worry about than that.

Her shoes hardly made a sound as she moved on, intent on her target. Did she dare pursue the questions from earlier today? Or should she ask Kakashi or the others? As much as she wanted to know, it seemed like it would be so much more meaningful coming from Sasuke directly. But he'd made it fairly clear that he had no intention of telling her, saying it was none of her concern. Was it because he didn't want the information spread further? Or was it some strange way of protecting her from it? The first was more believable, but she didn't completely discount the second either. With the small things he'd done thus far, it was still a possibility.

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

[[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/843776.html?thread=67431936#t67431936)]]

[whichwayagain.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/842834.html?thread=67448402#t67448402)]

The hallway was empty when Mihai turned the corner; was he early then, or had time utterly escaped him for the second night in a row? He could only hope for the former. Those gathered here even from his own world--a concept Mihai still had trouble grasping--had a remarkable talent for getting into the worst luck. Being no exception, Mihai thought it better that they at least face it as a group. Maybe. Then again, who knew what sort of horror might come about if that many unfortunate souls stood in the same hall for a period of time?

Given what he'd learned about the Institute, Mihai decided he'd rather not consider it as he continued.

[whichwayagain.livejournal.com]

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/840219.html?thread=67449371#t67449371)]

[human-sponge.livejournal.com]

Peter let out a sigh of relief when he made it out of the block without a hitch. It had been right before leaving it that he'd been attacked by Roland, so he'd been unable to shake that nervous feeling. Still, it looked like he was safe for now. He knew that Roland was gone and that that had all been a terrible fluke, but the darkness of the hallways could make anyone anxious.

In any case, he had to keep moving. He felt bad about the fact that he was actually traveling away from the meeting spot for the paramedic stuff so that he could check on Nathan, but he thought that most people would understand. He needed to know for sure, even if this had caused him to lose a whole night the last time he'd tried.

Basically, he was expecting to find no one there. Nathan would have gotten a hold of him by now if he was capable of doing so. Still, Peter had to see for himself. Once he'd made his suspicions into facts, he'd head back to M7, and hopefully not be too late. Sighing, the man continued up the hall.

[clockmongler.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/841269.html?thread=67454517#t67454517)]

Ah, again into the dark hallways. It was painfully dull, and not even the idea of using his coat's black camouflage to sneak up on the Spider and startle him was all that entertaining at the moment. He hadn't lied when he told him he had lost his way - again, an embarrassing thing to have to own up to, but it was all the fault of these bare-boned walls. They were washed, uninteresting, and there was not a clock to be found on any of them.

...Alright, so maybe it was a bit of a lie - if he couldn't get lost in Wonderland, he couldn't get lost here. But what else would he tell the child? That he fell into a deep sleep normally reserved for Princesses or Roxas? Now, Luxord never enjoyed fibbing, but to tell the truth would only exacerbate their already exhausted and exiguous relationship.

Ever onward, ever onward.

[Nonstop. Nooonstop. Nonstop to center-hall~] (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/846265.html) ()

[sheisthecause.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/842092.html?thread=67463020#t67463020)]

Not the first door on the left (that was the nurse's station), but the second. She was the only one in this stretch of hallway, with only faint noises behind her in the direction she'd just come from. Meche hurried on.

[sheisthecause.livejournal.com]

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/843016.html?thread=67465224#t67465224)]

[sheisthecause.livejournal.com]

[and back from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/843016.html?thread=67466760#t67466760)]

Meche was almost in familiar territory again, which was something approaching comforting, and this hallway still looked free of monsters (not to mention anything else), which was even better. She picked up her pace a little and kept going.

[sheisthecause.livejournal.com]

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/842092.html?thread=67469932#t67469932)]

[tightsofmight]

[From here.]

Peter made a silent prayer to whoever was in charge of this whacky universe that for once, fortune would smile upon him and the bathrooms would be unoccupied. The last thing he needed tonight was to get caught in his underpants.

[To here.]

[nobleman]

[From here.]

As Guy made his way toward the next block - Luke's block (and Asch's, apparently) - he kept an eye out for either redhead leaving. He was expecting Asch more than Luke, as it was possible for the two to just miss each other as Asch headed out to do whatever he did with his nights.

It looked like the hallway was pretty empty, though, and so Guy decided to just pick up the pace. If all had gone well, Luke had found Asch and they were arguing it out right now. Not that he really wanted to be a witness to that, but he was hoping they could get their business with the God-General over with quickly and then move on to their own business. Sighing to himself, Guy headed through the door that led into the block.

[To here.]

[dualistic]

[From here.]

Nothing new to see. On the other hand, there weren't any monsters or hallucinations or voices of his dead friend coming through the intercom, so it wasn't like Harvey could complain too much about everything being quiet. He wasn't the kind of guy who backed down from a fight, but in this case, he wasn't looking for one, either. He'd pick one with Landel, sure, but he wasn't sure he'd ever get that opportunity, as frustrating as that was.

He was almost at the stairs, though. Squaring his shoulders and holding tight onto both his flashlight and his weapon, Harvey kept moving.

[dualistic]

[To here.]

[darwinism]

[ From here. ]

So far, so good, though the main hall was usually where things got complicated. Now that Sylar had actually gotten over the outer wall of the Institute, he... wasn't sure if he wanted to go back. He was sure there was a hell of a lot of interesting stuff out there, but "interesting" wasn't the same as "useful," especially when it ended with him losing control of his thoughts and jeopardizing his time investment with Wally.

He glanced down the darker way, toward the stairs where he'd once bashed in Elle's head. He began walking in that direction.

He never had been upstairs...

[ To here. ]

[usoppsenchou.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/843016.html?thread=67495432#t67495432)]

The hallways at night were still creepy, but Usopp was getting used to them. Maybe he'd been on the Grand Line too long, or just spent too long in Thriller Bark, but it wasn't as intimidating to walk around even with a near-stranger.

Or it could be that he was just happy to be sure that tonight he was doing what he wanted, not what some weird doctor had manipulated him into. Except the weapon Usopp was going to get was down a hallway and in a room made by that doctor, the weapon had been taken away in the first place by the doctor, and giving it back was probably not a pure sign of mercy or kindness either. The nurses here didn't search even by daylight.

So, taking back the weapon back probably was, in a very real way, what the doctor wanted him to do, so far as the doctor seemed to be directing anyone to do anything. Usopp didn't know what else to do, and Sai seemed pleased in his kind of cryptic ninja way to give it back. It'd beat fighting with a scalpel, or running from everything.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/844697.html?thread=67496601#t67496601)]

[doneinthree]

[from here]

Halfway across the corridor which ran along the patient blocks, Kirk glanced over his shoulder, wondering if he shouldn't have waited for Bones to ready himself so they could go together. The doctor would have to go this way anyway to rendezvous with Spock, and if whatever it was that was bothering him turned out to be serious, at least he wouldn't be alone. Or worse, if it happened that Spock had been taken by the Institute for some unknown sadistic reason, then it would be easier for them to regroup.

Part of him wanted to laugh at himself — Jim Kirk, playing the role of worried father to a crew of three, all of whom were technically more experienced than him, if not also older? But this last week, more than all the grueling years of instruction at the Academy, had doled him the surest lesson in who he was.

He was the captain. And he was born for this.

Trusting in his own judgment and that of his chief medical officer, Kirk continued on to the main hallway.

[to here]

[nobleman]

[From here.]

It made sense that the hallway was empty, since some time had already passed. Guy didn't think they'd hung around by Asch's room (or his old room, as the case might be) for too long, but every second counted.

On the other hand, the free hallway meant that he got an easy chance to get Luke acquainted with where everything was. As he took a right out of the block, Guy pointed forward with his flashlight. "We'll be making two more rights and then heading down the hallway parallel to this one in order to get to where we're going. There are four room blocks in total, three for males and one for females." Guy was just waiting to Luke to make some joke about that last fact. When it came down to it, he really was relieved that the females were outnumbered here, although the trade-off was the nurses. They were, however, aware of his condition, and kept their distance accordingly. It was one small thing he could be thankful for.

[tightsofmight]

[From here.]

Peter wandered out of the men's block, apprehension beginning to settle in just as deja vu did. He had essentially traced the same steps last night. Badou and his cigarettes had been a nice little detour, but now that he was back on track his nerves were starting what seemed like the beginning of a monster hissy fit.

Don't get him wrong. He was still peeved beyond all belief that Luxord didn't make it last night, but that hardly negated the fact that meeting with the man was downright dangerous. Just because he hadn't been aggressive last time didn't mean he wasn't capable of it. He'd seen his handiwork every night at dinner for the past week.

Funny how you could live through being pushed out of helicopters and getting electrocuted and still get nervous about this kind of thing.

[To here.]

[threepwood]

[From here.]

"Oh, there's a monkey in my pocket..."

Heading back toward the rooms from the main hallway, Guybrush quieted his humming a pinch. It occurred to him that some people might actually sleep during the night, and his amateur singing probably wasn't what they wanted to hear floating through the hallways.

[To here.]

[replicatedorder.livejournal.com]

"Well, I guess this isn't the place to start up any romances," Luke remarked, starting toward their next hall already. He'd wasted enough time with moping and complaining. As much as it was still on his mind, he knew he needed to keep going. Guy's continued movement was enough of an indication of that. "And I bet it makes it even easier for you, too." He found it easy to smile about that, at least, in comparison to other things. The smile itself felt a little forced and awkward, but he knew how to make lighter statements even at the darkest of times. It was something that managed to keep their group together as they struggled throughout Auldrant.

"Then again," he went on thoughtfully, "that might not stop you, after all. You do love women, don't you, Guy?" It was mocking and teasing, easy enough, but also not sincere as he'd like. He was working on it, and they were turning into the next hallway, anyway.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/839647.html?thread=67558111#t67558111)]