damned_institute | Night 48: M81-M90 Hallway

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Night 48: M81-M90 Hallway

[M88]

Leon told himself not to be disappointed that he would be working again tonight rather than getting an extra break. If Jun hadn't disappeared he would have been working anyway. Now he had the opportunity to take care of the offer he'd made Guy a while back. (Which was good, since then he wouldn't have to worry about it any longer.)

He didn't even know if Claude's friend was bringing any metal, and his own supplies were dwindling. Soon he might have to call in a favor from Haseo. The older boy had wanted something to do, hadn't he? The pillowcase was pulled out once more, and the young mage went over his inventory to make certain he'd have enough for a sword of a decent size and weight (assuming that was what Guy wanted). When he was certain he'd be able to manage one more bit of alchemy with what he had, he moved everything aside and sat waiting at his desk.

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"But it shouldn't even be happening, right?" Luke asked, looking at the area curiously. He remembered that they were supposed to be safe in their rooms, and he also remembered his mindset from the other night. Though it was incorrect, they were trying to have him send people back to their rooms. Was this supposed to be some kind of mixed message?

What worried him more was that it seemed impossible to believe that everyone left their rooms at night. If there was a chance of explosions, it meant that people could be caught—and that someone was caught in this one. He tried moving toward the flames, but rekindled after a moment. He didn't have any armor to help resist that, and while he could have the other night, things changed.

Trying to keep from breathing in too deeply, he fell into place alongside Guy. "Maybe if we rush in together quickly, we can see if anyone's caught in there."

Glancing over to Luke when he spoke up, Guy sighed and shook his head. "This is the first time I've ever seen anything like this. I mean, there's been damage to the building, but it's usually caused by..." He'd been planning to say "brainwashed patients," but soon realized that he shouldn't mention that, and quickly recovered with, "other things."

Hopefully Luke was too distracted by the matter at hand to catch it. That turned out to be the case, as his friend next suggested that they just rush into the wall of flames in search of any victims. Guy's eyes widened -- even if his Mystic Arte involved fire, that didn't mean he was ready and raring to race into a burning room.

"I'm pretty sure there's no one in there, Luke," he said carefully. "We'd be able to see something, or we would have heard them." He'd keep his earlier thought about the smell to himself, since he didn't want to upset his friend. It all came down to assessing the facts, though. They shouldn't endanger themselves if they didn't have to.

As Guy spoke, however, he noticed something interesting: a trail of residue on the floor, leading toward the room. Frowning, he crouched down to examine it. "I wonder..."

Even fire couldn't kill someone instantly, and they moved there as fast as possible. Someone suffocating wouldn't risk being lost in the blaze; they would fight for their lives. Luke had fought for his life before, had clung to the last bits of it until he had no choice but to let go. He had a feeling that this was no different. Someone in here wouldn't let Landel—or one of the patients—win. They would fight to prove some fire wouldn't keep them down.

He just wondered if it would look this same way tomorrow night. Would it be as problematic, or would the morning come with the room in the same shape as always? It probably wouldn't be worth checking. In the end, it wouldn't answer any questions, and they could always mention it over the bulletin when they could.

"What's it look like?" Luke asked, coming up behind his friend and abandoning the near-suicidal thought of rushing into the blast (near-suicidal because he believed they could get someone out if they needed to; they could be that determined). He considered the residue, but he told himself that he didn't have the knowledge to investigate as well as Guy. He just hoped his friend would explain so he could hold the knowledge for future engagements.

It looked like Luke had abandoned the idea of rushing in there, which Guy was thankful for. He'd only just recently gotten back into good health, and he didn't want to throw that all away for nothing. It seemed strange to burn down a room that no one was even in, but maybe whoever had been the target of this had already escaped.

When his friend asked what he was looking at, Guy showed him the residue which he'd wiped up on his fingers. He wasn't entirely sure what it was, but he had a few guesses. "This is probably flammable, meaning that someone set this fire purposefully. It was no accident, and..." He paused and sighed. Luke wasn't going to like what he had to say next, but the younger man wasn't going to let him drop it without explaining. "This doesn't seem like something a monster would do. I'm pretty sure it was a patient."

There was no sign of the culprit at this point, though. They'd been too late. While it wasn't their job to track people down, Guy did feel bad about it. Getting to his feet, he wiped his hand off on the side of his sweatpants and then glanced back to the redhead. "Since it doesn't seem to be spreading, I think we can head back to Leon now." He thought they'd left the kid waiting for long enough. He didn't want Leon to worry.

What was worse was how quickly he linked it all together. It wasn't just that someone was doing it here, which was bad enough, but that they were doing it willingly. They sought out the stuff that made the fire that could have possibly hurt someone in the long run. They didn't need to be forced, because he knew that people were supposed to be in their rooms. They did this willingly.

Luke always did poorly at hiding how he felt, and he was even worse now. "What kind of ..." bastard, he finished mentally, but it seemed as if he was having a hard time getting the words out. Instead, he raised a hand and clenched it into a fight fist, showing his complete and absolute irritation with the situation. For now, it was the most he could do.

"Let's get going," he added, the tension still in his voice, and holding his jaw. Without waiting for Guy's confirmation that it certainly was time, he started moving back to Leon's room.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/843571.html?thread=67699507#t67699507)]

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Night 48: M81-M90 Hallway

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