damned_institute | Nightshift 50: M91-M100 Hallway

The night had ended before Ratchet's theory regarding the windows could ever be verified, and morning came without any sort of accomplishment. Expected, yet it made the fact hardly less irritating. As equally irritating were the mundane activities that made up the days, something the display of moving pictures involving a giant ape could hardly hope to fix even despite the advanced technology; the ninja had found himself heading elsewhere soon after. And all he did was wait until the night would fall, waiting for an opportunity to at least attempt to move further, to tear Martin Landel to shreds and return to the war between ninja.

He had waited for the majority of his life. Without any hope for salvation, he had suffered and lost himself into vengeance, waiting for an opportunity to extract it, to give those damn Kouga a taste of what he had suffered. He had been so close to it, to eliminate them off this world and remain the last man standing. But the hopes for vengeance were slipping further away the longer he remained here.

But in the week and a half he had been here, little had been accomplished. Infuriatingly little in such a large period of time.

Dinner had been spent in silence, but it wasn't until the man had finished his dinner and began his preparations for the night that he found an additional item in the drawer of the Western-styled desk on his side of the room, something that hadn't been present this morning.

Hoh?

It was a piece of jewelry, a silver ring with a red oval-shaped stone. Tenzen had been in the middle of questioning its origin (surely, it wasn't his roommate's?) when the announcement signaling the start of the night provided his answer; the head-doctor had so kindly provided them with this curious item. Dark eyes narrowed at the item as if it belonged to a member of the Kouga clan. Tch, why would that man provide anything 'useful' to them? To spice up his game, or to provide a trap?

Nonetheless, the ninja took the piece of jewelry with him as he moved out into the hall. He supposed he would find out soon enough...

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/941058.html)]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/939776.html?thread=70997504#t70997504).]

"Heiji."

Kenshin knocked on the door to M93. "Heiji, it's this one. Are you in?"

The rurouni kept his other hand on his sword, just in case. He still wasn't entirely sure what was wrong with the boy, why he needed protecting from himself, but that didn't matter. For once, there was someone here that Kenshin could save.

"Please open the door."

Heiji poked his head out from under his sheets, hearing his name through the door. For a split-second, he was going to tell whoever was there that he wasn't feeling well and he was going to stay in... except that he vaguely recognized Himura's voice. It was his sitter.

"'M comin'," Heiji called, pulling himself out of bed and over to the door. He took a deep breath, let it out, and grinned.

"Hey there!" he said cheerily, opening up the door so that Kenshin could come in. "Sorry t'bug y'like this. Mus' be annoyin' t'watch over kids all night..."

So far, no sudden bursts of anger. He was good, he was going to make it through this.

Kenshin gave Heiji a warm smile. “This one doesn’t mind.” And it was true; he didn’t mind. Anything to get his mind off his failure with Kaoru and the others. Plus, protecting someone was something that he was infinitely better suited for than gathering metal constantly. The rurouni bowed politely and entered the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. If Heiji was being hunted by something, Kenshin felt better if there was just a little bit more wood and metal separating them from it. The popular opinion was that the monsters here couldn’t get through the doors into the bedrooms, but Kenshin didn’t want to leave anything to chance.

“How are you feeling this evening?”

[Sorry for the fail. T_T I'm back now!]

"Fine, fine," Heiji lied. He felt fine, but he was still scared out of his pants that suddenly everything would go all red-like and he'd start itching to break Kenshin's neck. And then what? He might kill Kenshin or Kenshin might kill him. The situation was pretty grim, he realized, for being so nonchalant about everything.

"Worried, I guess. But feelin' normal, so far." He sat down on his bed. "Make y'rself comfortable, 's a long night, yeah?"

“Thank you,” Kenshin replied politely, choosing not to acknowledge the fact that he knew that Heiji was lying. He could tell that the boy was scared, much moreso than he was letting on right now. The rurouni sighed. Something would have to be done about that, otherwise Heiji would spend the entire night feeling like a prisoner at worst and a child at best. That was the last thing that Kenshin wanted. He wanted Heiji to feel protected, yes, but not like he was being punished. Sen had died to protect him, after all; there had to be quite a lot of guilt that he was feeling. The weight of a life was not an easy thing to bear, and having Kenshin as a prison guard wouldn’t make things any easier.

After a moment’s consideration, Kenshin drew his sword part of the way, exposing the reversed edge. Probably best to make this a practical demonstration. “This is only a copy of the sakabatou that this one normally wields, but it has been a serviceable enough weapon in this place. Many years ago, this one made a vow to preserve life at all costs. This sword is a symbol of that vow. Not only is this one forbidden from taking another life, he also must protect all life around him. You will not be allowed to come to harm as long as you are in this one’s care.” He smiled suddenly and added, “So stop worrying. Now, as long as we’re here we might as well do something practical. Okita-dono mentioned that you’re a promising swordsman! Would you like a sparring partner for the evening? These rooms aren’t exactly ideally equipped for the task, but it’s better than…”

Kenshin was cut off by the intercom and the ear piercing shriek that followed. There was no escaping the awful noise; it cut through everything and once it was finally over even the silence that followed seemed too loud.

“This does not bode well,” Kenshin frowned. “What was that all about, this one wonders?”

"Beats me," Heiji replied, raising his eyebrow slightly at Kenshin. Did he always talk like that...? He sounded like he was in some kind of play. Or really freaking old.

"A-anyway, Okita-han is totally exaggeratin', I'm not all that good. He whupped me good las' time we fought," Heiji said with a nervous laugh. Honestly if he was talking to someone his own age right now, he might have jumped on the idea. But Kenshin and Okita... they were of a different caliber altogether, and Heiji respected that. Compared to someone who fought regularly for their life instead of fighting for sport, Heiji didn't feel comfortable saying that he had some skill with a sword.

"Plus th'sword I have... s'not like yours. It has a blade t'it. I wouldn' wanna hurt y'somehow." Yeah somehow. The likelihood of him landing a hit on Kenshin was way out in left field, but safety was a big thing in kendo.

Either Heiji was really modest, or he didn’t realize what Okita’s recommendation meant. “It’s this one’s experience that Okita Souji doesn’t give out idle praise,” Kenshin chided gently, not really bothering to hide a smile. “Even if he beats you. The fact that you actually volunteered to fight him says a great deal about your bravery.” Or foolhardiness, but that wasn’t something that the rurouni was going to mention. He was trying to cheer the kid up, after all.

There didn’t seem to be any ill effects from the sudden burst of noise, ringing in his ears aside. Kenshin had spent the first nineteen years of his life in Kansai, so if Heiji’s Osaka dialect suddenly became more pronounced it wasn’t anything he had problems understanding or even really noticed. Maybe Heiji just liked to emphasize it to show off how different he was from his Kanto-ben friend. They seemed to have a healthy rivalry going on the bulletin board, from what Kenshin had seen.

“Well, if you’re sure.” Kenshin supposed that Heiji had a point, though he did doubt that the boy could actually land enough of a hit on him that the edge on his sword would actually matter (but that also went unsaid). “At least tell this one about kenjutsu in your time? There is someone that this one knew who was quite worried about the direction that the sword arts were going in Meiji. This one has far fewer concerns.”

No worries...right, Yahiko?

Edited 2010-07-29 04:43 (UTC)

Heiji paused, blinking at Kenshin for a moment. Kenjutsu...? He totally knew what Kenshin was talking about, but he hadn't heard that word come out of anyone, really. Not seriously. Swords were more of a sport or art now--no one went around defending themselves with a sword anymore. He hoped this wouldn't disappoint Kenshin, but if he had a sword with the blade on the wrong end...

"Uh... yeah, totally! I c'n tell y'about kendo--kenjutsu... sword-stuff in my time.

"Firs', it's not really kenjutsu anymore--it's kendo. It's like... a sport." Damn that sounded awful. "People wear protective gear and fight with wooden swords, so there's less chance of somebody gettin' hurt. There're matches where schools and teams face off, points for certain hits, stuff like that. S' how the matches're decided, instead'a who walks off th'field and who doesn'.

"But people still get hurt. S'not supposed t'happen, but it does," Heiji shrugged, tapping a scar right above his eyebrow. "Guy gave me this one time, right up the mask. Lost th'match 'cause it wouldn' stop bleedin'. Had t'forfeit." And he'd smarted over it for months. He still hadn't kicked that lazyass Okita (his Okita, not the real one) to the curb yet--stupid murders getting in the way of total payback.

Kenshin couldn’t help it; he laughed. “Yes, this one is familiar with kendo,” he replied. He was grinning, just a little. “This one’s rather useless with a shinai, but he knows the mechanics.”

The rurouni stared down at the sword in his lap. Talking about it reminded him of Kaoru, and what he had lost. “This one lives in a kendo dojo, currently, imposing on the good graces of the young sensei there.

“She was here, until recently.”

"Oh..." Heiji's face assumed an appropriately sorry expression. 'She'. That... well, if Heiji's experiences with women in martial arts were anything to go on they were definitely special ladies. Violent ladies. And if Kenshin was staying with her, there was something between them. Maybe. But there was just something about the way Kenshin's eyes were down in his lap that told Heiji this loss was something big.

"I'm sorry," he said, putting a hand on Kenshin's shoulder. It was the only thing he could think to say. "Y'know... monsters're rough, but I think th'worst things're when the people we care about fall victim to somethin' we can' see'r stop. I know it's not much comfort, but... I feel for ya."

And he did. After all, Sen had fallen to something Heiji and Sai couldn't see--something that was still following him. He'd take the monsters over the invisible strings being pulled any day.

“Thank you.” Kenshin gave Heiji a wan smile, deciding it was probably best to leave it there. He’d said far too much already, revealed much more than he usually did. Perhaps this place was wearing on him more than he thought. He was tired.

So tired.

The silence hung in the air for a moment, awkward and sad. Kenshin thought of Kaoru, picturing the way she moved and smiled. She was beautiful and intelligent and kind and giving, even if she was slightly terrifying when she got angry. Painting her in his mind’s eye strengthened the rurouni’s resolve to get her back, and everyone else. Sano and Yahiko and all of the others.

He straightened. “Well, this is thoroughly depressing,” he said bravely, putting on another smile. “Let’s talk about something less gloomy, shall we? Has Osaka changed much in the last century, besides the obvious? The last time this one was there, there wasn’t much time to take in the sights.”

If there was one thing Heiji could go on and on about, it was Osaka. And so much had changed in the last century, there was no doubt that he'd have plenty to fill that awkward, sad silence with. Heiji missed his own share of people, of course, but perhaps this was something that could distract both him and Himura for a while. At least until the night was out, he hoped.

"Oh yeah," Heiji said, keeping his excitement in check. It didn't seem fair to sound so happy to talk about his hometown when Kenshin had lost someone important to him. "It's become really colorful--ev'n moreso th'n a cent'ry ago, I'd say. Like there's th'electric wall, 'n--"

Splash.

Heiji froze mid-sentence when he heard it. Like a body being thrown into a river or lake or bathtub... But there wasn't any water in the room, how could he be hearing water in the room when there was no--

He couldn't breathe.

It felt like there was something cold and wet on his face and hands, like there was water in his mouth. He coughed, air came out but he couldn't breathe in. How was he drowning in air?

Kenshin knew instantly that something was wrong. The rurouni had asked about Osaka in order to turn the conversation in a slightly more positive direction, and it looked like he’d succeeded. Heiji was obviously very fond of his hometown, and he’d obviously given this speech a few times before. He’d been on a roll, launching into a description of the city as it was now…and then he just stopped.

“Heiji!”

What a lot of people didn’t seem to realize was that a person who is choking generally doesn’t make a sound. Coughing is a sign of air actually getting to the lungs. And Heiji wasn’t making a sound. He wasn’t coughing. He just stood there, gasping like a fish out of water. The automatic reaction was to stand there right with him, asking what was wrong (which was like asking a drowning person how the water got into his lungs), but Kenshin resisted. He had too many years of training to lose his head in a situation like this.

“Heiji! Heiji. Look at this one. You need to calm down.” At this rate, he was going to spend the rest of the oxygen he had left being frightened and choke even faster. Sword wounds, he could deal with. This was something that needed a doctor, like Megumi.

But she wasn’t here, and he was. “Nod for this one if you can. Did you swallow anything?”

Calm, right, calm down. He would expend more oxygen if he struggled, and that would give him less time to figure out what was happening before he blacked out and suffocated. But there was nothing, nothing that should have caused this. He'd just been sitting on a bed, and now he felt wet, as though submerged in water. How could he remove himself from water when he couldn't even see it?

Heiji looked up at Kenshin, mouth closed as though holding his breath. Did he swallow something? Heiji shook his head and reached for Kenshin's hand. He traced a kanji in the swordsman's hand:

Water.

Anything else was too complex to write. He couldn't take the time to spell out 'I'm drowning' after all, the kanji was too complicated and Kenshin would lose track of the strokes, maybe.

Water.

Kenshin’s eyes widened. Heiji was drowning? It wasn’t possible; the only water in the room was what was left over from dinner, and that wasn’t nearly enough to drown in even if Kenshin hadn’t been watching him like a hawk for the past several minutes. Was this what he was supposed to protect the boy from? Drowning in air?

“Open your mouth,” Kenshin said, trying to keep Heiji calm. “There’s no water, Heiji. Open your mouth and try to breathe.”

Open his mouth? Was Himura crazy? Heiji could see perfectly well that there wasn't any water, but he could feel it pushing against his nose and mouth, clinging around his neck and cheeks. Yes it made no sense. Yes Heiji couldn't figure out what was going on, but he wasn't willing to potentially fill his lungs with phantom-water on a wild guess.

The detective shook his head violently, gripping Himura's wrist tighter. There was water, he could feel it!

Heiji was getting paler and more panicked as the seconds ticked by, and Kenshin was beginning to feel more and more helpless. He could protect Heiji from physical opponents with ease, but how could he go about protecting him from drowning in water that wasn't even there?

"Listen to this one. You must try to breathe. The water isn't there; it's just in your mind. Trust this one."

It didn't sound very convincing, even to the rurouni. He had no idea whether or not the water really was just a mind-trick or not. In this place, there was no way to be certain either way.

He knew the water wasn't there, goddammit, but it was!

...okay, that sounded crazier than usual. Heiji knew what Himura was getting at, but it was nearly impossible to believe when the water was clammy against his face and neck. But his vision was caving in, he had to do something before he drowned.

Screwing up his courage and counting down in his head, he opened his mouth and made to breathe. Water filled his lungs.

That was it, he was done. No final words, no message, not even a clue as to how he was killed. He was going to die. His vision blurred and blacking out, he gripped his throat and clenched his jaw. Waiting for the inevitable.

Suddenly, he felt as though he was being yanked back by his shirt collar out of the water. Heiji spluttered and bent over and away from Himura, coughing. He spat water onto the floor.

Kenshin had made a terrible mistake.

By suggesting that Heiji open his mouth and try to breathe, believing his affliction to be as much of the mind as the body, he had very nearly killed the boy. Heiji had actually been drowning. Somehow, impossibly, when whatever it was that had stopped his lungs relinquished its hold, there was water.

Even after all this time in a place where the impossible happened on a fairly regular basis, it was hard to believe. And yet, the rurouni had seen it with his own two eyes. The superstitious part of his brain was quick to supply A curse? as the possible culprit, but why would anyone have cursed Heiji in such a round-about way? It didn't make sense. Nothing did.

In an instant, Kenshin was crouched next to Heiji, trying to help. He could solve the mysteries of this place later; for now there was someone who needed his protection.

If he could even provide it.

Fai had seemed a little... off, today. Just small things. Perhaps he had had a visitor again? Allelujah had thankfully once again been passed over for that particular brand of torture. It... stung a little bit, perhaps, that there was no-one who would come and visit him. Made him wonder idly what the life they said he had was like if there was no-one cared for him enough to visit, but from an objective standpoint, as Allelujah, not Jude, he was glad he didn't have to deal with it. But still, he could worry about Fai. He had been a constant in the often changing faces of the Institute.

He gathered his things quickly, wanting to be ready to go as soon as the intercom sounded. He frowned when he pulled out his things and found a little golden ring amongst them. Where had that come from? He hadn't picked it up, he didn't think. He certainly hadn't swiped anything from Jones's office, much as he might have liked to.

He slipped it onto his finger for safe keeping anyway, and left the room as soon as the door unlocked, listening idly to the intercom. Was the ring one of those ones then? If it was... he gulped, staring down at it for a moment. That was useful. Really useful. Being able to get back to places that had been a long way away... oh yes, that would help.

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/940944.html?thread=71140752#t71140752)]

The last 24 hours were enough to leave him feeling as though he'd been pulled in several different directions, with no clear sign of which way was right. Even if he hadn't made a deal with the head doctor, there was no possible way he would've been able to leave Sakura to him and his experiments. Despite how little of his magic he had left, there was enough of it to know without a doubt that that was his Sakura. Not a copy or something from a different world, but the very same one they'd traveled with for so long. And if that wasn't enough to convince even Kurogane, then he couldn't imagine anything that would be.

It didn't help that he'd had a visitor the very next day. There was always something about it that felt good, made him feel wanted, important even. But guilt took that away too. How could he just let go and believe it when he was so close to getting his brother back? Still, it was the first time since he'd faced his own death and the shocking injuries that followed, that it'd seemed to matter. Kurogane and Yue were upset, that was different, wasn't it? Kurogane was always angry when he got injured and Yue was... Yue had enough to worry about with the real people he was supposed to protect.

He tried to stay cheerful though, at least to keep up the act. He still smiled in the right places and said the right things. It wasn't until the doctor's familiar voice echoed over the intercom that he seemed to startle out of his daze. When he went to change for the coming night, sure enough, the ring was there, staring him in the face like the traitorous object it was. Did it look any different from the ones the others might have? He wouldn't make it so that they'd be able to easily tell, would he? If there were others, new people in his party, they'd know straight-away if it took them there, wouldn't they?

So many questions and so few answers. He dressed quickly, and sure enough, the ring fit perfectly on his finger. Should he go alone? Kurogane would be against it, wouldn't he? And Tsubaki...? He'd only just met her. How would she react? Maybe it was better if he did. He could bring Fai back and protect Sakura on his own.

The path was one he knew well and took often - not a straight line by any means, either way, but simple enough. The ninja had done so much thinking to himself over the course of the day that something so ingrained in his mind as the trip to Fai's room required no thought or pause. When he was to the last hallway, he slowed and came to a stop before the Magician's door. It wasn't that far into the night, but he could have gone already. Either through the hallway or by way of that thing Landel had mentioned.

Fai would go. There had been no question of that once they'd entered the Doctor's office last night. He was willing to follow along with anything. And to bring someone back. At least Kurogane had a better reasoning for why he'd decided to, for the moment, go along with Landel's plans. This was their first lead. An invitation to find the one who had Landel worried enough to ask for their help. Finding him would get them closer to the truth of this place, and hopefully to getting out of there.

And besides...

Kurogane opened the door then without so much as a knock. Instead of simply finding Fai and ordering him to follow, he entered and shut the door. They had things to sort out first.

When he heard a sound at the door, of course he hoped it was just Allie, having forgotten something or other. But no. He considered breaking the ring's jewel just then himself, if only to get away and possibly avoid this confrontation. Even now it was tempting, as Kurogane glared across the room at him.

Yuuhi was careful, unsure. Would the ninja even wish to go along with it? Or was he here to make sure Yuuhi didn't? After last night, he could hardly say he wanted to face the other man. So many of the things he'd kept secret were now known and if Kurogane wanted to lecture him on it... well, that wasn't going to change anything. Even if he weren't doing this for Fai, he was certainly doing it for Sakura.

When he finally did glance up at the other, there was a coldness in his gaze that perhaps hadn't been there before. An odd sort of finality, hollow somehow, in the way he approached the change in circumstances. As much as he wanted to believe Ashura and believe that his worthless life held some value, the more things changed, the more he felt like just another tool, a means to an end. It was true then as it was now.

"Are you coming?" he asked, nothing in his voice but false cheer. "We should probably hurry."

"What the hell for?" Kurogane snorted, looking away from Fai completely as he turned and had a seat on the opposite bed. "That bastard hasn't given instructions, or whatever he said he'd do." They wouldn't be 'orders' to Kurogane, only instructions - clues for them to follow. Orders were done for the sake of the one giving them, and that was hardly the case here. "No point in heading out yet."

As they both knew, simply going blindly hadn't led them anywhere or gotten them very far. Last night had only been chance, and by the Doctor's doing at that. And besides all that, Kurogane wasn't particularly interested in rushing to do what the Doctor wanted him to. Fai was another matter.

"I'm going," he said at length, "But not for any reasons you're thinking. This is the first chance we'd had at getting anything accomplished here other than being herded around. If nothing else, I'm going to take advantage of it."

He didn't mention Sakura, nor did he want to. There were too many questions surrounding that alone. Reason told him that Landel could easily create another copy, just as he had that one night, but they had also met the Sakura they knew once before in this place. Kurogane had never let go of the idea that Landel had the rest of their party locked away, and now he was questioning that scenario once more.

When the radios clicked to life, Kurogane expected the Head Doctor to come on, but a new voice spoke with more excitement than anyone should have in the evening hours. "Marc..." Kurogane repeated, putting the name to memory as well as the voice. It wasn't one they'd heard before on the radio, though he was sure it would not be the last time this man was heard. "That's who he wants us to find, huh?"

"He said the ring would take us to town," he said in an even tone. "And that we should begin the investigation there. Was that not clear?"

Yuuhi was eager to get going if only to feel like he was actually accomplishing something. He didn't want to hear Kurogane's reasons because they didn't matter anymore. Yes, they had to save the princess, but that was where their similarities ended. He was doing this for his own reasons and when it came time to part ways, he was much more self assured in his decision to stay.

Just before he tried smashing the jewel though, the radio sparked on, giving them a much-needed hint about their intended target. Marc? There was a slight hesitation as he picked up the radio once the broadcast had finished, and tied it at his waist, just in case another one should follow.

"At least we know who we're looking for. That seems to be enough for me." he raised an eyebrow but didn't wait for a response, twisting the ring from his finger and setting it on the ground under his boot, ready to crush the jewel.

"Coming or not?"

"That's what we're supposed to go by?" Another snort and Kurogane was already irritated by the whole mess. He hadn't expected things to be clear, but he'd hoped for more than what amounted to "go explore".

Again, Fai showed his desire to get moving as he showed the ring the Doctor had mentioned. He had checked his own room for one but had found nothing. So there was only one between the three of them? Then that left one part of their group missing.

"You're forgetting someone," Kurogane spoke up as Fai bent down to position the ring. He was so eager to get moving that he was thinking this was just about getting things done. There was no way to know what the Doctor would do if the three of them, Tsubaki included, didn't work together. And Kurogane was not about to let Tsubaki get punished for Fai's recklessness. "We can't leave he out of this."

Luckily, it wasn't the only message they received. While Marc's ended with a screech, the radio picked up again only moments later with more specific instructions that he could only hope were audible only to them.

"Hello, there – Tsubaki, Kurogane, Fai, if I do indeed have your location correct. It would seem that the very pest I'm sending you after is forcing me to take some... extraordinary measures in preventing his communication with the patients. But no matter – I know you will all stay loyal to me – or at least, you will if you don't want that poor, beautiful girl to be hurt or your own great wishes granted. If my calculations are correct, you three will be safely immune from the... hypothetical spell that I'm about to cast on the rest of the Institute, but if not, I have some important orders to relay to you before you can no longer understand my words:

"The man you're looking for goes by the name of 'Marc' – probably an alias, but you can never know for certain with these thugs. His last seen location was the woods to the north, but his last known location seems to be in the residential area south of the Doyleton proper. That would be a good place to search for him, I believe, and once the day rolls around... ask around. Do a bit of espionage, and remember, you shouldn't try to speak of our... arrangement or the events involved in it, because if you do? Well... you'll find yourself unable.

"I believe that's all, Team, and I'll keep you all appraised of the situation. Good luck in your work."

He glanced up from the radio, gaze meeting Kurogane's for a moment as if to confirm he'd heard the order. If he'd been wanting nothing but more specific instructions, there they were. If he wanted them to go find Tsubaki on top of all the rest... well... he'd rather leave her out of danger, if at all possible, no matter what the ninja said.

Without a word, he crunched the jewel underfoot.

[[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/949588.html)]]

Unusually for the night, Rolo waited. Not in his room, of course; once he saw his roommate wasn't leaving for the night, he took everything and waited outside, standing perfectly still against the wall across from his room. There were two reasons for this: He didn't want to be caught by Stephen again by surprise (what was up with that guy? Rolo didn't even know what he did other than talk to him when he was brainwashed and apparently this was enough for the guy to hold one hell of a grudge), and because Rolo was sure something stupid was going to happen tonight. He could just feel it. Weird things were happening every night now, so why would tonight be any different?

He was not being pessimistic, he was being realistic. He had to finish his mission tonight, even if he had to kill someone to get there. His brother asked him to do one task, one simple task, and he couldn't even complete that? Was this place making him incompetent? Was it because he no longer had his Geass? Why, why wasn't anything going right?!

That was probably why Rolo almost let himself grin maniacally when the Head Doctor finally spoke. That burst of feedback from the mic hit his eardrums hard, the boy visibly wincing from the sudden sound, but he had to suppress a laugh because he knew - he knew something stupid was going to happen. Now he was prepared.

It looked like Stephen had already left or wasn't going to leave his room, so with these two obstacles out of his way, Rolo decided now was the time. This time, he was going to fulfill his mission and this time, he would actually get the results his brother had asked for. He couldn't afford to mess up now, not when she was here, not when she was in the way -

Rolo stalked down the hallway quietly, a calm expression on his face that completely masked the queasiness he was truly feeling.

[ gonna get jumped by Sync cuz I hate Rolo, bwaha. ]

And it was precisely at the point where Spike passed M96 did the door suddenly swing open, revealing the aforementioned teen as he stepped out into the hall. Green eyes peered into the darkness at the other figure, his flashlight flicked off and momentarily forgotten as he graced the brunet with his usual grin.

Having absolutely no fear of his roommate whatsoever, the God-General had spent the early part of his evening resting for what was to come. After all, what was Nigredo going to do anyway? Shoot him? That was always a possibility, but as a fatalist he could only shrug at the idea. The worst that could happen was that he was never revived, and it wasn't like that was necessarily a bad thing.

But for now his roommate couldn't have been any farther from his mind. He'd found the ring when he'd been gathering his supplies for the night, spending a brief moment examining the foreign object before pocketing it. The Doctor's explanation was noted, and if it were really true then the replica would rather not waste it on something as trivial a last night's endeavors. No, despite the difficulties it might possess after tonight, Sync would rather have that than forgo the five or so minutes it took to get to wherever the hell they were last night in the institute.

Of course, that wasn't a piece of information he'd easily divulge to Spike.

The sudden announcement and the pain that followed had temporarily hindered him before he could step out of his room. However, there was no trace of that discomfort as he finally spoke.

"If I didn't know better I'd think you were planning this," Sync amusedly announced in his native tongue, obviously seeing nothing wrong with their little confrontation.

Yet.

Rolo didn't even have to look once he heard the door happen. He knew what already happened, and while he wished he could have just kept on walking, he stopped and stared anyway. Perhaps he had too much pride to keep on walking, or maybe he was paranoid enough to know that showing Stephen his back was never the optimal thing to do. For a moment, he looked at the green haired boy with narrowed eyes, trying to determine if now was the time to strike and kill him.

Seriously, he had to be planning this.

Rolo still had a scalpel tucked underneath his sleeve, the cool metal a comfort to him. Whatever Stephen was planning, he was going to be ready for it. Prepared, right? That's what he had been doing this entire damn night - preparing!

But nothing could really prepare Rolo for what happened next, when Stephen opened his mouth... and a bunch of gibberish came out, nothing resembling any language that he heard. He couldn't even begin to guess what Stephen actually said, and it showed as Rolo stared at him blankly.

"What?"

No, he was not in the mood for this tonight. Rolo kept walking, keeping his back to the wall as he traced an obvious arc around the green haired boy and kept going down the hall. If he had to walk backwards for the rest of the night, so be it.

Sync met that glare with the same amusement, though it wasn't hard to catch that sudden change of expression the moment he started talking. Really, if the God-General didn't know better he would've assumed that he'd caught Spike red-handed or something. Was he really planning this the whole time?

... Nah. Sync was about to point that out when the latter finally responded, causing him to blink.

The God-General thought he caught something like a question from the way Spike spoke, but the latter simply walked around him instead of finishing whatever he was saying. Really, the latter had to realize at this point that something like that wasn't going to deter him from anything.

"What was that?"

What was the purpose of this? Was Stephen trying to psyche him out? Rolo knew that directly attacking wasn't Stephen's M.O., at least when it came to him, so taking all of these precautions was probably a little unnecessary. Yet that was what made Stephen so dangerous and such a problem to Rolo. The guy was unpredictable, and it was like he was just waiting for the perfect moment to strike. The minute he got sloppy and let his guard down, because he knew that Stephen wanted to kill him. For saving his life unintentionally or some stupid shit like that.

For now, Stephen kept following him, repeating something in that weird language. It sounded almost pleasant to his ears, musical in quality. Yet, Rolo could tell there was some confusion in there, or at the very least, Stephen was trying to ask him a question.

"What are you saying?" Rolo was hoping that Stephen was exhibiting genuine confusion during that moment, so it was in his best interest to keep Stephen in confusion as he continued to walk down the hall. He had a plan tonight.

[ what (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/940944.html?thread=71316368#t71316368) ]

Edited 2010-07-22 17:48 (UTC)

Nightshift 50: M91-M100 Hallway

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject