damned_institute | Night 52: North of the Institute (woods)

Naruto felt jarred by the blast, but he'd managed to keep it together. He was holding on to his kunai like it was a lifeline, but he managed to drop his flashlight, too.

"Damnit. Sai! I can't find my light!"

He wasn't sure that the robot guy wasn't coming after them. If he came after them, Naruto wasn't sure he had the energy to properly fight. Man! Was this what everyone else felt like all the time, with not enough chakra? What a bunch of bull.

"You okay?"

After a little more groping, the handle of a flashlight finally makes its way into Sai's grip. He doesn't know if it's his or Naruto's, but with one they might be able to locate the other. The ninja flips it on, lighting up the ground close to his friend. "Here." He holds it out for the other boy to take. At the moment, Naruto would probably have an easier time looking.

He was more than a little dizzy, and he almost missed the other ninja's question when he asked. "...I'll be fine. Just give me a minute." Soon he was sitting, one knee pulled up so he could rest his forehead on it. They couldn't afford to stay here long. ...Or perhaps they could, now that it didn't seem like they were being followed anymore. Still, remaining stationary would just invite other creatures to find them, and he was hoping to get elsewhere before the night ended.

Naruto took the flashlight from Sai and looked around for his own. He found it a couple feet away and went to retrieve it. When he turned back around, he was surprised to see Sai sitting on the ground.

"Hey, hey! Are you sure you're okay? That guy didn't blast you, did he? If he did, then I'll go back right now, and-"

"No. No, I'm fine." Naruto wouldn't stand much of a chance against that man anyway. They'd ran for a reason, so Sai hoped that was just bravado. A couple moments more and he'd gotten to his feet. As long as he didn't try and use much of his chakra for a while, and they didn't take off through the woods in an all-out run right away, he shouldn't be too bad off for the moment.

"Which way do you want to go from here?" Unfortunately, he'd seen little of the maps of the Institute grounds, and had little experience in the areas outside of what he'd seen on the ride to Doyleton, which didn't cover this particular bit of woods at all. "I think there's supposed to be something north of here, like a mine." Or had that been east? "There's other places of interest both east and northeast of here if I remember the map right. Or we could try and see if we can get beyond what's already been marked."

If it was possible to get that far at all.

Naruto wasn't as recovered as he felt he should have been, but he was convinced he was better off than Sai was. A little dizziness was no big deal!

He handed Sai's flashlight back to him, then thought for a minute. "Um...I don't know. I have no idea what's out here! I don't think I ever looked at a map or anything..."

After another few moments of silence, he decided. "All right! Let's just pick a direction and go as far as we can that way! There's got to be something out there! Maybe like a clue how to get out, or a way to get back at that Landel guy, or something!"

Pick a direction at random, was it? Sai might have had something to say about that plan had he been able to put together a better idea. As it was now, he couldn't say for sure if any direction would be better than another - or, in fact, if any direction would be any good at all. No one had escaped or gotten any reasonable answers from venturing over the walls before now. What made them think they'd be able to do any better?

No, he needed to put this in a more positive light. They'd gotten somewhere tonight, and as long as they continued to move it was possible they might make it somewhere else. Anything new was better than no new ground at all. He nodded to the blond, glancing around them. Of the two of them, he'd be more willing to bet on Naruto's luck taking them someplace worthwhile than his own.

"You choose, then. We'll go whichever way you think looks best."

Naruto looked around, considering. He wasn't sure what the best option was, so finally he just picked a way and started going.

"Okay! Okay, we're going this way! C'mon, Sai!"

He seemed to have recovered a decent amount of his energy...or at least, his mood had improved. They'd done it! They'd gotten over the wall! There had to be something out here!

[ to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/999988.html?thread=73760052#t73760052) ]

[From here.]

Standing up from his crouch, Guy dusted himself off and then gathered his items, glancing around the area with a raised eyebrow. This was the farthest that he'd ever gotten when it came to traveling outside of the institute (the area out front where those buses parked didn't count, since they were led there by nurses). While it felt right to have Claude with him for this moment, it wasn't really the same for Asch.

He'd worked alongside Asch before, of course, and toward the end of their ongoing battle against Van, they'd teamed up fairly often -- even if it had been on very shaky terms. Guy could definitely do it, but he couldn't shake the feeling that there was someone else that was supposed to be with them instead of Asch.

Still, he knew that Luke was relatively okay, wherever he was. He always came back even after disappearing, which meant that he'd be fine one way or another. Guy would see to that.

The swordsman looked at the gathering of trees ahead of them and then turned toward Claude. "So, picking a direction at random... got any preferences?" Asch was free to put in his opinion, but Guy wasn't actively looking for it. He still needed to get used to having Asch around in such a close capacity, since during their travels they'd always communicated at a distance. The God-General had usually only made brief appearances before running off again, though he didn't have the luxury of that here.

Claude dropped down from the wall after Guy, taking great care not to point his blade anywhere that might cause injuries. Once he absorbed the shock of the impact of hitting the ground, he stood up. Though he was relieved that they hadn't gotten tangled up in any unnecessary battles on their way here, he hoped that whoever they'd left behind wouldn't take too many injuries. Sometimes, if he stopped to think too long about what the Special Counseling victims were being forced to do, he felt his chest tighten with anger at how Landel liked to manipulate them like marionettes. But now wasn't the time to get caught up in that. It was better to take his bitterness and frustration over this place and turn it into something productive.

Either way, it didn't look like there was much in plain sight out here. Just a bunch of trees and a slew of new possibilities. At least least they'd made it this far. Claude glanced over at Guy, inwardly noting the way he'd more or less taken charge while leading them across the recreational field. It was a little different from his normal style, where he was usually content to let others do all of that. Maybe it had to do with being assertive and setting boundaries with Asch around? Guy had stopped to get their input on where to go next, but Claude definitely noticed the fact that he was only looking at him while asking the question.

Pausing, he glanced toward the wooded area up ahead. Claude couldn't say he had anything like "intuition" or a "sixth sense" about these kinds of things, so he didn't always trust his gut when making decisions. That made picking things at random a bit hard, especially when their safety was potentially riding on it, but he was up for the challenge. "Well, we already have an idea of what's to the south, and with the way the north is right across from the rec field, I wouldn't be surprised if someone else has gone there before recently," he reasoned. "So, taking all that into consideration, I personally wouldn't mind heading east."

Claude looked over at Asch, then Guy, and then Asch again. If neither of them were going to directly talk to each other, then he was probably going to have act as both a buffer and a kind of bridge. "What do you two think, though?"

Asch didn't miss the obvious preference Guy had for Claude's opinion, and the other man's attempt to include him only marginally helped. It wasn't as if he wasn't used to Guy avoiding him whenever possible, but the way it happened so consistently whenever they worked together served as a proper reminder as to why he preferred to work alone. The discomfort of having others in close proximity - having to speak with them, travel with them, even sometimes depend on them - wasn't something he liked dealing with, and it took all his self-control not to give them both a piece of his mind and storm off on his own. Even now he knew that his restraint was tenuous at best. All he needed was a single remark to set him off in the wrong direction.

Speaking of directions, he focused on the suggestion Claude had made- east. No particular direction had any sort of interest for him, since he had never travelled in any direction in this area, or this world, if the words of the others could really be believed. If avoiding people was the goal, then from Claude's perspective, east seemed to be a good enough choice.

Rather than stand around discussing it, Asch turned from the other two and started forward in the eastern direction. They could sit there and talk about it if they wanted, but he had no intention of waiting for the conclusion. He didn't have time for such luxuries, and if they were only able to travel like this at night, the others didn't, either.

Going off of Claude's explanation, Guy had to agree that east seemed like as good of a direction as any. He nodded to his friend to show that he had no problem with that choice, but he didn't get the chance to even say anything before Asch started to head off.

While he felt a surge of irritation rise up in him at the sight, Guy tried to force it down. Honestly, the behavior wouldn't have bothered him if it had been anyone other than Asch, and he knew that. He was usually very tolerant of people, but he had this bias against the God-General that he was trying to stamp out. His vow to try to become friends with the young man had been stolen from him when Asch had died, so he really needed to look at their time in Landel's as another chance at that.

That was easier said than done, but the best thing to do at this point was just follow after the redhead. If he got too far ahead of them he might get cornered and ambushed, and despite what Asch might believe, Guy didn't want him getting badly hurt.

Still, they were at the point in their so-called mission where they were going to have to pass the time with small talk, which would have been easy if he'd only had Claude with him, but with Asch here it was a bit tougher. Guy tried to sort through his thoughts, but in the end he always came back to concern. Even if it was mainly his worries over Luke being displaced.

"So are there any questions about this place that you haven't had answered yet?" he asked Asch as they walked, though he made sure to keep part of his attention on the path in front of them, so as not to trip over the uneven ground. "May as well ask 'em now."

When Asch turned and started walking off without a word, Claude opened his mouth to say something, only to shut it again once he realized it was pointless. The night would probably go by a lot smoother if Guy at least tried to be courteous to Asch. Quite frankly, he was a bit surprised at how his friend was acting, if only because it was rare to see him get that way with anyone. But Claude knew enough about the situation to understand he didn't have the whole story. He might have considered Asch something of a friend, but it was clear that he didn't share whatever history he and Guy did.

Regardless, it looked like there wasn't much to do except follow after Asch. He apparently didn't have any objections over Claude's idea, at least, which made things a bit easier. Claude quickened his pace and fell into step beside Guy, eyes flickering between his two traveling companions and the terrain beneath their feet.

He hadn't expected Guy to invite Asch to ask questions, but he was glad he did. Since he hadn't been around that long, it was better to go ahead and clear up any confusion he might have had. Winding up in a strange place like this was bound to be a lot for most people to swallow. "I'm originally from Earth," he spoke up, "so I might be able to explain something you're not sure about."

Asch glanced back in surprise as Guy spoke to him - directly to him, not Claude or the empty air. It wasn't a subtle slight or an attempt to get his attention without acknowledging his presence. Guy was talking to him.

He needed a moment to let that register, and rather than make a mistake by pointing it out or snapping at nothing, he considered both of his current companion's comments, brows furrowing thoughtfully. Earth? That was where his "real" self was supposed to hail from, wasn't it? The nurses had (politely, so very politely) tried to convince him that he was from that world, rather than Auldrant, so the name did very little to improve his mood. He didn't want to hear about the world, or learn more about his history, or anything like that- it was all pointless. He just wanted to get the hell out.

"What's the point of all of this, besides appealing to some crazy doctor's torture hobby?" he finally asked, voice a tense growl. Something was bothering him, niggling at the back of his mind, but he couldn't put his finger exactly on what. There were a lot of things bothering him at the moment (from their situation to the state of his body to his present company) so he just left it at that for now. "Why even bother with it all?"

Instead of asking something that was practical, Asch had to practically bark out a question that really didn't have a good answer to it. It was hard to know if there really was a point, but that wasn't the sort of thing that was worth dwelling on. Complaints wouldn't get anyone anywhere, so Guy didn't know why Asch was wasting his time wondering.

But the God-General was stubborn, and that was something about him that probably wasn't going to change. Though if Guy thought about it differently, it was a quality that Luke also had, if not as severely.

"From our perspective, the point is to not give in and to keep looking for places where the head doctor has slipped," he explained. "From his perspective? Who knows. Mind games, experimentation, tests for some other purpose... it's all pretty vague, but the bottom line is that we're stuck here with no easy way out." It wasn't the sort of reply that Asch was going to like, but he wasn't going to find that no matter where he looked or who he asked.

Though before anyone else could say anything more, the radio that was hanging from Guy's wrist went off. He paused for a moment, grabbing it more solidly in his hand as he listened to the message that was given. While it was good to have it acknowledged that something was going on, Guy wished he could have gotten some more information before the man just cut them off again.

He sighed and shrugged, letting it fall back to dangling as he continued walking.

"Appealing to some crazy doctor's torture hobby" basically was the point, as far as Claude was concerned. Though he realized that was probably simplifying things too much, he knew Landel hadn't acted the least bit sorry to see any of them in the basement. That thought caused his expression to darken, but he wisely kept it to himself. It was useless to bring up stuff they couldn't explain to Asch, not to mention he doubted Guy needed a reminder of what had happened that horrible night.

"I'm pretty sure they want to use us for something," he added once Guy had given him the gist of their situation. "But I don't think anyone knows exactly what." It was impossible to find information about the history or geography of their location, even if Claude was familiar with some of the basics -- at least, he thought he was. This place was like Earth in so many ways, and the institute seemed to treat it as though it was, and yet...there were so many startling differences that Claude wasn't sure what to think sometimes. It was as thought this was and wasn't Earth at the same time.

He was about to add more, but stopped short when he heard Guy's radio go off. He listened over the sounds of their feet walking across the underbrush, but in the end it didn't sound like the man on the radio could give them much extra information, either. Claude had always known that they couldn't entirely rely on the radio to just dish out information to them, so it wasn't much of a surprise, even if it was a little disappointing. Either way, though, it sounded like something strange was going on tonight.

"I sure hope the others will be okay back in the institute," he said after a brief pause.

It was funny how noises had a way of carrying themselves during the dead of night, seemingly stretching much farther across the forest floor than during the day. It was only expected that the trio would eventually attract the attention of an unwelcome guest, its eyes obsessively following the group as it slowly approached.

A low growl cut through the air, its direction difficult to pinpoint at first. But the subtle warning immediately dissolved to a piercing shriek, and the monster suddenly leaped from its spot to attack. Could the beam of their flashlights catch the creature they'd find the similarities of a mountain lion, as feral and powerful as any other. However, patches of rotting flesh covered its body, making it appear more dead than alive.

It charged at the trio without restraint, leaping towards its closest target: Asch.

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Augh sorry LJ ate my post and forgot to tell me D8