[From here]

Link rounded the corner without slowing down to even look over his shoulder. He wanted to get to the medical wing first and get out of there before there was any potential chaos. It was a good thing Sora had shown him the way last night.

The Hylian rounded the corner into the larger hallways.

[To here]

But the silence didn't last long. The intercom turned back on after a few moments, and the Head Doctor let out a long, low breath.

"Five."

His voice had a considerably more twisted quality behind it. The odd static that seemed to swell every few seconds didn't help matters.

"At least that many of you will turn tonight." Some people may have interpreted it as a warning, but the Head Doctor delivered the piece of information with a detached, clinical tone. "What makes a human, exactly? The shape of his body? His so-called conscience? Or the baser instincts that make a human as much of an animal as the creatures prowling these hallways? I certainly look forward to the result of this little experiment."

The static grew louder until an automated female voice suddenly sounded over the intercom. "Key word: EXPERIMENT. Authorization Code: 1458 HARRINGTON Initiating message. Innnnitiatinngggg messaaaaaage......

Message: I WASN'T LYING WHEN I SAID THERE IS A WAY TO CURE YOU. WE HAVE AN IDEA OF SOMETHING THAT COULD HELP, SO WE LEFT ANOTHER CLUE IN THE X-RAY ROOM. THE SOONER WE PIECE THIS TOGETHER, THE SOONER WE CAN HELP EVERYONE TOGETHER. GOOD LUCK. GOOD LUCK. GOOOOODDDD LLLUCKKK--"

The automated voice died in a garbled mess, as though Landel had abruptly shut it off for the second night in a row.

[Like last Nightshift, be sure to message us before posting any of your characters to the X-Ray room, and we'll put up the top post for you! Let us know if you have any questions. Thanks!]

[From here.]

When the Nobody opened the door, he was really glad he was wearing the dark coat. He hadn't gone to a cold world for a while, but luckily the black leather was comfortable in almost all weather. Even just a crack of the door had sent a gust of frigid wind around the frame of the door way. Once the door had cleared out of his view, he could see it was quite a view - from what he could see through the fog, there was lush grass underneath them and some sort of a dark line boxing the area in. Looked like a wall, maybe The courtyard?

He had to navigate through a maze of plastic white tables to get near the cold ebony iron railing by the edges of the balcony. The area was lit somewhat by the moon, but when he angled the flashlight down it didn't pierce more of the fog than the moonlight did.

It was actually kind of creepy.

Keeping his arms close to his body, he tried to keep all the warmth of his coat close to him. "S-should be warmer inside," his teeth chattered behind him towards Ruby.

[ from here ]

Inside looked about the same as the food service area that was on the first floor near their cafeteria. This, Ruby concluded, must be where the staff ate. She didn't put too much stock in it and instead stepped out of the way of the door, willing it closed and looking relieved once it had shut and the heater kicked back in to drown out the cold air.

"I traced it when it went up, too," she informed with a nod to form some sense of camaraderie between them in that similarity in thought. "Pretty handy to have around when the nights are like this." A beat, then she raised an eyebrow. "Any luck on the recon front?" Considering how excited he appeared to be to finally get the chance to help out, she could only assume that he'd be equally excited to help with the information, as well. Point blank was the best route, make it clear that she was pretty much at ground zero info-wise and willing to learn from whatever he had to offer.

It was weird for Ruby, not being the one with all the intel. In fact, it was downright annoying as hell. Which meant whatever Roxas could provide would be like gold in her currency, because she could carry it back to Sam and Dean with a big ol', proud smile on her face acting like she'd figured it out all on her own.

"I'm telling you, kid, if I could get my hands on the man in charge of this little slice of paradise ... Well, it wouldn't be pretty, I'll tell you that much." She just shook her head. "Not exactly the sunny locale where I was hopin' to put myself out to pasture."

[ from here ]

"So, you grab that off the bulletin board today?" She gave a nod to the map in his hands as they hung a left in the direction of the kitchen based on what explanation he'd given of the second floor's layout. There were a couple doors on their left, and she slowed her pace to investigate them. The hall itself, however, looked like a mirror of every other hallway she'd been in since she arrived in the Institute. Desolate, cold and undecorated.

Still not a single clock to be found. But, they had at least reached an area that could safely be referred to as somewhere that patients weren't allowed to go, which meant they'd either run into something nasty or find something they weren't supposed to -- both would make the night more exciting and teach her a little something about what they were up against, but personally, she was hoping for the latter.

Not that Ruby was so much big on dodging the confrontation, but … well, when it wasn't exactly a necessity for the time being, she could go without seeing what they were dealing with for herself when she'd already gotten Sam's descriptions.

Which, she realized, she should have penciled into her journal while she had the chance. Dammit. Well, there was always bringing it up with him again later and trying to borrow the journal for a night or something similar.

"Do you just use it to go around doing this good deeds thing or do you have some plans all your own outside of helping people get cozy when they first drop in?"

[From here.]

Well... here he was. Ludwig's flashlight played along the empty hallway, and for the first time, he truly felt like he was alone in this place. Up on the second floor, he couldn't even hear the constant hum of activity and movement on the lower floor. In a way, it made sense, given how much distance he'd put between them. But on the other... it was rather eerie. Such absolute silence everywhere, such darkness pressing in from all directions... it was more than a little intimidating. His single flashlight didn't cast much illumination in the cavernous hallway, and the sheer variety of choices was also a reason to pause.

He could proceed straight ahead, or a little to his left to investigate that hallway. Or, he could turn to his right, to where the majority of the Institute still remained. He'd seen the open area on the second floor above the sun room, it was entirely possible that the staff had something useful up there on hand in case the patients got unruly. Or, it was also possible that he could continue going and see what was further on still, beyond the reach of his flashlight beam.

Mm... all of them were good options, and while his methodical nature made him want to go left and work his way right, he also knew that was likely not where the best materials would be for weapons or other such things. So, for now, he paused and contemplated the matter, considering his options carefully. All the while, he remained tense and alert- without weapons, if a monster surprised him, that would be it for him. So he had to be careful, and know when to retreat if an attack was too much for him to handle.

[Waiting for Watson]

[From here.]

Granted, he wasn't in the clear yet. It was on the stairs themselves that the Doctor had suddenly called out to him, though for the moment he seemed to be completely alone. It meant that he was getting better at this, if he was moving through these areas faster than the other patients. That was good to know, as he was used to being able to get places ahead of everyone else. His lack of teleportation was the most obvious loss of power from his perspective.

The main obstacle now was the possibility that something was guarding the chapel once more. He didn't see why it was such a sought-after area, though maybe it was due to the fact that people like him got curious.

That statue might be enough to tempt some people as well, even if it had the signs of some sort of curse or black magic written all over it. There were plenty of people who wouldn't realize that.

Keeping his gaze upward, Castiel started up the stairs.

[For Dean and the Doctor to stumble upon.]

The doors had not even unlocked and Landel had already began granting them more examples of his cryptic rambles. Hnn. Perhaps Scar was growing paranoid after all this time, but it almost sounded as though as if he had yet another surprise in store for them, be it tonight or tomorrow.

The doors finally unlocked, and the former lion moved into the hallway carrying little else but a steel pipe for self-defense. He did not even have a real plan, as what appeared to be the trend as of late. It was ironic how he looked down upon others for running around like headless chickens, but with the painful lack of any progress it proved to be a difficult pattern to break from.

Anything was better than staying in the room, however.

Well, he supposed he should get to the main hall first and find some poor fool to go with him.

[To here]

[ from here ]

She knew she shouldn't be surprised that the men's block looked the same as the women's, but she was anyway. Somehow, somewhere along the way, she'd decided there had to be some kind of difference and there was simply … nothing. The uniformity of it all was a little frustrating.

However, the halls were still empty enough that her pace continued to be a little hurried -- not quite to the brink of running, but … well, she was definitely getting there. Please, she mentally coached, don't let Sylar be anywhere near this block. It wasn't the first time it had occurred to her that it might be a good idea to figure out which room was his, but it was the first time it had seemed like a practical necessity.

As instructed, she took the first right as soon as she entered the block, checking around with her flashlight as she moved in hopes that somewhere there'd be a sign of life.

[ to here ]

[ from here ]

The doors to the next hallway were already wide open when she came through, though the ones at the far end of the hall were, as she could see from one brief flick of her flashlight, were tightly shut. Weren't those the doors to the recreational field? They were in the hall directly North of hers, it only made sense for this to be the other exit.

Checking down the hall also told her she was alone, and she was suddenly very grateful for the fact that the door to Peter's block was directly to her left, because the longer she spent in the male patient blocks, the more paranoid she grew that she was somehow going to stumble straight into Sylar.

Her pace picked up instantly at that thought and she pushed open the door to the block that Peter had directed her to, hoping his directions were right and that she'd remembered them well enough.

[ to here ]

[from here]

And again, quiet. Silence broken only by far off footsteps and the creak of a building settling. There was more in the darkness, Ayanami knew this, but currently nothing had stepped forward to show itself. This night was too similar to another, and her hand raised to her neck without meaning to. There was nothing like trauma in this, she told herself. It was only that she had become wary of empty halls, had become distrustful of others in the dark.

More than before, it seemed. Still, Rei moved slowly, satisfied with checking the hall thoroughly before passing through.

[Eva pilots!~]

The commotion just after the intercom's jingle displayed the same kind of erratic energy that the Head Doctor had been exuding all day.

"Come on, get those papers out of the way – no, I don't...! Ah! Good evening, everyone, and I hope you all enjoyed the activities we had to–"

Someone whispered something in the background. The Head Doctor sighed and muttered: "Yes, Lydia, I know we don't have many organized activities...

"...But anyway! Next up is dinner with your roommates! Tonight, we'll be having turkey and gravy, which will consist of some moist slices of turkey breast and garlic mashed potatoes, garnished with steamed broccoli, grilled asparagus, and topped with delicious gravy. We'll be serving the dinners with small side salads and our dessert will be pumpkin pie – as per usual, we have alternate meals for alternate dietary needs."

The Head Doctor took a long pause. Lydia mumbled something in the background.

"No, I'm not dawdling–! Er... I'll talk to you shortly, everyone!"

The intercom clicked off.

[ All room threads go in response to this post; please post your character's room number as the subject line of the initial post. Thank you! ]

When the intercom came on to announce the shift change, the feeling of dread returned. Anise had calmed down considerably since the morning, and she felt more ready to discuss the previous night with Ilia... but not as ready as she wanted to be.

Since the Music Room was bound to be noisy and crowded, Anise opted for the Sun Room instead, hoping that Ilia would come to the same conclusion. She took a seat on one side of a couch in the middle of the room, and waited there. If Ilia didn't show up after a while, she'd go try the Music Room.

Even though this talk had been on her mind all day, Anise still didn't know what she would say. And if she explained the truth behind her shadow's words last night... what would Ilia think? On the one hand, Ilia had shown herself to be a compassionate person, and it was hard to picture her treating Anise differently. But on the other hand, Anise hadn't known Ilia that long... and Ilia was a soldier. She would understand the gravity of Anise's actions, and the sorts of consequences that usually waited for people like her.

With these worries weighing on her mind, Anise leaned against the arm of the couch as she waited.

[For Ilia.]

There was little to be said of the daily business that went on. He allowed himself to be shuffled, mind embedded too deeply in things he shouldn't be dwelling on. The night was over, the shadows had vanished, and there was little more than bad memories to be left in their stead. This was logic, pure and simple, and should have been reassuring but for the whispered accusations made by his own. Of all things that his mind moved to unconsciously focus on, it was one of the first things spoken. That he could kill himself and nothing would stop him.

Which was pointless. In the whole of its entirety. Gaara had not truly moved in that way for time past--And now, even, he had goals and aspirations that he would see come to pass before he gave anything of himself away. He was working for what he believed in; he was working to become acknowledged by others as himself, and not as what he was created for. And there was no point to anything that thing had said.

His thoughts shifted, moved over the night, each dark statement echoed by an internal vow of his own, a denial of returning to what he once was. He still had yet to seek out Temari--his sister, too, would have been confronted by her demons, and there was a edge of concern in that thought. Considering all of this, he seated himself in a place near the wall, glancing at the doorway every few moments.

[sister dear.]

With breakfast finished and a new acquaintance made, the Scarecrow's mind turned to his other friends. The disappearance of Depth Charge's friend had brought back memories of how he'd felt when Kaiji went missing: helpless, useless, as though he should have and could have done something more to find him. If only he had his brain, then maybe he could have thought of something!

As much as he didn't like to admit it, it was unlikely his former roommate was still within the Institute's walls at this point, though the Scarecrow wouldn't know for sure unless Kaiji returned to visit him as Dorothy had, encouraging his supposed recovery. There was still the concern that Landel, despite his vile methods, was actually right and he was suffering from the delusion of having been a scarecrow in Oz. After all, that movie had been a pretty elaborate trick. Would he have planted it in town on purpose, knowing the Scarecrow would be taken there the night of the enchanted doors? And how could he guarantee that once he did find it, he'd take it and actually watch it? There was so much guesswork involved- it seemed the Wizard Landel either liked coincidences or he had more power on his side than any of the patients could have guessed.

The Scarecrow stopped by the bulletin board before heading for a seat, considering writing a note to his friends to check on them. He'd heard from Depth Charge, Remy, and Kibitoshin within a day's time, so he figured they were probably fine (as fine as Depth Charge could have been after last night, anyway). He'd seen Mele and Scar the day before. He put a finger to his head, thinking- he'd not heard from Abe or Sangamon in a day or so, but being professionals, they were probably very busy. Perhaps a note would be best for them.

[Kibby]

With sigh that toed the ambiguous no-mans-land between soft and explosive, Yuffie collected a plateful of waffles with all the toppings. She was sure that, if nothing else, it'd making a pretty satisfying splat if—when?—she launched it at somebody's face, and that was all that counted.

"Hanna, isn't that a little much?" Plucky asked, doubtfully.

"Uhhm. No. About, like... a little while ago, I managed five caramel apple pies with ice cream and berries and, y'know, I think there was a gallon of soda involved at some point." It wasn't the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. There really had been five caramel apple pies, but Cloud had ended up wearing two and a half and the third had taken a vacation to Boobsville (Tifa had loved it. Really. Really). The moral of the story (as she'd told Marlene and Denzel later) was that anything was game, just as long as you could run fast enough afterwards.

The nurse nodded slowly. "I… suppose. Well, I'll leave you to it. See that you behave, won't you, dear? You need to set a good example for the new batch of patients."

"My examples are the best examples," Yuffie proclaimed, with the dark-bright grin that still came so easily, no matter how little she felt really felt it. It lingered even when the nurse had flitted off to deal with another charge, but there was an edge to it. What the edge was, Yuffie couldn't say. Didn't want to say, after what'd gone down last night. Nah, she had better things to do; things like sitting down and waiting, just waiting, for Cloud or some other sucker of an easy target to walk through the door.

[HARLEY HARTWELL o/]

((From here.))

As Claude made his way through the dark, he considered the message he'd seen on the bulletin just before dinner. Guy had invited him to come along for...whatever he'd had planned. To be honest, he wasn't too sure of what he'd agreed to do tonight. But with how crazy everything had been the past several days, he wouldn't have been surprised if he'd made plans with his friend and somehow forgotten it. The thought made him feel kind of embarrassed, and he hadn't wanted to draw more attention to that kind of slip than was necessary. After all, he didn't want anyone thinking he was unreliable, especially after how much time and care Guy had put into looking after Claude during the last two nights.

Even if the trip hadn't been planned before today, though, Claude was still glad to get a chance to help out and make himself useful. He didn't want to get rusty with his sword or anything, after all. Plus it was hard to imagine his friends going off to face the institute's dangers without him, even if part of him realized that things very well could have played out that way if it hadn't been for Natalia.

But now wasn't the time to think about stuff like that, and Claude did his best to focus on what was right in front of him. There wasn't a single soul in the hallway yet. He passed by the entrance to Guy's hallway, his steps slowing down. Maybe they could walk to the meeting place together? It was what they usually did for things like this, anyway. Not only that, but after what had happened in the library this morning, Claude knew he owed Guy a proper explanation. Even though he probably wouldn't have been able to explain much until tomorrow, he at least wanted to acknowledge that he appreciated Guy's support today.

There was also everything that had happened with some of Guy's missing memories. His friend hadn't given him an update about that for awhile now, though Claude assumed part of it was because he hadn't want to be a burden to someone who was recovering from experimentation. Now that he was better, he intended to find out if anything had changed since their talk in the sun room that day. Like the mess with Mom, though, he'd probably have to wait to delve into that, too. Talking about heavy stuff while walking around at night usually didn't work out too well for them.

Frowning to himself, Claude leaned against the wall and waited for Guy to appear.

Having finished his meal by the time the intercom went off, Zack leaned back in his seat and glanced up at the intercom in their room, winking at it in jest. "You really think some creepy warning is going to stop us?" he asked as he sprung out of his chair, quick to start getting together all of the supplies that he needed for the night. And that bravado was hardly an act; Zack wasn't the sort to get deterred easily, even if things had been going badly as of late. He'd lost Aerith, heard a lot of unpleasant things about what had happened to Cloud after his death, and his progress had been poor at best.

Still, he'd gotten asked out on a date by a pretty girl (not really, but he could pretend -- except for the fact that Tifa was clearly sweet on Cloud and he was sweet on Aerith) and would be heading into Doyleton once more (which meant it might be zombie killing time, and who could say no to that?). More than that, though, he needed to talk to Tifa about what Cloud had told him, and to thank her with utmost sincerity for helping his friend.

Though Zack had to wonder if she had ever confessed her feelings. He'd promised Tifa that he'd never tell Cloud, but that had also been years ago. Maybe she'd found someone else, or maybe she'd gotten over it. But it was just as possible that she was still carrying that torch.

He wondered if she'd tolerate him asking. He really didn't need to know what it felt to be on the receiving end of those fists, not when Tifa was a martial artist.

So, the check-list for the night was 1) Thunder materia (which went into his sweatpants pocket), 2) pry bar (right hand), 3) flashlight (left hand), and 4) radio (looped around his left wrist). He was a bit bogged down, but it was nothing he couldn't handle, considering he'd dragged the Buster Sword around for a good chunk of his time as a SOLDIER.

"Good luck with your friend and the second floor!" he called out to Locke at the last second before leaving their room. With that all taken care of, he marched down on the hall, ready and raring to go. But when wasn't he?

[To here.]

[To here]

"Made it..." She whispered triumphantly as she walked quietly into the dark and quiet hallway first. It was hard to decide where the best place would be to stand since once others began to flood in, Asuka could easily be overshadowed by the taller adults. "Hmmm..." The best she could guess was to hug the opposite wall by the doorway and hope she would pick out the two members once they entered.

Remember, Asuka, you aren't the veteran here.

This wasn't NERV anymore. She had no one under her to display her impressive and extensive training to. The redhead was a newbie like the ones she was going to be working with, though perhaps a bit more intelligent. This first mission was important for popularity's sake. She needed to play nice for now, gauge their strengths and weaknesses until she knew who she could topple the easiest.

[Waiting on Agatha and Zevran]

[From here]

Another bare hallway, Asuka observed once she poked her head out of the F-A block and shined her light back and forth. Even when she left her room rather promptly, there was almost always a handful of patients coming or going. Maybe she had just been way too uptight tonight for this mission. But was that such a terrible thing? This initiative clearly displayed her commitment to the club. The eva pilot had to show Okita that she was determined, that she showed leadership qualities so she could rise through the ranks. Higher rank gave her access to better resources, which got her closer to getting the hell out of this place.

No, there was nothing wrong with a little hustle at all. The other new members could learn from her, certainly. Keeping her objectives in sight, Asuka kept following the hallway until it split into the common area that most patients used to rendezvous with others.

[To here]