With how the number of patients had dwindled lately, the day passed on without much note, save for one sedation that had happened early on. Which meant that soon enough, the intercom came on yet again, this time to announce the day's end.

"Hello, dear patients. I know a lot of your friends have been sent home lately, and maybe some of you are missing them." Was this a referral to that one patient's outburst that morning? Who knew.

"But instead of worrying about them, you should think of yourselves! There aren't many of you enrolled here right now, which means each one of you gets more of our attention. Before long, all of you will be headed back to your friends and family too. Maybe you can even meet up with some of your fellow patients after you're released -- wouldn't that be nice?"

Of course, Landel wasn't referring to the sort of homecoming that the patients wanted. Nice as it sounded in the daytime, the truth was something far more sinister.

"For now, enjoy some dinner with your roommates! Tonight we're serving spaghetti and garlic bread -- a popular choice, I would think. Have a nice meal."

And with that, the intercom shut off and the nurses gathered up the patients to take them to their rooms.

[ Make sure to check the rooming list, as it was updated prior to this post being made! ]

[[from here]]

In the moonlight, the one-way glass covering the Sun Room gleamed like dark lacquer, a physical manifestation of Aidou's words moments earlier: how many days had Landel spent up here, watching them, laughing to himself?

It was impossible not to glance down into the darkened room below, the full expanse of it fully visible to anyone who walked along the mezzanine on this floor. Sasuke kept the glance short, the bile of knowing how exposed they'd been every day swallowed down, and turned his gaze to the doors lining the walkway around it instead.

"If they were close, we could just listen for them," he said finally, though he fully expected things to be far more difficult.

_{[from here]}

The teleportation... things were just as bad as the ring, though like the ring, passing through the door to the third floor deposited them exactly where it had before: in the same nondescript fitness room. He wouldn't call standing on a mysterious pad trustworthy, per se but at least their trip had been fairly reliable so far.

"So far" being the important part of that sentence.

The vampire was quick to step away from the pad like it were a creature that might rise up and bite him in the ankles, turning away to give the room another once-over. "I see things haven't changed that mu--"

A squeak from his pocket interrupted him. What the hell? Aidou hadn't spent much of his life learning how to operate such cheap devices, so when he pulled out his toy radio, it was with a frown. Both radios had been rather quiet of late, but not tonight. Apparently someone had come across an interesting science experiment in their travels.

[From here.]

At this point they all knew the steps to get up to the third floor's entrance, and so Castiel didn't hesitate to step onto the escalator, expecting the others to keep up as it started moving.

As they made the short trip to the top, Castiel shifted around to look back at Kratos in particular. This area had been safe of any kind of monsters every time they'd been here, so he was willing to let his guard down at least enough to ask a question.

"How are you feeling?" He needed to assess what kind of state Kratos was in, so that he would be able to factor in how much or how little help he could expect him to be if they were attacked. Clearly Kratos could walk fine on his own, but being deprived of oxygen for so long still may have had some lingering effects.

[From here.]

He hadn't seen any sign of Kratos all day. Lloyd hadn't thought his father had looked that badly injured after his ordeal in that chamber, but how did he know Kratos hadn't downplayed his injuries? Maybe he didn't even know the full extent himself. After all, who would have experience with what it did to a person to have the air sucked out of the room?

Maybe I just didn't see him. The thought wasn't as reassuring as it could have been. He knew how much he'd been trying to keep an eye out for the man, telling himself it was just so he could share his theory about the cards. It was still possible he'd been distracted at a crucial moment when Kratos passed by, so he stubbornly continued to deny the leaden weight in his gut as he settled into place to wait. He wasn't worried. Kratos would come just as he always did. He'd probably laugh if he found out that Lloyd had been (not worried) just... just concerned.

Okay, maybe Kratos wouldn't laugh, but still. He didn't need to see anything but Lloyd standing and waiting. Totally nonchalant. He could totally pull that off.

...dammit, he hoped they didn't catch him fidgeting when Kratos or Castiel finally showed up.

[For Castiel and Kratos.]

Night number God-only-knows, and Scar was promptly putting on his proper desert clothing and collecting his things to head out. He and Alphonse had agreed earlier to separate for the sake of stealth, so it would only be he and Lust tonight, which was far less objectionable than it would have been two weeks ago.

Two weeks? Had it really only been two weeks?

Scar set out into the night as he always did: alert and tense for whatever he could expect to come. But really, what could he expect here without it coming back to bite him in the ass?

[To here]

[From here.]

After stepping through the door, Sora didn't immediately find himself in another room. There was a few seconds where he felt like he wasn't really anywhere, or in some in between place, before he staggered out into...

Some kind of gym?

He blinked his eyes a few times, trying to dispel the dizziness. Sora had traveled by unorthodox means before, so he wasn't as thrown off as he could have been. Besides, the institute had decided to warp them around before, so this wasn't exactly new.

"So this is the third floor?" Somehow he'd been expecting something more... intense. Not an empty gym. But Landel probably didn't want them to arrive anywhere close to his actual location, so it kind of made sense.

He glanced back at the pad that they'd stepped off of, which glowed with a purple light. "So we have to find more of those, I guess." But for now, there were some doors they could go through, and that was really the only path available to them. Seemed pretty straight-forward.

[from here]

The lights flickered on as Kratos entered; he quietly sheathed his sword and then walked onto the escalator after checking to make sure that Castiel and Lloyd had made it in after him.

"I realize our keys may not match," he said, mostly for Lloyd's benefit, as the escalator began its slow climb upward. "We have the radios, though, so if there are any issues, call." Both Castiel and Lloyd had easily remembered numbers; hopefully, they both recalled his.

[From here.]

The library was quiet and dark when Lloyd entered, barring the light from their flashlights. Lloyd let the light from his flashlight play across the books, the floor, even the ceiling for good measure. He hadn't forgotten the monster that had seemed to slither out of the darkness just a couple of nights ago.

"You guys see anything?" He kept his voice soft, barely above a whisper. If there was something in here, he didn't want to attract its attention. Not that they'd be able to avoid it once they opened that secret door, but hopefully they'd be able to get out before anything blocked their path.

[From here.]

At this point, the walk from his room to the meeting point that he'd set up with Kratos and Lloyd had become tedious. That didn't stop Castiel from being cautious, something that was ingrained in him from years of acting as a soldier and nothing else.

He scanned the hall with his flashlight and determined it was clear before crossing it to the door that would lead him out of the block. From there, it was a quick right.

[To here.]

[M1]

Once night came Al was quick to pull his things together--though he noticed something he overlooked the night before in his closet. He scanned over the note quickly, gritting his teeth before putting it into his toolbelt, along with the rest of his things. A few pages from the journal went into one of the pockets as well, along with a pen to write down anything he might need later.

With a quick glance to his new roommate, Al stepped out into the hallway and started down the hall. He was not going to miss Edward tonight.

When Sora woke up, he was so worked up that he practically thrashed his way out of bed. He probably would have fallen straight out of it and onto the floor if he hadn't caught his foot against the ground and then forced himself upward into a sitting position.

But it didn't feel like he'd slept at all. His heart was pounding, his face flushed with worry. Tsurugi... It had been Tsurugi, but he'd looked different. And he'd barely even been able to talk, he'd been so out of it. What had this place done to him?

If Sora went out to the cafeteria, would he end up talking to a Tsurugi who had purple hair? And what would that mean? Would Tsurugi even show up for breakfast this morning?

There was just too much he didn't know, but sitting around in his room worrying about it wasn't going to do any good. Sora stood and let out a bracing breath, glancing over to Link's sleeping form in the opposite bed before he approached the door and anticipated his nurse.

She seemed to sense that he was worried, because she didn't chat with him too much on the way over to the cafeteria. Sora didn't even have the presence of mind to stop by the bulletin. He just went straight to the mess hall and got a tray of food while half-distracted, parking himself right near the entrance from the Sun Room. He barely ate his food, instead keeping an eye out for Tsurugi with two shades of hair in mind.

[For Tsurugi.]

So the third floor was finally being breached... Sechs grinned to himself as he listened to Landel finish his announcement with a foreboding threat. As serious as Landel may have sounded, Sechs knew from his years in battle that even the seemingly invincible opponent will refuse to admit defeat despite being on the verge of collapse; sometimes the only weapons they have left are but empty threats, signifying the best time to land the final strike upon them...

That wasn't always the case in a fight however, but Sechs was nonetheless encouraged to hear confirmation from Landel himself that his fellow prisoners had reached the third floor. He was bolstered even further in his endeavor to explore the basement and find that underground path he learned about from Sora.

But Sechs knew he had to make a quick detour first, and that involved getting that sword from Zero. Sechs' smile faded at the reminder as he finished strapping on his protective gear. He was still feeling sour over his confrontation with Zero earlier that day, even berating himself for trusting the cold android in the first place. He and Aigis needed that sword to open that door in the ballroom. If Zero didn't comply, Sechs was ready to take it by force if necessary.

[To here.]

[From here.]

Still nothing. Still silence. If Castiel had been less vigilant, the hallways would have started to blur together. But he had a mental map that he could follow with little trouble, at least of the areas he'd been to often, and so he never faltered during his nighttime travels.

The third floor, however, was one big blank in his head, thanks to those teleporters.

It might be a setback, but it wasn't a deterrent. He was almost to the meeting spot they'd discussed, and so Castiel continued down the hall, taking a right once he reached the fork.

[To here.]

Having changed into his usual outfit for the night and gathered all of his supplies (flashlight, radio, and that bone bracelet just in case), Sora was ready to race his way back over to the library with Link in tow. Tsurugi would hopefully be up for coming along, too. Sora didn't see what else he would be doing with the night, seeing how this was so important -- not to mention Tsurugi also needed to keep an eye out for that gem for Kratos.

"So, ready?" he said to Link, grinning and nodding to him as he walked out of their room, flashlight pointed forward.

The Head Doctor was starting to get annoyed with them, Sora could tell. He still thought they couldn't stand up to his power, but they were all going to band together and prove him wrong. This was the most confident Sora had felt about that in a long time.

"Let's see if Tsurugi's ready, okay?" Sora moved a few doors down the hall toward M3 and then knocked on the door three quick times.

"Tsurugi? It's okay if Link comes with us, right?"

Finally, it was lunchtime. Second shift had gone by way too slowly for Zero's liking, although spending his time sitting and waiting impatiently for the shift to be over didn't help him any. Having a staring contest with his nurse probably helped even less...but it did give him something to do that wasn't sitting or staring at the board, at least.

But that was then, this was now. Another awkward intercom broadcast aside, Zero was very much ready for the next shift to start - and he was welcoming it by standing from the couch he'd been restlessly sitting on for who knew how long and staring at the prisoners leaving the Arts and Crafts room. Ciel had to be one of them. He hadn't seen her come out of the showers at all, and the nurse had prevented him from going into that room for a reason, right? So she had to be there. Had to be.

She better be...

[Ciel-chaaaans]

They had made it. It had required leaving Tsubaki behind to deal with her brainwashed roommate, but they'd gone all the way up the escalator, and this was it, the third floor--

Good morning, patients.

Sora shot up in bed, eyes wide, and let out a huff of surprise and aggravation. That wasn't fair! They'd made it all the way up, only for it to end like this? He fell back onto the bed and slammed his fists into the mattress to vent his frustration before he realized that Link was still asleep. Whoops.

It was hard to know what to do from this point on. He needed to go back to Farwell, but the third floor was important too. He could probably rely on his friends to handle things here while he traveled back to the rebel city, but he just didn't know.

He dragged his hand down his face and then slowly sat up again, as the door opened and his nurse came to get him. On the way to the cafeteria, Sora realized that the Head Doctor sounded kind of down. Was he upset because so many people were trying to go to the third floor now? Well, that was what he deserved after everything he'd done!

Sora stood in line for his plate of french toast and then peered around the cafeteria, looking for any sign of Tsubaki. He wanted to check in with her first.

[Tsubaki.]

It had been a long day, between the rainy weather and the visitors coming in, but eventually everything was squared away. The visitors took their leave despite the bad weather (though it seemed to be letting up) and the intercom came on to interrupt the patients, whether they were in the waiting areas or the activity rooms.

"Well, that was a nice day, wasn't it? I do love Sundays here at the institute, and I'm sure you all feel the seem, don't you? Some of you may still be getting used to things here, but you'll find that it's a lovely place to recover.

"In any case, all good things must come to an end, as the saying goes, so please be cooperative with your nurses and allow them to escort you back to your rooms! For dinner, we have a nice cut of steak and some french fries on the side, complete with ketchup or mayonnaise for dipping. Enjoy your meal!"

As the patients were led back into their rooms, they would find that there was a steaming hot plate for food waiting for them on their desk.

[ Please make sure to check here for new room assignments. And also check this post to see if your character received a note from the rebels! ]

Korra's stomach was grumbling by the time that annoyingly friendly voice chimed over the speaker that they'd be going into the cafeteria to eat.

"About time..." she grumbled under her breath as her nurse marched her out of the sun room and into the caf. Pancakes seemed like a good idea; something at least a little similar to the food she'd eat in Republic City. She settled down with her food, the events of last night still lingering on her mind despite her best efforts to shut them out. Korra needed to get herself some closer allies, and needed to get in the know on all this talk of the basement and the third floor.

For now, though, food. The Avatar dug in like it was the first decent meal she'd eaten in months.

[Gabe!]

[from here]]

"Whatever the consequences may be, the choice is either to play along or stall here," he added, stepping onto the bone-riddled shore and scanning for the more mobile skeleton. "He was right in that smell will be the easiest to go without. We'll find out if there is more to the cost from that."

He could see the single lantern where it wavered over the water, bobbing with the boat, and began the increasingly-familiar trek over to it.