[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.

This was unacceptable.

But this had gone past unacceptable a long time ago. He woke as if from a brief nap, refreshed and clear-headed, with no idea what day or night it was and how long ago he'd been asleep. There was only the faint stiffness of his bones and the lingering whiff of dinner to give him the faintest guess, the last crackles of the first nightshift announcement fading as he pushed himself out of bed.

There was nothing left to do, here, beyond putting one foot in front of the other. Discover his sword; discover the unlocked door; discover how much time had disappeared; try to discover whether his last remaining contact still had the patience to continue.

[jumping to here]

[from here]

Now she was definitely worried, too. There was no one waiting at this end of the larger hall -- though she could hear voices from somewhere up ahead, talking too quietly for even her sensitive ears. Had something happened? There weren't many of them left, but surely there were more than that.

Worrying about it wouldn't accomplish anything, but she could worry and move at the same time, so she did.

[to here]

[From here.]

Even as Castiel took a few bold steps into the Sun Room, he didn't sense anything out of the ordinary. He hesitated for only a second or two, waiting for someone to inevitably show themselves, but when that didn't happen he nodded to himself and veered to the right, moving at a quick pace.

While he wasn't resorting to outright running, he was making a beeline for the library door. If Kratos and Lloyd knew what was good for them, they'd be fast on his heels.

Don't let them snoop? If Lloyd didn't already know the secret the library held, that would have practically been asking him to poke around as much as his nurse would let him. But since he did know about the trick to the secret door, he settled instead for searching for Kratos or Castiel. If he didn't find one of them this shift, he'd have to think about putting up a note on the bulletin, but considering what he wanted to talk to them about, it would probably be better if he kept it off the board and spoke to them in person.

"Here, why don't you settle down with a nice book, Nigel?" his nurse encouraged him as she guided him toward a chair. "Poor dear. I noticed you didn't eat anything for breakfast. Maybe you just need to get your mind off of whatever's tying your stomach in knots."

Lloyd made a face at that comment, unable to hold himself in check. "Maybe if the doctors gave me my Key Crest back it wouldn't be a problem."

His nurse sighed, shaking her head. "I thought you were making more progress than that, Nigel. Here," she said, handing him a book. "I'm sure a good book will help."

Lloyd grumbled, but accepted the book anyway, albeit reluctantly. He should have known better than to expect anything from his nurse. Rather than cracking the book open, though, Lloyd set it in his lap and watched the room. Surely one of his companions would come in soon...

[For Castiel.]

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.]

[from here]

Rita's luck had seen some improvement over the past few nights. After a long string of obstructions and disasters, she'd had some smooth progress. She just hoped that lucky streak was going to hold, and that nothing was going to interrupt her this time, either.

Not wanting to push her luck, she broke into a run soon after entering the room, making a beeline for the Library doors. She could trust that Taura wouldn't be far behind.

After eating breakfast, Lloyd gathered up his journal and pencil and followed his nurse out of the cafeteria. He made a quick stop at the bulletin to leave a note for Lee, then let her lead him on to take his shower with the rest of the adult men. Not sure how old Lee was, Lloyd kept his eyes peeled for him just in case, but again he didn't catch even a glimpse of his friend's shiny black bowl-cut hair. Okay, no worries. Maybe he was with the kids in Arts and Crafts.

Cleaning up quickly, Lloyd grabbed a towel and dried himself off, then got dressed and headed back to the Sun Room to wait out the rest of the shift. His nurse hovered at his side until he'd situated himself at a table, then she backed up and withdrew to the edge of the room to keep an eye on him from there. He was fine with that. Of course, it would have been better if she left the room completely, but at least she was far enough back that it felt like he had at least some privacy.

While he waited, trying to catch sight of Lee, he pulled his journal back out. As far as he knew, no one else had been to the third floor before. There weren't any maps yet. That was something he could fix. Picking up where he'd left off, the teen went back to his work on the sketch.

[For Tsurugi.]

[from here]

Kratos stepped out into a hallway; almost instantly, he swept the entire length with his flashlight, trying to see what their options were. To his right were a few more doors, all closed, and to the left, another hallway.

"Shall we try these?" He motioned to the nearby doors with his flashlight as he walked to the opposite side of the hall to take a look at what lay below. The space was covered in glass, and seemed to be some kind of giant window overlooking the Sun Room. Kratos frowned as he tried to make out what was going on two floors down. Was it possible to see up to the third floor from there? He'd never even entertained the thought, but now he wondered how many times the staff and doctors had watched them from this place.

...Peering down at the faint outlines below, he realized that they seemed more and more like those of ants.

[From here.]

After walking through that door, there was a shift around him, and for a split second Castiel felt as if his body had turned upside down. When the world righted itself, he stumbled forward into an unknown room.

It was not what Castiel would have expected or prepared for. What he saw by the beam of his flashlight was a set of exercise machines. With the way that the machines were shaped, they reminded him of silent monsters, turned to stone, gathered here in this room to collect dust.

As he turned himself around, he realized that what he'd stepped off of as they arrived could only be a teleportation pad. Set up on the floor, it was made of metal and it glowed with a dim purple light. There was wiring coming off of it as well, so it was clearly powered by some kind of energy.

Castiel drew closer, crouching down slightly to look it over. "I take it we'll need to find another one of these." At this point, the only way they could go was through the room's door. Castiel had no idea where it would lead, but they had to find another pad soon. He didn't want this to end up being a waste of time. They needed to get to that archive.

[from here]

Shortly after Kratos closed the library door, the intercom came on abruptly. For some strange reason, though, the voice that came through was not Landel's, and it was soon joined by several others who also were not Landel. The rebels? How had they accidentally hijacked the intercom? And more importantly, where were they broadcasting from and what were they doing? Those questions, though, had to be saved for later: their goal tonight was very clear; they had their own mysterious lead to decipher.

He began to move again once the broadcast turned off, heading straight for where they'd found the switch the previous night. "Check the right side of the center aisle," Kratos said as he passed Lloyd. "We're looking for the Oxford Book of English Verse."

After the lights went out, Ed didn't waste any time setting up to get some work done at his desk. First order of business was the sword for Scar. After carefully thinking about the design, he clapped his hands together and pressed them to the chunk of metal he had acquired. The sword took longer to form than it should have and was plainer than he usually did, but he didn't have the energy to waste on anything fancier.

He then took a moment to catch his breath as he eyed the little bit of metal left. After he judged it was enough for a set of lockpicks and a spare, he clapped his hands again and made those. At least these went faster.

He surveyed his work by the light of his flashlight. "They'll have to do."

Then he scooped up his radio, the sword, one of the sets of lockpicks, and two each of his share of the bombs he and Al had made the previous night, before setting out to meet Al.

[To here.]

[From here]

Now this place, he remembered intimately for a number of reasons. Goku couldn't feasibly count the number of times Taura, Birdy, and he had come through here to get to the basement. Most of the time they had been stopped by someone or something lurking in here. The memory started his heart pumping with excitement. It had been a long time since he had a proper fight!

The one with Birdy didn't count. Goku thought back further and stopped on the time he had attacked Kibitoshin in this exact room. He tried, but he couldn't remember why he had wanted to defeat the man... Either way, it had been a great fight. It was also the night he had truly met Taura and everything she was capable of. Yeah, those were all fond memories!

Welp. Goku flicked his gaze back and forth within the spacious room, but nothing seemed willing to assault him. That was a real drag!

"Ah well..." Technically, he had a job to complete. Reluctantly, he peeled his feet off the carpet and moved to the doors that lead into the main hallways. He could there'd be a lot of people out there to throw these bricks at.

[to here]

[From here.]

Still keeping a wary eye out for any kind of threat, Lloyd stepped into the hall and shined his flashlight around. Still nothing, and the stairs were just up ahead. He crossed the distance swiftly, planting his feet on the first stair steps.

[To here.]

[From here.]

The first door he passed was one that led to another block of patient rooms. The knob turned easily, though, and looked far too new. He tested its strength, but it refused to give. It wouldn't be something he could break off without using his mana to enhance his strength, and he didn't want to drain himself on something like that. No, there had to be easier things he could get the metal he needed from. The second door he passed was locked, the metal shiny enough to glint back at him when he shined his flashlight at it. Another battle he didn't want to fight.

The next hall was just up ahead. Which way did he want to go? He remembered seeing at least four doors with rusty locks and handles when he'd searched with Tsurugi the night before. He might be able to break those off without too much effort, but that was a fair ways to go when there were people waiting for him. On the other hand, if he tried to search places he hadn't been before during the night, who knew if he'd find what he needed?

No, I better go with what I know I can find.

Decision made, he continued on into the main hall beyond.

[To here.]

[From here.]

When he reached the next hall, he scanned it quickly with his flashlight. He needed to keep an eye out for anything made of metal that he might be able to take with him or break off somehow. This hall was empty, though, and deeply, ominously silent. If he went left, he'd reach the field where he'd played soccer with Guy. He didn't remember there being anything there that he might be able to use, though.

Instead, he turned to the right.

[To here.]

[From here.]

It had almost been a week since he'd come to this place. It felt a lot longer than that. He'd lost count of the number of times he'd passed through this hall, to the point that he almost felt like he didn't need his flashlight to navigate his way in the dark. Not that he had any intention of turning his flashlight off. His heart still thudded as he searched the darker corners for any sign of a monster's presence.

Nothing jumped out, though - at least not in this hall. Pressing forward, he moved on.

[To here.]

When Kratos's nurse led him out of the Arts and Crafts room, Lloyd decided to hang back and stay in his seat. The conversation they'd had had left him feeling strung out and he didn't feel like seeking anyone out to talk about anything. Poking through the craft supplies appealed more to him now that his mind wasn't snarled in shock and denial over what the nurse had tried to tell him. Oh, his mind was still a mess of turmoil, but as aggravating as Kratos could be, the conversation had helped.

So did the fact that tonight they had a plan. Shoving everything else aside, Lloyd tried to focus on that. He'd need to move fast tonight, to find enough metal for Al to make into a sword, then meet back up with Kratos. As his hands absentmindedly played with the crafts, he let his mind work through the best places he could look for metal. Maybe that room where Tsurugi had found that crowbar...

At one point while Lloyd worked, someone came into the room and handed him a list of radio numbers, which Lloyd was more than happy to add his own name and number to. He passed it on to someone else after that, then went back to his plans.

[Free.]

With each person that Sora met and either explained things to or apologized to, he felt a little better. In some ways, though, it was bittersweet, because he was also going through this so that he could leave again. It wasn't that he wanted to leave them behind like this, but Sora was used to having to part with his friends in order to take care of things. He'd done that with Riku and Kairi a number of times already, and he still hadn't found his way back to them.

But that was why he was working so hard at this now. So that he could find the way home for both himself and everyone else here. He was going to miss all of the people he'd come to know at Landel's, no doubt about that, but he had faith that he'd meet them again, and under better circumstances.

He hadn't done all of his work here yet, though. There were still a few people who he needed to talk to, which was why he left a message for Tsubaki asking if she would meet him in the Game Room. Sora couldn't deny to himself the reason that he'd picked that room. It was one of the places here he had the most fun with, so he wanted a chance to see it before he had to leave.

It was silly, of course, to even get attached to that degree, but that was simply how Sora handled things. He would never miss Landel's once he was gone, not with all of the horrible things that he'd been through here, but the people were another story.

And, well, there were the Game Boys.

Since the room was mainly empty and Tsubaki wasn't here yet, Sora went to find one, wondering to himself if it would be possible to take one along with him to Farwell. But that wouldn't be very responsible, would it? He needed to be working to help the rebels, not sitting around playing games!

[For Tsubaki.]