After having to warn the magician of what these days meant, Kurogane didn't even react when his nurse informed him that he would be having a visitor. This kind of thing didn't deserve any cursing, not any more. He was already well aware of how fake any one of these visitors were and whether or not they were actual people, they weren't the ones they knew. They may as well have been the copy monsters from the night time without their teeth.

When Kurogane arrived, the room was absent of other patients, however the staff was ready as ever in case anything happened. The brief thought to create a disturbance, just to see if he could leave, came and went. Just as before, it wasn't worth it. And, if the ninja really thought about it, making them sedate him could lead to him getting stuck in those rooms again when night fell, and that wouldn't help either him or the magician.

The only protest he managed as a result was in refusing to have a seat. Kurogane picked the wall just aside of the door to lean against, arms folded as he watched the doors where the visitors were usually led in through.

His time in the bar had gone far more smoothly than the last after Kurogane had agreed to the immediate demand that, if he wanted to stay, he couldn't drink straight from the bottle this time. That had been the only reason he'd been forced out during the last trip, and that had been without the added bother of Fai making him angry. Now that his only worry was what might happen after the sun went down, the ninja hadn't given the man so much as a second thought once they'd split off of the buses. Fai knew where he could find him, so long as he'd been listening during that part, and Kurogane didn't care either way if he appeared or not.

All he really cared for was that he was able to drink without the possibility of any children coming around to bother him. He was pretty sure Tsubaki was too young to enter this place, and that she was the oldest of the kids he knew.

Still, he did keep glancing at the door on the chance that he would see someone he knew - welcome or not - as he drank. He was ever ready for the unexpected.

[free]

He'd been sitting listlessly with his head down when something changed; he felt it when he lifted his head, and glanced around the room with some degree of puzzlement. Had the room gotten brighter suddenly? The lights had flickered, before. But it wasn't just that; he felt as if he could finally breathe. The congestion in his chest was gone. That was weird. Indigestion, maybe, he thought as he crossed his arms. Probably wouldn't have happened if a certain someone hadn't forced him into eating his dinner.

Putting that aside. Ryusei had more important things to consider. For one, what his plan was tonight; he hadn't been thinking clearly enough earlier to make a decision. It was obvious now, in hindsight: his first priority was to retrieve Meteor Driver. The memories that had seemed so clear to him a moment ago seemed farther away now for some reason, but if there was even a small chance that his Driver had been taken, he needed to go confirm it. Unfortunately, he didn't know where confiscated things were kept, but it was simple enough in concept to check. Whoever was on the intercom didn't exactly mind the patients wandering around at night, did he?

Hmph. Making unfunny jokes to himself, he thought as he grabbed his flashlight. He really was losing it.

[to here]

[from here]

The ninja hadn't really wanted to be right either way. Regardless of where the door took them, it would still be somewhere other than intended. The destination of the Chapel was long out of sight by this point.

Again he felt the familiar pull and with this one so quickly following the last, it didn't warrant any cursing. He wouldn't have managed regardless since it was all he could do to keep the nausea from this second trip down. It wasn't until his feet hit down onto yet another tile floor that he realized that he should have waited at least a little bit before tackling the possibility of a secondary teleport.

His reached out again, this time off to the side since he knew Fai would be in front of him (and taking him down wouldn't have helped). He found something cold and hard and, grabbing it, recognized the sleek feel as familiar. Pushing his hand up, it curved around what he could only assume was the top of a sink. A bathroom then, and one that may've been needed for how he felt. "Damn place..." he groaned, taking a moment to recover over the newly found basin.

[from here]

He knew to expect absolutely anything while moving - monsters, announcements, hell, he wouldn't have been surprised if the floor fell from under them at some point - but there were some things he did know. The feeling of being jumped was one of those. When the sensation struck at him, pulling him through to wherever it would, the ninja knew it immediately and swore - the word echoing through the new and still completely dark location the moment he landed.

He stumbled forward from the rush, grasping for something and finding his hand hitting metal. Taking hold, it moved slightly, but he kept his balance from it and looked back to see if the magician had been forced along. The last time he'd been jumped through a door, everyone with him had gone, but there had been other times where just he'd been taken.

"You all right?" he asked, firm but hushed as his eyes tried adjusting to the darkness.

[from here]

The lack of any presences continued into the next hallway and the adjoining ones that overlooked the Sun Room below. The hallways were quiet, and empty, and nothing at all what he was used to.

"We're out late," came his reasoning, and he hoped that was all there was to the state of the hallways. Timing and nothing more. He moved quickly regardless, passing along the left side hallway with only a passing glance over the railing. "The Sun Room is below us. Something's usually there... some monster or a patient that's been brainwashed..."

The Sun Room had always been that way and was on most occasions even more dangerous than heading through the back field. That, at least, had less of a chance of having anything guarding it. The Sun Room however was the most direct route to the basement and, Kurogane still wagered, to some other passage that reached the top floor. That Landel always kept the below room so well guarded was proof enough of that possibility.

"Avoid it at night unless you don't have a choice."

[from here]

Once across the hallway, Kurogane took them to the closest stairwell. Usually he would take this route to reach the upper level if he didn't have anyone else tagging along, while the stairwell further down would be used if he'd had to go by one of the other rooms. The girls' rooms were on that side, and the magician's had been in the back. Until he got a clear number from this one, he couldn't know if he'd need to go by M99 any more.

"There is another set of stairs further down," he explained as they went. If the magician was going to be here for some time, he needed to know how to get around and start learning the layout quickly. He'd have his own understanding eventually, but for now Kurogane was the best map the man could have. "Either will get you to the second floor. There's a third floor, but no one knows how to get to it."

After that miserable breakfast, Kratos was truly ready to go hide himself away in some dark corner of a room and refuse to speak to anyone for the rest of the day. It was utterly pathetic that he was actually giving that kind of behavior serious thought, but somehow, in the wake of Sora's death, everything, from company to even eating, seemed too loud or too exhaustive; his energy seemed to slip away the instant he gained it.

Ironically, this behavior was not previously unknown to him; it was just that the last time he'd fallen into this kind of slump, his circumstances were such that engaging in extreme antisocial behavior and refusing to eat did not carry severe consequences like they--that was also pathetic, that he'd just entertained the idea that the days following Anna's death could have been more bearable than now. Could he possibly frustrate himself even more? The paradoxical part was that he enjoyed doing it in a strange, perverse way.

He wrote out a few listless, largely formulaic responses over the board to some notes he'd pinned up right before breakfast, and then wandered over to a nearby couch, where he sat down, stared at the coffee table for a moment, and then slumped back against the couch, one hand draped across his eyes, with a sigh. For a few seconds, he stayed that way, letting the wave of emotion wash over him--it was simply too much; he had reached the point where he was willing to give up and acknowledge that--and then, as if a switch had been flicked, Kratos straightened up, everything once again carefully masked. He exhaled, slow and steady, and looked down just in time to see a cat pass by, meowing for his attention.

He wasn't particularly fond of animals, as he'd once told Lloyd, but right now, all he wanted was something to distract him, and a cat was much preferred to a person; after all, the cat didn't talk, nor did it require him to talk. Kratos reached down to scratch it between the ears and then paused as it leaped onto the couch to curl up next to him. It was a stretch to think that he might be able to spend an entire shift petting a cat (also pathetic, but in a different way), but he would do it for however long it held his attention, or vice versa.

[Flora!]

For the first time since Kyousuke arrived, waking up didn't feel the slightest bit strange or out of place. It was still like night had suddenly stopped, with nothing in-between then and now, but instead of being disorienting, or like there was something missing, it was like waking up from a nightmare. His breaths came heavy and anxious, everything flooding back to him, but unlike last night, he had more mental clarity, and he actually understood what it meant.

Sora... was dead.

After a moment, his breathing seemed to ease up, and he sat up slowly, and simply stared down at his blanket. The motion hurt quite a bit, a lot worse than it had yesterday morning, but he seemed to be in decent shape, all considered. Sore, battered, a little faint, but compared to worst of it...

He wondered if he should feel upset right now, or want to yell, or cry, but the truth was, he didn't. If anything, he was just numb. Tired and listless. He wasn't sure what to think or feel about anything, but somehow it seemed distant and disconnected, like something that hadn't actually happened. Yet, if he lingered on it too long, the lifelessness grew into something nauseating, heavy and constricting in his chest, and he didn't even notice until he realized he was gripping his bedding unnecessarily hard. So he forced himself to relax, and not focus on it too much. ... He preferred the cold sort of nothingness.

When the nurse arrived, she wasn't empty-handed, unfolding a wheelchair by his bedside and looking at him expectantly, as if she wanted him to settle himself into it. Looking at it was strange and uncomfortable, and he found himself refusing automatically.

"... I can walk fine. I don't need—"

"What you don't need," the nurse said sternly, "is to be overexerting yourself. You got to walk around yesterday, and what do you do? You go and reopen your injuries! Honestly, Mr. Taylor, you might be young, but you need to take better care of yourself! Today, you're resting, and if you're good about it, we'll see about maybe taking the chair away tomorrow."

That was bad enough, but then she wouldn't even let him wheel himself, and pushed him along from behind. This was totally unnecessary... But though it made him feel helpless, Kyousuke didn't have the energy to argue, so he let her do what she wanted. She asked if he wanted to make a quick trip the bulletin, first, but... Would the news be there? There were people who deserved to know, but there would be reactions to it, questions he didn't want to answer, and feeling his stomach give a lurch, he decided he didn't want to deal with it. Any of it.

Once in the cafeteria, the nurse asked him about breakfast, but Kyousuke insisted he wasn't hungry. ... He wasn't. Sensing he wanted to be left alone, she wheeled him off to an easily overlooked portion of the cafeteria, but quickly returned, setting food and some juice in front of him, "just in case." She set a small paper cup with a couple of painkillers on the tray, and after that, she left, leaving the boy to stare down the meal he didn't really want.

[ Kratos! ]

When the shift changed, Gabriel didn't hesitate to take his leave, and Castiel couldn't blame him for that. He likely had other people he wanted to talk to, and as a newer patient, he might even be curious about some of the other areas. Castiel had seen it all multiple times by now, so when his nurse asked him if he wanted to move elsewhere, he declined.

It seemed better to remain in one spot for as long as he could and stay still so that his body wasn't pushed past its limits. His nurse couldn't argue with that, so instead she went to go get him some more painkillers, which he swallowed down instantly.

Relying on human drugs... It seemed ridiculous, though Dean had once given him a whole bottle to take. He wouldn't mind doing so again, but with the way his body was right now, that likely wasn't a good idea. So he'd just have to go along with what the nurses allowed him.

"Though Michael, you should really try to eat," his nurse insisted as she set a brown bag into his lap. "I know you're hurting a lot right now, but you'll feel better if you can get some food down."

Maybe she was right, but when Castiel stared at the bag, it seemed like a trial to even open it. Maybe if he just drank something... Slowly, he lifted his hand to push the bag open and reached inside to see what was there.

"There we go," the nurse encouraged him with a smile. "I'll be close-by in case you need anything."

At that point, she walked off, and he was left alone again. Maybe after he drank something, he could even see about getting some rest. Humans could sleep sitting up, couldn't they?

[In M63]

Despite the nurses efforts to 'wake him up' he still felt as sluggish as before. The little bite of food he'd ventured during dinner just made his stomach twist more unpleasantly but he willed himself to keep it down. He couldn't just go a day without eating, that would only make things worse.

He knew he had to get up. He had to meet Tolten and get back to the X-Ray room maybe, this time, the clue they found wouldn't result in them arguing the night away. Besides, the sooner he got moving the sooner they could get there and the sooner they might be able to find a cure to make this feeling go away.

He just hoped his friend was doing better than he was, if they were both in this state, they might not be getting anywhere tonight. As it was, Locke had only gotten so far as thinking that he should get up. Hell, sitting up would be an improvement, but all he'd managed was to dig the heels of his palms into his eyes as if that might relieve his pounding head.

It wasn't doing a very good job.

While Guy's conversation with Tear had taken a more somber tone in the end, he was still glad to have confirmed that the girl was all right. Sleeping in was not her style in the slightest, but seeing how something similar had happened to him recently, Guy knew how easily it could happen. In the end, he hadn't suffered any ill effects as a result of that day spent asleep, so he was going to not worry too much about Tear.

Anise was the one he was more worked up about, especially because he didn't know who she had told about her illness so far. Was he the only one? Was she planning to tell the others? Guy didn't feel right keeping it from them, but he didn't want to run around spilling Anise's secrets, either. It was something he was going to have to check with her as soon as he could.

In the meantime, it seemed like the movie that he and Claude had decided to vote for had been picked as the one they would be watching this afternoon. Claude was definitely going to be happy about that, and Guy was pretty excited to see it too, now that he had some idea of what it was about. Calling some sort of religious figure who had sacrificed himself a "superstar" certainly seemed odd, which was probably why it had stood out to Claude in the first place.

When Guy entered the Sun Room, he saw that his friend hadn't made it there yet and that the staff was still setting up the projector. With his first pick of the couches, Guy made sure to choose one that had a clear view of the screen but wasn't so close that it might hurt their eyes. He took a seat and then kept an eye out for Claude, figuring that the younger man would be along any minute now.

[For Claude.]

[From here.]

But being outside was probably just as dangerous, if not more dangerous, than it was being trapped inside the bus with that nurse.

Besides the many other deformed nurses that were roaming around here, Zero caught sight of numerous forms flying overhead, casting large shadows on the ground as they passed by. They looked like...eagles. But deformed and horrific-looking, just like the nurses. At first, they seemed content to simply circle overhead, screeching, like vultures swarming above a carcass. But then many of them suddenly swooped down and headed straight for some of the prisoners running in the street.

Kind of like the one flying at Zero right now.

"Kh--!" The once-Reploid barely managed to dodge the monster as it dived for him by falling to the ground and rolling back onto his feet. The bird flew upwards again, slowly flapping its wings, then circled around as if to try again, another eagle joining it. To avoid them, Zero quickly moved out of the open, where he was obviously a target, and circled around one of the buses, keeping his back to it for cover. But he knew he wasn't going to be safe here...not when there were nurses on the ground and so many eagles above.

Not since the night he had become temporarily stronger had there been so much visible chaos... And if that one prisoner hadn't started a riot, this wouldn't be happening right now...!

As he stood contemplating the best route for escape, Zero glanced around quickly, searching the fleeing prisoners for anyone familiar or anyone who might need help. He was defenseless, so protecting someone else would only get him so far (and he certainly didn't want a repeat of two nights ago), but they all might have a better chance of survival if they grouped up...

[Leanne, Lana, and Harvey, WHERE YOU AT.]

With the blond's outburst disturbing not only the peace and quite of the trip back, but the trip itself by way of a detour into a damn tree, Kurogane's patience had worn thin by well before the sun had begun to set. No amount of alcohol would have helped temper his mood either. Stuck on the side of the road with the night drawing ever closer... it was almost as though Landel had intended for something like this. That man knew what happened were they not back in the building by nightfall, and a good number of them knew the same.

Probably not the blond idiot.

Though his patience was all but gone, his attention to the situation was heightened with the threat of darkness closing in. Each passing moment put them closer to another attack like before, and if there was where the night was to begin, he wasn't going to be trapped in any vehicle, moving or otherwise. That decision kept him on edge, watching between the window and the bus's back door beside him and waiting with the only remaining patience he had to spare.

"Be ready," was all he'd said to the girl beside him, knowing or at least hoping that she understood what was soon to come. He wasn't sure if she'd been there the time before, but as a ninja she should have known enough to expect anything with the tension aboard.

The moment he caught the sun's final dip beyond the horizon, he was out of his back seat and unhinging the emergency hatch for a quick exit to the ground, expecting that Tsubaki would be close behind. "Come on!" he barked back before starting around the bus at a quick pace. The town was long gone, but the chance stood that the Institute would be not too far ahead of them.

However horrible he felt, or how itchy his arm was, Kurogane knew or at the very least hoped that some wine and solitude would be as good a way as any to avoid dealing with Landel and his games. For a short while anyway.

The only question was whether or not he could get either one.

His exit from the bar last time hadn't been on good terms. That had been the bartender's fault though for trying to order him around, and the nurses shared some of that blame for being too quick to jump on him. He'd lost half a bottle of wine for their damn precautions, and he hadn't forgotten.

Both the nurses mulling about on the street and the sign for the bar were getting glared at for those very reasons as Kurogane debated entering the place. Chances were it was the only place in town that would even sell the stuff for how small Doyleton was, so it was this or nothing. Eventually he decided the risk of getting snapped at by a nurse was worth the risk and headed in.

No one stopped him from entering, nor did anyone keep him from having a seat at the bar despite the look the bartender had gotten. Kurogane waited a moment there, noticing when a nurse followed in behind him, before asking up, "I'm allowed to have a glass, right?"

[Free]

[in from here]

The commotion that came from forcing the kitchen door opening was sure to have alerted anything that hadn't heard their first break in, which made continuing on, and quickly, all the more important. They were fortunate enough to have not hit anything as of yet.

Kurogane kept the lead as they entered the kitchen area, stepping over the broken lock and shrugging the sensation away from his shoulder as best he was able. He'd known breaking the lock would take some energy, even without him having kicked it down, but he hadn't expected to feel so much more exhausted from the action. Landel's new game was testing more than just his patience that night, but he didn't let it get to him. They were beyond the more open areas now, and shouldn't have too many more doors blocking their way to the basement.

Turning to the right, Kurogane spotted the outline for the refrigerator door from across the room and stepped ahead only to have the outline blur suddenly in his line of view. He paused, shook his head, and tried to get his focus back through will power alone. The door remained a muddled blur however, and soon the rest of the room was blurring just the same.

"Damn..." he swore, shaking his head out a second time and bringing a hand up.

[from here]

Yuui was the first to push open the door.  It took a few solid kicks to break the lock, more noise than he'd like, perhaps, but hopefully nothing that would slow them up.  His single blue eye tried to adjust to the darkness inside, scouting the room for any undesirables, but he could only make out a few tables and chairs and precious little else without light. 

His footfalls were almost silent, his breathing more cautious as he led the way inside.  The headache that had started earlier was becoming harder and harder to ignore, the loud noises and sudden movements doing little to help.  It was almost a relief that it was too dark to see the sheen of sweat prickling at his forehead or the way his body trembled every now and again as he tried to push forward with weary muscles.  He was beginning to regret not bringing his coat, but the heat would've made it intolerable on top of all the rest. 

It wasn't much further to the basement, he realized, though it would be the first time he'd returned to the place since the accident that had cost him his eye and left several other permanent scars.  He had to wonder if Kurogane fully understood what he was asking, for him to want to return to that place.  If the same thing happened again, if they found themselves in that coliseum, would he make the same decision?  It wasn't a thought he wanted with him as he felt his way through the darkness and toward the back of the room.  Kurogane was a much better lead at times like these.

[from here]

Making it to the top of the wall took longer than usual for his injury, but the climb did not take so long as it might have without someone watching from behind. The last thing Kurogane wanted was to have Fai nagging at him to head back, especially after finally getting the man out like this. It hadn't been too long ago that the magician had wanted nothing more than to be left alone; if nothing else, Kurogane couldn't say he had a problem with how Landel motivated the guy.

That was the only positive though.

"Hurry up," he called over, watching back a moment from the wall's peak. Experience told him that Fai didn't need assistance in getting himself over, but Kurogane wouldn't ignore him should he ask for it this night.

[from here]

After last night, Kurogane was even more wary as he made his way onto the field to await the magician. He didn't expect that the same creature would be there, but something could be in it's place, and just as intent on keeping him inside. Because of that prospect, Kurogane kept himself in the doorway rather than expose himself completely to the outdoors. If need be, he could duck back in and go around to get Fai himself.

Standing in the doorway proved to be useful in another way when the intercom went off for him to hear. Not that it helped all that much. The voice was messing up again, and speaking those numbers. As much as he wished to ignore the rambling, Kurogane listened to ever last one and zero in case the voice switched back to Japanese. By the time the voice shut of though, only numbers had continued - another useless message.

Kurogane reached beneath his cloak and drew out the radio. He knew watching the device wouldn't guarantee a response, but it would give him something to wait on other than just Fai. If the message came before the magician, he'd already determined to go and get the man. There was only so long he'd wait.

[C'mon Magician]