Yuffie had died.

No, really. Seriously. She had actually died. Bleeding all over the place, making a horrid, sticky mess and scaring the hell out of Suzaku; she remembered it clearly. Kind of. Sort of. Through the blood loss, the pain, and the visions. Through Aerith's voice whispering in her ear, Cloud's stricken eyes, and her own panic. As bad nights went, it had been Bad, capital B and all the trimmings, and oh, god. She sat, trembling on the edge of her bed, eyes closed and hands pressed hard over her racing heart. The by-play between Landel—Landel!—and Lydia barely even sunk in. There was nothing in the whole world, any world, that could prepare you for something like…

Had it all been some kind of hallucination?

Had she imagined the whole thing?

No… She didn't think so. Nightmarish or not, Yuffie knew reality. But if it had been real, how was she alive now? That kind of pain wasn't something you could just cook up, was it? She thought about it all the way to the cafeteria, drifting behind her nurse without focus or intent. Maybe if she tried to stay clinical, tried to step back… But she'd never been good at that when things got personal. And every time she closed her eyes or blinked, she swore that the scenes played back to her, like an overused commercial on a crappy channel on a crappy TV, in a run-down dump of an inn that smelled like mothballs and yesterday's breakfast.

The scent of blood and damp, rotted wood clogged her nose. Disgusted, Yuffie shoved her bowl of cereal—handed to her by a clucking Plucky—off to the side so that she could melt into her chair, palm heels scrubbing against her eyes. Too much. This was… Too much. She couldn't even paste a plastic smile on her face to make herself feel better. Her usual shield, the white noise of inane babble that could filter out almost any crisis, was in tatters all around her. Five minutes, she gave herself.

Five minutes (not) to think, five minutes to get her act together, because there was no way she could let herself shatter here. No way…

[Closed to Sheena]

_{[from here]}

Yomi's plan had been simple from the beginning, simple enough that acting on autopilot would make no difference.

Break apart the bathroom. Take any good metal. Go elsewhere and repeat.

She could do that, whether or not her heart was fixed on the past, and her thoughts were a million miles away, and the sesshouseki was thrumming in her veins, an ominous drumbeat trying to lead her by its tune. She could do that, because it would keep her moving. It would keep her going. She could focus on it, and not on her disintegrating existence.

Her attention turned to the line of sinks, not on the rising volume of ghostly voices. They were just noise in the background, noise to be added to the already chaotic static in her head.

_{[from here]}

Although her body was going through the motions--metal, she still needed to collect metal for the blade she was going to have created--what was going on within Yomi's mind had nothing to do with reaching her scavenging goals.

Had it been real? Kagura's face, Kagura's hands, Kagura's voice, Kagura's body. Child no longer. Little sister no longer. A young woman with the combined fury of all the sesshouseki within her. Grieving Yomi's death to the point of... of resurrection.

That had to be 'Izumi'. A new her?

Yomi grit her teeth. The thought of everything said and unsaid made a part of her quake in horror, both because Yomi could be blamed for some of the future and that guilt would never leave her, and conversely, because Kagura's future choices unnerved her in their hopelessness. Kagura, did she really feel as she did? Was she really in control of that power as she said? Forsaking the world... the Kyuubi's immeasurable evil lurking behind Kagura's tears... Was it all true? And if so, what was the sick purpose in bringing them together now? Nothing but heartache would come out of it...

It was all Yomi could do, drawing a line between them. It was too much. If only Kagura had never shown up in this place.

Blindly staring into the darkness, Yomi stalked ahead, aware of the presence following in step with her, but not acknowledging it. The intercom was continuing to cut in and out, the sorrowful moans of dozens of disembodied voices filling the building in a death knell. Like they were surrounded with the Category Ds of the night before--a spike in the haunted area. She almost welcomed the promise of an attack. It would take her mind off other, more complex conflicts that she was less equipped to face.

When she came to the door leading into the men's bathroom, Yomi stopped. "Here," she heard herself say. It was then that something flickered at the corner of her vision, drawing her eye against her will... only to find nothing.

Maybe Kagura had been nothing more than the same kind of illusion. But the sesshouseki's eagerness wouldn't let her believe it.

[from here]

A sudden wave of fear washed over the Decepticon as his recently-injured foot hit the first step; granted, tonight was, as far as he could tell, no different from any other night here... but the events of the previous evening had had their impact upon him, as it doubtless had on the other patients. Thus, it was with quiet trepidation that he slowly made his way up the two flights of stairs, his back to the inner railing, the flashlight pointed forward with an occasional swing back to the ground floor.

His foot, though no longer in a cast, still ached if he placed too much pressure on it, and though he could walk just fine, he found the branch to serve as an excellent cane in times of particular pain. Perhaps I should fashion this into a proper staff at some point, he mused; it's certainly long enough, and from its heft, it does not appear as if it would break should its mass be decreased to a more manageable amount.

Reaching the top of the stairs after a few tense minutes, Starscream paused, sweeping his light around him. No one here yet, he thought to himself. Rather than stepping into the hall, however, he chose to wait just to the left of the doorway, light shining forward as he slid to a seated position, back to the wall. He held the branch vertically at his side; surely his anonymous companion would not mistake him for someone else now.

[from here]

Even distracted as he was, Suzaku remembered to stay on his guard as he passed into the main hallway. He would only be here for a moment, but there could still be a monster lurking in the darkness. And it was so quiet and deserted just now that he would make easy prey.

[to here]

[From here]

Okay, so far so good. He got a bit turned around for a moment, trying to remember whether to go left or right, but he'd figure that out quick. It wasn't like--Woah! He swore he'd just seen something weird for a second, but with two human eyes? No way to tell.

Hello! I.R.I.S. here once more to announce to you, our honored guests, that you have officially made it through a day of our typical Landel's treatment. Of course, it isn't quite over: we will now have you retire to our designated patient quarters with one of your agency partners to inspect their sleeping area and the tools that we provide them with for the true bulk of our behavioral testing. On an added note, we would like you to notice once again that the meals we provide to our subjects are of the highest quality.

For those of you feeling apprehensive about taking part in our more intensive methods, please be aware that we would never imagine putting all of you in any danger whatsoever. This last shift will be your last at our Institute; afterward, we will escort you to our Head Doctor's personal observation station to survey some of our test Next-Wave participants in the rigorous trials we put them through – all for their betterment, of course.

Once again, we hope that you are satisfied with what you find, and as always, direct any questions you may have to your console.

The nurses began to escort the patients to their rooms. They didn't even seem to be brought to awareness by words such as "testing" and "subjects."

[ All room threads go in response to this post; please post your character's room number as the subject line of the initial post. (Find all of the newly changed room assignments and shift introductions here.) If you are introducing your character during this shift, you may either choose for them character to wake up before their roommate gets back, or after. ]

The shift was familiar enough, in it's own way, but it came too soon. He wasn't sure if any of the others in the group aside from Stefan had been around long enough to witness this before, but he wanted to reassure them that this was just like the changes the institute underwent at night.

Except it wasn't, this time. Marcus could hear them before he could see them, clawing through the dirt, and paused with his mouth open, losing what he'd been about to say. Then the first hand popped out of the ground, much like the zombified followers of the Banished Pantheon often did. Marcus didn't wait for them to start pulling themselves out of the ground entirely before he spoke, loudly but clearly. "It's time to go. Stefan, Scourge and I will head to the Sheriff's office and secure it, you three get people in Magus Park and down South Street to go there, we'll have it cleared and safe to use as a rallying point. When that fills up we'll take the hardware store," He could hear the moans of the undead off in the distance.

"I suggest you only go halfway down South Street and then go up to Main Street to arm yourselves in the hardware store if you need it, that will also take you past the Sheriff's office so you can drop anyone off. I have extremely good hearing so if you shout loud enough I may be able to hear you if you get in trouble and need reinforcements," Marcus decided it was time to wrap things up when the undead were finally all the way up out of the ground. "Try not to get bogged down in too many fights if you can avoid it. Go!"

He didn't waste any time either, and took off at a brisk but not all-out pace for main street.

Before anyone could come to any decisions for their next move, the room suddenly filled with a thick fog. Faster than he could realize what was happening, it had filled up the entire room and swallowed every single one of his friends. Then there was that undeniable stench of iron, blood and... he last remembered taking a step back and feeling that slippery skid and the realization of what that was. By the time he yelled, he was sitting straight up in his bed like he'd bolted awake. Like it'd been nothing more than a bad dream. ...What the hell just happened?!

"Oh! Good morning!" The nearby voice made him yelp with a half squeak-like noise. Oh, for hell's sake. It was one of those freaking nurses again. She was beaming at him like nothing had happened at all. Before he could so much as ask one question, the hag started blathering real fast about some field trip and buses and getting changed and hurrying up before everyone left without him and... OH MY GOD, WHAT WAS SHE DOING?! She was grabbing at his shirt like she was about to start helping him get dressed (or undressed in this case).

He flailed in a desperate attempt to get away from her and yelled his consent to go along if she would get out and let him change HIMSELF. What was the matter with her?! Thankfully, she left but told him to hurry. Hell if he knew what she'd do if he took too long. So for the sake of not getting freaking stripped, he quickly changed into the clothes she'd left on the bed. Clothes being the ugliest looking white-and-black track pants he'd ever seen and a bright blue sweatshirt with a cute little penguin design on the front. This was some kind of joke, right? ...Not to say the penguin wasn't cute or anything but there was no way, no way, he was wearing something like this in public.

But the nurse had burst right in again, and before Kanji could offer much protest, he was being pulled down the hallways and through the doors of the bus. He'd yelled some things her way, but she totally wasn't listening at all. By the time they stopped, he was standing at the front of the bus with a paper bag and the nurse had run off to cart another poor sap along. Frickin' PERFECT. For the sake of not standing up there like some kind of zoo animal for everyone to stare at, he plopped himself into one of the seats by the front and sighed in complete exasperation.

[Free. No limit.]

"Damn that Megatron," Starscream muttered, struggling angrily with his uncooperative crutches as he waited outside his room, impatiently waiting on Lockdown. "He is quickly becoming just as irritatingly stubborn as the one from my universe. I do not care for his accusations, both of my treachery nor of my inability to be of use...bah, it should be ME ordering HIM around. Damn this leg..."

There was also the matter of the doctor's words, he thought to himself, closing his eyes and reminiscing on what the flesh-creature had said. "Play a game...what do you have in mind, human," he murmured, crossing his arms in thought as best he could. "Perhaps I shall get a chance to find out...if this fool ever shows up, that is..."

There wasn't any jingle as the intercom came on; it sounded like the Head Doctor was still having issues with the system, and it also seemed like he was none too pleased about it.

"Well, everyone, I hope that you all had more fun this last shift than I did! Hahahaaa..."

His weak laughter trailed off. His office chair squeaked.

"In any case, as you all probably know already, it's now time for dinner! I'm sure you've all worked up an appetite after all that repairing – er – exercising, so I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that you'll be served generous portions of spaghetti with delicious tomato sauce and, if desired, meatballs. For sides, you'll be having some freshly baked garlic bread and, if requested, a Caesar salad. Our regular drinks are available, and for dessert, we'll be serving some delicious strawberry gelato.

"And, now, I suppose it's time we get back to this wiri–"

The announcement cut off abruptly.

*hobble wobble*

"Damn that SCOURGE!" Starscream cried out, the slowly-filling cafeteria producing a jarring echo of his raspy voice. His limping, already bad enough from not knowing how to properly use his crutches, was now exacerbated from the injuries he'd received the shift prior. Despite the gauges in his non-casted leg so lovingly provided by the aforementioned 'patient', Starscream could still put some weight on it, but not so much that he could really stop and rest; relieving the soreness under his arms was out of the question. The nurse that walked behind him with his tray, already upset at having to deal with yet another troublesome inmate, was growing rather impatient as his charge slowly made his way down the food line.

"Just...give me a standard serving of the aquatic creature's flesh, some of those fried potato slices, two bananas, and three bottles of juice," Starscream sighed, his anger from just a moment ago assuaged by the physical exertion needed to move the way he did. "I'm going to sit down here...bring it to me when you're done."

He was hardly surprised to find that one of the bananas was completely bruised along its inner curve, or that the handful of 'chips' on his plate were all on the small side. Tired and frustrated as he was, however, he could barely muster a 'damned flesh-creature' before moving his fingers to the plate, picking one of the longer 'chips' and shoving it into his mouth listlessly.

There was an unusually high concentration of sodium chloride crystals on it. Of COURSE.

[For Tony Stark]

Kio's breakfast ended on a much happier note than it had started. However, for once the announcement truly surprised him. He blinked as his nurse came to pick him up. Recreational Field? But.. but if they had a greenhouse, he wanted to go there. The prospect of gardening was a truly liberating one, an island of joy in this hellhole. He thought about going to the Sun Room and lying down, but it occurred to him that he hadn't had proper fresh air since being here. With a cheery goodbye wave to Honey, he followed his torturer outside.

It was much better than he had expected. The sun wasn't too hot (what time of the year were they in, anyway?), so he walked slowly along the walls, fascinated by the size of the field. He wondered if Sou-chan was alright. He hadn't even checked the board. Well, if Soubi wanted to apologize, Kio would be willing to listen. The place was so crisp and clean. He had to think if anyone had ever gone over the walls. What was out there? Freedom? Or a different sort of monster?

Leaning against one of the walls, Kio took as much advantage of the sun as he could. He desperately wanted a lollipop. One was quietly nestled in his pocket, but he would need to wait until the nurses were busy with other patients before he tried anything. Soubi had gone to some trouble to get them, the least he could do was make sure they didn't get confiscated. So with bated breath, Kio waited for a shift in the mood. He was, for once, content. Not happy, but not going crazy either.

[Sou-chan! Team Loveless deploy!]

[From here]

Again, Celes waited to hear any suspicious noises, and finding none, continued down the hallway. She lit up the sign of a door, Decontamination Room. Well, didn't that sound lovely? She'd have to be careful. If her childhood under Cid's tutelage had given her anything, it was that those yellow coats of the Scientists were the hard line of defense against tiny blood-borne organisms or strange Esperian pathogens.

And here she was, many worlds from home, without one. Well, Celes sighed mentally and continued down the barren hall, so long as nothing decided it wanted to splash on her, then she was fine. Though weakened magically, Celes hoped all those 'adjustments' to the rest of her body had held true. It would be terrible to get a cold of all things after eighteen years of near-perfect health.

As she came to the end of the hall, another door sign caught the light, Morgue. Well, she'd come to her dubious destination, and here was hoping that the slabs they dissected the patient population on could move, or at least have a nearby gurney. This thought was immediately pushed out of the way when the general realized that the door was locked.

"Oh, for the love of Goddess's tits." Celes knelt down again and removed her poor, battered hair pin before realizing that there was nothing in the hallway with her (and even if there was, taking the time to pick the lock would've made her monster food in no time at all). The general stood up and kicked the door open.

"Of all the accursed...why did they have to place his quarters at such a distance from mine!"

Starscream continued to look over his map angrily; shining his artificial light upon the paper clipped into the cover of his notebook, he once again traced the two possible routes needed to get to Lockdown's room. "One is far longer...but potentially safer," he groaned, sliding his finger down the halls, across the large entry way, and back up to his destination. "The other...it takes me to the "soccer/recreational field". That's where that 'meta-bitch' 'Richard' mentioned was, the one who could made extreme cold. On the other hand, it IS shorter..." Closing the book with a sigh, he weighed his options carefully.

Laziness won out.

"As long as I am careful...I might avoid confrontation tonight," he reasoned. Clutching his book, a few pens, and the flashlight tightly, he made his way down to the M-C Block hallway.

[To ]here]

[from here]

Miles slowed again as he entered the hallway, due to another sharp spike of pain in his head. This time, it was accompanied by a louder rumble, one that almost sounded like garbled words.

He swept the beam of his flashlight from side to side. "Now, see? Nothing - and no one - is there," he muttered, hoping that would silence the voice's insistent worry. It was starting to get both annoying and worrisome at the same time. What was making it react like this? He couldn't think of anything, and the intercom announcement hadn't indicated anything particularly worrisome, either.

He sighed and continued down the hallway, continuing to scan for anything in the shadows with each step.

[to here]

[ from here ]

Spider came charging outside and, remembering the mist from last night, stopped talking for long enough to get through the only other door he could see. It felt wrong, this ... being cautious.

[to here ]