Nightshift 27: Second Floor, hallway containing disciplinary therapy rooms and nurse station

[full_score]

((From here. ))As Claude stepped into the dark hallway, he made sure to shine his flashlight beam enough to light their way forward. Doing a quick scan of the area, Claude noticed the closed doors along their path. He swallowed hard. Were they torturing Ashton in one of these rooms? Who else did they have trapped here

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[stray_shinigami]

"I think that..." Renji had to collect his thoughts and try again. It was hard to concentrate when all he wanted to do was give in and lie down. All that prevented that urge, coupled with the depression he'd felt earlier, from overtaking him was that he'd never given up in his life, not once. And Sora and Rukia were there; he needed to be strong for them, and lead.

"From what Potter said... I think that's a Dementor. It eats your happiness and will to live. And then it'll eat your soul. Don't let it near you." He could almost curse the boy for not telling him how to kill them, but it wasn't Potter's fault. It was a real thing, if it was one of these Dementors, and that meant that maybe they could use their swords on it, or kidou.

...it wouldn't work anyway, so why bother trying...

He shook his head. Potter had also said it was best to just run away as soon as one appeared, but that wasn't something they could do. They had a mission. And they had to take care of this thing before the other group showed up.

"Okay." He took a deep breath, forced himself to think. This would work, damnit, it was worth fighting. "Okay. I think... let's try to hit it with kidou to stop it, and then attack. Maybe swords will work, or your keyblade, Sora." He knew they wouldn't work. Nothing would work, ever again, but damnit... He shook his head again. "Okay, Rukia, can you do a binding on it? Or do you need my help? And Sora, let's be ready to attack if--" He stopped himself, and started again, "--when it takes."

[haiiro_no_chou]

Rukia felt like she was moving in slow-motion, her muscles stiff. The thing at the other end of the hallway was worse than a Hollow, somehow. It said nothing, yet she heard, Death, despair, give up...

She glanced back at Sora as she listened to Renji's words, but... could it really be that easy? It wouldn't work; her kidou was too weak, and their swords probably wouldn't even hit the thing.

Gritting her teeth, Rukia made a small noise, like a snarl. She couldn't let that things powers make her think like that! They had people to rescue, people who needed them, even though they were probably already under the doctors' scalpels.

NO.

Rukia rolled her shoulders and shifted her weight from one foot to the other, to try and stay warm. Her hands stung from the cold. She released the katana with one hand, reaching back to grab Sora's shoulder and pull him up to stand with her and Renji. It seemed better, somehow, if they were close together.

"Okay," she said, her voice a little hoarse, "I don't think-- I'll try." Slowly, she slid the katana into her belt and raised her hands. It took all her concentration to remember the words, the flow of her hands through the air. It was like trying to dance in waist-deep mud, but somehow she managed it. She finished the incantation with, "Bakudou sixty-one."

Six paper-thin bars of light appeared around the creature, ringing it in. They hovered in the air for a split second, then shot toward the Dementor. As Rukia stumbled against the wall, blood flowing freely from her nose, she could only hope that the binding spell would have some effect.

[dementorkiss]

Thankfully, the Dementor's attention seemed to be mostly focused on the first group that had come through the doors to its area. Its effects were still working on everyone however,that being the downside of a creature that had area effects instead of straight on attacks. Perhaps Pyramid Head would have been preferrable.

The squeaking that came from behind the creature was probably not a good sign. Rats that were probably crawling with disease began to skitter past the downed forms of their friends, dirty paws touching on their faces and bodies as they headed for the heros. There were four in all that headed for their group, each about the size of a cat. If they could defeat the rats, they could probably get their person and get out.

At Rukia's binding, the Dementor's head turned towards them, tendons long gone unused creaking like old leather. Its face was thankfully shadowed, whatever features might have been under there they were spared from seeing. Its sucking breath was bad enough, not to mention the smell. It did not advance any further thankfully, perhaps trapped or merely waiting. Maybe she was too weak. Maybe it was trapped. Maybe it was faking it if the creature were capable of such plotting.

Either way, it didn't advance any further, hovering exactly where it had been when her spell struck it. Now if they could each smack down a rat, they stood an excellent change of getting out.

[scintillatingly]

When Rukia caught his shoulder, Sora stared at her in obvious confusion, but didn't resist when he pulled her forward. He glanced at Renji, and then watched as Rukia cast her spell. It looked pretty cool, but when it shot toward the monster (Dementor, had Renji called it?) and nothing seemed to change, he felt hopelessness wash over him again. It hadn't worked, just as expected. It wasn't that he didn't believe in Rukia - he didn't believe in any of them. There was no winning this.

The rats were coming, and with them Sora caught a whiff of that putrid smell. He winced his eyes shut against that and the cold, against everything. He didn't want to do this anymore.

Normally, as the rodents got closer, his Keyblade would have materialized so that he could properly block their attacks. But this time, nothing happened. His heart wasn't in it, and so he was left with no means to fight. It didn't even seem like it was worth it to get out of the way...

[stray_shinigami]

Renji, on the other hand, was as pleased as he could be, given the circumstances, with how Rukia's spell had gone. Next, it was time to attack. He stepped forward, bringing his sword up.

Sora's despair wasn't lost on him. And he knew the source, obviously; he was effected, himself. In a way, he had an advantage, having the childhood and adolescence that he and Rukia had gone through. Much of it had seemed hopeless, but they'd been forced to keep going, had learned not to give up against any odds.

He bared his teeth at the monster, doing his best to hide the heaviness in his voice. "Come on, Sora!" he yelled. "She got it!" He began to run toward the rats, sword coming down to strike at the first. "I need you with me, let's go!"

They needed to break through and get the Dementor. And more importantly, they needed to keep the rats from getting to Rukia until she recovered. He did his best to focus on those to things, on the necessity of doing and duty no matter how he felt.

[haiiro_no_chou]

Rukia's wiped a sleeve across her nose to clear away some of the blood. Breathing heavily through her mouth, it was all she could do to focus on their attackers. Her head was pounding, and her knees didn't want to support her so well. She knew it would pass, but with the Dementor's presence bearing down on her, it was hard to remember that. From this distance, she couldn't even tell if the spell had had any effect on the creature...

With shaking, numb hands, she slid the katana from her belt again. Sora's weapon hadn't appeared yet, and the rats were closing in. Renji couldn't take on all four by himself. That was the only thing that gave Rukia the strength to move forward.

Still leaning heavily on the wall, she held her katana ready, but in her current state she would make an easy target.

[dementorkiss]

A shriek of pain poured through their minds as Dias' sword made contact with the Dementor's hand. It was a tortured scream, sounding far too much like a child that was being hurt horribly by someone and not understanding why. The coldness began to receed as the creature tried to draw back by was held by the binding, at least momentarily. At the edges of the room, the frost was already melting, the sensation of hopelessness beginning to fade there.

That didn't stop the rats though. They continued, heading for their prey with a foolish determination that was leading them directly into what could be their deaths. With another howling shriek and a sound like breaking glass, the Dementor began to pull back and away.

[scintillatingly]

While Renji's words were some help in getting through to the boy, what really made him snap into action was when he saw Rukia, who was already worn out from what she had done earlier, lifting her sword to fight. She was hurt, and yet she was trying harder than he was? Sora knew that wasn't right, and he knew that he had to be doing something, no matter how hard it was to motivate himself.

The loud screech was hard on Sora's ears, but he felt himself starting to warm up, if only a little bit. He was by no means as confident as usual, but he also knew that there was at least a small chance of them succeeding.

That was enough.

When he realized how close the rats were getting, the boy launched himself in front of Rukia--suddenly, with a flash of light, he was holding onto his Keyblade with both hands, drawing it in front of him to block himself from the monsters' attacks.

[stray_shinigami]

Hearing the creature shriek felt like victory, if even a small one. Even better when he could see the binding hold. It helped fight back the receding cold, feeling the pride that Rukia had done so well, and that Sora was standing against the thing as well to fight. They were moving, and as long as they were moving, they would win.

In all his time at the institute, Renji had never actually encountered rats before. He'd had to deal with smaller, non-monstrous ones in his childhood, but there was no way of knowing how these would attack, what strength they had. The only way to know was to fight.

He lunged at the closest rat, sword whipping down to strike.

[haiiro_no_chou]

A small, grim smile found its way to Rukia's lips when the Dementor shrieked. It seemed that the binding spell had had some effect, at least. Still, she was glad when Sora stepped forward to help Renji fight off the rats. She could fight if she had to, but it probably wasn't a wise idea just then.

Still holding the katana ready, she wiped some of the blood from her nose onto her shoulder. Thankfully, the room was growing a little warmer, and the feeling was starting to come back to her hands.

[dementorkiss]

((Could have sworn all my rats were dead...))

The rats weren't exactly intelligent but they weren't near as stupid as the average ones either. They broke off into two groups, one set going for Sora and the other for Renji. Hideous squeaking started when Renji cleaved the one in two, the other going for the swordsman's ankle. Unless Renji was quick with his blade, the filthy creature was sure it was going to get to bite someone.

The two that were in front of Sora stopped without warning, eyeing him and then each other. Weirdly enough, they squeaked back and forth a few times before breaking off in opposite directions. They turned just as quick and headed at Sora from the left and right. The question was could he manage to get them both or was he going to end up part of the Rat Bitten Brigade?

[scintillatingly]

That horrible feeling, along with the less than ideal temperature - it was all gone. Sora felt himself warming up again, watched as more light seemed to be returning to his Keyblade. This was an easy fight, and one he now knew they would be able to win.

Rukia needed to stay safe after what she had done to herself with that spell earlier, and he was going to do all he could to make sure the rats didn't get to her.

It looked like they were smart enough to not attack him head on, though, which meant that he was going to need to get a little more flashy. "Step back!" he yelled to Rukia. Hopefully she knew well enough to listen.

He didn't have time to make certain that she had done so, though. If he didn't act immediately, the rats would soon be swarming him. Groups seemed to be moving in and out with the rescued patients, and Sora had even heard a few gunshots going off. They needed to finish this.

Gripping the handle of his Keyblade tightly, he spun around with it in swift circles, intending to smack both of the rats away in a sort of sweeping motion.

[stray_shinigami]

Had Renji been armed with anything other than a sword, the rat would have had a good chance against him. But this weapon, crafted to be a copy of his zanpakuto, felt as it should - an extension of himself. It gave him range and allowed him to use his practiced speed and techniques to their fullest extent. He shifted his foot slightly away from the rat and whipped the sword around to remove its head from its body.

He trusted Sora to take care of Rukia, and Rukia to take care of herself. There seemed to be one person left of the group the dementor had guarded, and it seemed best to get to them before more rats showed up and attacked someone that couldn't defend themselves. Their other team had arrived, but were facing rats of their own, though they didn't seem to need any help.

Sword at the ready, Renji headed for the person, intent to help him up and then get his entire group out of there. It wasn't someone that he recognized, but that didn't matter to him. A person in need of help was a person in need of help.

[ooc: yes, he's going for the mimic. D: Oh noes!]

[haiiro_no_chou]

Rukia's binding spell really had hindered the dementor! Along with the creature, the chill in the air seemed to melt away. The many rats were, for the most part, dead or dying. And three of the four patients were already in good hands. Had they really won? Rukia's grim smile grew a little wider, despite her exhaustion.

Though sometimes a bit too eager to prove that she could fight just as well as anyone else, Rukia was also a well-trained, competent fighter who knew when to do what she was told. Hearing Sora's warning, and guessing what the boy's next move would be, she took a couple quick steps back. Which made the hallway spin and tilt around her for a moment.

Reaching up to rest one hand on the wall, Rukia took a deep breath. Suddenly she realized that the her hands were no longer numb, and she couldn't see her breath anymore. It looked like Sora could handle the two rats on either side of him, and Renji was moving forward to get to the last prisoner.

Just another minute, she told herself, I just need to catch my breath, and I can go help.