Nightshift 41: Cafeteria

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[from here]

Upon entering the cafeteria, Sakura fell prey to a cool chill. Unlike the Sun Room, the cafeteria seemed eerily dark, almost as if something would lurch out and attack from an unlit corner. The group made their way to the other end of the cafeteria to a locked door, and Sakura gave a tug on the door with one hand. "It won't open..."

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[heavens_too_far]

Unfortunately, Dias' night vision was a bit better than Guy's. Too many nights in the forests of Expel were doubtless to blame.

"Damn it," he swore under his breath. He couldn't see much of the thin, white-haired form...but the mask over his face was really all Dias needed to see to identify Kakashi by. "My roommate is over there," he muttered, a little louder in order to include Guy and Claude in his private conversation. "He offered to help us before." He glanced sidelong at his companions; unspoken but implied was that Dias felt they owed him the same courtesy of at least offering their assistance, whether or not he accepted it.

If Dias had been alone, he would have charged into the fight without hesitation. Entirely aside from the debt he felt he owed Kakashi - however slight - his sense of time told him that there likely wasn't enough night left to get much of anything accomplished in the basement before morning, anyway, so he doubted it would be any great loss. (Unless he got himself injured again and had to face down Celes, at least; he didn't like to think how she'd react to finding out that she'd been forced to suffer the indignity of being carried to Hughes' room for nothing.) But he wasn't alone, which meant the decision wasn't entirely his.

[full_score]

As much as Claude wanted to help them, there were already quite a few people involved in the fighting already. What if they just got in their way? There was such a thing as too many cooks in the kitchen, after all. But if they wanted their help, Claude was more than willing to lend a hand, especially to someone who knew Dias.

"So let's offer to help, then," he whispered as he began to slowly move closer to where the fighting was going on, trying his best not to draw too much attention to themselves. "If they're okay with it, we can fight with them. If not, then I don't know if we really have the time to argue about it."

Claude hated the idea of leaving anyone to fight battles on their own, but he'd learned from experience that sometimes there wasn't much of a choice within Landel's walls. At least the captives up ahead seemed like capable fighters.

From where they were, it looked like the kitchen door was finally open. Claude was about to open his mouth to call out to the group, but he stopped himself short. "Err, actually, maybe we should take cover in the kitchen first, and then call out to them from there." They didn't want to completely blow their chances of getting into the basement, only to have their help rejected or something, right?

[razing_phoenix]

While Guy wasn't sure they could afford another delay like this, he wasn't about to voice any protests either. If one of the people involved was Dias' roommate, then it would only make sense that the man wanted to help him. Guy knew that if he had come across Okita in a position like this he would hardly have hesitated to lend a hand, even if his roommate might not have wanted it.

It looked like Claude was also up for pitching in if it turned out they were wanted, so Guy didn't think they should linger at the edge of the fight any longer. Claude had a good point about asking their question from the kitchen, though. It might be better to secure their position before offering themselves up like that.

"We already don't have enough time," Guy pointed out. They needed to be efficient about this, and so without saying any more, the swordsman broke into a quick run, skirting around the fight for the kitchen door. Hopefully the two would follow him and then Dias could see about calling out to his roommate - hopefully without distracting him too much from the fight that he was already engaged in.

[heavens_too_far]

Claude had a good idea, one that Dias didn't mind going along with. The thing seemed frozen (somehow) for the moment, anyway, so he didn't mind turning from the fight and moving with his companions toward the door to the kitchen.

"You can go in without me," Dias instructed them once they were standing in the doorway. "I need to stay here until I know whether he needs the help or not." He didn't actually say that he'd let Claude and Guy know if he was going back or not, with good reason; he wasn't sure he would. They had no personal stake in Kakashi's fight - and even if they had, there were quite a lot of people involved already. Adding three more fighters to the mix might actually be a bit too chaotic to be wise. And, of course, there was the chance that he'd have to move fast, might not have time to call them back.

If it looked like he'd be better off going back alone, he would. He simply hoped Claude and Guy didn't realize that, because arguing the logic of it with them wasn't something he had time for.

Turning back to the cafeteria, he called to his roommate. "Kakashi! Do you need a sword?" Whatever those little things his roommate was stabbing with - darkness and distance told him next to nothing - they didn't look like they were having much effect.

[full_score]

Claude wanted to point out that they couldn't go on without Dias even if they wanted to. They needed three people to get anywhere in the basement. Besides, even if that wasn't a problem? Like hell he was just going to abandon his rival in the middle of a fight.

After Dias turned away, Claude's eyebrows furrowed, and he opened his mouth to have a few words with him. But his voice died in his throat when a thick fog seemed to permeate the walls, blanketing the room with a foreboding air. Instinctively, he covered his nose and mouth with his free hand, unsure of what to make of what was happening. Were they being drugged? Or was this something else?

Claude took a step back, frantically glancing over to Guy, but stopped short when he felt his foot slip against something slick on the floor. Frowning, he looked down to see spots of dark liquid on the floor, and it looked like was coming from the walls. Blood. He was familiar enough with the consistency and smell of it to immediately recognize it for what it was. The pit of Claude's stomach grew cold at the realization.

"What's happening?!" he called out to his friends, anxious.

[razing_phoenix]

Guy had the same reaction to Dias' suggestion that they go on without him. Even if they decided to do so, there wasn't much of a point when they wouldn't be able to get through any of the basement doors without him. Guy really didn't mind waiting if this was something Dias felt he needed to do, and he'd also pitch in if it came down to that.

He tried to strain and listen for any sort of answer coming from Dias' roommate's direction, but before he could worry any more about that the intercom came on (not that he could hear any real voice from it), and then... well, then the Head Doctor kept his promise from earlier in the night.

The fog come out of nowhere, so sudden that it was disorienting. It wasn't like he'd been able to see well beforehand, but now even his flashlight couldn't cut through the thickness of it. Guy was about to reach out for Claude to make sure they didn't lose each other, but that was when the next part of the "game" came in.

There was blood, and not just a few streaks here and there; it was everywhere, sticking to the bottoms of Guy's shoes, the smell clogging up his nose. There was only one time in his life when he'd been around this much blood, and it was was definitely not something that he wanted to be reminded of this vividly.

Without warning, he felt his chest start to lock up and started to gasp for air. Claude's voice was the last thing he heard before everything went black.

[heavens_too_far]

...Well. The monster seemed to have stopped moving entirely almost by the time Kakashi answered; that certainly simplified things.

At the sound of the radio he carried (made far simpler by his belt from Expel; he'd been carrying it half out of guilt ever since the last night they'd seen Jack alive) turning on, he paused even as he turned back to Claude and Guy, listening closely...though it didn't seem to be an announcement at all.

Whatever it was, though, it made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

There wasn't much time to decipher what it meant, however; Dias smelled the fog before he saw it, sharp and damp as it blanketed the room far too fast to be natural(as if fog inside were natural in any way to begin with), blotting Kakashi and his group from view. And then, through the fog, arresting his attention instantly, the smell of blood.

Claude and Guy were facing him, facing toward the open area of the cafeteria, which was probably for the best; Dias, looking at them and the walls around the door, could see it running down the walls in slow sheets. Even as he watched, and heard Guy begin to hyperventilate, he tried not to think about where the blood could possibly have come from...and especially not to listen to the voice whispering in the back of his head that Ashton and River and Scar and all the other patients who had vanished had to have gone somewhere.

Even as his vision began to darken, the inevitable sign of the end of the night, he took a step towards his companions, his boots stained by the swamp of blood and gore around him.