Nightshift 45: Basement - The Coliseum

[not_rly_fai]

[[from here]]While the transition from night to morning wasn't usually so abrupt, he fully expected to wake up tucked into his bed the following morning. Instead, he woke to hard-packed earth and sand against his cheek. He startled up into a sitting position, momentarily blinded by the bright light streaming in from above in the huge room he'd

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East Seats

[contentincloset]

[warped in from here]

He was sitting, but he didn't remember having taken a seat, or there being one around for that matter. He'd been standing in the hallway, reaching down to take Chelsea... no, Chise back to her room.

Where had 'Chelsea' come from?

Disoriented more than just a little confused, Kurogane put his hands to his head and gave it a good shake, trying to sort through the mess. Right, Chelsea. He'd been calling her that all day, and the magician too. Robin... he'd called him. Called and meant it

Re: East Seats

[giftofstars]

Before she could protest, both Yue and Fai had pricked their fingers, and the entire room went black. The sensation was almost the same as whenever night ended, yet when she came to, Sakura realized that she was definitely not in a bed or even her room. Instead, she was in some stadium's seats.

Slowly, she got up and peered around. In front of her was the man she had met at Morris Park. When did he get here? Then again, she wasn't even sure how she got here, so he could have been the one to arrive first. However, she had yet to spot Yue, Touya, or Fai, despite feeling their slight presence.

Re: East Seats

[tender_cruelty]

Day usually came with near silence only broken by the sound of footsteps and the voices of the nurses. He heard none of that now although the strange sense of dislocation and disorientation was there. He remembered curling up on his bed and trying to go to sleep, tired and frustrated and wanting to just pass out for a while, but this... this was not morning.

This was not his room.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position on the... it was a bench that he was lying on, a stone bench and stone all around him, not even masquerading as plaster and paint like the rest of the building. How strange. He heard shouting and his eyes widened at the sight of the man from the other night, Fai's... acquaintance and he was screaming at someone.

Allelujah pushed himself to his feet and stared at what he saw. A giant ring of sand and stone, like the battle arenas of the ancient world, and Fai and another man (man with wings no less) facing each other in the centre.

"What's going on?"

Re: East Seats

[contentincloset]

The distance between him and the magician would have been a difficult leap even if he'd been at normal strength; however when Fai acknowledged him only to turn his attention away, Kurogane had more than half-a-mind to make the attempt anyway. "Hey, I'm talking to you, you idiot!" he yelled again. Whatever the hell was going here, Kurogane was not going to be left out of it because Fai had suddenly gotten a stubborn streak

West Seats

[guardiancomplex]

Touya groggily came to his senses remembering a distinct feeling of anger and frustration. Right, Yue and Fai had pricked their fingers on those fangs despite his intuition. No doubt wherever Yue and Fai were, it was the place Touya'd had a bad feeling about. Yue probably did it to protect Touya and Sakura--without asking them or saying what he was planning. That bastard...

The young man opened his eyes and heard someone shouting across the way. It sounded an awful lot like... that Kurogane-idiot. Where was he?

Standing up, Touya peered over the edge of where he had been laying. There were Fai and Yue, standing in the middle--but where was he? It looked like he was in some sort of arena or stadium. Across the way, Kurogane was at the edge of the other side, yelling at Fai.

He looked around wildly. Oh God, where was Sakura? He couldn't see her.

"Yue!" he shouted from his spot high above. "Where's Sakura?!"

Re: West Seats

[gentiana_clusii]

[dragged in from here and not happy about it.]

Ken groaned as the world swam back into focus--and his mind back to clarity. Oh God, what the hell had they done to him today?

And where the hell was he? He'd been standing in front of Yohji (Jesus fuck, Yohji, he'd said so many stupid fucking things to him today--and to Aya) in his and Yue's room. He'd been freaked out by Yue's wings--which was really a sentiment Ken shared with whatever fucked up personality he'd been given all day, seeing his roommate suddenly sprout wings was fucking strange. And now...he was in a stadium, arena, whatever, lying sprawled on the seats. Hearing a disturbingly familiar voice shouting for Yue. Touya, then.

What in the hell was going on? "...Touya, what the fuck..."

Re: West Seats

[guardiancomplex]

Touya watched helplessly as Yue flew towards the other side of the arena and, apparently, wasn't able to get to the other side. He thought he saw ice crystals shatter on a wall of some kind, but there was certainly no wall there. It was Yue's shout that started him moving.

He put a foot up on the edge of the seats. It was a serious jump, but if he could just somehow slide down the wall, maybe he could get to her and Yue.

His foot met with a solid, invisible wall. Extending his hands, they met with the barrier too--no doubt the same one Yue was trying to get though. He pounded against the barrier, growling from the frustration of it not giving way.

The voice behind him stopped his futile efforts on the invisible wall. It was familiar, but... What was Ken doing there?

"Ken..." Touya stared at the other young man as though Ken was sprouting hands from his eyes. There had only been four of them that went through that door, what was Ken doing here? Well, on second though, what was Kurogane doing there

Re: West Seats

[gentiana_clusii]

"I was upstairs, with Yohji..." Oh fuck, if he was here, he'd disappeared right in front of Yohji? After spending the day thinking he was someone else? He was going to be pissed...or fuck, even think that Ken was gone entirely.

Ken came closer to Touya, hand reaching out to brush against the barrier. Yeah, definitely solid. But it wasn't anything transparent, it was completely not there.

"What the hell..." he muttered. "Whatever fucking with my head they did, getting dragged here ended it...invisible walls, and two people in a coliseum."

Ken remembered a mission a long-ass time ago. People being forced to fight to the death for the sick amusement of the people watching, high above. And here was a barrier to keep them away from Yue and the other person down in the ring? "...Touya, I really don't like where this is going."

Arena Floor

[winged_moon]

For a moment Yue had thought they were too late, that the night had ended even as Fai had given blood at the door. Indeed, he even opened his eyes upon light, but it wasn't the overhead lights of his room, but instead something far brighter, like mid-day sun reflecting even stronger against the whiteness on the ground. He lifted a hand to shield his eyes as he straightened, wings lifting in an echo of the movement - but, wait, what?

He stared at the back of his hand for a second, more than a little astonished, then glanced down. This was...not the clothing he had been wearing until a moment ago, it was what he should be wearing. Clothing so familiar to him it was like a second skin, but instead of making him feel better it did exactly the opposite. Unless he'd somehow returned home, this wasn't supposed to be happening, and this looked nothing like home.

Fai was nearby as well; Yue could both see and sense his presence, with a clarity that hadn't been present since he'd arrived at the Institute. He could all but feel power coursing

Re: Arena Floor

[not_rly_fai]

One by one they seemed to appear. Touya, Aiden, Sakura. There were others, but he didn't recognize anything magical about their presence. The same might be true for Aiden, but Yuuhi was familiar enough with him that he'd have known who it was even before he started shouting

Re: Arena Floor

[winged_moon]

If Touya was on that side, then why was Sakura on the opposite end of the stands? Shouldn't they be together? But no, instead she was over with Kurogane, who shouldn't even have been there at all. What was going on here?

Yue stubbornly pushed away his growing worries, though, and with a brief glance back at Touya in response to his shout, launched himself toward the stands where Kurogane was, as expected, yelling at Fai. He didn't get very far, though, before he abruptly flared his wings and stopped, hovering in midair to cautiously reach out a hand - and find something solid where there should be nothing. A barrier, a very solid barrier, that kept him from going any higher

Re: Arena Floor

[not_rly_fai]

Even Allie and another man Yuuhi didn't recognize appeared, sitting on opposite ends of the giant room. Yue had flown up and around, but it didn't seem to have done any good. They were surrounded not only by walls, but by some kind of barrier. Whatever was going on, they'd been very careful about how to keep them all separated.

It appeared that everyone was here, at least, most of the people he'd come to know here. If not for the barriers, he might be able to send them all home, or barring that, at least send them to the Time Witch, who could fix things (at a price). But like in Rekord, he knew they couldn't leave with the barriers in place. And he'd have to get them together at least, before he could try to get them out.

There was little he could do to help Yue though. It would take a great deal of magic to break a barrier like that. And at least they were all safe now. There were no monsters, no threats, so maybe there was a puzzle? Yuuhi sighed, glancing around for answers.

The Head Doctor's Seats

[the_head_doctor]

"Good evening, patients."

The Head Doctor seemed to be back to his usual level of smug superiority if the way he leaned on the railing of his section was any indication. His words seemed to be to be projected from the seats at the south-center of the arena; the patients quickly realized this, and as they turned their eyes toward that location, the Head Doctor loosely waved.

"Hello, everybody - ladies and gentlemen, spectators and contestants..." he grinned at each set of patients he was addressing and then stood up, straightening his suit and outstretching his arms.

"Welcome to the Coliseum!"

He glanced down again with a slight smirk.

"I must say, I'm impressed with the progress that all of you have been making lately. First a double-team built on dramatic betrayal and now all of you, just the next night..." He trailed off and chuckled. "Anyway, I'm sure you're just dying to know the rules, so shall I continue?"

Re: The Head Doctor's Seats

[winged_moon]

[dropping down from this thread]

Though Yue had never actually seen the man in person before, the voice was quite distinctive and familiar; he'd been hearing it over the intercom several times a day for two weeks now, and liked it less and less every time. Hearing it here and now in this situation crystallized the uncertainty and worry and fear that had been building within him ever since he'd set foot in the basement tonight, and impelled him into automatic, unthinking action.

With wings mantling in agitation he turned away from Fai, left hand lifting to grasp the bow that had appeared at his silent call, right setting glowing arrow to string as without pause he drew and released, repeating the action three times in turn. The barriers were almost certainly still in place, of course, but that didn't stop him from trying, at the least. Not with this opportunity in front of him.

Re: The Head Doctor's Seats

[the_head_doctor]

The Head Doctor seemed to notice the approaching projectiles out of the corner of his eye, and though his eyes darted to look in their direction, he didn't make any move to dodge the attack. A split second later, it became clear why: the barrage seemed to stop short of the Head Doctor and instead hit an invisible wall four feet away from him, exploding on impact in the air and leaving their true target without a scratch.

Dr. Landel smirked.

"How very impatient, Mr. Yue. And before I've even explained myself!"

He looked back to the rest of his audience and grinned. "You see, Mr. Yue should have perhaps not focused on attacking me so much as on attacking the man who shares the battleground with him. After all, the rules of my game are simple: for each second that your opponent lives, the patient closest to you will find themselves edging ever so steadily towards death..."

He glanced down at his watch and tapped it with one of the fingers of his opposite hand.

"And, I believe the starting point for all of that is... now."

Re: The Head Doctor's Seats

[winged_moon]

Despite the obvious futility of his actions, and the amusement Landel was deriving from them, Yue still did not dismiss his bow. Indeed, he was about to lift another arrow to the string as the Head Doctor spoke, clearly intending to keep up the barrage until either it broke or something forced him to stop. The latter came sooner than expected, when Landel tapped a finger to his watch, for at the sound of Sakura's scream both bow and arrow winked out, and the guardian's attention immediately turned to the stands at his left.

[jumping back to here]