Nightshift 45: Basement - The Coliseum
[[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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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.
Anger flared amidst the confusion as Kurogane realized something had been done to him. He'd been messed with somehow, and it didn't take a genius to guess just who was responsible for it. That bastard, Landel...! Kurogane had been messed with enough for a lifetime after those death illusions! Hell, he'd been messed with enough that first night he'd pulled Fai from the closet!
Deciding just who he was angrier with - Landel or himself - would have to come later, when he knew where he was. For now, he swore, practically roared for the frustration he felt, and got to his feet to find his bearings. In looking around, he found nothing familiar, but could recognize the essence of a battlefield well enough. An arena it looked like, and he was in the stands. As for the field... he gave a look and found it easy to recognize the person closest to his side.
"MAGICIAN!" he barked, leaving his place to move down a few rows to the area's edge, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!"
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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.
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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?"
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He stepped off the seating area floor, using his hands to push off the wall so that he could hop into the ring, but he got no further than pushing off. His face hit hard into what had at least looked like nothing but was most assuredly a barrier and kept the man from advancing. He reeled back into the seats, face bruised and mouth shouting a mess of swears.
By the time his head stopped spinning, Yue had begun his attacks, and Kurogane watched as all were kept below the level of the stands. "Barriers..." he grumbled. Kurogane remembered why it was that he hated all magic outside of the kind used with swords.
Shaking his head again, Kurogane got back to his feet and this time put a hand out to the open area. Solid, like an invisible wall. Dammit. So they were being separated? But why bring him here if they were just going to close them off. Kurogane didn't the ideas that came to mind, but he wouldn't have put a one of them beyond Landel.
His attention on the ring was pulled away when he heard a voice from behind. He turned back to see two others, both familiar, or familiar enough. One was the magician's roommate, but Kurogane cared more about the girl who was there. "Sakura Hi--," he started, then paused in correction. It was the younger Sakura, the one from the park.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Kurogane answered for the roommate, "Best I can tell you is that we're stuck in here while those two are down there." He pointed first at the stands' floor, then down at the two in the ring. When his eyes came up, he could see that there was another set of seats on the other side, and there were more patients across the way. Sakura's brother and someone he didn't know, but seeing the brother was more important. Kurogane still didn't know the guy's name, and he may have been acting like someone else all day, but that didn't mean he'd forgotten his conversation with the guy. He'd mentioned the basement, and had given names too.
Kurogane looked back to Sakura. "If you know what's going on or how we got here, then explain it," he told her, leaving out any sensitivities he might have used with either the Sakura he knew or in a less potentially dangerous situation.
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As Yue approached, Sakura moved forward and heard his cry. "Yue-san. You can fly again? Do you know what's going on?" she asked, surprised.
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He reached out and touched solid air which wouldn't give beneath his hand. A forcefield? That was the only thing that he could think of or even compare it to. Concentrated GN particles to prevent them from leaving.
His train of thought was thoroughly derailed though when a new voice boomed across the arena, drawing all eyes towards him. Allelujah didn't recognise him by sight, although he committed that face to memory now, but the voice... oh how he knew that voice. He banged against the shield, baring his teeth at the man, eyes darting furtively around for any way of escape because as soon as he could, he was going to tear that fucker's head off!
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"If nothing can get out, then nothing can get in..." Kurogane reasoned aloud as Yue flew back down. So long as nothing suddenly appeared inside with them, they were probably a lot safer than they wanted to admit. Trapped, but technically safe as well. Unfortunately, Kurogane didn't want to be "safe" or "trapped" or any combination of the two. He could wager that no one else in the stands did either, or the two on the floor.
Sakura's explanation worried him. The basement was known to be dangerous, but blood and doors? He was pretty sure that involving blood was involved in magic at times. Did that explain why the magician and Yue were the ones on the floor? And why the rest of them were suddenly pulled here?
Whatever reasoning he might have continued with was stopped as a loud voice drew everyone's attention. His first thought was the intercom, but there were no intercoms here, and the voice too loud and too obviously present. He was there! When Kurogane's head turned, he already knew who he would be seeing, and reflex had him moving in front of the girl in the stands. She wasn't his Sakura by a long shot, but she was still Sakura, and that man was responsible for everything! If anything happened here, he sure as hell wouldn't let it happen to her.
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After the head doctor had finished describing the rules of the game, Sakura flew backwards and let out a piercing scream. Some force had flung her backwards, and once she had crashed into some of the higher bleachers, visible abrasions had appeared in several spots up and down her skin.
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It was strange though, those cuts and scratches on her skin didn't match the impact from the seats. He crouched down next to her, offering her a hand, giving her a concerned look. The Head Doctor's words rang in his mind. The people that Fai and the other man were close to would come closer to death for every second that the two of them lived.
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The roommate reacted fastest, Kurogane hesitating only for the shock, but the movement kept him from rushing to the girl himself. He was worried, probably more than the roommate, but that didn't mean that the both of them needed to be seeing to her. Not when something more was going on here.
Landel's words came haunting back to him, and he turned his gaze on the battlefield where Fai and Yue had begun fighting against each other. So that was it. This game of Landel's was to have the two fight a deathmatch or else have the one closest to them die? And the rest of them were just supposed to sit back and watch?! To hell with that!
"Hey!" he barked back at the roommate, anger an determination flaring at once, "No matter what happens, keep her alive!" he ordered, then turned again on the barrier, "I'm going to find a way out of here!" He didn't know what he could do, or what possible way he could find to get them out, but he wasn't going to just do nothing. He refused to play along with Landel's game!
For a moment Kurogane let rage dictate his first attempt, and he put all his effort into striking his first into the barrier. "Don't you dare die, magician!" he called out, an order more than anything, and hit the wall a second time.
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"I... I... I..." she mouthed, trying to speak but just barely producing a sound as tears squeezed out of her eyes.
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He turned his attention back to the girl, expression softening, trying to look as calm and soothing as he could, even as more wounds appeared across her arm and leg. He caught her, holding her firmly but gently. "Don't try to move, alright?" he murmured, moving back to pull his shirt off, tearing a strip of it off to press it against her arm, trying to staunch the bleeding. "You'll be fine," he continued to say softly, gentle lies to help her relax. She'd bleed more if she was panicking.
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In the midst of his struggle and beyond the blood, he caught glimpses of the battle below. They were fighting more intensely now. Both had been hit, but only the magician was bleeding visibly. Knowing Fai, he was allowing himself to get hit, only attacking to make sure that Yue fought back with enough intent to kill.
Someone would die at this rate. The magician, or Sakura... someone who wasn't him and who he should have been able to protect! Who he was supposed to protect!
"DAMMIT!" A final slam sounded, this time with a crack as the bones shattered in Kurogane's hand. He paid his breaking hand little mind and let his head fall into the barrier, eyes closed and teeth clenched. There had to be something he could do, something that would keep them from dying. Growling, he reopened his eyes and turned them up at southern most seats.
"LANDEL!"
[ hello doctor]
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The sight on the arena floor left Kurogane with the desire to pound the barrier more but without the ability through the shock. A quick glance back told him that Sakura's injuries had stopped, which alone should have been enough to prove the match's conclusion, but Kurogane wouldn't accept it. How the hell could he?! Just letting it happen right there in front of him like this...!
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