Nightshift 46: Solitary Room 1
When the door clicked to unlock, it was the first time Kurogane had paid attention to anything outside of his own thoughts since arriving. There would have been no point in attempting to escape from such a secure room, so he hadn’t tried. Hadn’t thought to either, given the amount of drugs in his system. Instead the ninja had just sat there, back pressed to the wall as the drugs slowly wore away. Nothing had mattered in those hours, and nothing did until a small part of him began wishing they’d drugged him more, because once Kurogane could finally find his thoughts, they were ones he wanted to put from mind.
There was no denying last night. Unlike the time before, Kurogane had come away with enough to disprove even the possibility of a dream. That morning he’d been able to strip off the bandages and see the marks on his hand - his knuckles raw from repetitive slamming. Only an idiot would need more proof than that. It was all Kurogane had needed to know, and all it had taken to earn him the trip to solitary since he'd decked his nurse for it. Some orderlies had gotten a few good blows as well before he'd been subdued, but that meant little. Nothing had changed from his outburst or his confinement. His battered first still hung at his side, redressed since the morning’s events and a reminder of what had happened.
The magician was gone.
This wasn’t Oto. Not some game that they would magically wake up from if they lost their lives. Kurogane had always known that and had dealt with the possibility that when people went missing, they hadn’t simply returned home. Sakura... and the other girls they had met. Any one of them could have fallen in these hallways, but Kurogane had only left it as being a possibility before. Whatever had happened to them couldn’t be changed no matter what he did, so he could only leave things as they were. Knowing was different though. Knowing meant realizing just how stupid it was to think on how things could have been different, yet doing it anyway. He'd known where the magician was going. Sakura's brother had told him, but he'd brushed it off because of that damn brainwashing! But even if he had gone with them, he knew the same thing would have happened. It didn't matter who would have been where - fighting or in the stands - the same outcome would happened and someone would have died.
Slowly, Kurogane rose from the floor, leaning against the wall until he could keep his feet. He hadn’t been coherent when they’d brought him here, so he didn’t know where he was, but he wasn’t staying. The door had unlocked, and that meant only one thing: night had begun. The last thing he would do was sit around and wait for something to come and eat him. He wasn’t that pathetic.
[gone here]
There was no denying last night. Unlike the time before, Kurogane had come away with enough to disprove even the possibility of a dream. That morning he’d been able to strip off the bandages and see the marks on his hand - his knuckles raw from repetitive slamming. Only an idiot would need more proof than that. It was all Kurogane had needed to know, and all it had taken to earn him the trip to solitary since he'd decked his nurse for it. Some orderlies had gotten a few good blows as well before he'd been subdued, but that meant little. Nothing had changed from his outburst or his confinement. His battered first still hung at his side, redressed since the morning’s events and a reminder of what had happened.
The magician was gone.
This wasn’t Oto. Not some game that they would magically wake up from if they lost their lives. Kurogane had always known that and had dealt with the possibility that when people went missing, they hadn’t simply returned home. Sakura... and the other girls they had met. Any one of them could have fallen in these hallways, but Kurogane had only left it as being a possibility before. Whatever had happened to them couldn’t be changed no matter what he did, so he could only leave things as they were. Knowing was different though. Knowing meant realizing just how stupid it was to think on how things could have been different, yet doing it anyway. He'd known where the magician was going. Sakura's brother had told him, but he'd brushed it off because of that damn brainwashing! But even if he had gone with them, he knew the same thing would have happened. It didn't matter who would have been where - fighting or in the stands - the same outcome would happened and someone would have died.
Slowly, Kurogane rose from the floor, leaning against the wall until he could keep his feet. He hadn’t been coherent when they’d brought him here, so he didn’t know where he was, but he wasn’t staying. The door had unlocked, and that meant only one thing: night had begun. The last thing he would do was sit around and wait for something to come and eat him. He wasn’t that pathetic.
[gone here]