Nightshift 49: Ruins

[chainsaw_royal]

[From here]The rain was sharp and cold against Hime's face, but there was no crunch of shattered glass beneath her shoes, only that of gravel. The street, the stores, the town - gone. More importantly, at least to Hime, so was the zombie. She had hoped that by breaking through the window she might circumvent the spell on the doors, but once again

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[scalyfishman]

So she had a thing about zombies. Well, that was good enough for him. Smacking the crowbar into the palm of his hand, Depth Charge ducked down and followed Hime through the window just as something finally registered with him. "Wait a klik, Royal family? You're actually a princess?"

Well, scrap. And here he was thinking she just acted like one. Just went to show what kind of crazy logic this place seemed to- oh, gearThe two of them were outside, but not outside the bookstore. The ground under their feet was uneven and slippery from the rain pelting down on them in misty grey sheets, stinging cold and hard against the bare skin of his arms

[chainsaw_royal]

"Whatever they are, let's head for them. It does us no good to be standing out here in the rain," Hime said, setting off for the town. Were they outside the spell's influence now? Or would going inside one of those buildings just cause them to warp locations again? Or would they walk into an invisible portal, like the one they had just come out of? Anything seemed better than standing out in the rain, but then, who knew what other places Landel could put them. "Stay close. It seems doors and windows aren't the only mode of transport now, and I'd rather we not be separated

[scalyfishman]

By this point Depth Charge was all but used to Hime giving him orders, and he'd just about decided that it was easier to follow them until she asked him to do anything stupid. Didn't seem likely to happen- she had a good head, he'd give her that- but it was worth remembering for when the reminder that he was still taking orders from a teenage girl started to chafe.

In a situation like this, though, there was no such thing as a stupid order. Just what were they supposed to do other than keep on walking? He kept pace with her this time, wanting to keep an eye on her while she was still so tense.

"So you're a monster princess or something?" he answered flatly, raising an eyebrow. "You don't look like a monster to me." Then again, he didn't really look like a robot, either. "There were zombies in Doyleton last week. The buses broke down and we were stuck there all night. You didn't hear?"

[chainsaw_royal]

"The most dangerous monsters are the ones that don't look like monsters," Hime replied with a bit of dark humor, though she wasn't really joking. "Young Royals look identical to humans, excepting our eyes and fangs

[vitale]

( hurr. )

This was the worst of all.

The moment they exited the room, everything changed.

Firstly, it was raining.

Secondly, they were outside.

Bella blinked against the rain, surprise coloring her features as she looked all around them. Reaching into her pocket, she grasped onto her flashlight once again and clicked it on, looking around. Her grasp on Claire's hand in response tightened, and she froze in her spot.

Outside they were ... and they appeared to be in some kind of ... destroyed town. She could see what appeared to be a few destroyed buildings, some still standing and some completely totaled, lying on the ground as if everyone one day just came to a sudden end. What appeared to be a very faded red building was a few yards away from them, and she squinted through the darkness to try and look around all the more.

"Okay, now I literally have no idea where we are."

[autophoenix]

"What do you mean used to it?" Used to it? Like the people who worked at the Company? Claire couldn't help but give Bella a look of confusion as they stepped through the threshold of the door, feeling the twist of her stomach and a moment's disorientation that interrupted her question. Particularly, because it was very suddenly raining.

Great. They were both bleeding and now there was rain and probably mud and any other number of things that would be found in the rubble that could be getting into Bella's wounds when they really just needed medical attention.Claire was furious with their luck, but she immediately charged down the path in front of them towards what, judging by the religious symbols, appeared to be a church of some kind. At least it would have a roof for them to give pause and work something out. But, what good would it do when trying to go inside had the possibility of teleporting them somewhere else

[vitale]

Well, the rain certainly was unsettling. Bella squinted through the darkness to watch Claire, and she quickly moved after the blonde. The last thing they needed now was to be separated.

"Able to ... use time ..." It reminded her of something one of the vampires could possibly do, almost like Alice and her time telling. She only hoped that if such a power did exist that the vampire who could control said power didn't work with the Volturi, or else they all would be dead within moments. "That sounds useful and horrific at the same time."

Helping Claire move aside the rubble and everything else, she looked at what appeared to be a church, frowning. "I wonder what happened here? Everything looks so ... old. And it's so destroyed."

What had happened to the people?

At least hopefully they'd be able to find some things of use. After all, there were so many broken buildings, there had to be something.

[autophoenix]

On the bright side, a bunch of rubble wasn't going to be as dangerous as whatever people warned each other off of the Sun Room about. Claire was silently grateful that they'd made it out of there quickly. And, on the even brighter side, the rain was doing a good job of washing the blood off her skin. Her clothes were still stained, but that was something she was used to

[purpletaint]

[from here]

Another step would take them far and few. Somewhere outside, among rubble and wreckage, old corpses and shows of deterioration. Albedo barely glanced it. And how did a door lead them to an open area? At any rate--

He looked to the side half-sullenly. "Well, we're 'away'."

[falseblack]

Time after disorientation would bring them to precipitation, heavy and cold. The boy wasn't used to so much water--not smoothing like the waves of an imagined beach but hailing from the sky like spears--and he could not begin to know what to make of it. He stared up at the sky, fixated for the longest moment on nothing in particular. Nigredo was exhausted, also strangely despondent. Resting might have been the better option, after all.

Piles of debris and decay met his peripheral, but Nigredo drew his eyes to Albedo. When he responded, his voice was hoarse. Tired. "We should get out of the rain."

[purpletaint]

Guilt would mix with a feeling of offense; he wouldn't decipher or try to choose between the emotions. It was as if this brother was trying to drive him mad as much as the other. Joy. It was faltering, he supposed, to wish for stability. He was not that naive.

The boy went about putting the envelope and papers into the notebook, then pulling up his shirt to slide it into the waistband of his pants. That done, as if the rain wasn't there, he held a hand out, expression without much faith. "Yes or no?"

[falseblack]

He gingerly wiped his forehead with the uninjured hand, glad for having placed the bottle back in M96. Mobility came easier without it, his focus better adjusted to the changing environments. Albedo, on the other hand, would have more trouble with both, and Nigredo briefly entertained the idea of offering assistance.

It was a stupid thought, of course. The purpose ran contrary to the original request.

A hand was extended, and his eyes went to it. Confusion, complete and genuine, slid into the variant's countenance. "Yes or no what?" he asked, hesitation evident.

[zack_fair]

[From here.]

Maybe this was their punishment for complaining about ending up somewhere boring. Either way, Zack suddenly found himself dealing with an onslaught of heavy rain, loud enough that he could barely hear himself think. Maybe he shouldn't have been so surprised -- if they could end up at Doyleton, then why not outside as well? Still, it wasn't as if they'd walked through a door to get here. They were just hereWherever here was

[thatdamnedninja]

No, really? Yuffie had wanted to retort. Pull the other one! My 'anger issues' come in all-caps, red ink, and underlined. There is a chip-not of the delicious, crunchy variety-on my shoulder and it is the size of Midgar before it got flat-packed. And, best of all, it is one hundred and fifty gazillion percent justified, so there.

But then they were moving.

And then they were getting rained on.

A lot.

A whole lot of a lot.

Yuffie made a strangled noise halfway between an aborted retch and an undignified yelp. It was freezing! And… and soaking (not that she was wearing a lot to soak). They hadn't been out there for half a minute and Yuffie already felt like a drowned rat.

It wasn't that she minded rain, or storms in general; on the contrary, she loved them. … When she was in them on her own terms. These? Were not her own terms. Far from 'em. Kind of the opposite, actually. She consoled herself with the fact that the new area was, at the very least, interesting. Ish. Better than the last two, anyways. Or was that three? Yuffie

[notthistrain]

The description Yuffie gave, though delivered so nonchalantly, painted a grim picture of what had happened to this place. It deserved further exploration. ...If that was even possible. The doors here might work just like everywhere else. What other choice did they have, though? Standing out here in the rain wasn't going to do any good for any of them

[thatdamnedninja]

[Annnnd back again!]

The nauseating jolt that accompanied each shift was starting to feel like a faint background percussion to some whacked-out rock band gig, but the cumulative effect was very nearly strong enough to send Yuffie crashing down to her knees for the second time that night.

Actually, it was strong enough. Yuffie just had enough presence of mind to smack her shuriken into the sodden, muddy ground and catch herself on it, her fingers tightening convulsively against the treacherously slippery metal.

"… Please don’t tell me we're back where I think we are," Yuffie forced herself to complain, her breath coming short and raggedy. "'Cuz this is one train I want off of. Yesterday."