Night 52: Sun Room

[composers_proxy]

[from here]

Last time he'd been in the Sun Room at night, there'd been some crazy guy with a gun and Neku really wasn't looking to have another bullet in him, so he was cautious as he pushed the door open, his flashlight darting from place to place.  He might not have all his old psychs on him, but he still had a few of Mr. H's pins and those would

Comments

[scintillatingly]

As for Sora, his last time in the Sun Room at night had been with Riku and Kairi, which only caused him to think back to what the two of them were doing once more. But he couldn't let himself get distracted, especially since they were probably on the brink of being attacked. Just because it was quiet didn't mean there wasn't something lurking in the corner of the room and waiting for the most perfect moment to strike.

Nodding in response to Neku's comment, Sora followed after him, using his flashlight to search the area and yet coming up with nothing. He wasn't convinced that it was unguarded yet -- while it had happened in the past, it wasn't very common.

"Just stay on guard," he warned the two, keeping his voice to a whisper that would hopefully only be heard by Neku and Soma. Sora wished that he could have had his Keyblade out and ready so that he'd be able to respond immediately when they were attacked, but it just wouldn't come until he was in direct danger.

Well, chances were that would be happening pretty soon.

[piggy_king]

It was just as Sora thought. There was indeed something hiding in the shadows, but it was far from dangerous. A small, plump boy sat whimpering in the corner, tears dripping down from his cheeks and his arms wrapped around his knees. If night at Landel's was a challenge for the strongest and smartest individuals that Landel had spent years gathering, then one could only imagine how terrifying a night at the institute would be for a mere child.

"H-Hello?" the child called out tentatively when he saw the beams coming from the groups' flashlights, wiping tears from his cheeks with one chubby hand, "Is...Is someone there?"

In the background, one could hear a low chuckling if one listened hard enough, and was that faint buzzing coming from the boy or the intercom above him?

[madeinthehrl]

Soma moved noiselessly forward, fingers curling tighter around her spear. Still nothing. Except--was that a whimper? She directed the beam of her flashlight toward the sound. A child? What was he doing here? And that wasn't the only thing present: there was something in the background, past the whimpers and at the edge of her hearing. A noise like buzzing, or laughter, or both.

She almost jumped when Marie unfolded herself in her mind, a low hum of worry filling her ears. Something's wrong here. I don't know what, but...

Soma swallowed hard and nodded in wordless acknowledgment. "Stay back," she said aloud, quietly but firmly. "Do you hear that buzzing sound? It might be a trap." Any other girl her age might have been moved to run to the child and comfort him, but Soma had been raised a soldier. She didn't know what this was, but she wasn't going to take any chances.

She halted about ten feet from the boy and addressed him: "Are you lost? Where's your room?"

[composers_proxy]

As if he had to be told to stay on guard. The last thing he wanted was to be taken by surprise in the middle of the Sun Room. As the others made their way in, he glanced around, drawn immediately to the sound of the little boy sobbing in the corner. Neku wasn't exactly great with kids, but he didn't like the idea of one of them being left here alone to fend things off

Peeking in from the doorway

[avengingfists]

[from here]

... And what met her eyes left her speechless. What kind of machine was that? And those kids! They were in danger! It took a great deal of willpower for Ilia to hold herself back from joining in the fray. It didn't sit right with her, just sitting on the sidelines while the young ones went head to head with that thing. But what could she do?

She wasn't going to abandon Anise. There was still at least one missing person, and they needed to find her. These kids would just have to deal with this on their own for now. At least they seemed to be putting up a good fight.

Ilia moved aside slightly, allowing Anise a peek through herself. She kept her voice low, though still loud enough to be heard over the music. "Do you see your friend here?" The only thing that would give her a good excuse to fight would be if Tear was among the ones battling here.

Re: Peeking in from the doorway

[gald_digger]

The source of the music was... some big, weird machine. The tastelessness of the design and the obnoxious loudness of it was reminiscent of a certain fontech-obsessed God-General, and that thought alone brought a small, disgusted frown to Anise's face when she peered inside.

"... Ugh. Yeah, she's not here," she confirmed for Ilia. Fortunately, the extra light in the institute made it easy to confirm that. Better yet, they didn't need to point their flashlights around and bring attention to themselves. Giving the Sun Room one last glance to be sure, Anise pulled her head out of the doorway.

[going back here]

[swornandbroken]

[from here]

That was it. Mello spun on the other side of the door and swung left-handed for the damn shadow.

Only to have his shoulder crash into the wall when his fist went right through the thing.

The shadow doubled over laughing. "Or you do that," it said when it had done, straightening and theatrically wiping at its eyes. "Oh, you're so fucking predictable, it's hilarious. Tell yourself stories about how you're better that everyone else, how you deserve everything you want, when you know you can't back it up with action. When that stops working, you run away. And when that fails, and you have to hear what you don't want to know, go for violence. Anything to keep from admitting that it's you who's the problem, not the world."

Mello moved his arm, testing his shoulder. It felt no worse than bruised. "You're right about one thing," he said. "I have heard this all before. Saying it aloud doesn't make it true." The shadow didn't look any less amused. It knew as well as Mello did, as well as the damn nanomachines did, that it was

[gamingsostfu]

All Matt could really do was watch. It was like... Like watching somebody really lose all sense of self and sanity- but right in front of his eyes. Was he hallucinating with Mello?

...or was this another Landel Special?

Suddenly, he was kind of pissed off. This whole setup was such utter bullshit, and it seemed mostly geared up to try to take their legs out from under them, disable them in any way possible so as to set up the game to his advantage.

Assuming Landel was a guy. The whole anonymity thing was leading him to believe that everyone might be wrong in that way of thinking.

Swallowing the fear that a moving shadow had instilled in him back in the Game Room, Matt strode into the Sun Room quickly, determined to set things right. He was tired of the crap, and tired of Mello's second-guessing that he'd been trying (and failing) to hide.

"Oi! Listen here, you make-believe bully! I'm sick of this place, and I'm sick of its shit! So why don't you shut your damn mouth and get back in line along the wall, like a good shadow s'posed

[swornandbroken]

Mello was actually speechless for a moment after Matt's outburst. After everything, he still believed in him enough to come to his defense. Mello met his eyes, and almost smiled.

But his relief was short-lived. "Touching, really, Matty, but talk about the blind leading the blind," the shadow scoffed. "This isn't the first time, is it?"

Mello knew exactly what the thing meant, and opened his mouth to object that he hadn't done that yet, annoyed at himself for engaging it on its terms, but it cut him off

[gamingsostfu]

He was really sick of listening to this thing now. If he thought at all that there was any way of punching it and not whatever was behind it, he'd have done it, right then and there.

But he couldn't. If Mello couldn't hit his own shadow, there probably wasn't a snowball's chance in hell of Matt being able to do it.

He heard everything it said, but... the brunet turned away from it, trying his hardest to tune it out. Not much hope was left here, in the situation he and Mello continued to find themselves trapped in, but... What little there was, he knew he needed to cling to.

...it was all he could do anymore, really.

Simply nodding to the blond, Matt met his friend's eyes, his cheek's only a little red. "Yeah. Let's get on with it. Lots to do, and no time to spare." No time to waste on listening to stupid, meaningless shadows, really.

In what he felt was a gesture symbolic of his choice to follow Mello around the facility, Matt stayed back, gesturing for Mello to go on in front. "Lead the way, all-knowing one." Said with a small