Nightshift 23: Second Floor, hallway containing disciplinary therapy rooms and nurse station

[part1of3]

[From here!]

The lock to the smaller hallway's door had burst. The door had slammed open. And Ashton had crept in, signaling to Xigbar and Naminé behind him with the end of a long metal ladle, gripping the other one tightly, ready to attack with his makeshift weapons if need be.

He didn't see anything yet, but that didn't mean that something wasn

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[damned_nurses]

To most, Ashton's actions were nothing short of noble, but it would have wise if the swordsman switched his priorities for the time being. If he knew what was good for him anyway.

The shine of the flashlight had caused more harm than good at the moment, revealing the brunet to whatever stood on the other side of the hallway. It took a few moments, but it finally revealed itself, the creature... not as grotesque as one would've predicted these abominations being. In fact, this person almost looked like a normal human being. She was a woman in what looked to be her late twenties, wearing the same uniform as the nurses that worked the dayshift. However, there was something wrong about the way she looked up at Ashton, smile as fake and empty as ever

[piously]

Boring. BoringThe thought moved through her mind, chanted in the way she often voiced, and with it she rocked in tune. Back, forth, back, forth. It wasn't enough for her to be entertained, the internal rhythm was, after all, too slow, but it was enough to distract. For a short while she would ignore all else and live in her own little world, the one where she was huddled on the floor, back pressed to the wall. She continued to move back and forth, arms drawn around herself protectively

[angels_inflight]

Naminé saw them - two, three figures? She turned to the sound of the scraping of chains and she immediately began to back away. She had never seen a creature like that before. It looked male, but there was a nurse behind it's actions. Beside them, a woman. Naminé knew she had to be an enemy, for she was not dressed like the patients. Was she controlling the monsters? Naminé wanted to shine her light upon the woman to get a glimpse at her face, but decided against it. It almost seemed like the woman was ignoring them...

The scrape of chains alerted her and Naminé instinctevly backed away, almost going back out of the hall. She had to go and get help. There was no way Ashton and Xigbar would be able to handle this creature on their own, especially if the nurse was going to step in for round 2.

[numberii]

There was very little time to think. Which was fine, because Xigbar tended to fight mostly by instinct anyway. If he fought hard enough, sooner or later he'd take care of the whole problem. That was just how things were, really.

"Namine, skedaddle out of here! And Ashton, keep tall and gruesome occupied if you can; I'm going after the brains of the outfit."

With that he broke to the left and began running past the solitary confinement rooms, hoping that the orderly would be too busy with Ashton to do anything about it. And if he could handle the human-looking chick, then that'd make things a whole lot easier. The big guy looked strong but dumb; that'd make him easy to take down if he couldn't think for himself.

As for the other person? Heck if Xigbar cared for her; if she caused a problem she'd get a pen to the eye. Otherwise he had bigger things to worry about.

[angels_inflight]

The moment the battle started, Naminé knew she had to leave, and leave she did. But her escape was thwarted when the little girl (it was a little girl! Naminé was not used to seeing others younger than her and it was a bit surprising to hear the girl's voice) called out her name and the hallway doors closed in response, suddenly locking her in the hallway

[piously]

Taunting.. he was taunting her! Manah stared, hands drawn into fists. How dare someone, someone that wasn't worth her attention, mock her! The Gods, they wouldn't allow that, right? Mocking her was like mocking the Gods, so they had to act. They had to do something! Didn't they..? For a moment, Manah doubted, but it was only one

[angels_inflight]

"Axel!"

Naminé spotted him immediately, as his red hair stuck out against the cold, metallic environment. But his hair was not the only thing that was red - Axel's chest was covered in dried blood, seemingly from a wound on his chest. Where his heart would have been,

Naminé's stomach lurched. What had they done? He looked so weak, she wasn't sure if he was even alive. Were they too late? Had Manah only allowed her to enter so she could see that she had failed?

"Axel?" The Witch placed the pipe down on the floor, reaching out her arms, one hand resting on the wound of his chest to wipe away the trace amounts of blood there and the other propping his head up. "Axel? Wake up..."

She had done this before, when Axel had run into Saix, but it was different. She had power back then. There was none now, and whether Axel lived or not was entirely up to those damned murderers of Landels.

[bond_off_lame]

Axel didn't know how long he'd been left there, not having the strength to really pull himself out of his unconsciousness, let alone drag himself off the table and out of the room. Part of his subconscious wished that the man had left the respirator on him, his body almost too weak to breathe on his own. The redhead was in pain even though he couldn't physically feel it, his whole system now in shambles because of this foreign substance pumping away in his body

[angels_inflight]

When Axel's eyes opened, a great feeling of relief, however fake, flooded Naminé's body. She actually let out a grateful sigh, torn between hugging the redhead and dragging him outside. But she could tell that he was still too weak. She couldn't rush him and she was starting to doubt that she could help him walk out on her own.

Naminé winced when she saw the blood spill out of his lips, but Axel's urgings to lay her hand on his chest caught her attention. She frowned, not feeling anything at first. And then...

Her eyes widened. Beating?

"They gave you a heart?" She gasped, leaving her hand on the wound to feel the rhythmic beating that was so foriegn to her. It seemed wonderful and horrible all at once. Did they restore Axel?

But something was wrong. Naminé did not feel the warmth or strength of a heart in Axel's chest. Yes, there was the beating of a physical heart, but... that was all.

"I see. I'm sorry, Axel..." If only she, Ashton, Xigbar, David, if only they had reached him sooner!

[bond_off_lame]

As he became more aware of his surroundings, as slowly as it was, Axel could make out the muffled response of Naminé's voice. So the others have come to rescue him as well, knowing that the blonde was smart enough not to wander the halls alone. The redhead's breathing was growing deep, a small smile creeping up the corners of his chapped lips.

Though the object may have been artificial, the beating in his chest was almost comforting in a way. There was no reason for Naminé to apologize, his hand lightly patting over hers in a way that remarked 'It's not your fault'. But even with the girl there he knew he couldn't make it out of the room with just her strength. And besides, Axel didn't feel so rushed to get out just yet, his body heat having finally warmed up the table and thoughts of sleep more than inviting at that moment.

[sasuke_of_sound]

[[from here]]

Sasuke was at once confused and suspicious when the hallway appeared empty. There had been noise enough for several patients or enemies.

And now it's too quiet.

[piously]

After hitting Snake's 'eject' button, Manah exited. So far, Xigbar and Ashton were safe from her, but that might have been because a new group caught her attention first.

Sasuke was right about the 'too quiet' part at least.

"Foul humans," she spoke to them, distate obvious, "I have no use for you."

In the running theme of things, Manah flung the party out to another location.

[piously]

Last, and least, there were: Xigbar, Naminé, and Ashton.

She walked over to Xigbar, tilting her head to the side. To be honest, she didn't care what he thought of her flinging, which was good, since right then she did it to him too. Oh, but Xigbar wasn't going to be going off by himself, he was going to acquire a playmate.

Naminé was lifted off the ground mentally seconds after Xigbar, and both were forcibly thrust into one of the other halls. They didn't quite go as far as Snake did, but the distance was definitely great enough to cause a hindrance to future plots to return. The same couldn't be said for Sasuke's group, they merely had been thrown to a stairwell, however

[numberii]

((Woes, getting flung to over thar~! ))