Nightshift 27: Second Floor, hallway containing disciplinary therapy rooms and nurse station

[full_score]

((From here. ))As Claude stepped into the dark hallway, he made sure to shine his flashlight beam enough to light their way forward. Doing a quick scan of the area, Claude noticed the closed doors along their path. He swallowed hard. Were they torturing Ashton in one of these rooms? Who else did they have trapped here

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[full_score]

((From here. ))

Claude emerged out into the hallway, eyes narrowed as he gazed around. He didn't have his flashlight out right now, but between the lights from the other patients, he could make out where the exit was. The room temperature had gone back to normal. As far as he knew, there was no sign of the creature, which was a huge relief. Ashton had suffered enough. He didn't want to expose him to that thing, whatever it was

[full_score]

(( To here. ))

[screwthegods]

[ From here]

The hallway was empty.

It seemed such a minor thing, but Homura knew better. The last time he was here, the passage had nearly been bursting with both people and creatures, the sounds of battles echoing off the walls. He shone his light up the way slowly, eyes wary for anything that might be lurking in the dark.

"This is it. These rooms are where the victims are kept." Homura motioned to the doors, having little doubt Okita would spring ahead of him now. But his instincts told him to be wary, perhaps not of monsters, but of his own companion. Something was very wrong with the scene, and the demi-god couldn't help but focus his attention more on Okita himself than on anything sinister that might be hidden in the dark.

[notachick]

Homura was right to assume that Okita would take the lead from here on, but he didn't go as quickly as Homura would have guessed. He was still cautious despite the tension knotting in his chest. If something was here and he ran ahead recklessly, it would do more harm than good for the rescue.

Why weren't there more people here?Okita slipped into the hall and began methodically checking all the rooms. Like a pale ghost he slipped in and out of them one by one. The first room had been slow, a careful sweep for enemies preceded his entry. The second was only a quick check for anything lurking in the darkness. After that, it was desperation. He almost ran into the last room and for a long while, he didn't emerge

[screwthegods]

Homura stayed back, letting Okita search, hoping Okita would find. But as the man went from one room to the next, Homura became increasingly aware of the emptiness around them, a void that made the dark seem emptier, Okita's voice more hollow.

Then he emerged from the final room, looking far more vicious than a man should. Controlled, contained, but only just barely, and Homura readied his sword for when that control snapped.

"I don't know." Homura watched, keeping his eyes on Okita, unwilling to drop his guard for his ally. The man was reckless, prone to emotion, and that made him a liability in so many ways. But Homura would do what he had to in order to tame the man, because the wild was no good for his purposes.

"This is where they bring the patients to be tortured. If he isn't here, then I don't know where they would have taken him."

[notachick]

Dirty. These rooms were filthy, tainted with the blood of innocents, but not the blood of demons. The man Okita wanted to see had never been here. Homura had no idea where he would be either, and for the first time since arriving here, Okita felt the true weight of his illness rise up within him.

He wanted to kill this man for bringing him here.

As if he hadn't heard Homura speak, Okita repeated his question with poison in every word. "Homura-san, where is he