Nightshift 28: Main Hallway, 1-Center

[broken_exorcist]

[[From here]]

Allen struggled to keep Sanji from falling over as they walked further into the institute. The halls were so dark without the portable lanterns, it was difficult to see much going on in front of them. He didn't like it, but there wasn't much he could do about it for the time being.

"Whatever is close I guess," Allen replied to Sanji

Comments

[per_ardua]

[[From here.]]

If it had been difficult to see outside, inside was nearly impossible. Raine hesitated for a second, but she was reasonably certain she knew where they were. Even if she was wrong, most people would probably be headed to the patient rooms; getting completely lost was unlikely. Besides that, the route they'd be taking was hardly new.

A glance into the hallway (once her eyes had adjusted as much as they were going to) proved that she'd been right, and they weren't too far from M35. Good.

[[To here.]]

[traitors_smile]

[[from here]]

Not much further. His eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness, but it was still difficult to navigate without worrying about an attack from every side. Experience told him he usually saw or heard the monsters coming, but he didn't like to take chances.

[[to here]]

[stray_shinigami]

[ From here.]There was enough light filtering in through the entryway that he was able to turn his flashlight back off once he got to the center of the hallway. Which was good, since he'd noticed that the light was dimmer than it had been before. Whatever power made it work might be starting to run out, and it wasn't an idea he liked. He'd have to ask one of the modern-day kids, maybe Artemis, about what he should do

[stray_shinigami]

[ To here.]

[highlord_ofhell]

[From here]

He was already running into the hallway with no thought of caution before he realized why. Saetan stopped, looking around and behind for what had startled him, but it was nothing he could see. So he stood in the middle of the hallway, trying to get control back of his racing heart.

That was it.

He could sense the Black. Active. Nearby. And not his own Jewel. It could only be Daemon. But also not a searing unleashing of the power. Not yet.

Saetan still couldn't guess what it meant, but Daemon was close by he thought. Very close.

[theycutitout]

[[ from here. ]]

"Saetan!"

River was down the hall in a flash, like a lightning bolt dancing through the clouds at a speed unspeakable to most men. At the moment, was what she was. Was all she was. When the lightning stopped, still in its place hopefully with her companion in tow, the worry covering River's young face and the panic in her brown eyes was enough to paint the picture of something truly awful behind those doors.

"Daemon. He's. Got him in the brains, mixed right up until he's dancing the way they want him to dance. We have to. I have to!" Not much sense. Not much safety in the words of the frantic girl. Ren. Ren would explain much better.
"Did the same to me. Went in my head when I didn't even ask them too and made me a sword again, sharp edges cutting flesh and shattering bones. Wasn't flesh she'd ever cut. Wasn't, and he's." River turned her eyes to the Sun Room. "Renji!" She made a move, about to bolt to the door despite her best efforts unless stopped.

It had been taken from her. Whim was her nature.

[littlestrawdoll]

He didn't know what it was that drove River on. Whatever it was she felt, he couldn't say he felt it to the same degree; he wanted to stay and help the people on the buses, the groups of people being attacked by inhumanly large birds--too gentle a description for what was going on--because he knew that as soon as they stepped foot in that building again, they wouldn't be coming back out. Not that night.

And he hadn't caught a glimpse of Ojou at all.

What concerned him more was that he knew better than to open his spiritual eye and look, which would only drain more of his now finite energy. If he was going to commit to helping River as much as he could, he'd have to save it for that task, and that task only. That was a dangerous thought. Commitment to specific mortal affairs was a dangerous thing... though, the doll didn't exactly disapprove of such things

[highlord_ofhell]

Other than his name, Saetan barely understood a word that River said to him. It wasn't that she spoke particularly fast, but he hadn't quite acquired the knack of interpreting her convoluted way of speaking. He'd known Tersa for longer than Daemon was alive, but this girl's brilliance far exceeded that of the broken witch. The young man from last night appeared in her wake, but Saetan was paying attention to her.

He'd barely decided to ask her to repeat herself--something about Daemon--when he felt a powerful surge of the Black almost on top of them. "Mother Night!" he exclaimed as River sprang for the door. He reached for her arm, but didn't quite reach it, instinctively reaching downwards to throw a Black lock on the door to the Sun Room so it couldn't be opened.

And swayed from the draining effort. His Jewels weren't here! But Daemon's were? He couldn't hold it longer than a few moments, so he had to use what time he had effectively

[muted_flame]

[ From here. ]

The hallway was nearly empty, a huge difference from what was normally expected during nightshift. In fact, the whole building seemed calm in comparison to what some others were still dealing with outside. While there was the option of collecting his lighter and matches and then heading back into the fray, chances were that a lot of the fights would have died down by then.

He needed to take it one step at a time, anyway. Seeing how there was only one other patient currently in the hall, Roy walked right past him, taking a left and making his way quickly toward the room blocks.

"At the beginning of the night, the blocks are usually uninhabited by monsters. You won't have to worry once we're inside." Luckily for them, it was a fairly short trip. Though it soon occurred to him that Mark could have been in a different block than he was, especially if he was new. "What's your room number?"

[small_fortune]

As suggested, Mark stayed close. Compared to that hellish hostage situation back in Bharaputra's clone facilities, this was really not so bad after all. It was just different. Was it really worse to be torn to shreds by a mutated, monstrous nurse than to be taken out by a needle grenade?

Is thinking about which would be worse productive?

"My room number is M97," Mark answered, then added with a bit of wry humor, "yesterday you sent Lust and Gluttony to meet me there. Unfortunately we weren't able to organize in time to accomplish much." This trip should be taken in silence, Killer opined, particularly since they had no flashlight to warn them of approaching attack. But Roy obviously had superior experience with this place. "If the quartering blocks are as safe as you say, then I can find my own way once we reach that area. Thanks."

[muted_flame]

So this was the same Mark he had communicated with over the bulletin board, then? It was quite the coincidence that they had ended up running into each other, in that case. Roy had figured that the other man was more suited to figuring out radio clues than any sort of combat, and now that he had met him in person, that very well might be true

[small_fortune]

No, I'd rather not be paired with them again, as it's like walking along with two bloodthirstier versions of my own subpersonalities. Right, that probably wouldn't go over well