damned_institute | Day 68: Greenhouse

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Day 68: Greenhouse

By the time lunch ended, the gloomy weather had become a raging storm. Soushi held his coat tightly as they were separated once again, and followed his guide to the outdoor greenhouse. Luckily, the temperature changed and balanced out nicely once they were inside and he shook himself free of the coat.

The greenery was a welcome change, but it was hard to appreciate it when every passing moment only filled him with more worry. While he had obtained a great deal more information today than in his first day in the institution, he was still no closer to finding Ririchiyo or a means of escape. There was a dull ache in his chest that had nothing to do with any physical ailment and everything to do with her absence.

An audible sigh escaped his lips as he picked up a small trowel and gloves and took to the nearby plants, attempting to distract himself and failing miserably.

[Kurogane]

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"I can't even really describe it... It just seems darker. Almost bigger, if that's possible. There's something magic about it, of that I am certain."

And the Twili would certainly take some explaining...

"The Twili are the people from the other dimension I mentioned, yes. What happened was... complicated. But the easiest way to put it is that the vast majority of them are peaceful, and they have knowledge of ancient magic far exceeding modern Hyrule."

"That sounds like something out of a ghost story," he said with a shudder.

"But the nasty few decided to go and make trouble, right?" Al shook his head. "So what was it the people that attacked your country wanted?"

"It does sound like a ghost story. Have you been warned about the monsters, yet?"

Link shrugged. "That is the simple way of putting it, I suppose. The people were all puppets to one man, who in the end was a puppet to another man of far greater power. He wanted the country itself. It is a struggle that has repeated itself for eons."

He nodded. "Yeah. I've dealt with chimera before, but I was a lot less vulnerable then." He frowns at his not-terribly-toned arms. "I think I'm going to have to be careful for a while until I get my muscle tone up again."

Al wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Eons? How could one man have survived for that long?"

"What's a chimera?" Great, more words Link didn't know.

"It's... complex to somebody who doesn't know the lore of my home world. But the man who invaded is part of a cycle of sorts, you could say. He was to be executed centuries ago, but something went wrong, and he was in hiding, waiting to strike.

"It's the result of several creatures being fused into one through alchemy." Al grimaced. "Usually only animals are used, but I've seen a few cases where a human was used as well."

"Weird." Al frowns at that. "With something like that, I can only assume he's a very powerful magician of some sort? Or gods are involved," he added.

"I believe I have heard of alchemy..." It was a strange sort of science, almost a magic, from what he had understood. "I didn't know such a thing was even possible..."

"A combination of the two. His godly power was a stolen one."

"It is, though it does take a lot of skill and power to create even a simple chimera without ending up with a mess--which means most alchemists don't bother creating them." Which was all to the good, in Alphonse's mind.

Al rolls his eyes, shaking his head. "Oh, Brother would have a field day if he heard that."

"I see..." Alchemy sounded almost like a frightful thing, as far as Link was concerned.

"You've a brother?"

He smiled a bit, noticing Link's wariness. "It's only a few alchemists that use it like that. Most live by the creed of 'be thou for the people', and use their abilities for the good of others."

"Yes!" Al's expression brightens immensely. "He arrived here with me, though he got in trouble with the nurses and orderlies, stubborn idiot he is." For all he's berating his brother right now, it's clear he loves him dearly. "He's all the family I have left."

"I see. Well, it's good that you aren't here alone, at least." But it was too bad that his only family had been sucked into this death trap, as well.

Then a sudden thought came to him, and Link's eyes widened.

"Say... You wouldn't happen to be one of those alchemists you mentioned, would you?"

"Yeah. I'm not sure I could cope if he wasn't here," Al admitted with a small frown.

He nodded with a grin. "My brother is, too, and a very good one at that. He's considered a prodigy."

"Really... And this alchemy. Is it only useful on living things? Or could it be used to fashion objects, as well?"

This could be the weapon they had all been looking for.

"Of course! Alchemy is usually used to fix or create objects anyway--I just need an equal mass of the material the final product is made of, or something similar at least."

"In that case..." Link thought for a moment. "Would you be willing to trade your services for protection? Or something of that nature?"

Link knew where to find metal; if Alphonse could make weapons and such with this alchemy, the possibilities of the items he could gather were limitless!

Al grinned. "So long as someone brings the material to me, I'd be happy to make anything they need. Alchemy doesn't cost me anything but a little bit of work, and both my brother and I know how to fight."

Not that he knew the night shift would bring an unfortunate caveat to that, but Al would have to figure that out later.

Edited 2013-01-22 02:55 (UTC)

"That would be excellent, thank you very much! I've plans that need to be kept tonight, but perhaps tomorrow I could have materials for you to consider working with?"

This was perfect. The possibilities that had opened up! The stretchy substance called 'rubber' that he had found in operating room... Had he not been thinking just the other night that it would make for an excellent slingshot? Perhaps even a bow could be fashioned...

Al's grin widened, and he nodded. "Sure! Tonight I'm going to try and meet up with the man I spoke with at lunch, but I can find you tomorrow night. What's your room number?"

"My room is M7. I'll be sure to wait for you tomorrow night, then," Link said with a smile and a slight bow.

"Oh- And... have you been made aware of the sickness that's been going around?"

He shook his head, frowning a bit. "Sickness? What sort of sickness?"

"It has been lingering for the past several days. Some of the sick people have been transformed into beasts of some sort..."

There was a flicker of pain behind his eyes as he remembered Sora.

"And the boss of this place is fanning the flames and trying to cause a panic. There's talk of betraying the sick ones and killing them before they've killed us. Ironically... the only people who have died thus far have been those who are ill." He frowned bitterly, looking around the greenhouse for a moment. "We have located a cure- a small, yellow flower. But it's been a nasty mess, as I'm sure you can tell."

Alphonse's mouth gaped open in shock. "Kill--but they haven't done anything wrong! It's not their fault they've been infected with--with whatever is causing this!" He really wished his imagination wasn't as active as it was--the idea of things like werewolves prowling the halls wasn't a nice one.

"The cure, though, do you know anything more specific than that?" There wasn't much time left to search the greenhouse for whatever plant was needed right now, but he could come back tonight.

"I'm not sure who started the rumors of betrayal, but it's nothing to be taken lightly. Helpful information was torn down from the public message board just yesterday. Keep your eyes open, I guess is what I'm saying."

And on the matter of the cure...

"I know that it works, at least. It was a friend and I who initially found it. A flower called 'Saint John's Wart." At this point, it was a matter of getting it to all the sick patients before any more lives were lost.

"I will," he said grimly, his mouth in a tight line.

"Saint John's Wart...I can't say I've heard of a flower by that name before. But then again, I'm not much of a botanist," he said with a sigh. "I'll keep a lookout for it, though. How is the sickness spread?"

"It's not, from what I have seen so far. The only people who have gotten sick are the ones who woke up ill several mornings ago."

That, at least, they could be thankful for. Nobody else had fallen ill thus far.

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