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“That’s it, you’re doing great,” Gaius encouraged as Zach began moving again. While he would have vehemently denied it if anyone mentioned it to him, he actually felt a bit concerned for the guy, though he reasoned it away as just being due to the fact he was the only viable key for getting out right now. “One hand over the other…”

When he’d reached the top, Gaius took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Alright… Now comes the tricky part. You’re going to have to take the wooden post and lift the top of it to the doorway, hooking one of the ends over it. Then you’ll have to slide it around until the beam’s hooked behind the two sides of the door frame.”

He prayed Zach wouldn’t chicken out. He was already so far… “Just a little more, and we’ll be home free! Hang in there!"

For the several moments it took Zach to push the contraption up, Gaius forgot to breath, holding it in as everything was focused on the happenings above him, even forgetting the grip he was supposed to have on the ladder. When the beam slid into place, Gaius let out his breath. There was a flash of panic as he realized how loosly he was holding the ladder, but that was quickly fixed.

“Just grab the rope and pull yourself up! You still have the ladder rungs for foot holds.” It wasn’t that hard a concept. From Gaius’ perspective, it was a perfectly safe method. “At least it’s better than not having anything to hold on to?”

Bah, why wouldn’t he just get up already? Gaius let go of the ladder with one hand to wipe his forehead. He still had the unsavory task of climbing up himself… with no one holding the bottom for him.

Gaius chewed his lip as he watched Zach climb, part of him worrying how much damage those claws could do to the rope if the guy wasn’t careful. When the last of the red tail disappeared over the edge, he gave a small victorious smirk. “Finally!”

Letting go of the ladder, Gaius went back to the leftover wood, gathering up several of the heavier pieces, and set them about the bottom of the ladder. Hopefully that’d be enough to keep it in place as he went up… Placing a hand on the rung in front of him, Gaius took a deep breath and steeled himself. He’d climbed it once, he could do it again…

However, as he began to ascend, it became plainly apparent to the Pegasus-man that things were very different this time. As he lifted his legs, knees going to the side to avoid scraping against the wood as he got his big feet onto each rung, Gaius could feel the ladder shifting slightly. Only slightly at first… and it could have easily been the planks themselves settling under his weight. Up higher, as Gaius hit 15 feet or so above the ground, the ladder gave a shudder and he could hear the wood below scraping. Ears flattening back in panic, Gaius redoubled his efforts, scrambling up the shoddy ladder.

By the time he was near the top, the ladder was shaking terribly with his less-than-careful climbing. The bottom skidded out an inch, sending a jolt through the whole thing. “Augh!” Gaius cried, tiny wings extending to balance himself, and clung to the wood, fearing he’d be thrown off, or worse, fall backwards. After the initial shifting, the ladder settled again. Gaius slowly let out his breath and, slower this time, climbed the rest of the ladder. It still groaned, but remained in place long enough for him to reach the rope. A lifestyle of physical labor benefited him as he had to haul himself up. Grabbing the lip of the doorway, Gaius grunted, teeth clenched, and finally joined Zach up in the doorway.

A glance below showed that they were indeed quite high up… and attempting to get back down to the ladder would likely prove not just difficult, but quite dangerous as the thing looked ready to slide free with any more weight.

After having scrambled over the wooden bar and into the next room, Zach made for the corner. He didn't really survey anything in the room, his brain still stuck a couple minutes backward in time to when he'd been dangling off a rope. Both eyes were shut tightly, and the way he was scrunched up he could have hugged his knees to himself. He didn't want to move at all now that he was finally off that ladder. Even his tail didn't so much as twitch.

He tried the deep breaths, but given how silent it was in this room as well, it didn't help. Only the creaking sounds from Gaius's ascent broke the silence, and those noises were as unwelcome as the lack of it. Gaius's obvious presence forced him to think about the situation, and that was something he really didn't feel like doing.

There was at first no response from the huddled figure in the corner. Then, as though forcefully dredged up, two words escaped him, attempting to deflect whatever interest the horse-man had. "I'm fine."

Thinking was unavoidable. The first thing that came to mind was how upside-down the reason was that he was currently in this small room. He didn't think he was on Sabin's bad side until the strange hesitance on the intercom. It should have been a sign to stay away from Gaius, but he didn't. This... was a punishment. One that was ripping him apart with fear and apparently not even over. He couldn't say he knew Sabin all that well, but team-building exercises were not something he ever associated with the eccentric doctor. There was something to Gaius he hadn't figured out, something that would have to prove key. When he finally did open his yellow eyes, their gaze was hollow. He raised his head and looked Gaius over as if for the first time, trying to pinpoint it. And there it was, right in front of his snout.

It was the wings.

It wasn't like Sabin had never bequeathed wings on people whose animal was not known for having them. Cassidy was one such example. The difference was that she had been the one to preceed him. Gaius had come after him, and was a new project which evidently Sabin had a hand in. What were horses with wings? They weren't natural, whatever they were. Not unicorns - those had a horn - but pegasus perhaps. His stomach churned, realizing very slowly that it was like that dhole had sneered at him weeks ago. He was only of interest for so long before the doctor went on to produce some other mythical creature. Zach had no value. Not out in the world, not even here, the last possible place where he could have. Any sympathy and enacted vengeance were lies, utterly lies, and he had been a fool and fallen for the twisted hook, line, and sinker. It was like a slap to the face, but being an emotional wound there was no way to avoid the sting.

But there was no use dwelling on it, was there? It would only hurt more than it already did, and knowing how much of an idiot he was for trusting Duvert hurt rather a lot. Why had he had the nerve to think he had any value? So he got up, stood dizzily on his feet for a moment, and surveyed what he hadn't noticed when he'd been staring at Gaius. None of it connected in his mind. Food, water, a wide open window, and a careless heap of things that looked suspiciously like rope and harnesses. There was a white spot atop the heap, catching his attention. Deliberately he walked over and stooped to pick it up. He gave it a quick scan, stopped, read it over once again, and looked down at the familiar gear by his feet. Following that, the note was folded in half several times and ripped apart, the pieces scattered carelessly to the floor.

He didn't really notice his hands were shaking until he looked down at them, immediately weaving his fingers together to hide it.

Zach looked up from his hands as though he'd heard Gaius's voice from far away. His tail made one lazy swish along the ground and stopped. Gaius. The reason he'd been stripped of the ignorance that had kept him going for months. There didn't seem to be an awful lot of focus in his gaze when it was trained on Gaius, but he did frequently break eye contact to look at the gear with more obvious interest, as though assuring himself it was still there.

The question seemed to leave him dumbstruck a moment. There was hint of anger and the slight opening of his mouth as he seemed prepared to offer a less than helpful remark, but it was quelled quickly, leaving him with a sort of dull look again. He bent down to gather the pieces, arranging them together in the palm of his left hand and reading aloud in, of all things, a mocking French-sounding accent. "Congratulations! You made it this far. Now go the rest of the way. The guards will let you out if you both make it to the ground safely. Try anything funny and you will both regret it."

"In other words, a cheerful reminder that we're still stuck." His tone seemed sympathetic in a way that he had never tried to sound with Gaius before. Stuck in the room, stuck on the island, stuck in bodies that evidently didn't belong to them, it was all the same. He made a fist of the left hand to keep the pieces from falling thanks to the shaking. He hadn't counted the hours they'd been stuck in the other room, but they were too many. He was hungry and thirsty and yet he didn't dare touch the food. He looked over at the gear again and then nodded toward the window. "What's outside?"

"I'm not thirsty," he lied. He felt so sick that anything he forced down would doubtlessly come back up, even water. How many months had it been, three, four? Would anyone forgive him? There was no way he could stoop to begging for it, not when the answer would be a resounding no. His pride was too strong. But passing the blame was a lot easier. If he couldn't talk to Sabin, he could deal with Gaius. He was worthless, useless. Would it matter if they escaped? This could happen again, perhaps worse. Thom was once convinced he was dead, and Zach had laughed. It was like the madness was a disease spread by Duvert. But there were solutions. The note had assured him of such.

"That- that high?" A visible cringe and no move to get away from the gear. "Well, I know what all this is for, then. We're supposed to be repelling our way down. I guess we don't need handholds. First we have to get the harnesses on, then we'll have to use the rope..."

Though it seemed he was talking to himself more than to Gaius, the same overly-friendly tone had invaded his voice. One could chalk it up to nervousness if they wanted to, but it was deliberate on Zach's part. Trial and error had permitted him to find a way around that, a one-handed method that was slower but still safe. He still remembered the other one which took two hands, but it had never been used quite as much by him. Not that he'd have to teach it to Gaius. He didn't plan on repelling down the side of the building.