Night 56: F31-40 Hallway

[bodhiandspirit]

Normally, Rita wouldn't touch the slop the military called food, but after a long and quiet dinner shift with nothing but her stomach to listen to, she finally gave in and took a few bites. It tasted terrible, and it was demeaning to be expected to eat it, but with her roommate fast asleep, Rita had managed to get a small amount down her throat

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[anemptydecapo]

"I've been near it." That was all the explanation he would give, the notion that he could elaborate on his connection to the vampire's fiance, and therefore this hall, being set aside. Even with this curtain of lead embedded in his skull, even with the constant swirl of unhappy thoughts, his respect towards the privacy of his allies was too great. As much as the promise to protect a girl who wasn't able to listen drove spikes of annoyance down his back, it still wasn't his place share that promise with another. Sora did not need to know why he had been here, only that he had. If he had more control over what came out of his mouth, he might have avoided showing that fragment of recognition in the first place.

It didn't look like it mattered, in any case. The sound of knocking drove him out of his thoughts--tug--and in the next instant, that hand on his own was gone. Sora had run off, leaving that world of unsteady slowness in his wake, and the boy began displaying something other than his usual cheerfulness. In that moment, Venom learned two things: the girl's name was Kairi and Sora had been lying.

He didn't want to watch this. He didn't need to to understand the situation. The assassin turned back out the door and took to leaning on the wall at the side of the room's entrance. This wasn't any of his business.

[scintillatingly]

Even when Sora gave the girl a small yet firm shake on her shoulder to try and wake her up, he got the expected response. She didn't respond even as much as to roll away from him, but just laid there like she might as well have been dead. It scared him, though this didn't necessarily mean she was going to be gone tomorrow. He had to remind himself that it would have been worse if he'd arrived here and there'd been nothing.

With any luck, she would be awake tomorrow morning and he could talk to her and arrange to give her the things he'd bought for her. Smiling, he cupped his hand to her cheek for a moment. "Stay safe," he told her, as if she had any choice in the matter.

And then Sora remembered that there was someone else in the room that was watching this, and his embarrassment returned. He pulled himself away from Kairi and walked back over to Venom, offering a sheepish smile. "Sorry about that. I guess I brought you here for nothing." But he wouldn't have been able to get through the rest of the night without knowing.

"Was there somewhere you wanted to go?" he questioned. He'd take Venom wherever he wanted at this point, as a thank you for humoring him through this.

[anemptydecapo]

"It's fine." The words came out weaker than usual, something easily excused by the drugs in his veins. Maybe Sora would assume that was the reason. Maybe he wouldn't be able to see past the mess the man been for the past... whatever amount of time they'd been out. He wouldn't be able to see the forlorn understanding etched onto his face.

Sora was too kind to be so similar to him. He was too young to be devoting himself to his friends so selflessly and fully. He was far too young to be admiring another person that much, no matter how much he denied that he did.

If something were to happen to that girl...

Forget it.

His free hand had joined the one in his hair by the time the boy asked his question, nails raking across his scalp in muted frustration. He could barely walk in a straight line and Sora was asking if he wanted to go anywhere. Did he really think that he had any plans? "I..."

The sentence died before it could make it past that one word, another memory taking center in the front of his mind, almost as if his fingers had dug it back out. He remembered why he was sedated. There was a woman, one who was even more on edge at the thought of those searches than he was. They were handling her far too roughly and he lost his temper. They'd taken his photos--tug. And your weapon. They took your weapon--for the indiscretion. There was no doubt they'd taken her items as well.

He shouldn't have been considering what he was about to say. Even in his current condition, he knew that. The rules and behavior of an assassin had been drilled into him for so long that it was impossible not to know. He had no right to feel sympathy. But it was his fault the present for her son had been taken away. He was going to fix that mistake.

"Doyleton."

[scintillatingly]

It was hard enough to read Venom when he was his normal self, but now? His hands were in his hair and his voice was thin, his words slurred. Sora wasn't going to shine his flashlight up in the man's face just to get a glimpse of his expression, especially since he was still distracted by the girl who was in a deep sleep on that bed.

Just like the tales he'd heard of Aurora. What if she slept forever?

Sora bunched his fist at his chest and let out a sigh, waiting for Venom's response. If the man didn't have an idea, then Sora would come up with something. He didn't know how far they should explore when Venom was like this, but he doubted that the man would agree to staying in a room.

The response that he eventually got was the last thing he would have expected. "Huh? Is it even possible to get there at night?" He was pretty sure some people tried to walk to Doyleton at night, but it was a long way down and it was snowing right now. It seemed like going out there would be a death sentence.

Venom wasn't thinking straight, though, and so Sora had to be the voice of reason this time. "It's too far, and you aren't even walking that well..." He thought about putting his hand on Venom's shoulder, but there wasn't easy access to it when he was gripping at his hair like that. "Don't you think it'd be better to stay inside?" He didn't need to put someone else in that much danger tonight.

[anemptydecapo]

If he were in a more coherent state of mind, he might have found the irony of Sora being the reasonable one of the conversation. After all of their discussions, all of his warnings and lectures for the child to be more careful, the very idea that he was now being led about and lectured himself by that same boy was laughable. If he had a sense of humor on top of being coherent, he might have actually laughed.

Instead, the warnings only served to fly past the hands over his face without ever sinking in. "I've ran there before," he mumbled, the memories of having doing so twisting his stomach with an unrecognizable emotion. "I'll do it again." And again. They would never be able to hold him back from finding his Master, no matter how many miles or how many monsters they put in his path. He would pile their bodies to the top of the third floor, right inside that new bastard's room, if he had to. Even if this wasn't about Him, he would still find his way back there. He owed the woman that much for causing her trouble.

He dropped his hands from his face and turned to look down at his company with a surprising amount of clarity. Even still, there was no attempt at humor or light-heartedness. What he said was just another blunt fact. "I could use the walk."

[scintillatingly]

Sora was shocked to hear that Venom had actually made it all the way to town before, and part of him didn't want to believe it. Still, he had never viewed Venom as someone who would lie about such a thing, and so he was going to have to accept it as truth. "But you did that when you were okay," he pointed out with a slight frown. He got the feeling that this was a fight he'd already lost, though.

Especially since Venom was looking much more coherent now that he was insisting on this. There was a good chance that he would be going whether or not Sora was okay with it, which meant that he had to go along to take care of the man.

It all would have been so much easier if they'd had one of those rings, but... Roxas had had one, and he was gone. Sora felt his chest tighten in pain when he reminded himself of that, and then glanced over his shoulder to look at Kairi once more. She had to stay here. She had to.

"If you really want to go, then I'm going with you," he said, his voice surprisingly serious and determined. To be honest, he hadn't found much in that town when he'd gone with Roxas, but maybe Venom was looking for something specific.

[anemptydecapo]

Sora's assumption that the assassin had been in good health on his first run and subsequent protest at his request now actually managed to give Venom pause. Had he been okay that night...? "Not entirely," he said quietly, reflecting more to himself than speaking to Sora. There had been that mountain lion, and blood loss and loss of self weren't particularly higher in the "okay" measures of health than a drugged stupor was. He was sure he could manage. It wasn't about himself anyway--thinking otherwise was selfish.

There had been a lecture on the tip of his tongue in response to that statement, another scolding lesson about the boy needing to think about himself instead of others (and, given a moment to look back on it, the words he had chosen in his mind didn't seem to fit together in a correct fashion), but Sora relented. The ramble died before it could start and he stared at the teen with unhidden eyes.

"Thank you."

Before those two words could sink into the boy's mind, Venom had begun moving again.

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