Night 58: West Wing, North Hall, 1-A

[dual_worlds]

((From here.))Although some patients took a great deal of time to memorize their way through the building, Spock's eidetic memory allowed him to remember most details from an area, even if he'd only seen it once. Of course, he'd passed through this hall several times during his reconnaissance assignments. The path to McCoy's quarters wasn't

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[antiheroed]

[from here]

It wasn't surprising that Sora got there first. That guy knew this place like the back of his hand, but Riku knew he lingered longer because he woke up from a nap. If he hadn't waited for the announcement or checked out the sword as much that he held, he probably could've been here faster. There would always be other nights, and he didn't bother jogging or running this one like he had before.

Riku trotted up to his friend like it was nothing, and looked around. "Not as busy as our other meeting place, huh?" he remarked. He decided that was better, though. Some part of him liked moving mostly unknown by other people. It made him feel more secure about his surroundings. Or maybe that was just a lingering remainder of the Darkness that clenched his heart.

Though, come to think of it, he hadn't seen Ansem pop up since a little before he went to his room. Maybe he was gone again. That, or in the end, the drugs weren't that bad. He wasn't going to bring it up either way. And since he wasn't, he just hoped it wouldn't decide to rear its ugly head later, just like it had that time with the shadow and Kairi having to hear those things about him.

He wondered why she hadn't brought it up, but maybe she was just being polite. Riku hoped so. If there was anything he hated, it was his friends knowing how messed up he was. That very factor made him feel unworthy of their ties to him, even now.

But it wasn't important. Not the shadow or Ansem. Riku held up his sword for Sora and turned it somewhat. "My prize," he explained. "I won't mind having two blades." He wasn't used to it like Sora, but he wasn't going to get into the details that he liked having it more than a baseball bat. And he still knew he could rely on it better than his keyblade-which, when it came down to it, was a fact he loathed after he worked so hard to earn it.

[scintillatingly]

Just like that, Riku walked up to meet him. Sora was a little shocked that he'd made it here quicker than Kairi, but he also had less of a distance to travel. He smiled to himself, knowing that Kairi was going to be upset that she was the last one to make it. He moved away from the wall and nodded in response to Riku's greeting question. "Yeah, it's a little more private here, I guess." Not that he had anything to hide, but it did make it easier to carry on a conversation.

When Riku lifted up a short sword and showed it off, Sora's eyes widened for a moment. He knew how hard it was to find weapons like that here, but it seemed that it had been Riku's reward for taking those drugs last night. Maybe it really had been worth it, if Riku had gotten a sword out of it and didn't seem to have suffered any bad effects.

Not that Sora was completely convinced of that, but he looked okay physically at the least.

"I guess it could come in handy," he said with a teasing smile, not wanting to admit that Riku might have made the right choice after all. He couldn't help but think of his Drive forms and how they had allowed him to wield two Keyblades. That was more or less impossible in this place, unfortunately, but Sora didn't mind relying on just the one Keyblade. It had served him well enough during his long time here, after all.

"So, how did you convince Kairi to come with us instead of heading to the medical wing again tonight?" He was sure that Riku had just explained it to her logically, but he was still curious to hear what his friend had to say.

[kingdomless]

( from from here. )

"He didn't," came her voice from the darkness. Kairi had seen her two friends from down the hall (she knew Sora's hair from anywhere.) and moved towards them with a small smile. "He told me you wanted to go outside, so I agreed and said I would go another night."

Joining the two boys, Kairi, while still holding her sword and her flashlight, placed her hands on her hips, glaring up at the two of them. "I had a feeling you two would meet over by the entrance closest to your own rooms! And you called me lazy," she said with a grin, shaking her head and letting out a melodramatic sigh. "Making a lady walk all this way by herself. The nerve! What kind of best friends are you two?"

She was kidding, of course. She didn't mind the traveling by herself. It was them who minded.

Kairi's eyes were drawn down towards the sword Riku held, and she tilted her head to the side to look down at it, her mouth forming an O before she spoke. "Oh! Did you find that in your room when you woke up?"

[antiheroed]

Riku wasn't going to address how pointless it was to head back to the medical wing, so he held his tongue. Seeing the both of them together made him feel immediately comfortable with himself, as well as around them. He turned the sword and immediately wished he had a place to put it, but it would do him some good. Maybe later, he could fashion some kind of hilt for it, but he doubted that was a thing to worry about right now. His keyblade was doubly reliable outside of a place like this: it was always there, but he never really had to store it.

"Yeah, I guess I got off lucky," he said. "It should help out where we're going." If Landel wasn't an enemy, but still dangerous, of course it would. Riku realized his friends might see it in a narrower way or having to do with the monsters, which was fine with him. They didn't know some of his greater intends, especially since there was a risk of it making them uncomfortable.

"And the last thing I am is lazy," he pointed out. "Sora chose it. That's why." He smirked in the direction of his friend. Some habits were hard to break.

[scintillatingly]

So here they were, all together again. Even if it was in the setting of this creepy hospital, that was always something that Sora was going to be glad for. He took in Kairi's words with a smile, knowing that they were all said in good fun (and probably just a way for her to explain to them why she had been last!).

"Hey, I just trusted that you could make it all this way without any problem. I wasn't so sure about Riku being able to get over to the other hall." He grinned, finding that it was much easier to send a jab back at Riku than to start teasing Kairi about anything.

In any case, they were all here and that was what mattered. Sora found that he was already antsy, knowing that they had a long way to go and that their tendency to get caught up talking was probably what caused them to run out of time before they reached their destination.

So the easy solution was to start moving immediately. "Let's go!" he declared as he turned toward the door, opening it and leaving it open so that the others could follow him out.

[To here.]