NIGHT 59: M01-M10 HALLWAY

[antiheroed]

Code Red. Initiate-The sudden sensation hit Riku hard. Just as he stood up to grab his sword in preparation, the power overwhelmed him and made his knees buckle fast. What was happening? It wasn't right. The feeling of this place had never been this intense before, and the stinging in his leg was still there. That feeling wasn't one he was

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[anemptydecapo]

Dinner went by as expected. Not a word was shared between him and his roommate, the assassin again avoided the food left before him, and he dressed as quickly and carefully (the pain in his side still lingered. Pulling on a dress-shirt and vest should not have pained his muscles as much as it did) in wait for the incoming nightshift. He'd reassembled his cue (after discovering an axe--her axe--had been placed in with the rest of his belongings. He couldn't look at it) and taken to sitting on the edge of his bed, cue on his lap, and fiddling with his tie as he shrugged off the words of the general's lackey and eyed the door

[antiheroed]

But it wasn't Sora who heard that call, at least not in the immediate hallway. Protective instincts raised to the maximum level the moment that he heard the cry from the man bursting out of the room. Riku jerked quickly in the direction as if the guy had called out his own name. There weren't that many options for who he could be calling. And since Riku remembered that they lived in the same hallway, it was a given

[chippforprez]

It was a good thing that he wasn't planning on sleeping anyway, because the alarm that went off just as Chipp was starting to get comfortable in that crappy bed actually scared the crap out of him with how suddenly it pierced the silent air around them. Code Red? Chipp had no idea what was going on, naturally, but he didn't have to wait very long before he could feel it

[scintillatingly]

As it turned out, Neku hadn't been in the mood for talking a lot. As much as Sora had wanted to grill the other boy for details, he knew that that would probably just make him feel worse. In the end, the best option was just to let his roommate get his rest. There would be time to talk later, right? Instead, Sora had focused on getting dressed into his usual outfit for the night, pulling his crown necklace over his head and then centering the pendant between his collarbones.

The normal announcements for the start of night came and went. There was that Berg guy, doing the general's work again. It was kind of like how that nurse, Lydia -- who was really Jill, according to Venom -- had made the announcements when Landel had been busy with something.

But then, as the lights shut off and the doors unlocked, a number of things happened all at once. More than that, all of it was different, a break from the pattern that Sora had grown accustomed to

[anemptydecapo]

That was not Sora.

Distrust wedged itself between the man's shoulder-blades, even when Zanuff's voice suddenly shot into his ears, and he immediately set to judging the boy shining that damn light directly into his eyes. White hair. Angered. His aura was dark... He raised his weapon, bringing it into both of his hands, but it wasn't meant to be threatening. What do you want with him? "What business is that to you?" This building was clearly on the verge of danger and action needed to be taken to find those less able to handle that; did this teenager really wish to get snide at a time like this?

It wasn't until Sora called out that the panic and irritation smoothed itself into something calmer. Riku? That must be the name of

[antiheroed]

"He's my-" best friend would have finished that sentence, but out came the shorter boy, keyblade in hand without a care in the world. If they were looking to get out of here, Riku thought that the first thing they needed to do was find Kairi. But wasn't there someone else with them tonight? Riku decided that they could try and figure this out when there weren't so many people standing around. The "stay safe" indicated that this guy with the weird hair wasn't a threat. Beyond that, Riku didn't know

[chippforprez]

It didn't take much for Chipp to see that this situation was under control: Those two boys obviously knew each other, and were already planning to get out. He couldn't say much about the weirdass weapon that the kid was holding (a key? Like a huge key? Maybe he could use that to unlock the doors. Cool!), but the fact the kid had it seemed to put Chipp at ease. Maybe it was simply because of his upbringing, but he dealt with enough brats using improbable weapons that it was perfectly natural to accept that Sora and his weirdass key were going to be just fine (well, comparatively speaking, Chipp would take a weird key over yo-yos). Plus the other kid didn't seem too worried, so there was no need to linger. The ninja turned back to Venom, nodding in satisfaction

[scintillatingly]

While none of them gave a direct answer to his question, it was pretty obvious that everyone had gotten their powers back, whatever they happened to be. Sora knew in Riku's case, of course; the two of them knew each other's strengths by heart and could fight side-by-side flawlessly because of that. He was more curious about what Venom and Chipp could do, but it seemed like he wouldn't get the chance to witness that

[anemptydecapo]

The Guild Head had been seconds away from turning back to his associate, content with knowing Sora was making his escape, when suddenly the teenager rebounded onto him like a boomerang with messy hair. He'd raised his right hand the instant he came back, opening his mouth to demand he hurry on--

If we don't see each other again, I just wanted to say, I'm glad I got to know you.Those words were almost more palpable than the Magic running through his system. His fingers curled in on themselves as the boy ran off, like wilting vines on his drooping arm. It felt like the sheer force of that statement was pushing him back, tightening the lines of his perpetual frown and the lines on his forehead, and the weight of it kicked hard against the inside of his chest

[chippforprez]

As if he missed the entire moment, Chipp was content to just watch the two teenagers run off before turning to Venom, blinking when the assassin pointed out his lack of weapon. That's right... Chipp didn't mind using his bare hands and legs, since he didn't put all that work into training for nothing, but it felt wrong without his blade. Anything sharp would do at this point, at least until he could find it again. It had to be somewhere here, right? Venom looked like he had a solution for that, so Chipp followed, and true to Venom's expectations, he followed Venom inside the room and watched as he fished something out

[anemptydecapo]

Where did he get it...?

As true as "it belonged to the woman I accidentally murdered" was, the answer refused to leave Venom's lips. Zanuff himself appeared to have immediately forgotten about the question the minute he asked it, so the assassin would give him no reason to remember. Instead, he only turned to watch his comrade destroy the sheets of the assassin's bed and tie the weapon to his arm using the shredded material.

The corners of his mouth slowly turned downward. He'd slept in that bed for so long, he felt he should be offended at the other man's actions. If only for a moment.

...

Moment over. His fingers took to spinning the cue at his side as he turned back out the door and down through the halls. Zanuff was right--it was time to go.

[Going over here]