Night 59: M-A Block Hallway

[stray_shinigami]

Renji walked with purpose down the hall, though he wasn't in enough of a hurry to flashstep yet. He had to have somewhere he wanted to go first. Of course the idea that sprang instantly to mind was easily summed up as an equation: INSTITUTE + HIHIOU ZABIMARU = BOOM = :-DHowever, that would need to wait until, for example, there weren't people he

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[spandexorgtfo]

[from here]

It was somewhat strange to walk down the hall and feel his usual trepidation melt away in the face of something similar to boredom, sprung from the knowledge of what he could do now. The mana bubbled almost directly underneath his skin now; all he had to do was say a word and it would leap out, destroying what might have taken him half the night any other day in a matter of mere seconds. Rather than inspire excitement, though, the return of his power had only brought back with it the usual haze of apathy.

--And there was Sora. It was easy to spot the boy's hair in the hallway, and perhaps fortuitous that they had met up so early. There was another boy with him, this one much taller and white-haired. That would be Riku, then, the other person mentioned in the bulletin post.

How good at handling himself is this Kratos? The question floated up to his ears, picked out from the other conversations going on in the hall merely because his name had been mentioned. Kratos allowed himself a small smile--of all the nights to ask that question--and continued walking until he was right beside the two of them.

"We've crossed paths sooner than I expected." The question was discarded; he did not need to acknowledge that he had heard it.

[ooc: orz sorry for the repost ;A;]

[scintillatingly]

The question Riku asked was a fair one, seeing how this was the first time he'd be working with Kratos, and so Sora started to answer it as he headed for the door. "He's really reliable! I mean--"

But then he was cut off by the man himself approaching from behind. Sora spun himself around, his Keyblade moving with him, and set his gaze on the man.

"Yeah, I guess so!" the boy quickly replied. He hadn't realized that Kratos was in the same block as him, though he usually didn't worry too much about it because it was usually easier to meet up out in the main halls. Right now, though, this was pretty convenient. "Are your powers back too?" Did Kratos even have any? Most patients seemed to, but he knew for a fact that there were a few out there who didn't.

"We were trying to figure out what to do," Sora explained to the man as he sent Riku a glance, wanting to make it clear that this was something all three of them could discuss. "We can still head outside and see how far we can get, but..." He still didn't like the thought of possibly leaving so many friends behind. Not just Kairi, but all of the other people he'd gotten to know here.

[antiheroed]

"I don't want to leave without Kairi." The truth was, having a fourth person with them would slow things down. That was why he wanted to see what Kratos was capable of. Given that the man came up and joined them, it was probably better not to show that. Riku sized the man up from his stance, wondering if there was any point in having him there. If he could handle himself, he wondered if he might go off on his own.

Then again, Riku knew that wasn't the best way of thinking. This situation granted him that. Kairi had been in here too long. Maybe Sora was fine right now, with his friends their heartfelt good-byes. That was just the way Sora was. Kairi might've had friends, too, but she was different now; the last thing he wanted was to give this place more of a chance to control him.

"So we look for her. Then we leave." All of this was directed at his best friend. Normally, he might bother with talking to the other guy in tow, but he didn't bother right now. Focusing was what he did best right now, and he didn't want to bother with pleasantries.

[spandexorgtfo]

So it wasn't just him. "Yes," Kratos replied distractedly as his eyes strayed to the gigantic key in Sora's hand. It wasn't the key, though, that was drawing his attention away; it was this sudden feeling that, by his admission, he'd pasted a large target on himself.

--and then he realized that with his current level of power, that was no problem at all.

"I will adhere to whatever decision you make," he told Sora, likewise limiting his conversation to the boy only. "If you wish to pursue some other business and find my presence unnecessary, I can explore on my own." He had no intention of escaping, at least not now: he would rather dispose of Aguilar (or Landel--or both) and determine how to return to his proper home, and that required that he stick around. Wandering into an unknown society, even with his powers intact, sounded like a disaster waiting to happen.

[scintillatingly]

Leaving without Kairi definitely wasn't an option, but that didn't mean that they would necessarily be able to find her. Sora knew how tough it could be to track someone down in this place; they could spend the whole night looking for her and never actually get anywhere. Maybe they would be better off focusing on helping others and making their way through the institute if they couldn't find their friend.

They'd cross that bridge when they came to it, though. Kratos was being flexible, just like he usually was, which made things a little easier. The man didn't seem against going off on his own, though Sora didn't want to shoo him away either.

Sora wished that he'd paid attention to where Kairi had planned to meet Soma and Sonia. That way they could have just gone to that spot too and it would have been easy to find her. He didn't know, though, so they were going to have to guess.

"Well, I guess we'll see what happens," he said, not willing to commit to anything yet. It was hard to when things were so different tonight. "Let's just see if we can find her first." With that, he led the other two out into the hall.

[To here.]