Night 18: M40 Hallway

[0ver_the_moon]

Haru woke slowly, feeling disoriented and very thirsty. The past day or two had passed in feverish dreams and vague snatches of memories. He'd been aware of a nurse in the room once or twice, but other than that, he had no real recollection of what had gone on or how much time had passed. The dark room, however, left little question about what time

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[rubbermancan]

When Luffy woke up, he felt oddly refreshed, which was a nice change compared to how he'd felt earlier that morning. His arm felt much, much better, and his eyes didn't ache with tiredness anymore. Instead, the pirate was well-rested, energetic, and ready to do more exploring while kicking some serious ass on the side. True, he'd been annoyed when the nurses had taken all the patients to their rooms earlier than normal, but Luffy was glad to have gotten the chance to get an extra nap out of the deal.

He didn't waste much time in shaking the remnants of a good sleep from his body. Within seconds, he was up from bed, surprised to find that it was already nightshift. After he located his flashlight and radio, Luffy decided he probably needed to find Zoro. He hadn't seen the swordsman since last night's encounter with the giant scorpion, and they really needed to figure out what they were going to do in their quest to find some good knives. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Sanji, either. Luffy hoped the cook had found something interesting to tell them about.

When Luffy opened his door, he was a little stunned to find that the hallway seemed...different from last night. He didn't remember blank wall being in front of him. Had someone taken him to a different place while he'd been sleeping? More importantly, were his comrades still close by?

"This place is so weird," Luffy remarked to himself, but the tone he carried could have just as easily been used for a conversation about something ordinary like the weather.

And with that, he stepped completely out of his room, shutting the door behind him.

[red_dragon_mode]

(( Coming from here ))

Junior had managed to pass easily enough by the other people in his own hall, though he didn't want to admit that it was probably due to his height. But as the door leading away from the mens rooms came closer, he realized that he still didn't see Albedo anywhere. He decided to take a small detour and veer down the last hallway, but his mind was preoccupied and Junior barely saw the person right in front of him before running into them.

"What the--!" the redhead exclaimed as he tried to keep from falling on his behind. "Damn, I'm sorry!" He scooted a bit closer to the wall before stopping and staring at said person he'd just run into. "...Luffy? Sorry for running into you." He paused for a moment, rubbing the back of his head and a bit of embarrassment, and looked down the hall before turning back to the other boy.

"Have you, by chance, seen a guy walking around here who looks a lot like me...only older and with white hair and purple eyes? I really need to find him." Another pause. "For that matter, seen someone similar to that but with black hair and green eyes?" Couldn't hurt to ask about Gaignun, either, could it? Though, it was harder to determine if Gaignun was here or not, since he couldn't feel that brother's heartbeat.

[rubbermancan]

The pirate's gaze snapped down to the shorter boy as soon as he ran into him, but he laughed as soon as he realized who it was. "Hey!" he said with a grin. "It's you!" Luffy would have patted him on the back, but his hands were full from the flashlight and radio. Still, it was nice to see a friendly, familiar face, and Luffy was glad to have the company.

"Don't worry about it," he assured him, and he curiously stared around them. "The hall's kind of dark anyway, yeah?"

Upon hearing the redhead's odd set of questions, he barely bat an eye. "Nope," he chirped. "I haven't really seen many people since I talked to you this morning." Rubbing the back of his head, Luffy gave a small laugh. "Today was a little crazy! Anyway, why do you need to know? Are these guys friends of yours or something?"

[red_dragon_mode]

"Yeah, the hall's kinda dark." He replied in a slightly sullen tone, looking around again. It would have been a bit difficult to find either of them, but he was determined to do so as soon as humanly possible.

"Well, I think that one of them, the white-haired one, was one of the ones that was just announced as a new patient. And...yes and no. One's a friend, and they're both my brothers. The white-haired one, Albedo..." Junior hesitated before continuing. "He died. He's my twin, and all our lives I could feel his heartbeat from when we were joined at the back, so I know he was dead. But now, I can feel the heartbeat again. I have to find him." He turned to face the entrance of the hall, but didn't start walking just yet. "...A piece of advice to you, Luffy: never get into a fight with your brother so violent that you could kill him easily. It might happen on accident. Want to help me look for Albedo?"

[rubbermancan]

Luffy blinked rapidly at the other boy's explanation. He could feel his brother's heartbeat? Because they used to be joined at the back? "That doesn't make any sense," the pirate said, clearly confused. "How can you feel someone's heartbeat if you aren't even touching? And if he's dead, how can he be alive?"

Still, Junior's advice made him give a small laugh. "And don't worry about me and my brother. I've never beat him in a fight before. He'd probably be the one to kill me!" The thought didn't bother the boy in the slightest, though. In fact, it amused him a little.

Then, his face became serious when Junior asked him to help look for Albedo. "Sure," he replied simply. "If we run into any monsters, we can kick their asses together." Glancing around one more time, Luffy realized that he didn't see Zoro anywhere. Maybe he'd run into him later tonight.

[red_dragon_mode]

"Uh...let's see. We were born joined at the back, and we were born with similar regenerative powers, so when they split us it kind of kept the feel of the heartbeat. I think it's kinda like how we're connected when we talk telepathically." That was the best he could do, even if it wasn't all that great an explanation. Junior had never really had to, or tried to, explain it to anyone. It just was. "And...I don't know. He was dead, but now he just...isn't, suddenly."

At least it was apparent that all siblings fought, whether it was physically or verbally, so his advice to the other boy hadn't been totally useless. He sort of wished that Luffy would take it more seriously, but then a lot of people probably didn't also have the screwed up relationship that Junior had with Albedo.

Junior grinned at that last statement, though. "And yeah, those monsters had better look out." Of course, that was assuming that Luffy was better at fighting without weapons than he was. The redhead planned to grab anything nearby, if he could, and if not...well, hand-to-hand wasn't something he'd studied much on, but he supposed he was at least mediocre. Hopefully it was enough to survive a fight, and there was always strength in numbers.

He waited on Luffy to finish taking a look down the other end of the hall before walking towards the hallway he'd taken the detour from.

[rubbermancan]

Definitely intrigued by Junior's explanation, Luffy's eyes widened. He remembered that the boy had mentioned some cool mind powers during breakfast. "That's awesome!" he said, grinning rather suddenly. "I guess it's pretty handy, 'cause now you know he's close by!" Luffy wished he had something like that with his crew or his brother.

When Junior began walking, the pirate quickly followed after him. "By the way, where'd you get these powers from? Did you eat a devil fruit or something?"

[rubbermancan]

((Continued here.))