Nightshift 38: M41-M50 Hallway
After dinner Depth Charge had drifted over to his bed and collapsed onto it, feeling disturbingly fragile, as if a strong breeze could shatter him and blow away the pieces like they were nothing but dust. Matsuda’d tried to help, but the human had no idea He’d never felt so helpless, so useless, so slagging vulnerable. What was he supposed to do
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"Hey!" he said with his brightest smile once he'd pulled it open. It hadn't been long at all since they'd last spoken, but it was still good to know that his friend had made it quickly, and apparently with few to no problems. Claude stepped to the side a little. "Come on in. Dias might not be for a little while since his room is further south, but he'll probably be here soon enough."
As he spoke, his gaze lingered on the meat cleaver for a brief moment. The sword was in plain view on his bed, and he knew it'd probably be good to just cut to the chase. Still, it wasn't exactly a happy thing for him, and it felt awkward to just shove the thing onto Guy as soon as he showed up. But on the other hand, he knew he was making the best choice here. Even Dias hadn't had any objections, and he wasn't doing anyone any favors by holding onto it like this...
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He couldn't help noticing the way Claude was eyeing his cleaver, and was quick to clarify. "Oh, I figured that... well, if you changed your mind, I should at least have something, right? And if you didn't, then I wanted to give it to you in exchange." It wasn't like Guy really knew anyone who could use it, and while he could put up some message on the bulletin, it wasn't really his in the first place. He'd traded Jade for it.
He would have returned it to the Colonel, but that wasn't possible right now. But he really didn't want to get back to that train of thought, and so he quickly derailed it.
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Still, the thought of getting something in exchange for the sword took Claude by surprise. "O-oh, are you sure?" He had his own sword, after all, so it wasn't like he was in dire need of it. "What about someone like Mr. Peony? Maybe it'd be good for him to have something like--"
He regretted the words as soon as they'd left his mouth, and he stopped short. It wasn't until then that he remembered he hadn't heard a peep from the Emperor in a few days, much less seen him around. Maybe that meat cleaver was in danger of collecting dust in Guy's room, just like Ashton's sword. It wasn't like his best friend was the only person who'd recently disappeared around here.
He and Guy were more or less in the same boat, weren't they?
Claude didn't finish the thought, but there was that unspoken question hanging between them now. A part of him wanted to know, but the larger part wished he hadn't mentioned it at all.
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But he loosened up quickly, since Claude already seemed mortified, and they didn't need to make this any worse. The truth of the matter was that both of them were losing people, and there wasn't much they could do about it except keep going with the hope that they'd find their friends or get them back somehow.
Still, he needed to say something, though part of him wished Claude could just guess it from his expression. "Yeah, I checked tonight and his room was empty. I... don't really have anyone to give it to," he admitted. Which was pretty depressing, but it wasn't something to dwell on.
Guy moved over to Claude's desk and set the cleaver down carefully, figuring that was the easiest way to hand it over. But then he looked down at his hands - one free, one holding his flashlight - and let out a groan. "The juice!" he exclaimed, smacking his hand to his forehead. "Sorry, Claude, it slipped my mind."
At least his screw-up might distract them from the subject of disappearances, though.
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Actually, that was probably the most likely answer, now that he thought about it.
"I see," he replied after a moment. He glanced away, frowning to himself. "I'm...sorry to hear that." Even if he'd been on the strange side, Peony's energy and enthusiasm had been a welcomed change of pace. And he was Guy's Emperor, right? If that was the case, the news had probably unsettled him a lot.
Claude could only watch as Guy set the meat cleaver down on his desk, but the sudden exclamation actually startled him. Then, without thinking, he laughed, and the knot in the pit of stomach loosened just a little. "Aw, don't worry about it. It was my fault for not getting it from you before last night ended, right?" He scratched the side of his cheek, looking a little sheepish. "Your supplies are still in my closet, too, by the way."
Man, with how often they wound up with each other's junk, someone might have thought they were having a bunch of slumber parties together or something.
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While he figured now was about time for him to get Ashton's sword, seeing how he had relinquished the cleaver, Guy didn't make any move toward it. This was something Claude needed to do when he was ready.
On the other hand, they couldn't keep delaying it, and so Guy decided not to open up a new topic of conversation, especially considering how their chat in the Game Room had ended. It looked like Claude was willing to leave that be for now, for which Guy was grateful.
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That was fine, though. The supplies weren't going anywhere, so they'd have time to iron out those details later.
The silence that came after said enough. Claude appreciated Guy not forcing the issue, though, and after a brief pause, he turned toward where the sword was resting on the bed. As he picked it up, he couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the other one in the set. It was a shame one of them had been lost -- Ashton had undoubtedly worked hard to collect the materials for them both, after all.
But there was still the one, so it hadn't all gone to waste. And maybe, if Ashton were to come back again, he'd be glad to know the sword had been put to good use anyway.
Once he'd turned back to Guy, he extended the sword out to him, blade pointing towards the floor so his friend could easily take it from him. "I don't want you to get the wrong idea," Claude said suddenly as glanced away for a moment. "I haven't given up on Ashton. I'm sure he's alive, wherever he is." It was highly possible he'd been brainwashed, which wasn't something Claude liked to think about much -- but as long as his friend was living, breathing somewhere out there, he was sure that was better than the alternative.
"I'd rather see this go to you than anyone else, though," he quietly admitted after a moment. "So...take good care of it for me, okay?" And while that included the sword itself, Claude also meant to imply that he didn't want to have to unexpectedly find another owner for it in the future, unless Guy had acquired a better weapon. There had been enough disappearances already -- he didn't want to have to add Guy's name to the list.
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Guy followed after him, meeting Claude halfway as he turned to him with it. As his friend made it clear that he hadn't assumed the worst when it came to Ashton, Guy only nodded and gently took the weapon from him. The blade wasn't the best quality, seeing how it had been made here, but it felt worlds better in his hand than that cleaver ever had.
"It's the same with me and Luke, and everyone else, so..." He trailed off, but he was giving Claude a determined look. If they stuck together and kept at this, both of them would see their friends again. They just had to keep believing that.
Normally, Guy might have taken a few testing swings with the sword, but he wanted to be careful with this gift. He would use it when he needed it, but for now he just held it firmly. "I definitely will, no worries about that," he assured Claude.
It felt like some of the tension in the room was gone now, and Guy let out a small breath. "So, now we're just waiting on Dias, right?"
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As it turned out when he walked into Claude's room(there seemed to be no point in knocking; what could he be interrupting?), however, he needn't have worried; Guy had actually beaten him there, and it looked as though he'd just missed the hand-off of Ashton's sword to him. Actually seeing the blade was a bit different from talking about it - it stung, as though it had brushed a wound that hadn't entirely healed over yet - and so he looked away from it, turning his attention to Claude instead. "Are we ready?"
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"Thanks, Guy," he said with a smile once his friend told him he'd be holding onto it. "Hopefully it'll help you out if you run into any trouble." Ideally, he wouldn't be running into anything anytime soon, but Claude knew enough about this place to understand that was just wishful thinking.
When Guy brought up Dias, Claude nodded. "Yep!" He wasn't sure if he'd gone to check Ashton's room again. Dias had seemed like he'd resigned himself to the fact their friend just...wasn't around anymore, for whatever reason. So maybe he'd be coming straight to his room after all.
"I guess while we're waiting we could--" It was at that moment his rival stepped into the room, and, visibly startled, Claude whirled around to face him. "D-Dias!" He frowned, eyebrows furrowed. "Geez, don't you ever knock?!"
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Guy just hoped that it didn't continue like this for the whole night. While he was used to his friends bickering amongst each other (Natalia and Anise had been particularly nasty when they first met), it didn't make for the best traveling environment.
Not sure that he should give them two of them time to get into an argument, Guy cut in. "I think we're ready, yeah," he said to Dias. Like Claude, the taller man was dressed in what must have been his everyday clothing back home -- which just made the uniform Guy was wearing seem that much more ridiculous. Not that he held it against either of them, exactly -- he was glad they had something familiar, but he had to wonder why only some people were so lucky.
Guy was holding Ashton's sword at his side, not wanting to shove the fact that he was the one using it now into either of their faces. But then he remembered his idea from earlier, and glanced over to Claude. "Do you think one of us should bring a pen and paper along, in case we need to map the basement?" he asked.
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What brought that on?
His gaze flickered between the two briefly before settling on Guy, not bothering to acknowledge Claude's transparently irrational complaint. "I've got both here." He touched a pouch on his belt. It had used to hold herbs, back on Expel; it had of course been empty when he'd found his outfit waiting for him in its closet, but it had felt like he should put something in it. His flashlight was in there, too - he rarely used it, preferring to let his eyes adjust to the darkness(both because it put him at a slight advantage over opponents that needed light to see, and because he didn't fully trust technology he didn't understand). It wasn't as though they really needed more than one flashlight between the three of them in any case.
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He was about to open his mouth to say something else when Guy cut in and asked him if it'd be a good idea to bring some mapping materials with them. Claude moved to reach for his journal that was sitting on the desk, but stopped short once Dias informed them that he'd brought stuff along.
Claude wasn't sure whether to feel frustrated or just plain embarrassed. Awkwardly scratching the back of his neck, he opened his mouth to say something, closed it, then opened it again. "If everyone's ready, let's just go," he sighed. Since Guy had the flashlight, and Dias had the paper and pen, there wasn't really much else for him to do, after all.
Without another word, he headed through the door, though his pace was a little faster than normal.
((To here.))
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