Night 44: M31-40 Hallway

[hamelinschild]

[M39]When the first intercom sounded, it shook Hart at a mid-line level. It was propaganda and suppression of information flow that the institution wanted now, obviously. They'd all have to be much more careful now with the bulletins, especially if the little pet idea of the 'Evil Club' were to ever get off the ground into anything serious. For the

Comments

[rope_victim]

Miku had never run so quickly in her entire life. The moment the doors had unlocked she'd bolted, her shoes pounding the pavement as they ate up the distance between her room and his. Ritsuka needed her. Needed to know that she was okay, and needed to be assured that she wasn't dead.

Even though she had died, but she was alive now. She hadn't left him. She hadn't broken her promise.

A shiver danced down her spine as she skidded to a stop in front of M35. Her clothing was pristine, as opposed to bloodied and torn. Her hair was down from its bun, but held back with her hairpin. She leaned a hand against the wall beside his door and called out for him before she could even catch her breath fully. "Ritsuka? Ritsuka! It's Miku, let me in. Please!"

[forgot_it_all]

Ritsuka had just begun preparing for the night - putting supplies into his backpack, finding out his flashlight's batteries were starting to go, testing his radio while wondering what the hell sort of training the Head Doctor meant - when there was a voice calling out to him from the other side of the door. It wasn't Soubi, far too... girlish?

Racing to the door, Ritsuka practically flung it open and then stared at the person waiting for him. "Miku!" Oh God, she was alive. She wasn't even hurt! No trace of blood or bruises or any sort of injury. But did she remember? She had to if she were here. Reaching out, Ritsuka grabbed her arm and pulled her into a hug, feeling relief finally replace all the worry that'd been building up in him. After an awkward moment, he realized what he was doing and then let her go, stepping back just slightly to look up at her. "What happened?! Are you okay?!"

[rope_victim]

She hadn't been expecting the hug, but returned it until he pulled away awkwardly. She'd wanted to laugh, it was such a... Ritsukan reaction, but kept her face smooth. "I'm okay! I am! I..." She took a breath (never, ever would she take it for granted) and shivered again. It was cold in her summer clothes, and at night the building got colder. "I'm sorry I worried you, Ritsuka, I'm so sorry!"

If she'd had a choice, he would have never seen her die, but there hadn't been and now the best she could do was fix things. Miku tucked a lock of Ritsuka's hair behind his ear. "I'm really all right now," she promised.

[forgot_it_all]

She was alright. She was alive, without a single scratch on her, and she was...shivering. Crap. Grabbing Miku's hand, he turned and pulled her into the room. It wasn't much better inside, but here he could wrap her in blankets, or maybe even give her his Institute jacket. "Don't apologize - as long as you're okay." She was safe. She was here. He'd spent all day worried sick and she was okay, and he felt relief he hadn't felt in a long time. "Here, sit. You're wearing the wrong stuff for the night here."

Taking her to the bed, he let go of her hand and then went back to his closet, pulling the doors open. Jacket...jacket. Usually he wore it at night, but he could make due with the sweater tonight. She was cold and Ritsuka, while not the most chivalrous of people, he wasn't going to let her stay cold. Pulling his jacket off the hanger, he came over and handed it to her. "What happened last night? I came in and then...you were dying."

[beloved_less]

[From here.]

Soubi was, admittedly, feeling a little bad about fooling around with Demyx. But Ritsuka was a child. He wouldn't think about rules and such for that sort of thing, right? But he tended to react at unexcpected things and-

And Soubi watched Miku and Ritsuka. As she brushed back his hair, as he fetched a coat for her. Suddenly he felt a little less guilty and a lot more.... something else.

He rapped lightly on the door, one of his bright and charming smiles ready.

"It seems Miku found us first." He didn't enter the room. He didn't break his smile. "Ritsuka. I need to fetch something, I'll only be a moment?"

He moved away from the door, but paused for Ritsuka to object if he wished. WHile pausing, he felt a sudden pain in his thumb. He removed it from his mouth and had a look. The nail had been bitten right down and it was sore now. Weird.

[rope_victim]

"Thank you, Ritsuka," Miku shook her head and shrugged, grateful for the warmth the jacket provided, even if it was slight. "I don't know, Ritsuka. I was... I was just sleeping and thought I'd heard my brother's voice... So, I woke up and then it was as though rocks were falling on me."

It could have been any death, she supposed, and Miku was grateful it hadn't been her mother's death. "And then you came in. I'm sorry you saw that."

[forgot_it_all]

"...you don't have to apologize. There's nothing to apologize for." It wasn't like she'd wanted to get crushed by... rocks? Miku tried to explain what happened last night and Ritsuka closed his eyes. Her brother's voice, and then rocks. Was it true then? Had he, too, heard his own brother's voice as he screamed in pain, drowning in the sound of flames? That couldn't be it, right? How could they ever record that sort of thing? And Ritsuka himself hadn't burned to death, so something had to be different. Something was off and

[beloved_less]

Soubi looked down at his hand in Ristuka's, frowning. That wasn't an order and, to be honest, Soubi wasn't sure what would happen if it was. He wasn't doing this on purpose. But he nodded all the same.

He just needed to smoke. Only....he'd discovered he was down to one cigarette which, really, he owed Miku's roommate. He'd already thought about pulling out a little tobacco, just to taste it. Damn it. He was better than this, wasn't he?

Soubi's shoulders slouched miserably and he crouched down in front of Ristuka. He just wanted to be loved right now, but Ritsuka seemed to care about everyone and simply...put up with Soubi sometimes. He was a little jealous of Miku, he knew it. It was silly, and he knew that too.

And now, the only person he could talk to about problems was causing them. And he was supposed to talk to Ritsuka bout couldn't.

"I'm not going far," he sighed, giving up...something, he wasn't sure what. He stood. I'll be back very soon. You get back to Miku."

[To here.]

[rope_victim]

Miku turned her head away from Ritsuka and Soubi, and pretended she hadn't heard anything. Her fingers stroked over her choker, over and over again. Though her heart hurt when she thought about it, Miku knew that her brother probably would have chosen to stay with Kirie again and again.

Miku took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, closing her eyes so that she could think more clearly. Even though she'd died yesterday, and lost Sousuke, knowing that continuing to stay on in the Institute would certainly culminate in her death, Miku continued to plan to herself. They had to make progress.

She would be breaking her promise to Sousuke, but that was fine. He wasn't here to enforce it, and it didn't matter. Miku nodded to herself and lifted her head, watching Ritsuka's face quietly. "Will he be all right?" she asked softly after Soubi left.

[forgot_it_all]

For a minute, it seemed like Soubi was going to say something. The way his shoulders slouched when he knelt in front of Ritsuka made the boy's heart break. Was something wrong? Had something really bad happened? It killed him that Soubi wouldn't talk to him, or even let him know what it was either. No matter how much Ritsuka asked, the Fighter rarely opened up to him. He stood and left soon after and Ritsuka remained behind, watching the door for a moment. What had he meant? What had he wanted to say

[rope_victim]

"I think so, unless something somehow worse occurs tonight." She didn't doubt it, but. "Ritsuka... I don't know if we're doing enough now. I think we need to be more proactive in our search for a way out of here." If there even was a way out.

Miku curled a loose lock of hair around her fingers as she thought. "It's distressing, but... I think I can use my ability for something good this time." It'd never led her in the wrong direction before, and always took her to where she found her next clue. Miku looked up at Ritsuka, "What do you think?" She would be by herself, she knew, while she looked around, but so long as Ritsuka knew... well, that would be enough.

[forgot_it_all]

Unless something worse happened tonight? After that weird announcement and everything else over the past few days, Ritsuka wouldn't put it past the Institute, but at the same time, he knew that something worse was already happening tonight to some people. He had to wait until Soubi returned, however, before he could even do anything about that. Not that...he really did anything at all. The realization hit home twice as hard when Miku practically read his mind, causing him to flinch slightly. "I know... I know we need to be, but what can we do? I've been thinking of ways and most of my ideas tend to fall short

[rope_victim]

"We'll figure it out together, Ritsuka, don't worry." Miku shifted in her seat and laced her fingers together. There were lots of things to do and they had time to think them through yet. "I don't know who will be going with me, maybe no one will. I..." Miku's heart squeezed uncomfortably when she thought about going out into the night with anyone but Sousuke. "I'll try to find someone. Now," Miku stood up and took of Ritsuka's coat, smoothing out her clean white shirt with one hand. "I think we both have things we need to attend to, don't we?"

[beloved_less]

[From here.]

Soubi rapped his knuckles on the door and peaked in, his mask-smile back on his face, and waited to be permitted entry.

He'd already swung his bag off his shoulder to retrieve the brownie for Ritsuka. And then, of course, he had to hand the scalpel over. He wondered if Miku's roommate and told her about it. Best to hand it over as secretly as he could.

[forgot_it_all]

[Okay, finally back from the death that was October. D| "You aren't going alone." Why did that sound like an order? Ritsuka flinched internally and tacked on a "It isn't safe." hopefully to ease the fact that he was being so protective. It wasn't like Miku hadn't been here just as long or longer than he had. She'd survived this long and hell, she was older, but it was something about her that made Ritsuka want to protect her. It was like how he didn't want to get his teacher or Yuiko or even Yayoi more involved in the insanity that was his life anymore than they already were. Just here, he couldn't tell Miku 'I have to go to the library' and expect things to be okay when he saw her the next morning. Here, she was in just as much danger as he was