Night 49: West Wing, South Hall 1-B

[thatdamnedninja]

[From here]

Maybe she should go snatch up her patient file? Possessions, too. Yuffie'd never say no to free stuff, even if it was a bunch of crap from a lie of a life. If she was lucky, she'd get somethin' handy. Handy like a cellphone, or, hell, even a laptop! Yuffie wasn't a technical genius at the best of times, preferring to leave all that

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[autophoenix]

"I'm going to warn you right now, if the floor starts falling? I will scream. Tower of terror is not a personal favorite." Granted, that was before she'd learned that falling couldn't really hurt her, so maybe now she'd be able to hold it in. She kept that to herself, though, and turned to lean against the wall beside the door of the nurse's station, thinking for a minute on what Bella had said.

Finally, she smiled, "we'll never know unless we check. Like you said, it'll suck more if we don't check and it's unlocked." She pushed away from the wall decisively. "We should go look anyway. Unless ... you have somewhere to be." It had taken her this long to realize that if Bella knew the doors opened at night, she might have made plans to meet with one of the other 'patients.'

Claire felt like an idiot that it had taken her this long.

"Sorry, you probably ... don't want to waste time helping me out with my stupid plans, huh?" She said as she realized how snide and sardonic her 'somewhere to be' had initially sounded. Truth be told, she probably wouldn't do a very good job of finding those file rooms on her own, but she'd try anyway. She was less worried about locating them and more worried about getting back to their room afterwards, because even though she'd been careful to remember where they'd come from, she knew the darkness was disorienting.

[vitale]

"Don't worry, I'm not good with that sort of thing either. I think I'd get sick, actually. Speed plus me equals no." Sure, she hadn't actually been running with Edward since that little stunt after the meadow, but still. She knew she'd have to get used to it sooner or later, but ... well, do not want sprung true to her mind whenever she thought about it.

At the mention of meeting someone and having somewhere else to go, Bella's stomach dropped, and she could practically hear the screaming Edward was going to do before it even happened.

... Might as well put that off as long as she possibly could. After all, she had seen how angry he had been when she visited Jacob against his wishes that one time, so.

"Don't worry," she assured Claire with a nod of her head, smiling. "I can spend a few hours helping you. I left a note for a reason, so. Or, if it make you feel any better ... since I don't want you to be alone, I can help you find someone you know? I mean, you met people today, right? I think I heard that the newer patients were left here while we were out in town ..." On a field trip she friggen slept through, but she said nothing about that. "And like I said, you can borrow my map. Really, I'd rather you have it for now and we can make another copy tomorrow during dinner, okay?"

Reaching into her pocket, Bella placed the folded piece of paper in Claire's hands, holding it there for a moment to show her that she meant it.

[autophoenix]

The reassurances didn't go unnoticed by Claire, so she tried to give a smile in return as she nodded, curling her fingers around the map to show that she could at least accept that much. It wasn't easy, getting her to accept that she wasn't being a burden, but Bella seemed genuine enough and the kind of unintentional selfishness that she possessed helped her to accept it and move forward.

"Yeah, I heard everyone was out today, I didn't think ... there are a lot more people here." Granted, in the dark she hadn't been able to see their faces, but she could tell that they were at least far more varying than the people she'd seen in the cafeteria at breakfast and in the game room. With a breath, she finally gave in and let her expression relax, sighing.

"Thank you. For the map, for the help and ... everything." She tried to keep her face from falling. "I met some people while we were in the library and at breakfast and stuff, but ..." What was a good way of saying 'they weren't as easy to talk to as you' without seeming creepy? Claire didn't know, so she moved on without worrying about it. Well, there was Luke, but she didn't even know his name, let alone where in this mess of an institute to find him.

For one brief moment, she allowed herself to wish that Nathan or Peter or her dad was there. Or even that she could just call them and let them know she was okay. Her dad was probably scouring the hideouts of all the Level 5 escapees looking for her, thinking she'd gone off to play agent again -- granted, she would have, if she'd actually been able. But, then the spiteful part of herself kicked in and she realized he deserved to be worried for partnering with him.

Right. She was talking, wasn't she?

"Let's just go check out the file rooms, then we can go find your fiance or something."

[vitale]

Bella smiled and nodded her head, glad that Claire had taken the map. Honestly, she remembered enough of it to at least go to the second level and back towards Edward's room, so that was a plus. "Don't mention it."

"And I understand," the told Claire with a reassuring smile. "Still kind of iffy on who to trust and whatnot. It's okay. I went out alone on my first night because I didn't know who to trust. ... Thankfully, I ran into someone I knew - and I mean I literally ran into them. It hurt - so I wasn't alone for very long."

The more she thought about Edward, the more she thought about how angry he was going to be at her.

Well, that ... no, it wasn't fine, but she would deal with it. She would be able to calm him down. ... She hoped. After all, how could he fault her for helping someone? Edward wasn't that selfish; he had helped her from being killed by a truck, after all, and he hadn't even known her at that point. It was the same situation as then, except there was no truck heading towards them.

Instead, it was a curtain of darkness and a potential for being torn apart by monsters. Either way, it was the same thing.

"Okay, file rooms ... I believe they were that way," Bella pointed her finger down the hallway to their right, nodding.

[autophoenix]

With a nod, Claire started in the direction that Bella had pointed, shining her flashlight back in front of them now that she was done fiddling with the map. She momentarily moved the beam up off the ground, down the hallway that looked like it went on forever in the blackness.

Claire's expression soured.

Granted, the feeling as though the halls went on forever could easily be a trick of the mind or of the Institute, but Claire didn't like it. She liked when reality was tangible. Anything else seemed a little bit too ... vortex-y. And those were always bad news.

"Someone you knew from the day or from outside of the Institute?" She hated to feel like she was interrogating, but it was important to know. If they were in the business of kidnapping, knowing the likelihood of someone she knew being there might give her just a little hope. "Either way, it's pretty lucky. I mean, this place is huge."

[vitale]

Bella followed behind Claire silently for a moment, turning to look over her shoulder and back down the darkened hall they had just come before turning back around. She couldn't worry about it ... she really couldn't.

( .... )