NIGHT 50: F21-F30 HALLWAY
[F23]
Once finished with her dinner Nunnally had reached into her desk drawer in search of her journal, thinking to make some notes while she had nothing more to do than wait for the approach of night (for that was all she had to wait for, certainly-- they wouldn't return again tonight... would they?). Though the journal was there, she found ( Read more... )
Once finished with her dinner Nunnally had reached into her desk drawer in search of her journal, thinking to make some notes while she had nothing more to do than wait for the approach of night (for that was all she had to wait for, certainly-- they wouldn't return again tonight... would they?). Though the journal was there, she found ( Read more... )
The sound of a knock on the door made her heart jump, but the voice that followed wasn't familiar at all. Not her brother, then, but who could it be? After a brief pause to consider Nunnally pushed away her journal and rose, once more marveling at the fact that she could do so, and moved to the door with her flashlight. There wasn't anything dangerous about someone looking for a friend, was there? Lelouch likely wouldn't agree, but he wasn't here at the moment.
"Your friend?" she asked, as she opened the door partway, blinking curiously at the man with the spiky blond hair. "Who are you looking for?" Perhaps she could even help.
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Zack almost wanted to hope that she had suddenly decided to avoid them for some reason, since that would be better than the prospect of not seeing her again. Still, he wasn't going to get ahead of himself, as they still had three other hallways to check.
On the way to the second, Zack had caught sight of none other than Taura. He'd been quick to wave upon spotting her, but they didn't really have the time to chat at the moment, and it would have been a lot to explain to Cloud. So Zack left it at that, though not without noticing the weapon the tall woman had been holding. Zack was glad that Cissnei's shuriken wasn't going to waste now that she was gone, but it was still a hard sight to see.
He followed Cloud into the next hall, but all they saw were empty rooms and all they heard were unrelated conversations. However, then they reached one toward the end of the hall who housed someone who wasn't gone or busy. Zack pulled up behind Cloud as the girl opened the door, taking in her small frame with some surprise. She didn't really look like she belonged here.
"Her name is Aerith," Zack said. "She's about this high," his hand shot out to cut through the air, "she's got long brown hair, and she usually wears a pink ribbon in it. Have you ever talked to her or seen her around in these hallways?" If they could even narrow it down to one hallway, that would be a huge help.
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It was a good thing she was staying in her room where it was safe. He might have given in before, but if this girl asked to come along with them, he'd have none of it. He'd block the door with the largest object he could find. "Are you waiting on someone? You don't plan on leaving, do you?"
Perhaps he spoke too quickly, sounded a little too demanding, but even with an escort she was in no position to be fighting off anything. Everyone's abilities were weakened here, and there was no way her safety could be guaranteed. (Especially not if the Institute decided to go tossing them through random entryways again.)
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That likely wasn't terribly helpful, and she wished that she could offer more. Despite their worry about their friend, they seemed to be concerned about her as well, which was kind of them. Nunnally smiled and shook her head slightly, trying to look and sound as reassuring as possible. "My brother should be here any moment. If we go anywhere, it won't be far."
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"That's good," he said with a slight smile and a nod, not wanting to seem insensitive despite the fact that his mind was almost entirely on Aerith. "So you saw her in this hall? Did you ever see her leave one of the rooms, maybe? We're trying to figure out which one was hers."
Still, they'd searched almost all of the rooms in this hall (there were only two left), and he'd seen nothing. That didn't bode well in the slightest, and yet Zack didn't even have it in him to give Cloud a worried glance. Both of them knew that this was looking bleaker and bleaker by the second, and there was no reason for them to make this girl, who was trying to help them, feel bad about it.
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"If for some reason you do see her and we don't, tell her AVALANCHE is looking for her. I'm Cloud and this is Zack." If Aerith was still around, then hopefully she'd come looking for them without them having to have anyone else keep an eye out, but you never knew in this place. They might as well be as certain as they could be. "But don't go out of your way. You should stay safe too."
There was the Landel's conundrum again. One of many, he supposed. It was lucky for her that she had her older brother there to protect her, but at the same time neither sibling should have been there to begin with. He could only imagine how it must be for the brother, keeping a safe eye on such a fragile girl in this dangerous place.
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She gave herself a mental shake to dismiss that line of thought, offering the blond man -- Cloud, he'd introduced himself -- a smile of both understanding and regret that she couldn't do more. "I will," she promised, wondering if she should hope that they found their friend. If they did, it meant she was trapped in this place, but... perhaps it was better to know where she was than to wonder and worry. "I'll let you know if I hear anything, promise. I'm Nunnally... nice to meet you both."
AVALANCHE? Did that name sound familiar, somehow? Nunnally filed it away to think about later; perhaps the right context would remind her of where she'd heard it before.
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But he'd felt responsible for Aerith, and the fact that they had lost her so easily was wearing on him. He needed to make sure it didn't show.
"Thanks for humoring us," he said, allowing a smile to tug at the corner of his lips. "Sorry that we had to meet under circumstances like this." It almost made him wish that he could make it up to Nunnally at some point, but now clearly wasn't the time. Her brother would probably be here soon, and their job here was done.
The question was whether or not they kept searching. If this was the hallway that Aerith's room had been in, then they were pretty much at the end of the line. Just two more rooms. Nodding to the girl, Zack directed Cloud away, trying the next door, which housed another sleeping patient, and then moving to the last, which was occupied by a blond girl who was very much wrapped up in what she was doing and apparently didn't have much to say.
With a sigh, Zack turned to his friend. He didn't want to let this get him down, but Aerith was someone he cared about. He couldn't just brush this off. "Should we check the other two hallways?"
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He nodded at Zack. "Of course. We've checked this much, we might as well finish the job." Two halls was half the block. Though doubtful, there was still a chance they'd come across their friend, though that already small chance dwindled by the moment. If nothing else, they might run into one or both of the other female members of their group and they could compare notes.
Though he spoke his next thoughts out loud. "Unless you believe we're just wasting our time."
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"Yeah, let's check them out," he said with a shrug. "It's the least we can do." And it was also the last of his ideas. They'd tried the bulletin, and they were searching every room... What else could they do? It hadn't sounded like Yuffie had had any ideas about it, either.
But they had to take things one step at a time. Holding back a sigh, Zack turned them around and headed back down the hall and into the next.
[To here.]
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