Waking up, Hughes found himself disoriented. He felt like he'd slept in. It reminded him of lazy Sundays staying in bed with Gracia until well passed noon. But as he came fully awake, he remembered where he was. And he remembered the last thing he'd been doing...
There was no giant spider and no giant hole here. He was in his bed, feeling rested and sated and utterly confused. The intercom soon filled him in. He lay awake listening to it, a sense of urgent fear grabbing at him. What did it mean, people had been lost? He leapt out of bed, not thinking about much other than what the cryptic message could mean. He pulled on a clean shirt just as his door was opened by a nurse that was not his usual nurse.
"Time for breakfast, Mr Irving." This nurse smiled. She smiled in a very friendly manner, and not friendly like the other nurses. He only nodded, wanting to know exactly who had been 'lost'. He was distracted by the damage to the building, and he ignored his nurse in favor of that. It was cracked. It hadn't repaired
( ... )
Roy certainly hadn't expected his friend to be the first one in. Upon catching sight of Hughes, however, the alchemist exhaled. He hadn't even been aware of how concerned he had been until the relief was setting in.
Apparently Hughes had been uneasy himself. He glanced up and nodded. "Yeah, fine. You?" He was assuming all was well (for the two of them, at least)--so hopefully he could leave the rest of his worries until later. Taking a few bites of food, he motioned for Hughes to sit down.
As much as he didn't want to discuss and think and reason any more, his mind was alert and refreshed and ready for it.
"You saw the damage, didn't you? And do you also feel like you got to sleep for abnormally long?" He wanted to make sure it wasn't just him. He wanted to assure himself that it wasn't more strange side-effects of the transplanted eye.
"Yeah, I'm okay." Hughes nodded and sat, glancing about the room. It felt so empty. And not in the physical sense. He couldn't put his finger on it. He supposed it was the intercom's ominous message of those who had been lost. He hoped to see more familiar faces soon.
"Yeah, I did. And I do." He ran a hand over his face. "Last thing I remember, I was in the sun room and there was a giant spider. Then there was... a shift, I guess, and I'm waking up in my room feeling like I slept for a weekend." He leaned forward, though there was no one close to overhear.
They were both intact. That, for the moment, made Roy feel a tad bit better. He didn't doubt that something else would come up that would throw everything into disarray again, however.
"I was searching the therapist's offices with Alex," the colonel provided. "I ended up in a stairwell with her and since I didn't get anything from the medical wing before the building shifted around, I figured I could try to get something done." He shrugged. Too bad not much had come out of that search. "We didn't find anything of worth. Just some alcohol and cigarettes." Those could be considered things of worth to some people, but Roy had been searching for information.
Frowning, he leaned close as well. Instinct was to be quiet--somehow, someway, they could be eavesdropping. "No idea. Something big happened, though."
Sleep is a wonderful thing. And it was something that Son Goku very much was enjoying, and was quite reluctant to pull away from. He'd been barely conscious that night when the last explosion and shift made him lose it completely. And while he still had a bit of a headache, it was nothing compared to what he'd expected to feel.
The biggest way he could tell that he'd been asleep for quite a while was his stomach. He was starving... And a lot more than usual.
He was concerned with finding people, figuring out what had happened, and worried if they were okay or not. But his stomach protested loudly that it had to come first and foremost. So he grabbed some food and found a table. Maybe if he was lucky, they would find him first.
At first, upon waking, Sora had felt like he was home, where he could be lazy and everything was warm and he got to wake up whenever he wanted. It wasn't some uncomfortable Gummi ship chair, but a real bed. He wasn't functioning on six hours of sleep, but twelve.
A bit of half-asleep shifting revealed that the mattress wasn't nearly as comfortable as it should have been--not to mention the entire bed-spring creaked. And it was a very familiar creak
( ... )
While shovelling food into his mouth, Goku had been distracted by thoughts. Okay, so... they were in the medical wing. And they didn't come out with supplies... Or at least he hadn't. Maybe Roy and Lust did better? He'd seen Roy and Hughes talking to someone else, but there was time to find out more later... And then he couldn't help but worry about Yuuri. He knew that the other boy had a fever the last he'd seen, but maybe he'd managed to get lots of sleep too, and it was gone by now...
Oh. There was someone else talking to him. Giving the new person at his table a sheepish smile, Goku stopped eating long enough to answer. "Hi Sora... Is it just me, or is this place weirded out more than usual?"
Someone else had an appetite as large as his could be. Sora was impressed. He started to wolf his food down, pausing long enough to reply to Goku's inquiry. "It's not just you," he confirmed with a shake of his head. "Some of the building is messed up and the nurses are different." He didn't know what that truly meant, though. Was the staff change simply that--a staff change--or was there more to it?
Sora tried not to get too hung up on that sort of thing. Figuring things out hadn't exactly been his area of expertise. He was the one that kept everyone else going, that reminded everyone that things would work out-- but trying to uncover the secrets behind this place was a job better suited to someone else.
It felt like something deeper than sleep, once more. Lust opened her eyes, not entirely surprised to find herself staring at her ceiling. She felt limp and relaxed, and she supposed it was from whatever drugs those damned bugs had injected into her with their bites. She couldn't remember much, only running to the room with her legs growing numb, and then a strange sensation of bliss. Yuuri had passed out, and she supposed she had as well.
Blinking a few times, she stretched and listened as the intercom began its morning announcements. New staff? Lost patients? God, what had she missed in her drug induced stupor? She supposed she'd find out. She slipped out of bed, a smug smile on her face. Despite the drugs and being deterred from sacking the medical wing, Lust felt good. She had lost sight of too much. She hadn't truly realized, until last night, the unique opportunity this place afforded her. She was the master here. She held the power. She was the one who could call the shots and make use of those loyal to her.
( ... )
Instead of Haru, however, the former homunculus found someone far different stalking towards her. Scar's eyes had found Lust's seat in the cafeteria, instinctively and unknowingly appraising her as something a little more meaningful to express his rage to than toppled tables.
"What the hell is wrong with those bastards?" The warrior of God sat down across from her, beginning his biting complaints without any kind of introduction to the subject at hand. "I should have known better than to consider for a damned second that those murderers could think of anyone besides themselves and their own countrymen."
I'm such a fool, he would have added had he not known Lust would turn it against him.
He looked to her with narrowed eyes. The volume of his voice ascended slightly.
"And you should've known better than to feed me such worthless advice as that 'alliances' crap!"
Lust glanced up, her small smirk not slipping an inch. My, but he was in a foul mood this morning. Had the colonel upset him? Most likely. Boys never could play nicely, now could they?
"Trouble in paradise, scarred one?" she teased him, purring slightly. She rested her chin in her hand and watched him, her eyes amused. He had such rage inside of him. Such passion. She had always found it alluring, even in their first encounter in the library.
"And what have they done to wound you so? I've found their company to be nothing but pleasant. Not to mention useful. Why, the colonel's even protected me against a threat. And come now, you're being rather hypocritical. Among the four of us, we're all murderers, aren't we?"
"Some paradise this is," Scar snorted without humor, clenching a fist and slamming it down on the table. He glared at the woman. "Right, useful. As if that's a rare virtue in your eyes."
At the talk of hypocrisy and Scar's own shame, the warrior lowered both his head and the tone of his voice.
"The reason I'm a murderer is for the sake of the murdered." His eyes narrowed and he grit his teeth. He gazed down the length of his stolen arm. "Their enemies are of their own making. They killed all those they knew to do good and only left those too weak to follow.
He looked up towards the wall, the cracks in the ceiling. He brought his hand to his face.
Being forcefully woken in a groggy and dazed stupor was not normal. He didn't appreciate it and he knew, with reasonably little doubt, that if he woke up like this it spelled bad news. Either he'd been kidnapped for interrogation, or things were simply amiss.
His mouth was exceptionally dry, head felt fuzzy. Violet eyes finally focused on the figure so eagerly trying to rouse him. A nurse, and she wasn't happy. He'd never done anything to rouse their anger before...
"Good morning, Mr Grant," she began, eyes narrowed, "breakfast is currently being served. Keep up your routine."
Forcing himself to sit up, he gave a cursory look around and wondered just where in the hell he was now. And where was Reno?
This Tseng looked a bit tired, still, but he wasn't giving off the 'don't bother me' vibe, so Roy felt it wouldn't be a horrible idea to step over and say hello.
He stepped over to the man carefully, refraining from sitting down for the moment. "Hello there. I'm Roy Mustang, Hughes' friend." He turned to point out Hughes, who was still chatting with Fullmetal. "I met your friend, Reno, last night" - if it really had been last night - "and I felt I should introduce myself considering we're working for the same effort." If he were a different type of person, he would have awarded the stranger with a smile. But he wasn't, so his mouth was set into a serious expression.
Reno was shaken awake and realized somewhere in his habitual morning zombie mode two things: first that he was, dammit, late for work again, and second, his boss was going to kill him.
And then, slowly taking in his surroundings, he realized that none of the above was true.
Letting a particularly attractive nurse usher him out of his room, Reno let the events of recent past return to him, feeling rather like he'd slept through a very, very long staff meeting. Rubbing at one mako-green eye with a loosely clenched fist, the red-head wandered gradually into the cafeteria, absently noting that the building looked a little more battered than usual.
Well, damn, something sure went down while he was out.
Sliding into a seat, the Turk rested his head on his arms with a tired groan that sounded like a muffled oath. When was all of this going to end? ...He was just in the middle of starting his own pity party when he caught the sound of his name, reluctantly lifting his head.
...Was that Tseng? And... er, the Fire Guy? Mustang.
Someone had come over and started to talk to him, and though he watched and nodded at the appropriate times, he was startled when the other suddenly stopped. Admittedly, he was always rather quick with responses, but there was a serious delayed reaction here. And then the whole conversation caught up to him in one clarifying moment.
Hughes. That name was familiar.
Lowering one eyebrow, his violet eyes suddenly seemed focused a bit more. Offering a quick soft laugh, he rubbed his forehead, feeling foolish. "Hughes... Yes, I know Hughes... my apologies for the... distraction." there was plenty of space, but Tseng could understand why this... Roy (?) might not want to sit next to him.
At least he wasn't completely removed from people. That had been an initial concern of his, being singled out for being part of an attempt to escape. "Mind filling me in more on this... endeavor? I haven't heard a word of it from Reno just yet..."
Comments 293
There was no giant spider and no giant hole here. He was in his bed, feeling rested and sated and utterly confused. The intercom soon filled him in. He lay awake listening to it, a sense of urgent fear grabbing at him. What did it mean, people had been lost? He leapt out of bed, not thinking about much other than what the cryptic message could mean. He pulled on a clean shirt just as his door was opened by a nurse that was not his usual nurse.
"Time for breakfast, Mr Irving." This nurse smiled. She smiled in a very friendly manner, and not friendly like the other nurses. He only nodded, wanting to know exactly who had been 'lost'. He was distracted by the damage to the building, and he ignored his nurse in favor of that. It was cracked. It hadn't repaired ( ... )
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Apparently Hughes had been uneasy himself. He glanced up and nodded. "Yeah, fine. You?" He was assuming all was well (for the two of them, at least)--so hopefully he could leave the rest of his worries until later. Taking a few bites of food, he motioned for Hughes to sit down.
As much as he didn't want to discuss and think and reason any more, his mind was alert and refreshed and ready for it.
"You saw the damage, didn't you? And do you also feel like you got to sleep for abnormally long?" He wanted to make sure it wasn't just him. He wanted to assure himself that it wasn't more strange side-effects of the transplanted eye.
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"Yeah, I did. And I do." He ran a hand over his face. "Last thing I remember, I was in the sun room and there was a giant spider. Then there was... a shift, I guess, and I'm waking up in my room feeling like I slept for a weekend." He leaned forward, though there was no one close to overhear.
"What the hell happened?"
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"I was searching the therapist's offices with Alex," the colonel provided. "I ended up in a stairwell with her and since I didn't get anything from the medical wing before the building shifted around, I figured I could try to get something done." He shrugged. Too bad not much had come out of that search. "We didn't find anything of worth. Just some alcohol and cigarettes." Those could be considered things of worth to some people, but Roy had been searching for information.
Frowning, he leaned close as well. Instinct was to be quiet--somehow, someway, they could be eavesdropping. "No idea. Something big happened, though."
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The biggest way he could tell that he'd been asleep for quite a while was his stomach. He was starving... And a lot more than usual.
He was concerned with finding people, figuring out what had happened, and worried if they were okay or not. But his stomach protested loudly that it had to come first and foremost. So he grabbed some food and found a table. Maybe if he was lucky, they would find him first.
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A bit of half-asleep shifting revealed that the mattress wasn't nearly as comfortable as it should have been--not to mention the entire bed-spring creaked. And it was a very familiar creak ( ... )
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Oh. There was someone else talking to him. Giving the new person at his table a sheepish smile, Goku stopped eating long enough to answer. "Hi Sora... Is it just me, or is this place weirded out more than usual?"
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Sora tried not to get too hung up on that sort of thing. Figuring things out hadn't exactly been his area of expertise. He was the one that kept everyone else going, that reminded everyone that things would work out-- but trying to uncover the secrets behind this place was a job better suited to someone else.
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Blinking a few times, she stretched and listened as the intercom began its morning announcements. New staff? Lost patients? God, what had she missed in her drug induced stupor? She supposed she'd find out. She slipped out of bed, a smug smile on her face. Despite the drugs and being deterred from sacking the medical wing, Lust felt good. She had lost sight of too much. She hadn't truly realized, until last night, the unique opportunity this place afforded her. She was the master here. She held the power. She was the one who could call the shots and make use of those loyal to her. ( ... )
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"What the hell is wrong with those bastards?" The warrior of God sat down across from her, beginning his biting complaints without any kind of introduction to the subject at hand. "I should have known better than to consider for a damned second that those murderers could think of anyone besides themselves and their own countrymen."
I'm such a fool, he would have added had he not known Lust would turn it against him.
He looked to her with narrowed eyes. The volume of his voice ascended slightly.
"And you should've known better than to feed me such worthless advice as that 'alliances' crap!"
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"Trouble in paradise, scarred one?" she teased him, purring slightly. She rested her chin in her hand and watched him, her eyes amused. He had such rage inside of him. Such passion. She had always found it alluring, even in their first encounter in the library.
"And what have they done to wound you so? I've found their company to be nothing but pleasant. Not to mention useful. Why, the colonel's even protected me against a threat. And come now, you're being rather hypocritical. Among the four of us, we're all murderers, aren't we?"
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At the talk of hypocrisy and Scar's own shame, the warrior lowered both his head and the tone of his voice.
"The reason I'm a murderer is for the sake of the murdered." His eyes narrowed and he grit his teeth. He gazed down the length of his stolen arm. "Their enemies are of their own making. They killed all those they knew to do good and only left those too weak to follow.
He looked up towards the wall, the cracks in the ceiling. He brought his hand to his face.
"I murder because I can do nothing else."
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She paused at the intercom announcement and reached out.
There was the link to Alex, still secure.
Squall?
Nothing.
Aeris?
Nothing.
Shiva...
//Gone battle-sister. Quezacaotl, Ifrit, Carbuncle. They are not here.//
Hyne... let them be safe... let him be... safe.
She was numb, inside and out. She wasn't sure what food was placed in front of her, but she bagan to eat it automatically.
Keep up your strength, keep your body fed.
Shiva, Siren. Go over both myself and yourselves thoroughly. Report back any changes.
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His mouth was exceptionally dry, head felt fuzzy. Violet eyes finally focused on the figure so eagerly trying to rouse him. A nurse, and she wasn't happy. He'd never done anything to rouse their anger before...
"Good morning, Mr Grant," she began, eyes narrowed, "breakfast is currently being served. Keep up your routine."
Forcing himself to sit up, he gave a cursory look around and wondered just where in the hell he was now. And where was Reno?
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He stepped over to the man carefully, refraining from sitting down for the moment. "Hello there. I'm Roy Mustang, Hughes' friend." He turned to point out Hughes, who was still chatting with Fullmetal. "I met your friend, Reno, last night" - if it really had been last night - "and I felt I should introduce myself considering we're working for the same effort." If he were a different type of person, he would have awarded the stranger with a smile. But he wasn't, so his mouth was set into a serious expression.
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And then, slowly taking in his surroundings, he realized that none of the above was true.
Letting a particularly attractive nurse usher him out of his room, Reno let the events of recent past return to him, feeling rather like he'd slept through a very, very long staff meeting. Rubbing at one mako-green eye with a loosely clenched fist, the red-head wandered gradually into the cafeteria, absently noting that the building looked a little more battered than usual.
Well, damn, something sure went down while he was out.
Sliding into a seat, the Turk rested his head on his arms with a tired groan that sounded like a muffled oath. When was all of this going to end? ...He was just in the middle of starting his own pity party when he caught the sound of his name, reluctantly lifting his head.
...Was that Tseng? And... er, the Fire Guy? Mustang.
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Hughes. That name was familiar.
Lowering one eyebrow, his violet eyes suddenly seemed focused a bit more. Offering a quick soft laugh, he rubbed his forehead, feeling foolish. "Hughes... Yes, I know Hughes... my apologies for the... distraction." there was plenty of space, but Tseng could understand why this... Roy (?) might not want to sit next to him.
At least he wasn't completely removed from people. That had been an initial concern of his, being singled out for being part of an attempt to escape. "Mind filling me in more on this... endeavor? I haven't heard a word of it from Reno just yet..."
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