[Action/Audio]
[It had been a while, too long really, since he'd shut himself into his room following his transformation. He needed to get up and move...
Uncurling from his seated position on the floor, he stands up a little shakily.]
How long have I been down here? [He thinks fuzzily as he sways and has to catch himself on the nearest piece of furniture, which happens to be the deeply scratched table.] How did that happen?
[The days following the transformation event had passed in a blur of jumbled emotions and turbulent thoughts and through them all, two people had helped him through it as best they could. And it was to the first that his thoughts now turn. Lucrecia. He needed to talk to her, make sure she was all right and to thank her and if nothing else just look at her again and if he was lucky maybe even seen her smile. Hojo be dammed.
He walks unsteadily to the door, opens it and makes his way down the hall to where he knew her room to be. He stops and raises his fist to knock, only something doesn't seem quite right. He doesn't know what it is and this new unknown makes him nervous. Leaning in towards the door he knocks softly and calls,]
"Dr. Crescent?"
[There is no answer.] Not very surprising, [he thinks nervously,] she's probably just in her lab, wherever that is. [He knocks again, this time trying the doorknob, thinking he'll just poke his head in to make sure she's all right.] "Lucrecia?" [He calls a little louder, and the door opens silently.]
[This sends a jolt of fear and wariness through him. Mentally cursing that he had neglected to bring Cerberus, he eases silently into the room and stops cold. He doesn't need a light to see that the room is empty. It's not empty as though its occupant was simply out and would return a few hours. It was empty as though its occupant had never occupied it at all.]
"No..." [he breathes as his eyes dart around the room looking for any sign of having been lived in, a scrap of clothing, a pencil, a jar... something! But there is nothing.]
[How many times had he seen this happen before? How many plaintive questions of "Have you seen..." or "Where is..." or the dreaded "They're gone..." had he heard but just brushed off? He couldn't dismiss the "disappearances" anymore, because now it has happened to him. Someone near and dear to him has disappeared and he cannot move, cannot think, can barely even react. The part of his brain that continues to work hopes that wherever she's gone to is a better place than where she came from, that she can finally achieve the happiness that he had always wanted for her. The rest of him... the selfish part of him wanted her back, even if he could never have her.
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the mognet device and turns on the audio function. Now, it's his turn.]
"She's gone," [his voice is hoarse, as though he hasn't used it in a long time.] "Her- her room is empty. Can anyone tell me if there is any way to communicate with those who have gone? I- I need to know that she's all right..."
[He sinks to the floor, burying his face in his hand and waits for an answer from someone... anyone...]