Night 49: Main Hallway, 1-West

[contentincloset]

[from here]When he rounded the corner into the larger hallway, Kurogane determined to put the thoughts of being the only patient there aside. Even if that were the case, it didn't change his final goal for the night. The magician would have been helpful, but he was confident enough in his own ability to get things done

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[thatdamnedninja]

[From here]

Alright, that decided it! Tonight, she'd go after her file and Hanna's stuff.

Yuffie would have liked to dig up the others', too, but she realised with a jolt that she didn't even know what to look for. She'd never thought to ask about their fake names. Damn, that was sloppy of her! Bad ninja, no cookie, blah-de-blah

[zack_fair]

[From here. And this mutt is not stinky!]

The moment he hit the end of the hallway as it crossed with the next one, Zack halted in his jog and used his flashlight to take a quick look around. There were a few patients here already: some guy who looked like definite soldier material, a teenage girl and boy, and then--

While Yuffie was far from his top choice of person he'd want to run into, she was still someone from Gaia. More than that, she was informed, armed, and may have somehow made plans with Cloud or Aerith. Besides, she'd probably spotted him by now, so Zack shrugged his shoulders and strode over to her.

Despite the jogging, Zack was far from being short of breath. He would have had to run a lot farther before he got to that point, and so he was able to easily wave to the ninja in greeting. It was still so bizarre, just how much she'd grown, and yet he knew that she would have been a responsibility rather than a help in her younger years.

Of course, he still would jump to protect her if something happened, but she was

[thatdamnedninja]

Oh, geez. Zack? Was so not who she'd had in mind. Yuffie eyed the man, hoping that he'd just mosey on by. Nope, no such luck; pretty soon he was waving, and then he was just invitin' himself over, all blasé and look at me I'm a badass SOLIDER mutt.

… Oh, alright. Fine. Maybe he wasn't trying to strut his stuff. Yet. But that didn't mean he wouldn't, and Yuffie swore, swore, that if he tried for even a minute to pull rank-or age!-on her, he was so in for it. His pockets would be picked. So picked. Not that they'd have anything worth picking in them

[notthistrain]

[straight from here]

There was a familiar voice cutting clear across the others before Cloud even reached the main hall, and he was glad to have been right in his assumption. Turning the corner, he caught sight of not only Yuffie, but Zack as well.

He also caught the tail end of their conversation, and that part worried him. Not the best topic to start the evening on. Maybe this place had allowed him a few more moments with the girl that he wouldn't have had otherwise, but it was still unfair to just snatch her away afterward. She deserved more than that. Her and Zack together.

But the latter was still here, and Cloud managed a smile for both of them, saying nothing in response to Yuffie's question. He hadn't seen her either, of course, and the ninja had just named the only others he'd run into while on the trip. Really, he wanted to hear Zack's answer for himself.

[sdatislife]

[[From here.]]

Shinji stepped out into the main hallway and paused. His flashlight wasn't working quite right - it was dim and flickering. Just his luck, he supposed. The batteries were running down. He sighed and his shoulders dropped. How was he supposed to get around now? He couldn't see where he was going and he still didn't know where any of his friends actually spent their time. And he certainly wasn't going to try climbing upstairs again by himself. Not after what had happened last time. He shuddered and slumped against the wall to wait. Maybe they'd show up. Eventually.

[[For Asuka, Kaworu and Rei.]]

[moral_liberty]

[From here.]Kaworu slowed in the open hallway. The feelings left by his room and by the night before fell away, leaving pieces on the floor. He imagined it all crumbling and leaving him new, but could not believe it so until he saw the figure against the wall. Shinji

[sdatislife]

Shinji was starting to hate this place at night. It was alright during the day. It was calm, quiet, there was food and no one tried to make him fight horrific monsters while piloting a biomechanical monstrosity. He shuffled his feet, staring at the floor. What was he going to do? He wasn't sure. He glanced up and almost jumped out of his skin when he noticed that someone had just come out of nowhere to stand next to him. Who-?

It was Kaworu. A hesitant smile rose to his face and he shrugged. "I... I'll try not to be. H-how are you?"

[moral_liberty]

Kaworu's smile dulled, but did not drop entirely. It was a question that he had been asked many times in his life. Like Lilim, he did not often consider it in any detail. It was only a reflex. A custom. At this moment, elsewhere, others were saying those same words, forming an identical question. To most, it was an incomplete gesture of intimacy, although it was said with affection. Kaworu believed Shinji said it with affection. What answer was expected, that was unclear. Did Shinji wish to know the contents of Kaworu's mind, or did he wish for Kaworu to know what resided in Shinji's heart

[ai_no_minako]

[from here]

So this was the direction she'd gone earlier -- farther down this hall was the door to the Sun Room, and she'd seen that. Minako wasn't terribly interested in hanging out in either library or crafts room, since popsicle sticks and glitter wouldn't do her any good against monsters if any decided to show their ugly faces. The hallway had extended past that door, though, so maybe there was something that way?

"If I were an evil mastermind who kidnapped people and trapped them in a hospital that wasn't a hospital...where would I be?" she mused, absently chewing on her bottom lip. Maybe...that way? She pointed her flashlight in a random direction, shrugged, and started to walk. Couldn't hurt, could it?

[ai_no_minako]

[to here]

[falseblack]

[From here. Also to be joined by a brother.]

Before long, Nigredo found the dizzy spells too overwhelming, and he slumped against a wall to recuperate. His mind had yet to make up its mind about the night's activities, but a small portion began to form a small task. He considered raiding the medical storage he, Mitsuru, and Endrance had reached a week before, the venture where the boy had used the name of his cat as an alias. It would have to have an icepack, something to quell the urge to vomit. To make breathing a little easier.

Though, if not, he supposed he could find a corner. He held no room for propriety at the moment.

[purpletaint]

[from here]

And should he question this, to go where one was led? He thought for and against and came up without. Nigredo was always clear. In a darkened hall, his brother's consciousness all but shone. Too easy was it to cross to him, halt before him with a hand carefully placed on a hip. There lay something broken in front of him; broken as he would be, had been, was, is, and that spoke somewhere between horror and want.

"Maybe instead," he started, as if finishing a conversation instead of being up events from a week prior. "You should ask me to take you somewhere." Albedo watched his brother, then his lips moved in the slightest of smiles.

Eyes however did not lie, lay disillusioned behind a steady gaze.

[falseblack]

There, before bearings could be recovered, stood Albedo, standing as though his presence had been called for. And when had he approached? Nigredo carefully tilted a head, eyes searching for the missed opening. None could be found, of course. He had to admit the boy had allowed his attention to slip; by now, he had lost count of the times his elder had managed to invade his space without him knowing.

Nigredo edged away from the wall, his good hand pressing the injured against his torso. A look existed in Albedo's face that reminded him of previous sleep, and in response, the contents of his stomach rose to the roof of his mouth. He turned toward the wall and emptied vomit and spit to the floor.

It was a minute before Nigredo addressed his brother, though the words came with more clarity than what might have been expected from one of his condition. "Why?" he muttered. "I don't have anywhere to go."

[purpletaint]

Kindness evaporated before it had fully surfaced; dispersed after a careful look and sickness thrown. He was caught off-guard at that, surprise taking the place left on his expression as his brother turned to expel the contents of his stomach. There was something of disgust in this, something gracing distaste in what remained, and by the time Nigredo replied something had slid, shifted, moved past this to--

Ah, but. Even as the reaction slid to bubble under his skin, he remembered. He had been this way hours before. Rejecting everything within him at a rekindled thought, something that had been just forgotten, put aside only to be remembered. Yes. He had been here.

It wasn't quite compassion but it slid to understanding. He remained where he was, arms moving to cross and grab opposite hips. "...Away is sometimes a good enough answer. Away from this place."

[gargantuanlaugh]

[From here]

Now, which way was the exit again? Gant had still been half asleep when he had left the Sun Room and his memory of this hallway was a little fuzzy. Did he need to turn left or right?

Shrugging, the chief chose a direction and began heading right. If he happened to run into a dead end, all he needed to do was turn around and try again. He wasn't sure if this lack of security would last all night, but by the movement of the other patients, it seemed no one else was in any particular hurry. He would take his time for now.

[Unknowingly waiting for his old partner in crime~]

[fourstonewalls]

[up from here]

Lana strode across the hall at a brisk walk, her journal tucked under her arm like a file. It was a walk that would have set her epaulets swinging and her scarf trailing behind her like a flag; without them, she looked smaller. Shorter. Her shoulders too square, her walk too fast, and if she could feel it, there was no way he'd miss the tell-tale signs. She came to a halt just a hair out of breath in front of her former boss, and instinctively tucked her hair back before juggling her flashlight over to her left hand and extending her right.

"Chief Detective. It's a pleasure to see a familiar face." That was a bold-faced lie, but it was the sort of lie they'd spent years perfecting. And perhaps it wasn't entirely a lie; the Head Doctor's artificial joviality seemed to dim in comparison, though she would reserve judgement until she'd found out exactly what had happened to her sister.

"I'm afraid I don't have much time for pleasantries. Walk with me?" She didn't call the shots; he was as likely to say no

[gargantuanlaugh]

[Gah! Sorry for the late fail!]

Well, I'll be damned! "Lana!" This was a most unexpected turn. He had noted the returning patients remark the Head Doctor had announced, but never in a million years would he have guessed his former partner was among them. From what had transpired the day before, it was likely she would still be charged with some sort of crime. By all rights, she should have remained detained by the precinct. But then again, he was under fire for murder and had somehow still been mixed up with the Glover fellow. He supposed it wasn't too surprising that Lana had also been mixed up, and this place had shown it had a knack for locking away perfectly sane people, if Gren was to be believed. But then, how did Lana become a "returning patient" when he had talked with her just the day before? Had only some new patients been sent on Landel's little field trip today? Something was off here

[fourstonewalls]

She could tell him. There wasn't a damn thing he could do to make it worse, and it wasn't like he didn't know how much her sister meant to her. Turn the very advantage he had over her into her only leverage. Sometimes the best thing to do was to spring the trap; you just had to be braced for the consequences. She forced herself not to run for the stairs; instead, she met his jovial grin with the well-practiced sigh of a much-put-upon old friend and colleague. Both were masks; they had to be, here. Not even Damon Gant would look at kidnapping and torture as water-cooler conversation and no more.

Though he might not know about the torture or the monsters yet. This was a golden opportunity to see how much he'd found out in what could only be a day's stay at most.

"Ema's been taken upstairs." Four little words, dropped into the silence. Now to see what would bite.