Night 49: Mystic Healing Spa and Acupuncture

[allroadslead]

[from here]The first thing that hit him was the heady smell of incense, like he'd just walked into one of those touristy occult shops that occasionally fronted for the real deal. Sam spun around, blinking. Where had they

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[notthistrain]

[from here]

--and was immediately incredibly disoriented, staggering into something - a counter - that hadn't been there just a moment before. It was darker all of a sudden, and he could hear the sound of rain falling heavily outside.

Outside?

Cloud glanced up. Whereas moments before they'd been out in the open, standing in the middle of an abandoned town, they were now definitely inside. He hadn't even walked through a door this time, yet here they were. A glance to either side told him that he wasn't alone. Zack and Yuffie had been pulled along as well. What was this, another trick of Landel's? Had they even been to their homeworld at all?

"You guy's all right...?" The blond squinted out the windows and through the downpour. Something about the area was familiar, and he realized they were back under the Institute's jurisdiction (if they'd ever left it) and this was the town he'd been in just that afternoon. This meant potential danger, and he kept his ears open

[zack_fair]

Zack had been preparing to cut into the mini-argument Cloud and Yuffie had been having about whether to search the town further by just running off to get started, but before he got the chance, the landscape surrounding them suddenly blurred away and he found himself losing his balance. He almost stumbled into Cloud, but managed to regain his bearings to try and figure out what had just happened

[thatdamnedninja]

She’d been just about to argue back, when all of a sudden-

-It was a little like getting whacked over the head by Magic Hammer, spun in a circle twenty five times, and then being pushed off a speeding hoverboard. Yuffie staggered, feeling momentarily drunk. “W-What the…”

How? How was this even happening?! One second they’d been in Kalm, the next, they were standing in some building, in the rain, and her stuff was gone! Yuffie’s squawk of outrage was tiny, but heartfelt. How dare they! How dare they, how dare Landel, toss them around like they were nothing; give them things, give them their home, warp it, take it away again, give them… ugh

[notthistrain]

"I don't know what any of that was." Cloud shook his head. Whether it had been real or not, they were clearly being messed with. They hadn't ended up in that empty version of his homeworld on accident. He was momentarily reminded of Gil, and wished they'd let the chocobo free rather than left it in the stables on the Highwind. Who knew when someone else might be able to get to him to feed him? Of course, this was assuming that the bird had been real, or that the others wouldn't reappear there the moment they left

[zack_fair]

Chocobutt? That was quite the nickname. At least he wasn't the only one who was verbally abused; Zack sent his friend an amused smirk, figuring that Cloud was already used to Yuffie's personality quirks.

When the girl looked to him for details on the Shin-Ra simulations, he nodded in affirmation. They were thinking along the same lines, which was kind of disturbing if he thought too hard about it. Still, they could theorize as much as they wanted without actually getting to any real answers. Running around in circles wasn't going to do them much good, but it seemed clear that their homecoming had been a sham.

Zack wasn't sure what to think of that. It hadn't been the time or place for him, though he realized that there wasn't any time where his existence in Gaia would make sense. It was the sort of thing he didn't want to think too hard about. Even if he got out of this place, what happened then

[thatdamnedninja]

"Any time you wanna stop treating me like a kid," Yuffie hissed back at Zack, recognizing his tone.

Still, since it was Cloud who'd dished out the (unspoken) order, Yuffie was willing to suck up her pride. "Head's the weak spot," she lingered long enough to say. "I could down one with a single rock-throw from ten feet, center or temple. Or, y'know, just chop their heads off."

Information given, she turned, brushing past Zack to search for an exit. The shambling was growing closer, the stench of corpses growing steadily stronger. Yuffie wrinkled her nose. They made for an easy fight, sure, but they were so gross. And Mr. Big Bad SOLDIER dude's attitude wasn't helpin' any. What was he expecting? For her to do something dumb, get somebody hurt? Get real!

It didn't take her very long to spot a way out. Whether it led out or just to some other room, she didn't know, but maybe it didn't matter. Wasn't like tonight was making any sense anyway. "Over here, c'mon," she said. "Sounds like it's clear this way. We should be a-okay."

[notthistrain]

Heads. Right. That was simple enough.

It looked like Yuffie had found a back door, which was fortunate. He'd hoped they wouldn't have to go back through the front where there would be undead gathering - even if they weren't that difficult to take down.

Cloud waited until the other two were ahead and at the door before following. Then he moved to the front again, putting his ear to the door just in case there was more of the zombies waiting for them on the other side. Hearing nothing, he figured now was as good a time to head out as any. The longer they stood around, the more chance enemies would have to sniff them out and gather.

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