Night 68: Main Hallway, 1-West

[his_legacy]

[From here]

And there he was. Link stood near the wall, idly tapping the toe of his boot against the ground as he waited for Soma and the others she had recruited. He doubted they would take long. Soma seemed like a competent young woman. Hopefully that meant that she would have found strong allies to take with them.

He stood with his flashlight, along with the katana she had allowed him to borrow. Link was in his tunic from home, as he always was at night.

[For Soma and the Green Team!]

Comments

[firewhichrefines]

[[from here]]

A quick glance up and down the length of the hall revealed no shock of blond hair, and the briefest flicker of the Sharingan no familiar ice-blue chakra. With any luck their timing would be as convenient as last night and no cause for delay -- Sasuke lounged against the wall in a patch of shadow to wait, shinobi training winning out now that he could locate the best spots to remain unnoticed and unseen.

[idolism]

_{[from here]}

After days of dividing his attention between the experimental transformations and the caverns (with only mediocre progress on both counts), Aidou knew something had to change if he wanted better results. The basement was waiting, and they needed all the time they could get if they were going to proceed across the subterranean lake and learn what was on the other shore.

With that in mind, Aidou was willing to trust Aigis could manage herself for a night. He had his sights set on the caverns, and the sting of impatience was quite the potent motivator.

Aidou headed straight to the meeting point, giving the other matters on his mind no more thought. When he got there, he scanned the hallway in either direction. He didn't see his new cellmate--maybe the man would get himself lost and fail to irritate Aidou further.

[firewhichrefines]

[[SORRY I TOTALLY FORGOT I DIDN'T RESPOND TO THIS ;A;]]

It didn't take long for that shock of blond to enter the hall -- crisp and clear enough that Sasuke was almost satisfied with the quality of his vision, the way he could pick out the familiar trained, stiff-necked posture in the thinning crowd of patients passing through.

It was clear that Sasuke had melted himself into the shadows more effectively than previous nights, too, the contrast between light and dark becoming something increasingly second-nature to identify: but of course, in that selfsame awareness, there was the irony that Aidou had spoken to earlier.

They would need to give something to the skeletal boatman tonight.

Sasuke let that thought fall by the wayside for the moment, at least, opting to lean away from the wall and step out to fall into step beside Aidou, movements easy in a way that he hadn't known when blind.

"Are you ready?"

[idolism]

"You certainly seem so."

Sasuke did seem in good health, his faculties stronger with every night Aidou saw him. The boy's improving sight was one small silver lining in an otherwise very dark cloud.

He turned his gaze away from the rest of the corridor and concentrated on Sasuke. "As for myself, I'm prepared to press on. Something productive ought to come out of all of his wasted time, hm? Let's get this silly teleportation thing out of the way before we suddenly blackout again."

[firewhichrefines]

Ready was an understatement: the return of Alphonse Elric and his brother seemed almost cyclical, a reminder of exactly how long it had been since Sasuke had woken up to the grey walls of the Institute and exactly how little he had accomplished since then, how much he had changed. Sound had taught Sasuke to rely on no one he hadn't hand-picked himself: the Institute had erased that caveat.

"Let's move, then," he said, calm acknowledgment of Aidou's acquiescence, and placed his hand unerringly on one shoulder before smashing the ring against the wall. Sight: and he thought he'd known its use before now.

[[to here]]