Night 70: M-A Block Hallway

[freewill]

[From here.]

Thankfully, Castiel had reached a point in the healing process where he was no longer being slowed down by it. There was still some tenderness in his middle, and he planned to keep his abdomen well guarded if he ended up in fight with some kind of creature, but he was no longer limping or dragging his feet as he moved down the hall.

It was a refreshing feeling, and for the first time in a long time he could tell that he was one of the first patients to make it out into the halls. If anything, realizing that only spurred him on. He reached the block's exit and carefully creaked the door open before stepping out into the next hallway.

[To here.]

Comments

[envy_the_sinners]

[From here]

Scar made his way into the darkness of the block hallway with more caution that he had in nights previous to his encounter with the beasts that had finished him off.

Which, thinking back on his conversation with Tsubaki a few nights ago, still weighed heavily on his paranoid mind.

His eyes were peeled for potential allies. He knew at least a couple of them (Scar was very limited on friends) were in this general area come nighttime.

[maverickhunterx]

[From here!]

How long had he been asleep? Had he really wasted an entire day?

Ugh, he felt like he wanted to sleep for a hundred years, and that wasn't adding the jumpiness in his muscles, or the too-reactive and yet not-reactive-enough quality that his limbs seemed to acquire in this void of time between his slip into unconsciousness and now.

X stepped into the hallway carefully and kept himself close to the wall. His flashlight beam was aimed towards the floor; enough to grant light, but not enough to blind an unsuspecting patient (but if it wasn't a patient...well, his wrist was quick enough to blind them, one would think).

He had to find someone. Anyone he knew, at this point, just to let him know what was going on.

What day was this?

How long had he slept?

Still hugging the wall, something filtered in his vision, obscured slightly by shadows playing with the light.

Something humanoid.

X stopped, raising his flashlight slightly; not enough to blind the person, but enough to at least try to give him a better idea of who it was. From the build, and what he was able to make out, it was rather familiar...

What was his name? His mind was foggy, possibly from oversleep (or lack of it?), and he couldn't seem to find it...

[dividedby]

[From here.]

Once he got inside the block, it didn't take long at all for Zero to find X, thankfully. A single sweep of his flashlight around the area was enough for him to spot a certain brown-haired figure near one of the walls. So he has been waiting here after all. Good... All of those alarmist thoughts could safely die away now. Zero moved toward his friend, readying some questions about the day...

...and then his steps slowed and filled with caution as he noticed X was standing near some man in robes that Zero was unfamiliar with. He'd seen the man around the Institute enough to know that he was also a prisoner here, but he'd never talked to him himself and didn't know his name. Was he a friend of X's? If not, then what was he doing here?

"X," the once-Reploid called out as he drew nearer, being careful not to speak too loudly. He looked at X to address him of course, but was also quick to stare at the other man, as if to quietly ask, And just who are you?

[stop_the_rain]

[from here]

He ran into a gathering quicker than he was used to. Murphy slowed down, flashlight angled down so as not to blind anyone. He squinted, looking at...

It was Scar! Someone he recognized and knew. That was always a positive. "Hey!" he called, nodding in greeting since he couldn't lift either of his hands. One was keeping his light from blinding anyone and the other was dragging the chair.

He didn't recognize the two who were also milling around here. But he probably couldn't recognize most people in the institute. Well, maybe now he'd have a chance to ask Scar about that whole 'being dead' thing. He was pretty curious about that.

[envy_the_sinners]

First, there was that young man called X, who seemed to be with one of his own companions. They seemed slightly apprehensive. Perhaps the poor lighting-

"I'm not dangerous," he spoke at them down the hallway. Which was true... to an extent.

Then Murphy. Scar's characteristically tense posture eased as the other man approached. He nodded in return.

"You've been all right?" he growled by way of greeting. He hadn't seen Murphy, the closest person he had as a genuine friend, in quite some time. Certainly not after the... incident. Scar's hand absentmindedly rubbed at his throat.

[maverickhunterx]

Oh, good, X wanted to say, just as Zero opened his mouth. I've been looking for you. This is someone I've met before...

But then there was one other, joining the fray. Who was he? Someone he hadn't seen before, that was for sure, but then...X had generally kept to himself, hadn't he?

He mentally kicked himself; he needed to get out of that habit. In a situation like this, a more extensive network of contacts was more beneficial for survival.

They seem to know each other, he thought.

The two spoke amongst themselves (What was the larger man's name? He'd seen him before, he knew, but when he tried to remember his name, it got foggy...something that began with an 's'...), and X turned to Zero for a split second, nodding.

"You look better."

[dividedby]

...Zero was just going to assume for now that the man in robes was indeed X's friend. Either way, he was quick to read the once-Reploid's caution; though instead of answering that statement the stranger made about it, Zero just stared at him quietly. Not dangerous, huh. He'd be the judge of that...after watching him for awhile. Although admittedly, there wasn't much of a reason to doubt him right now, besides the fact that Zero didn't know him. After all, he was a prisoner, too...it wasn't very likely that he would be on Landel's side.

Then someone else approached who clearly seemed to know X's assumed friend. Zero turned to look, but all at once was hit with a strange...awkward feeling. He knew that face. Maybe not the name, but definitely the face. How could he forget when several nights ago, he in a brainwashed state had tried to kill...

...never mind. The man didn't seem to recognize Zero, and anyway, that was in past now. No need to bring it up. Zero forced himself to stop staring and instead looked at X, who he was a little late in reacting to. "Are these your friends?" he asked, nodding his head in the direction of the other men. Not a demand, just a simple question. He was going to give them the benefit of the doubt...especially the one he kind of owed something to thanks to that particular night's events.

[ever_loyal_dog]

[from here]

Soushi exited the room into the dark hallway. The air was still and this time there was no lingering scent of blood. He took it for a good sign and pressed on. Having achieved his first goal, finding his supposed belongings, he had to move on to the next.

[to here]

[fullmetalheart]

[from here

Ed turned into the new hallway, not having run into anything and traveled down it, keeping an eye on the room numbers of the subhalls he passes to watch for the one his brother and Scar are in.

[to here]

[repelling]

[ from here ]

Although his room kept changing, the hallway had remained the same, leaving him familiar with the next turn. He had not yet visited the block housing the female rooms, but he knew where it was, and the route followed that which he expected most would take. F2, he remembered, mentally repeating it.

Right in the next hall, then a few strides, and right again. Uryuu moved at a brisk pace.

[ skipping west wing south hall 1-a to here ]

[nobleman]

[From here.]

At this point Guy easily remembered Luke's room number, having gone there a few times to check on him. It was only as he walked through the door that he realized he hadn't explained to Claude that they would be making this detour, though, and so he looked over his shoulder at him as he started for the correct hallway.

"I wasn't able to find Luke at Doyleton today," he said. "I'm not sure if he went or not, but I decided to leave a note for him in his room to explain what we're doing, unless we don't make it back here for some reason."

That almost made it sound ominous, but this might be something really good that they'd stumbled upon. He felt terrible for Luke being left behind, but hopefully his friend would understand that this was an opportunity that they had to take. Guy knew that Luke could hold up the fort back here until they came back and got him.

[earthling]

Seeing how they were apparently almost to their first destination of the evening, Claude figured now wasn't the time to launch into how his gift worked. "It might be better to explain when we're not in a hurry," he said him with a small, apologetic smile. As much as he enjoyed indulging Guy with all the technical details, he figured his friend would understand.

Of course, his smile faded a bit when he heard that Luke had been scarce today. That didn't necessarily mean something bad had happened to him, but with his track record of past disappearances, it was a bit worrisome.

"That's a good idea," he said as he followed Guy into the next hall. It was pretty ominous to consider that they might not come back, but Claude had been here long enough to know that one couldn't be too careful.

((To here.))

[6toleadus]

[from here]

6 soon found himself in a much bigger hallway. Shining his light this way and that as he walked, he saw that there were other long rows of doors that matched the ones he had seen before. Did all of those doors lead to similar rooms? Were there people who lived in all of them? If so, where were they?


[to here]