damned_institute | Night 70: M1-M10 Hallway

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Night 70: M1-M10 Hallway

After exchanging radio numbers, Uryuu picked at the salad in relative silence. Once sure he really couldn't be bothered with another bite, he set about arranging his things for the night. The sound of the intercom stirred his attention, and he looked up, waiting for the static. As ever, a nice addition to the atmosphere. He could still appreciate that, despite himself.

Grateful, indeed. Nook or cranny probably referred to the newly found passage in the library, which stirred Uryuu's curiosity further. Tomorrow, perhaps, unless Kratos-san did the unexpected and really did call. The very thought had his mouth curling with dry amusement, which failed to reach his eyes, narrowing with irritation. The doctor's spiel was the usual, and yet...

"Someday," he groused, "I'm going to put an arrow in that man's throat."

Uryuu said it, but did not swear -- not to his pride as a Quincy, not to anything. Not because he doubted he could, but because it wouldn't be practical in the moment. Much as he would aim to maim, not kill, to make speaking impossible, that would be a problem. They would want him to speak, after all.

As gratifying as imagining that future was, it only wasted time in the moment. The door unlocked, and almost simultaneously, Uryuu felt the pressure of the spirit particles filling the air. He reached, seeking Inoue-san, and felt nothing like. Pressing his teeth together, he nodded to Tsurugi-kun (expecting him off) and stood, to set about changing into the uniform. It was an obnoxious thing to have to choose, but unfortunately, better than the sweater and ill-fitting pants he'd be forced to wear during the day. Placing the toy radio in his pocket alongside the key ring and two pens, he lifted his pillowcase turned bag(with its two sweatshirts, journal, and his room radio) and slid it over his shoulder.

Wasteful as it was, he left the bat in the closet. Vantas-kun seemed to have disappeared as well, and it had never properly gotten to Inoue-san. Tonight it would just get in the way. Ready, he started into and down the hall, clutching his flashlight switched off.

[ to here ]

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[from here]

Well, that was Errand #1 finished. Next up, Luke's room!

As soon as she left M1, Anise went straight to M6 just a short walk away, and knocked on the door. There was no answer, so she poked her head inside. It was dark and quiet, but... oh, she could hear the faint sound of someone breathing. Could it be...?

Sure enough, Luke was fast asleep in his bed. After some unsuccessful attempts to nudge him awake, it looked like leaving a note was going to be Anise's only option. She seated herself at his desk, poked around until she found a pen and something to write on, and began to think of how to word her note for him. She couldn't take too long, though - Guy and Claude could be waiting on her!

((From here.))

Once Guy led the way to Luke's room -- M6, as it turned out -- all Claude could do was hope they wouldn't find an empty room...or worse, a room occupied by someone else.

There was no reason to mention his concerns out loud, though, least of all when Claude himself had spent all day snoozing. Maybe the same thing had happened to Luke? With only one way to find out, Claude knocked on the door.

In the end, Guy couldn't blame Claude for not wanting to explain everything about the data storage device when they were already in a hurry. There would always be another time to discuss it, though then again, that depended on how things went tonight. Still, there was a good chance that they would be waking up in their beds again tomorrow morning, which meant that Guy could always track Claude down tomorrow to ask about it.

Guy allowed Claude to knock, and he secretly hoped that there would be a response. It would be much better if they could just tell Luke things in person, rather than having to leave a note. That just felt so impersonal.

Anise nearly dropped the pen in her hand when the silence of the room was suddenly shattered by a knock on the door. She didn’t think anyone would try to come in while she was there. What to do? It didn’t look like Luke was going to answer the door, but it was kind of weird to answer it when it wasn’t even her room… but not answering would look even weirder, if they came in and saw her sitting there.

But being seen sneaking into a man’s room at night… what if the visitor started spreading weird rumors because of this? Maybe it would be okay if it was about her and Luke, but still, what about Anise’s reputation for being pure and innocent?

Reluctantly, Anise stood up, made her way over to the door, and slowly opened it, anticipating an awkward conversation. But when she saw who was there, her eyes widened. “Guy! Claude! You came to see Luke, too?”

If Guy came all this way, it had to mean he didn’t meet Luke during the day, either. Anise opened the door wider to let the others see inside, gesturing to the sleeping redhead. “I wonder if he’s been like that all day.” And, before they could ask what she was doing in there, “I was just in the middle of writing a note.” On the desk, there was a note half-written in Anise's cutesiest handwriting that looked more like the beginning to a love letter than anything.

Although he was initially surprised to find Anise, of all people, at the door, Claude realized that it probably would have been weird if she hadn't come here. After all, she and Guy were both good friends of Luke's. Of course they would both worry about him.

Maybe it was with good reason, especially when Anise pointed out his current state. Not that it was any reason to panic, seeing how Claude himself had woken up from his own nap not that long ago. Still, he couldn't say it was a good sign, either.

"Good idea," Claude said. "We were just thinking we might have to do the same thing."

"Anise?" Though Guy was initially surprised to see her there, he also had to admit that it made sense. All of them wanted to make sure that Luke knew what was going on before they just took off. Between Anise's presence here and Luke's sleeping form on the bed, it seemed pretty obvious that he hadn't even gone into town today.

"I actually already wrote him something," Guy said as he stepped into the room, moving toward Luke's desk so he could set the pillow case he was carrying down onto the chair. He went digging through it until he found the solitary piece of paper he'd written on at dinner.

"Guess it's good to cover all our bases." Besides, both he and Anise deserved the chance to say what they needed to, in the event that they might not be seeing Luke for a while.

Guy set the note on the desk. It read as follows:

Hey there, Luke. I tried to find you in town, but it looks like you may have been sleeping all day. I thought you'd grown out of that lazy phase?

Anyway, I wanted to let you know that Anise, Claude, and I might not be around the institute for a while. We think we've found a way out of here -- not back home, but at least out of the institute's reach. If that's the case, then it might be a while before we can come back and get you.

I don't like it and neither does Anise, but I know you can handle things back here if we're gone for a while. And I'm sure you already know there's no way we'd really leave you behind, right?

Hang in there. And if this doesn't work out how we're planning, then I'll see you tomorrow.

- Guy

It still bothered him, especially since Luke was showing signs that might lead to his disappearance, and it didn't feel right to leave things like this. But they didn't have any other choice at the moment.

Guy already had a note prepared? Well, that was just like him. Anise agreed; it was probably best for both of them to get to say their piece to Luke. She sat down and quickly finished her letter, writing hastily but still taking the time to add the occasional doodled heart or cutesy flair to her writing.

To my dearest Luke,

I'm so glad I found you here! I looked all over for you today. It's too bad we couldn't talk face to face, because I've got something really important to tell you!

Me and Guy and Claude were exploring, and I think we found something big. It might even be a way out! ♥ But we’re not sure yet. We’re going to check it out tonight! But if it really is a way out, we might not be able to come back for a while. So if we disappear suddenly, don’t freak out, okay? We’re probably totally fine!

If we end up being apart for a while, I’ll think about you every day! ♥ You’ll think about me too, right? But don’t worry, we won’t be apart for long! We'll come back for you - promise!

See you again soon!
Love, Anise ♥

And it was done! Anise set her note down next to Guy's, stood back up, and nodded to the two others. "Okay... I guess that's that. Are we ready to go?" She pulled out her bone bracelet to show that she was.

She still felt a little bad about leaving Luke like this. It kind of reminded her of the last time they did this, back in the Qliphoth... Of course, back then, Anise didn't care one bit about how Luke felt about being left behind. Now, circumstances were totally different. She hoped he didn't feel like they were abandoning him, or anything.

Claude hadn't expected the actual note-leaving to go so quickly, but it was just as well. Nighttime wouldn't last forever, and for once it looked like they were about to make some serious progress. When he thought about it that way, though, he imagined they were pretty reluctant to leave Luke behind like this. Hopefully, they were doing everyone a favor by going ahead and investigating their latest find.

When his friends had finished, Claude took out his own bone bracelet. "Yeah," he answered, "that should cover everything, so we can probably start out countdown whenever."

It was too bad he hadn't had a chance to say anything to Lloyd or his own mother, but Claude did have every intention of returning to the institute in one way or another. There was no way he could abandon everyone here.

It was true that there were other people who they should have let know about this, but Guy's hope was that Luke would pass on information about their whereabouts to whoever else needed to know. Provided that he didn't disappear, anyway. Guy hoped that wouldn't happen, because then there really wouldn't be any sign of what happened to them. He'd told Edward about it, but other than that...

Guy shook his head, dispelling all of his doubts because it was too late to rethink things like that now. He pulled out his bracelet and exchanged glances with both Anise and Claude. He was curious to know what Anise had written to Luke, but he resisted the urge to look over there. For all he knew, it was something private.

"Got it," he said, readjusting his pillowcase of supplies and making certain that his sword was secure in its sheath. "Then, one... two... three!" He shoved the bracelet onto his wrist and then all three of them teleported.

[To here.]

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Night 70: M1-M10 Hallway

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