Night 75: Main Hallway, 1-Center

[fourstonewalls]

[from here]

Whatever else he'd meant by the broadcast, the Head Doctor hadn't been kidding about the patient population. Lana hadn't seen another soul on the walk from her room to the center of the main hall. She could only hope Ryuuzaki was still here.

Well, hope, and risk a solo expedition if he didn't show up within what seemed a reasonable interval.

[L]

Comments

[lighthearted]

[From here.]

As they moved down the hall toward the Sun Room, Sora saw another patient standing there. He'd spoken to her once, but only briefly. It looked like she was waiting for someone, but he still offered her a wave. It was good to check in with each other when they could, right? Since there were so few of them now.

He nodded to Link, motioning toward the Sun Room. It'd been pretty quiet in there lately, probably thanks to the rebels and whatever they'd done that one night. Sora didn't want their hard work to go to waste.

[his_legacy]

It wasn't often that Link would regard a complete stranger in the halls, but on a night like tonight... He offered the lone woman a silent nod. Acknowledgement. One of two polar opposites would occur tonight, and much as he was absolutely certain that they would emerge the victors... It would be foolish not to assume that there would be blood.

And Sora was right, they couldn't forget the 'released' patients, couldn't let go of the hope that they may actually be alive and confused outside these walls.

With another nod, this time to Sora, Link slipped into the Sun Room.

[To here]

[ryuuzaki]

[From here.]

The hall ran from the exercise yard to this main corridor, and when he reached the end of it, L typically looked first to the left, towards the Sun Room, to make sure nothing would come up behind him, then moved to the right, which was a reasonably out-of-the-way meeting point. The one thing he could say for it was that they had never been attacked there.

It was a good thing he checked, because Lana wasn't at their usual meeting point; instead, she stood to his left, between him and the Sun Room. Fine -- now that there were fewer patients, this area seemed as quiet as the other, and it saved time, albeit only a little bit. And the fact that she had come at all was a relief. He had seen her in the Sun Room, and had assumed that she would leave him a message if she hadn't intended to meet up with him, but there was no way to be completely sure that it would happen until he saw her.

"Two questions. First, your ankle... how is it?" He began to dig in his pocket.

[fourstonewalls]

"It's fine." It was, but she realized that wasn't an especially good way to convince anyone. "It's well bandaged, and the damage was all superficial." She stepped away from the wall, walking without a limp. If she had to run, or, inexplicably, walk in high heels, it would hurt, but a normal walk didn't pull at the healing skin.

"And...second?" She raised her eyebrows at him. It wasn't like him to dance around an issue; he hadn't, with her ankle.

[ryuuzaki]

"Has anyone gone in there yet? It would be better if we're not the advance guard, but there's no telling how long it will take them to get as far as we have."

With this, he produced a lollipop from his pocket and peered at it, then handed it to her. "Here. Root beer." He'd be given more tomorrow -- maybe, depending on what tomorrow was like. "I really don't know if we'll make it through the night, and I didn't see much point in wasting it. How many bullets do you have left?"

notif fail, sorry!

[fourstonewalls]

"Sora, with someone I haven't met." Two young boys, and she hadn't stopped them running past like they were on their way to a game, not a fight for their lives. She didn't want to think about it, so she took the lollipop and stared at it. "Thank you." Did he mean her to eat it now? She wasn't hungry. She tucked it into her pocket, trading it for her spare ammunition.

She pulled out a full 17-bullet magazine. She'd fired the Glock twice last night, and she'd started with a fresh magazine then as well. "Thirty-two. I think running out of bullets is the least of my worries."

If she had to fire that many times, whatever she was firing at wasn't going down to bullets. Or they'd been attacked in force. She tucked the magazine back away and started walking towards the sun room. "Are you running short?"

[to here]

[freewill]

[From here.]

By now Lloyd should have his bearings, as they were already approaching the Sun Room. And as Castiel had guessed, there was no sign of Kratos waiting for them. The hallway had already emptied out, even if Castiel could hear some voices further ahead.

There was no sound of an ongoing fight, which was a factor in their favor. The rebels had done them a lot of good by sabotaging whatever it was Landel used for Special Counseling. If that hadn't happened, they could have spent tonight battling one another.

"You brought the key with you?" he asked as they walked.

[redcladidealist]

It didn't take long for Lloyd to reorient himself once they made it into the main hall. Night after nigh he'd come this way, and there were the stairs he usually used to get up to the second floor. More confident now that he knew where he was, he sped his pace up to match Castiel's until they were side by side.

"Yeah," he said. "I made sure I had that when I checked my stuff. It's weird, though. If they moved my things, why wouldn't they confiscate things I shouldn't have?" His footsteps slowed as they approached the door to the Sun Room, cautious only because they'd been attacked there before. Was it safe? Was anyone even in there right now? It was quiet. Maybe too quiet.

There wasn't any point in staying out in the hall, though, so, gripping his swords, Lloyd didn't hesitate when it came time to walk through the door.

[To here.]

[no_dont_go]

[from here]

Aigis could sense some movement ahead but when she reached the point between the institute's entrance and the Sun Room whoever had been here had moved on. Good. At least if they moved ahead of her she was more likely to be shaded from enemies.

While she hated to think she was putting others' lives at stake by being selfish, she was determined not to let her guilt slow her down. She wanted to escape and not just for her sake either. So many others were riding on this...

[to here]

[thecamellia]

_{[from here]}

Nothing in the main corridor, either. She narrowed her eyes in the darkness.

The Sun Room door stood slightly ajar, however, and that told Tsubaki that other prisoners must have passed by. As far as she could tell on their approach the Sun Room was still and quiet, so perhaps tonight was another night where there was no fight awaiting them inside. Even so, she wouldn't say they'd "lucked out," since that would imply Landel didn't have absolute control of where he put his monsters and brainwashed prisoners and he certainly did...

"Here we go," she murmured before nudging the door open enough for the two of them to slip inside.

_{[to here]}