Night 59: North of the Institute

[anemptydecapo]

[From here]

"It's this way," the assassin called out to his side, his eyes attempting to focus on the darkness before them. They had made it to the forest fast enough when he had been traveling with Sora, which meant it shouldn't be much an issue with someone as fast as Zanuff was. "Down and to the right."

Somehow, the area felt just as cold and empty as it had three nights ago. It wasn't empty. He wasn't that gullible to believe that--he could feel something here. But the darkness covered just enough of their surroundings to make it appear as nothing more than a desolate, snowy wasteland.

They couldn't stay out in the open for long. Which meant...

Nngh...

It was with great hesitance and great annoyance that Venom found himself moving to grasp onto his company's wrist. "Hurry."

Comments

[lighthearted]

As hard as Sora tried, Riku managed to beat him over the wall. It was something he could have been a sore loser about, but these days he didn't allow himself to be that childish about it. Something as small as losing a race hardly mattered when he knew that he and Riku were on the same side anyway. They'd already worked out their strengths and weaknesses with each other, though Sora realized that Riku was never going to lose that cockiness. Sora could hardly judge when he had some of his own. Plus he'd seen his friend's humble side a few times too.

Besides, Sora was distracted by just how nice it felt to be able to reach the top of the wall in one bound. It was like he was suddenly so much lighter than he had been all these past days, and it buoyed his spirits. He jumped down onto the other side, ignoring the way that he sent mud flying as he landed.

Even though exploring side-by-side with Riku was familiar, though, Sora also couldn't help but dwell on the fact that someone was missing. He tried not to worry too much about it, focusing instead on Riku's question.

"Well, it doesn't really matter which direction we go since we're just going to try and find the end of that force field. I guess we could run all the way down to Doyleton and try to figure out what's past it." Sora had no idea what was further north other than that quarry, but he knew that there were at least some mountains in that direction. They were probably going to want to avoid those if they could.

[inherited]

"Still, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a way out, after all," he said. It wasn't optimism. Things like this always had a flaw in the plan. That was part of what he noticed about Ansem's Twilight Town simulation; that was why Axel was able to get in like that. It was flawed. Even here, without any of the same knowledge, there had to be a flaw. That was why their powers were allowed to be unleashed like this.

Riku stopped in his steps and considered where to go. He glanced around, uncertain of what direction. These things were easier when he had more than a bus ride outside of this place. That bothered him. His lips twisted downward in thought.

And then he just looked at Sora, a smile creeping over his lips. Why was he trying to work this out when he had Sora right there? If anyone should be doing it, it was him. "Go where your heart tells you to go. I'll follow."

[lighthearted]

If they could actually find a way out, that would be pretty amazing. Sora wasn't going to assume that it would happen -- he had learned that he wasn't always allowed to be the hero in this place -- but he was definitely going to try his hardest to achieve it.

Riku's words only made him more sure of that fact. He grinned back at him, even though the rain was causing his clothes to stick to his skin and his hair was being flattened down by it (as much as it could be, anyway). Right now, the monsters and the rain and all of that didn't matter. He and Riku were on another adventure; that mattered.

"Got it! Then let's start heading to the other side of the building. We'll avoid the forest, since it'll just slow us down, and then we can try to get to Doyleton." There were probably going to be more of those zombies there, but Sora was sure that they could handle them just fine.

With the plan set in place, Sora started to move down the wall to the right, doing his best to pick out landmarks in the distance so that they didn't get turned around. It wasn't easy when it was raining this hard, but he was sure that Riku would keep him in line too.

[inherited]

Even if they had the constant absence of a third member, Riku was sure that he needed to fall into something casual to make this work out. The rain still failed to completely bother him the way that it might be his friend, so he trotted on ahead as Sora described, but he always slowed a little to make sure that Sora was right there with him. A shiver passed over his body as he breathed out, making him wish that he had that same black jacket. If not for anything else, it was good at handling inclement weather.

"This isn't bothering you, is it?" he asked his friend, motioning toward the water coming down. "'Cause I think it makes things more interesting." Riku looked at Sora through the rain like he clearly knew who he was—almost as if he could look at him without even having his eyes open. Maybe that was just another thing he had to thank his experience for. He could be like a guard dog—blinded or not. Of course, he wasn't going to relate that to Sora. It was a little demeaning to himself.

[lighthearted]

In the end, Sora didn't have that difficult of a time keeping up. He had traveled in the rain before, though he couldn't say he was a big fan of it. Rain had been so rare on Destiny Islands, and when there actually had been a storm, it had been for a reason. Sora didn't know what to make of that night at this point. It had marked the start of his journey as Keyblade Master, but it had also been the day that he'd lost his friends.

He had them back now, but he couldn't help but think that they were always going to end up separated. Sora would be scared of that possiblity until the three of them made it back to the islands. Kairi wasn't even here with them right now, after all.

Riku's question cut into his thoughts and Sora was quick to grin even as his sopping wet hair dripped down onto his face. "Bother me? Why would it? C'mon, let's go!" As if to prove that he had no problem with this, Sora broke out into a jog until he reached the edge of the wall and turned, hitting the east wall of the building.

[To here.]