Night 68: M51-M60 Hallway

[armoredsoul]

[from here]

Al knew he probably should be paying more attention to his surroundings, but he was eager to meet up with his new friend. Besides, the quicker this chore was done the faster he could go and find where the nurses had taken his brother to. Only being allowed to talk with him when they'd first found each other was frustrating, and he had plenty that he needed to let Ed know about. Plus, the quicker he found him, the less likely it was his brother would wind up neck-deep in trouble.

He knocked lightly on the door to M58, shifting anxiously from foot to foot. "Sasuke? It's me, Alphonse. Are you there?"

Comments

[armoredsoul]

Al shook his head--he could tell his brother's attitude was getting to Sasuke, as it usually did with just about anyone. "I found mine under my pillow," Al said to his brother, casting their new friend an apologetic glance.

He frowned a bit when Sasuke headed to the door. "Huh? Um, I think we should be alright from here," Al said to him. "Thank you again for your help."

[fullmetalheart]

"...Seriously?" Ed zoomed over to his bed and checked under the pillow. "And I had just been tearing my desk apart, trying to find the stupid thing."

[firewhichrefines]

He had, too -- Sasuke turned to Alphonse instead of the busily-rifling Edward, giving one last warning: "If you can, avoid using the light. Even if you don't attract creatures, it'll be a pain to get new batteries when they run out."

With that, he headed out, empty-handed of flashlight and carrying only his sword. He'd spent too many nights walking the Institute in a darkness more complete than any lack of lighting could create to really need one by this point.

[[to here]]

[armoredsoul]

Al nodded, but Sasuke was gone before he could reply. Shrugging and turning back around (he obviously had some urgent plans), Al flicked his flashlight off and sat on the end of his brother's bed. "So Lust was captured the same as we were?"

[fullmetalheart]

Ed delayed responding for a moment by flicking his flashlight on to check the battery and turning it back off, then sat by Al. "Not... exactly."

[armoredsoul]

He gave his brother a thoroughly unamused look. "Brother."

[fullmetalheart]

He stayed quiet for a moment. "When I left to go rescue you from Envy, Lust stayed behind to deal with Wrath. He took care of her instead."

Not that Lust said as much, but he was perfectly capable of putting together the pieces. "The people behind this brought her back to life."

[armoredsoul]

"That's...not really comforting to hear," he said with a frown. "She's been here longer than we have?"

[fullmetalheart]

Ed nodded. "Yeah. She didn't say how long. But it's been for awhile."

Now he ran a hand through his hair. "They also brought back Scar, although something apparently got him last night."

[armoredsoul]

Al choked a bit. "Scar too?! But--I thought he would have been caught up in the Stone!"

[fullmetalheart]

"Apparently not," Ed said dryly. "Or maybe they have ways around that. I don't know."

He remembered a bit of conversation with Lust to relay. "She said she doesn't want to hurt either of us, so we don't need to worry about her causing us problems. Lust also said she'd like to see you."

[armoredsoul]

He frowned a bit. "I hope she keeps to that. Do you know where she'll be tonight, or should I just try and find her at breakfast?"

[fullmetalheart]

"I have absolutely no idea where she'll be or what she's doing," Ed admitted. "Might be best to just look for her at breakfast. For the record, she said there's a map on the bulletin board in the Sun Room that other people here put up for newcomers and that it's a good idea to check the messages people leave up."

[armoredsoul]

Al nodded. "I'll make sure to check for that. Did she tell you about the sickness that's affected some of the other 'patients' here?"

[fullmetalheart]

"Not in detail. Just that Scar had it and that she told him she'd take care of things," Ed told him.

[armoredsoul]

"Link told me it was causing those infected to turn into monsters and attack the rest of us. It's not infectious, but apparently a flower called Saint John's Wort can cure someone of it."

[fullmetalheart]

Ed hissed in a breath. "No wonder she was trying to find it for him. For the record, she did manage to get it for him, but uh, that was last night."

[armoredsoul]

Al winced in sympathy. "Too late for it to do any good. I want to try and find it as well, just in case. Link said that people were talking about taking out those who were infected before they could do anything, but it's not their fault! I want to try and get the cure to anyone still infected, before they're killed."

[fullmetalheart]

"All right. So that's your plan for tonight? Wanna swing by the kitchen first?" Ed asked, antsy to finally get moving and accomplish something tonight.

[armoredsoul]

Al sighed. "You're still hungry, huh?"

[fullmetalheart]

Ed nodded, faintly sheepishly. "Eating Lust's lunch along with mine helped, but I did miss breakfast."

[armoredsoul]

He shook his head. "Well, no helping that. We can try and get in there too, but I want to see what I can make with this first." Moving to the floor and opening the pillowcase again, he sorted out the materials and looked it over. "Should be enough for a short blade, at least."

[fullmetalheart]

Ed looked at it and nodded. "Looks like it. And if we need to, we can find more raw material somewhere to make it longer."

[armoredsoul]

He nodded, then clapped and put his hands over the pile of metal.

The transmutation took more energy and focus, as he'd been warned, but once it was done he didn't feel exhausted at least. Now he had a blade of about two feet in length, relatively thin and straight with a sturdy knuckle guard. Al picked it up, testing it weight, then nodded. "This should do for now."

[fullmetalheart]

"So, want to lead the way, since you're the one that actually got to find out where the cafeteria and therefore the kitchen are?" Ed asked as he moved to the door.