Night 74: M01-M10 Hallway

[envy_the_sinners]

Night number God-only-knows, and Scar was promptly putting on his proper desert clothing and collecting his things to head out. He and Alphonse had agreed earlier to separate for the sake of stealth, so it would only be he and Lust tonight, which was far less objectionable than it would have been two weeks ago.

Two weeks? Had it really only been two weeks?

Scar set out into the night as he always did: alert and tense for whatever he could expect to come. But really, what could he expect here without it coming back to bite him in the ass?

[To here]

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[his_legacy]

Link nodded to his roommate, taking up his sword and stepping out into the night. It was a good idea on Sora's part, avoiding the metal detector problem entirely. He still smirked a bit at the thought.

"We take the same route as last night, then?"

[lighthearted]

"Yeah, those keys we found are going to take us right back to that room with the metal detector, so we'll be cutting out a lot of the work from last night."

So in theory, they would be able to get further this time around. Sora was worried about those warnings Lloyd had given him, but at least he could brace Link and Tsurugi for it.

Speaking of Tsurugi, it was time to collect him. Sora knocked on his door and then stepped back, waiting for his friend to step out.

[his_legacy]

After a half minute or so of waiting, Link eyed Sora questioningly. It hadn't taken them that long to get out, had it?

He rapped on the door again, harder than Sora had. He wasn't about to barge into the boy's room without being certain he wasn't in it.

"Tsurugi?"

[lighthearted]

Tsurugi was usually pretty prompt. In fact, a lot of the time he would be waiting out in the hall and they wouldn't even have to knock on his door.

But not this time. He wasn't even answering them. Sora gave him a few more seconds after Link knocked the second time before he decided to just open the door.

All he saw was an empty room. Frowning, Sora stepped inside and started looking around frantically for any sign of Tsurugi's personal possessions, but the room had been cleared out.

"Maybe... maybe his room got moved." It was possible, wasn't it?

[his_legacy]

"Could be..." Link swallowed as he entered the room behind Sora. He opened the closet and absently kicked at the ball that bounced out.

"His things are here, though." He looked to Sora, lips turned down in a grim frown.

[lighthearted]

Sora watched the soccer ball roll across the floor as a dread grew in his chest, expanding into his lungs, and then he breathed out.

"Maybe he went ahead without us, maybe he's waiting by the Sun Room or in the Library." Tsurugi could be impulsive sometimes, right? Or maybe there had been some kind of emergency. This didn't have to mean anything.

[his_legacy]

"He could be." Link's heart wasn't in it, though. There had been so many disappearances lately that he couldn't hold out hope.

Sora didn't deserve to be led on, though. He looked up at the other boy in earnest.

"Just be ready for whatever we may or may not find."

[lighthearted]

Sora couldn't blame Link for trying to be realistic about all this. It was true -- a lot of people had left lately, and it felt like their numbers just kept dwindling by the day. Maybe the brainwashing technology was getting better. Maybe they'd reach a point where all of them were made to believe they were someone else.

They couldn't let that happen.

"Well, he isn't here." And Sora didn't know where else they could look for Tsurugi, either. Hanging around here wasn't going to help them.

"We've gotta keep going. It's what he would want, too." He nodded firmly.

[his_legacy]

Link nodded firmly. Yes, even if they wanted to hold out hope for his fate, dawdling would get them nowhere.

"We continue as usual, then." He opened the door to the hall once again, casting one last look at the soccer ball sitting still on the floor. There was a sickly feeling in the back of his throat that they wouldn't be finding their friend at breakfast in the morning.

[lighthearted]

When Link sent a final look at the soccer ball, Sora mirrored him, tightening his hand into a fist. It wasn't supposed to be like this. They were supposed to have all put an end to Landel's torture together.

"Right," he said, somewhat distracted, before he left the room and turned down the hall.

[To here.]