damned_institute | Day 39: Sun Room

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Day 39: Sun Room

That really hadn't been the breakfast she'd been expecting, but Yuffie couldn't bring herself to complain. The kid made for good company, and was, if nothing else, pretty entertaining. She could've just done without the whole choking thing. That… That had been embarrassing. A bit. Okay, a lot. Yuffie was starting to get a feeling that this day was -- for once-- actually going to ping on her ‘interesting!’ meter.

Whether or not that was a good thing, she didn’t know.

By the time she’d reached the Sun Room's bulletin board, a kitten on her shoulder and a pen twirling between her fingers, Yuffie was starting to put her finger on why she had that weird, nagging feeling. Though on second thought, it was less like putting her finger on it and more like it had jumped up and punched her right in the nose; the feeling wasn’t just about waffles, magicians, or tricky candy thieves. Sagara hadn't answered her bulletin post; he hadn't answered any bulletin posts. She hadn't seen that stupid, spiky head of his all morning. It was like radio silence without a radio.

Agai-- No, Yuffie cut herself off sharply, frowning. She was just jumping to conclusions. It wouldn't be the first time, right? Right! And yet… instincts were instincts for a reason, and in a dump like this, who knew what could happen?

[for Okita?]

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"Woah!" Luke took a step back to compensate for Anise suddenly flinging herself at him, but it wasn't unfamiliar... this time it wasn't even unwelcome at all. He laughed, sounding and feeling relieved on a level he hadn't anticipated, and for once hugged her back without thinking about it.

"I... did disappear. But I guess I'm back." He let go of her, but didn't make her release him. "Sorry I worried you."

It was reassuring to feel Luke squeeze back, to know he was really there. Anise took a few extra moments to let that sink in before gradually pulling away so she could face him.

"So you really got out!?" she asked excitedly. Maybe it hadn't been through the best of circumstances - that was probably too much to hope for - but if he knew anything about the outside, that could really help their cause! "What happened? Did you see the outside? Do you know what happened to the others?" Asch and Tear had disappeared right around the same time Luke did. Maybe he knew where they were now!

For a moment, Luke thought Anise meant he'd escaped Eldrent, and that was going to be a little hard to explain. He thought "I disappeared" would cover it, but if she wanted more than that...

But as her questions went on he got the feeling they weren't talking about the same things at all. "The outside? I just appeared here... And you're the first person I've seen. Did something happen to everyone?"

"Huh?" Luke sounded like he didn't really get what she was talking about. Just what happened during that week he was gone for? "Well yeah, something happened. You didn't know? Tear and Asch disappeared around the same time you did. The Colonel's gone somewhere too, I think..." Feeling a bit uncomfortable with the thought, she distracted herself for a few moments by smoothing out the note that had gotten crumpled in her hand when she'd latched herself onto Luke.

"Lately, it's just been me and Guy around here." And Ion and Emperor Peony, but their situation was a bit too complicated to explain right now. Anise didn't even understand it herself.

"Just you and..." If he was following right, she was talking about here. But... Luke was used to being the one a little out of the loop, but this was going a little too far. Anise wouldn't mistake him from Asch somehow... right?

Wait, Asch...

"Asch... you're saying he was here?" Of course, if Luke had come back to life then maybe Asch did too. "Look, I... I don't know what you're talking about, I've never been here before. But it sounds like everyone else has."

Anise had expected that to clear things up for Luke, but apparently it had the opposite effect. What did he think she was talking about? "Of course he was here! You were too, just last week!"

She paused, slowly becoming aware of what he was saying, but reluctant to acknowledge it. Luke really didn't think he had been here before. It couldn't have been a lie; Luke was terrible at lying. Which meant...

"...You don't remember?"

"No..." What else could he say? Anise really believed he was here, but he was sure he'd never been here. "Anise, the last thing I remember was... fighting Master Van. And then..." He shook his head. Had he gotten amnesia for real this time?

"Fighting the Commandant?" Anise echoed, still looking perplexed. When Luke mentioned before how much he remembered, he had mentioned the Tower of Rem, but definitely not the Commandant. When Luke disappeared from the institute, did they do something to his memories? Not only did he forget all about his time as a patient, but it sounded like he even remembered his life on Auldrant differently.

"You mean... at the Absorption Gate?" she asked cautiously. "Or... sometime after?"

"Huh?" Luke got this odd feeling like he was being tested. He scratched a hand through his hair, staring at her. "That was ages ago, Anise. I mean at Eldrent. The final battle."

The final battle... That had to mean the Commandant's death. Anise hadn't seen it herself - or at least, she didn't remember seeing it - but she had been told about what happened at Eldrant.

"Um, this is going to sound really weird," Anise began, knowing that that was an understatement. "I... don't remember that fight. And neither did you, last time we talked." It was beyond weird. She knew Landel probably took people's memories away, but giving them back? Why would he?

"I didn't... remember?" The confused uncertainty was starting to just feel like a headache, and Luke resisted the urge to just pull at his hair, stead of scratch it. "Anise, how could I forget? How could you forget? We finally won. Everyone was safe..." He shook his head. "What the hell is going on here?"

Was that really how it ended? Luke sounded optimistic about it, but maybe it would be weird to expect anything else from him.

"I don't get it myself, but everyone here... our memories are all messed up. They don't match up. Lots of people say it's because we're from different times, but that's pretty impossible, right?" She gave a short, empty laugh, suggesting that rather than not believing it, she really just didn't want to believe it. It was impossible, she thought, but... if it was really impossible, and Anise had just lost two years of memories, wouldn't she at least look a little older? It hurt her head to stay on that train of thought, so she quickly moved on from it.

"So like, how much do you know about this place? I guess I can try to fill in some gaps." It wasn't Anise's idea of a good time, but Luke probably needed a bit of a crash course on this stuff. Oh well. It wasn't like she and her friends hadn't spent the bigger part of the last year explaining all kinds of simple things to the guy. This couldn't be as bad as that, at least.

"Sorry, Anise. Can that wait a minute?" As helpful as Ed had been, Luke had no doubt there was way more to all of this, and Anise could fill his head with it until he couldn't think. Somehow it was always like that. Every new impossible fact made his stomach churn; missing memories, missing friends, different world entirely, no fonons, evil institutions and apparently no way out. He'd listen to more of it, but he wasn't exactly looking forward to it.

But right now, Anise had told him something way more important. Something he hoped for so much it hurt, even if he didn't know what to do if it were true, didn't know what to do if it were false.

"You said... You said Asch was here?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I did." He was asking about that just a minute ago, but they had both been pretty confused at the time. It made sense that he'd be wondering about Asch's whereabouts, but Anise didn't have much more she could tell him about it.

...Wait, if Luke's memories were caught up with Guy's and the Colonel's, then...

"Ah!" she cried suddenly, realizing what he was getting at. It didn't occur to her right away, having no memory of the event herself, but the Colonel had mentioned before about what happened to Asch.

"Um, that's another thing about this place..." she began delicately. It was hard to say how Luke would take news as heavy as this on top of all the other stuff he had to swallow, but it was something he really needed to know. Hopefully he wouldn't think she was lying, either. Anise probably wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't seen for herself. "They can bring back the dead."

Luke nods, not catching onto Anise's concern, and certainly not showing any of his own. He'd figured that much out himself. "Yeah... I was hoping that would mean Asch is okay." He shakes his head, wishing he could see his original. Not that Asch ever wanted to see him, not that anything would change, even with it over. But he didn't care. He... felt better, somewhere in his core, when Asch was all right. He wanted to feel that again. "But he's not here now?"

It looked like Luke didn't have much trouble believing her. Maybe he was just gullible like that, but Anise was glad she wouldn't have to work to convince him.

"Yeah. He's not here anymore, but... I think he's alive, at least." Anise smiled in an attempt to reassure him, even if she couldn't be positive. If Luke was still alive and well after disappearing in the same way, then it was probably okay to expect the same from Asch.

"He's not the only one, though," she went on to say, looking again to the half-finished note she had been writing. She nearly forgot; she still needed to report to Guy about Ion. She continued in a quieter tone, but tried not to give away too much emotion. "Ion... he came back, too."

Ion... Ion, too? It seemed almost too good to be true, and for a moment Luke could see himself forgetting why he would have any complaints about this place. Even the hope of Asch being safe, and Ion... the person the least deserving of any more suffering.

Completely of his own will this time, he hugged Anise before even thinking about it, just squeezing her around the shoulders quickly before letting go, and then only pulling back a little, his hands still on her shoulders. "Ion... Ion! Anise, that's great!"

Anise was caught off guard by the sudden embrace, but it was far from unwelcome. In fact, it was pretty rare for Luke (or any man) to do anything to show affection to her. It was nice to be on the receiving end for once.

Looking up at him, she couldn't help but smile. "Yeah... I'm really glad." When she had first seen Ion alive and well, she had barely been able to contain her happiness. It had been like everything that went wrong before was suddenly right again.

But now things were getting complicated again. The smile faded as Anise remembered the Fon Master's current condition. "But... he hasn't been doing so well lately. I don't know if he's sick or if something happened, but he's been sleeping for days, and nothing wakes him up." Ion would be so happy to see Luke again... and it was obvious Luke wanted to see him, too. He had to wake up soon.

That didn't sound good. Even during the toughest times of their travels, Ion had always worked hard not to slow them down. He must really be feeling bad if he hadn't been out of bed for days. Luke squeezed one hand on Anise's shoulder lightly; he wasn't very good at comforting anyone, but he wanted to do... something. Ion was the most important person in the world to Anise, he didn't want her to ever have to lose him again, and... it would just be unfair. Too unfair for that to ever happen again. "Is he in his room now? We should go visit him."

It had been a while since Anise had somebody who could comfort her like this. There was Guy, of course, but he couldn't come near her, and there were her parents, who would comfort her as best they could, but they still didn't understand what she was going through...

It was really good to have Luke back.

Of course, having someone there to lean on didn't mean Anise was willing to let herself lean too much. She lifted her chin and faced Luke with a small smile. "Yeah... I'm visiting him every night. He's in room M5. I think he'd be happy if you came to see him, too."

Anise wasn't sure how much time she would have tonight, what with the new 'club' she was working with, but Ion took obvious priority over that. Maybe she could give Honey or somebody a copy of her recipe, so anyone who beat her to the kitchen could get a head start and at least round up some ingredients. That was an idea.

Anise seemed to be feeling a little better, so Luke pulled away, giving her space back. He felt better too. Going to see Ion gave him something to look forward too, and if Ion wasn't feeling well, maybe Luke could do something to help. He smiled. "I'd be happy to see him again too." 'M5' seemed a little familiar, hadn't there been similar numbers on the doors in the hallway he'd been lead out of? He didn't know what the door on his room had said, but he knew the doors he'd passed as the woman lead him the hall were more like M50. He shook his head, not exactly disheartened, but wishing he could be more useful. "I don't know where M5 is though."

"You don't know?" It was hard to get used to the fact that Luke really didn't remember anything from his first time here. Fortunately, it wasn't too hard to get him back up to speed again. Grinning, Anise gestured to the large bulletin next to them. "I guess you're in luck, then. They post maps every day or so here."

She then turned to face it, looking the board over in search of the message she wanted. It didn't take long until she found it, pointing to show Luke. She traced her finger along the first floor map, stopping with it hovering over the M-A block. "This is where Ion's room is," she explained. Anise then moved her finger to the F-A block. "My room's over here. It's F14. You'll remember that, right? You can come visit me anytime, hee hee." Her voice now had her usual playful tone that had been somewhat absent during the more serious part of their conversation.

Luke gave Anise a sidelong glance. It was good to hear her having fun again, but geez. "I can remember it." Luke paused, he could remember it, right? But he usually wrote this stuff down in his diary... "Uh, actually. Hold on."

Stealing a piece of paper from the bulletin supplies, Luke scribbled the information down. Better to be safe than completely lost. While he was at it, he sketched out brief directions to both rooms, making large box shapes with smaller boxes within, just enough to get him in the right hallway. Then he turned back to examine the map, trying to follow back the way he'd come. Luke was aware he wasn't the smartest person around, but he learned from experience, and if there was one thing he'd gotten a lot of experience on in the past year it was memorizing how to get around in completely new places. This building didn't have anything on Daath's cathedral.

"I didn't see what my room number was, so... I'll have to tell you later. But..." He reached over to the map too, tracing his finger along to show her the route. "I know it had to be, this hallway." His finger stopped on the M51-M60 hallway. "About halfway down."

Somehow, Anise wasn't surprised Luke didn't know his own room number. She was kind of impressed he could actually narrow it down to the hallway, though. It was already a big improvement from his last stay at the institute. She committed the spot to memory, just in case.

"Oh, while I'm here..." Anise grabbed a pen and began to write more on the note she had been holding since the start of the shift. "I promised Guy I'd keep him up to date on how Ion's doing. We've been using code names on the bulletin board - you remember those Abyssman costumes Emperor Peony made for us?"

The girl then paused, pen in the air. "Oh. Should I tell him you're here, too?" Her face then shifted from a thoughtful look to a mischievous grin. "Or... should I let you surprise him?" She giggled. Sure, telling him was the polite thing to do, but a face-to-face reunion would just be way more interesting, wouldn't it?

Luke glanced at the paper Anise had been writing on, then sighed. "I guess that makes me Abyss Red, huh?" He guessed if they had to keep their identities a secret, it would work. But... "Why use code names at all?" He didn't get it, was there someone here he had to hide from? It looked like nothing but fellow prisoners to him.

And as far as Guy... He hadn't thought about it that way at all, but he guessed surprising him would be kind of fun. It was nice to know that he meant enough to someone he could count on them being happy to see him. Though, since he'd died, maybe he'd be getting punched again. Luke ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Go ahead and tell him, I'm going to find him as soon as I can. But he shouldn't have to worry any more." He'd caused Guy more than enough grief for a lifetime.

Day 39: Sun Room

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