damned_institute | Nightshift 39: West Wing, North Hall 2-B

[From here]

Again, Celes waited to hear any suspicious noises, and finding none, continued down the hallway. She lit up the sign of a door, Decontamination Room. Well, didn't that sound lovely? She'd have to be careful. If her childhood under Cid's tutelage had given her anything, it was that those yellow coats of the Scientists were the hard line of defense against tiny blood-borne organisms or strange Esperian pathogens.

And here she was, many worlds from home, without one. Well, Celes sighed mentally and continued down the barren hall, so long as nothing decided it wanted to splash on her, then she was fine. Though weakened magically, Celes hoped all those 'adjustments' to the rest of her body had held true. It would be terrible to get a cold of all things after eighteen years of near-perfect health.

As she came to the end of the hall, another door sign caught the light, Morgue. Well, she'd come to her dubious destination, and here was hoping that the slabs they dissected the patient population on could move, or at least have a nearby gurney. This thought was immediately pushed out of the way when the general realized that the door was locked.

"Oh, for the love of Goddess's tits." Celes knelt down again and removed her poor, battered hair pin before realizing that there was nothing in the hallway with her (and even if there was, taking the time to pick the lock would've made her monster food in no time at all). The general stood up and kicked the door open.

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Meche nodded and walked back to the far end of the hall. She took a moment to steel herself, and then she said, as though she had just thought of it, "By the way, would you mind if we ran a quick errand in here? It should only take a few minutes." Assuming Manny wasn't in there, that was. If he was on the slab--or even worse, in one of the drawers--when she got inside, all bets were off. "I've had a friend missing for a few days. I just want to take a look around and make sure he didn't end up here."

Meche wasn't lying, although she was starting to come to terms with what an understatement calling Manny a "friend" was. She just didn't want to reveal how nervous she was, both to keep her own spirit up and to avoid concerning Naoto. As businesslike--policelike, even--as the girl was, Meche was still the adult here, and she felt that she had to act like it. Besides, his being there was such a long shot, after all.

Suddenly the thought hit her: Even if he was dead, how terrible was that, really? The horror she felt was instinctive, and when she tried to think about it, Meche realized that a lot it was really for herself--she was afraid of his leaving her alone here. But if something had happened to Manny, he'd just end up back in El Marrow, wouldn't he? Eva was probably still there; they'd be talking like old times as the agent rang up Manny's Number Nine ticket. He'd just hop the train, and he'd be where he was supposed to be, right? Wasn't that their goal?

It all sounded so logical when she laid it out in her head like that. Meche just couldn't get that logic to square with the heartbeat hammering so hard in her chest it almost hurt.

Naoto was about to push the door further open until Meche spoke up, and once the meaning of her statement truly registered in her mind, she couldn't help but freeze in her steps, boggling in the other woman's direction. It wasn't so much the possibility of a corpse being in the room-- it was... a little expected, it being a morgue and all, even if the idea of deaths happening here bothered her greatly-- as it was that Meche was looking for one that belonged to a friend. Or maybe that was normal-- if you knew someone died, certainly, one would want to be able to locate them for whatever reason, but the very casual delivery of the message is what threw Naoto off.

Once she realized she was giving Meche quite the odd stare, Naoto turned her eyes away, brushing her fingers across her bangs in lieu of the missing cap that came with her normal attire. Quietly clearing her throat to herself, as if to regain her composure (although, in such a deadly silent hall, it could probably be easily heard), Naoto was still able to reply in a level tone despite her expression only moments ago; "Are you sure you want to do something like that? You may say so now, but if you aren't mentally prepared for it, in the end..." She trailed off, placing a hand on the door, preparing to enter. "Well, I would prefer for you not to make any mistakes that will only be a hindrance to you."

Well, that had backfired. She hadn't wanted to come off as callous, or whatever else Naoto must think of her now. That look had just been...well, probably the same look she would have given herself to someone who'd just spouted off like that.

"I'll be fine," Meche reassured her companion quickly. "Really. It's...it's better to know either way, you know?" What to say, how to balance out her apprehension with a level exterior? Usually she was so good at finding the right thing to say to kids; she just couldn't get on Naoto's wavelength. "In a way, as tough as it is to say it, at least if he's in there he's somewhere a lot better than wherever they've probably had him for the last few days." Landel might be able to bring back the dead, and he might be able to snatch people up right at the boundary between the Eighth and Ninth Underworlds, but Meche had to hope that the Land of Eternal Rest, at least, was beyond his control. There was no way a mortal could have that kind of power over Heaven. It would go against everything any religion she'd ever heard of had ever taught. It couldn't be possible.

Assuming Landel was mortal, that was. The alternative was a truly terrifying thought.

"Anyway," she added, "his nurse said he was sick, and he'll be well enough to rejoin the rest of the patients in a day or two. Maybe she's lying, but there are easier lies to tell--why not just say he was released? I'm almost sure he's not in there. I just have to check with my own eyes."

If he was in there, though, didn't that mean that it really was her fault? That might be the real part she wasn't ready for, Meche thought bitterly.

She was incredibly calm about this. Almost too calm for comfort, and suddenly suspicion swelled up in the young detective's mind. Apprehension in her movements, Naoto went back to eying the woman, studying her for a quick movement before returning back to the door in front of her.

A friend, hm? Naoto wondered if this was true or a mere cover up for something deeper, especially when she was looking for a body; no friend would be looking for that-- or even come to that conclusion-- unless they knew they were dead... or wanted them to be.

Of course, with no solid evidence to prove this yet, she very well may had been jumping to conclusions. With it being on her mind lately, however, between the events home and the ones here, it was difficult not to do so. With a mental sigh, Naoto finally opened the door, already feeling the cold chill in the air. "I suppose if I wasn't accompanying you, you might have ended up doing so yourself eventually. If you say you are, then I will not argue it."

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/585094.html?thread=48689798#t48689798).]

Nightshift 39: West Wing, North Hall 2-B

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