damned_institute | NIGHT 50: F21-F30 HALLWAY

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NIGHT 50: F21-F30 HALLWAY

[F23]

Once finished with her dinner Nunnally had reached into her desk drawer in search of her journal, thinking to make some notes while she had nothing more to do than wait for the approach of night (for that was all she had to wait for, certainly-- they wouldn't return again tonight... would they?). Though the journal was there, she found something else that she hadn't expected: a plain silver ring, set with a red stone. It quite willingly distracted from her original purpose and worries, and she drew the ring out instead and turned it over in her hands, curiously examining it for any kind of mark or identifying engraving, but found none.

It seemed a peculiar thing to her, as everything else in the drawers served some kind of known purpose-- pens for writing made sense, as did a notebook for writing in, but what use would a supposed mental patient have for a ring? She tried it on and found that it fit, so apparently it was meant for her, though she'd no idea why. Well. As with all unexpected gifts from a place such as this, perhaps she should be wary of it? Though what a ring could do, she'd no idea.

When the intercom announcement came her curiosity only increased further, but so did her concerns. The last place she'd been the night before? The memory flashed before her eyes all unwilling, and she shuddered lightly before firmly placing the ring on the surface of her desk. Lelouch was sure to stop by her room as soon as he could, and perhaps this would make more sense to him.

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The first hall had been about as dull as it could get. It seemed like most people got out of their rooms even faster than Zack had expected, though there had also been a few sleeping patients who had worried him. No sleeping Aerith, though, and if that pattern continued it either meant she'd headed out without a word to them all day (unlikely), or she was gone.

Zack almost wanted to hope that she had suddenly decided to avoid them for some reason, since that would be better than the prospect of not seeing her again. Still, he wasn't going to get ahead of himself, as they still had three other hallways to check.

On the way to the second, Zack had caught sight of none other than Taura. He'd been quick to wave upon spotting her, but they didn't really have the time to chat at the moment, and it would have been a lot to explain to Cloud. So Zack left it at that, though not without noticing the weapon the tall woman had been holding. Zack was glad that Cissnei's shuriken wasn't going to waste now that she was gone, but it was still a hard sight to see.

He followed Cloud into the next hall, but all they saw were empty rooms and all they heard were unrelated conversations. However, then they reached one toward the end of the hall who housed someone who wasn't gone or busy. Zack pulled up behind Cloud as the girl opened the door, taking in her small frame with some surprise. She didn't really look like she belonged here.

"Her name is Aerith," Zack said. "She's about this high," his hand shot out to cut through the air, "she's got long brown hair, and she usually wears a pink ribbon in it. Have you ever talked to her or seen her around in these hallways?" If they could even narrow it down to one hallway, that would be a huge help.

Cloud's thoughts mirrored Zack's. If possible, this girl looked even more harmless than Aerith did, and far too young. Anger welled up inside of him at the thought of someone like this being subjected to the whims of whatever mad doctor ran this place. Their current quest only made the situation worse. What sort of evil bastards were they dealing with?

It was a good thing she was staying in her room where it was safe. He might have given in before, but if this girl asked to come along with them, he'd have none of it. He'd block the door with the largest object he could find. "Are you waiting on someone? You don't plan on leaving, do you?"

Perhaps he spoke too quickly, sounded a little too demanding, but even with an escort she was in no position to be fighting off anything. Everyone's abilities were weakened here, and there was no way her safety could be guaranteed. (Especially not if the Institute decided to go tossing them through random entryways again.)

Most of the description wasn't terribly distinctive, to be honest; there were quite a few women here who were of average height with brown hair. The pink ribbon was more unusual, however, and Nunnally hesitated a moment to consider. "I don't recognize the name, but... I think I might have seen her in passing," she replied slowly, frowning a little as she thought it over. "In the hallway. Not for a couple of days, though."

That likely wasn't terribly helpful, and she wished that she could offer more. Despite their worry about their friend, they seemed to be concerned about her as well, which was kind of them. Nunnally smiled and shook her head slightly, trying to look and sound as reassuring as possible. "My brother should be here any moment. If we go anywhere, it won't be far."

It was difficult to try and balance his worry for Aerith with his worry for the girl they were speaking to, but in the end Zack was relieved to hear that she had someone looking out for her. An older brother, it sounded like -- since it was hard to imagine anyone too much younger than this girl being in this place. And if she had an older brother here to watch over her, then she'd probably be fine. Zack was an only child himself, but he could only imagine how he would have treated a younger sibling, had he had one.

"That's good," he said with a slight smile and a nod, not wanting to seem insensitive despite the fact that his mind was almost entirely on Aerith. "So you saw her in this hall? Did you ever see her leave one of the rooms, maybe? We're trying to figure out which one was hers."

Still, they'd searched almost all of the rooms in this hall (there were only two left), and he'd seen nothing. That didn't bode well in the slightest, and yet Zack didn't even have it in him to give Cloud a worried glance. Both of them knew that this was looking bleaker and bleaker by the second, and there was no reason for them to make this girl, who was trying to help them, feel bad about it.

If this girl had seen Aerith go into any of the rooms, Cloud was sure she would have told them that rather than just saying she'd passed her in the hall. Still, he couldn't blame Zack for trying. They were both pretty desperate for answers at this point. The blond placed a hand lightly on his friend's shoulder. There was obviously nothing else she could tell them.

"If for some reason you do see her and we don't, tell her AVALANCHE is looking for her. I'm Cloud and this is Zack." If Aerith was still around, then hopefully she'd come looking for them without them having to have anyone else keep an eye out, but you never knew in this place. They might as well be as certain as they could be. "But don't go out of your way. You should stay safe too."

There was the Landel's conundrum again. One of many, he supposed. It was lucky for her that she had her older brother there to protect her, but at the same time neither sibling should have been there to begin with. He could only imagine how it must be for the brother, keeping a safe eye on such a fragile girl in this dangerous place.

Unfortunately Nunnally hadn't seen their friend entering or leaving a particular room, and she was certain that they'd be disappointed with that answer. She could understand being upset when a friend vanished, what with Suzaku doing just that a couple days past; if she hadn't known about it for certain then she likely would have gone looking for him. Similar to how Lelouch had been asking after Euphemia earlier, but... surely not. Had she really not seen her half-sister because she wasn't there to be seen?

She gave herself a mental shake to dismiss that line of thought, offering the blond man -- Cloud, he'd introduced himself -- a smile of both understanding and regret that she couldn't do more. "I will," she promised, wondering if she should hope that they found their friend. If they did, it meant she was trapped in this place, but... perhaps it was better to know where she was than to wonder and worry. "I'll let you know if I hear anything, promise. I'm Nunnally... nice to meet you both."

AVALANCHE? Did that name sound familiar, somehow? Nunnally filed it away to think about later; perhaps the right context would remind her of where she'd heard it before.

The hand on his shoulder caused Zack to startle, but only slightly. He knew that the smallest reaction could be the difference between life and death when on a mission, after all. Still, he knew what Cloud was getting at even without any words being exchanged. He was pushing too hard. It was because he wanted to know for certain, but that was no reason to start drilling a girl who they'd only just met.

But he'd felt responsible for Aerith, and the fact that they had lost her so easily was wearing on him. He needed to make sure it didn't show.

"Thanks for humoring us," he said, allowing a smile to tug at the corner of his lips. "Sorry that we had to meet under circumstances like this." It almost made him wish that he could make it up to Nunnally at some point, but now clearly wasn't the time. Her brother would probably be here soon, and their job here was done.

The question was whether or not they kept searching. If this was the hallway that Aerith's room had been in, then they were pretty much at the end of the line. Just two more rooms. Nodding to the girl, Zack directed Cloud away, trying the next door, which housed another sleeping patient, and then moving to the last, which was occupied by a blond girl who was very much wrapped up in what she was doing and apparently didn't have much to say.

With a sigh, Zack turned to his friend. He didn't want to let this get him down, but Aerith was someone he cared about. He couldn't just brush this off. "Should we check the other two hallways?"

Though it was tempting to interrupt the girl in the last room, it was extremely doubtful she'd have any answers for them. If Aerith was her roommate, then one would think she'd be too worried to just sit and do nothing - or else she'd most likely be too heartless to bother helping them anyway. The girl didn't exactly register as evil incarnate, so there hardly seemed much point in bothering her.

He nodded at Zack. "Of course. We've checked this much, we might as well finish the job." Two halls was half the block. Though doubtful, there was still a chance they'd come across their friend, though that already small chance dwindled by the moment. If nothing else, they might run into one or both of the other female members of their group and they could compare notes.

Though he spoke his next thoughts out loud. "Unless you believe we're just wasting our time."

Seeing how this hadn't really taken too much time thus far, Zack figured Cloud had a point. Even though it was starting to look like the chances of finding anything out were pretty slim, he couldn't just walk away when there was a sliver of hope left.

"Yeah, let's check them out," he said with a shrug. "It's the least we can do." And it was also the last of his ideas. They'd tried the bulletin, and they were searching every room... What else could they do? It hadn't sounded like Yuffie had had any ideas about it, either.

But they had to take things one step at a time. Holding back a sigh, Zack turned them around and headed back down the hall and into the next.

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