It had all been going so well!

Seeing Cloud and Aerith(!) again had brought a now unfamiliar lightness to her shoulders. Work would be harder from here on out, but she wasn't on her own anymore. She was getting a second chance she'd never thought was possible. And then, then they'd trekked outside, totally ready to face the fog and the unknown (privately, the ninja had been a little worried; it couldn't happen again, it just couldn't, but what if it did?)—only to wake up. In their beds. As usual. Gaaaaaawd—!

"I just want you to know," Yuffie informed her nurse, grabbing her journal from the desk on her way out, "that your hair looks spectacularly god-awful today. What did you do, stick your tongue in a socket? I'm not exactly hip on fashion, too busy badass for that fluffy stuff, but—"

Plucky looked ready to plant her face in her hands. Or to plant her hands somewhere else. To her credit, and much to Yuffie's eternal disappointment, she did—tried to do—neither. "One of those days, is it?" the nurse sighed, disapproval incarnate. "Well. You're just going to have to behave; the new batches of patients are due today. We don't want to make a bad impression."

"I am feeling so completely convinced of my wrongdoing," Yuffie confided. They stepped into the cafeteria, practically empty as of yet. The chocolate cake last night had worked a treat, whetting her appetite. Honestly, she was getting sick of pecking at scraps like a runt Chocobo in the snow plains—but not literally, of course. Ew. She got more than enough of that on those damn buses once a week. Now that AVALANCHE really was dropping onto her lap—and remind her to get the hell out of dodge if Barret ever took his turn—she couldn't afford not to keep her strength up. For one, she'd be a liability. For two, she'd get her spine chewed out.

"Fruit," said Plucky, hovering as her charge picked out her choices for the day. Rolling her eyes, Yuffie grabbed an apple, slinging it onto the tray alongside an 'English' sandwich. "That'll do. I'll leave you to your breakfast, now." Somehow, that sounded about as comforting as 'My name is Don Corneo and I am raiding through your panty draw', and Yuffie was stopping that thought right there. Oh, god. Eurk. Bad, bad, bad! Bad, brain. Bad. That—yeah, no. Just, no. 'Sides, the guy was as dead as a doornail, splatted across Da Chao's feet. Dirtying them, really, but somehow Yuffie couldn't bring herself to be sorry about that.

(And it wasn't like the creep'd ever end up here, right? Right!)

She took to a seat, dropping her tray and her journal both onto the table. The book fell pages-down; Yuffie flipped it over, thumbing through to the middle as she worked through her apple. An almost finished map of Gaia stared back at her, neat as she could ever manage. Dots for major locations, squiggles for mountains. Stars for the materia caves, Chocobos for the tracks. All labelled in Wutaian. It was just a little piece of the home she absolutely had to get back to, 'cuz Leviathan knew what kind of trouble they'd be up to their necks in without her.

[For Donna]

[From here]

Tyki headed through the double doors into the next hallway, still not seeing anything or anyone around this place. The area was still as empty and boring as ever. He'd almost wish for the head doctor to switch around the lay-out of the place a bit, if only it weren't for the fact that figuring out what was where would be a real pain. Especially on the rare occasion he would need to be somewhere, and considering the guy's excellent sense of timing...

[To here]

Dinner had been pretty quiet. In fact, upon coming to temporary terms with the fact that she was alive, Aerith had wondered if things didn't seem a little too quiet. Traveling across the Planet with AVALANCHE had rendered her used to the constant voice of Gaia in the back of her mind at all times. It hadn't been like Midgar where the only whispers in her ear came when she visited the old church. The flower girl wondered briefly if she were actually back home in industrial city, a captive of Shinra somehow after everything she'd gone through to escape them, but no. It was a possibility she couldn't ignore, but there was just something so strange about this place...

Aerith's first course of action had been to explore her room. A thorough sweep had revealed a few interesting finds: a flashlight under her pillow, a journal, a few pens, and a radio. The most curious discovery, however, came in the form of a very familiar set of clothes hung carefully in her closet. Her pink dress was just as she remembered it, and even her red jacket was there along with her favorite boots, the string necklace she'd been fond of wearing, and the ribbon. As strange as it was to find a set of hr own clothes in what she could only assume was some sort of mental hospital, Aerith didn't think twice before exchanging her current sweat suit for her usual garb. She even took the time to braid her hair and tie it up with the pink ribbon. In fact she was in the middle of adjusting the silver bangles around her wrists when a strange announcement sounded over the intercom.

The man's voice was a far cry from the overly pleasant announcer that had bid his patients good night only moments ago. Aerith hardly had time to wonder more, however, as the loud sound of her door unlocking almost made her jump out of her boots. Aerith stood slowly from her seat on the bed and fumbled for the flashlight she'd set beside her. Cautiously, she moved to the door, testing it. She frowned. Apparently she hadn't been losing it. The heavy door was open, revealing a dark hallway. Was this some kind of game?

Eventually rationalizing that she wouldn't be able to learn anything about her predicament just sitting in her room all night, Aerith stepped out into the hallway. She shined her flashlight up and down the hall. So far it seemed completely empty. How weird...

"Hello?" she called out softly. With any luck, she wouldn't be in this alone. Someone had to know just what was going on in this place.

( from here. )

So far, so good. Once Bella’s hand touched the corner of the wall, she followed it slowly, her feet stumbling over themselves for a few seconds before she finally got her footing. “Stupid ... disorientating darkness,” she muttered to herself, her cheeks flushed from the thought of falling. That certainly wasn’t high up there on her list of things to do tonight.

Oh well.

Pressing forwards, Bella found another door and pushed it open.

Here we go, she thought to herself. And stepped into the empty hallway.

( to here. )

[from here]

Once away from the safety of the patient block, Momo slowed down as she traveled along the left hand wall to cover her blind spot. In this position, she could easily draw her sword and deal with issues as they arose. Hopefully, there would be none.

Momo had too much on her mind to want to deal with anything she didn't have to.

[from here]

Momo really hoped Senna was going to just stay inside her room. She didn't want to worry about her but she couldn't help it. Hopefully, Hokuto would keep her safe. She would just have to place her faith in Hokuto.

The shinigami headed out into the main hallway.

[to here]

The game room made Heath feel more like he was being treated as a child than any other place in the Institute. It might have just been the selection they had to choose from. A deck of cards was a safe choice and would hopefully keep him from attracting much more energetic company. Yet as he sat down and began shuffling them between his hands he was surprised to find that he couldn't remember how to play a single game. At a loss, he blamed it on his current state of mind.

The red-head sat back in his chair and began looking through the deck one card at a time, if only to have something to do with his hands. The kings, queens, and jacks blurred together despite suits as this did nothing to distract him from the pangs of his still somehow empty stomach.

The deck was eventually tossed to the floor in front of him, free for anyone who felt like a game of 52-card pick-up.

Heath swore under his breath and slouched where he sat. This whole ridiculous matter was more than wearing thin. He'd have to get the involvement of a nurse before dinner. There was nothing else for it. Still, more than one came close enough to stop and he did nothing. Something deep within him knew there wasn't anything any of them could do.

[for Argilla]

[f25, specifically]

Alkaid finished her supper without a damn thing happening. No nurses coming to snatch her away for crazy torture sessions, no roommate coming to make awkward conversation with, no nothing. Kind of boring. She knew that no news should be good news, or whatever... but somehow she just felt unfulfilled. What was she going to do tonight? It hadn't been quite decided yet, but she was going to meet that exceptional dork, at least, and they could go adventuring just like old times... At least that'd be fun.

She gathered what had become the usual stuff - her bat, her flashlight, and the vial of acid that Badou had given her, which she popped right into her cleavage. Hey! Bazooms like this were good for something!!

Then she looked down at the cast on her arm, tapping it with the bat. Okay, yeah, this thing wasn't gonna come off tonight by any stretch of the imagination, but if the arm was healed under it then the cast itself wouldn't be a problem. The bad thing was that she felt the old zombie rot start to spread just where it had last night and the night before. Well, damn.

She was almost done getting ready when she heard the intercom go off. Huh... Was the Head Doctor trying to make himself out to be the hero of the day? Apologizing for stuff? Geez, things sure had changed in the week she'd been stuck in that coma. Weird as hell.

Oh! One more thing! She emptied a pillowcase and held it in the hand with the flashlight. It could end up useful. So now that she was all geared up, she headed out!

[to here]

[From here]

There didn't seem to be any of the typical night-time traffic. It was a little weird, but then again, she had practically thrown herself out of the door this time. No wonder she'd managed to beat the rush.

After everything that'd happened in the past few days, Yuffie couldn't shake herself back into her old mindset; the trek through the corridors was still mind-numbingly boring, but horrifying potential pricked constantly at the back of her neck. Any minute now, something crazy could happen—mutant zombies, grotesque ghosts, and super (annoyingly) psychotic Remnants crawling out of the woodwork sprang immediately to mind—and there was no way she was gonna get caught with her pants down, no way, no thank you.

[To here]

[From here]

Yuffie kept close to the wall, footsteps swift and near silent. Her flashlight felt awkward and bulky in her left hand. It'd be totally useless to her until she hit the File Room, since she had absolutely no intention of turning it on unless she had to.

The darkness was as comforting as it was nerve-wracking. After that… After that thing with Nero, deep down in the depths of Mako Reactor 0, a simple absence of light felt like a really dumb thing to be scared of. Yuffie prided herself on being fearless, and no jerkass bondage boy with a brother complex was gonna change that. … Not that she'd ever been afraid of the dark! She was a master ninja, and ninja didn't do nightlights.

[To here]

[From here]

Hime peered out into the hallway. It was mostly empty; it seemed she was one of the first to come out of their cells. While this presented the problem of wandering alone without the cover of the herd, this also gave her a chance to scout out the population as they left their rooms. While Hime had confidence in her fighting abilities, she had no delusions about taking on whatever horrors lurked here by herself. Besides, she needed to find people who could fight; the basement did not sound like the kind of place one explored on their own, or even with just one other.

Recalling that all the patient rooms filtered out into the main hallway, Hime headed that way.

[To here]

Astor hadn't talked much after introducing himself, which hadn't bothered Terry. With all the crap their little hospital of horrors piled on the patients, he couldn't blame a guy for not wanting to open up to some stranger. Plus, not talking meant he could get a decent meal in, and then check out the bulletin for the latest in Landel's news and gossip. Turned out to be a good thing he did. He'd have missed a lot otherwise: how many people had apparently gotten slagged last night, Spider-boy's unsurprising guilt trip, a note for a too cheery someone named Harley, and another one signed by a lightening bolt that looked a lot like one he'd seen in Wayne's Justice League files. It was pretty hard to know exactly where to start--especially since so far, Terry hadn't seen any sign of the old man in all that mess. Unless that one guy had meant him by the "you-know-who" that made someone else shake in their boots. Inspiring that kind of reaction wasn't exactly a stretch for Bruce.

Terry would've been perfectly content to stay there and watch the developing news, despite the lack of vid screens making the process almost painfully slow. But his dear sweet nurse had other plans for him apparently. Ones that involved crayons and construction paper.

"Oh come on. You can't be serious."

Needless to say, Terry was less than impressed by the offerings. His nurse didn't exactly care about his opinion though, instead firmly asserting her belief that first grade arts and crafts was the key to mental stability. It made Terry eager to get home all over again, just so he could tell the officials at Gotham's mental wards how'd they'd been doing it wrong for all these years. Apparently Batman could retire in peace, just as soon as a bunch of gangsters got their paper mache on.

And they thought he was the insane one. Obviously because he hadn't made enough popsicle houses in his childhood.

Sitting down at least got the woman to stop her preaching, for what that was worth. Of course, now Terry was left with half a glue stick, cheap paper, and scissors that probably couldn't cut air reliably. Terry couldn't say he was pleased. Oh, but they had glitter too! Well, didn't that just make everything perfect? He could make his own Bat signal that would shine with all the colors of the rainbow.

"This is just slagging great."


[Free as a bird bat!]

[in F22]

Falis was sitting on Senna's bed, her back to the wall with the shinigami laying against her, when the weird intercom thingie went off. She looked up at the little box for a moment before frowning. What the fuck had that been? Damnit! Where was Dominikov when she needed him to figure shit like this out for her?

A sharp pain ran through the hunter's left arm accompanied by a searing heat she recognized from the night before. It seemed peoples' fears were going to be true this night. Taking a peak at the flesh underneath her bandage, Falis grimaced seeing the decay return and it work its way up to her shoulder. At least it stopped there, but she wasn't sure it'd stay stopped all night long.

Her eyes slid back to the sleeping shinigami. Falis licked her lips. Damn, she looked and smelled... No. She was not going to do this. She was stronger that whatever fucked up zombie sickness. Senna was important to the hunter. She may be Falis' prey, but not prey like this. Resisting the hunger that lay in her stomach, she idly combed her finger through Senna's hair as she rest her head back against the wall and waited for people to show up or for the shinigami to wake.

[from here]

Something didn't feel quite right about the building as Beatrix stepped out into the hallway. Moving to the left, she put her back against the wall to wait for Wonka to arrive. She wasn't sure what didn't feel right about it, but her instincts were warning her to expect more of the unexpected and to trust what she felt, not her eyes.

A flicker of movement out of the corner of her eyes, yet nothing was there. Her eyes narrowed. Yes, something wasn't quite right.

[waiting for Wonka]

[from here]

Finally, the Sun Room. Unlike the hallways, this one actually had some light in it. Specifically, moonlight coming from the big window on the ceiling. It did help to have some light, but the big, dark room washed in moonlight didn't exactly make the place look too inviting.

"Doesn't look like he's here yet," Loz said, finding a couch and sitting down in it. He'd mostly regained his strength from his run, and sitting down felt nice.

Loz whipped his head around when he thought he caught movement ou of the corner of his eye. Once again, nothing was there. What was going on here?

Ignoring the pain in his broken arm, Snake crept along the hallway. He had brought only the matches and hairspray with him, hooked into the band of his pants, needing no light. His feet made no sound. Even that vision of the corridor earlier hadn't phased him like his much-loved old Outer Heaven flashbacks usually did, as he was far too focused on his mission.

He had been checking the men's block rooms, one at a time. Most of them were vacated; some were not, and even the sounds of movement inside those ones were enough to reassure him that they were not the rooms that belonged to Big Boss.

Systematically, he started down the furthest corridor in the block to the south of his own, starting with room M10. The door was, of course, unlocked, and he cautiously pushed it open. Like many of the others, it seemed empty, but for less than a second he caught a trace of Big Boss's smell. It was enough to lure him into the room, even though no-one was visible. Had he imagined it?

[M10]

[from here]

Even distracted as he was, Suzaku remembered to stay on his guard as he passed into the main hallway. He would only be here for a moment, but there could still be a monster lurking in the darkness. And it was so quiet and deserted just now that he would make easy prey.

[to here]

[from here]

The halls were empty so far, which was probably a good sign. Suzaku was hoping to get a move-on quickly, so they could hurry up and get Yuffie's sword made. The first night he'd been here, he'd been pulled back to his bed the instant he made it outside, so they'd have to move fast if they wanted to make any decent progress. And right now he couldn't afford to focus on anything but just that, making progress.

[to here]

[from here]

Suzaku made his way out of his own cell block at a brisk pace, even though he wasn't quite sure he could take Yuffie's presence right now. He didn't want to talk to anyone, least of all have to pretend everything was fine again -- because he didn't want to bother her with the details of his life, and even if he did there was only a limited amount he could tell her. He was sick of pretending.

On the other hand, talking to her reminded him a bit of being with the Student Council. No matter how miserable he felt, he couldn't help relaxing a little around such cheerful people. Even if he hadn't spoken to Yuffie in person, maybe it would help to be with someone so. . . perky. And it would definitely help to beat the shit out of any monsters they ran into outside. He needed to feel like he was doing something proactive, actually accomplishing something useful, and since fighting was the only thing he was good for, he was looking forward to it for once.

[to here]