Coauthored with SonicDonix
The men sat silently in the entertainment room as the nurse nervously approached. Her tray of medicine was shaking louder and louder the closer and closer she got to them. As she crossed the threshold the door clicked shut behind her locking and bolting her in with the institutions "most wanted". She steeled her nerves and took a deep breath as she approached them. Before she could get too close, the tray from her hands flew across the room, though no one made contact with her. She looked up with a pale face.
She heard deep chuckling from the corner of the room as she made eye contact with X. His eyes glowing red. But no words were said. The blonde next to him made no movements to even look at her. "But, if we all play nice…" Noel leaned against the wall, "Hope has been requesting every morning to go outside. But, not once has his request ever been honored. Only told is a possibility."
X stood and walked over to the barred windows, "Today he goes outside… And you don't leave like the rest."
Tifa swallowed hard, her voice shaking, "The rest?"
VII looked up from his hands and spoke towards the white walls, "In body bags…"
Tifa looked down and signed, "I don't have the authority."
Noctis narrowed his eyes as the doors behind her began to shake and the metal began to groan. "Then stand aside." Tifa slowly backed up as Sephiroth got up and slowly cornered her with a Cheshire grin. "You can't be held responsible for something you couldn't stop."
As she was cleared from the way and in the corner, the door screeched in pain and shattered into tiny metal fragments. Tifa screamed as the door gave way to the raw force of Noctis. He silently stepped away from the window and touched Hope's mid back. "Today, you go outside." Leading the younger companion the rest of them followed behind Noctis silently.
Walking down the hall leaving her in an empty room, the posse of the most dangerous inmates silently left. Tifa ran behind them, "Wait! I!" She froze and the cold stare of VII. She looked at the door of his cell. "Cloud? Right? Let me help you guys… I can't risk the integrity of the building. There's no stopping you. Let's cause less damage." At this point she had all the attention but Noctis and Hope.
As she ran to catch up, Zack watched from the office, "The first one they haven't killed…"
She scrambled with her keys with Noctis next to her who had one hand on Hope's shoulder. "I have no time or tolerance for this… Do hurry."
She fumbled her keys and unlocked the first chamber leading outside. As the door opened she ran past them and began unlocking the next chamber leading to their destination. Dr. Fair leaned back in his chair grinning. "Good luck with the last door."
She jogged ahead of the slow moving group. As she fumbled with the lock she realized none of her keys would turn the lock. She looked back with a panicked expression, "I don't have the key…"
The group grumbled amongst each other. Noctis narrowed his eyes, "I do." He waved his hand and the door began to shake and twist. The doors began to slowly separate from the center around the latch, before long the door had a hole large enough for them to walk through.
Dr. Fair dropped his fork and ran out of his office. "Don't let them out!" Guards scrambled at the sound of the alarm as the inmates stepped through the threshold.
As they stepped outside Hope winced and shielded his eyes then smiled widely and ran forward and tumbled into the grass taking a deep break in. "The smell! The sounds!" He laughed loudly as he watched the clouds pass by. Tifa smiled softly and sat in the grass next to him.
Noctis nodded at her and turned around and slowly walked through the crowd and into a wall of guards. Noctis narrowed his eyes and pushed through the guards with his misfit entourage behind him. The lead guard started to walk up to Tifa and Hope. "Stop. That's close enough." Tifa held her hand out towards the guard. "How can you expect them to play by the rules if you don't. For whatever reasons, they're here, but they are still human. I have him under my personal observance. He's fine, all they wanted to do was grant him his wish. None of them should be punished, no one was hurt."
Hope watched the guards leave from behind Tifa. "Will they hurt us again?"
Tifa turned and looked at Hope confused, "Again?"
Hope hugged his knees, "That's why we follow Noctis… He saved all of us. The doctors are afraid of him. He does things with his mind. The last time they tried to hurt Cloud they had to scrub the nurse off the wall and pull her bones from the concrete."
Tifa looked down at her hands, "I won't hurt any of you." She looked up and smiled brightly, "I promise! And I won't let them hurt you if I know about it." She unclasped her locket from around her neck and handed it to Hope. "I'm here to help. Not hurt."
Hope took her necklace and smiled putting around his neck. "Thank you." He threw his arms around her with a huge smile. Tifa hugged him softly.
"Have you had your fill?" She asked him quietly.
Hope sighed, "I'll never get enough of outside. But since you were so nice and let me stay, I'll go in when you need me too, Kay?" Tifa nodded and watched him run around smelling the flowers. As he ran past her she caught a glimpse of a strange marking near his hip.
Feeling as if being watched she looked up at the windows, "Mirrors?"
Vincent watched from recreation room, that was empty with nothing but white walls. "How long do you estimate her survival?"
Sephiroth chuckled, "Until she expends her worth with us or pokes around in their files."
Reno lit a cigarette he lifted from one of the guards.