Part 18: Hallway 4

[Music: Silence]

[Sound Bite: "Metal"]
They turned around. Seven was doing something to the door of the shower room.



With that, he stood up and began walking down the hallway. He brushed past Junpei and kept going.
After a moment, the rest of them followed him.
Before long, they found themselves at the large iron door. They had only been there for a moment when June spoke up.

He turned. There, on the right side of the hallway, was a piece of paper attached to the wall.
Junpei ran over and peeled it off.

There would be time to look at it later. Junpei folded the map and stuffed it into his pocket.
Back at the door, the 4 of them lined up in front of it.
Santa stepped forward. He grabbed hold of the door, and then turned to look back at the rest of them.

They nodded. Santa nodded back, and threw the door open.

All 4 of them leapt through.
It took only a moment for them to realize where they were. They had been there only a short time ago...

Lotus and Clover looked up as they entered.
Ace was there as well, although he looked as though he had only just woken up.

[Sound Bite: Karma]

And slapped him, open-palmed, across the face.
[Music: Foreboding]

It was Seven who stopped them.

His deep voice echoed across the massive room. Lotus glared at Seven, but let Junpei go after one last, vicious shake.




Seven also explained how they might find the shower room and how he'd used the broom to ensure that door remained open as well.




Lotus and Clover looked at one another for a moment, then nodded and stepped through the door.
By then, Ace had made his way to them, moving with the stiff, shuffling steps of someone who has only just awoken from a lengthy slumber.


Ace shook his head weakly.

Seven nodded.

Ace followed Lotus and Clover, with his stiff, tired gait.
[Music: Silence]

The squeal of tortured metal made Junpei's teeth curl. It sounded like the noise a ghost would make.
No matter how many times he heard it, he never got used to it. Every time, it put him on edge.

Aside from the rise and fall of her chest, she didn't move. Junpei felt as if even a nudge might cause her to shatter into a thousand pieces.

Seven lowered his voice, likely in an effort to keep Clover from hearing what he had to say.
There were 4 other people in the room with Junpei and Seven.
Ace, Santa, June, and Lotus.
Seven looked at each one of them in turn, and continued.

[Music: Digital Root]













Junpei crossed his arms and grunted.






June seemed shocked.














Junpei hadn't really considered that.
If Zero had killed Snake, then Zero was on the ship with them.

Everything is automated, so I think it's more likely than not that Zero is - in fact - quite a large distance away from the whole thing. There's no need for him to be here to worry about the actual running of the thing, after all. Plus, this helps keeps Zero separate from it all, and gives whoever he really is some degree of plausible deniability too.
He wasn't sure.



Ace's eyebrows shot up.









Ace's explanation made perfect sense. Junpei felt a little foolish that he hadn't seen it himself.
Still, he was left with a question, and it was one of no small importance.

Suddenly, everyone went very quiet. The silence was cold and clammy, and Junpei could feel it crawling across his back and around his throat.
Again, he heard the ghosting moaning noise. And moments later, a person who looked more ghost than human appeared.
It was Clover.
She looked at the floor as she spoke, and her voice was a cold monotone.




Clover's official artwork.