“Thanks.” Cor nodded at her warning, just catching a glimpse of the edge as she mentioned it. Even with the limited light, it all seemed too eerie to him. “Hey, Nora?” he started a little awkwardly before clearing his throat. “I know this is a pretty random question to ask, especially right now but… can you still do that thing with your finger? Where you can cut off a program’s clothes? Or was that only something certain Sirens could do?”
Nora's steps slowed to a halt. Almost without thinking, she raised her free hand, her index finger flickering into life with a soft hissing sound. It was a skill she hadn't used in a long, long time. For a brief moment, it lit up her face, throwing her profile into sharp relief.
"All Sirens can," she said, extinguishing her finger. "Why?"
“Just curious.” Cor admitted, watching her hand in interest. “I guess… being in this place, with you… I don't know. I’ve just never seen it before and… I’m rambling now. I’m sorry.” he apologized, shaking his head a little as he turned to look around them. “I understand that you probably don't want to talk about, or think about, all this from before… So, I’m just going to stop talking now.”
"It's all right," Nora assured him, glad that he was considering her situation. "You can keep talking, if you'd like." The truth was, his voice calmed her down, was a distraction from the shroud of dark memories swarming around her.
Cor managed to give a small, still awkward, smile at her assurance. Honestly, even though he felt like he was making himself look ridiculous, the talking did help distract him from the whole thing too. “Ok. If you're sure.”
"I'm sure," Nora said, giving his hand a slight squeeze. She kept walking through the dark, one hand stretched out in front of her; sure enough, after a few more feet, her fingers hit the dark, smooth wall.
"I think the hand scanner should be…" She slid her fingers across the wall, searching for the ever-so-slight indentations of the scanner. The darkness was beginning to settle into her, and she found herself breathing shallowly.
It's okay, she told herself. Just breathe.
Cor nodded and gently squeezed her hand in return. “Ok.” he smiled as he walked with her, occasionally sweeping the light so he could check the whole room. In a place like this, he didn't want either of them to be caught off guard… even if this place was supposed to be abandoned. Not that that thought brought him any comfort.
He quickly turned back when he heard her speak and the light caused the wall to shine just a little… and he hoped it would be enough for her to find the scanner. “Are you ok, Nora?” he asked softly as he rubbed his thumb against her knuckles.
(I literally just realised that the floor should have lit up when she stepped in. Oop)
"I'm fine," Nora said, though it was really more to calm herself down. Her fingers found the indentations in the wall; there was a slight buzzing noise, and the hand scanner glowed. The wall split apart, revealing a void within, a darkness that was somehow darker than the rest of the room.
Nora took a step forward. In a slightly quavering voice, she said, "Lights, on."
The lights flicked into life, then off again, then on again. Both the room within and the main room were suddenly lit up. Nora took a deep breath before looking around.
(oh well. lol)
Cor raised a brow at her answer but didn't press. Now was not the time for that. He watched silently as Nora managed to open the door, and noticed the light from his handheld was practically swallowed up by the dense darkness on the other side. When she took a step forward, he instinctively tightened his grip, determined not to lose her or let her face this alone. He let out a soft breath of relief as the room lit up despite the tremor in her voice and stepped up beside her. “You did great.” he encouraged, pressing a gentle kiss to her cheek.
Nora's light lines flickered pink, and she smiled despite herself.
The room next to the armoury was small and rectangular, with only a few light strips to illuminate it. Beyond was a staircase that Nora knew led up to the next level.
"I think the controls should be close," she said, still with a tiny smile on her face. "Bit can scout the way."
Yes, Bit beeped, whizzing ahead of them and into the stairway.
“Sounds good to me.” Cor nodded, tucking his small light away for now. It was almost more of a relief to see Nora smiling again than it was to just have the lights back on. He had been concerned that this place was bringing up too many bad memories for her, since she had told him how different… how special she was compared to other Sirens.
"Let's go up the stairs," Nora suggested. In reality, the memories were pushing against her mind like water in a dam. She couldn't let the dam burst.
“Alright.” Cor nodded, giving her hand another squeeze. “Hey, how about after we get everything taken care of here… We can hang out back at my place and just relax?” he offered.
Nora smiled at him, some of the tension in her shoulders melting away at the prospect. "I'd like that."
Cor smiled a little, glad that his idea was helping get her mind off things. “Great.” he chuckled softly. “And, if you’d like, we can open a bottle of energy. I have one that I think you might like and one from… you know where.” he added with a wink.
Nora smiled. That wink in and of itself was better than energy, all the energy she had ever taken or could ever take. Stars, she was grateful for him.
Bit came whizzing back out of the darkness, beeping happily. Yes, yes, yes.
"I think Bit found the controls," Nora said, starting to go up the stairs, the ghost of a smile still on her face.
Cor chuckled again and smiled back. Seeing Nora’s smile made his code buzz and his shoulders relax. He would stand by his offer, of course. But if just talking about it made her feel better…
“Yes, I believe Bit has.” he agreed, following her and still holding her hand.
They wandered through the dark hallways, following the faint white shape of Bit. Nora's heels clicked on the floor, producing eerie echoes. The walls were black, the floor dark and glossy. Nora was glad of Cor's light, small as it was.
Eventually, they came into a room. From the sound of the echoes, Nora could tell this one was fairly big. A window looked out on the darkened arena, shedding faint light a foot or so into the room.
Yes, Bit beeped, floating over to a wall.
As soon as they left the lit room, Cor had pulled back out his light almost immediately. Unfortunately he didn't have much more to say during the rest of the walk but Nora seemed to be doing better than earlier… He would just have to keep an eye on her to make sure that the situation didn't get to her again. When they finally arrived in the newest room, Cor's code ran cold. Even despite Bit’s call over to where he assumed the control panel was, he could not look away from the large window. This had to be… Of course he would have the grandest view of all the carnage. The darkness still hid many details of the room but it couldn’t get rid of the feeling…
“This was Clu’s private box, wasn't it?” he found himself asking just above a whisper.
"It was one of them," Nora said. "Usually, he would watch from his throne ship. I think he reserved this one for more… elite programmes."
She was trying her best to not look at the arena, instead following Bit to the wall, feeling around for a hand scanner. She found one, and the wall lit up, revealing a control panel of various buttons.
Nora pressed the one saying Lower Arena Lights.
There was a click, and then the lights to the arena came on. Nora's code sank into her stomach. They were bright, much too bright…
Shutting the lights off again, she said, "There has to be a brightness meter somewhere."
Cor let out a shaky breath at the minor reassurance. Being in the room of a former elite was only marginally better than… the alternative he'd previously thought.
He didn't know why, but he found himself walking towards the viewing window. Perhaps fueled by a morbid sense of curiosity as he looked down. When the lights flashed on for that brief moment, he quickly pulled away as if blinded before looking back at Nora and rejoining her.
"You're better at this than I am," Nora said, taking a step back and gesturing to the controls. "Do you think you could figure it out?"
Cor sighed a little, shaking his head to clear it before looking back at Nora. “Uhh… Yeah. I could probably figure this out.” he agreed, looking over at the controls before stepping up to take her place.
Nora looked around. She couldn't remember ever having been up here before. The room was surprisingly plain - furniture and a bar, that was all.
Glancing briefly down into the arena, she noted that Achilles and the others appeared to have herded most of the programmes inside.
Cor looked at Nora over his shoulder before quickly hacking the controls. It was a fairly simple system and he probably didn't need to but it made adjusting the light levels much easier. “There. That should be good.” he smirked faintly as he brought the lights back on at their new setting.