Chapter 17

                                    

                                          
Hitomi moved soundlessly through the halls of the Zaibach compound. A haze of darkness preceded her path. The hall was lined with closed doors, but through each one, she could see masses of darkness. She probed the clustered darkness with her Sight and was able to discern distinct forms inside. There were inhabitants of various ages and species in most of the cells, but one at the end of the hall caught her attention. From what she could tell, it contained only children, lots of them. Some of them didn't seem to have been infected with the darkness yet, but all of them felt scared. As Hitomi turned to continue her search, she felt a familiar life force not far away. She reached out to investigate and felt the sickening tug in her gut that meant her time to explore was over.
                          
	Hitomi still hadn't gotten used to the shock of finding herself back in her body. When she wandered as her sight, all her other senses dropped away, like in a dream, but upon waking every sensation was amplified. The hard, cold slab under her burned her skin, and the lights overwhelmed her vision. Every time she was relieved to feel the needle in her arm that would send her into unconsciousness and save her from the intensity of her senses. She had become grateful for the darkness of her cell when she awoke from the sedative. The feel of the concrete was familiar and reassuring. She didn't know how much time had passed since they first brought her here, but she had counted fifteen different sessions so far in the bright room with the burning serum that sent her on her walking Visions. She was always exhausted afterward. 
                          
She lay on the cold concrete, breathing deeply to center herself and tried to recall this last walking Vision in as much detail as she could. She had found children. That, she was sure of. Over the course of the sessions, Hitomi had become sure that the wrongness that she found in many of the compound's inhabitants had been placed there intentionally, or rather, that those who had it had been altered in some way that made the wrongness happen. Some of the people felt like they were almost completely made of the wrongness, while others barely had a hint of it. None of the children in the room she found had been completely converted yet, and some had no wrongness at all yet. She wondered if she could only get to them, could she prevent them from suffering that fate? She still had no idea what it was the Zaibach sorcerers were doing to them that caused the wrongness. Were they doing it to her? She couldn't sense any of the wrongness in herself, but that didn't mean it wasn't there. 
                          
Hitomi remembered the other familiar life force she had felt. She used her vision to search the building around her to see if she could find it again. Using her vision while awake now felt like groping through the dark compared to her walking Visions while under the influence of the Sorcerer's serum, but it was still much clearer than it used to be. The life force wasn't in any of the adjacent rooms, so she expanded her Vision further. 
                          
There it was, halfway to the other side of the compound. Now she knew why it felt so familiar. 
                          
"Van..." she voiced weakly. He was here. He was also captive. Van, she said in her mind, trying to push the words into his mind. She was worried he may have been unconscious. She didn't get any response, so she tried again, putting more power behind her inner voice. Van!
                          
Hitomi.
                          
The response came weakly, but it came. She could feel it in her bones. Hitomi released a breath she didn't know she was holding. Her body relaxed as she eased into their connection.
                          
Van, I'm in a cell nearby. Are you okay? How did you get here?
                          
I came to get you, he responded. Hitomi could feel his defeat. Are you alright? 
                          
I'm fine,  Hitomi reassured him. They have been doing some kind of experiment on me, but it's helped me understand more of this compound. She tried to press into Van's mind the mapped images she had managed to understand from her explorations.