route_1065 | Vacation's where I wanna be

Your cat was worried.

[Envy knows there's something up when Greed goes off by himself. But it's easier to put all that onto the Meowth who can't talk.]

...yeah, I could tell. Especially when you were shooting seawater in my face.

[He knows about having fun and then it hitting him later that he had fun, and not knowing how to feel about it. So he has some idea of why Greed's over here alone. But he can't just come out and say that.]

[He manages a half smile at that. Of course she would worry, having been there from the beginning. She was a smart girl, like the woman she'd been named after.]

Like you didn't enjoy shooting water in my face.

[Right now, though, he doesn't know what to do with himself.]

Can I ask you something personal?

[Envy's all ready for a retort before Greed asks that question. He crosses his arms, shifting his weight awkwardly and frowning in that way that shows he's unsure. He doesn't like personal questions pretty much ever.]

I guess you can. No promises on an answer.

[But he might answer.]

[He's aware, so very aware. It's one of those things Greed avoids as a policy. He refuses to talk about himself on most days. Tonight has mostly been an exception on that end, because he's been fairly open about certain things.

But this is one of those things that has been bothering him for a while now, and he can't ask Lust. She's too young-- she might not remember. And it would probably upset her.]

Do you remember the Gate?

[He was a little tense already just at the idea of a question, but when it's asked he really tenses up, before forcing himself to relax again.]

[There's the time not long ago at all, when he found himself there with Edward and forced it open, demanded that it take him to the other side and it wasn't frightening that time because he was too angry to be scared. When Dante had called it to push Ed inside and when it ripped Wrath's human limbs back into itself. And before that...the hazy half memory from when he was born.]

[Yes, he remembers the Gate very well. He nods, a little jerkily.]

Yeah, I do. Do you?

[He nods, though it's slight, and he's facing the fire to avoid looking Envy in the eyes.]

Not well. But I remember it.

[He remembers being trapped with no exit, and the darkness with no end.]

I wish I didn't.

[Envy's just fine with Greed looking away, he doesn't want to look Greed in the eyes for this either. He takes a breath, running a hand back through his hair distractedly.]

So what brought this up right now?

I don't know.

[Actually, that's not quite true.]

It's been on my mind for a while, I guess. I keep thinking that maybe this is some dream. Some trick of its. Maybe I'm on the floor of that house dying and this is some elaborate dream it's showing me.

[Because that explanation is more reasonable than 'You're happy, Greed.']

[It's weird, feeling happy. He doesn't quite believe he deserves it.]

[Envy's quiet for a long moment before sighing.]

Get up. If we're talking about this, we're not talking about it anywhere near where people might overhear. Or walk in on it.

[If Greed gets up, Envy will lead the way farther out onto the beach. There's enough moon that it's not completely dark, and there's still the lights from Olivine.]

[He gets up at that.

If they're going to have a conversation beyond Greed pitying himself, it's probably best away from people. There are too many things he isn't comfortable talking with people who aren't from Amestris. Even more things he's only comfortable telling the other homunculi.

So he follows, quietly, but he follows.

It's pretty rare for Greed to get into a mood where he's not constantly talking, but in this case it's probably for the best.]

...what's up?

[Besides the obviously uncomfortable conversation about the Gate.]

[Envy almost wishes that Greed would have kept talking like he always does. It would have been distracting. With just the sounds of the ocean and the murmur of conversation from the bonfire, it's a lot easier to have second thoughts about saying anything about this at all.]

[But Greed talking about this being a trick has gotten the thought into his head. And after a longer than necessary silence, Envy bites the bullet and answers.]

I was in the Gate, right before I came here.

[At least, when he came back from that coma where he'd gone home.]

[It takes a long time for him to process what Envy says. It doesn't make any sense at all. How could something like that be possible?

Unless he was dead. If all of them died, then it would be possible, that maybe, just maybe, their souls actually returned to the...

No, that wasn't possible. He could wish it was, but it wasn't.

But still, Envy had been inside the Gate. How the hell?]

What?! But that's not... that...

How? Why?

[Envy crosses his arms almost defensively while he waits for Greed to say something, not looking at the other.]

A lot of things were going to shit, the thing got summoned twice. The second time, I got caught in the transmutation.

[He straightens, frowning, like he's daring Greed to say something. Daring him to say what, he's not sure.]

There's another side of the Gate, another world. And that's where that bastard was. So I opened the stupid thing myself and went in. It couldn't keep hold of me if I was transforming, it couldn't stop me.

[Deliberately summoning the Gate multiple times.

What the hell happened after his death?]

Another world.

[He repeats this like he isn't sure what to do with this information. Hadn't Kimblee told him it was God? Not that Greed had thought it applied to his own world to begin with, but...]

So you saw your chance to be able to kill him and took it. I can't blame you.

[But the fact that there's another world on the other side of the Gate reminds him too much of conversations he's had in the past.]

How did you learn about this, anyway? I can't imagine it's common knowledge. Even... I doubt even Dante knows about that.

[He nods again, emphatically when Greed says he wouldn't blame him. Damn straight he was going to kill Hohenheim no matter what it took.]

Some place called London, apparently. I've...France told me that was a city in his world.

[He shifts and rubs his arm absently at that. It had been a relief to hear, that after he'd finished with his father he might be able to go looking for France and for a lot of the friends he'd made here. He'd have to wait a few decades, but he could do that easy.]

And she didn't, nobody did. Wouldn't be surprised if it was only me, Elric, and him who knew. She sent the kid into the Gate to kill him, but he came back. He's the one who told me there was another side, and that Hohenheim was there.

[Hoooly shit.

This is one of those "this changes everything" things, but Greed is managing to not let it show on his face. It's not like he could do anything about it, but right now he's reeling just from the idea.]

That's... a hell of a thing.

[He'd say it's a coincidence, but he's lived long enough and been through enough to know that it's usually not one, at least in his experience. The Gate acts as a portal to another world, a world people here are from?]

Lust told me she did the same thing to that bastard.

[At the time, he'd honestly thought the Gate had eaten him or something. Not sent him to an entirely different world, what the hell.]

To think, all these years I've spent being terrified of it and there's another world on the other side.

[When Greed mentions what Dante did with Hohenheim, Envy goes completely tense with a small, sharp intake of breath. His fists clench tightly and he narrows his eyes. He's still not looking at Greed, and when he speaks, his voice is strained with remembered fury.]

Yeah. She did. She thought she was killing him.

[It's still a much better reaction than what would have happened if he didn't know Hohenheim was still alive to kill. He tries to distract himself with what Greed says next, because now isn't the time to completely lose it.]

No reason to stop being scared of it, it's no picnic going across. But...I don't think this world is some hallucination. That place isn't nice enough to give us this.

[He's not sure what to say about that.

He's known that Envy wanted to kill Honhenheim his entire life. His own hatred for the man isn't something he talks about often, but damn would it be hard to turn down an opportunity to slaughter him.]

Even with all her knowledge, there are still things she doesn't know about, huh? Wouldn't she like to know about that other world.

You're right, this place is too nice. I never would have imagined such a world.

[He's quiet for a moment.]

At least she's not here. Lust said she'd kill her, but you and I both know that wouldn't be so easy of a thing to let happen even if it was possible.

Edited 2014-07-31 00:50 (UTC)

I know. And even if Lust killed her, she wouldn't die.

[They could let it happen and it wouldn't change anything.]

I don't know what I'd do. I can't go back to that, not anymore. But...

[He glances over his shoulder, very briefly, at the bonfire. And the people around it.]

I...

[What would he do? He doesn't even know why he went back to her in the first place and the idea makes him uncomfortable. He breaks away from Envy's gaze, glancing instead at the ocean.]

I shouldn't go back to it.

[Which isn't the same thing as saying he can't, and he knows it. But he follows Envy's gaze just the same.]

One of the people I broke out of the lab, he was from Dublith, too. Mentioned it when I said we needed a place to lay low. I jumped at the chance to go back there. I told them it was because of the military base, but...

But you just couldn't stay away, could you?

[He'd suspected it, how could he not have with Greed setting up shop right next door? And he didn't know all the details of Greed's death, either, but what he had heard...Greed might have run again, but he didn't.]

[All of that, and Greed never had truly escaped, had he? But then again, Envy never even tried.]

She might never show up.

[He couldn't stand being near her, being reminded that he was her prisoner. But he also couldn't stand being apart from her. It was a maddening cognitive dissonance. Stuck somewhere between loving her and hating her.

It isn't easy. It hadn't been easy back there. Greed can't help but wonder if maybe the others knew. If the chimera had figured it out. Maybe Kimbley knew. Maybe even Martel.]

She hasn't in the time you've been here, right?

Maybe we'll be lucky and she'll never show up. I don't know what I'd do.

No, she hasn't.

[Envy understands feeling that conflicted about her. Not in the same way for him, but still.]

None of us know.

[He pauses, struggling with what he wants to say and how he wants to say it. He settles on a casual tone, like what he's saying doesn't really matter.]

So you're telling me that it's my turn to try getting you away from her, if she did.

[He's quiet for a long time, almost to the point where it's not clear if he's heard Envy or not.

Finally, he does speak.]

Yeah. I guess that's what I'm saying. If she ever shows up, make sure I can't get anywhere near her.

It scares me, not knowing now, even though I've been here for three months, what I would do if she appeared.

For... for the sake of my pride, you can't let her lure me away.

Edited 2014-08-08 05:26 (UTC)

Vacation's where I wanna be

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