route_1065 | Sometimes people leave you, halfway through the wood.

Entry tags:

Sometimes people leave you, halfway through the wood.

Who: Alphonse Elric, Envy, Greed, and Wrath.
Where: An ill-fated bakery. All around Goldenrod. The freakin' basement.
When: August 11th onwards! This is a catch-all.
Summary: The world has been pretty good to the various monsters and serial killers hailing from Amestris, but one particular villainous wild child has yet to be rehabilitated.
Rating: PG-13 for talk of abuse, manipulation, brainwashing, all that good stuff.
Log:

Continued from here.

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[This is not something Greed would prefer to do.

Breaking the brainwashing Dante has put on the kid won't be easy; Greed knows how it goes, knows what eating the stones for the first time does, and if the poor boy has no memories of being human in the first place, well...

Let's just say he's grateful he actually did buy the boy a pretzel. He's been pretending to be this "Darius" for not enough. Coming clean will make him feel a little better, even though it's going to be all the same to the kid.

So he waits at the bakery, hoping they can do this without causing too much of a scene.]

_{[It's probably not something ANY of them would prefer to do. Least of all Wrath.]

[But it has to be done.]

[They don't have long to wait-- Wrath doesn't exactly have any other major social engagements to delay him, and the prospect of going out to spend time with his buddy Darius is exciting enough to make the kid move FAST.]

[He shows up within ten minutes of Greed's own arrival, popping right up around the corner.]}

DARIUS! Hi! Hello!

[He can't really say he's looking forward to this. Far from it. But he looks cheerful enough when he greets Wrath, handing him a freshly baked pretzel, still wrapped in paper.]

Hey there, kiddo. Here's a treat you for.

_{[Wrath isn't well-versed enough in the human idea of trying to pay your own way wherever possible to be indignant or flustered about being handed free food in the slightest-- he takes it without even remotely hesitating.]}

Wow! Thank you! I was just going to eat something from the large colorful snack box for lunch, but this is MUCH better. None of the things in the box are ever warm when they come out.

_{[Vending machine. He's talking about a vending machine.]}

[This isn't going to be a good day for anyone. But it has to happen.]

[Over in their hiding spot, he nudges Al with his elbow once Wrath takes the pretzel. This is probably their best chance, while he's distracted. He shifts, getting ready to run out.]

Ready?

[He doesn't LIKE the idea of working with Al on this, but there wasn't much of an option.]

[No one likes this day, but what are you gonna do? Not kidnap a small feral child?]

[They won't get a better chance than this. Al frowns but nods, and bursts out at the same time as Envy to lunge and grab Wrath before he can get away.]

_{[He never saw it coming. The possibility never even occurred to him.]

[At the rustle and crash of two people exploding out of a bush, Wrath understandably starts to turn around, eyes widening. As anyone would at a sudden, unexpected noise. And then he sees long green hair and TWO SETS OF HANDS grabbing for him and springs away with every ounce of adrenaline-fueled speed he has in those skinny little legs of his.]}

YOU!!

_{[He hollers this loudly and angrily as he leaps-- right up until he sees who the OTHER person jumping out at him is.]

[And then his jaw goes slack.]

[Alphonse Elric? Alphonse Elric and Envy within five feet of each other, but not... KILLING each other? They look-- they look like--]}

Wh-- DARIUS, help!

_{[Dropping the pretzel, Wrath turns to scramble behind Greed.]

[He doesn't know.]

[He has no idea.]}

[He feels so bad.

He moves to put his hand on Wrath's head, protective, but he's not sure what to do. Betray the boy right away? It's... not something he really wants to do, but he also doesn't know what he can do right now.]

It's going to be okay.

[Greed knows it's the wrong thing to say, but it's the only thing he can think to say. He's... not exactly protecting the boy from the two of them, but he's also not moving from where he's standing.]

[Oh, Wrath. For all that's happened, he's still somehow too trusting.]

[Envy doesn't blow Greed's cover out loud, but he does dart to the side and around Greed, grabbing for Wrath's arm or hair or something.]

[He doesn't say anything, because what could he even say? He doesn't want to be even more threatening than he already is. And this isn't okay, it's going to suck for all of them, and that's exactly why it needs to be done.]

[It feels like a vice is clenching around Al's chest when Wrath sees them coming for him, the confusion and fear on his face hurting more than any of the hateful barbs and snide comments ever had. He didn't want to do this to Wrath, but Envy and Greed were right--he needed to be convinced, and there wasn't any way that being gentle about this would get through what Dante had convinced him of.]

[It certainly hadn't been gentle back home.]

[Dodging around Greed's other side, he grabs for Wrath again, hoping that between the three of him Wrath won't be able to dart away in time.] Wrath, please! This is for your own good!

_{['This is for your own good'? What's for his own good?]

[Wrath's mind is reeling. In the past few months, he had come to regard Alphonse with a great deal less hostility than he had in the beginning... but there's nothing but confusion right now.]

[Face drawn with baffled terror, he scoots out from between both the older boys' grabs with the agility that only a noodly eight-year-old can have, frantically appealing to Greed again once he's in front. The man was just STANDING there, but Wrath couldn't blame him! He doesn't know who these guys are, maybe he thinks it's a game! Wrath had better WARN him.]}

Darius, I know them! They're from MY world, but they don't have any powers here! If we work together, we can fight 'em off! Help!

[He doesn't know what to do. He can't keep protecting the kid, because he knows why the two of them are here; Greed also knows that he's going to have to turn on the kid. This s going to be messy, but he still can't help play the role of protector a little longer.

He reaches down, left-handed, without thinking about it, gripping at Wrath's hand, more fatherly than he really intends to be.]

I know. Stay behind me; it'll be okay.

_{[Darius's calmness is so confusing. He doesn't get the GRAVITY of this, he can't possibly know how apocalyptically horrifying the entire concept of Envy and an Elric working together, but he should STILL be-- alarmed? Or SOMETHING?

[Wrath opens his mouth to frantically reaffirm the seriousness of the situation... and then, by chance, he glances at the hand holding onto his own.]

[For a split second, time may as well have stopped.]

[No... no. It... it CAN'T be.]

[Wrath whips his head back up to 'Darius' with a hissed, whistling gasp, his eyes widening and his entire body tensing up.]

[He may not have existed for a very long time, or known much about the sins that had come and gone before him...]

[But he knows an Ouroborous when he sees one.]

[The moment of sheer, visceral horror and betrayal on Wrath's face is probably something that all three of the kidnappers will have stamped in their memory for a long, long time-- but in reality, it lasts little more than an instant.]

[And then the moment is gone and Wrath leans forward to bite the branded, traitorous hand holding onto his own as hard as he possibly can.]}

[Well. Shit.]

[Al doesn't have any time to worry about how many stitches Greed is going to need after this. Instead he just grabs for Wrath, trying to get hold of an arm or his hair or something in this moment that's he's actually holding still.]

[Fuck. Yeah, Envy's going to remember that betrayed expression. But one advantage of being a terrible person is not hesitating even in the face of things like that.]

Hold still, we're not going to hurt you!

[...BECAUSE BETWEEN THE THREE OF THEM, IT'S AN IMPORTANT DISTINCTION. He tries to take advantage of Wrath being latched onto Greed to try and grab him around the waist. SORRY GREED YOUR HAND IS THE SACRIFICE.]

[Holy shit that hurt.

Greed moves, as soon as he can think past the fact that he's probably going to need to go to a doctor after this, but he isn't about to let the kid run off again. He needs to get away from everything Dante taught him.]

We're here to help you, kid!

[He says as he's most likely bleeding.]

_{[Between being latched onto Greed's wrist like a horrifying lamprey from hell and having TWO people making a grab for him at once, this time Wrath can't dodge them.]

[His feet leave the ground as Envy's arms snag him around the waist, and in the confusion, Al succeeds in grabbing a healthy handful of the boy's hair.]

[Their words of reassurance do nothing-- it's only because of the fact that he's now in danger of falling into enemy hands (and okay, maybe getting his hair yanked, too. That hurts!) that Wrath relinquishes his hold on 'Darius' and writhes around in Envy's grip with a piercing, banshee scream to sink his teeth into whatever part of his captor he can reach.]

[As for Al, he gets a pale, knobbly foot flying directly into his face for his troubles as Wrath kicks out and upwards with both legs.]}

[Al's scrambling to get a hold of a more limb-resembling part of Wrath is cut short by that flailing foot, and he stumbles back with a pained yell, clutching his nose. Definitely broken, and already bleeding.]

[Envy shouts in pain when Wrath sinks his sharp little teeth into his arm; it at least gets him to let go to try and shake the kid off.]

Damn it!

[The little brat is going to cause way too much of a scene. The last thing any of them need are the Jennys all being called in, because he doubts they'll listen to any "he needs our help" excuses.]

Damn brat!

[He hates Dante more for the brainwashing, but right now Greed wants nothing more than to chase the kid down before he causes an even bigger situation.

He tries to grab the kid again, before he can let go of Envy.]

_{[It took about five seconds before the attempts at calming Wrath down degenerated into profanity and hollers of pain. That's actually impressive.]

[But Greed's right-- any more of this and it'll attract a hell of a lot of unwanted attention.]

[Unfortunately for them... Wrath isn't about to give in that easily.]

[He sees the grab coming and lets go of Envy just in time to wriggle out from between all of them. And then promptly takes off like a bat out of hell, straight down the road.]}

[Al's just recovered and blinked the stars out of his eyes when Wrath breaks loose, and he curses before taking off after him. God, if Wrath manages to find something to climb up away from them, this whole thing will be a bust!]

Come on!

[Yeah, they have to cut him off from climbing anything.]

We need something to catch him in!

[But for now they just need to CATCH UP.]

[Dammit, this isn't going well.]

How are we supposed to catch him? Did anyone think to bring a net?

_{[When Lust isn't around, everyone's strategizing capabilities go STRAIGHT TO SHIT. Of course nobody thought to bring a net.]

[It's just lucky for everyone involved that Wrath has short legs, because at the very least, with all of them sprinting down the road after him, they're at least able to keep him in view.]

[Well. Until he ducks through some bushes and into someone's YARD, anyway.]}

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armoredsoul - 2015-08-30 17:34 (UTC) - Expand

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Sometimes people leave you, halfway through the wood.

Sorry for the delay!

that's fine, sorry for THIS delay!

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