Sometimes people leave you, halfway through the wood.

[garbagechild]

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.

Comments

[exeggutorhead]

"I wouldn't be asking you if I thought you could possibly make things worse than they already are."

Which is the truth.

"You could at least tell her that you don't hate her. That's what she thinks."

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar lets out a deflating sigh and sits on the bed, once again not looking at Envy. Of course she thinks that. He's surprised she didn't start thinking that sooner.

"Tell me where they are staying, then," he conceded, running a hand frustratedly through his hair. He isn't doing this over the phone.

[exeggutorhead]

Envy had already opened his mouth to continue, but then he just closes it again. Well that was...

Okay then. Scar is going to go after all and Envy barely had to do any serious convincing. Everything about this conversation is surreal, from how easy it was to the way the man just deflated like that.

"...they'll probably be in Ecruteak in a few days or so."

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar's gaze darkens, and now his eyes slide dangerously back to Envy.

"You told me they were already in Ecruteak."

[exeggutorhead]

WH..OOPS...

Sorry Scar, they lied. It's a house full of liars and they've corrupted Alphonse. Envy crosses his arms.

"Yeah, so you would actually come in the house."

[envy_the_sinners]

"When did you last contact her?" he demands, standing from the bed with a sudden shot of energy. Scar largely suspects that Lust doesn't do well in the snow. It doesn't matter that Heather and some other man are with her, if they're still days out of the city...

He's ready to turn around and leave right now.

[exeggutorhead]

"Today. They were fine. And I sent them coats and everything already this morning, those are probably already there."

Scar, sit down. Of course, Envy's a bit snappish in his response because he's annoyed that he can't really do much about it himself.

[envy_the_sinners]

Don't give him that face.

"She does poorly in the cold," he grumbles as if it should be COMPLETELY OBVIOUS.

"I'm leaving tomorrow." He needs time to. Mentally prepare.

[exeggutorhead]

He'll give you whatever face he wants.

"Good, because if you left tonight you'd be a walking icicle before you got anywhere."

Not that he's particularly worried about Scar's safety (aside from the tiniest of Concerns that he never quite shook off from the cave incident), but that would make this take even longer.

[envy_the_sinners]

No, he wouldn't be, but Scar doesn't care enough to tell Envy that he would be perfectly fine.

When he's about to squeeze in another retort, though, the lights flicker.

Then they go out.

And they stay out.

Somewhere, from the basement, sounds a blood-curdling scream, and Scar can't help but notice-

[envy_the_sinners]

"Is that a child?"

[exeggutorhead]

Really? Really power, right now?

And with Wrath screaming, there's no way to keep the de-brainwashing adventure a secret from Scar.

"None of your business!"

But that doesn't mean he has to tell him everything immediately.

[envy_the_sinners]

"None of my-"

No. Never mind. Enough of this. Scar only shoots Envy an enraged look before aiming to shoulder him aside and make his way briskly for the basement door. That definitely came from downstairs.

[exeggutorhead]

Envy is pretty easily shoved aside by Scar. He's almost shoved over by Scar. But he stays on his feet to let out an indignant shout and follow right on the man's heels.

"Hey! Don't open the door and let him out! We'll never catch him again!"

[envy_the_sinners]

"It's Wrath, isn't it?" Scar whirls around, glaring daggers at Envy.

"What is he doing here?" Envy you have like ten seconds to explain.

[armoredsoul]

Oh god this is bad. This is bad and horrible and Scar is going to be so mad, this is the worst.

Al skids to a stop seeing the two men in the hallway, just barely managing to stop from slamming into them both in his headlong run to get downstairs to Wrath.

At least he heard enough to know he needs to say something here. "We don't have a choice! He won't stop being loyal to Dante if we don't keep him here to convince him!"

[ossifragant]

Greed, to his credit, doesn't look very bothered right now. He folds his hands across his chest. He's heard enough of the conversation, and moves, standing near Al and looking a lot calmer than he feels. "This is a homunculus problem." Al just happens to be an honorary homunculus, that's all.

"The kid needs help. He'll come around eventually."

[exeggutorhead]

Now that he has backup, Envy crosses his own arms. Not that anyone can see much of anything in the dark of the blackout, but he's looking less frantic himself now that Scar's not going to be RELEASING WRATH INTO THE DARKNESS.

"Exactly. He's our problem, and we're dealing with him."

Even Al is only allowed into this homunculus business because Al is Wrath's friend and dealt with him for two years already. At least as far as Envy's concerned.

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar simply turns to glare at Al, but quickly realizes that it will have little effect in the darkness that is now the hallway.

"I'm speaking with you later," he says firmly to Alphonse before turning back to Envy and now Greed.

"By leaving him alone in the basement?" Not even the locking part, but... the fact that he's alone down there...

Scar can begin to understand that Wrath needs some serious help, and that this could very well be the only way to get him better.

But he sure as shit doesn't trust Greed and Envy to do it responsibly.

[armoredsoul]

What? What the heck did he do--

Oh.

Al shoots Envy a brief glare (it had to be him that snitched) before looking back to Scar. "He's not alone, we have some of our Pokemon down there to keep an eye on him! And we go down to try and talk to him, but...he's not listening, yet." It's hard to keep the hurt out of his voice; it had taken so long to get Wrath to trust him here, and now with this...Al's pretty sure Wrath won't ever think of him as anything other than an enemy, now.

[ossifragant]

Greed looks at Scar, his expression severe. He really has no interest in Scar getting involved in a problem entirely unique to the homunculi. No one else understands it. "We go down there with him. He's just alone with the Pokemon now there right now."

He waves a dismissive hand. "It's not like Pokemon are regular animals; and besides that, Pokemon are protective. They're not hurting him."

[exeggutorhead]

"So if you're done questioning us on a situation you don't know anything about, we can figure out what to do about the power. Where'd we last have the flashlights?"

After a pause, he continues, "...and someone get down there with Wrath."

He'd go himself, but out of all of them, Wrath would probably be the LEAST reassured by him.

Not only that, but the very reason that he knows Wrath shouldn't be alone in a pitch dark basement is the same one that he's extremely reluctant to go down himself until they find a light. Not even for the young homunculus' sake.

[envy_the_sinners]

"Unless I have inundated you with a flood of inane text messages, I think my questioning is reasonable. I have attempted to reach out to the child in the past, though I suppose you would not believe that, given that I am considered more heartless monster than man in this house."

And that is all Scar intends to say about it. His tone isn't even defensive, he's just had enough of the comments. He shoves past everyone, trying to get back to his bag to find a light.