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

[garbagechild]

<sub>[Wrath is wringing his hands and shifting from foot to foot nervously, like a cross between someone who just realized they left the oven on and a little kid who really has to go to the bathroom. But Wrath has never operated an oven in his life, and there's already a bathroom DOWN there, so what could this all be about?]

[He seems reluctant to keep backing up, and even shoots a desperate glance at the open doorway behind Envy, but slowly does start to move backwards again.]</sub>

I gotta-- I gotta-- I can't stay. I need to go. You gotta let me out now.

Please!

[exeggutorhead]

[Envy sees that desperate look, and closes the door behind him. If Henry hadn't been here now, he would've been fine with talking at the top of the stairs instead of the bottom. But that might get too loud.]

[But this is a different sort of look than Wrath's had all those other times he's tried to escape. Something's changed.]

Hang on, hang on. What's so different now?

[He's not mocking Wrath, he's genuinely asking. What could possibly have happened?]

[There's a sharp worry in the pit of his stomach that they might have finally just pushed too far, kept him down there too long no matter how much they'd tried to make it more bearable.]

[garbagechild]

<sub>[At that, Wrath almost looks pained. He's not a very good liar-- not like Envy. And as far as he's concerned, messing up and letting slip with secrets is what got him INTO this whole mess.]

[But after a few seconds of being horribly torn, he finally manages--]</sub>

It's a secret.

But I gotta.

_{[8( HE'S NOT SUPPOSED TO TELL ANYBODY HE'S IN TEAM ROCKET. Even if they've been holding him hostage in their basement for two months.]}

[exeggutorhead]

[Envy is wracking his brains for anything that Wrath would suddenly need to leave for, anything that would be enough of a secret to get that kind of torn face at the idea of telling.]

Is something going to happen? Or has it already?

[And then it hits him. Something else Wrath has yelled about keeping a secret for, back before this all started.]

[Something he might have a problem with after being gone for two months.]

...is it that new team of yours?

[garbagechild]

<sub>[He kind of looks like there's something stuck in his throat for a moment, but... well, he HAD told them all that he'd found a new team.]

[So he nods.]</sub>

I'm gonna get in trouble.

Please, I gotta go.

[exeggutorhead]

[Envy knows exactly what 'getting in trouble' means to Wrath. His mouth tightens into a thin line. He doesn't THINK that anyone from this world would even consider the kinds of punishments Dante inflicted on them, but he doesn't KNOW.]

Have you gotten in trouble with them before?

[It's almost surprising, how strongly the thought of them hurting Wrath like she had hurt all of them makes him want to burn the Rocket base to the ground.]

Or seen it happen to anyone else?

[garbagechild]

<sub>[Wrath pauses... then shakes his head.]

[Envy is entirely correct about Team Rocket probably not even being in the same LEAGUE as what the Homunculi are used to, but Wrath knows about exactly ONE kind of punishment, and that kind is Dante's.]

[It hasn't even occurred to him that there is any other form of consequence for getting in trouble.]</sub>

[exeggutorhead]

I don't think it'd be like with her, Wrath.

They might yell or give you a worse job for a while, or...I don't know, maybe not pay you. But I don't think they'll hurt you.

[They'd better fucking not.]

[garbagechild]

_{[He shakes his head again.]}

If you break the rules, you get punished.

None of those things you just said are punishments.

<sub>[He'd gotten yelled at and given miserable jobs plenty when he was with the other Sins, and had never seen a single penny for it! As far as he's concerned, the earnings are neat perk, but not something he'd bat an eye at having taken away.]

[And like.]

[People yell at him all the time already. A LOT.]

['GET OUT OF THERE WRATH' is an extremely common thing to hear screamed through the halls in the Rocket HQ. Also, 'STOP TOUCHING ALL THE CARROT COINS AND TAKE YOUR TRAY ALREADY, FOR THE LOVE OF ARCEUS'.]</sub>

[exeggutorhead]

What? Yes they are. They're punishments for most people.

[Most people who haven't been horrifyingly abused!]

[garbagechild]

<sub>[In the brief duration of this conversation, Wrath hasn't once looked annoyed or disgruntled. He's been too busy being anxious and distressed.]

[But now his eyes narrow, and he gives Envy a look.]</sub>

... You're changing your mind again.

<sub>[His voice is low and soft, but still blatantly accusing.]

[YEAH Envy, he DAMN WELL REMEMBERS who originally gave him the rundown of all the horrible things that would be done to him if he screwed up or misbehaved! HE REMEMBERS SUPER WELL.]</sub>

[exeggutorhead]

I'm not changing my mind, the situation is different.

[THAT INFORMATION USED TO BE PRETTY ACCURATE.]

[garbagechild]

How is it different?!

I belong to a team, and the team has rules! And if you break them, you're punished!

It's exactly the same!

The only thing that's different is what you're saying! And that's always changing.

[exeggutorhead]

But the team is different!

[But this is the same issue the two of them have run into over and over, ever since they brought Wrath down here.]

Look, I don't...I don't know how to get you to believe me. I'm not any good at telling the truth but I'm trying.

[garbagechild]

<sub>[Yep.]

[It sure is an issue.]

[Wrath stands there, glaring up at Envy with fists balled and feet squared.]

[But finally he says, flatly--]</sub>

... I'll never know what's the truth and what isn't if you keep changing the story.

[exeggutorhead]

[He can't even get annoyed that Wrath won't believe him.]

[He dug this hole himself, and he knows it. And Wrath's the one who's been suffering for it.]

I know, I know.

[He runs a hand harshly back through his hair, trying to figure out how they're going to deal with this.]

So...why don't we figure out what the truth is now. And once we do, I won't change the story anymore. I won't have to, because it'll be true.

That makes sense, right?

[garbagechild]

<sub>[Wrath's lips purse for a moment as he considers this.]

[While it's true that Envy's changed his mind a number of times even since Wrath had first arrived here, he has managed to stick to this specific version of things for some time.]

[After silently weighing things up for a bit, Wrath sets his jaw and looks back up at Envy.]</sub>

You gotta pinkie swear to it.

[exeggutorhead]

[Honestly, Envy's relieved that Wrath is even thinking about it instead of just dismissing it outright. He blinks, looking confused. He has to what?]

Pinkie swear? What's that mean?

[He doesn't look reluctant. WHATEVER IT IS, HE'LL DO IT. BUT FIRST HE NEEDS TO KNOW WHAT TO DO.]

[garbagechild]

_{[Wrath's expression grows grim.]}

It's something Joker taught me.

<sub>[Emphasis on 'Joker', because Wrath knows that he and Envy are friends. Therefore, it adds legitimacy to what he's saying. Of course, Joker hadn't... exactly... SPECIFIED WHAT HAPPENED WHEN A PINKY PROMISE WAS BROKEN.]

[Fortunately, Wrath has a big imagination to make up for that.]</sub>

It means you promise something, and if you break the promise, first all your body parts start to rot off, but you don't feel it, so you just have to watch. Then your hair turns to cobwebs, and all your skin melts off, and you vomit up your organs one at a time.

Finally, you're a bunch of bones, and you can't move, because there's no muscles to pull on them.

But your brain is still inside, so you can still think.

And then bugs eat the brain.

And then you die.

_[......]

... And you DON'T come back!

[exeggutorhead]

[Envy is pretty sure that Wrath is the one who made up all that about what happens when you break one, because that sounds like a VERY WRATH THING TO COME UP WITH. But he nods solemnly, even widening his eyes a little, like he believes every word.]

Then I really won't be able to break it, not even if I wanted to.

Okay, so how do we make this promise? Anything special we need to do to make it the real thing?

[garbagechild]

<sub>[GOOD. Envy seems suitably convinced.]

[Wrath holds up his hand, pinky extended.]</sub>

You gotta hold the small finger on the end of someone's hand with yours.

And say what you're promising.

[exeggutorhead]

Like...this?

[What a weird way to make a promise. But it does seem like a thing humans would come up with. He extends his own pinky, linking it with Wrath's.]

I promise that I'll only tell you the truth, from now on. I won't change my story anymore.

[garbagechild]

<sub>[Once their pinkies are linked, Wrath gives Envy's hand a slow, firm shake-- just like Joker had done when he'd made Wrath promise to keep his nefarious deeds on the downlow whenever he planned on visiting the circus. Not that they'd quite upheld that one, considering Joker's first move upon finding out that the little ragamuffin had stolen AN ENTIRE VAPOREON had been to send Invidia out to sweep him off to the big-top, but WHO'S COUNTING...]

[Then Wrath lets go. And nods somberly.]</sub>

It's sealed.

[exeggutorhead]

[Envy nods back, mouth set in a serious line.]

Sealed. No more lies, ever again.

[He lets out a breath. He really does mean it.]

...now will you believe me, when I say I don't think that your new team's punishments are going to be like hers were?

I'll still talk to the others about letting you out to go back to them. But I don't think it'll be the same as it used to be.

Here--sit down with me?

[He takes a seat on the stairs, gesturing for Wrath to sit next to him, if he will.]

[garbagechild]

<sub>[Wrath doesn't have much faith. But, well, Envy made a pinkie promise. If his limbs start rotting off, Wrath supposes then he'll know for sure.]

[He shoots another longing look at the door, unable to help letting out a low whine in his throat. But... after a second, he does sit down. A couple stairs down from Envy, but he does sit.]</sub>