victory_road | [action

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[action - Ecruteak]

Who: Envy (and a ghost) and YOU
Where: Ecruteak
When: August 16th through 19th
Summary: Envy, like many others, has a less than fun time being followed by a well-intentioned ghost.
Rating: PG-13? Possible CW for discussion of abuse.
Log:

[Why did whatever this was have to look like her? Envy's already talked with Lust about what might be going on, and he's seen the other distressed people popping up on the network. He knows this is just one of those things that happens, and obviously his former master isn't really here.]

[That doesn't stop the cold twist of his stomach every time he catches sight of her out of the corner of his eye. At least the whatever-it-is isn't talking.]

[Now if only he could find a way to get rid of it.]

[He doesn't want to take this to the network, he doesn't want to talk about her to potentially a bunch of random strangers. But he's also not going to be holing up in his hotel room...he hates the thought of just being in a room with even the image of her staring at him. So out and about it is, speedwalking down the sidewalk wherever he goes, hands shoved in his pockets and his head down to avoid looking at her. Maybe if he walks fast enough, he'll lose her. Unfortunately for anyone around him, this makes it really easy for him to smack straight into someone.]

[By day two, someone might catch him emptying a garbage can out in an alley, grim determination on his face. Lust had put a garbage can on her and nothing bad had happened, even if she'd phased on out before very long. And it had been kind of funny. He can do it too.]

[One way or another, eventually he will have gotten rid of the pesky follower. And is still wandering around town looking for ANY kind of distraction, no matter how small. He's got a lot to avoid thinking about.]

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_{[It's SO frustrating! It's like a visual representation of how convinced all the other Homunculi were that they were somehow completely free here. Now their Master is HERE IN THE FLESH and Envy still looks like he's not afraid at all!! YOU GUYS!!!]

[Wrath completely ignores the elder Homunculus. He's a lost cause now. He'll definitely be killed for his insolence and Wrath knows that nothing he could possibly do to prevent it.]

[So he scoots forward, head down, splaying himself almost flat on the floor. Practically in offering, because anything on her servants' part that made it more difficult for her to deliver a reprimand just made the reprimand more severe.]

[His pleading is frantic yet almost completely monotonous.]}

Master, forgive us our trespasses, forgive us our trespasses, we weren't running away, I was loyal, always loyal, forgive us forgive us forgive us--

[She doesn't even appear to react to Wrath's groveling, aside from looking down with that same still, expressionless look. From anyone else, it would be a giveaway that this clearly wasn't a person.]

[But to Envy, watching, that still face is so very, very much like how Dante's might look if she really were about to deliver a punishment to the prone homunculus in front of her. For a moment, it makes him freeze, breath caught in his throat.]

[But not for long. He can't watch this any longer.]

Wrath!

She's not real! It's just a ghost, it only looks like her!

[Fists clenching, Envy turns his attention back up to the ghost, which lifts its head to meet his glare. It's the first time since this whole mess started that he's actually looked right at her with anger, even when she'd first appeared and he'd thrown a fit. He'd always directed it at her sideways, at everywhere but directly at her.]

She can't hurt us!

_{[He FINALLY lifts his head, because OH MY GOD!!!!]}

ENVY, STOP!!

_{[His voice doesn't even make it past the first word before breaking, and he kind of... awkwardly slaps Envy's ankle.]}

You'll MAKE it WORSE!!

NO, I won't! Because she's not here! We don't have to be so damn SCARED of her!

[But it's clear that just telling Wrath this isn't going to do a damn thing. So he'll have to prove it.]

[There's really only one way to do that.]

[Envy squares his shoulders, breathes in, and sends a punch directly at the specter of Dante's face.]

[And, of course, it goes right through to no effect; she doesn't even move. But his hand is still shaking when he withdraws it back, and his heart is racing.]

There. See? Nothing.

Just a ghost.

_{[Wrath has to actually stifle a tiny scream when Envy strikes out at Dante's visage.]

[When nothing happens, he just freezes, staring in disbelief.]

[He's shaking.]}

... A... ghost?

_{[Wrath still isn't totally clear on what a ghost is, but if nothing else, this has been a better demonstration of one than any explanation anybody else has given him. Now he knows exactly why everyone seems to speak of them with dread.]}

[Envy nods. He still hasn't taken his eyes off of the ghost.]

Yeah. They've been following a lot of people around the past few days.

They make themselves look like people from where we're from.

She's not real.

[He's kept repeating that, and it's only half to reassure Wrath.]

_{[Wrath continues to stare at the silent specter.]

[It really does look so real.]

[But while Envy's words are not something he's willing to take as proof of anything, watching the senior Homunculus attempt to strike their master and not be immediately (and brutally) put back in his place is not something that could have happened if Dante were here, in the flesh.]

[At very long last, the boy starts to climb slowly to his feet.]

[Only to dart behind Envy, grabbing handfuls of his shirt and hiding his face.]

[He is Upset.]}

[Envy lifts his arms some, stiffening in surprise at Wrath grabbing onto him...honestly, contact like that is still something that's a new thing between them, and not really expected when it happens. But after a moment or two, he relents, turning around so that he can actually put his hands on Wrath's shoulders, gripping them.]

It won't stay forever. It won't.

_{[Wrath hasn't straight up bawled in quite some time.]

[But this apparently was enough of a shock to his system that once Envy's arms are around him, the waterworks come on full force and he squeezes the other Homunculus tighter than ever.]}

I don't l-like it! I don't like it!

_{[He'd gotten just as complacent as the rest of them. It had been so easy to.]}

I know, I know, I don't like it either.

[Envy's grip tightens around Wrath as the kid just goes off, and it really has been a long time since this happened. Much less it happening when Wrath is trying to hold onto him. He could count the times on one hand.]

[And one of those times, one that sticks out in his memory...it was just after Sloth had died, when the young homunculus had tried desperately pleading with their master to just bring her back.]

[He remembers what happened that time, what he'd done on Dante's prompting and beyond that.]

[He's accepted that she hurt them, all of them, and used them badly.]

[But she's not the only one who'd hurt the others. He had too, whether on her direction or by standing aside as it happened. He should have been protecting them the way he tries to now, but that's not what happened. She'd hurt them and he'd let her and barely even cared. With one more squeeze to Wrath's shoulders, he turns again to face the specter of their master.]

I let her hurt you before, but not again.

[For the first time, there seems to be a change in the ghost's expression, one that's almost prompting. Finally, the one it was trying to help seems to be getting at what he needed to.]

_{[Put simply, Wrath honestly hasn't HAD much to cry about since coming to this place. Even when he'd been held down in the basement, his instinctive response had been more... well, wrathful than sad or afraid. But right now is just like old times.]

[Or not-- back then, Envy had never responded to the newest Homunculus' wailing by holding him.]

[Turns out doing that is in fact a much better way to calm Wrath down than kicking him across a room. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!]

[He peeks out from behind Envy, but only just barely. Even knowing that the Dante is a fake doesn't make her any easier to look at-- something he avoided as much as possible after the first time he'd wound up on the receiving end of one of her sadistic punishments.]

[His words have apparently deserted him at this point-- he's just whimpering back there.]

[But he's not arguing.]}

[By this point, Envy's seen the advice on the network about getting the ghosts to leave. That you have to talk to them, figure out what it was they wanted to bring out by appearing in these forms. Until now, he hasn't wanted to try, not really. What else had there been to confront her about that he hadn't done as much as he could the couple of other times she's appeared in one form or another?]

[Part of him knew he'd been deluding himself, that there was still so much that he hasn't faced. But out of some mix of fear and hoping it would go away on its own and, honestly, spitefully not wanting to give this asshole ghost what it wanted, he hasn't tried talking to the thing about anything.]

[But now that he's started, maybe this is the time to get it over with. Hopefully.]

[He'd also really rather not be doing this in the hotel lobby, but there's not really anyone else around aside from Wrath. What few employees were around have already hightailed it elsewhere, away from yet another overly personal ghost confrontation. And if he doesn't do this now, he's not sure he will later. So he continues, addressing Dante's visage directly now, the words uncharacteristically strained and halting. She's not real but deep down in the roots of his subconscious, it doesn't matter.]

You...you hurt us, all of us. And worse--worse, you made it so we wouldn't help each other. I never tried to stop you punishing anyone and I helped you seal Greed and I--you told me to get rid of the first Sloth and I did. I hurt them all too, I went along with everything and I brought new ones in and...

[He stops to drag a hand roughly back through his hair, stopping himself before he starts talking about things Wrath really shouldn't find out. He'd nearly forgotten the other homunculus was there. A few shaky breaths pass by before he starts again, his voice coming out in a louder shout than he'd intended:]

You made me into that!

[He swallows, hard, and has to breathe again.]

But I could've...I still knew enough that I should cover for all Lust's ridiculous questions and lie if missions got screwed up too badly, so if I could see clearly enough for that why didn't I do any more? I was the oldest, I knew the game better than anybody, I knew about the lies. I told them too.

So I guess that makes me just the fucking same as you after all, doesn't it?

[He finally trails off with a desperate glare at his former master that's almost a challenge. Well? That was what he needed to do, wasn't it? What else could he be supposed to say? The ghost hasn't shown a reaction to this, save for a slight upset peaking of the brows because it's still trying to keep this up now that it's finally going somewhere but damn are these not G rated problems. But it doesn't disappear, not quite yet. That isn't the end of what needs to be reached.]

_{[Even in his acute distress, even as he's come closer and closer to actually acknowledging that he's as much of a deserter as the rest of them, Wrath has barely brushed the surface of how deep this particular rabbit-hole goes.]

[And, well, to be fair, his feelings on the matter aren't nearly as complex as Envy's, or even Lust's. His devotion was only ever fear-based. He'd never banked on the promise to make them human (not that he'd doubted it like Lust had, but he'd honestly been far more interested in his own method), and he'd been among the ranks for maybe a year. That wasn't, of course, to say that there hadn't been some horrifying damage wreaked on his already bruised psyche, but, well, Wrath's world had always been black and white. The strict regimen of obedience vs. torture as discipline had only made it higher-contrast.]

[SO... as Envy's emotional dam finally breaks, Wrath's sniffling quiets as he listens, honestly shocked to hear all of this flowing out.]

[Sure, it was clear that Envy had regrets, that he's devoted to turning over a new leaf... but this is some next-level shit that honestly had never occurred to Wrath that Envy would be feeling at all.]

[He doesn't say anything-- what COULD he say?]

[But he tightens his arms around the older Homunculus and lets out another pronounced sniffle that seems louder than it actually is due to the really noticeable silence between Envy's words.]}

[Again, Envy had nearly forgotten Wrath was there until he feels that grip tighten and hears that sniffle. Abruptly, he wishes he hadn't said any of that, hadn't let those words and emotions spill over the way they had in front of the younger homunculus. He's never let himself go like that in front of Wrath...or in front of almost anyone at all.]

[But it's done, isn't it? It's done, and the damn ghost is still there. His fists clench in helpless frustration and he keeps looking straight ahead at it. It's difficult, but he absolutely does not want to look Wrath in the face after all that.]

Well? Why are you still here? I said it, I admitted it, isn't that what you wanted?!

[No, it isn't. In spite of everything, the ghost is trying to help, not hurt. And that hasn't happened yet.]

_{[The hotel employees must be really sick of all these spectral soap operas unfolding in their building. Why couldn't more people just... go have them at the PokeMart or in front of the dance studio or something? WHY HERE.]

[Wrath continues to cling, staring up at Envy from where he's sort of pressed into his side, eyes still dewy with tears. But he's not wailing, at least.]

[In the ringing silence that followed Envy's final demanding outburst, Wrath finally pipes up. His voice is tiny.]}

... You're... not just like her.

[Envy doesn't look down at Wrath; hearing that small voice is bad enough. He remembers what he did to Wrath. Both before and after Lust had died.]

[What he'd done to all of the new ones, even if he hadn't kicked them around the same way. He'd still lied, still drawn them in and stopped them from leaving.]

What makes me any different? I brought you to her, didn't I?

[The shouting and the outburst done, he just sounds...old. Old and tired.]

_{[Wrath, perhaps unfortunately in this particular awful situation, has no knowledge of the beatings and betrayal he's destined to suffer at Envy's hands. He doesn't know that his bungled mission would end with both Sloth and Lust dead, and him too crippled to be of any further use to their Master.]

[MAYBE his feelings would be different if he did-- about Envy and himself.]

[But for now, he just keeps clinging.]}

She's human.

You're not.

... And you never hurt the others the way she did.

_{[Because he DIDN'T. Cruel words and the occasional slap or kick? Yes, Envy was guilty of all that and more. But even the oldest and strongest among them throwing his weight around had never inspired the same terror and dread that Dante's wrath had.]

[The sting of a backhand or broken bone from Envy would fade within seconds. But Master's discipline could last for days. Even weeks. Or centuries.]}

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