[closed catchall for Homeward Bound Boy Wrath]

[garbagechild]

Who: Wrath, Lust, Envy, Scar, Henry
What: LASSIE WRATH COME HOME
Where: Shark House (ie, quiet suburban neighborhood in Goldenrod City)
Warnings: Later threads include graphic dialogue about subjects like child death/injury, suicide, etc.
Summary: Wrath can't avoid the inevitable any longer. After meandering in awkward emotional paralysis for a month, he finally arrives in Goldenrod City to find out if his family is still there or not.



The city streets haven't changed a single bit.

The same smells hang on the humid, seaside air. The same warm yellow lights blaze above the sidewalks. The same buzz and murmur of never-sleeping nightlife float along main roads and narrow alleys alike.

Wrath remembers all of them with startling clarity, and yet they don't feel familiar anymore. He shies away from all of it, slinking along like an awkward shadow and trying not to be noticed. Which is blessedly not difficult, at least in the heart of town where there's still enough bustle and activity that a short kid and his Cubone hardly stand out. But even with his memories intact... coming back to a bona fide city after the isolation he'd wrapped himself in back in Amestris is overwhelming in every way.

What he's looking for, however, isn't in the heart of town. No, his destination is down in the southern half of the city, in a much sleepier pocket of suburbia...


____


His feet remember the path there better than his brain does, and all too fast, their surroundings have shifted from broad bright streets to ones lined with houses, trees, and lamp-posts. Completely preoccupied with his own growing anxiety, Wrath barely even notices how fast they've arrived until he realizes that downtown's golden hum has been replaced with the soft, velvet drone of chirping insects and whirring fans. The clank of his automail foot on the pavement is painfully loud now that there's so much less background noise to drown it out.

He stops right there in the middle of the road like a statue as the realization hits him.

This is it. This is their street...

Down at his side, Son squeezes his hand. The Cubone had been keeping up with his trainer valiantly all night long, despite his stubby little legs. Keenly-attuned partner-Pokemon senses aside, it hadn't exactly been hard to notice that Wrath had been growing tenser and tenser the closer they got (even though escaping from the chaos of the inner city should have, would have been a relief for most people). Although Wrath doesn't look down, the squeeze tugs him back into reality enough to carry on.

It isn't long until he spots it.

There.

It's there.

It's still there.

The House... but that doesn't mean it has the same people in it. Or that they would feel the same way they did once, even if they'd remained. ... It's not too late. He could just keep walking. He could just head straight out of town and into Ilex Forest, never to be seen again. They would never know that he was here. ... And vice versa.

A shadow briefly passes in front of one of the windows, and Wrath stiffens, freezing again. He feels like throwing up.

But Son delivers a gentle headbutt to his automail leg. CLINK. Wrath grimaces, swallowing, and stumbles up the walk.

Approaching the house is ten times more difficult and painstaking than it had been with the cottage in Violet, but eventually, he finds himself standing on the doorstep, almost too tense to breathe. He lifts a hand several times, only to drop it again. Once, he manages to make contact with the door... but just scratches it timidly with his nails, too quiet to be heard.

"... I can't," he mumbles hoarsely after these failed attempts, more to himself than to his Pokemon... but Son responds anyway with a whispered but no-less-vehement "Bone!" Yes you can!

Wrath lets out a shaky, miserable sigh, but... he can't say no to his son.

Steeling himself and taking a deep breath, he raises his hand again... and knocks.




Thread Timeline because we're out of control:
1. Wrath arrives and is ushered in by Henry + Envy; Scar informs Lust about Wrath's return; Lust and Wrath reunite.
2. As Lust + Wrath Cry In The Living Room (tm), Henry re-enters with a failed hot cocoa attempt; Envy flees to the laundry room.
3. Heather receives distraught Envy phonecall.
4. Envy and Scar briefly discuss The Gluttony Thing in the hall.
5. Wrath and Envy catch up; Evil Brother Hug! at Kitchen Island.
6. Heather and Scar fail to communicate on the porch, but it's fine.
7. Hot Cocoa Attempt 2.0 by Henry; Evil Brothers + Henry quiet couch time.
8. Scar + Lust discuss personal growth and parenthood.
9. Heather gets home with pizza baked goods, gets caught up on the tea.
10. The following morning, Scar + Envy discretely get info from Wrath; also Don't Tell Mom About Gluttony.

Comments

[exeggutorhead]

[FOR SCAR]

It hasn't actually been that long since that little knock on the door, but as far as emotional states go? It's like several days' worth have been crammed into that short amount of time. Envy's re-emerging from the laundry room after his emergency call to Heather, determined to actually shake off the paralyzing fuzz of shock that's had him in a vice-grip and be able to...he doesn't know, exactly. Actually go talk to Wrath. Say he's sorry, like Heather had patiently reminded him was an option. Reassure himself that the youngest homunculus really is back, and here.

That awkward, painful text conversation he'd thought he had with a total stranger a week ago is hitting him like a truck, now.

Wrath isn't in the living room, but Lust had wanted to get him food...so he's probably in the kitchen. Envy's so focused on getting to the door that he's not paying a whole lot of attention to anything or anybody who might be partially in the way of his muscle-memory quickest route around the furniture.

Which is to say, he dazedly speedwalks directly into Scar with his entire left shoulder, actually bouncing off of him a little. And then blinks up at him, looking dazed.

"Oh. Sorry."

It's very distracted and casual, but this is very possibly the actual first time the word "sorry" has ever left Envy's mouth directed at Scar. The word is, perhaps, at the top of his mind.

[FOR WRATH]

Ishbalan detours aside, Envy pretty much only has one focus at the moment: he has to go talk to Wrath. Wrath had said he was glad to see them, he'd hiked all the way here. He'd smiled back, and it had been genuine. He wouldn't have done any of that if he hadn't wanted Envy anywhere near him. The heavy, twisting weight in his middle is making every step closer to the kitchen a whole trial of nerves anyway.

What does he even say, besides "sorry"? He can't only say that!

He's not good at this.

When he reaches the door, he goes in quietly, still on the reserved side. But he's not quite so hesitant as before, since Wrath hasn't seemed afraid of him so far.

"Wrath?"

[OPEN]

After being able to actually sit down and talk with Wrath, Envy will actually be capable of interacting with anyone else!

[officerdown]

Scar has taken on the task of preparing Wrath a place to sleep. He's on his way to, wouldn't you know it, the laundry room when Envy all but walks into him. He needs spare sheets and blankets.

He's already antsy, about leaving Lust alone.

Then, the shrimp apologizes.

It gives Scar pause for a moment. Similarly in a daze, he shakes his head that it's fine. No offense was made. The question marks he had about Envy's reaction to the whole ordeal have temporarily drowned beneath the Entire Son he seems to have just inherited by proxy.

Without a word, he starts to move down the hall.

[exeggutorhead]

Envy very nearly just continues onwards, himself.

Except...well. Scar's been out here while Envy's been on the phone in the laundry room, and probably knows anything about what exactly he's about to walk into.

"Wait. Are they..." he pauses. 'Okay' is probably pointless to ask about. There had been crying. What if they're still crying? "How are they?"

[officerdown]

Scar stares down at Envy, and it's only his state of complete system shock that allows him to blankly accept that Envy is staring up at him like a lost kitten.

"Wrath is eating. I'm going to make his bed," he says, partially unhelpful, partially a communication that all is stable, if tenuously. He doesn't have a graceful word on Lust, or even a word at all.

[exeggutorhead]

There's very little that can rattle Envy to the point where he doesn't even think about maintaining his carefully deliberate persona, at least not around people he isn't close to. And those slips are typically anger, not this wildly conflicting whirlwind of shame and relief.

But right now he can barely think at all, much less put on a show of confident indifference.

He notices that Lust isn't commented on. He doesn't have the patience to argue for that from Scar right now; he'll have to talk to her afterwards. But if Wrath is eating, that's...probably a good sign that things are, if not fine, at least calmer. It means she's gotten the chance to take care of him some.

"Right," he just nods as he starts to turn again...and then stops for a second time. Because in the midst of all he's been actually remembering, and also what he's been trying to remember about what little Alphonse had told him years ago about what had gone on in Amestris after everything...something important does come to mind.

Something that only three people in this whole world know about. And now two people know there's actually an entire extra part of that, one Envy only knows of secondhand.

What Happened To Gluttony......TWO!

"I need to talk to Wrath about...something. You too."

He's not mentioning Gluttony's name out loud right now!

"Tomorrow, anyway."

He's not talking about that tonight! Absolutely not! That's too many emotions!

[officerdown]

Scar's eyes narrow, not in distrust, but in stern intrigue.

"What is it?"

He truly doesn't know what Envy could be referring to. His head is too lost in the fog of... Well.

[exeggutorhead]

Envy has to actually stop and try to figure out how to explain anything without saying anything through his own fog, and exasperation of the overwhelmed variety does break the lost kitten look for a moment.

Then he takes a breath, trying to reel that back in and actually figure out how to get this across. Finally, very carefully, he responds, "It's...about some of what happened. You asked me a while ago."

You know! The thing!!

[officerdown]

Scar turns over the painstakingly familiar avoidant phrasing in his addled mind for a moment. He stares blankly at Envy while it loads.......

Loads...........

Ah.

"I see."

A sharp exhale that could almost be a humorless laugh spills out of Scar. Gluttony. God. How darkly apt.

[exeggutorhead]

The laugh gets Envy's eyes to widen in confused surprise; that's...not something he'd usually expect to hear from Scar.

But none of them are really acting normal right now. The same way Scar had had to blankly accept Envy's lost cat apology, Envy just has to deal with hearing the strange, brittle laugh from Scar.

So he just nods. The message has been delivered successfully, and that's about all they can do for now. His attention is already drifting back towards the kitchen door.

"Tomorrow."

Scar can continue his obtain bedding for surprise new son task in peace, Envy's got another very important apology to get to.

[garbagechild]

Sure enough, Wrath is in the kitchen.

He's seated at the kitchen island, the stools still just a little too tall for his legs to reach the floor... but he no longer looks quite so silly perched on one as he used to.

Not that there's really anything silly about the sight, at the moment.

With the initial tension and uncertainty hanging over the whole situation now broken, he's slouching tiredly rather than sitting stock-still and stiff. In front of him is a bowl of tomato soup. Hardly-touched... but he's got a spoon in his hand at least.

At his name, he looks up-- his eyes are still red-rimmed and watery, but he's not... actively crying. And (possibly to Envy's enormous relief), that tiny little not-quite-successful smile flicks at the corners of his mouth again. It's the most he can manage... but it's honest.

Wrath was borderline incapable of lying back then and he's not much better at it now, spoken or otherwise.

"... Soup."

... He says, by way of explanation for... what he's doing in here. Or something.

[exeggutorhead]

After passing Lust on his way in and giving her a quick nod, a brief, awkward reach to tap her arm in both solidarity and an implied promise to catch up with her after his own time with Wrath...

Well. There he is, at the table. Envy absently pulls the door closed again behind him, for the sake of privacy. That little half smile is back, and it IS an enormous relief as much as it makes his chest hurt.

He returns it with a partial grin, the way he had before. He can do that much. And it's important.

"Yeah, I can see the soup."

The static weighing down all his reactions so far has been feeling increasingly strained with every passing minute. A dam cracking and ready to fall apart. Talking with Heather had helped, but only so much. Watching Wrath break down in frantic apology, seeing Lust's emotions coming out too...

What Wrath had told him, inadvertently, over the network. That living hurt.

Envy knows that, under their former master, there would have been precious little that could have been saved no matter what. That she was the one who'd hurt Wrath most, done the worst damage.

But she'd used Envy to deal plenty of it out, and in his anger he'd done so all too willingly. It had all collapsed so horrifically in a matter of days, and he'd been too far gone to do anything but make it worse. And now Wrath is in this kind of state.

He sits down in the next chair over, resting one forearm on the island. He has to start, he has to say at least this.

"I'm..." it feels like something's squeezing at his neck, making it a struggle to get the words out, "I'm sorry. For--for everything. All of it. I wish I'd..."

He gestures one hand, uselessly. Actually protected Wrath. Done anything except what he had done.

"I'm glad you're here. This place is where you're supposed to be."

[garbagechild]

Soup.

Wrath nods, this information successfully imparted, and looks back down at the bowl as Envy comes to sit. Although there's still a certain... emptiness in his motions, he doesn't lean away or otherwise indicate any unease with the proximity.

His very worst fear-- that the reunion would result in condemnation-- had not come to pass. And with that eliminated, he has precious little room for anything else aside from relief. And... weariness, now that the mounting anxiety has ebbed.

But he does turn his head back a little bit, when Envy speaks.

It has always been a big deal for Envy to apologize out loud. Even here, where he's grown a thousand times kinder than he'd ever been back in Amestris. He can... remember every time it happened, he thinks. Which is a surreal feeling, when a month ago he would have found such a thing laughable, the real-life examples from this world wiped clean from his mind.

"... I wish I'd not done things, too," he finally murmurs. His voice is a little steadier now that the biggest hurdle is past. "... We were... stupid. Did stupid things... m'not mad."

He reaches up to swipe a hand across his nose, snuffling.

"Not at you..."

The place where he's supposed to be...

He still doesn't feel like he's supposed to be here in this world. But he doesn't know how to say that... or want to. Not right now. Not tonight... Everything happened too much. And his chest hurts...

[exeggutorhead]

Not at you...

That really just about does it, when he's already hanging on by a thread. He swallows, and nods, a quiet, unsteady sort of laugh escaping him. His own eyes are burning.

"Well...I was really, really stupid."

And, like he's been wanting to do again since Wrath was standing in the doorway, honestly since Wrath had vanished, he finally reaches out his hand to the top of Wrath's head, carefully messing with his hair. There's not any tears falling, but his voice has gotten thick, and his eyes are glassy.

"I'm not mad at you, little brother."

[garbagechild]

The hand coming down on his head does cause a tiny flinch-- but only because he wasn't expecting it.

In any case, Envy doesn't have to worry about that, because immediately following it is a small clatter as Wrath drops his spoon and twists around to lean heavily against the other Homunculus. It's barely a conscious thought process-- although his arms following along and wrapping around Envy is.

If he hadn't cried himself parched already, the tears would have started flowing again at the 'b' word. But for now, he just crushes his face against Envy's chest. Which will probably get the point across enough.

He missed his big, really stupid brother a whole lot.

[exeggutorhead]

For a moment, Envy does have a little mini heart attack at that flinch. Oh no, oh shit he shouldn't have gone for it this soon--

And then, suddenly, he's being hugged and Wrath's entire weight is mashing up against him; it's enough of a surprise, after all the careful tiptoeing around one another they'd done since Wrath had come inside, that Envy has to be careful not to get pushed out of his chair by it.

There goes the last of Envy's fraying composure. It had only been holding on by the very tips of its fingernails anyway. He wraps his arms back around Wrath's shoulders, and he doesn't even notice or care how gross and matted the hair he's got half of his face pressed down to is. He can't erase what had happened or what had been done to them, he can't erase his own failures, but...he can be here, now. They're alive. Wrath is here, safe, and alive and none of the three of them here will ever, ever have to go back to her and her stupid dead city again. Even if it's because there's nothing to go back to at all, it won't ever be her.

In true Envy fashion, even if he's not as bad about pretending not to feel things in this place, he's still being hit all over again with the weight of how much he'd missed Wrath too. So the other homunculus doesn't have to cry, because...well, Envy's actually doing it for him this time. Not loudly, it's more like steady leaking than anything, but it is happening.

"It got too quiet here without you."

[garbagechild]

They're so lucky Envy's balance kept them both from crashing straight down onto the linoleum-- the resulting hug, no matter how clumsy or awkward it winds up being, is all that matters to Wrath right now.

Being held, being apologized to, being forgiven...

However clear and vicious the memories of Envy's violence back home are, Wrath had written them off as more sad and pathetic than frightening long ago. The impulsive, ignorant lashings-out of a leader who wasn't anywhere near as all-knowing as he'd tried to act. Perhaps if he hadn't been here before... he wouldn't be as quick to forgive.

But here, Lust spent her days writing stories and making costumes. Envy befriended humans and tamed animals without striking or screaming at them. Their Master wasn't here telling them to kill or harm, and thus they didn't.

Here they were a family-- like the ones Master insisted that Homunculi couldn't have.

That had to mean this was more real. Right?

"... D'you know th'... th'same stuff as me?" warbles Wrath after a moment, without un-mashing himself from the embrace. "You going through th' Gate... and... what I... what I did...?"

Envy's apology all but confirmed that he did, but...

[exeggutorhead]

Envy nods into the top of Wrath's head. He's not usually one for long embraces, but this...this is a special case. Right now, he really doesn't want to let go.

"Yeah...yeah, I know. Going through the Gate's the last thing I remember."

They were already holding each other pretty tightly, but he does squeeze a little tighter for a second. He knows there's more for him, that it's possible he'll be sent back to find it out one day, whether it's by vanishing or by one of those long dreaming sleeps. But that's not important right now, so he thinks.

But yes, he knows what Wrath had done. He knows why he was making those frantic apologies to Lust. Envy's so relieved that he has already known, that he already went through being angry over it and then let go of that years ago. Now he knows the whole thing was just...sad. All of them fighting each other, killing each other, and for what? His rotting mother's immortality?

Wrath hadn't even been alive a year, when he'd done it. Sloth had been four. Lust, fourteen. Not a single one of the people fighting to the death in that warehouse had hit twenty years old.

It was the same idea Heather had always pushed him on when it came to Al, even if human ages hadn't ever meant the same to homunculi in that literal sense. Wrath was an actual kid.

"I know what happened. I already knew when you came the first time...it's okay. You didn't know any better. I'm not mad at you anymore, neither of us are."

[no_ufo_ending]

Beeeep!

Henry enters.

There's a terrible smell following him that he's anxiously fanning away. He sidles up to Envy after things have calmed down a bit. He hasn't absorbed a TON of it because he's been staring at the same rotating cup of hot cocoa this entire time. He looks between Wrath, his new limbs, the straights, and then back to Envy. His face is ever so slightly gaunt.

"Envy, don't get mad, but your Seviper cup is fried."

[exeggutorhead]

Envy blinks at Henry from his spot on the couch, clearly still mostly in a haze. He's just been watching the reunion between the two, and is feeling all kinds of a Way about it. He really, really wishes that there was tea, if only to give him some temporary space from it all so that he could...anything.

The Seviper cup is the literal least of his worries right now, but it does offer enough of a distraction that he can shift his focus a little instead of just sitting there.

"Huh...oh. Don't worry about it. Just a cup."

He blinks again, almost like he had had some tea.

[no_ufo_ending]

Henry waits for the verdict like a stressed out rescue greyhound. When it seems he will not be Looked At With Disappointment, he changes his focus. His friend Envy, his good friend Envy, is usually cheerful if sly and occasionally mischevious. He's very much not himself right now and it has Henry worried.

Henry lowers his voice and leans in considerately for his friend's privacy. "Hey, are you good, Envy?"

He's well aware that this is all a bit of a surprise, but...

[exeggutorhead]

Henry is very right! Envy is not good right now.

Envy gives his best friend a long look while he fails to even start figuring out how to describe the absolute hurricane of things happening within him right now. In a way where it won't be disruptive to the extremely feelings-laden reunion happening at the foot of the stairs.

He settles for slowly shaking his head and shrugging, and after a second adding in a similarly low voice.

"It's," he blinks again, opens and closes his mouth, "A lot."

[no_ufo_ending]

Henry waits, his brows creased ever so slightly. While previously he had been skirting his Receiver of Wisdom duties, it seems now it's time to lock in.

"Envy...what happened?" He knows there were some wild stakes with his friend back home, but he does not know the details. Not really. But seeing as Wrath showed up with not one but two metal limbs, something big must have gone down. He's not going to push for the details, but he is going to give his friend the opportunity.

He then quickly adds, "Would you like some hot chocolate too?"

The urge to offer tea is THERE, but something tells him this is not the moment for that.

[exeggutorhead]

Envy looks back at him with that same thousand yard stare. What didn't happen?

Henry's seen a lot more violent eldritch horrors than your standard human, he IS the Receiver. But there's a reason that not even Lust has been privy to most details of everything falling apart in spectacular fashion: he really doesn't like thinking about it. The lights, the gaudy ballroom, all filtered through the remembered perspective of actively losing his mind. Their Master rapid-fire flinging her few remaining servants into the metaphorical woodchipper one after another, in ways Envy couldn't have imagined her doing before they'd been happening. Not even his confrontation with Edward feels like an enjoyable thing to revisit. Not at this point.

He doesn't think he's in a state to explain any of it right now, even if he could figure out which parts he'd want to at all. Even if Henry is being a really good friend about it.

The hot chocolate question is a good distraction. Envy gives the fried Seviper mug another long look. Notes the smell. An actual expression comes onto his face: skepticism.

"Is...any of that a liquid anymore?"

The quick distraction does get him out of his daze just enough to then shake his head, "And...later. Not right now. I...I need to take a minute. I'll be back."

Fleeing the situation is, at last, the winner of Envy's mental standoff with himself! He stands, nods at Henry, and speedwalks in the direction of the laundry room. At least he's not going out the window.

[no_ufo_ending]

"Not this mug." Henry says helpfully.

Henry sets the destroyed mug down on A Surface and tries to focus. He's thinking about Wrath. Wrath who is Different Now. The time he went home, he'd only stayed must have been moments compared to how long it had been for Wrath. He's taller!

When Envy stands, Henry nods back to him and takes his spot on the couch to show he would wait.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･Time skip

[exeggutorhead]

After Envy and Wrath's own kitchen conversation, and also trying to get Wrath to eat more soup, the pair of ex-homunculi emerge into the rest of the house.

Envy still isn't looking normal, but he does look better than he did. Still rattled, but less like he's having fifteen war flashbacks at the same time. And the awkward, over-careful bubble forcefield vibes that Envy'd been maintaining before have dissipated, so he's walking next to Wrath more normally.

Envy notes that Scar and Lust aren't back down yet. Probably still getting the bedroom ready--Greed's old room had become home to a fair amount of assorted half-finished projects and haphazardly stored junk over the past years, so getting it ready for someone to actually sleep in will probably take a little while yet. But Henry is still hanging around on the couch! Envy manages kind of a grin at him, even if it's Very tired.

"I think we could take you up on the cocoa now, if the room's not ready yet. Wrath, you still want any?"