Night 72: West Wing, South Hallway 1-B

[no_dont_go]

[skipping from here]

Aigis had nothing to fear in this hall, nor the next. So she breezed right through, her path unfaltering.

[to here]

Comments

[envy_the_sinners]

"Yes. I was there with the Elrics last night, though we did not get very far-" They had burned too much time with Alphonse... Scar's frown deepened, his eyes downcast. Knowing what he did now about the Elrics, it was painful to think on.

He stopped, suddenly, turning his light partially to Lust.

"Did you know they transmuted their mother?"

[a_sin_for_him]

"Yes. I know."

It was a simple answer, but the only one that Lust wanted to give. She didn't like it when Scar asked questions, there were too many answers she simply didn't want to give. And why had he simply pulled this out of the blue? She knew he was trying to understand the things that had happened, but...

She didn't like being the one who held that information. It could all too easily destroy what fragile alliance they'd managed to forge in this place.

"What have you heard about the third floor?"

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar's eyes narrowed with a glint of hostility that had become increasingly rare. She wasn't telling him something. She never told him anything, especially when he could tell that it was something important. Scar's fingers tightened on his flashlight, his feet now rooted to the floor.

"Edward told me. The day I woke again. There were other things as well-" It was obvious he wished to say more, but cut himself off, red eyes still glaring at Lust as he struggled to withhold his temper.

"There is a book in the patient library that must be removed from the shelf to trigger the entrance. Beyond that..." He took his journal from inside his robes, opening it to a page where this was carefully copied and thrusting it out for Lust to take. "...This was written on the public board this morning. The Elrics and I did not get far last night."

[a_sin_for_him]

"What the Elrics carry on their hearts isn't for me to discuss, Scar."

Lust turned to him, pausing and looking at him directly. If Edward had spoken of it, fine. Scar could ask him questions. She snatched the journal from Scar and glanced at it, glad he'd at least answered her query.

"Then we'll get further this night," was all she said at the moment.

[envy_the_sinners]

"This has nothing to do with the Elrics," he snapped, still unmoving. This had been stewing for days, perhaps even from before his conversation with Edward. He had sworn to himself not to deflect off her any longer. However, this... To Scar, it was completely rational.

"You work with the Fuhrer. He's one of you." Although Edward had never explicitly said that Lust had a connection with Amestris' inhuman leader, it was an easy conclusion for Scar to jump to. He had seen her working with others- the enormous one, as well as the boyish one. They were all part of something greater. It had not been pure coincidence that she continue to show up. When the Elrics were in Central seeking the Truth. In that goddamned laboratory. Then in Lior.

The tightly wound feeling in his chest was less loss of trust and more like he had been betrayed. Like they both knew he deserved the knowledge she withheld. Like there was too much that fit so perfectly into place for him not to make some sort of connection.

And even if the evidence had not been so clear, Scar would have found a reason to lash out anyway.

[a_sin_for_him]

Lust sighed. She was so weary, and now to be hit with this...

She folded her arms and looked down at the floor, the fight flooding out of her.

"You can't honestly argue that, Scar, that this has nothing to do with the Elrics. Yes, I knew what they'd done. That's what you asked me. And it's nothing I'd like to talk about for the reason I just gave you. It's not for me to talk about, I know little of the situation other than what was born of it. And yes, Bradley was a homunculus. I hate the man. What do you want me to say? That just because we happen to be of the same nature, I'm privy to every intimate detail of their existence?"

She knew bits and pieces, of course, and what their master claimed their plan was. But what could she say about Sloth? About Pride? She swallowed hard, some unpleasant sensation burning in her ribcage. Like a sort of hot sickness. God, what miserable things they'd all been, scattered remnants of humanity that grasped and fought for any crumb of affirmation...

"We weren't one cohesive unit, Scar. And to be perfectly blunt with you, I don't like thinking about my life as it was back then. It wasn't a happy thing, or a good thing, or a thing that brings me any joy. Quite the opposite, I've found."

[envy_the_sinners]

It was difficult to remain angry with her when her response was perfectly reasonable. What more was there to say? What had he been expecting? Something for which to find her at fault? Perhaps. Something to rationalize directing his anger and frustration at the world back to her? She was blameless of any wrong against him, and yet he felt the need to lash out at her anyway. Was it because of what (who?) she was?

Or was it simply because she never reacted the way he expected her to? Or even reacted at all?

Miserable and blunt as he was, Scar could tell that the subject truly upset her. It piqued his curiosity, yes, but he had the tact not to pursue the matter. If nothing else, it only frustrated him further, and he wasn't sure if it was that he didn't know or that her life had been so unhappy that she hated to recount it.

"Fine." He spoke without anger, the tension in his body easing. Scar avoided looking at her as he turned down the hallway once again.

[To here]