Rebound

[avaricious]

Who: Greed (and sorta Alphonse)
Broadcast: Yes
Action: A park on the Starlight
When: February 28th, after this post

[The transmission starts abruptly with a flash of red light. When the image clears, there's a few blades of grass in the way and a grotesque image of a man's back, only it's embedded with pieces of metal armor as well as what looks like an armored hand sticking out from the side. It's all the result of some hideous rebound. The man sways unbalanced and seemingly oblivious to the mess made upon his back. He stands there for a few seconds before stumbling forward and kneeling to something beyond the angle of the camera.]

Alphonse!? [There is the sound of banging on metal.] Alphonse! Dammit, answer me!

[There is nothing. No answer. Just silence.]

Say something you shitty brat! We were getting out of this shit hole together! Don't say you--

[And then, just like that, the feed cuts out without explanation.]

Comments

video => voice;

[geonomy]

[Okay, the mention of Al's name (and everything that follows) makes Clay frown in concern and hurry to look over, only to -

... squint, at first, because he can't tell just what's -

Oh. Oh.

He is immediately switching it to voice after that, taking a few seconds to just breathe and focus entirely on that rather than that nightmarish image of someone with metal sticking out of his back. But that's his crewmate over there, one who isn't responding, and the protectiveness winning out over the nausea makes him keep his head down while he asks:]

What. Happened?

voice;

[avaricious]

Quiet!

[He's not thinking - his mind is racing too fast to do that just yet. All he has in front of him is what amounts to a corpse, but a corpse that should still be alive - even if in pieces. But Al isn't moving. He isn't doing anything. And something else is missing as well.

Voices. Voices. The fleet was the last goddamn thing he needed right now.]

voice;

[geonomy]

[He lets out a noise of frustration before he speaks up again, louder this time:]

You tell me - No, breathe and tell me what happened to my crewmate!

video;

[avaricious]

[No. Alphonse belongs to Greed. Not this- whoever it is. But he can't argue - not because he's unwilling, but because it doesn't matter.]

See for yourself!

[He flicks the communicator's video switch and whirls it around, showing the shattered and broken remnants of Al's armor.]

video;

[geonomy]

[Part of him doesn't want to see, because he's not made to handle things like this, he's not Apollo, he can't look at someone with what looks like a deadly wound, someone who might be a corpse, and be professional and calm about it. He knows himself, and he just can't.

But this is his crewmate, and he has to know what happened. So he takes in a deep breath and looks up at the communicator...

And he turns pale. That nauseous feeling is back, because he never saw Alphonse as just a walking, talking suit of armor, but as a person himself, especially since Alphonse wasn't shy about letting anyone know his situation. So seeing him broken apart like that is like seeing the remains of a human being, and Clay has to cover his mouth, shut his eyes tightly and turn his head away.

What the hell happened? Was there an explosive of some sort? Did someone try to sabotage Alphonse's body? But why? And what was this guy doing nearby?

He wants to ask all these questions, but the sick lump in his throat makes him unable to speak. He will, however, manage to get out one thing he wants to know:]

How did it happen?

video;

[avaricious]

I don't know! Enough with the questions! All of you! Just be quiet!

[It's not just Clay. It's not just the fleet. It's the torrent of souls inside him. They are wailing, crashing like a tidal wave against his psyche. Normally they can be controlled and corralled, but just now he feels like every single one of them is fighting for dominance and he's having to fight to keep them at bay. It's an experience wholly new to him.]