driftfleet | Rebound

Entry tags:

Rebound

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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Mikleo's spent enough time in the local parks since their arrival on the station that it's sort of like a secondary home by now, a place to get all zen with nature and soak up the peacefulness of it, the absence of malevolence. Which is why, when a heap of malevolence coupled with a whole lot of shouting invades his sanctuary, he knows that something's up.

He's been around Greed enough to recognize the feel of him, so he follows it like a trail until he comes upon the scene. And-- well, i's all kinds of horrifying. If he hadn't already assumed that Greed wasn't human, he'd wonder at how he even survived it. Is that an arm?

Steeling himself, he approaches cautiously, calling out.]

Captain? Greed, can you hear me?

[He's kind of assuming not,but maybe Ling will sense his presence again and get his attention...?]

[The words are not distinct. Almost clouded. But Greed can hear them. When he whirls around to look, he sees no one.]

Huh? Ling?

[Was that Ling? It didn't sound like him, but he could hardly tell with all this chaos swimming inside him.]

[Oh, wow. He'd assumed that calling out would be a long shot, but Greed's surprised him yet again. Resonance really does work strangely here.

He must really be confused if he's expecting Ling, though. Mikleo steps closer, scrutinizing the situation carefully. A broken suit of armor, bits of it- stuck in Greed? Or growing out of him, more like. Worse than he'd initially thought.]

No, it's Mikleo. The... ghost.

[It's irritating to say that, but the truth isn't what's important right now.]

What happened to you?

[Since when could he hear the ghost? Not that it truly matters. But the lack of a physical presence gives him nothing to lash out at. He grinds his teeth before looking back to Alphonse.]

We were blocked. It caused a rebound.

A rebound? From what?

[Mikleo follows his gaze back to the armor. Is that the "we" he's referring to? But the suit looks like it's empty- not even a body left behind.]

If you don't know that, then explaining it won't help. I barely understand it myself.

[Greed might have been made out of it... he might have even learned a few transmutations. But he was no alchemist.]

I see...

[Well, not really, but Greed isn't exactly a cooperative one at the best of times, never mind when he's angry.]

What are you trying to do? You should go to the lab, you need medical attention.

[His teeth are gritted as he places a hand against his forehead. The veins on his temples are bulging.] Trying to think. Everything inside of me is just gnawing at me. It's like a hurricane that won't let up.

[Ah. All of those souls, if Allen's assumptions are correct. He can feel the increase in malevolence, so it's pretty obvious that whatever's going on is not doing good things to Greed's equilibrium.

It's obvious that Greed isn't likely to move any time soon, though.]

I can try to heal you, but... those pieces need to come out of your body, first.

[His answer is abrupt and angry.] I don't need healing! Can't you see it's Alphonse that needs help?

[Large hunks of metal in his back are not the issue here. It's the fact his friend is in pieces.]

But there's no one...

[He hesitates before he can finish. There's obviously more going on here, so he can't jump to conclusions.]

A sentient suit of armor?

Armor with a human soul bonded to it. One that shouldn't be able to sleep.

[Yet... Alphonse isn't moving. Which makes it seem likely he is dead - if not for the still in tact seal.]

Has this never happened before?

[He figures the explosive aspect of it is new, but... souls bound to humans? He'll definitely be useless, here. He's not even sure he can sense anything properly with all the malevolence.]

The kid's been through the scrap heap before, but only his brother and a scarce few others know the alchemical formula to put him back together again. It's not something the smithy down the street can just bang back together.

[That's unlucky. Mikleo leans in closer than before, getting a good look at what's left of the armor. It looks pretty nondescript, for the most part, but that symbol on the inside... it reminds him of a seraphic transcription, though the symbol itself means nothing to him.]

Is there anyone else in the fleet who might know something about this, even if they don't know that specific formula?

[Greed grimaces and for a moment, seems to just mull in sullen silence. He eventually shrugs.]

I don't know. Maybe. Or they could do more harm than good. If that seal is broken, then his soul is gone for good.

I see... a bad risk to take, then.

[But cutting out that as an option doesn't leave much else.]

I still think that we should look into getting you fixed up, at least. If we have no way of waking him up, then all you can do is wait and see if it happens on its own. But if part of his body is stuck in yours, maybe that's causing interference with his, um, soul. Seal. Whatever.

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Rebound

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