nestingdevil | ➥ OPEN POST | image, lyrics, prompts, etc

"I hate you right now," Kaede whispers, very slowly lifting her head from his shoulder. The blue glow dies as she stops activating the Shield on instinct, letting out the breath she had been holding. "I can't believe we're alive. I can't believe we jumped off a moving train. Ohmygod."

She clings to him like a burr as he walks, looking around in the darkness. "Why did we get off the train anyway?!"

He taps her arm a couple of times, as if making his point very clear. "A little too risky, what with the show you just put on." His nail's still shivered to a point, but it recedes as soon as she drops her guard again and gains some composure.

Some, being the key word.

"That and I'm not sure how far the boys in the blue have gotten since last time."

That's all he says on the matter though. She doesn't seem to be letting go and that's fine. Greed makes easy over a few shaky rocks, prying himself up the hill with little effort. The town's just in sight and it's simple. Made of cobblestone, brick, and wood. Hardly anything that would be impressive, considering where she's from.

He does take a moment, though. To pause at the edge as his head rocks back. It's been a long time since he was last in Dublith. "Just do me a favor and try to hold back, hmn? At least until we get there."

"I'm sorry, okay?" Kaede lifts her head and eyes the town warily, but she has no idea where they are, where everyone else is, and she just had a huge scare. Her whole world feels off-kilter right now, leaving her to figure out how to get her feet back under her. "I'm not really good at controlling it when I get scared. It just kind of happens!"

Still, she does murmur a second, "I'm sorry," that sounds more heart felt than the original. "So will the military, that's the blue guys right?, try to hurt me?"

"What are you apologizing for?" Greed says as he speaks beyond the dip of his shoulder. He keeps his grip tight, fingers and arms nestled under legs that could easily be snapped in two if he were any other kind of monster. Thankfully, he wasn't and she's as safe as she can be for the moment.

"No, but I imagine a lot has changed since I was last around." The city opens up as they draw near; houses become clearer, the ground below them far more stable. Most of the windows have gone dark at this hour, though some still linger with a candle or two. Still dripping wax, waning with the early-onset of morning.

Greed pulls away from them though. Exchanging the rich orange-yellow for deep blues. For shadowy purples that chase the silvery-touch of moonlight. He takes a sharp left, veering a corner carved out of a rather shallow alleyway. It's a maze - of back ends of houses, of shops closed up and boarded shut. And the more they press in, the more gloom the surroundings become.

It's clear that the Sin's familiar to the territory, but it's not exactly a place a child like her should wander. At least, not alone.

But this time, little Red Riding Hood's got the wolf in her back pocket. She only needed to say the word.

Kaede goes silent as she looks around the completely unfamiliar town in the dark, almost holding her breath. In the late hour, everything is silent - more silent than a city girl like her is used to. There should be the hum of electricity and the honk of horns and a television's hiss drifting on the wind, but instead, there's nothing. It makes her hold on a little tighter, pressed in close to Greed's back as she tries to find anything familiar.

But there's nothing.

"...where are we going?" she whispers softly, as if afraid her voice will disturb the late-night silence. Greed clearly seems to have something in mind, but if he's right and he's been gone for all that time, where could he know to go?

"Where are we going?" It's a heavy question and one that Greed doesn't answer. Not at first, anyway. He hasn't been back to Dublith in quite some time. Not since the bullets ripped and the soldiers marched through the front doors with the bust of the century. It's here that it all started - that the world as he knew it turned topsy-turvy, shoving him head deep into a struggle that he had tried to stay out of for as long as he could.

It's here that he lost it all.

But he doesn't tell her that - she doesn't need to know. It isn't her place, isn't her history, and it sure as hell isn't going to help the current situation. Instead he just says: "My place."

There's more people when the alleyway opens up and the maw births a bit more life. Some doors still hanging open with drunken whispers. A few people perk up when he rounds the corner, but they don't move to ask. Maybe an eyebrow raised there, a glance here. But most of them look just as haggard as Kaede must feel - deep circles round the eyes, lips cracked and split where time hadn't been too kind. They watch with a glazed-over sort of look, as if the world could pass them by and they could care less.

Greed sags when they get to the mid-way point. When a few of the overhanging bulbs flicker, as if they hadn't seen some use. It's here, that the left-over dregs dwindle again and there's good reason. There's an opening to to left, a tunnel. Boards dot the rounded frame, giving a look of gnarled-wooden teeth in the dark. A monster of sorts, one the imagination could play tricks with ten-fold.

But above is something familiar. Something she should recognize fairly quickly. It's letters are a bit faded, the sign a bit more cracked than it had been five years ago. It groans and creeks, swaying just slightly with a small gust.

"The Devil's Nest."

Kaede squints in the darkness, frowning, as she lifts her chin from Greed's shoulder and studies where she's face. It takes her a moment, after all she had only been there once, before she realizes what she's looking at. It looks similar to the place Greed had taken over in Zelien. The Devil's Nest. What had given her the heebee jeebees the first time she read it.

Greed had been replicating his home in this world!

"...no one's lived here in all that time?" she whispers, looking around. This doesn't look like the kind of place that frequented a lot of traffic by any means, but right now, it seems better to be inside where it seems safer than out here, waiting for some sort of military to come capture her because she can't control her power.

Greed grabs one of the boards nailing the entrance shut. A few yanks gets it out, spitting nails to the ground as he does so. "Doesn't look like it. At least, not permanently."

Another board comes loose easily enough with the help of a claw or two. Greed scratches at the side, willing it out before he grips the upper-bend of the entrance. The stairs leading down below are covered in debris; old newspapers, a few cups here and there.

And of course, the bullet casings. Those hadn't been disturbed.

Greed shuffles inside, slipping down the small stairwell. There's more evidence to what really transpired here all those years ago. The claw-marks brisking and bouncing down the walls; like a language all on their own. He ignores them. Though unlike their small bout on the train, the Sin's face looks a tad more grim.

"Hurry up - before anyone notices, hmn? Not really interested in the company."

At the bottom, a ladder hangs loosely. It's screws have seen better days and the metal making up the entirety of it's littered in rust marks. Making patch-work on the surface and some of the outer-casing is frayed back. Like paper peeling away. Greed takes hold of a rung, hoisting himself up. A few shakes test its integrity and it's fine by his account.

"Uh, right." Kaede, however, even if the heavier Greed is on it currently, doesn't entirely trust that ladder. She makes a bit of a face before she spots the first set of claw marks, her brows shooting up at that. This place is totally creepy... she murmurs in her own mind, feeling highly dubious about the whole situation.

Still, with no where else to go, no one else to turn to, she makes even more of a face as she wraps her hand around the bar. Ew. She follows after him though, wishing she felt better about any of this that he was taking her into. What if someone's hidden inside or something!?

Up the rungs is a hatch and Greed makes easy shoving it aside. A cloud of dust follows when the wood crashes with the opposing floor above and the Sin climbs up. It's darker inside and the dim light from the street-corner makes monsters out of the shadows. Casting the entire place in an eerie blue more suited for someone's vacant sense of a nightmare.

Greed's heels knock hollow as he slithers inside and a few bullet casings roll away from his feet. Half the bar's torn up; splintered and brittle with cob-webs drawings lines across it. Above them, a lamp sways in a light breeze coming from a window. But other than that? It's quiet. Dead like a graveyard and Greed doesn't make a sound.

It's been a long time.

He stops just outside the hatch, reaching his hand inside to help her. Hopefully, they can skip the twenty questions for now. This isn't exactly where he wanted to bring her, but with little options, it seems the best choice.

When Kaede takes the hang and gets hauled up the last few rungs, she ends up just kind of standing and looking around the place with a mix of confusion, disgust, and fear. What happened here? It looks like this place had been broken apart from the inside and there is a terrible silence that fills it. Why are they here? Why not someplace with light and life?

"..." It's clear from her changing expression she wants to say something, but really, she doesn't know what. There's still a state of numbness that comes from too many shocks, one after another, in the last hour.

She wants to go home. She wants her dad and Barnaby and Ivan.

She's too quiet and it makes him a bit bitter. Not because of her, but because of what it all means. The loss of having, the act of stealing. It's in every jagged crack of wood, every broken window. Glass that dots the floor in sharp shards and each one tells a story. This place has seen its hardships and it seems like it wasn't at all intended.

Greed runs his fingers across the banister. It's familiar and broken. And like a toy found on the side of the road, it births a sense of nostalgia. A gut-twisting sort of expression that makes the insides tumble. Greed doesn't know it, doesn't really get it. But oh, does he feel it.

"It was a long time ago," he says flippantly. As he flings out his hand and offers her a shrug from the back. It doesn't matter anymore. Not when she's been dragged hallway to the pit and back with little more to spare. She's missing what makes her her. All safety blankets ripped right off and it's just the bitter cold to keep her company.

"Besides, the rumors would be enough to keep anyone out." The Sin turns over to look at her. "Oi, oi, oi.."

Kaede looks defeated. Damaged and broken with her choked-still silence. Greed swipes his hands back to his pockets as he walks towards her. Hunched over, bringing his shoulders raising. The red notches on his body stretch when his muscles tense. "It isn't all that bad, you know."

"I... I want my dad," Kaede whispers, curling her arms around herself. She's somewhere she doesn't know, people who would want to hurt her out there, still thinking this is something from COMPASS. She looks back and up at Greed, scared and uncertain. "What do we do? Now we're here, but what do we do?"

She looks around the broken room and fights hard not to let any tears fall. She's been through a lot in her life, but this is pushing her. "...I don't know what to do except find him and the others when we can."

"We stay here for now and work it out. It's not like we'll be leaving anytime soon." The 'Void travels tend to last a few days, at best. At worse, it's longer. And even more, Greed highly doubts it's the same kind of thing. The campus and everything in it had been swallowed up as soon as Zelien started breaking apart at the seams. While it isn't impossible and nothing is, the cards seem to point in the direction of unlikely.

It's hardly the kind of news that's easy to break.

But Greed can see it in her eyes; humans are easier to read. Plain, simple: emotion practically exposed with each tear she holds back; she knows. Somewhere deep down that this isn't at all right, that something's terribly wrong. So he places a hand on the top of her head, hitching his fingers in slightly to graze a scalp. "Remember what I told you before - there's no such thing as no such thing. More than likely, they're around. Somewhere."

Where being the opportune word of the evening. They could be anywhere, anytime. The fact that the two of them even made it to the same place is against the odds. But sometimes, fate has a funny way of playing to his favor.

"No point in it now, so what'll it be? Going to stay here, or are you going to try to do this on your own? You don't know this place very well and there's certain things you should know," the Sin hums, slowly slipping his fingertips from the nest of her hair. "-it's your choice. Whatever you want."

But he does crouch down to meet her at eye level. He's not a comfort - he knows that too well. He can't give her the same solace a parent can and he certainly just isn't the sort. But -

- but it isn't like he hasn't had to break people out of their shells before. "Why don't you stay and work for me? At least, until this all gets settled out. Then you can decide what you really want to do."

"Work... Work for you?!" Her voice cracks before she lets out a sob, one she doesn't want to let out. She turns away from Greed, hugging herself to contain anything else from escaping. She's getting more frightened as time goes on, but she has no where else to go. She doesn't know where she is and what if he's right, that there's people who would hurt her for what she is? But she doesn't have to tell them...

But Greed hasn't hurt her in the past, and does seem like he's trying to help now. She can't be mad at him or scared of him, just the situation. "...will you help me find them if I stay here?" She looks back at him, wetness in her eyes but she's stubbornly not letting them fall, trying to be strong. The others have to be out there, somewhere.

"Oi, oi, oi .. calm down."

Dipped low, Greed circles around her. So that he can meet her face to face; his lips are contorted, twisting as she braces around herself for comfort. He can never really understand how she feels - what it's like to feel that way. But he can take a gander.

So he slips a hooked-knuckle under her chin. Forcing her to look up at him as a slight smile twists up his face. Even like this, the notion comes off a bit smarmy. It can't really be helped: what he is, what kind of creature he's made to be. But despite the crookedness of his nature, Greed crouches down to meet her.

"I'll try, but I can't promise you anything, kid. It's not like this is normal." Greed releases his finger from her chin and lets his hands sink between his splayed-knees. "But nothing's impossible, right?"

His teeth glint when a stray light above decides to make its presence known. With a shivering-flicker, forcing the electric current through.

The touch under her chin is unexpected, startling her into looking right into Greed's eyes. It's something like her family would do when she's crying or sad, and it's such a familiar gesture that it actually brings some unintentional comfort. She swallows hard, trying to make sure she doesn't cry even if she's afraid of the situation, but she's trying so hard.

"Thank you," she says quietly. If he'll try, since he knows this place, then maybe they stand a chance. "We'll find them if-" she stops sharply when suddenly a bulb comes on above, making her head jerk as she looks up, confused. Why would the light come on in an abandoned place? Does someone know they're here?

Greed waves his hand in front of her face as soon as she jerks in the direction of the light. "Don't worry about it - it's still trying to figure out whether or not it'll work."

The Sin presses his palms into his thighs as he moves to stand. It's true - the 'Nest practically lives as a haunting now. The lights flickering in and out, the slow groans from down below. It's the final resting place for some and a rumor for others. Greed's face lights up when the bulb pulses again; dimming in and out before going dark again.

"C'mon - there are rooms upstairs. Just don't mind some of the stuff that's still there, yeah?" He side-winds her. Jerking around with the buck of a hip, a pull of the torso. It's dodging the obvious questions there, instead pointing to her own predicament. He isn't too keen on opening up that can of worms and it's better than she doesn't know anyway.

"I'll see if anyone's heard anything. Not sure if they're still around, but Dublith's never been shy on secrets."

"Ah, right." A bit disoriented by his constant changing, Kaede lets him lead her upstairs. She can't help but be jumpy, looking around at every creak and groan of the old place. Everything has her on edge right now. This whole place seems like a haunted house; the thought doesn't make it better. Still, she can tell that people had once lived here and tries to imagine it before it became abandoned.

"...tell me about this place when it was still a bar?" She asks. Rather hear him or herself talking than the shudders of wood talking.

He'll have to deal with a little girl holding his hand, though.

Greed's face falls uncharacteristically; when she asks, "...tell me about this place-?" His eyes narrow behind his shades and he slowly edges his fingers open to let her palm sit inside his own. The skin there is rough; calloused when it needs to be and smooth where it shouldn't. He grits his teeth and the bones in his spine go stiff.

What it used to be.

"Eh - not really a story someone like you should hear," the Sin says as he shows her up the stairs. "-but I guess there's no use hiding it."

The feeling is something he's felt only once before. A twinge; like a vice snaring him from the inside. Tightening around his core and begging for a payout: for revenge, though he'll never get it. "They were mine."

Up the stairs is a hallway. Just as gloomy and dank as the rest. Windows had been left open and now they, too, are in pieces. Letting the torn drapes waft as the wind shifted. It's cooler on the second floor; a chill catching through the floorboards.

"Ran into a little bit of trouble. I guess you could say I never really got along with the rest of them." The six others. Sins incarnate with legs to walk, with voices to speak. He was the oddity out of them all; separate from the others and this had been his would-be kingdom. Made in wood, carved in liquor.

In all the things he really wanted.

But that's old history. Older now that things have come and gone. And he's the only one left.

But even that isn't entirely right either.

"...The rest of who?" There's an odd trust in Greed, even if right now everything is a mess and she's honestly afraid. So she stays close to him, her hand feeling very small in his, but she can feel the callouses against the smoothness of her hand.

"Why would that affect your bar?" She jumps a little as a bit of cloth moves, and hisses a little. "Stop that! We're not here to be scared!"

"You didn't think I was the only one, did you?"

From the street outside, there are whispers in the dark. Barely audible, but enough of a chit-chat to break the silence. Greed clips up to the upper hallway, dodging any belongings that could be in his path. There's a sword sheathed and propped up against the wall, a hammer next to that. "We never saw eye to eye. You could say I left the rest of them back in Central a long time ago."

Greed slips a thumb into his belt loop and lets this fingers spread across the outer edge of his thigh. She wants a story, but it's not the type she's really looking for. "I've been doing this for about two-hundred years remember? Well, it wasn't always like this."

There's a door at the edge of the hallway. Darker than the rest with a faint-line of silvery blue coming from the bottom edge. Greed knocks it with his elbow and it groans open. Slowly swinging wide to a bedroom. It may not be as expected: a bed that's older with stains to match. A dresser that's practically alight with cobwebs.

"I told you before - I'm not exactly a good guy, kid."

Can you see this face? This is a face of do not want. She stares at the dresser certain that a million spiders will attack her from it, and sleeping in that kind of bed does not sit well with her. A shiver passes through her and she longs for a proper bed.

"There's other- um- Homunculi?" Guessing on the plural because Homunculuses sounds stupid. "How many? ...and two hundred years..." The last bit being murmured. She can't imagine the concept of living that long.

"You really don't know, do you?"

Greed slithers on in, passing by each piece of furniture as if it's familiar. And it is; the dresser, the floor. The walls that are slightly stained to the mute-color of coffee. He touches floorboard of a bedpost, gliding his fingers across it with a minimal hum.

"There are seven deadly sins, kid. And each one he cast off." For a moment, his tone turns dangerous. Vile in his throat when he says him. But with his back to Kaede, the snarl's missed. "There are seven in total, but I'm not like the rest."

Or was.

"Doesn't matter. They're all gone now."

Kaede watches him, standing in the doorway with her arms wrapping around herself as soon as he moves away. She listens in silence, trying to remember. Seven deadly sins... she's heard of it, in a vague sense, but it never really mattered to her world as a teenager.

"You're not like the rest because you're not gone. You survived and they didn't." She could understand the context of 'gone' in this sense, her chin coming up a little. "That means you're better than them." She still had his power, and even subtly, it still effects her in a sense.

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