Soldier Blues

XVI

Lust daintily slung the blood from her long nails and calmly picked up her radio, eyeing Gluttony as she did so. Before the pudgy puppy-man could begin his feast, she clucked at him in reprimand. He pouted at her, but Lust calmly shook her head and smiled.

“Let me get permission first, Gluttony,” Lust crooned. She lifted the radio to her mouth and smiled. “Envy?”

The radio crackled with static.

“Is it done?”

Lust nodded though she knew Envy couldn’t see. “It’s done. The new Fuhrer should be ready to end this silly little game.”

“Lust!”

“In a minute, Gluttony,” Lust replied with inexhaustible patience.

Envy chuckled. “He can, says the Fuhrer. Hurry back, or you’ll miss the fun.”

“Can’t have that, can we?” Lust whispered as she tucked her radio back into its holster. “Gluttony!”

“Yes, Lust?” Gluttony asked in an excited voice.

“Clean up, darling,” Lust hummed. “Don’t take too long though.”

Gluttony giggled and began his feast, not caring that the men he was devouring were still quite alive. Lust examined her nails and smiled, buffing one so it shone pristine like the rest. Her dark gaze moved to linger on the scenery outside the suite window, her ruby lips lifting into a gentle smile. She raised her right hand as if in salute.

“To victory,” she purred.


“We’re pinned down – we can’t even get a moment to breath let alone shoot off a mortar!”

“They’re ringed in! Anyone got that sniper?”

It was chaos. Even Yoki knew it. Those dammed soldiers had anticipated every move his superiors chose to make. Each blue uniform was working like a well-oiled machine. Their lines were unbreakable, and their wounded and dead were hauled away before casualties ran too high. Somewhere there was a sniper taking a shot and changing position, avoiding detection. And then there were those damned Ishbalans…

Yoki heaved in a breath and turned his beady gaze onto the boy who sat calmly beside him. He was supposed to wait to use the weapon, but his men were dying while the military dogs were exceeding expectations. He had to use the weapon. He would send the boy in and of course the military would welcome him. Then, he would destroy them all. Yoki giggled uncontrollably as he turned to the boy, reaching out to stroke blonde hair.

“Go now,” Yoki whispered. “Go and destroy them. Show them that we’re to be feared!”

Those gold eyes looked at him blankly, and Yoki was quite unnerved by the something lurking in the depths of those orbs. Yoki’s arm whipped out and struck the side of that pretty face, averting that gold gaze and creating a bruise that would smart for days if one could feel it. Fortunately or unfortunately, the weapon couldn’t feel a damn thing. It didn’t respond to the strike in any violent way, instead sliding off its perch to wander through the front lines and across No Man’s Land toward the Central Command Headquarters. Yoki watched in glee but that glee was quickly squashed when the military opened fire on the insurgents with mortars and cannons. Yoki watched helplessly as his men died around him, but still the weapon marched on as if it didn’t notice the bullets or bombs.

Then the weapon crossed into enemy territory and Yoki squealed with glee as the red runes on the weapon’s flesh began to pulse with a dangerous light, almost like a timer ticking down on a bomb.

It seemed then like the entire field hushed, though bullets and mortars continued to fly. The weapon continued moving until it had nearly crossed the front line barricades. A few moments more and Central Command would be a giant smear on the lot. Yoki watched with perverse glee, hands clapping together as though he was cheering the weapon on.

But as all hasty plans go awry, Yoki watched in abject horror as a blonde boy broke free of the front lines and ran toward the weapon, grabbing it in a hug and screaming. At least, that’s what it looked like to Yoki. But for a moment those runes flared brighter and he hoped that the weapon would do its duty. Perhaps ‘hope’ was too strong a word.

Yoki watched open-mouthed as those red runes began to glow bright before fading away, watched as the weapon slumped in the other boy’s arms and before he could give the order to fire, the Ishbalans had formed a tight circle around the two boys. By the time the insurgents got their wits back about them, the Ishbalans and the boys were well within the military’s perimeter. In the short silence that followed, Yoki imagined he heard a snarl, much akin to a dragon’s roar. It rattled him more than he would care to admit and without further preamble, Yoki fled the front lines. Not a minute after Yoki’s abandonment, the military coupled with the Ishbalans surged out of the walls of Central Command and surrounded Yoki’s abandoned forces.

What was left of them, anyway.

Greed stood with his hands in his pockets, watching with a hooded gaze as the prisoners were led by him. “You’re going?”

Envy’s lips drew back in a snarl. “They broke the Rule.”

Greed’s dark eyes fell on the shadow thrown beside him and lifted a hand in salute. “Give them hell.”

“I intend to.”

Greed rubbed the back of his neck as he felt Envy simply vanish and couldn’t help the deadly grin he flashed at the insurgents. There were only two things in the world that Greed feared; the first was entrapment, and the second was far, far more deadly and frightening than the former.

Envy was Envy for a -reason-.