"Al!"
The blond-haired, broad-faced, slender young alchemist turned around suddenly, golden eyes searching the room for the source of the noise. His books on alkahestry, given to him by May, lay scattered on the wooden desk across from him in his new study.
It had been three years since the final battle against the Homunculi, in which Alphonse Elric had given himself to the Truth to get Ed's right arm back for him. Al had been shocked, of course, when Ed had literally given up his abilities in Alchemy to save his younger brother, and even more shocked when he could suddenly feel again, be fully human again. Since then, Al had been voyaging to Xing in an attempt to master alkahestry. May, who he now was romantically involved with, had helped him greatly- and, in turn, Al was quite grateful to the beautiful young woman and to Ling, the new emperor of Xing, who had granted him access to government resources that might be of use to him in his studies in addition to being a friend.
Al had only been home (in a rebuilt version of his childhood home that Winry and Pinako had insisted on building for them back in Risembool. Winry had stated that with Ed studying alchemy in the East she had no repairs to make on his automail leg and thus needed something to occupy her time) for a week, a little bit lonely without May but contented to have some peace and quiet at last. Ed had left a note for him, saying that he'd been back home briefly before Al had returned and that Al shouldn't expect to hear from him or see him for a little while.
Which is why Al was so surprised to see his brother standing in the doorway, calling to him once again.
"Al! Are you listening to me? I came back here to be with you for a little while. I haven't seen my little brother in months."
Al smiled, standing up slowly and moving carefully across the room to give Edward a hug.
"You look much healthier than when I saw you last, Al," Ed gave his brother an oversized grin. "I missed you."
Al smiled, not a big and spastic grin like his brother's, but a small contented one. "And you've gotten a little taller, though you're still pretty short."
A look of sheer, unfiltered anger passed across Ed's face for a moment before he exhaled and muttered to himself, "Stay calm, Edward. You said you were going to stop going ballistic when people commented on your height…"
But something else crossed Ed's expression, making him blush and shuffle closer to the door to shut it. The room went dark, save for the bits of sunlight peaking from behind the curtains in the windows and the candles which glowed on the desk.
"As nice of a reunion as this is, Al, I need a bit of a favor from you… I shut the door because it's somewhat private, though I've already asked Fuhrer Grumman and Mustang- er, Roy- if it was okay and they said that they'd approve it, if we kept quiet about it and followed certain guidelines..."
"What are you getting at, Edward?" Al cut his babbling brother off. "Is it something illegal?"
"Once again, I have legal permission to do this. Okay, well, I don't think you were there to see it, but did you hear how Envy died?"
Alphonse's golden eyes lost a little bit of their brilliant shimmer as he remembered the brutality of the story that he'd heard of how the androgynous Homunculus had met his end. "You're the one that told me, all those years ago… yeah, I remember. If I recall correctly, Envy confessed to killing Hughes- without any remorse; I think you said he found it funny- and Roy completely incinerated him with his flame alchemy until he became a parasite-like creature. And after that, when Riza and Scar and you got him to calm down and show some mercy, Envy tried to turn you all against each other again. You said that Envy was jealous of humans because they can form bonds with and support each other. Envy was upset that you figured him out and then killed himself."
Al didn't realize he said this in one breath until he finished. Then, he gasped for air like a fish on dry land while Ed looked on with concern. He poured his brother a glass of water, which Al took thankfully, leaving the older Elric brother to continue.
"You got the gist of it down. But you didn't get the most important part- that Envy killed itself by crushing its Philosopher Stone and then crumbled into dust. I didn't know this until recently, but apparently Roy saved the dust in a little bottle and kept it locked up somewhere in Central, in the event it would be needed. It's still there. The little pile of dust that used to be such a sadistic and fearful monster…"
"Ed, what are you getting at?" Al repeated. "I don't think I like the sound of it."
Ed smirked again. "You've been studying alkahestry, right? Isn't that about reconstruction? Fixing and destroying and then fixing the destruction again? Well, can you do that to a Homunculus?"
Al stared blankly at his brother. "You don't mean to ask me if I would bring back a Homunculus from the dead? I realize that you feel sorry for Envy, Ed, but that would only lead to problems in the future."
"But think about it, Alphonse. I can't do alchemy anymore, but you can. Mustang and Scar and Miles and Marcoh have been working to bring about change and peace in Ishval. The Homunculi started the war in the first place, so Envy knows things about it that no human does. And if Envy is a human, maybe he'd be happier, less crazy. Because we'd be giving Envy the thing he was so jealous of: humanity.
"And besides, Al. He's the only one of the Homunculi we could ever hope to revive. It's our last shot."
"And satisfying Envy's craving is going to make him less crazy? I feel horrible for Envy, too, brother, but I just don't think it's a good idea to try transmutation again."
Ed smirked. "Who said we would be using transmutation to do it?"
The room was empty, save for the people crowded to one side: Alphonse, Edward, Mustang, Scar, Miles, Marcoh, and Riza. Winry was out of the room, making finishing touches on a new machine; she had been hired to build a restraining system for Envy, if they were to need it- though she'd insisted on doing it for free, saying that the fact her fiancé was involved and it was all that she could do to help him. Only Al knew that the reason Winry was helping was more than that: she had explained to Al that Ed had been haunted been Envy's death, not because he liked the violet-eyes Homunculus but because he felt responsible for how things ended up. This was Ed, who let Pride live as a human rather than committing a murder that most would have considered justified.
Ed, who had shown sympathy to a terrible monster like Envy, half-hoping that it'd redeem itself and be allowed to live. Ed, the man whose words had coaxed Envy into killing himself. It would have been one thing if Roy had crushed the little creature and Ed hadn't been involved, but Ed was the one who kicked Envy while he was already down, driven him to the edge and watched him hop off.
Winry and Al both understood that Ed needed a clear conscience. Reluctantly, they had to help him. They loved him.
And it was because of this love for his brother that Al spent weeks researching, in his books and through written communication with May (who had had Xiao-Mei put a paw print of ink in the corner of her letter in reply to her boyfriend, which made Al giddy at the thought of May and her cute little pet). She had told him which spell to use, stating that the reconstruction procedure would work so long as it was done on a nonhuman. They figured a Homunculus could fall under that category.
"I'm finished," Scar wiped his brow as he surveyed the reconstruction circle he'd drawn on the floor with the dust that was once Envy. "Al, you know what to do, right?"
Al nodded. Gulped.
"Are you absolutely positive that this is a good idea, General Mustang?" Al asked nervously, looking in the direction of the Brigadier General.
Roy replied, "To be honest, I'm not sure whether I fully trust your brother's judgment, Alphonse. After all, such a short person has a small brain…"
"SHUT YOUR UGLY MOUTH, MUSTANG, BEFORE I BEAT YOU TO A BLOODY PULP, WITH OR WITHOUT ALCHEMY!"
"…Exactly my point. If the reconstruction works, then this procedure leaves us with a mortal Envy that has no regeneration ability, no shapeshifting powers, and if he's a problem we can always just kill him."
Riza looked at Al with kind but hardened eyes and said, "When was the last time any of us did anything with absolute certainty? If I've learned nothing from the past couple of years, it's that there is no such thing as certainty. Everything you do is a guess or a gamble."
Al smiled at Riza. "I guess I'll start, then, and hope my luck is good today."
Al pressed his palms into the floor, inhaling through his nose the cold and crisp air of the room. He shut his eyes in deep concentration and could feel sparks beginning to fly, warming the room instantly. In his head, he began to repeat translated version of a reconstruction chant. May had recommended this one to him- usually alchemy and alkahestry could be performed without words being involved, but this was a special procedure.
In this world of destruction, where no life survives
Will you give one last chance, allow me to revive?
That which is lost, will you help me to find?
What you break, you rebuild; all is yours that is mine
Out of breath, Al panted for air. Reconstruction was a lot of work.
He could feel the heat rising up his forearms (and after being in armor so long, he was grateful to be able to feel anything), which he hoped was a sign that it was working.
"You may open your eyes, Alphonse Elric." Al didn't know who was speaking, but he obeyed their commands and looked down.
Sprawled over the area where the circle had once been was a lanky but muscular person of indeterminable gender, its wisps of long black hair with the slightest green tint to it fanned out on the ground. Their skin was light, but flushed the slightest bit, indicating blood flow (at least the blood was flowing). They were completely still, their exposed stomach not moving to show to give an indication that they were breathing.
"Lieutenant," Roy murmured to Riza. "I don't know if Envy's alive, but have your weapons ready in case we need to take them down."
Riza did so, glancing over at the others cowering near her and motioning for them to do the same. "Make no sudden movements, gentlemen." Her voice was low. "Let it wake on its own."
Suddenly, the door burst open loudly. "Edward, everyone, the containment device is ready when you all are!" Winry cheerily called. Her loud voice caused Envy's violet eyes to snap open, and Envy jumped up.
"Where the fuck am I?" Envy panicked- before locking eyes with Ed and Mustang and tensing up. "Oh, hello, you two. I thought for sure that you had finished me off, but no- I guess injuring me and humiliating me once wasn't enough for you imbeciles, so you had to try a second time. Hey, Mustang, where are those flame gloves of yours?"
Envy paused, suddenly realizing what had likely just happened. "Wait a second- no, I distinctly remember dying by crushing my own stone, which means I should be dead still… and you pathetic humans were there watching me as do it. How, then, am I alive?"
Mustang smirked, a hateful look that proved he enjoyed watching the Homunculus that had killed his best friend squirm. "Well, congratulations- you've become one of the pathetic humans you despise. We decided that you're a valuable resource, Envy, and Edward especially thought you deserved a second chance. So, seeing as Transmutation is definitely a bad idea, we had Alphonse perform a reconstruction on you. Now you're as you were without the shapeshifting, regeneration, or extra forms except for that ambiguous one you have right now."
There was no wicked laughter or any sort of reaction, who stared blankly at Al (making him uncomfortable) and then at Ed, whose gaze he held for several moments before Envy blinked.
Still locking eyes with Ed, Envy asked, "Why on Earth do you think I deserve a second chance, you fool?" It was said as a question, but it was evident that Envy meant this as a statement, that even they didn't think they deserved another shot.
"Because I believe that everyone deserves a second chance. I gave Pride one, so why should you be different?" Edward replied. "I think you learned your lesson, Envy, when Mustang incinerated you about a thousand times."
A lesson without pain is meaningless.
"Besides," continued Mustang, from where Ed had left off. "You're not immortal- you're a human now. That means you have one life left, and if you mess this up, there's no redoes. And, in addition to that, if you turn against us at any point, we will have no reservations about killing you. In fact, I myself would personally do the deed… Riza, you can lower your gun, I'm not going to go insane with revenger again. I don't have my gloves today, anyways."
Riza obliged.
"Don't think you're off the hook for killing my best friend, or for starting the war in Ishval, or any of that. But we've weighed our options, and we realize that we could use your Homunculus knowledge on the Civil War to help us improve foreign policies there. And given that Pride is living as a human- who you will not be allowed contact with- and doesn't remember any of this, you're our best option."
Envy said nothing, sitting and thinking, barely aware of everyone's eyes on him. A look that almost passed for remorse played across his features.
"Even after all I did, Elric, you think I deserve a second chance?"
Envy looks to Edward, who nods once, a confirmation that would have been easy to miss but that said more than words ever could have. And that's all that any of them need for now.