As soon as the shape-shifting homunculus got his preferred body back, he left the young Xingese girl in the tunnels by herself. He didn't really want to be in the tunnels then. One reason was that they were filled with those annoying mannequins. He didn't feel like killing every single one of them just to get to his Father.
The second reason was that Pride and Kimblee were fighting Alphonse Elric, and Envy didn't want to miss out. He always missed out on the good fights like that.
Once he was a few miles away from Central, he started to look around eagerly for the slums that the three were near. It wasn't hard to find, because there was a dome made of dirt and a bunch of smoke rising from where the fight was. When Envy got there, he found something he never thought he'd see.
Kimblee was laying on his back while coughing up blood with a large bite mark in his neck. Pride was just standing there with all those creepy little shadows surrounding him for protection.
"It's humans like you that make this world useless and weak. You're always dyeing, whether it be a bite to the neck or a bullet to the head…" Pride trailed off with a sigh and Envy just raised an eyebrow at him. Sure, Envy didn't like humans that much, but Kimblee was on Pride and Envy's side.
"What happened?" Envy asked, his androgynous voice cutting through the silence that Pride had let close around them.
"Oh, Envy, you're here." Pride looked over his shoulder and grinned. Envy just stared at the older homunculus with narrowed eyes.
"I asked what happened." The green-haired homunculus then pointed toward Kimblee. The former prisoner coughed again and a streak of blood trickled out of his mouth and along his cheek. Envy smirked. He never though he'd see the alchemist in such a vulnerable and weak state.
"Kimblee and I were fighting the younger Elric brother, and Alphonse tricked us. One of Kimblee's chimeras was working with Alphonse and attacked Kimblee when we weren't looking." Envy rolled his eyes. He should have seen that coming…
"Well, what are you going to do about him now? I mean, he is your problem," The younger homunculus muttered and smoothed a few strands of green hair away from his pale face.
"I was going to consume him and his philosopher stone," Pride told him casually. Envy just gaped at the shadow-controlling homunculus. Pride was becoming greedy. First he ate Gluttony, and now Kimblee…?
"No." Pride raised an eyebrow at Envy's growl-like voice.
"Excuse me? But, Kimblee is my problem." Envy shook his head, his violet eyes darkening on the older homunculus.
"Forget I said that. Father told me to keep an eye on him. Did he ask you? No. He didn't." Pride let out a loud, childlike laugh and the green-haired homunculus grit his teeth.
"Jealous…? I think you are, ugly." Envy's eyes twitched at the nickname all of his siblings had for him.
"Ah, shut up and go back to dad. I wonder what he has to say about all of this…" Envy tried to sound threatening, but his voice obviously had an annoyed edge to it.
"I can't leave now," Pride explained softly and stepped closer to the dyeing alchemist on the ground. A few of the shadows lifted and mouths appeared on them. "I have work to take care of." Pride licked his lips and grinned.
Envy was getting more pissed off at the older homunculus. When one shadow split into eight, Envy let out a low growl and transformed his arm into a blade. He swung it at Pride in a movement to quick for human eyes. Pride was on the ground in a second with a hand clutched over his cheek.
"What's your problem, Envy? Kimblee is a dyeing human." The older homunculus slowly got to his feet and brushed his shirt off. "We shouldn't just let him die in pain~" Pride's voice was teasing. Envy kept his narrowed eyes on him and lowered the blade he had changed his arm into.
"And you think eating him, or whatever the hell you do, isn't painful?" The green-haired homunculus asked. He didn't exactly get how Pride could consume someone with his shadows. They were shadow's for God's sake; not animals.
"Do you pity him…?" Pride smiled amusingly at Envy.
"Of course not! I just don't think its right! At least let me snap his neck or something." Envy's arm then suddenly turned back to flesh and he crossed both his arms over his chest.
"Oh, I get it," Pride mused and glanced between Envy and Kimblee. A puddle of blood was now pooling around the alchemist's neck. "You want to be the one to kill him. How long has it been since you killed someone, Envy…?" The shape-shifting homunculus smirked and didn't answer. That wasn't the reason; it wasn't even close.
"That's not it either," Envy said under his breath and threw a look at Kimblee. The alchemist's blood was soaking the white suit all around his shoulders. For all Envy knew, the man was already dead. "Well, what are you going to do? He's not going to live much longer." Pride narrowed his eyes and turned toward the dyeing alchemist.
"I'm not sure. How about we just leave him here and tell Father the planned failed? I think that's fair." Envy wrinkled his nose. That wasn't fair.
"Uh, no. How about you step away from Kimblee and let me handle it?" Pride laughed again, but it didn't resemble his earlier one. This one was hostile and told Envy that there was no way Pride would let Kimblee die at the hands of the younger homunculus.
"You will not take credit for this man's death." A shadow shot forward and made its way toward Kimblee's barely breathing body. The other seven shadows followed the first one's actions.
"Fine." Envy really didn't want Kimblee to die right then. Not only could he help Envy with torturing the Elric brothers, but he could also help complete the Nation Wide Transmutation Circle plan. It was close to being finished, which meant the arrogant man all the homunculi called Father would have his wish fulfilled and he wouldn't have to continue bugging Envy.
Envy took the chance to stall Pride and kicked his foot toward the other homunculus. He felt his heel collide with something hard and there was a thud. The shape-shifting homunculus caught his balance as both his feet hit the ground with a loud thump.
He glanced over at Pride and smirked. Envy, Pride, and Sloth were the only homunculi that could withstand getting kicked in the head and not take a few moments to recover. The older homunculus was back on his feet in less than a second.
"Stop stalling me! I'm going to take Kimblee's philosopher stone whether you want me to or not," Pride snapped as his shadows took hold of Kimblee's limp body. "He's useless. We don't need humans to complete the plan," the older homunculus said and caught Envy's gaze. "We can manage without him."
Envy knew Pride was right, but most of the homunculi were dead. That meant no one would help him piss off Edward and Alphonse. It also meant that Envy had to finish Father's plan with all the homunculi he hated.
"Are you sure about that?" Envy asked as his eyes slid toward Kimblee. He was too far away to see if the man was still breathing or not. He then looked back at Pride and saw the shorter homunculus nodding slowly. "Hmm, then…who would've gotten you out of that dome? You'd still be in there if it weren't for Kimblee." Pride blinked once before narrowing his eyes.
"Father would've come eventually; and how did you know I was stuck in there…?" The shadows that had been slowly wrapping around Kimblee were now hesitantly inching back toward Pride's own shadow.
"I'm not stupid. I know you can't use your shadows in the dark; and the Elrics trapped you so you wouldn't kill them." Envy put a hand on his slim hip and sighed. "You're changing your mind about killing him, aren't you?"
"I guess, but there's not much hope for him. His Philosopher's stone is inside of him, so unless he spits it out or something…" Pride trailed off as the two homunculi locked gazes. "I don't have an extra, Envy."
"Same here," Envy mumbled and walked a couple steps toward Kimblee. The two of them knew he'd be dead soon if they didn't do something.
The oldest homunculus stepped toward Kimblee also and smirked. If only that doctor was still here, Pride thought. He had a stone.
"Pride." Envy glanced down at the arrogant homunculus when Pride gasped.
"I think I know where we can find a stone," Pride said while glancing over his shoulder. There were tire tracks were Yoki had swerved the car, but all the dust was gone and Pride had a clear sight of where Dr. Marcoh had been standing.
"Oh, really? Where?" The homunculus created from jealously saw Pride point in the direction Yoki had drove off in.
"Dr. Marcoh had one." Pride started walking away and toward the tire tracks and Envy followed the older homunculus. "I'm pretty sure he dropped it while trying to get in that car," he murmured mostly to himself as he thought things over.
Sure enough, the two found the small red stone partially covered with dirt. Envy didn't believe in luck or coincidences, but something in the back of his mind told him this scenario was one. The shape-shifting homunculus had been expecting the stone to be gone and Kimblee would die from lack of blood, but their fate had something else in mind…
"Don't you need to be an alchemist to use the stone, though?" The green-haired homunculus asked and felt his mood darken. Kimblee was going to die after all; and Envy would be stuck with Pride until they got back to their father.
"Nope," Pride answered simply as he watched the younger homunculus lean down to pick up the red, faintly glowing stone. As soon as Envy stood up straight, the two started toward Kimblee.
The first thing Pride did when they approached Kimblee was poke his cheek. This caused the alchemist to open his eyes and glare at Pride. Envy only gave Pride an odd look before squatting down next to Kimblee and staring at the large bite mark.
"What now?" Envy asked while turning the Philosopher's stone between his middle and index fingers. "We can't just drop it in his wound…that'll make him a homunculus." The arrogant homunculus smiled slyly.
"No, Envy, it won't. The only reason Greed was reincarnated was because Father had taken his Philosopher's stone back. All of the other homunculi have been killed permanently, which means none of them can come back; not even as Kimblee, who would be more than willing to become almost immortal." Pride was trying to sound clever, but his voice seemed too ominous to Envy. Once a homunculus was killed like Gluttony and Lust had been, they never were going to come back. Their Philosopher's stone was gone. The thought of dyeing forever made Envy shudder.
"Alright. Got it," Envy said in one breath before dropping the stone into Kimblee's cut. Most people would've expected the stone to just fall off the alchemist's neck and onto the ground. The thing about the philosopher stone was that it was both a liquid and a solid.
As soon as it made contact with the ripped flesh on Kimblee's throat, it seeped into the cut and disappeared. The alchemist's eyes shot open as the Philosopher's stone mixed with his blood.
Envy watched in amazement as the gory bite mark started to heal. It was no longer oozing blood in a matter of seconds. The younger homunculus had never seen a Philosopher's stone do this. He just thought it was a stone filled with souls that made him able to shape-shift and get rid of the rule of equivalent exchange for alchemists.
The two homunculi heard Kimblee swear under his breath a moment after his wound was fully healed. The stone had only healed his wound, so it didn't help the fact that his shoulders, neck, and the top of his coat were still covered in blood.
"Hmm, that was quicker than I thought it would be," Pride thought out loud as Kimblee sat up and wiped a drop of blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Thanks." Kimblee's voice was hoarse, so he quickly cleared his throat before glancing down at his stained suit. Both Envy and Pride knew Kimblee wanted to start ranting about how he had just gotten his suit cleaned and how much it was going to cost for a new one. Before the alchemist could open his mouth, the green-haired homunculus stood up from his half-kneeling, half-squatting position next to Kimblee.
"Well, now that you're feeling better, why don't we go hunt down the Elrics before they can ruin Father's plan even more?" Envy asked in an eager voice. He really just wanted to cause more stress for the two brothers.
"That sounds like a good idea to me," Kimblee responded in his normal, raspy voice before getting to his feet and glancing at the two homunculi. He was taller than both of them, but the two still freaked him out.