REVAMPED! Special shout-out to AlanSchezar, who was so kind to find and help me with this piece.
The pounding of foot falls echoed throughout the alley. A foot slammed into a puddle, scattering droplets of water.
"I never wanted this kind of existence."
Shouting voices called out to each other, vibrations of their tones bouncing off the walls. A single silhouette ran through a darkened alley, panting. It made a sharp turn to the left and kept running down the alley.
"I never wanted to be a homunculus."
"I think it went this way!" one bald man hollered, holding a torch over his head. He squinted his eyes at the darkness, snorted, and spat at the cobble stone under his feet.
Another man readjusted the gun in his hand and asked, "You see it?"
The bald man waved his torch in response and sneered darkly. "Thar she blows," he hissed between his teeth. A green flash disappeared behind a wall, and footfalls echoed through the dark, moist walls.
"After it!" the bald man cried before he sprinted after the fleeing shadow.
"But why am I? What god did I anger to curse me with this fate?"
The bald man stopped running and held up his hand to stop the rest of the mob. Soft murmuring slipped between them as they waited for the leader to make the order. He sneered again as he spotted a lone figure beating its fists uselessly at a brick wall.
"It's useless, you know," the bald man said mockingly. The figure whirled around, its hands placed against the wall, shaking like a leaf. Shaggy red bangs fell over its forehead, and the rest of its hair was pulled into two long pigtails. It was clad a black, high collar shirt with long wide sleeves and shin low pants with open toe and heel socks. But the most striking of all were the frightened violet eyes with the reptilian slat and a strange tattoo of a dragon eating its tail on its left cheek. The bald man laughed menacingly.
Shaking harder, the thing whimpered in a small voice, "P-please don't hurt me . . ."
The mob had stopped talking to listen to the creature talking. Then, all together they started laughing. The creature sank down onto its seat and quivered.
The bald man stepped forward, still chuckling. "Hurt you? Oh, no, my dear. I'm going to kill you!" He lifted a lethal-looking axe and was about to bring it down when a dark shadow appeared out of nowhere. The shadow landed cat-like on a barrel before leaping up again, kicking out the barrel at the man. The barrel slammed into the man's knees, and he grunted; the grip on the axe weakened.
The shadow then took the time to jerk the axe out of the man's hands and kick him aside. The man fell down, snarling like a dog deprived of its favorite chew toy.
"Why, you—" he began to say before the axe flew right at his head. Several of the mob members shrieked at the sight and fled, not bothering to look back at their fallen leader.
The shivering figure that had been backed up to a wall shrunk back even further, shaking and quivering all the harder. The shadow turned to face it and revealed itself from the shadows. The shadow was androgynous; but after a closer look inspection, it could be defined as male. The teenager's long, spiky, green hair flew up and over a black headband with a red triangle pattern on it. Clad only in a black skort, open toe and heel socks, open finger gloves, and high hem top, the young man walked casually up to the figure. He kneeled down and, after noticing the figure's frightened squirm, smiled gently at it. "There, there, now. There's nothing to be afraid of," the teenager cooed. "I'm your friend. I won't hurt you."
The figure squirmed again. "Wh-who are you?" it whispered hoarsely. "Why did you come here?"
The young man, still smiling, leaned forward a bit. "I am called Envy. And the reason why I came is to help you. Why don't you come out so I can see you better?"
The form shivered, then slowly slipped out of the darkness and into the light. Deciding now was the time to speak, Envy said, "What's your name, little one?"
"Uhh . . ." the girl thought, trying to remember. "I . . . I think . . . I don't know."
"You think you don't know, or you don't know?"
"I don't know."
Envy smiled sweetly, although there was a hint of dark mirth in his reptilian eyes. "Well, I'll be happy to tell you your name. It is Sorrow. You are the homunculus Sorrow."
"Maybe I had a purpose in this life."