The Love of a Human
Chapter one: What Became of Her
Tennessee
Dark skinned, red eyed, Olivia watched in horror as the homunculus known as Envy screamed for help and reached for her hand. The lake of what Envy had been standing on, solid red ice a moment ago had begun changing to water of the same color that he could easily slip through.
Olivia placed one hand on her stomach, stretched with nine months of pregnancy and carrying their child, and called back to Envy before taking a leap out onto the water. But instead of sinking like she had expected, was swept across its glassy surface by the force of the wind carrying purple clouds overhead. Envy's green tinted hair swirled under the water, every now and then seeming to be caught by an invisible hand and jerked from side to side, making him look almost possessed.
"Envy!" Olivia cried grabbing his hand before it could too slip away, as he was pulled below. The water burned the hand she had grabbed Envy's wrist with, possibly leaving scars. She made a move to pull Envy back up but found there was now something pulling against her. Under the water, from the very depths of hell, what seemed like small black hands had climb and now wrapped themselves around Envy's neck, arms, and legs, and more kept appearing.
"I won't let you take him!" she cried yanking upward as the emotion drained from Envy's face and his hand went limp.
There was the sound of a newborn wailing as if in terribly pain and tears began trickling down her face and landing on the water as small silver dew drops.
Olivia didn't want him to go, she wanted him with her, more than anything in the whole world. But just as she thought this the small black hands gave one final yank on Envy's limp body and he floated downward.
"ENVY!!" Olivia screamed sitting up straight in bed, her heart pound so hard it must have been a health hazard. Placing a hand on her face she realized that she had been crying in her sleep and quickly wiped the tears away. Slowly she brought her hand from her face and to the vacant spot next to her, where Envy was supposed to be lying, but then again she hadn't seen him in a full four years. And on top of that he believed her to be dead.
She wanted to believe that she would see him again, but there was just no possible way she could, he might have been killed during the overturning of the military, or he could just be out there wreaking havoc as a way of revenge.
Olivia sighed and glanced down at her left hand and the diamond sparkling on her ring finger. His name was Aaron, he was tall and well built, kind and forgiving, and gracious and loving, but he was not Envy. If perhaps she had never met Envy she would have loved this man, but because of Envy there was an invisible force that kept her away from Aaron when he hugged her that made him seem a stranger.
Was he an all-around better person than Envy? Yes, but this gave her no reason to love the sin any less. In fact ever since her older brother David, currently residing just next door, had arranged the marriage in hopes to get her over her loss, she had been thinking of Envy more and more.
It was true David did not think highly of Envy, and did not think very highly of his younger sister for having a child with the homunculus, but he still wanted Olivia to be happy.
Olivia was uncertain whether Aaron did in fact love her, but she would put on a gracious smile whenever she saw him. Most times she would sit off to side sitting the child she currently watched, the always calm Danny, next to her while he played with the always energetic Ren. He was very good with children and would often bring Ren to school when Olivia needed to get to work early, but he was not Envy.
With the last thought of "he's not Envy" in her head, Olivia drifted slowly back to sleep, only to be woken a few moments later by a soft call from her daughter.
"Mama?" Ren called, there was another pause Olivia spent hoping she had imagined it. "… Mama? Mama?!"
Olivia sighed, "I'm coming Ren!" and walked across the hall into her daughter's room.
Four and a half year old Ren, with blankets pulled up to her red-violet eyes lay in bed watching her closet door intently.
"What is it?" Olivia yawned, turning on the overhead and squinting in the bright light.
Ren pulled the blankets from her head and pointed at the closet. She was a young girl, smaller than the average four year old with long black hair that ran to her shoulders and branched off in different directions as her father's once did. Her skin was dark as her mother's and, aside from her eye color, hair, and jagged teeth, she looked an awful lot like her mother, with the same shaped face, eyes, and build.
Olivia opened the closet slowly to reveal absolutely nothing but her daughter's close on hangers and an assortment of shoes lining the bottom.
"There's nothing in here," Olivia smiled, walking back over to Ren and kissing her on the head, "Go back to bed."
"But Mama," Ren replied, "When you leave he'll come back!"
"Who's going to come back?"
"The hom-… homun-…. Homunculuses-es in my closet."
Olivia raised an eyebrow and sat down beside Ren.
"Where did you hear about homunculi?"
"Uncle Davi told me… told me they were bad."
"Uncle David is telling a lie," Olivia replied plainly.
"He can do that?"
"He's just teasing," she said to redeem her brother.
"H-he told me… they were evil."
"Evil isn't a very nice word."
"But they are right?"
"No, they are really nice. Just like people."
"B-but-…."
"There are good people and bad people. And there are good homunculi and bad homunculi."
"What makes them bad?"
"The… the chores they do make them bad. What are your chores?"
"Uh, brush my teeth."
"And that's a good chore. But if one of your chores was to not brush your teeth then that would be a bad chore."
Ren nodded, "So then if the homhom-… didn't have to brush their teeth then they would be bad?"
Olivia nodded. "But if a homunculus does brush his teeth then they're good," she smiled, she couldn't help but thinking she'd oversimplified this to the extreme.
"The homhom in my closet brushes his teeth?"
"Yes."
"He's good?"
"Yes. And he'll protect you."
Ren nodded understandingly before changing the subject to something concerning her.
"Are you bringing me uh, me to school tomorrow?"
"No, Aaron will be taking you. I'm sorry I can't."
"When will you take me?"
"Soon."
"How soon?"
Olivia smiled, "Very soon."
"… Mama, why does Papa take me to school so much?"
"He's not your father," Olivia said sharply. "… Call him Aaron."
"Alright Mama…. Where is Papa?"
"Aaron."
"No, Mama, where is my Papa?"
Olivia swallowed hard. "… He… he's gone right now."
"Will I ever meet him?" Ren smiled.
Olivia nodded.
"What's he like?"
"He looks a little like you. You have the same hair, and eyes, and teeth. He's strong and brave, and he'll protect you no matter what."
"Is he nice?"
"He's very nice if he likes you. But he gets mad really easily."
Ren smiled. "Did he know me?"
"He did, and he loved you very much."
Ren squealed happily and grinned from ear to ear.
"Now go to sleep, I love you."
"Love you too, Mama."
Olivia nodded and turned the overhead light off as she went out.
"Night-night."
Olivia, now in the hallway, let out a long sigh and fidgeted with the ring on her finger, wanting so badly to simply yank it off and throw it as far as she could. David wanted the best for her, but this was not it, not by a long shot.
This is the sequel to "The Sin of a Homunculus" so if you haven't read that it might be best to do that… or nothing else will make sense… ever… in your life again O_O Okay that's a lie but at least then you'll know what's going on.
Alright! Thanks for reading the first chapter of this story and I'd love to hear what you think! I love all POLITE reviews (you don't have to like the story just be nice about it and if you don't like it tell me how I can do better)
On my profile you will find a like to all Envy X Olivia pictures (my icon is one of them) go if you have a free minute it could be fun to visit that.
I'll be posting this story (just like the last one) every Thursday, and it is not as long as "The Sin of a Homunculus" so everybody's in luck!
Thanks again for reading!
Tennessee