Envy is afraid of Wrath. His eye is fucking ridiculous, yes, and it gives him the ability to predict and counter moves against him perfectly; the man is a fucking robot, but that's not why Envy fears him. Wrath is also a man; but he is the worst of man. A man turned into a monster that lives only because of a deep-seated hatred of the entire world around him. Wrath doesn't care about Father; Wrath doesn't care about Pride; maybe Wrath cares for "it," his wife, but Envy doesn't think so. He is not envious of Wrath.

Envy is better than Wrath. At least he works for Father in order to achieve his own ambitions. (It helps that fucking around with human insects is fun.) But Wrath… Wrath is a puppet. Wrath is the most dangerous type of puppet; the type that knows he is a puppet, and accepts it, and doesn't fucking care.

That is what Envy is afraid of. How can he not care?

Wrath does something to a man. It turned Scar into a mindless, killing machine that helped to divert attention from their activities. Scar was not Wrath, but Envy was still afraid of Scar. That's why Envy let Lust and Gluttony take care of him. (It wasn't like they were better than he was.)

Now that Scar stands in front of him, he can see that Scar knows the truth. He knows that Envy was the spark that set the world aflame; the first shot in a war that killed his brother and destroyed everything he had ever loved. But Scar is not wrathful; Scar is more in control of himself than Envy has ever seen and, shit, that makes him feel so much better, really.

Honestly, even though he is now faced with six opponents instead of just that fucking girl with the squinty eyes, Envy is not afraid for his life.

In fact, this is ideal. With more of them here, he can tear apart their bonds piece by piece. He can turn Scar against the flea-sized sacrifice and the Colonel pretty easily, and he should be able to absorb the chimeras without too much trouble, and this was going to be so much fucking fun. And as a bonus, he'll have proven once again that humans are weak, and that their ultimate destiny will and has always been to wipe themselves out.

They are not worthy of being envied.

"So, it's the Full Metal Alchemist, the Flame Alchemist, Scar… oh, and the damn Chimeras from up north, too? Well then, who do I start with?" Envy almost wants to throw in a maniacal laugh… for dramatic effect. But things go wrong almost immediately. Scar refuses to take the bait Envy's dangling so enticingly in front of his face, and absolutely none of them appear to be on the verge of losing to their anger. (Or annoyance; either one would help, really.)

Roy Mustang is interesting, though.

"I don't have time to play your pathetic games."

"Pathetic?" Envy scoffs. "Lemme ask you something. Don't you humans enjoy watching others suffer? Watching fools dance around like puppets? That's why you start wars, isn't it?"

But that bastard doesn't bite either, and it's getting really frustrating, as opposed to just merely "interesting." Plus he's acting like humans are all high and mighty when they are so clearly bugs that need to be fucking squashed by superior beings such as themselves. Envy is just about ready to cut his losses and just run away, because fuck if a plan hasn't gone as fucking poorly as this one has, when Mustang's eyes change and maybe's there's a chance…

"Who killed Maes Hughes?"

"Why, Maria Ross! You burned her to death yourself."

"No, I know it wasn't her."

"Oh!" And Envy fucking pounces. "So you torched an innocent woman, then? Man, that's brutal! How'd you break it to her family? Were you in tears? Or were you to angry with yourself to even-"

But fucking hell if the bastard still doesn't react and Envy's getting seriously pissed himself, and he just fucking lets it out. Yes, motherfucker, he killed that fucking bastard Hughes, and no he's not a fucking imbecile, he can fucking change his shape like this and Hughes fell for it, the bastard, now react goddamn you. And finally Roy's face drains of its color and Envy's won.

Envy can barely contain his glee. "The color just drained from your face! I love it! Hughes had the same look when I murdered him! That same face! The despair of seeing someone with his wife's face shoot him! I LOVE IT!" This is so much fucking fun, but why does that blonde chick look like she's about to cry? That was so not what he was going for. But he'll take despair too, that works just as well.

"That's that. You killed Hughes," Mustang starts, and Envy starts thinking maybe he's dug himself in a little too far. "That's all I needed to know. There's no need to say anything more, Envy; the first thing I'm going to turn to ash is your tongue." And then he turns to Scar and the brat and tells them to stand down, and so Envy's going to pick them off one at a time, that works too.

He just has to make sure they don't leave, and out of nowhere fire starts in the back of his fucking throat (or Hughe's wife's throat, whatever) and there is so much fucking pain he can not even hear what Mustang says for the ringing of the hatred in his ears. He is going to fucking rip Mustang's throat out, right in front of his little lieutenant and he is going to enjoy it so fucking much that it won't even matter that he looks like a monster.

"You've been obsessed with avenging Hughes all this time. It's a beautiful thing, friendship. But, just so you know, I really can't hold back in this form! Don't blame me when you get torn to shreds."

But the bastard fucking sets his eyes on fire, the son of a bitch- and he dies. He dies and is reborn and lunges before he dies again.

"I can't believe you made yourself a bigger target. You really thought bigger would be better?" Again. "Stand up, Demon." AGAIN. "You're going to drown in pain and agony until you finally die."

Of course he fucking killed Lust. Of course Envy has to run into the guy who killed that bitch. Of course he has to invoke the wrath of some fucking god of fire. He is so fucking fucked. And he is afraid. Envy is afraid of Roy Mustang, and he knocks the ceiling down to escape into the labyrinth that is their base and hide, hide hidehidehide; he needs to get away.

Envy is afraid of Roy's wrath.

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note: mostly the dialogue was taken from chapters 93 - 95 of the manga; the point wasn't to write different dialogue, but to explore Envy's state of mind