Everything hurt.
That was all that Envy could think. There was no compartmentalizing it- every cell and every fibre in their body was screaming, lit up with excruciating pain, a torture unlike anything else they had ever experienced in their very long life. Was this always what it felt like- being burned alive? No, it couldn't be- if they had been human, they would have been dead in seconds, dead so many times over by now. Dead and without sensation, unconnected to their body, immersed in the cool relief that was oblivion- lucky humans, being able to escape this, the horrible horrible pain and mortifying shame, being able to know that when their skin was being scorched and the juices in their eyeballs boiled and the marrow of their bones cooked like the filling of a pie that they would die, and that they had only minutes of this experience before they were gone forever. But Envy wasn't human, and so they were still alive, with every physical aspect of them wishing desperately that they weren't. Underneath their last rational scrap of consciousness one prayer played in a loop like a broken record- please let me die, please let me die, please let me die- and it was taking a strength they didn't know they possessed to hold on through it, to keep themself afloat above the feelings and aware of their surroundings. They couldn't give in to it- they needed to get away, needed to hide. There was no other alternative- they had already tried to fight (lost) and tried to deceive (failed) and now if they didn't get away Mustang was really going to kill them, slowly and horribly, and even though most of them wanted it to be over they knew that they couldn't die yet- and why was that again? They had made a plan, hadn't they? Yes, they had to get back to Kimblee. They had to find him. He had said he was going to give them something, when they came together again…
Envy stumbled into a more decrepit section of the Underground, the tunnel floor littered with rubble from a broken-in wall. Struck by inspiration they tried to transform into a brick, but the pull into their core for the energy to complete the task came up empty. Their Stone was too depleted to shapeshift. Vaguely they realized that they should have known that- the most recent rounds of burns hadn't healed at all; their skin was still melting, fat and blood made so hot it was searing their flesh from the inside out, hair so brittle it was turning to ash. They were barely held together, their true self slipping through the cracks- green scales adding to the mottled patchwork on their arms and thighs and fingers contorted into long black claws. No strength to heal, no strength to change, and so their only chance was to run away, hoping against hope that they could avoid Mustang in the labyrinth until Father got his plan underway. Hoping, pitifully, that Kimblee would come and save them.
They stumbled through the dark corridors as quietly as they could, ears straining for sounds of pursuit (thankfully, their hearing was still okay- Mustang hadn't targeted their ears specifically, as he had their eyes and tongue, they could barely see the way and the air tasted only of smoke), and at first the journey had been very rough going- every time they had heard the scrape of boots along the tunnel floors, or the muttering of a human voice, or the click of a gun they had frozen- paralyzed with terror- knowing that if whoever was out there saw them they would be completely defenceless. They didn't even think they would be able to beg- the flesh in their throat and lungs was incinerated and they could barely breathe- all of their energy was funnelled into maintaining this even slightly human form, and into the need to keep moving.
After a while the pursuit became distant, and after a while longer it went away completely, leaving Envy alone in the cold and the dark. In their half-aware state they didn't understand this, didn't realize what it meant, and so they kept crawling through the Underground, half-mad from pain and panic. They heard distantly the rushing wails sucked in from above ground, and a great groan like the opening of the sky, and then the same screaming of souls but in reverse, then going away. They heard the explosions and felt the pounding of raw power pitted against itself, and perhaps they sensed somewhere in the back of their mind the deaths of their faraway siblings but none of it mattered. Envy had always been a little selfish, and so absorbed in their own pain and need to survive they hardly had the presence of mind to think deeply on what was going on around them, on what all the eerie, apocalyptic noises must surely mean. Their sense of orientation was also completely gone- if they had been more aware they would have tried to get out of the central Underground, tried to use some of the more secret tunnels, find a place where no one would find them.
As it was, the Promised Day was nearing its end when Envy stumbled out into sunlight, feeling the warmth of it uncomfortably on their skin. They were still in the Underground, they knew that- but the place had been somehow cracked open, the ceiling blown away, the air tainted with dust and summer wind. The world was silent, but strangely they didn't feel alone. There was something else in the room, some other presence, something inexplicable. It was as though a familiar voice was calling their name- from faraway, over windswept plains, and simultaneously whispering in their ear, held close and comfortable- but they heard nothing. A summon without sound. Had they been following this feeling all along? Perhaps.
They made their way slowly over the broken stone floor to the origin of the call, feeling it grow in presence as they approached. It was difficult to see- through Envy's fire-clouded eyes it looked like there was a patch of something red on the floor (blood? It wasn't dark enough), an even shape. Something pale wiggled in the center of the red, fleshlike, and Envy suddenly realized that there was power there- red ichor, strength- and their feeble heart leapt at the thought. They knelt clumsily before the thing, their muscles giving out, inhaling the presence of the Philosopher's Stone, raising one contorted talon in preparation to pierce.
Envy wasn't aware of this, but the sight they made would be horrifying to any passing human. A tiny baby, laid out to sleep like an angel in the sun, being towered over by a disgusting demon with sharp claws and scales and twisted ashy skin. A perfect innocent being devoured by a monster. But the only one watching was very pleased by the sight- relieved, for they had listened to him, thankful they were alive, and also disconcertingly concerned at their condition…
Envy's claws shattered the body of the remnant Pride, sucking in the gleaming red liquid found there like a vampire. As the baby withered away into nothing their form started to restore- they flooded their most critical wounds with power, feeling waves of addictingly cool relief as their eyes cleared and their lungs expanded, muscles and organs starting to function again, healing…
The feeling was cut abruptly short, a tap turned off before the thirst could be quenched. There had been barely any Stone left in Pride- as proven by his appearance. Not enough to fully restore Envy. Barely enough to get their body back to even a semblance of working order. With their head now cleared, the pain from all the burns on their skin- all the more superficial wounds, the ones they could survive with- became heightened. Their flesh was still scorched and mottled, their hair broken off, deformities of their true self slipping through the cracks in their resolve. They were still in so much pain, and now they could see how ugly they were, they had never been so humiliated in their life…
It's alright, darling.
Envy started like a frightened cat, eyes wide in search of something they knew wasn't there, as the voice had come from the same place as the noiseless call before- it wasn't truly a voice, the term voice would imply sound, the words had come from somewhere inside Envy themself, like a thought- only they hadn't thought it. In a similar fashion they could now feel silent laughter blooming under their skin, winding through the cold blood in their veins; a memory, they knew this laugh, they loved it…
"Kimblee?" They said out loud, their voice soft and toneless and raspy from the burn but still cutting in the empty air.
Yes, it's me.
They felt as though they could cry. It was such a relief to find him after all those hours of torturous, directionless wandering. A pain that they had thought might never end. They were very happy to hear (feel) his voice again, but even that could not waive the need for an explanation as to how he had come to be in such a state.
Quite the sorry-looking couple, aren't we? Kimblee murmured in their mind, and they could feel him starting to explore their body, his presence expanding in their core and slipping across their spine, running through their nervous system and making it tingle in their lips and the tips of their fingers. Little flutters of sensation flowed along the lines of their neck and stomach and thighs, like kisses. It was almost alarming. Envy had never heard of a soul in a Philosopher's Stone having such control, such presence in the host. Or had they? Was this what it had been like for Greed, with the Xing prince? Hadn't that been different? They didn't know. All they knew was that alongside the still-burning pain of their wounds Kimblee was trying to make them feel good, even though they had failed so much and ended up so ugly that they didn't really deserve it right now. He was too sweet, really, their human.
Envy coughed to clear their lungs and caught their bearings, reexamining with regrown vision their surroundings (something to do other than sit there like a puddle of goo while Kimblee telekinetically fondled them), noticing now that the red patch where Pride had been lying was in fact a familiar object- the FullMetal Pipsqueak's flashy jacket. Uh oh. If the brat had left it here, he was sure to come back, and who was he such good friends with again if not the Flame Colonel himself-
Envy stood rather abruptly, the pain of unbending their melted flesh sharp and hot and overpowering. They hissed through locked fangs, feeling Kimblee try to sooth them from within, and started making their way clumsily to the far side of the room- entrances there led to the eastern portion of the Underground, and with them, a chance of escape.
"Tell me why you're inside me," Envy whispered (would have said, if they had been capable of proper speech), looking every part an escaped mental patient from a psych ward, with no hair and deformed skin and a penchant for talking to the voices in their head.
Tell me why you're so badly burned.
Envy frowned at that, or would have, it hurt to move their face. "You first," they hissed as the shadows of the still-intact tunnels closed over their head, the sunlight giving way to cold earth and heavy air. They felt Kimblee acquise, amused with them, and made their way slowly down through the paths they knew so well- out of the light, and into Hell, where both sinners and demons would be much safer.