Chapter 4

(This chapter spans at least two or three days, in Ryo's perspective. Ryo Fans, this one's for you!)

http://i2. Haha! The pics have arrived!

A man in khaki shorts and a blue shirt sat next to his bed. His green eyes cut through the darkness of the surrounding room.

Green eyes like his own.

A luminescent green, like the sea when one is drifting over a patch of algae. Or bad ramen.

The three adults, one being his mom, the other her colleague, and the third the man in khaki, all left the room. Outside, he heard them talking.

"When can I see him again?"

"Soon?"

"Tomorrow?"

"We'll see."

"Please?"

"I said, we'll see."

"Please?"

"Envy!"

Satori Ryokou woke up, eyes snapping open. Sitting up in bed, he peeled the blanket away from his still-static-from-the-dryer pj's.

Though he was only a few years old, he had the mind of a ten year old. Notice: mind, not tongue. His brain worked at a much faster pace than normal, but speech still came slowly to him.

Rolling out of bed, he made his way quietly to the kitchen. He froze halfway when he heard his mother taking to someone in the living room. Looking around the corner, he saw her sitting with the man he had seen a while ago. Same khaki shorts and blue shirt. Same green eyes. She spoke harshly, yet oddly quiet and sad.

Ryo wanted to go and comfort her, but he knew that if she caught him out of bed at this hour, she'd get a little testy.

He watched them.

"You can't keep coming over like this, Envy." Satori said, shaking her head.

"Why not? I don't care what happens to me. It's you and Ryo I want to see. I'd defend both of you if they came, you know that."

"I do, but I'm trying to avoid it!" Satori shot back, harshly. "I don't want him to know about the other half of him. His family. His father. I've protected him thus far."

"He's only a few years old!"

"He's got the brain of a ten year old, Envy! His I.Q. is above and beyond that of an average three-year-old. If he heard this conversation, he would realize you were his father. He would know in a heartbeat that I've been shielding him from the rest of the world."

Envy looked away.

"Does he have any alchemic powers yet?"

"I've seen traces of it as he sleeps. Being our son, it's engraved into his subconscious. But I haven't seen it yet in the waking hours. If I try, maybe he won't know he has them, and he'll grow up normal."

"Neither of us are normal, Seiji."

"I know that."

He took her hand in his.

"Let me move in, please?"

"No, Envy, you can't."

"You'd be safer. I could protect you from the others if I were around."

"You'd also be drawing them here by the pairs. Envy, if you stay, they'll know about your visits, and come after Ryo. Then they'll go after Rikuno, then Ed."

Envy cringed at the mention of his half-brother.

"Grow up!" Satori chastised. "Family feuds can't last forever."

"They can if you live forever."

They lapsed back into silence.

Deciding he didn't need that drink of water after all, Ryo returned to bed. But he couldn't sleep. His mother's conversation with the Green Eyed Man– whom he could now identify as Envy (a.k.a Dad)– kept playing through his mind.

He drifted off to sleep around two in the morning.

"Rise and shine, sleepy head!" Satori pulled back the curtains, letting in a blinding sun.

Ryo pulled the blankets over his head in protest.

"Come on!" Satori pulled back his cover. "It's Saturday! Lots to do. What do you want to do today?"

"Sleep!" Ryo said from beneath his pillow.

"Come now, you're three!" With the I.Q. of a ten year old, geez! "You can comlplain about sleep in twelve years."

She left, leaving Ryo to get up on his own.

He got out of bed and went to the bathroom. He splashed water on his face, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Looking in the mirror, he took a bit of water and speckled it over his dark head of hair. Smoothing it, he brushed it flat, then shook his head.

He brushed his teeth, then went back to his bedroom to get dressed. Noticing the green T-shirt and black shorts on his bed, he traded night clothes for day ones, then fastened his shoes with velcro. He got up and went to the kitchen, where Satori was making tofu and eggs.

"So I do have a son!" She smiled playfully. "What do you want to drink?"

"I'll get it," Ryo said, stressing each syllable so as not to get lost in the sentence.

He went to fridge, getting out the orange juice. Satori handed him a plastic cup. Going to the table, Ryo stood on a chair as he carefully poured the juice into the cup. The container of juice being mostly, his hands shook as he felt the weight lessen with each onrush of liquid.

Putting the juice back in the fridge, Ryo sat back at the table quietly. He thought about how best to bring up the conversation he overheard last night. Satori put the plates of food on the table.

He decided to say nothing.

Vanilla ice cream. Cold on the way down. French fries taste good covered in ice cream.

"Linking the ice cream, Ryo?" Satori asked.

He nodded.

"What's wrong?" Satori looked at her son sitting next to her on the park bench.

Ryo didn't answer for a moment, letting the French fry dissolve in his mouth as he chewed slowly, methodically. He swallowed, then:

"Who's my daddy?"

Satori nearly dropped her ice cream.

"Why do you ask, sweetie?"

"I heard you and the Green Eyed Man talking."

Oh, Ishbala, Lord Above, and God In Heaven! He had heard?!

"You weren't meant to hear any of that."

"I put the puzzle together. Green Eyed Man's my daddy?"

Silence, then:

"Yes."

"Why can't he come visit more?"

"It's complicated."

"But he's my daddy!"

Ryo had stopped dipping fries into his ice cream. He began to pout.

"Honey!" Satori knelt in front of him. "Listento me: some very bad people are threatening your daddy, and he can't come here to be with us a lot– well, hardly ever– because they'll hurt you. Your daddy doesn't want anything to happen to you, okay? He's doing it to protect you."

Good God, what was she saying? Defending Envy? Was she really warming up to the palm tree?

"So, Ryo, he's doing it because he loves you."

Ryo nodded.

"Does he love you too?"

Satori thought about it a moment. Did he? It started out where he only laid her because it was fun to torture her while the others did their goddamned experiments on her psych and body. But had it turned into love? He certainly seemed to regret what he had done. But she believed that neither of them regretted Ryo.

"I think so."

Envy watched the two of them from the trees. Damn, he wanted to go over there and hold his child! But not in the open. No, he couldn't risk their lives like that. And Satori– he didn't want to lose her or Ryo. Against his brain, his heart had formed a link with Satori's. He...loved her. It was said to be impossible for a homunculus to love anyone. That being inhuman, able to live forever, and so on, made it hard for them to form any sort of relationship with anyone.

But he had.

"Damn!" Envy punched the tree next to him.

He wanted to hold her, dammit! Why did Pride and the others have to be such asses?!

He could move in, against Satori's wishes, and fight the mofos if they ever came near his family! But no. Satori would flip out, and as she said: Ryo couldn't be exposed to the others. Not if he would grow up to be normal.

If either of them knew the meaning of the word normal.

normal: (adj.) conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural

Damnfuckdamnfuckdamnfuckdamnfuckdamnfuck! He wanted to comfort them!

Rustling in the trees behind him.

He made a quick exit upon seeing the glint of Pride's sword.

"Having a nice afternoon, Lt. Colonel?"

Ryo and Satori looked up from the bench to see the Fuhrer walking towards them, a cheery smile on his face.

"Very nice, sir. To what do we owe the honor?"

"Just a stroll through the park, Lt.!" he feigned sadness. "And I just happen to bump into you and young Ryo here."

"Highly unlikely, sir."

Ryo watched this exchange in stunned silence. He had seen his mom's boss before, but for them to be on relatively good terms with one another?

But she was tense, he saw it. She didn't like her boss.

"Mommy, I'm going to go play on the playground."

"All right honey, don't go on the big slide."

He ran off to the play structure a few feet away. Climbing up onto the monkey bars, he didn't want to hear the conversation between his mom and her boss.

"So, what are you here for, sir?" Satori folded her arms.

Pride looked around to make sure the presence he felt before was gone.

"Envy was here, I was tracking him."

Satori stiffened. He had come out in the open?? If he wasn't in with the homunculi, Envy went into hiding. And right now he definitely was not in with the inhuman group. But would he be so stupid as to come to a public place, where the others would be sure to track him, just to see them?

So he did love them. He put himself in danger.

That was all she needed to know.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I haven't seen him."

Pride eyed her for a moment. Deciding she wasn't lying: "Very well, but remember: your actions have consequences on those you care about."

He brushed past her. Satori shivered.

"Ryo!" she called. "We have to go home, I need to call someone."

They came into their apartment. Satori set down her bag and jacket in a chair, and went to pick up the phone.

"Who are you calling, Mommy?" Ryo asked.

"Someone I shouldn't have turned away." She pressed the phone to her ear.

One ring, Two rings. C'mon, Envy!

"Hello?"

"Thank God!" Satori sighed in relief. "I thought he had found you."

"No, I lost him right before he found in me in the trees by the park."

"So you were there?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Envy paused.

"I– I wanted to see you two."

"You put yourself on the line for us. You know that?"

"Hell, Seiji, you don't think I knew what I was doing??"

"I knew exactly what you were doing. You were willing to put yourself at risk to see us. If Pride had caught you, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"He would have also killed Ryo." Was that a stifled sob?

Satori smiled.

"But as parents we would never let that happen, would we?"

"No."

"Envy, move in."

Another pause.

"Huh?"

"Are you deaf? Move in with us."

"Are you sure? What about your fixation with Fullmetal?"

Her blood ran cold at the mention of Ed.

"He was in love with the other me, Envy. I can't change his feelings toward me. He hates me. I–" She choked, she was getting emotional. "– I did love him, once upon a time. But now I don't. I can't love him if he won't accept who I've become. You have. I love you, Envy."