People were just plain wrong when they said they were so mad they were seeing red.

Roy was so furious, he couldn't see at all.

He rushed out of the hospital as anger flooded through him, the waves growing higher and higher with every heartbeat. He had to get out of there before he destroyed something, someone.

Roy almost never got this pissed. But how could he help it? Envy. How could it be Envy?! The homunculus who murdered Maes Hughes…

Safe now from the confines of the hospital, Roy screamed. He sounded like an animal, striding down the street snarling and growling with twitching hands. He just couldn't resist—

A snap, and a shot of fire blackened an old brick wall. The flames were like a physical extension of Roy's anger. Consumed by grief, rage, the desire for revenge…Roy wanted to burn, burn everything, burn that motherfucker to the ground!

Another snap, and a garbage can practically exploded, its contents reduced to ashes.

Roy tried to breathe, tried to calm himself, but there was murder in his blood now and he needed to hurt something.

Thankfully, a small part of him retained its composure. He was a human. But this destruction, setting fire to innocent buildings was not something any respectable person did. He was losing himself to his anger, acting…acting almost like Envy.

The thought brought him up short, extinguished the boiling rage inside him, reducing it to a simmering that Roy was confident he could deal with without injuring anyone or anything.

He breathed, forcing himself out of shallow pants and into deep, composed lungfuls of oxygen.

Briefly he considered if he was angry at Edward, but immediately dismissed the thought. Obviously, the boy knew how shitty his partner-picking skills were; that was half the reason he had been reduced to self harm in the first place. Even if Roy had wanted to punish the blonde for his—he almost gagged just thinking about it, now—love, there was nothing he could do that would be worse than the anguish Ed was putting himself through.

But now what?

Roy acknowledged his role in the Elric brothers' lives. He had brought them to the military. In his mind, Roy had been the one to bring Edward out of the dark place he was in after trying to resurrect his mother, to give the boy hope again—though that could just be his ego speaking. Roy was the person who was constantly around the brothers, almost like a father figure in the place of their dead parents and Pinako, who remained in Risembool. One could almost say Roy had grown accustomed to the role; indeed, he did feel rather like a parent to Ed and Al.

So how was he to handle this?

Roy placed before himself a harder question. Would a father choose vengeance for his best friend, defend the memory of the man, or bring his son what he wanted, maybe needed, even if he thought it was just about the worst idea ever?

He ran his gloved hands through his hair in agitation. A parent was supposed to put his children first. Well, Roy wasn't actually a parent. That changed things, right? Besides, though he had been convinced while in the hospital room that seeing the man he loved would help Edward, Roy wasn't too sure now. What good could seeing a homicidal freak do the boy?

Roy groaned as a thought came to him: what if seeing Envy, rather than just thinking of him, made Ed realize how horrible the homunculus was and get over him? That idea made it seem rather reasonable to hunt the bastard down.

The question was: could Roy do it? Could he face the being he hated more than anyone for Edward's sake?

Well, there was only one way to find out. Roy would track Envy down, and if he could control himself, he would take the homunculus to the hospital and get it over with. If he couldn't, he'd kill the son of a bitch and tell Edward he just couldn't find him.

Resolute now, with a disturbingly large portion of him still crying out for the blood of a homunculus, Roy began his search.

He sat in the old lair of the homunculi and Father, waiting.

Roy had been there for some time, though with the place being underground he had no indication of whether daylight had broken yet. He had paced, he had burnt up some old stones in another fit of anger, he had sat down and tried to relax (not that resting was exactly possible in his current state).

Countless times Roy had decided to call it quits. This was the only place he could think of that he would find Envy, especially considering if he was anywhere else the homunculus would probably be in disguise. Besides, Roy was anything but eager to come face to face with the murderer again.

But he was still clinging to the hope that seeing Envy would rid Ed both of his love for the homunculus, and his desire to cut thereafter.

Still, if Roy had to wait much longer, he would have to leave. The chances of Envy showing up were, after all, quite slim.

A quiet, rhythmical tapping alerted Roy to someone approaching. Anger flared inside him again at the thought that this would, more than likely, be Envy. As a precaution, Roy removed his gloves and placed them in his pocket—even though he no longer needed a transmutation circle for alchemy, he did need his spark gloves, and not having them should help him not murder Envy. The sound was growing louder, echoing around the tunnels.

Just as he expected, the homunculus burst into the room at a run, though Envy stopped suddenly upon seeing Roy.

Looking at the homunculus was worse than he had expected. He raised a hand, snapped, and nothing happened. It was good that Roy had had the foresight to remove his gloves.

The homunculus before him crouched low, his posture defensive, but Envy did not attack. Perhaps he was remembering their last encounter, and wasn't eager to be burnt again. However, when Roy's snap came up empty, Envy laughed, purple eyes widening.

"What's wrong, no fire today?"

Roy scowled. "The gloves are in my pocket," he said, voice shaking with barely suppressed rage. "It would only take me a moment to get them out."

"So why don't you?" Envy mocked, placing his hands on his hips and leaning forward. "Don't you want to kill me? Isn't that why you're here?"

Roy's hands twitched, inching towards his pockets. "Yes," he hissed. "I want to kill you. I want to see you burn and laugh when you scream. But that's not why I'm here."

"Why then? Miss my pretty face?" Envy taunted.

Roy stepped forward. "You remember. Remember the pain you felt the last time I burnt you. Remember how loud you yelled and how much you thrashed. Remember seeing your flesh aflame and healing, only to be hit again."

This gave the homunculus pause. He leaned back infinitesimally, glaring at Roy but not speaking.

"I don't want to be here," he continued, glaring. "But I have to be. I have to bring you with me. Edward's…he's in the hospital, and you need to come." Even to himself, the words sounded ridiculous.

Envy stared for a moment, and then laughed, the disquieting noise rising in volume. "Why?" he half-shouted in mirth. "Why would I have to go see the pipsqueak in the hospital?"

Roy ground his teeth at the display. "Because he asked for you."

More cackling, like a hyena. Envy slapped at the air, violet eyes lighting up. He pretended to wipe away a tear. "Holy shit, let's go! I can't wait to tease the shrimp about this, oh this is priceless—"

Taking advantage of his distraction, Roy slammed into Envy, pushing him against the wall. The homunculus still grinned. "You piece of shit," Roy whispered. "You son of a bitch, you bastard, jackass!" His voice rose in volume. "You have no idea how much I wish I could kill you. But Ed needs to see you, and I hope doing so makes him hate you. Maybe then he'll let me destroy you." The homunculus rolled his eyes, though Roy thought he detected a small glimmer of fear.

He released Envy, who caught himself on his feet. "You'll understand—no, I take that back, you don't have enough heart to understand. You'll get your explanation when you see Edward. But I'm warning you; if you hurt that boy after you see what he's been through, I will kill you without hesitation."

Envy smiled slightly, as though enjoying a private joke, his eyes teasing Roy. He made a slight, sarcastic bow, and led the way out.