Chapter 4 - Kindness

~ No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. ~

Aesop

'What in the name of alchemy possessed me to do this?'

Erin glanced up nervously at the two people sitting across from her. They were both staring at her. She quickly went back to focusing the small, green cat sitting on her lap. The cat was also staring at her…

'You're not helping!' she thought angrily, narrowing her eyes at it.

Erin did not like to be stared at. Her powers made her feel self conscious in general. And why were they staring anyways? What? Did she have a sign on her head with the word "FREAK" on it or something? It was starting to really bug her now.

"Erin?"

She looked back at Izumi and her husband, Sid. Izumi had a small smile on her face. However, she had the look of someone getting ready for a difficult task.

"Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

Erin gave Izumi a small, slightly shy smile, "Sure, I guess."

'Here comes the interrogation…' Erin thought, letting out a silent sigh.

"Do you know where you are right now, Erin?"

Erin thought over her response carefully before answering. "Dublith…right?"

Izumi's smile grew slightly wider at the girl's child-like hesitation. Erin seemed like a sweet girl, but Izumi still had to know why she was here by herself. She'd seemed lost earlier and the power she'd shown with her alchemy had been…incredible. You couldn't become that good without training.

Not only that…but it hadn't escaped Izumi's notice that Erin hadn't used a circle…which could only mean that she…No, no, she had to be sure first…

"Yes and…do you know how you got here?"

Erin's eyes widened slightly at the question. What was she supposed to say?

'Well, let's see, I froze myself a few years back and woke up in a cave out in the woods. A friend of mine was supposed to wake me up, but I'm not quite sure where he went. Why did I freeze myself? Oh, it's because I…'

'Not a chance! There's no way I can tell her that. If I did, she'd either not believe me and call me insane or…even worse, believe me and kill me for being some sort of…'

Erin looked away from Izumi and back at the cat, her blue hair falling back down and covering her eyes. The cat cocked its head to the side, giving Erin a curious look. It seemed to be waiting for her to answer as well.

Erin was careful to keep her voice quiet when she answered and, for added effect, gave it a hint of sadness and confusion.

"I don't…remember…"

'…You've gotta be kidding me!'

Envy had become progressively more annoyed with himself as this nightmare had continued. For one thing, he'd found that he couldn't take his eyes off of Erin. Why? Like he knew! He kept trying to convince himself it was from shock. Yeah, sure, it makes sense. Who wouldn't be shocked to see someone they knew from over 400 years ago?

Of course, he'd gotten over the shock awhile ago, but he found that he still couldn't look away from her.

Secondly, he'd actually allowed for this human to carry him! Like he was some common house-cat and not Envy, the oldest and strongest of all of the homunculi! But he hadn't protested in the slightest! He hadn't thought of leaving! Even as he was here listening to the alchemist's little interrogation, (that's what it was after all, no matter what she wanted to call it) he found himself unwilling to leave the human…

And, now, he was getting angry that Erin didn't remember how she got there. But the alchemist's questions didn't stop there…

"Where do you come from?"

"Do you know anyone here?"

And so on. Every question got the same answer from Erin, though different variations of it.

"I'm not sure."

"I don't think so…"

It looked like Erin was starting to get frustrated with all of the questions. Her hands were clenched on top of her legs. Her hair had long-since fallen in front of her eyes, making it hard for him to know exactly what she was feeling.

But it became pretty clear after the next question.

"Where are your parents?"

"I don't know!"

Everyone looked slightly taken back at her outbreak. She'd brought up her hands to cover her face. Her breath was coming in shaking gasps. It sounded like she was trying to keep herself from crying.

'Jeez…it was just a question…' Envy thought, now getting annoyed with her as well as himself. 'What's the big deal?'

"I-I'm sorry…i-it's just that I…I can't remember and…"

The sound of wood scraping across tile came as Izumi stood up. She made her way around the table and bent down next too Erin, her head level with the girl's. She placed a hand lightly on the girl's cloak-covered shoulder as she tried to calm her down.

"It's alright, Erin. It's just fine, you don't need to remember anything right now."

"I'm sorry," Erin murmured rubbing her hands over her eyes like she was removing any leftover tears, "It's just really…frustrating…"

Izumi smiled kindly, "I'm sure it is. But it's alright. I'm sure if anyone's looking for you, they'll be able to find you soon."

'Somehow, I doubt that,' Envy thought as he looked back at the four hundred year old teen.

Erin nodded and turned to Izumi, removing her hands from her face and giving the older woman a small smile. "Yeah…you're right…"

Izumi stood up and placed her hands on her hips. Smiling down at Erin she said, "Good, now, since you can't remember why you're here, I'm going to assume you don't have anywhere to sleep tonight, right?"

Erin's eyes widened in shock. She hadn't thought about that! She had no money at all and she wasn't sure if anyone she knew was even around anymore!

'Crud…what am I going to do?' she thought feeling a swell of panic crash over her mind.

"Well then, why don't you stay here with us for the night?"

Erin's eyes widened even further, her panic halted in its tracks. Had she heard her right?

"Stay here…?"

Izumi clapped her hands together, as if making her decision final. "Why not? You don't remember anything or anyone and we have an extra room upstairs for guests. So, unless you have any objections…?"

Erin shook her head, still feeling rather stunned.

"Excellent! And, uh…is your little friend staying too?"

Erin looked at her in confusion for a moment before she recalled the ball of fur sitting on her lap. She gave the cat a questioning look with her eyes.

"I guess so…I mean, if he wants too…and if you two aren't allergic to cats!" She said quickly, trying to be a good guest.

Izumi smiled and looked at her husband, "Don't worry about us. We're fine around most pets."

"Oh, alright," Erin said. She still felt a bit nervous.

Izumi turned back to the window. "Anyway, it's getting late and I'm sure you're tired after today's ordeal. So, why don't I show you to your room?"

"Ah, thank you!" Erin said hurriedly, standing up with the cat carefully held in her arms. She hadn't realized how late it was.

'What am I still doing here?'

Envy was no longer angry with himself, oh, no, he'd moved on from being just angry a looooong time ago. Now he was about ready to rip his own head off!

He glared down at the peaceful-looking Erin. After Izumi had showed Erin her room and left, the girl had placed him on the bed and, almost immediately, passed out right on top of the bed's covers. Her body was slightly curled into herself as she lay on her side, one hand resting on the pillow near her face.

He didn't even understand how she was still alive. How could she not be dead…he'd known her over four hundred years ago…

'No,' he mentally corrected himself, shaking his head in disgust, 'William Elric knew her four hundred years ago.'

Either way, she looked like she was pretty close to death. Her skin was unhealthily pale, blue veins easily showing through on her arms and neck. She also was positively freezing. Even though he was lying several inches from her on the bed, he could feel goose bumps crawling up his spine. It was disturbing…

It didn't matter, he had to get going, Dante would be expecting him back soon…

Creak

Envy, still in his cat form, snapped his head around to find that the door had opened. Izumi stepped into the room, moving quietly as she did. She wore a plain white shirt and gray sweatpants. The woman paused upon seeing the sleeping girl and the alert cat eyes staring straight at her. She leaned back against the wall next to the door and gave the sleeping Erin a hard stare. She looked like she was trying to figure something out about her.

'Keep trying,' Envy thought, lying on his front paws, 'I've been at it all day.'

Izumi sighed, running her fingers though her braids. "What are you, Erin?" she whispered.

'Heck if I know,' Envy thought, rolling his cat eyes.

The woman gave a tired smile and walked over to the bench at the end of the bed. She picked up one of the several neatly folded blankets and laid it carefully across the sleeping Erin. Her hands twitched under the sudden warmth of the blanket, but otherwise she remained perfectly still.

'Talk about sleeping like the dead…'

He jumped when he felt something wrap around him. It was another blanket. Izumi had apparently decided that he needed some form of warmth too.

"I really hope you stick around, little guy," Izumi whispered, smiling down at the dark green cat. "She seems more…calm with you around," she concluded, her shoulders moving up in a small shrug. She then walked out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her as she went.

Envy looked from the warm, comforting blanket wrapped around him to the peacefully sleeping girl and back again. He let out a sigh of his own.

'This is sooo backwards,' he thought exasperatedly.

Still…he really should be getting back...Dante would begin to suspect him if he was gone too long…besides, he had to tell her about Erin (he was betting that she was pretty much the definition of "suspicious.")

'Yeah…leaving…' he thought as his eyelids became heavy and slowly shut.

'Then again…how much could one more day really hurt?' was his last thought as he curled up into a ball and fell into a deep sleep next to a girl he hadn't seen in over four hundred years.

Ok, ok...I know I said in the last chapter that this one would show you why Erin and Envy would work out well together...but this chapter kind of turned out to be longer then I wanted it to be...so I'm splitting it.

-dodges random daggers-

Jeez...this is getting old people! Anyway, I'm going to go hide now and I'll post some more of this...well, later...

And ya know...if you want to, you could review...if you really wanted to...just saying. ;)