A/N: WOOT TEN CHAPTERS! *throws streamers* The chapter title is a song by Metallica (I think…one of my friends mentioned it once…) and OMG THIS IS MY FAVOURITE CHAPTER ^^

Just so you know, I've actually got up to most of Chapter 13 written out in longhand. It just takes forever to type these things out. So I'll probably be to Chapter 15 before the end of August :D

Chapter 10

Envy

All Nightmare Long

The doorbell rings, again and again, as if a drunkard is pressing it and pressing it. Ed gets up from the kitchen table to answer it, and I look up automatically.

"Yes?" Ed has inched the door open, but even before he finishes, the door is pushed wide open, sending Ed staggering back. Alarmed, I walk briskly out of the kitchen and stop dead.

Greed's eyes are visible above his round sunglasses, bloodshot from a night and day of drinking and debauchery. His hair is spiked up at jagged intervals, and he has a split lip. The fur on his vest bristles, and he grins twistedly at me with no humour at all.

"Hello, little brother."

Ed glances at me and, with a cursory nod, I affirm his suspicions.

"What do you want?" he asks curtly.

"Relax, Edward. My brothers need to return home, that's all."

"Could a phone call not have sufficed?" I interject. Greed glares at me.

"Mum thought it would be better for me to pick you up."

"I'm sixteen and Wrath is thirteen. We're not kids."

"Say what you want."

Wrath comes down the stairs, the bronze-haired Elric just behind. The teen's beaming smile disappears at the sight of Greed. Only I seem to notice the slight tremble of his hands, or his pale skin going almost white.

"C'mon, Wrath, we need to go." Greed beckons impatiently.

I know what is waiting for him back at home, and I throw Ed a look. Please, say something, anything…don't make us go.

He drops his molten-gold eyes in apology. There is nothing he can do.

I sullenly pick up my bag. "See you Monday." Wrath murmurs a similar goodbye to Al, and Greed places his hands on our shoulders and steers us out. I wince slightly at his touch, remembering when he hit me.

He pushes us both through the door of the house, and drags us into the closest room, which happens to be Wrath's. My heart leaps into my mouth. No one else is home.

"Nice clothes, bakemono," Greed whispers into my ear, mocking my nickname. His breath reeks of alcohol, the cheap beer sold in dirty bars that barely passed their last health inspection. "You look good enough to eat…"

I shiver. "Wh-what do you-you want?"

"Want? Everything, oh brother mine. After all, I'm greedy, aren't I?" He knocks me to the floor. He has not even bothered to close to the door to Wrath's room, and the hall light behind him darkens his features and casts his shadow onto me.

A whimper sounds behind me. Wrath is crouched on the floor, like me, too scared to cry or scream. "Greed, no, leave Envy alone! It's me you wanted, isn't it? Leave him alone, don't hurt him, don't…" Wrath's emotions switch from puzzlement to heartbreak t anger to pathetic hope, in that oddly bipolar way of his.

"Shut up!" Greed barks. Wrath falls silent. I reach out a hand, and stroke his hair, attempting to comfort him.

"Run," I whisper in his ear, hoping to save him, at least this time. He shakes his head.

"He's gonna hurt you, Envy, he'll make you hurt like me…"

"I know." Before I can say anymore, Greed roughly pulls me away. He pulls out his jackknife, and my breath catches.

"Don't worry, Envy." He drags out my name, savouring each syllable like a sweet. "I won't hurt you, not with this. Unless you struggle, of course." He pushes me up against the wall, and one hand goes up my shirt, ghosting past my stomach. He presses against me, and I can feel his erection against my thigh.

"NO!" Wrath, in a moment of stupid bravery, leaps towards Greed and knocks him off balance. Greed staggers back, throwing his arms out in involuntary self-defense. The blade clenched in his hand slices through the fleshy part of Wrath's upper arm.

Blood gushes out, glowing cherry-red in the dark room. I know that this is no more than a flesh wound, but it is painful enough to make Wrath scream.

The door of the house bursts open. "Envy, you forgot your jacket…" Ed's voice trails off as he looks into the room where we are, Greed standing stunned with a bloody knife in his hand, me with a rumpled shirt and a look of absolute terror on my face, and Wrath with his mouth open in a scream fallen silent and blood trickling through the fingers wrapped around his arm.

"Oh my god…"

Greed drops the knife like it is a rattlesnake. "Get out," he hisses.

"What have you done?" Ed drops my orange rainjacket on the floor, and his hands curl into fists.

"ED, NO!" I yell, unable to bear the thought of one of my only friends falling prey to Greed. "Get out! Go! Don't –!"

"I'm not leaving, Envy."

Greed's face twists into a painful-looking grin. "Well then, that means I get another prize!"

Ed does not freeze or succumb to his fear like Wrath and I have. Instead, he appears to channel his anger into his legs and when Greed makes a grab for him, he darts to the side. He reaches me before Greed even turns around, and while greed closes and locks the front door, he whispers, "How far did he get?"

"I can't –"

"How far?!"

"He just started putting his h-hands up my shu-shirt…and I could feel it…but nothing else."

Ed sighs in relief. He is about to go to Wrath, when Greed advances back towards us.

"You," he growls, "should have listened to the bakemono and run when you had the chance…"

Ed's hand finds mine and gives it a squeeze. A memory flashes in my mind, of Ed and I wrestling in the park. He had beaten me, but…

I am terrified out of my wits, but Ed's grip is like an anchor to reality, to myself. My analytic, strategic mind returns –

Greed has the three of us in a rat trap – namely, Wrath's room. His room directly faces the front door. The only obstacle is Greed himself, who is drunk – now that I am paying attention, I can see the slight stumble in his step.

This entire thought process takes less than a second. I look at Ed, and he nods.

Our hands still interlocked, we dash towards Greed. He did not receive the same training I did, his advantage lying in his size and age difference.

Greed reaches out o grab my shirt, but as his fingers brush the cotton, Edward and I duck and swing our clasped hands and arms into his legs. It is pure dumb luck that he stumbles from intoxication at the same time, and he trips and face-plants on the floor. There is a sickening crack, and for a fleeting moment, and I wonder if we have killed him, when he groans and lifts his face from the ground.

His nose is broken. Blood billows out on his face, dripping onto the floor and staining the expensive hardwood. My first instinct is to rush and help him

Brother…Greed…I'm sorry I hurt you I won't do it again I'm sorry I'm sorry…

especially when he flips onto his back and passes out from blood loss. Since he is on his back, the bleeding slows down to a little trickle running down his cheek.

I am breathing hard from terror, adrenaline and effort. I look over, and Ed is halfway into the kitchen.

"Whuh…what are you…you doing?" I ask between gasps for breath. He does not answer, but emerges a few minutes later with a dishcloth.

Wrath's arm is still bleeding, but it has slowed down. His face expressionless, Ed pries his hand away.

"I'm going to tie this right where your arm is cut, okay? See? It still hurts though, right?"

Wrath nods queasily.

"Good, that's good. I have some painkillers at my house, but if it hurts that means the circulation hasn't been cut off."

I cut in. "What do you mean, your house?"

"You're going to wait until he wakes up? I'm not letting you let him try that again."

"Why do you care?" I snap, more harshly than I mean to. He recoils with a hurt look.

"I'm your friend, Envy. It's my job to care."

The terror, fear and shame that adrenaline had pushed away returns in full force. I cannot stop the tears from running down my face or the sobs from shaking my body. I squeeze my eyes shut, and someone holds me close, stroking my hair, letting me cling onto his shirt and cry, leading me and Wrath out the front door of the house I hate, and guiding us to a little house down the road.

A/N: Sorry, this chap's a little shorter than the others…hehe…but a lot happens! It's the best place to cut it off, anyway. YAY the plot advances ^^

Wow, updating twice in one day ^^ I LOVE YOU ALL! *hands out cookies to reviewers* *wields duct tape at lurkers*