The Sin of a Homunculus

Chapter ten: Half a Soul

Tennessee

"Are you alright, dear?" an elderly woman asked sitting down in front of Olivia, who was curled up in the corner of one of the many train cars carrying Ishvalans to refugee camps. She was a small woman with thin arms and legs but more of a stocky build around her torso, her white hair was long and tied back into a bun, and her red eyes were soft and friendly.

"I-… I don't know," Olivia sighed turning to face her, her belly, just beginning to stretch with four months of pregnancy, also becoming evident.

"Aw, look at you," the woman smiled placing a hand on Olivia's stomach making her twitch. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's alright," Olivia assured. "I just started to show… so I haven't really gotten used to it yet…."

"How far along are you?" she asked, still grinning.

"A little over four months," Olivia nodded placing her hand on her stomach.

"To be carrying a child of our people at a time like this. May Ishvala bless you."

"Thank you." She was not positive this woman would be blessing her if she had known its father was a sin.

As if responding to Olivia's thought she said next, "And where is its father?"

"… I don't know…." Olivia sighed, "Still in Central I assume. I was only gone a few hours and now I may never see him again…."

"There was a time when I thought I may never see my husband again," she sighed.

Olivia wiped her nose. "What happened?"

"It was back when the war first began. I was among the few who had escaped and we were running. He had been captured by the military and I assumed he had been killed, so I kept going, life goes on after all. It wasn't until about five years after did I see him again."

Olivia smiled, "That's nice." Despite the vagueness of the woman's story at least she now had someone to talk to.

"He's in one of these other cars. How far the military has fallen, not even letting an old woman take a train ride with he husband."

Olivia nodded and set her sight on the floor once again.

"Don't worry dear, you'll see him again."

"I hope so…."

Suddenly there was a jolt forward as if the train had been stopped and all the people in the car began a slow mumble to one another.

"What's happening?" Olivia asked hoping someone else would know, but no one answered.

There was the sound of impatient voices outside to start the train back up but nothing moved and the chatter of the Ishvalans grew louder.

"Shut up in there!" exclaimed on of the men outside.

There was a loud female scream from three or four cars up the tracks and the trampling of feet. Everyone remained silent as there was a sound of metal scraping against metal three cars ahead of them.

One of the men screamed to catch someone but was quickly cut off by what sounded like being hit about the face.

Olivia stood up and jumped at the holes near the top of the car that were used for ventilation but couldn't get high enough to see out.

The same sound of metal on metal could be heard now from two cars in front of them, and then one and Olivia could hear someone shouting something into the car before growling and moving onto the next car.

Then nothing, absolutely nothing.

Olivia pressed her ear against the thin metal of the car and listened to the sound of silence.

Someone screamed from the other side of the car and light burst in little by little until there was a huge hole in the end of the car.

"Olivia?" exclaimed a voice as a head popped through the hole.

"…?"

"Olivia?!" Envy repeated.

"…?!"

Envy growled and pulled his head out of the car.

"… Wait! Envy wait!" she cried trying to push through the people.

Envy reappeared in the light.

"Olivia! Let her through!" he shouted at the Ishvalans gathered around him.

The crowd immediately parted and Olivia dashed through.

"Envy!" Olivia beamed trying to fit through the opening.

"You put on a little weight, didn't you?" Envy asked pulling her the rest of the way out.

Olivia smiled throwing her arms around his neck.

"Okay, off," he said unlatching her from his shoulders. She blushed and continued to smile. Envy blinked hard, realizing that he was too smiling and brought a hand to his forehead as if thinking hard. "I'm… sorry Olivia… I never meant to hurt you… well maybe I did but I wasn't thinking and I-…. You don't deserve this kind of a life, maybe I can give you a better one, but I certainly don't deserve you." he sighed.

"Don't say that," she grinned, "It makes you sound weak… which we both know you're not."

Envy scoffed deciding this was not the place to talk about his problem and changed the subject.

"Now… I need to know," he said pulling away from her, directing his attention to a group of Ishvalans that had gathered to watch the two, most of which were looking Envy up and down critically. "Get lost!" he barked, his lip curling.

"Don't," she said placing a warm hand on his face and turning his head from them to her. He shuttered under her touch for an instant before relaxing and trying to gather his thoughts once more.

"Is-… is it… mine?" he asked slowly.

Olivia nodded, "I swear. I swear to God."

Envy lurched, he was past any words of hate or dislike, happiness or joy, even nonsensical and foolish words of love seemed too complex and stupid. Even after he had found her there had always been a bit of something he could never quite find, something that would make him complete, and now, even if just for a moment, he had found it.

Envy slowly reached forward and touched her cheek just as he had done what seemed like years ago when she was his prisoner and not the other way around.

-----

Ten months later:

"And, up," Olivia smiled lifting her child onto her lap and combing the six month old girl's full head of black hair down so it lay flat for once instead of sticking up at the strangest angles as her father's would have if it hadn't been so long. The child squealed in response and clung to her mother's chest with one small hand as the other played with the buttons on her shirt.

The girl was smaller than the average six month old, mainly because she had been born almost a month early, but the other reason being Olivia, since the time she had been captured by the homunculi, had become extremely malnourished and the pregnancy had taken its toll on her. There was a time it was difficult for her to continue to work for her health was so poor, but Envy was a great deal of help. But even though their child had pitiable beginnings it didn't affect a normal baby's activities in the slightest, she liked to crawl and laugh and get into just about everything.

She carried traits from both her mother and her father, but, while she did inherit her mother's dark skin, she had been lucky enough to avoid the trait of Olivia's red eyes, which would keep her out of trouble later in life. Instead her eyes were a light shade of magenta very similar to Envy's, but lacking the experience of years of cruelty.

When she had first been born Envy had refused to hold her for reasons he himself did not know, but as time passed he grew more comfortable around the new presence, and, although he was not what one would have expected a father to be, he did care for her and did everything he could to see that she had what would make her happy. Even if it was from a distance he was still there.

"Come on," Olivia told the child lifting her up and carrying her to her playpen. "Naptime yet?" she smiled, but the girl began picking through some of her few toys. "Okay, but Mama needs to go to work now."

"Envy?" she called tying the back portion of her hair back, but letting the bang hang in her eye even though it was not necessary. She had finally found a job that did require any interaction with the general public and her employer did not care of she was Ishvalan or not, the only thing that mattered was that she could draw, and draw well. And the most important thing was it supplied them with enough money to get by and still afford to buy small trinkets and clothes for their daughter.

"Uh-hu?" Envy replied walking from the kitchen while looking through a newspaper, cuffs still jingling on his wrists.

"Put that down and please try to get her to go to sleep," Olivia said standing up. "I need to go to work. If she won't go to sleep, uh, just feed her. The bottle's on the kitchen table."

"Sure," he nodded setting the paper down and walking to the playpen, yet still staying a fair distance away.

"I'll be back tonight 'round five-ish," she said grabbing her coat and running back over to the two to kiss her daughter on the forehead and Envy on the cheek.

"Alright," he said, his sentences still very short.

"Bye."

"Hmm."

The door closed behind Olivia and Envy watched the girl for a few moments before moving to the chair and sitting down, still watching her.

"Come on… go to sleep now," he whispered, but she continued crawling from one side of the pen to the other, picking up toys and tugging at the netting that kept her imprisoned.

Although he was not too close with the child her name had been the one to name her, and had named baby girl Renee, or rebirth, for it seemed to be the turning point in his life. But seeing as her personality did not quite fit the name her parents had shortened it to Ren.

After deciding that Olivia's apartment would not be big enough once their child was born, they returned to her previous home only to take her clothes and Envy could give her a sketchpad and a necklace he had bought for her. They had taken these things and left only after several minutes, unaware of the ambush that would invade just about an hour after they had gone.

But now, with ten months behind them, they were completely off the map of Dante and in a larger apartment near Central. It had two bedrooms, one remaining vacant seeing as Olivia and Envy shared a bedroom, a kitchen and a living room where Ren spent most of her time.

Ren let out a squeal of excitement quite suddenly and reached up for Envy to come and hold her.

Envy swallowed hard and walked to the playpen.

"Go to sleep now," he said but she continued to reach for him. "… Okay… y-you want up?" he said trying to sound like Olivia when she spoke to their daughter, but found he did not do a very good impression, which made him chuckle slightly at the irony of this situation.

Ren seemed to accept this for she squeaked happily with a small word of "Da".

"Alright." Envy bent down and picked the girl up slowly so she came to rest in his arms. She cooed gently before taking a piece of his hair and yanking on it.

"No, no," he said trying to uncoil her hand, but she only reached up with her other and pulled another piece.

"Do it again and I'll put you down!" he threaten more sternly than he would have liked. "Uh… I didn't mean it…. What am I saying?"

The baby chuckled loudly at his confusion and buried her face in his chest.

"… I suppose this is bonding," Envy smiled, Ren being only the second person he had bonded with in his lifetime, the first being Olivia.

"Hungry?" he asked taking her in one arm and picking up the bottle with the other. Sitting down he offered the bottle and fed her.

"Oh," Envy groaned after Ren was almost done with the bottle, "Dante's right… I'm going soft."

And as the thought of Dante, his mother, and Hohenhiem, his father, came back to him, a sudden wave of hatred swept over him. He wanted to do something, anything, cruel to anyone.

His grip on Ren tightened to the point where she gagged on the milk and began to cry. Envy pulled the bottle from Ren's weeping face and set it down with a loud bang on the table beside the couch.

"Stop it!" he scowled, "I never got to cry! Never got to call for my parents! Not even once! And if I had they wouldn't 've come anyway!"

Ren hiccupped and stared teary-eyed at her father, struck by his outburst.

"N-now stay quiet and go to sleep!"

Ren inhaled loudly as Envy gasped and quickly tried to shut her up, but she had already begun to wail.

"Stop! Stop!" he exclaimed beginning to rock her again. "Why're you crying?!"

Envy sighed and sat back down continuing to rock her. "You don't have anything to cry about…. Look at everything you've got. You've got a mother to love you… and me. I love you too."

Ren sniffled and blinked her wide eyes hard at him.

"When I was little I had everything, but that meant I had nothing." Envy was now talking more to himself. Ren yawned slowly and looked over at her playpen.

"Alright. Ready for a nap?" he sighed setting her down, "Good girl."

Envy yawned, himself, and lay down on the couch on his side. And pulling his headband down around his neck he closed his eyes.

He saved her! Like a knight in shining armor!... only he's a homunculus in a miniskirt… T_T uh…. Yeah! Thanks for reading! I love reviews so if you like it tell me! If you don't like it tell me POLITELY!!! AND tell me what I can improve on.

This part was a little bit sappy… but we are now nearing the end of the story and next chapter… it gets bad T_T

Thanks again for reading! And don't forget I have a link to pictures on my profile!

See you next week!

Tennessee