Chapter Ten : Breath
People sprung aside hurriedly as a large bulky shape came running through the village streets. Yells of indignation followed him as he sprinted away, not even sparing the time to apologize. The large male seemed not to notice though as he sped past, a crumpled note clutched in his fist and a grave expression on his usually cheery face.
He had no time to lose.
Ed skidded over the once smooth floor of the former ballroom, coming to a stop when he slammed into one of the many Greek columns lining the sides. 'Fuck.' He thought, 'How the hell are we getting out of this?' And indeed, things did not look good for the little alchemist at the moment.
He cast a look around the room, wincing when his eyes fell on the mutilated armor that was his brother. The arms and legs had been ripped from the torso and the helmet was laying in a dented heap near its feet.
After Envy had revealed himself things had quickly turned sour for the Elric brothers. The tall homunculus had almost immediately made short work of Al, not giving the younger any time to draw a circle and, while Al was certainly stronger than the average human, he was no match for the pure physical power of an enraged homunculus.
Ed had tried to help of course, but Envy had brushed him of easily in his exhausted state, grabbing his outstretched automail and throwing him to the other side of the ballroom. When Ed had finally found the strength to stand again his brother was already ripped to shreds and Envy had calmly been making his way over.
As those cruel violet orbs had met his own golden ones in a heated glare the homunculus demeanor changed, gaining a predatory, almost playful tone that chilled Ed to his very core.
Poor Marco had been left behind crying and begging to be released. Now all he could do was watch silently as Envy advanced once more on Ed, his throat had long gone hoarse and hurting from screaming too much, and struggle against the ropes holding him. Silent tears ran down his chubby cheeks and Ed found himself trying to give the kid a comforting smile. It felt more like a grimace though, no thanks to his dislocated jaw.
Still the child seemed to understand and calmed down some. Envy, startled by the sudden quiet, turned around and saw the boy looking at Ed with hopeful eyes. Slowly his eyes trailed back to Ed, who was still trying to give the child an encouraging smile, then back to Marco and back to Ed once more. And Ed froze. There was a new kind of fury in his gaze now, an all consuming, jealous hatred that Ed just couldn't place.
"Still smiling, Ochibi-chan?" He asked and once more started making his way to the prone alchemist with slow, languid steps, before coming to a stop at his side.
Ed watched, horrified, as Envy slowly lowered himself beside him and reached out one pale hand, tipping his head up so he could bore into him with those cruel, violet orbs.
"How sweet." He said, caressing his cheekbone with one slender finger.
Ed grimaced and tried to pull away, the smile long gone now, but the green haired homunculus just tightened his grip a little and delighted in the pain this caused his beloved victim.
"Now, now Chibi-chan, that's not very nice, is it? Where's that pretty smile gone to?"
Envy smiled sweetly but continued in a strangely serious tone, "Show it to me Ochibi-chan, smile for me."
There was a piercing look in those violet eyes and when Ed looked up and he almost got caught up in their intensity, completely overwhelmed by the many emotions he could see swirling in their amethyst depths.
Before he could really ponder their meaning he was pulled out of his daze by another harsh squeeze to his jaw.
"Hmm, maybe I played a bit too much with you." Envy pondered, taking in the dazed gold of his captives eyes.
"No matter," Envy quickly dismissed his own concerns and leant closer to his victims ear, "just smile for me Ed, smile and it will all be over soon." The last was said in a loving whisper and Ed almost wanted to believe him, wanted to believe that everything would be all right if only he smiled.
It wouldn't be though.
"Never." It was but a hoarse whisper but Envy still heard it and a malicious rage clouded those violet orbs.
"What did you just say?" He asked , softly, voice shaking with the effort of keeping his anger in check.
"I said," Ed coughed and he could taste blood, "I said never!" and with his last strength he spat the blood in Envy's face, watching in satisfaction as those cruel orbs widened in shock and something that almost looked like hurt, though Ed had to be imagining that.
Slowly, ever so slowly Envy stood up and with a disgusted grimace he wiped the blood of his face. He looked down at his bloodstained hand and his whole body started shaking. He remained like that for a minute before finally he started chuckling.
The dark chuckles spilled from the homunculus mouth and echoed across the large ballroom, frightening all that heard them. Envy just kept chuckling until finally he was laughing full out, a broken bitter sound Ed would have never imagined the homunculus capable of making.
"So that's how it is." Envy finally said after having calmed down some. He stepped away from the broken form on the floor and started making his way to the center again.
"You're such a hypocrite, know that Chibi?"
Envy turned back around and gestured to himself, before slowly morphing back to his Ivy form. "You had no problem smiling at me when I looked like this, no problem holding me, comforting me." His voice slowly grew more and more angry as he continued and changed back.
"So why not now huh? Why don't you want me now?"
Ed could only look on startled, worry starting to seep into his mind as the homunculus started to grow more and more upset before his very eyes. He didn't know what he'd done wrong. They were enemies right? The green haired homunculus always tried to make his life hell, so why did he suddenly act like he cared what Ed thought of him? Why?
"Do I disgust you? Does this form repulse you?!" Envy just kept on going, so caught up in his rage that he seemed oblivious to all around him, until finally his eyes found Ed's with a startling clarity.
"WHY WON"T YOU SMILE FOR ME?!" He finally snapped, a crazed gleam in his purple eyes. Then he just stood there, panting, waiting for a reaction.
Said reaction came from an unexpected direction though, when Marco let out a scared whimper. Distracted Ed looked over to the distraught child.
He shouldn't have.
Envy followed his gaze and when his eyes fell on the crying child they lit up with an unholy glee and his whole demeanor changed.
Slowly, predatorily he made his way to the boy and came to a stop by his side, resting one pale hand on the top of his head in a twisted imitation of a loving caress.
"But there are still people here that you'd smile for, aren't there Ed?" He said, voice soft and pensive.
Slowly he dragged his hand down Marco's face, leaving trails of blood behind to dry on salty cheeks.
"Why don't you comfort him Ed? Don't you want him to be happy?" Envy paused in his caress and turned to look at Ed. Ed however could only watch on, petrified as that pale hand finally came to rest on the boys throat.
"No?" Envy asked when it became obvious Ed was not going to answer. "Well then, let's put the poor dear out of his misery then hmm?"
A wicked smirk lit Envy's features and he let all pretense of calm go, showing the sadistic glee in his eyes. He watched delighted as realization finally hit the alchemist, hard. Trembling Ed climbed to his feet, ignoring the sharp sting of pain his broken bones caused him and started running, trying to reach them in time.
"NO!"
Envy just ignored his feeble protest and the hand that had been resting on the boys neck suddenly changed, becoming longer and sharper and with one last, mocking wink in Ed's direction he sliced it along the boys throat.
The poor child didn't even have the time to scream.
Ed didn't seem to notice though, he just kept running, ignoring Alphonse's worried calls for him to stop, only doing so when he reached the dying boy's side.
Envy let him, privately delighting in the death of another person who had dared to pull his chibi's attention away from him. He was about to comment but a sudden sound from the hallway interrupted him. Ed did not seem to notice, caught up in his grief as he was, but Envy knew what this meant. His playtime had come to an end.
With a frown he pulled away from the crying alchemist and turned away. No matter, everything was still going according to plan. He looked back at his Edward one last time before fading into the shadows.
'Just a few more should do,' he thought, 'just a few more of these deaths and you'll be mine.'
Bloo's ending (or alternate chapter in this case) : Potvy
Ed turned around and there was….
"Envy?"
He looked a bit closer at the strange apparition in front of him.
"Are you-Are you sitting in a flower pot?
Envy looked like he really wanted to refuse but reluctantly nodded his head.
"Why?" Ed asked, desperately trying to keep in his laughter.
Now Envy really looked like he wanted to murder something and Ed felt a bit worried, before getting distracted by this marvelous shade of red Envy was turning.
Finally…
"Because- I'm sitting in this fucking pot because-"
"Yeah?"
Envy mumbled something quickly.
"I'm sorry, what did you just say?"
"BECAUSE I'm GETTING IN CONTACT WITH MY ROOTS DAMN IT! MY FUCKING PALMTREE ROOTS!"
Ed looked around a bit hesitantly, feeling a bit uncomfortable with this new situation. This was not what he'd prepared for.
"Well….ehm I guess we can do this some other time then. I'll leave you to it." And then he turned tail and ran as fast as he could, leaving behind one fuming and cursing Potvy.
~THE END~
(sorry kinda lame I know, but I'd promised Potvy, so Potvy thou shallt receive :P)
An/ aaaand cut! Sorry for the long wait but I was having a bit of trouble with this one. I had the scene and everything all thought out but I just couldn't put it into words... I'm curious though, can anyone guess what Envy's planning by now? Also OMG we've almost got 50 reviews! 50…I love that number! ~Happy~ Thank you all for being such a great support :D ! now excuse me while Imma go dance a happy dance round the room ne? XD 'Till next time!
Also : This chapter was brought to you by my Geography teacher! Let's all thank the man for being the boring and unobservant man he is! makes his classes the perfect writing hour ;)
Anon replies :
Sarah D : Sorry, the other boy died….but look at it from the bright side! We all thought he was dead already anyway! That and it helps get Ed and Envy together, how? you'll just have to wait and see ;) Hope this was a nice end for the arc, but before this lil' puzzle gets completed we still have a long way to go ;) can't have Edo-dear give in too easily now, can we?