Chapter Eleven: Metamorphosis
BlackMercifulFaerie: Yeah, my cousin and I think that Mustang's half-...Xingian...too. Gah, it's just easier to call him Asian. And no, Envy won't get pregnant in this story...though that would be very amusing.
And thank all of you for reviewing! I signed on AOL to find that I had 22 E-mails and was like WTF! Of course, a good deal were from college things...but most came from reviewers! It makes me so happy...
Warning: Edward and Envy indulge in some mild Mustang-bashing...don't get me wrong, I love Mustang...but...yknow...
Disclaimer: Do I look like I own FMA? What's that, you say? You can't see me? I am nothing but words? ...huh.
There are moments in time that drag, thick and weary, as though a hundred-pound rock has been looped with a rope around one's waist, forcing the wearer to pull and pull as they trudge their way through life. And just like the earthy dent left in the soil, times like these had an impact on all lives, wether the rock-wearer knew it or not. Because, as Nature had proved so many times, the deep rock-carved canal could become so many things things; a stream, a plowed row on which to plant, or a trench clustered with flowers.
Both Envy and Edward had sensed this...knew, in some way, that the end of Envy's healing phase would be the beginning of something new. What that was, they couldn't be sure, and they certainly weren't going to speak to each other about it. But the fact remained that the canal had been carved, and was waiting patiently for Human and Sin to turn it into something important, something desirable.
It had taken a record amount of time for Envy to cease ranting about Roy Mustang. Never before in Edward's life had he heard someone talk incessantly for so long. What was more, Envy was clever enough to never have to repeat the same thing twice, though he had taken an immense liking to referring to Mustang as "The Flaming Pony".
Edward reached into the luggage barracks to pull out his suitcase, his ears ringing now that Envy had finally grown silent, as Alphonse shuffled down the train's aisle, his calico kitten resting placidly in the palm of his hand. Envy was already standing outside on the train platform, hands resting on his angular hips. Central was busy, there was no doubt about that...the train station buzzed with activity.
Envy had gone out in public many times before wearing his usual skin; though Dante had often told him to choose a different disguise for every time he stepped out into the open. In the end, he most often chose to disobey her and prance about in his usual form of the scantily-clad, oddly attractive boy.
"Envy," Alphonse's soft voice sighed as the bulky suit of armor stepped up beside the Sin, "are you not able to transform?"
"Of course I am," Envy snapped, scowling, "I just can't regenerate when I'm injured. Why, do you want to fight me? Changed your mind about me, have you? Want me dead?"
"O-of course not!" Alphonse stepped back, as most people would do when a crazed Homunculus rounded upon them, "I-it's just that..."
"Is it your brother? Does he want me dead? I figured he'd get tired of me eventually...I bet he just can't wait to be alone with that Asian whore..."
"Now Envy," Edward yawned, striding up in time to hear the last three or four words Envy had spoken, "You shouldn't call Mustang a whore...no matter how true that is..."
"You gonna kill me?" Envy growled and leaned close into Edward, a challenging look set upon his fair face. Edward felt a slight shiver run through his body...not the usual 'Oh god he's going to kill me' shiver, but a 'why does he have to be so damn beautiful' shiver.
"Wasn't planning on it..." he said, pushing Envy away, "What's gotten into you?"
'I'll tell you what I want to get into me...' Envy's mind trailed off, and he suddenly found himself back on the Slutty Express. He shook the thought out of his head; he desperately didn't want to be the trademark perverted Homunculus. That job already belonged exclusively to Greed...
Without warning, the glint died out of Envy's eyes and he was left staring blankly at the dirty concrete beneath the soles of his bare feet. The thought of Greed, the memory of what happened, was enough to render him immobile and ashamed. He couldn't stop it...he could barely tell what was happening...the next thing he knew, he was being shoved into a couple dozen stacks of boxes waiting to be loaded onto the train. When he finally came to his senses, he saw Alphonse's broad back towering above him, trapping him in the nook made by the containers.
"What the hell! Let me out!" he shouted at the empty iron suit. Alphonse simply turned his head slightly to look at Envy.
"Shhh! You can't be seen by him!" he whispered in an urgent voice, "It's best if you just transf-- Oh! Hello! How are you?"
"You know damn well how I am!" Roy Mustang's voice sliced through the air like the blade of a guillotine toward the neck of its intended victim.
Edward grimaced. The Colonel looked even more peeved than usual, which was never a good thing. He wondered silently how it was that he had gotten to know so many incredibly frightening people...Mustang...Envy...and oh god...Izumi...she topped them all.
"Edward! I thought I ordered you to take care of the chimera situation in Demorest!"
"Yeah...I thought so too. Must've been wrong though, huh?" Edward laughed nervously, amber eyes darting toward Alphonse, "otherwise, why would we be here?"
"I'm going to have you court-martialed," Mustang growled, his dark (and now that Envy had mentioned it, rather Asian-looking) eyes narrowing, "I swear..."
"No, you're not..." Edward grinned coyly, waggling a metal finger at Mustang, "We're too valuable, right? I mean, you need us to be pushed up in the ranks...that IS the whole reason you recruited me in the first place, right?"
Mustang gave Edward a look of pure animosity.
"Yes...and I regret that every day. It's not like you two have helped. The point is, you directly disobeyed my orders. And for that, you'll pay."
"You're not going to make us go back there, are you?" Alphonse whimpered in the saddest tone he could muster.
"No, Al," he sighed, feeling that it was completely unfair for a spike-covered suit of armor to be so adorable, "I've already arranged for a divison to be sent to Demorest to take care of the problem. Still, Edward does have to do a report on all that transpired in the town while you two were there...not to mention clean up the entirety of Central Headquarters," he glanced smugly at Edward, finding immense joy in the outraged look on the boy's face.
"Why do we have to clean up the damned Headquarters?" Edward seethed, "Don't you have custodians to do that?"
"Yep. But now you get to help them. Set up a room in the dorms, then start working on your report. I expect it by tomorrow morning."
"Bye Colonel..." Alphonse sighed, then gasped softly as a burly man edged past him toward the boxes.
" 'Scuse me, sir, we gotta load these up," the man said with a grunt, hefting up a towering stack of containers. A small girl darted out from cowering amongst the remaining boxes, making a beeline straight for Edward and clinging to his trousers.
"I lost my daddy!" she sobbed, her tiny fingers digging into the dark material of Ed's pants. He placed a hand on her head, extremely grateful that, while Envy may have been a raving lunatic, at least he wasn't stupid.
"Don't worry...we'll find him, okay?" he bent down and picked Envy up, wrapping his arms protectively about the disguised Sin before giving Mustang what he thought to be a helpless look, "We'll have that report for you...but for now we gotta help this girl. Cmon, Al."
"Yes, Nii-san!" Alphonse nodded, grabbing Ed's suitcase and trundling off after his brother, followed by Mustang's narrowed eyes.
It was only until they were in the safe sheltered walls of the military dorms that Envy deigned to shift into his usual form. Having tired of its odd feel against his skin, he discarded the alchemized gown for his usual clothing. Back in Demorest when he had been recovering, he'd checked quite extensively for any notice of scarring, inspecting his stomach warily, then twisting painfully in front of a mirror to examine his back with straining eyes. It was only after an hour or two of looking over his entire body that he remembered he was a doppelganger, and as such could smooth out any scars that had appeared. Needless to say, his temper had been charged the rest of the day.
So the cream white gown no longer graced his bony frame, rather the tight black fabric stretched across his white skin. He sat on the bed, one muscular calf crossed over his serpent-marked thigh, gazing mellowly at what had to be the most boring wall to ever exist.
"Envy," Edward came in, carrying a bundle of blankets, "Al's gone to get us and the kitten some food...I've set up a place for myself on the couch, you can have the bed in here."
Envy managed a snort in response, which was Edward's cue to leave. But the Alchemist set the blankets on the bed, then stood in front of Envy, staring down at him.
"What do you want, O'Chibi?" Envy's dark eyebrows arched under his headband, "Can't you see I'm trying to memorize the wall patterns?"
"There's plenty of time for that later. All the walls in this place look the same anyway. I wanted to ask you something."
"Spit it out, then."
"Why did you...back then...yknow, before Greed..." his voice trailed off as he sought the right words.
"Beguile and captivate you?" he asked blandly, his vertical pupils flitting up to Edward, who nervously helds his arms at his sides. Usually Ed would have stuffed his hands into his pockets in an attempt to be casual, but bad experiences with Envy had taught him to always be wary.
"Try to beguile and captivate me!" he corrected, " But yeah...I guess you could call it that."
"It doesn't matter," Envy shrugged, laying back against the bed, fingers entertwined beneath his obsedian hair.
"Doesn't matter? You tried to seduce me! I think that matters! I wanna know what was going through your head, and I wanna know now!"
"You sound like a spoiled brat. I'm not trying to seduce you now, so why don't you just drop it and get on with your life?"
"Because I need to know! First you pummel me every time I see you, then you suddenly do a 180 and start hugging and kissing me! It's not normal!"
"Prolly not."
"What do you mean by that? It's not normal at all. How can you be so unconcerned? It's---AUGGGH!" Edward yelped as Al's kitten jumped from a nearby bookshelf onto the back of his head. He bowled over from surprise, landing prostrate right on top of Envy. The cat mewled in satisfaction, having sufficiently attacked Ed's braid, and trotted off in search of a saucer of milk.
Edward froze...there was no recovering from this one. His mind and body were in shock, they had nothing to say to each other. Slowly he began to come to his senses, ready to spring away from Envy and accuse it all on the stupid cat.
However right as Edward had it in his mind to jump back, Envy's slender arms came twining around his waist, the thin semi-gloved hands smoothing out the material of Ed's jacket, roaming over the black pattern of the flamel. The flamel; the symbol of creation, of new life...the exact opposite of what Envy himself wore on his thigh.
"Why..." Ed's voice came out, small and soft.
"Shut up," was Envy's murmered response as his mouth sought out the Alchemist's, and at last found it.
Whatever Edward wanted to say was cut off by Envy's tongue outlining his lips. He felt the pull on his hair as Envy's hands came to the back of his head and carressed the flaxen strands. Edward was dumbfounded, of course, but Envy had been acting this way for a while...and it felt so good...his hands closed tight onto Envy's shoulders, returning the kiss with a half-open mouth, his tongue finding the Sin's and dancing with it.
"Envy..." the Alchemist's voice heaved forth while Envy's lips strayed, finding the soft skin of Edward's neck and biting down gently. His lips closed over the bite marks and he sucked on the indentations, breathing in the scent of Edward's golden-hued hair as the boy in question moaned softly.
Edward wasn't very experienced with these things, but at the moment experience wasn't needed; his body was telling him what to do, guiding him through whatever this was, this thing that made the painful burden he carried dissolve into nothingness. He settled his head in between Envy's shoulder and neck, lapping at the Sin's ear. Judging by the gulp of air Envy took, and his hands clutching Ed's hair tighter, he had liked that...Ed did it again, biting gently on Envy's earlobe and relishing more than expected the low groan that came trembling from Envy's throat.
Through their twisting movements and increasingly heated moans, they failed to notice that the door, which had been open moments before, was now closed.
Alphonse crouched in the main room of the dorm, watching the little calico bolt down the contents of a cat food tin. He'd been disturbed to find his brother and their enemy passionately making out, but he knew it wasn't his place to question it. Al might have been naive and gullible, but he wasn't stupid; his phantom eyes had seen the looks on Ed and Envy's faces. Though he hadn't exactly been expecting it, he wasn't as shocked as he thought he should have been.
"As long as Nii-san is happy, right Tar-Tar?"
The kitten looked up at Al, licking food from its whiskers and wondering where the suit of armor came up with such names.
And when night had spread its star-studded velvet across the gleaming city, Tar-Tar curled up and slept through the darkness on the vacant couch.
Mwahahah..."vacant couch? Does that mean--" It means whatever you think it means! I'm not telling (right now at least).
Short chapter, I know. Sorry! Oh, and it's research paper time at school...so...new updates will be slow(er) until it's all over with...
Also, if you want to see a shounen ai picture of Envy and Ed I drew, just go to my profile and click on homepage.
Wrath and Envy filled Alphonse up with cookies, so take them at your leisure.