A/N: At this point I'm sure you're used to the breaks, but hey! At least this one wasn't nearly as long.

Disclaimer: The usual. Don't own, don't sue.

Ch 14:Trepidation

Lust twirled a strand of her hair idly as she smiled down at Envy. If you can even call that smiling, he thought wryly. It's much more of a beast showing fangs. Lust was never one to just merely allow herself to walk into a situation blindly. If she was here, she had a reason, and was not afraid of Envy.

"What do you want Lust?" Envy all but growled. From his position on the hill he could very clearly see that she was scanning over the military encampment below. Almost as if she was looking for something.

"Pride asked me to come and check on you. He said it must be very uncomfortable to always be sleeping on the ground." Her voice was calm and collected, but Envy knew well enough to hear the jab at him buried within it. Bradley knew he was following them, and for some reason, encouraging it. Envy's mind flashed back to the conversation he had with the Fuhrer. "You're our insurance policy…" Envy mentally swore, but simply waved a hand in Lust's direction.

"I'd rather sleep on the ground than in the house of a dog". Envy knew the insult towards pride was pointless. None of the homunculi cared enough to relay it back to Pride, and the man himself was too prideful to care about any insult to someone he deemed beneath him. Lust simply shrugged and turned back towards the hill she had come from.

"Suit yourself. Remember Dante's orders. Bring in the Elric boy or we will. You have one day." Envy sat upright, turning to protest, but Lust had vanished. That's why the army had stopped so conveniently. Not to rest the soldiers but as a show of force for Envy. Either he brought Ed to Dante, or Pride would get him by force.

There wasn't much Envy could do. His mind was racing as he considered every possibility but he could find none that allowed him to keep Ed away. Even if he was able to somehow stop the army, Pride, Lust, and Gluttony would be more than enough to overpower both him and the Elric brothers. There was also Mustang to worry about. The man had become a wild card once more. Envy had thought that his residual feelings for Ed would keep him from taking any rash actions.

The last few weeks had proven him deathly wrong.

The other options all revolved around convincing Ed to run. Something the homunculi knew the alchemist would not do. Ed would never flee Resembool; he would die protecting it. But that simple fact is what made him so easy to catch.

Envy wanted to scream. There was nothing he could do. He had no hope of stopping the army, nor any hope of getting Ed to flee. His only option was to bring Ed in himself in the hopes that it would prevent the boy from being hurt. Although that solution was only temporary. Envy had a hunch at what Dante had planned for Ed; but he would cross that bridge when he got there.

Resolving himself, Envy took off in a dash towards Resembool. He could make it in an hour if he didn't slow down. He only hoped that Ed wouldn't put up too much of a fight. He was sure that Pride wouldn't be good to his word. He knew they only had half a day at best before the rest of the homunculi showed up en force.

The run didn't do much to calm Envy. By the time he had arrived at the small town he had only grown more anxious. He quickly scanned the few buildings, noting that only one had lights on. It was nearly midnight, so he presumed that was Ed. Few others would be awake this late in a farming town. He dashed off in the direction, hoping against hope that the blonde would listen to everything he had to say.

Ed was unable to sleep regardless of how hard he tried. The nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach wouldn't go away, nor would the thoughts of how his life had been turned upside down since Envy had become wound up in it. The homunculus had come into his life right at the right juncture to allow him to slip into the role of more than an ally almost effortlessly. The blonde paced around the room in Winry's. He wasn't doubting his feelings for Envy. He knew how much he craved the other man, but he was certainly starting to doubt the timing.

There was no good reason for Envy to be the one who had saved him that night from Roy. There was no good reason for Ed to have trusted the homunculi who had tried on numerous occasions prior to kill him. Ed knew of Dante. He still was not sure what the elder alchemist wanted, but he knew it wouldn't be good, and he knew Envy knew of it too.

Ed reprimanded himself. Envy had been forthright with the information that he had been tasked with watching Ed, and that he had started developing feelings accidently as part of the recent events. At the time, it had all made perfect sense. But now, Ed wasn't sure. The feeling in the pit of his stomach deepened every time he thought of Envy. He simultaneously wanted to fall into the man's arms, and to run away and never see him again. The feeling was disorienting.

Ed leaned his back against the door frame. The wood was cool against his bare skin; his usually tight blonde braid was hanging loose. It was very hot inside his room, although if it was due to the weather outside, or his own trepidation he was not sure. Regardless, he was clad only in his black pants, trying to cool himself off as much as possible.

A knock at the window jolted him to attention. Instinctively, Ed clasped his hands together, ready to transmute his ever faithful blade. The figure in the window stopped him short. His stomach immediately tightened into knots. Envy let himself step off the windowsill into the room and offered Ed a small smile. All the doubts that had been clouding Ed faded away as his mind fully caught up to the fact that Envy was once again in front of him.

Racing over to the homunculi, Ed nearly jumped into the other man's squeezing with a strength that he was sure would've crushed any normal human. Envy only chuckled and returned the hug just as deeply.

"I missed you" Whispered Ed into Envy's shoulder, suddenly feeling very guilty about the doubts he was having mere moments before. Ed brought his eyes up to look into Envy's. The smile there was genuine but different. Something was wrong, but Envy did not let go as he looked into Ed's eyes.

The trepidation came back in full force as Ed realized the smile was apologetic, not happy.

"Ed, we need to talk".

-tbc-

A/N: I know, poor Ed! But thank you all for reading, I hope to be posting much more regularly in the future.

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Ja ne

-Novi