Chapter 20 - Sacrifice

Elsie awoke to a hand gently shaking her shoulder. She snapped her eyes open to see who had woken her and was surprised to find Ed staring down at her. The bags under his eyes stood out glaringly against the unusual paleness of his cheeks and pieces of his golden hair were slipping out of his braid. He looked utterly exhausted. She felt the boy under her arm stir and wake.

"What's going on?" Wrath mumbled, rubbing his eyes. She allowed her hand to slide off of him as he sat up.

"Both of the circles are complete. Everything is ready for the transmutation," Edward said, his voice tired, "We can start as soon as you're ready." Elsie blinked in surprise.

"Umm…didn't he just stay up all night?" Al asked skeptically.

"Wow, that's…good…but you look really tired. Why don't you try to get some sleep first?" she suggested, sliding her legs off the couch and rising stiffly to her feet. He shook his head, his expression strained.

"We should get this over with. The longer we wait the greater the chance something might happen to interfere," he replied, "Where's Envy?"

"Elsie," Al's voice was concerned, "When you get the chance I need you to ask brother something…" he trailed off uneasily. Elsie nodded in acknowledgement of his request before responding to Ed's question.

"I assumed he was sleeping in one of the rooms," she replied uncertainly. Ed shook his head grimly.

"I already checked. He's not there." Elsie's heart clenched and some of the blood drained from her cheeks. That was odd. Maybe he'd just gone for a morning walk… He wouldn't actually…run off… Would he? Was he really going to just abandon them? She'd thought he'd changed enough that he'd stick it through till the end despite the risk. But…maybe he hadn't… She opened her mouth to respond when a voice at the door cut her off.

"I'm right here," Envy said flatly. Her gaze darted across the room to where he stood, leaning against the door frame, his arms crossed. Relief crashed over her like an avalanche. Ed turned to glance at him.

"Oh…good. Well, why don't we head down then?" he suggested, turning back to Elsie. She frowned uneasily.

"I really think you should get some sleep first," she chided. Ed sighed exasperatedly.

"There's no way I'll be able to sleep now. Not before something like this," he told her irritably. Al made a sound of frustration at his brother's stubbornness.

"Ask him what he's planning on using as payment for the transmutations," He said, voice suspicious. Elsie blinked. That was a good point; but before she could ask him a movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She felt a thrill of surprise to see Envy striding swiftly and silently across the room towards them. The next thing she knew he'd crept up behind the young alchemist and reached out a hand, forcefully pinching the back of his neck. Without a sound Ed's eyes rolled up into his head and his knees buckled. Elsie gave small cry of alarm and barely managed to catch him as he collapsed, lowering him slowly down to the floor.

"Envy!" she shot him an accusatory look. He rested a hand on his hip, staring down at the two of them skeptically.

"I don't care how good an alchemist he is. There's no way I'm letting him mess around with my soul while he's in that condition," he stated bluntly. Elsie grimaced slightly. She had to agree with him there. Al sighed.

"I guess you'll have to ask him later. At least he'll get some sleep now."

"Hey, how did you do that?" Wrath demanded curiously, glancing from the passed out alchemist to Envy. The green haired teen raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not teaching you," he replied dryly. The dark haired boy's expression fell.

"Awe, come on Envy. You're no fun," he pouted slightly. Envy snorted.

"Well squirt, since you have so much energy why don't you run downstairs and check what their making for breakfast," he suggested. Wrath frowned

"Why do I have to do it?" he whined.

"Because I said so," his voice left no room for argument. Wrath huffed and rolled his eyes but he slid off of the couch and slowly headed out of the room. Envy watched the door close before returning his gaze to the girl sitting in front of him.

"You thought I'd run off and skipped out on this whole idea, didn't you?" It was his turn to sound accusing. Elsie drew in a breath, regarding him uncertainly. She wasn't about to deny it.

"Well you never said for sure that you would stay," she pointed out. Envy rolled his eyes.

"Oh ye of little faith," he muttered, "Why would I go to the trouble of putting up with you this long if I just planned on ditching you?" he demanded. Elsie chewed her lip for a moment, glancing down at the sleeping alchemist. She was debating with herself on how exactly to answer the question. Finally she sighed, glancing up at him again.

"The people I care about have a tendency of leaving me behind," she told him flatly. He stared at her. That wasn't really the answer he'd been expecting.

"What do you mean?" he frowned. She glanced away again uncertainly.

"Well, just look at my parents. First dad runs off, and then mom gives up…" she trailed off for a moment before smirking bitterly, "The last close friend I had told me that her parents didn't want her hanging around with me anymore. That was after I'd been hospitalized in the psych ward for the first time… When I confronted her mom about it later she had no idea what I was talking about..." She shook her head bemusedly, "So needless to say I haven't really expected you to hang around long. Since apparently I'm not good enough to be worth being around," her tone was resigned.

When the silence stretched out for several moments she glanced up at him. He was still staring at her, but an odd expression had crept onto his face. She blinked.

"No smart remarks about my sob story? I'm shocked," her tone was weakly sarcastic. He frowned and glanced at the floor, not responding. She felt a prick of surprise. She'd honestly expected him to simply scoff at her. Her expression softened slightly in concern. "What is it?" she asked. He shook his head.

"It's nothing," he muttered, before fixing her with a serious stare, "I'm not going anywhere. You might be annoying and irrational, but you're worth being around," he told her firmly. The intensity of his gaze and seriousness of his tone startled her. She stared at him feeling stunned. That was not how she'd expected him to respond. Mild insults aside, he was actually being…nice. "Now," his tone was matter of fact, "Help me get the pipsqueak onto the couch. No point in leaving him here to trip over," he said, effectively changing the subject. Elsie drew in a deep breath, clearing her head. Was he ever going to be predictable?

"Right," she replied.

Early evening was creeping upon the city as the four of them finally made their way down to the warehouse. Envy walked ahead of the group, feeling a little impatient to get a move on. Edward had remained knocked out for longer than he had anticipated. The young alchemist hung back slightly, glaring blackly at the green haired teen. He was still feeling disgruntled over his earlier rough treatment.

"You know, if you keep staring at Envy like that you'll probably burn a hole in the back of his head," Wrath commented innocently.

"Good!" Ed snapped, "My neck is still aching! There's probably a bruise there now."

"Oh shut it pipsqueak. Quit being such a little girl," Envy retorted unsympathetically.

"Hey! Just who do you think you're calling little?!" Ed's tone was irate. Wrath snickered.

"Oh, so you've accepted that you're a girl then?" Envy inquired dryly, casting a glance back at him. The blond alchemist looked about ready to spontaneously combust. Abruptly Elsie rested a hand on his arm.

"Um, Ed. There's something I've been meaning to ask you," her tone was a little anxious. She appeared to have only half noticed the argument going on in front of her. Obviously something was on her mind. Ed glanced at her in surprise, jarred out of his abrupt fury.

"Yeah, what is it?" he asked curiously.

"Well, umm… It's about the transmutation. What are you using for payment? For the equivalent exchange and everything?" she asked. He blinked, taken slightly off guard.

"Uh… well that's easy enough. I've got all the various minerals, trace elements and other components I need already set up there. I'll be exchanging those to make Al's body," he explained.

"Yes, but what about the transmutation of our souls?" Elsie insisted. Ed's expression grew grave and he glanced away.

"It's nothing worth troubling yourself over. I've got everything under control," he told her, increasing his stride and walking briskly away. He strolled past Envy and up to the large warehouse door. Elsie stared after him bewilderedly. Envy couldn't help but share her uncertainty. That wasn't a reassuring answer.

The four of them slipped inside the large building.

"Envy, help me with this door, would you?" Ed demanded gruffly. For once the green haired teen chose not to argue with the smaller boy. Together the two of them managed to slide it shut with an unpleasant grinding screech. Ed clapped his hands together and slapped them against the metal, transmuting the wall and the door together so it was sealed shut.

"There," he said, "Now no one can bother us," he turned and strolled across to the middle of the warehouse where the circles had been prepared. Envy followed a moment later, Elsie and Wrath trailing after him.

The circles were awe inspiring in their complexity. Even though he'd worked on it throughout the night, Envy was a little surprised Ed had finished them this quickly. Each of them had a diameter wide enough for him to lay down in with plenty of room to spare. As Ed had promised, there was an odd pile of various ingredients sitting in one of the circles. The other circle remained empty. He assumed that was the one for the soul transmutation. He stomach twisted uneasily. He sure hoped Ed had done his research well enough. He glanced at the golden haired alchemist who was bent over an old looking alchemy book as he stood next to the circle with the ingredients. Silence rained for several moments before he finally shut the book with a thump.

"Alright, I need to draw some symbols on each of you. Then I'll need you to be standing in the empty circle while I perform the transmutation for Al's body. That way I can move immediately on to the soul transmutation. The less time the new body remains uninhabited the better," Ed explained.

"Alright," Elsie agreed. Envy heaved an inward sigh as the small alchemist approached with a small paintbrush and tin of paint. Beginning with Wrath, he drew signs on each of the boy's hands and his forehead in red paint. Then he lifted the boy's shirt and drew a sign on his stomach and on his back. He moved on to Elsie and repeated the same procedure. When he finally reached Envy the green haired teen locked his jaw and forced himself to stand still and allow the blond boy to draw on him. Even if it wasn't as strong as it used to be, he couldn't help but detest the boy. Old habits died hard, and he certainly hadn't forgiven Ed's father.

Finally Ed withdrew, painting several symbols upon himself before setting down his brush and paint.

"There. Now I need you to go stand in the empty circle carefully. You can't scuff any of the lines. They're chalked in pretty heavily, but keep in mind your lives are at stake here," he gave Envy a hard look as if he expected him to purposefully mess up the circle. The teen rolled his eyes. Did the kid think he had a death wish? The three of them approached the circle and very tentatively made their way into its center, stepping over and around the various spiralling, intertwining lines until they came to the blank area in the middle.

"Good. Now just stay there for a minute," Ed said, turning back towards the other circle. Envy watched him for a moment, feeling an odd prickle of unease. Something was bugging him but he couldn't lay a finger on what it was. He gave the rest of the warehouse a cursory glance, but couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary; just some old boxes stacked up in the corner nearest to them. He shook his head. Maybe it was just the lingering feeling from that dream.

Edward approached the first circle and knelt down beside it. Drawing in a deep breath, he clapped his hands and rested him on the edge of the circle. A brilliant blue light flared up and crackled along the lines, filling the warehouse with its glow. Envy saw both Elsie and Wrath turn away, and a moment later he followed suit. It was too bright to look at, and impossible to see what was happening. The air felt unusually thick and heavy with the energy radiating from the circle. After several moments the light dimmed and faded away completely. Envy turned back around to see the end result.

In the center of the circle lay a body. A slight wisp of smoke still drifted away from it, but it appeared to be unburned anywhere. In fact, it looked like a perfectly normal male body, somewhere in its teens. It lacked any clothing, and its eyes were closed. But the face did bear a resemblance to Edward, and there was fine blond stubble covering its head. Envy couldn't help but wonder how the young alchemist had managed to shape the body's appearance.

Edward rose shakily to his feet, breathing a little laboured.

"Good," He sounded relieved, "It worked the way I hoped it would," he turned towards the three of them, a determined expression on his face, "Are the three of you ready?" he asked. Envy hesitated, glancing at his two companions. To his surprise both Wrath and Elsie appeared a little uncertain. Envy swallowed and gathered his wits. It was too late for turning back now.

"As ready as we'll ever be," he replied firmly, meeting the alchemist's gaze. As much as it grated on him to do it, he was trusting that the boy knew what he was getting them all into. Ed nodded and approached the circle, crouching down by the edge of it. He paused a moment, apparently gathering his thoughts before he proceeded.

Envy tensed. He felt a strong thrill of anxiety, but it wasn't due to the boy in front of him. He glanced back towards the pile of boxes and felt his heart constrict in alarm. From behind the boxes a form had leapt out and was very rapidly racing towards them. It would reach them within another few breaths. He felt a sudden wave of revulsion and horror as he realized just who it was. The tattered purple dress and ragged black hair were all that was left to distinguish the creature that was Dante. Her entire form was rotted and putrid looking, like one of the walking dead. Her face was unrecognizable. But despite her condition she clearly retained her alchemic abilities for he saw a flash of blue light in her hand as a blade formed there. To his surprise, she didn't appear to be looking at him at all. What was she after? And then it dawned on him at the last second. She was headed for Elsie.

He didn't have time to figure out what her motives could be for killing the dark haired girl standing next to him. All he knew was that Elsie wasn't going to turn around in time. There was no way she could get out of the way. There was no time to warn her, or even think about a course of action. But he found he didn't have to think. He already knew there was only one thing he could do. As the corpse of a woman reached Elsie, blade drawn back in preparation, Envy darted in front of her. Dante fell against him, blocked from her true target. At the same time he felt a sharp, fiery pain tear into his side. He let out a pained gasp, and felt the girl behind him turn.

"Envy!" she cried. And then he heard a clap. Blue light flooded his senses and drowned out everything else, including the pain. Then his consciousness dissolved and he slipped into blackness.

-Author's Note-

I think this is probably the worst cliff hanger of the whole story. Be happy you don't have to wait 2 months for a resolution lol.

Envy's not the only one with abandonment insecurities. Imagine that. They actually have something in common. xD

I make no comments about the next chapter. You'll just have to wait and see when I upload it tonight ;)