Okay, I would just like to say I LOVE YOU ALL! One of my reviewers performed human alchemy and I'm a homunculus now. So that basically means I'll be writing for the rest of eternity. -Sighs- lucky me, huh? Guess the name? Sloth! Yup, that really suits me and I know a lot of people who would agree. I thank Kitty for bringing me to life and all my reviewers for bringing back my confidence! I AM BACK AND IN BLACK!
Disclaimer: I think we all are positive by now that I do not and never will own FMA or any of its characters.
"So you're positive you saw them?" Dante asked Wrath, who was sitting cross legged on the couch in front of her.
"Yup! That Flame Alchemist told him how he really died and the two are going to his brother right now. He still doesn't remember anything, I can tell because he didn't cough up any stones." Wrath said. On the other side of the room, the rest of the homunculi and Tenten were standing and listening to the conversation. Wrath had been sent to find and bring Pride back to the house since Envy had been sent to kill off someone and he would be murderous if his sex toy wasn't back. When he had found the younger homunculus, he found him talking to Roy and heard enough to know that Pride wasn't going to trust them again.
"This is troublesome, but not a great loss. Pride doesn't know anything of real value about us and he hasn't even discovered his abilities. If anything, he has just sealed his own death by going with them. Remembering one thing will trigger a mass of memories, enough to kill the boy. We'll just leave him." Dante said with a smirk. They all felt as if there was nothing left to be said and they left, Envy more pissed off than he made it look. He was probably going to go on a killing spree tonight.
"Oi! Envy!" The homunculus turned to see Tenten leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
"What do you want, you stupid human?" he demanded with a growl.
"Look, you can't just give up your toy so easily. If Pride still doesn't have his memories, he may still doubt his brother, so we can get him back with a little sweet talk." Tenten insisted.
"What are you talking about? It's not like they're just going to let us waltz in there and speak with him!" Envy growled at the other's stupidity.
"Oh, we're not going to do the real talking, but you can soften him up! Put on your lost puppy face, make something up, and, when he's softened up good, I know a pretty kitty who will be more than willing to get a product of alchemy away from those evil heathens."
"Your experiment?" Tenten just answered that with a wide smirk.
Pride sighed and fidgeted as he and Roy walked up the stairs of the apartment building. He was nervous, to say the least. What was he going to do? Would Alphonse forgive him for the fight? Or would he be furious and demand for him to leave? Roy must have noticed his agitation because he put a reassuring hand on Pride's bony shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Pride looked up at him and smiled appreciatively.
"It's going to be fine, come on. You don't have to be afraid. Alphonse is a very forgiving person. Don't worry." He said smiling.
"Thank you." Roy took out a spare key and turned the lock on the knob. Pride gulped as the door opened and he tensed up, ready for anything.
"Roy, were you able to..." Alphonse froze when he saw the blond standing next to the Furher. He stood still for a moment, not sure what to do, but then Pride smiled awkwardly and Al's face broke into a wide smile. "Nii-san?" But Pride shook his head.
"No, I'm Pride, but, if you would like, I could be like your brother too you." He said still smiling. Tears welled in the younger's eyes and he nodded rapidly.
"Yes! Yes, I would really like that." Before either of them knew it, Al had run up to him and wrapped his arms tightly around the sin's body. Mustang smiled affectionately at the scene in front of him before clapping his hands to get their attention.
"As much as I know you two would like to hug the life out of each other right now, why don't we take it inside."
"Okay!" The two said cheerfully and ran into the house like a bunch of kids.
"So, Edwa...I mean, Pride. Are you all right? Did the others do anything to hurt you?" Alphonse asked, remembering the fight they had and Envy's suggestive actions. Pride blushed a little and he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well…no, I mean, yes, or…I don't know. I mean, it may have happened because of a lie and it did sort of hurt at first, but I never did anything to stop it. Sometimes I even enjoyed it, but it was kind of weird. A little bit strange, and, uh..." Pride was just kind of babbling, and the two humans didn't really get most of it.
"Um, you might want to be a little more specific." Roy told him. Pride blushed again, then motioned for Al to come over. He whispered in his ear and Al shrieked in horror.
"He did what!" Roy jumped back, slightly startled at the outburst.
"What's wrong, Alphonse?" Al was just sputtering as he completely soaked in the news. And, even though Pride was technically older, or at least Ed was, Al went into protective elder brother mode and clamped his hands on Pride's shoulders.
"Are you hurt anywhere? He didn't beat you too, did he? Was it forced? You're not...no, forget it, never mind. Even if you were still human, a boy can't get pregnant."
"WHAT!" Roy finally caught on and both eyes were on Pride.
"Really, I'm fine! Peachy, all right! And even if he did hurt me, I'd be okay now! I'm a homunculus, remember? Envy never beat me, he got annoyed often, but he really never did anything to really hurt me." Pride suddenly flinched as he sat on something dull.
"Is something wrong?" Roy asked. Pride didn't answer, he just dug in his pocket and pulled out something. His eyes widened for a moment and he bit his lip.
In his hand was the pendant he found the day he and Envy saved Tenten from execution. It was also the first night he spent there, even though most of the night he didn't exactly get any sleep.
"What's that, Pride?" Alphonse asked when he saw the sin clutch that pendant like it was a precious treasure.
"Hm? Oh, nothing. So, Alphonse, I just wanted to say I'm really sorry for what I did to you. I hope I didn't do too much damage." He said looking at the cheek that he hit, twice. Alphonse pulled back and smiled, putting a hand over his cheek as he did so.
"I'm fine! Really, I am! I've gotten worse from our alchemy teacher! She used to throw us against walls, remember?" Pride's head hung when he was asked that and Al immediately regretted it.
"I'm sorry, but I don't. I remember nothing about my past, only things Envy told me. I…really trusted him, you know. It hurts to know that he was lying to me just so he could get me in bed. You know, he actually told me we were lovers! And I fell for that! Stupid, huh?" Pride felt tears pricking the back of his eyes and he felt a strange pain in his chest. He shouldn't be able to feel heartbreak, right? So what was he feeling?
Alphonse saw the homunculus try his best to hold back his tears. In an instant, he wrapped his arms around Pride's neck and held him tightly against his chest. Roy sat there, staring sympathetically at the homunculus, who had tears seeping out of his eyes no matter how hard he tried to hold them back.
"Pride?" Roy said.
"Y-yeah?" Pride responded with a cracky voice.
"Pride, you loved Envy, didn't you?" There was a silence before a choked sob escaped the younger one's lips as he covered his eyes and nodded.
"I did…I do! I don't know why! I'm not supposed to feel love! I don't have a soul, I don't have a heart, but I love him! But he's been lying to me all this time! I don't even think the Envy I fell in love with exists!" He sobbed and the younger Elric held on to him tightly. Making soothing sounds and stroking his blond hair and he tried to calm him down.
"It's all right, Pride. It's okay. You don't choose who you fall in love with, and you fell for Envy, or at least an image of him. I don't know how he made himself appear to you, but please be careful. I don't want him to hurt you." Al said as the sin began to calm down.
"Alphonse, I'm afraid he already did." Roy said solemnly as they watched the homunculus drift off to sleep. Outside, a certain palm tree was sitting and listening to the conversation as thoughts began to drift through his mind.
"Pride." Envy sat on the windowsill of the room where they put Pride. The mentioned homunculus moved slightly at the sound of his name, but otherwise remained asleep. "Pride!" This time, Envy threw a rock, which landed square on the blonde's head.
"YEO-" Pride's scream of pain was cut off when a hand was planted firmly over his mouth.
"Wake up the entire country, why don't you?" Envy growled. Pride's eyes widened and he back away as quickly as possible.
"You! What are you doing here?" He said barely above a whisper. Envy sighed and sat on the bed.
"I came to bring you back." Pride tensed up and shook his head violently.
"No! No, never! I'm not ever going back to that place, especially not with you!" As soon as Pride said that, his eyes widened at the expression on Envy's face. He saw pain fill the elder homunculus's eyes and a tear trailed down the pale cheek. Envy let out a small laugh and turned away.
"How did I not see this coming? I knew they would take you away from me again." He muttered and Pride looked at him with confusion and slight concern.
"Again? What do you…" He caught himself before he finished the sentence and turned away. "No, not again. I won't have you lie to me again, Envy! You lied to me! You lied about my past, you lied about my brother, everything!"
"Of course I lied." The sentence was said with a hiss, and Pride knew that Envy would have screamed if he weren't keeping the volume in check. "Pride, you may not believe me, especially after they got to you, but I lied for your own safety!"
"Yeah right, you lied because you wanted to get in my pants." Pride turned away. He didn't want to see the face Envy made, but he didn't see, he felt. Envy was sitting right next to his leg, so he could feel the other male's body tremble. As much as he didn't want to, Pride turned to look at Envy. His head was bowed and he was gnawing on his bottom lip as he tried to control himself.
"I don't expect you to listen, but I lied because I didn't want you to remember! What I told you wasn't the truth, but it wasn't a lie either! I told you so that you could know, but I had to change it so you wouldn't remember. If you did, you would have…died." Envy's voice sounded so different, so broken. "The pain of your past isn't limited to the transmutation you and your brother attempted. You've gone through so much and have experienced twenty times the hardships at age twelve than a normal man, even a war veteran, experiences in his entire life! Homunculi are soulless beings, Pride, and that's what is happening! The pain of the past tore at your human self's soul, but you don't have a soul. So it will tear up at your body, and you will die Pride!"
Pride sat in shock at the elder's words. Would he really die if he remembered? So that may explain what happened at the alleyway with Alphonse. He had almost died because he began to remember the transmutation of his mother. Pride couldn't recall now because Envy had made him completely forget, but he knew what it was. So that could only mean that Envy was telling the truth!
"Envy…" The young homunculus would have said something, but he was pushed down onto the bed as a pair of lips pressed softly, almost cautiously against his. He parted his lips slightly, allowing Envy's tongue to explore the moist caverns. Only mere seconds later did Envy pull away, but he still laid on top of the other, their faces barely touching and Pride tensed as he felt drops of water splash onto his face.
"Pride, you can stay, I won't force you to come with me if you really don't trust us that much. But…I'm so scared. I don't want to lose you to them again. Please just know that I love you. I know I treated you like a sex toy, but I truly, sincerely do love you. I just didn't want to seem weak. I…I thought if I showed you myself, you would have become bored of me and left for someone less pathetic." Envy stood up, not looking back at Pride as he walked to the window.
"Envy, wai-" Pride didn't finish as guilt flooded him when Envy turned and he saw the tears streaming down the elder homunculus's face.
"Know this, we aren't the only ones suffering because of the military. They've done so much more to so many more. Helping them will only be destroying innocent lives. But if you really want to be with them, then I won't stand in your way. Goodbye now. I really hope those two can make you happier than I ever did." With that said, Envy jumped out the window.
"Envy wait! Envy! Envy! ENVY!" Pride shouted as he jumped out of bed and ran to the window, but the other male was nowhere in sight. Pride's eyes widened in pain as he gripped his hair and fell to his knees. "Oh gods, what have I done? He was telling the truth after all! I want Envy back! I want him back! Please just bring him back!"
Envy sighed as he walked through the alleys, the tears still streaming down his smooth face. He sniffed and tried to wipe them away, his eyes already red. Suddenly, he felt a large rock hit the back of his head and he turned to glare at the attacker.
"Envy!" The homunculus rolled his eyes at the man that stomped angrily up to him.
"Don't you know you shouldn't provoke the depressed?" Envy said still rubbing his eyes and sniffing.
"Depressed my ass, give it back, Envy!" Tenten shouted.
"You really need to calm down. If your blood pressure gets too high, you may pop like a balloon."
"Whatever, now give it back!"
"Well-"
"GIVE ME BACK MY FUCKN' EYEDROPS YOU PALM TREE WHORE!" Envy scoffed and tossed a bottle at Tenten, who looked at it in horror. "What the hell? You finished the entire thing! Damn it, I hope you squirted it all in at once because your eyes won't stop watering until tomorrow morning!"
"That was the idea! Now, did you tell the girl the story?"
"Yeah. She'll be 'rescuing him from the evil alchemists' tomorrow."
"I still don't know how you two get along so well if it's your fault she's like that."
"Because she doesn't know that and I'm not an alchemist. Don't forget, when we first met, I was being unfairly treated by alchemists. So we're like siblings in a sense."
"Whatever, but this plan of yours better work, or else!"
Okay, I know that Envy's a bastard right now, but has anyone seen the episode where Envy gets pissed at Dante when she tells him that he can't kill Hoenhim? Well, in Japanese, it was all right, but in English, he sounded like a damn crybaby! I'm a little annoyed that the scene was completely ruined and I'm taking it out on Envy.