Title: Allotted Design.
Pairing: None in this chapter.
Rating: Perhaps… PG-14.
Plot: Bullied for his obvious difference, Envy abandons all hope of fitting in, and drops out of High School. Deciding that she's had enough, Dante ships her two sons off to a preparatory school.
When he finally awoke, Envy found himself dried and wrapped in a warm house coat. For a brief moment, blinking his eyes to adjust to the luminous lights above, he fought to recognize his surroundings. It wasn't until he heard a familiar voice, the school nurse, that he recognized the sick, urine colored walls, and the pale green curtains blocking him from the rest of the room.
The blankets on the bed he lay in were rough and only seemed to irritate his skin beyond its already tortured state. He coughed and sputtered, unable to scratch the musky taste of man from his sore tongue. He leapt from the bed, and flung himself against the sink, choking back as many mouthfuls of the cold water as he could take, then peered sadly at his reflection. Dark bags had developed around his eyes, and his hair remained tousled; flying wildly in all directions.
He grimaced, fighting back a gurgled moan as he collapsed to the cold floor, crashing back against the base of the sink. The voices from outside the curtain barrier slowed to a halt, and the familiar shadow of the small, conservatively dressed woman peered over him.
"Envy! You're awake; are you okay?" She dropped to her knees in front of him and pressed a cool palm against his broad forehead, checking for possible temperature.
He flung himself from her reach, and crawling far across the room, climbed viciously back onto the bed and hid under the covers. He couldn't explain to himself why he felt so scared of her, or her touch, but knew that he mustn't get too close; no, not yet.
"Envy?" The nurse hovered over the bed, unsure whether to pull the blanket back or not. "Envy, would you like me to go get Gluttony?"
The blanket clad blob, vaguely shaped like a human, gave a shake that was interpreted as a nod and the nurse ran from the room.
Quick to the side of his dear friend, Gluttony was soon hovering over the bed.
"Envy?" He gently shook the blankets.
Envy remained still for a moment, as though fearing a trick, and then slowly lowered the blanket from over his face. At the confirmed sight of his friend, he leapt from the bed and threw himself into the arms of Gluttony.
"Envy okay?" The fat man clung tightly to the thin frame pressed close, still unsure as to what may have happened, having not been in gym class due to a guidance appointment.
"Oh, Gluttony," Envy cried, body wracking with the first few sobs, "I shouldn't have let it happen. I can't believe I let it happen!" He held tighter, arms swung as far around the man's body as he could reach.
The nurse, still hovering near the door, smiled with the knowledge that Gluttony would be able to help, and quietly left the two alone.
Once he'd settled down, and tears were dried, Envy sat side by side with Gluttony on the edge of the hard mattress. Envy clung tightly to his hand, stroking the pad of his thumb across the plush knuckles, letting out the final sighs of tamed sobs.
"Oh, Gluttony, it was so bad." He began slowly, as if unsure to continue his account of the events. "I went to the Laundromat this morning, and Tony gave me alcohol; I came to school drunk, and because of that I was more confident than normal, so I ended up harassing one of the guys from our gym class." Once he'd started, he didn't stop. "He tripped me, and I retorted with some kind of suggestive remark about being on my knees in front of him, and that set him off. He confronted me in the showers after everyone had left, a—and he made me—he forced me down to my knees, and forced my mouth open, and t—then..." He abruptly broke down again, burying his face into the comforting confines of his hands. Gluttony rubbed Envy's back with small, soothing circles. "
"He made me perform… I had to give him oral sex. Oh, Gluttony, it was horrible! I mean, I've joked about all these things before, but it was so much different being forced too. He just kept… shoving himself in, and I was gagging; but he didn't stop until someone came into the locker room. And then I woke up here." He sighed, slouching heavily against Gluttony's large frame, seeming to feel better after getting it all out.
Gluttony didn't speak, but continued to hold the small boy, knowing that being close and assuring would help him more than anything he could say.
After giving the principle and various other authorities within the school an appropriate lie about what had happened, Envy was guided home by his faithful friend, who stuck carefully close.
They departed, and Envy hastily darted up the stairs to his bedroom, hoping to avoid having to speak to anyone. For once he was successful.
He'd been asleep, happily dwelling in an alternate reality, for several hours when awoken by a strange crackling noise. For a moment he tried to ignore it, believing the source to be someone else within the house, but when it continued, more persistent and erratic than before, he rose to investigate.
Following the sounds he was lead to the window, and could see Gluttony outside the window, on the lawn, preparing to throw more pebbles at the glass until he saw he had roused the boy inside. He beckoned with a heavy arm for Envy to join him in the night; Envy primarily refused, shaking his head in motions he knew would be evident to the man below, but when he wouldn't give up, Envy gave in.
Carefully darting through the hallway and down the stairs, sticking to the shadows, he snuck through the back door and out onto the lawn. The dew was cold on his feet, and he couldn't see Gluttony. Ready to head inside, he turned back to the door, only to see Gluttony sitting on the cement perch before it.
"There you are!" Envy skittered over and sat next to him, latching on to his arm to soak up his body heat. "Oh, you're all wet." He stroked a finger across a moist patch on the hairless arm, and then rubbed the sticky substance between his fingers.
"What is this?" Envy raised his gaze to Gluttony, but the man only stared blankly at the ground.
"Gluttony… got him."
"Got who? Did something happen?"
"Gluttony got the boy." Envy opened his mouth to question further, but Gluttony beat him to the chase. "The boy who hurt Envy."
"W—what did you do to him?" Almost afraid to ask, Envy clung tighter to the arm in his grasp.
"Gluttony got him. I hate him for hurting Envy. Gluttony got him… he won't hurt Envy again." The tone of voice Gluttony spoke in was new, and unrecognizable to Envy listening. Rather than the typical chipper, happy voice Gluttony mumbled in, this one was low, and forceful.
"Oh god Gluttony, what did you do to him? Did you hurt him?"
"Gluttony got him. Got him good. He won't hurt Envy again." And with that the fat man stood, and steadily walked across the lawn and disappeared into the woods behind, leaving a bewildered boy behind.
Knowing that Gluttony never lied, Envy leapt to his feet and ran back into the house, turning on the TV balanced on a small table. The channels all said the same thing.
"Only someone of great strength—"
"A tragic shock to this small town—"
"Police are searching now—"
"Manhunt—"
"Police only know one thing for sure; the boy was brutally murdered in a fashion this quiet town has never before soon."