Chapter 5
After three weeks, almost every area of Central had been searched by the six, all without success. They did still have a long list of places outside of Central that they planned on covering next, however. Their research had been interrupted five times by Heartless attacks, but Sora and Riku had always been close enough to reach the scene before anyone was seriously injured. There was something else about the attacks, as well. Edward thought he had noticed a pattern, but he was not sure enough to mention it to the others yet. He decided to wait a while longer, and if the pattern continued, he would bring it up. At the moment, though, he was taking a break.
The group had finished that day's search early, since they had so view places left to search, and afterwards, Edward had decided that he needed an hour or so alone to think, so he went for a walk. He breathed deeply, enjoying the fresh air. The weather was perfect; not too hot or too cold, or even particularly warm or cool. There was just the faintest hint of a breeze, but it picked up occasionally, ruffling Ed's long hair. At first, he had thought that he was completely alone, taking the back streets to avoid busy areas, but some instinct him look over his shoulder at one point, to find Lucifer prancing along behind him on silent paw pads. The clever little cat was probably curious about what he where he was going, Ed guessed, and did not pay any more attention to it.
Letting his thoughts wander and choosing his path based on which streets looked the most peaceful and pleasant, he eventually found himself in a neighborhood he remembered from an earlier search. He also remembered that there was a nice tree-filled park just on the other side of the row of buildings to his right. He stopped at the entrance to an alley and peered through it. Sure enough, he could see the park on the other side. The alley was dark, partially hidden from the houses by tall bushes on one side and a high, thick wooden fence on the other, but Edward was no child, afraid of such places. He turned down the alley without a second thought, that is, until, half way through and in the most shrouded section of the path, he heard a distinct footstep behind him. Reflexively, he whirled around, then froze, not quite believing the sight before him.
An androgynous figure stood only three paces away from Ed, smiling in a sinister fashion. He wore a sleeveless black top that showed his midriff, and a matching skort, with red bands connecting the two pierces. His hair fell in long, greenish black streaks that had always reminded Edward of the leaves of a palm tree, though he had usually been too occupied with fighting while in the presence of this individual to contemplate his hairstyle. This was Envy, one of the seven humunculi who had plagued the Elric brothers over the course of their quest for the Philosopher's Stone. Each of the seven - Lust, Greed, Gluttony, Pride, Sloth, Wrath and Envy - were the results of alchemists trying and failing to perform human transmutation, usually in order to bring someone back from the dead. It was a taboo, but when a person has just lost a loved one unexpectedly, it is very easy for that person to become so desperate as to break the laws of nature. The problem was that there was not one single case of human transmutation that had actually succeeded. Instead, if anything was brought to life at all in the attempt, it was a fake, man-made human called a humunculus. Edward and Alphonse knew all this from experience. Their mother had died when they were only children, and, desperate to see her smiling face again, they made the decision to study alchemy until they learned how to perform human transmutation. They had done it, but sacrificed Ed's leg and Al's entire body in the process, only to fail horrendously. Thus, Sloth was born. Somehow, young Edward had managed to summon enough strength to perform a second alchemical ritual, trading his arm for the return of his brother's soul, which he sealed into the nearest human-shaped object - a suit of armor that had fallen nearby. Alphonse had carried his grievously wounded brother to Pinako and Winry Rockbell, who had given him an auto-mail arm and leg. When Ed recovered, he and Al decided to find the legendary Philosopher's Stone and use it to restore their bodies. After four years, their journey came to a climactic finish in which Envy fatally injured Edward, Alphonse - who had actually become the Philosopher's Stone - sacrificed himself to save his brother, and then Edward - who would not even consider living without Al - did the same. In the end, Al's original body was restored, while Ed ended up trapped on the other side of the gate. Even though they were literally worlds apart, the brothers had both spent the next two years trying to reunite. It was only when someone in the Thule Organization discovered the Elrics' world and created a man-made Gate that the brothers found each other again. Envy had followed Edward through the Gate two years before, taking the form of a giant serpentine dragon, and then been captured by the Thule Organization, along with Ed and Al's father, Hohenheim. Using human transmutation on Envy and Hohenheim, Thule opened a Gate which ultimately allowed the brothers to reunite.
That was it, though. Human transmutation had been used on Envy, which should have destroyed him. All of the humunculi should have been long gone. The others had all been destroyed or sealed, some by Edward himself. Even poor Wrath, who had died helping Al fight Gluttony. Ed had never expected to meet one again, yet suddenly here one was, three years later, leering with dark amusement at Edward's stunned reaction.
"Greetings, little brother," Envy said with mock cheer. "It certainly has been a while. Did you miss me?"
Ed was still too perplexed to be angry. "H-how? You're supposed to be dead!"
"Tch," Envy scoffed. "I don't die that easily. I guess I'm a lot like you in that way, don't you think? But then, you had your own little brother to save you, whereas I had to survive without any help. That means I'm stronger than you."
Ed backed up a step, frowning. "What do you want, Envy? Are you here to kill me again?"
Envy pretended to think about it. "Well... maybe not kill you just yet, but a good fight would be fun." Even before the words had completely left his mouth, he was moving. Edward tried to dodge, but could not avoid the sudden attack. Envy fought dirty from the beginning, kicking him in the chest and sending the alchemist flying backwards with the breath knocked out of him. Grinding his teeth in pain, Edward forced himself up after only two or three seconds. His hands clapped together and drew apart, leaving his auto-mail hand transmuted into a blade. He dashed at Envy, but his slash missed. Coming in close, the two exchanged several quick blows, most of which were blocked or dodged. Ed did get in a couple good slices, cutting Envy's arm and cheek, but they were only flesh wounds, and his enemy inflicted just as many successful strikes.
Envy was only using his own body as a weapon, while Edward had his armblade, but the humunculus was stronger and more agile. Ed saw an opening and lunged with all his might, but Envy sidestepped, and Ed could not catch his balance in time. He stumbled past Envy, who, in one fluid motion, caught him by the arm - the real one - twisted it around to throw him further off balance, then yanked it upwards and brought it down again suddenly, literally snapping it over his knee.
Ed screamed in pain and fell away from his attacker, clutching his arm to his chest. One of the bones had pierced through the flesh, and his shirt was quickly becoming soaked in blood. He backed up against the fence and used it to brace himself against in order to stand up, but before he could do any more than that, Envy reached down casually and pulled Edward up by his shirt collar, blood streaming from the cut on his face and falling in crimson droplets onto Ed's. The humunculus created from the body of a half-brother Edward had never known sneered at him. "I knew it. You're even weaker than before." He slammed Ed against the fence so that the back of his head cracked on the solid wood behind him, then nailed him hard in the gut with his knee. Ed's eyes bugged and he gasped, then slumped in Envy's grip. He had blacked out.
-
It was evening when Edward regained consciousness, though if it was the same day as the fight or if he had slept more than twenty-four hours, he had no idea. He blinked in confusion at the unfamiliar white ceiling as the memories of the encounter took their sweet time coming back. He hurt. His whole body felt battered. Each bruise from Envy's hits, each scrape and patch of raw skin from the rough gravel of the alley made itself known. His arm was the worst, but his head came in at a close second. He had been drugged, or else the fresh injuries would have effected him much more, but the pain was anything but gone, just felt distant and a little foggy.
Steeling himself, he glanced down at his left arm. Unlike the rest of his body, it was placed on top of the bedsheets of what he realized was a hospital bed. The wound had been stitched up and the bones set and a cast to hold them tightly in place. It looked neat now, but the image of the ruin Envy had made of it was still fresh in his mind. A sudden uncertainty and fear gripped him, and, bracing himself, he tried to move his left hand. Pain lanced sharply up his arm, but his fingers gripped the sheets strongly enough, and, once the pain had subsided a bit, he sighed in relief. He had already lost the use of one arm. He did not want to deal with that again.
Another hand touched his, as if urging it to relax. Still dazed, he had not even noticed the other person in the room until that moment. He looked up at the pretty face with its slightly frowning lips, troubled blue eyes and frame of pale gold hair. He tried to speak, but had to clear his throat before any sound would come out. "Winry?"
"Welcome back, Edward. How do you feel?"
"...Ouch."
"Yeah," Winry showed him the faintest of smiles. "That's how you look, too."
"Where's Al?" He looked around the room, hoping to see his brother.
"I made him go eat dinner. He didn't want to leave you, though. Noah had to practically drag him out the door. He'll be back soon, I'm sure."
"What happened?" He raised his head and felt suddenly dizzy. Winry moved her hand to his forehead, pressing him back down onto the pillow. He wanted to feel her cool fingertips on his aching head, but something blocked them - a bandage.
"That's what we'd like to know, and don't move your head much right now," she added. "Whoever beat you up gave you a pretty nasty concussion along with that broken arm. We had no idea that you were in trouble until Lucifer came running into the house and meowing at us frantically. He actually pulled at our legs until we figured out that he wanted us to follow him, and he led us straight to you." She looked down, avoiding eye contact. "I was... we were worried about you, Ed," she told him in a quiet, sincere voice that sounded almost as if she was near tears... or had recently shed them.
Ed tried to picture the fight as clearly as he could, and realized that he had not seen Lucifer at all once Envy appeared. The cat must have sensed trouble and ran home to bring help. Briefly, Ed wondered what would have happened to him if he'd been left in that alley overnight, bleeding profusely and rendered senseless by a concussion... then hurriedly chased that sobering thought away and got back to the present. "It was Envy," he said simply.
Winry gaped at him. "Envy! But... that can't be right! All the humunculi are dead, aren't they?"
"I thought so, too, but it was definitely Envy. He talked to me... taunted me, is more like it." He sighed, closing his eyes. They were already starting to feel heavy.
Winry drew her hand back slowly, letting her fingers brush against his cheek, and he turned his head towards them in response, beginning to drift off. Then the door opened and Al entered, pausing when he saw that Ed was awake. "Brother!" he exclaimed softly, swiftly covering the distance between them and kneeling next to the chair Winry was sitting in.
Ed opened his eyes only half-way at first. "Hi, Al." He blinked and looked more closely at his younger brother, frowning. "You look almost as bad as me, minus the bandages. When was the last time you slept?"
"Um, well... I stayed up all last night watching over you, so not since the night before last," Al explained. "Winry tried to stay up with me, but I kept telling her to sleep until she finally listened. I guess she was doing the same for me by making me eat." He glanced up at Winry for confirmation, and she nodded, so he turned his full attention back to his beloved brother. "Are you going to be okay?"
Edward gave both of them one of his confident - though weary - smiles. "Oh, come on. You know I don't go down that easily. Envy said I was weak, but he was wrong, and next time we meet, I'll prove it." He turned his head back towards the ceiling, letting his golden eyes flutter close again. "Right now, though, what I need is some real sleep - not just unconsciousness. So do you two, so sweet dreams and I'll see you in the morning." Smiling, he carefully drew his auto-mail hand out from under the bed covers and made a shooing motion at them, then followed his own orders and let himself fall asleep.
-
He was kept in the hospital for two more days to make sure the concussion had not caused any serious lasting effects, but he recovered quickly and was more than ready to go back to his temporary home at Roy and Riza's house when the time came. A switch in the sleeping arrangement was made, with Winry trading places with Ed to give him the more comfortable sofa.
On the evening after he had been allowed to come home, Roy entered the living room and asked Winry if he could speak with her privately. Riza, who was helping the group decide where to go next if they finished their search of Central without finding the keyhole, flashed Roy a reassuring smile as he led Winry out onto the front porch. A gathering of stratocumulus clouds over the western horizon were streaked with orange, pink, yellow, and violet by the setting sun. Winry stood at the edge of the concrete porch and admired the colorful view, waiting for Roy to start the conversation.
"Miss Rockbell..." he said hesitantly, "I wanted to talk to you about your parents." Winry did not turn to look at him or visibly react at all, so, after a pause, he continued. "You know what happened as well as I do, I think. They were treating the enemy's wounded. They were ordered to stop, but refused, saying that it was their job to heal those in need, and it didn't matter whose side their patients were on. They directly disobeyed an command, and I was the one ordered to punish them. When you're in the military, especially in the middle of a war, you can't just ignore orders like that. I won't say I didn't have a choice. I could have refused to execute them. I could even have helped them escape, but then I would be a fugitive just like they were. Part of it was selfishness, yes. Who wants to be hunted down and executed? But it was also loyalty to my country. Causing trouble like that while there was already a crisis going on would have been detrimental to our chances of winning. You can't have the military fighting amongst ourselves and trying to win a war with someone else at the same time." He sighed. "If I could go back in time now, after meeting you and seeing how you were affected, I honestly don't know whether I would change my actions or not. I am not asking for forgiveness. In fact, I wouldn't want it. I certainly don't deserve it from you. What I want is to put everything between us out in the open so that maybe we can both move on... That's it, I guess."
Winry said nothing for a long moment. Roy was growing more and more uncomfortable, wondering if he had made a mistake, when she finally spoke. "I once told someone that I knew the man who had murdered my parents, and that he was not a bad person. They said that that only made it harder, because I could not just blindly hate you as would be most natural." Finally, she looked at him, and met his eyes directly. There was a fire burning in her own, but it was one of strength, not anger. "I won't ever forgive you, but I do understand. No one's perfect. I couldn't expect you to give up your own life and position for two people you didn't even know, who were interfering with something you believed in. You killed my mother and father, and that is something I will never forget, but you yourself, Roy Mustang, are a good person who I would prefer to have as a friend rather than an enemy. So everything between us is in the past. I won't hold a grudge." She held out her hand, allowing herself to smile, and he accepted the gesture. They shook hands under the final rays of the golden sun, and then rejoined their companions inside.
"Riza's kicking us out, Winry," Ed informed her with an ironic tone in his voice as she sat down beside him.
"Aww, I think it will be fun, Brother!" Al said, then let Riza explain what was going on to the two who had just joined the conversation.
"I am not kicking them out, I merely suggested that they take a vacation of sorts. They've been working so hard, they certainly they deserve one. I was telling them about that nice hotspring resort we were planning to visit on our honeymoon, Roy," she said with a mischievous smile. "It's only half a day's ride by train from here, and it even allows pets. I think it would do all of them some good to get a few days of rest, especially after what happened to Ed. And, if you really want to," she addressed the group, "you can check the place for that keyhole. It is a natural hotspring. Who knows? You might get lucky. Meanwhile, Roy and I can enjoy a bit peace and quiet by ourselves for a little while." She grinned like a cat with a stolen bottle of milk, very pleased with her plan. "Actually, you could finish up your search here, and then go to the hotspring, and rest there until you choose your next destination. How does that sound?"
"Ha! I knew it! You are kicking us out!" Ed crowed, but he did not seem particularly upset about it. In fact, he was grinning too. He leaned back against the couch, his right hand behind his head. His left arm was in a sling. "What do you think, Winry? Should we give the lovebirds their house back?"
She giggled, pleased to see Ed in such a playful mood. "Oh, why not. But I think Riza's idea of going after we finish up here is a good one. Hey Sora, how long will it take to finish here, anyway?"
"Actually," the spiky-haired boy answered, "We should be able to finish by tomorrow or the next day! There are really only a couple places left in this city that we haven't checked, right Riku?"
"Yeah. I'd say we'll be finished in two more days."
"Great!" Winry cheered. "Then the hotspring it is!"
-
That night, Edward lay awake once again, thinking. What could Envy's presence mean? Why now, after three years? If he had been in the other world, he probably would have shown himself sooner. Had he just been biding his time in this world until Ed and Al came back? Talk about holding a grudge...
"Oof." Something landed on Ed's stomach, making him flinch. He still had a bruise there from the fight with Envy. He felt the weight on him shift and balance into four small points of pressure - the paws of a cat. The cat padded forward and crouched on his chest, just like it had done that first night. Ed placed his auto-mail fingertips on the feline's head and rubbed gently. It was a truly altruistic action, as he could not feel that creature's soft fur. "I guess I owe you one, cat," he whispered, think about what Winry had told him. He had heard stories about ordinary animals saving the lives of their masters, but had not expected to actually experience it. "Sorry for not trusting you."
Lucifer purred quietly and turned his head up to lick the cold metal fingers, then rubbed his whiskery cheek against the hand affectionately and proceeded to curl up on Edwards chest as if it was his right. Ed sighed and let the cat have his way. At least he was small and light, and was staying off of Ed's broken arm, though Ed was not sure if that was a conscious decision by the cat, or just chance. Oh, well. As long as it stayed that way, Ed wouldn't complain.
-
As expected, the search of Central was completed without success. The group had spent a full month with Roy and Riza, so packing up and leaving felt a little weird. Edward and Alphonse were used to traveling, though, and Noah had been a nomadic gypsy all her life. Sora and Riku had not often stopped in one place for so long during their previous adventures, but adapting was not hard.
The couple waved goodbye as the train pulled out of the station and began to pick up speed. Then Roy wrapped his arm loosely around Riza's shoulders and smiled at her. "Well, they're finally gone."
"Don't act like you're free of them yet," Riza joked. "Those boys and their friends will be back before you know it, pretending they've got everything under control but asking for help at the same time, as usual." Riza had really missed the Elric brothers during their absence. She was a naturally protective person person, and not just over Roy.
"In that case, we had better enjoy the privacy while we have it," Roy said slyly, and the two returned to their now much emptier home, Black Hayate following at their heels.
