Title: My Enemy, My Ally, My Rival
Author: Chibi Envy Chan
Fandom: Full Metal Alchemist
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Swearing, innuendos, some violence, and implied male/male relationship
Summary: With Scar on the move, it is not safe for any state alchemist. Will Ed survive his encounter or will he receive help from an unlikely ally?

Chapter 3

"If I was the midget, where would I be?" Envy asked himself. He casually meandered down the street as if he was part of the scenery and nothing out of the ordinary. Out of all the homunculi, he was the one who had the least clothing covering body, but damn, he looked good in it. Lust had mentioned it to him a few times but gave up when he shrugged off her comments. Sloth was too young to even care. Pride was too prideful to say anything about his attire. Greed, well, he was currently preoccupied at the moment to answer the question. As for Gluttony, the tub of lard was more interested in getting something to eat than appearances.

A few soldier in those blue uniforms passed by him. As they did, he glanced towards their belts for the tell tale sign of the pocket watches. When an alchemist passed the test, he or she received a pocket watch, identifying him or her as a state alchemist. They almost never parted with their watches. The watches also served as a tool to amplify their transmutation. Fortunately for this homunculus, none of the humans in the group were state alchemists and even then, not many alchemists knew about their existence.

Envy placed his hands behind his head and grasped the back of his neck. He whistled some nameless tune. Basically, he was bored, searching for the shrimp. Why couldn't he have some of the fun missions? Thinking about it, he supposed it was better to search for the shrimp than Scar. The shrimp was more entertaining than that Ishbalan. Also if anyone was going to kill Ochibi-san, it was him. He deserved that privilege after putting up with his mission and That Person for so long. Yeah, that was the reason.

The oldest Sin cursed in frustration. He had been searching for the midget for awhile now. Actually, it had been half an hour, but for a bored Envy, it was too long. He was tempted to go and threaten the nearest person with physical harm if the desired information was not provided. Sadly, he was supposed to keep a low profile, meaning he was not to create a scene. Too late for that! He had already caused one? No wait, two of them.

Before he knew it, the five uniformed soldiers rushed past him in a hurry to reach their destination. At first, Envy thought nothing of it, but then he realized, he had a better chance of finding Ochibi-san if he knew what was happening. It did not take the homunculus long to catch up to the soldiers, one of the benefits of being a homunculus. However, he took to the rooftops rather than be caught following them.

A couple times, he had nearly lost them when they were disoriented or made a sharp turn. If they were not useful, he would have eviscerated them all over the street, not caring if he made a mess. That was certainly going to draw unwanted attention, but at least he was not going to be frustrated and have pent up energy.

As Envy was following them, he tried to listen to what they were saying. He caught a few words and all of them indicated a famous alchemist. The trouble was that there were a few staying there. For example, there was that Flame Alchemist. He was a known hero in the Ishbal War. Then there was the Strong Arm Alchemist. He too was a veteran of the same war. Of course, it could be the Ochibi-san. He was known as an alchemist for the people and tried to help the average citizen even if it meant breaking several rules.

So far, everything seemed to be calm. The human citizens were going about their daily business and not scurrying for safety. The little brats were even playing in the streets without a care in the world. The adult humans were busy watching the little brats, working, or running errands. The military, on the other hand, were frantically rounding up as many soldiers as they could. From the looks of it, it appeared that they were launching an attack against someone or someone was attacking them.

It did not take a genius to put two and two together. Speeding up, Envy overtook the group of humans he was following. There was no way he was going to allow the Ishbalan to take away his kill. It was his privilege to kill Ochibi-san, and he was going to savor every second of it. He would enjoy seeing the blood run down the shrimp's body, the dazed look in his eyes, and his last breath before his soul departed from him.

Too bad a certain human had to ruin his daydreaming of gleefully killing Ochibi-san by causing quite a chaos. Envy snapped to attention and came to an abrupt halt. He waited a moment and was rewarded when he spotted a cloud of dust coming from his right. 'That must be where the shrimp is.' Only the shrimp could cause that kind of damage. No wait, that meant he was admitting the shrimp was better than him. That was not possible. He was superior to the midget in every way.

The androgynous palm tree raced in the direction of the last explosion. He hoped that Fullmetal was still alive, because he wanted to be the one who dealt the fatal blow, not some human scum. Gracefully jumping from building to building, Envy kept an eye out for a certain head of blond hair when he saw something grey moving at a fast speed. Without thinking about it, he leapt down and landed near the grey object before running at about the same speed.

"Envy!" The grey thing yelled in surprise, nearly tripping on its own two feet. "What are you doing here?"

"I could be asking you the same thing," Envy calmly responded. There was no reason to tell the younger Elric brother about his mission. It was not going to affect him directly, and the Sin hoped it was only a temporary mission. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"It's Scar," Al replied, not slowing down. In fact, he had picked up his speed despite not knowing where brother was. He needed to find Ed before Scar could do anything drastic to him. 'Oh brother, you were trying to protect me as usual by leading him away from me. You didn't need to risk your life. We're a team, and we should be able to count on each other. I wish you trusted me and my abilities. I can help too.'

'Dammit Lust, you said you were going to find him and keep an eye on him. Now look what you have done. You allowed Scar to get a chance to kill Ochibi-san, and we still need him for our plans.' Envy thought during the moments of silence. The two of them were running at a fast rate even if they had no clue where they were going. "Where is the shrimp?"

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be searching for him," Al replied with a frantic voice. No wonder why Ed hated that particular homunculus. Almost every word from his mouth was an insult to Ed. "The last time I saw brother he was heading down this way. I'm not sure where he went after this. He could have turned down any one of these alleyways."

"Look Tin Can," Envy said, taking control of the situation. "I'm going to search from the rooftops. You search on the ground and near the buildings. We should be able to find the shrimp or any signs left behind him."

Al was more than surprise when Envy was willing to help search for brother. Not only that, but the homunculus had even volunteered to aid in the search. This was completely not him; however, the armor had known Envy for a very short amount of time so he could not say anything. "That sounds like a plan. How are we going to contact each other?"

"Once you're done searching, go to the military building or the nearest hospital. I will find you there."

This was too much for the armor. Had Envy been replaced by a shape shifting clone? No, wait Envy was the shape shifter so it ruled that out. Maybe he had been hypnotized or something. Yeah, that had to be the reason. On the other hand, it could be an act, but right now, he needed all the help he could get to find brother. "Okay."

After saying that, Envy performed a few aerial flips that would make an acrobat jealous and landed on the roof. He sped off in a different direction and slowed down a bit. It was not as if finding the shrimp was the most important thing to him. Killing that Bastard was going to bring him more enjoyment and satisfaction than killing the Bastard's offspring. No wait, killing the spore in front of the Bastard was going to be much better. He loved torturing humans mentally and emotionally. They were such fragile creatures.

"Come on shrimp, do something. Show me a sign you're still alive," Envy thought as he raced down a row of buildings. As soon as he landed on a building, he heard yet another explosion. He grinned. That was more like it. Ed sure did know how to make a mess just like Envy.

Envy smacked himself for ever thinking that he and the shrimp could ever have something in common other than that Bastard. No, they were not the same. They were not even similar. He was nothing like the Ochibi-san. He was better in every way; however, the shrimp could do one thing he could not. Edward could use alchemy.

Racing to the scene, Envy paused when he reached a building that was adjacent next to an abandoned alleyway. He looked down to find the Ochibi-san half dead and the advancing serial killer. Before he did anything, he surveyed the scene.

Scar had a few injuries and did not seem to be slowing down any time soon. In fact, it appeared he could take on an army and survive it. His usual sun glasses were missing in action, and there were rips in his clothing. Most likely they were the Fullmetal's handy work. When backed into a corner, the shrimp could put up a decent fight.

Ed, on the other hand, was definitely not in any condition to fight any longer let alone put up a decent defense. His body was bruised and battered. His clothes were ripped in many areas though he had enough clothes on to cover his essential parts. In one of those rips, a deep gash could be seen though it was nothing fatal or else he would have been amongst the decease. There were other smaller cuts, but that large one concerned Envy. The mechanical arm hung by his side, completely rendered useless. It meant the shrimp was literally and figuratively unarmed.

The nearby walls were littered with holes and rubble was strewn across the ground. From the looks of it, either Ed transmuted the rocks into something and Scar destroyed it or Scar used that arm of his to try and kill Ed using the method that had brought many state alchemists to their bloody ends. As he was looking at the scene, he noticed the amount of blood splattered on the rubble. It was definitely not looking good for Ochibi-san.

When Envy looked over at the two alchemist combatants, he was caught off guard. Scar was a hell lot closer than the homunculus thought. For some reason, he was seeing red once again. He did not know why, but he did not question it at the time. His body moved as if someone had taken control of it, and he was the passenger.

Without warning, Envy gracefully jumped off the roof and landed between the two alchemist, taking the would be fatal blow. The force of the impact pushed him back into Fullmetal who was shocked upon this fortunate turn of events. The searing pain lasted only a moment before that familiar sensation of his flesh knitting together as they healed. Even then, he hated being injured and him purposely taking a blow especially for the shrimp was saying something.

The blond was fully prepared to die at that moment before someone blocked his sight and taken the blow for him. Before he could react, a very familiar body was thrown in his direction. Since he was braced for an assault, he was prepared to catch the homunculus that was thrown at him. Several questions ran through his mind. 'Why did Envy take the blow? He hates pain. He said so himself. Why would he even bother saving me when he is going to kill me later on? It would save him the trouble. Oh wait, they needed me to create the philosopher's stone. However, there should be another way.'

Scar was more than furious. He was down right livid with rage. Someone had blocked the death blow, but it did not matter. Fullmetal was going to be dead in less than a minute and that fool's sacrifice was going to be worthless. Cautiously, he walked towards the half-dead state alchemist when he abruptly stopped. His eyes fell on that sign, the ouroborus, a sign of the homunculi. It was on the new comer's left upper thigh. "You."

"Yeah, me what?" Envy inquired with a malicious grin. His body had healed enough for him to be standing up. It was going to take less than a minute for him to be completely healed.

"You're a homunculus," Scar stated, "a sin against god. Therefore, you must die along with those state alchemist sinners."

At this point, the Sin was laughing so hard that he probably could have laughed himself to death. Humans were such dense but amusing creatures. "Thank you, General Obvious. I'm sure we needed that piece of information." He placed his hand on his hips before a light traveled up his body, cleaning it of his blood. "What makes you think you can take me on and live? I have more experience than can ever hope to gain." He preened.

Out of all the times, Edward Elric was thanking any deity that Envy had come. He was going to survive another day, and for once, he was not the object of the homunculus' torment. It was another person, and it was entertaining to see Scar lose his cool. Then again, the Ishbalan was dealing with someone who had a few centuries worth of experience taunting and torturing others.

Scar held up his right arm, showing off his tattoo. "With this, I will kill you and rid the world of your kind." He had no doubt that this was going to be a hard and long fight since this was a homunculus. The Ishbalan was not certain how long this one had been 'living,' but something told him that it was a long time. "I am going to purge this world of sinners. This is my god's will and so I shall."

Envy transformed his right arm into his usual blade. He was less than eager for a fight, but this human was not giving him a choice. Either way, he was going to be fighting even if he would rather watch the shrimp try to get out of this mess by himself. It was not worth risking losing Fullmetal. The plan was too important. "You humans are such pathetic and hypocritical creatures. You say state alchemists are sinners for using alchemy. What about the average citizen? They use alchemy except they aren't trained for battle. I find that to be ironic. Not to mention, you are using that which is forbidden in your religion to accomplish your appointed task. I find it very amusing."

"Homunculus, I am not here for your entertainment," Scar growled before he lunged at the homunculus. He completely missed and hit the building in which the two were standing. Apparently, Envy had been expecting the attack and pulled the state alchemist out of the way. "You are delaying the inevitable. God will not tolerate sinners and neither will I."

As he danced out of the way, Envy hauled the alchemist off his feet, making certain that his blade did not further injure the blond. As much as he hated running away and looking weak, there were not many options he had with an injured Edward. He needed to get Full Metal out of the way before he could properly dispose of the serial killer. Too bad, Envy was not allowed to kill him as well. They had plans for him too. He transformed his arm back into its normal form and then bounded down the alleyway with Scar not far behind him.

"Envy!" The alchemist almost shrieked as he gripped onto the homunculus. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Envy countered with a sneer on his face. Who would have ever thought that he ended up like this, carrying the son of his enemy, the one who abandoned him all those years ago? It was ironic.

Edward pressed his lips. One wrong word could mean the difference between Envy leaving him with Scar or taking him somewhere 'safe' though still had his doubts about it. "It looks like you're running away."

"A strategical retreat," the oldest homunculus growled. Even though he was one of the best fighters, he hated being injured. It hurt! "Unless you want me to fight him with you there and possibly risk you being killed in the process."

"I'll pass on that," Fullmetal said, actually complying with the Sin, who was actually surprised by the turn of events. Nevertheless, the rest of the way was in silence as the two were being chased through the various alleyways and streets by that alchemist killer.

It was rather odd that no one had noticed them by now. Maybe it was due to the fact that they were running at a fast rate and people were barely given a glimpse of who the people were let alone the fact that one of them was not even human. In fact, many people did not know about the existence of homunculi, because these beings were able to get around without the humans chasing after them. Their ourobori were even plain sight. Some of them had theirs in risqué places such as cleavage or upper thighs.

Once Envy made a sharp turn around a corner, he dumped the surprised alchemist into a dumpster and shut the lid on a very irate blond. Without any hesitation, he transformed into a perfect copy of the state alchemist and took off in a different direction. This action gained the attention of the serial killer.

'Good,' Envy thought. His original plan was to run somewhere and hopefully the military personnel would distract Scar long enough for them to make their escape. Sadly, while there were plenty of soldiers, there were either none along the routes he took or they barely had a chance to react at all before they left the scene.

Now his plan was to lure away the killer and hopefully lose him within the crowds. Then he was going to head back to where he stashed the shrimp away, just to make sure the shrimp was not going to die on them. Nope, Edward Elric was not going to die just yet as much as Envy wanted it to happen. They had a plan and all that time they spent preparing was not going to go to waste.

As he was running down the different alleyways, Envy completely forgot about the recent changes in the layout. Maybe they were not recent, but with the many years or decades that Envy had been 'alive' one tends to forget about such trivial details. Upon entering the dead end alley, 'Edward' cursed out loud and turned around to run right back out.

"Well, well, it seems that you have nowhere to run. Start saying your prayers, state alchemist," Scar said as he slowly walked up towards the retreating blond. He raised his right hand in preparation for that touch, the touch of death. It only took one touch the right place and instant death.

'Remember act how the shrimp would,' Envy mentally reminded himself. For centuries, he worked on perfecting his disguise and acting techniques. Now they were second nature to him, but at the same time, he sometimes became a little careless.

"The fight isn't over until I say it is," 'Edward' scowled. It was easy for Envy to mimic the automail and the process of appearing to transmute it. After all, it was his body and he had control over his body. Like a desperate animal would or one state alchemist, he lunged at the Isbhalan, prepared to strike him down.

Knowing this move, Scar simply side stepped it and his hand descended upon the alchemist's back. He would have had 'Ed' in a good position to kill him, but it was not Edward Elric he was dealing with. It was someone far worse and skilled than him.

"Edward" had managed to shift his weight enough to move his body away from the impending hand. He also moved his body out of the Ishbalan's reach and went into a roll before jumping into a standing position. As soon as he was up, he knew he had to move.

"It seems you have become faster since we last met," Scar announced in a calm matter. It did not matter to him. The blond was merely delaying the inevitable. Now it was his turn to be on the offensive. Without wasting another second, he rushed forward to fight the alchemist.

It was easy for him to dodge it. Throughout the centuries, he had learned how to dodge these attacks for one reason and one reason alone. He hated being hurt! It was too painful. Never mind the fact that he healed almost immediately afterwards. "It appears that I have."

"It won't matter, because in the end, your sins will be atoned for with your life." The Ishbalan had used up most of his energy during the chase, but he knew that Edward was too weak to defend himself let alone put up a decent fight.

"You talk too big." 'Edward' scowled. It appeared that he was far from giving up and was ready for a second or even a third round. That was what puzzled Scar. He thought that the state alchemist was going to be easy to take down. He was wrong. But wait. There was something missing there or rather someone.

"And you're not dead yet," Scar said before they engaged in battle.

Fifteen Minutes Later

Scar had managed to touch the alchemist's head and make it explode on contact. Just as he was walking away from the scene, he noticed something. The body was moving on its own and standing up. That could only mean one thing. The being with whom he fought with was not Edward Elric, the Full Metal Alchemist. It was one of them. Now the missing piece had fallen into place.

"My, my, leaving quite a mess," Envy purred, reverting back into his preferred form. His cat like eyes scanned over the shocked Ishbalan. It was truly a fun sight. "Didn't your mother ever tell you to clean up after yourself?"

"You again." Scar hissed.

"Be glad that I don't have time to mess with you," Envy said in an off hand manner. He could take down Scar with a single move, but it was not part of the plan. To ensure their objective was reached, That Person had devised a plan as well as back up plans in case the first one failed. It was unwise of them to place all of their eggs in a basket, especially a volatile one.

Scar knew that he did not stand a chance against the smirking homunculus. Instead of going after him, he went to go lick his wounds and heal. It was going to be awhile before anyone saw him again. He was not going to risk failing his god by being rash.

Envy 983, Humans 0

He loved that score and cheered for himself as he went to retrieve the state alchemist. Along the way, he had picked up a first aid kit using his allowance. Yes, he received an allowance from That Person for his good behavior. The other homunculi received it as well though a couple of them had well paying jobs.

Upon arriving at the dumpster, he found it opened and empty. Envy frowned. This was not good. He had left the shrimp there for a reason. That reason was to keep him out of harm's way while he dealt with the serial killer.

"Where has the shrimp gone?"

There was a sudden outburst nearby, giving the location of the state alchemist in question. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like I am doing?" Envy was not in a mood to deal with the shrimp's stubbornness. He did not even have to be doing this in the first place. After all, it was only his job to make sure that the shrimp lived in the first place and since the threat has been taken care of, he needed to report back.

"It looks like you have come to kill me."

".. Wrong oh short one," Envy mocked and smirked when he heard Edward go into a full fledged spazz. It was an amusing sight to behold though sometimes it was too boring.

"Then what are you here for?" Ed inquired, backing up. He did not trust this homunculus as far as he could throw him without the aid of his automail arm.

Sighing, Envy walked forward until he had the state alchemist pinned against the wall. He placed his right hand on the blond's shoulder and pushed him down into a sitting position. As Edward prepared to knock the homunculus on his head with his human arm, the Sin merely popped open the first aid kit and started tending to his wounds. "You know, I don't have to do this."

His fist stopped short of hitting the homunculus on the right side of his face and wavered there. "Then why are you doing this? Why are you helping me? We know you hate me."

While Envy continued to disinfect Ed's wounds, he thought about it. Why was he helping Ed in the first place? He could easily say that he had been ordered to protect him, but Ed was out of danger. There was no need for him to be patching up Ochibi-san especially since there were others who were willing to do the job. In fact, his mind could not come up with a reason why. Sure, he hated Edward Elric. The state alchemist had everything he wanted, but he wanted more. Still, there was some reason as to why he was going above and beyond what was required of him. Why and for what reason? There had to be a reason for this. Maybe he could gain something from it. The only question was what.

"Envy?" Ed squirmed a bit as the bandages were finally being wrapped on him. Scar certainly did a number on him and from the looks of it, most of the first aid kit was going to be used.

"I don't know," Envy simply answered. "I just don't know."

"Okay."

One worked in silence while the other waited patiently, trying not to move around too much.

"Thanks." Ed finally managed to say. It was hard for him to say that and it was not just the words. It was more along the lines of saying it someone who had been trying to kill him.

"I don't need your thanks." Envy huffed. He finished putting the last bandage on the state alchemist and then turned to deal with the first aid kit.

Ed chuckled. "I suppose you don't, but I'm going to say it. Thanks." He watched as the homunculus scowl at him. It was truly a sight to those who knew them. Who would have ever thought that Envy could be in the same area as Edward without brutally injuring him once? If only the others could see him.

"Like I said, I don't need it or want it," Envy scowled. Standing up, he nearly crushed the innocent first aid box.

Instead of saying anything, Ed just smiled and it infuriated the homunculus. Maybe it had something to do with the loss of blood.

As Envy was about to say something in retort, he felt someone embrace him from behind, a genuine hug. It was an odd feeling for him; yet, at the same time, he found that he liked it and it was scaring him? Just a little. He looked down to find a head of blond hair. "Tch, it's bad enough that I save your rear. Now you have to go sentimental on me."

"Just because you can't admit it; it doesn't mean you like it," Ed said in a calm manner. Yes, he was hugging someone who had killed over hundreds of people, but he did not know why he was doing it. There was this feeling within him. Something told him to hug the insane homunculus and that was what he did.

Envy finally pried himself from the blond's embrace. "You're grasping straws, state alchemist, and the next time we meet, I will kill you." Without another word, he stormed off.

"And I have no doubts about it."

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Sequel will be coming shortly. I'll try to update one of my stories on a weekly basis; however, they're most likely going to be the raw versions, meaning no beta reader until I can find one.