xXPureOtakuPyroXx: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Gluttony tried to eat Envy! THA WAS SO RICH! (dies of laughter) yay! Dramaticness! YOU MUST UPDATE!
Shadows Child Kataki: ...ENVY!...-hurts Gluttony badly while other me comes out- Uhm...Lady Kataki over there loved the chapter. It's just, this gave her a new reason to hate the tub of lard called GLuttony... . DO keep up the good work though! -drags other away-
CorruptionGlare: AHA HA HA HA HA! I love it update soon!
Esplodin' Ookami: This was adorable at parts, angsty at others, and downright hilarious at most! The broom part was funny. "BAD GLUTTONY! BAD!" XD I'm gonna go 'round saying that whenever I sweep now.
SkitSkat7890: I this story it's Hilarious! i can't wait to see whats going to happen next! update soon please!
sinin: OMG! that was cute! poor envy lol. plz update soon!
Auri's Notes: In this chapter, if you SQUINT, you may be able to tell that I don't really like Greed. I really hate abusing Envy because I feel bad for him. -hugs Envy- But I really love abusing Envy because I have an excuse to hug him. -hugs Envy harder-
Envy: GAH! -strains to get loose-
Me: Bwahahaha! -clings-
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Greed was sitting at the table again, a half-eaten wheat bun clutched in his hand. Wrath and Gluttony were nowhere in sight, while Sloth was leaning against the wall. They both glanced up as Lust and Envy entered.
"Envy-chan..." Sloth said gently. "How are you?"
Envy bristled. Way to go, Sloth...give hints in front of Greed...smart. "I'm fine, Sloth." He said, looking pointedly away.
Greed shot him an evil smile. 'He KNOWS!' Envy thought in horror. 'He knows what happened!'
"Lust, we're out of food." Sloth said. "We're gonna head over to town today to get some more."
"We?" Lust asked, a brow raised.
"Me, you, and Wrath." Sloth answered. "Greed did it last time, but all he bought was booze."
"Fuck you, Sloth." Greed said sourly.
"And then you drank it all last night!" Wrath's voice floated from behind another door.
"Shut up!" Greed barked, glaring at the door.
"MAKE ME!"
Greed picked up one of the many empty bottles still littering the table, and threw it at the door, where it smashed.
"Hey!" Sloth smacked him in the back of the head, and he yelped.
"ARGH! Dammit, Sloth...I have a hangover...leave me alone." Greed growled, rubbing the back of his head. "And get some asprin when you're in town..."
"No, I won't." Sloth hissed. "You deserve every ounce of pain you get."
"Bitch..."
Envy glanced at Lust. "Uh...so I've got no breakfast?" He asked pleadingly.
"Yeah..you have fish." She said, pointing out the window and into the bay.
"...You've got to be kidding me." Envy said slowly. "I have to...fish? But...I don't know how!" He complained incredulously.
"Sorry. But Greed spent money on booze and ate the last roll." She said, pointing an accusitory fingernail at Greed, who inched away from it, sneering.
"You bastard!" Envy breathed, his eyes narrowed angrily.
"Fuck off, kitty-boy." Greed mumbled through the bun.
"Let's go, Wrath!" Sloth called. "We're gonna go shopping!" A door opened, and Wrath hurried out.
"Gluttony ate my sock..." He pouted, holding up his now bare foot. "So I killed him. Am I in trouble?" He glanced from Sloth to Lust.
Both women shook thier heads. "No, it's fine, Wrath..." Lust said quietly.
"Let's go already..." Envy moaned.
"Uhm...you can't come, Envy..." Sloth said tentatively.
"HUUUH?"
"You'll attract too much attention..." She explained gently. "It's better if you stay here."
"But-" Envy protested, but Lust cut him off.
"No, Envy." She scolded. "But it's for the best.." She gently lifted him from his perch and placed him on the floor, where he sat down and looked pleadingly up at her.
"But I don't want to be alone with Greed and Gluttony!" Envy blurted. He cast a glance at Greed, who was holding back laughter.
"Oh, that's right...Wrath, stay here as well." Sloth said. Wrath furrowed his brow.
"Why do I have to stay?" Wrath whined, sloping his shoulder in an exaggerated manner.
"Because you have to keep track of Envy." She commanded. "Now hush." She bent down and gave her 'son' a hug, before backing away. She and Lust left without another word.
Envy was left staring at the door. An overwhelming sinking sensation overcame him. The fur on the back of his neck rose as he slowly turned to face Greed.
Greed was standing up. "Well, well, well..." He said quietly. "I hear that the kitty cried last night."
Envy met Greed's gaze unfalteringly, defiance rising in his eyes.
"I'm surprised," Greed continued. "I mean, such a powerful homunculus, crying over something so simple as being bitten." He strode across the room towards Envy, who glared up from his spot on the floor. Greed towered over Envy, a grin on his face. "How do you feel about this wimpy new change, Envy-kitty?" Greed simpered. "Is being a piss-ant suiting to your tastes?"
Envy said nothing, but continued to stare.
"What, now you don't even have the guts to respond?" Greed snarled. "Say something!"
Wrath took a spot at the table, and watched the pair of them with his face unreadable.
"No cynical remarks? No flaming insults? Nothing?" Greed prompted. Envy knew that Greed was trying to get a rise from him. He wasn't about to let that happen. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, then opened them, trying to picture a knife flying through the air and sticking into Greed's spiky head. But Greed was still standing over him, grinning.
He was pissing Greed off and he knew it. It was so un-Envy-ish of him to be unresponsive. He closed his eyes again, and turned his head away from the sneering homunculus above him.
"DAMMIT! Say something!" Greed barked.
Envy opened his eyes a slit and glared at Greed. "Go fuck yourself." He said slowly and clearly.
A sudden loss of breath in his lungs and an excruciating pain in his ribs, accompanied with a loud SNAP, told him that Greed had kicked him. He lay limp on the ground, straining to breathe, pain constricting his air passage. Greed was grinning. Envy was trembling, his breath coming in short gasps. Every time he breathed, a jolt of pain would surge through his body. He cracked an eye open, and saw something jutting from under his skin at an odd angle. One of his ribs was broken.
He gasped as Greed kicked him again, and he toppled over in a backwards summersault, grunting with the effort not to cry out in pain.
"Such a little bastard," Greed growled. "But you know..." He swooped down and picked Envy up by the scruff of his neck. Envy felt his mouth stretch open as the folds of skin were pulled backwards, and his tongue loll from his mouth at an odd angle. Greed pulled him up to eye level, and glared at him from over his sunglasses. "I think I like you better this way."
Envy felt himself behing dropped from a great height. His feet flailed in the air as he twisted over to land on his feet, and, with a soft thud, he landed on the ground, and his legs buckled beneath him, pain rikocheting through his body.
It took almost all of his remaining strength just toopen his eyes. He was paralyzed. If he moved, Greed would kick him again. If he said anything, Greed would kick him again. So he just watched as Greed smirked, and strode across the room. He opened the door, and slammed it hard behind him.
Wrath got up from his spot at the table and ran to kneel besides the limp Envy.
"Envy? You okay?" He asked the obvious question.
Envy opened his mouth and wheezed, "T-that...b-bastard." He swallowed hard, and a spasm of pain jolted through him again, making him mew slightly.
"Can't..can't you heal yourself?" Wrath furrowed his brow, his haphazard mane falling over one eye.
Envy took a faint breath. "No...not anymore...c-can't change f-form...can't h-heal..." He choked. "H-help...help me...g-et Lust..."
Wrath stood up. "Why should I?" He said suspiciously.
"If...if y-you don't, I'll b-bite...your finger off." Envy groaned. He knew it was a pathetic excuse. "Or L-Lust will k-kill you and you'll b-be back in the G-Gate..." THIS seemed to jog to young homunculus into action. His eyes flew wide in horror, and he ran for the front door.
Time was lost for the poor chimera. He had no idea how many minutes it was...it couldn't have been more than twenty. No more than forty. No less than an hour. The pain slowly spread through Envy's body, first at the source (his chest), then splaying out towards his stomach, his neck, and his legs. It sparked and stabbed at his muscles, and his mind screamed at the pain to stop, but it wouldn't. Breathing was getting harder. It was an enormous effort just to keep pumping air to his lungs. In and out. In and out. In and out. What was that buzzing that filled his ears? A steady, slow droning. It was deep, too. And yet somehow soothing. It was calming. His vision was slowly seeping away...he was sinking into blackness.
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The next thing he knew, he was being cradled against someone's bosom, and the room was full of shouting and the sounds of blows landing. He cracked open a cautious eyelid, and saw that it was dusk. The room was filled with dim, flickering light, and the outlines of the other homunculi were moving through the room.
A crumpled figure on the ground proved to be Greed, and the person beating him with the broom was revealed to be Lust. Gluttony and Wrath were standing nearby, watching Greed get pummeled. Using the power of elimination, Envy deduced that he was in Sloth's arms. He glanced up at her, and gave a mew.
She looked down, and breathed a sigh of releif. He shifted slightly, which sent an amazingly powerful lightning bolt of pain through his body. He cried out in pain, and that, in turn contorted his smarting lungs, and made him scream harder. He closed his eyes, his mouth open in a howl.
"Dammit! Envy, don't move!" Sloth said to him, using two fingers to stroke him between the eyes. This was soothing. His panting slowed, and he stopped moving, agony still creeping through his body. He'd momentarily forgotten that he had broken ribs and possibly other serious injuries. Had he died? No, he hadn't died. Or else the pain would be gone. So then what had happened to him?
Sloth turned to Lust, who was still beating Greed and yelling. Sloth called, "Lust! He's awake!" Lust looked up, and nodded.
"Take him into my room. I'll be in shortly..." She instructed. Sloth nodded, and hurried away from the other homunculi and through the door to Lust's room. Sloth tenderly set Envy down on the camp bed. He mewed faintly, then spoke with great difficulty.
"Uh...H-uuh...W-whaat?" He demanded weakly.
"Greed broke at least three of your ribs." Sloth explained gently, kneeling on the floor next to the bed. "And one of the breaks ruptured your skin and then turned into a compound fracture."
Envy's eyes flew open wide. His eyes strained downwards towards his chest, ever so slowly, dreading what he'd see.
And what he saw was a gruesome wound gaping from his chest, where a tiny white lump poked from between the folds of skin. Envy's pupils dilated in horror, and the fur on the back of his neck raised. He felt dizzy...the world was swirling around him, and Sloth's face swam in front of his face as he felt that familiar sinking sensation.
Sloth saw the glazed expression on the chimera's face, and tugged on one of his ears, and he hissed low in his throat. "You can't faint again, Envy." She said firmly. "Not now!" The room was eerily silent except for Envy's harsh, ragged breathing, and the crashing coming from outside the room.
After about ten minutes, it quieted, and the door creaked open. Framed in a chink of light stood Lust, the broom in her hands. She dropped it and hurried to Envy's side, looking pale and worried.
Envy was drifting in and out of consiousness, despite Sloth's warning. He caught snatches of what Lust and Sloth were saying...he was drifting with the tide...feeling calm and relaxed...
"...and nobody knows how..."
"...usually heal ourselves..."
"...animal doctor..."
"...too risky..."
"...he'd die if we..."
"...Greed..."
"...veterinarian..."
And other times there would be just a worried silence...it surrounded him like a fog, flattening him, smothering him...and the pain would dull, then sharpen...and he'd understand more of the words they spoke.
"...Envy..."