Ooh, look what I found, an update….about time…..
You'll notice some improvments over the last chapter. The lines seperating the author's notes and when the story randomly changes to different people have returned.
Envy looked down at the scrap of paper in his hand. He and Al had sat down and thought of everything that Ed might need, from food to paper and pencils. They had been worried that they would forget once they got to town so they wrote them down. It would be expensive, but Envy had made sure to grab a good amount of cash from Dante's bank account before he skipped town.
The list seemed to go on forever and the more things they bought the longer the list seemed to get. Al was kind enough to hold most of the packages, some of which ended up shoved in his armor.
"Hey, Envy," Al spoke up after some time, "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, now shut up." Envy hissed. He felt weaker than normal, but he wasn't sure why.
"Maybe we should rest for a bit, you look tired." Al moved toward a bench and sat down, waiting for Envy to follow his lead.
"Homonculi don't get tired." Envy said before sliding down on the bench next to Al. He suddenly felt better, not that he was willing to admit it.
Ed grumbled and rolled over in his bed, forcing himself to wake up. He wanted to look around some, learn more about this strange house. The room he was most interested in was the room where Envy had not allowed him to go in. His sleep deprived brain slowly remembered that he had not even cleaned that room, so there must be something in there that Envy was trying to hide. The most obvious answer was that Envy's remains were in there.
After a moment of picking the simple lock on the door. Ed was in the room. There was not nearly as much dust as he had expected, it looked as though someone had cleaned it just last week. The room looked old, everything from the rope bed to the books in the bookcase seemed much older than any of the libraries he had read through. Some of the leather binding had cracked open, exposing the yellowed paper beneath it. Hopefully this was not the extensive library that Envy had promised them.
Over all, there seemed like there was nothing too special about this room, it was pretty much the same as the other bedroom, the only difference was what sat on the shelves. Over the bed there was a small self that Ed had overlooked. Unlike the rest of this room, the shelf was covered in dust. All sorts of things were on it, old letters still in their envelopes, framed photographs, and other such things usually found on a shelf.
Ed left the room disappointed. He had expected to find something amazing in there, a secret perhaps. Instead, it looked like just another bedroom. With a deep sigh, he returned to his own bedroom. He was still exhausted from all of the work that he had done, a short nap would do him some good.
"Envy, Envy wake up." Al said in a hushed voice as he shook Envy's shoulder. Although the homunculi had claimed he wasn't tired, he had fallen asleep sitting on the bench and had ended up leaning on Al. Envy's eyes opened slowly and he looked around him, almost in a daze. He was still partially asleep when he stood up.
"What happened?" he asked, still out of it. Memories of where he was came back to him and he looked down at the list in his hand. They had gotten the most important things first, the rest of the items could wait a day or two. "Al, lets go back."
"But why, we haven't gotten everything on the list. What if…"
"What if I'm not able to lead you back? Ever think about that? It wont matter if we have everything if we cant get back!" Envy shouted, not thinking about what he was saying.
"…What do you mean you cant lead me back?" Al asked, his voice expressing the worry that his face could not.
"Homunculi are immortal, we heal instantly, we never get tired, and we never sleep. Something is wrong with me and I don't know what. This is the second time I fell asleep lately, I might not wake up next time. If we don't get back now, I cant guarantee that we will be able to." Envy explained himself, keeping his eyes on the ground. He hated admitting his weaknesses, he had always despised it. If it had been anyone but Al, he wouldn't have said a word. Having watched him grow up, he felt like he knew him.
"That's what this is all about? Keeping you alive? You're going to sell out all of your friends just to help yourself?" Al yelled back, appalled by how self-centered Envy was.
"Do you mean my master or the other homunculi? I wouldn't count either of them as friends. All of the homunculi are alone, we have no need for friends."
Before Al could respond, Envy began to walk away, leading the way home. He really wanted nothing to do with this conversation. It didn't so much bother him that Al knew his life was on the line, Al was strangely loving, he couldn't really hurt anyone it seemed. His only real worry was that Al would tell his dear brother. Ed was a heartless bastard who would have no trouble killing him.
"Envy, wait up!" Al hurried after him.
Halfway through the woods, Al stopped in his tracks and stared at Envy.
Envy slowly turned around and gave him the most evil look that he could manage. "What?"
"Can I do something to help?"
"Huh?" Envy stopped in his tracks, confused. He wasn't sure why Al was offering to help him.
"You look like your about to be sick." Al muttered, not sure what to do.
"Shut up and leave me alone." Envy hissed back, knowing full well that he looked horrible. His head was swimming, his stomach churned, and he had to fight to keep all of his red stones where they belonged. "Shit…"
Envy's knees went out, making him fall to the forest floor. Al rushed over and put his arms around Envy, holding him up. Once he was certain that Envy wasn't going to get sick, he lifted him up and held him as though he were a child. Envy would have jumped away any other day, but today he could not.
"Can you walk?" Al asked, looking down at the pitiful creature in his arms.
"Not sure," Envy muttered, his head still swimming. "Just follow this path, it will take you back to the house."
Ok people, sorry about the long wait for the update and then producing this crappy little excuse for plot progression. It should have been longer, it should have been better written, it should have been more entertaining, but its this or no update at all. I am a full time collage student plus I work three jobs, what little free time I have is devoted to sleeping. I had planned on putting the finishing touches on it and posting it over the weekend but on Saturday I worked from 9AM to 9PM and then at my second job from 10:45 until one in the morning (and then 9-5 the next day). That is my excuse. It might not be a good one, but it's what I'm sticking with. I also started working on an original story, so that is taking up some time. Plus my good friend is bugging me to write a fanfic about My Chemical Romance. Those guys are so hot….I have to do it or she'll stop sending me pictures of them (photobucket hates my computer). If you want to read the MCR fic, email me. I'm not going to post it anywhere.
In short, I will try to update this as soon as I can, but I will not make any promises as far as the time. Sorry about the fact that the author's note is almost as long as the story…
Storm Elf, over and out.
PS: to all of you people who kept saying that the last chapter wasn't shit…thank you, but don't lie to me.
