By the time Al got back to the house, Envy had stopped moving. Al couldn't tell if he had passed out, fallen asleep, or possibly even died. The lack of feeling from is armor body prevented him from telling the difference. He was almost in a state of panic when he got back to the house.
"Brother!" He called out as soon as the house was in sight.
Ed rushed out, fearing that something horrible had happened. He saw Al with the limp homunculus in his arms and froze. Realization rushed over him. Without Envy, they didn't have any way out of this home, he wouldn't be able to find his way back to the town.
"Take him inside, put him on the couch." Ed instructed, leading Al through the house.
As soon as Envy's body hit the couch, Ed pushed Al out of the way and began to examine him. He grabbed the homunculus's wrist, holding it between two fingers. He couldn't feel a pulse, but he wasn't sure that Envy ever had a pulse to begin with. As a second test, Ed grabbed a small mirror sitting on one of the side tables. He held it close to Envy's mouth. A small fog appeared on the mirror, causing Ed to relax.
"He's still breathing," Ed announced, sitting on the floor. "What happened to him?"
"I don't know, he just said that he felt really weak, and then he passed out. What's wrong with him?" Al asked, the worry in his voice was unmistakable.
"I wish I knew. Damn it, when he wakes up he is telling us everything! We cant have shit like this happening without knowing what is going on." Ed grumbled, smacking the homunculus to make his point.
"Brother, why don't you make something to eat, I'll watch him for a while." Al pulled most of the bags out of his torso and set them down next to Ed. "If he wakes up, I'll call you."
"Thanks, I'm starving." Ed smiled, dragging some of the bags into the kitchen. He wasn't a great cook, but he could make eatable food.
In a small study, a man leaned over his alchemy books, searching for something that he had missed. He was certain that he had everything right, but he wanted to me certain he understood.
A pounding on the door snapped him out of his trance. He walked over and opened the door with a grimace on his face. He knew exactly who it was before he even reached the doorknob, he could smell the perfume.
"Hello dear, something I can do for you?" Hohenheim asked, leaning on the doorframe. He had hoped that she didn't know where he was living, but it was a lost cause.
"What did you do to him?" Dante asked, ignoring Hohenheim's cocky attitude.
"What did I do to who?" He yawned, retreating into the room and sitting on the couch.
"Don't give me that, just tell me what you did to Envy." She slapped him as hard as she could, she couldn't stand that bastard.
"I haven't done anything to him in over 200 years, so don't blame it on me if your little puppy bit your hand. I told you right from the start not to trust him." He sighed, rubbing his sore cheek.
"Liar, you did something to him." She spat at him.
"Alright, ok, if you are going to blame me at least tell me what he did."
"I don't have to do anything," Dante grumbled, turning to leave.
Hohenheim sighed as she slammed the door. He closed his book and threw a coat on. There was a suitcase by the door, just waiting for any time he needed to leave home for a while. He grabbed that and his hat as he left. If Envy had left Dante's control, Hohenheim knew exactly where he would go.
Envy moaned, opening his eyes slowly. His body still felt heavy, but not as much as before. He grumbled and closed his eyes again. He tried to shut out the world around him, trying to slip into the warm embrace of sleep. Al's shouts prevented him from doing so.
"Envy, hey, Envy, get up." Ed's voice rang in his ears.
"Go away!" Envy muttered, not opening his eyes.
Ed smacked Envy as hard as he could with his automail arm. The sound of crunching bone sent shivers down his spine and he tried not to look at the homunculus's deformed face as it healed.
"Fine, I'm up. What do you want?" Envy opened up his eyes and pulled himself into a sitting position.
"Tell me exactly what is going on. You drag us out to this place, say you want us to do research, and then pass out!"
"Alright, ok. Here's the deal, I don't know what is going on either. For the past few months, I started getting weaker and weaker. I looked through some old notes that I found and came across two theories. The first is Time Element, which says that it might take some time for the alchemy to finish. So maybe the reason that I'm feeling weak is because I'm turning into a human. The other is Alchemic Decomposition which says that as time goes by, the structure that holds the transmuted substance together starts to fall apart."
"So you might be dieing?" Al finished for him.
"Yeah, that's the idea." Envy muttered to himself.
"Is that why you abandoned your master then?" Ed asked, not caring about the homunculi.
"Isn't it obvious?" Envy sneered, "And here I thought you two might be sympathetic, considering the repercussions and all."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Ed asked, grabbing Envy's shirt and dragging him closer.
"Think about it. If I'm becoming human, that means that the other homunculi would also, which means…"
"I killed a human…" Ed whispered, flashing back to the fight with Greed.
"And if the alchemy is breaking down…" Envy left the rest of his sentence unfinished, looking over at Al.
yep, sort again, but at least it is an update. I am sorry about halfway abandoning this story for a while. dont get me wrong, I love this story and i hope to make it nice and long, but there are time issues.
