Hohenheim reached down and scooped Envy's limp body out of Ed's arms. He moved him carefully to the couch and laid him down, covering up most of his body with a blanket. Without a word, he turned to Ed.
"Is he…" Ed tried, not able to form words.
"He is resting." Hohenheim said quietly, calming Ed's nerves. "I'll get the mop and clean this up. You stay with him. Al, I want you to come with me"
Ed nodded and watched his father leave the room, his brother following along behind him. In a way, he was grateful that they were gone. He didn't want his brother to think that he was going soft, but he was very worried about the homunculus laid out on the couch before him.
"Envy," he whispered, taking the pale hand in his own, "I know that you cant hear me, but please pull through. Please wake up."
The words sounded like they were coming from a dream. Someone calling his name from far away. It was soft, no more than a soft whisper from across the room, but it was there. It was enough to call him away from the darkness, open his eyes.
"Full mini…" Envy said, unsure if his voice would work. "What…what happened?"
"You got sick, threw up all of the red stones." Ed told him, motioning to the mess not far from where they sat.
"oh…" Envy said, closing his eyes again, "that explains the smell then."
"Yeah, it is nasty. I'll go open a window."
"No, don't leave!" he gripped Ed's hand tighter, not letting him leave. Even Envy himself could not explain why he needed Ed there, but he refused to let him go.
"Alright, I'll stay, don't worry." Ed reassured him, slipping his hand out of the homunculus's grasp. "How are you feeling?"
"Weak, like I don't have any energy at all." Envy moaned, moving as little as he could. His eyes began to flutter closed, he was falling back asleep.
"We'll find something to make you better, you'll see." Ed whispered, silently promising himself to never let the homunculus in front of him die. A few weeks ago he would have given anything to have Envy laying helplessly in front of him, he would have been grateful for a chance to kill him.
"Edward," A voice from the hall disrupted his thoughts. Ed looked over to see Hohenheim standing there, a book in his hand. Ed hurried in there and found several books laying on the kitchen table, similar to the one that Hohenheim held in his hand.
'What's all this for?" Ed asked, motioning to the books that covered the poor table, which looked as though it might snap under the pressure.
"Al agreed to clean up the mess, since he cant smell after all. You and I are going to go through these books and figure out an alternative source of energy for Envy. The red stones are pretty much a Homonculi's power source, which is why he is feeling so weak." Hohenheim explained, pushing half of the books towards Ed while he opened up one for himself.
"What is the real reason that you are here?" Ed asked, out of the blue. "Are you here to finish your experiment or because you actually want to help him?" He had been wanting to ask himself the same question for some time now, but he was always frightened of what the answer would be.
"I have never been good at trying to be a father. I abandoned you and Al, just as I abandoned Envy. I guess I'm just trying to make up for all of that." Hohenheim smiled some, imagining how different life would have been if he had stayed with his family, either of them. "What about you?"
"I'm here for Al's sake, nothing more." Ed grumbled, burying his nose in a book. He wouldn't dare mention that he actually wanted so save the cross-dressing homunculus.
Hohnehim nodded, not believing a single word of it. Ed reminded him so much of Envy, even when they were young. They had both been hard headed and were consistently getting in trouble. They even had the same look in their eye when they were babies. He had never meant to name him "Edward," that had been Envy's name. It had just slipped out when he held the child in his arms for the first time. He felt guilty about that ever since, not that Envy necessarily remembered his true name.
After an hour of reading the books, they had not gotten any closer to finding a suitable replacement for the energy given off by the red stones. Every book seemed to either state that the author had no earthly idea how they managed to live or simply stated that a great deal of alchemic power was needed to create the substance they fed on.
"Hey," Ed shut the final book, deciding to his own knowledge instead of someone else's, "If that time element theory is right, Envy might be turning into a human. Why don't we just give him food then?"
Hohnehim sat there for a moment, either stunned that Ed had thought of such an idea or trying to think if it was possible. He nodded slowly, not able to come up with another solution. If it didn't work, Envy would not survive for long, but it was better than just watching him die. "Ed, you look through more of these books, from now on we are only going to focus on time element. If alchemic decomposition turns out to be true, well, there is nothing that we can do and we'll find out soon enough. Once Al finishes cleaning, I want you to go to the store with him and buy more food. We are going to need it if he is going to eat as well."
Ed nodded and went back into the living room, more confused than he had been before. It was hard to think that Envy might be a human, but at the same time he knew that he no longer saw Envy as a monster. All the time he had gone around trying to kill the homunculi because they were different, they were horrible twisted creations, demons of the worst sort. They were not humans, so they were monsters. Now he knew the answer, they were neither. Did that mean that he had been wrong to kill them?
If that was the case, he knew now why he was helping Envy. He had been wrong to kill the others, now he would try and do his part to help the few that were left. Once Envy was healthy, he would find Wrath and make sure that he was safe. The other homunculi were able to take care of themselves, except perhaps for Gluttony, but that was why Lust traveled with him.
"Maybe it isn't something that complicated," Ed muttered to himself, standing over Envy's sleeping form "Maybe I just like helping people or some shit like that."
I apologize for how short it was, I'm back up to 3 jobs plus school. I wrote it while I was babysitting while the kid was taking a nap, so I didn't have a whole lot of time. I hope you liked it anyway though!
More imporantly: I have not decided if I want Envy to live or die, so input is welcome. (Also, still havnt decided if it is going to turn yaoi or not. I cant tell if that is a lover's bond forming between them or a brotherly bond...)
