Heya~
Just to clear the timeline up, and clarify exactly where we are (cause it makes sense in my head, but I realise the way it's written thus far may be confusing to readers), this takes place in an alternate version of the 03 series universe. Basically the events are exactly the same up to Greed's arc and Hughes' death, but then instead of hiding Hughes' death, Mustang decides to tell the Elrics straight away. This is the point where my story diverges from the series, because the knowledge of Hughes' death forces the brothers to divert from their original course. This will be covered in more detail as the story progresses, but those are the basics just in case anyone's reading this going "when the hell is this set".
On with the story~~

. . .

Envy had to admit; he wasn't quite sure why the Elric brothers hadn't kicked him out yet.
He had already told them what was likely happening to him; if he was right, it wasn't a problem with an easy solution. And he had already expressed that he wasn't going to give them information that might make it easier to defeat the others. He might be… dying – his mind still cringed away from the word – but he'd be damned if the other homunculi went down with him.
So why hadn't they thrown him back onto the street?

A familiar emotion coiled in his stomach like an ugly snake as he glared at the door. It was all their fault to begin with. He wouldn't be where he was now if not for them. Maybe that was why they were being so nice to him, he speculated – maybe they had finally realised that they were the cause for all the misery in his life, and they in their infinite human weakness felt guilty about it. He almost laughed at the thought. Even if that were true, it would still be far too little too late.
The door opened, and he tensed – only to relax when he saw that it was the younger Elric again. He leaned back away from the boy, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. If he was back in another pathetic attempt to get information about how to defeat the homunculi, he had another thing coming.

"What do you want?"
"Nothing," the boy shrugged. "I just came in to check on you, make sure you weren't getting into anything you shouldn't be. Hungry?" He held something out, and Envy realised for the first time that he was holding a plate with a half-eaten sandwich on it. He scoffed.
"I don't eat."
That caused a reaction; the boy's eyebrows rose and his eyes shone with curiosity. He put the plate down on the nightstand next to the bed, engrossed thoroughly in what Envy had just told him. Belatedly, Envy wondered if he had given too much away.
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that; you did say your body consumes the red stones instead. But it's still so weird to think about how different we are. The fact that you can't eat-"
"I never said I can't eat, I said I don't," Envy interrupted, resting his chin in his hand, already bored with the conversation. "I could if I wanted to, I just prefer not to. We all do; well, except for Gluttony, but you've seen what he looks like."
"Wait, you're saying Gluttony's fat because he eats?"
"I know, what a revolutionary concept." His sarcasm was quickly met with a glare.

"You know that's not what I meant. I thought that was just… his build. Homunculi are man-made, after all, not naturally born like we are. I just assumed…"
"That our bodies are static? We get whatever we get and we're stuck with it?" He sneered. "I can see why you'd think that, but no. Like I said, we're really not that different on a biological level. Because we use red stones as our primary source of energy, our bodies usually just treat normal food like yours might treat a slice of cake. We can eat it, but it'll just go straight to our hips so there's really no point."
A moment of silence fell between them, with Envy growing increasingly more uncomfortable as each second passed. He intensely disliked the expression the boy was giving him; he was staring at him like he was some kind of science experiment.
"Hey, kid! Not a zoo animal."

The boy looked as if he'd been punched in the face. He looked down at the floor, seemingly upset, and Envy prided himself on his ability to still piss the Elric brats off. But what came out of the boy's mouth wasn't the typical Elric rant he'd been expecting.
"Sorry, I didn't even think- Wow, I can't believe how much of a hypocrite I'm being."
"Huh?"
The boy crossed his arms as he continued staring at the ground. He seemed almost lost inside his own head as he spoke.
"Let's just say, I know what it feels like to be stared at like that. To be asked all these questions all the time that you can't answer. To be treated like- like a-"
"Freak." Envy finished the sentence, his voice barely audible. The boy's eyes shot up to meet his, and a sudden understanding flooded through them.
"I had no idea."

Envy cleared his throat, narrowing his eyes and turning away with a scowl.
"Get out of here, kid. I don't want to talk right now."
"But-"
"I said get out!" He reached over, taking the plate from the nightstand. The boy, annoying as he was, at least had the intelligence to duck out of the room and close the door just as Envy tossed it at him. While he had missed his original target it still shattered satisfyingly against the door, a million pieces scattering every which way.
Envy curled in on himself, as if he was convinced that by making himself smaller he could squash down all the uncomfortable emotions that were starting to rise inside him. He had forced them all down once before, and had no issue with them for centuries. Why were they coming back now, of all times? Was it something the Elric boy had done to him? Was it a factor of his waning strength as his life force slowly ran out? He didn't know, and he didn't really care. The only thing that mattered to him was making them piss off back to wherever they came from, so he could go back to the comfortable jealousy he was familiar with.
Somehow, part of him felt like it was too late for that now. Whatever had awoken inside him, it wasn't going back down without a fight. And the realisation of this simple fact made another emotion drift to the surface. One that he hadn't worried about much in his life, until the last several days when he had begun to feel it entirely too often for his liking.
Fear.

Going back to his own room, Al mulled over the conversation they had just had. The short homunculus biology lesson was interesting enough, sure – but what had really captured his attention was that brief… moment they had shared. For just a second, the shortest space of time, it was like the personality Envy normally expressed to the world was little more than an act – and it had slipped to reveal something else underneath the surface, something that hurt and bled and felt. It was the same sensation Al had experienced before, of seeing something inside Envy that was more; but on a whole new level. If he'd had suspicions before, he was now utterly convinced. There was another person in there. All Al had to do was figure out how to bring that version of Envy out into the light.
But he had a feeling that this would be easier said than done. Especially because if he wanted to get anywhere, he needed to get his brother on-side. And he could already tell that was going to be a struggle.

. . .

Ed came up the stairs towards his and Al's room, knocking on their door. After a few seconds, he noticed that there was no answer and frowned, knocking a second time. This time he heard shuffling inside, and finally Al opened the door.
Immediately, alarm bells started ringing in Ed's mind. Something was wrong. The signs were subtle, but present – Al's posture wasn't as straight as it normally was, his eyes were just the slightest bit clouded. And of course, there was the fact that he hadn't answered the door straight away, despite clearly having been in the room. Reacting with the speed only a worried brother could have, Ed pushed Al into the room and followed suite, slamming the door behind them.
This seemed to get Al's attention; his eyes cleared up a little as he looked at Ed in confusion.
"Brother?"

Ed's hands came down on Al's shoulders; gently, always so careful to be gentle with his baby brother, especially with his automail -but with urgency nonetheless. He squeezed tightly as he looked Al in the eyes.
"Hey, what happened?"
"What do you mean?"
"Come on, I've known you your whole life! I can tell when something's upsetting you. Was it Envy? Did he do something? I swear to god Al if he hurt you…" He fought back the venom rising in his throat at the thought that that… thing had done something to harm Al. He felt Al's hand on the tense muscles of his flesh arm, trying to relax him.
"Brother, please. He didn't do anything. I'm fine, really. We just- we had a conversation, and it got me thinking about some stuff. I've been kinda distracted."
Ed's breath came out in a relieved sigh. "You sure you're alright?"
"Yeah, I'm ok. You worry too much."

Releasing his brother's shoulders, Ed stepped back out of his personal space.
"You said you had a conversation?"
Al flinched.
"Uh, yeah…" His pitch was too high, as if he was asking the question rather than answering it.
"What about?" Ed tried to keep his tone casual, conversational, even though he could already tell from Al's reaction that he wasn't going to love the answer.
"About food, mostly. He was telling me that apparently homunculi can eat, but they choose not to-"

Ed had been planning on zeroing in on the 'mostly' part of what Al had said; demanding that he explain the rest. But what came out of Al's mouth after that triggered something in his mind, making him forget all about his misgivings.
"Wait, what exactly did Envy say?"
Al repeated the homunculus' words verbatim, and Ed's brain clicked.
"He said their bodies treat human food like ours treat cake, right? Well that's assuming we have another food source. He's saying that it's like when we eat three meals a day and then cake. Our body doesn't need the cake, so it doesn't use it. But if the only thing you ate that day was cake…"
"Then your body uses that as fuel instead," Al finished with wide eyes. Ed snapped his fingers.
"Maybe that's the solution! If he's running out of his normal energy source, maybe all he needs to do is switch to a different energy source!"
"You really think it could be that simple?"
"I hope so, it's a hell of a lot easier than trying to track down red stones."
"Might not be," Al sighed, "I don't think he's gonna like the idea much."
"He can suck it up. If saving his life just means he has to start eating like a normal person, I can think of much worse things."
"True, I guess it's worth a shot." He ran his fingers through his hair. "We should probably give him some time to cool off though, he wasn't that happy last time I saw him."

A small cough got their attention, and the boys turned to see the hotel desk clerk again. Ed groaned.
"God, tell me Mustang's not on the line again! I already told him twice-"
"Um, no, it's not a phone call," the desk clerk managed in a meek voice. Ed waited for her to continue, confused.
"It's two officers by the names of Jean Havoc and Heymans Breda. They've come to see you."

Ed fumed as the brothers made their way downstairs. Mustang had always liked to meddle in things that weren't his business, so no surprise there - but this was taking things a little far, even for him. He stopped directly in front of Havoc and Breda, who already looked like they knew what was coming, and crossed his arms impatiently.
"Mustang sent you, didn't he?"
"What? No, we were just in the area, we thought we'd stop by…"
Breda's sentence fell off, clearly judging by the expression on Ed's face that it would be unwise to continue. He glanced at Havoc, who scratched the back of his head feebly.
"Well it was worth a try."

Ed felt his eyes roll almost to the back of his skull.
"Why are you here? What does he want now?"
"The Colonel told us you were having issues with some crazy guy in the area. He seemed to think you might need a hand."
If it hadn't been for Al's soft hand on his shoulder, silently warning him to stay calm, Ed would have lost his mind right then and there. His blood felt so hot that it honestly should have been steam, and it took everything he had not to ignore his brother's warning and just beat the hell out of the undeserving soldiers.
No, scratch that. He wanted to beat the hell out of Mustang and his interfering ass.
As it was, Ed knew that Havoc and Breda were just concerned for his safety, and that punching them probably wasn't the best option. Gritting his teeth, he did his damned best to look pleasant and sociable.
"We appreciate the concern, but we've got it under control. Really."

Havoc leaned in closer, pulling his cigarette out of his mouth and holding it away so the boys wouldn't inhale any fumes.
"You know, it's ok. You can tell us what's really going on."
Ed's blood went from steam to ice in an instant. Next to him, he felt Al's hand stiffen and knew the same uncertain fear was flooding his body. No way… They couldn't possibly know. Could they?
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, Mustang already wasn't convinced about your little story. And then when he heard the reports from his little spy network in Central, that pretty much confirmed it for him. There are homunculi in the area. The pretty lady, and the little fat one. They're the ones you're hiding from, right?"
"Wait, what?"

Ed twisted to face Al. His brother's face was ghostly pale, and his bronze eyes were downright terrified as they met Ed's gold.
"Lust and Gluttony? They're here in Central?!"
Breda's brow raised. "Well, yeah. We thought you knew. Unless…"
"No," Ed snapped. "We told Mustang a million times – we were only hiding from some normal guy. We had no idea the homunculi were in town!"
"Thanks for warning us," Al interjected, "now that we know, we'll be even more careful." He threw a glance at Ed, which Ed ignored.
"Either way," Havoc said, "Roy wants you boys to have an escort for the time being. Just in case. He's assigned us for the job."

Ed immediately swung back to face them, filling his expression with as much venom as he could.
"No way. We don't-"
"Don't say you don't need our help, Ed. You just told us you had no idea the homunculi were even around. What would've happened to you two if we hadn't shown up? What could've happened to your brother?" Breda said pointedly, gesturing to Al. Despite his best attempts to look tough, the thought of his brother at the end of Lust's talons or Gluttony's teeth made Ed flinch. They might not know what Al looked like in his human body, but that most certainly didn't mean he was safe.
"You're not coming into our hotel rooms," Ed said weakly. The soldiers nodded.
"We wouldn't dream of invading your privacy, guys. But we do have to hang around nearby, at least for now. We don't know why the homunculi are here, but Roy has a bad feeling about their proximity to you."
"And if we know one thing about the boss," Havoc finished, "it's that his bad feelings are almost never wrong. Sorry Chief, you're stuck with us for a while."
"Fine, we can deal with that. Now excuse us for a moment, my brother and I need to discuss something in private." Ed grabbed Al by the shoulder and pulled him back up the stairs to their room. The soldiers followed, but stayed at a distance; understanding of the boys' need for privacy. Ed all but slammed the door in their faces before speaking to Al in a hushed tone.
"We need to get rid of him."
He knew Al wouldn't need clarification on who 'he' was. And he was right.

"Brother, we can't."
"Are you kidding me right now?! Lust and Gluttony are here because they're looking for him! I say we let them have him. They'll leave us alone, and hell, they might even have more red stones for him! Win-win."
"And if he leads them back here?" Al pointed out. "The Homunculi are just looking for him now, sure. What about later? We know they want to use us to make a stone." Ed blanched.

"We won't stay here. We'll leave."
"Do you really think the Colonel's going to let that happen now that Homunculi are in the area? He was worried enough when he thought we were just dealing with a crazed alchemist! He won't know why we want to leave, he won't know that he's putting us in more danger by keeping us here, he'll just think he's keeping us safe."
"I'm not in the military anymore; he can't order me to stay."
"Maybe not. He can place us under house arrest, though."
"No he can't, we haven't done anything wrong." But even as Ed spoke the words, he knew they weren't true. The look on Al's face confirmed the desperation of their situation.
"Human transmutation. Transmuting gold. Breaking and entering. Hundreds of incidents of property damage. And he's not even aware of the fact that we're literally harbouring a fugitive!" Al counted off on his fingers. "Even if he wouldn't risk the rest of the military finding out about the human transmutation, he has more than enough reasons to place us under arrest."
"You don't think he'd resort to that?"
"Why not? He's a Colonel and a war hero, he can just drop the charges later and say he was wrong. No one will argue with him. Besides that… I know you two love to fight, but the Colonel does care about us, Ed. I'm pretty sure he'd do anything to keep us safe. Especially after what happened to Hughes."

Ed hated the way Al's voice broke a little on the name. It was the first time they had really stopped to acknowledge it. Al stopped talking for a moment, and Ed knew he was struggling to regain his composure at the horrific reminder of the danger they had put their friends and family in. Finally, Al seemed to regain control over himself.
"Besides, we have a guard detail now. There's no way we're going to sneak Envy past Havoc and Breda. If he could shapeshift, maybe; but he can't, and thanks to us, pretty much everyone on Mustang's team knows what he looks like. As little as we may like it, we're stuck with him for now."
Ed knew his brother's logic in this case was infallible. While they had agreed not to go into the rooms, Havoc and Breda certainly planned on staying close by; and that probably meant that getting Envy out would be near impossible if he was willing, let alone if he decided for some reason to be difficult. Which with Envy, was always a possibility.
He sighed, giving in.
"Fine, ok. We keep him here for now. But what if they get suspicious? We have two rooms and we're staying in one; you don't think they'll notice that?"
Al chewed on his bottom lip in thought.
"Not if they think that's my room."

Panic hit Ed like a weight at the sheer thought of Al spending so much time alone with Envy. Sleeping in the same room as him, totally vulnerable to anything the homunculus might choose to do.
"You are not staying in that room with him. If that's what it comes down to, I will."
"I'm not a child, Ed!" Al said, exasperated. "I know you're worried, I know you don't want anything bad to happen to me. But I'm not stupid and I'm not ten anymore; I can take care of myself just as well as you can."
Despite the worry still needling at his heart, Ed almost laughed at the expression on Al's face. It was very similar, he imagined, to the face he himself had worn only a few years ago as he made what would turn out to be a five-year promise. Al's bronze eyes were burning with Elric determination and above all, a demand to be heard.
"Well," he said fondly, a soft smile crossing his own features, "I know better than to try and argue with that face. Just, please Al, for me – be careful, ok?"
"Of course," Al nodded. "We're gonna figure this out, Brother. I don't know how yet, but we will."

Al left their – now Ed's, he reminded himself – room, heading for Envy's and nodding at the soldiers as he passed. While he was just as worried as his brother at the emergence of the homunculi, and especially considering their likely reason for being in town, he had to admit that at least part of this series of events was… fortunate. He had been itching for a chance to get to know Envy better, especially after the experience he'd had earlier that morning – and here it was. Ed was likely to pop in from time to time, just to make sure Envy hadn't throttled him in his sleep, he wasn't stupid. But for the most part, Al could now guarantee as much time and space as he needed to dig beyond whatever defences Envy was putting up.
He wasn't sure exactly what was lying beyond, or what he'd do when he got there. But he knew one thing; his Elric curiosity wasn't going to let him pass this opportunity up.

. . .

As the sun started to fade below the horizon, Lust crossed her legs impatiently over the edge of the rooftop she was sitting on. On the outside, she looked as calm and attractive as ever; her black curls folding over her shoulders and down her back, a serene stare flattening out her features. Inside, however she was in turmoil.
If she was to admit it to herself, she had been…. Uncomfortable with Dante's leadership for a while now. She wasn't about to turn traitor, especially after how easily Greed had been defeated. Homunculi, she had to admit, were an aberration; a sin against nature. And while she didn't necessarily have to worry about the military coming after her, the truth was that for creatures like her, safety existed in numbers.

Now, though, Envy had disappeared. He had vanished before, usually after his little childish tantrums about the Elric brothers and Him – Envy wouldn't let her even speak the name – but only ever for a day or two at a time. The setting of this particular sun marked the sixth day and counting since anyone had last seen him. He had never been gone for so long before; and in Lust's mind, that left only two options.
Either something had happened to him, or he had turned down Greed's path.

She considered both options, weighing them in her mind. Envy had always been a strong fighter, having spent almost a Century mastering his own style of Capoeira – something he often bragged about. And as if that wasn't enough, he was cunning too; well versed in all manners of trickery. After all, he'd needed to learn pretty quickly; his shapeshifting ability lent itself well to him playing the roles of spy, decoy, and sleeper agent of the group. Especially when one considered how difficult homunculi were to destroy, the idea of him being overpowered was almost laughable.
Idly, she considered the possibility that Envy may have turned traitor. She couldn't imagine why, at first; he had always appeared to be the most loyal of the group. But then she remembered his violent tantrums.

No, Envy had never really been in it for Dante - at least, not that she could tell. He had his own goals in mind. And if ever the day came that those goals no longer aligned with Dante's… maybe he would leave.
And she found herself questioning; Envy was the oldest amongst them. For the longest time any of them could remember, he had been the solitary mainstay of the team. He had outlasted the previous Lust, and even Greed. If Envy had left… would others?
The sounds of Gluttony slobbering grew steadily closer, and she looked up as he approached. He was barely standing, his massive chest heaving to catch his breath.
"Well? Have you found anything, Gluttony?"
"I- I think I can smell him! But I'm not sure where he is!"
"That's good enough," Lust reassured. "At least now we know he has to be somewhere in the city. We'll find him."

While she felt lighter at the realisation of Envy being close by, and presumably alive, Lust had to admit that this news was also unsettling. If he was alive, nothing in this world could hold him in one spot against his will. Had he abandoned them?
As much as she dreaded the answer, she knew there was only one way to find out. She had to find him.