Hey everyone, I'm back!

Sorry about the long break. In case anyone is interested in what I've been doing, this whole time (aside from the parts where I worked on this, because that's a given):

-I got, and then lost, my dream job (a better candidate sniped it out from under me at literally the last second)

-I've been helping make a video game! So that's cool.

Anyway, I'm back now, and I'm sorry for keeping you waiting. Let us continue the story!

. . .

"How could it not have worked?" Ed asked, his mouth agape. "I thought you said you had it under control!"
"Shit," Envy said. "I knew I went too far with it. It was too cartoonishly evil – it wasn't realistic."
"It's not that," Hawkeye answered. "Actually, there were plans to rebel within the ranks of the military. Which is why the Fuhrer got involved, split up the rebellious soldiers, and sent half of them to the front line."

"Damnit," Roy said. He clenched his fist. "This is bad news. They might be onto us."
"They are," Hawkeye confirmed. "That's the rest of it. You're one of the soldiers being pulled to the front lines."

Roy sighed, and looked over at Envy.
"That might not mean anything, yet. He did warn us this would happen; said it was probably put on hold because he defected. Isn't that right?"
Envy nodded. "Yeah. I sure hope you've been thinking of a plan, since then. Because if you go to the front lines, I promise you won't come back. We're in a tight spot, here – we can't afford to lose you right now."

Roy sat down at the table. He crossed his arms, and started tapping his foot against the wooden floor.
"The way I see it, I have two options. I either follow orders, and walk into a trap – or I disobey, and become a fugitive of the military."
"You can't, Colonel," Al said. "These people don't play games. If you go, they will kill you."
Roy's breath hissed through his gritted teeth.
"Maybe not."

Everyone stared at him.

"Maybe I should go," he continued.
"Have you lost your mind?"
"Thank you, Ed. Once again, I am blown away by your tact and grace. I hope you realise that this is the reason I never brought you to any military functions."
"Ugh, as if I'd want to go anyway."
"I promise, there is a method to my madness."
"Which is?"

"Once again, I find myself agreeing with the boys," Hawkeye said. Her eyebrows had drawn together, her face was whiter than usual, and her jaw was tight. "Sir. If you're working on some kind of master plan, I would appreciate being enlightened as to what that entails."
His eyes softened as he looked at her. He folded his hands together on the table, and leaned forwards; closing his eyes as if visualising the plan in his mind.

"We know that if I go North, someone will attempt to have me killed. Envy – if you had to pick one of your colleagues, which do you think she would send after me?"
"Definitely Lust," he said without hesitation. "If they're sending everyone away, that means they don't want Pride tied up with other things. So it sounds like they want to keep him in Central."
"What about the fat one?"
"Gluttony doesn't leave bodies behind. A bullet wound on the front lines isn't suspicious. If a famous war hero goes missing, people are going to want to look for you. And if it becomes clear that Pride isn't all that interested in looking for you… That will look suspicious."

"Lust. She's the one with the blades, correct?"
"Yeah."
"You need to be careful of those," Al said, with a shudder. "Envy and I fought her; she's fast. She can kill you before you even know she's there."
"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you for the heads up."

He pursed his lip in thought.
"I believe having someone attempt to assassinate me could work to our advantage."
"Please explain how," Hawkeye said, looking more and more nervous by the minute.
"Because I don't plan for them to succeed. I'll go North, and plant some seeds about the rebellion. When someone then attempts to murder me immediately after, it's going to look like the Fuhrer ordered a hit."
"Yeah, and that's a great plan - if you live," Envy said. "The whole reason I told you about the assassination was to stop you from going there, moron! Not so you could run straight into it."
"I'm going to live – because you're going to watch my back."

"Me?" Envy sputtered. "Why me? Don't you have about twenty subordinates you pay to put their lives on the line for you?"
"I'm almost certain no one in my team will be allowed to accompany me. If the plan is to have me killed, they'll want to keep me far away from any allies. But that won't be a problem for you; because you won't look like an ally."
"Ah, I gotcha."

"And what do the rest of us do in the meantime?" Ed asked. "Sit around and wait? You have no idea how long you'll be there, for!"
"The rest of you will get to work formulating a plan, just in case Envy and I don't come back."
"I thought you just said everything would be fine!"
"It probably will be. But 'unlikely' doesn't mean impossible. You should always have a Plan B, Ed."

"Especially because we're up against the only people in the world who actually know how to kill me," Envy said. "Like, for good. So that I can't heal from it."
"To be fair, no one really knows for sure what could kill you right now," Ed pointed out. "We're in uncharted territory." Roy looked back at Envy, and raised an eyebrow when he saw him trembling.
"Is there something I should know?"
Envy sighed.

"Yeah, there is. Usually, a homunculus can't die until they've been 'sealed'. It's a complicated transmutation circle, that drains the red stones from our bodies. The short version is that it turns us mortal. The thing is, that kind of already happened to me."
Roy's expression changed on a dime. His forehead creased, and the passive stare he usually kept so carefully had completely dropped.
"What? How?"
"My red stones ran out naturally. We don't just lose them when we're sealed – we chew them up whenever we use our powers, or heal, or just to keep our bodies running."
"What happens when they run out naturally?"

He paused, not wanting to admit that the answer scared him just as much as it did the others.

"We don't know," he said, fighting to keep his voice steady. "It's never happened before. The Elrics," he gestured at them, "have found a solution for now. But…"
"But you don't know how long it will last," Roy finished.

"We do know that he hasn't completely lost his powers," Ed said, before an uncomfortable silence could envelop the room. "You saw that for yourself. And that's encouraging. But we don't know how weakened he is, right now. We haven't exactly tested his limits."
"We have," Envy corrected. "To an extent. We know that I can heal from a couple burns and a stab wound. The stab wound took a few days; but the burns healed up way faster. If that trend keeps up, I could get back to where I was. But I don't really feel like lopping an arm off to test whether it grows back, you know?"

"We'll need to be careful, then," Roy said. "If we don't know what you're capable of healing from, we should assume you're completely mortal."
Envy's eyes widened, and he turned to Al. "You don't think that's possible, do you?"
"That you're mortal?" Al asked. He rested his chin in his hand.

"Honestly, we won't know for a while. You've been the same age since you were born, right? You haven't grown at all?"
"That's right."
"So I guess if you suddenly start getting older, we know you've lost your immortality."
"You're planning on having me around for that long?"

There was genuine surprise in Envy's tone. Al didn't answer; but his face took on a perturbed quality.

"The Fuhrer's mortal," Riza said, suddenly. "We've seen him age. So it's not impossible."
"He's special, though. Dante did something different with him. She was trying to create a homunculus that could age – thought it would fool the humans better."
"Well I don't know much about alchemy - but if immortality is connected to the red stones, whatever she did must have something to do with them. Maybe she fed him fewer – or somehow created him without them."
"That might mean he's easier to defeat," Roy said. Envy laughed.

"Don't underestimate him. It'll be the last mistake you ever make."
He shuddered as several memories passed through his mind.

"I don't know what she did. But Pride's different to the rest of us. And I'm not just talking about the fact that he's an old man."
"Then what do you mean?"
He rubbed his forehead, trying to think of how best to explain it.
"Let me put it this way: normally, homunculi are created to mimic a dead human. Invariably, some traces of that human remain present. The amount changes between individuals, but there's always something. Some vague memory of who that person was; some mark left behind."

"What are you saying?" Ed asked.

"I'm saying, that's not the case with Pride. I don't think he was based on a real person – at all. Dante created him from thin air. When you look at him, it's like… It's like he's wearing a mask, and underneath is… Nothing."

The entire table fell silent, as the group contemplated what they had been told. Ed was the first with the courage to speak.

"That gives me an interesting theory."
"What's that?" Roy asked. He shrugged.
"I'd rather not talk about it, just yet. I want to look into it some more first."
He glanced at Al – who nodded without even knowing what the theory was. They had spent their fair share of time in libraries, researching the hours away. He wasn't opposed to doing it once more.

"Well, then," Roy said, standing. "I'm going to ready myself for travel. Envy, you should do the same. We'll meet at the train station, to avoid suspicion."
He paused, and then smirked – as if at a private joke.
"Wear something nice."

Envy scoffed, watching Roy's back as he left.

"What a bastard."
Al choked on his water. Ed turned to pat him on the back, and threw him a questioning look.

"Geez, Al! You'd think you'd be used to drinking water by now – it doesn't take that much practice!"
Al shook his head, covering his mouth while he finished coughing.
"I'm okay," he said; his voice strained. He threw a look in Envy's direction. While it was subtle, the implication was clear enough.

Soon, Envy thought. Just not yet.

He left to get ready for his trip, and once again, tried not to think about it all.

. . .

Lust dropped the child at Dante's feet.

He didn't look much like a homunculus. Were it not for the ouroboros on the sole of his foot, she would have taken him for an ordinary ten-year-old boy.
Well, perhaps not an ordinary boy. His black hair was almost to his hips, and looked as though it had never been brushed. His clothes were some kind of brown rags, that looked suspiciously as though they had been transmuted. And there was the fact that he was currently shaking in terror.

"Excellent job," Dante said. She nodded once at Sloth, who simply brushed her hair over her shoulder with a bored expression.
Dante knelt to the boy's level, and lifted his chin so she could see his face.

"You need not fear us, child. From what I hear, you've been all alone on that island. Is that right?"
He swallowed, and nodded.
"Well, you're home now. You never have to be alone again. And we'll help you take care of your… little problem."
The boy's eyes widened.
"What problem?"
"Oh, but of course! You don't even know what you are, do you?"

His forehead creased.
"What I… am?"
She pulled his foot out from under him, and pointed at the red tattoo.

"Do you know what this mark means?"
"No."
"You're a homunculus, I'm afraid. The unwanted scraps, left behind by an alchemist who wanted something more."

She watched as pain split the boy's face; immediately followed by anger.

"Are you saying there's something… wrong with me?"
"Unfortunately, there is. As a homunculus, you're not quite… complete. You're missing something dreadfully important. Something all humans are born with. Do you know what that is?"

He shook his head.

"A soul," she said. "You have no soul. The good news is that I believe I can fix that. I can help you – as long as you help me."
She gestured at the closet against the wall. "Lust; you know how this works, by now. Why are you still standing there?"

"Didn't we run out?" Lust asked. Despite her dissent, she was already walking towards the closet while she spoke – moving on a reflex, born from years of punishment.
"Nearly. I'm afraid this really will be the last of them; at least for now. I scavenged these from that disaster the Elrics caused in Xenotime."

Lust opened the closet, and searched inside. Sure enough, there was a pouch of red stones hidden underneath one of Dante's old dresses. She glanced back at Dante.
Had she known those were there, the whole time? It sure seemed like it – she had said they were from Xenotime, which had been years before.

She thought back to Envy. His body had run out of red stones, if he was to be believed. To think of how frightened he must have been… Meanwhile, Dante had known there were stones the entire time.

She brought the stones back to Dante, and watched as she fed them to the boy – who promptly collapsed in a fit of agony.

Minutes passed. The women stood, watching, until the boy's squeals subsided.

Once he had calmed, he sat up – gasping for air, as though he were truly breathing for the first time in his life. When he spoke, his voice was a low growl – no longer the quiet, frightened child he had been minutes ago.
"I… I remember. I was just a baby, and she handed me back. Gave me back to the darkness, left me there for years… Like I meant nothing!"

He trembled, as though the whole horrible experience had been only minutes ago, and not years. It felt like minutes, to him.

"Who did?" Dante asked.
"My… I guess I should call her my 'mother', but she doesn't feel like one."
He curled in on himself.
"She didn't want me. She gave me up – just like that. What kind of mother does such a thing?"

Dante smiled.

"There, we are. We've found you – the real you – hiding underneath that clever disguise."

She brushed the red dust off her hands. "Well, I believe I know exactly where you fit in. I had hoped you would replace Envy; but no matter. That will come, with time."
"Huh?" He looked up, confused. "What do you mean?"
"I think you'd make the perfect Wrath. Don't you?"

She had asked the question as if to the boy – but her eyes met Lust's, in just the right way to make it clear who the real target was. Lust was caught off-guard; she had been off in her own thoughts, still worried about Envy. She snapped back to attention immediately – but she was too late to avoid raising suspicion.

Funny – she had never worried about that, before. But Dante, it seemed, had grown less and less stable, since Envy had left. And now Lust found herself wondering if her mind had strayed too far. Was it possible that, at that very moment, she was planning to have her sealed underground like Greed?
No, surely not. Dante was running at a shortage as it was. Pride was busy ruling the country. This Wrath boy was new, and wouldn't become skilled enough for a few decades – if he survived that long.

She didn't need to be afraid yet – of that much, she was certain. Still, she knew deep down that her status could only protect her for so much longer. She had been close to Envy – too close. And now, because of it, her loyalty had been called into question.

She swallowed back the fear that had begun to rise in her throat, just in time for Dante to address her.

"Is something wrong, Lust?"
"Of course not."
"That's not very convincing."
"I'm worried about what Envy might be planning," she said, without missing a beat. "The Elric brothers are quite troublesome enough on their own. I don't even want to know what they could do together."
Dante frowned.

"Yes, I'll have to agree. It is, quite possibly, the worst alliance that could have formed against us. Though the Elrics didn't appear to be that much of a threat, last I saw them. I'm not even sure…"
She paused, thought about it, then dropped whatever words had been forming in her mind. Lust wondered what information she was sitting on this time.
"Besides," Dante continued, "There's something else that might prove valuable to us."
"What do you mean?"
"When you fought him, at that silly little hotel in Central – did you manage to injure him, at all?"

Lust thought back to the incident, and brushed aside the wave of emotion that came with the memory.

"No. The Flame Alchemist got in the way. Why does it come to mind?"
"Because I put a knife through his chest. And when I did that, he went down just like a human would."
Oh no. Had she figured it out?
"What are you saying?" she asked. That horrible smile crept across Dante's face – the cold, frozen one, that looked as though she were only imitating what she thought a human smile looked like.

"I've grown to suspect that he may be suffering the effects of his long life a bit more than he'd like us to think."
It took everything in Lust to shrug nonchalantly, rather than panic.
"Well if that's the case, I really don't see what the fuss is. Won't he just die on his own?"
"In all likelihood," Dante agreed. "Unless he's found another way to survive – but I don't see how he would do that. Still, I don't like the idea of sitting around and waiting."
She remained on the floor as she spoke, absent-mindedly running her hand through Wrath's hair.

"Did I ever tell you that Envy was the first, Lust? The first homunculus I ever brought into the fold."
"You did. What about it?"
"Well, it means that I've never seen one die of old age, before. I honestly wasn't entirely sure it was possible. So I don't know precisely what it looks like. He could take months, or even years, to truly peter out."
She pulled a face. "And in the meantime – knowing him – I'm sure he'll do as much as he can to set us back. That brat always was the type to say 'if I can't have it, let it all burn to the ground'."

She got up. "He needs to be stopped. And we need to start by taking out the biggest threat in his little group – it's time to snuff out the Flame Alchemist."
"Of course. I won't fail you."
"You'd better not," Dante said, as Lust walked away. "My tolerance for failure is exceedingly low right now."

. . .

Envy hated the cold, and he hated Roy for dragging him up there.

So far, their trip to the North had been completely uneventful – and that worried him. He knew it was likely that Dante had planned ahead for him to try and thwart the murder.
What if Roy was no longer being attacked at all? What if Dante decided to use the opportunity to make a different play?

He had no way of knowing – at least, not until something happened. His biggest fear, if he was entirely honest, was that nothing would happen. They were banking on Roy being attacked, so they would have an excuse to leave. If that didn't happen, it was possible they would be trapped there – leaving the others defenceless.

Wait. Was it possible that was Dante's plan?

He sighed, and looked down at the tattoo on his left thigh. It had been there since the moment of his birth – an ugly reminder that he was not what he seemed. The ouroboros marked all homunculi as something less than human.

He heard the rustle of the tent flap, and reflexively shapeshifted back to his soldier disguise – only to relax when he realised it was only Roy.
"Everything alright?" Roy asked; most likely seeing his tense posture.
"Fine. Have you seen anything, yet?"
"No. And that makes me nervous."

He sat down, and took off his military jacket to reveal the white button-down beneath.
"Me too," Envy said. "They should've tried it by now. Something's up."
"Do you have any idea what that could be?"
"If I did, don't you think I would've told you already?"

He got up. "I can't sit here anymore. I'm going to take a look around; see if there's anything out of the ordinary. I'll let you know about anything weird."
"Be careful – if anyone catches you…"
"Relax, would you? No one's going to catch me."
Before he left, he made sure his disguise was still in place anyway – just to be safe.

He walked out into the snow, and immediately regretted his decision. He clutched his blue military coat tighter around himself, shivering.

Fuck, he hated the cold.

He decided, while he was outside anyway, to perform a full perimeter sweep. This was something he and Roy had done several times, over the last few days – Lust was fast enough that they didn't want to let her get too close.
It was possible, in theory, that they would send a different homunculus – and that worried him. But he was fairly certain it would be Lust. Covert jobs like this had always been her domain – at least, when they weren't his.

He covered the entire area; and had seen nothing of interest, for the most part. There weren't even any animals around – not that far north.
He was about to give up and head back to the tent when a suspicious noise caught his ear. It was, in fact, the distinct lack of any wildlife that convinced him it was a noise worth noticing – had he been anywhere else, he would have brushed it off as a fox or bird.

But up there, that slight rustle couldn't be anything other than a person.

He turned. Someone stepped back behind a tree – but not quite fast enough to avoid detection. He sprinted after them, leapt, and knocked them to the ground. Once he had them under him, he swiftly re-adjusted his weight so that he was pinning them down.

Below him, much as he had expected, lay Lust.

But straight away, he noticed there was something off about her. She should be unhappy that he had spotted her; and even less so, that he had actually managed to knock her to the ground. But she seemed… thrilled. Or at least, as close to thrilled as she ever got.
She was smiling.

"It's good to see you too, Envy."

The words had been spoken sarcastically, as was her custom – but there was something else there, that he couldn't quite detect. He frowned.

"What the…. How the hell did you know it was me?"
"Don't get me wrong. I know how I look to men. Still, most of them don't literally tackle me on sight – though I'm sure more than one has considered it. I thought it was a pretty safe bet."

He shifted back into his normal form, glaring down at her.

"Don't give me that dumb smile, like it's going to change anything," he said. "Dante sent you, didn't she?"
He got off her. "Get lost, before you regret it. I might not be able to kill you, without that precious little locket of yours – but I can shorten your lifespan by a hundred years, or so."
She sat up, and adjusted the top of her dress.
"Calm down, would you? I'm not here to follow Dante's orders."
He scoffed.

"And I'm supposed to just believe that, am I? I know what the mission was; I was there when she gave it to us. I'm not stupid."
"I never said you were – quite to the contrary, it's smart not to just take me at my word."
She got to her feet, and sighed.

"Dante had red stones the whole time."

Envy felt as though the words reached him underwater – dull, and slowed by some invisible force.

"She what?"
"I can't believe I'm saying this; but you were right, Envy. About everything."
He crossed his arms.
"And? You didn't seem to care, before."

She closed her eyes.

"The Elrics… If they had the power to do so, do you think they would make me human?"
He paused. He wasn't sure how to field that question.
The first words that came to his lips were that Edward couldn't transmute. Luckily, he stopped them before they managed to escape. He still wasn't sure of Lust's true intentions – and he knew Dante had to be working from the assumption that the Fullmetal Alchemist was still a threat. Letting it get out that the famous State Alchemist had been completely disarmed could be disastrous.

"I doubt it," he finally said. "They don't want to use a stone. Not now that they know how it's made."
He knew he was lodging his foot firmly into his mouth. Half their plan had been to try and win Lust over, to make Dante weaker. This was his chance to do exactly that, and he was throwing it away.

But for some odd reason, despite everything, he still couldn't bring himself to lie to her.

She crossed her arms over her chest, and stared almost absent-mindedly to the side. But Envy knew that face, and she was far from 'absent'. The levers in her brain were working harder than ever.
"Maybe I'll ask them," she said.
"You'll have a hell of a time getting close to them, without being turned to ash."
"Yes, the Flame Alchemist has joined your little team. I'm aware. I was hoping you could help, in that regard – you seem to be close to him."
"I wouldn't say 'close'. More like, I've convinced him not to kill me."
"For my purposes, that's close enough."

He stared her down.

"You're asking me to put my neck on the line for you," he said.
"I know that."
"You're going to have to prove that it'll be worth it. I just won their trust; I can't have you ruining what I've managed to build here."
"I understand that," she said; and something deep within her eyes softened. "I can give you the proof you need – but I don't think it would be smart to do so out here. If you can take me somewhere private, with the Colonel, I'll show you."

He watched her for another moment, considering his options.

"If you try anything, I'll kill you on the spot."
"I don't doubt you'll try. You forget, Envy – I know exactly how red your ledger is."
"Just making sure we understand each other."

He sighed. He had been hoping for this exact moment for so long. But now that it was happening…
"I have no idea how I'm going to explain this to him."

He ended up asking her to wait outside, while he talked to the Colonel. He wasn't sure what he hoped to say, that might convince him – he wasn't even sure he was convinced. But when he had changed sides, Alphonse had given him the benefit of the doubt; and he wanted to do the same for her.

"Hey," he said, perhaps too cheerfully, as he entered the tent. Roy's head snapped up, and his eyes narrowed.
"What happened?"
Envy's arms dropped to his sides. "How did you know?"
"Well I assumed you're not enough of an idiot to drop your disguise for no reason."
Envy looked down at himself – having completely forgotten about it.
"Goddamnit," he grumbled. He was losing his edge, and it infuriated him. "Fine. I have some news."

He paused, unsure how to start.

"So, I saw Lust."
Roy jumped up, already reaching for his glove. Envy rose his hands and waved them wildly in the air.
"Hey, hey, hey! Wait a second!"
Roy stopped, watching him intently.

"She might be joining us."
"Might?"
"Well I don't want to be that idiot who trusts too soon and gets burned, do I? In this case, maybe literally." He gestured at the gloves. "She's saying she's willing to join us."
"But you're not sure if you believe her."
"Right."

He waited for Roy to say something. Anything, really. The man was imperceptible when he wanted to be.

"Bring her here," he said, finally.
"Are you sure?"
"I wouldn't have said it, if I wasn't."
"Okay, fine." He sighed, glancing at the door. "Wait here."

He found her precisely where he had left her – doing that unnerving thing she sometimes did, where she stood frozen like a statue. He cleared his throat, and watched her stiff posture melt away.
"He wants to talk to you," he said, pointing back in the tent's general direction. She smiled faintly.
"A pleasantly unexpected turn of events. Lead the way."

He brought her back to Roy, who looked like he was ready to pull on his gloves at a moment's notice. Lust didn't seem much calmer.
Envy really hoped it wouldn't turn into a fight.

"Envy tells me you've had a change of heart about your master," Roy said. "I wanted to hear your side of the story."
"She has no intention of ever giving me what I want," she said, as if it were the simplest answer in the world. "So why should I stay loyal to her?"
"And what is it you want?"
"To be made human."

He paused, and gave Envy a look that very clearly said 'have you lost your mind'. Envy ignored it.
"I don't know what Envy may or may not have promised you," Roy said, his tone careful, "but I highly doubt you're going to get that from us, either. We're not exactly in a position where we can provide it."
"He didn't promise me anything. In fact, he actually said much the same thing you just did."
Roy's brow creased.
"And yet you're still willing to work with us? Interesting. You'll forgive me for wondering what the catch is."

"I know it's hard to believe."
"No, I don't think you do. One homunculus joining our side out of the blue was strange enough. But two?"
"It looks like a trick," Lust finished. "It looks like I was sent here, to infiltrate your group. I understand that."
"So how do you plan on convincing us that's not true?"

She pulled something out of the top of her dress, and held it out.
"Is this good enough for you?"

It was a small, black box. Roy stared at it in confusion. Envy, on the other hand, had started to sweat.

"I have no idea what that is," Roy said. Lust broke into a smirk.
"No, you wouldn't. But Envy does – don't you, Envy?"
Before anyone could react, she threw the box to Roy – who just barely caught it.

"Take it," she said. "It's yours. I would give it directly to Envy, since it is his – but, well, that tends not to go well."
"Holy shit," Envy said, finally recovering from the shock. "How did you get that?"
"It wasn't easy."
"What about yours? Do you have that, too?"
She grimaced.

"I had to leave it behind. I figured it was more important to secure yours, since your status as an immortal is… questionable, right now. She's much more likely to make a move against you, than me."
"And what if she does make a move against you?"
"Well, you'll just have to protect me. Won't you?"

Roy held up the box, inspecting it – but not quite brave enough to open it.

"Do either of you want to tell me what this is?"
Envy crossed his arms.
"You remember what we talked about before, right? How each homunculus has their own, unique weakness?"
Roy's eyes widened.

"This is yours," he said. Without hesitation, he started searching the tent. "In that case, I need somewhere safe to put this."
Envy tried to avoid visibly sighing in relief. He wouldn't admit it aloud, but he had been tense from the moment Roy had been thrown the box. While he felt they had come to an understanding - the idea of the man who had just tried to kill him having that much power over him still made him nervous.

He shook his head, and looked at Lust.
"Shit," he said. "You really did leave. You can't go back – not now. I know I was trying to get this to happen – but you do realise what you've done, right?"
"It doesn't matter. She won't give me what I want, anyway."

Roy finally found somewhere to stow the box, and gestured to Envy. "Can I speak with you for a moment?"
"Sure. Okay."

They stepped outside the tent. Envy tried to ignore the stress inside his chest – as much as it felt like a rubber band about to snap.
"What's up?"
"You know her best," Roy said. "Do you think she's telling the truth?"
"I guess so. She just betrayed Dante by giving us that box. She can't go back – she'll be killed on the spot. And that's if she's lucky." He shuddered.
"You don't think it's possible she was given the box? I'm assuming Dante knows that presenting it would be compelling evidence of a betrayal."
"No way. Like I said – none of us are allowed to touch them, except Pride. Besides – as far as she knows, that box is the only weapon she has that stands a chance against me. She'd never just give it up."

Roy frowned. "That might not be true. Lust said something about your 'immortality being questionable'. It's possible that Dante's figured something out. You should watch your back."
"Right." A second tremor, worse than the first, passed through his body. He would need to ask Lust what that had meant.

"So what do we do," he asked, after a moment of silence. Roy glanced back at the tent – then at Envy.
"Well, we gave you a chance – so far, it's worked out in our favour. I think it would be unfair not to give her one, as well."
"You think that's the best move?"
"If she wanted me dead, she would have done it the moment you led her to my tent," he pointed out.
"Yeah, you have a point." He rubbed his head.

"Okay, fine. We should go tell her. And then we need to figure out how the hell we're getting out of here. You did spread your dumb gospel about the rebellion, right?"
Roy smiled.
"I've said enough for people to draw a connection. As for getting back to Central… I have some ideas."

. . .

"Already asking for my help," Lust asked. "I guess I should have seen this coming."
"At least we're asking," Envy said. "This was the plan the whole time – now you're just being looped into it."
"And there will be much less danger to my life," Roy said. "Hopefully."
"I don't plan on sinking the ship I just jumped onto – you don't have to worry about that."

She shook her head. "Alright. This shouldn't take long."
"Okay," Envy said. "Let's go find somewhere appropriately public. I can't wait to get out of the mountains."
"The men usually gather for card games, at this time of night." Roy pointed. "There."

They approached the campfire, the sounds of laughter and banter getting louder. At the last second, Lust pulled away from the group and slipped into the distance. Envy made sure his disguise was active, and took a deep breath.

She had brought the remains, which meant she was legit. They were going to be fine. It was all going to be fine.

Roy stepped into the crowd of men as if they were his best friends – going so far as to thump one on the back. Envy waited on the sidelines, trying to look interested in the rabble around him, and pretending there was nothing happening behind him.

Lust hadn't been kidding – it really didn't take long. Mere moments had passed when a woosh passed directly by Envy's ear, and Roy doubled over.

Everyone rushed over to make sure he was okay – Envy included. Roy was holding his side, which immediately had him worried that they had made a mistake by trusting Lust.

"Let me see, Colonel," he said, pushing Roy's hand out of the way. When he saw the wound, he almost collapsed with relief.
It was tiny; inconsequential. She hadn't aimed for the leg, like he had suggested – probably because the massive bloodstain against Roy's white shirt made for a better show. But she was clearly making an effort to avoid lethality. He would wager her aim was better than the Hawk's Eye – she wouldn't have missed her target, not from that distance.

"You're going to be fine," he said.
"Yeah, but are we?" Someone else asked. "What the hell did that?"
Several soldiers were already scanning the tree-line. Their attention was driven back to Roy seconds later, when he was hit again – this time, in the shoulder.

When he realised the others were too scared for their own skins to come to the obvious conclusion, Envy restrained himself from rolling his eyes and suggested it himself.
"It's enemy fire – they must have sent an assassin! They're clearly targeting the Colonel, so we need to get him out of here."

"Makes enough sense," a fellow soldier said. "The Hero of Ishbal is the biggest threat of all of us. Men, spread out! Find this assassin. You there!" He pointed at Envy, who fell into a salute. "Take the Colonel to the medical tent!"
Without a word, Envy lifted Roy to his feet – and the two stumbled off.

"You're good, right?" Envy asked, once they had gotten out of earshot. "You'd better not bleed to death on me, asshole."
"Don't worry, I'll be alright."
"I didn't say I was worried! I don't want to have to explain to your girlfriend that I let you die out here."
"Oh, of course not. She'd shoot you immediately."

Envy noted silently that Roy did not correct his use of the term 'girlfriend'.

"Well," he said, changing the subject. "Let's just hope these injuries are enough to get you off duty."
"They won't be. There's a phase two of this plan."
"I would love to hear it."

They reached the tent, and Envy gave the nurse their cover story. She left, presumably to search for bandages – by then, Roy's shirt was so blood-stained that he would honestly be better off dyeing the rest of it red than trying to save it. It definitely looked like a bad injury – Envy had to give Lust that much credit.
"The rest of the plan?" he prompted. Roy nodded to a metal pan at the corner of the room.
"Bring that over here."

He did so, then watched as Roy slid one of his gloves on – and snapped. The fire didn't stay lit for longer than a second – there was nothing for it to grab onto. But it seemed to have accomplished its goal. Roy tapped the metal pan, to check its temperature, then rested it against his forehead.
"A fever's going to make it look like I have an infection, or a disease," he explained. "The nurse will declare me unfit for duty – and the Fuhrer will have no choice but to let her."
"Smart."

The nurse returned a moment later. Roy dropped the metal pan behind him just before she entered, and put on a pained expression. Envy scoffed at his acting skills.
She cleaned and bandaged his wounds – then checked his vitals. As her hand touched his forehead briefly, she frowned.

Finally, she left again to make a phone call. Envy and Roy waited, and hoped it was enough.

It felt like hours later that she came back, with a pensive expression.
"I'm sorry about this, Colonel – but I'm awfully worried about those injuries of yours. Did you know that you have a fever of a hundred and two?"
"No," he said, faking surprise. "I had no idea. I suppose I have felt dizzy, on and off – but one tends to feel that way, on the front lines."
"Yes, well. If it weren't for that, I'd say you would probably heal up well – but if you're ill, your body will find it much harder to recover. That could lead to infection, which could kill you."
"Excuse me, I'm not quite sure what you're saying. I have a duty to serve my country…"

"There's also the fact that you were almost assassinated to consider," she said, sternly. "I've spoken to the Brigadier-General, and recommended that you're not fit to continue serving."
"You can't do that."
"I already have. You'll have to forgive me, Colonel – I'm just doing my job. He has yet to return his verdict – but if I were you, I would pack my things."
"Damn, Colonel," Envy said. "That's a shame. We'll miss your skill on the battlefield sorely."

Once the nurse was out of sight, they high-fived.

. . .

Yes, everyone – Wrath is now in play, as of this chapter. I wanted to play around with him and see how things change, because Envy was originally a pretty central character in his story – But Envy's not there, now.
What do y'all think? Is Lust legit, or no? And thank you all for your never-ending patience with me, while I balance several different projects at once. I really appreciate you guys.

I'll see you all in the next chapter!

. . .