Chapter 16
That insidious smirk. Those deep blood red eyes. That sharp elongated hair. Envy was the embodiment of evil and he looked it. And Alphonse Elric knew it.
As they moved outside, Envy in Winry's body morphed to give himself a more formable shape in which to fight. Still, with all that power at his disposal he could not perform Alchemy, which gave Al a distinct advantage.
But Envy was quick, like a jack rabbit after it had just seen a hunter, running through the tall grass, fleeing the sounds of a shotgun. But Envy was no coward. In all truth, he thrived on it. It excited him. And the higher the risk the more he got off on it! He was not going to flee from this fight. It was pay back for all he had gone through to get this far and everything the Elric brothers had done to him in the past. He had no intentions of losing.
He had his body, but it was a woman's body. Any body would probably suffice, but he wanted Al's body and what it contained inside: The Philosopher's Stone. With it he'd get his real body back, the same one he lost through the Gate, or at least that's what Ed's memories told him. He didn't have definitive proof of what really happened to his body because not even Edward Elric saw what happened. All he knew was that he stepped through the gate and it closed after him. That was all Edward saw and that was all he knew, or was telling him.
But Envy knew there was more to the story than Ed was telling him. He had dove deep down into Ed's subconscious and plucked out countless secrets, but for some reason and for whatever reason - Edward Elric was not revealing what his fate had been. It had something to do with the other side of the gate, but that was all he knew. Once he got what he wanted he'd get the truth, the whole truth!
Envy stood on a rocky dirt path facing Al. They stood several meters apart, a safe distance from his perspective. There was no telling what Al would do when actually provoked. But he was about find out because he was about to.
He feared nothing from the other Elric brother because he was incapacitated and was out cold, unconscious from the blow of a wrench to the back of the head. The idiot! He had him figured out from the very beginning and guessed right that he had moved his consciousness to Winry Rockbell's body. But the fool let his guard down for the briefest of moments and that cost him.
Edward Elric sat unconscious with his back against the side of the Rockbell house with his hands confined, transmuted in a wooden board. It was the safest way to keep his hands apart so he couldn't do Alchemy when he woke up. He didn't want any interference. He wanted to fight Al. Al was the weaker Alchemist. Despite being a State Alchemist, he still didn't have the power Edward had. And perhaps that was why Al looked a little nervous right now.
"Well Alphonse, it appears we're at a stand-off," he said. "Who will make the first move? Shall it be me or you? Shall we toss a coin and let it decide?" He smirked insidiously. Al began to sweat. "What's the matter, Alphonse? You look apprehensive. Why don't you attack me? Or is it because harming me will harm her?" And he suddenly morphed back into Winry. He cupped Winry's breasts in his hands and fondled them. "Ah, the supple touch of a woman's breasts. With all honestly, I've never experienced them before. They're quite nice."
Al tightened both fists at his side and gritted his teeth enraged that he would do that to Winry. "You leave her alone, you son-of-a-bitch!"
Envy laughed in his causal manner finding Al's emotional outburst amusing. Homunculi didn't have emotions and he was often fascinated by the human condition and their emotions despite hating them with a passion. Wraith experienced emotions before he beat him to a pulp to stop. The little brat was just so emotionally unstable after the death of Sloth, whom he called his mother. But he had no mother, no Homunculi did. They were artificial beings without souls and without emotions. But somehow Wraith was difficult.
Nevertheless, he always found it amusing to see how emotions controlled humans. They were both their strength and their ultimate weakness. And it was fun to see just how far they'd go with their emotions in control. Would they save themselves at the last second from something stupid or die - giving their lives for what they felt was a worthy cost? He knew Al's weakness and it was his emotions. Now all he had to was exploit them and this fight will be over.
"Temper, temper, Alphonse," Envy said smirking. "Your emotions will be your downfall. . ." and I'm planning on it. "Did I strike a nerve with Winry? I thought so." He let go of her breasts and looked down at the rest of Winry's thin girlish figure. "She has quite a lovely figure, don't you think Al? She'll make someone a wonderful wife someday. Maybe even yours. . .that's if you don't kill her first." Envy felt the curvature of her hips and the firmness of her buttocks. He slapped her cheeks and laughed. He looked back to Al. "C'mon Al, you've gotten admit she is a beautiful woman."
He was right, Winry was beautiful. But he wasn't going to give Envy the satisfaction of admitting that. "You leave her alone or else!" he said, his voice filled with anger.
"That's so beneath you, Alphonse," Envy said, again amused by Al's remarks. "You're not the kind of person someone would take seriously when given an ultimatum. I do believe you care for Winry Rockbell very much and not in a platonic way. You love her. Your face shows your weakness. I'll tell you what. We'll trade. This girl for the remains of the Philosopher's Stone inside your body. We'll call that an equivalent exchange, okay?"
"No deal, Envy," Al said firmly. "I can't allow you to obtain whatever you think I have. Besides, I don't have what you want."
"That's where you're wrong and I'll prove it when I rip it outta your body." Quickly Envy got impatient and he squeezed a tight fist at his side. He was getting nowhere talking. He suddenly morphed Winry's body back and adorned his usual skimpy, black, tight outfit. His usual attire. "The time for talking is over, Al. This is your last chance. Give me the Philosopher's Stone or I'll tear it from your lifeless corpse when I beat you to death!"
Envy couldn't perform Alchemy, but he still had the power to alter his body to anything he wished, even when in another body, so Al wasn't totally shocked when Winry disappeared and Envy appeared. But he was worried about what else he could do. "I dare you to try, Envy," he said, smirking smugly. And Envy was confused by it. "Let's play a game first. My favorite when I was kid in fact."
"I don't play games," Envy flat out said.
"Oh, you'll like this one," Al said. "I guarantee it."
Suddenly Al turned and bolted across an open field and headed towards a near-by forest.
Envy stood stunned that Al would suddenly do that. But that was Alphonse Elric, in his opinion. The only Elric brother who hated confrontation and did everything possible to try to avoid it. "I hate playing games," he said. "But seeing I have all the cards in my hand I think it's time to have a little fun with my prey before I make the kill. Very well. I'll play your little game, Alphonse Elric. And when I find you I'll shred you to pieces and use the Philosopher Stone to obtain that which was wrongfully taken away from me."
He quickly glanced at Edward Elric. Seeing he was no threat, Envy ran after Al.
Al managed to make it into the forest without any interference from Envy, which was what he had planned. He wasn't running scared though he tried to avoid confrontation at all costs. He preferred a diplomatic solution to using Alchemy. But he had to get Envy away from the Rockbell house and into this forest for his plan to work. Diplomacy wouldn't work so he had to get to a place where he knew would make the perfect battle ground. And in the forest, he could use Nature as his weapon.
He ran deeper into the forest and entered a thicket and stopped for a moment. He looked around with purpose. He had to find it. He knew he hid it around here somewhere in a tree truck. In one of these trees was his father's Samurai sword. But which one? They all look so different now. The last time he was here it was years ago and in that time the trees had grown and the foliage had changed.
But it was here somewhere. That he knew for certain. He had hid the sword deep in a tree truck near the entrance of the thicket. But which tree was it? During a conversion they had, Dad told him he had endowed it with Alchemy so he knew it could be very useful against Envy. But how to use it was another question.
Suddenly he hear a noise and the rustling of leaves. He turned around towards the noise.
Envy jumped out from behind a thicket of brushes and pounced on him, pinning him to the ground. "Now that wasn't fun at all," Envy said. "I found you almost immediately. I don't think you're playing this game right."
Al pushed Envy off him and ran behind a tree. Envy smirked. "You're only delaying the enviable, Al. Give me want I want and I'll leave you in peace."
"Forget it Envy, I'll fight you to the very end," Al said, and Envy suddenly heard a loud clap and the tree before him began to fall forward. He narrowly jumped out of the way before it came crashing to the ground. "In here, Nature is my weapon and it's going to help me defeat you."
Al clapped again and touched the ground and suddenly several roots erupted out of the ground and wrapped themselves around Envy. Envy struggled against their tight grip, but for the moment he couldn't free himself. Al stepped out into a cleaning and faced Envy. "I want you to leave Winry now."
"You're so naïve and so foolish," Envy said with a grinning crooked smile. He pushed against the roots and expanded his body to snap their grip on him. They dropped to the ground around him. Al took a step back in disbelief. "Life is so fragile and it can be manipulated to serve so many purposes. But when you alter the substance of nature you weaken its balance and thus its strength."
Al fled jumping over the fallen tree, but he accidentally tripped on a root sticking out of the ground and fell to the ground banging his right knee on a rock. He cupped his right knee with both hands and hissed in pain. Envy leapt onto the fallen tree and crouched over him like a hunter about to devour its prey. And if he was Gluttony, he would have. "You're so clumsy Al," Envy said. "Perhaps being separated from your body for so long has made you awkward."
Al clapped his hands quickly and touched the ground erecting a wall of dirt between them. He then got up and ran as fast as he could deeper into the forest, limping with his bad knee.
Envy didn't pursue. Instead he sat down on the tree trunk and thoughtfully stared at the wall of dirt before him. But smiling crookedly while doing so. He sat there for more than a minute before finally getting up. He used to play Hide and Go Seek when he was a child with his mother - or the woman who he came to think of as his mother before he knew where he really came from - and remembered the thrill of the hunt when he went to look for her. It was the excitement of finding her that enticed him, not the game itself. And he wanted to give Alphonse Elric some time to hide before he went to seek.
He stood before the dirt wall and looked up to the top. Then using his hands he morphed his limbs into sharp knives cutting a large hole directly through it, large enough for him to step through. "You can run, Al, but you can't hide," he said. "'Cause I know where you are at all times. With the Philosopher Stone as my guide, there's nowhere in this forest where I can't find you."
Suddenly he leapt high into the air to the near-by branch of a tree and started hopping like an animal through the trees tops.
The pursuit was on.
Meanwhile, Ed regained consciousness and he found that his hands were trapped in a thick piece of wood. There were no seems so it was obvious that Al was forced to transmute the wood around his hands so he couldn't clap and perform Alchemy. That was no doubt Envy's idea, he thought.
He tried to stand up, but he was suddenly yanked back and choked, feeling a tightness around his throat. He felt his throat and found there was some sort of iron shackle around it attached to a chain. He looked back and found that the chain was attacked to a thick steel pole. He was chained up like a dog.
"Al!" he called out. But his brother didn't answer him.
Then he listened and found that his surroundings were too quiet. Where was everyone?
To be continued...
