HALLELUJAH! People, I have good news!
So for the longest time, I've been having problems with my paragraph spacing not appearing properly once my chapters were posted. The formatting was basically squishing it all down into one massive block of text and making it hard to read.
I FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT. So you shouldn't have to worry about that being an issue anymore. With that said, I'm reuploading this entire story as we speak with the fix, and I know what to do to avoid it in future, so this should no longer be a problem.
Enjoy the now legible story~~
The streets of Central were alive with the busy noon rush. The warm summer air was filled with the babbling sound of civilians, and the streets were so packed a matchstick could barely fit between them.
This was making it extremely difficult for Edward Elric to keep track of his brother.
"Gah! Where the hell are you now? Al? Hey Al!" He scratched his head as he stared at the busy city street. "It's days like this I wish he was still a seven-foot tall suit of armour." He decided to check the alleyways, in case Al had stepped into one to get out of the crowd. Heading down the street and looking down each one, he stopped once he saw the familiar silhouette.
"There you are!"
Al barely responded, seemingly distracted. Noticing for the first time that his brother was crouching over something, Ed jogged down the alleyway towards him.
"What's up, find another stray cat?" He mentally prepared himself for the lecture he knew he'd have to dispense, followed by the puppy dog eyes from Al. Those goddamn puppy dog eyes that almost got him every time they were used.
What he wasn't expecting to see was Envy.
The homunculus was lying by Al's feet. His hair was a disheveled mess, and he was totally still. He seemed to be unconscious, or at least feigning as much. From what Ed could tell, he didn't seem to have any injuries.
"What the hell?"
"I have no idea. I just found him like this. What do you think happened?"
"Well whatever it was, it's not our business," Ed scoffed dismissively as he turned away. Al threw his hands up.
"Brother, we can't leave him like this!"
"Why not? He'd just as soon kill us as talk to us; you know that."
"That doesn't give us a license to be just as bad! He looks like he's in trouble, Ed! We should help him."
"What, and risk him strangling us in our sleep?"
"Fine, we'll sleep in shifts."
Ed raised his eyebrow. "The fact that you have to suggest that shows how awful of an idea this is."
"Can you honestly tell me that if we left him here and he died, you wouldn't feel even the littlest bit guilty over it?"
"He's a homunculus, he's not going to die. We've never seen one just keel over before, why should it start now?"
"You don't know that; we've also never seen a homunculus pass out before. Yet here we are."
Ed groaned.
"Alphonse James Elric, you are going to be the death of me."
"So that means I win, right?"
"Fine! He can stay with us until we can be certain he won't die. But he's not going to Winry and Granny Pinako's house. I don't want him knowing where they live."
"That's fair. Where else can we take him?"
Pushing his hands through his hair, Ed thought about it.
"I can probably pull some strings with Mustang and get us back into the military hotel."
"Oh yeah, they were pretty good at not invading our privacy," Al mused. "After all, they didn't catch us that whole time we were doing philosopher's stone research."
"The problem," Ed sighed, "is that he's going to want to know why. And I don't think he'll be too pleased to hear that we plan to harbour a homunculus there. Especially not one of the ones who attacked us at Lab 5."
"So don't tell him that's what we're doing."
"What else do I tell him?! You know what he's like, he's going to say no if we don't give him a reason!"
They thought about it, while Envy lay unconscious on the ground before them.
. . .
"Colonel Mustang speaking."
"Hi, Colonel… How are things in the office?"
"What do you want, Fullmetal."
"What?" Ed sputtered. "Why do I have to want something?! Can't I just want to talk to you?"
"Aside from the fact that you haven't insulted me yet? You never just want to talk to me. Every time you call it's because something went wrong on a mission; you racked up too much collateral to fix by yourself, or you just fought some crazed alchemist, or you got hospitalised."
Ed flushed, fuming. "Yeah well I'm not even in the military anymore, Bastard."
"And you haven't called me once since you retired. My case stands."
"Bullshit, yes I-" he paused, thinking back, and realised that what Mustang had said was true.
"Oh geez. I really need to get better at keeping in contact with people."
"Do my ears deceive me, or did you just say 'I' and 'need to get better at' in the same sentence? Well, at least some part of you is growing."
Ed immediately bit his lip, fighting back the retort that came to mind with all his strength. A few seconds passed before Mustang's voice came over the line again, his tone markedly different to the mocking one he'd used before.
"Fullmetal? This is the part where you scream at me nonsensically."
"Stop calling me that," Ed snapped. "I'm not a State Alchemist anymore." He leaned against the cold metal of the phone booth, closing his eyes.
"And, well, I guess you're right after all. I am calling because I need a favour."
"I knew it. What do you want?"
"I need you to get Al and I back into the military hotel."
"Can't you stay at a normal hotel?" Mustang sounded exasperated now. "I know you got used to the luxury the military hotel provides, but – as you pointed out yourself – you're not military anymore."
"No, we can't! It's important, Mustang."
There were several long minutes of silence on the other end, as Ed stood with anticipation building in his chest. He kept glancing down the alleyway where he'd left Al and Envy, concerned that something bad might have happened in his absence. Maybe Envy had been faking the whole time, and had taken his chance now that Al was alone. The thought made his heart race, and he seriously considered abandoning his phone call to go check.
"Edward! Can you hear me?"
Ed's attention shot back to the phone, and Mustang's now deeply concerned tone.
"Sorry, I was distracted. What?"
"Ok, now I know something's wrong. You just apologised to me." Mustang's voice dropped suddenly, and Ed was certain it was to make sure no one else in the office could hear their conversation.
"Edward, be honest with me. What's going on?"
"Look, we-" Ed paused, guilt riddling his insides, before he recited the pre-planned excuse they had set up. "We're being pursued by someone, ok? It's not a big deal, we don't need your help or anything. But we're trying to lay low for a while; and since my resignation was made very public, we're pretty sure they won't be looking for us at the military hotel."
"Ed, why didn't you just start with that? Of course I can help you; I'll call them and let them know you're on your way. I'm sure they can make an exception for a famous retired alchemist. But who's pursuing you? Are you sure you don't need help? It sounds pretty serious if you're backing down from a fight."
"Oh it's not that, really," Ed rushed to reassure him, "It's more Al I'm worried about. He's not exactly indestructible anymore, and we're both very aware of that right now. Especially since-"
He cut himself off, remembering suddenly that Al wasn't far away. He didn't need to finish the sentence anyway.
"I understand. I'll take care of it, on one condition."
"And what's that?"
"If you get in over your head, you tell me. Is that understood?"
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." He hung up, rushing back to where he'd left Al. Finding him totally unharmed and Envy still on the ground, his shoulders dropped in relief.
"Ok, let's go. I got Mustang on board."
"Wait, that really worked?" Al asked, amused. Ed grinned.
"Obviously, he was willing to do a favour for the best alchemist who ever served under him!"
"Brother, you're the only alchemist who's ever served under him."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
He picked the unconscious homunculus up as they bickered, slinging him over his shoulders, and the three started to make their way to the hotel.
Somewhere in Eastern Command, Roy threw his head back with an impatient sigh as he slammed the phone harshly down onto its holder. Hawkeye glanced up with a worried expression, but returned to her duties once he waved her away. He tented his fingers, staring at his paperwork but finding that he couldn't focus on it anymore.
"Fullmetal, what have you gotten yourself into this time?"
. . .
The first thing Envy registered was that he felt like absolute Hell. The time he'd gotten run over by a truck hadn't been this painful. As for his strength? It seemed to be non-existent. As the room around him came into focus, he realised that he wasn't on the streets of Central where his memory had blacked out. He was lying in bed, in what had to be some kind of hotel room judging by the bland décor.
Someone had moved him.
He leapt to a sitting position, violet eyes widening in panic as he tried to ascertain where he was and who had taken him. He came to regret his actions very quickly when a surge of pain and dizziness shot through his body, forcing him back down.
"So you're not dead."
At the familiar voice, Envy's face immediately scrunched into a scowl.
"Oh no… Don't tell me."
Slowly, his eyes met the golden ones of Edward Elric. The alchemist was sitting near the door with his legs crossed, and his blonde hair fell to the edge of the chair's arm where his head rested on his palm.
A blinding fury overtook every inch of Envy's being. Once again he tried to leap up. He wanted to attack, to punch, to hurt the person standing before him. But just as before, his body failed him and he was forced to stay put in bed. He cried out in frustration, unable to understand why he hadn't healed yet, why he was so damn weak. Just like-
His mind wouldn't let him finish the thought. He would never compare himself to those lowly creatures. Unable to kill the bratty alchemist, he settled instead on the most violent glare he could muster.
Edward turned to another person next to him, one Envy didn't recognise. He was taller than Ed, Envy could see that even though one of them was seated. His eyes and hair were much darker, too, more of a bronze than a true gold. But something about his features was sharply similar to those of the Fullmetal Brat. And as Ed spoke to the boy, Envy recognised the tone he was using. A far cry from Ed's usual raised voice and brash tone, he was speaking softly. Tenderly, with a warmth he almost never displayed. Envy had only ever heard it used on one person.
"Whoa wait, is that your brother? Did you guys actually do it?"
Ed's attention snapped back to Envy, and he served him with a glare so similar to Envy's own that it stunned him into silence. That was something else he hadn't seen before.
"That's none of your concern. You're lucky to even be here right now." Envy scoffed.
"It's plenty of my concern, Pipsqueak," he drawled, enjoying the way the word made Ed's face change, "But I guess none of that matters right now. Where the hell am I? Why are you two here? Does anyone want to fill me in?"
"We found you passed out on the street," the younger brother filled in. "So we brought you here."
"Where's 'here'?"
"The military hotel," Ed responded. "In Central. We didn't take you far."
"Ok, so you caught yourself a homunculus. Good for you. What happens now?"
"We'll let you stay here with us until you've recovered enough to get lost. After that, we'll be happy if we never see you again." On that kind note, Ed stood, leaving the room and dragging his brother with him. Envy balled his fingers into a fist and glared at the door, wondering how the hell he managed to get himself into these messes.
Outside, Ed turned to confront Al. "Well that went well."
"You know, you didn't help matters."
"Saving his life is one thing. If you expect us to make friends in there, you have another thing coming. He held you hostage, Al! He threatened to kill you! Did you forget that?"
"We don't know why, Ed. We don't actually know anything about him. Maybe he was being forced, just like you were when you almost sacrificed hundreds of lives to create a stone. And no, actually, it was Lust who threatened to kill me. Trust me, I remember."
Ignoring his brother's abnormally snarky tone, Ed shook his head at him. "We know that he's an enemy. That's good enough for me."
"Just try not to kill each other while he's here. Please?"
"I can't make any promises for him," Ed snapped, softening a little when he saw Al's face, "but I'll do my best."
. . .
Meanwhile, in a dark, dusty ballroom, a woman was pacing back and forth and grumbling under her breath. She halted as soon as she saw a bald, rounded creature bounding towards her.
"Gluttony. Report."
Gluttony pulled to a stop, barely managing to avoid crashing into her. His voice was a high-pitched whine that sounded almost painful as the words tore from his throat.
"I looked everywhere; I can't find him! He's gone!"
The woman muttered in annoyance, clasping her hands together and leaning down to his level.
"I want you to bring me Lust, Gluttony. Can you do that?"
"And then I can eat?" Gluttony asked doubtfully. The woman nodded, a kind smile belied by her cold eyes.
"And then you can eat."
"Yippee," Gluttony cried as he jumped for joy. "Ok, I'll be right back with Lust!" He ran from the room, and the woman finally allowed her composure to slip.
It had been too long since Envy had left. He was never gone for this long, never in the 400 years he had existed. They had their differences, sure, but he always returned to her after a day or so to continue his work. This recent disappearance was… unsettling, to say the least.
Envy was one of her most highly skilled servants; if she lost him, progress would be set back by weeks if not months. She couldn't lose him. She wouldn't allow it. Envy wouldn't become another Greed.
She was going to find him, no matter what it took.
. . .
Well, that's the end of chapter one. In case you couldn't tell by now, this is an Envy focused story. I've wanted to write one for a really long time, and I've seen a lot of other similar stories floating around recently, so now that I've finished For Eternity I decided to take the plunge and make that my next project. He's such an interesting character to me - especially in the 03 anime where I felt like his backstory is way more intriguing – and there are a lot of directions he can go in. So let's explore some of the possibilities together, shall we?