CHAPTER 11 ANOTHER MORNING
The night sky would be replaced momentarily by a delightful dawn, the sun was starting to peek out from the horizon. The crickets silenced their excessive chirping, and the surrounding trees and greens regained their natural color back. The clouds resurfaced again in the sky, except, not as ominous and abundant as yesterday's batch. The wind was calm and comforting, and the birds continued their own routine of excessive chirping. Everything indicated a normal morning . . .
Edward seemed to have an internal alarm clock of his own as he woke up soon after the dawn settled. He saw the cumulus clouds that reigned above him, and as he turned his head, he saw that everything in the campsite seemed normal, which was a good sign to him. Everything seemed fine . . . except for a constant banging in his ears that seemed to come from the cliff top above him. He turned his head to left to see that neither Envy nor the tent were there like they were supposed to be. It caused him to express some form of worrisome surprise.
"Oh no, where did that bastard run off to with the tent?" Ed asked to himself. Afterwards, Ed noticed that the sticky wrapping that once bounded him to the ground was now cut open, allowing Ed to move freely again.
"Oh nice, I'm possibly free for the next hour or so." Ed grumbled to himself as he rose to his feet, stretching his arms and legs with a long yawn.
"Hey Envy! Are you there?!" Ed yelled out, wanting to confirm Envy's whereabouts. There was no answer, and the strange banging sound stopped as well.
"You better not be messing with me again! What happened to the tent that was here last night?! And what's that sound that I'm hearing?!" Ed once again shouted to get an answer, and to his unfortunate luck, no other sound emerged.
"Damnit, I guess I'll go look for you myself." Ed muttered to himself angrily as his stomach growled loudly, causing Ed to hold his stomach.
"Man, I need to eat something first at least." Ed admitted to himself as he started walking on the path to reach the top of the cliff. He stumbled a bit from the senges of his fleshy right leg, and the mechanical corrosive tears from his left. The pain became visible and sensational to Ed once again, reminding him of the horrors that would come with being around someone such as Envy.
"Ooowww jeez, I almost forgot about the damage." Ed said as he brushed his left hand against his automail leg. He looked behind him to see that there were still a few more available stones and minerals to use up.
"It may not do much, but whatever's left from that bunch should do to keep me standing . .for a little while longer." Ed assumed hesitantly as he walked carefully and slowly towards the bundle of material. In due time, the resourceful alchemist temporarily repaired the corrosive damage with a hardened substitute. He walked around, testing the durability, which suited his taste. As such, he continued his short path up to the top of the steep cliff.
When he reached the top, what he saw surprised him genuinely. The was a circular fort-like structure made of various thick logs and branches. The logs and branches were about the same in height and thickness, and despite the man made cuts to keep the wood straight, the wood still looked organic in shape, almost as though the mysterious worker lazily executed the overall design. As a result, the structure looked more jagged and somewhat intimidating to any outsiders. It spanned around 15 - 20 feet in diameter, and looked to be, at the highest, 10 - 15 ft in height. It lacked any roof or visible ceiling, with the woodwork just jutting out from the ground, The wood looked to be shoved somewhat deep into the dampened low grassy ground, assumingly to keep it stable. From Ed's perspective, there was a section of the structure that remained open, and the opening was tall and wide enough for a person to walk through, or for a door to be installed. Other than that, there were no windows, or any other decorations of that matter, to be seen from the outside.
"Woah . . where did this come from?" Ed wondered in awe as he looked around for any signs that would answer his question. He noticed that some of the trees that surrounded the campsite were cut down, leaving only the stomps to be seen. In addition, the ground looked messy, leaves and sticks covered bits of the land as if a storm came through, which only happened the day before. With such observations, Ed drew the conclusion that the only one who could've done this was known other than his nemesis, but what would be the purpose?
Curiosity peaked the young boy, and he decided to check out the poorly made hut for himself. When he entered inside, the hut looked relatively empty, except for a lone barrel that settled by the wall of wood, to the left. To Ed's unawareness, a long green tree snake slithered along the top edge of the hut's frame behind his back.
"What? A barrel?" Ed asked confusingly before being interrupted by a low audible hiss that seemed to last for a few seconds. It stunned Ed, causing him to freeze in his subtle movements, sweat drops started to form.
'Oh crap! Sounds like a snake is behind me! I mustn't have seen it coming in, dammit! Whatever I do now, I can't move.' Ed thought to himself panically.
The snake started to take an unusual shape behind Ed. The upper body of the snake expanded into something that resembled a human-sized torso. From there, the head of the snake grew to a human-sized shape with the regular features of a human face, except that the eyes were red in color, and long green hair emerged from the top of it's head, covering parts of its face. According, long human-like arms began to emerge from the sides of its torso. It stuck it's violet tongue out randomly and quickly, reaching out to grab Eds vulnerable head with it's scaly hands. Without warning, the creature opened up its large mouth, revealing its sharp fangs, and letting out a distinct noise which sounded hostile. It managed to grab Eds head, covering his ears, suddenly and firmly.
"AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ed yelled in fright as he shook his head wildly to escape the clutches of his apparent threat. He simultaneously formed his hand blade, trying to slash away at the hands that have retracted their grip. Not a moment wasted, Ed quickly rolled forwards to get a good look of the creature, ready to fight. That was until he realized the identity of who it was that trying to potentially attack him. Clearly, Ed wasn't pleased at all with the events that just took place, he calmed his expression into a blatant frown. The now revealed Envy loosen his posture as he lowered himself onto the ground, his tail followed him into the hut. He slowly reverted his body back into the usual human form, replacing the green scales and pale underbelly with the whiteness of his skin; his eye color changed to purple, and his long tail was replaced with humans legs. After the transformation, Envy stood on his feet with one hand on his hip, looking at Ed from the side.
"Well, good morning to you too, FullMetal Pipsqueak." Envy greeted in an innocent tone. Ed grunted.
"Yeah, piss off to you." Ed countered.
"Aw, someone seems to be in a grumpy mood as usual. At least I know that hasn't changed." Envy commented as he walked slowly towards the barrel.
"Yeah and I wonder who the hell is the cause of that, all the time." Ed commented back, walking away from Envy in a circular motion accordingly. Envy smirked as he took a seat on the barrel, crossing one leg over the other.
"What's going on here? Did you make this?" Ed asked as he looked around to once again observe the structure.
"Indeed. This will be our base of operations." Envy confirmed.
"What do you mean?" Ed asked curiously.
"Here's where you're going to fill your end of the bargain. You said to me that not all humans are bad, right? And if that's the case, well, it's only natural that you'll help me in my quest to acquire the Philosopher's Stone, and you're going to help me." Envy said.
"Hmm, yeah that's what I said alright, and as much as I hate to say it, I'll have to help you." Ed agreed disappointedly as he crossed his arms. "But then, what's going to happen?" Ed asked, still unsure of where this is going.
There was a pause before anything was said. "We're going raid my master." Envy answered with no hesitation. Ed looked at Envy with pure shock, did he hear that right? After a long pause, Ed began to laugh out loud.
"Aahh, that made my morning a little better. I think that's the funniest thing you've ever said Envy." Ed replied with giddily. Envy just stared at Ed with a plain face.
"Well, it's great that you find this whole thing humorous Ed, but what if I told you that it really wasn't a joke? Envy brought up. Ed quickly switched his mood to a more serious expression.
"Don't lie to me. Why should I believe something like that? Why, all of a sudden would you decide to turn against your master?" Ed asked intently. Envy sighed in disbelief.
"Shouldn't the answer be obvious?" Envy asked.
"No. no it's really not. If you've been working for your master for so many years, then why at this moment, at this point in history, would you decide to turn your back now? It doesn't add up, especially when you consider what happened in Lab 5, you said that you couldn't kill me because you were ordered not to. It hasn't been that long since that time." Ed pointed out with stubborn confidence as his suspicions of Envy sparked up again.
"Well, as you've already seen, homunculi come and go, it's nothing new. And I've already told you what I wanted, but if you don't trust me, so be it, but it won't change my resolve. You will help me whether you like it or not." Envy warned Ed with a smirk creeping on his lips.
'Hmm, I still don't buy it, but I'll just have to keep my guard up.' Ed thought to himself as he read Envy's body language thoroughly.
"And to do that, you'll need to be ready, which is why I'm going to train you, though it won't be pleasant to say the least." Envy warned Ed. Ed looked surprised at first, but quickly relaxed his face to a smirk of his own.
"Well, I wasn't expecting this at all, but I'll take on your challenge because at least it gives me an excuse to start learning how to kick your ass for once." Ed grinned as he balled his fist, imagining his victory against the odds. Envy rolled his eyes.
"After all you've done, you deserve it." Ed added on with a rather cold and bitter tone. Envy chuckled at the change of tone.
"You know, now that I think about, why should I take your word on this offer? It seems weird that I would get "training" from my enemy." Ed added in suspicion.
"Well, you could look at it this way, you won't be such a weakling anymore, especially since you'll be working alongside me now." Envy said. Ed looked slightly offended.
"Listen you arrogant asshole, you're lucky that you have regenerative powers, without that, you wouldn't be alive right now, so don't act all high and mighty." Ed snapped back.
"Uh, no kidding smart alex, that gives me every excuse to act 'all high and mighty', its something you humans can never obtain, even with a stone." Envy gloated, feeling a boost in self-esteem. Ed snickered quietly.
"Once this arbitrary alliance is over, I can't wait to find your remains, wherever they might be, so I can shut you up for good. Training me on your tricks, might just be your last mistake Envy." Ed warned, still conscious of Envy's mysteriously devious aura.
"Yeah, keep dreaming boy. But before we get to that, you need to eat up." Envy said as he petted the barrel with his left hand in a repetitive motion. Ed laid his eyes on the barrel accordingly.
"Which reminds me, where did you get that in the first place?" Ed asked demandingly.
"Why is that a concern? You should be more worried abo-" Envy said before getting cutted off by Ed.
"I asked you where you got it, now tell me." Ed demanded with less patience in his voice. Envy had a slight frown, before smirking back at Ed.
"Someone's getting pushy. What if I told you that I went for a little midnight snooping?" Envy asked rhetorically, getting a somewhat surprised reaction from Ed.
"By snooping, I bet you mean stealing right?" Ed asked as he walked closer towards Envy, pinning his neck to the wooden wall with his elbow once he was close enough to make contact, causing Envy to fall back from his seat on the barrel. Envy face looked emotionless
"How dare you . . I don't know why I'm even surprised. Whoever you stole this barrel from, they were just trying to make a profit off of it, or maybe this is where they store their food. Either way, you've jeopardized their situation, probably for the worst, and you have no problems with that?! What can drive someone to terrorize someone else who has done them no wrong?!" Ed asked aggressively, upsetted by the malicious act. Envy inhaled and exhaled.
"Human morale is so ridiculous." Envy stated.
"What?!" Ed yelled, only to be met with a kick to his right knee, causing him to stumble back. Envy then proceeded to take a few quick jabs to Ed's stomach, punching the breath out of him, and one last kick to the jaw to knock him down on his back. Envy sat on the barrel again like nothing had happened, looking quite pleased with himself. Ed rubbed on his jaw, trying to ease the pain.
"You really are a foolish boy, why should I care whether the person I stole this barrel from thrives or comes out poor? They're going to die eventually, perhaps, I'm doing him a favor by hastening his inevitable demise." Envy said, Ed looked pissed.
"What a lame argument! He wouldn't be wanting to die so easily if he had that barrel in the first place! That's not fair!" Ed shouted back.
"Well, if he was so concerned with his belongings, maybe he should've prepared more accordingly; after all, almost anything's possible in the type of world that we're living in. Besides, your well-being is more important than the status of some other human; you don't even know this individual either, how do you know they haven't lived a life of malice before they decided to take up selling barrels in the public market?" Envy proposed, making Ed rethink his approach and consider those words.
"Don't let your moral attitude blind you of the possibilities Edward, didn't Greed teach you something like that?" Envy asked. Ed regained his train of thought.
"He taught me how to take the lives of monstrosities like you, not to take other innocent people's livelihood, it's not right. If more and more people were like you, our society would be really dysfunctional. That's why the majority of people live out hard working lives to make the best out of their situation, live with purpose, help their communities, and to get an honest payoff." Ed stated.
"What rubbish. It's people like you who only believe that because you allow the laws and restrictions, fabricated by your fellow man, to guide your thinking. It's because you believe in the concepts of good and bad that you've grown unbearably bias. Do you think you're above me simply because you have a 'good' conscious? Yet, look at the state you're in, slumped on your ass, complaining about my once-in-a-lifetime hospitality because you find it bad. You've limited yourself too much." Envy mentioned. Ed stood back up on his feet, dusting off his clothes.
"What do you mean?" Ed asked.
"Well, look at it this way, you still consider yourself a human-being even though you can perform alchemy. With that much, you have a certain edge over other humans who don't possess your talents, so why limit your talents to such a petty concept like morality?" Envy asked with purpose, Ed growled under his teeth and was about to speak again until Envy cutted him off.
"How naive and forgetful you are, Edward. If I recall, even when you learned about the gruesome secret to crafting the philosopher's stone, that didn't stop you from journeying out to find it for the sake of yourself and your brother. And why should you let a secret like that alter your higher judgment? You're on a mission to claim what was taken from you for your stupid mistakes, and you've realized that the only way to get what you want is through hard sacrifice, humans to be exact. And now, you have what you want, but now it seems like you're purposefully running away from your end goal, thinking that it will cleanse your moral understanding of the world . . . and that much pisses me off." Envy said with an undertone of bitterness, causing Ed to stare motionless into Envy's amethyst eyes. Envy took a deep breath as he got up from his seat on the barrel only to walk close up to Ed, to which Ed flinched a little.
"You can't save those lives, ever. And you can't change the minds of those who thirst for power, it's simply human nature." Envy stated as he proceeded to walk behind Eds view.
"If I were you, I would've used the stone the moment I got it, that's what any logical person would do . . . but I'm glad there are naive brats like you out there, it makes my job a whole lot easier." Envy finished as he looked back on Ed with a small grin on his face. Ed faced forward.
"Well, I may be just a "naive brat" to you, but I'm here to make your job a whole lot harder." Ed corrected as he tilted his head back to look back at Envy.
"Hehe, challenged accepted, now eat before I shove that food down your throat." Envy warned.
Eds stomach growled in accordance to Envy's warning. "Hmph, whatever. I guess I have no choice, although…" Ed paused as he clapped his hands and planted them onto the ground, sending an alchemic shockwave into the barrel, causing it to shake a little before stopping. Nothing came of it. Envy chuckled to himself.
"You think I would go that far huh?" Envy asked curiously.
"I wouldn't put it past you." Ed said back.
"Good call." Envy pointed out in a more malicious tone. Ed didn't look back, he proceeded towards the barrel, then uncovered the lid which revealed a bunch of loaves of bread piled up into one space. It was a plentiful sight, but Ed only looked at the bread with depressed eyes. He picked up a piece, and looked at it for a few moments.
"Are you going to stare at it all day, Pipsqueak? Hurry up and chow down before I really start to lose my patience." Envy warned as his voice grew more frustrated. Ed continued to stare as though he never registered what was just said to him. Eventually, he put the piece of bread back into the barrel, causing Envy to outrage.
"What are you doing!? Do you want to starve to death or something?!" Envy shouted angrily at Ed. Ed turned his head to see the angry look on Envy, but he wasn't fazed.
"Thanks, but no thanks. I rather earn my meal than receive it like this." Ed concluded as he proceeded to walk out of the hut, leaving a disappointed Envy behind. Before Ed could exit, Envy regained his cool.
"Fine. See if I care, I'm not your parent after all. Feel free to die because of your own ridiculous pride; I won't tolerate it." Envy said to Ed causing the latter to stop in his tracks.
"I'm glad you feel that way. You should take your own advice too." Ed pointed out, Envy hissed in displeasure.
"Smartass, keeping running your mouth while you have one. And before you kill yourself off, how long has it been since Scar crafted the stone inside your brother?" Envy asked. Ed looked back at Envy in a bit of confusion.
"About a week or so, why?" Ed asked back. Envy looked content with the answer.
"Nothing you need to know." Envy said to Ed, making the latter moan in disappointment.
"Whatever." Ed said as he took he his leave for the outside, Envy went up to the open door frame and peaked around the corner to keep an eye on Ed. His face was filled with seriousness.
'Damn Envy. If he thinks I'm going to become a dog of anything the second time, he's mistaken.' Ed thought to himself as he started his way down the cliff.
"This is the site that blazed of orange flames, right?" An unknown speaker asked.
"Yes, this is where our glory lies." The other speaker reassured to the other one.
In a far edge of the campsite clearing, the tree leaves rustled vigorously...
CHAPTER 11 END
