24 hours later

Envy lay sprawled on her bed, savouring his way through another container of Nutella. Amara stared down at her laptop, trying to will herself into opening it.

She had somehow survived yesterday. Envy had blessedly allowed her to study for the entire day, content to watch movies and leave her in peace. In fact, ever since their night of intoxication he'd been a lot easier to get along with…she had no idea what could have happened to have had that effect, but she wasn't sure she wanted to know. He'd even accompanied her to the exam that morning without too much hassle and managed to keep himself occupied for three hours without causing mayhem in the streets.

But, though she was ridiculously grateful for the unexpected change in the homunculus, after the exam that morning, she had a sinking feeling that the transformation had come too late. Of course… There was a slight chance she'd passed… It had actually gone better than she'd expected. She thought she might even have maybe sort of possibly pulled off a grade of maybe 50. Maybe.

She really hoped.

Finally she reached her arm forward and flipped open the laptop, lowering herself down into the computer chair and clicking open her browser.

"You look like you're walking to your own funeral," Envy commented dryly.

She swallowed nervously, ignoring him. She felt like she was walking to her own funeral. She pulled up the university site and signed in. Her mouse hesitated over the link to her grades.

Deep breaths…deep breaths…

She could do this.

She clicked the button.

Her eyes slowly focused on the screen, drawn to the mark at the bottom of the page. She blinked. And then she felt the ground drop out from underneath her and her entire body seemed to go numb. She couldn't even move. She was frozen, staring unseeingly at the screen.

This had never happened before. Ever. She felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over her and then punched her in the gut. She didn't want to believe what her eyes were telling her. She closed her eyes and rested her face in her hands, but the number seemed imprinted on the insides of her eyelids, staring back at her like a mind numbing accusation.

47/100

She had failed.

The painfully tedious, mind shredding work she had spent the last handful of months trying to force her way through had all been for nothing. She'd failed it.

She felt like she was going to be sick.

Slowly, she rose to her feet and walked out of the room, making for the couch in the living room. She sank down onto it and pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her head against them and wrapping her arms around her legs. Her mind was completely blank. The disappointment and mortification were a crushing weight in her chest.

A moment later a voice broke through her frozen web of horrified defeat.

"I take it that wasn't good news then."

She didn't make any move to respond. She wasn't even sure what to say.

"Hey," he sounded slightly irritated, "Are you going to sit and pout about it all day?"

She slowly lifted her head to stare at him. "I don't want to do this anymore."

He blinked. "Huh?"

"I'm sorry…I'm just…I'm tired of fighting this. Obviously there isn't any point. Apparently it doesn't matter how hard I try when I'm like this, I'm bound to fail anyway. What's the point?"

"The point in what?"

"In anything." She shook her head. The hopelessness was back in spades. She couldn't keep wading through each day feeling this pointlessly awful. Envy probably wouldn't even be able to distract her at this point. "I know I couldn't face it before, but at this point…I just want to die. I'm tired of dealing with this shit. I just want to feel ok again." She clenched her jaw, holding back tears that wanted to spring to her eyes as she stared at the floor.

"You have got to be kidding me."

She shook her head numbly.

"You aren't seriously going to give up on life over something as trivial as this."

She shrugged listlessly.

"Oh come on Amara, get over yourself," he sounded exasperated.

She glanced at him with a frown. "Why?"

He let out a frustrated sigh. "Take a lesson from that annoying pipsqueak, would you? He had a hell of a lot more reason to give up than you do. He was up against nearly impossible odds and half the time his life was a living hell. But did he give up? No. He didn't. He kept right on bashing his stubborn head against the same wall. And guess what? The little bastard won. He got his damn body back, and his brother's, and even overthrew the most powerful creature in the world. But do you think he would have pulled that off if he'd sat down and cried about how miserable and impossible his life was? No. Not a fucking chance. Now learn something from that you idiot. Being depressed is no excuse to give up on living. You got that?"

Amara blinked at him slowly. She hadn't expected him to start ranting at her.

"Yeah, but Ed was special..." He was a prodigy alchemist, not to mention a cartoon character. It just wasn't the same thing.

"Bullshit! He was an annoying little idiot that made some really stupid choices and ended up paying for them through the nose. And what about that little pink haired wimp in Lior? She was even more pathetic than you, and that's saying something. But even she got her act together and moved on with her life. Claiming inferiority to other people is no excuse. You are just as capable as they are to stand up and climb your damn mountain. And if you choose not to just because it's hard then you're a coward and a fool." He glared at her.

She stared at him for a long moment. The level of irony that Envy of all people was delivering this speech was not lost on her.

"Why do you care?" she asked finally.

He rolled his eyes and actually face-palmed. "Because if you die I die you numbskull."

"Oh…"

He did have a point there. She wilted in resignation. Why did he have to be so annoyingly chatty and right when she just wanted to be left alone?

"So, have you smartened up yet?"

"But…I failed..."

"So? At least you tried." He didn't sound particularly sympathetic.

"It doesn't matter! I wasn't good enough!" Her voice rose in frustration.

"Then make yourself better, Ginger Brain. You're not dead yet you know," he retorted flatly.

She let out a soft huff. That was easy for him to say. But it was much harder to actually do. Still…the jerk had a point. And realistically, she recognized she was more frustrated than anything else. Dying at this point would just add insult to injury. Hell, she'd survived this long with Envy. Letting a stupid accounting course beat her after all that would be pretty damn pathetic.

Finally she let out a resigned sigh. Well, no point in wallowing around in self-pity... "When did you turn into a wise old sage?"

"A wise old sage?" Envy's eyes widened in disbelief.

"I never realized you were into giving motivational speeches." She allowed herself a small smirk.

He glared at her flatly. "Ha-ha."

She rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Alright, relax. I'm not going to do anything stupid. I'm just…not happy."

He raised an eyebrow. At that moment the front door swung inward. Amara looked up with a start and her eyes widened. Envy raised his eyebrows and made an amused sound.

"Rachel?" Amara stared at her blonde friend in shock. She'd completely forgotten about ditching her the other night...

"Where have you been?" Rachel crossed her arms, glaring from her spot in the doorway. She wore her usual beige coat and tall boots, but the lack of makeup and dark circles under her eyes were a telltale sign that she'd been out late the previous night.

"…I was studying," Amara replied lamely. Slowly, she rose to her feet. Her mind had gone blank as she tried to think up some other excuse.

"Bullshit! You left me hanging the other night! I came over here to check on you and there was nobody here!"

Amara raised an eyebrow. "What, have you been out searching desperately for me the entire time?"

Rachel's expression wavered for a moment before returning to a glare. "Well, after coming to the conclusion that you'd decided to spend the night with your boyfriend alone, I went out and found some other friends to spend time with."

"Uh-huh," Amara replied.

"But seriously, Amara, what the hell? Why'd you skip out?"

"Something came up, alright?" Amara replied, frustration coloring her tone. Her brain was too tired and her nerves far too shot to come up with convincing lies on the spot.

"No, it's not all right. You could have at least called me."

Amara raked a hand through her hair in exasperation. "I didn't have a chance to call you. Besides, I didn't have my phone on me."

Rachel looked like she was about to say something, but then she finally seemed to realize there was someone else standing in the room. Her gaze landed on Envy, still very much in his usual form, and she took a half step backwards, eyes widening.

"Who the hell is that?"

Envy smirked at the reaction. Amara turned to give him a flat look.

He raised his hands defensively. "Hey, it's not my fault she burst in before I could change. Unless you want me to shapeshift in front of her..."

Amara face-palmed. Wonderful. There was no way she'd be able to come up with a convincing excuse now…

"…What is he talking about? Amara, what is going on here?" Rachel glanced from the unfamiliar palm-tree-like creature to her friend.

Amara rolled her eyes.

Screw it.

"He's the reason I ditched you the other night."

Rachel stared at her like she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing.

"You ditched me for a cross dresser?" her voice cracked slightly.

Amara saw Envy's expression slip into a glare out of the corner of her eye and she let out a soft sigh. "Yep."

Her friend gaped at her. "You're saying a freaky-ass hermaphroditic pine tree takes precedence over me?"

Amara's jaw dropped slightly and her eyes widened. Envy…a…pine tree? Well…he was certainly prickly enough for the name to fit…

She shook her head slightly to clear it. "Yes. He does. Because I know you won't go on a rampant killing spree if I leave you unattended."

Rachel glanced back at Envy, expression deteriorating further. "Wait…what? What happened to Enver?"

Envy's expression had darkened alarmingly, and suddenly Amara felt concerned for her friend's wellbeing.

She stepped in his direction. "Envy..."

"Oh, you mean this guy?" Red light crackled over the homunculus's form, transforming him into the tall, dark, young Turkish man.

Amara's heart stuttered slightly and then she felt an uncomfortable sinking feeling in her chest. Something about his expression told her he wasn't finished yet…

She glanced hastily back at her friend and saw the blonde had gone very pale. "Rachel…are you ok?"

Her friend's eyes widened, fear evident in her expression. "Amara, what is he?"

"You think that's neat? How about I show you something really interesting..."

"Envy don't you dare!" Amara lunged towards him and grabbed a hold of his arm. She could tell by his tone and expression just what he had in mind. But no way in hell was she going to let him change into his true form in the middle of her apartment.

Except…with her commands over him no longer in effect, she wasn't quite sure how to go about stopping him.

She tensed in surprise as she felt the odd sensation of red electricity crackling beneath her fingers.

Shit.

Truth, you bastard! It's time to step in!

She staggered back with a feeling of dread as the homunculus began shifting into something much larger than her apartment could possibly hold.

Damn.

She was going to get crushed to death under debris as Envy brought the entire building down around them.

This would be a really stupid way to die. And here she'd decided to get her act together and move on with her life…

Then everything went black.

-A/N-

No that isn't the end. ;P