Chapter One
It was a quarter past midnight when the young blonde haired teen heard a desperate sounding thud and a repeated faint knocking on his apartment door. He had been studying and was wide awake, unlike a normal person who would've been making an attempt to sleep. He put down his pen and cautiously made his way to the old wooden door that was barely hanging on its hinges. He opened it and found the last thing he wanted to see at this hour or any other hour as a matter of fact. Lying on the dirt paved walkway that led to the doorway of Edward Elric's dingy and old apartment was a badly beaten, distraught, and broken Envy. He looked up at Edward with cold, dark violet eyes and said in a cracked voice, "Took you damn long enough, chibi-sa-" and with that he fell into unconsciousness.
It was raining and the sin's dark green hair was strewn across his face, Edward couldn't help but stare. He crouched down and gently pulled the other man's hair out of the way and behind his ear. Envy looked like he had been hit by a semi, his body was badly beaten and bloody, his shirt was torn to shreds…almost the same for the tiny skort he wore, and it also looked like bones were broken. "Damn", Edward said as he scratched his head and looked at Envy. Without another word he slowly picked him up, bridal style, and carried him into the apartment. He set the sin down on his bed and went back to close the door.
Edward returned to his bedroom with a washcloth and a basin of warm water. He set it down beside the bed and started to examine Envy. Deep scratches adorned his body along with what looked like punch marks that were starting to bruise over, trailing from his face to his midsection. Edward flinched at the sight of a broken arm and leg. It was an ugly sight, but somehow Edward couldn't stop staring at the sin. He knew what he had to do wasn't going to be fun, but it would be better than leaving him in this condition. Slowly, as to not hurt or wake the sin, Edward took off Envy's clothes and started to clean his wounds.
Two hours later Edward had finally finished. He dressed Envy with an oversized button-up shirt and a pair of boxers, pulled the covers over him, and turned off the lamp on the bedside table. With a sigh the youth headed for the couch when he passed his study, which he had completely forgotten about. He went to his desk and looked at the papers, sat down and began to study again. This had become habitual for Edward. It's not like he enjoyed it, but after Alphonse left it was all he had. He was still a dog off the military and he had to have his reports on time for Mustang. Otherwise he would get demoted, or become Mustang's slave again, or get sent on more missions, etc, etc. Edward picked up his pen, scribbled a few words on the paper before him, laid the pen down, started to read again, and then his eyes finally started to droop. Usually Edward could pull all-nighters for days on end, but now his system was slowing down and he was building immunity to caffeine. He shook his head violently and even hit his head with the large leather bound book he was using to study. He stood and walked to the door leading to the hallway and looked down to where his bedroom was. In the faint darkness he could see Envy's sleeping form. He smiled and walked back to his desk, sat down and spun in his office chair, looking up at the ceiling he wondered to himself, 'Why the hell did I save him? He's my enemy after all, what's gotten into me?' He smirked and looked back at his papers, "Oh well, when he wakes up its sure going to be interesting." Edward picked up his book again, read a little further, scribbled a few more notes, and before he knew it he was drifting off to sleep. Little did he know that Edward couldn't even fathom what was in store for him when he awoke.