A/N: So here's the next one. I decided to do the ever popular gender bender. I also decided that this parallel universe wasn't different other than a few gender changes, so I basically took one of my favorite scenes in the manga and rewrote it to fit the idea. I kept original dialogue and only added a lot of internal emotions. PLEASE REVIEW! I would love to know what you think!
"Colonel Mustang!" The call came from First Lieutenant Hawkeye. The blond was carrying a stack of paperwork. "You forgot to sign these!"
The Colonel sighed and gave her subordinate a plaintive look. The blond man frowned, "Now Colonel." He said. "We have to get this done today. I've taken the liberty to fill out most of the information. They only need your signature."
Raine Mustang roller her dark eyes. "Fine Lt. But if I'm staying here than so are you." She smirked at this.
"Of course Colonel," Rhodri Hawkeye nodded grateful that his C.O. hadn't put up too much of a fight.
Raine stepped back into her office and grudgingly sat at her desk. Rhodri placed the stack in front of her swiftly grabbing one of her pens and offering it.
She took the pen and began to hastily scrawl her name on the empty line of the top sheet. "I don't see why I have to be the one to sign all of these!" She exclaimed. "Hawkeye, can't you just forge my signature?"
"I could, but what kind of leader would a lackabout make for this country?" The words came out exactly as he inteended, as a scathing sarcastic taunt.
Raine fought the urge to giggle in response and instead huffed loudly in exasperation. She tried to sign as quickly as she could her subordinate's eyes on her constantly. "Is there something wrong with my face Lt.?"
"No."
"Then quit staring at me!" She snapped.
"Just doing my job." He replied brown eyes gleaming under a curtain of golden fringe. He was of course referring to the secret duty Mustang had imparted him with when they're real mission had just begun.
Months later Raine walked somehow missing the calm of a regular day. She may have been a soldier, but sometimes a little paperwork wasn't so bad. "This ends today." She murmured. Her short cropped hair fell messily in her black eyes almost hiding the grim determination in them as she stalked into the secret entrance of their greatest enemy's lair. Rhodri was right on her heals his guns in hand.
"Let's put an end to this chaos." Raine said evenly.
Rhodri nodded simply.
They stepped in and heard the familiar voices of Edward Elric. "Sounds like they need help."
The two emerged in the room where months ago they'd fought Lust. The faceless white bodies attacking the Elric's group swarmed around the rag-tag team of Fullmetal, chimera, and Scar.
Raine snapped her gloved fingers. The resounding explosion catching the allies' attention and clearing away the zombies closest to causing harm. "You look like you could use a hand Fullmetal."
"You sure have a knack for showing up at the last possible second Colonel!" Ed exclaimed glad to see the reinforcement of a fellow Alchemist.
Raine looked at the vaguely familiar room. She'd been nearly out of it killing Lust. "This sure brings back memories Lieutenant!" She said smirking nostalgically. "I still picture you crying. I wish I could see such pure emotion on your face again."
"I thought you didn't like water Sir, it makes your powers useless." Rhodri said coolly. The remark was a subtle way of saying that the unspoken emotion they shared had no place here.
The Flame Alchemist cleared her throat in defeat then turned and looked at Scar. "So you're here?"
"There's no time to talk! Hurry up and fight!" The Ishvalan growled deconstructing one of the zombie dolls.
"Don't give me orders!" Raine snapped indignantly.
"Understood." Rhodri replied evenly. He went for his guns.
"Guns don't work on them Lt." Edward explained.
"Not again!" He replied in annoyance. How could he do his job if his entire arsenal was ineffective?
Raine noticed that everyone seemed to be working on imobilizing the things instead of outright putting an end to the abominations. "I see, that's why you're attacking the legs." Her voice carried the hint that she had a better idea.
"Stop grandstanding and help us out!" Edward yelled still fighting.
There was the sound of gasses igniting then the heat and roar of flames. The zombies burned up disintegrating as the fire died away.
"If you're having trouble with these you have a long way to go." The Colonel said smugly. She really was a human weapon. Just a snap of fingers and the enemy was gone. Edward gawked in jealousy.
Before anyone could say another word Envy and May fell through the ceiling.
It was then that the Colonel's near mistake began.
It started with that one question:
"Who killed Maes Hughes?"
"It was Maria Ross." Envy replied innocently. "The one you burned to death." It reminded.
"No it wasn't her." Raine said evenly. This was the last time she wanted to ask this question. They all loved to dance around the answer whenever Raine asked one of these excuses for humans.
Envy grinned, "So you incinerated an innocent woman!" It laughed. "Nice going! How Cruel! What did you do when you told her parents? Did you apologize with tears in your eyes? Or did you just stay quiet afraid of their anger?" It smirked at her.
"For the love of god shut up you idiot." Raine interupted in agitation. It's voice was grating on her nerves. The homunculus talked in a high pitched condescending tone that rubbed the alchemist the wrong way.
"I'm getting tired of asking you homunculi this question, just hurry up and give me the facts you fool." Raine said tiredly. If necessary she would give the thing a taste of her special made fire based alchemy to loosen it's tongue.
The thing started laughing. As it's shoulders shook it gave her a wicked grin. "Congratulations Colonel Mustang, you've finally found your killer." Envy answered at last. The look in it's purple eyes was one of pure mirth. It had enjoyed killing Hughes by the looks of it.
Raine wasn't convinced. This jabberjawing freak wasn't even near the level of intelligence Maes had held. No way it was the killer.
"I severely doubt that Hughes could've been killed by a fool like you." She said giving it a sideways glance. This couldn't be the killer, could it?
Envy chuckled and it's skin sparked as it transformed to look like Maes' wife Gracia. "The real fool was Hughes for falling for a simple trick like this!"
Raine's face paled. So it had assumed her form and killed him that way. Everyone in the room now understood how one of their own had been brought so low by the moron. Envy was stupid and over talkative, only in trickery could he manage a feat like the murder of a brilliant man.
"I wish you could see you face right now!" Envy taunted. It was a truly wonderful look. Full of surprise and fury. "Killing Hughes was great fun! Talk about crazy expressions, imagine the look of despair as he thought he was being shot by his beloved wife!" It gloated. "Priceless!"
Raine couldn't take it anymore. Maybe if it were a little less full of itself she could handle this with some level of lucidity. But gloating about killing a good man by deception of the foulest kind was way over the line. Now it was time to give it what it deserved. Death would come swiftly on the wings of passionate fire.
The Lieutenant's shoulders fell at this. First off they didn't have time for what was coming. And second it was dangerous waters to dabble in vengeance. Wasn't Scar enough of an example?
"That's settled, you killed Hughes. Now that I know that as a fact there's no need to say anything else Envy. I'm going to burn you to ash starting with your tongue." She threatened darkly making sure both her ignition gloves were on properly. This was what she'd been hunting for. And now she'd give Envy the same merciless regard it'd given Maes.
"Fullmetal, I'll handle this. This prey is mine."
The others reluctantly made to leave.
Envy didn't expect the suddenness of an attack when he tried to stop the others from leaving the battlefield. But the tongue in it's mouth was on fire in a heartbeat. Envy fell pain depriving it of strength.
"Can you really afford to talk to them when you have me to deal with? Judging by the way you run your mouth I'd say you have a fat tongue. Must be why it burns so well." Raine taunted.
Ed asked Rhodri if they were sure.
"We'll manage somehow." He assured the younger man.
Envy's tongue healed and it gave a grin, "What a loyal friend you are, as a sign of my respect I'll fight you using my full strength." It suddenly transformed growing into a huge hulking beast. The thing was reminiscent of a dog with extra legs and human faces in it's skin. "It's not easy to hold back in this form, don't say I didn't warn you!" Envy roared.
Alchemic energy shot from the Colonel's fingers straight for it's eyes. There was a sudden flash of heat and fluid exploded from the thing's eye sockets.
"How does it feel to have all the fluid in your eyes boiled away?" Raine asked nonchalantly. This was a woefully unmatched fight and it was apparant. What did the thing think it was doing making itself bigger? But that was ok, she could work with a larger target. It made it so much easier to inflict pain.
Snap! Fire engulfed the entire thing for a few seconds long enough to burn every single inch of it's body.
"Thanks for the bigger target. Did you honestly think having a huge body would help you win? Idiot!" She admonished. She couldn't believe her opponent's foolishness. This wasn't Edward Elric it was fighting. This was Raine Mustang, the famed Flame Alchemist. The woman was accurately considered a 'human weapon'. It should have at least known that much.
"I'll make you suffer this pain again and again until you stay dead!" She promised.
Envy healed and it looked at the woman a little more seriously. Without warning it slammed it's tail into the wall causing debris to rain down on the two humans. It used the distraction to dash through the odd doors.
Raine made a face. What a coward.
"You stay here Lieutenant!" She ordered before navigating the rubble and following after the homunculus.
Rhodri stood for a moment before taking a deep breath and going in too. The Colonel would just have to be mad at him. He was though the one watching his back and neither one could afford Raine to let herself get into more trouble than she could handle.
Rhodri searched for Raine or Envy. Either one was a necessity in a different way. If he could manage to kill Envy before the Colonel than there was a chance at saving the woman he'd promised to follow into hell. If he found her than he would assume his role as guardian.
The sound of footsteps around the corner. He dare not take a chance that it was his C.O. Just because Envy was usually barefoot and these bore the distinct clack of boots meant nothing. He could shape shift into anyone, including Raine herself.
Rhodri knelt gun leading the way just at the corner. He spun around gun aimed at the Colonel or was it? The voice and likeness was identical to the woman he had spent many years with. "Stay close Lieutenant." She said.
She lead the way down a corridor her back to him. Rhodri pulled his gun on her head. The click of the hammer alerting the woman in front of him.
"What are you doing Lieutenant? Who do you think you're pointing that gun at?"
There was the inkling of doubt this was his leader. Why would she ask that? She would have proven who she was with a simple phrase only the two knew.
"Who? Don't make me laugh." Rhodri's voice was mocking. "The Colonel calls me Rhodri when we're alone." He grinned when the woman in front of him spun around energy sparking around the face.
"So that's how you two are?" Envy asked surprised.
"Nope." Bang! A bullet shattered Envy's head entering one side and exiting the opposite.
"I lied, but thanks for taking the bait." The soldier said smoothly. He wondered if Envy would be shocked to hear it was much deeper than any simple romance between the two. Beyond understanding was his devotion to the Flame Alchemist. Raine knew this and the two only kept up a proper commander-subordinate relationship to keep out of trouble. "This is where you die." He said at the monster.
Rhodri didn't wait to see the homunculus heal itself. He emptied the first gun then pulled the two on the back of his belt. Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang... He just kept firing until empty clicks echoed from the weapons.
Too occupied to reload he dropped them and went for the rifle on his back. Envy saw an opening and attacked. Rhodri dodged enough so that the homunculus' claws only grazed his cheek.
A bullet in the leg rewarded Envy for the drawing of human blood. More high powered perfect shots pounded the artificial human. Enraged it let it's arm extend under the floor for a sneak attack that threw the Lt. off balance. Writhing flesh wrapped around him and slammed him to the ground.
Rhodri gasped as the air blasted out of his lungs and his back throbbed.
"I'll beat you like a rag doll and throw you at your precious Colone's feet!" Envy announced triumphantly.
Fwoom! Flames engulfed the creature and the fleshy bonds vanished. Rhodri took a breath grateful as Raine stepped up from an intersecting tunnel. "What are you doing to my precious Lieutenant?" She asked.
She took a haughty pose and snapped again. More fire lit up the darkness warming her face. Again her fingers pressed together and the ignition gloves created a spark that became a violent inferno. Her eyes were dark and full of hatred. So pitch black that no love or compassion even touched them.
Rhodri knew that now was the time to be her consciounce. He watched the flames fade away and Envy sat there staring up at the Flame Alchemist in fear. It was the first time he'd seen any homunculus display a genuine realization that they could die. Not even Lust had been afraid when Raine burned him to death.
She turned a hate filled pair of worried eyes on her subordinate, "Don't be reckless Lieutenant. I said I would take care of it." She said quietly.
"Don't look down on me!" Envy screamed at the Colonel. Raine's fingers snapped as she lifted her arm in it's direction. Once again flames devoured the fleshy homunculus. This time instead of regenerating, the ugly little monster that was Envy replaced the nearly human visage.
Rhodri rose slowly picking up a handgun and reloading it quickly. He had to put this madness to rest before it went too far. He just hoped it hadn't yet.
The thing was like a reptile with eight legs and a long wispy tail. Two large eyes looked around pleadingly. "Not again." It whispered trying to scurry away.
A boot came down hard on it. "So this is your true form? You bastard." Her voice was disgusted. "Envy, the name means jealousy. I now see jealousy is truly an ugly sin." Her voice mocked the thing under her boot. She pressed her foot down harder enjoying the feel of something soft squirming beneath it.
This was truly what the thing deserved. To be snuffed out by the humans it had made so much fun of. It had mocked the strong and brave people it took the form of by imagining itself a higher form of existence. How ironic that it was lying prone under her foot.
She decided it's fate and she knew what that fate was. It was a promised fate for killing the man she had loved like a brother. Maes Hughes had been her most trusted friend. He had been a good father and a brilliant soldier. By murdering Hughes Envy had consequently ruined the happiness of Elicia and Gracia. The doting husband and father would never grace the home he'd worked so hard for again.
"Get out of my sight for good Envy!" Raine pressed her fingers together snapping.
Rhodri's gun clicked just behind her head. "What's the meaning of this Lieutenant?" She asked in surprise.
"That's enough Colonel, I will take it from here." Rhodri looked at her begging the logical scientific side of the alchemist to reign in her hatred and anger.
"One more flame and it's done. I won't allow you to dirty your hands, lower your gun." She ordered coldly.
Rhodri had hoped he didn't have to invoke the deep duty as Mustang's guardian, and excecutioner. "I can't obey that order Sir, please put your hand down." His voice was gentle but firm. He need not remind her of his promise.
Raine turned to look at him. "I'm not joking, lower your gun!" She yelled.
The sound of alchemy not from her hand made her pause long enough to see Edward cause the stone floor to toss Envy from under her into the alchemist's gloved automail hand.
"Fullmetal, hand it over." The Colonel demanded turning her attention to Ed and Scar who had come to the scene in the nick of time.
Something deep inside of Raine told her it was ok, but she didn't want that. She wanted vengeance for the death of Hughes. He hadn't deserved such a cruel murder by the hands of a thing that had assumed his wife's appearance.
"No way!" Ed replied defiantly. Even now he refused the Colonel's orders. The short man was resolved not to give in.
"That thing needs to die in the most painful way possible for what it's done! Hand it over!" The Flame Alchemist was borderline psycho by the shrill tone of her voice. There was no doubt she wanted it to suffer for what it had done, but what good was that? What did it say about the things she had done and the fact that she was still alive?
"If we share the same enemy I won't stop you." Scar said. "I have no right to stand in the way of someone else's vengeance, but I wonder what kind of world can be created by a beast hiding in the skin of a person?" He eyed her skeptically.
The Ishvalan's words struck a nerve deep down inside, but she was too angry to let it resonate to her current mindset.
"I won't let you kill Envy. But I have no intention of letting it live, I'll finish it off." Rhodri said his gun still aimed at Mustang's head.
Raine clenched her fingers. "But after all this time I've finally got the killer cornered!" The hatred in her voice echoed off the brick walls hollowly. Why didn't anyone understand? It had killed Hughes, didn't it deserve her flavor of retribution for such atrocity?
"I know but," The Lieutenant yelled back desperately. He was trying so hard to reach her. What if she didn't relent? Would he have the strength to shoot her in the head? "Right now your actions aren't for the good of the country or even your comrades!" He couldn't stand the thought that Raine had let herself go this far. "Coldblooded hatred!" He announced. "That's what's driving you!"
His hand shook as he prepared to fire if he didn't get the desired response. "Please Colonel, you mustn't take that path." He closed his eyes breifly caught up in his own emotions he clenched his teeth not wantig to see what he had to do next.
"If you intend to shoot me go ahead." Her voie was like ice. Hughes deserved to rest in peace knowing his killer had been brought down by someone he had trusted. "But what will you do after I'm dead?" Her voice turned curious in a sort of hateful way.
Rhodri swallowed hard staring at her in disbelief. "I have no intention of living alone." He said mournfully. "I will erase my life along with the secret to flame alchemy that has led good men to madness." He meant every word of it. What good was life without the woman he was most loyal to?
There was a snap and the wall to their side exploded in fire. Everyone looked in shock at the woman they were trying to save.
"I can't allow that, I'm not losing you too." Raine whispered in self-loathing. Her hands fell to her sides. Sanity returned in a rush at the thought of him committing suicide. And it was not forgiving for what she'd been about to do to herself.
"Look at me," She murmured. "Scolded by a child, preached to by a former enemy," She swallowed hard, "And worst of all driving you to consider such a thing. What a fool I've been." She turned and looked at Rhodri. "Lower your gun Lieutenant." She placed her hand over the weapon, "I'm sorry."
Her legs gave out and she landed on the ground in a sorry heap before her most trusted soldier. The onlookers watched in relief as Rhodri slid down to join her. A sigh of relief escaped. He couldn't believe that she'd actually listened to reason. The Colonel was a rash woman often enough that it had looked so hopeless.
Silence passed for a brief moment as everyone realized what might have just happened and the consequences of that. Ed and Rhodri had both bought the Colonel's dream. Ed had promised to cash in his debt only when the goal was accomplished. The Lieutenant had nearly been forced to act out the role he'd agreed to, the role he prayed he would never have to fill.
Wild emotions dispelled slowly though and the group made no move until Envy freaked out. For a final time he tried to antagonize the four into going at it like old times. They had so many reasons to fight with each other and yet here they were. And the Ishvalan had gone so far as to warn Raine of her near fatal mistake. Why did he care? Had he been suckered into believing the Flame Alchemist's idealistic dream? Why wasn't Edward taking action for the death of his girlfriend's parents? Why wasn't Scar exacting 'the will of Ishvala' on Mustang?
Had they all gone insane?
In the end no one killed Envy, because the homunculus couldn't stand the thought of humans working together for the greater good. Especially when the group was made up of people who all had reasons to kill each other. It was beyond it's understanding of the human heart. Infuriated by Ed mentioning that Envy was jealous of humans it committed suicide while they all watched pitying the thing. It really had a sad existence, all alone working for a goal it had no stake in.