Author's note: Hello again, sorry this chapter took so long to get up! Once again thanks to Turtlequeen2 for all of her help with this chapter. Please enjoy the read.
It had been a week since Envy had told Rosette the truth about himself and he was surely paying hell for it now. Ever since the confession, he had never allowed the girl to leave his sight for fear of danger. And also since that time, she had not spoken a word to him nor had she ever looked at him with the same glint of happiness she held when she stared at "Mark."
However, she seemed to be hard at work studying the alchemy books. Perhaps she felt that it was now her only weapon against Envy. The redhead never left any room without at least one rose within easy reach. Sometimes she'd cut her hands every time she heard a loud noise, although there was no scaring on her hands yet. Envy's confession had done nothing for her already strained nerves. He hadn't been allowed to touch her since that night, not even to avoid bruising. Currently, she was flipping the pages of a heavy alchemy tome, ignoring Envy's gaze as he watched her from the other side of the room.
Even though he watched her intently, sometimes the homunculus would avert his gaze to the floor, glaring at it as if it were the source of all of his problems. Being able to glare at anything was good at preventing his temper from snapping. He at least had enough sense to not lash out at her seeing as that would only make problems worse for him.
Muttering under her breath, the redhead slammed the book shut. "Idiot authors." Releasing her breaks, she rolled out from behind the desk and made her way over to the bookshelf to scan the books as though looking for something. "One of you better speak more plainly than your friend over there." Rosette seemed to like talking to the books.
The homunculus sucked in a deep breath, feeling his fists clench and unclench as he watched her roll past him, acting as if he weren't in the room at all. Finally tired of being ignored, he pushed off of the wall he was resting against and set his sights on her. "Rosette," he called out in a stern tone.
Rosette paused in the middle of pulling a thicker book out. "What?" She snapped as she lost her grip on the book and banged her fingers against the shelf.
"You could at least acknowledge my presence," Envy growled back, knowing that it was already pointless to help her when she hurt herself. "I've been with you all this time and I have yet to harm you physically."
"You've been hovering over me like a rooster over his hens," the redhead shot back, speaking around the injured fingers in her mouth.
Deciding to take the risk, the homunculus grabbed the back of her wheelchair and pushed her into the living room. With quick speed, he then picked her body up from the chair and went to sit on the couch before pulling her onto his lap. "I've been nice enough to you for a week now. Now I think you should take a break from your studies and give me some attention," he remarked.
Her gray eyes hardened. "Considering everything, you don't ask for much, do you?" She wanted to reach for the rose in her hair, remembering what had happened the last time she had sat on this couch.
"I don't think I'm asking for much when I say that I'd like you to acknowledge my presence," Envy replied.
She glared at him. "And I'm in your lap because...?"
The homunculus flashed a smug smirk. "It got your attention, didn't it?"
Instead of answering, she shifted as though to get off his lap, not liking being this close.
Instead of letting go, Envy's grip only tightened around Rosette's body.
Now angry, her hand whipped up to the rose in her hair. Rosette had taken the uneasy step of drawing a transmutation circle in her hand every morning, and now she was grateful for that as she stabbed her palm with the thorn, turning the stem into a knife-like point and jamming it as hard as she could into Envy's neck. She quickly got off the homunculus's lap and stayed still as the vines wrapped around her as though to pick her up, reacting to the horror of the mistress.
Envy's eyes widened and momentarily rolled to the back of his head as blood sprayed out from his neck. For almost a minute, it seemed that he was actually dead. However, soon after, a bright light shone from his body before skin began to heal itself. The homunculus's body then twitched before reaching the back of his hand up to wipe the fallen blood off of self-healed area of skin on his neck. With his pupils back into focus, he grinned at Rosette. "You're going to have to try a lot harder than that to kill me, hun," he teased.
Now the redhead looked ill as the vines tightened around her protectively. She squeezed her hand to dig the thorn in deeper. "Is that a challenge?"
The homunculus didn't reply to her, ignoring the vines as he pulled her back onto his lap and forcefully claimed her lips in a harsh kiss.
This appeared to shock her. As the vines loosened and returned to the rose in her hand, she tried to move her head but his grip was too strong. All she could do was try to keep her mouth closed.
Envy had to admit that he had missed kissing the girl and noted that it felt different than when he was in the form of "Mark." Though, despite the small jolt of happiness he felt at this, it was overshadowed by irritation at the fact that she had actually taken one of his many lives.
Rosette did yelp at one point because he was holding her so tight that it hurt, but she didn't fight him even when Envy deepened the kiss until she saw spots before her eyes. It didn't escape her notice that he was stroking her head with one hand and her spine with the other, reminding her of a starving man finally able to eat his fill.
Upon finally realizing that he could hold his breath longer than hers, Envy pulled his mouth away from hers, enjoying the sight of her bruised and swollen lips.
She closed her eyes, trying to suck in enough air to fill her lungs and ignoring her bleeding hand.
The homunculus realized how much he had overworked her and decided to switch gears, gently pushing her down and laying beside the redhead so that her head could rest against his shoulder. "I won't go beyond that Rosette," he murmured.
"I wasn't really concerned about it. Even if something did happen, can't feel down there anyway so it wouldn't be fun." She shrugged. "Something I thought about when the last problem came up."
Envy suppressed a sigh as he shifted her body so that he could hold her as she laid down. "If the problem was still alive, I would have dealt with it," he murmured as his right hand reached down to remove the rose out of her hand. Looking down at her face and making sure she could see, he took the rose and kissed it as a type of symbolism for peace. After pulling his lips away, he explained, "I'm serious about marrying you, Rosette and I'm not planning on letting anyone stop me from making you my bride." He then added, "As for lashing out at me, I forgive you because I scared you..."
Rosette said nothing for a minute, then sighed. "Why me? You could have anyone in the world you wanted. All the riches of the world if you chose, so why me of all people?"
The homunculus thought to himself for a moment before answering. "The way you look at the world is so much different from me... As a homunculus, I used to hate all humans because I thought that they were all the same... I thought they were all foolish, vain creatures who only wanted more than what they needed." As he spoke, he idly wondered if Rosette had ever been loved by another aside from her parents. She sounded so doubtful of herself.
"Most people act that way to avoid getting hurt, to protect themselves from possible pain." She shifted. "The way I see it, the worst has already been done, so I don't need to pretend."
Envy's eyes narrowed slightly, knowing that she was lying to him. "...You don't need to lie to yourself, Rosette," he murmured. "You may be stronger than an average human but you're just as fragile as they are."
Narrowing her gray eyes, she sighed again. "Envy, don't get me started, please." She nearly sounded pleading.
Deciding that he didn't want to risk getting killed again, the homunculus returned the sigh and decided to drop the subject. "Either way, all I know is that I really do care about you."
"Do the others know?" She asked.
"That I told you the truth?" Envy questioned.
"And that you fell in love with your prey," the redhead added
The homunculus shook his head. "Not yet... but I'm fairly certain that they'll find out sooner or later. I'm already expecting an earful from Lust..." He mentally cringed at that argument.
Rosette shivered. "Am I going to become dinner?"
Envy snorted. "Like hell I'd let that happen."
She raised her eyebrow and shifted, trying to get out from under him without pushing him off. "Aren't they your equals? You might not have a choice, especially if your creator takes steps."
"I'll readily give them my life if that meant preserving your life," the homunculus admitted in a serious tone. He shook his head. "And besides that, they won't kill you before they plan to use you as a sacrifice... If something happened to you, the plans would be ruined."
"Sacrifice?" Her tone sharpened. "So I'm going to die no matter how I look at it?"
"If their plan comes to surface...yes..." Envy replied, unable to lie to her. "But it won't just be you that dies... This entire country..." He didn't finish the sentence.
Her eyes, if possible, grew even harder before she reached out with her bloody hand and shoved the homunculus away from her with all her strength. Snatching the almost forgotten rose from Envy, she used the blood to redraw the circle on her hand and the rose came alive again to lift her from the couch.
Envy was too shocked to do anything to stop her. How did she get the nerve to shove him? He then paused, his eyes widening as he got to his feet. She was planning to tell Pride about this!
Tipping her hand, she let a thin trickle of blood fall on the vines in an offering once she was back in her chair before the rose resumed it's original form. Turning, she rolled out of the room without a backward glance.
"Dammit!" Envy cursed, knowing that he would now have to deal with an irate Pride before the others.
In less than fifteen minutes, Rosette had cleaned herself up, bandaged her hand and was dressed in a fresh uniform. The redhead had a very closed off look on her face as she put one hand up to open the door for the first time since the punishment started.
Envy used his speed to move towards her, pulling back on her arm before he stepped out. "Rosette," he murmured in earnest before tugging her towards him and giving her a much gentler kiss than before. He knew that there was a chance that this could be their last kiss and wanted to make it count.
Rosette's eyes widened, but she didn't struggle or stab him. When he let go, she closed her eyes before Envy saw her tears. "Goodbye." The word was spoken softly, as though she was trying not to cry, then she opened the door and fled.
The homunculus frowned as he watched her leave. He could tell that the young woman had a high sense of honor. He knew that chasing after her would be useless. Once Pride and Dante found out, he was as good as dead anyway.
An hour and a half later, Rosette rolled into Central headquarters, and within ten minutes, she was knocking on the Führer's door, ignoring Ms. Douglas completely.
Luckily, being in his office at the moment, the Führer stood up from his chair and went to get the door himself. "What is with all of the commotion?" he began before noticing the look on Rosette's face. "Rosette?"
"My apologies for the intrusion sir, but... we need to talk. Privately." Rosette was clearly taking herself in hand, even though her hand and mouth had to be hurting fiercely.
"Alright, then," King Bradley responded, moving out of the way so that she could go into the room.
Relieved for the moment, she rolled into the office and waited for him to close the door. "Sir, what do you really know about Mark Stone?" Rosette asked, gripping her hands in her lap and taking a deep breath for courage.
Pride fell silent for a moment, glancing over the woman's panicked frame until his eye caught both her bruised lips and injured hand. His one eye narrowed. 'What did you do, Envy?' he mentally growled before speaking. "Did he hurt you?"
"Mark Stone isn't a human. He's a homunculus named Envy," the redhead stated flatly. She then proceeded to give a completely dispassionate report, detailing everything she had learned. "I would have come right away, but I wasn't sure if I could win in a fight with him," Rosette finished.
The more the homunculus listened, the angrier he got. 'That idiot!' he inwardly cursed. Now that Rosette knew all of their plans, getting her to submit would be all the more difficult! Still putting up an act at least for himself, his expression hardened. "I will send people out to retrieve him," he stated firmly. "As for you, you may take up residence in Colonel Mustang's place for the time being."
"Thank you, sir." Her voice was quiet, but her hands were shaking in her lap.
Letting out a sigh, Pride forced himself to calm. He would have his fun with Envy later. "...Do you need to get medical help?" he asked in a concerned tone.
"I was a bit reckless, but it didn't go though my hand. I'll have some juice tonight and be okay." She didn't look okay though. Something was eating away at her; something personal.
The Führer frowned, not believing that she was telling the entire truth. Gently reaching his hand forward, he took the bandages off of her hand and noticed the depth of the puncture wound. "You call this 'okay'?" he sharply snapped just like a father would react to seeing their daughter being harmed.
She flexed her hand gingerly. "Better that than rape."
"This 'Envy' never tried to rape you, I hope?" Pride pressed, knowing that if she claimed that he did, he would personally see to it that Envy slowly died a horrific death.
"No, but today was a close call, hence why my lips are an interesting color... He said something about wanting to marry me. And he wouldn't let me out of his sight until today. Scared me enough that I used my rose to kill him, but he just popped back to life and grabbed me again."
The older man pulled his hands away, felt his fists tighten for a moment before unclenching. "Are you going to tell the colonel about this?" he then asked.
"I wanted to tell you first. Roy will go postal and not hear anything after he sees me."
The homunculus nodded his head though he found that it would be rather inconvenient if Mustang were to also find out the truth.
"It scares me..." She said quietly. "That Envy would believe I could just let this happen." Absently, she rubbed her unfeeling leg with her injured hand.
Pride forced himself to narrow his eye again. "I won't let anything like that happen to this country under my watch if I can help it," he stated if only to ease her suspicions.
She was still rubbing her leg uneasily. "I am... confused, Führer." Rosette confessed in a quiet voice, wincing slightly as her mouth hurt. Her eyes looked deeply wounded for a minute before she took herself in hand again.
"What do you mean?" the homunculus pressed.
The redhead looked at her hands, unwilling to meet the Fuhrer's gaze lest he was angry at her. "Even though the homunculus lied to me, I don't think he was lying about not letting anyone get in between him and I. You don't make that kind of face if you aren't serious. My fear is that if I stay with Roy, he'll die when Envy comes to retrieve me."
Upon hearing her quiet tone and seeing her look down, Pride realized that the young woman was terrified of Envy and what he could do to whoever got in his way. "Then do you have a better idea of where you could stay?"
She gripped her hands tightly together; ignoring the pain as blood began to flow again, staining the bandage. "As I see it, I either have to fend for myself and hope he'll keep his distance- which I highly doubt he'll do- or I'll have to go back into the lion's den and pray that I can keep him amused long enough that he won't linger when he kills me."
"'When'?" Pride echoed, his eye narrowing even more. 'That fool even told her about our plans?' he inwardly growled.
"He called me a 'sacrifice'. I think the meaning behind that is clear enough. Either that or they are hoping to scare me enough that I act as a lure to draw others in." Her voice was a whisper.
The homunculus felt more of an urge to wring Envy's neck until he died a few times over now. What was wrong with that idiot? One human knowing was already too many! "So you're willing to risk dying 'sooner' in order to save your brother's life?"
"Death doesn't frighten me, I've already died once. It's not so bad." She flexed her injured hand thoughtfully. "We all die a thousand times, only to be born a thousand and one. That's what I believe. Every choice we make now affects what will happen the next time around. I will not watch other people die knowing that I led them to their deaths merely to save this body at this time. Even if I die, I'm going to make sure I spoke their wheel before I go."
Pride fell silent, realizing that her words had substance to them. As much as he disliked leaving her with Envy, he knew that she would do anything to protect Mustang. "Very well," the Führer murmured. "If you wish to risk your life, I will not stop you. However... if this 'homunculus' does anything suspicious, I will cut him down myself." His words were stern.
"Don't worry, I don't need to fear rape. I'm only a human after all." She laughed, but the sound had a bitter- and false- edge to it. "And with that other one in the group, I'm not even pretty in comparison."
The Führer didn't like the darkness in the girl's eyes as she spoke. The plan they had conjured up to distract her only managed to hurt her even more. He bent down and gave her an embrace that he would have otherwise have given to his son at another time. "I was wrong for allowing you to stay with that man..." he murmured.
"It was not your fault; you didn't know. If anyone was at fault, it was me for wanting..." She shrugged. "Can you keep a secret without pulling a 'Roy'?"
The older man pulled away. "...What is it?"
Relieved, the redhead closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "You'll want to sit down for this, trust me."
Pride nodded his head, leading his way to the chair behind his desk and sitting down.
Rosette backed up slightly without opening her eyes, murmuring a prayer in Ishballan that was too soft to make out exactly what was said. Sucking in another sharp breath, she pulled up her pant legs. "This is the real reason I'm not afraid of rape, Sir." Her voice was cold.
The homunculus's visible eye widened, shocked to see all of the scars on the girl's legs.
"Waist down, I can't feel anything anymore. Whatever they plan to do to me is nothing compared to what he did to me so long ago." Her steady gray eyes were an emotionless void.
"'He'?" Pride echoed, feeling curious.
"I am an Ishballian but my parents were soldiers in your army, I was born and raised in Ishballa." She wanted to see if he could figure this out on his own.
The homunculus quickly figure out which one of men could have possibly harmed her so badly. The scars were more like burn marks, leading him to one conclusion. "...You mean, Mustang did this?" he growled.
"He and I are the other's torturer." The redhead agreed. "He spends every day looking me in the eyes knowing that he was the one who caused me this pain."
"...Then how did you two become siblings?" Pride pressed.
"He adopted me. I had nowhere else to go, though some of the others wanted to kill me instead, I think." She shrugged again. "Most of that time is a blur to me."
Pride got up from his chair and walked over to the woman's chair before hugging her again even tighter than before. Once he pulled back this time, he questioned, "Did you love 'Mark'?"
"I did, even knowing that it would be nothing more than a dream. That was enough for me. Marriage... well, I came to terms with the fact that the only reason a man would marry me solely because of my connections a long time ago. Love wasn't something I..." She stopped and bit her swollen lip unseen, hiding the motion with a shrug. "Nevermind."
The homunculus frowned, wanting hurt Envy even more.
Uneasy now, the redhead pushed down her pant legs to hide her legs again. "Don't worry, it'll pass."
Despite how silent King Bradley had grown, he knew that she was only saying such words to comfort her own suffering. "...If you need anything, do not hesitate to come to me," Pride finally offered, showing her a small, generous smile. "I'll gladly support you like any father would."
She gave him a small- but real- smile in return. "Thank you, I might need help in about an hour. You'll be hearing a lot of things go boom between now and then I'm afraid... father." Rosette ran her uninjured hand over her short hair. "I thought Roy went postal when he found out I used the turkey knife to chop off my hair but this... Roy's going to demand to be the one who hunts Envy down."
Pride resisted the urge to choke before he led her to the front door. "I'll be expecting to hear from you soon," he told Rosette. Once the girl was out of the area, he turned towards his secretary. "Tell everyone in Colonel Mustang's part of the building to run for cover," he ordered.
Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Rosette knocked on Roy's office door once she got there. "Roy, it's me."
Roy, who was busy doing his usual bout of paper work, stiffened up immediately when he heard Rosette's voice. Dropping his pencil, he jumped out of his seat and went to get the door. "...Rosette, what are you doing here?" he demanded immediately.
For an answer, she opened the door, rolled inside before closing- and locking it behind her. "Would you mind if I moved in with you again?" Rosette tried not to move her mouth too much, since the bruises were really smarting by this point. "It will only be for a few days." She flexed her hand slightly and amended that. "Or at least until I heal up."
The colonel's eyes widened before they narrowed. Flames were practically flashing in his eyes! "...Did Mark do this to you?" he snarled.
"The mouth? Yeah, hand was mine though. I stabbed it a bit too deep... surprised it didn't go through." She swallowed. "Roy, no booms; we are in your office."
"What the hell happened?" Roy demanded. Unfortunately for her, the colonel had started to wear his gloves everywhere ever since she had started living with Mark. It was his only way of comforting himself, knowing at any moment he could roast anyone alive.
"We had a fight." She said in a small nervous voice, the color draining from her face when she noticed the gloves.
"A fight!" Mustang exclaimed, his gloves already sparking.
"I'm okay Roy, I swear. I wasn't raped. I defended myself just like you taught me to!" She stammered, growing scared of the sparks.
"'Wasn't raped?" Roy echoed with a growl, jumping to his own conclusions. "Does that mean he tried?"
She whimpered. "It was so fast I got scared." Rosette shook her head. "I panicked when he wouldn't let me go."
The colonel's eye twitched, his fingers snapping hard enough to scorch all of the wallpaper on the right side of his office. "I'm going to kill that bastard!" he declared.
Pride stepped off the elevator with a pounding headache. Like Rosette had predicted, he had had to go rescuing his 'daughter' after the forth or fifth 'boom' had gone off. Seeing Envy pacing the floor, Pride could hold back his rising fury no longer and sucker punched his older 'brother' right in the mouth. "I should skin you alive for this stunt."
Envy fell to the ground before sitting up and glaring defiantly at Pride. He knew it was to be expected.
"Do you have any idea at all how much danger we are in now that you've ruined everything?" He demanded.
The older homunculus rose to his feet. "Of course I know!" he snapped back.
It was then that Lust came into view, already finding out about the news from Pride earlier in the day. "Well, well..." the woman murmured. "I'm surprised you actually came here willingly..."
"I barely got Rosette calmed down, and then I had to rescue her from her brother." Pride said in fury.
Envy nearly mentally cringed, knowing that Roy would want his head now. He didn't even know if he'd make it out of here alive.
Lust felt herself smirk. "So... you, out of all of us, went and fell in love with a human," she taunted. "I never knew it was possible for you to even tolerate one of those creatures."
Envy's eyes narrowed at Lust, his temper flaring. The woman always knew what to say in order to get him irritated.
"Mustang thinks Envy tried to rape the girl, and nothing she says will convince him otherwise," Pride vented.
The young woman laughed at this. "Perhaps our mother should have named you 'irony' instead, hmm?" she further teased.
"Lust..." Envy growled in warning, not afraid to turn the basement into an underground battlezone.
In response to this, the female homunculus shot her nails out in quick fashion, pinning Envy against a nearby wall by stabbing them through his shoulder like daggers. "Is there something you wish to say to me, Envy?" she purred, twisting the nails in cruelly.
Envy let out a sudden yelp of pain, unable to hold it in due to not suspecting her attack. "Dammit, Lust!" he cursed.
Lust's eyes narrowed. "Stop your barking," she hissed. "Pride isn't the only one who is pissed at you for ruining our plans."
Envy scoffed. "Am I supposed to be afraid of you?" he threw back at the woman.
To this, the woman twisted the nails again. "With the position you're in now...I could easily let Gluttony have his way with you..." she warned.
"No, I want to give him to Mustang first," Pride growled. "It'll save Central from becoming one great big fire pit."
To Pride's threat, Envy paled slightly. He could already feel the flames tearing through his skin over and over.
King Bradley continued to glare at his 'older' brother. "You are lucky Rosette came to me first instead of going to her brother. I should be able to salvage something from your blunder. Providing she stops cutting up her hands..." Pride ran his hand though his hair. "As it is, you have appalling timing. Greed's on the loose again."
Envy's eyes widened, feeling his blood run cold. Looking over at the nails still in his shoulder, he reached his hand around them and ripped them out with a light cringe before pressing himself off of the wall. "What?" he gasped.
"The seal is broken, he's free again." Pride snapped flatly.
The older homunculus growled in irritation. This was the last thing they needed right now!
"Do you really think that Greed would just ignore her considering the fact that we have so clearly marked her as a piece belonging to us Envy? And thanks to your little stunt, you can't protect her."
Suddenly, a voice rang out from the shadows. "Pride. Lust," the voice beckoned. "Please don't lecture Envy too much..." It was then that Dante emerged with a "motherly" smile in place, sounding as if she were chiding arguing siblings. "It is a mother's job to discipline her children, after all."
Pride stepped back a pace. "My apologies, it has been a very trying day..."
Envy inwardly cringed, knowing that Dante's cheerful attitude wasn't going to last for long.
Upon seeing her oldest "son's" face, the old woman feigned hurt. "How could you betray your own mother's trust, Envy? Didn't I raise you to be better than that?"
The homunculus almost snorted in defiance. "I thought you of all people knew this," he remarked. "People do stupid things when they're in love."
"Love doesn't include frightening one's intended out of her wits to the point where she nearly stabs herself though the hand in terror whenever she hears a strange noise," Pride snapped, automatically defending his 'daughter'.
Envy nearly flinched at Pride's harsh words, knowing that the man had a point.
"Perhaps so, Envy," Dante remarked, choosing not to remark on Pride's words. "But nearly destroying the plans we've worked so hard for? Is she truly worth all of this trouble?"
"If I was given the chance, I would go back and do it again," the homunculus admitted. "I have no more intentions to lie to her even if that costs us any chance for a relationship."
Simmering rage momentarily flashed across the woman's eyes before she stepped forward to gently grasp Envy's wrist. It was then that alchemic light coursed out from her hand onto Envy's wrist and arm, beginning to burn into his flesh.
Envy's eyes widened, letting out a shout of pain, unable to pull away from her grip.
"Since I am your loving mother..." Dante began, her tone darkening. "I will let you off with this slap on the wrist." However, her "slap" proved to be slow, agonizing pain that completely ripped off the homunculi's arm and continued to spread up through the rest of his body, putting him through slow, electrocuting torture.
As soon as the woman released him, Envy quickly began to regenerate himself, but found he couldn't do it as fast as he would have hoped. He could practically feel every cell in his body turning into disintegrating ash as he yelled out in agony. By the time her powers had let up, he had died a total of five times and was on his knees, panting with veins popping out of his skin to keep his powers at bay.
Pride looked pale, but nonetheless was slightly satisfied. "Your orders?"
The woman looked over at Pride, not reacting in the least to Envy's pain. "How close are you to this girl?" she asked.
"I've allowed her to see me as a father-figure, seeing as she came to me first instead of running straight to Roy. She called me 'father' today." He smiled slightly in real affection.
Dante nodded. "Then we may be able to clean up this mess..."
Lust looked mildly annoyed, seeing that Envy was still recovering. "...You're not going to kill him for betraying us?" she remarked.
The woman shook her head. "As much as it saddens me to know that my firstborn would betray me after all that I've done for him..." she trailed off, acting the role of a true, distraught mother. "There is still some use I have of him."
Pride nodded to Dante. "With your permission, I'd like to take Rosette in hand myself. It will take a while to undo this damage... I miscalculated how fragile her spirit is and I don't dare leave this to her brother." He glared at Envy. "There are other reasons as well..."
Dante gave it some thought before nodding her head again. "I will grant your permission, assuming this plan of yours works."
"I won't know right away, my 'daughter' is very high-strung and jumpy right now. It will take a while to make her feel safe again enough to fly."
The woman withheld a sigh. "We cannot afford to fail again," she pointed out in a stern tone. She flashed Envy a warning glare. "And if Pride's plan does go to ruin, you'll get much more than a simple slap on the wrist."
"At the moment, I'm going to keep her close to me." He glared at Envy. "No. Night. Visits. I don't want her deciding that she can cut more than her hands."
Feeling all of the heated glowers on him, the homunculus rose to his feet, still out of breath due to the violent episode. "...I got it," he remarked in a defeated tone.
Satisfied, Pride turned back to Dante. "Could I trouble you to make some special salve, Master?"
Dante raised her eyebrow. "Is it for that girl?"
Pride nodded. "Yes. I don't want to risk her hands becoming infected whenever she slices them open."
The woman nodded. "Very well then."
He bowed slightly. "Thank you very much."
Deciding to keep his thoughts to himself, Envy inwardly growled. There was no way he was going to listen to Pride's orders. He was going to make sure that Rosette wouldn't have to die by their schemes any time soon. 'I'm not letting Greed near her!' he vowed to himself.