"GREED!" Envy screamed as the fool jumped towards Mustang and was immediately met by a blazing torrent of fire, horror gripping their very core as they realized what had he just done.
They wanted to move, to rush forward and stop this.
Envy still remembered how it felt when they had learned that Lust had died at the hands of the Flame Alchemist. She had been incinerated again and again, until her Stone ran out of souls and she crumbled to ash in Mustang's feet. And it was all because of Envy's idea to frame Maria Ross for Hughes' murder.
And now the same thing was going to happen to Greed. To Greed who hadn't even been the one to kill Hughes.
No. No way Envy was going to let him die for what they did.
But when Envy made to intervene, they heard the sound of alchemical energy being discharged and the floor before them was suddenly transmuted and a portion of it rose up, like a wall. The last thing Envy saw of Greed was him dropping down on one knee, arms in front of his face and head, the Ultimate Shield getting so heated that it was beginning to glow. The fires of Mustang's revenge raged all around him.
With a shrill cry Envy smashed their fist against the wall, the stony surface cracking under the full weight of their swing.
"TAKE IT DOWN!" They shrieked at the Pipsqueak without even turning to look at him and hit the wall again, making another crater with their fist. "TAKE IT DOWN NOW! I HAVE TO HELP HIM!"
He grabbed them from behind and forcefully pulled them away instead.
"Dammit, you're heavier than you look," the Pipsqueak grunted strenuously. "Guys, a little help here?!"
Envy felt more hands – these ones not feeling entirely… human – clasping around their shoulders and arms, helping Fullmetal pull them away from the wall, the fire and Greed. Step by fucking step, and they struggled and thrashed against each one.
"NO!" It was odd, to feel so hysterically horrified. It was as if a tiny part of you could disassociate from the rest and just observe the tempest that ate you from within, to watch as the fear seared off thought and reason. And it wasn't the same as when you were afraid for yourself. The bodily harm Kimblee and Pride had inflicted on them in Kanama had nothing on the pain that gripped Envy's core now . "LET ME GO! LET ME GO! I CAN'T LET HIM DIE LIKE THIS!"
And then they heard Greed finally screaming in pain, his voice carrying faintly across the wall that separated them, and they nearly tore out of the hold of Edward Elric and his chimera henchmen who had to scramble to keep their footing.
"Let me go or I'll kill you all!" Envy growled, their throat feeling raw and their voice hoarse as they kept fighting and trying to break free. "You think I care about any of you?! Let. Me. Go."
Still, the Pipsqueak did not relent.
He shifted his body slightly and the two chimeras followed his example, slamming Envy against the wall of the Laboratory. The barrier was not that far away but as they stared at the fiery glow that blazed behind it and listened to the roar of the flames, it felt like it might as well be on the other side of the world.
"I finally figured it out," Fullmetal hissed in their face and whether they liked it or not, they looked back at him. He looked angry, panting from the effort of dragging Envy off against their will. "It was you, wasn't it?"
Envy said nothing for a moment, before they swallowed and whispered, "Yes," staring at Edward's golden eyes.
The alchemist's jaw tightened and he had to visibly stop the shaking of his shoulders. "He was my friend too," his youthful voice sounded gruffer and more laboured than usual. "Mustang was my boss, but it was Hughes who was kind to my brother and me."
Envy didn't have anything to say to that, their gaze involuntary flicking back towards the wall behind which Greed was probably dying for their crime.
It was the Pipsqueak's words that finally broke through to them.
"He loves you."
What?
The expression on their face must have been sufficient without words because Fullmetal just gave them a look and continued on, "It didn't dawn on me until just now, but it makes sense. After Winry told us you were alive and had made a deal with Al, all Greed could think and talk about was your miserable ass." The Pipsqueak grit his teeth angrily, "Just so we're clear, I'm pretty sure I despise you, but Greed loves you – God alone knows why – and he took on Mustang for you. And if anyone can go against the Colonel's alchemy and live, it's got to be him. And yeah, I'd rather those two wouldn't try to kill each other just when we have to deal with the Promised Day too, but we don't have the time to waste anymore. So stop struggling and help us finish all this."
"Why?" Envy asked before they could stop themselves. "Why aren't you trying to kill me? It was me who did it. I killed your friend."
The pissed off look in Edward's eyes became distant for a second before he recovered and exhaled. "It's not the first time for me," he shrugged. "Did you know that Scar murdered Winry's parents?" Envy shook their head. "Yeah, that's what he did after the war drove him crazy. I still remember them, you know? Their faces not so much, but I can still recall them coming over to visit my mom every now and then, and they'd bring Winry with them. They were good people. And Scar killed them." He took a deep breath. "I still hate him for that," he confessed. "I don't think Winry does, not anymore, but I'll never forgive him because it broke her heart when she had to face him and learn the truth. And you know what?" He was almost nose to nose with them now, all fired up and determined. "It doesn't matter. We have to save this country, and if I can do it working with Scar, I sure as Hell can do it working with you." He poked an automail finger in their face. "So you will leave Greed do what he thinks he has to do, and you will help me stop your bearded bastard of a father!"
Envy still reflected on Edward's words as they ran up one flight of stairs after another, racing towards the rooftops of Central High Command.
Was that why he lied? Was that why he confessed to something that could destroy him?
No, no, it couldn't be, no.
It couldn't.
The pain and the terror that kept gnawing at them were only made worse by the thought that the Pipsqueak had planted in their head.
He had to be wrong. It had to be some human thing where he saw something he didn't quite understand and gave it a pattern, a recognizable attribute to lessen the confusion of the unknown. Yes, that had to be it, right?
It had to be, because Homunculi couldn't love.
And even if they could, Envy thought as they remembered Lust and Gluttony, Greed couldn't. The Dwarf had robbed him of that when he created him to be the living container of his own avarice, selfishness and hunger for power.
A nice, neat explanation that did nothing to lessen the turmoil and the fear that assaulted their mind as they climbed up and up.
Nor did it offer a reason of why had Greed looked so remorseful and shaken back in Kanama, trying to be so achingly gentle to them that Envy had almost given in and had almost believed his words.
Or why he had felt the need to offer himself up to Mustang.
They knew humans could do things like that sometimes. They had seen it. They had taken advantage of it, many times over.
But Greed?
It couldn't be, it couldn't.
It mustn't.
Envy wasn't sure what they were more afraid of. That Greed might die facing the Flame Alchemist… or that he might survive and show them that he was capable of loving them.
There it was, that accursed word again. Envy almost snarled at themselves as they ran. They were fooling themselves.
There was no way. No way that the Universe would ever grant them something like that. They weren't made to be loved. They were made to covet the love others shared and then ruin them. To avenge their misery on the happiness of others.
And if they didn't rein their own anguish in, they could doom this whole endeavor with their weakness.
Because even as Greed had lunged at Mustang back in the Third Laboratory, Ling Yao and his two bodyguards had sensed another Homunculus approaching in the distance, heading towards the battle that raged in Central High Command, where Armstrong had turned against the rest of the generals and was fighting to take over the headquarters.
Edward had been absolutely certain that Armstrong was a trustworthy human, even as Pride and the rest of the human leaders who were subservient to Father claimed that the Ice Queen was on their side. And if her forces were defeated, the Dwarf could call on his loyal troops above and crush any attempt to halt the Promised Day. And the solar eclipse was getting closer and closer by the minute.
So Ling had not waited and had not wasted time. He had taken the old man and the girl with the automail arm, and the three of them had rushed after the distant presence of the Homunculus who was closing in on Armstrong's men atop the headquarters. The Pipsqueak had sent Envy after them, venturing down towards the lair on his own, with only the two chimeras to watch his back.
"Are you sure?" Envy had asked him, perplexed. This strategy didn't make much sense.
Edward had nodded, his eyes decisive and certain. "Al must already be there, or we would have saw him by now. And you said that my father has a plan too," He had rubbed the back of his blonde head, for a split second looking so much younger than the determined alchemist who was ready to march off to his death in order to save millions of lives and thwart a creature that wished to become a living god. "I… " He had hesitated, "I'm not sure what to think of him, to be honest. My memories of him keep telling me he's a no-good bastard, but… but I feel like I should trust him on this one. It doesn't make sense, right?"
"I don't know," Envy had lowered their head. "I never quite got all the intricacies of you humans," they had almost snorted when they heard how devoid of hatred their voice was. "Your brother trusts him." They had shrugged. "I don't know if that helps. But, for what's worth, your dad is a powerful alchemist. He's stronger than you. Stronger than Mustang or Kimblee, or Scar. He tied Pride into a pretzel back in Kanama, and he didn't even break a sweat. If a guy like that says he's got it covered, I'd say he's got it covered."
For some reason, Envy didn't reveal everything they had learned about Van Hohenheim. They didn't have the time, and it honestly didn't feel like it was any of their business to tell this boy that his father was actually older than this whole country and had given his blood to create the Dwarf in the Flask. This was between the Elrics and Hohenheim.
"I don't suppose he told you what his plan was?" The gruff edge had barged back into the Pipsequeak's voice. Animosity was a familiar territory between them and it didn't really feel that bad by now.
"Nope," Envy shrugged. "I don't think he trusted me fully, for some reason."
Edward snorted and shoved at Envy with his automail arm before he turned away and strode towards the lair.
"Go and make sure that idiot prince doesn't get himself killed," he shouted with a wave of his hand without turning back.
And so off they went.
Envy didn't know which sibling the Xingese and the northern soldiers would have to face. Was it Gluttony, sent to devour them? Sloth to crush them before they could blink? Or Pride to use his shadows and turn them all into bloody, defeated chunks of meat?
They still felt a little weak after the ordeal in Kanama. Fighting Pride and being at Kimblee's mercy had drained them of a lot of their power. The Philosopher Stone had healed them as much as it could, but if it was to come down to a fight, Envy didn't have a whole lot of souls left to sustain their life.
But when Envy came through the secret pathways they knew like the palm of their hand and ran into the balcony of a watchtower that boasted the green flag of Amestris on its top and overlooked the flat roof where the guys from Briggs had tried to cut the Central forces on the ground off the entrance to the headquarters, they looked down and saw the last brother they would have expected.
Wrath was standing there, sword in each hand and bodies strewn in his feet. He looked bad, his black hair disheveled, his face tired and covered in stubble, his eyepatch gone and his torn shirt splattered with blood… blood that likely wasn't his all his own.
The soldiers he had cut down were dead or dying, and the only ones still standing between the Führer and the rest of the Briggs soldiers who were desperately trying to hold off the loyalist soldiers were the Xingese. Gunfire was echoing from somewhere. Fu was dead too, lying in a pool of his own blood and Lan Fan was sobbing over his corpse, her automail looking half-dismantled, wires sticking out and oil leaking from busted hydraulics. The prince was standing tall and firm in front of his retainers, his curved sword pointed at Wrath. His left hand was pressed to his side, blood seeping between his fingers.
Envy jumped off the balcony and landed behind Wrath, allowing the full swing of their weight to announce their presence when the floor cracked beneath their small feet.
Wrath turned to look at them and lifted a surprised eyebrow.
"Envy?" He tilted his head sideways, but nothing about his posture betrayed aggressiveness. "I thought you died in the North."
Oh fuck.
He didn't know.
He must have gotten to Central just now and Pride had not had the chance to tell him.
Wrath still thought that Envy was on Father's side. This was a golden opportunity.
"Oh yeah?" They forced themselves to smirk snidely at him and put a nonchalant hand on their hip, "I heard you died in the East."
Wrath smiled beneath his moustache. "Point taken," he looked back towards Ling and his henchmen, the Ouroboros sigil on his Ultimate Eye almost glinting with bloodthirst. "Shall we crush these fools so we can move on with the plan?"
Envy threw their head back and laughed contemptuously. It must have been convincing because Ling threw them an outraged look when they moved to stand next to their youngest brother. "Yeah, well, you know me," they wheedled, "Have I ever scoffed at the opportunity to kill a bunch of disgusting humans?"
Wrath's hands tightened around the swords he held. "Let's put an end to it, then."
"Yeah, let's," Envy agreed and, looking at the eyes of the Xingese, for the first time in their life they saw themselves as they had been before. Sadistic and bitter, lashing out to soothe a pain that could never be soothed.
The habit was so ingrained, carved so deep into their very being, that they had to consciously stop themselves. Even now.
The need to hurt someone was especially potent now, now when they had to fight the fear of losing Greed. For all they knew, he might have already been turned to ash. Or he might still be screaming somewhere below Central, the flames turning his immortality against him. Every single part of Envy needed him, needed to know whether he was still alive, but right now they had to keep fighting, to keep going. Not for the humans Wrath was intending to slaughter like pigs, no.
For Greed, who took on the fires that were meant for Envy. Suddenly they remembered how he had once claimed that he had wanted to take them with him, back when he left Father a century ago. For a second, they allowed themselves to imagine it, a life on the run with him, just the two of them with no sibling rivalries, no sinister plans, no disgusting tasks that Father needed done. Just Envy and Greed. Back then it had been impossible. And it likely wouldn't have been as nice and fulfilling as their imagination painted it.
But it still made their core ache softly.
Was it stupid, to keep fighting for something that never was and most likely would never be? Envy didn't know and, perhaps, didn't care.
The Ultimate Eye was a power to be reckoned with. It made Wrath one of the most dangerous creatures this world had to offer, and that was on top of his skill as a swordsman, his enhanced physique and the cold, eternal fury that swirled within his Stone. It was probably what had allowed him to beat Greed back in Dublith, even though Greed was older and more experienced, and swords should have been of no use against the Ultimate Shield. The uncanny ability to see your enemy's weaknesses and predict their moves almost to the point of precognition was unparalleled, really.
But even the Ultimate Eye could not see an attack where its owner did not suspect any danger.
With a single fluid move Envy grabbed one Wrath's wrists, immobilizing one of his swords and pushing the limb back, and then they jumped up, smashing their knee against the side of his head.
Wrath went down, completely blindsided by the attack. They crashed on top of him, and he grunted when their condensed weight hit his whole upper body.
And even so he was a fighter. Envy immediately felt an elegant shoe hitting their stomach and kicking them off. As they were thrown backwards, they twisted Wrath's wrist and forced him to drop his sword. One down, one to go.
Just as Envy fell on the blood-soaked roof, they saw Wrath jumping back on his feet and pointing his remaining sword in their direction. A bruise was starting to darken where Envy's knee had hit the side of his head, but the Ultimate Eye was focused on them now.
Until Ling didn't came out flying out of nowhere, his blade flashing like a lightning bolt at Wrath who moved and parried so swiftly that Envy's superhuman vision barely registered it. He's almost as fast as Sloth, they realized. Steel clashed against steel and Envy could even hear the prince growling in heartbroken rage.
Wrath nearly took Ling's head off when he answered the Xingese's attack with a swing of his own but the long-haired foreigner ducked and stepped out of the Führer's reach. Which allowed Envy to barrel down on him from behind, trying to tackle him. It didn't work.
His head snapped back to stare at them with the Ultimate Eye and before Envy could realize what was happening, they felt the tip of his sword pushing into the flesh between their shoulder and their chest, and they cried out in sudden pain. And then he twisted his body sideways so quickly that for a heartbeat it looked like he was almost at two places at once, and used his free hand to catch the throwing knife that Lan Fan had sent at him, still kneeling over her grandfather's corpse.
Envy stumbled back and hissed when they felt the steel blade moving out of the wound. The damage was repaired in a flash of red light and they decided that fighting the embodiment of Father's anger was maybe not a good idea. Ling was wounded, Lan Fan's automail was as good as broken, and Envy wasn't even half the fighter Wrath was.
"Hey, Wrath!" They shouted at him instead and he turned to look back at Envy, all the while he moved to keep both Ling and Lan Fan within his field of vision, the Ultimate Eye taking everyone's measure so he could kill them easier. "You realize what you're doing right now, right?"
"What are you rambling about?" His voice was disinterested as he kept circling around his three opponents. They were all getting closer and closer to the outer edge of the rooftop, below which lay the moat that encircled Central High Command.
"Did he promise you he'd spare her?" They asked him, point blank. "Or did you even ask at all?" Do you even care? was the silent question hidden behind their words, and their thoughts fled back to Greed, remembering how he had stepped in front of Mustang's fire for their sake. Somehow they couldn't imagine Wrath taking on Father's ire for Mrs. Bradley.
"Ah, I see," Wrath said evenly. "Trying to distract me, are you, Envy? So your allies here can attack me while I stutter about my wife? I think not. Do you take me for a human?"
And there was Envy's answer.
Envy looked at Ling, and they saw Wrath's eyes follow the movement. The prince lunged at Wrath just as Envy did. The Führer quickly tossed his weapon into the air, caught it with his left hand and shifted his weight to the right, meeting Ling with a hard elbow to the face while managing to slip under the slash of the Xingese sword. At the same time his left arm shot forward, slid between Envy's guard and lodged the thin sword into their throat, keeping the shapeshifting Homunculus at a safe distance.
They grabbed the blade, fighting the pain and feeling blood dripping down their chin as red lightning began crackling around the open wound while Wrath's sword was still inside their body.
It was at this moment when Envy's brother found himself face to face with Lan Fan.
Even his Ultimate Eye couldn't track three people who all moved at once from every direction.
A blade screeched out of a hidden mechanism inside her automail arm and she stuck it straight into Wrath's side, up through the ribs.
He grunted, obviously hurt, and Envy saw red blooming underneath his white shirt. His right arm moved faster than the eye could see, giving Lan Fan such a hard backhand slap that her neck snapped back and she staggered away from them.
That, however, left him open for Ling's retaliation and Envy could only watch, holding the sword in their throat in place, as the curved Xingese blade slashed across Wrath's face, biting between his forehead and his cheek, cutting right into the Ultimate Eye. Bright crimson liquid splattered everywhere and Wrath cried out in shock and pain.
And then Envy finally moved. They tore out Wrath's sword out of their throat, alchemical light surging around the wound and healing it, and they crashed their body into their brother's, using their weight to tackle him off the edge.
Unfortunately, this meant that they went down with him.
Envy heard Ling's voice shouting after them, but it was too late for him to do anything. The two Homunculi were already falling down, towards the murky waters of the moat.
A second before they hit the surface, Envy remembered that Wrath had held on to his sword, and just as they did, they felt the blade pushing into their body from below, scraping muscles and bone until it cut right into their spine. Their vision darkened with sudden agony and then they crashed into the water.
Sorry for the slight delay with this one. Had a busy week and writing was kind of difficult. Now I have a few days off, though, and I will actually try to finish this story before the end of next week. Hopefully even sooner. There isn't THAT much left, and I already have an ending I want to get to, and an epilogue written. So hopefully you all won't have to wait long to get to see how this AU centered around a ridiculously un-canon ship will end.
The confrontation with Wrath is not as tense and epic as the one in the show, and I'm okay with that (and I kind of hope you are too lol). Recreating the deaths of Fu and Buccaneer would be kind of pointless in an Envy POV since they don't really give a shit and arrived at the scene later, but feel free to fill in the emotional blanks. Since this is neither Wrath's nor Envy's, nor even Ling's culmination, it should work as we're gearing up towards the final fight.
See you next update, folks!