Six: Truths

"Miss me?"

"Edward!"

Ed was sitting on the table at the front of the classroom, where he had pushed all her parchments off the desk, leaving them scattered on the floor.

"You're the eighth homunculus, aren't you?"

"Did you just realize that?" Envy stepped up beside Aileen.

"No. I just didn't have time to ask her. And when I did, she denied it." Ed paused, recognition setting in. "Wait. Why are you here?"

"I've been watching everyone. It was easy to get those little kids to try and make the stone for me."

"What do you mean?"

"I know." A voice came from the door.

"Must we reveal secrets to everyone today?" Envy said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"You've bewitched Professor Snape into a mindless slave who will listen to only you!" Ron said, stepping forward.

Envy burst out laughing, unable to control himself. "Bewitched?"

"Ron!" Hermione smacked him on the head. "That's totally out of line! We don't even know who she is!"

Envy stopped laughing. "She…?"

Aileen hid a smile behind her hand. "Envy's a guy, Hermione."

Hermione blushed. "But…what kind of guy goes around wearing a skirt and has long, green hair?"

"Envy." Said homunculus was furious, trying to hold back his anger.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter what you did. It's that it was you who made Snape act all weird. He kept taking away points from the Slytherins! Snape loves those brats as much as he does the Dark Arts!" Ron pointed an accusing finger at Envy.

"Actually, that wasn't even him. Was it, Envy?" Aileen said, her gaze shifting to Envy's already changing form.

"Look familiar?" Envy had taken on the form of Snape, and sounded exactly like him.

"Told you," Aileen said.

"So that's why he—I mean you seemed to hate Slytherins! He—you—wasn't—weren't—really you…" Harry smacked his forehead. "This is a grammatical nightmare…"

"But…Professor Kita!" Hermione turned to Aileen with pleading eyes. "Don't say you're really what Ed thinks you are!"

"If he says she's a homunculus, he'd be right. This is Treachery, the eighth of the homunculus," Envy said, changing back to his normal shape and gesturing to Aileen.

"She's got different personalities, evil and good, and you can tell by those scales where she is," Ed finished, pointing to the scales in Aileen's hand. "I read about her in that book I checked out. The one she confiscated."

"Then you're an expert on her."

"Not exactly. Since she's the 'unknown' homunculus, no one has real information on her."

"Stop talking about me as if I'm not here!" Aileen cried, her face twisted in fury. "I'm a person!"

"No. You aren't. You're nothing but what Hermione said—a falsely-made human."

Aileen choked back tears when he said that. It seemed like whenever someone called them fake, she reacted in a way that she could not stop.

A clap came from where Ed stood, and Aileen found herself dodging a blow from his transmutated arm.

Lifting his arm again, he came back around. Aileen lifted her arms to try to block his attack. Envy was suddenly in front of her, blocking Ed with a sword.

"Thanks…" Aileen managed to get out. Envy nodded and handed the sword to her, and she took off, running to the tower down the hall. The scales lay abandoned on her desk, where Edward had sat but moments before.

"I'm going to kill you," Ed muttered as he ran after the fleeing homunculus. "It's only a matter of time."

Up on the tower, Aileen continues evading Ed's attacks. Soon, Ed transmutated his arm back to normal, clapping his hands together before transmutating the stone on the floor.

The tower shook once, then the walls surrounding them suddenly became flat. A larger diameter, yes, but a dangerous situation, for the chance of falling was more than being killed by Ed. The edges were no longer protected.

"I'll ask once more, Treachery. I've seen you before. I know I have. Where was it?" Ed asked, backing up a bit.

Aileen sighed. "I guess it'd get out sooner or later. I think you were around twelve years old. It was at Central. You were there getting your license, and I was there to find information on the Philosopher's Stone."

Ed's eyes widened. "That was you?"