There had been some sort of loud noise coming from the second floor, an unsettling sound and the young colonel had all, but leapt up the stairs, taking two to three steps at a time in his haste to find its source. Alphonse trailing not far behind the older man, his armor clanking loudly with every step he took, splintering parts of the wooden steps with the intensified pressure that his armored foot was placing, he would most definitely have to replace the stairs for these poor people. Finally the two had reached the top of the stairwell, before them a small hallway painted a sea foam green, each side of its lined with several doors, a pale chestnut in color. Its carpeted floor, a dingy tan and slightly torn in various places only seemed to add to the ominous feeling that the older man had begun to feel, something had felt wrong, but he was unsure of what or why, it was just a sickening, uneasy feeling that he was getting in the pit of his stomach the further he walked down the hall. The two gave each door they passed a curious, but daunting glance until finally they faced the door they needed.
Roy quickly reached out a gloved hand hovering it above the door's handle. He was hesitant momentarily of what could possibly be awaiting them in side, but he knew he had to push these foul thoughts aside. What kind of man would he be if he continued to allow his own thoughts of forlorn to delay him any longer? Even worse, what kind of friend would he be he chose to let fear overtake him and leave not only someone he valued as a colleague and a friend, but Closing his mind from these dark thoughts, Roy focused on the task at hand. He turned the handle to the small wooden door and swiftly swung it open wide. As soon as the door had opened a familiar musky odor attacked his nostrils, foul, similar to sweat with maybe a hint of blood, he was unsure, but the stench quickly churned his stomach, leaving him with a nauseated feeling and a lingering taste of disgust in his mouth. He scanned the darkened room with the precision of an eagle trapped in a one way cave…The room was so dark and for some reason the light switch beside him didn't seem to be working…just great these people had to be cheap asses and neglected changing the bulb in a timely manner. The colonel moved his left hand to fish for a small flashlight he always kept with him for emergencies, though he could have simply lit something on fire, but with his luck this place probably had a gas leak somewhere.
After digging around amongst the random objects he seemed to be carrying about in his pockets, he finally found the tiny silver flashlight he had been searching for. He clicked the button on its side and it rewarded him with the ray of light that he needed to search the darkness. The light's beam almost immediately shined across what he was going to assume for the time beings source of odor, a mangled and mutilated body of what appeared to be a young soldier laid haphazardly in the doorway, seemingly slain as he tried to escape whatever peril had befallen him. The poor man's face was contorted in agony, permanently releasing a scream that will never be heard, his eyes bulging out and his hands outstretched towards the doorway, reaching eternally towards freedom. He must have tried to crawl to safety, by the looks of the blood smearing from his body towards the bed. Ignoring the deceased man for now, he focused his attention back to finding the missing alchemist, shining the light back towards a distant corner and then further right to the other corner and what hid in the darkness still riddles his mind. "Alphonse, wait here." Roy said as he held his other arm back to deter the boy from entering the room. Alphonse merely nodded in response, a bit nervous as to what he might see, but he obeyed the elder man and stood quietly to the side of the doorway. Roy took a step forward, across the door's threshold and into the darkened room closer towards what appeared to be a thin framed figure crouching in the far corner, almost hidden by the shadows. The closer he got the more visible the figure was becoming, thin framed, with long green hair, almost palm tree like, human in appearance, yet inhuman at the same time…
"You…"A raspy voice said almost inaudibly, but it seemed to come from the figure in the corner. A long silence followed this singular spoken word, no movement came from the being either, and Roy remained just as immobile, feeling as if silence was the correct path to follow at the moment.
"Envy?" A few more minutes had past at this standstill silence before Roy had decided that it was time that he spoke to the boy. A pair of violet eyes turned their attention towards the other man, boring into him with a much felt hatred. "Why are you here? Where's Edward?" The colonel questioned moving a hand towards the sin to get his attention when the boy did not answer him after several long minutes. As his gloved fingers graced across his shoulder in the lightest of touch, the body of the sin flinched and the boy slapped the offending hand quite harshly as he scooted further back into the corner away from his offender.
"Don't touch me human!" Envy yelled in response to the unwanted touch of the other man, spitting his words to demonstrate his hatred towards the other. There was another long silence between the two as the boy glared intensely at the other and Roy stood irritated and yet still dumbfounded at to what was all going on exactly. During this time of silence Roy had taken a few moments to rescan this small room with hopes of just answering his own question since asking the sin was getting him nowhere fast. His eyes soon rested upon an unmoving figure near the sins feet, the body was wearing an all too familiar red coat and sported a long braid of golden blonde.
'Edward…' The dark haired man thought to himself before his eyes went back to the other boy squatting in the corner.
"What did you do to him?" Roy growled, seeing his young comrade in such a state of unconscious only fueled his anger at this whole ordeal. Though the boy appeared to be unharmed and merely sleeping, he still did not like the fact that the sin was here in this room for god knows how long with the other nor what had befallen to render the younger boy to this condition. The musty smell of blood and sweat refilled his nostrils, even stronger now that he had become so close to the homunculus, perhaps he was the one to kill that soldier…well obviously he had been, it made too much sense for it not to have been him, but something about that smell didn't sit well nor seem accurate to him, but now was not the time to dwell on the seemingly minute details. However the sin's following response only peeked his interest more in this situation.
"I did nothing to the wretched pipsqueak, but if you do not remove him from my sight, I will ignore my orders of not killing right here and now!" Envy yelled his voice seemed to crack slightly, whether he was upset or merely angry was hard to tell and in that moment as a small stream of light graced across the boy's face, Roy could have sworn that he had seen tears or what had once been tears glistening from the boy's violet eyes and down his pale cheeks. For the moment Roy shrugged off this thought as he had only been seeing things, it was obviously the poor lighting in this room. Roy had simply nodded and bent down, scooping the blonde up in his arms in one swift motion. Envy had said nothing else nor had he moved from his corner, his eyes just bore at the two men, more so at Edward, an intense burning hatred. Roy had felt this malice with every step he took once he turned around with the boy in his arms, carrying him to the younger brother whom still waited at the doorway. Alphonse looked at the elder with a worried glance and a nod as he took his older brother from the man's arms, cradling him against hide steel body. Neither spoke a word to one another as the exchange was made and before long Roy had already turned his back once more to young Alphonse and faced the inside of that dreadful dark room. However what awaited him was a surprise…a still dark, but a now homunculus-less room. The sin must have seen his opportunity to escape unnoticed the moment he had his back turned to give Alphonse the unconscious blonde. Well this was rather disappointing, guess he would just have to wait for answers, perhaps Edward could fill in some of the blanks whenever he awakens.
Simultaneously elsewhere the young doctor and the Fuehrer were leaving the quaint little bar together, a smile splaying across the younger man's face as they walked together side by side. The cobblestone streets of Central's back alley ways were just as crowded as one would expect the main streets themselves to be as the two men pushed themselves along through the mass crowds.
"I assume everything went according to plan, good doctor?" Bradley questioned the doctor as he eyed his smile, his own face contorted into a very serious and stern expression. The much elder man walked a brisk, yet comfortable pace, his broad arms behind his back as he did so.
"Oh, we shall see in the near future if it was a success or failure I guess, sir." The doctor replied nasally with a grin staring ahead as they walked further down the bustling streets. He had to admit, he was feeling pretty positive about this plan overall, though he was still unsure of how the outcome will play out. He had a gut feeling that it was a great success, however. Regardless of the outcome, he was more than sure that once this ingenious theory of his proves to be most sound, then he will become the most well-known scientist through not only all of Amestris, but throughout the entirety of the world. He motioned a pale skinned hand towards his face to brush several of his dark strands of hair out of his eyes. Several minutes of walking and brushing the same strands away, the doctor had decided to just pull out his ponytail and to redo the whole thing. Long hair can just be so annoying sometimes…
"I expect a full report once you receive any form of result." The Fuehrer smiled causing the creases of his face, more especially around that of his mouth, to deepen. 'Envy is not going to be pleased with his role of experimentee' he mused solemnly to himself keeping the same pace of his step in tuned with that of the other. Oh no, Envy was not going to like this at all, not to mention when realization strikes that his comrades and their master were all a part of this….their eldest sin was going to blow a fucking gasket. Even if they could explain why and that he was chosen because he was special, even if he has yet to realize this fact, their master has and plans to exploit his special nature to its fullest potential.
"But of course, sir. You will be informed immediately "He gleefully replied, the thoughts of his fame and success clouding much of his mind, causing his voice to taper off towards the end. The clouded void filled with his scheming thoughts, 'Oh don't worry my Fuehrer, you and the rest of this wretched little world will know the exquisite nature of these results soon enough.' He let out a nasally, almost inaudible inward laugh as he mused to himself. He had great plans for this little experiment of his and he would be damned if he was just going to hand over complete control to these unworthy homunculi. No he refused to give them his future power, they were not worthy of such a grand gift to this world. Soon everyone would know and shudder his name as he brings forth a new race of man, a race born of human and homunculi, a race where man can become a god…A new evolution of man, of course only the wealthy and powerful will be able to afford this expensive gift, but you know what they say, 'only the strong survive…and money talks big.' "I almost forgot, this is where we bid adieu, sir…" He quickly stated as they neared the end of a street and stopped in front of a small, but rather quaint little home. It wasn't a large or particularly fancy home, but it appeared to be quite the cozy little cottage, with a decently spacious yard. The house was painted a nice shade of sky blue that matched the same shade of wooden fence that enclosed the yard. There was a brick paved walkway that led from the cobblestone directly up to the wooden front door of the home. The pathway was lined with lovely flowers of tiger lilies, lilacs, and foxgloves, each with many shades of orange, pink, blue, and purple.
"This is quite, the place you have for yourself, doctor, but without delaying you any longer I shall be on my way." Bradley complimented the man's home as he gave him a cordial goodbye, his eyes closed and a smile splaying across his face. As the man walked inside and he turned to leave he snarled. He didn't fully trust this man, but once the ball got rolling he could once and for all dispose of him.