This chapter was a PAIN to make since I am not usually good with writing fighting scenes and this chapter has a fight in it. It's also the longest chapter I've made so far, longest chapter I've ever made, over 4000 words, so I hope you readers like it.
I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of the characters.
The group quickly ran out of the small cabin to stare into the forest, all ready for some attack to be launched at them.
"Envy, are you sure it's Pride and Gluttony?" Ed asked glancing at the Homunculus who was standing beside him.
Envy nodded, his jaw clenched, "I'd recognise this feel of bloolust anywhere," He said and when Ed gave him a supicious look, Envy rolled his eyes, "It's not like that Chi sensing thing or whatever that Xing people have. It's more of just a sixth sense for me, that some people have as well. For over a hundred years I've known the other homunculi, I've been able to just sense them. I'm not sure if it's the same with the others, it'd make more sense that way if it was the same with them though."
Edward nodded, not carrying that much about how Envy knew they were here, but went to a new question, "Pride, I haven't met him yet, is he powerful like you and hold the same healing properties, or is he like the Fuhrer and have a mortal body?" It would be good to know if he was like Wrath or the others. But to be honest, Ed doubted that Pride was like Wrath when it came to his regeneration process.
Envy smirked at the fact that Ed just called him powerful but then shook his head relunctantly, "No...Prides kind of...Well Pride is the original homunculus," Envy admitted, "He's the strongest of us. He's going to be more difficult, probably the most difficult battle you've ever been in, and actually, you have met him before."
A look of confusion went through Ed's face, "Wait, what do you mean that I've met him before?" He asked and Envy didn't responde, his silence telling Ed that he'd realize what he meant soon. His confusion turned to horror, "Wait...Prides the first? He's the strongest of the homunculi?"
Envy just stared evenly into the trees, "Yeah, be prepared to a fight your probably going to be killed in," Envy warned and dropped into a fighting stance as Gluttony came into view. Proving his assumption that Gluttony was one of the two coming.
"It's Envy!" Gluttony grinned, pointing at the fellow homunculus.
A second voice joined, "Very good," It said, "But I could have figured that much out from how loud they were talking," he said, walking out into the open.
Ed recoiled sharply and Envy felt Alphonses disbelief course through him. None of them had expected Pride to be the person in front of them.
"S-Selim!? Selim Bradley?!" Ed sputtered out. His mind found it hard to see that the energetic, innocent, adopted child, was a Homunculus, let alone the first.
That Selim was Pride.
Selim...Pride smirked at Ed, "Hello, Fullmetal Alchemist," He greeted with a cruel smirk and held a 'I'm superior to you, you scum,' look in his eyes.
Envy gritted his teeth, "Pride! What are you doing here?" He demanded then let his own smirk form, "What? Father getting so desperate that he's making his favorite get out and fight for once? Oh, how the arrogant has fallen!" He mocked.
The group of four could see Pride as he narrowed his eyes.
"Your one to be talking. You betrayed us and let yourself fall to the same level as humans," He retorted, "I thought you were the one that held the most hatred towards them."
Envys smirk dropped momentairly before returning, "I didn't side with the human race because I love the humans or anything," He said haughtily, "I'm doing this for me, and only for me. I want Father and the rest of you dead. I know my capabilities, I know I can't hope to kill all of you, so what better to help the humans kill you?"
He continued, and laughed a little, "I mean, there is no way you can win, after all, the plan is to complicated. The more complex it is, the more chances it has at failing," Envy smirked.
Pride glowered a bit, before raising his head and looking at Envy with cold eyes, "Envy, this is your only chance, rethink your mistake and come back to us now and we might not punish you to severely for your rebellion," Pride offered.
Envy just laughed again, "Pride, I know what you guys will do if I surrender. Father will kill me again and then god knows how long it will be until he finds a new body to put me in," He chuckled shaking his head, lifting it and glaring at Pride. "There is no way in Hell I'm going through that again."
The elder homunculus gave a sigh, "Well, you can't say I didn't give you the offer to come peacefully. Either way your going back to Father, even if I have to drag you half dead back to him," He declared.
Edward leaned forward a bit as he noticed Prides shadow seemed to darken then spread, and then he realized it was no longer simply a shadow. Soon after he came to that realization, the gleaming eyes and mouths formed and the shadows launched towards Envy who leapt back continiously and dodged the shadow.
Envy turned towards Ed, "Hey, Elric look out!" He snapped and Ed looked back before lunging forward, barely escaping being grabbed by Gluttony.
Looking at Darius and Heinkel, he saw that they had shifted into there more animalistic forms.
Darius lunged at Gluttony, knocking him back with a powerful punch and Ed dodged one of Prides shadows.
Ed and Envy continued this dance, dodging Prides shadow, blocking them, and throwing in a few blows to Gluttony when they could. Darius and Heinkel were focusing on Gluttony though, keeping him busy and away from Ed and Envy the best they could, while the other two would block Prides shadows whenever they were aimed towards the chimeras.
Envy leapt up next to Ed, blocking one of Prides shadows with his arm which he shapeshifted into a blade.
"This isn't working!" Envy growled at Ed, "We're just burning our energy blocking and dodging them! He's going to wear us out while not spending an ounce of energy himself!" it was easy to tell that the 'him' Envy was referring to was Pride.
Ed nodded in agreement, "I know, but what else can we do?" He asked as they dodged another onslaught of Prides shadows, "You should know what to do! He's your brother!" He snapped at Envy who had leapt into a tree to dodge a shadow that tried to bite him in half.
The shadows stopped attacking for a moment allowing Ed to look right at Pride instead of the shadows.
"Why are you trying to kill me? I thought your Father needed me alive," Ed demanded.
Pride smirked, "Who said I'm going to kill you?" He asked, "There are ways to cause you pain without killing you."
Envy nodded in agreement, "He is right. There's physical torture, mental and emotional torture. He could tear off an arm or leg and not let you bleed to death. The list go on," He explained.
Ed glared at him, "You don't need to be giving him ideas!" He shouted and turned back to face Pride.
The smaller yet older homunculus smirked, "It looks like you haven't lost your sadistic way of thinking, Envy," He commented as he shot a shadow at Ed.
He jumped away and it branched out towards Ed who blocked one with his automail arm and skidded backwards. Shadows impaling the ground barely missing him each time before he slammed into the tree Envy was in.
The shadows split open to show Pride directly in front of him, smirking as another shadow formed and lauched at Ed, who had no way to escape.
"ED!" Envy shouted as the shadow snapped the tree directly in half.
He glanced down to see Ed had bent over so the shadow missed him, before leaping out of the tree himself.
"This isn't working," He said again, after glancing at the two chimeras, he nodded to himself as they were doing well with handling Gluttony. He had to admit, Gluttony wasn't the best fighter so it wasn't a surprise those two were able to handle him.
But the sound of footsteps caught his attention and when something small was thrown into the air, he barely had time to shield his eyes as it exploded and a bright light encircled the area, destroying Prides shadows in the process.
"A Xingese flash bomb," Envy muttered under his breath as the light died down.
Ed looked towards the direction it came from and stared in wonder at the three perched on a tree.
"Hey Ed! Long time no see!" Ling greeted, sword in hand, his two bodyguards Foo and Lan Fan-now sporting an automail arm, on either side of him.
"I know, it's been a few months!" He said and turned to Lan Fan, "What are you doing? It hasn't been a full seven months yet!"
Lan Fan smiled under her mask, "My Lord couldn't wait any longer for the Philosophers Stone and I was more then ready to go back to my duty," She said calmly and turned to Envy, "Is he on our side?" She asked, dagger in hand, ready to attack Envy if needed.
Ed nodded quickly, "Yeah! So are the chimeras. Our enemies are Gluttony and Pride," He said, he didn't need to tell them who was who. The two already knew who Gluttony was so it would be easy to tell which was Pride.
Though he could see the mild surprise in there eyes when they saw that Pride was a little boy.
Envy scoffed, "Don't let him fool you, he may look like a little kid, but he's the oldest Homunculus and the strongest," He warned the three, then turned to Ed, "I think I know a way we can put Pride at a disadvantage! Get the Chimeras over here! You three can fight Gluttony!" He said.
Ed, needing no furthur instructions after Envy said there was a way beat Pride, quickly got Darius and Heinkel while Ling, Lan Fan and Foo wasted no time attacking Gluttony.
"When the Flash Bomb went off, it basically made it so there was no shadows," Envy explained to Ed while they kept an eye on Pride, waiting for him to attack. But the homunculus was just standing there, waiting.
Ed nodded, "Yeah, nearly blinded us all too," He added.
The younger homunculus smirked, "So, when theres complete darkness, no light at all, there aren't any shadows. No shadows makes Pride powerless," Envy said and eyed Ed, "Think you can turn all the lights off, Alchemist?" He asked.
It was Ed's turn to smirk and he held a confident one at that, "Consider it done," He promised.
Envy nodded and turned to Darius and Heinkel, "That's where you two come in. When it's completely dark, we won't be able to see, but you have your sense of smell and other senses. We'll need you to fight them," He told them.
The two nodded in confirmation and Envy stood straight, "Alright, just wait till I say to go, we will need to make sure Gluttony is taken care of too because he'll be more of a problem in the night as well," He warned, "But get ready, looks like Prides ready for another round," He said.
Like he said, Pride already had his shadows forming again and just a few seconds later, had them lunging towards the four and the dance of dodging and blocking begun once more.
It was different on the other threes side. Instead of dodging and blocking and doing only that, they would have it so one or two would have to dodge him and the other would strike, keeping it so at least one had an opening to strike.
"We find you and are instantly dragged into your fight, is that your plan to seek revenge on me eating you out of all your money?" Ling joked as he and Ed passed each other.
Ed laughed, "Don't get any ideas Ling! You joined this fight of your own free will!" He shot back as he blocked a strike from Pride and Ling blocked Gluttony at the same time.
"Sure," Ling said in a joking manner as he jumped away from Gluttony when Lan Fan leapt onto the fat homunculus back, shoving a bomb into his mouth then leaping away from him, watching him blow up.
"Good work, Lan Fan!" Foo said as they continued to create more wounds on Gluttony while his body began to regenerate the part that had exploded, making the Philosophers Stone use up more of the souls in it.
Ling grinned, "It's a good thing we showed up, Ed! You seem to be doing so much better now that you have us getting rid of Gluttony!"
Ed had to avoid answering so he could direct all his attention on Prides shadows as he blocked and dodge fix that came towards him.
Envy answered in his place, "It was good timeing on your part!" He told them, "I would offer to give you Gluttonys Philosophers Stone if you beat him, but he wont die unless that stone is destroyed so, you get the picture," He yelled to them, yelling so they could hear from the distance between them.
"It is a sad truth," Ling said as he used his sword to slice Gluttonys arm off, "But I will endure it."
He dodged a few more shadows and made a few leaps towards Ling so he could explain to them his plan.
When he got to the prince, he whispered so Pride wouldn't hear him, "In a minute or two, I'm going to have Ed destroy all the lights, leaving us in total darkness, the chimeras will fight Pride, but try and get Gluttony contained so he can't fight."
Ling nodded, "You think you can get Ed to make a rope or coil, something strong to tie him up? I'm thinking of capturing him the same way I did last time," He said.
Envy, having no memories of what Ling did to capture Gluttony the last time-or that Gluttony had been captured, was startled momentairly before nodding, "I'll get him to make it and get it to you," He agreed and sped towards Edward, but was held up when Pride shot shadows at him making him put more distance between him and Ed.
"Envy, you know full well that I am stronger then you, give up and have the others give up as well," Pride ordered, "I can't offer you a chance at being spared now because you made your alleigance clear, but it will save you suffering if you quit now."
Envy gritted his teeth, "I don't quit, Pride! I'm not a coward! I don't quit just because I know I'm weaker!"
Pride just went silent and let his shadows attack Envy again. It was clear how dissapointed, disgusted, and angry he was at his younger brother for choosing to betray the homunculi. Envy seemed to be enjoying his brothers anger though.
"Ed!" Envy yelled as he did a few flips to avoid three shadows that stabbed where he was a second ago, "Make a rope!"
The Elric blocked an attack and nodded as he clapped his hands and pressed his hands against the ground at the base of a tree, making sure to involve the wood and ground in the transmutation. Soon he had a strong looking rope in his hands and Envy leapt pass him, grabbing it and running towards Ling.
What happened next was like a rapid fire, as soon as one part ended the next started instantly.
When Ling was handed the rope, Lan Fan put another bomb down Gluttonys throat. Gluttony, apparantly not having learned his lesson yet, had his top half blown up. Much like the first time this happened, Ling leapt to action, quickly tying Gluttony up all around as he regenerated, making it so he couldn't escape.
When Ling finished tying Gluttony up, everything went black as Ed did the transmutation Envy had told him to do. Prides shadows dissapeared, putting him at a disadvantage and Heinkel and Darius at an advantage.
"Heinkel! You go after Pride!" Envy ordered, not knowing where Heinkel was in this darkness, but trusting his voice carried out so that the Lion Chimera could hear him.
Ed, Envy, Ling, Lan Fan, Foo and Darius could only stand in silence, relying on the sounds of yelps, growls and claws ripping flesh that Heinkel had found Pride.
Envy let out an annoyed sigh as he heard Gluttony repeatedly cry out for Lust and all this other stuff he didn't care about. But truthfully, Envy felt bad doing this to Gluttony. Sure he was pissed at the rest of the homunculi, but he had always been closer to Gluttony and Lust then the others.
The three were always a team, when Father paired them up in teams of two, it was always either him and Lust, like in Lab Five, Gluttony and Lust as it usually is. Envy and Gluttony were not teamed up as often but there were still times when it happened, like the one time he and Gluttony hunted down a group that had figured to much out about sixty years ago.
The group was of about thirty people, all of them soldiers, either retired or on active duty. Envy had inflitrated their ranks and he then brought Gluttony in, who ate all the evidence of the groups existance and what they knew.
Envy didn't have any memories of this though, he only knew of this from talking with Lust a little after gaining Alphonses body. She had been telling him of a few of the missions he had done, though she hadn't gotten to any of the recent ones. He only knew of the Reole one from overhearing people talking about and his 'family' discussing it as well.
Though he was getting more and more of his memories back, they were still bits and peices and didn't hold every details to them. Whenever they came back with large portions, it seemed to usually come with a mental breakdown if his last two mental breakdowns were anything to go by.
He let out an irritated sigh, before glancing at Edward and noticing his uneasy look, his eyes were clenched shut, probably trying to remind himself or assure himself that it was Pride being killed, not Heinkel.
His amethyst eyes scanned the area, he was barely able to make out anything, he could see Gluttony, and the three Xingeese foreigners outline, as well as Darius' large shape ways back. His eyes shot open as he realized what was wrong with this and lunged towards Ed.
He tackled Ed just seconds before Prides shadow shot up and the mouth snapping shut at where Ed had been.
Ed himself, seemed startled at Envy, stared up at him, "You...you saved me...?" He asked, unsure as to what had just happened and Envy just glared.
"We forgot something with this plan," He muttered and at Ed's questioning gaze, he pointed to the sky, "We forgot the moon," He said.
It was true, while they managed to shut out the light from everything else, the moon still provided enough light to create shadows and things were slowly becoming more and more visible as eyes got used to this low light.
"Damnit!" Ed growled, snapping out of his surprise and punching the ground.
Attention was drawn to Heinkel who let out a pained cry.
"Heinkel!" Darius shouted and lunged at Pride who launched a shadow at him.
Darius blocked it off but ended up being saved by Ed who blocked a shadow from behind with his automail arm.
Pride tilted his head to the side, "Well, I can't risk fighting you guys if you try blinding me again," he mused and glanced at Gluttony who was still tied up, "Gluttony, your able to fight blinded with that nose of yours, right?" He asked.
Gluttony struggled against his binds, "Ye-yes!" He said as he tried to break free again.
Pride just stared at him before smirking and licking his lip before a shadow lunged at Gluttony, grabbing him and throwing him in the air.
"Gluttony!" Envy yelled out and watched in horror as the shadow bit Gluttony in half and then went to devour his philosophers Stone.
He watched as Gluttonys body started to crumble into dust.
"Don't eat me, Pride. It hurts! Lust! Lust!" He said as his body dissapeared. He was dead.
Pride smirked and his nose twitched a little, "Looks like I can follow your scent perfectly now. So blinding me wont be a problem for me anymore," He said, smirking at them, proud of what he had just done.
Envy tilted his head down, his body shaking in rage. He may not like the rest of the homunculi anymore but Gluttony was still his brother. Pride's brother as well, and Pride just ate Gluttony! Just for his ability to smell!
Ed was in a similiar rage, not at any bond to Gluttony, but at how Pride killed Gluttony without a second thought and now he was at an even bigger advantage. Ed wanted to scream in rage as he realized what a hopeless battle this was ending up to be.
"Shit! We can't win!" Ed growled out, no matter what they thought of, there didn't seem to be a way to actually win. Even with the Flash Bombs, they only worked for so long and barely anyone could fight when they went off. Even the smoke bombs didn't work because Pride could smell them now that he ate Gluttony.
Now that had Heinkel who was wounded as well.
He and Envy glanced at each other, an understaning passed between them.
Envy stood up, calming down some of his anger and was about to shout for them to retreat. They needed to get to an area that Pride couldn't simply just attack them in, a place that would have to many witnesses to risk attacking them at. But it seemed they may not need it when Pride let out an enrage yell.
"What?!" Pride shouted staring at his legs where freshly transmuted rocks had encased his legs pinning him there.
Suddenly the light blue sparks crackled around the ground as it began to lift up, creating a dome around Pride who couldn't run out of there because of his legs trapped.
He used one of the shadows to break the stone that encased his legs and lunged forward only for another to grab his leg, this time courtesy of Edward who decided to help keep Pride there.
Pride used the shadows to break it only to be trapped in another and glared in their direction.
"Hohenheim!" He snarled and Envy whirled back to see the man standing behind them, hands in his pocket, transmuting the dome. The homunculus smirked at seeing the newfound ally and nodded in approval towards him.
Ed fought back turning around, he knew he had to keep Pride there. But suddenly a shadow was lunged towards him. He couldn't dodge, he realized, nor could he block when he was tramsuting.
Envy suddenly lunged in front of Ed, blocking the attack with his arms, but he didn't get time to shapeshift them into something to knock it back before the shadow sliced his arms off.
He let out a cry of pain but refused to let the shadows get to Ed. He needed Ed to keep transmuting things to keep Pride from getting out of the dome before it finished closing. He then forced himself to fight back a scream of anger from all the pain as he took another blow for Ed.
The attacks soon stopped and Prides shadows dissapeared when the rock dome was finished, trapping Pride in an area with no light or shadows.
The group of seven who had been fighting Pride for what felt like hours, let out a relieved sigh that it was finally over. There was no way Pride could use his shadows in that pitch darkness so he wasn't a threat anymore unless he got out.
Envy gritted his teeth a bit as the red light crackled over his body as his wounds began to heal. It still hurt but the pain was going away as the wounds vanished and he glanced at Edward. That was twice now he'd saved the alchemist from Pride, it was probably blowing the blondes mind.
Now that the fight was over, Ed turned to face Hohenheim, his face showing anger at seeing his father.
So, yeah, Ling, Foo and Lan Fan finally appeared.
Please tell me if I somehow fucked up the fight.
Also, tell me what you thought of this chapter, I can assure you that this chapter held a lot of importance for building trust between Ed and Envy. What better way to gain trust then to fight an over powered homunculus together?