Chapter Thirteen "Another Beast"
Winry was absolutely exhausted now she had no sleep whatsoever and there were even hints of sunrise now. The emotional toll on her body was something to consider as well, mostly she was hanging on by her resolve right now.
Pride was still wearing a smirk as he pushed on in front of her, promising her the Church would be close as he dragged Gluttony's charred body in his arms, holding the jaw shut in case the main head woke up, the other head was still not fully regenerated, slowed by the shrapnel in its skull.
Her eyes were unmoving and focused, unyielding after what this monster put her through. She was a complete mess, her hair was a nightmare and her skirt had traces of different debris you could only have if you were taking things apart like she did with him unknowingly.
Behind her she heard a weird rustling noise but was too tired to take notice of it, especially around where they were now where it was otherwise deserted. A town was around the corner but at this hour it was unlikely to run into anyone but the earliest risers. Still, she hoped that if they saw them they would run or hide from the boy carrying the huge monster in his arms and the girl who trailed behind.
"You say this Church was where Ed and Al were last?" Winry said, not slowing her pace or showing emotion in front of Pride.
He was a manipulator no doubt, in the back of her mind she wondered if that might be how Edward would have turned out if nobody cared about him like his mother and brother did. A being without purpose is a being lost some might say, Edward was certainly never without purpose in his life.
Pride didn't want to answer her, it was either because he didn't see the need to or that the real Edward's spirit was still lying on his mind. As the time went by silently and without any response from Pride, they came closer to the place that it all ended and where Pride began. Winry was more firm this time she asked.
"It was Envy who killed him, am I right?" she said with her tone far more demanding.
In a few seconds of pause, he decided to reassure her. "Yes, he distracted him and stuck his hand through his heart, pathetic really." Pride said. "It's sad; if he didn't care so much he might not have been tricked. Half-brother or whatever you might call it, he still wasn't human, the same way I'm not.
She bit her lip, wishing she had never asked at all.
When they entered they saw signs of others there, the pews were covered with red stain and other such things, what was not there when Pride left...
"What went on here?" Winry said, stammering a little from the shock of it all.
"That's strange, I have Chubby right here." Pride said referring to Gluttony.
He plopped him down for a second so he could be free to see what went on. It was almost as if a huge beast broke through around here and chewed on everything. The blood was something strange though, it was far too much to be from one human.
"Might as well have been a Dragon, eah Winry?" Pride said, attempting to be humorous again.
"RIGHT YOU ARE PIPSQUEAK!" From the shadows of the top of the stain-glass ceiling came a large serpent bearing teeth at least three feet wide and sharper than razor-blades.
Pride's jaw loosened in honest shock, it was at least forty feet wide with scales and terrifying strength as it slithered closer to them both, breaking anything in its path. The most frightening thing about this colossal lizard was not the fact an actual dragon was in their presence... but that it had the voice of Envy.
Its jaw was bleeding and it was snarling. It stopped suddenly right before it took a large bite out of Pride and… bared back. "You're not the Pipsqueak, are you?"
Pride frowned and Winry hid behind one of the foundation's pillars. This was impossible, how could he take the form of something so big and more-over, why did he not take the chance to kill Pride then and there.
"I get that a lot." Pride said with a smile. "This guy sure was popular, huh?"
Envy snarled, as if to say he wouldn't waste his time with anything not worth it. "I don't like you, you look just like him."
His jaw came out a little and his hot breath flew into Pride's face and blew his hair back. "You come back from The Gate?"
"I NEVER GOT THROUGH IT! THAT DAMN INSECT!" Envy smashed the back of the wall with a simple flick of his dragon tail.
Winry had to turn to a different side, avoiding a large rock that almost smashed her to bits. She covered her mouth, hoping they forgot she was there.
The original Edward's soul was still making an impact, despite not being of flesh anymore he did not allow Envy through the Gate to the other side; where Hoenheim was.
Within a few seconds, Envy let loose to his normal form with long green hair strung up by a headband and his chest covered by a black outfit. It took a few moments before he could go back to being so small compared to that of a Dragon. He was still as fierce as one though if not more so, you could sense it.
Envy batted an eye and noticed Gluttony passed out behind him. "Fool, I can see he's been productive in my absence."
There was still blood in his mouth, it was clear he sustained some form of injury that was still healing and went away ten seconds later. Winry wondered if her Ed gave him a smack in the jaw on his ticket out of there, that was probably unlikely though Edward would probably have less of a need for that now.
Pride's eyes froze for a second; under his feet were more shards of souls that had come out from the rafters of the church when Envy came down. How horrifying to think even this Church had its unkind secrets.
Envy looked at him with a baffled expression and then laughed. "I see, you WOULD be a new one wouldn't you. Still haven't lost that human edge yet?"
Winry clenched her fists; there were so many reasons for her to hate these people in front of her. All three of them had killed many people without remorse but above all Envy took Ed's life, there was nothing on earth that could take away the longing for vengeance in her heart after that.
Envy moved down, entertained by Pride's shaking hands and clear want for this indulgence. It was more on a whim but he took a hand full of them and put them in Pride's hand. "Go ahead, nothing's stopping you."
Envy was a creature of habit; he did this to Wrath before as well. It didn't benefit him in any way, he didn't like the look of this one simply because he reminded him of Ed but at least a few moments pleasure could be a small sort of gain. These Stones were like taking a human life and absorbing it to the core of your body, killing your soul in the process or whatever resembled it for a Homunculus.
Pride smirked again, there was less and less of him left now. He took them in his hands and poured them down his mouth, smiling all while he did this. Winry was getting more and more disappointed, it was clear that anything promised to her would have to be done herself. Beside her was a sharp part of wood almost like a cross that lost its sides with glass on the end from the ceiling, her fingers moved onto it slow enough so no noise could be made.
Pride's throat burned again like he was drinking in hot acid. There were so many he had just devoured and now the effect on him was great. All the little fragments of Al were slipping away from him, Winry was now a blur and his mother might as well have never existed. As he closed his eyes to the memories they opened up again at Envy's sickening grin, like the devil who had earned its sword. The picture of Al overlapped with Envy and that of Envy's true form until a state of delusion fused in his mind. He held his ears silent but screaming on the inside.
The three pictures went around and around in his head the same way The Gate had entered information into Ed's brain as a young boy, but this time it was not correct. It was an illusion; Al, Envy, Envy's true form. These might have been the three things Ed thought about most right before he died, considering that, in a way, he had another brother in front of him.
Due to the unstable mind of one who had taken life into his own and mixed up things inside he was not able to process this in the same way, instead of Ed thinking about the possibility of Hoenheim having another son other than him and Al, Al and Envy were now one in the same to him. All the little fragments on the surface and underneath had transferred in this way and become one.
Envy lowered an eyebrow when he saw Pride finally find himself but the true Edward made a small appearance in his personality, the Edward that loved Al. Only, Al was not there, only Envy. He was still soiled in his own greed and selfishness that he had shown Winry first hand but now his smile was almost… more genuine.
Winry and Envy didn't know why until he spoke his next words. "Thank you… Brother."
End chapter
