2003!Envy characterization/backstory (kind of) in Brotherhood verse...mostly because it's what came out.
The next one may take a while; it may wind up being a bit super long _ Hopefully not.
Also, should I start putting trigger warnings on these?
90. Freedom
Even Edward had a breaking point and, looking at the boy crouched on the floor in front of him, Envy wondered how far past it he was.
"You're asking me to -" He cut himself off with a snort. "You're pathetic."
"Yes," he whispered. "Yes, I'm pathetic, I'm useless, I can't - do it anymore -"
"And why are you asking me? We need you alive, remember?"
Ed raised his head, gold eyes grim and dead. "Because I know you'd love nothing better."
Envy couldn't deny it, but he wasn't going to give the pipsqueak the satisfaction of being right, either. "Pft. I knew you humans were full of shit. Giving up on your brother -"
"I'm not!" It was a sudden burst of passion from the boy who had walked in stiff and lifeless as a block of stone. "I - I -"
"What's he gonna do without'cha? I guess I'll hafta take care of him too." Envy turned his back, leaning forward onto the wall so he wouldn't have to see the play of emotions over the alchemist's face. He was so exposed - everything was out there for all to see, for everyone to use.
"He'll be fine. But don't you touch him. Don't you - don't you go near him." Ah, there was the savageness.
"Alright. We got a deal." Envy turned around again, strode over to the blond and grabbed a handful of flaxen hair, exposing the teenager's pale throat. It pulsed and bobbed as Ed swallowed, nervousness painted on his face like the illustrations of an open book.
Envy dragged sharp nails across Ed's cheek, feeling for a moment like Lust with one of her conquests. "So, Fullmetal..." he whispered, voice subconsciously shifting in timbre to be more like his lost sibling's, "you want to be free." He couldn't help but mock him. Imagine, putting on a collar and then balking against it when it was too late to turn back...
Ed nodded ever so slightly, the movement almost nothing more than an inclination of his head. Envy almost growled. It didn't feel like killing Fullmetal at all. This placid, depressed little doll was not the same boy he'd hunted and hated.
Envy pushed Ed back onto the stone floor, bringing his face close to his as his claws darted down the blond's chest, shredding the red and black cloth as they did. The deadly-sharp blades came to rest just over Ed's heart, indenting but not quite breaking the skin as each sudden breath shifted the landscape.
"When, pipsqueak, have I ever done anything...that would make you happy?" he snarled, digging in just enough to draw blood. Ed gasped slightly, legs jerking underneath the homunculus. Envy only had a miniscule amount of his true weight on top of the teenager, but it was enough to trap him.
It would be so easy to finish the job.
"Fuck off," he muttered, pulling both hand and claw away.
"Wh-what?"
Envy rose to his feet. "I said, fuck off."
Ed stood up, frustration the newest expression to etch itself onto his features. "But - you have to -!"
Envy slammed Ed into the wall, the wicked claws encircling Ed's throat but not quite touching it. "You want to die, you do it yourself. I'm nobody's saviour."
Ed subsided into a sullen silence, glowering dully at the homunculus. "Let me go, then."
"Whatever." The claws turned back into a hand, which Envy pulled away.
Ed gave Envy - and his hand - a strange look. A second later, he pulled back his fist and slugged the elder being in the face.
"Fucker! What was that for!" he complained, wincing as his regeneration process took care of the shiner he would have had otherwise.
Ed grinned, a devilish smile that made Envy's stomach turn. "Oh, I just don't like your face. Later, bastard."
It was an act - it was always an act - but it still made Envy roll his eyes. "Just piss off already before I change my mind."
He'd be back. There'd be another collapse, another breakdown, and Ed would be back. Maybe Envy's answer would change, maybe it wouldn't.
But that was for another day.