(A/N: A bit late, perhaps, but I've concluded that this fic is going to cover the time until Kimblee goes to prison, as I have a few ideas surrounding that sequence of events. There will possibly be a follow-up chapter or two within the manga timeline after his release. No real point aside from that, just letting y'all know what's in store. And the actual romance is going to kick in soon, I swears!)

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For once, Envy was expecting Pride. From the moment Envy went underground, away from the sight of witnesses and the world above, it counted the seconds until the glaring eyes and sharpened teeth opened in the darkness all around it.

Just because Envy was not taken by surprise did nothing to make it less afraid.

"You should be ashamed to come back here." Pride said, matter-of-factly. "A lesser being disrespected you, played you like rolling dice. I gave you a chance to redeem yourself, and yet in the morning I find him alive and intact. You are a disgrace to your Creator."

Envy was confident it had done the right thing as far as Kimblee went, and yet the words stung deeply.

"I never intended to kill him. He's useful to Father. All I –"

"'Useful to Father'?" Pride scoffed. "You're almost as poor a liar as Greed. Neither logic nor loyalty has ever sufficed to curb your temper before."

"And yet he's still alive, meaning you didn't play me - any of us - as well as you thought you could."

That was not entirely true. Greed, Lust and Envy had played out their roles exactly as Pride had intended. The only one Pride had underestimated was Kimblee, not simply in that he had survived Envy's anger, but that he had diffused it, turned it around and made it work in his favor. Nonetheless, it was rare enough that anyone got an upper hand where Pride was concerned that Envy was not above making it into more than it was.

"I don't take any more kindly to being manipulated by an equal than by an inferior being." Envy continued.

All of the eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You are not my equal, Envy. And I was merely steering you away from the follies which Greed and Lust fall prey to."

"Then you misjudged me entirely. I had no interested in…in mating with humans, or any other creature for that matter."

"That's because, until now, none of them have wanted you. Perhaps a façade you take on, but nothing of your true self."

Envy's eyes widened, almost imperceptibly. But the subtle reaction was not lost on Pride. All the rows of teeth curled upwards in a grin of infinite fangs.

"Do you think I don't know you, Envy?" Continued Pride, cruel and deliberate. "That I can't see how your mind works better than you can? Greed and Lust might sully themselves with chosen humans, but you would throw yourself into the arms of the lowest creature, so long as they would have you. In your heart of hearts, you see yourself as lowly, and so you become that."

Envy felt nothing but dull numbness in the wake of Pride's words, like a wound before the nervous system has transmitted pain signals to the brain. Was Pride right? Envy wanted to say no, and yet there was that creeping, treacherous doubt. Envy had no argument, no defense of itself. Who could say? What did Envy know of being wanted?

At last, Envy simply said,

"Talking that way, it seems like you would rank me below Kimblee in a hierarchy of beings."

"Your potential is greater than his, but you do not live up to it. You have the potential to surpass any other creature, this is the gift that Father gave you, but you squander it rather than actualize it, as I have done."

The thought of that, of being like Pride, stirred no appeal in Envy. It didn't know much about happiness, but following Pride's advice didn't seem to have much to do with it. However, that did not mean that he was wrong. The truth was not a happy thing, after all. Pride's argument being unpleasant was, if anything, a point in its favor, and Envy couldn't find any way to rebut it.

"…What would you have me do, then?"

"Never speak to that human again. Never think of him again. Empty your heart of him, of Greed, of Lust – of every other creature. Forgo everything but the potential Father gave you. Anything else will only get in the way."

"Why do you care what I do then, if you've severed all attachments? What is it to you?"

"Because we share that potential, that blessing from Father. Indirectly, but even so." A tendril of darkness reached out and touched Envy's face. Most likely meant to threaten, and yet it could almost have been interpreted as tenderness. "It pains me to see the most important thing being thrown away, and for the sake of a human, at that."

Envy was rooted to the spot, immobile and torn. Mercy help it, but Envy was a sucker when it came to tokens of affection from family. Even when Envy hated said family, and acts of affection were ambiguous at best. There was a bond between Pride and Envy, and hate only made it stronger. And Envy was so very used to doing what Pride said...

So the only viable way to be is like him? A voice in Envy's mind quietly dissented. Isn't that same argument to be heard from every missionary who's endeavored to waste my time or empty my pocket?

At times, the persona of its various family members, particularly Greed and Pride, asserted themselves in Envy's mind, like puppets in which its conflicting thoughts were clothed. It was all in Envy's own head of course, the manifestations merely reflected the way Envy's family had influenced its psyche over the course of its long life. It was the proverbial angel-and-devil on the shoulder, although the conflict they represented were not characterized by 'good' influences verses 'evil' ones. Nothing that simple.

This new influence seemed to mirror Kimblee if anyone, that air of detached rationality. It seemed like something he would say.

There are many different ways to be human, the dissenting thought continued. Is that not true of your kind as well?

The question was genuine. Were there different, equally viable principles for homunculi to live by?

Then, realization hit Envy like a ton of very philosophical bricks. Just as Greed was greedy and Gluttony was hungry, Pride equally personified his sin. He could no more tolerate his siblings choosing a different path from his own than Greed could donate to charity. Because Pride, by nature, must be right, must be superior. And, Envy supposed, there was a certain kind of virtue in that. In his own terms, Pride was not wrong. Just as Greed enjoyed the benefit of his avarice, Pride's sin worked well for him, in the context of their nature. But just as Envy wasn't about to engage in wild orgies with whores or eat everything it could get its hands on, so also was it against Envy's nature to follow Pride's path abstract self-ideation.

"Give up on me, Pride." Envy met…some of Pride's eyes. "I think we both know I can't live up to your standards."

"Apparently not." The tendril of darkness lashed out, striking Envy's face like a whip that sliced flesh like soft cheese and scored bone beneath. As Envy's body regenerated, Pride gave his parting remark, "As I said, a disappointment to Father."

Hell, he was probably right. Leave it to Pride, to say the one thing that would always hurt.

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(A/N: For one thing, expect a delay with the next chapter. I could blame school and work, but the truth is I've got a whole army of plot-bunnies running amok and I need to sort them out.

Also, a few things about my characterization of Envy:

1) Envy is impressionable. Yes, it's never explicitly stated, but something about the nature of a shapeshifter suggests a poor grip of one's own sense of self, and this is backed up by the way Envy apparently never fully understood itself until it was too late.

2) Envy has a layer of dysfunction per family member; each one seems to correspond to a whole host of different issues and psychological pitfalls. Early on, Envy's self-critical thoughts seemed to manifest as things it imagined Greed saying to it, and it just went from there. I wish I could say I planned it this way, but it seems to have played out on its own. I am of the philosophy that characters know who they are and what to do with themselves; the author's job is just to pay attention. As for Kimblee's influence...*shrugs* they've had enough heavy philosophical exchanges for Envy to comprehend Kimblee's way of thinking, as well as taken a lot of what he says to heart. In general, it shows how Envy's paradigm is shifting to including Kimblee as someone of equal importance/influence as Envy's family.

3) Envy is not especially arrogant. Hateful and sadistic, yes - however, just because you hate someone doesn't mean you like yourself any better. If, at its core, Envy is jealous of humans, that precludes the possibility that Envy truely views itself as superior to them. Envy might tell itself it is, but I doubt it really believes it. This lack of arrogance does not make Envy any better of a person; an inferiority complex can drive one to be just as mean and twisted as a superiority complex, perhaps even more so. But there is a difference.

Thanks for reading!)