Chapter 14 : Chokehold
Envy stalked into his room in the homunculi hide out, slamming the doors behind him and grinning complacently when he heard a pained yelp followed by a loud thud. 'That would teach the little brat.'
Thinking he might finally have some peace and quiet now, something which was hard to find at the HQ, he dropped down on his bed and closed his eyes, trying to restrain his raging temper.
It was no use though, because the second he felt himself begin to relax again a loud bang sounded through the room as his poor, abused doors once more bounced off the walls. Tensing up Envy suppressed an angered growl when he heard light footsteps skip their way across the floor and to the bed.
Not wanting to deal with the little nuisance and knowing Sloth would have his head if he really hurt her 'precious baby' Envy just grabbed the pillow and tugged it over his head.
Wrath however chose to completely ignore Envy's apparent wish for privacy and came to a halt near the foot of Envy's bed, all the while still incessantly singing that oh so annoying, 'I know something you don't know, I know something you don't know.' Which he'd become ever so found of after Envy's return.
Envy though, managed to restrain himself, and when it become apparent that he wouldn't react Wrath pouted and fell silent. For a moment Envy though he might actually be in luck and the boy would leave, but then he felt it. That brat was poking his leg!
Growling silently Envy restrained himself once more, knowing that if he didn't react the brat would probably grow bored quickly and leave a lot sooner if he didn't.
Slowly though the poking started to grow more and more incessant and finally the homunculus had had enough.
"WRATH!" he yelled and jumped up from his lying position, teeth bared and purple eyes flashing, arms outstretched to capture the little menace. Said boy let out a startled yelp before falling back for the second time that day, narrowly missing being captured by the enraged homunculus' reaching arms. Quickly he scrambled till a stand again and turned tail, fleeing the room as fast as possible.
Envy wouldn't let him get away so easily though, not after the hours of pure torture the kid had put him through. Growling he stalked after him, calling in a singsong tone as he went, "Oh Wraaaathhh, where are you going? I thought you wanted to play?" The last was snarled so fiercely though that the boy only ran harder, rounding the corner before Envy could stop him.
Snarling angrily at losing sight of his target Envy sped up and rounded the corner himself, only to come to a sudden stop when he found Sloth blocking his way. Behind her stood Wrath, grinning cheekily up at him and, temporarily forgetting the angry female blocking his path, Envy lunged.
It was not to be though, and soon he was reminded of Sloth's presence when a harsh stream of water hit him right in the face. Spluttering he tried to defend himself, clawing at the offending liquid as if that might protect him from it, but when that didn't work he relented and stood back. Soon after the water stopped and Envy glared balefully at Sloth once it did, wiping his face with his hands in an attempt to dry it off a bit and moving his dripping hair away from his eyes.
Sloth watched it all indifferently, but her crossed arms and the less than pleased glint in her normally so lethargic eyes betrayed her true feelings.
"Envy." She greeted him, a steely edge to her normally expressionless voice. "What do you think you are doing?"
"Sloth." Envy hissed back, looking for all intents and purposes like an angry, drenched cat with his hackles raised. "Your brat," he threw another hate filled glare at the boy hiding behind her who promptly yelped and clung tighter to his 'mommies' dress in response before continuing, "thought it would be funny to annoy me."
Sloth sighed quietly and patted Wrath's hair comfortingly before turning back to the enraged homunculus, completely missing the smug look on her baby's face as he stuck his tongue out at Envy as soon as her back was turned.
Envy, however, saw perfectly fine and with another angry growl he attempted to lunge once more. Unfortunately for him Sloth still had no intentions of letting him near her child and within seconds he was spluttering again as a larger stream of water struck his face.
This time though he was determined not to let it get to him and he continued to struggle, reaching out through the water. His fingertips barely brushed Wrath's hair before the water pressure suddenly increased and he was slammed back into the wall, before the stream receded. Grunting he peeled himself of the bricks and turned to glare at Sloth, spitting out some water as he did so.
Sloth just stared back emotionlessly and behind her Wrath was still grinning, watching the proceedings with interest and barely veiled glee.
Things continued like that for a few tense minutes but eventually Envy relented, deciding that getting back at the kid really wasn't worth all the trouble of a pissed of Sloth, nevermind an angry Dante. He could always get to him later when he wasn't hiding behind an angry female. Finally he turned back in the direction of his room and stalked off, before he could round the corner however Sloth called out to him and he paused, "Where are you going?"
Envy had to try hard not to attack her again, that was none of her business. "I'm off to see Chibi."
He glanced back at her over his shoulder and saw an odd expression flash over her emotionless features but it was gone before he could identify what it was.
"Just remember what Dante said, stay away from the east." She remarked, and Envy grunted once more in dubious agreement before continuing on his way to his room.
Once he was out of sight Wrath finally came out of his hiding place and, curiously, he looked up at Sloth. "Think he'll listen?" He asked and Sloth remained silent for a little bit before patting his hair and walking off.
"We'll see."
Crackling flames shone their light on the deep circles under Ed's eyes. His flat gold eyes caught the light but not even the fire's light could bring out any light from their depths. It was the third night since they'd left Central and the third night in a row that he was going without sleep.
He shifted a bit on the log he was sitting on, moving closer to the fire and trying to will some warmth back into sleep numbed limbs. It was no use though and he let out a soft sigh, making sure not to wake his brother. Alphonse was quite worried about him, understandably so after what had happened on their last mission, but the worrying could get a little overbearing, not that he'd ever tell his brother so. He wouldn't want him to feel bad about it.
The darkening circles under his eyes did nothing to ease his brother's fear but Ed could not help it. He just couldn't sleep. Back in Central he'd had the same problem but less serious. For the most part he'd been able to suppress the thoughts and memories of their last mission and sneak in a few hours of sleep so no one would worry, but now, back on the road, those memories were closer to the surface than ever, and there was no way he could make them go away.
It weren't even the nightmares that really bothered Ed. Sure, he'd still wake up screaming every time he saw that little boy's desperate face, saw the terror in his eyes as the homunculus slit his throat, and he had to realize over and over that there was nothing he could do. But after having seen it so many times he'd eventually gotten a bit desensitized over it, there were only so many times you could see something before growing accustomed to it, even if it was just a little bit and, sadly enough, this was not the first time he'd ever seen such a scene. If he could survive with his sanity intact after witnessing his mother's mutilated corpse then he would survive the death of this boy, if with difficulty. Besides that he'd come to terms with what happened and vowed to make sure things like that would never happen again, and he planned to keep that vow. No more innocents would suffer for his incompetence.
No, what really bothered Ed were the dreams.
Dreams of mirthful golden eyes, of another boy holding on to him tightly for protection, smiling at him, joking with him. Dreams in which he wanted nothing more than to protect the other, only for those eyes to turn a deep violet and betrayal to shoot through his chest. Dreams of the boy he had unknowingly gotten so attached to only to find out the other was his worst enemy.
Roughly he shook his head, golden tresses flying past his face and almost touching the flames. He shouldn't think of him like that! Envy had played with him, betrayed him, all those moments meant nothing! The little boy he had wanted to protect had never existed from the start and Ed would do well to remember that.
When Alphonse shook his shoulder softly an hour later to take the watch from him, Ed nodded slowly, sleepily and trudged over to the other side of the fire where his sleeping bag was located. He laid down and made sure his back was to the flames so Al wouldn't notice him staying awake.
As he closed his eyes, he was just so tired, he could not help but to think back to that one time at the inn when he'd woken to the other holding him, the warmth and the comfort he had felt back then, and without even realizing he drifted off, sleeping deeply for the first time in days, to the feeling of phantom arms holding him close and the image of deep purple eyes watching over him.
An/ Hey and welcome back again! I hope you all liked the little scene with Envy at the beginning, I know he's been gone for a bit, but i hope this makes up for it. Regardless, from now on we'll be seeing a whole lot more of him again in the coming chapters, and also some more Ed/Envy interaction which this one, sadly, still lacks. We did get a little insight in our poor chibi's tormented psych though so that should last you all a bit ;) anyways let me know what you think and what could improve, I love the response this story is getting, it makes my day to know people enjoy this little idea of mine ^^ So yeah, thank you all for faving, alerting and reviewing! xx
oh and just a little note, I'm thinking of starting up another story after this one, I already have an idea and all and I was just wondering, who would you like to see Al paired with? It can be anyone honestly, homunculi, alchemist, male/female it doesn't matter. Just tell me your preference please? It would really help, thanks :)