Chapter 17 : Make a Move
That morning Ed woke up still feeling the same sense of uneasiness as the night before. That he now knew why seeing the kid had upset him so much did nothing to ease his worried mind and he resolved himself to try and find out some more about the mysterious boy in the woods.
Getting up he saw Al's empty bed and knew his brother must already be downstairs, waiting for him. He quickly walked over to the closet and got dressed. He braided his hair with practiced movements and, after checking in the mirror to see if everything was in order, made his way down.
It was still pretty early and not many people were down yet. A couple of travelers were eating breakfast, talking happily and discussing their plans for the afternoon, and a couple of old ladies were sharing the latest gossip at a table near the window. His brother was sitting at the bar, an untouched plate in front of him that he was staring at melancholically. The barman however seemed not to notice and kept on encouraging him to try some of the food his wife had cooked. Shaking his head sadly Ed quickly made his way to the bar and sat next to his brother, successfully distracting the chattering barman, besides him Al shot him a grateful look.
Ed ordered and the two sat in silence for a while, both still lost in thought, until the barman placed another steaming plate in front of Ed. Ed looked up and thanked the man, taking a bite and humming approvingly at the man's insistence. The man looked pleased, starting another rant about his wife's great cooking skills, obviously he was very proud of her, and Ed nodded along absentmindedly.
When the man finally fell quiet Ed saw his chance to get some much needed info. "Tell me, you've lived here for a long time now, right?" He asked casually. The man nodded enthusiastically and was about to start on another rant, but Ed saw and cut him off in time. "Then surely you could tell me who lives in the forest?"
Ed had expected another enthusiastic reply, so he was surprised when no such thing was forthcoming. Instead the man just looked at him weirdly, obviously trying to figure out where he got the idea to ask such a question from. "I was taking a walk yesterday night and a kid came running up to me, said he lived there. His name's Jay."
As soon as the name left his lips the man's face hardened and his eyes narrowed. Startled at the sudden change, but curious Ed leaned in a bit, certain he'd hit the jackpot now. He knew there was something wrong with that kid! He was not at all prepared for the reply he received though.
"Get out." The words were spoken clearly, disgust dripping from every syllable.
Not understanding the brothers just looked at him, the change from the happy and friendly barman that had been blabbering their ears of the whole morning to this cold man shocking them.
Seeing they weren't moving the man growled lowly before speaking again. "I said, get out!"
"B-But why?" Al stammered out. "We didn't do anything."
"Didn't do anything they say," the man grumbled angrily. "You think you're funny brat? Well think again, you know exactly what you did and I don't like it. You're lucky misses Park is not here right now or I would've kicked you out immediately . As it is I'm giving you ten minutes to grab your stuff and then I don't want to see you here ever again, understood?"
Helplessly Al looked to his brother, only to see the same helplessness mirrored in his eyes. Looking around to see if maybe some of the other inmates would be willing to help them was useless as well. They were all staring at the boys with the same cold, judging eyes, muttering quietly amongst themselves.
Seeing no other option than to comply they hurried upstairs.
"What the hell did you do." Al hissed at his brother.
"I don't know!" Ed replied in the same tone. "I just asked a question about that kid in the forest."
"What kid?" Al asked while quickly stuffing their clothes back in their bags.
"When I was out walking yesterday, this kid came up to me. He was wearing an ouroboros!" Ed replied, all his suspicions coming back in an instant.
"So?" Al was not impressed. " It was probably Envy anyways, did you even think about that?"
Ed quieted, he hadn't thought about that. What if it really had been the homunculus coming to mess with him? Envy would probably be laughing his ass off right now.
He quickly disregarded that thought though, if it was just Envy messing around again, then why did the villagers react the way they did? No, there had to be something else going on here and he was gonna find out what.
"Then why did the villagers react like that?" Ed asked. "It makes no sense."
"Nothing ever makes sense where that homunculus is concerned." Al replied, obviously still annoyed at the sudden end their peaceful holiday had met before it had even really started.
Finally Al zipped up the bag and with a last look around the now empty room let out a sigh, "All done, what now?"
"That barkeep mentioned a name, a miss Park. We should go and find her."
One look in his brothers determined golden eyes told Al there was no way his brother was gonna let this go. "Fine." He nodded, exasperated. "Then let's go."
And with that the brothers made their way out the bar and on to the street. They hadn't been outside for even a minute yet when the sounds of a large commotion reached their ears. Following the sounds they finally reached the source of the noise. Stunned they remained rooted to their spot as they took in the chaotic scene in front of them.
In the middle of the street a group of youngsters was holding back an old grandma while trying not to harm her. The old woman was fighting with all her might though, trying to claw her way through the crowd of people trying to calm her down. Yelling and screaming in her brittle old voice for her grandson and to let her through immediately. The people that weren't occupied trying to keep her still were all watching somberly, expressions dark and gloomy.
Just then the old woman turned her head their way, and Ed was shocked to see it was the sad old woman he'd first seen when entering the town. All sorrow had left her eyes though and now they were filled with a fierce determination and protectiveness. As soon as they locked eyes the woman quieted, just staring at Ed with those sharp, mercury eyes.
Soon the townspeople noticed their presence as well and they immediately started to make their way over to them."There they are, get them!" One of them yelled and they started running.
Reading the situation correctly for once the boys turned heel and ran as well, causing some of the villagers to let out angry shouts as they chased them. "Why do things like this always happen?!" Al screamed at his brother as they hurried into the forest, a mob of villagers on their heels.
"How am I supposed to know?!" Ed yelled back, and then the brothers remained quiet, they needed all their oxygen for running. Soon they'd left the mob far behind them and came to a stop in a clearing a ways from the village.
It was the same clearing Ed had ended up in last night.
Looking around Ed immediately recognized it and decided to make camp there. That way the kid might show up again and he would get his answers. Sharing his thoughts with Al, his brother agreed, and soon they were seated comfortably around a small fire.
Now all that was left to do, was to wait.
In another part of the forest the mood was a whole lot different. Hiding behind a tree at the edge of the clearing, little Jay watched in shock as the green-haired male approached his mother and slammed her into the wall of their house by her throat.
He still couldn't quite process how this had happened. He'd just been playing in the forest like usual, his mommy watching him from a small distance away, when suddenly the green-haired man had appeared in the clearing.
At first Jay had ran up to him to go and say hi, but the skirt-wearing man had rudely pushed him aside and continued on to his mother. Jay had seen his eyes then and had gotten the shock of his short little lifetime. The man's eyes were purple just like his mother's, but where mommy's eyes were always soft and gentle this man's eyes were flashing with rage. Scared, he'd ran up to the only person he could trust and hidden behind her, but the woman had pushed him away, suddenly looking just as cold as the creepy woman like man.
Shocked he'd remained standing and watched as the man approached.
"Envy." His mother had greeted him, disdain coloring her tone.
"Lust." The man, Envy, had replied. He didn't sound half as calm as his mommy though.
"What are you doing here?" Lust didn't seem at all threatened by the scary man and that had put him at ease somewhat.
"Funny." The man had growled out, and Jay could've sworn he saw his eyes flashing. "That's exactly what I was going to ask you. What the hell do you think you are doing?"
Lust had pursed her lips and a slightly annoyed look flashed through her own violet orbs. "I am following my orders. Something you still seem to have some trouble with."
That seemed to be the breaking point for the green-haired male as immediately afterwards he'd picked up Lust and slammed her into the building. Not knowing what to do and frozen with fear Jay had just remained near the tree where his mommy had been sitting and watched everything from a distance.
This was like that time all over again.
"You will explain this. Right. NOW." Envy growled as he tightened his grip on Lust's throat. He was beyond pissed off. All day long he'd been watching how the other homunculus had interacted with the child and what he'd seen, combined with his orders not to get anywhere near the area , were enough to make him uneasy. If this was anything like what he suspected it was…
"What's there to explain?" Lust asked, and Envy suppressed the urge to just snap her neck at her whole 'high and mighty' expression. He tried hard to reign in his raging emotions and continued with a forced calm.
"Why are you training this kid? I thought we already had all the alchemists we needed."
Lust just laughed mockingly and Envy narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He tightened his grip some more and pressed her harder into the wall, looking at her threateningly. Soon Lust was gasping for breath and had to stop laughing, she still kept that cruel smile though and Envy felt his uneasiness grow.
Finally, after another tense minute or so, she answered, and when she did it was in that same derisive tone Envy hated so much. "Oh we used to have all the alchemists we needed alright. But then someone went and got a little attached, started messing with them a little…too much. Sounds familiar?"
This time Envy didn't even try and control himself, he knew what that meant ; Dante wanted to get rid of his Edward. He pulled his arm back, shifted it, and not 5 seconds later a massive spike was sticking through Lust's abdomen.
"You stay away from him!" He growled threateningly at Lust. "He's MINE!" Then he twisted his bladed arm and felt a rush of satisfaction as blood came gushing out of the wound and painted his hand crimson.
Just then he became aware of a startled yell somewhere behind him and when he turned around he just saw the kid running into the woods. Letting out a curse he tried to pull his arm back but Lust had grabbed onto him and was keeping him in place. He looked up and saw her smile sweetly at him.
Momentarily distracted he didn't notice as she loosened one hand and suddenly his own abdomen got pierced by her nails. Cursing he jumped back and this time Lust let him.
"Wrong move." Envy growled out and ran forward again, Lust meeting him halfway. He flipped over her though and tried to kick her legs out from under her but she jumped up and evaded his strike, trying to slash him with her nails while she did so.
Envy rolled to the side and, with another flip, got back on his feet. He cursed when he saw the distance between them, Lust was mainly a long range fighter after all, and immediately started running to try and close the distance, evading nails as he went.
This continued on for a while, both homunculi scoring hits every now and then, only for the other to regenerate the damage as soon as it was done, until finally Envy ducked another one of Lust's slashes and managed to get under her guard long enough to land an uppercut strong enough to break her neck.
Lust stumbled back a bit, but quickly raised her arms to try and snap her head back. She wasn't fast enough though and Envy managed to get his hand around the philosophers stone in her chest just as her head snapped back. He smiled grimly at her as he slowly started to pull the stone out of her body. Lust screamed and tried to stop him but it was useless, those few moments of defenseless had been the end of her. With one last, harsh pull he finally tore the stone from her chest and after considering for a few moments threw it into the lake before cutting the still desperately struggling body in front of him into pieces.
He knew it wouldn't kill the other, you needed a whole lot more than that to kill a homunculus, but it did feel damn good and served the purpose of distracting her long enough so that he could kill the kid. No one would try and replace his Chibi.
Envy would make sure of it.
And with a last look around the now ruined clearing and a cruel smirk he turned and disappeared between the trees.
Somewhere else in the same forest an old woman struggled through the heavy foliage. She'd had to leave the path so her pursuers wouldn't find her but she didn't care. Her old and brittle bones protested and creaked as she pushed apart another set of branches. It didn't matter though, nothing mattered as long as she'd reach her goal.
'Jay…'
AN: and that's it :P Now don't murder me for the kinda, sorta cliffie! I promise you'll love next chapter (I love it at least) and you can't read that if you kill me right? Anyways I don't really have a lot of time right now, I've got a bunch of exams this week and the next (math oh math, why do you torture me so?) and I've been ill the last couple of days as well so I didn't really get a lot of time to study…it's that I already had most of this typed up else you'd have probably had to wait another week…But you didn't have to so that's good right? :D Anyways a big thank you to everyone who read, faved, alerted and /or reviewed. You're all great and the reason this story is still going strong! Happy Easter xXx-Mai