I would like to start of this chapter by thanking Nerieners for making the cover for this story. I can't believe how much was put into it and it just looks beyond Awesome!
Also thank you for all that have Reviewed and Favorited this story!
If one thing was for sure, he didn't miss the old religion. Actually, he didn't miss anything from back in those days. Sitting there, pinned down to the memory of William, Envy truly felt that this was the dullest thing he had ever witnessed. How anyone chose to go to church on their own free will was beyond him.
People back then were so much more solemn looking when it came to their religion. Rows of stiff-clothed people dressed in mainly dull colors sat in their pews with their backs mimicking the very boards they rested against. The only real color he could see in this grey shaded room came from the stain glass windows above them. While Williams's eyes stayed glued on the preacher, captivated, Envy could still see different hues of blue, pink, red and purple reflect down on top of the oblivious church-goers.
The priest's voice echoed in a slight booming tone as the crowd repeated his words in an emotionless tone. He hadn't been paying attention for the past hour, effectively blocking out concerned words of salvation. Only now when the only sound left was a faint echo did Envy feel anything other than boredom.
There was a large shuffling sound amongst the pews and slowly one by one the people stood up. It came as a relief when he realized that his own body began to move out of the pews as well. Moving into the middle of the walkway, with what he felt like was the entire town in attendance, it was hard to see the exit among the sea of heads.
At one point it had felt that he had been engulfed by the crowd, only later being spat out once he they had all safely made outside into the fresh morning air. Part of Envy wondered if there was really any point to this particular memory. If there wasn't then it wouldn't be the first time he was forced to watch boring and tedious little snippets of William's life. Although it was a very rare occurrence, seeing as usual day to day things tended to be forgotten even by the people who actually witnessed them.
"Excuse me, sir" a quick light tap on William's shoulder had him rotating swiftly around to come face to face with a young women no older than fifteen "You left this back there." He briefly looked down from her pale, narrow face to her hands that held out a familiar pocket book.
"Oh!" With no hesitation he snatched up the book into his hands and reset his gaze onto her face. "Thank you . . ." Trailing off, it was apparent that this girl was unfamiliar to him. Then again, it wasn't as if had many friends from the town. If that had been the case, Envy would have seen more than a handful of memories from outside of his parents' home.
She looked strangely at him for a moment, as if she was unsure of what he was doing. Her eyes widened slightly in embarrassment when she finally realized that the problem was her, not him. "Sorry, my names Annie if you were wondering."
"I'm William," He spoke with a charming, familiar smile "are you from out of town?"
Nodding vigorously, she began to take a few steps away "I'm staying with my Uncle and cousins for the summer."
"I see," Drawing out the last word, he took a moment to really survey her. Given her plain dress, despite it being Sunday, and features he guessed she was in a much lower social status then he was. It was to be expected though, there weren't many people around who seemed to have as much wealth as his own parents.
Both William and Envy could tell that there was something she was attempting to say, something that was on her mind. It seemed, however, that whatever it was she was too nervous to ask. "Do you . . . live around here?" With a timid pause to scan his facial expression, the rest of her question was spoken almost too quickly for him to understand.
"Sort of," he mumbled, scratching the back of his head. "Close enough to walk here."
"Oh, okay." It was obvious that she was looking at his clothes. Nice, clean, and expensive unlike that of the others in the town.
Envy watched her face darken red under the gaze of the tall, blonde, teenager in front of her. She looked so uncomfortable but yet also strangely curious. "Do you like it here so far?"
Jumping slightly, Annie hesitated before nodding. "My cousins are very kind to me, I haven't felt homesick once" her lips moved softly upwards into a pleasing smile. "I've only seen very little of the town and area though, my family doesn't enjoy going out often."
"That's too bad," Envy swore this boy's voice just got a little deeper. "I, on the other hand, do."The homunculus wanted to roll his eyes at the direction this conversation was going.
"Oh?" She didn't seem like she was much for words, at least not in comparison to William. "I do too—walking around I mean. I've always enjoyed doing it with friends myself."
"Yeah," he hesitated "with friends."
"I—" Through the jumbled mass of people, an older woman appeared only to cut him off by clasping onto the young girls arm and effectively pulling her away from.
"I look away for one second and the next thing I know you're talking to some—"The woman cast a glance towards William as she marched them away, once her eyes locked with his own the look of disgust was replaced by that of pure shock, "him!"
Mouthing the word 'goodbye', William could only watch as the two of them moved out of sight. The older woman, presumably her Aunt, occasionally looking back at him while whispering things into Annie's ear.
. . .
. . .
"Envy, are you coming?" The sound of Lust's voice was almost reassuring. As much as he hated wasting time on this current task, at least hearing her was a good indicator that he was back in reality.
"Yeah, yeah." He complained, by the time he saw her, she had begun to make her way to the exit. Knowing that he would eventually be forced to follow.
There was a cracking sound in his neck as he sat up from his seat on the train. He must have spent a good two or three hours wedged up against the glass looking as if he was asleep. He guessed that in some ways he was.
He didn't linger long, wanting to get back into the swing of his normal life. Not the one that didn't technically belong to him in the first place. Hopefully these memories were just a fluke, nothing else.
It was rather early in the morning when they left the platform and headed outside. The sun had yet to come up and showed no signs of doing so for a few hours. It was usually better this way, when it was dark. If Envy didn't cause people to turn their heads then Gluttony surely would. The town they were in wasn't nearly as large as Central or East City but it still had a lot of urban aspects to it, especially in comparison to the rest of Amestris.
For a few moments they stood there outside of the train station. Gluttony looked restless as Envy waited impatiently for Lust to collect her thoughts on what to do next. It didn't look like much was open at this hour and as much as Envy wanted to get this all over with, even he knew that they would have to wait awhile before starting.
Running a hand through her hair, Lust slowly began to walk into the street. After looking in both directions, she once again stopped. "Envy?"
"Yeah." He grumbled.
"Could you get me a map?" Her left hand moved to point back towards the station.
Sighing heavily, as if he were a child, Envy complied. "Fine." He muttered before turning back around. As he slipped back inside, Gluttony moved to stand next to Lust. With a finger in his mouth, he watched the elder homunculus stomp away from him.
Looking sad, Gluttony cast a gaze towards the ground. "Don't let him upset you." Lust's voice had him staring back up in her direction. "Envy's just in a mood." She concluded bitterly.
. . .
The dull, artificial lighting above him, the very thing that was supposed to make things easier, only sought to give him a headache. Not to mention the effect the non-stop echoing of his steps among the concreate. At such a late hour, the entire place was even emptier then the previous station.
It was better that no one was around to see Envy angrily move around the nearly empty station, looking for some sort of foldable map. With hands bawled up by his side and a scowl plastered onto his features, Envy was literally one moment away from strangling Lust.
His mood did not clear up one bit, even when he did spot a few maps lying on closed ticket desk. Within a second he was already there with one of the maps in his clenched grip. Turning on his heel, Envy began to walk back to the exit.
Bored, irritated, and upset, he decided to take his sweet time in getting there. Making sure to leave Lust in the cold street for as long as possible. If getting her maps was the highlight of his responsibilities on this mission then god knows what the two of them would do without him.
"Fucking Dante." The simply statement that had made its way out of his thoughts and mouth reverberated in such a large and empty area. As much as he wanted to scream and rant about the entire affair, now wasn't not the best of times. All he could do was bit the inside of his mouth and clench the map harder.
"Do you see him?" Envy stopped in his tracks. That voice belonged to Lust.
"Uh-uh." Gluttony responded. He couldn't see them from where he was standing. Hidden in a dark corner, the two other Homunculi didn't notice their comrade as they walked away from the exit. "Lust, is Envy lost?"
She rolled her eyes. "I highly doubt it." She stopped for a moment to survey the area. "He's just being difficult."
"Why?"
She hesitated and for a moment the entire area was silent. "I called our Master before we left the last station." Envy froze. "He's angry at her, not us."
"Did he upset Master?"
She shook her head. "Let's just say that she's withholding something that he wants and leave it at that."
He gave her a confused look. "Oh" he waited a second "what is it?"
There was a silence. "Just two little boys with the misfortune of having pissed off Envy with their existence" she laughed at the way it sounded "nothing that we'll ever have to worry about."
"Will Envy be okay though?"
"I don't know when he's going to get over this," she said with a sigh. "The quicker we get this over with the faster we get away from him."
"Oh okay," She smiled at his lack of curiosity on the two. "Do you think Envy will find them?"
Snickering, she responded. "I highly doubt it. They live in some hick town called Resembool, nothing ever goes on there so it's unlikely Envy will need to be anywhere near it."
Resembool. The name repeated itself in his mind over and over again. It was then that Envy realized how grateful he felt towards Lust for making him get the map.
Continuing off and away from his comrades, it didn't take the homunculus long to find the exit. Not once did he look back or question his decision as he slipped out the front of the building and into the dark streets. A renewed sense of energy sprung through his being as his lips twisted into a familiar sickening grin, something his face had not felt in a while.
Getting out of the main streets and into the alleyways was the first thing he did with this renewed sense of passion. The last thing he needed was for Lust to spot him in the open road. Once satisfied with his distance, he finally slowed down and allowed his mind to actually process a coherent plan.
The smirk on his face he realized, however, was short lived. For only after a few small steps, a familiar feeling washed over his body and told him that his plan would have to wait. Wanting so much to fight it, his fists collided into the side of a brick wall.
Immediately, as if someone had switched off a light, Envy found himself once again in the midst of somewhere dark.
. . .
With no moon outside to filter light in through the crevices of the drapes, William, or rather Envy, found himself clinging to the base of the candlestick. The scent of Carbon Dioxide wafted around the air and mixed with traces of other chemical compounds that he was rather familiar with. Why he smelt chemicals was a bit strange, seeing as he couldn't see or hear anything going on.
Now that he thought of it, Envy wasn't quite sure where William was taking him at this time of night. Hopefully it wasn't for something as insignificant as going to the bathroom or getting a glass of water. It certainly wouldn't be the first time these memories did nothing more than waste his time.
It wasn't until he rounded a corner did he see another light source. Candle light from behind a door came overflowing through the cracks and helped illuminate the solemnly decorated hallway. Despite how long it had been since he had experienced these types of memories, Envy had a good feeling as to what was behind there.
Like a windup toy, William marched his way closer and closer to his destination. Even as he began getting closer, Envy could still not here anything. Not a murmur, tapping of feat against the floor, or even the wind. All was silent. Before he knew it William had stopped in front of the door. Any closer and his nose would be pressed against the wood. For a moment he did nothing but stare causing Envy to wonder what the hell was going through this kids mind right now.
Slowly and eerily, he turned to press his ear against the crack between the wall and the door. The nothingness that had surrounded him before slowly began to fade. With both hands holding the light a safe but close distance away and his ear against the opening, neither of them felt all that alone in this house.
It wasn't much at first. The faint sound of scribbles, light ones, against paper. Within a few moments it was quickly followed by a scratchy cough. That particular sound must had made William flinch for Envy felt himself move suddenly and very slightly.
He stood like that for quite some time. Staring into the candle light while listening on random little noises that only indicated that someone was in there. Because of this Envy quickly grew bored with the vision and waited for it to finally end.
His line of sight shifted again without him realizing it. One moment he was looking down at the candlestick cupped tightly in his left hand, the next he was staring down at the doorknob as his other hand latched itself onto it. Finally, he thought impatiently, not caring one bit whether this door continued the memory or finally ended it. Anything was better than being forced to stare at a flickering light for what felt like ages.
Opening rather suddenly, Envy was greeted with an actual room. Any frustrations over continuing the memory seemed to fade almost instantly. A feeling of intense anger and pain began to cover his entire being.
There he was, Hohenheim of light, his creator and father (as much as he hated to admit it). He stood over a table covered in a few glass vials, some overturned, and a multitude of papers. The room itself wasn't big, nor was it that bright. Most of the light sources had been concentrated in that one area where Hohenheim worked, making the corners of the room seem almost dark.
"William," the low voice of his father came almost as a surprise to the homunculus. "What are you doing up so late?" It dawned on him that it had been a long time since he had replayed any memories of Williams's life. It felt so strange hearing him speak again in a tone that almost made Envy feel . . . wanted.
"I heard a noise." He stated simply. Envy almost wanted to roll his eyes at the response. Given the height and the sound of his voice, William had to have been at least fourteen at this time. Was he really coming to his father because he heard something that made him scared?
"Oh really?" The quill in his hands fell lightly from his grip and onto the papers. "What kind of noise?"
He didn't respond at first. As Envy waited, he began to inspect Hohenheim's expression. The concern was obvious, of course, most usually cared for their children's well-being. Under that, however, was something else. A flash of fear, maybe? Whatever it was, he (or rather William) certainly hadn't noticed it the first time.
"I heard screaming father."
There was a pause. "Screaming . . . what do you mean?"
Part of William wanted to apologize and blame it on a bad dream before heading back to bed. Pretending that what he heard was nothing more than a figment of his imagination. "I just . . . heard people screaming." He looked down towards his feet. "It sounded like they were in a lot of pain."
Hohenheim briefly glanced towards a small box on the table before looking back towards his son. "Surely you must have been dreaming." He said with a barely reassuring smile. "Your mothers asleep and I'm right here."
"But," with one look at his father, his protest died down in his throat. ". . . I guess you're right."
His father smiled at him.
Then everything went dark again.