The shapeshifter stared back at the soldier, head almost spinning- he wanted them to escape? Why? What was the angle there? Envy stepped past the threshold and closed the door behind themselves and, after choosing their next words with exceptional care, asked the most pertinent question that came to their mind;
"Did you use up all the hot water?"
The Drachman marine was caught short, stammering a reply;
"Er…I don't think so…I cleaned it up after I was finished, too. I haven't really washed up since we punched through the mountains."
"You cleaned up?"
"The owners of this place…I didn't want to leave a mess."
Envy blinked, hard,
"You're invading the country and you didn't want to leave a mess in someone's shower?"
The tall Drachman rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand- the other held his rifle in a deceptively relaxed grip- and cast his eyes down on the floor in embarrassment,
"Look I haven't had much sleep either, so I might not be thinking very clearly."
Envy let out a short, sharp laugh,
"Well as the sort of technical owner of this house, I thank you for your consideration, I've never seen such manners in an occupying army before."
The officer stared flatly back at the homunculus,
"Charming."
The shifter gave a mocking half-bow and walked past the soldier, who sidestepped but didn't raise the rifle or try and stop them, instead saying,
"Towels are in the closet."
Envy slammed the bathroom door and leaned back on it, heaving a sigh as they felt their shoulders push back on the wood, still damp with condensation as they looked almost lovingly at the tile and glass walk-in shower.
Envy wonder why the Amestrians had kept this place standing, in good repair and seemingly stocked with basic necessities, like the bottle of shampoo envy plucked from the closet after checking it for towels. After a few fumbling seconds with the strange bottle made of equally strange material, envy figured out how to pop the top of the bottle open and almost fainted with happiness as the floral scent of the liquid inside wafted up to their nose.
Clearly, this future wasn't all THAT bad.
After fumbling around in the closet for a bar of soap and coming up with nothing but finding yet another plastic bottle full of something called "body wash" as well as bottle of conditioner that seemed to match the shampoo, Envy cranked up the shower, letting the small bathroom fill with steam as they almost quivered with anticipation.
They didn't NEED to shower, of course, just like they didn't really need to wash their hair or any other of a dozen other "normal" activities. Even breathing wasn't strictly necessary for a homunculus like Envy.
But they did these things because wanted to. And right now, feeling anything that would wash off even a scrap of the memories of being submerged in that piss-colored sludge the Amestrians had filled that test tube of a prison with was an absolute necessity.
And so, that simple pleasure of hot water and soap on their skin almost overcame them with ecstasy as they stepped into the shower, banishing their clothes with a thought and a consuming burst of red alchemical energy; again, not necessary. The clothes didn't exist. But the ritual, the normality, gave the shapeshifter a sense of comfort as they lathered the shampoo into their long, tendril like hair with another deep sigh of pleasure.
Envy found a scrunchy, spongy…thing hanging from the hot water knob when they had first turned the water on and further experimentation showed it to be some kind of scrubbing implement, which the homunculus took full advantage of, squeezing an dollop of that body wash stuff on it- the substance turned out to have a sharper, tangier aroma than the floral shampoo and further investigation showed that apparently it was meant for men, while the shampoo and conditioner was meant for women.
Such designations where absolute beneath the shapeshifter, and Envy sneered in triumph over mortal gender norms as they scrubbed themselves off with the odd scrubbing thing.
"Take that, human scum" Envy snickered, before steeping back into the hot water and letting it rinse the suds off their hair and body.
Still smiling at their own humor, Envy reached for the conditioner, tunelessly humming in happiness.
After what felt like an absolute blissful eternity the water turned cold and Envy shut off the taps, still humming as they stepped out of the shower cabinet, snatching up their towel- again, a thought would have banished the water dripping off them in a storm of alchemical energy, but the mundane comfort of drying themselves by hand was an almost exquisite pleasure, the feeling of the soft cloth wicking away the moisture from their skin and hair brought a wide grin to the homunculus' face.
With another thought, a flare of energy brought their customary outfit, giving a quick twirl- which was something that they would, never admit to doing -they shoved open the door, expecting to find a few squads of Drachmans waiting for them;
There was only the Drachman officer, sitting quietly at the small two-person table in the little cabin's kitchen, flipping through a large book. He didn't even glance up at the shape shifter. After a moment, he raised a hand and waved at the table, upon which were arrayed a steaming teapot, a bowl of sugar, a small handful of oddly thimble shaped…things…and two tea cups.
And the Drachmans compact black rifle.
Envy let loose a less than pleasant laugh and stretched their arms behind their head as they swaggered through over to the table; the kitchen was right in front of the bathroom, and that and a small living room that held nothing more than a set of bookshelves and disreputable green colored couch were all that made up the cabins first floor.
"Throwing me a tea party?" Envy asked in Drachman.
The officer glanced up, locking his eyes with envy and huffing in boredom, before answering in that perfect, upper class Amestrian dialect of his,
"Well, you were nice enough to let me into your clubhouse. Least I could do."
Envy chortled a bit as they plopped down in the seat in front of the Drachman, quietly pouring themselves a cup and pouring on sugar and picking up one of those thimble shaped…things.
"Non-Dairy Liquid Creamer" read the label. It also claimed to be vanilla flavored.
Envy looked up at the Drachman,
"What is this?"
The marine commander set the book down and squinted his eyes,
"I honestly haven't a clue what those are made of."
Envy raised an Eyebrow, the Drachman ignoring them as they poured themselves their own cup and mixed in sugar and dumped the contents of a couple of those thimble shaped containers into it.
The changeling took a quick sip of their tea, savoring the taste a bit. The Drachman soldier maintained a quiet indifference, opening the book back up and going back to reading. Envy took second, longer swallow of the tea.
"Envy the Vile"
The homunculus spat their tea out and snarled,
"What did you just call me?!" the homunculus demanded.
The marine laughed, leaning back in the chair and grinning nastily.
"Only what it says in the book." The Drachman answered, flipping the book unto the table and sliding it across to the homunculus, "Aw, you fucking spit tea on my rifle." He griped, using a napkin to wipe down the gun.
"Serves you right for acting like a twelve-year-old.", Envy shot back, grabbing up the book and…yeah.
Envy the Vile was the title of the page, right above an utterly demonic illustration of black carapace skinned…thing. Envy looked closer; it had long, tendril like hair ending in razor like blade like tips, recessed, pig like eyes…and an ouroboros tattoo on its thigh.
Envy sucked in a long, ragged breath…
"What the actual fucking hell is this supposed to be I don't look like this goddamn monstrosity who the fuck drew this Is wear to god I will rend them to their fucking marrow who the fuck?!" the words tumbled out,
Envy looked down at the book again,
"AND THEY PUT ME NEXT TO GREED!"
The Drachman smiled up at them; Envy was surprised to find that they were standing and that their chair was laying on the floor several feet behind them.
"If it's any consolation I think they'll probably come up with a fucked-up nick name for me if we lose the war," he consoled as envy picked the chair back up and started reading,
"It is not." The homunculus answered, as they poured over the page under that horrifying illustration. The text succinctly laid out Envy's deeds- well some of them -in vivid and imaginative detail. Every plot, back stab and murder they had carried out leading up to the Promised Day, written in a scornful, dismissive tone that made the homunculus want to rip the book in half. Speaking of which, what sort book was this?
"The Great Conspiracy: A Brief History of the Promised Day" Envy read, after flipping the book closed to the cover. The shape shifter sank back in their seat and sighed,
"So now I'm the villain in their history books."
The Drachman poured them more tea and nodded,
"Even I'd heard of Envy the Vile in history class."
"You're not helping."
"I wasn't trying too. What I do want to do, is know why you're here."
Envy steeled themselves,
"And what I want to know is what's going on out there and why you wanted me to escape."
"Certainly. You go first, though. I don't trust someone named "The Vile" to hold up their end of a bargain."
The homunculus grunted,
"Hmf. Well, I can't blame you, I guess."
They sipped their tea,
"Looking for a shower."
The Drachman leaned back in his chair, satisfied with his rifle, and said nothing
"And…" Envy let out a pained breath, furious at showing weakness to this human. But they could always kill him later, "I don't have anywhere else in particular to go." They'd thought they'd steeled themselves to this but the pull of that ocean of purposelessness was still strong one.
The Drachman's glare softened a bit, his tanned face relaxing as he ran a hand through the short length of brown hair that looked like it was just growing back on his scalp.
Envy hated that small twinge of sympathy from the human soldier more than that armor plated monstrosity of a tank that had almost blown their leg off.
"I'm going to give the long version if what's going on. Nothing you couldn't see on the news or read on a smart pho-…never mind. Anyway, we hit Amestris about six weeks ago." The Drachman began, not prying further into Envy's despair, "Long range barrages on Briggs Fortress with…" he trailed off, "Weapon you haven't heard of, I guess. Tactical ballistic missiles, guided cruise missiles, long range MRLRS', shit like that. It's what we use instead of what you might think of as…siege artillery, I guess"
Envy nodded, "I get the picture."
"After about a week, the regular army, the Drachman Army, that is, launched their first assault up the Briggs Gap and pushed right through what was left of the Fort, but most of their infantry got tied up clearing the side passes and bunker complexes, so when they pushed through the Gap and out into the Northern foothills and cities, the real Briggs army jumped them from their rear lines, which we somehow missed."
The Drachman sipped his tea,
"The Army got pulled into street fighting with the Chain-Dogs and the Amestrians let loose a horde of chimeras to back them up while the Brigg's Armies armored units tried to counter attack and encircle them. The flyboys- the Air Forces, that is. The planes you saw earlier, like that. They were pushed back as well, stuck dog fighting the Amestrians interceptors and trying to hold back their ground attack planes. Things turned into a stalemate around the Northern towns and cities and the foothills of the mountains."
"What about the Eastern Army?" Envy asked,
"Hmmm…they were the shit back when you went in the tube, huh? Not so much anymore, to long staring at an empty desert with a friendly nation on the other side."
"Xing?"
"Yeah. You guys…Amestris, I mean, are pretty tight. So, the Eastern pricks aren't as much of a much as they used to be. They launched a counter offensive to back up the Briggs boys with a couple armored divisions and their mechanized infantry groups. The army blasted through most of their artillery stock holding them back while the air force reinforced their air wings and managed to fight back the Amestrian lawn darts- planes -long enough for the attack helos to go to work. They got wasted hard, but held off the Amestrians long enough for high command to send in the reserves- which the Chain-Dogs lured into those same fucking cities the first Army half-wits got chewed up in, only this time, the Chimeras broke control and started going after us, the Bluies, the civvies trapped in place, stray livestock, the kitchen sink."
Envy shook their head, "Chimera's never made the best attack creatures. They used just be almost a 'hey look what we can do' for the state. You could run experiments to breed smarter strains but…" the homunculus shrugged, "Not the best for the battlefield, I always thought. Too expensive. More let one loose to cover your tracks. Or serve as nasty little guard dogs…"
The Drachman shrugged, "The AAF assholes…that's Amestrian Alchemical Forces," he explained, seeing Envy's raised eye brow "They've grafted metal teeth and claws unto the ones they use. The bigger ones have auto-guns and heavy weapons built into them too and some have a kind of dead man's switch that sets off a charge built into them…when they got loose." The tall soldier shivered, "Well, the army fell back out of the cities and into the foot hills, using their leftover artillery as cover. Thins bogged down again," the soldier yawned, "The reserves consolidated with the assault forces and started attacking again while the Amestrians were trying to get their civilians out from the cities and away from the chimeras. They took the cities that way, not that there anything much left to take." The commander stood and stretched, slinging his rifle, "That took the last bit of fight out of the Army, though, and command scrambling for more reserves, which meant stripping the far western areas of everything but the garri-troopers and coastal defense grandma's"
"Azure Sea Marines, huh?" Envy asked, thinking of the massive expanse of ocean and islands on the far western side of Drachma, and the bragging from the Drachman troopers.
"Best of the Worst. We, as in my boys and I, got off the Trans-National rail line on the other end of the Gap first and went straight at the Amestrian armored battle groups to hold them off until the other units could get their shit together."
The officer set his cup in the small sink by the kitchen window and came back to set down across from Envy,
"After that we led the last offensive out," another yawn, "Until we got diverted to this place, which is pretty much where we are now." The officer said, setting his rifle in his lap and looking across the table at the homunculus.
The ensuing silence seemed to stretch with each tic of a clock that over the kitchen's stove. The officer had just done a wonderful job of detailing how there were a horde of Drachman troops this deep in Amestris, but not a single bit of the why. Thinking of some of the military men they had known, Envy guessed that the soldier probably didn't even care.
"We can talk more in the morning, I think." The Drachman spoke, breaking the quiet, "Unless this is the bit were you slit my throat and try and take over my command."
Envy's eyes widened slightly- an expression they kept as, in a flash of red energy, they changed themselves into a perfect copy of the Drachman officer, down to the frayed edges on his fatigues and dark circles under his eyes, before Envy leaned back in their chair and smirked.
The Drachman looked unimpressed- but Envy could hear a slight quickening of his heart rate and he shifted slightly, moving his hand to wrap around the grip of his rifle and saying
"Fuck, I need to shave, huh?", rubbing the stubble on his chin, before letting go of his rifle and reaching for the microphone hanging off the armored equipment vest he'd slung on the back of the chair next to him, holding up his other hand in a calming wave to Envy as he did so, "Not calling an alarm. Just listen."
He keyed the mic,
"Warboss Actual-3, Warboss 4-5, have Adder and Asp close up an element each on Terror Drome."
A second of silence,
"Roger that, Warboss Actual-3, Warboss 4-5 out."
"Unless you have any idea what I just said, it would be a short charade. If you want to leave, well, doors unlocked. We won't come hunting for you, I promise."
Envy switched back to their normal form in another storm of energy, half smiling,
"I was only joking."
"I wasn't. You're free to go."
Envy drained off the rest of their tea, held the cup in one hand and leaned on it, letting the warm ceramic rest on their face,
"Why?" Envy asked, looking across the table at their seemingly reluctant captor.
"Because you're a headache I don't need." The Drachman, marine leader answered, relaxing in his chair, hand gently sliding off the grip of his rifle as he crossed his leg over his knee, "No offense."
Envy narrowed their eyes and shook their head, but the Drachman kept talking
"You are an absurdly lethal shapeshifter who we got the best of only because the entrance to that lab was right by where I was regrouping my armored companies. If it had been anywhere else, you'd have been home free. Which would have worked out better for us, likewise if Old Timer had just left you in your box and blown up that laboratory, like he'd been ordered too, and buried you with it."
"But what about the research in the lab? There must have been something valuable for you to have been sent here."
"Yes, destroying the Chimera…breeding pen? Factory? Whatever. The Blue-Bellies had a couple anti-aircraft units dug into the woods around it and an electronic warfare detachment on site to fend off our fly boys and drones- I mean, unmanned aircraft."
"Wait, what?"
"Don't worry about it." The marine cut Envy off, "So we got tapped instead. Command must have figured it would be a quick clean-up operation and then we'd go in reserve. But, instead," the Drachman pointed across the table at the homunculus, "Complication."
"Why didn't you just shoot me than?"
"You surrendered."
"But…"
"You surrendered. If you'd gotten to one of my boys," the marine shrugged, "Maybe then. But we have a blank slate, you and us, and well, your lucky day."
Envy laughed,
"I almost ended the fucking world, Drachman. I have done…"
"I've done worse." The marine commander interrupted, stone faced, but his expression softened, "Ok, I haven't run an end of the world plot for an evil god, but," he shrugged, "It was a hundred years ago. Get over yourself."
Envy lowered back,
"So, if you think I am so dangerous, why do you want to let me go?"
"Because you're dangerous to us only because you're here. I have nothing to gain by keeping you in irons, my friend. There's not some special research division rushing here to throw you back in a lab and start shoving electrodes in your skull, there's no secret execution order being printed up. There is a fat general looking at a daily report from the operations officer of the 5th Azure Sea Maine Assault Group and reading, 'captured Class 7, Homunculus designation, Envy, previously thought killed…' on whatever date the books say you were taken out on. You are the same Envy, right?"
Envy narrowed their eyes, "Do you have any idea how stupid that question is?"
The Drachman shrugged and tapped the book on the table,
"I mean, you don't look anything like your picture in the history books."
In a sudden flash of red light, Envy's right hand morphed into a black metal blade and the homunculus lashed out and sliced the tome in half, narrowly missing the marines fingers.
"Fuck me, just like the movies." The Drachman laughed, "Anyway, fat general sees report, says 'huh, Kulstoneks boys got themselves an odd one…' and then moves unto the next report. We aren't in Amestris to chase down alchemical bullshit, we're here to wreck everything and ruin lives. You're a curiosity that can be ignored for as long as possible, which they will."
Envy was stared at the Drachman marine; one hundred years ago, they were the puppet master pulling strings, shepherding the human sheep to their dark fate, andthe notion that now, one hundred years later, even as powerful as they were, the same humans might consider them to be an afterthought was…disconcerting.
"Aren't your men going to be looking for me?"
"They would be if I hadn't told them to stand down."
"Awfully sure of yourself, human."
The marine shrugged,
"I told you, we're not enemies, my boys and you. Best solution here is we ignore each other until we go away."
Envy looked flatly back at the Drachman,
"Or at least until we both get some sleep…you do sleep, yes?"
"When I want too."
"Please tell me you want to, then. I did keep you from being HEAT shelled to death today. You owe me."
Envy glanced up at a narrow staircase nearby, which led to a half loft that made up the cabins second story, and contained what they assumed was still the only bed.
"Only the one bed."
"I'll take the couch. If that's ok, me sleeping in your place."
"It's not even…wait a minute," Evy narrowed their eyes, "Where are your men? Why aren't there any guards?"
"My men? All around us. On patrol, setting up camps, back at those dorms. This isn't 1900's Amestris, man. I don't need a squad posted up and missing rack time to watch me when I've got blanket thermal surveillance and roving patrols with night vision."
"I have no idea what any of that is, but you'll notice I got in here."
"Point. In any case, do you mind?"
"If I say no?"
"I wander off into the woods and sleep in a ditch."
"And miss out on the luxury accommodations? Tch, I bet none of your soldiers are sleeping this nice."
"Marines, not soldiers."
"Eh?"
"Marines. Naval infantry. Which means we have a proud naval tradition of the commander getting the best, which if I object to my Master Sergeant loses his shit and I have to deal with him bring grumpy for the next week or so. So, I take one for the team and sleep in a bed the first night we get a rest."
"Such sacrifice. Put yourself in for a medal?"
The commander sighed,
"This is fun, but sleep? Can I sleep on your couch, please?"
Envy shrugged, i
"It's not even really mine."
The marine didn't say anything; it was clear that, to the Drachman, it was Envy's choice if he got to stay.
"Fine. Spend a night on the moldy couch if you want."
"Thank you."
Envy rolled their eyes before heading to the steps but stopped when the Drachman called after them,
"There's a liquor cabinet up there. If you want any grab of the bottles. I'm turning whatever's left into my Logistics Officer in the morning."
"You levelled everything in the area but you're worried about being accused of looting some booze from an abandoned house?" Envy asked, guessing the officers reasoning and being mystified with it.
"No, I just try and not leave unsecured alcohol around the teenagers with automatic weapons I'm in charge of." The officer waved good night and headed to the couch, dumping his gear on the floor next to it, setting his carbine on the coffee table in front of the lime green monstrosity that was the vintage couch,
"I'm sleeping with a grenade, by the way."
"When it goes off it's going to surprise you a lot more than me." Envy answered, before walking up the carpeted stairs, savoring the feel of the soft cloth against their bare feet as they went- it was the small things that made life worth living, after all.
When they got to the top of the stairs, they found the furniture to be a bit dusty, but the bed…Envy plopped down, bouncing hard off the bed which groaned under the deceptive weight of the homunculus.
The bed was heaven.
Envy took in a deep breath, held it, and smiled languidly. The buzzing thoughts in their skull swirled briefly, but they almost forced their eyelid to grow heavy. A homunculus could go without food, without water, without air, without sleep, but their body broke down every day they did so, just like a humans; so after several decades of alchemical suspension, Envy was craving sleep almost as much as…the light below suddenly flicked off,
"Hey Drachman!" Envy called
"…what?" the exasperated marine answered,
"Got any chocolate?"
Silence. Envy thought they were being ignored but after a moment they heard the sounds of the commander rifling through what they guessed was that bulky set of pouches attached to his armor.
The shapeshifter slid up to the top of the bed and peered down into the living room below, watching with eager eyes the Drachman leader reached deep into pouch…and came up with three long rectangular objects wrapped in brown packaging.
He looked up and found Envy's bright, purple eyes reflecting the moonlight from outside as the homunculus' avaricious gaze focused down on him, and let out an involuntary gasp of fear,
"By the Good God! Don't do tha…"
"Chocolate?" Envy interrupted,
"Fucks sake, yes, just don't eat me." The marine answered, before lightly tossing the packages up and over the edge of the loft, scattering the packaged sweets across the bed as Envy let out another involuntary squeal of triumph
Although that remained something they would never, ever, do.
As they ripped the packaging off the first chocolate bar they snatched up, almost as an afterthought, Envy called,
"What's you name?"
Silence, except for the sound of Envy greedily devouring the sweet confectionary,
"Aleksy. Aleksy Edvarovich Kulstonek."
Envy sighed happily as they reached for another of the chocolate bars,
"Good night, Aleksy."
"Good night, Envy."
The shapeshifter felt the fires engulf them that night.
They could feel the torrent of flame wash over them, over and over and over, Mustang smirking as he stalked through the dark forest around the cabin, engulfing trees in flame with every casual snap of his fingers, Envy reduced to an inching worm as they struggled to flee from the fire wielding alchemist, terror gripping their every thought they felt the sudden pinch of human fingers around their neck and felt themselves being lifted off the ground.
Mustang, looming massively over the tiny creature that was the homunculus' base form, smiled as he tossed them down a long, dark stone shaft into the bowels of the earth, where wraiths in white coats shifted in every shadow, reaching for them with inhumanly long fingers tipped with scalpel blades and dripping syringes, while the agonized shrieks of human sacrifices echoed off the walls,
"Envy!" someone called,
The first grinning fiend reached them and plunged their fingers in the homunculus' chest, filling them with liquid fire as burning acid coursed into them,
"ENVY!"
The changeling woke with a furious start, lashing out at the dark presence that crouched next to the bed.
Aleksy threw himself back just in time as Envy's hand wrapped itself in crackling red energy, rapidly shifting to that wicked black metal blade as the homunculus lashed out at the perceived threat.
Silence descended as Envy lay on the bed, holding their body up with both arms and breathing heavily. Aleksy lay sprawled back against a small dresser, rubbing his shoulder but otherwise keeping still.
Envy closed their eyes, hard, leaning forward to sit up.
"You good?" the marine asked.
Envy shook their head, leaning forward to cup their face in their hands.
Aleksy stood, slowly, not coming closer but leaning back on the dresser,
"You want to talk?" the Drachman asked.
"No."
The marine stood up, turning to go back down the stairs,
"Do you know how a Philosopher's Stone works?" the homunculus blurted.
"Not really…it's some Amestrian blood magic fuckery, right? Built on human sacrifice?"
The shapeshifter nodded, "Basically. It's alchemy, though, not…anyway. It's fueled by human souls that are collected through transmutation circles or…other ways."
Aleksy had turned to look at Envy, holding steady at the top of the stairway.
"I have one in me, it's what," Envy hesitated, not used to being forthright with a human, "It's what keeps me alive. And it needs to be replenished."
"With souls?"
"Yes. Before the Promised Day, Father would feed us bits of Red Stone, to keep us alive. But after, when the Amestrian scientists had me…they took a more direct approach. I saw each person they used to put me back together after their experiments." Envy shivered, "I felt…every second of their last moments. And they kept going, over and over, and then they stuck me in that tube like a pig in formaldehyde."
"Hate to be callous, but you did try and sacrifice every last one of them and their families to make your Father a god and take over the world."
"Do you think I deserved it?" Envy asked, looking over at Aleksy, a look of such honest curiosity in their eyes that the Drachman fell silent, unsure of what to say.
"They should have killed you and been done, for the things you did …I take things in history books to be either vastly understated or complete lies, but even if you did everything they say you did…" Kulstonek shrugged, "Not sure how much it really bothers you, if you're as bad as they say you are, but I'd say the accounts are settled, for whatever that's worth to you."
Envy was silent,
"Get some rest, if you can." Aleksy said, turning to go back down the stairs, but paused "Try reading something before you go to sleep, science fiction or fantasy, like. It helps with the nightmares."
The homunculus was a long time in finding sleep again, but when they did, the fire didn't come for them.
The morning found Envy awake with the sun, as it's rays of light poured through the windowed front of the a-frame. They groaned, feeling like several more weeks of hibernation were needed before they could deign to face a new day, and buried their face back in the pillows.
After a moment and a growl of frustration, they sat up, fully awake. A quick glance over the balcony showed them their Drachman house mate was still sprawled on the couch, stretched wide, breathing quietly in silent slumber.
Envy thought about dropping a lamp on him, but decided to instead pad quietly down the stairs and try rifling through his gear for more snacks instead.
But when they got downstairs and quietly lifted the equipment vest off the floor, they found nothing in the pockets but a few magazines of ammunition and some bulky black objects that Envy guessed were batteries of some kind.
The homunculus stifled a sigh of disappointment and they were about to steal back up the stair case when they spotted some graffiti scrawled on the liner of the armored vest in the blocky cyrillic script of Drachma. It took Envy a moment to translate, and they mouthed the words when they did,
"Mother, I'm sorry."
They felt more than heard a quiet movement from the couch and when they looked up they found that stubby black rifle levelled in their general direction,
"Oh, go back to bed you creepy little…" Aleksy muttered, "It is way too damned early for skullduggery."
"Do you have any food?"
Kulstonek sighed, "You're like a human-sized sociopathic kitten, you know that?" without waiting for a reply, he checked his watch and cursed before snatching up his radio from where it had lain next to him on the couch,
"You assholes let me oversleep. There's a war on. Dragon, get over here." He looked over at Envy, "Bring chow."
Envy had wondered back up the stairs with a few books taken from the shelves in the cabins living room- there had been more, last time, but they had been displaced by an odd…thing that looked like a window framed in some strange black material. It had heavy wire running out the back and buttons on the side that Envy had decided to not hazard touching as they picked a few tomes off the shelves; they had thought about asking Aleksy, but after last night they didn't want to show any more signs of weakness to the human soldier.
Or marine.
Or whatever he called himself.
Thus, when there was a heavy knock on the front door, they could only hear a gruff voice grind out a morning greeting as Aleksy swung the door open.
"Reports are in the Wolf, Warboss. Got food for you."
"Roger that, Dragon. Let me divvy this up and we'll ride."
"Divvy it up? For who? You find a whorehouse last night Boss?"
"Nah." There was a quick clattering in the kitchen, and Aleksy presently pounded back up the steps with a mug of steaming liquid and half of some kind of sandwich on a small plate.
"There's jack-shit to eat in that kitchen, but there's some more tea in there and some cookies that aren't too far expired." The marine said, dropping the plate and the cup on the end table next to the bed, with Envy watching them in reserved silence, "In the meantime, the sandwich is a gift, the coffee you fucking well owe me for. You can pay me back by disappearing today."
Envy shook their head in confusion as the officer turned and headed back downstairs, saying,
"By the way, Dragon, tell Ranger Squad to head over here and get back to guarding their prisoner,"
"Wait, Warboss, what the fuck did you just say?"
The front door slammed and cut off the rest of the conversation.
The sandwich had been…disappointing.
The bread was bland, seeming like it was mass produced. The odd scrambled egg and herb mixture it was filled with was…odd. Artificial tasting.
Envy had gulped it down in three bites anyway, washing it down with the scalding, overly strong black coffee before letting out satisfied belch and leaning back on the bed with a sigh of relief.
Hot food was yet another thing their body didn't really require, but damn did it feel good, Envy smilingly languidly as the warmth in their belly seemed to spread outwards.
Life wasn't too bad, after all.
They heard the distant roar of an engine and quickly rethought that as that heavy, machine gun armed armored car they had ridden out form the ruined laboratory on came to a sudden stop in front of the cabin and that same squad of Drachman marines came piling out of it.
And it had been such a lovely morning…
Envy slunk quietly behind the fence, listening to the enraged cries of the undead horde as they closed in on the house with the wailing burglar alarm across the street.
The homunculus cursed under their breath as they glanced behind them and spotted a herd of closing zombies shambling towards them; abandoning stealth, they stoof and dashed around a fence hopng to break mine of isght with the rotting corpses- and wound up straight in the arms of reanimated police officer who grabbed them and nit down into their neck, Envy staggereding the monster by shoving it away as theysprinted off down the srteetm hurridley checking the wound; bitten.
"I swear by the Gate I will end whoever made this goddamn game!" Envy roared, as their character collsaped dead on screen while the video game they'd been playing cheerfully infome dthem they had survived for four hours and killed zero zombies.
Envy slammed her fists down on euther side of the "gaming laptop" that the Drachman soldiers had giventhem and flew into tirade at the screen.
The two soldiers on guard duty outside the small A-frame cabin where Envy was ranting looked at each other,
"She's been at that game all morning."
"I'm just surprised the Commander was able to get Danikov to part with her machine. She's had that thing on lockdown since we cleared Briggs."
The first soldier shrugged, "After three days of unfiltered Razor, I think she was ready for some peace no matter the cost," She speculated.