Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Anti-Existentialism ❯ Chapter 2: Tension ( Chapter 2 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: BHS 
Envy confronts the Elrics on the streets of Central, but collapses before any damage can be done. And then Alphonse coerces Edward into taking the Homunculus back to the military base...
Anime/Manga: Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Psychological / Drama / Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 12.19.2005 | Updated On: 12.19.2005 | Pages: 6 | Words: 6.8K | Visits: 244 | Status: Completed
Envy confronts the Elrics on the streets of Central, but collapses before any damage can be done. And then Alphonse coerces Edward into taking the Homunculus back to the military base...
Anime/Manga: Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Psychological / Drama / Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 12.19.2005 | Updated On: 12.19.2005 | Pages: 6 | Words: 6.8K | Visits: 244 | Status: Completed
Tension
So….New chapter. I'm happy that this has gotten so far! …Er…Two chapters…But, yeah. I pray that this is up to my normal standards…
Warnings: Cursing, violence, possibly humor.
Disclaimer: We own nothing.
***
Chapter 2: Tension
Ed whirled around, golden eyes narrowed in a deadly glare. “Who are you calling a super-tiny uber-shrimp so small that he could get lost in a drop of water?”
“Shut the fuck up, chibi,” Envy growled, grabbing Edward by the front of his shirt and lifting him up to eye-level. The Monster inside of Envy begged to be let out; it wanted to taste Edward's blood. The sin of covetousness made a compromise: he allowed the Monster's glare to seep through; with the result that Edward was treated to a very deranged look from a distance that was far, far too small for his liking.
Al darted forwards, clanking, but Envy pressed an out-stretched hand across the boy's metal chest, stopping him in his tracks with strength that could only be called super-human, and his gaze never once left Edward's face.
“Hi, chibi,” he growled. “Nice to see you. You look nice; you'll look even better with your little chibi skull smashed in.”
“Uh…” So flustered was the diminutive alchemist that he failed to respond to Envy's `chibi' comment. Well, `flustered' is really the wrong word. `Experiencing the decidedly odd sensation of having one's blood replaced with pure, abject terror' is probably more appropriate. On the subject of terror, it was right then that Ed realized that he had just been driven into an alleyway by one of his worst enemies, and he would have slapped his forehead if his hands had been free. As it was, he sort of groaned. Then the situation actually registered in his mind. “Er…Um…” Right then, the FullMetal Alchemist was putting his entire considerable mental prowess to the task of figuring out the odds of him escaping this alive. So far, things weren't looking too good for him.
So his brain decided to hide and try and weather the storm, leaving his bravado do the talking. “Get away from me, you gender-confused freak, before I have to bash yourskull in.”
Quick as lightning, Envy's other hand returned to its position against Al's chest, but not before it had split Edward's lip open. Neither brother had seen the Homunculus even move. Ed yelped, but the Sin merely stared, fascinated, captivated, at the line of blood dribbling down the blonde's chin.
“Envy?” Even while his brother was being glared at by a dangerous psychopath, even when they were trapped in an alley with said psychopath, Al still felt the need to properly affirm their opponent's identity. “Why are you here? Do you want something?” Apparently, he felt that niceties were needed in this sort of situation as well.
“FullMidget's head on a plate would be nice.” The harsh growl was a far cry removed from Envy's normal smooth, silky voice. The shape-shifter's eyes never moved from Ed's chin.
“Um…well…'Nii-san needs his head!”
“Al, are you stupid?” Ed screeched. “Don't just stand around talking to him! Run away, you idiot!”
“I couldn't leave you, `nii-san! Besides, he's not really doing anything…” Al pointed out. “Maybe he just wants to talk?”
“You can't see how he's looking at me!! He's practically taking me apart with his eyes! And you saw him hit me!”
“'Nii-san, you did threaten him…”
“He threatened me first!”
A low growl interrupted the conversation and drew the eyes of both the Elrics to Envy's face, since he was (as far as either of them could tell) the source of the noise, although Al couldn't really see Envy's face, since he was behind the shape-shifter. The look on Ed's face, however, told the younger Elric enough about the look on Envy's face that he knew that he didn't want to see it.
“He doesn't appreciate you little bastards talking about him like he's not here,” snarled the Homunculus in a voice that seemed to have gotten mauled somewhere in his throat. From his vantage point, Ed could see the skin on Envy's arms start to divide into little greenish scales, which was very, very worrying, even if he—Edward—didn't quite know what it meant. It couldn't be anything good. People's skin turning into scales was never good.
Kill him... a voice in the Homunculus's head whispered. He's helpless…All alone. Vulnerable.
His brother! another one pointed out. He's here.
What could he do? snapped the first voice.
He could go get the military, for one thing!
And what could theydo? the first voice sneered.
Even a Homunculus can die if you shoot it enough!
Oh, shut up, you coward, and let's kill him.
No…Don't kill him. We need him.
This last voice was quiet, but all the others fell silent as soon as the first syllable was spoken. Slowly, hesitantly, and mostly grudgingly, all the others agreed.
All except the Monster, that is. Its voice roared from deep inside Envy, from the very bottom of those dark places in the back of his mind, and It wanted Edward's blood.
“The Monster wants to kill you…” the shape-shifter murmured in a distant, dreamy voice.
“What?”
“It wants your blood. It wants to rip into your throat with Its teeth.” A pause, and then he admitted, “I want to let It do that. You don't deserve anything better, but the others say that we need you, so you'll live for now. I think I can kill Alphonse, though. How about that?”
“What?” Ed howled, flailing in Envy's grasp and pounding at the Homunculus with his fists. He didn't bother to aim; he just hit any part that came into range. This served no other purpose than to irritate the Sin, and he shook Edward roughly to show his displeasure, drawing several disturbing rattle-clank noises from the alchemist's auto-mail.
“They say I can't kill him, either.” Disappointment colored the effeminate man's tone.
“What's wrong with you?”
“Me?” Envy was suddenly furious, his tone and his eyes full of psychopathic rage. “Me? What's wrong with me? There's nothing wrong with me! If there was, Father would have scrapped me long ago! It's just like Greed said. Only you didn't hear him. I heard him. He told Pride. He said. And it's true. I'm still here, so I function perfectly. I'm not broken.” A laugh like a broken chain-saw. “I'm…not…broken!”
Too frightened to respond, Ed could only stare at Envy in frozen terror. It was starting to finally dawn on him that the man in front of him was a bona fide psychopath, that he was, in fact, completely insane. It was frightening, knowing that his life was once again in the hands of a psychotic murderer.
“D'ya see, chibi?” Envy asked, his voice as serene as his eyes were psychotic. “I'm not broken! And everything's fine.”
“Um, yeah. You're not broken…You're fine. Put me down.”
In the blink of a violet-grey eye, Envy's serene expression had twisted into something hateful and violent. He slammed Ed against the nearest wall and leaned into him, their faces barely an inch apart.
“Don't you understand?” he cried, and it was definitely the Envy that Ed knew this time. The voice was the same husky, effeminate tone that the shape-shifter always used, the one that haunted so many just before their death, although at that moment the Sin's voice held a ragged edge that was not normally there.
“Understand what?!” Ed screamed back. He was tired of dealing with the walking freak-show.
“People are going to die! Lots and lots of people. So many, so very, very many…And Father won't be happy.” The Sin sagged suddenly, collapsing fluidly against Edward. “So many people…”
“What are you talking about?”
“Brother…” Al interjected. “Maybe we should leave.”
Ed stepped away from Envy, nodding, and both brothers watched in shock as the shape-shifter fell to the ground and twisted around in a sitting position, held up only by the wall behind him. The Sin was acting ever weirder than normal. Normally sharp eyes had gone glazed and glassy, skin that was usually pale was pallid and grey, and even his wild hair seemed messier.
“So many people…So much blood…So much delicious, thick, flowing blood…Dark red…So much…” This stream of babble was murmured in a lilting, mournful tone. “It will be glorious.” He offered the Elrics a sickly smile. “Glorious,” he repeated in an exultant whisper.
“God, Al,” whispered the older Elric, his eyes wide, “he's insane.”
“Hurting is funny and blood is red,” crooned the shape-shifter, “living is pointless and dying is too. Puddles and streams and rivers and oceans of blood…So thick that the air is red with it. Lovely, lovely…Glorious.”
“Um, maybe we should help him, `nii-san,” Al suggested nervously, his tone saying that he'd rather erase his own blood-seal with a paper-clip than follow that particular piece of advice.
“Are you crazy? He's a psychopath! Besides, he deserves whatever it is that's happening to him.”
“But, `nii-san…” Al didn't like Envy any more than his brother, but, unlike Edward, he had an inherent desire to give aid to helpless things, or even dangerous things that were suffering, and, while Envy was very dangerous, he was also very clearly having problems. “Something's got to be really wrong with him. He's never acted like this before.”
“Hey,” Ed said, shrugging, “maybe this is what he's normally like, and what we see is just his nice side.”
“'Nii-san!”
“Al, I don't care if he's fucking dying, okay?” Ed found that all the tension of the day was just too much, and so he snapped. “He's a murderer and a psychopath and I hate him, and I don't care if he sits here babbling to himself until the goddamn worldends!”
“'N-nii-san…” Al sounded hurt.
“The world will end very, very soon, chibi,” a low, dangerous voice intoned from the shadowed area of Envy's face. “There will be a lot of blood.” A pause, and then, “It will be absolutely glorious. It'll be magnificent, glorious, lovely, sublime.”
It was not Envy's voice that was speaking.
“But you won't see it,” the voice continued. “You'll be dead, chibi.” And slowly, very, very slowly, Envy turned his head up towards Edward.
The look on the androgynous man's face made Ed's blood run cold. It froze him down into his marrow, and then shattered everything until the only thing left was blind, frantic terror. And the fear was nothing sophisticated or rational; it was merely the base response etched into his brain, the blind terror of dumb tissue faced with imminent death.
It was an accepted scientific theory that people had evolved from monkeys, and the feeling that Ed had now meant that there was a tiger behind you, only this tiger was in front of him, leaning against a wall and grinning up at him with the fangy smile of a monster.
Envy's hideously grinning visage would have fit better on something long dead; his eyes looked empty, devoid of anything except blood-lust and the urge—no, the need—to kill. The grin stretching his mouth revealed fangs that hadn't been there a moment ago, and Edward had the distinct impression that the shape-shifter—whoever he actually was at the moment—was about to go for his neck.
As the Homunculus stood up, this feeling of nameless dread increased to the point where Ed just wanted to die and have the whole ordeal behind him.
“Now, how shall I kill my chibi?” the shape-shifter mused, his crazed eyes glinting. “I could cut open his tight little stomach, and spill out his organs…Or I could slit his pretty throat and drink his lovely red blood as it spills out. I could bash his little skull in, but that would stain his lovely blond hair…Maybe I could cut him open and see what makes him tick…I could do it slowly, so that I could bask in the sound of his screams…So many choices…”
And suddenly Envy was moving and his arm was a blade, but all Ed could see was a grey blur glinting as it was swung towards him, and his eyes closed as he tensed in anticipation of the blow.
There was a loud shriek of pain, and it took the dazed alchemist a moment to figure out that it hadn't been his scream, and that he wasn't hurt at all.
The shriek, Edward soon realized, had come from Envy, who was curled up on the ground, clutching his head and making high-pitched whimpering noises.
“No!” he shrieked. “Not yet! You can't…Not yet! It's not time!” Stiffening, the shape-shifter let out a terrible cry and then fell limp.
There was about thirty seconds of dense silence, and then Edward demanded to know what the hell had just happened.
“He…He passed out, `nii-san,” answered Alphonse, bending down to inspect the comatose Sin. “His mouth is bleeding…”
“And how do you know that?” Edward snapped, not caring that he sounded stupid and juvenile.
“Because it's dripping down his chin. I can't tell if he just bit something, or if it's from inside of him.”
“Bah, he'll be fine. He's a monster; they don't get hurt.” Ed waved a hand in casual dismissal of Envy's injuries.
Insofar as a suit of armor can look reproachful, this is what Al did. “'Nii-san, he's a person, and he's hurt.”
“He's not a person!”
“Actually, `nii-san, you're right,” Al replied, his tone thoughtful.
“Finally, he sees reason!”
“He's probably two or three people. Maybe more.”
Ed couldn't decide if that statement made him want to laugh or want to cry, so he laughed until he cried, unless he cried until he laughed, which is just as likely.
“Um, `nii-san? Are you, er, okay?”
“I'm fine, little brother, just fine!” Ed gasped out. “It's just…God! Our worst enemy has got multiple personalities!! That's just…” Ed couldn't speak anymore.
“Um, Ed…Can we…We could get a hotel room, or a military room…He could be guarded…But…Well…” Al cleared his throat—well, he made a throat-clearing noise—and tried again. “What I mean is, well…”
Ed sighed. “Fine, Al, you can take him home. But you can't keep him!”
“Thank you!” Al hugged his brother gratefully.
“Ow! Leggo!”
“Sorry, `nii-san.”
***
Al and Ed both agreed that the military base was the safest place to stash the shape-shifter. Even though Mustang would yell at them for a good long while, they could have Envy guarded, and not even a Homunculus could take down an entire base full of military personnel.
The unconscious shape-shifter had been carefully stuffed into Alphonse's armor, which would make it infinitely easier to actually get into the base. Of course, they were both taking a rather large gamble; if Envy woke up before they got there, he would probably still be murderous (he normally was, after all), and Al's blood-seal was within easy reach.
When they got to the headquarters, no one suspected a thing. In retrospect, it really seemed rather a ridiculous idea that someone would assume that the (in)famous Elric brothers were smuggling in a known enemy of the military, and the two would probably feel very silly about it later, but it was a big concern right then.
However, they got up to the room that was available for Edward should he choose to ever use it without incident, got Envy out of Al successfully, and laid the slumbering Homunculus on the nearby couch without any blood-shed or pain.
After that, they settled in to watch him sleep and wait for him to wake up, and to consider their next course of action. Ed voted for shoving Envy out the window as soon as he woke up, while Alphonse was more inclined towards keeping the Homunculus for a little.
“C'mon, just one of the lower-story windows!” Ed begged. “I wanna see if he bounces!”
“No!”
“But he'll heal! And it's not like it'll really even hurt him that much in the first place!”
“Ed, you're insane! You can't drop hurt people out of windows!!” Al was scandalized at his brother's blatant disregard for the feelings and/or physical health of their `guest'.
“Who is he wanting to drop out a window?” asked a familiar voice.
With identical sinking sensations in their stomachs (metaphorical stomach, in the case of Al), the Elrics turned to face the person in the door.
“Oh, hello,” Ed greeted weakly, looking and sounding rather as if he'd just been punched in the stomach. “I wasn't expecting to see you for awhile…”
“Well, I felt like dropping by.” Roy Mustang grinned his sneaky, conniving, `I've-caught-you-now' grin. “So, what is it you've got? Another kitten?”
Edward gulped, and began to wonder if he was going to live through the day after all. “Um, not quite…Um, I can explain?”
~Yes, yes, I know, I'm horrible. You always say it. Do you mean it? Well, this is a nice place to end it.
~Servant of the unseen
PS: Envy really is fascinating, isn't he? Poor fellow.
PPS: Was this any cheerier?
PPPS: I am having no end of trouble with this narrative. I know, I know, I'm a recorder of history, I should be able to write a paltry little story, but…I fear it is coming out rather badly. Perhaps I am being too verbose, perhaps not quite enough so…Do tell me which it is. I know I'm doing somethingwrong.
PPPPS: Why, I'm sure you'll ask, did Edward go into an alley? Well, I believe that he and Alphonse were aware that they were being followed (if for only a short time), so they decided to confront the person…and it turned out to be Envy. I guess even History has a sense of plot-convenience, eh?
***
Hello everyone! This is the end of chapter two! Did you like it? As always, I would love your criticisms.