Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Demonic Misadventure ❯ Alexx ( Chapter 6 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Miranda: *walks in* Hey, I'm boooored…

Zeal: *reading* Not our fault…

Aku: *asleep* Zzzzzz…

Miranda: … *thinking* … >:) Eeeeenvyyyyy…

Zeal: *not even looking up* Still sleeping.

Miranda: >:D Mire! (Trans.: Grin!) *walks off*

Zeal: …

Dante: So who's this chapter about?

Zeal: Alexx.

Solo: …Alex?

Zeal: Double X's, mate.

Solo: …Oh. o.O? …Hey, how can you check my spelling?

Zeal: `Coz I'm the author.

Dante: Makes sense…

Envy: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!

Zeal: *looks up disinterested* Hm.

Aku: *blinks* Oy…??

Solo: …That sounded safe…

Miranda: YAAAAAH!!! *runs past* RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!

Envy: *runs after, pissed as hell* GET THE FUCK BACK HERE AND GIMME BACK MY STUFF!!!

Miranda: WAAAH!!! HEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!! H FOR HURRY!! E FOR URGENT!!!! L FOR LOVELY!!!

Zeal: AND P IS FOR SHUT THE HELL UP WE'RE STARTING!!!

*CLUNK*

Envy: YAAAAAAAAH!!! *flung through the portal*

Aku: O.o?

Solo: …You're in a bad mood.

Zeal: SO I AM!! SO GET THE HELL IN THERE!!!!

Solo: Gone! *hurries off*

Aku: Meep!! *toddles after*

Dante: Yowch. *runs after them*

Miranda: …Guess he didn't like his outfit.

Zeal: *shrugs* He'll have to learn to like it. He's gonna be stuck in it from now on.

Miranda: Ooooh! You're evil sis! ^^

Zeal: *smirks* Heh. So I am. Let's get going!

Chapter 6: Alexx

“So… tell me again WHY do I fucking have to wear this?!?!” Envy demanded as they (he and Dante, as Solo had to keep an eye on Aku) exited the small shop. Dante was carrying a bag, while Envy still struggled a little with his new outfit.

Compared to the surrounding area, Envy looked, considering his clothing, lively. His headband with the three circles on it had been exchanged for a simple brown band with a swirly emblem on the front. Dante had also taken the liberty to tie up his hair at the back/top of his head in a ponytail, which had hurt like hell until Dante'd finished tying it up. Of course, the dreadlocks remained spiked, but that was beside the point.

He was now sporting a sleeveless string vest, with a yellow long-sleeved shirt over it, missing the shoulders and running in a straight horizontal line across his collarbone. The shirt was adorned on the left side with several red diamond shapes (from the playing cards), with a symbol of some kind he didn't really recognize on the right side.

The pants he wore were dark brown and were wide at the ankles, which was a very weird feeling for the Homonculus, not used to having the legs of his pants wave about like that. The sneakers on his feet were a bit itchy, mainly `coz he wasn't used to them, but hell. (*)

Dante just shrugged and said: “In situations like this, it's better to mingle with the crowd.”

“Oh yeah? Then what about you?!” Envy demanded a bit angrily.

“They're used to me.”

Envy growled. “Sorry excuse…”

After regrouping with Solo and Aku (and giving Aku some new clothes too), they started off again. Aku was dressed in some light yellow pants and a set of large boots, to hide her claws. She also wore a white, long-sleeved shirt, and a cap was placed atop her head to hide her ears.

Unlike the previous city, this one seemed pretty lively, and no one seemed surprised that Solo and Dante were armed the way they were. Nor did anyone seem to care about Envy or Aku.

Solo had taken over carrying Aku on his back, as the kid was still pretty much tired.

“So what are we doing here, anyway?! Just shopping for clothes or what!?” Envy asked again.

Solo didn't offer an answer, adjusting his hold on the small sleeping Demon on his back, instead. Dante didn't answer either, and of course, Aku was down for the count.

Grumbling in annoyance upon not getting an answer, Envy shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked a rock out of his path. Only to trip and land in a split. “YOWCH!!!” Envy yowled, before gritting his teeth in pain. “Ow.”

Dante chuckled, before he hauled Envy back up to his feet. “C'mon. It's getting late. Let's head to an Inn.”

Envy agreed to that, making sure not to trip over anything this time around…

The closest Inn, was more of an apartment-complex, and so, they had enough room for the four of them. However, the room they were given seemed to have been abandoned for much longer than was normal. The furniture was covered with sheets, which were in turn covered with dust. Not to mention there seemed to be a large amount of personal artifacts.

“…This can't be right. Dante, you sure this room hasn't been taken?” Solo asked.

Dante looked around for a minute, frowning a little. “Guy said this room was cheap because people believed it was haunted…”

“Pff… I wouldn't be surprised. Nothing's been taken, so who knows… maybe the original owners' souls are still here…”

Envy blinked, and looked over curiously. “Say what?”

“A soul can sometimes be bound to this world when the body dies. But they haven't been visible until after the Demons invaded,” Dante explained.

The Homonculus blinked. “I thought souls could only be bound to armor,” he said, before slapping his hands over his mouth.

Dante and Solo looked at him a little oddly, before looking at each other. “Well… it's possible. But I've never seen it happen.”

Aku groaned a little in her sleep, snuggling her head into Solo's back. Looking at the girl, Solo finally said: “We should get some rest. Who knows what we might run into tomorrow. The New Moon lasts until tomorrow morning…”

“New moon??” Envy questioned. “There's only one moon, so how can there be a new moon?”

“A New Moon, means there's no moon. It's the perfect time for Demons to feast on humans.”

Envy gulped. “Nice prospect…”

Blinking open one eye, Envy looked around for a minute or two. Sitting up in the bed he'd been given, he took a moment to look around. However, nothing seemed out of place.

The room was awfully tidy, and it was easy to tell that someone had gone through a lot of trouble to keep it like that. There was a limited amount of toys, and they were simply collecting dust. If they had ever been played with, it didn't show.

It was hard to pin an age to the previous occupant, because of the small amount of personal possessions, or toys.

Once he was sure there was nothing, he closed his eyes, intending to go back to sleep…

…but a silent sobbing woke him up again.

Snapping his eyes open, Envy shot up and got out of bed quickly, kicking off the sheets as he went. “Crap! When I find out who got in here--” he hissed under his breath, sharpening his ears to try and find the source of the sounds.

After a bit, he determined it was coming from the living-room. Walking over to it, he pressed up against the wall, listening for a minute more, before reaching for the doorknob and easing the door open with a slight creak. The sobbing did not stop, so he peeked around the corner -- and almost toppled over in surprise.

Sitting on one of the chairs, arms on the table before her, and her head on said arms, was a woman, crying her eyes out. Normally, Envy wouldn't have really bothered, safe become angry at her waking him up… but he could see right through the woman!

She was a pale blue, and he could barely make out any special features. Her legs vanished a bit below the knees, and she seemed to be made of water, or something.

Regaining his courage, Envy stepped into the room, and loudly cleared his throat. The woman's head snapped up in obvious surprise, before she turned to face him. Not much could be made out. All he saw were her nose and mouth. Her eyes were hidden, but by what, he didn't know. Her hair easily reached mid-back, and he could almost swear he'd seen her before, but he couldn't remember from where.

“Who…?” the woman asked, her voice sounding hoarse, but it also echoed a little, like she wasn't really there. “Who are you? How did you… get in?”

Envy snorted. “Through that door,” the Homonculus said simply, pointing toward said door. “This place'd been for rent, so we're sleeping here. So ya mind quieting down?!”

The woman looked at him for a second, before her face scrunched up in sadness. “I'm sorry… I just… I just… I miss my child…”

Envy blinked, as he spotted crystalline tears dropping from her eyes and roll down her cheeks. “Wait… your kid ain't here with you?”

She shook her head.

“Weird… well… where would your kid be?” Envy asked, wanting to finish this as quickly as possible so he could head back to bed.

“I do not know…” she said softly, turning away. “…I let her down… I wasn't there when she needed me…”

Envy groaned. “Well… what's your daughter's name? I might be able to find her. I'm traveling around anyway.” `Anything to get her to shut up…'

The woman looked up in slight surprise, before a weak smile graced her face. “Thank you… but… I-I couldn't…”

“Look; just tell me her name, and as soon as I find her, I'll send her back home. Alright?”

She turned away, smiling and crying at the same time. Standing up (more like `floating out of her seat') she turned to face Envy, hovering up and down slowly. “Her… her name is Alexis… but… everyone calls her Alexx. There's a picture of her right there…”

Envy looked over as the woman pointed, toward a large glass closet full of awards, most of them from army-academy, and the RAF. In the center of all of them, was a framed picture of a girl. Walking over to the closet he hadn't bothered to study earlier, he studied all the awards. All of them were first place. So it looked like the girl had graduated every school with flying colors.

However, his jaw almost hit the ground when he saw the photograph.

The girl in the picture looked around, 18, 19 at least, and was dressed up in an army-uniform, standing at attention with a blank look on her face. She had long blonde hair that was tied up in a tight ponytail atop her head, but she had let her bangs frame her face. Her eyes were a dark brown, almost black, and highly slanted.

She looked a whole lot different from when he'd first seen her, but he would recognize that face anywhere…

Naji…

“I guess I don't have to look for her anymore… I know where she is,” Envy said, turning around, but blinked when he realized he was alone. “…huh??”

`Either I'm hearing and seeing things… or she left…' he thought, scratching the back of his head. `Oh well… at least I might be able to get some sleep.'

However… that was so not the case…

Once again, he found himself waking up in the middle of the night, this time when someone entered the room. Looking up a bit drowsily, he mumbled something incoherent under his breath before sitting up. “What's going on?” he heard himself asking, but his voice sounded a little… strange.

Some conversation followed, one he didn't really hear, but he realized he was asked to come along, so he did, reluctantly. Figuring it was safe, he just followed, reasoning Dante or Solo, whichever the guy was, knew what he was doing.

So he followed without complaining… until he saw where they were heading…

“…what… what are we doing here?” he heard himself asking, a hint of fear noticeable, just barely though.

The person walking in front of him stopped, and he started taking cautious steps back. “Wouldn't suggest running…”

However, he didn't listen and stepped back more rapidly, before turning and running as fast as he could. He wasn't sure, but his instincts were telling him to run, and it sounded like a good enough plan right now. Suddenly a searing pain smashed into his back, sending him slamming against the ground. He tried to get back up, but something was latched onto his ankle, so he looked over his shoulder, only to nearly choke upon seeing an all-too familiar dragon-faced Demon gnawing on his leg.

Without his knowledge, he started screaming, struggling with everything he had to get away, but it only increased the pain. Yet he couldn't find it in him to care, as long as he got out of there. Suddenly he reached for his pocket, pulled out something, brought it up -- and was momentarily blinded and struck deaf because of a burst of light and sound.

That eased the pain and he shot up and ran like a bat from hell. He wasn't sure whereto, but he just ran. He was beyond caring of where he was heading, but he had to run. Just had to!!

Another searing pain shot through him and he found himself falling… but he never hit the ground. He stretched out his hand to catch his fall, and felt his entire body contort in fear when he saw the skin turning a shocking white, going from a light tan to snow-white, dark purple marks appearing over the length of his arm.

“No… no no no no no!”

“NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

TWAP!!

CRASH!!

“OW!!!” Envy grumbled a little, rubbing the back of his head, before looking up. Dante was standing over him, looking at him a bit oddly.

“You make enough noise to wake the dead bozo, I suggest you learn to quiet down at least.”

Envy just blinked curiously. “Say what??”

Dante just rolled his eyes a little. “Let's go. We're getting out of here.”

“…Now?”

“Yes. Now would be a good time.”

“ENVY-KUUUUUUUUN!!! HYAKU!!!” Aku suddenly screamed.

Envy frowned, before he grumbled. “Well… duty calls…”

“Let's go then.”

“Ch. Fine…”

-OWARI

Envy: Tell me again… *gestures to clothes* WHY do I have to wear this shit?!?

Miranda: *points to Zeal* Her fault!!

Zeal: Actually… *points to the door* It's hers.

Envy: ???

Nightmare: *leaning in the doorway, grinning evilly* Heh…

Envy: O.O;;; Uhhh… but she's…

Zeal: Me? Nope. Gang, this's Nightmare. Nightmare, these are… wait, you already know them.

Nightmare: *chuckles* So I do. *pushes off* Quite the interesting story, actually…

Dante: What kind of Demon is she??

Zeal: Nightmare is… how to put this… well, my Dark Side, I guess.

Envy: … So all the times you hit me… it was her fault?!

Zeal: *smirks* Nope.

Nightmare: I don't… “hit” people. *grins bloodthirstily* I maim people.

Envy: Uhhhh… o.o;;; *gulps*

Solo: Err…

Dante: *frowns thoughtfully*

Aku: …… *blinks* …… Nice to meet yous!

Miranda: Hiiii Nighty!! ^^

Nightmare: *twitches* STOP BLOODY CALLING ME THAT!!!!

Zeal: You lay one finger on her and you DIE, Nightmare!!

Miranda: ^^

Aku: … YAY!! ^O^

Nightmare: *rolls eyes* Ch… kids.

Envy: …

Nightmare: *smirks cheekily* See ya, palmtree. *warps off*

Envy: WHAT?!?! WHY I'LL---wait… how'd she do that??

Zeal: Easy. Like this. *warps off*

Envy: O.o Ooooooookaaaay…

Aku: … YAY!!

(*) For a picture of this, head for DeviantArt and find “Thanoodles”.