Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Paranormal Envy ❯ Gah! ( Chapter 7 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

"Oka-san's in the hospital!"

(x)(X)(x)

I ran up the steps skipping one or two at a time. I ran down the hall and threw open my door. I went to the wall to the right of and threw my right fist into it as hard as I could. I held back my scream or anger and hit the wall again. Why didn't Al call me? I had my phone! Why didn't anyone bother to tell me oka-san had another attack!

"DAMNIT!" I yelled, my fist connecting with the wall one last time before I went to go get another shirt.

The doctors said that she would have no more attacks until the very end. She wasn't supposed to be in this much pain!

I quickly threw on my shirt and went to go back downstairs.

"Edo?" a smooth voice came from behind me. I didn't turn around to look at the owner, I didn't want them to see my bloody hand or the tears threatening to fall.

"I'll be back later. Probably not too late." I walked out my door, slamming it shut behind me and ran down the steps. "Al! Come on." Al had been sitting on the couch, hunched over with his face in his hands, waiting for me. I walked out the front door, Al following close behind. We got into my car and I started it up. As I was pulling out of the drive way, Al gasped.

"Nii-san!! You're hand!"

"It's nothing." I didn't look at my hand, but I could feel the blood from my knuckles sliding down the back of my hand, onto the steering wheel. I turned on the radio to stop anything else my brother had to say about my hand. He knew better than to turn off the music or try to talk again. Whenever my mother was sick, I wasn't going to tolerate a lot.

(x)(X)(x)

We found the hospital easly enough. A nurse helped us find my mothers room. When we did get there, we found her sleeping with my father holding her hand. She was extremelly pale. I quickly wiped the blood from my knuckles onto my pants. Al went into the room ahead of me, as I stayed out for a moment. Only while I was standing there did I realize that oka-san could become just like Envy. She could be stuck in place forever. I realized that I had to get some answers out of Envy. I walked up behind Al, who was standing next to my father. We were all quiet, none of us dared to make a sound. The only noise was the beeping of the machine that kept her breathing.

(x)(X)(x)

I went home without Al. He had decided that he was going to stay a bit longer with Hohenheim. It was about 6 whenever I got home and it was starting to get dark.

I unlocked the front door and closed it behind me. I went upstairs and straight to my bedroom. I didn't even bother looking for Envy right now. I threw myself on my bed, face down and slid my hand under my pillow. I didn't look up as I felt another body lay down next to me. I didn't say anything.

"Is everything alright?" He asked. I shook my head. I couldn't talk or raise my head to look at him for fear of him seeing my tears.

"You idiot." He said quietly as he moved to lightly rub my back as I sobbed quietly into my pillow.

(x)(X)(x)

"OW! THAT HURTS!"

"Well it's not my fault! You keep moving! And what the hell are these things!?" I sat on the edge of my bed while Envy sat on the floor putting some ontiments on my hand and wrapping it up. I couldn't wrap it by myself. Actually, I wasn't even gonna do anything to it but Envy yelled at me. Ha, I never knew him to be one to worry about other peoples wounds.

"Now I know better than to piss you off." He said as he finished wrapping my hand by adding a tight knot. I smiled but also shrugged at him comment. I've been in my fair share of fists fights. Mostly from being called a 'fag' which I got a lot in my old school. Oh well, those guys will be fucking each other soon enough because they couldn't get girlfriends if their life depened on it. "So are you gonna tell me why you punched the wall in the first place?" I paused.

"If oka-san dies... will she end up like you?" He looked up at me, eyebrows frowed. "I mean, will she never leave? Haunting a place, if you wanna put it that way." I said looking away. I needed to know the answer, but it was kind of a stupid question.

"What happened to your mother?" The wild haired teen asked, rubbing my sore hands between his.

"If you answer my question, I'll tell you."

"No... more than likely not." He said thoughtfully. I looked at him in question.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that unless she isn't put to rest or doesn't have any 'unfinished business', as a lot of people like to put it, then no. She'll go straight to... where ever it is people go when they die.."

"You mean, you don't know?" This confused me. He was dead... but didn't know where you go when you die?

"Yeah. I mean... I'm dead but I haven't..." He paused for a while rolling his eyes around the room as if it would give him the answer. "...passed on." he finally said. I quirked an eyebrow but didn't say anything about the matter. He looked up at me, his face blank. I smiled at him, I wasn't sure what else to do. I think my smile confused him because he stood up and pushed back on my bed. "So what happened to her?"

"She has something called 'cancer'."

"Yeah I know what that is... Geez. I may be from 400 years ago, but I know some things about this day and age." I put my hands behind my head for a pillow. The ghost sat down next to me, still waiting for an answer.

"Well she had an 'attack' where the cancer catches up to her and causes her A LOT of pain." Envy made a small 'oh' noise before turning away from looking toward my window.

"So what is this? And how does it work?"

"What?" I sat up and looked at what he was pointing at. My computer. "You mean you sent me those messages and you don't know what this is?"

"Well, yeah. I'm not sure how I did it. I just pressed a bunch of buttons until something happened. Heh..." He had an evil grin on his face. Probably from the memory of it.

I sighed. "It's a computer. Like you said, you press buttons until things happen." The teen made another 'oh' noise before laying down. He stared at the back of my head for a while and didn't say anything. I could just feel his gaze on me. I didn't look at him, my thoughts slowly went back to my mother, and then back to how Envy died. Envy startled me out of my thoughts by asking me a question.

"Why are you hoping that this is it for her?" I turned around and looked at him with wide eyes. My breath seemed to have got caught in my throat. I was taking short breathes.

"Wha- what did you say?" I struggled to say that. He held my gaze. His violet eyes poured into my gold ones.

"Why are you hoping that she doesn't come back?" He asked again, with the same boredum in his voice. I took a deep breath and turned around so I was sitting fully on the bed. I sat Indian style and clenched my hands in my lap. I looked at my hands so my bangs were covering my face.

"Because..." I swallowed hard. "Because I don't want her to be in pain anymore. Why is she suffering so much? It's just hard to know that she has to fight to keep the next couple years of her life." Envy looked away from me and stared at the ceiling.

"Maybe she's fighting for you?" He looked at me again. I didn't look at him though. "And your brother? Maybe she wants to see her children grow up. Do something with their lives. You never know what people are holding in their hearts. She could be holding something terrible in her heart that she doesn't want even her children to know." He looked up at the ceiling again. I glanced over at him. "Maybe there's something she needs to tell you before she passes on." I covered my face with my hands. I didn't cry, but this time I felt disgust towards myself. Everything Envy said was true. I did wish that my mother would just die so that she didn't have to face the pain of cancer anymore. It's terrible to think, but I was tired of seeing her sad smile.

I bent over, my face still covered. My head landed on Envy's stomach. I didn't mean to do that but it did. I didn't fix myself, but instead the ghost put a hand on my head and played with my hair in a soothing way.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that." He ran his fingers through my hair, working on getting the knots out. I said a muffled "that's alright". It soon became painful to sit like that so I leaned backwards, eventually hitting my pillows. Envy soon joined me. He laid next to me on his side so he was facing me.

"You know, Edo-kun. I've never met anyone quite like you."

"Hm."

He propped himself up on an elbow, and smiled. "Yeah, I mean. You're smart, you're cute as hell. .:blush:. you're logical, and you're rather unpredictable."

"So you like guys?" I surprised myself by the question, but not him, he smiled and ruffled my hair.

"See, that's exactly it. You say some pretty random things."

I sat up, holding myself up with my elbows. "You're pretty random yourself there, Mr. Ghost." I said in a 'as a matter of fact' tone. We laughed. I shook my head.
"What is it about you that can change my moods so quickly? I go from thinking I'm the most terrible person alive to laughing with you. I don't get it." I looked down at the space between Envy and me. "And you didn't answer my question."

Envy tilted his head slightly. "Huh?"

"Do you like guys?" I asked again, a little more hesitantly than before.

"Yes, chibi, I do like guys. Sometimes they can be a lot better than women!" I blushed, but I had to agree. I looked over at my clock, which now read 7:48.

"Where is my little brother? And Hohenhiem?" I asked aloud.

"Hohenheim? Is that your father?" The ghost sat upright and held his ankles.

"Yeah, unfornately. We don't really get along." I shrugged.

"Why not?"

"You know the question I just asked you?" He nodded. "It's because I have the same answer to that question." I laid back down and stared at my ceiling, blocking out any memories of what's happened between us. It must have had a spaced out look because he snapped his fingers twice in front of my face.

"Oi, Chibi-sa--"

"Envy..?" I interupted him.

"Yeah?"

"I wanna ask you something, but I don't want you to be mad at me." I didn't dare look over at the teen beside me.

"What is it? I won't get mad."

I hesitated. I narrowed my eyes slightly at the ceiling, almost blaming it that I couldn't get the words. I noticed Envy tilt his head in my direction, waiting for me to talk. I exhaled the breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Will you tell me how you died?" I saw him smile widely and hold back a laugh.

"That's not something I'd get angry about. Yeah I'll tell you, but you might not like it."

This time I did look over at him. "Whadda mean by that?" His smile only got wider.

"The way I died isn't pretty. But if you really want to know I'll tell you. Just don't say I didn't warn you." I nodded and sat up so I was facing Envy. I was waiting for an exciting story. He seemed a little too happy about telling me this. Maybe he just wanted to tell someone. He moved so that we were sitting face to face.

"Alright. First... do you want me to go into detail, or just general?" I was a little confused by the question. So I answered the simple way.

"Both." He laughed at my answer but continued.

"Okay..." He sighed, probably thinking of where to start. "okay. I'll start with my family, just to quickly catch up on things. When I was about 4 years old, my father left my mother and I because he couldn't stand my mother. When I was 8 my mother remarried and had another child not long after. I didn't like my new step dad, he was an asshole, among other things. I grew up, independant and rebelious. I never listened to anyone, my mother never said anything to me so nothing ever sunk it. Well, basically, my little brother got all the attention and whatnot, and I left the house a lot. When I was about... hmm... 15, I kinda became a whore to make some extra money. You know, so I could live by myself and not have to live with my parents.

"And I made some friends, one soon enough turned into a lover, (I quit my whore job after that)." He laughed. It must have been at the memory of that. To be honest, him being a whore didn't surprise me in the least. He was just that kind of person... "I jumping around a lot so I might forget some things. But anyways. I came back here, after being stood up by my lover, so I was pissed off. You know the couch that's downstairs?" I nodded. "That's been there since I lived here. It's amazing that thing hasn't rotted yet. But going on. My mother was sitting on that couch waiting for me. She told me to follow her, which was the first thing she said to me in 4 years. Blah blah blah, I followed her in the basement. Are you following?" I blinked a few times then nodded again. I was following, just a little shocked at how.. happy he sounded telling me this.

"Okay. So, oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. My mother was a witch. HA! But everyone was to afraid to come near her so she was never captured. So she did Witch Craft and had weird experiments that I didn't even want to get into. Okay, so we went in the basement and what I found scared the shit outta me." His smile faded a little, but not enough to think he was really getting depressed over it. "This is where it gets gross. Well, in a big circle engraved into the floor is where six people were standing." I gasped at the sudden realization.

"The 7 Deadly Sins!" He laughed at me.

"Exactly, Edo! My Grandfather, my two friends, my lover, my next door neighbor (they're house was torn down a long time ago), and even my little brother were standing in the edges of the circle. They all looked scared, but none of them talked or moved. I was told to stand in the middle of the circle. I didn't know why I obeyed... I felt like I didn't have a choice. My mother followed me to the center. She chanted something... it was weird. Then she started to shout out the names of the sins. Pride, was my grandfather. Sloth was my neighbor. Lust and Gluttony were my two friends. Good name for that girl.. Lust, ha... I really became friends with her at the whore house... Greed, was my lover. And my little brother was Wrath." He paused and shrugged.

"Basically she wanted to try this new ritual that'll gain her immortality. It didn't work. But anyways, as she shouted each one of the sins, my step father slit their throats." My eyes widened when he said that. He shrugged again. "Supposedly, if you slit someone's throat with this certain kind of knife, their spirit remains in the same place forever. Heh... that didn't work! Well... at least for the other ones it didn't." I suddenly cut him off.

"Why were you in the center?" My eyes were wide. I tried to hide the shock on my face, but I was failing miserably.

"I was just getting to that. Right before my own fucking mother slit my throat, she said, 'For you... Envy. Since you seem to follow your sin everywhere. You never let it go no matter how much you deny it.' Then I 'passed out'. " He used his fingers to do to quotations. "...for a while. When I came to, I was in this room. It used to be mine ya know. I guess that's why that bitch decided to keep me in here." I looked down at my hands. I didn't want to ask the next question... it just kind of came out.

"What happened to the others?" He got his smirk back on his face.

"Like I said before... They've been 'laid to rest'. I never exsisted to anyone, so they never knew I died. Eh! Oh well. I got to stay around long enough to see a cutie like you!" He moved a strand of my hair through his fingers.

"Do you want to...?" I still hadn't looked up from my hands. I couldn't believe he just told me that, and still seemed in high spirits. Maybe he was crazier than he really lead on?

"Do I wha--?"

"BOY!!!" My fathers voice boomed through the house. I looked up at Envy with wide eyes. My eyes filled with horror... I could only imagiane what was going to happen to me. Without thinking, I shushed Envy and messed up my hair. Faking a yawn, I walked out of my room, Envy looking back at me with concern. He knew what it was like to be abused by someone.

I walked down the steps to see my father standing by the door. I faked another yawn before I said, "What, Hohenheim?" He took a few large steps over to me. After making sure the swinging door to the kitchen was closed he grabbed me by the front of my shirt. His face was red with anger.

"What the hell do you think you're doing home?" He was dangerously close to me. I could tell that he wanted to hit me, but didn't have a reason to yet.

"What the fuck are you talking about?! I told you I was coming home!" I yelled back. I no longer just stood there and took what he had to say. He'd only hit me harder if I didn't answer him.

"Your mother is SICK! AND YOU COME HOME SO YOU CAN SLEEP?!"

"WHAT ELSE DID YOU WANT ME TO FUCKING DO?! STANDING THERE AND STARING AT OKAA-SAN ISN'T GOING TO MAKE HER BETTER!!" I suddenly felt Envy's presence behind me, even though I didn't turn around to look at him, I could just tell that he was angry by his aura. We glared at each other for a moment before he pulled back slightly and said, "Oh you asked for it now boy!" He lifted a hand and brought it down to slap me with the back side of his hand. Right before he made contact, Al came out of the kitchen.

"What's with all the raised voices?" His eyes widen with shock as he heard the sicking smack as the bastard's hand connect with my face. Al covered his mouth with a hand as my father lowered his hand back down. Hohenheim pushed me as he let go of my shirt.

"Let that be a lessen to you, you fucking bastard." He said as he walked past Al and out the front door.

I mumbled a, "You took the words right out of my mouth." as I sat on the ground and spit, only to wipe it up with my sleeve. Al looked at me in horror. He didn't know what to do, or how to make sense of the scene. "It's nothing to worry about, Al. I'm fine." I didn't look at him. The horror and pain on his face only made the situation worse. He uncovered his mouth.

"How long?"

I stood up. "About 3 years ago, whenever he first found out." I didn't have to specify what he 'found out', Al already knew. He curled his hands up into fists.

"Why didn't you tell me."

"I didn't want you to worry." I said quickly. In a conversation like this, there's no time for hesitating. "Don't think about this. This never happened okay?"

"NO!" He shouted. I felt Envy stand right next to me and put a hand around my waist. I tried to pay no attention to it, I was concentrating on talking with my younger brother. "I'm not gonna pretend that this next happened!!" His eyes suddenly filled with tears. Man did I hate it when he looked at me like that.

"Why not? It's not a big deal! He doesn't hit me often!" That was a lie. My father found a way to hit me at least once a day, even if it was just a smack on the back of the head as he walked by. "He doesn't leave any marks or draw any blood. So--"

"Then what's on your sleeve?!" I looked at my sleeve where I wiped up my spit. There was a red stain where the small wet stain was going to be. Only now that I thought about it, did I taste the metallic flavor in my mouth. I must have bit the side of my cheek when he hit me.

I pointed to my sleeve. "That was my fault. I bit my cheek. Honestly, Al, it's no big deal. Don't worry about it." I turned to walk away, Envy right beside me. I turned and put a hand behind my head. "Actually... this makes me a little tougher." I knew he was still very upset with me and my father. I knew that he was still fragile from my mother being in the hospital. He was slowly realizing that this family was falling apart, piece by piece.

My brother was sobbing by now. "Why..? TELL ME WHY!?" He looked up at me, tears running down his face. I didn't say anything, I just walked over to him and pulled him into a hug.

"I can't tell you why. But we'll make things better." I let go of Al and he nodded. He turned and went back to the kitchen. Envy and I walked back upstairs. When Envy and I got into my room, I turned around to talk to him.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. I was hoping you wouldn't follow me." He didn't say anything, he just looked at the ground. He took a few steps closer, after I took a step back. Before I knew it, Envy had pulled me into a hug.