InuYasha Fan Fiction / Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ In Pursuit of the Green Dragon ❯ A Meeting Between Devils ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Eastern Japan, late 16th century

Coming through the Gate was the worst mistake Envy had ever made. He'd been looking for more power, not less. And he certainly hadn't wanted to end up in a place that could dilute the power of the red stones embedded in his flesh

It was all the Fullmetal Shrimp's fault. That little shit and his father. Everything was their fault. Everything.

Trapped in his dragon form, Envy bore the indignities of his capture by human scum, and waited for his opportunity. He would take revenge where he could get it, but more than anything, he needed to find someone in this forsaken world who could perform the alchemy that had always been denied him.

Then--miracle of miracles--the Shrimp appeared, cocky as ever. And Envy, wounded to the point of near-immobility, raged as he found himself unable to do anything with the chance handed to him on a silver platter. Instead, the little shit used him to open a Gate.

It was too much. Better to explode from rage now and end his miserable existence, than live like this, transfixed with spears, his blood extracted from him cupful by cupful, while ignorant humans tried to figure out his power.

He could have told them, of course, but there wasn't anything in it for him. So he remained stubbornly silent.

Then the Shrimp came back--back to this desolate place, confirming Envy's opinion that Hohenheim's son was batshit crazy--but he had managed to do something right, because the other kid, the one who had been nothing but a soul bound to armor, was with him, and wearing a human body once more.

A blaze of violence, and the all-too-brief but still satisfying crunch of Hohenheim's flesh and bones between his fangs, and then they were gone, leaving him still captive in the hands of the humans who called themselves the Thule Society.

Once more, Envy had been presented with an opportunity that he couldn't exploit. The universe hated him.

What followed was more indignity--long weeks in the dark hold of a ship, engines throbbing ceaselessly around him, and then yet another prison in a country called Japan. This time, he was imprisoned in a shack that taunted him with the possibilities of fresh air and freedom, bound with heavy chains and kept weakened by regular bleedings.

His new captor, a human named Souta Higurashi, was a dead ringer for the Fullmetal Shrimp's commanding officer back home. Envy quickly learned that his new jailor had two fatal flaws: curiosity and compassion, and despite being trapped in dragon form, Envy played those flaws for all he was worth. It was the only ticket he had out of this hellhole. He had to find a way to use it.

So he bided as patiently as he knew how, and played a game of seduction with his captor. Back home, he had loved to play with his victims. He could make himself look like anyone, and string them along. Make them do whatever he wanted.

He was kind, he was reasonable, he was as rational as his rage could bear.

And it seemed to work. Day after day, his captor returned, offering him useless tidbits of meat and vegetables, and with the food, something that Envy found truly useful: information.

Then the earthquake hit. His prison fell to pieces around him, but he was still held captive by the heavy manacles that were attached to stakes driven deep into the ground.

Once again, the universe fucking hated him.

Except, this time, it didn't.

While he raged silently, his captor appeared, offering a simple bargain. And, miracle of miracles, he freed Envy from his chains, and showed him a place where he could escape to.

Hurry, he said. The others will be here soon.

Envy suppressed his urge to tear his captor limb-to-limb, and frantically slithered under fallen beams, feeling roof tiles crunch and shatter beneath his clawed feet. Jagged wreckage gouged long scrapes along his sinuous length, as he squeezed himself head-first down a narrow hole. His blood dripped into his eyes, and fell in fat drops on the dirt at the bottom of the well.

What? Another fucking dead-end? He stopped, his hind legs still clinging to the rim of the well, and glared at the priest, who was chanting and waving a stick crowned with strips of white paper.

Envy was going to fucking kill Higurashi for tricking him! Then his luck finally turned. The bottom of the well disappeared in a blaze of rose-colored light, and he could see stars beyond the shifting curtain of light.

What the hell? Higurashi hadn't misled him after all. This was another Gate, though different from the ones summoned with alchemy.

Envy released his grip on the well, and fell down, down, down though a void of stars.

oo0oo

The world on the other side of the well was a primitive one. Mountains and villages and peasants, mostly, and the soldiers armed with only spears and arrows. No guns, no machinery, and, best of all, no alchemy.

It was paradise for a homunculus.

But what this world did have, was power of a different kind. And it fed his red stones, awakening them after their long torpor, though they were still too sluggish to allow him to shape-shift out of his dragon form.

Envy quickly learned that the humans didn't have much of this power, so eating them was pretty damned useless, though he enjoyed the screaming. But there were other beings in the world, strange beings that the humans named youkai, who brimmed with power.

Envy began hunting the youkai, the small ones at first, then working his way up to the larger ones. His red stones hummed with the lives they had absorbed, giving him power to draw on for transformations.

It was convenient to stay in his dragon-shape for the most part, though he did occasionally shift into the shape of something helpless-looking--a woman, a child, a wounded veteran of this world's endless human wars--to lure his prey.

All in all, it was a pretty good life.

But he still felt empty. All the youkai in this world couldn't fill up the gap left by the lack of a soul. And without a soul, he'd never be able to make that final connection, and take full advantage of his power. This had been his problem back home, the problem he thought he could solve by crossing through the Gate.

He'd been powerful there, too, powerful but empty. And so very jealous of Hohenheim's sons, who had been granted what he never had: a soul.

Then, one day, a youkai clad in a white baboon skin appeared at the gates of Envy's fortress and sought audience.

Envy had captured this castle several months ago, by the simple yet effective method of devouring its lord in the courtyard. Since then, he had had some difficulty hiring servants, but then again, no had dared to try to recapture the castle. None of the remaining soldiers questioned his orders, and the peasants paid their taxes promptly. It was a pretty sweet deal.

"And who the hell are you?" Envy asked, when his uninvited visitor had been ushered into the castle's audience hall. The only reason he hadn't yet devoured his caller was that he sensed only the merest trickle of power resident in the baboon skin-clad form.

"I am but a messenger." The baboon-masked head cocked curiously, studying Envy's sleek green coils. "You are not a youkai," it stated, finally.

Envy studied him in return. A messenger. But from whom? "Yeah, and?"

Baboon-mask inclined its head. "I bear greetings from Naraku, the most powerful demon in Japan. He has heard of your exploits, and wishes to meet with you."

"Why?" Envy purposely uncoiled a little in the confined space of the small audience hall, crowding Baboon-mask against one of the painted screens.

The people of this place didn't believe in furniture, which was all to the good when he was in his dragon-shape.

"There is a matter that he wishes your assistance with."

"Too bad." Envy yawned. "Not interested."

Baboon-mask chuckled. "Not even if he offers you your heart's desire?"

Envy dropped his pretense of boredom. "Impossible."

"Anything is possible for the one who possesses the Shikon no Tama. Come, and see."

oo0oo

With the baboon-masked thing as his guide, Envy traveled inland for several days from his fortress in the coastal hills, climbing steadily into mountainous highlands. The early spring weather was mild, with cold nights, but the tree branches were already budding with silvery green, and the meadows and clearings were sprinkled with the first tender green shoots and wildflowers.

Then they entered a desolate valley of withered grass and bare-branched trees, and Envy saw a tile-roofed fortress perched on the cliffs at the end of the valley. An aura of immense and tainted power hung over the fortress like dark storm clouds, though it was a sunny afternoon, with air as clear and tangy as high-grade sakè.

Baboon-mask led him to the lowest gate of the castle. "My master awaits you inside," it said, then vanished in a smear of foul purple miasma.

Envy contemplated the stone-lined staircase beyond the massive wooden gate with distaste. His dragon-form would never fit through the narrow passage up into the fortress.

He could simply force his way through, destroying anything that hindered him. That was how he had won the fortress he now called home.

But why piss off the castle's owner before he had a chance to see what kind of an offer that the self-proclaimed most powerful demon in Japan made him?

If he didn't like what he heard, he could always destroy this fortress on his way out.

Envy grinned, and, calling upon the power of the lives he had devoured, he changed his shape into something suitable for visiting a castle.

He chose the androgynous face and form he had worn for so many centuries, but added the rich robes and paired swords worn by noblemen of this world.

Then he passed through the gates that stood open before him.

oo0oo

Except for the aura of power, the castle appeared totally deserted at first. Envy climbed up into the heart of the fortress along zig-zagging paths and stone staircases built into the face of the cliff, until he came to the walled courtyard.

Like the surrounding countryside, the castle grounds were bare of any ornamental plants or even weeds. The courtyard was a large space, paved with gravel, and marred by huge pits and gouges, as if someone had shelled this place using artillery, and there was faint but persistent odor of decay permeating the air here.

The courtyard was surrounded by one- and two-story buildings, all apparently deserted.

His patience rapidly evaporating, Envy looked around. No one appeared to greet him. If this is ajoke of some kind...

The sun had disappeared below the horizon while he made his way here, and in the twilight shadows, he saw oil lamps suddenly flare to life, casting a golden glow through the hanging screens of split bamboo that covered the entrance to a single-story audience hall directly ahead.

He strode across the scarred courtyard, pushed aside the bamboo screens over the entrance to the hall, and came face-to-face with a nobleman sitting cross-legged on a low dais.

Dark hair flowed in carefully-arranged locks over the shoulders of his robes, and his face was young, almost feminine in its beauty. Only his gaze, burning like the bloody heart of a polished garnet, revealed his age and his power.

"You wanted to see me?" Envy asked, stepping onto the dais and sitting down next to his host with calculated insolence. "Naraku," he added, deliberately and without honorifics.

Naraku shot him a baleful glance, then inclined his head. "Envy-sama, you do me a great favor," he murmured, a courtesy that didn't fool Envy.

Envy responded with a razor-sharp smile. "Let's just say your messenger was pretty convincing."

"You are a stranger to Japan," Naraku said, musingly. "You have many of the powers of youkai, yet my informants tell me that you are not a youkai. You intrigue me."

"So glad to hear it," Envy said, leaning back comfortably on one elbow. He could sense the other's irritation, and wondered how far he would need to push this Naraku before something really interesting--and fun--happened.

Naraku sighed. "What, exactly, are you? And where did you come from?"

Nosy son of a bitch. Envy shrugged. "It's difficult to explain."

"I would be most interested in hearing your story. Ah, but I've been remiss," Naraku murmured, proffering a small, shallow cup, and a glazed jug. "Sakè?"

Envy reached for the cup, and felt Naraku's fingers brush his.

Instantly, a questing tendril of power invaded him.

"You bastard," Envy snarled, and snatched back his hand.

Naraku smiled, sweet as poisoned honey, and lowered his eyes, seemingly intent on filling the cup he held with a thin stream of clear liquid from the jug.

"Not a youkai. But certainly not human.," he mused. "You remind me of that miko, made of baked clay and bones, and energized only by the souls of the dead, and her own desire for vengeance..." He held out the cup. "You are empty. But I can change that."

This time, Envy made no move to reach for the proffered cup. "I am a homunculus, an artificial being. I am immortal, and faster and stronger than any human and any youkai I've met. I don't need anything from you--"

"Are you so certain of that? I sense that there are great things you could do, if a certain part of you were not missing," Naraku murmured. He set down the cup and jug next to Envy, and spread his hand invitingly over them. "I could give you one, you know."

"Give me what?" Envy asked. He knew he had lost control of this conversation, and it bothered him.

Naraku filled a second cup, and sipped from it before replying. "A soul, to complete you."

Envy felt a chill. What else had Naraku discovered, in that brief instant of invasion? He sneered to cover his discomfort. "Now, why would I want a puny human soul?"

Those garnet eyes seemed to look right through him. Then he glanced to a corner of the reception hall, and made a summoning gesture. "Kanna."

A little girl, pale and colorless as a ghost, stepped forward, cradling a large mirror in her arms.

"I agree that a human soul would not prove much of a bargain," continued Naraku. "But how about something much more heady...?"

The little girl tilted the mirror in Envy's direction, and clouds swirled and parted in the polished surface, revealing a beautiful and inhuman being, with waist-length silver hair, a brow marked with a crescent moon, and an air of immense pride and confident strength.

"For instance, consider the soul of a taiyoukai. And not just any taiyoukai--the son and heir of the Inu no Taisho, who was one of Japan's greatest demons."

Envy observed the taiyoukai for a few moments. He looked every inch a prince among demons, even trailed by two incongruous followers--a young human girl, and a tiny, bird-beaked imp.

"Sounds interesting," he admitted, at last. "But what do you want in return?"

"To see that particular taiyoukai defeated. His presence is proving a...hindrance to my plans," Naraku said. "It would truly be a matter of killing two birds with a one stone, so to speak."

"Mmm-hm." Envy kept his tone neutral, trying to conceal the sudden surge of interest in Naraku's offer. "For the sake of argument--not that I'm agreeing to anything, mind you --let's say that I agree to go bag this taiyoukai for you. How are you gonna arrange the soul transfer?"

Naraku smiled again, and reached into his robes. When he opened his fist, a cracked jewel glowed in his palm like a tainted, luminous rose. "Behold, a piece of the Shikon no Tama. With it, I can do anything, even defeat gods. Binding this youkai's soul to your flesh would be child's play."

The semi-circular fragment drew Envy's gaze, and he found it hard to look away. But something still wasn't adding up…

"Hmmm," said Envy. "Let me see if I've got this straight. You say that this jewel of yours has the power to do anything. So why hire me to get rid of this guy…what did you say his name was, again?"

Naraku blinked. Gotcha! thought Envy. What, do I look stupid or something?

"There are...certain restrictions on my own power," he said, finally, his tone grudging.

In the next instant, Envy swore that he could see Naraku's form ripple and bulge somehow, as if he were not a young man at all, but rather a shifting mass of...somethings...all trying to escape in different directions.

"But the hour grows late. " Naraku rose, and Envy sensed that the interview was an end. "Please enjoy the hospitality of my castle tonight. I would be most grateful if you would give my offer your full consideration. And, to prove my sincerity--" He closed his palm, and the Shikon no Tama vanished. When he opened his hand again, and extended it in Envy's direction, Envy saw a tiny, glowing splinter resting on his palm. "A shard of the Shikon no Tama. See its power for yourself."

Envy accepted the crystal shard. It hummed with strange energy, every bit as powerful as his own red stones, but with a different quality, as if the lives used to make this particular Philosopher's Stone had been youkai, rather than human. Very interesting.

"Now, I will bid you goodnight. Kanna will show you to your room. We will speak again in the morning." Naraku turned, and Envy suddenly felt as if the other youkai were in a hurry to leave. But why?

Outside, the last sullen glimmers of autumn twilight burned on the western horizon as Envy followed the pale little girl across the courtyard and into one of the other buildings.

oo0oo

If this Naraku had been studying him, thought Envy a few hours later, then he hadn't done a very good job. Homunculi did not need to eat anything except the red stones, nor did they need to sleep.

Which is why he had kicked over the dinner tray that Kanna had brought him, was now restlessly pacing around his futon as the moon rose.

To ease his boredom, he began playing with the jewel splinter he had been given, testing it to see what he could do.

It certainly eased his ability to flow from one shape to another, and better yet, Envy was able to complete his transformations without feeling any of the power from his red stones drain away.

Now, what else, could he do with this thing?

He pictured a transmutation circle, perfectly envisioned thanks to the alchemic expertise force-fed him by his passage through the gate.

Up until this point, he had dismissed this as useless knowledge--without souls, none of the homunculi could perform transmutations.

But now...now, he felt a new and different kind of energy pulsing through him, begging him to be released.

How had the Fullmetal Shrimp performed his alchemy without chalk or circle? The answer came to him in a flood of images and Gate-fueled knowledge.

Envy pictured a transmutation circle, clapped his hands to complete the circle, and immediately, the blue fire of transmutation sprang up. Decomposition, understanding, reconstruction.

But then it died again when he found himself unable to channel the energy that lingered just outside his grasp, unable to force it to flow across the gap inside of him. But he had almost succeeded this time. Almost, with the aid of the jewel splinter.

At that moment, Envy knew he wanted the rest of the Shikon no Tama. Leaving his room, he set out in search of it.

He would find it, if he had to tear apart this castle stone by stone, and its owner limb-by-limb.

oo0oo

Stealing the jewel proved easier than Envy had imagined. Letting his senses expand to seek the energies that powered the jewel shard newly-embedded in his flesh, Envy stalked through the castle.

There were no retainers, and no youkai in any of the rooms he searched. The fortress was deserted except for the skeletons piled in the corners and the heavy clouds of demonic energy...and the steady pulse of energy from the jewel, echoing through Envy's consciousness as if the Shikon no Tama was calling to him.

Following that call, he descended down into the lower levels of the castle, where a warren of storerooms lay. The pulse grew steadily stronger as he found a trapdoor in the wooden floor of the lowest level, and opened it, to find a cellar carved from the living rock of the castle's foundations.

He climbed cautiously down a rough wooden ladder and found the room filled with a writhing mass of youkai. The nude, pale body of the young man who called himself Naraku lay on the floor of the cellar, his eyes closed, his huge demonic aura dissipated to almost nothing as assorted youkai struggled to emerge from his chest, his torso, even his head.

And next to Naraku's head lay the jewel, a glowing blackish-pink incomplete orb.

Envy could move with blinding speed when he chose to. And the souls trapped in the jewel were calling to him, making him promises that he couldn't quite hear…

oo0oo

He left Naraku's castle in the form of a giant raven, escaping through the night with great beats of his wings.

With the jewel throbbing in his grasp, he needed only a soul to finally be complete. And Naraku, in his hubris, had given Envy the key to exactly what he needed.

Once he had found and conquered the taiyoukai, Envy would combine magic and alchemy, and rule this world...