(no subject)
Title: Devotions
Chapter Title: Decimation
Genre: Fluff, angst, drama, tragedy, romance, squick
Pairings: RoyEd + 9 Hidden (3 non-con, 1 one-sided, 1 implied)
Rating (this chapter): NC-17
Rating (overall): NC-17
Warnings (this chapter): blood play, character deaths, genital mutilation
Warnings (overall): blood play, character deaths, corpse rape, genital mutilation, graphic rapes, het, homunculus sex, mindfuck, mind control, Nazism, one of the characters going insane, post-series AU, squick, spoilers up through the end of the series, yaoi
Summary: Sometimes coping is hard than we'd imagine.
Chapter Summary: They even cheered in triumph. The idiots obviously thought their blessed superior had rescued the boy.
Co-plot-comer-upper-with: thatonefangirl
Beta: guineapiglady
Word Count: 3864
Chapter 0 "Apples"
Chapter 1 "Coffee and Snuggles"
Chapter 2 "Brotherly Love"
Chapter 3 "Caring and Surviving"
Chapter 4 "Replacement"
Chapter 5 "Memory"
Chapter 6 “Waking up to a Dream”
Chapter 7 "Things Fall Apart"
Chapter 8 "Rebirth"
Envy slammed the warehouse door behind him, looking for where Ross had run off to. He paused, smiling, knowing she couldn't have gone far in the small amount of time. Thinking for just a few moments, he walked around to the back of the warehouse. There was a loading bed there, surrounded by a large patch of dirt where the trucks could drive up and restock the warehouse. Trees must have been cleared to make the dirt lot, as right behind the building there was one of the few wilder portions of Central, a thicket backing the area. His purple eyes scanned the brush, narrowing when he saw a bit of blue cloth dangling from a low tree branch. The scent of blood was in the air.
Mistake number one.
He grinned, ducking fluidly under the branch she had escaped through. She had definitely cut herself on one of the branches; he could smell the blood in the air, and it was only growing stronger. Finally, he spotted footprints in the bed of the creek.
Mistake number two.
He followed the footprints, quickly catching up with the human, speed being on his side. She was hustling, holding her left arm with her right hand, making her way down the creek bed, apparently trying to get out of the woods and to some annoying reinforcements. There was a bad rip on the left arm of her jacket, and congealed blood could be seen through her fingers. She stopped, just for a moment, to catch her breath.
Mistake number three.
He ducked behind a tree, shifting quickly into a darker form, one that would be better concealed in the shadows. As he expected, she looked back, panting slightly, assuming she had escaped what was certainly inevitably a terrible fate. She collapsed by the small creek, ripping the rest of her sleeve off to dabble it in the water and clean her arm. So focused on the task, she didn't even notice the dark form flash behind her until the knife was at her throat.
The fatal mistake.
She couldn't cry out, because his hand flickered over her mouth. She bit down on his fingers, but he didn't even seem to notice. A quick death was good enough for her. He looked over her body, taking in the flaws and the perfections, and as his body accommodated her figure, he slit her throat, leaving her body in the creek, watching as her blood tainted the water. They'd deal with the body later. For now, he had to get back to the warehouse.
Her body was well trained, and Envy was surprised how quickly he got back to the makeshift house.
Pride was sitting in the living room, the door to the barren room where Envy had been keeping Edward wide open. He had obviously been cleaning up, blood and chalk still littering the floor, but at least the stone floor was visible. The moon shone in through the high, barred window, and the light shimmered eerily on the homunculus' features.
Envy leaned in and knew Pride's quick eyes picked up on the small spatters of blood, even on his black clothing. "So she's taken care of?" Pride murmured against Ed's lips.
"The bottom of the creek," Envy affirmed, sitting in Pride's lap, forgetting about the point of the exercise for the moment.
"Pay phone," Pride said simply, taking Ed's knife, kissing the back of his neck. Envy nodded and got up, caressing the side of his lover's face. "I do this for you, you know. I wasn't lying about that."
Pride laughed at Envy and shook his head. "You know well enough I can't even remember you saying that. It doesn't matter now. We have each other and we know what's right for each other. You need to get to a pay phone."
"Not a pay phone," Envy said with a grin. "That woman's been storing all the military in a very certain pay phone. She should be more careful and make sure she doesn't have any stalkers... someone could get into some very privileged information."
"We've already affirmed she's stupid," Pride said, rolling his eyes and flipping the knife in his hands, licking the crusted blood off, leaving the metal shining.
"Are you trying to postpone things?" Envy asked, panting slightly, turning towards the door. "Put that thing away and stop playing with it or I'll have to put it to use in a different way than it was used before."
Pride laughed, and stashed the blade away, following Envy through the door. The pay phone wasn't far away, and Ross' men did nothing to stop them as they walked up to it, only seeing Ross, and a man that looked like Edward.
They even cheered in triumph. The idiots obviously thought their blessed superior had rescued the boy. He flashed them a smile and went to the pay phone, finding a stack of cenz conveniently next to the phone. Putting two of the coins in the slot he leaned against the side of the stall, watching Pride watch the troops from right outside.
Coughing lightly, working up the frantic voice he was going to have to use, he listened to the ringing. Eventually, he heard the man pick up.
"Lieutenant Colonel Havoc speaking," a sleepy voice said.
In a breathless voice, Envy stuttered, "Major Ross speaking..."
Havoc sat up at his desk, pulling the phone close to his ear. "Major Ross, is everything alright? How did the raid go?"
Envy swallowed hard and just breathed raggedly for a few moments. "You-you need to get over here, Lieutenant Colonel..." he said quickly. "I need backup..."
"Where's your location?" Havoc asked frantically, opening his desk to find a picture of Ross, laying upside down. It was one of her military shots, and she wasn't smiling, but it was the only one he had of her. He tucked it inside of his jacket, hoping-praying she would be alright. He had lost Roy. He couldn't bear to lose Maria. "Are you still at the house?"
The men outside were celebrating. Playing cards. Grinning up at Pride. Pride gave them a nasty grin back, but they didn't seem to notice the subtle difference. Or the fact that Major Ross seemed to be highly distressed in the phone booth. Pride turned to watch Envy, listening in on the conversation.
"Just outside," Envy said in a choked voice. "We... had to pull back. I've lost too many men..." He smiled sweetly and Pride and winked at him, telling him to go and at least make the conversation true.
The knife Pride had stashed away quickly ended the poker game. Cenz and cards scattered over the ground as he overturned the table. The camp had quickly turned into an uproar. Two men came at Pride, but using his speed, they found themselves stabbed several times in the back. Those who witnessed the inhuman event began to scatter away, rather than towards the attacker. Picking a gun off of one of the dead men, he aimed carefully, and shot the runaways in the head. They fell to the ground, lifeless. Two men stood, shaking, behind the upturned table. Pride stood behind them, holding the gun to one of their heads, his foot against the other's back. He kicked the second man hard. "Get up," Pride said roughly.
The man sprung to his feet, despite his aching ribs. "Spare me... please!"
Pride didn't say anything to that, just kicked him behind the knees, watching him buckle. "Walk ten paces that way," he said simply. The man limped around the table, and counted carefully.
"Stay there, or I'll shoot you in the head," Pride threatened. "And I'll see you if you run."
Self-preservation kept the man rooted to the spot.
Pride held the pistol lightly in his left hand, putting the blade of his bloody knife to the other man's neck. "Hey," he said in a soft voice, grinning ear to ear. "Maybe you'll get lucky and get to escape unscathed. Do you have a family waiting for you at home?"
The man whimpered softly and Pride turned to grin at Envy.
Envy suppressed a laugh and swallowed hard. "I only have two men, Jean!" he whimpered in the voice he knew would get to the man's heart. "Please... if you don't come soon... I don't know what will happen!"
Havoc breathed in deeply. "Maria... I'll bring reinforcements. Hold out for me." He hung up the phone and touched his jacket where the photo lay. He snapped out of it, and ran to the dorms, waking up every soldier under his command.
Pride wrapped an arm around the man and pulled him close, lowering the knife as Envy walked towards the two of them. He carefully watched his lover and licked where the knife had been, seeing a small rivulet of blood, trying to see if he could make the homunculus envious.
Standing above the two of them, Envy watched the scene with obvious lust in his eyes. He grabbed the man's dog tags, looking at them quickly, noting his name, before saying, "Charl, you've disappointed your superior officer greatly." Much to both of the homunculi's delight, pulling on the dog tags tilted the man's head up, giving Pride more area to molest.
Pride bit down on the man's neck, pulling back to watch the blood drip down from the broken skin. He lapped at it, dropping the knife at Charl's feet to clasp his crotch, the confused man slightly hard from the attention, whether he wanted it or not. "You've made this nice woman angry..." he said in a disappointed voice.
Envy leaned over, his eyes on Pride the whole time. "You know, I think he's enjoying this too much," he murmured, his fingers curling around the hilt of the knife.
"Nnn, really?" Pride asked, licking a bit of blood from the corner of his mouth. "What do you think you can do about that?"
"A few things," Envy said, absentmindedly tailing the razor-sharp blade down the center of Charl's stomach. The blade cut all the way through his uniform, leaving just a narrow, shallow cut, barely seeping any blood on his chest, the red liquid pearling at the edges of the wound. Eventually the knife stopped, just above the man's pants.
He pulled the knife back, looking at him for a second, his eyes off of Pride for the moment. Unbuttoning the man's pants with deft fingers, he stared into Charl's fearful eyes. Shoving the fabric down roughly, he placed the knife point right at the point of his hip, digging in a bit. "Does that hurt?" Envy asked, digging the knife in deeper and dragging it to the man's inner thigh, watching the rivulets of blood flow down his legs.
The man's knees almost buckled but Pride grabbed the back of his jacket, holding him up. "You've been rude enough to your superior," he said, almost gleefully. "So you should at least take your punishment like a man. While you still are one."
Charl's eyes got wider, and he thrashed a bit, but Pride's grip was too strong. "Hold still, little man," Pride laughed, watching intently as Envy first grabbed the base of the man's cock, pulling it up so he could get easy access to his testicles. The knife was almost too quick to see, but the wail of pain was loud and piercing. The blood was practically sticking the man's legs together now and Envy stepped back, looking at his work.
Rubbing the knife the military uniform he was wearing, he looked at the sniveling mess, tilting his head up. "Charl, you're still alive! You should be thankful for that!" He punctuated the sentence by cutting off the last piece of the man's genitalia. Pride let go of the man, and he fell to the ground. "At least for now," Envy purred. "I'm afraid you've lost a lot of blood."
Pride just looked at Envy with an odd smile on his face. "Why'd you do that?" he asked. "There was plenty of fun we could have had with him..."
"I'm possessive," Envy explained, a smirk on his face. "I just got a little jealous... went a little overboard..." He wrapped his arms around the homunculus, looking at him with lidded eyes. He licked the last of Charl's blood off of Pride's lips. He pulled back though, and laughed. "Well, if I'm to be found here, I can't be consorting with homunculi, now can I?" He looked down at the man on the ground and smeared some of his blood onto his own face and uniform, taking the knife and cutting gashes and wounds into himself. Finally, when he was pleased with his work, he dropped the knife back onto Charl.
"I guess that's true..." Pride mumbled to himself. "Well, try not to let that heal while I'm gone, love." Pride waved to Envy, going back to the warehouse, waiting for the insects to flood to the light.
Fury entered Al's room, smiling sadly as he saw the boy playing with a few kittens. Even though he knew the boy wouldn't respond, he said, "Good morning, Al," like he did every time. He sat in the same chair, next to his bed, and just started talking. "A lot of stuff has happened lately," he said. "A lot of people don’t want me telling you, though, but I don't think it's fair for... you to be kept in the dark, even if you can't hear me." He looked down, breathing in deeply.
"Your-your brother's been kidnapped, Al. He thinks that he's with Roy, but we all know that can't be true. But he's... acting insane. He won't let us save him, because he's afraid... afraid of what Roy will do to him. Ross is doing everything she can to make sure that he'll be okay, Alphonse, so you don't need to worry. You know how good Ross is."
Fury closed his eyes, trying so hard not to cry. "You've been in here so long... and you're missing out on everything. I just want you to get better, though, and I know that you can't get better if you're not here... but it's so hard. I want to take you to the dog park again, Al..."
He breathed in deeply, looking up at the blonde, wanting to touch him, but knowing that was even more forbidden than what he had just done.
Al just stared back at him, then picked up a small, black kitten with a pink nose. He held it in front of his face, laughing softly and petting it.
Fury just sighed. "Even when your brother's in danger, you don't seem to react. You can't remember anything, can you?"
Al just responded by placing the cat in Fury's lap and smiled innocently. "Cain," he said, and although the word was slurred, it was apparent. He hummed happily to himself, petting the kitten in Fury's lap.
Fury seemed shocked, but he smiled widely. "Al, do you remember me?" he managed to ask, his words blending together. He placed his hand on top of Al's, wiping tears away with his shoulder. "Can you say my name again?"
Al paused, biting his lower lip and looking at the man. He pet the kitten slowly, pulling his hand out from under Fury's. Then he tracked down two more kittens, putting them in Fury's lap. "Edward," he said, placing a tabby with striking yellow eyes next to the black cat. "Roy." He placed a calico in his lap as well, seeming pleased with himself. He busied himself, looking under the sheet, as if he couldn't find something he wanted.
Fury's smile, however, disappeared completely. "Those are... the cat's names, aren't they?" he asked sadly. "I guess that's a good sign, though, that you're remembering out names."
Al looked keenly at Fury for a moment, petting the kittens in the other man's lap. He frowned eventually, and grabbed Fury's hand, trying to get him to pet the kittens, though his aim was clumsy. "Puppies, you like?" Al slurred, moving Fury's hand up and down, making him pat the small, black kitten.
"Yes, I like puppies," Fury said, trying not to laugh at Al's antics. "Would you like a puppy? I can bring you one, you know." The ecstatic feeling from when Al had said his name reemerged, simply from this small interaction. The doctors had told him morosely that Alphonse hadn't talked to anyone but his kittens the entire time he had been in the ward.
"Puppies..." Al said, with a puzzled look on his face, which quickly turned to frustration. "Name it... Jean?"
Fury nodded slowly, petting the cat on his own now. "Jean is a good name. I'll bring you a puppy tomorrow then, how does that sound?"
Al placed a finger on Fury's lip and then looked around. "Shhh," he said. "Don't tell." The boy seemed confused.
"Al, do you remember Jean?" Fury asked, frowning. "Do you... remember anything?"
Al seemed very interested in whatever was under his covers again. "You kiss..." he mumbled, turning over so he could better see under the sheets. He yawned lightly. "Puppies there..."
Fury's eyes were blurred with tears again. "Al... please come back to me..." he begged. "I miss you so much..."
Al came up from under the covers and looked straight at Fury. "You love," he said, nodding knowingly. "Kiss...ed me. Puppies."
Fury just nodded, wiping more tears away. "Yes, I kissed you, and I love you, and I'm going to bring you a puppy tomorrow, okay?"
Al leaned his head back slightly, parting his lips and looking at Fury pleadingly. "Kiss?" The word was gentle and soft, a plea.
Fury shook his head. "Not today," he said. "When you're better." He felt terrible telling Al that, especially with the miserable look on his face.
"Love you," Al said softly, petting the top of his head. Fury just nodded, standing up.
"I've got to go, Al. Visitor's hours are almost up."
"Love you," Al repeated again, just watching Fury leave the room.
The nurse looked at Fury as he exited the room. "How is he?"
Fury just smiled sadly, not saying anything.
"Oh," the nurse said. "Maybe he'll make some progress soon." Fury nodded, leaving the building before he got sick of the drab white walls, but most of all, the way they were treating Alphonse. He'd be back tomorrow.
When Havoc got to the site of the warehouse, he gasped, falling to his knees next to what he thought was Ross's body. "Maria," he said, doing his best to keep from crying. "Are... are you alright?"
"...it looked like Edward," Envy coughed, closing his eyes. "It... it looked like Edward... But I don't understand-he's different, too..."
"Maria..." Havoc said softly, stroking the face he loved so much. "Hold on. I've brought troops; I'm sure everything will be okay. But you need to tell me, if you can-who looked like Edward?"
"The one who killed my men," Envy panted, reaching up weakly before grabbing Havoc's collar and pulling him down, the knife from earlier at his throat. With a smile, the wounds quickly healing, he hissed, "Pride's the one who killed my men."
Havoc struggled, but found that he couldn't get free. "Maria... what are you doing?" he asked, his voice choked. As he swallowed, he could feel the knife against his Adam's apple and he closed his eyes, trying to rationalize the situation.
Pride walked slowly out of the warehouse, his head tilted to the side. "You two wouldn't happen to be talking about me, now would you? It's impolite to talk about people behind their backs..."
Havoc managed to get a look at the homunculus walking towards them and whimpered softly. Envy, however, beamed at Pride. "Of course I was talking about you, love. You're the one who disposed of most of these pesky troops. Now, don't struggle Jean, it'll only make you bleed."
"Who are you, no what are you?" Havoc rasped, his eyes still on Pride.
"I'm Edward, of course," Pride said. "Don't you believe me?"
Havoc's eyes rolled back in his head, slumping into a faint.
"He'll be no fun like this," Envy said, annoyed. "Let's take him to the warehouse until he wakes up. Then we can have more fun with him."
"Fun," Pride laughed. "Fun indeed."
Roy came to the apartment around three in the morning, looking exhausted. He knocked on the door, calling for Edward, who came quickly, opening the door with a bowed head. He was silent and moved away immediately so Roy could come into the house.
Roy frowned, and watched him back away. Eventually, however, he went to the cabinet to get some painkillers. He turned around, the pills in hand to look at Ed with a soft smile on his face. "Hey beautiful..."
Edward just stood against the wall, his head down. "Hi." The word was solitary, almost laced with guilt, as if he wasn't sure whether he should respond or not.
Pouring himself a glass of water, Roy took the pills and walked over to Ed. "I'm sorry I couldn't come back to the house with you," he murmured, wrapping his arms around the man. "I had some work to take care of, but look! I brought... some bread home. Dinner." He looked at the moldy bread in the bag and sighed inwardly, wishing he could use alchemy to restore the bread, rather than cut the moldy parts off.
Edward continued looking at the floor. "I don’t need to eat," he deadpanned. "I ate yesterday, and I'm sure you don't have a lot of food."
Roy smiled sadly at him. "I have a whole loaf of bread, Edward. I'm sure we can split it between the two of us."
Edward finally looked up at him, the misery on his face uncontained. "We used to have a big house. We were married..." He looked down at his shaking left hand, touching where his ring used to be, yet had been taken away by Envy as punishment.
"We were," Roy agreed, holding Ed's hand with his own unadorned one. "Don't worry about the ring..." He swallowed hard, trying not to choke. "I had to pawn mine... in order to get food a while back. I just... didn't know what else to do."
Edward didn't know what to do. The Roy he had been living with had never shown emotion like this. So he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the older man, holding him close, but still cautious.
Roy just leaned against Ed, finally letting his tears flow freely. "I thought I'd never see you again," he sobbed.
"Promise me you'll never leave me again," Ed whispered, remembering what happened last time he asked for that.
Roy pulled back to look Ed in the eye. "I will do anything in my power to keep us from being separated again, Edward. I love you, and I don't want you to get hurt again."
"I love you, too," Edward sobbed, pulling Roy as close to him as possible without hurting him.
Chapter Title: Decimation
Genre: Fluff, angst, drama, tragedy, romance, squick
Pairings: RoyEd + 9 Hidden (3 non-con, 1 one-sided, 1 implied)
Rating (this chapter): NC-17
Rating (overall): NC-17
Warnings (this chapter): blood play, character deaths, genital mutilation
Warnings (overall): blood play, character deaths, corpse rape, genital mutilation, graphic rapes, het, homunculus sex, mindfuck, mind control, Nazism, one of the characters going insane, post-series AU, squick, spoilers up through the end of the series, yaoi
Summary: Sometimes coping is hard than we'd imagine.
Chapter Summary: They even cheered in triumph. The idiots obviously thought their blessed superior had rescued the boy.
Co-plot-comer-upper-with: thatonefangirl
Beta: guineapiglady
Word Count: 3864
Chapter 0 "Apples"
Chapter 1 "Coffee and Snuggles"
Chapter 2 "Brotherly Love"
Chapter 3 "Caring and Surviving"
Chapter 4 "Replacement"
Chapter 5 "Memory"
Chapter 6 “Waking up to a Dream”
Chapter 7 "Things Fall Apart"
Chapter 8 "Rebirth"
Envy slammed the warehouse door behind him, looking for where Ross had run off to. He paused, smiling, knowing she couldn't have gone far in the small amount of time. Thinking for just a few moments, he walked around to the back of the warehouse. There was a loading bed there, surrounded by a large patch of dirt where the trucks could drive up and restock the warehouse. Trees must have been cleared to make the dirt lot, as right behind the building there was one of the few wilder portions of Central, a thicket backing the area. His purple eyes scanned the brush, narrowing when he saw a bit of blue cloth dangling from a low tree branch. The scent of blood was in the air.
Mistake number one.
He grinned, ducking fluidly under the branch she had escaped through. She had definitely cut herself on one of the branches; he could smell the blood in the air, and it was only growing stronger. Finally, he spotted footprints in the bed of the creek.
Mistake number two.
He followed the footprints, quickly catching up with the human, speed being on his side. She was hustling, holding her left arm with her right hand, making her way down the creek bed, apparently trying to get out of the woods and to some annoying reinforcements. There was a bad rip on the left arm of her jacket, and congealed blood could be seen through her fingers. She stopped, just for a moment, to catch her breath.
Mistake number three.
He ducked behind a tree, shifting quickly into a darker form, one that would be better concealed in the shadows. As he expected, she looked back, panting slightly, assuming she had escaped what was certainly inevitably a terrible fate. She collapsed by the small creek, ripping the rest of her sleeve off to dabble it in the water and clean her arm. So focused on the task, she didn't even notice the dark form flash behind her until the knife was at her throat.
The fatal mistake.
She couldn't cry out, because his hand flickered over her mouth. She bit down on his fingers, but he didn't even seem to notice. A quick death was good enough for her. He looked over her body, taking in the flaws and the perfections, and as his body accommodated her figure, he slit her throat, leaving her body in the creek, watching as her blood tainted the water. They'd deal with the body later. For now, he had to get back to the warehouse.
Her body was well trained, and Envy was surprised how quickly he got back to the makeshift house.
Pride was sitting in the living room, the door to the barren room where Envy had been keeping Edward wide open. He had obviously been cleaning up, blood and chalk still littering the floor, but at least the stone floor was visible. The moon shone in through the high, barred window, and the light shimmered eerily on the homunculus' features.
Envy leaned in and knew Pride's quick eyes picked up on the small spatters of blood, even on his black clothing. "So she's taken care of?" Pride murmured against Ed's lips.
"The bottom of the creek," Envy affirmed, sitting in Pride's lap, forgetting about the point of the exercise for the moment.
"Pay phone," Pride said simply, taking Ed's knife, kissing the back of his neck. Envy nodded and got up, caressing the side of his lover's face. "I do this for you, you know. I wasn't lying about that."
Pride laughed at Envy and shook his head. "You know well enough I can't even remember you saying that. It doesn't matter now. We have each other and we know what's right for each other. You need to get to a pay phone."
"Not a pay phone," Envy said with a grin. "That woman's been storing all the military in a very certain pay phone. She should be more careful and make sure she doesn't have any stalkers... someone could get into some very privileged information."
"We've already affirmed she's stupid," Pride said, rolling his eyes and flipping the knife in his hands, licking the crusted blood off, leaving the metal shining.
"Are you trying to postpone things?" Envy asked, panting slightly, turning towards the door. "Put that thing away and stop playing with it or I'll have to put it to use in a different way than it was used before."
Pride laughed, and stashed the blade away, following Envy through the door. The pay phone wasn't far away, and Ross' men did nothing to stop them as they walked up to it, only seeing Ross, and a man that looked like Edward.
They even cheered in triumph. The idiots obviously thought their blessed superior had rescued the boy. He flashed them a smile and went to the pay phone, finding a stack of cenz conveniently next to the phone. Putting two of the coins in the slot he leaned against the side of the stall, watching Pride watch the troops from right outside.
Coughing lightly, working up the frantic voice he was going to have to use, he listened to the ringing. Eventually, he heard the man pick up.
"Lieutenant Colonel Havoc speaking," a sleepy voice said.
In a breathless voice, Envy stuttered, "Major Ross speaking..."
Havoc sat up at his desk, pulling the phone close to his ear. "Major Ross, is everything alright? How did the raid go?"
Envy swallowed hard and just breathed raggedly for a few moments. "You-you need to get over here, Lieutenant Colonel..." he said quickly. "I need backup..."
"Where's your location?" Havoc asked frantically, opening his desk to find a picture of Ross, laying upside down. It was one of her military shots, and she wasn't smiling, but it was the only one he had of her. He tucked it inside of his jacket, hoping-praying she would be alright. He had lost Roy. He couldn't bear to lose Maria. "Are you still at the house?"
The men outside were celebrating. Playing cards. Grinning up at Pride. Pride gave them a nasty grin back, but they didn't seem to notice the subtle difference. Or the fact that Major Ross seemed to be highly distressed in the phone booth. Pride turned to watch Envy, listening in on the conversation.
"Just outside," Envy said in a choked voice. "We... had to pull back. I've lost too many men..." He smiled sweetly and Pride and winked at him, telling him to go and at least make the conversation true.
The knife Pride had stashed away quickly ended the poker game. Cenz and cards scattered over the ground as he overturned the table. The camp had quickly turned into an uproar. Two men came at Pride, but using his speed, they found themselves stabbed several times in the back. Those who witnessed the inhuman event began to scatter away, rather than towards the attacker. Picking a gun off of one of the dead men, he aimed carefully, and shot the runaways in the head. They fell to the ground, lifeless. Two men stood, shaking, behind the upturned table. Pride stood behind them, holding the gun to one of their heads, his foot against the other's back. He kicked the second man hard. "Get up," Pride said roughly.
The man sprung to his feet, despite his aching ribs. "Spare me... please!"
Pride didn't say anything to that, just kicked him behind the knees, watching him buckle. "Walk ten paces that way," he said simply. The man limped around the table, and counted carefully.
"Stay there, or I'll shoot you in the head," Pride threatened. "And I'll see you if you run."
Self-preservation kept the man rooted to the spot.
Pride held the pistol lightly in his left hand, putting the blade of his bloody knife to the other man's neck. "Hey," he said in a soft voice, grinning ear to ear. "Maybe you'll get lucky and get to escape unscathed. Do you have a family waiting for you at home?"
The man whimpered softly and Pride turned to grin at Envy.
Envy suppressed a laugh and swallowed hard. "I only have two men, Jean!" he whimpered in the voice he knew would get to the man's heart. "Please... if you don't come soon... I don't know what will happen!"
Havoc breathed in deeply. "Maria... I'll bring reinforcements. Hold out for me." He hung up the phone and touched his jacket where the photo lay. He snapped out of it, and ran to the dorms, waking up every soldier under his command.
Pride wrapped an arm around the man and pulled him close, lowering the knife as Envy walked towards the two of them. He carefully watched his lover and licked where the knife had been, seeing a small rivulet of blood, trying to see if he could make the homunculus envious.
Standing above the two of them, Envy watched the scene with obvious lust in his eyes. He grabbed the man's dog tags, looking at them quickly, noting his name, before saying, "Charl, you've disappointed your superior officer greatly." Much to both of the homunculi's delight, pulling on the dog tags tilted the man's head up, giving Pride more area to molest.
Pride bit down on the man's neck, pulling back to watch the blood drip down from the broken skin. He lapped at it, dropping the knife at Charl's feet to clasp his crotch, the confused man slightly hard from the attention, whether he wanted it or not. "You've made this nice woman angry..." he said in a disappointed voice.
Envy leaned over, his eyes on Pride the whole time. "You know, I think he's enjoying this too much," he murmured, his fingers curling around the hilt of the knife.
"Nnn, really?" Pride asked, licking a bit of blood from the corner of his mouth. "What do you think you can do about that?"
"A few things," Envy said, absentmindedly tailing the razor-sharp blade down the center of Charl's stomach. The blade cut all the way through his uniform, leaving just a narrow, shallow cut, barely seeping any blood on his chest, the red liquid pearling at the edges of the wound. Eventually the knife stopped, just above the man's pants.
He pulled the knife back, looking at him for a second, his eyes off of Pride for the moment. Unbuttoning the man's pants with deft fingers, he stared into Charl's fearful eyes. Shoving the fabric down roughly, he placed the knife point right at the point of his hip, digging in a bit. "Does that hurt?" Envy asked, digging the knife in deeper and dragging it to the man's inner thigh, watching the rivulets of blood flow down his legs.
The man's knees almost buckled but Pride grabbed the back of his jacket, holding him up. "You've been rude enough to your superior," he said, almost gleefully. "So you should at least take your punishment like a man. While you still are one."
Charl's eyes got wider, and he thrashed a bit, but Pride's grip was too strong. "Hold still, little man," Pride laughed, watching intently as Envy first grabbed the base of the man's cock, pulling it up so he could get easy access to his testicles. The knife was almost too quick to see, but the wail of pain was loud and piercing. The blood was practically sticking the man's legs together now and Envy stepped back, looking at his work.
Rubbing the knife the military uniform he was wearing, he looked at the sniveling mess, tilting his head up. "Charl, you're still alive! You should be thankful for that!" He punctuated the sentence by cutting off the last piece of the man's genitalia. Pride let go of the man, and he fell to the ground. "At least for now," Envy purred. "I'm afraid you've lost a lot of blood."
Pride just looked at Envy with an odd smile on his face. "Why'd you do that?" he asked. "There was plenty of fun we could have had with him..."
"I'm possessive," Envy explained, a smirk on his face. "I just got a little jealous... went a little overboard..." He wrapped his arms around the homunculus, looking at him with lidded eyes. He licked the last of Charl's blood off of Pride's lips. He pulled back though, and laughed. "Well, if I'm to be found here, I can't be consorting with homunculi, now can I?" He looked down at the man on the ground and smeared some of his blood onto his own face and uniform, taking the knife and cutting gashes and wounds into himself. Finally, when he was pleased with his work, he dropped the knife back onto Charl.
"I guess that's true..." Pride mumbled to himself. "Well, try not to let that heal while I'm gone, love." Pride waved to Envy, going back to the warehouse, waiting for the insects to flood to the light.
Fury entered Al's room, smiling sadly as he saw the boy playing with a few kittens. Even though he knew the boy wouldn't respond, he said, "Good morning, Al," like he did every time. He sat in the same chair, next to his bed, and just started talking. "A lot of stuff has happened lately," he said. "A lot of people don’t want me telling you, though, but I don't think it's fair for... you to be kept in the dark, even if you can't hear me." He looked down, breathing in deeply.
"Your-your brother's been kidnapped, Al. He thinks that he's with Roy, but we all know that can't be true. But he's... acting insane. He won't let us save him, because he's afraid... afraid of what Roy will do to him. Ross is doing everything she can to make sure that he'll be okay, Alphonse, so you don't need to worry. You know how good Ross is."
Fury closed his eyes, trying so hard not to cry. "You've been in here so long... and you're missing out on everything. I just want you to get better, though, and I know that you can't get better if you're not here... but it's so hard. I want to take you to the dog park again, Al..."
He breathed in deeply, looking up at the blonde, wanting to touch him, but knowing that was even more forbidden than what he had just done.
Al just stared back at him, then picked up a small, black kitten with a pink nose. He held it in front of his face, laughing softly and petting it.
Fury just sighed. "Even when your brother's in danger, you don't seem to react. You can't remember anything, can you?"
Al just responded by placing the cat in Fury's lap and smiled innocently. "Cain," he said, and although the word was slurred, it was apparent. He hummed happily to himself, petting the kitten in Fury's lap.
Fury seemed shocked, but he smiled widely. "Al, do you remember me?" he managed to ask, his words blending together. He placed his hand on top of Al's, wiping tears away with his shoulder. "Can you say my name again?"
Al paused, biting his lower lip and looking at the man. He pet the kitten slowly, pulling his hand out from under Fury's. Then he tracked down two more kittens, putting them in Fury's lap. "Edward," he said, placing a tabby with striking yellow eyes next to the black cat. "Roy." He placed a calico in his lap as well, seeming pleased with himself. He busied himself, looking under the sheet, as if he couldn't find something he wanted.
Fury's smile, however, disappeared completely. "Those are... the cat's names, aren't they?" he asked sadly. "I guess that's a good sign, though, that you're remembering out names."
Al looked keenly at Fury for a moment, petting the kittens in the other man's lap. He frowned eventually, and grabbed Fury's hand, trying to get him to pet the kittens, though his aim was clumsy. "Puppies, you like?" Al slurred, moving Fury's hand up and down, making him pat the small, black kitten.
"Yes, I like puppies," Fury said, trying not to laugh at Al's antics. "Would you like a puppy? I can bring you one, you know." The ecstatic feeling from when Al had said his name reemerged, simply from this small interaction. The doctors had told him morosely that Alphonse hadn't talked to anyone but his kittens the entire time he had been in the ward.
"Puppies..." Al said, with a puzzled look on his face, which quickly turned to frustration. "Name it... Jean?"
Fury nodded slowly, petting the cat on his own now. "Jean is a good name. I'll bring you a puppy tomorrow then, how does that sound?"
Al placed a finger on Fury's lip and then looked around. "Shhh," he said. "Don't tell." The boy seemed confused.
"Al, do you remember Jean?" Fury asked, frowning. "Do you... remember anything?"
Al seemed very interested in whatever was under his covers again. "You kiss..." he mumbled, turning over so he could better see under the sheets. He yawned lightly. "Puppies there..."
Fury's eyes were blurred with tears again. "Al... please come back to me..." he begged. "I miss you so much..."
Al came up from under the covers and looked straight at Fury. "You love," he said, nodding knowingly. "Kiss...ed me. Puppies."
Fury just nodded, wiping more tears away. "Yes, I kissed you, and I love you, and I'm going to bring you a puppy tomorrow, okay?"
Al leaned his head back slightly, parting his lips and looking at Fury pleadingly. "Kiss?" The word was gentle and soft, a plea.
Fury shook his head. "Not today," he said. "When you're better." He felt terrible telling Al that, especially with the miserable look on his face.
"Love you," Al said softly, petting the top of his head. Fury just nodded, standing up.
"I've got to go, Al. Visitor's hours are almost up."
"Love you," Al repeated again, just watching Fury leave the room.
The nurse looked at Fury as he exited the room. "How is he?"
Fury just smiled sadly, not saying anything.
"Oh," the nurse said. "Maybe he'll make some progress soon." Fury nodded, leaving the building before he got sick of the drab white walls, but most of all, the way they were treating Alphonse. He'd be back tomorrow.
When Havoc got to the site of the warehouse, he gasped, falling to his knees next to what he thought was Ross's body. "Maria," he said, doing his best to keep from crying. "Are... are you alright?"
"...it looked like Edward," Envy coughed, closing his eyes. "It... it looked like Edward... But I don't understand-he's different, too..."
"Maria..." Havoc said softly, stroking the face he loved so much. "Hold on. I've brought troops; I'm sure everything will be okay. But you need to tell me, if you can-who looked like Edward?"
"The one who killed my men," Envy panted, reaching up weakly before grabbing Havoc's collar and pulling him down, the knife from earlier at his throat. With a smile, the wounds quickly healing, he hissed, "Pride's the one who killed my men."
Havoc struggled, but found that he couldn't get free. "Maria... what are you doing?" he asked, his voice choked. As he swallowed, he could feel the knife against his Adam's apple and he closed his eyes, trying to rationalize the situation.
Pride walked slowly out of the warehouse, his head tilted to the side. "You two wouldn't happen to be talking about me, now would you? It's impolite to talk about people behind their backs..."
Havoc managed to get a look at the homunculus walking towards them and whimpered softly. Envy, however, beamed at Pride. "Of course I was talking about you, love. You're the one who disposed of most of these pesky troops. Now, don't struggle Jean, it'll only make you bleed."
"Who are you, no what are you?" Havoc rasped, his eyes still on Pride.
"I'm Edward, of course," Pride said. "Don't you believe me?"
Havoc's eyes rolled back in his head, slumping into a faint.
"He'll be no fun like this," Envy said, annoyed. "Let's take him to the warehouse until he wakes up. Then we can have more fun with him."
"Fun," Pride laughed. "Fun indeed."
Roy came to the apartment around three in the morning, looking exhausted. He knocked on the door, calling for Edward, who came quickly, opening the door with a bowed head. He was silent and moved away immediately so Roy could come into the house.
Roy frowned, and watched him back away. Eventually, however, he went to the cabinet to get some painkillers. He turned around, the pills in hand to look at Ed with a soft smile on his face. "Hey beautiful..."
Edward just stood against the wall, his head down. "Hi." The word was solitary, almost laced with guilt, as if he wasn't sure whether he should respond or not.
Pouring himself a glass of water, Roy took the pills and walked over to Ed. "I'm sorry I couldn't come back to the house with you," he murmured, wrapping his arms around the man. "I had some work to take care of, but look! I brought... some bread home. Dinner." He looked at the moldy bread in the bag and sighed inwardly, wishing he could use alchemy to restore the bread, rather than cut the moldy parts off.
Edward continued looking at the floor. "I don’t need to eat," he deadpanned. "I ate yesterday, and I'm sure you don't have a lot of food."
Roy smiled sadly at him. "I have a whole loaf of bread, Edward. I'm sure we can split it between the two of us."
Edward finally looked up at him, the misery on his face uncontained. "We used to have a big house. We were married..." He looked down at his shaking left hand, touching where his ring used to be, yet had been taken away by Envy as punishment.
"We were," Roy agreed, holding Ed's hand with his own unadorned one. "Don't worry about the ring..." He swallowed hard, trying not to choke. "I had to pawn mine... in order to get food a while back. I just... didn't know what else to do."
Edward didn't know what to do. The Roy he had been living with had never shown emotion like this. So he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the older man, holding him close, but still cautious.
Roy just leaned against Ed, finally letting his tears flow freely. "I thought I'd never see you again," he sobbed.
"Promise me you'll never leave me again," Ed whispered, remembering what happened last time he asked for that.
Roy pulled back to look Ed in the eye. "I will do anything in my power to keep us from being separated again, Edward. I love you, and I don't want you to get hurt again."
"I love you, too," Edward sobbed, pulling Roy as close to him as possible without hurting him.