(no subject)
Hey all! Just thought I'd drop by to say 'hi' since I'm new to this community! ^___^ Just call me Tryem or whatever the heck you like.
And as a first post, I bring you a GIFT!!!
Title: Identity Crisis
Pairing: Envy/Ed, Roy/Ed
Genre: Drama/Romance/Humor (shrug)
Rating: PG-13 maybe...We'll see how it goes.
Spoilers: Whole Series. If I feel like mentioning stuff.
Warnings: Mild Language, violence...You know the drill. Did I mention Al is just human cause it's easier to work with?
Summary: After a slight accident involving a homunculus, explosives and a very fragile building, Edward finds himself taking up a full-time job in the military at Central, forced on probation by the higher-ups for destroying an important military landmark. But what does all this have to do with Envy? *snerk* Oh wouldn't you like to know...
Chapter 1-All Falls Down
Edward Elric stared, mouth agape, at the crumbling mess of rubble and bent iron that made up what was basically left of an old, but historically important military warehouse. Dust scattered everywhere in the midst of the ruins, dancing in the breeze like miniature whirlwinds, and at that moment, the elder Elric, feeling nauseous and in danger of perhaps getting a seizure or two, wished to whatever deity that saw fit to govern his life that it would swallow him up too. Swallow him up, toss him into the rubble and maybe, hopefully, the military dogs wouldn’t dig him up until after he had died and become food for the worms.
Beside him, a low, interested whistle was issued out with slow, exact precision. “Well, that’s that I guess. Pity, but they really could have done with some nice renovating, wouldn’t you say O’Chibi-san?”
Ed’s stare increased tenfold, and the poor boy found it hard to do much else as he gazed upon the tall, lean outline of the homunculus with patent disbelief, his mouth moving wordlessly, making him look strangely like a golden goober-eyed fish as his hands clenched and unclenched in front of him, wanting to hit something, and hit it hard, but at the same time seemingly frozen in place.
Envy smiled wickedly, crossing his arms over his chest as he regarded his handiwork with smug satisfaction as he absently toed the cracked pavement with his bare foot. In all honesty, he really hadn’t meant to take things as far as they had gone, but just the thought of the ridiculous expression that would grace the Elric boy’s face had been too good an opportunity to pass up. Still, he thought, sighing. Explosives really are too deadbeat. They lack all sense of originality when it comes to flashy exits.
In fact, all he had really been charged with was to filch the wench’s silver Alchemists’ watch, and possibly give him a good beating if he had time remaining-a task, Envy was sad to say, was boring and held no opportunities for malicious fun at the expense of others. So why not turn the dreary, uninteresting task into a game in which he could try all sorts of new, quirky ways to acquire the silly trinket?
Edward kept his watch attached to a strong link chain on his belt, as leather, Envy had learnt, left no room for pockets, and even if it did, it would do nothing to hide the shape of the object, regardless.
The hard part was getting Ed to take his pants of for long enough so he could snatch the said belt and undo the clasp on the chain. And as amusing as the idea seemed at the time, sauntering up to the State Alchemist, putting on a very stern voice, and then declaring ‘Strip!’ would more than likely land him back on square one, with a few bumps and bruises in-between. Not that it wouldn’t be immensely entertaining to try, so Envy was sure to save that particular plan for future reference.
He also hadn’t been in the mood for dancing around while Ed tried to hack off any part of his limbs within reach. Not that it wasn’t fun, dangling out of reach while the shorty went on an enraged psychopath, it was just that it was losing its original lustre-something nerve-racking that made the adrenaline beat loudly in his ears.
However, it just so happened that the crate of explosives he had been sitting on as he pondered with his highly creative strategies had served its purpose more than by simply being a source of inspiration. That and the rampant thoughts his brain had conjured in a mere five seconds inside his skull of that shrimp of an alchemist flailing around like a wild turkey as he fought to get exploding firecrackers out of his pants. Brilliant. Not entirely original, but points for initiative and style had to count for something right?
Anyway, getting back to the issue of why they were now both standing in front of a warehouse that now resembled something close to a trodden sandcastle gone horribly wrong. Well, it had started out simply enough. The usual threats, the taunts, and the attempts to scratch each other’s eyes out with verbal abuse…basically the entire works. He had succeeded in lodging a stick of dynamite, mistaken for a harmless firecracker, into the back of Edward’s pants and risked having more blown out of his side than need be with a rather hazardous looking halberd.
Of course, maybe it would have been wiser to calculate Ed grasping blindly for ‘whatever it was’ that was stuck down his rear and then hurl the object into a corner with unnecessary force. One that coincidentally ran entire gallons full of highly volatile material around the perimeter of the area and formed a small, teetering pyramid up along the back wall.
What was he supposed to say? ‘Uh…Oops?’ There had barely been enough time for him to get one last hit on that idiot of an alchemist for that stunt before the fireworks had started going up. An explosion that could possibly be measured on the Richter scale to be the size of an earthquake, you say? Yeah…just times two or three. And that would be after the entire building had collapsed around his ears.
Envy sighed lazily, blowing a stray strand of long dark hair out of his face as he stretched his arms skyward, looking up into the inky black nothingness that was choked with thick smoke and tiny, sparkling embers. Pretty, but reeking of total destruction. Just the way he liked it.
“…You bastard…” Ed hissed, glaring at him with total desperate efficiency, wringing his hands together as he grasped at the empty air, trying to form the words that suddenly tasted like ash on his tongue. “Do you realize…that…what if…this building…”
“Hm?” Envy murmured, a single snake-like eye sliding towards Ed’s direction. In the distance, the faint noise of sirens and the steady rumble of approaching military vehicles were getting closer. His lips curled upwards. “…Oh, this old thing, O-chibi?” he drawled, rocking slowly on his heels as he paused, stalling for time. “You mean this historically significant hunk of bricks that was strictly prohibited to all civilians and all but a few of you military dogs who had to get special permission from the higher-ups before you even set foot into the 3 metre radius surrounding the premises? I had no idea.”
He snickered then, watching with a form of sick satisfaction as Ed paled to the colour of sour milk, then just as quickly grimaced and flushed a bright, angry shade of brick red. “YOU-!” The alchemist snarled, clapping the palms of his hands together with force. White blue electricity crackled and spat between them, and Envy’s smile broadened, challenging him to make the first move, to cause more damage than he already had. Desperation made a person careless. And it seemed like the Elric boy was as desperate as they came at the moment-the complete destruction of his precious military building would be enough to cost him his title as a State Alchemist, his silver pocket watch, and ultimately his entire martial status.
“Go on then,” he incited, grinning darkly as the invisible force of the alchemy whipped and pulled between them, catching in the wind and spreading dust clouds throughout the entire area. “Just try it.” Ed was panting, gritting his teeth together forcefully, fingers twitching with the immense horror and frustration the Sin was putting him through. “You can’t kill me O’Chibi. Remember? What’ll you do then?”
“Oh believe me,” Ed spat, throwing his arms back as he raced forward, not knowing how he intended to hurt the smirking Homunculus, but just knowing that he wanted to make it as painful as he could possibly muster. “I intend to kill you even if I have to do it fifty times over!”
“Tsk, if you insist,” Envy shrugged, sidestepping the alchemist as the sharp automail blade made a straight target for his stomach. It seemed as if panic and desperation also slowed one’s observation skills. The shrimp would be as easy to beat about as a small, blonde-haired, vertically challenged piñata. What a waste.
“I mean,” he paused, gently somersaulting over the irate Elric’s head as he meant to gut him from behind. Envy sighed impatiently. This was no fun anymore. “You really ought to get yourself a girlfriend or something, shrimp. God knows you have too much free time these days.” He smiled, grabbing Ed’s fist in his palm as he made to punch him in the face with his flesh hand. Dark indigo eyes narrowed, squeezing the pupils into paper thin, snake-like slits.
“Why don’t you let me try sometime?” he inquired pleasantly, fingers crushing down slowly on Edward’s still curled fist. The alchemist bit back a snarl of pain as something white-hot seared across the area of skin where his knuckles connected with his fingers. Envy was teasing him. Taunting him. Trying to get him to make another reckless move. He scowled.
“Thanks but no thanks,” he replied gruffly, automail arm sliding almost instinctively into place over Envy’s wrist. “I’m not interested in guys who are like what…ten times my own age?” A sharp twist, a flick, and his fist was free, the Sin being forcefully thrown over his shoulder by his captured arm.
Of course, somewhere in between the process of Envy being made to face-plant the concrete head first from an unreformed height, the Sin had pulled a thoughtful expression and remarked without shame, “Oh, but it’s perfectly alright for a guy twice your age…like, say your commanding officer, what’s his name…ah, Mustang.”
If nothing else but the steadily uneven ground below him, that snide little comment had made Ed blanch and recoil in a mixture of shock, horror and the unconscious attempt to scream ‘I DID NO SUCH THING!’ at the top of his lungs, just so Envy got the message right after a good, swift kick in a place that would ensure his voice rising two octaves higher than what it already was. Embarrassing as it was that something so simplistic could easily crawl under his skin and start gnashing away with sharp teeth at his control of the situation, why the fuck did he even CARE?!?
“…You are too easily distracted.” That was a straight punch to the gut. Literally. Envy tilted his head to the side in near curiosity as the smaller form in front of him convulsed and twitched with a barely choked breath of hazy, ashen air. He raised his brow delicately as Ed moved slightly under the pressure of his knuckles against his stomach and suddenly lurched, coughing up a decent amount of thick, dark blood all over the Sin’s arm.
He wrinkled his nose slightly. “And you make a right damn mess.”
Ed sank to his knees, completely and utterly winded. Envy loomed over him at a crouch, debating quietly about whether or not to mess with his mind just a little bit more for kicks, when the faint, barely distinguishable murmur of voices made his ears prick.
Ah. His grin twisted upwards. The military had arrived. And with nothing less than a small subdivision at the very least it seemed, judging from the sudden rushing sound of an army of feet moving quickly in their general direction. Oh, this was just brilliant. Too brilliant. Wonderfully, insanely brilliant. The Fullmetal Alchemist was down for the count amidst a burning wreckage of something he’d no doubt get the blame for, the entire premises was glowing beautifully with towering pillars of fire, and Envy, the Sin shivered with some semblance of cruel delight, Envy would once again get away scot-free.
“Well I hate to run out on our little date O’Chibi,” he jeered, watching as Ed’s face turned just the slightest bit to the side, those sharp amber-flecked eyes looking at him so hard it was almost as if they wanted him to burn on the spot. “But you know, places to be, people to kill, really, we’ll just have to catch up some other time won’t we?” And before Ed could so much as attempt to move his bruised, aching jaw, Envy had vanished into the thick haze of smoke and debris, but not before blowing him a mocking little kiss.
Rage settled over him like a thick red cloud. He willed himself to move, to at least wiggle his fingers, to sit up so he could transmute the concrete into a large block and launch it in the direction of the Sin’s retreating figure, but his stomach protested violently against his will, and with another retched sounding gag, Ed hurled a mouthful of blood onto the gravel. Damn, Envy hadn’t left any room for playing around had he? He hoped to hell that the Sin hadn’t succeeded in rupturing anything internal; he’d be damned if Envy had ever found out. God only knew that the accursed creature was too smug for his own good. No use in giving him any more reason to gloat.
“Nii-san!!!”
Ed flinched, squeezing his eyes shut. Well, this was turning out to be a great night wasn’t it? Now on top of his seemingly ruptured stomach, and a completely totalled building that he had ‘admittedly’ caused some of the damage to, he also had to find some way to get out of a lecturing from Al, who always seemed to turn up during his most uncompromising positions, but that’s what little brothers were for right? Turning up at the worst of times? Oh god, knowing Al, he might have just as well brought along the entire army.
Why do I feel like I’m suddenly going to get an earful for this later?
“Nii-san!! Nii-san are you all right? Are you hurt?! Say something! Ed!” He blinked, forcing his swimming vision to focus on the voice above him, thick with worry and concern, but sounding so far away, like a distant echo. Without realizing why, he found himself grinning stupidly back into his brother’s warm, grey gold eyes, deaf to the thundering of feet around his ears, the firemen trying to uselessly save what was left of the building, the paramedics hovering uncertainly behind his brother, the sound of military boots crunching on the gravel as the area was thoroughly inspected, the screech of tyres on the road as vehicles entered the premises…
Al was watching him expectantly, his young face wrinkling slightly in worry for his brother’s state of mind. Ed was looking like he was almost in a state of concussion. He tugged wantonly at his brother’s jacket, his grin curling upwards at one corner.
“Hey there Al,” he greeted weakly.
“Nii-san we have to get you to the hospital,” Alphonse’s frown deepened. “What if your bones are broken or you start bleeding internally or-” He froze in mid-sentence as Ed shook his head, giggling a little insanely.
“Hey Al,” he whispered; tugging harder at the jacket his brother wore. “Al you’re not going to believe this…you know how you always said I was going to end up bringing down the house one day…Well, I’ve brought down a warehouse! How about that huh? I’ve proved you wrong once again-”
“Brother, did you hit your head?” Al questioned as Ed continued to giggle feebly, completely unaware of what was troubling his brother’s mind so greatly.
“And I’m probably gonna get thrown in jail for it!” The elder Elric finished rather dazedly, and promptly did something that he would later deny doing for the rest of his life. He fainted.
“Ack! NII-SAN!!!”
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Lust pursed her lips into a thin line, her eyes keeping a firm glance on the ruined mess of what used to be a building, now a smoking, flaming destruction zone swarming with every kind of military personnel that had been stationed in Central. Light footsteps treaded along the floor behind her, light and almost excited, as if their owner were in the mood for doing a lively dance. She sighed patiently and turned around.
“Envy.”
He gave her a wicked grin. It had never occurred to her often enough before, but it was there in his eyes, the way he walked, the way he reasoned, the malicious glint in his smile-for someone who had lived well over the boundaries of three separate lifetimes, Envy’s mind had yet to mature at all. That in itself worried her, if only a little.
“Hey Lust,” he offered, positioning himself against the railing. And waited. But nothing came. No small jokes about him taking things too far, or a wry, knowing smile upon her painted lips, nor even a comment about the Fullmetal shrimp’s blood that was slowly drying into a brown crust on his arm. Nothing. Envy frowned, tilting his head to the side, regarding his ‘sister’ beadily.
“Yo, you know it wouldn’t hurt to say something. Praise is good you know. What’s up with you?” If he had expected her to shake it off, laugh and apologise for spacing out, well, he had another thing coming. Her face remained expressionless as she rested a hand on her hip and looked him in the eye.
“Destroying that building wasn’t part of the plan Envy.”
Envy raised his brows at that. So? It’s not like anyone actually got killed or anything…unfortunately. So why the hell was she looking at him like he had just misbehaved or done something equally stupid. He released his held breath heavily; making his emerald tinted bangs flutter over his face.
“And I care about that, why?” he demanded, ignoring her as he turned around, more intent on watching the scene in front of him unfold in a flurry of crackling embers and a shuddering, deformed jetsam of iron and concrete. Lust’s frown deepened. Her brow furrowed as she crossed her arms over her generous chest.
“Did you get the pocket watch?” she questioned. Maybe if Envy had succeeded in completing his assignment, the punishment for his recklessness wouldn’t be too great. But judging from the careless unfazed look on his face, as he shrugged her off, perhaps not.
“Missed,” he grunted, not seeming the least bit concerned. “The shorty threw a fit, the building collapsed around my ears, there was an explosion of fireworks…what do you WANT me to do? Risk having more holes in me than necessary?”
Lust opened her mouth furiously to reply ‘yes’, if it got the mission carried out, but thought better of it and remained silent. Envy was sensitive just like that when it came to the concept of pain. Very, delicately sensitive.
Instead she cleared her throat and pressed forward. “…That warehouse was an important military landmark,” she told him, hoping to make him realize at least some of the seriousness of what he had done.
“Yeah, yeah I know…They’re not gonna miss that old heap of junk anyway,” he grumbled in return, propping his face up in one hand with a bored expression making its way past the attempt to keep his mouth from stretching open in a loud, exhausted yawn.
“Which in turn, makes it important to us, Envy,” Lust replied sharply. “You know our Master isn’t going to be pleased if that building had some significance in our plans. Are you really prepared to face the consequences should that happen?”
“That’s their problem,” Envy replied flatly, as he stared blankly into the distance, eyes catching on the rising of smoke as it drifted lazily into the air and vanished. He chewed his lip thoughtfully as he did so, his finger unconsciously twining around a stray lock of hair and twisting it into circles. What was the worse that could happen anyway?
That’s entirely their problem…
And as a first post, I bring you a GIFT!!!
Title: Identity Crisis
Pairing: Envy/Ed, Roy/Ed
Genre: Drama/Romance/Humor (shrug)
Rating: PG-13 maybe...We'll see how it goes.
Spoilers: Whole Series. If I feel like mentioning stuff.
Warnings: Mild Language, violence...You know the drill. Did I mention Al is just human cause it's easier to work with?
Summary: After a slight accident involving a homunculus, explosives and a very fragile building, Edward finds himself taking up a full-time job in the military at Central, forced on probation by the higher-ups for destroying an important military landmark. But what does all this have to do with Envy? *snerk* Oh wouldn't you like to know...
Chapter 1-All Falls Down
Edward Elric stared, mouth agape, at the crumbling mess of rubble and bent iron that made up what was basically left of an old, but historically important military warehouse. Dust scattered everywhere in the midst of the ruins, dancing in the breeze like miniature whirlwinds, and at that moment, the elder Elric, feeling nauseous and in danger of perhaps getting a seizure or two, wished to whatever deity that saw fit to govern his life that it would swallow him up too. Swallow him up, toss him into the rubble and maybe, hopefully, the military dogs wouldn’t dig him up until after he had died and become food for the worms.
Beside him, a low, interested whistle was issued out with slow, exact precision. “Well, that’s that I guess. Pity, but they really could have done with some nice renovating, wouldn’t you say O’Chibi-san?”
Ed’s stare increased tenfold, and the poor boy found it hard to do much else as he gazed upon the tall, lean outline of the homunculus with patent disbelief, his mouth moving wordlessly, making him look strangely like a golden goober-eyed fish as his hands clenched and unclenched in front of him, wanting to hit something, and hit it hard, but at the same time seemingly frozen in place.
Envy smiled wickedly, crossing his arms over his chest as he regarded his handiwork with smug satisfaction as he absently toed the cracked pavement with his bare foot. In all honesty, he really hadn’t meant to take things as far as they had gone, but just the thought of the ridiculous expression that would grace the Elric boy’s face had been too good an opportunity to pass up. Still, he thought, sighing. Explosives really are too deadbeat. They lack all sense of originality when it comes to flashy exits.
In fact, all he had really been charged with was to filch the wench’s silver Alchemists’ watch, and possibly give him a good beating if he had time remaining-a task, Envy was sad to say, was boring and held no opportunities for malicious fun at the expense of others. So why not turn the dreary, uninteresting task into a game in which he could try all sorts of new, quirky ways to acquire the silly trinket?
Edward kept his watch attached to a strong link chain on his belt, as leather, Envy had learnt, left no room for pockets, and even if it did, it would do nothing to hide the shape of the object, regardless.
The hard part was getting Ed to take his pants of for long enough so he could snatch the said belt and undo the clasp on the chain. And as amusing as the idea seemed at the time, sauntering up to the State Alchemist, putting on a very stern voice, and then declaring ‘Strip!’ would more than likely land him back on square one, with a few bumps and bruises in-between. Not that it wouldn’t be immensely entertaining to try, so Envy was sure to save that particular plan for future reference.
He also hadn’t been in the mood for dancing around while Ed tried to hack off any part of his limbs within reach. Not that it wasn’t fun, dangling out of reach while the shorty went on an enraged psychopath, it was just that it was losing its original lustre-something nerve-racking that made the adrenaline beat loudly in his ears.
However, it just so happened that the crate of explosives he had been sitting on as he pondered with his highly creative strategies had served its purpose more than by simply being a source of inspiration. That and the rampant thoughts his brain had conjured in a mere five seconds inside his skull of that shrimp of an alchemist flailing around like a wild turkey as he fought to get exploding firecrackers out of his pants. Brilliant. Not entirely original, but points for initiative and style had to count for something right?
Anyway, getting back to the issue of why they were now both standing in front of a warehouse that now resembled something close to a trodden sandcastle gone horribly wrong. Well, it had started out simply enough. The usual threats, the taunts, and the attempts to scratch each other’s eyes out with verbal abuse…basically the entire works. He had succeeded in lodging a stick of dynamite, mistaken for a harmless firecracker, into the back of Edward’s pants and risked having more blown out of his side than need be with a rather hazardous looking halberd.
Of course, maybe it would have been wiser to calculate Ed grasping blindly for ‘whatever it was’ that was stuck down his rear and then hurl the object into a corner with unnecessary force. One that coincidentally ran entire gallons full of highly volatile material around the perimeter of the area and formed a small, teetering pyramid up along the back wall.
What was he supposed to say? ‘Uh…Oops?’ There had barely been enough time for him to get one last hit on that idiot of an alchemist for that stunt before the fireworks had started going up. An explosion that could possibly be measured on the Richter scale to be the size of an earthquake, you say? Yeah…just times two or three. And that would be after the entire building had collapsed around his ears.
Envy sighed lazily, blowing a stray strand of long dark hair out of his face as he stretched his arms skyward, looking up into the inky black nothingness that was choked with thick smoke and tiny, sparkling embers. Pretty, but reeking of total destruction. Just the way he liked it.
“…You bastard…” Ed hissed, glaring at him with total desperate efficiency, wringing his hands together as he grasped at the empty air, trying to form the words that suddenly tasted like ash on his tongue. “Do you realize…that…what if…this building…”
“Hm?” Envy murmured, a single snake-like eye sliding towards Ed’s direction. In the distance, the faint noise of sirens and the steady rumble of approaching military vehicles were getting closer. His lips curled upwards. “…Oh, this old thing, O-chibi?” he drawled, rocking slowly on his heels as he paused, stalling for time. “You mean this historically significant hunk of bricks that was strictly prohibited to all civilians and all but a few of you military dogs who had to get special permission from the higher-ups before you even set foot into the 3 metre radius surrounding the premises? I had no idea.”
He snickered then, watching with a form of sick satisfaction as Ed paled to the colour of sour milk, then just as quickly grimaced and flushed a bright, angry shade of brick red. “YOU-!” The alchemist snarled, clapping the palms of his hands together with force. White blue electricity crackled and spat between them, and Envy’s smile broadened, challenging him to make the first move, to cause more damage than he already had. Desperation made a person careless. And it seemed like the Elric boy was as desperate as they came at the moment-the complete destruction of his precious military building would be enough to cost him his title as a State Alchemist, his silver pocket watch, and ultimately his entire martial status.
“Go on then,” he incited, grinning darkly as the invisible force of the alchemy whipped and pulled between them, catching in the wind and spreading dust clouds throughout the entire area. “Just try it.” Ed was panting, gritting his teeth together forcefully, fingers twitching with the immense horror and frustration the Sin was putting him through. “You can’t kill me O’Chibi. Remember? What’ll you do then?”
“Oh believe me,” Ed spat, throwing his arms back as he raced forward, not knowing how he intended to hurt the smirking Homunculus, but just knowing that he wanted to make it as painful as he could possibly muster. “I intend to kill you even if I have to do it fifty times over!”
“Tsk, if you insist,” Envy shrugged, sidestepping the alchemist as the sharp automail blade made a straight target for his stomach. It seemed as if panic and desperation also slowed one’s observation skills. The shrimp would be as easy to beat about as a small, blonde-haired, vertically challenged piñata. What a waste.
“I mean,” he paused, gently somersaulting over the irate Elric’s head as he meant to gut him from behind. Envy sighed impatiently. This was no fun anymore. “You really ought to get yourself a girlfriend or something, shrimp. God knows you have too much free time these days.” He smiled, grabbing Ed’s fist in his palm as he made to punch him in the face with his flesh hand. Dark indigo eyes narrowed, squeezing the pupils into paper thin, snake-like slits.
“Why don’t you let me try sometime?” he inquired pleasantly, fingers crushing down slowly on Edward’s still curled fist. The alchemist bit back a snarl of pain as something white-hot seared across the area of skin where his knuckles connected with his fingers. Envy was teasing him. Taunting him. Trying to get him to make another reckless move. He scowled.
“Thanks but no thanks,” he replied gruffly, automail arm sliding almost instinctively into place over Envy’s wrist. “I’m not interested in guys who are like what…ten times my own age?” A sharp twist, a flick, and his fist was free, the Sin being forcefully thrown over his shoulder by his captured arm.
Of course, somewhere in between the process of Envy being made to face-plant the concrete head first from an unreformed height, the Sin had pulled a thoughtful expression and remarked without shame, “Oh, but it’s perfectly alright for a guy twice your age…like, say your commanding officer, what’s his name…ah, Mustang.”
If nothing else but the steadily uneven ground below him, that snide little comment had made Ed blanch and recoil in a mixture of shock, horror and the unconscious attempt to scream ‘I DID NO SUCH THING!’ at the top of his lungs, just so Envy got the message right after a good, swift kick in a place that would ensure his voice rising two octaves higher than what it already was. Embarrassing as it was that something so simplistic could easily crawl under his skin and start gnashing away with sharp teeth at his control of the situation, why the fuck did he even CARE?!?
“…You are too easily distracted.” That was a straight punch to the gut. Literally. Envy tilted his head to the side in near curiosity as the smaller form in front of him convulsed and twitched with a barely choked breath of hazy, ashen air. He raised his brow delicately as Ed moved slightly under the pressure of his knuckles against his stomach and suddenly lurched, coughing up a decent amount of thick, dark blood all over the Sin’s arm.
He wrinkled his nose slightly. “And you make a right damn mess.”
Ed sank to his knees, completely and utterly winded. Envy loomed over him at a crouch, debating quietly about whether or not to mess with his mind just a little bit more for kicks, when the faint, barely distinguishable murmur of voices made his ears prick.
Ah. His grin twisted upwards. The military had arrived. And with nothing less than a small subdivision at the very least it seemed, judging from the sudden rushing sound of an army of feet moving quickly in their general direction. Oh, this was just brilliant. Too brilliant. Wonderfully, insanely brilliant. The Fullmetal Alchemist was down for the count amidst a burning wreckage of something he’d no doubt get the blame for, the entire premises was glowing beautifully with towering pillars of fire, and Envy, the Sin shivered with some semblance of cruel delight, Envy would once again get away scot-free.
“Well I hate to run out on our little date O’Chibi,” he jeered, watching as Ed’s face turned just the slightest bit to the side, those sharp amber-flecked eyes looking at him so hard it was almost as if they wanted him to burn on the spot. “But you know, places to be, people to kill, really, we’ll just have to catch up some other time won’t we?” And before Ed could so much as attempt to move his bruised, aching jaw, Envy had vanished into the thick haze of smoke and debris, but not before blowing him a mocking little kiss.
Rage settled over him like a thick red cloud. He willed himself to move, to at least wiggle his fingers, to sit up so he could transmute the concrete into a large block and launch it in the direction of the Sin’s retreating figure, but his stomach protested violently against his will, and with another retched sounding gag, Ed hurled a mouthful of blood onto the gravel. Damn, Envy hadn’t left any room for playing around had he? He hoped to hell that the Sin hadn’t succeeded in rupturing anything internal; he’d be damned if Envy had ever found out. God only knew that the accursed creature was too smug for his own good. No use in giving him any more reason to gloat.
“Nii-san!!!”
Ed flinched, squeezing his eyes shut. Well, this was turning out to be a great night wasn’t it? Now on top of his seemingly ruptured stomach, and a completely totalled building that he had ‘admittedly’ caused some of the damage to, he also had to find some way to get out of a lecturing from Al, who always seemed to turn up during his most uncompromising positions, but that’s what little brothers were for right? Turning up at the worst of times? Oh god, knowing Al, he might have just as well brought along the entire army.
Why do I feel like I’m suddenly going to get an earful for this later?
“Nii-san!! Nii-san are you all right? Are you hurt?! Say something! Ed!” He blinked, forcing his swimming vision to focus on the voice above him, thick with worry and concern, but sounding so far away, like a distant echo. Without realizing why, he found himself grinning stupidly back into his brother’s warm, grey gold eyes, deaf to the thundering of feet around his ears, the firemen trying to uselessly save what was left of the building, the paramedics hovering uncertainly behind his brother, the sound of military boots crunching on the gravel as the area was thoroughly inspected, the screech of tyres on the road as vehicles entered the premises…
Al was watching him expectantly, his young face wrinkling slightly in worry for his brother’s state of mind. Ed was looking like he was almost in a state of concussion. He tugged wantonly at his brother’s jacket, his grin curling upwards at one corner.
“Hey there Al,” he greeted weakly.
“Nii-san we have to get you to the hospital,” Alphonse’s frown deepened. “What if your bones are broken or you start bleeding internally or-” He froze in mid-sentence as Ed shook his head, giggling a little insanely.
“Hey Al,” he whispered; tugging harder at the jacket his brother wore. “Al you’re not going to believe this…you know how you always said I was going to end up bringing down the house one day…Well, I’ve brought down a warehouse! How about that huh? I’ve proved you wrong once again-”
“Brother, did you hit your head?” Al questioned as Ed continued to giggle feebly, completely unaware of what was troubling his brother’s mind so greatly.
“And I’m probably gonna get thrown in jail for it!” The elder Elric finished rather dazedly, and promptly did something that he would later deny doing for the rest of his life. He fainted.
“Ack! NII-SAN!!!”
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Lust pursed her lips into a thin line, her eyes keeping a firm glance on the ruined mess of what used to be a building, now a smoking, flaming destruction zone swarming with every kind of military personnel that had been stationed in Central. Light footsteps treaded along the floor behind her, light and almost excited, as if their owner were in the mood for doing a lively dance. She sighed patiently and turned around.
“Envy.”
He gave her a wicked grin. It had never occurred to her often enough before, but it was there in his eyes, the way he walked, the way he reasoned, the malicious glint in his smile-for someone who had lived well over the boundaries of three separate lifetimes, Envy’s mind had yet to mature at all. That in itself worried her, if only a little.
“Hey Lust,” he offered, positioning himself against the railing. And waited. But nothing came. No small jokes about him taking things too far, or a wry, knowing smile upon her painted lips, nor even a comment about the Fullmetal shrimp’s blood that was slowly drying into a brown crust on his arm. Nothing. Envy frowned, tilting his head to the side, regarding his ‘sister’ beadily.
“Yo, you know it wouldn’t hurt to say something. Praise is good you know. What’s up with you?” If he had expected her to shake it off, laugh and apologise for spacing out, well, he had another thing coming. Her face remained expressionless as she rested a hand on her hip and looked him in the eye.
“Destroying that building wasn’t part of the plan Envy.”
Envy raised his brows at that. So? It’s not like anyone actually got killed or anything…unfortunately. So why the hell was she looking at him like he had just misbehaved or done something equally stupid. He released his held breath heavily; making his emerald tinted bangs flutter over his face.
“And I care about that, why?” he demanded, ignoring her as he turned around, more intent on watching the scene in front of him unfold in a flurry of crackling embers and a shuddering, deformed jetsam of iron and concrete. Lust’s frown deepened. Her brow furrowed as she crossed her arms over her generous chest.
“Did you get the pocket watch?” she questioned. Maybe if Envy had succeeded in completing his assignment, the punishment for his recklessness wouldn’t be too great. But judging from the careless unfazed look on his face, as he shrugged her off, perhaps not.
“Missed,” he grunted, not seeming the least bit concerned. “The shorty threw a fit, the building collapsed around my ears, there was an explosion of fireworks…what do you WANT me to do? Risk having more holes in me than necessary?”
Lust opened her mouth furiously to reply ‘yes’, if it got the mission carried out, but thought better of it and remained silent. Envy was sensitive just like that when it came to the concept of pain. Very, delicately sensitive.
Instead she cleared her throat and pressed forward. “…That warehouse was an important military landmark,” she told him, hoping to make him realize at least some of the seriousness of what he had done.
“Yeah, yeah I know…They’re not gonna miss that old heap of junk anyway,” he grumbled in return, propping his face up in one hand with a bored expression making its way past the attempt to keep his mouth from stretching open in a loud, exhausted yawn.
“Which in turn, makes it important to us, Envy,” Lust replied sharply. “You know our Master isn’t going to be pleased if that building had some significance in our plans. Are you really prepared to face the consequences should that happen?”
“That’s their problem,” Envy replied flatly, as he stared blankly into the distance, eyes catching on the rising of smoke as it drifted lazily into the air and vanished. He chewed his lip thoughtfully as he did so, his finger unconsciously twining around a stray lock of hair and twisting it into circles. What was the worse that could happen anyway?
That’s entirely their problem…