Crossover Together ~クロスオーバ 一緒に~

How long had time past by since it happened? Pluton's defeat had taken its grand toll onto many of them, but one Homunculus victims wasn't even from Pluton himself. His vision was all but gone for the moment, his whole body oddly warm and surprisingly cozy. But, how? Why? Last he remembered was being left to die back in what was left of Central, out in the open of the rubble, but now he felt like he was underneath something. A piece of rubble? Well, no, it felt too soft and light for that. Then again, it was probably better than being under a building any day. But the question remained though: where was he? And for that matter, how was he there?
Envy took a while to finally get his conscious fully together, groaning ever slightly as his eyes started to flicker open to see where he was. As he probably expected, he wasn't anywhere outside, though a window was open. No, rather than being under a building, he was in one. In a bedroom, to be exact. Odd thing though: it didn't appear like any real prisonhold room, nor did the bed appear to be a prison bed. The floor was wooden, the walls appearing clean, and the typical bedroom essentials were in there too (cabinet, lamp, etc.) nothing really specific to note what Envy could figure out. Envy found himself on the bed, underneath some rather comfortable covers. Envy managed to sat up and take in the room a little bit better.

"Where am I now? ... Am I back in prison? ..." Envy trailed off for a minute, feeling his head going through a little bit of a rush as he tried to get himself together. Wherever he was, no matter how he got there, or why, Envy knew one thing. ...

"I gotta get out of here."

And get out of there he tried. Envy got himself out of bed, albeit a little clumsily, but he managed to get himself upright and start going over to the door. Each step was met with weak, stiff legs and every step just made Envy feel sore all over. His energy was just not the same as before, and with him being stuck in ... wherever this was, that wasn't going to help him. Envy tested the door, expecting it to be locked up, but a small turn was all it took for it to just turn open, and a little push to get himself out of his "cell". It surely didn't look like any prison he knew, the hallway small and only having one more door on one end of the hall, and the stairs down the other. Not a window here to slip out, so he had either the door or the stairs. ...

*thump* **thump* *thump*

"Shit. Better cut my loses," Envy thought, hearing footsteps downstairs. With the stairs off limits, he only had the other room. What else could he do with such a sore body for the moment? If he did try to change, the noise would catch him for sure. As quietly as he could, he made his way straight to the door, lucky to find it unlocked and good for him to use. Just before the apparent patrol could find him out, Envy went right into the other room. Envy couldn't risk anymore trouble with these humans, especially after his latest incident.

"There, now -"

AND he found himself in the bathroom. Well, so much for that, but maybe he could still manage somehow. Usual essentials were there of course, and lucky for him, Envy found a window right there for him. The perfect little escape. Envy gave a sigh of relief, and started to head towards the window, but his light head made him stumble slightly, having to rest on the sink for some balance. It was then he took one good look at the mirror.

"W-Wha ... what? ..."

Envy kept his eyes locked onto the reflection in the mirror, but what he saw just ... wasn't himself. Or at least he thought it wasn't. His clothes were the same, regular skin and hair color too from before, but Envy still found that something was different with him. Something wrong with him, to his eyes anyway. Speaking of eyes, his irises appeared bigger and more rounded than before, and his hairstyle wasn't the singular bands, and instead was sprawled out behind him, making it more like a mane than anything. Yeah, his hair was naturally long, but it wasn't as prominent as this, and it looked more brownish green rather than just dark green like before. Aside from the hair, he felt a bit smaller. In fact, looking in the mirror, it was like he lost a few years of his life, appearing a bit younger than before. Before one could say he was as old as Karma, or Yoroi, but now he looked more like Ciel or Aladdin's age.

"I-Is that ... me?" Envy asked himself, his hands examining himself. His skin was softer, a little paler and with a VERY faint green tint to it, something different from before too. His hand felt his hair, which felt a bit grimy to be honest though that could be from being left in the wreck for who knows how long. Envy tried to get himself together, and to be sure this was or wasn't some sick joke, he turned on the cold water and splashed his face a good five times. The cool water woke him up faster, and got him more alert, but his face didn't change from what he was seeing in the mirror, nor did the rest of him.

"What did that Chrysalis do to me? ..."

*knock**knock**knock*

That snapped him out of it. He had to figure it out later, but for now, he had to get out of here! Whoever was behind that door, he could honestly care less for, and as far as he was concern, the forces were onto him. Taking the chance, Envy went right over to the window, opening it up fast, and proceeded to get himself outside. He may not be in the best condition for this, but it beats getting locked up again. He found that, admittedly unsurprisingly, the bathroom was about a floor up from the ground, but nothing this Homunculus wasn't new to, so he started on out. He kept his grip on the sill as much as he could until his body practically hung from the sill, only then did he let go. The drop didn't last long, but he ended up stumbling into some bushes underneath him. Not exactly the best landing, and the weak Envy stumbled out, leaves in his hair and clothes and not able to stand much. Well, at least he was outside. ...

... right in front of someone.

"Oh dear. Trying to break a leg, are you?"

"COME ON," Envy growled. As if being found wasn't bad enough, he was found by Sebastian of all things!

It only took a minute to bring Envy back inside, and right through the front door. Envy expected a rather embarrassing gesture (held by the collar like a pooch being one of them), but no, Sebastian held him gently, and moved on inside, cradling him in his arms. A fair gesture, but unexpected too. Once brought in, the first place Sebastian went right to was the house's living room, which connected to the kitchen by the looks of it. Envy was sore, injured, but he made out Ciel, Alphonse, and Karma in the room for the moment. Each one of them saw Envy being carried in, and oddly none of them attacked.

"Seems our guest tried to check out early," Sebastian stated.

"I told you he'd do that," Karma commented, Envy being laid down over next to Alphonse. Once Envy was released, he tried to get himself up, but the fall ended up injuring his leg, making him cringe up. That didn't stop him though from retaliating, stumbling off the couch and getting to his feet.

"You bastards stay away from me! Or I'll slaughter all of you," Envy warned.

"You better lay back down, if you know what's good for you," Ciel advised, but that just infuriated Envy more.

"WHO'RE YOU TO GIVE ME ORDERS?!" Envy roared, using what energy he had to swing a fist her way. Ciel stepped aside, Envy's fist slamming into Al's armor. At his regular strength, that would tear Alphonse's armor to a pump, but his new body was far from weaker than his previous body, and not enough to make a dent into it, only hurting Envy more so. The weaker Envy fell forward, Alphonse grabbing him before he could hit the floor, and putting him back on the couch. Envy needed another minute to regain himself, laying on the couch to heal up.

"Envy, please, you'll pass out if you keep this up," Al insisted, resting Envy's head on a pillow, and giving him one of the couches to lay on.

"What're you all up to? what do you want with me?"

"Nothing at all, Envy. Seriously, Al and Blair saved your life, the least you can do is chill out," Karma made clear.

Saved your life? Was Karma serious with that? Envy didn't recall anyone rescuing him before passing out. If anything, he was left to die and nothing else.

"You pathetic humans are horrible liars."

"We're telling the truth, honest. Blair and I found you in that huge mess all by yourself, so ..." Envy didn't need to hear anyone proof of that. It was clear that they indeed found him, but with their past history, he found it very unlikely that they would help him.

"And you're all apparently ok with that," Envy said, still thinking there was some sort of catch to this.

"We've grown more flexable to the situation after a day."

"A day?!" Envy said, pausing when his head started to pound on him again. "H-How long have I've been out?"

"Three days. Four including today," Karma replied.

"And you're all okay for having a Homunculus in here with you," Envy commented, still not believing that there was no catch to this.

"Well ..."

"Alright, here we are. Make yourselves at home."

Just arriving at the house, Team Harmony had been going for quite a while to reach the place. Pluton's attack forced them here, but when comparing here to the condition of Central, it beats that by a mile.

"Nice place, Ed. You sure it's okay for us to stay here?" Twilight asked, looking around.

"Sure. Like I said, you just stopped Pluton, you need somewhere to relax," Ed assured them.

"Good enough for me," said Karma.

"Well, it'll have to do. It's better than what was left of Central," noted Ciel. Well, as most of them were there, it took a little bit longer for Blair and Alphonse to finally catch up to them. Alphonse, for some reason, had to move a little bit slower, and Blair stuck around as her typical cat form, riding on his shoulder like a parrot as they approached. The others soon saw him before they could actually go into the house.

"Al, there you are. What took you so long?" Ed asked.

"Sorry, sorry. I got caught up in something," Al said, trying to get himself together. He may be body armor, but even then he can get a little tired time to time. Blair hopped off to join them, though Ciel tried to keep his distance from the feline, covering his nose.

"Keep your distance, cat," Ciel warned.

"I'm a cat, I don't care. Besides, I know one hunk just adores a cite kitty like me, eh Sebastian?" Blair said, rubbing against Sebastian's leg. Normally, yes, he would be, but Sebastian took a step back so Blair could stop. Blair just ended up falling over, disappointed more than anything.

"ANYWAY, shall we get ourselves accommodated?" Sebastian suggested. And so, the group was ready to head in and get themselves comfortable with the place. Alphonse was about to follow them in himself, but as they were Al stopped when he saw that Pinkie Pie suddenly stopped herself and made a U-turn, looking right at Al.

"... Uh ... What is it?" Al asked, a bit unsure, as Pinkie moved over to him, rather uncomfortably close. The pink girl's antics stopped the others as well, Pinkie looking Al over for some sort of reason. She popped up behind him, along each side of him, basically looking him over head to toe.

"My pinkie sense is telling me mister armor has a little guest with him," Pinkie said, sounding serious. Though, honestly, most of them didn't take her too seriously. They heard about it, but they still didn't get how it exactly worked.

"Ed, get rid of whatever other cat you have in there," Ed instructed. As he moved forward, Al took a step back, confirming his suspicions right away.

"No, brother wait -" before Al could stop him, Ed went right on ahead and opened up Al's chest armor, expecting some sort of extra cat to just show up inside it. One opening though, and the entire group saw Al had something a bit more than just some cat: Envy. Envy was still passed out, fast asleep inside Al's armor. He looked slightly different, but they still recognized him.

.......

"WHAT THE HELL?!?!"

"Brother, quiet, he's still sleeping," Al insisted, but the rest of the group wasn't as supportive of the choice. Envy Homunculus, for some reason in Al's armor?! And Al apparently knew about it the whole time.

"What's Envy doing in your armor?!" Aladdin gasped.

"Yeah, we have a bit on our plate to be looking after Envy, Al!" Ed added.

"Guys, I couldn't leave him back in the middle of that mess. He was unconscious when I found him!"

"Great! First stray cats, and now this? How many more things can you stuff into that armor, huh?! GET RID OF IT!" Ed demanded, the screaming still not waking Envy up thank goodness.

"How can you be so cruel?!" Al retorted. Suddenly, Blair jumped in between Ed and Al, turning back into her human form for a moment, but not in any mood to play around this time.

"Chill out will you?! Rescuing Envy was my idea, Al just happened to be there with me," Blair admitted.

"Geesh, have you forgotten what he did to you back in England? He practically killed you," Karma reminded, remembering her body getting skewered and tossed over by the same Homunculus. However, Blair shrugged it off.

"Whatever. It's just one time," Blair responded. A rather odd thing to say, but then again she still had her other eight lives, so she wasn't too worried about it really.

"Regardless, it's too high of a risk to have - ... where'd he go?" Ciel wondered. The others looked back and soon found that Envy was suddenly gone from Al's armor! They all thought he had woken up and left, but -

"AWWWW! He's so CUTE!" Pinkie suddenly said, holding Envy and cuddling him. Envy may be asleep, but this other form of he was in just was so adorable to Pinkie. Well, one of them was down for the idea.

"Come on, at least for a while. Just until he gets better? Please?" Alphonse asked, pleading with them. The others took a moment to think over what Al and Blair told them, and looked over to Envy. The Homunculus did look pretty bad, and he didn't look to be healing quick from it much either.

"Well, doesn't look like he's gonna do much," Karma said.

"He looks a lot weaker too," Aladdin agreed, looking to Envy's body. There was some silence, but then Ciel moved over to Envy, looking him over himself.

"... Alright. We'll watch over him," Ciel finally decided. The decision needed some time to make, but that was his.

"Yeah, fine. Doesn't look like he'll do much, anyway," Karma agreed.

"If my master trusts the situation, who am I to object?" Sebastian said.

"Yes-indeedie," said Pinkie. The overall choice was made by the rest of the team, and Al felt a lot better about it. Though, there was one more person left. ...

"Brother?" Al asked. Ed wasn't all up for this idea, seen easily on his face as he tired to think.

"Hmmm ..." Ed placed his head on the wall. "... hmmmmm ... HMMMMM."

"Hurry up," noted Pinkie.

Ten minutes later ...

"Fine, we'll watch him," Ed finally decided. Overall choice ruled the day, and for Envy, he got himself a sanctuary.

"And since then, we've been watching you. Making sure you're alright," Al finished. Envy just sat there listening to what Al had said, still left beside himself on the overall fact that these humans would go out of their way to save him from the rubble. In the end though, Envy still didn't see much sense in it.

"WHY would you make such a deadly decision. I was the one who hidden myself in Central. And you Ciel, you forgotten what happened in England so soon?" Envy hissed. Ciel felt like a skewer was stabbed through him, remembering damn well what Envy had done during the party back then, but Ciel masked his discomfort with a sigh.

"Boulderdash. Envy, while you may have tried before to eradicate us, it would be unfair on you if we were to leave you to die in such a situation. You were weak, dying, and thanks to Alphonse and Blair, rescued. You mean to tell me that you would rather throw your life away like rubbish over being rescued by the likes of us?"
Envy turned away, but before he could try to get a response, a thought struck him. Here he was, weaker than before, and in the company of a bunch of humans who not only evaded his killer instincts with each encounter, but outdone him one way or another. and considering Sebastian was standing right there, a retaliation now wouldn't end well with him. Envy still felt that there was some catch to it, but he didn't go on any further than that.

"Breakfast!" shouted a cheery voice.

And even if he could, he wasn't given the chance to. Next thing he knew, a large meal was spread out on the table of a rather large breakfast, enough to feed practically everyone, including Envy. Eggs, bacon, some fish courtesy of Blair, plenty of drinks, all of which was surely enough to feed everybody. The meals were prepared and served over by Ed, Pinkie, and Blair. It was then they soon noticed Envy sitting there.

"Oh, Envy you're up! Good sleep?" asked Blair. Envy didn't really answer, but suddenly a huge plate was placed down in front of him, the amazingly delicious smells of fresh food hitting his nose the second it was put there.

"You must be starving, cutie pie! Eat up!" Pinkie said.

"Cutie pie?" Envy groaned. If he was going to be stuck here for a while, he needed to get himself together. Eating something might help him. Can't really be intimidating with that kind of nickname. Still, Envy took a fork and took a bite of one of his selected foods, but ...

"AAHH! You're so cute, I just wanna pinch those cheeks!" Pinkie beamed, seeing Envy's surprisingly cute face when he ate, his cheeks puffed up and everything. Envy did swallow just before Pinkie hugged him again. Envy didn't have much time to react to her, and while the hug itself didn't hurt, the sudden movements did make his already sore body sting a little again.

"Damnit. This is gonna take a very long time. ..."

~~

A rather long day ensued with Envy's recovery, and it pretty much left much of Team Harmony and Envy with little to do, Envy especially since he was left in recovery. With Sebastian basically on watch, he was pretty much stuck there, especially due to his weakened body Chrysalis had left him with, and his powers sucked away, thus making him unable to bolt off with the demon butler carrying him back. On the bright side for Envy, at least his accommodations wasn't as bad as it could've been. He was given a cozy bed with a window, at least.
As for the others, they took the time to relax their minds from the whole Pluton incident, and took the moment to spruce up on their skills a bit, just in case some other demon or whatever would show up or when they'll have to go out again. Here, it was Karma and his swordsmanship, and Twilight with her alchemy. Though while Karma was steadily getting better with his self-taught techniques, it was Twilight who was having a little more trouble focusing a bit, mainly because of what happened with Pluton.
Off outside during a rather cloudy sunset admittedly, Twilight had tried to handle her alchemy by herself, with Aladdin watching nearby. She tried to keep some focus on her skills one way or another, but as Aladdin watched her, the young magi could see that Twilight was having some bit of trouble with it all. Yes, her skills had improved since she started, but today just wasn't her day here.

"Hey, Yugure?" Aladdin asked softly. Twilight stopped her purple magic for a moment, though the smart girl knew almost immediately where Aladdin was going, and all she did was walk over and sit down next to him, breathing a rather rough sigh.

"Yeah, Aladdin?" Twilight asked.

"Is everything okay? ..."

"... No. No it's not. And you and I both know why," Twilight said, down on herself. Aladdin knew exactly what too: Nagisa Shiota. Days had past since Nagisa basically vanished, but all the same, the pain still stung like it just happened whenever it was brought up.

"Oh, I wish I could've done something. Otherwise. ..." Twilight couldn't even bring herself to even say it, but Aladdin knew what Twilight was going for.

"Don't worry, we'll find him. We don't know if Nagisa's dead -"

"No, but it all points to it!" Twilight suddenly snapped, making Aladdin jump. Twilight didn't mean to snap at him like that. Twilight relaxed right away.

"Sorry, sorry. ... It's just ... I didn't do anything ..." Twilight stayed quiet, feeling a swell of emotion starting to come up in some tears. The image of Pluton exploding, and the image of Nagisa running off towards Pluton with the intent to finish him off went through her head, and the constant reminder how she just stood there and let him go, not able to do anything before it happened. Aladdin watched her tears fall down, seeing how much it was effecting her. Not that it wasn't effecting him either, Nagisa was his close friend too, and first human friend since arriving from the Overworld. Aladdin got his mind together, and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Twilight. Back in England, when you ran away, Nagisa worked the hardest to try and find you. Nagisa never gave up on you, no matter how long you were gone, and you shouldn't give up on him either. I know he's alive somewhere out there, and I don't know about you, but I'll do my best to find him. Besides, he wouldn't want you to be like this."
Aladdin knew what he was talking about, and Twilight could see in his eyes that he was telling the truth. Nagisa worked so hard to try and find her when she disappeared, and it was time for Twilight to do the same. That, and Nagisa wouldn't want to see Twilight sulk so much over it if he actually was there. If Twilight wanted to see Nagisa again, then she had to take action instead of mope. Twilight wiped away her tears and a smile came up on her face.

"Then I'll be right there with you. Soon as everyone is ready, then we'll try to find him," Twilight said. That surely made Aladdin better.

"That's the spirit, Yugure. ... Or, wait, is Twilight okay?" Aladdin asked. Twilight giggled a little.

"Twilight is perfectly fine by me," Twilight concluded. Twilight and Aladdin looked on, what sun was out painting the clouds a nice color of purple to accompany the mix of red, yellow and orange in the sky. As they were out there, Envy looked down on them from the window of his room. From the post, he had heard basically everything, though in his mind the moment didn't make much more sense than them saving him in the first place.

"Nagisa? Missing? ... Pluton must've killed him already. Don't know why they're still wasting their time," Envy thought. All evidence showed that Nagisa was dead, but apparently they weren't giving up on it, for whatever reason. The writing was on the wall, and Envy was taking it as such.

.......

Night time, and at this point, most of the team was off and sleeping. Well, all with the exception of Envy himself. Being asleep for days on end made him rather restless, ironically, and he didn't feel up for just falling asleep right away. He stayed quiet and laying in bed, staring up at the ceiling with his hands behind his head, taking the quiet moment for some thinking. At least when it was night, the others would quit bugging him. At this point, the others took some extra measures and put his sore body with a bandage or two, primarily on his damaged leg from his previous escape attempt. As he laid there, he took a glance over outside the window, the new moon making the night awfully dark, but stars easy to see.

Envy, Sombra was starting to get a little bit impatient with you. Your constant failures, your embarrassing defeats, and here with your capture by Amestris. Such an embarrassment, don't you agree?

Those words just before Chrysalis drained him echoed in the Homunculus's head, Envy feeling especially dumb for the constant failures. It was painfully clear why Sombra would be impatient with him, but taking his power away was a bit extreme. The Homunculus brought his hand to his head, cursing himself.

"Damn human worms. First they keep humiliating me, and now they save my life. ... Think Envy. Sombra's mad, but you can fix this. ..."

If only Envy knew how. He would just attack them all if his powers were still in tact, but Chrysalis saw to it that he wouldn't be able to do anything about anything. That, and his body still wasn't at full strength yet so he'd just get himself killed if he rushed in. He was plenty smarter than that. Envy ended up sitting up in bed, trying to think on what to do with himself, and with Sombra's apparently anger towards him. ...

"Having trouble sleeping, are we?"

So much for his night of quiet. Sebastian soon ended up in his room to check in on him, candle in hand as he would do back at the mansion. Envy though was in no mood for any late night visitors.

"None of your business. What do you want?" Envy asked, turning away as Sebastian stepped in.

"Just merely doing a favor for my young lord, as all. It does seem you're recovering nicely," stated Sebastian, placing the candle over by Envy's bed. That was another thing that bugged him for a while, and that was Sebastian's devotion towards these humans, especially his 'young lord'. He knew how strong Sebastian is, why would he waste his time with them still?

"OK, what's your deal? We both know you're a powerful demon but you end up stuck as this brat's butler," Envy finally asked. Sebastian didn't really feel too surprised by the sudden question.

"Is there any other reason you need, Envy? As a butler, I am devoted to my master no matter the consequence. The proof is right in front of you," Sebastian said, removing his glove to show his contract symbol on his hand. Envy remembered the symbol, but it didn't explain much of anything.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"My contract is paid through his soul, Envy. And this contract is a reminder to my lord of the completed contract," Sebastian revealed. Even then, Envy felt that it was rather stupid, to put it bluntly.

"Then why don't you just eat his soul, and be done with it?" Envy questioned, not understanding the logic. Sebastian smiled, his eyes glowing red slightly.

"I would be more than happy to just steal his soul if I could. Though it would be rather unfair, won't it?" Sebastian said, taking a seat at the foot of Envy's bed.

"Unfair? Sebastian, those worms can barely protect themselves, and when they do its for nonsensical things. Throwing their lives away for nothing, like your Nagisa Shiota. Why would you want to serve something like that?" Envy questioned. While envy did have some form of a point from the demon side of the equation, Sebastian knew Envy had ill experience with humans, despite his time within their world.

"Think for a moment. The Underworld. Even if there might be a overall statement on the entities that reside there, you and I both know that not every demon is truly the same. Same thing could be said with Angels in the Overworld. And yet, they too have their faults. Young Aladdin for instance is a holy Magi of the overworld, but not only is he a weak little Magi, but one who has an over fascination with one women's baps."

"Oh really?" Envy said, unamused by the statement.

"Indeed. You see, before I was put under servitude by Ciel Phantomhive, my thoughts on humans were a bit vague like yours. I saw humans as nothing but a food source for the souls we demonic entities devour. However, as time went by, I believe I can come down to one conclusion."

"... And what's that?"

"Humans are such fickle creatures. you'd think you can figure one out after some time, but then they always have some way to surprise you. ... Eh, now here I am going on, when you should be sleeping. Have a good night, Envy," Sebastian finished, getting up, taking his candle, and soon walking out of the room, leaving Envy with a bit of food for thought. It may not understand why Sebastian would still stay, yet it did give Envy something else to think about. ...

.......

It seemed that time took a back seat for the group from here on in. Envy still felt himself slowly recover from his trouble, the others still stuck around for a while longer. So long as they had no exact place to really head off to, and with Envy still recovering as a whole, they pretty much were stuck there. Not that it was too much trouble, but all the same, they were keeping a killer Homunculus with them in their midst so that was still something to consider. This afternoon, weather had taken a turn for the worse and a fair rainstorm was pouring down outside, something they could hear from in there. The whole group, excluding Envy in their place too, was just inside having some dinner made by the chefs of the group (Pinkie and Blair).

"Ah, delicious!" said Aladdin, basically stuffing his face with Pinkie's treats.

"Had any of you heard from that Korosensei of yours lately?" asked Ciel. It had been a while since they had heard from their octopus demonic teacher, not hearing much of him since they left Central (which was a rather long time back). Some were a bit too busy eating to even listen to his question, but eventually it was Ed who gave him the answer.

"Yeah, he told me yesterday he's still trying to repair Central. By the way, can I ask you one little favor about that ...?" asked Edward.

"What may that be?"

"Tell that creep to not sneak in through my bedroom window!!" Ed snapped. A rather freaked out moment when Korosensei popped up over by Ed's bedroom window, his tentacles gripping the sill and peering in. That was enough to freak out anybody, no matter who it is, ESPECIALLY from something like Korosensei.

"So vile!" though Ciel, the thought of it giving him shivers as well. After that little bit of freak out, Karma rejoined the others, coming in from upstairs.

"How's Envy looking?" asked Alphonse.

"Aside ugly, he's fine. I tried to get him to come down for some grub, but all he did was shut the door on my face," Karma joked. Karma went on to take a seat over by Aladdin and Blair, both enjoying the big meals they had with them.

"Oh well. I can wrap something up for him later," Pinkie decided, who was nibbling on her own meal as well with equal enthusiasm. The mention of Envy didn't suit too well for some.

"OK, I'm just gonna ask it: any of you know what to do with Envy when he's healed?" Ed asked. They couldn't keep that kind of possibility ignored for too long, and with how much time they got in keeping Envy basically safe, and his healing too, the possibility of him going out and trying to kill them again was in the air.

"Dunno. Has anyone notice how much he actually did anything ... Homunculi-y?" Pinkie realized, scratching her head.

"Now you've come to mention it, Envy has yet to transform, alter his body, or anything of the sort since the recovery has started. Perhaps whatever happened to him maybe more severe than we think," noted Ciel.

"Great, we shouldn't have a problem with him then!"

"Then you wouldn't mind then that we keep him?"

THAT was the option that made Ed nearly gag on his dinner, the idea coming up out of nowhere, and so casually.

"Wait, WHAT?! Keep him, you outta your mind?!"

"Not at all. Think of it like this: if we allow Envy to just roam around freely, even in his weakened condition, his mindset on our current location can easily be revealed to this Sombra of his. Sombra would find him, gain his information, and get the upper hand on practically everyone here. Besides, it beats having him trying to constantly kill us, wouldn't you agree?" Ciel explained.

"So, what, make him our ally to keep him from causing us trouble? I gotcha: keep your friends close and your enemies closer, right?" said Karma.

"That's about it," concluded Ciel.

"Hold on, what makes you think he'll actually consider joining you?" question Ed.

"You did say he kept trying to kill you, didn't you?" added in Al.

"Precisely why we should have him stay with us. If we can convince him to stay with us, he wouldn't try to kill his allies. That would be reckless, even for him," Karma noted.

"Right again," said Ciel. Well, as some were open to the idea, some of them just weren't sure if that really was a good idea. ...

So unfortunate too. Envy, who had finally decided to come on down, managed to overhear what they had to say. His suspicions on a catch to this were pretty much right after all, according to Ciel's logic. They were going to take him as a prisoner rather than a companion after all. ...

"I knew it."

Envy, without making another sound, went right off upstairs again. He'd take the front door, but then they'd hear him and go after him again. If they were to go after him, at least he would get a head start another method. Once he got back to his room, he closed the door and locked it up tight. Clearly a distraction to keep the others busy trying to get to him in his room when they do confront him about this prisoner shindig they had in mind. Envy may not be fully healed yet, but he wasn't taking any chances any further.

"You think you can keep me locked away? They're not fooling me that easy," Envy thought, as he went straight for his window. He didn't care if his body wasn't ready to go, with the rainstorm outside pouring down, it would make a great cover for his escape. Plus no one would hear any extra noise with the rain beating on their rooftop, so, the time is now. Unlike before though, Envy went a little easier on his exit strategy aside from just jumping out and injuring himself again. No, this time, he took the blanket from the bed and used that as a rope for his decent. Yeah it was something old school, but it beats breaking both his legs. Anyway, in the rain, Envy got about half way down to the ground (a lot closer than before, might I add), and once he got close enough, he just dropped down. The drop wasn't as painful, and he was on the ground and running off immediately. The rain poured down onto him pretty hard, and when he got about twenty feet from the house, he took a look back while running.

"Good, they're not following. Time to screw them over and get to Sombra," Envy thought, a devilish smile on his face as he ran off into the rainstorm.

.......

"Envy! Envy, we got a lil proposition for you!" Pinkie called, trying to get into his room, but no luck. Pinkie was tasked with giving the Homunculus the idea, alongside Alphonse, Blair, and Aladdin, since those four seemed the most trusting and probably had the best shot in getting Aladdin to come along with them if anyone. After all, two of them did save Envy's life, and the other two were friendly as a whole, so why wouldn't they be the ones to give it a try? However, it seemed the door was locked up tight, and no matter how much Pinkie tried to get in, it didn't really work.

"Can you unlock the door? We're not mad or anything, Envy," assisted Alphonse, but not a sound could be heard from inside. Pinkie started to get a little more forceful with her attempts to get in, grabbing the doorknob and pulling back hard. All that did was make her fall back and onto the floor with a loud thud. Blair placed her ear onto the door after that, trying to hear in if there even was something or someone inside, but it was bizarrely quiet in there. Something like that could've at least woke up Envy if the Homunculus was taking a nap or something, but nothing. Still, they couldn't confirm anything from over here.

"Guess he doesn't wanna talk," Al concluded.

"Hold in a second," Blair insisted. Being a cat, and a rather small one too, Blair got her body over near the bottom of the door. She started by testing it with her paws on the gap between the door and floor, and then she tried to slip in. A bit of a jump in steps, but Blair did actually manage to get her head through the door, and after a few pushes and shoves, got the rest of herself to go through the door with a pop.

"OK. Hey, Envy, we got a -" and then Blair paused when she took a look around the room. ....

The trio suddenly heard the door unlock, Blair unlocking the door. Blair may have got that taken care of, but when they all looked in the room, the problem they found was only the beginning of an even bigger trouble: Envy had took off on them! Window was partially open, no sign of the Homunculus anywhere!

"WHA?! Where'd he go?" Aladdin wondered, he and Pinkie trying to find him, going from spot to spot for some sort of clue to his whereabouts.

"Damnit Ciel, Envy must've overheard what he said earlier and flown off," Blair concluded. And if what Ciel said was true too, then they all knew exactly where Envy would run off to as well.

"But now?! Envy's still recovering, he won't make it far out there," Al said, freaked out as well that Envy would leave in his condition.

"What're we waiting for then, come on, let's get him!" decided Pinkie, taking a quick charging headstart before the trio could really react to it.

~~

Outside, as Envy hoped to, he got a huge headstart. The storm itself was still pouring down on him as the afternoon went on, and Envy continued going through the countryside of Amestris. He didn't take any of the roads or usual pathways (where else would they follow him?), and stuck to the true countryside as he tried to gain some distance. At this point, the rain had left him completely soaked, and running through the rain was actually leaving him tired. On the bright side, he was alone and away from his would-be captors. All the same though, Envy slowed down after a while to catch his breath, panting like mad, and his body tired from all that running. At least he wasn't hot, the rain cooling him down more than enough. He may be glad to get away from them for now, but Envy still was stuck wondering what even was going on with him. Still, he gained some good distance, so he had that going for him. He shook his head, and wringed out his hair trying to get his hair to not be so water-logged.

"That should do it. ... Goddamnit, I'm exhausted. What'd Chrysalis do to me?" Envy wondered, feeling his pulse race. All these other feelings: weakness, exhaustion, elongated pain, all of these things he hadn't experienced before Chrysalis screwed with him, or at least not so prominently. After a little bit of the cooling rain and some rest, Envy needed to figure out how to get to Sombra, or at the very least, get to his other Homunculi. Either one will do, and a step towards getting himself back to normal one way or another. Envy looked up to the rain at that point, thinking about Lust and Gluttony.

"Damnit, Gluttony won't be able to find me in this rain, and who knows how far I am from Lust. Where do I go from here? ..." Envy tried to come up with some way to get back, but so far his mind drew a blank. Gluttony's sense of smell was rather useless in the rain so that was out of the question. Up on the hill, Envy tried to find out where to go from there, making sure not to head back the way he came. Looking around as well, he was stuck out on an open plain, not many trees growing along the countryside, if any at all. As for other figures, Envy seemed to be the only one outside. Underline, seemed ...

"My goodness, dear, you're going to catch a cold out here like that," said a familiar voice. Envy looked around, worried it might be the humans after him again, but he didn't find any of them coming towards him. Instead, another eerily familiar face soon appeared, and was heading towards him. Or rather, two familiar faces. No, it wasn't Lust and Gluttony as he hoped it would be, but instead two rulers had come out in the rain to see him. One of them Envy wanted to find, but the other was who got him in this trouble in the first place.
Sombra and Chrysalis. Both demonic rulers out from the underworld to see him, Chrysalis holding a umbrella for herself and king Sombra. And while Chrysalis looked pleased, Sombra had more pressing matters for Envy.

"lord Sombra."

"Envy. I see you're still alive and well, albeit a bit ... different," Sombra started, referring to Envy's new body. Envy glared towards Chrysalis before Sombra continued.

"Still. Where have you been? I heard you were captured by Central a while back."

"You can see I'm not. I'm sorry for being gone, but -" before Envy could continue, Sombra raised his hand to silence him.

"You would be, would you? ... Envy, better tell me what you know about Tirek," Sombra stated, staring down at him. Envy didn't answer at first, not sure where Sombra was going with this, but with Chrysalis standing not too far away, Envy wasn't sure if she was truly as innocent or what.

"What about him? You locked him up, didn't you?"

"That senile demon ruler escaped about a week ago, and what is more he was the one who released that monster Pluton onto Central. I had your Gluttony look around and try to find who may have helped him in his escape, and what did he find? ..." Sombra went into his pocket, and then pulled out what appeared to be a bit of leather, but looked oddly familiar to Envy's outfit. Envy though, didn't seem to make the connection.

"This patch of leather by one of the chains. A little familiar?"

Now, it didn't take much to Envy to realize where Sombra was going with this.

"Wait a minute, How could I have done it?! I was running around and spying on king Bradley like you told me to!" Envy insisted. Sombra tossed the leather at Envy's face, Chrysalis smiling and giggling a little at Envy's little dismay.

"Peculiar though: you were indeed captured, but you were released a few days prior to Tirek's escape. Enough time for you to meet with Tirek, perhaps?"

"I DID NOT! Who told you that bullcrap?!" Envy yelled, trying to defend himself.

"She did," Sombra simply said, looking over to Chrysalis. The queen simply stayed quiet, keeping the umbrella over Sombra's head to keep him dry.

"You bitch! Why would you even try to listen to a word she tells you?! That demon slut drained my powers away and left me for dead while Pluton went on his rampage!" yelled Envy, finger aimed right at the demon queen. Chrysalis stayed calm and collected about the outbursts, as Sombra waited to think. He took a look over to Chrysalis and back to Envy.

"Go on, Sombra. Call him out and leave him behind. you never needed him anyway," Chrysalis thought in anticipation, waiting for that moment to come around. However, king Sombra brought out his own little answer: punching Chrysalis in the stomach and knocking her to the ground!

"What was that for? I didn't do anything wrong, did I?" Chrysalis groaned.

"YOU left the palace after I specifically instructed every follower of mine to remain put. It's bad enough that Pluton was released in the first place, not to mention Tirek's escape, I don't want other demons dragged out with it!" Sombra sternly explained, staring down at Chrysalis with disapproval written on his face. Chrysalis stayed quiet after that, though she didn't feel too guilty over it. After that, Sombra turned over to Envy again.

"And as for you. Even if you hadn't released Tirek from his cell, you've been failing time and time again, and all with the same group of humans. Korosensei, Sebastian, Central Amestris warriors, goddamn Phantomhive servants! I keep asking you to stay behind, and you instead charge right into it!"

"Stop right there: I was tricked back in Central, they got me in - ACK!" Sombra quieted Envy with a strong grip on his face, his hand covering his mouth. Normally, Envy would be fine with this, but his new body strained on his grip. Chrysalis grinned devilishly on Envy's trouble.

"THAT doesn't excuse your previous attempts, Envy. ..."

"Envy! Envy, where're you?!"

Appeared they had more company. Farther away, Sombra, Chrysalis, and Envy all saw some of Team Harmony out and trying to find Envy after he left. not all of them actually ran off though, and the group out looking were those who found out in the first place: Alphonse, Pinkie, Aladdin, and Blair. Sombra turned back to Envy, and tossed him down to the ground.

"And why're they looking for you?" Sombra questioned. That was when Envy didn't really answer. Or even if he could, he didn't have time to, as the others actually spotted him and the demon lords nearby. The others would go and get him, but seeing Sombra and Chrysalis made them stand still.

"Shall I handle them?" Chrysalis asked.

"YOU keep him still," Sombra instructed, tossing Envy over to her. Chrysalis was more than happy to grab the homunculus, the weakened creature not able to get free.

"Hey you, evildoer!" Pinkie cried, a bit dramatic in pointing at him. Sombra looked pretty skeptical towards them, and took a little look around along the raining countryside.

"So. Look who also came out in the rain to join us this evening."

"Silence, jerk! You harm that boy there, and momma will knock you out!" Pinkie yelled, childish, but still trying to help him. Sombra wasn't taking this dramatic Pinkie Pie very seriously. In fact, Sombra literally pushed Pinkie Pie aside to confront the rest of them. Not a good showing.

"You care to explain what you want with Envy? Hmm?" Sombra questioned.

"Look, we're just trying to make him feel better. We found him unconscious, and we've been trying to heal him since," Alphonse explained, humbled by Sombra, and trying to not start anything. Chrysalis felt a little troubled, but Envy was pleased. Sombra took a few steps closer, but Aladdin was starting to worry, he already lost Nagisa, he wasn't going to lose anyone else, and he put himself between his friends and Sombra. Chrysalis though decided to go in anyway.

"Excuse me for butting in, but that's such a likely story. Envy could've just told them to say so to cover himself up," Chrysalis accused.

"I'M. NOT. LYING!" Envy roared, Chrysalis muffling him by shoving his face into the mud. First Korosensei, then Sebastian, and now Chrysalis was humiliating him. Sombra looked back and forth between the group and to the homunculus. Aladdin looked ready to summon his shield at any moment.

"N-Not at step closer," Aladdin warmed. Sombra stopped moving, and thought over the situation they were in. A long paused stood up in the rain, each side waiting for something to happen. A few of the full team had arrived, they saw Sombra in his full form, Envy was weakened, and while all those factors were current, there was one thing that Sombra had to know regardless of what the main point was. Sombra closed his eyes, and trying to think ...

"HURRY UP, THE SUSPENCE IS KILLING US MORE THAN YOU ARE!" Pinkie suddenly screamed, no longer able to take it. Sombra got himself together faster than the others did, and he went closer to the group anyway.

"I'm warning you. I'm not afraid to fight you!" Aladdin said, trying to sound confident, but as Sombra walked closer, his eyes staring daggers at him, Aladdin could feel himself freeze up. It wasn't long until he was just a foot away, Aladdin gulping.

"You still seem scared, magi. Nothing but talk, you are," Sombra stated, cold and stern. Suddenly, Aladdin summoned his shield up, covering the whole team in that shield, blocking Sombra from coming any closer.

"Alright, fine. ... Tell me the truth: How many people know about Pluton?"

More silence. By the sound of his tone, Sombra was in entirely no mood to play around, each word coming out slow and steady so not a single word was missed with anyone's ears. Such a powerful demon king as well, and the wrong answer could tear them apart. Team Harmony needed a bit to figure out what to do.

"You don't know?" Pinkie asked, legitimately confused.

"Would I ask you if I did? Not come on, out with it!" Sombra demanded, his voice bellowing into them, enough to make most of them shiver. It took them a little bit more, but eventually Alphonse took a step forward, standing in front of everyone.

"Uh, well ... Central knows, and ... I ... guess, the whole world? ..."

"WHAT?!" Sombra's roar made them all jump, Aladdin's lack of focus enough to actually drop the shield and make him tumble back into Alphonse. Suddenly, Sombra was right in their faces, his eyes glowing in anger.

"How many people did you tell?!" Sombra roared.

"No one, no one, none of us said anything, I swear! One of those human machine things was flying around Pluton, a-and apparently it's able to 'broadcast' all over the world, o-or something like that!" Aladdin tried to explain suddenly Aladdin found himself gripped by Sombra! Sombra's hands gripped around Aladdin's neck, and lifted him up off the ground, choking him right there! Sombra wasn't going to suffocate him, but instead, grabbing him by his ponytail, he swung Aladdin like a mace, and slammed right into Alphonse, cracking a hole in his armor, and throwing both aside hard. Blair and Pinkie dodged it, as both magi and living armor landed about ten feet away. Sombra looked ready to kill, but suddenly he got his senses together from what he was doing.

"No, no Sombra, calm down. You'll get yours soon enough," Sombra thought, getting himself together. Sombra turned to those remaining, and all he did was swat them to the ground with one hit. Not as violent, but still got them out of the way so he could confront Envy. Sombra moved Chrysalis off of him, and lifted Envy off the ground.

"About time. Sombra, look, give me my power back and we can finish them off for good!"

"DON'T GET ANY CRAZY IDEAS! ... Besides, it wouldn't of worked out between you and me, anyway," Sombra concluded, throwing Envy over to the other humans. They all were still alive, but left stunned by Sombra's menacing power. Envy picked himself up off the ground, along with the rest.

"You okay, Envy?" asked Blair.

"Shut up," Envy yelled. Sombra was suddenly standing right in front of Envy.

"Listen, and listen good you pathetic creature. You may have been cleared of releasing Tirek from his cell, but your rebellious behavior and pathetic actions over these months are inexcusable. You were doomed from the start anyway, Envy. Chrysalis draining your power? That was for until after Pluton was defeated!" Sombra revealed, not only shocking Envy to his core, but kinda embarrassing Chrysalis a little. His punishment would come to him no matter what the situation was.

"Y-You can't get rid of me ... I'm a Homunculus. ..."

In front of everyone, Sombra made his bold move on Envy, and one that made it clear that Sombra no longer needed him around any longer. Aiming Envy's head to his own, Sombra brought his hand out, and his hand turned into a shadowy substance, which skewered right through Envy's mouth! Envy gagged, and choked, and he felt Sombra's arm deeper and deeper inside of him. Envy was unable to stop the demon lord, and neither could anyone else. Soon, the arm was removed from his mouth, and Envy was tossed aside, Envy coughing and hacking while down on the ground. It was after that, when Sombra revealed what he removed from Envy.

Envy's Philosopher Stone!

"H-He removed his stone," gasped Pinkie.

"B-But how? A Homunculus is nonexistent without it," Blair said. Sombra overheard what they were saying, and placed the stone into his pocket.

"Exactly."

"W-Wha .... how ... how am I still alive?" Envy wondered, completely shocked. His throat was sore more than most, but considering his stone was removed from his body, that would be a death sentence for any Homunculus, but somehow Envy was still whole. Still alive and breathing, somehow.

"Have you not figured it out yet?" questioned Sombra, Envy looking up to him with utter shock.

"... Homunculi are artificial humans, created by Philosopher stones like these. Once a stone is removed or destroyed, the Homunculus would cease to exist ... yet, you're still alive. So what do you suppose that would mean?"

A huge flash from a lightning bolt, and thunder for the oncoming storm to accompany the rain sparked what Sombra really meant. Envy couldn't believe himself, or Sombra for that matter, but as he felt some of his own blood seep out of his mouth with no signs of healing, what other explanation would there be? Leaving Envy to figure out what to do, Sombra walked away with a cold shoulder towards his former servant, and heading back to Chrysalis before a portal was made for them both to pass through. Once they both did that, it was just Envy, and what Team Harmony was left there. Envy was severely silent after that ...

"... E-Envy?" Alphonse said.

"Leave me alone," Envy said. Before anyone could do anything, Envy took off again. ...

.......

Alone.

All alone.

That was Envy's main situation and feeling overall. At least running off given him time to himself, but now that Sombra basically fired him in front of his enemies, Envy just couldn't feel anything else but depression on the event. The storm started to calm down after a little bit into the night, but it didn't make Envy feel any better. He was soaking wet from the rain, dirty from Chrysalis pushing him into the mud, exhausted from running away from Team Harmony. Tired, soaked, and now he had nowhere else to go to. Envy isolated himself over by a lone tree, curled up against the trunk and keeping completely quiet, cutting off the rest of the world from his mind as he tried to take in the facts. Something he had to face: his Homunculi were far from reach, Sombra abandoned him, Chrysalis sucked his power away ...

"Envy, there you are."

Envy turned his head and soon saw Blair standing over by him. Rather than feel glad someone was with him, Envy just turned away.

"Can't you ever listen?" Envy growled. Blair, wet herself from all the rain, took a seat over next to him. Envy didn't even try to run away.

"Come on, seriously, you're going to get sick out here like this," Blair started.

"I don't care. I don't need him, and I don't need you, so leave me alone," Envy instructed. However, Blair didn't bother to leave.

"Now I know that's a lie, otherwise why would you be out here?" Blair asked. That just made Envy even more furious, and he jumped to his feet to run, but Blair caught him by the arm.

"The hell is wrong with you, dumbass?! I've tried kill your friends three times now, and I even killed you! Why should you even care about me?! If I were you, I'd just leave me back there to die in Central!" Envy demanded. Blair was starting to get a little impatient with him now. The usual chit chat wasn't going to work on Envy apparently, and with no one else around but her, she had to get her mind together.

"OK, Envy, seriously, you rarely did a thing to us to deserve to be left behind like that. You may not see it, but I didn't save you because of some back-stabbing agenda. And I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you overheard what Ciel Phantomhive said before you took off?"

"Yes I did, and I KILLED YOU! How's that not a good enough reason?!" Envy insisted. Blair stretched, and brought her hands to the back of her head.

"Yeah, I'm a witch cat, so what? I got eight more lives to spare," Blair said. Envy couldn't believe what he was hearing: he literally skewered her and tossed her body like garbage, and Blair STILL didn't hold anything on him? Nothing?!

"What? ... but, why? I skewered you, and threw your body off the balcony at that royal ball, and you're telling me you don't hold anything to me?" Envy asked, not believing any of it.

"No, I do not. Now, burning up my house and leaving me homeless, THAT is worth my grudge," Blair cleared up. It was clear on what demon dog she was referring to, but Envy didn't see it. Before Envy could talk though, Blair suddenly brought her finger up to his mouth.

"Envy, listen to me. You can go on and say what you want to, but I don't follow the same rules like most of those other underworld demons. You know, I've been given a chance to follow Sombra when Hellgar came over to my door, but I didn't take it."

"Why not?!"

"Because if I did, then my freedom will be tossed clear out the window. I'm a free kitty cat, and I have to stay serious and stern if I get stuck with that guy. I got a voice too, and lives to spare, I'm not going to waste my time with him, or any other demon lord. Course, it cost me my house, which is bullshit, but you know what, I got some cool friends, a hot roomie to hang with, and I get to be myself while up here."

"Do you hear yourself?" Envy questioned, now more confused than upset. Blair went on and on about getting kicked out of the underworld like it was a good thing.

"Do you hear yourself?" Blair then asked. Envy paused from there.

"Ever since we rescued you, you keep on questioning why that was a good idea, and why we should save you even after what you did. I mean, really, who does that?"

"Maybe someone who hates humans. Someone who sees humans as nothing but stupid, pathetic worms. Someone who thinks that getting rescued by the same humans who he tried to kill is the dumbest thing ever!" Envy stated with a growl. That final statement seemed to do it for Blair. Blair turned to face Envy in the face, her normally cheery, happy demeanor being replaced with a more calm one, which was strange for Envy. no one really look at him that way before.

"So you'd rather go back and be Sombra's little servant than be with some humans who actually gave a shit about you?"

Envy would say something, but when thinking over the question, something seemed different with it. Would he rather do that, or no? Would he rather go back to being a servant? Envy stayed quiet, not sure what to say at first, but then Blair smiled to him. It wasn't the same sadistic smile Sombra would give, or any regular demon when confronting their prey or anything, but rather one of a more cheery nature.

"Gotcha."

"Y-You got nothing, witch, don't act like you do!" Envy insisted, but all that did was get Blair to laugh a little bit.

"Oh, I totally got you now."

"SHUT UP. I'm nothing like those worms, I'm a -" Envy suddenly clammed up on his statement. He'd say he was a Homunculus, but now ... well, he wasn't so sure anymore. It was then that Blair got up, walked to front, and kneeled down to Envy, smiling her typical smile.

"Just stay here with us, Envy. It'll be fun to have someone like you as a friend," Blair finally offered, a hand extended to him in friendship. Envy couldn't believe his ears on what Blair was telling him. After everything so far, Blair offered her friendship to him? He tried to kill her friends time and time again, he kidnapped one of them, he even killed this very same girl for god sake. And yet, even after all that, Blair still went ahead to offer him the chance to have a better life up here than down in the Underworld. These last few days in recovery did show him how these humans were treating the situation, and treating eachother more than his typical spying tactics, but will they accept him like this? ...
Suddenly, Blair found Envy jumping up to her, but instead of just taking her hand, he was hugging her tight. A simple action like that told Blair that she got through to Envy, as she hugged him back. This hug stayed for a while longer, until Envy felt something being placed on his head: Blair's witch hat.

"This'll keep you dry til we get back," Blair said with a smile. Envy stayed quiet, but he didn't take the hat off of his head. After all, the rain was getting off of him this way, and Envy adjusted the hat a little bit more. So, the two started heading back, Envy only needing to say one thing. ...

"... Thanks ..."