Psh! Y'all seriously thought I'd give you guys an actual preview? Not a chance!
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Chapter 9: After Effects
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If this didn't scar Fullmetal for life, Envy honestly had no idea what would.
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The homunculus dropped Ed's body on the bench, tucking the papers into the human's automail hand. Shifting into one of his many militant forms, Envy tapped Fullmetal on the shoulder, fabricating a look of third-party concern, as he woke the alchemist up.
"Sir, wake up. Sir, you'll miss your train if you don't hurry," Envy said mechanically.
Ed blinked, opening his eyes and looking around in confusion.
"Where am I?" asked the human. "Last thing I remember was-" The alchemist stopped, horror written all over his face. "Oh my god…"
Envy laughed inwardly. This was just too easy.
"How did I get here?" Fullmetal asked, looking around frantically.
Envy raised a skeptical eyebrow, trying to make the official form look as perplexed as possible. "You walked here yourself, sir. You bought a ticket back home to Resembool, sat on this bench to wait for your train, then promptly fell asleep. I happened to overhear you buying your ticket, and thought if I didn't wake you up soon, you might miss your train. I'm sorry for the inconvenience-" Envy rambled formally, only to be cut off by Ed.
"No, no, that's fine. Thanks for waking me up. I just had a…bad dream, and was disoriented. Thank you for your trouble, its no problem," the alchemist assured him.
Envy raised an internal eyebrow, and outwardly nodded briskly. "Very well. That's your train there, better get on it now," he said, giving the human a brief grin.
Ed nodded dazedly, and boarded the train.
Ed stared out the window, trying to recap the past few days.
He'd arrived in Central three days ago, and based off instructions from Mustang, was told to meet one of his subordinates at a drop-off point in a secluded alley. From there, things got foggy. He was carrying a piece of paper that held research notes in his own handwriting about Rentanjutsu and it's relation to the Philosopher's Stone, and a official document from Mustang outlining what he had managed to discover about their enemies.
However, he had no memory of how he got any of these things. Ed had called Mustang from the train to ask some basic follow-up questions about their brief meeting, and was asked if his "head was feeling any better". Apparently, he'd been hit in the head with a kid's baseball, and then tripped and crashed into a pole. The officer at the train station had told him that he'd bought his tickets then abruptly crashed, the same day as this incident had happened.
The only thing Ed remembered of his stay in Central was his…encounter with Envy. And that he'd enjoyed it.
From these two very different stories, Ed had a plausible sounding explanation. He'd gotten some minor amnesia from sleeping so soon after his head injury. The Envy thing was harder to explain. Ed didn't want to classify it as being an erotic dream, as that would mean that he was sexually attracted to the homunculus, but it was the only explanation that didn't involve it being real.
Ed chose the lesser of two evils, and decided to put the nightmare behind him.
Envy jumped out Mustang's office window, shifted into a crow and began to fly. He'd had Mustang given a surprise day off so that he could monitor the phone line himself. The concussion idea had worked perfectly, though the homunculus could hardly imagine what Fullmetal had worked out to explain their fucking.
If all goes according to plan, this will begin to eat at him, and eat at him, until he finally seeks me out. And then…
Envy came up short. He realized he hadn't fought that far ahead.
Then what? Do I give him to Father, do I fuck with his head some more? Do I fuck him more? What should I do?
Envy spiraled down out of the air, and perched, shifting into his human form, and thinking. Possible scenarios flew through his mind, some malicious, some beneficial to the Promised Day, and others rather erotic.
"Gah!" Envy groaned in frustration, shaking the latest sexual fantasy out of his mind. Why was he thinking about this so much? It wasn't as though he actually liked Ed.
Was it?
Envy thought back to when this all started. That first damned kiss inside Rockbell's body. Why had that mattered? He'd had to play a part before, often an intimate one. Why did this role change everything?
Ed was trying to forget it. Honest.
He'd tried to act like everything was normal. He acted happy, immersed himself in his alchemy. Nothing worked.
It all got harder when Winry got back. Fortunately, she was on her…female time…so they didn't have to make love (thank god!), but Ed felt strange with every kiss, every touch.
The dream was haunting him. It had been too real, too vivid. It was horrifying and scarring, but at the side time, he didn't hate the memory. It came back in his sleep, and Ed was grateful that he slept facedown, and that a muffled "Envy!" could sound like "Winry!"
Winry seemed to think it was cute. When she'd first confronted him about it he was terrified. She'd come up to him, and kissed him from behind, putting her arms around his neck.
"Sleep well?" she asked coyly. Ed resisted the impulse to freeze like a deer in the headlights.
"Yeah, why?" he said shakily. She laughed.
"Don't be embarrassed," she said playfully, "you were very, um, active, last night. You were moaning and screaming into your pillow. Are you so deprived that I'm entering your dreams now?"
Ed attempted a smile. "Probably. I honestly don't remember."
Winry laughed, kissed him again, then went downstairs.
That was close.
The dreams kept coming, only different scenarios. Different locations, different positions, but always the same person. That same body.
One night, Winry came to bed with a light in her eyes.
"Hey Ed?"
"Yeah"
"Well, you seem a little, well, excited, most nights, and even though I'm almost done with, you know, we could still have some fun," she said, eyes sparkling.
Ed tried his hardest to look interested. "How so?"
Winry laughed. "You'll have to find out."
She pulled him up from where he was laying, and made him sit on the end of the bed. Slowly, she began to take off her shirt, then her bra, leaving her shorts on. Winry then kissed Ed passionately, a kiss he tried to respond to with as much fevor.
She pulled away, and slowly took off Ed's shirt, throwing it behind her, then starting on his pants. When his boxers were removed, there was a little arousal, but clearly not much.
Ed realized what was happening, and knew he needed to fake it. He tried to come up with something that would get him horny, and suddenly Envy's naked body popped into his mind.
He perked up immediately.
Winry laughed, and stroked, his erected member, soft fingers slowly caressing. When it grew larger, she put it in her mouth, and began slowly rubbing it with her tongue.
Ed started panting, remembering how Envy had started this, and never finished.
"Wait," he panted softly. "I want to try something new."
He lay down on the bed, and pulled some cord from out of his bedside table. He tied one of his hands to the bedpost. "Tie my other hand."
Winry raised her eyebrows, but did so.
Ed closed his eyes, envisioning Envy. "Now."
He made sure not to moan any names.
Envy was frustrated. He had gone over and gone over all kinds of different ideas of what to do when Fullmetal finally sought him out, but could come up with nothing that didn't involve the two of them having a much more romantic encounter.
"Dammit!" Envy snarled, slamming his fist on the branch he was sitting on, scaring away the many birds who'd come to sit on the branches next to him, not smelling human.
"What the fuck do I do now?"
Ed woke up and realized he desperately needed to see Envy. Even if all he accomplished was getting the shit beat out of him, that would at least put a different memory in his head than the one currently there.
The only way to find him would be to go to Central and make his prescense known.
If something happens, then I'll know it was real, if nothing does, then I'm just a little depraved and possibly homosexual. No worries.
He didn't know if he was more worried that something would happen, or that nothing would happen.
Ed wandered down to the kitchen, bags already packed, and announced he would be going to Central, claiming that he'd left some research behind. Al of course,w anted to come, but Ed quietly told him that he needed to take care of Winry and Pinako more than he needed to take care of Ed.
"After all, they know where they live, and I'm going straight to the heart of operations. If something happens to me, I don't want a hostage situation."
Al nodded, convinced. Ed wished he were a worse liar.
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And that's the end! Hope things are slightly clearer, the next chapter is coming up, and as always, I deeply apologize for the update lag. I hope this chapter made up for it. Sorry about the Edry/Edwin (whatever you guys call it), but I needed it.
Btw, has anyone read the manga chapter 90 yet? Pretty intense, no? Kimblee's a bitch, don't you agree? No signs of Envy yet, but we can always hope.
Anyways, farewell my lovely readers!