Trigger Warning: Severe Torture. Severe Torture does not include Gore, Guts, or Dismemberment. Severe Torture always includes blood, bruises, screaming, and begging in varying degrees. Severe Torture may include Dislocation, Bone Fractures, Systematic Choking, Psychological Torment, Starvation, Humiliation, and other similar triggers. This warning applies to the entire story. Please proceed with caution.

Envy hit the ground hard, tumbling head over heels and slamming into the side of a building. He scrambled to his feet the second his momentum stopped pushing him into the wall, half stumbling half running towards the only possible escape.

If I can get underneath the city, I can hide.

Falling into the wall again, he rounded a corner and forced himself to continue putting one foot in front of the other, blood splashing against the stones with every painful step he took. His entire body throbbed, heat coursing through his veins, his nerves crying out with every single movement. Even the wind on his face had become agonizing.

Father! How dare you? Envy ducked his head and pumped his arms, skidding around another corner and rushing towards the closest manhole. Just because you couldn't defeat a few measly humans, you didn't have to take it out on me!

Or rather, Father didn't have to take it out of him.

"Get back here, Envy!"

He denied the fear swelling in his chest and continued to run, staring down at his bloodied hands and feet, silently lamenting the loss of his regenerative abilities. Lamenting the loss of his true form and his strength. Granted, he was still more capable than the average human, and he was certainly more durable, but compared to what he once knew, he was nothing.

It won't let me die, but this body knows it's running out of juice. It won't heal anything unless it absolutely has to, no matter how hard I try, and it only heals enough to keep me from dying. I hate it. I hate it!

Still, the weakened homunculus refused to surrender and kept on running. He listened to his surroundings, painfully aware of the fact that he was being followed by at least three different assailants, all of them more dangerous than he would have preferred.

"Envy!"

Sliding around one last corner, the fugitive staggered halfway down the road and dropped to his knees, placing his hands on either side of the metal disk embedded in the ground. He dug his fingers into the dirt and immediately froze, eyes widening as they scanned the surface of the plate.

It's a trap.

Envy leapt to his feet, abandoning the idea of the sewers and trying to make it to the closest alleyway before his pursuers caught up. He saw a stray cat running to get out of the way, and he got a sinking feeling that it wasn't running from him.

Snap.

Envy hit the ground yet again as a wall of fire struck him, flames engulfing his body and tearing an agonized scream from his throat. His skin peeled away from his muscles, the fluid in his eyes dried instantly, and breathing only served to drag the heat down into his lungs.

He was hit again, both arms coming up to cover his head despite the absolute futility of such a move. It came again, pitching his body another five feet and pulling scream after scream from his dried, bloodied lips.

Throwing his head down, he spewed blood onto the asphalt, staring at the tattered skin of his arms through a blurry haze. He struggled to lift his head, hissing at the sight of his skin spread along the road in pieces.

I can't move!

Envy gasped, pushing against the ground and using every ounce of strength he had left in a desperate attempt to get to his feet. He could hear voices approaching, he could see the fuzzy outline of a military uniform headed right for him, he could feel his body collapsing beneath its own weight.

I… I can't die… I can't die, not like this!

Envy cried out in pain as his hair was tangled in an unforgiving grip, the hand trying to pull him up by the sticky, black locks.

"You little mongrel." The voice was soft, but there was no denying the fury and loathing seeping into the words. "You have escaped me for the last time."

Envy reached up, grabbing at his hair and trying to remove the pressure from his scalp. It was pointless, though, because as soon as he did, he was slammed back down onto the ground. His arms were pulled behind him, the burned flesh peeling away beneath the white gloves, handcuffs closing none too gently around the damaged wrists.

"Let's see how you like being used as a pawn."

Envy groaned, pushing his forehead into the ground and trying once again to get up. His neck gave out two seconds later, his bloody feet unable to get any traction, and he crumpled back down to the dirt.

He gagged, feeling a leather strap wrap around his throat, the faint sound of a buckle catching his ear as his neck was encased in a thick restraint.

"It looks like you're the dog of the military now, Envy."

Rage surged up from the pit of the homunculus' stomach, a growl rising in his throat. He twisted his upper body, kicking his feet against the ground and throwing himself at the source of his pain and humiliation.

"I'll kill you!" he snarled, hitting the ground as the man took a step back. "You disgusting, worthless worm. How dare you? I'll kill you! I'll kill you, you son of a—"

Envy came to an abrupt halt, a boot sinking into his gut and stopping any and all thoughts from making it past his lips. He went limp, lying on the ground, staring dead ahead and struggling to drag even the tiniest bit of oxygen down into his lungs. Retching, he tried again to get to his feet, this time for an entirely different reason.

"You call me disgusting?"

Envy choked, his head being lifted up by the collar around his throat, bile still pushing its way up and over his lips. He wheezed and gagged, his body unable to breathe or expel the substances it so desperately wanted to be rid of.

It hurts… make it stop… it hurts… make it stop… it hurts…

"Have you looked at yourself?"

It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts…

"You have no right to call anyone disgusting. You can't even say the scum on the bottom of a pond is disgusting. Or the vomit coming out of your mouth."

…it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts…

"You, Envy, are the only disgusting thing I see."

…please make it stop, it hurts, it hurts, please make it stop, please…

Envy was released, falling down into that which he had coughed up seconds earlier with a disoriented, miserable whimper.

…please make it stop…

But that was highly unlikely. After all, it wasn't as if he had been captured by a random military official or one of his many average enemies. No, he had been captured by none other than Colonel Roy Mustang, and he knew exactly what that meant.

…please… no… don't…

It made no difference, and as Envy spiraled downward into blackness, he found himself thinking it would be in his best interests to never wake up again.