Work Text:
You say God made us in His own image.
But what if that included His rage
His spite
His indifference
and His cruelty?
God created all of us, we are all God's children
but you see... God's a bit of a bastard.
(Quote excerpt from the show 'Being Human')
He could change. He could steal the people's faces and make them his own. He could use and abuse this power, and he had, perversely enjoying watching shocked, angered and dismayed faces of his victims. He could play mind games, letting his prey a little bit of freedom, of hope - before crushing it into the dust.
He was a monster - a jealous, envious beast that gorged itself on the anger, fear, betrayal and insecurities. And enjoyed it – yet, there was always that little hollow place, a tiny one, really, that envied those… mortals their cow-eyed declarations of love and friendship, despite his loud and oftentimes violent proclamations on the contrary.
It was simple. He couldn't be like them – he could never, ever be like them – and because of that, he spurned their attempts of holding onto their fragile hopes and dreams. He envied that shrimpy Fullmetal kid and his metal wastebasket of a brother. They had something he was never, ever freely given. So he taunted and mocked them, relishing their pain, fury and uncertainty. For a moment, he could pretend that they were the same - brothers, if not lovers, they could understand the misery of the world they had been so cruelly pushed into.
However, it wasn't enough. While they could commiserate, they always bounced back to their fucking naïveté, to their skewered beliefs of good and bad, black and white, forgetting the infinite array of grays he was trapped in.
Not human, and yet he felt like one. Not mortal, yet, he had died.
Tried to, at least.
He had no one. And yet -
Yet, there he was, staring into shocked eyes of the person he never thought he would have seen again.
The only one who understood him.
The only one who had loved him.
The one who had died - had been killed when that foolish man they called Father, tried to resurrect his child… even at the expense of his own two sons.
"Ari …" He choked out, reaching for his little one. Green eyes stared at him, wide with shock and confusion. "Who – who are you?" His precious Ariel managed to get out. "Only – only one person called me A – like that," He quickly amended, "And he's dead!"
Harry stared at the weird stranger, feelings of turmoil and bewilderment churning in his stomach., the strangely clothed teen chuckled. "Same old Ariel, same old," And then, the - Man? Woman? Changed into the kind, gentle youth Harry remembered all too well, even if he tried not to, because it was too painful. Golden hair, gentle golden eyes and kind smile – and the green – eyed teen choked. He had seen the same face in his numerous nightmares – terror-filled dreams with phantom pain and helplessness and sadness so strong Harry felt as if he couldn't bear it.
"Ga – Gabriel?" His voice was strangled as he inquired this… phantasm. "Rie?" He repeated disbelievingly as the teen nodded, hazel eyes happy, bright and hopeful and yet so unbearably sad.
Gabriel nodded, an impish smirk forming on his face. "The one and only," he tried to joke, but his voice fell as Harry tentatively touched him. "But how?" Harry whispered, dazed with the rediscovery. "I remember Father – "
"Father is dead," Gabriel interrupted him with snarl, as he abruptly morphed back into his slinky Homunculus form. "And a good riddance, I'd say." He spat out, violet eyes flashing in fury, making Harry flinch. "So… the experiment didn't succeed?" Harry whispered; his green eyes large behind his glasses.
Envy snorted. "He monumentally fucked up," He spat out, sneering, his eyes dark with ire. "You died and I – "He gulped as he motioned to his body – "Was changed into this." A sardonic smirk twisted his lips into self-deprecating grimace. Harry blinked. "But you are alive, aren't you?" His point – blank question made the sin cringe. "Try the opposite," Envy drawled out, his body still tense with fury at the … person who should have burned in deepest, darkest pit of Hell for what he had done to them. Especially to Ari.
At first Harry didn't quite get it, but then, his eyes widened with epiphany. "Don't tell me – " He hissed out at Envy vehemently, as he harshly grabbed the sin by the shoulders – " – that the imbecile managed to – "
"– Transmute me?" Envy finished, reveling in the fury that sparkled in those verdant eyes. Harry's face went slack for a second, an expression of a sheer and total disbelief, that was soon wiped out by a beyond pissed off one that made the witnesses cower away from the irate wizard. Even Envy had to remind himself that this livid creature was his little brother – but Harry sure didn't help with his anger on Envy's behalf. Even if he did look rather fetching… Envy licked his dry lips absentmindedly.
This was the reason he teased Edward. The Fullmetal alchemist had notoriously short temper and was very easy to rile up. Envy always had enjoyed their… encounters. They reminded him of Ariel. His dear, sweet little brother that was gone because of their father's stupidity. Ariel may have had rather mellow disposition, but when someone made him truly angry… he was a sight to behold. Compared to him, Edward's fits of anger were like little firecrackers to exploding nuclear bomb. Oh, Ed did come close sometimes, but he just… lacked.
Harry's grip on Envy's shoulders was vice-like. He had to breathe in deeply to forcibly calm himself.
"Ari?" Gabriel muttered to him, violet eyes concerned. "You okay?" Harry snorted as he loosened his grip, refusing to blush with mortification at his action. "…. No - it makes me want to use a ritual to bring him back and intentionally botch the transmutation just to let the bastard suffer," He muttered sulkily, ignoring the scandalized gasps of the onlookers. "Harry!" The bushy – haired girl admonished him, looking quite… Indignant at his choice of punishment. "How could you - !"
Harry snorted inelegantly at her little holier-than-thou episode. "Can it, Granger. " He said to her shortly. "What Fa – Hohenheim had done is a tantamount to the Forbidden Three here." The girl flinched under the unyielding green gaze. Envy noticed the gap between them and the… peanut gallery. There was a family of redheads, two dark – haired and one tawny-haired male – one had untamable deep brown hair and wore round glasses and the other had crooked nose with lanky, greasy hair on his head and unpleasant sneer on his face.
The tawny – haired male was torn between glaring at the amused Homunculus and snatching Harry back to the safety, far, far away from the demented palm tree.
There was a boy, who was similar to Harry; only his hair was dark brown and his eyes were hazel instead of green, along with him being taller and more muscled. He was standing between the bushy – haired girl and a redheaded boy that was possibly his age.
"Who the Hell are you?" The latter blurted out, making Envy want to rip his piggy eyes out as he was being ogled rather… lustfully. He smirked. "I don't think you are worthy of knowing that – OW!" he glared at Harry's stern gaze as he rubbed his ribs where Harry elbowed him. For such a small shrimp, Ari still knew where to hit for Envy to hurt, but Envy couldn't muster up the proper annoyance at his little brother's misdeed. But he conceded… for now.
"I am Gabriel Elric… the older brother of this little munchkin here," He managed to ruffle Harry's hair, before dodging a half – hearted swipe at him. Violet eyes gleamed wickedly as the wizards gawped at his gall. "Anyway, I don't like telling you more. Oh, and a word of warning – only Ari can call me by my name. Everyone else will call me Envy – or suffer the consequences."
The peanut gallery was stupefied.
"Harry? What's the meaning of this?" The tawny – haired male asked cautiously. Envy glared at the meek-looking male, not liking how he looked at him. The mutt just rubbed him all kinds of wrong, and with the said mutt trying to get Ari away from Envy…. Well, that firmly booked the flea-bag into Envy's bad graces; no matter what would his Ari say on the matter.
Harry blinked as he was being enfolded Envy – Rie's hug. Smiling slightly, he allowed Envy to cuddle up against him a little bit more, much to the surprise, shock and dismay of the witnesses. It had been so long since he was enfolded in his brother's embrace –
"Get away from him." The bespectacled male ordered, as he tried to inconspicuously draw a wand. Harry looked at his father incredulously. Well, not father – okay, James Potter was not a father figure, period – but Hohenheim hadn't been exactly the Dad of the Year either.
"No." Harry whispered out, relishing the reassuring squeeze his brother bestowed on him, not seeing the malicious smile Envy sent to the irate wizards.
Harry was his, and that was it.
The Grimmauld was dark and dreary place, and nobody would think it also dubbed as a base of operations for the Light side. Envy would have commented that this was just like his usual haunts back at the Amestris, but that would raise more questions he would have been willing to answer, so he refrained from speaking up.
After a small scuffle, it was decided to put all the cards on the table, so to speak, and get to the bottom of the secret that was Harry Potter and his….brother.
From what they knew, Harry was the younger brother of Kyle Potter, the Boy–Who-Lived. However, while his twin brother was a little bit stronger than an average wizard, Harry was deemed to be a borderline Squib, and nobody knew why. His scholastic results were, while academically impressive in theory, the practicals left much to be desired. Because of that, Harry was a social outcast in Hogwarts, not that it bothered him much… or at least it seemed that he wasn't overly bothered by it. He was mostly seen in the company of Longbottom boy and Loony Luna, but otherwise, he faded into obscurity… when Hermione didn't badger him about one or another thing, of course.
He was always an odd one out of the Potter family – something that was glaringly obvious when the family was being seen in the public. It was in little things – different face, not a mix of Lily and James, but something more… elegant, and there was a time or two when he was mistaken for a Black or an offshot relation of them. He moved and spoke differently – too mature for his age and sometimes, it seemed that he wasn't as comfortable with wizarding culture as his peers were, which was strange, seeing as he lived his entire life in wizarding world, but he behaved more like a Muggle-born than anything.
And there were his odd… hobbies. Harry was unhealthily interested in science - Muggle science of all things, and not like Arthur Weasley and his little collection of electric plugs, either. No, if anyone would have talked with the boy, he would be stumped to discover the boy was dabbling in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry that was easily college level and beyond, and trying to correlate these subjects to their magical counterparts – Arithmancy, Transfiguration and Potions. Of course, as he had been sorted into Hufflepuff, nobody questioned his eclectic mix of knowledge as strange, even if Ravenclaws did eye him oddly when he was checking out books that should have been far beyond his level of understanding from the school library.
The tension at the table was high. There was the Order, and much to Harry's disgust and Envy's mild amusement, Kyle Potter with his…. sidekicks. Harry didn't have much time to fill him in about the situation in this strange world, what with them being ogled like couple of exotic animals in the zoo, but he knew his brother good enough to read his emotions like a book, even if Harry was now a little more closed off than before - but that was to be expected, what with them… growing up, so to speak.
"Would you care to explain your…. Relation to Harry here?" The old, white – bearded wizard, clad in lime green and purple robes asked Envy, making the homunculus twitch at the feeling of compulsion trying to snare his mind.
"Why should I?" He sneered, reveling in the outraged gasps and murmurs of the crowd. Violet eyes looked over the peanut gallery malevolently, like a cat would eye the mice while deciding which one would be it's next squeaky toy for an hour.
"So you aren't!" The bespectacled man burst out, clutching his… stick tighter. Envy sneered at him, making the man scowl.
"Sir? He claims to be Gabriel Elric – urk!"The bushy-haired annoyance managed to tell, before she was choking In Envy's grip, making the wizards jump up to rescue her.
"Release her!" Kyle demanded, his voice quivering. Envy sneered at the scent of fear that wafted from the boy. The brat practically stank with it, like some kind of a human-sized skunk, and to Envy's enhanced senses it was…. Very offensive.
"Harry! Do something!" The tawny haired man demanded, making Envy's eyebrow quirk with amusement.
"At least mutt knows which tree to bark up to," He commented dryly, making the dark, lanky man in the corner smirk, as the 'mutt' glared at the unrepentant homunculus.
The pink - haired woman clumsily aimed her stick at the man, but the man with peg-leg was faster, and fired the curse "Torquero!" His old voice barked out, as the sickly saffron curse shot at the smirking sin.
But before the curse could touch Envy, they heard a clap, and the next thing they saw was the curse slamming into the marble block that somehow appeared out of the thin air.
There was a taken-aback silence. Even Envy was surprised, but not for long. The sin blinked and then smirked as the wall crumbled into dust. "Well, at least your skills didn't rust, Ari." He chuckled as he nodded to uncomfortably looking Harry.
Harry glared at him, green eyes flashing. "Rie… Put. Her. Down." He demanded, his voice low with tension. For a moment, it seemed that Envy would protest, but then, he chuckled and dropped her, making the girl squeal as her knees hit the floor with a hard thud.
"That was you?" Remus gasped out, as he looked over his honorary godson, making the said godson snort derisively. All the attention zeroed on Harry, making Envy tense at the glints of greed and curiosity in the assembled people's eyes.
"Yes." Harry's answer was short and sullen as he glared at Envy, making the sin inwardly wince at his brother's plight. Even before that miserable attempt of transmutation, Ariel was shy and didn't want the attention on himself – he preferred blending in the background, while Envy – or Gabriel at that time, was more likely to soak up the public's adoration, even if the only opinions he really took in his account were Hohenheim's and Ariel's.
And after Hohenheim's … betrayal, Gabriel went… a little berserk, if you will. Okay, he had a master, but Dante was just a messenger. Lust filled the empty place Ariel's absence left in his heart, even if just a little, but Envy, even if he didn't admit it to himself at the time, was lacking.
Thus he attempted to die, but he didn't count on his… nature to hamper his imminent demise – and well, hell, whatever the Gate of Truth may have been, the fucking thing had done something useful for once in it's pitiful existence and deposited him …and hadn't it been a surprise that he found out his brother was still alive?
He shook himself out of his musings only to approach Ariel – Harry now. Whatever. What a stupid name his little brother had. Those…little mortals were annoying, but for Ariel's sake…
"Why did you try to choke Ms. Granger, Mr. Elric?" The old, bearded man asked him, his eyes glinting behind the glasses. The old bastard was scheming something, and Harry's… display of alchemy apparently turned some cogs in his brain that Envy had an unpleasant feeling they should have been better left alone.
"Call me Envy." The sin told the old man, sneering at him, and making people except Harry bristle with annoyance. Green – tinted long hair swayed slightly as Envy cocked his head. "And as I told the idiots, only Ari can call me by my name." He casually hugged Harry around the midriff, with the said recipient of his affections not even attempting to stop him. Violet eyes glinted mysteriously in the dimmed light, as he grinned a bloodthirsty smirk. "Any other idiot can go to Hell for all I care."
Harry wanted to groan at Envy's declaration. It was just so typical of his brother, but still – "When did you become so arrogant?" He grumped out, yelping as Envy tightened his embrace.
"Ah, ah, ah, that would be tellin', dear brother of mine," Envy purred into his ear, making Harry flush with mortification and pleasure. So ears were his weak point, sue him.
Envy smiled at the small shudder his action provoked in the dark-haired boy.
"Harry is not your brother, you jerk!" The redheaded boy – the sidekick one – exclaimed. Envy eyed him drolly, and the boy meeped as he tried to shrink back, making Envy smirk victoriously.
"Harry?" The old man called out, his voice a tad bit sterner. "Would you mind explaining?"
"Not particularly," Envy snarked back, before Harry slapped his tight, making him yelp at the contact. "Shush, you. Anyway, Weasley is both right and wrong. Technically, I am Kyle's brother, yet I am not." Harry explained cryptically. "What you don't know, is that Lily, when she was pregnant, researched some obscure alchemical texts, searching for a means to destroy Voldemort." The people in the room gasped or flinched. "Did she…?" The dark-haired man asked hopefully, hazel eyes wide behind the lenses.
Harry shook his head, crumbling the intangible hope of listeners to the dust. "No. What she did, was to follow an old inscription she had found in one of the books. I believe it goes like this:
'Pale white and black with false citrine, imperfect white and red,
The peacock's feathers in bright colours, the rainbow in the sky above,
The spotted panther, the green lion, the crows beak blue as lead,
These shall appear before you in perfect white, and with many others,
After the perfect white follows the grey and false citrine also...'
Harry's voice recited the old the clue calmly, lilting sounds rolling from his mouth like a calm waterfall, entrancing the audience. While the others were just plain confused, Dumbledore's eyes widened in recognition. "Recapitutation of Twelve Gates," The man breathed out reverently. Harry nodded silently. "Did she found it?" Dumbledore asked quietly, still thunderstruck with the revelation.
Green eyes blinked. "Depends on what you think she found." He replied solemnly. "You can find many things –"
"You know what I mean," The old man's voice became sterner and more fervent. Harry inclined his head. "Aye, she did. But there's always a price, and what she asked for…" He shook his head ruefully at the memories.
"Were you the part of the price she had to pay for?" Dumbledore asked, blue eyes gleaming speculatively, making Envy growl at the old coot's daring.
Green eyes hardened. "No. We each paid a price. Her for the protection of her unborn child, and me for Father's idiocy" His tone was clipped steel. "The Gate is different for everyone. Fa – Hohenheim attempted to resurrect his first son, who died from mercury poisoning." The bushy – haired girl gasped, and the greasy – haired man's eyes widened. Obviously, Envy noted, the duo knew just what mercury was… at least there were two intelligent enough people to maybe warrant a conversation… even if Envy had a hunch the girl would get on his nerves faster than he could say 'chibisan'. Speaking of which – he turned his attention back to Ariel, curious what happened to him after they were so cruelly separated.
"The resurrection was a failure – I died, ' Rie survived, and because the foolish woman was pregnant at the moment she attempted to do… whatever she had done, there was a steep price." Harry continued, his voice a little bit hollowed. "The Gate is not something you would like to bargain with. The Truth…." He shuddered, prompting Envy to close his eyes and hug him tighter.
"She was carrying twins, and she didn't know. She wanted absolute protection for one child, not two – and so, one of the babies' life was taken." Harry's eyes closed, so he didn't see the anguish that appeared on James' face. "But that was a mistake, because she already offered her life in exchange for the baby's life; however what was done couldn't be undone. The baby's soul was no more." Harry gulped, as he opened his eyes again. "Anyway, at the same time – relatively speaking, of course – I arrived at the Gate, and the Gate decided to use my… soul, if you could call it that, for the body of Harry James Potter. From then on, you know the story."
Dumbleduore hummed thoughtfully, as he stroked his beard. "Hum. So she succeeded in a sense. But what about your… ability? You're a Potter, regardless of your soul's origin, and you should be fairly powerful wizard, and yet, you are merely mediocre."
James and Remus emitted sounds of protests at Dumbledore's remark. "Dumbledore, that was uncalled for!" Lupin snarled out. "So what if Harry don't have power to perform magic? His theoretical work is exemplary, just look at his use of Runes! And Potions – "
"- So what, he doesn't need to be powerful, Kyle is more than strong enough – " Kyle puffed up at the mention of his name weakly. He was still shell – shocked at the discoveries he had heard from his brother's mouth. And hell yeah, he was more powerful!
Moody moved restlessly, trying to chip in, but he was interrupted by Harry's mirthless chuckle. "I am not a wizard, Dumbledore. If anything, I am Alchemist."
"A – Alchemist?" The pink – haired woman squeaked out. "But - !" She wind milled her hands in an attempt to express her frustration with her inability to find the right words. "But you are still a kid!" She sputtered, her hair cycling through different assortment of colors, fascinating Envy immensely.
Harry quirked an eyebrow. "Tonks," He called her out, exasperated, as she continued to mumble rather incoherently. Dark eyebrow twitching, he glared at the scatterbrained Auror. "NYMPHADORA LUCIANA TONKS, SHUT THE HELL UP!" Tonks froze at the shout, meeping meekly as wide eyes looked at the annoyed Harry.
Harry wasn't known to raise voice, not even when he was a baby. He was generally a quiet kid, and as such, easily overlooked one in favor of his louder brother. But when he was pissed enough… hoo, boy.
Harry snorted. "Came from different dimension, hello? Rings any bells?" He waved fingers for emphasis, making Tonks flush with mortification. "The previous soul may have been – or had wizard disposition, but I was – am, first and foremost, an Alchemist. And if you hadn't been exactly sitting on your ears through this whole meeting, you should have known that. Besides, Alchemy isn't the sole domain of witches and wizards, yanno?" Envy snickered at Harry's rebuke of the flustered witch. "The basis may be different, but there are still enough similarities for me to work around that particular detail."
"How should we know you aren't Death Eater trying to dupe us?" Moody's scratchy voice cut through the uncomfortable moment. As his magical eye swirled around crazily, prompting Envy to watch it in quiet fascination.
Harry exhaled a long-suffering sigh. "I, Harry James Potter, also called Ariel Elric, swear on my life and magic that everything I have told the Order of Phoenix and its affiliates about circumstances of Lily Potter nee Evans is to my knowledge truth, and nothing but the truth, so mote it be."
The light surrounded him, a gentle blue – whitish glow, but otherwise, Harry was unharmed, if he didn't count Envy's hug tightening around his midriff a little too hard. "Happy now?" He snarked out, prompting Moody to grunt with satisfaction and Lupin hyperventilate with belated terror.
"You – You just-!" Lupin gasped out, his eyes wide, and a little bit wild. "You just Swore!" Harry nodded, much to Envy's confusion. "Yeah, and? It was the easiest way to prove that I am me and all that jazz." Harry cocked his head curiously. "But you just Swore! Dou you have ANY IDEA how dangerous Swearing on magic is!" Lupin practically roared at the unrepentant green-eyed teen.
Envy's eyes narrowed with suspicion. It seemed that his little brother had done something monumentally idiotic, and he wasn't aware of it, which made him feel …. Well, pretty useless. And pissed off, too.
"Ariel…" He growled out, his voice low and dangerous. Belatedly, he heard Harry gulping slightly – a small sound, that to Envy's ears denoted that his brother was really nervous about something.
Envy turned Ariel toward himself. "What did you just do?" His voice became deceptively soft – the kind that lured the unsuspecting prey in the proverbial trap. Ariel squirmed in his grasp, refusing to look Envy into his eyes.
Furrowing his eyebrows, Envy reached out and gripped the teen's chin, lifting it up gently. "Ariel…" His voice held a warning tone within. "Sooner or later, I will find out. So it will be better for you if you just tell me what you have gotten yourself into this time. Tell. Me. Now."
Wide green eyes, the color of emerald looked at him. "Uh, it was nothing, really." Ariel began meekly. "I just Swore, on my life and magic that I told them the truth." Envy nodded. "And?" He prodded Ariel lightly, as he quirked an eyebrow in askance, making Ariel cringe. "Um… If I had lied, I would've keeled over, dead."
At first, Envy just stared. It just didn't register in his mind at once, but half a moment later, violet eyes widened with belated horror. "You did what?" Envy hissed out, his hair appearing a little spikier than usual. "Are you out of your ever – fucking – loving – mind, Ariel Elric!" He shook the smaller boy roughly. "I am not even a full day in this weird Wizarding world of yours, and you want me to keel over with heart failure with your antics?"
"No harm was done, Gabriel! Calm the fuck down!" Harry spat at the furious Homunculus. "I am still alive, am I not? And when did you ever know me taking harebrained risks?"
Envy snorted. "The Sigurd Array?" He asked sarcastically, prompting Harry to flush with mortification at the memory of the accident. "Oh, come on!" Harry whined, much to the amazement of the witnesses. As far as they knew him, Harry James Potter never whined! True, he demanded, he was grumpy, and frostily polite, but whining? Nope, no siree.
"Um… What's Sigurd Array?" The red-haired girl said meekly. Envy grinned maliciously. "It's a…secret!" He finished the sentence mock-happily. Harry rolled his eyes, his mouth quirking up ever so slightly at Envy's antics, but he was grateful for Envy holding his mouth shut on the subject.
"The less you know about it, the better off you are. " Harry replied with a tone that broke no argument. "Equivalent exchange isn't only a bunch of fancy words and prettied up actions you think it is." Viridian eyes narrowed at the nosy bodies in the room. "And if I find out – and believe me, I will – that you searched the information on it, I will hunt you down and hurt you. Badly. "He glared at the certain bushy – haired girl who flinched back as if slapped.
"Now see here – " The black-haired, bespectacled man interrupted. "That information could help us win a war – " He didn't manage to finish his rant, mainly because Envy appeared in front of him, as if by magic and punched him into the jaw, and then kicking him into stomach, crashing the idiot into the wall with the power of kick.
"You fucking fool, Alchemy is not a thing you can kid around with!" Envy snarled, incensed. "You have no idea what are you demanding from us – the Sigurd Array is one of the Banned ones, because of the repercussions of it's use!"
"But Harry attempted the array and lived to tell the tale – surely it isn't so dangerous!" The man sputtered out weakly as Envy grabbed him by the robe and hauled him up like an unruly kitten.
Envy sneered at the idiot. "The Array almost claimed his life! If it weren't for Father – " He choked out the hated name - "Ariel would have been dead as a doornail!" He growled into the man's chagrined and dismayed face. "By some weird kind of luck, Father actually liked the shrimp – "
"Hey!" Envy ignored Harry's offended call as he continued " - And changed the Array to switch the recipients from Ariel to himself. If he hadn't been an immortal already, this thing would've offed him faster than you could rub your two braincells together." He dropped the dumbfounded man on the floor disdainfully. "Sigurd Array demands live sacrifices – live human sacrifices, to be exact." He smiled mirthlessly; delighting in the man's sickened expression. "Still excited to use it?"
"So why did Ari – Harry use it then?" The tawny – haired male asked quietly, his amber eyes still horrified with the latest revelation. Harry scowled. "I was young and stupid," He grudgingly admitted, his cheeks flushing, but he held his head high. "I overestimated my capabilities because I thought I could manipulate the array well enough so that they wouldn't use the… botched up one." He growled out sulkily.
For a moment, Envy stood stock-still as the warmth filled his usually empty and spiteful hole in his chest. Ariel did that for him…. Ariel literally gambled his life in an effort to help him…He swallowed a tight lump of emotions down his throat. He looked at Ariel, who was highly mortified and guilty at his own failure, and he couldn't help a warm smirk appearing on his face. "You were an insane little shit back then," He returned fondly, not caring about the redheaded woman's rebuke of a "Language!" echoing somewhere back among the peanut gallery.
Harry looked at his brother, a small, abashed smile curling his lips. "I still am." He agreed, as he looked into those violet eyes. True, they weren't the warm gold color he was used to look at, but the violet eyes still held that familiar affectionate warmth he was cradling in his most precious memories.
They were in a strange world, which was at the brink of a war, and the side they were on was full of delusional idiots that didn't have even the faintest clue about the dangers of Alchemy, but that didn't matter. What mattered, was that they found each other again, and may God help those who were unfortunate enough to think to separate them again.
/To Be Continued/