Heart of a SIN - FMA Envy Fanfic [Edited]

14 - Kidnapped

Arisa pov:

The first person I saw when we entered was Wrath. The sight of him didn't seem well on Envy and his mood seemed to turn angry and bitter again.

"Out of the way, brat!" Envy shoved him aside as he walked further in, and the latter landed on the floor on his rear.

Deadpanning at Envy, I then followed him up the grand stairway to the second floor. We entered an enormous library through double doors with shelves and shelves stacked with hundreds of books. The farthest wall of the library had French windows beside which were a table and four chairs. There was also an armchair on which sat an old lady. Strange and mildly annoying music played on the radio that was on the table.

"Hey, old hag!" Envy called to the woman as we stepped to her. On closer observation, she seemed like a very normal old lady of about sixty with grey hair and wrinkles on her face. She wore a rather bulky-looking one piece dress and a shawl. When we stopped in front of her, she regarded me with a kind smile.

"Come, my dear, take a seat," she offered, motioning to the chairs around the table.

I sat down after watching her warily for a moment. Envy stood next to her with one arm on his hip only to watch me rather intently. His gaze was just as curious, cautious and searching as it was after I had offered him my friendship. It was obvious he was still thinking about what I said back in the forest – I mean, I don't think anyone in the right mind would offer a homunculus their friendship. I guess I was one crazy enough to do that.

"Envy told me that you have the ability to create the real Philosopher Stone with just the Red Water. Is that true?" she asked.

Suppressing a sigh, I answered, "It seems to be that way. I didn't know about it myself until yesterday and, honestly, I'm not really happy about having that ability."

Dante laughing made my brow twitch in irk. She said, "You must not feel that way. You are unique. You should be proud to have such a special ability."

I tensed when she reached to me to cup my cheek gently. After a caress, she touched a few strands of my hair that had fallen over my shoulder. "You're such a lovely-looking child. Your skin is flawless and your dark hair compliments your pretty face."

"Um, thank you, but I didn't come here to hear your compliments," I said, leaning away from her so she was no longer touching any part of me. "Who exactly are you? And why do you need the Philosopher Stone?"

She leaned back in her chair without losing her smile. She did, however, touch my hand on the table when she spoke, "Several homunculi have been under my care all these years. I feel pained in their place and I want to turn them back into humans. It is not possible without the Philosopher Stone. But I do not have the ability to create it. I have to look and depend on others who have the ability. You are gifted with the ability to create it. Please, give me your power to create it."

Her smile was sad but seemed fake. In fact, her words sounded fake – I was almost certain that she wanted the Philosopher Stone for a more deranged reason.

"Chhe! If you want her to make the Philosopher Stone, you should just order her! I can break her bones one by one until she begs for me to spare her from any more pain and agree to do as we told her! Why should we lower ourselves to nicely ask a pathetic human for help?" Envy muttered, crossing his arms with his eyes closed in annoyance.

"Now now, Envy, we don't want to hurt her in any way. She is important to us and we have to make sure she is comfortable while creating the stone for us. Force won't do us any good," Dante said in a sickly-sweet voice.

While Dante remained smiling, I was lost in thought. I glanced between her and Envy several times, many things to consider going through my mind. I had always thought that the homunculi were the bad guys – well, it's not that killing humans was fine, but it was true that they weren't pretending to be something they were not. Envy enjoyed killing people and he didn't hide it. Wrath also didn't really like humans and he made no attempt to hide it. I had met Lust too and she did use her looks to charm people and get things done but she too didn't pretend to be someone she was not. But Dante...Dante was fake for sure.