The Alchemist and the Lizard

Not For Long

Edward could hear Envy breathing heavily and shakily. He swayed quite a bit and the air around him felt warm. 

"Envy..." Edward murmured, starting to feel a little dizzy from loss of blood.

Seth stood up, throwing Edward to the ground. Outside, Hawkeye yelled, "Don't worry Ed, we're coming!"

Seth pulled out the knife that was lodged in Edward's shoulder. "All right you little punk." He said to Envy. "Who are you? And where did you come from?"

Envy just stared at him, unmoving.

"So if that's how you want to play it." Seth lunged at Envy who dodged out of the way sort of sluggishly, and grabbed his arm, twisting it backwards.

"All right you little fucker." Envy whispered in his ear, soft enough so Edward couldn't hear. "How dare you lay a finger on the pipsqueak. You're going to pay for that." Envy swiped the knife out of Seth's hand and stabbed it into his chest. 

Edward sat up, alarmed by Envy's action. 

The door suddenly burst open and Mustang and Hawkeye entered the scene (Hawkeye burst the door open, we all know that Mustang is useless), surprised to see Envy in the room.

Envy was struggling to keep Seth down as he was still very weak and Seth managed to tackle Envy and put a gun to his head. 

"No!" Edward attempted to walk towards them, but Hawkeye came over to him and held him back.

Seth walked backwards towards the window. The gun was pointed at Envy's head and Seth's other arm was wrapped around Envy's bare torso to keep him running from away. Edward could see that Envy was struggling but he could not overpower him. "Stay back everyone." Seth wheezed. The blood from his chest wound was dripping onto Envy. "Stay back, or else he goes."

Mustang held up his hand in snapping position. Hawkeye raised her own gun and pointed at Seth and Envy. 

"No Hawkeye." Edward said to the blonde. "Don't shoot."

"Edward. They're the enemy."

"No. Seth is."

Hawkeye opened her mouth to answer back but right at that moment, Mustang sent a streak of fire towards Seth and Envy that exploded right in front of them. Edward wrestled out of Hawkeye's arms and ran over to Mustang. 

Before he could say anything, Envy spoke. "Edward."

Edward turned around to see Envy muster as much strength as he could, and pull Seth down with him out of the window. Edward's eyes widened. He ran over to the window but he couldn't see them. His heart dropped. 

He ran out the door, Hawkeye and Mustang in tow.

"Envy!" Edward ran around the corner of the building and searched around in the darkness. He felt a body. "Envy?"

Mustang created a light, and Edward leaped back. It was Seth. His body was twisted at unnatural angles and blood was gushing from his mouth. His neck was also twisted violently and his tongue stuck out.

"Well that takes care of our killer." Mustang said. "Are you alright, Fullmetal?"

A single tear fell from his eye. What the hell? Was he feeling sympathy for that bastard? 

Hawkeye gently supported Edward and got him up on his feet. "Come on Edward." She soothed. "Let's go and get you cleaned up."

Edward sighed shakily. "Okay."

Hawkeye helped Edward to the car and they drove to the hospital. 

"Get some rest, Edward." Mustang said. "I'll need a report from you tomorrow." 

They left the room and left Edward to fall asleep for the rest of the night, knocked out by drugs and depression.

Edward awoke in the morning in a hospital room. He was in hospital clothes, all the makeup removed and everything. Sunlight filtered in through the windows and covered the bed in golden light. Bandages covered Ed's face and other places where he had been injured.

Someone knocked on the door.

"Come in." Edward said.

It was Hawkeye. "Edward, can we talk?"

"Sure."

Hawkeye sat in a chair next to Edward's bed. Someone must've watched him over the night.

"What exactly happened last night Edward? Why was Envy there?"

"It's sort of complicated. And a long story."

"Tell me. I have time."

Edward went into the story of how he found Envy in the street,  how he was now permanently a lizard, and how he made a deal with Envy to help Envy if he taught Edward how to act like a girl.

"But..." Edward said. "I have no idea how Envy was able to turn into a human. He wasn't able to shape-shift as far as I know. Listen, can you not tell the colonel any of this?"

Hawkeye smiled. "Of course Edward. I'll keep a lookout for Envy okay?"

Edward laughed. "Thanks."

Hawkeye gave Edward's hand a squeeze and then left him to rest. Once she had gone, Edward stared out the window. Where had Envy gone? That's what Ed wanted to know. He felt a little drowsy and so he decided to sleep for a little while.

He woke up forty-five minutes later to hear the sounds of something whimpering. He opened his eyes but didn't see anything. Edward leaned over the bed to see something small trying to claw it's way up the blanket that was draped over the bed. He lifted the fold of the blanket hiding the thing and nearly laughed in relief. "Envy!" 

Edward scooped up the lizard and set him on the bed. Envy was bruised all over and had a deep gash on his forehead in between his eyes. He limped a little when he walked over next to Edward's face (Edward's lying down).

"Hey pipsqueak." Envy finally said, a little weakly.

"What happened to you?" Edward asked.

"That bastard shot me while we were plummeting towards the ground, but he was only able to graze the top of my head, because the second we fell, I started to turn back into this."

"How were you even able to turn into your human form? Aren't you not able to shape-shift?"

Envy shrugged. "I don't know. I just...I guess I was able to draw enough power to shape-shift for a little while, and then I...just lost control when we fell. Simple as that."

A smile twitched at the corner of Ed's lips. "Why did you even help me? You could've let me die."

Envy's little head turned pink. "W-well I just...aw fuck it pipsqueak, I'm tired."

"Me too." Edward reached out and stroked Envy's back but instantly drew his hand back, realizing what he was doing.

Envy scoffed and crawled over on top of Edward's chest. He spun in a little circle before settling down into a comfortable position, and Edward cupped his hand around the little creature's body.

Together they slept, better than they each had done in a while.