DISCLAIMER: I don't own FMA or the characters. But Auori and the story are mine.
--Chapter 7--
"Auori..." Envy's eyes softened at the sound of her voice. He held her moistened cheek, looking down at her reassuringly. What will she do? He wondered. Perhaps she will...?
Auori blinked tiredly up at Envy, and opened her mouth to say something.
"I..."
"What's wrong, Auori? Are you alright?" Envy asked anxiously. Auori sighed, and said,
"I'm freaking hungry."
Envy laughed, and joyfully responded, "Got it. What do you want?"
Auori gave him a look that screamed, 'What are you, stupid?', and then said, "Food." Her muscles relaxed, and she laid back down in Envy's arms.
Sandy coughed, and Envy looked up, still dreamy.
"Sorry to ruin your moment," he said sarcastically. "But shouldn't you get her some food?"
"Food. Right." Envy started to get up, holding Auori in his arms, bridal style, along with the medicine, rags, and other materials. He walked with her to the door, when Sandy called, "No. Leave her here. She's not well enough to go out."
Envy turned around and frowned. "Leave her with you? I don't think so."
"Well, aren't you stubborn? Don't worry so much." Sandy responded coolly. "I'll take care of her."
Envy smirked, and said, "Wrong choice of words." He walked out, heading for who knows where.
Envy squinted his eyes in the bright outside lot. He looked around, and saw the workers bustling around, carrying crates to and from carts and warehouses. He stopped a worker and asked him where any beds were, so as to lay Auori down.
"Beds? Well, all we workers got is cots," he drawled. "But the boss probably has one in his house." Envy grunted a "thanks", and walked towards the entrance of the district. He looked around for the main house, and soon found it. As he walked up the rickety steps, a voice called after him.
"You're going to need the keys for that, won't you?" Sandy yelled, jingling his set of keys. Envy smiled, and turned the knob of the house with his foot, and stepped inside. Sandy stood, shocked, and sat down in the dirt.
The house was clean, but a bit disturbed from the fight the previous day. Envy walked around, searching for a bedroom in the one-story house. He walked through an archway to the back room, and discovered a bed and a few shelves to put the medicine. He carefully laid Auori down, her wincing a bit when she hit the bed. Envy piled the stuff on a shelf and walked back out to the front room. The house had grey-white walls, and on the wood table was a crusty plate of spaghetti. "Ew." Envy said, grossed out. He looked around for a kitchen, and dug through the refrigerator to find boatloads of food.
"Yikes. If we hadn't caught the guy already, I would've thought this guy was..." Envy stopped, and thought about what he said. "Huh." He grabbed a bunch of ingredients, and whipped out a pan.
[Who ever knew Envy could cook?] Envy chopped up tomatoes, lettuce, bean sprouts, and peppers. He boiled rice, peeled shrimp, and fried some eggs. Envy then tossed the ingredients into the pan and smothered it in soy sauce. He flipped the stir fry over and over, until it was absolutely delectable. Satisfied with his work, Envy dumped it into a large bowl accompanied by a fork and napkin. He brought it to Auori, and slowly nudged her awake.
"Ri-ri... hey, Ri-ri..." Envy said softly, nudging her arm. She moaned, and rolled over to face Envy. As he smiled, Auori held a blank face and said,
"What are you doing here, Reyven?" Auori inquired. "Shouldn't you be in Central, like I said?"
Envy gulped, and failed to respond to her question. Auori sighed and said, "Well, thank you for coming. I would still be in that warehouse if you weren't."
Envy paused, and then said, "Wait. You...?"
"Yes, I was conscious until you caught me. Since then, I've been out." She explained, smiling.
Envy breathed out in relief, thankful that she didn't hear anything that he said or did.
Auori looked at the bowl in Envy's hands, as her mouth began to water. "Is that... stir fry?"
"Shrimp stir fry. Your fave." Envy grinned, helping her sit up against the pillows, and giving her the meal. As he pulled up a chair to sit in up to the bed, Auori quickly dug in, swallowing the whole thing in record time. She handed the empty bowl, fork, and napkin back to the stunned Envy.
"Thank you," she said, grateful for the meal. "Just what I needed." As she lay back down, she grunted in pain. Envy flinched, and grabbed a pill bottle from the shelf. He dug out a few pills, and handed them to Auori.
"Swallow. Makes you feel better. I need to put bandages on your shoulders and back." Envy said, blushing at the fact he would need to do that. Auori sat still, and simply said, "No. I'll do it myself."
Envy flinched again, and argued, "You're in pain, anyone could see that. Please, just let me do it!"
Displeased to be argued with, Auori gave Envy a glare that would make Alphonse shiver. But Envy (unhappily) held firm.
"I'm used to taking care of myself. Just gimme the band-aids, Reyven." Auori demanded, slightly moving her hand out towards Envy. He looked towards the bandages on the shelf, and back at Auori. He took a deep breath, and simply said,
"No."
This made Auori even more annoyed. "Give me the bandages, Reyven." She said sternly.
"No." Envy responded neutrally again.
"Give me the damn bandages, Reyven." Auori said, evermore angry.
"Why should I? You can't even move." Envy said, with rising confidence. Why am I doing this? he asked himself. She wants to do it herself, and I don't want to... or, do I?
Auori tried to get up, but instantly felt her back muscles contract, forcing her to lay back down. Taking no more of Auori's stubborn attitude, Envy picked up the bottle of sleeping pills and cracked it open.
"Fast acting," he said, not looking at Auori. Auori's eyes widened, and immediately rejected taking the pills.
"You can't make me," she yelled. "I can do the freaking bandages myself!" Envy smiled mischievously, and dug out two of the pills.
Auori shrank back, moving her head away from Envy's hand that held the pills. "Those things knock me out, Reyven. Seriously, I'm not taking them."
"I'm sorry, Auori, but this is the only way you'll let me put the bandages on you. Unless you'd rather do it while conscious...?" Envy said, taking his hand away for a moment.
"Hey, I've got another idea," Auori said. "Let. Me. Do it. Myself."
"Then I guess you'll have to be asleep." Envy then popped the pills into his mouth, leaned in to Auori's face, and put his lips to hers.
Auori struggled at first as Envy forced the pills into her mouth, but then relaxed as the pills slipped down her throat. Envy moved away, his heart pounding, as Auori drearily looked up at him.
"I lose..." she breathed. "Don't do anything, Rey-rey..."
Envy, his heart still pounding, said, "Yeah, yeah. Night-night, Auori." Auori drifted off to sleep, and Envy grabbed the burn cream and bandages, and reached over to pull up Auori's shirt.
Then he stopped, blushing.
"Dammit." He said, staying still as he held the edge of Auori's shirt. "How will I do this..." He thought of what would happen if he didn't do anything to treat her injuries, but that didn't do much to motivate him. Then he thought of Sandy and his comments about Auori. That seemed to work.
As he pulled up her shirt, revealing her back, he was shocked by what he saw. All along Auori's back, her alchemy lines were searing red and orange. Not knowing what these were, for Auori never told him, Envy smeared burn cream all over her back and bandaged it. He turned her over, and inspected her stomach. At the most, there was only ash on the front of her body. He took one of the rags and dipped it in the bucket of water on the floor, and wiped the remaining of Auori down with it. Relaxing that his job was done, he laid back in the chair. Bored and with time to spare, Envy got up and walked back into the front room.
"I wonder what the pervert is up to..." Envy wondered, as he walked over to the front door and looked out the small window. Sandy wasn't there where Envy left him, which makes sense because he and Auori had been in the house for an hour or two. Envy turned the knob and walked outside, and the sun blared into his eyes. As he closed the door, he glanced around for any sign of Sandy, who was nowhere to be found. "Probably flirting up some poor worker..." He muttered, and jumped down the steps and decided to look around the district.
As he walked down the dirt road, he saw the workers carrying heavy boxes from trucks into empty warehouses, marked with 5, 6, and 9. Those must be the others that were attacked, Envy thought. So that parasite did all this? I'm not buying it. That perv Sandhead has got something to do with this. Envy walked up to an idle worker, and asked him about Garen.
"Well, from what I've heard, he was a demon in disguise..." he began. "But, we din't know that a few weeks ago. He was hired by Sandy, the boss, after the other guy disappeared. It was only a week ago that the attacks started. But, now they're gone! All thanks to Miss Alchemist."
"So, it was the old guy doing all of Sandy's dirty work?" Envy asked suspiciously.
"Well, I dunno, but all I need is my paycheck for hard work at the end of the week," the worker replied apathetically.
Envy rolled his eyes and continued, "So, you don't think Sandhe--Sandy stole anything himself, do you?"
"If we did, we don't got proof. We're not allowed in his house unless we're getting fired." The worker said.
Hearing enough, Envy muttered something under his breath and walked away.
Envy hurried through the hot sun and dust back to the main house where Auori slept, ready to tell his theory on Sandy. Wait. He thought. Why am I helping her? It's her job, isn't it? I shouldn't interfere. She would... ah, frick it.
He ran up the steps and slowly opened the door, so as not to wake Auori. He stepped in, and immediately sensed something off. The old plate of spaghetti was gone.
And the back room door was closed.
Envy began to sweat, stressing on what could have happened while he was gone. He snuck up on the door, and silently turned the knob. And then he saw.
Auori was pinned to the bed, with Sandy kissing her.
--Chapter 8--
"You son of a b***h..." Envy whispered wrathfully. Sandy didn't notice, which infuriated Envy even more. He grabbed Sandy by the back of his shirt, and thrashed him away from Auori towards the end of the room. Envy was absolutely furious.
[Author's Note: I apologize for Envy's language. He's Envy. He can't help it.]
"YOU SON OF A F******* B***H!" Envy screamed as he stomped towards the fallen Sandy. He grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up with one arm. "WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU CAN DO THAT, YOU BASTARD?!" Sandy choked at his grip, and tore in vain at Envy's arms. Envy punched him in the stomach, and then let him drop thickly to the floor. "You're going to die..." Envy breathed, raising his foot to stomp on Sandy's neck. "I WILL KILL YOU, YOU F******* BAST--"
"Reyven!" Auori said faintly. Envy stopped, and turned around to see Auori sitting up in her bed, staring at Envy and Sandy. Her eyes traveled from Envy, to his foot, to the bleeding Sandy on the floor. She sighed, got up painlessly, and put her hands on Envy's shoulders.
"Put your foot down..." she whispered. "I will deal with this. It's my job."
"He freaking k-ki--- you!!" Envy said shakily. Auori pressed harder into his shoulders, and continued, "Shh... I will handle this, Reyven..."
At that, Envy put his foot down and sat on the floor, looking up at Auori. I feel so god damn pathetic right now... he thought. How did she...?
Auori walked over to Sandy, and held out her hand to help him up. He took it, with a dark smile on his face towards Envy, and pulled himself up. Auori smiled at him, and then fastened government-issued handcuffs to his wrists.
"Hey, what're you--?" Sandy yelled, his hands pinned behind him.
"Sandy Arder, you are under military arrest for thievery, scamming, and potential murder," Auori recited. "And sexual assault, on a military Major, may I add."
Sandy glared back at Auori and hacked, "What the hell are you talking about?"
At this, Auori whipped out her camera and notepad from her bag, and announced,
"Yesterday I discovered your plethora of food, while other workers starved. I also collected data from the dates the attacks happened, and all took place a few days after Garen, your 'assistant' was hired. The previous assistant, Jared Opal, disappeared two weeks ago after discovering 5 boxes of food supplies missing from warehouse 5.
Today, I found your hidden door to your basement, which had crates upon crates of food and medicine supplies, in which I took pictures of as evidence," she said, brandishing her camera. "You hired a known parasite to steal food and medicine for you, so you wouldn't be blamed."
She dragged him over to the bed, and gestured to it. "I don't suppose the wool blankets and silk sheets are from a store? What else could you have stolen?"
Sandy gritted his teeth and shut up. Auori finally added, "And you could be charged with violation of workers' rights. But I'll let that slide if you come without a fight, okay?" She smiled her coldest and most fake smile in existence, and then called to the stagnant Envy, "Come on, Reyven. Time to get out of here." Envy looked vacantly at Auori, and slowly got himself up to follow Auori. As she dragged Sandy put the door, Auori pulled Envy by the hand and smiled. "I'll tell you later," she said.
Auori clicked open a military dialer and called for a car to take to Central Prison #4. As the three of them waited, workers flocked around them and began to ask questions, such as,
"What's up with the boss? What did he do wrong?"
"Who's gonna be our new boss?"
"Miss Alchemist, didn't Garen commit the crimes?"
"Mr. Sandy, what did you do?"
Not having time to explain to the workers, Auori simply said, "Your boss is a criminal of 4 to 5 offenses. I suggest you continue working to the best of your abilities until the next of your 'bosses' comes around. Thank you." She hurried away with Envy and Sandy before any more questions were asked, to in front of the district. Envy thought, She's so... professional. She takes her job really seriously. He looked towards Auori, who was standing firm as she held the cuffs on Sandy. He shifted uncomfortably in the silence, not knowing what to say. Luckily for him, the car pulled up soon and Auori climbed into the passenger seat. Unluckily, he got stuffed in the back with Sandy.
Envy crossed his arms in displeasure, and shifted as far away from Sandy as possible. The officer driving tried not to notice Envy and Sandy's injuries, but his curiosity overtook him.
"So, uhh, what happened to, um... him?" The officer asked, indicating Sandy.
"Oh, we had a bit of a... struggle, collecting him," Auori said dismissively, avoiding further explanation.
"And, the, uh, man in green?" The officer asked.
"He's my boyfriend. Now, please, if you don't mind, don't question them any further." Auori stated, and turned to face the window. The officer looked embarrassed, and turned to focus on driving the three to Central Prison #4.
--Later--
"...yes, he is charged with thievery, scamming, murder, and sexual assault... yes, I mean that last one." Auori explained to the military officers at the prison. "All the information can be found on these photos and in his house. Oh, and..." Auori stole a glance at the miserable Sandy, "...add violation of workers rights to that, too. Will I need any further involvement?" The police officers replied, "No," and Auori took her leave, making sure to say a very enthusiastic, "Have fun in prison!" to Sandy on her way out.
Envy was sitting outside when Auori came out. She followed Colonel Mustang's orders and kept Envy out of military buildings (though she's not sure if the supplies districts count). He spotted her and stood up, smiling.
"So that moron is in prison now?" He said happily.
"As far as I know..." Auori said. "Now, can we go back to my house for a minute? I can't go out any longer dressed like this." She gestured towards her burned-black clothing, and Envy nodded. She then said, "Maybe you should get changed, too. You have burns on your clothes, like me." Envy looked down and saw what she meant.
"Uh... by any chance, do you have any clothes that might fit me at your place? It'll save time." He said sheepishly. Auori thought for a second, and then responded, "Yeah, I think so. I rent the place from a guy who's on business traveling, so he could have some things." She then grabbed his hand and walked with him towards the train station.
