Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
"Wheels within Wheels"
By Violetlight
Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, in any of its incarnations. That pleasure belongs to Hiromu Arakawa and Square Enix. I am borrowing their universe and characters for entertainment purposes only. However, please do not use any of the concepts, or any possible future original characters that may be introduced, without my permission.
Author's Note: It's been a long time since I ventured into the world of fan fiction, as I've been trying to develop my own, original science fiction universe. However, sometimes you just get an idea stuck in your head, and it has to get down on paper. I had such an idea regarding two characters from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood – the homunculi Envy and Greed. I began to wonder, what could have happened to the two of them if they hadn't died? This story explores that possibility. How could these two homunculi survive in a world without Father to tell them what to do? How could they form their own lives, their own identities? If enough others share my interest, I just may have to further explore these two, and find out what happens to them. Before that, though, please enjoy this possible exploration of their past. Their past relationship, long before the series began, and the effect it had on Envy in particular. What can I say? I love that little shape-shifting sociopath!
Revamp Note: After several months and seven chapters of this story, "Wheels Within Wheels" has evolved into something more than what I first anticipated, as I explained in more detail in my author's note for chapter 6. On the advice of several other readers, including a professional editor, I have decided to rewrite chapters 1 and 2 in order to a) tone down the sex, bringing the story rating down to a "T" from a "M" and b) fix some continuality issues. So, please enjoy the new and improved "Wheels Within Wheels"!
Violetlight
Chapter 1: A New Spin on Things
"Goodbye ... Edward ... Elric." With Envy's final, tearful words, the Fullmetal Alchemist watched silently as the tiny, lizard-like homunculus dissolved into ash at his feet. To think, something so evil could be so helpless at the end ...
Colonel Mustang obviously did not share Edward's pity. "He took the easy way out and killed himself. Cowardly bastard." Had Mustang thought of it, Edward could easily imagine him spitting in the homunculus' ashes.
Scar, unsurprisingly, was not moved either. Perhaps he had just seen too much death for it to faze him anymore. "We've wasted enough time here," he said calmly, as he started down the tunnel.
Edward nodded, but his eyes still lingered on the pile of ash. "First Lust, then Gluttony, and now Envy..." he listed.
"Makes things easier for us," Mustang almost growled. "Come on, Fullmetal, stop dawdling. We need to find that thing's creator before something else blows up in our faces," he followed Scar down the hall resolutely.
Hawkeye was at least a little more understanding. She placed a somewhat comforting hand on Ed's shoulder. "Edward ... he brought it upon himself. Let's go."
"Yeah ... I know he did, but still ... why does it have to be this way? I mean, Greed changed ..."
"You can't save everyone. I thought you would have learned that by now." Mustang said harshly.
Edward glared at him, but followed the rest of the way down the underground tunnel in silence, sparing not another glance backwards. If he had, he might have seen the floating ash settle down, a few centimeters above the floor of the tunnel.
As the sound of the footsteps of its four human oppressors faded slowly into the labyrinth of tunnels underneath Central City, the tiny, lizard-like creature waited, its bulbous slit-pupiled eyes shut tightly as to not break its camouflage, its scaly skin perfectly matching the dusty, grey-brown stone floor. Envy hardly dared to breathe until the last vibrations died away, lest it meet another bout of the Flame Alchemist's fury.
Are they gone?
Envy opened one eye carefully, and stared into the blackness of the tunnels for a few more minutes, until it was clear that the humans would not be returning. Its scales changed back to their regular, dark green colourization, as an audible sigh of relief escaped its vertical, tooth-filled mouth – it could hardly believe its ruse had worked! Envy's fear and nervousness soon evolved into maniacal laughter.
"Ahhahahahaha! Those retards fell for it! Imagine thinking me, Envy, would commit suicide! Idiots! Stupid human idiots! Stupid Pipsqueak! Stupid fire-shooting lunatic and his stupid trigger-happy girlfriend! Stupid scar-faced jerk! All idiots!"
Envy spared one last look at the pile of ash and the blood staining the floor around it. "Well, so long spleen, or were you a lung? Meh, it doesn't matter. You'll grow back." The lizard-thing smiled, as well as it could with its odd mouth, at what used to be an organ of some sort, the humans having mistaken it, oh so foolishly, for its Philosopher's Stone. Ha! Such an amateur trick for somebody who could regenerate body parts. Proud of itself for its deception, Envy started to crawl purposefully down the tunnel, its eight legs almost marching, and continued to talk to itself.
"Oh, I'm going to enjoy making those human morons pay for their idiocy. That is, if Father doesn't finish them all off first. He always gets to have all the fun. No fair. How come I never get to kill the humans I really want to kill? I was really looking forward to seeing that Flame Alchemist join his stupid friend too. Maybe Father will let me kill them after he's done with them? I don't see why not. I've been good. I've survived, unlike Lust, or Gluttony ... Pride you little bastard! You were supposed to take care of him while I was gone! I'm going to punch you right in your smug, prick face for letting Gluttony die! And what the hell did the Pipsqueak mean by saying Greed had 'changed' ... ah shit, not again!"
Envy stopped mid-march as the answer as to why Greed had apparently 'changed' hit it harder than the upcoming brick wall would have. "Greed you traitorous asshole! Don't tell me you betrayed Father again! Oh, who am I kidding, of course you did!" The little green monster sat back on its haunches in the middle of the tunnel, a little shocked by where its own line of thinking was taking it. "You said you'd wait for me to get back from the North. I guess I shouldn't be surprised ... it's not the first time you've lied to me. Stupid Greed! You ... you disobeyed Father, again! You're so stupid ... brave, but stupid...so brave..." the little lizard-homunculus started to tremble. Then the tunnel echoed with its scream.
"IT'S NOT FAIR!"
Envy remembered a time more than a hundred years earlier. Before Greed had left. A time where its brother-homunculus had been quite popular among his fellows, especially Lust, if her screams of pleasure echoing off the cavernous walls of Father's Lair hadn't made that apparent. As much as it tried to ignore the memories of that day, they kept creeping back into Envy's mind ...
"It's not fair." Envy paced back and forth along the outer walls of the Lair, trying to ignore the noise its siblings were making. Lust was "practicing" her particular sin, and once again, she had chosen Greed as her practice partner. It's not fair, no fair no fair no fair!
"Will you two shut up already?" Envy screamed into the room, not expecting, or wanting an answer. The androgynous homunculus crossed its arms and proceeded to do one of the things it did best – it pouted. "It's not fair," it mumbled again, and barely noticed another, rounder shape in the darkness.
"Envy?"
"What is it, Gluttony?" Envy snapped at the globular homunculus.
"... I'm hungry." Gluttony's usual complaint crossed the simple-minded being's lips.
"Tell me something I don't know." Envy growled. It blew back a stray bang from its face with its huff, then smiled its trademark, slasher grin. "Go eat Lust." It suggested.
"I can't. I'm not allowed." Gluttony moaned.
"Why not? Did Daddy say no?"
"Actually, Lust did. She said I wouldn't do a good job."
It took a second for the alternate meaning of Gluttony's surprisingly articulate sentence to sink in. Then, Envy broke into snickers. "Yeah, I guess you wouldn't."
"But I like eating stuff." Gluttony complained.
"Yeah yeah, I know. We all know. Hey, why don't you go ask her again? Maybe she's changed her mind ... hehehe." Envy giggled, and noticed the sudden silence in the Lair as Gluttony happily bounced away to presumably go do exactly what the older homunculus had suggested. Ha! They finally shut up, and Gluttony was out of its hair. It still wasn't fair that Lust and Greed were always going at it like a couple of horny human teenagers, but at least it was a quieter unfairness.
Envy stretched its arms over its head – extending them up almost to the high ceiling of the cavern, before shrinking them back down to normal size, and folding them behind its head. "Don't know why they always gotta pick each other. It's not like they're the only ones around here with a sex drive." Envy mumbled to itself. "It's so not fair."
"Poor little Envy, always watching, never doing." The smug, familiar voice sounded from the nearby shadows.
"Funny. You were a little too busy a few minutes ago to be making your usual snide comments, Greed." Envy retorted.
"Oh, you heard that?" Greed sneered.
"Sloth probably heard, from wherever the hell he is now." Envy's eyes flickered briefly in the direction of the tunnel leading out towards the nationwide transmutation circle that its large, lazy sibling had recently begun digging.
"The difference is, Sloth wouldn't care." Before Envy could give an equally snide remark back about Sloth not caring about anything, Greed cut it off. "Unlike you, that is."
Envy began to growl, but in a rare display of self-control, managed to hold back its rage, instead resorting to another favourite trait – sarcasm. "And why the hell would I give a damn about you and the Slut-Hag carrying on like a couple of lowlife, horny humans?"
Greed leaned casually against the wall next to Envy. "Because we were, and you weren't, and that's enough for you, isn't it, my little green monster?"
"I'm not your anything." Envy scoffed.
"Oh, but you are. You're my fellow homunculus, my dear little sibling ... just what are you anyway? A brother, or a sister?" Greed practically hissed the last word.
Envy smirked. "That's just going to have to stay my little secret."
Greed's own smirk seemed to darken. "I don't like things being kept from me." His arms then actually did darken, as his skin turned shiny dark grey with his carbonization. Using just one, now-invulnerable hand, he pinned Envy's own arms up against the stone wall of the cavern by its wrists. "Guess I'll just have to find out." His other hand snaked down, beneath the shape-shifted, pseudo-shorts Envy "wore", and between its legs ...
Only to feel nothing. Just smooth, cold skin, nothing more. Envy smiled manically at Greed's confusion, before transforming its legs into its Unleased State's limbs, giant, green, reptilian and clawed, that pushed the larger homunculus violently away.
"Ahhahahahaha! You idiot! I'm whatever the hell I want to be – male, female, or neither!" Not passing up an opportunity to gloat, Envy reformed its legs and stalked over to where Greed lay on the floor, kicking him in the side. "I'm not stuck in one form like my pitiful siblings."
"That's where you're wrong." Greed looked up, his head, and presumably the rest of him now covered by his Ultimate Shield. With the inhuman swiftness of his kind, he jumped up and charged his sibling, knocking a surprised Envy to the floor. With the strength of his carbonized limbs, Greed pinned Envy down again. "And, you just gave me one thing – your so-called secret. Now, I suggest you give me something else."
Panting with excitement it would never admit, Envy looked up into diamond-hard eyes. "And that would be?"
"The rest of you." Greed blocked another wave of protests by forcing his tongue into Envy's mouth, pressing down with a hard, violent kiss.
Envy knew what it should do at this point – bite off its lecherous sibling's conveniently non-carbonized tongue, then give Greed a well-deserved beating, carbon skin or no carbon skin. It could easily be done – no homunculus other than Sloth was physically stronger than Envy the Jealous. But ... Greed's softening lips pressing against ... hers. His tongue sliding sensually around her mouth ... it felt so good! Envy started to kiss back, her arms sliding out from Greed's relaxed grip to wrap around his back and head, pushing him closer against her.
Greed pulled back from the kiss, his shield sliding away from his handsome face. "Why should Lust be the only one who gets to enjoy me? She's not the only game in town." He smirked.
"Damn right she's not." Envy smiled, her flat chest ballooning slightly upwards into a small, but sexy set of breasts.
Greed noticed her hesitation to transform another part. He slid his left hand back down her legs, briefly caressing the ouroboros symbol on her left thigh, his own dragon-sign lining up with hers, before sliding his hand further up. "Use your jealousy, your malice, your envy, to your advantage." He whispered. "Show me what you can do, my little green monster. Show me you're better than her!"
"Oh, I'm going to do more than just show you. I'm going to prove it." Envy slid out from beneath Greed, scrambled on top of him, and looked down into the other homunculus' handsomely – knowingly? - smirking face. "Like I said, I can be whatever I want. And I ... I choose to be a better lover than Lust!"
"That's my girl," Greed growled, and pulled her close for another kiss.
"No Greed," Envy smirked. "You're mine."
"Greed ..." a single tear threatened to slide out of Envy's bulbous, lizard-eye, which it blinked angrily away. For one short but very fun year, Greed and her had been lovers, had been ... well, as close to a couple as homunculi could be, even if he had occasionally still slept with Lust, and Envy had got jealous, then Greed had to 'calm her down' ... All that was ruined when Greed just up and left. He had betrayed Father ... had betrayed her ... no. It. Without Greed around, Envy had little reason to become truly female. The evil glee Envy had felt when Wrath had dragged Greed's scheming, lying carcass back to Father for his rightful punishment had been real. Greed's cursing Father and his siblings as he was melted down ... his cursing Envy ... that hadn't fazed Envy in the slightest.
"He got what he deserved." Envy told itself. "What does it matter anyway? When Father brought him back, he didn't remember anything." Didn't remember me. "And then he took off again ..."
"Wait ... what if he took off because he remembered?" And if Father finds him first, he'll kill Greed for sure this time, after running off again! I can't let him do that!" Envy surprised itself with its sudden conviction. "I mean, if anyone should kill Greed, it should be me! Yeah, that's right! I should kill the bastard for leaving me all alone ... IT'S NOT FAIR!"
Crawling along at a worm's pace wouldn't get Envy to Greed before Father had the chance to finish the traitorous homunculus off though. Envy would need to move faster, and this section of the tunnel seemed to be fresh out of mannequin soldiers – or stupid humans - to absorb.
As if an answer to its musings, Envy heard a squeak from a few yards ahead. A lowly sewer rat. Not much, but at least something with faster-than-lizard legs. Envy's eyes narrowed in on its target, as it snuck within range of the oblivious rodent, then charged, leaping with all the strength it had left onto the rat's back. Envy sunk its lamprey-like mouth onto the rat's neck and into its spinal cord, taking control of the hapless animal easily. The rat's animal soul would be too weak to even make a dent in recharging Envy's depleted Philosopher's Stone (especially after its faked death), but it could provide relatively quick transport out of the tunnel. Now, where would Greed go? Envy thought about it for a second. Most likely, the idiot will want to confront Father directly. I have to get to him before he does.
With a determination quite rare for Envy the Jealous, it turned its rat mount scampering towards Central Command.