An au based on the a headcannon I had were I think Greed and Envy were actually really close before Greed left and Greed leaving is actually what pushed Envy into hating humanity so much.
It'll have a couple chapters before it catches up to fmab timeline that's basically greed and envy goofing around and getting in trouble
This is mainly going to be in Envy pov kinda but it'll probably switch back and worth once in a while
I'll also probably change the summary too whoop
The first thing Envy heard was a muffled voice. It sounded deep, but not too deep, and it lacked emotion.
"...it will eventually grow in size when it receives more souls but as for now this is much more manageable."
There was a sound as the person turned to leave accompanied by the dragging of robes "I trust the three of you will be able to watch it until it adjusts?"
"Of course father." That sounded more like one person was talking but also multiple all at once and it gave Envy a feeling of dread just hearing it "We will do our best to guide our… new addition until then."
A word of approval was given but it already sounded as if the person, Father, was already gone down some sort of hallway, causing a slight echo.
There was a pause before a slight shuffle of feet and a scoff "Pop's really expecting us to watch whatever that thing is?"
"Greed calm down, it not like you had anything planned did you? More roughhousing with your "possessions" maybe?" a smoother more calming voice this time.
"Oh fuck off Lust."
"Both of you will be quiet."
Another scoff and more shuffling of feet before something approached them and jabbed a finger into their face "Oi, you awake yet?"
Envy felt their eyes flutter open and they looked up to see a tall man in a turtleneck, leather pants, a row of sharp teeth, and a confused expression staring down at them.
It was silent for a moment before he leaned back and started belting out hysterical laughter "HOLY FUCKING SHIT THIS THING LOOKS LIKE ONE UGLY-ASS DOG."
A sharp unknown feeling struck through Envy, and as they looked at the other two people in the room- if you could even call them that - it only got worse. The man was still laughing, the woman had a look of annoyance, and whatever the black mass of teeth and eyes was just seemed to ooze disgust.
It felt overwhelming.
So overwhelming that Envy just couldn't help but to...to..
"Shit, is it crying?"
Hot tears dropped down their face as they started to hiccup and gasp. Looking down at themselves they could now see what the man had been laughing so hard at, what the others had been so disgusted with. Eight green, almost scaly disfigured limbs, small moving masses that seemed to want to burst out of their hide, ugly hair that dropped into their face, and a nose that seemed both sharp and squashed at the same time. They were truly horrifying, some type of sick beast that should never had been made.
Almost quiet crying turned to bawling their eyes out.
They were ugly, hideous, an abomination. They couldn't stand the sight of themself, they hated themself so much in that moment all they wanted to do was rip out their hair and all of those moving masses, get rid of everything they were.
So they did just that. Clawing at themselves with the intent to harm but the masses and everything else just started to grow and reform with a red spark. It only made them cry harder.
"Aw fuck, Lust fix the thing!"
"And how am I supposed to do that? Dear Greed, you're the one that seemed to have upset it."
"Can't you be motherly or something?"
"I'm very tempted to stab your face right now."
"You're such a-"
An aggravated growl cut off the two that had been arguing and Envy felt something sharp slice into them. Whatever it was was cold and it sent an unbelievable blinding pain through them before they felt themselves go completely blank and what felt like a moment later, became aware again.
Envy let out a shriek before backing up until their back hit something and they looked up fearfully at the black mass that had just ripped them apart.
"There, see? Problem solved, no more crying, next time it starts just kill it again." Moving across the room to another tunnel, the mass paused again "I must complete a task for father. Lust, you will help Greed as I believe Greed is incapable of watching over that thing himself."
With that the mass vanished into the darkness of the tunnel, practically melting into the shadows, maybe it actually did.
The man, Greed?, looked bitterly down the tunnel before looking back at Envy and they couldn't help but flinch.
"So, what are you? Daddy'o didn't say who you were."
They glanced at him, then to... Lust, to see the annoyance from really replaces with genuine curiosity.
"Huh? What was that?" Greed came to squat down in front of them.
"I'm…" they knew who they were but they still felt uncomfortable looking the way they did, they wanted to change, they wanted to look different, to look as nice and respectable as the other two people in the room. They wanted it so badly that it hurt- not as much as the shame or those blades but it still hurt.
So they forced the change, they wanted to be different, to not look so ugly and disgusting, so they pushed for it and they felt something.
A slight tingle, almost like electricity, as the pushed themselves up and focused on what they wanted, to look like the man in front of them. To not be a complete monster. "I'm Envy and I'm not a dog."
They spat the last part out through clenched teeth as the last of the red sparks went away. They knew it wasn't perfect, they could still feel their tail and patches of itchy scaly skin, more like a botched version of Greed but it was still better than what they were.
Greed looked dumbfounded by what he saw and Lust had a slight smirk of approval.
Approval felt nice, Envy liked that, but they didn't get to enjoy it as an armoured finger stabbed them in the face, making them briefly struggle to control their current form and not fall apart.
"Not bad kiddo, nice to know my new possession's got talent." the armour around Greed's hand shifted back to skin and he offered it forward for a handshake to Envy "The name's Greed, I want everything: money, power, sex, people, you name it. I got the ultimate shield, and Lusty over there has the ultimate spear."
Taking his hand hesitantly, Envy shook it "Possession?"
"Yeah, you're our new... sibling I guess, cause the old man made you so by default, your my new possession" that made no sense.
"Don't worry about him, Greed's an idiot" Lust came up behind him and offered her own hand "the thing that went through the tunnel and also killed you was Pride, I would say to try to stay on his good side, but that may be impossible considering his standards."
Lust gave them an elegant smile "now that introductions are done, I also have something to take care of for father."
"Ey, Pride said to help me."
"Pride has no control over what I do, I let him think he does. Besides I don't think you need help, Envy seems competent enough, might be more effective to have them watch you." without turning back Lust waved a hand over her shoulder at them before leaving through another tunnel. The place was basically a labyrinth with tunnels going everywhere, you could probably get lost and die someplace and no one would find you for months.
Well maybe weeks if there was a smell.
"So it's great you can go from something ugly to something less ugly but until you figure out how not to botch that shit up, you can't go around looking like me and ruining my good looks." Greed slung his arm over their shoulder and gave them a reassuring pat "Don't worry, we'll work on that."
By the end, Envy had a form that was a mix of both Lust and Greed with their own true form peeking its ugly head through.
Short and wavy hair, tall but lanky, a turtleneck and pants with gloves that went all the way up their arms and some sort of half skirt. Their true form was the same patchyness as the first time they changed, occasional clumps of long straight hair, scales on their neck, a tail, that mark on their forehead, and one of their eyes remained but at least it wasn't the one filled with pupils.
They stuck with that form until they finally managed to shapeshift without the imperfections.
Which took almost 3 months of frustration.
And they still struggled to hold onto that form when they bumped into something or someone.
Pride had also killed them 6 other times when they started crying out of frustration and self-hatred so Envy made a point to either be alone or with either Lust or Greed when they did.
Lust was patient, running a hand through their hair when they had one of their fits and telling them to take their time, on occasion she would snap and tell them to stop but it usually took a while. Greed wasn't as patient, he was more… tolerant? Accepting things with a shrug or a strike to the head when Envy offended him.
Which only happened once so far, after Envy had broken one of his possessions when Greed had refused to let Envy at least see it. But that wasn't completely Envy's fault! It was boring staying below the surface in the tunnels Father had made and Envy didn't really have anything of their own.
Envy wasn't allowed out until they could make themselves look more human and control themselves better. Father had said it was for the best as the wouldn't want to be noticed too early on.
That was the only interaction Envy had had with Father since their creation. Pride had said it was because Father shouldn't have to interact with something like Envy if he didn't have to.
They had laughed when Greed told him to look in a mirror.
That was the other thing about Greed, sure Lust was nice, but Greed was way nicer.
He said it was because he needed to take care of his possession but Envy wasn't 100 percent convinced. Greed would look genuinely upset and concerned when Pride hurt them and afterwards Greed would try to cheer them up. Most of the time he'd let Envy lean on him until they calmed down enough to try again.
And even though Greed said Envy couldn't copy him now that they could shapeshift without messing up completely, only one person could have Greed's "dashing good looks" and that was him, he still helped Envy modify it to look different, especially since Envy had 2 other people to go off of and looking like Father was out of the question.
They basically ended up looking like a younger version of Greed, Lust said maybe a 13 year old version with more mischievous charm then the dumbass charm Greed currently had. Rounder, softer face and slimmer form, but a sharp-toothed shit-eating grin.
Greed approved of it, saying it would add to the effect of something if he walked around with his sweet baby brother. Which meant he could scam more people into giving him their money and goods by guilt tripping them through Envy.
Currently the two homunculi were sitting with the chimeras, it was Greed's job to watch them most of the time since he seemed to have developed a soft spot for the beasts, while Envy was trying to figure out their outfit by watching their reflection in the water.
"I'm just saying, you obviously have no idea what you're doing so I should help." Greed leaned back against one the chimeras that looked vaguely like a bear while he groomed another's mane.
Envy huffed as the got rid of the half skirt and instead replaced it by giving the turtleneck a sort of coat tail "Says the man who wears leather pants and pointy shoes."
"Hey hey hey, you've never seen shit so you can't say shit either, now me? I've seen luxury, the finest clothes those guys got to offer."
"And yet you still look like that."
They saw Greed reach for something and they moved out of the way before the loose brick could hit them.
Envy stuck their tongue out at him and Greed responded in kind before Envy went back to their clothes… maybe shorting the gloves? Yeah elbow length and fingerless felt nicer. And a headband, instead of having that mark directly on their forehead...
"Well maybe… actually wait, do me again."
Pausing, Envy looked up from the water before doing as Greed asked and Greed gave a thoughtful humm "You might be onto something, I think I need a vest or some sunglasses, maybe both. I'll find something after we're done."
That wasn't exactly what they meant when they… after we're done?
"After we've done what?" They were suppose to be doing something? Envy wasn't told anything, Pride hadn't even spoken to them in 4 days.
"Oh I didn't tell you? I decided that since you've done so well with your whole face changing thing I'd take you out for the first time, see how nice I am?"
That… honestly sounded amazing. They had wanted to go outside since Lust had first told them about it. They had wanted it even more when Pride told them no and made them go to Father instead. But the way Greed phrased it sounded like Pride didn't know anything about it and that would undoubtedly piss Pride off…
"Alright," they had determination burning in their burgundy eyes "What are we doing?"
Greed's toothy grin covered his whole face.
Going out for the first time had certainly been an experience. The sun definitely was bright and warm and the air felt completely different. Less stuffy and more dry.
They stood outside and marvelled at warmth for a minute before Greed pulled them in the direction of a town.
Humans were also an experience but less enjoyable. Envy thought they were interesting at first but the more they watched them the more irritated they felt. Seeing them interact with each other just irked them but whenever they got caught up in it Greed would flick their ear and tell them their sin was showing.
It made them feel disgusting to think that they could feel envious of humans but Greed would distract them from that too.
Apparently Greed's plan was to rob a bank and then gamble whatever they stole. The first part was definitely easy, Greed just pointed out the manager and Envy watched him until they got the idea of what he looked like and Greed double checked to make sure the disguise was perfect. Then they went in, got the cash, and managed to get it to Greed without being caught.
The next part was a lot harder, Greed tried to teach them in a back alley how to play different card games and they got most of it but not enough to be able to cheat and not get caught.
They settled on Greed doing the work and Envy looking innocent and cute and hopefully distracting people so Greed didn't get caught.
It worked out great and they made almost triple what they started out with but then one of those stupid human children kicked a ball into their arm and Envy stumbled for control and their claws came out.
Which was why the both of them were punished by Pride and put under lock, neither allowed to come above ground for for a month, probably longer for Envy as their loss of control scared a child and could have outed them to the town growing above their heads.
It was also why they were confused when they heard a knock on their door, they were given a room of their own a week before, and Greed pushed it open, shuffling a stack of cards.
"So, now that we don't have any chores, how about that card game I was trying to teach you?"
Maybe they didn't have to be so envious of humans after all.
Hopefully this is okay! Envy uses they/them in this but different characters will sometimes use different pronouns I don't really know when I'll update, I'm probably going to do it intermittently with my bnha fic. That way when I get frustrated with writing one fic I'll have the other to work on until I figure things out