Started this last year, and I lost interest about 85% of the way through. But now, I've decided to resurrect it. It was my Love Triangle theme in a 100 Themes challenge that I started and will probably never finish. Anyway, here ya go. Original anime (or first anime I suppose) plust 1st anime spellings and pronunciations except for Roa. Because I like it more than Loa.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, don't sue me.

Triangle: Part 1

Freedom, at last.

Greed walked along the rocky mountain road, surrounded by his entourage of escaped prisoners. Greed could tell that the chimeras (plus the former state alchemists Tucker and Kimblee) were just as glad to be out of that god-forsaken lab as he was. They walked around him, looking up at the sky they hadn't seen in so long. He knew the feeling.

The sky above them was fading into the inky-grey that heralded twilight, and the air was growing cool. They'd been free for nearly a day now; walking southward towards a town called Dublith. Far, far away from the hell that was Central Laboratory #5.

"Back to the beginning," thought as he tried to remember the way. "It's like I have a death wish or something."

At first, the proximity he would be to that old hag concerned him, but it was better to be near enough to keep an eye on her.

He'd taken as many precautions as he could, surrounding himself with as many of the Lab 5 prisoners as would follow him. He'd also had Tucker, retrieve the skull from the bottom of his sealing chamber. Tucker had asked no questions but did as Greed commanded. It was a good excuse, Greed decided, to be as far away from Tucker as he could. His rasping voice and obsession with his dead daughter disturbed Greed, and even at this distance, Greed felt slightly enfeebled from the presence of the skull.

Greed relished the sound of the many voices around him. He'd been sealed for so long. The idea of so many willing to kill for his freedom he found oddly exhilarating. Not to mention that they all owed their lives and freedom to him. That satisfied Greed most of all. He smiled to himself as he delighted in the thought of so many indebted to him.

"It's getting late," one of the chimeras; he looked like a samurai from the east. He spent most of the journey thus far walking with two others, a blonde woman and another man, whom Greed guessed had been fused with an ox or something similar. The blonde woman caught Greed's attention, and he couldn't help inspect her body as she walked along. What he saw did not disappoint him.

"We should stop for the night," said someone from the crowd, and the company stopped. Several of them looked to Greed for an answer. He shrugged indifferently. In truth, he wished they could keep going, but he understood their needs. He couldn't expect them to live up to his endurance; they were all still at least half-human, after all. And besides, they hadn't just slept for a century and a half.

"Fine by me," said Greed.

So it was that a homunculus, two convicted state alchemists, and a handful of chimera found an empty field in the middle of nowhere and made as much of a camp that they could.

Several hours later, Greed sat at a crackling fire with a small group of chimeras and the Crimson Alchemist. The others were off in their own various groups around their own fire. Greed wasn't sure why he had been drawn to this particular group of chimera, but here he sat, studying each of the people around him, taking his initial impressions of them each in turn.

The group of three he had noticed earlier was there, sitting together across from him: the woman, the samurai, and the ox-man. The woman kept glaring at Kimblee for some unfathomable reason. The samurai and the ox sat beside her, and a small twitchy man sat on the other side of them. His long, reptilian tail flickered nervously with each pop of the fire. Kimblee was to Greed's right, rolling stones between his tattooed hands.

"So Greed, what do we do now?" said Kimblee, who apparently had become bored with his rocks. Anyone know any good drinking games?"

They all looked expectantly at Greed, waiting for him to speak. The silence was wearing on Greed's nerves; he'd had enough damn silence while he'd been sealed. Just as he finished surveying the group, an idea occurred to him.

"I've got a better idea."

The group all turned their attention to him, but not one of them said a word.

"You've all been to school right? Do you remember those ridiculous little games they made us play to get to know one another? Sure you do. Well, I've got my own little spin on it." Greed chuckled at his own pun and continued, "So does anyone have a gun?"

Kimblee handed Greed a gun he had pulled off one of the Lab guards. Greed took the revolver, pulled all but one of the bullets out of the chamber, and gave it a good spin.

"Now for the rules: when you get the gun, introduce yourself. Then, simply put the gun to your head and pull the trigger." Greed mimed shooting himself in the head with his fingers.

"If you live, give the gun to the next person who will advance the chamber and fire at themselves. If you lose, you die. See, simple. Who wants to go first?"

There was a general ascent to his game, with a hint of hesitation. Kimblee was the only one who looked thoroughly excited by the prospect.

The first to take the gun was the big guy, the ox.

"The name's Roa. Former special ops, originally from the north," said the ox-man.

"And what sort of chimera are you?" asked Kimblee in a mocking tone.

"I was combined with a bull," he said, his deep voice showing no fear.

Greed nodded; ox was close enough.

Without another word, Roa looked at the samurai, who nodded, put the gun to the side of his head, and pulled the trigger.

Click.

The samurai and the snake-girl exhaled their held breaths.

"Good show. Nice to meet you, Roa."

Roa passed the gun to the samurai. His name turned out to be Dorochet and he was a dog chimera, and he too got lucky.

Now it was the blonde's turn. Greed paid more attention to her turn than he had the others': her being the only female in the group (the first Greed had seen in more than a century) was a fact he needed to be aware of. She had surprisingly voluminous lips, a round face, and severely short blonde hair, except for a wisp that jumped from her forehead and extended to her jaw. Greed was fascinated by the long chain of red tattoos that snaked up her right shoulder and onto her neck and cheek.

I've always liked a woman with some ink. Damn sexy.

To Greed's surprise, she didn't even introduce herself before clicking the trigger against her head.

"Marta, snake," she said quickly. She slid the gun across the ground to Greed, who glanced up at her face, a devilish grin playing on his lips.

'Sexy and confident, I like this one.'

A microsecond passed in which Greed and Marta made eye contact, and in that moment, Greed saw a flash of emotion. He smiled as her eyes darted away just as soon as they had met his. It was a feeling he knew all too well; it was his very existence, his soul defined. The flare of desire that had been dormant so long flickered in the pit of his stomach.

'She wants me… and she's got it bad.'

Part 2 coming eventually. I have it nearly written, but probably won't post until I have the third part written. Next week at the latest! (I promise)

~Tobi (formerly known as greedfreak)

Also, debating on Bido/Biddo's spelling. If you have preferences, tell me in the comments.

Gracias!