Character Thoughts: "{abc}"
Note:These events are based around the 2003 anime. Anyone who flames will be blocked.
Chapter 1:
Darkness Alchemist
It is nighttime in Central. An odd shady figure appeared two days ago and his away in an abandoned house. Mustang has decided to investigate this on his own, telling his subordinates to stay behind. Of course, Hawkeye ends up following him but keeps her distance. He's careful to approach the door, placing on his gloves in case a fight was to occur. He reaches over and pushes at the door, finding it opens easily due its loose hinges. He slowly and cautiously peeks inside, finding the figure is actually a girl with shoulder length jet black hair with red highlights that is puffing out. Her skin appears healthy and olive. She is squatting drawing something on a piece of paper. She is wearing a teal-colored shirt, sky blue skinny jeans with black tiger-like stripes, black gladiator sandals, and a light purple leather jacket. Her eyes are an amber color. Beside her is a brown backpack stuffed with clothes and items.
Mustang opens the door wider until his shadow is casted across the room by a street light. The girl sees his shadow and looks to the door, becoming quickly intimidated. The two stare at each other for two minutes.
Mustang asks, "Are you the one that's been sneaking around town using an odd form of alchemy?"
The girl remains silent, unsure how to respond due to fear. Before Mustang could get any closer, a voice shouts angrily, "STAY AWAY! SHE'S DONE NOTHING WRONG!"
Someone quickly drops in and roundhouse kicks Mustang out into the street. Hawkeye makes her move and rushes in, stopping on the sidewalk behind Mustang pointing her gun at the attacker, only to be shocked at who the attacker is. Mustang recovers and sits up, getting a look at the one who kicked him. He is surprised to see it is one of the Homunculi. The Homunculus gathers the girl and her bag and jumps high onto a rooftop and disappears into the night.
Hawkeye puts her gun away as she hurries over to Mustang asking if he's okay. He replies he is but is stunned that a Homunculus would be protecting a human…unless they're using her for something else, like a hostage.
The next day, Mustang receives information of the Homunculus's where abouts, confirming that the mysterious girl is with them. He contacts Edward and Alphonse Elric and hands them their mission – find out who the Homunculus and girl are. The brothers are told that they are hiding in a church that is scheduled to be torn down in order to rebuild it from scratch. The brothers head there and find a gate with a large hole in it.
"Okay, neither Lt. Hawkeye or Mustang got a good look at who it was because things happened too fast. But they did say the Homunculus was small." Ed reviews.
"That means it could be either Envy or Wrath…or maybe Gluttony; he's kinda short." Al guesses.
"I doubt it's Wrath; he only gets that defensive if it's Sloth." Ed says as he goes through the hole helping Al through. "And I doubt it's Gluttony since he's usually seen with Lust."
"What about Greed? He may not be small, but both Mustang and Hawkeye said that the Homunculus was thin."
"Maybe. His name is what he is, so he could be protecting the girl. Okay Alphonse, break the door down!"
Alphonse punches the double doors, demolishing them both. After the pieces are done falling and the dust settles, the brothers walk in and find the girl at the podium reading something. She's so engrossed in what she's reading that she doesn't realize she could be in danger. Before they could even get to the first row of benches, the Homunculus appears from the confessional; they were using it to keep cover while keeping a watchful eye on things.
"Well, so the dogs sent the pipsqueak, huh? Yeah, you're no threat." the Homunculus speaks.
Ed gets offensive growling, "Who are you calling pipsqueak, Envy?"
Envy leans against a bench saying, "Look Ed, I have no reason to be fighting you right now. You're a bit more understanding about situations compared to those heartless military dogs."
"What do you mean?" Al asks.
"You see that girl over there? I've got some history with her." Envy replies.
Ed asks, "Explain yourself Envy. You protecting a human makes no sense; you hate humans."
Envy shrugs and says, "Alright. First off, I call her Sybille. When I found her in some town a couple weeks ago, she was wondering around with a dead look in her eyes, as if she wasn't living. As she started to collapse, I noticed part of her left arm, about halfway up to her elbow, was missing. It was wrapped in a bunch of cloths and bleeding pretty badly. I walked over to investigate, at first thinking I'd let her die, but she surprises me by looking up at me."
"This is really sounding like a bunch of BS." Ed says crossing his arms.
"Believe what you want, but it's all true. Anyway," Envy continues, "the look she gave me showed a strong will to live. When I asked how she lost part of her arm, she said and I quote, 'a fat person tried to eat me and I barely got away'."
Al asks, "Gluttony tried eating her?"
"Yup. I found out why when I met up with him and Lust; apparently she smelled good to him and so he tried eating her alive. Sybille told me she used her alchemy to get away, but the blood loss caused her to forget who she was; like I mentioned, she looked like the living dead when I found her." Envy replies.
"Okay so, how is she still alive?" Ed asks.
"Ah, that's the interesting part. As I was carrying her through town, I noticed a sign that read 'Rush Valley'. I kept walking through until someone notices and says he can try giving her automail. She's very lucky to have survived such stress." Envy concludes.
"…How come I'm having a hard time believing all this?" Ed asks.
Envy sighs and says, "Look, you can ask Lust and Gluttony and they'd tell you the same story. I wasn't trying to build any bond with her, but there's something about her I find just awesome."
"Just what would that be?" Ed asks.
"Come at me; I'll show you." Envy replies.
Ed is confused at first, but gladly runs at Envy. All of a sudden, Sybille comes flying at Ed, kicking his head in, the force causing him to go flying comically into a wall as Al watches in horror unable to react.
Sybille takes a few breaths before shouting, "You can go f*ck yourself, State Alchemist scumbag!"
Envy chuckles and says, "She's got one hell of an attitude problem!"
Ed lies in the new hole with a goofy look on his face saying under his breath, "Great, another Winry…"
"Brother! Are you okay?" Al asks as he rushes over and helps his brother up.
A voice suddenly speaks, "Oy Envy, are you telling the fake story again? You gotta stop doin' that."
In the doorway appears Greed, standing erect, hands in his pockets. He notices to his side that Ed had been kicked into the wall and is still out of it, but of course doesn't care.
Ed replies still dizzy, "I knew it was a liiiiee…"
"Grr, damn you Greed. What are you doing here?" Envy growls.
Sybille asks tilting her head, "Hey, what happened to your original sunglasses?"
"Ah, you noticed, huh? I got in a scrape with some punk and he punched me in the face, destroying my sunglasses. So I took off his and punched him back harder and left." Greed replies sounding proud, showing off his new streamline styled sunglasses.
"You're screwed in the head. Sybille, go get your things." Envy says.
Ed sits up and taunts, "What's the matter Envy, don't like hearing the truth?"
"Shove it, pipsqueak. It's not me who hates hearing the story; Sybille hates it the most. Whenever she hears it she gets nightmares. Like I said before, I have no reason to fight you. But if you target Sybille I won't play around." Envy responds.
Sybille collects her things and follows Envy out of the church. Al helps up Ed and Greed sits down on one of the benches, placing his feet up on the one in front of him. He takes off his sunglasses and invites the Elrics to sit down. They decide to stay standing.
"So, Greed, why are you here, and what do you want?" Ed questions.
"Remember the Devil's Nest was destroyed? I hid myself for a while after that, and when things cooled down, I began to wander. And like Envy, I'm not here for a fight. I'm going to tell you the truth behind him and Sybille. Sure, it's true Gluttony's tried eating her, but he's not the reason why she has a partial automail arm. Boys, what I'm about to tell you, you need to keep it a secret. You can't tell anyone including the other State Alchemists, understand?" Greed answers, soon giving them a serious look.
"We understand. But what if they start asking questions? I am a State Alchemist after all." Ed asks.
"Edward, you can't tell anyone." Greed says turning his body and facing them, "Envy's very protective of her, and frankly, so am I. I like the kid, and I can't tell you anything about her until you promise me to keep everything a secret. Just say she's a rogue who can't control her alchemy, okay?"
"Okay then." Ed reluctantly agrees.
"Good. Now then, sit down; it's gonna be a long story." Greed says.
It's 15 years ago. A mother gives birth to a healthy baby girl in an alleyway in the afternoon. The father takes hold of the newborn as it starts to rain. The mother couldn't take the stress of giving birth and sadly dies a few moments later. The father looks at the newborn and has no idea what to do. Instead of cutting the umbilical cord and taking her with him, he blames the baby for his wife's death and promptly leaves the girl on top of her mother. He disappears from the alleyway as the baby girl wails. The rain comes down heavy, almost looking like a waterfall. Envy is rushing through the streets desperate to get out of the rain.
As he passes an alleyway, he hears the baby girl crying. He retraces his steps and takes a look, somewhat shocked by the sight. Blood is everywhere being slowly washed away by the rain. He sees the baby and approaches her. He sees the mother is dead, and squats down to look at the baby.
"Hmph, it's kinda sad seeing you like this. You're brought into the world, only to die from the elements. Too bad." Envy says, poking the baby girl's belly.
Suddnly, the baby girl grabs onto Envy's finger with both her hands, gripping tightly. He tries to pull away, but she doesn't let go. She continues to wail holding onto his finger. He realizes he can't leave her now. He transforms his free hand into a sharp spear of sorts and cuts the cord. He has nothing to wrap the baby in, and looks around finding an old towel in a trash bin. Not the greatest, the girl needs to be covered, and it's the only item in the bin. He pulls it out, wraps the baby in it, and starts to run trying to find a hospital.
Envy eventually finds a hospital and assumes the form of a random human man. He tells a nurse everything and she takes the baby girl. Envy then tries to leave, but soon finds he can't. He stays in the waiting room instead when he knows he should be elsewhere. After a good while, the nurse returns with the baby girl saying she's healthy. Not sure what to feel, Envy thanks the nurse and leaves the hospital, the rain having turned into very mild drizzle. As he walks through the streets, he passes by the alleyway again, seeing a couple officers. He rushes passed them and changes back to his preferred form as he turns the corner. He then looks at the baby, seeing she is asleep and calm.
"I shouldn't do this…I really shouldn't. But, something happened when you grabbed my finger. Ugh, what would Dante think? And having Gluttony around makes it worse. Hmm…maybe I can raise you in secrecy…" Envy thinks.
Although he'd get in trouble for it, he does return to Dante, but finds she isn't home, and Gluttony's nowhere to be found. That is until the door closes behind him, and he finds Dante. She glares at Envy.
Dante demands, "What do you think you're doing bringing a human child here? Get rid of it!"
"Not happening. She's a newborn and I found her on top of her dead mother. She was abandoned." Envy replies.
"Envy, you hate all humans, yet you're sparring this one?"
"Damn it Dante, I felt something when she grabbed my finger!"
"…You became committed. Have you named it yet?"
"Actually yes, I have. Along the way back, I named her Sybille."
"…Great, now you're attached, correct?"
"So what if I am?"
Reluctantly, Dante lets Envy keep Sybille, but he would have to care for her on his own. When it became the next day, Envy discovered that Sybille's birth father was caught in a bar bragging to his friends how he abandoned his baby girl and was arrested. The police had also found that someone had taken the child after asking some nurses in a hospital. With no other family members, they hope whoever took the baby is treating it well. Envy can freely raise baby Sybille.
Five years pass and Sybille is a happy and healthy five-year-old. She enjoys using Gluttony's stomach and a trampoline, causing Envy to catch her mid-jump and take her away. She also had read some of Dante's books on alchemy, but being so young, she cannot read small words. One day, they travel to Rush Valley, Envy told to look for a certain someone. Suddenly, a crowd ahead of them goes into a panic and turns around running passed them. When things cleared, Envy saw a wild man chasing after the crowd. In an attempt to protect Sybille, he transforms part of his right arm and runs at the man. The wild man has a weapon of his own, an S&W .500 Magnum. He points it at Envy, but Envy grabs the man's arm trying to get him to stop or at least aim it higher, but the man fires before Envy could do a thing. The blast takes out Sybille's left forearm, half way up to her elbow, and she collapses screaming in pain.
As the man laughs, Envy drives his transformed spear-like arm through the man's head shouting, "F*ck you!"
Envy transforms his arm back to normal as he rushes to Sybille and the man collapses. Envy picks up Sybille seeing she's bleeding heavily. He looks around and sees an automail shop. He runs over to it and kicks the door open looking for somebody to help her. One of the mechanics agrees. With things happening as fast as humanly possible, Sybille is given a new automail arm in a week. She recovers and adjusts to her new arm in a week, and she and Envy return home to Dante.
Dante is not pleased that Envy could not find his target. She is surprised, however, by his dedication to Sybille, having gotten her an automail arm. For the next 10 years as more Homunculi join, Sybille learns how to use Alchemy, but learns a dangerous forbidden form of it that she still struggles to wield. It is called Darkness Alchemy. It is said that those who learn how to use it are said to have more feeling behind their alchemy and are rumored to be the unknown key to opening the Gate without someone having to use Human Transmutation. Since Sybille has bonded with Envy, her feeling behind her Darkness Alchemy is Protection. Any feeling known to everyone can become the fuel behind this forbidden form, though the real reason behind those knowing it is unknown. The user usually has no idea that it is forbidden as it is not well recorded in books due to it being highly unknown.
Dante became interested in Sybille's ability to use Darkness Alchemy and wanted to use Sybille to open the Gate. However, although Envy refuses to let Dante near her, Sybille does not have full control of her alchemy as it occurred when she was just learning how to draw perfect Transmutation Circles. Her symbol became a circle with a five-pointed star, with the Ouroboros on the top point, and a tribal heart in the middle.
Ed and Al are surprised to learn of Envy's soft spot, and there is another form of forbidden alchemy. Greed also mentions that Lust tried researching Darkness Alchemy out of curiousity, and found that all users unknowingly gain a pentagram as a universal symbol, but usually have symbols they draw in the middle and/or top point that has meaning to them. For Sybille, the Ouroboros stands for Envy, and the tribal heart stands for the love and care he shows her, but also for future love.
Greed concludes, "Not many users of this odd alchemy exist. We only know Sybille. Dante has high interest in her now, and Envy and I came to an agreement to try and keep Dante from finding her. All this is why I want you to keep it secret."
"…I can't believe her birth father just up and left her like that!" Al says.
"I can't believe Envy spared a human life!" Ed says.
"It's true kid. All of us know the true story, including Wrath. She and Wrath get along pretty well, almost like siblings. Though, she sees Envy as a brother too, since we Homunculi don't age. Envy prefers it that way." Greed says.
"Well Alphonse, what should we do?" Ed asks.
"Just do what I told ya: tell the others that she is a rogue who can't control her powers. If she's spotted, you two are the only ones that will investigate and demand it. If anyone besides you two shows up, Envy will attack and get Sybille to safety." Greed replies standing up.
"Can you at least tell us where he likes to hide? Making us agree to keep her background a secret also means we agreed to protect her." Al asks.
Greed looks at the brothers and replies, "Sorry, I'd be going back on my word. And I doubt Envy will tell you should Sybille be spotted again. She's not the best at hiding and often wanders into the city when she gets bored enough."
"In that case, we'll keep everything a secret. But in exchange—" Ed says before Greed interrupts him, "Aha, nice try, but there's no Equivalent Exchange happening here. If you want to learn of Darkness Alchemy or find the Philosopher's Stone, you're own your own."
Greed leaves the church and the brothers are left to decide if what they're promising to do is the right thing. If they tell Mustang everything they learned, he might order for an arrest if not an attack, since Envy's involved. If they tell Mustang the lie, then Sybille is safe, but they don't know what else the Homunculi are up to. They soon decide that telling the lie is the only way out so Sybille doesn't become marked as a threat, and leave the church.
Elsewhere in town, Envy has found a permanently closed underground bar. He breaks the door down and gets Sybille inside. After he gets in, Sybille uses her alchemy to revive the door. The place is still fairly clean, a good indication it was recently shut down. Both take a seat at a table, and Sybille takes out a book marked "Alchemy Progress Journal" and a pen. She writes down her latest success at reviving the bar door. Envy reaches over and pets her head. After, he looks around and sees windows; the glass used makes seeing in or out impossible, but light is still able to enter. All too soon, Greed opens the door, not needing to break it open; the door is oddly unlocked. He walks over to them and takes a seat.
Envy growls, "I take it you told them everything, correct?"
Greed replies, "Of course. But, I told those two to lie, so Sybille's safe. What worries me is her inability to transmute properly."
Sybille argues, "I can transmute!"
"No, you can't. You can only fix objects." Envy says.
"He's right. And I think I know the person for the job, too." Greed says.
"Oh really? Who's that?" Envy demands.
"Will you stop being so defensive, Palm Tree? Anyway, I recall after kidnapping Al, that this woman appeared, and soon after, Ed. I remember he called her 'Teacher'. I did a little snooping around and discovered her name is Izumi Curtis, lives in Dublith, and apparently trained those two boys." Greed explains.
"Is that so? Well then, we'll have to pay Izumi a visit. Sybille, we're taking another train ride!" Envy says.
Sybille pouts, "Man, I'm getting so sick of the trains. I wish there was another way to travel, like maybe creating a machine that can fly like a bird!"
Envy sighs saying, "Well the train's all we have and I'm not exactly up for car-jacking. Last time I did that, I got kicked by a woman wearing heels. And let me tell you Sybille, the male anatomy cannot handle heels to any degree."
Greed says, "Too bad you don't have my powers."
Meanwhile at Central HQ, Ed and Al report to Mustang, telling him that Sybille is the shady figure and is a rogue from an unknown town who's still learning to control her alchemy. They also demand to investigate any areas where Sybille is spotted in the future, saying she's afraid of men in uniform. Mustang buys the story, and decides to grant the Elrics' their wish; he does not want another confrontation like before and wants to approach it more delicately. With that, Ed and Al leave HQ and head to a library.
Trivia:
1) This storyline is cutting off from after the Devil's Nest is attacked and when Greed is supposed to be killed. But, for AU sake, I wanted him alive; he's just too much of a badass to let go.
2) Envy does really hate all humans, but in FMA reality, he seems to respect Dante. Finding Sybille abandoned has actually reminded him of his past before he died of mercury poisoning, though he doesn't state it here.
3) Envy's fake story is a way of keeping Sybille from reacting in a way not yet seen. Before Greed tells the true story, he makes sure to get Sybille away.
4) The story Greed tells takes place 15 years before the main storyline. It is unclear what the Homunculi were up to in that time frame.
5) Sybille's hostility towards Edward trying to attack Envy proves she hates State Alchemists, just like several other characters.
6) Although Envy and Greed don't see eye-to-eye, they have made a pact to protect Sybille; this could be due to the fact that Greed would be a last resort as he is the Ultimate Shield and is unaffected by most attacks.
7) When Greed and Izumi confront each other, Greed asks who she is, and she replies, "I'm PISSED OFF!". As far as my knowledge goes and out of what the FMA Wiki is saying, he never learned of her name.
8) Sybille's wish is for a plane; these do not exist in the FMA world.
9) Envy talks about being unable to take a hit to the one place a man should never be hit. Envy is indeed male, but has an androgynous appearance.