The little girl opened her eyes and saw a little of the dark cavern. The floral patterned sundress she wore was the first thing she'd ever seen, in this lifetime. She felt the cold and uncomfortable ground with her hand and sat up.
That's when she noticed in the dim light a large, golden haired man sitting in front of her on a throne of stone. Hushed voices spoke, one laughing while the next complained. 'Where am I?' she wondered, and hugged her knees as the others noticed she was awake and grew silent, watching her as the large man stood up. "Um, 'scuse me, mister," she said raising a hand, "who are you?" Then the skin pulled back around her eyes and left a shocked expression, "who am I?"
"You are my daughter," the man told her as he observed. "You are my sin- the sin of Lust."
Her eyes failed to focus on any one thing as thoughts flashed through her mind. 'My name is Lust? It's pretty. Sin's bad though, isn't it? Why can't I remember anything?' She placed a palm on her forehead, trying to understand the situation.
A total blackness came from the sides and closed in front of Lust, stirring the air against her as she listened to them talking once more. "Do we need to knock her out? Something like this requires kindness... probably." "Hey everyone, we've got a child psych in the house!" "Be silent. The one who will train her has final say in the matter, with my approval." "Train? I was never trained, and look at me! No homunculus needs a formal lesson, just commands!" "I said be silent, Envy. You have already been told why we are taking this course, so suffer it."
Red eyes appeared, scattered in the darkness. She gasped, and with the air went consciousness.
Lust pressed her face against the glass window, mushing her cheeks and nose as she watched the horses and buggies drive down the lane, before cheering "the brown horse was faster, it won!"
"It isn't a race for them, Lust," Greed said as he held the daily paper and watched her from a chair in the kitchen, hoping she didn't fall and hurt herself like yesterday. The spill she'd sustained had more effect than his lectures, he noticed, seeing how she carefully turned around before sitting down on the gray couch. "They're just doing what they need to, ignoring everyone else who does the same."
The date on the paper was February twenty-something,- his thumb smudged the cheap ink. 'It's been two weeks since then, already? Or should it be "only" two weeks...'
Greed thought about what Envy had told him that dawn, coming and leaving before Lust was awake- that Pride would be coming tomorrow, to check up on her combat progress. 'Why haven't I even begun the work yet?' he asked himself.
He was brought out of thought by a scratching sound at the door and stood up to see what it was, when Lust rushed past him, swinging around a jut of wall and faced the door. She stretched herself on tiptoes to reach the doorknob, her body trembling from the effort, and she twisted the knob before leaning back. This pulled the door just enough her fingers could fit, and she pried it open until she could step onto the front stoop.
On the street more carriages had come, passing through Central to transport wares and passengers from one city to another, while pedestrians striking up conversations with other strangers about the new steam engine in Creta, or the controversy in parliament. Clay flower pots sat in most windowsills along the cobblestone road, and water from the night's downpour had overflowed them and washed away dirt that had been laying on their sides. The street had shallow creeks flowing downhill between the stones, and splashed as horses stepped into them or wheels over them. Down the way she could hear a crowd's cheers as an alchemist performed some simple transmutations and fixed common items- but it was a small animal meowing on their porch which she came out for.
Lust's eyes grew with excitement as she grabbed the dirty kitten under the front legs and picked it up from the stoop, before she ran back inside to show her guardian, smiling. "Can I keep it, Greed?" she asked, prepared to beg if necessary. The kitten meowed, but did not try to escape her hold.
Greed looked at the animal, and his face read 'confusion' as he tilted his head. "What? I won't say no," he patted the cat on its head, causing it to purr with closed eyes, "but why? It's just some stray animal."
"Because it's cute!" Lust held it up to his face, and the kitten meowed again before swiping at him with its matted auburn paw, weak yet playful. She cradled it and marched to the washroom with long and straight steps, not bending her knees. Greed listened from the fresh mud marked hallway as she turned the handle and tightened her hold on the cat as it tried to escape from the sound of water, giggling and saying "no, kitty, stop- don't try to run away!" Soon the tub was full and Lust turned it off before she lowered the kitten in.
Greed stepped to the doorway and watched as Lust rubbed the stray and cleaned it as the meowing grew louder and more distressed, until it leaped from the water to the side of the claw-foot tub, and scurried out of the room. When he reached the doorway Greed crouched and grabbed him by the scruff of his nape and picked him up, holding the kitten at face level to look at the wet and clumped fur, spikes of it then moving as his blue feline eyes closed and mouth opened for another meow.
"You can't wash a cat if he doesn't stay in the tub, you know," he brought the kitten back to Lust and handed him to her.
"I know, Greed, but it's hard to keep it still!" Lust said, and promised to do her best to keep it from escaping again.
"He, not it- and if you aren't ready to take care of a pet..." Greed stopped, seeing the look of defeat on her face, and regretted his words. "I won't take the cat away, if you name and care for him."
Lust shut her eyes and hummed with thought a few seconds before opening them into a smile, "Lily! Lily is a pretty name, isn't it Greed?"
"What the heck? Isn't that a bit girly?" he asked, looking sorry for the cat, but shrugged and grabbed the door handle as he turned to leave. "Have him clean and dry- no, both of you be clean and dried before either come out of there, alright?" Lust smiled as she whipped a nod, and he shut the door.
The kitten laid curled on a pillow, and Greed tucked Lust under the blankets with experience of the past two weeks. "And you're sure you're tired?" he asked.
"The sun's down, Greed, 'course I am. Why do you ask me every night?" Her eyes were half open as she pulled out a hand to pet Lily.
"No reason," he said, "but it'd be nice to watch the moon rise with someone," he said, and wondered 'why would Father make her tire, like a human?'
"We can watch the moon rise?" Lust asked, and upset Greed's careful laying of the blankets by sitting up. "That sounds pretty..."
"Only people who're awake get to see it, so you can't come if you're tired." Lust began to get out of bed, and Greed knew the careful wording had worked.
"No, I'm awake!" Lust got out of bed and smoothed her sundress, before marching out of the room. Greed followed her with a heavy blanket in hand to the attic, where he showed her how to pull down the wooden steps from the ceiling and get onto the roof of the house Father had arranged for her training. A few failures later she managed to pull them down, and they walked up to the flat portion of the roof meant to be used as a deck, furnished with a seat. A metal railing went around the deck, and after leaning against it a few minutes they sat together on the wooden bench, protected from the cold by the quilt.
The moon was not visible. "It came over the horizon hours ago," Greed told her, "but we can watch it go higher once the clouds part." No stretch of sky was visible through the atmosphere, only soft glows where the clouds were thinner.
Lust tried to sit still and wait for the clouds to pass, but squirmed as much as Lily had earlier once several minutes had passed. "How long will it take?" she whined.
Greed patted her head. "Just a little longer, maybe." The wind sped up, chilling them even through the blanket. Lust moved closer to leech his heat.
They waited with resting hands together on the wooden bench while watching the few people below on the streets. Children racing each other, then running away from the angry grocer they had bumped. Some businessmen, walking together after a long meeting. A traveling merchant, exhibiting the last of his wares to a newly wed couple of tourists. Finally Greed noticed the suspicious character whom never strayed from the shadows of buildings and buggies. 'Envy,' he realized. 'At least he's not coming up here.' Greed turned his head up and saw the chilled wind had blown the clouds.
Stars, hundreds of thousands of them, flickered in intensity as they shined like little pieces of glass. The sky's centerpiece, the waxing half moon, was brighter than some lanterns he'd seen, the sunlight otherwise hidden from them reflecting and revealing craters and marks on the surface.
Greed looked down at Lust to see if she'd noticed, and saw she'd fallen asleep sometime during the wait. 'She looks pretty cute sleeping- more like a cat than a homunculus should.' Her head was leaning against his arm, her mouth open just slightly.
A sound- Greed twisted his neck to look at the roof above and behind them, while keeping his shoulder steady. Remembering Envy on the street, he prepared himself for hardening, but saw a different homunculus.
A glowing red eye hung above the top of the roof, contrasting the dark clouds which had blown there, and underneath it was Pride's container, the body humans knew as 'Selim'.
"Do you have a reason to creep up on us, or does the thrill justify it?" Greed asked, and eyed his brother with contempt as his shadows lowered him to the shingles and he walked down the roof to the deck. On the childish body was a frilly school uniform, just longer than his arms, and Greed kept his mouth closed as laughter shook his chest.
"Don't be so cold, Greed," Pride said, "I'm just here to see what I should expect tomorrow; I'll be coming as Selim, don't worry. Envy told me how you want to shelter Lust from us," Pride said, crossing his arms in irritation as Greed smiled at his outfit. "The legislator enrolled me last week," he said, then looked to Lust, "why did you teach her to sleep?"
"I didn't, she's been doing it naturally ever since Father recreated her in this form," Greed said. 'That's right,' he thought, 'Envy told me he'd be coming tomorrow.' He moved his arm to cover Lust's head, protecting her from the intruder. "I blame you for it, since you knocked her out before bringing her here. Isn't it possible that started some kind of day and night cycle in her mind?"
"Maybe, but you should try to break it if you can." Selim looked up at the moon and smiled, thinking of how its light powered his shadows at night. "How much have you taught her? Manipulation, combat, persuasion... all those things are crucial if she'll be as useful as before."
Greed wrapped Lust in the blanket and picked her up, then turned to the stairs. "I don't think she's necessary, not with me and Envy around to instigate events."
"Father's not going to like that answer, Greed. Are you saying you haven't begun?"
"Right. But if I have to, I'll fulfill the role I promised to act. I keep my word, Pride, even when I don't want to." He stopped a few steps down, and asked "is she necessary, though?"
"Envy's too cruel, and you won't lie- Lust is the most well balanced of you three, and she has an extra asset when it comes to convincing men too," Pride said. "I'll come by in the morning to teach her the basics of combat; you can build from that." Pride lowered his container to the ground with shadows, and returned to the household Father had him influencing.
Greed shuffled down the stairs with a twisted neck, trying to see the steps around Lust, until he reached the floor and was greeted by meows. "Oh, you're hungry? We don't keep any food, sorry."
He walked through the house to Lust's room, and laid her on the bed. 'She looks more peaceful than I've ever seen another homunculus,' Greed thought. He turned out the light and closed the door, then returned to the attic to push the stairs up. "Here, here." He picked up the kitten, Lily, whom had been following Greed around and put him in a basket. "Let's go get you something to eat- the guys are probably wondering why I'm so late tonight, anyway. You'd better hope they like you, or this basket's staying outside the tavern door until dawn."
Lust rolled and curled in her sleep, and vocalized something between whimpers and grunts. In her mind, a perpetual nightmare reigned in which a towering monster with glowing red eyes stood ahead of her, and long curved teeth reached out from it to eat her. On its chest was a giant eye.