Full Summary: Selim Bradley awakens in another world after being killed by his adopted Father Fuhrer King Bradley. Now he's been told that he's Pride the arrogant, the first homunculus that was created by the man known as Father who strives to be the perfect being, but despite being proud to serve Father over the years his strange troubling memories begin to make him wonder about his life and the strange world he's remembering and the one he's now trapped in. Was Selim or Pride his true name? The only way he could figure it all out would be to find the other world, the one he remembers from before he awoke in this strange different world. Could he even find the world he remembers before here? And which world does he belong in? (Sorry if summary is bad) it will be a long story about Selim from the original being the same Selim from Brotherhood. Since Homunculi can often be born of failed attempts at human transmutation.
Here's the first chapter. Writing it has unfortunately been slow, but at least I've got this one chapter ready. Thanks for reading. I hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist it Brotherhood or any of the characters.
Everything was black. He couldn't see, and could barely feel anything even himself. He couldn't remember what happened or anything, but he could feel a slight confusion and perhaps some fear, but his mind was so hazy and nearly blank that he couldn't quite recall much of anything.
After a few moments he could slightly hear what sounded like...a man speaking perhaps? He wasn't sure.
Suddenly he felt a burst of energy run through him and he was suddenly aware of his rapidly beating heart followed by the rest of his body.
He opened his eyes slowly and glanced down at himself, but suddenly his eyes went hazy and blurs of memories or images passed through his mind rapidly.
The images were of a young boy, around ten years old. He had dark hair and was well dressed, and had a kind expression. There were images of other people too. A lady, and then suddenly a man, and another man, but before he could process it all, a voice spoke yet again. This time he could understand his words.
"Pride," the man with blond hair and golden eyes said.
The boy looked up at the man and then back down at himself. Had the boy he'd seen been himself? He looked very much like that boy. Had the other people been his family?
Suddenly he remembered the man who was speaking to him.
"Pride, can you hear me?" The man asked.
The boy quickly got to his feet a bit shakily.
"Yes." He replied smiling slightly at the man.
"I have successfully removed my prideful arrogance from myself. It is my first step to becoming the perfect being. You are Pride The Arrogant, the first Homunculus." The man said.
The boy thought for a moment and nodded at the man.
"You created me?" He asked, his mind still hazy.
"Yes." The man answered.
The boy thought it over for a moment, glancing down at himself, and then smiled.
"I'm perfect! You created me perfectly...father...!" The boy exclaimed proudly.
The man simply nodded.
"What do you want me to do?" He asked eagerly.
I will do whatever my new father says and I will make him proud of me! The boy thought excitedly, some of the earlier memories beginning to fade away a little.
The man, or Father, as Pride referred to him as, smiled, and stood up from his throne-like chair. "There is much I need you to do for me, Pride." Said Father.
The boy, Pride, smiled and stepped closer to Father as he listened to what the man said.
Years went by, Father slowly created more Homunculi, somehow obtaining or creating bodies and removing his sins from his being and putting them into these other different beings; the Homunculi.
Pride cared little at first for the other Homunculi, his thoughts only on obeying his father's wishes. Pride spent hundreds of years playing family as an adopted son with high ranking military people, pretending to be a normal human child while secretly performing tasks for Father, eventually leading up to his Father's ultimate plan. But it would be years until the Promised Day arrived, so it was going to be a long journey.
One day, Pride walked down into Father's secret lair. He smiled proudly at the fact that he was the first to arrive out of all the Homunculi.
"Hello Father," Pride greeted as he reached the man.
"Pride," Father acknowledged.
But it wasn't long until they were joined by others. First was Lust, closely followed by Gluttony. Then came Envy, and then Sloth.
"Well, looks like even Sloth beat our disgusting hoarder all the way here." Envy remarked.
Sloth's mouth twitched slightly as if he considered making a response, but made no further effort.
"Hoarder?" Gluttony asked looking between Envy and Lust.
"He's talking about Greed, Gluttony." Lust explained
"Oh..." Gluttony responded.
"It seems Greed hasn't shown up much at all recently." Lust stated.
"Be quiet and let Father speak." Pride told them.
"Greed has deserted us." Father said.
"How dare he show such little loyalty..." Pride muttered in disgust.
"How dare that traitor." Lust said.
"Can I eat him?" Gluttony asked.
"No," Envy said. "I want to have the pleasure of throwing him into a concrete wall when we find him!"
"Never mind Greed at the moment." Father said. "I have yet to introduce you all to the newest homunculus. Wrath."
"New homunculus huh? Where is this guy? I don't see anyone new here." Envy said.
"That is because Wrath has already been placed into his assignment." Father explained, then he turned to the oldest homunculus. "Pride?"
"Yes Father?" Pride asked.
"You are in need of a new position among the humans." Father said.
"Yes Father." Pride confirmed. "The last ones were killed a few years back."
"Ah. You will be placed acting along side our new Wrath." Father said.
"Yes father." Pride answered smiling.
This new Wrath better not be as pathetic as Greed. Pride thought bitterly, still angry with how Greed could act with such disloyalty. Sometimes he thought Father really needed better tools than what he seemed to end up with.
"So you want me to just play human family with Wrath and whatever humans are present and await further commands?" Pride asked.
"That is correct." Father said.
Pride smiled and nodded.
"And what of Greed?" He asked.
"In time we shall find him." Father answered. "Now go." Father commanded.
"Yes Father." Pride said as he turned to leave. "Goodbye everyone else." Pride muttered.
"Wow, that's a first." Envy said stepping towards Pride.
"What's a first?" Pride asked.
"You've never said goodbye to us as you've left. I thought you were too perfect to care to speak to any of us unless it's necessary." Envy mocked.
Pride then realized that he hadn't said that before. But Envy had no right to call him out on it.
Shadows moved dangerously around them, a silent threat to the other Homunculous.
"You are in no place to question my actions." Pride said.
But deep down he wondered why in the world he'd bothered to say anything to them. But he didn't care enough to say it was a mistake. It wasn't a mistake. Pride knew that for sure. He never made mistakes. He was Pride The Arrogant, he was created perfectly by father and had no flaws. Therefore he wasn't capable of mistakes. Anyone who said otherwise was likely the one that went and messed up whatever he was doing.
Pride walked through the streets heading for the location Father had told him to go to. He didn't pay much attention to any of the humans around him, he was deep in thought.
He couldn't stand how Greed could just desert them like this. Again. Why did he always have so little loyalty?
Doesn't matter, Pride thought. he'll soon be caught and be punished for his actions. At least I have something important to do to help Father with. Plus this might be the last playing family I'll have to do before the Promised Day arrives. It may only be a matter of years now.
Father will be so proud of me! Pride thought joyfully. He no longer really cared what the other homunculi were up to at the moment or whether they were listening he was just focused on how proud he would make Father be of him. He would do his mission and he would make no mistakes. It would be perfect, no matter what this new Wrath that they'd been too busy for so long to even bother to meet, would be like. Pride smiled as he stepped onto the road crossing as he made his way to his destination.
Lost in thought Pride failed to see the car that was heading right towards him. Suddenly a woman saw what was about to happened and Pride's eyes widened in surprise as someone grabbed him pulling him to the side and shielding him with their body as the car skidded to a abrupt halt, only just stopping in time before it hit him or the lady.
"You're okay." Pride heard the woman holding his tightly say.
Pride stared at her in shock. Sure she had no idea what he was and that he would've just come back to life had he been hit, although it would've been a bit of an inconvenience, not to mention painful. But here was this lowly human risking her own mortal life to save his. And she didn't even know him! Something about this made Pride feel almost...amazed or something. Never had any of the humans he'd met seem like this lady.
The woman led Pride to the side walk.
"Are you alright? I'm Lily Bradley." The woman said searching the boy for injuries.
Bradley? Pride thought, feeling like Father had mentioned the name that Wrath would be using. Pride smiled weakly, still slightly shaken from the near accident.
"I-I'm okay..." Pride stammered still amazed at Lily Bradley's actions.
"Do you have a name? Where are your parents?" Mrs Bradley asked worriedly.
Pride couldn't remember a time in his long life that someone had shown so much concern for him. Quickly he searched his mind for a name to use.
Suddenly weird memories echoed through his mind.
"Happy birthday Selim." A man said.
"Hello father you're home!" A dark haired boy said excitedly.
The man handed the boy a present.
"Thank you father!" He boy said smiling happily. "Can I open it now?" He asked.
"Of course you may. It's not everyday my only son turns ten." He man with black hair and an eye patch said.
The boy smiled shyly at the man who smiled back proudly, and then he opened the gift revealing a toy train set.
"Wow! Thank you Father." The boy said smiling but blushing slightly.
The boy turned and glanced slightly at a lady, and the memory faded away.
"Little one?" Mrs. Bradley repeated. "What's your name?"
"Selim." Pride replied, relieved that he managed to keep his voice relatively steady considering he was still a bit shaken, and these memories.
Pride followed Mrs Bradley to wherever she was taking him now. His amazement was something he'd never felt for a human before, and it both confused and fascinated him. But the lady... He had never known her...yet She was identical to the other lady in his strange memories.
Pride sighed lightly; he had hoped over the hundreds of years he'd lived through with Father and the other homunculi that the strange memories and thoughts he'd had when he was created would lessen or disappear. If anything, they seemed to happen more often now.
Pride wondered if he should ask Father about them, but quickly shoved such ridiculous ideas away. Whatever it was couldn't be a problem, because Father was the perfect being, and had created Pride. Surely Father wouldn't have made Pride imperfect and with flaws like the other Homunculi.
Whatever the memories were weren't a problem. They just became...a little distracting at times. But really, it was hardly a problem. At least not yet. Pride figured he'd just have to ignore them.
Mrs Bradley turned to Pride. "Selim, I am going to take you home with me alright?" She asked.
Pride nodded smiling slightly.
When they arrived Pride smiled. Judging by the giant house, it was exactly the kind of place Father wanted him to go to. Which meant Wrath was probably in there, right?
Mrs Bradley took Pride's hand and walked him to the front door, smiled down at him for a moment and they walked inside.
Perfect, Pride thought happily. At this rate there will be no problem getting into the place and trying to come up with a way to get "taken in" or "adopted" seemed the near car accident and Mrs Bradley had taken care of it for him. Not that it was their accomplishments. Pride knew he'd done well this time. It took a lot to act as a scared child and make it all believable. He doubted the other Homunculi could ever be as good if they'd tried to as he was. Even Envy, who could turn into a child if he wanted, but he'd never even be able to be compared to Pride's ability to do it; Envy would slip up and make a mistake. Pride had done this for decades and he hadn't slipped up once.
Sure the car thing wasn't the original plan, but Pride knew anything he did would work out in some way and become perfect. Unless someone dared to ruin it. He would make sure that no one would ever mess up Father's plans.
"I'm home!" Mrs Bradley called.
Pride heard someone, a man, welcome her home, followed by the sound of footsteps approaching them.
Pride straightened and brushed the dirt from his clothes the best he could, deciding his shaky fear from the accident could be dropped a bit now.
But when the figure walked into the foyer, Pride's eyes widened and he felt a strange feeling wash over him that he'd rarely ever felt before, and never once to this extent.
Pride, or Selim, began to tremble slightly, as he felt the wave of terror sweep through him.
He tried as hard as he could to shove it away, there was nothing to be afraid of, this was just a man, probably just Wrath.
But suddenly bits of memories flashed through his mind.
A car stopped, a dark haired boy exited the vehicle running as fast as he could. He ran until he reached a large house, that was strangely familiar looking. He ran into a room pulling out a key and unlocking a safe hidden on a bookshelf.
The boy opened the safe, pulling out a cloth bag, and hurried out of the room.
The boy thought he heard his Father's voice from downstairs.
He hurries to the basement staircase, rushing there sort of timidly. He arrives seeing a man with black hair fighting his father. Both his father and the man appeared to be with the military, his father was the Fuhrer. So why was this man attacking him?
The boy stepped forward.
"F-father?" The boy started nervously.
"Selim. What are you doing here?" The Fuhrer demanded after injuring the other man that fell to the ground.
"If humans are so inferior, than how do you explain loving him?" The injured man asked.
"Well with all the talk of danger going on, I wanted to make sure you were okay. And to get this. You said your life depended on it, so I had to come make sure it was still safe." The boy, Selim explained, lifting the sack that contained his father's "secret treasure" and smiling shyly at the Fuhrer, strangely not seeming to notice the injured man on the floor.
"Selim..." The Fuhrer started, seeming strangely angry. "What have you done?"
"I-" Selim started to reply, but the man stepped forward aggressively putting his hands around the boys neck.
"Father...?" The boy rasped, "Please...!"
The boy begged as the man was suffocating the boy. Then the injured man got up. But the boy seemed to pass out from lack of oxygen.
The memories ended there, as Pride struggled to understand what is was.
He could see the Mrs Bradley and King Bradley, who looked identical to the man that was killing his adopted son, were speaking to each other. Pride managed to catch enough to know that they'd just agreed to taking him in and adopting him.
"Does that sound good to you Selim?" Lily Bradley asked the boy.
"Y-yes." Pride stammered.
He's going to kill me! Pride's strangely terrified mind screamed. Pride tried to force it calm again, he should not be feeling any of this!
But his attempts did little use. He was completely freaking out.
Mrs Bradley seemed to notice the boy's fear to some extent, because she placed a hand on his shoulder and began speaking to the man about how he'd almost been hit by a car.
When the two were finished talking, Mrs Bradley took the boy upstairs to a guest room.
"Once you've calmed down a bit we shall go out and buy you some things to make this room more of your own. Something to make it more personalized. Like toys or games or books or something. Would you like that Selim?" Lily Bradley asked the boy who was gazing around the room.
"Uh... Yes. Thank you so much!" Pride managed to force out despite the strange terror he felt only just starting to disappear.
Mrs Bradley smiled and gave the boy a hug.
"I'll be downstairs if you need me. We need to talk about making this adoption official." She said to the boy smiling happily.
Pride smiled back at her, it looked more shy or timid so he forced it to be more brighter and happier, and excited.
"Thank you so much!" He said with as much enthusiasm as he could put into it.
He then excitedly jumped forward and hugged Mrs Bradley back, and then somewhat shyly backed up and sat down on the bed, waving slightly as Mrs Bradley exited the room.
When she was gone, Pride lay back onto the bed, trying to make sense of all the strange things he'd experienced today, mixed in with the strange memory like things he'd always had.
