Without Her
Disclaimer: Guess who doesn't own Fullmetal Alchemist? Me!
A/N: Well, just something angsty I thought of. A bit of Gluttony/Lust, Gluttony suffering expressively after Lust dies. Thought of this after I saw just how he was sort of freaking out when he couldn't find her in, like, episode 47, I think. I wonder if he really would confront Wrath about it, though.
He'd checked her room, the streets, and everywhere around Dante's house and . . . she wasn't there. His Lust was not there.
Where she could be, he had no idea, but to lumber dazedly around the house, his mind in a jumble, rechecking every nook and cranny in the house.
He felt lost without her by his side, without himself by her side like he was usually and was angry with himself for leaving, not being there with her while she went in search of the Scarred One.
He'd said he was so scared to go with her. He'd been afraid of vexing Dante . . . but nothing was more frightening than a world without Lust. His Lust.
The Scarred One . . . he'd probably hurt her, just like he'd done before. Him and the Fullmetal boy. Why Lust had wanted to go in search of him, he didn't know.
All he knew now was that he couldn't find Lust anywhere. She was gone.
At first he'd panicked, bashing walls in exasperation and ripping things apart demanding where his Lust had went, asking where she could be.
But Dante had become angry with him and scolded him by taking away two of his dinners.
He'd screamed for her for the past few nights, willing her to return, yearning to see her striding composedly out of an alley, the moonlight glistening off of her pale skin and wiping dried blood from her retracting fingernails.
She had never come to him. She'd never showed up, no matter how loudly he'd called, no matter how badly he wanted to see her.
The need to have her there with him was so intense that his entire body was numb except for his thoughts of her.
Lust . . . he couldn't get her gorgeous face out of his head, couldn't block her soft, breathy voice from his ears. The feel of her warm hand in his calloused ones was still vivid in his imagination.
He wanted her back. She was a must! He needed her!
Where was she? Why couldn't he find her? Why wouldn't she come back to him?
Gluttony was in a daze, wandering around the archway of Dante's house and mumbling Lust's name, wishing for her to come nearer each time her name was uttered.
She had to come to him! She always did! So why wasn't she there now? Why wasn't she with him? Was she hurt? Was she lost like Dante had suggested? If she was, then he had best better go and find her.
But he couldn't. He was hurting. It hurt too bad to be without her, hurt too bad to do anything about it.
He hardly noticed the Fullmetal boy having a non-too-friendly chat with Dante a few feet away.
All he could do was call for Lust and hope his longing for her would bring her to him.
"Lust!" He dragged his body forward in a half-hearted search. "Where's Lust?"
Nothing else mattered at the moment besides her and food. Nothing else.
He never thought he would be feeling this way. He never thought there would be a day that he wasn't at Lust's side. It was a mistake he made the day he told her no. He could still hear the huff of annoyance she'd released after she'd asked him if he wanted to come with her to locate Scar.
"Want to, but . . . afraid."
They were partners. Why had he refused? They needed each other. He needed her.
"Al! Where's Al?" The stupid, State Alchemist suddenly yelped.
Al . . . ? The one in the armor? Who cared? Who bothered about him? He wasn't an issue. No, not while his Lust was missing.
"Where's my Lust?" Gluttony shouted, demanding for an answer. "What happened to my Lust?"
To his surprise, he got an answer that time, from Dante who merely shrugged and smiled, pointing to Edward. "Try asking him, Gluttony."
Asking . . . him . . . ? The Fullmetal brat? Why ask him? Did he know where she was? Had he done something to her?
Something burned with his chest as he lunged for the boy's metallic arm, clamping on fiercely. "Lust! Where's Lust?"
He could feel his teeth sinking into the auto-mail, his drool burning away at some of the metal components.
Strangely, Ed didn't pull away, but instead lowered his eyes. His voice was soft. "She's gone . . . I'm sorry. Wrath killed her while she was helping me. It's my fault."
Gluttony's grip on the boy slackened as he inwardly jolted, stunned. "Lust . . . gone?" What did he mean gone? Lust just couldn't be gone! She couldn't just die! She couldn't-
" . . . yeah." The Elric was hesitant. "He sealed her up."
Sealed . . . .
No. No! Lust couldn't be sealed! She was too strong to be sealed that easily! She was too wanted . . . by him . . . to go and get herself killed. She couldn't be gone. Not her . . . .
He staggered backward in astonishment, falling onto his rear. Distress clenched at his chest as he quickly scrambled to his feet, backing away, horrified.
His mind was numb. "Lust? Gone? No . . . no . . . no . . . no . . . no . . . ."
"Gluttony?" He could vaguely hear Dante addressing to him, but he didn't care.
"Lust," he murmured to himself. Listening to her name on his tongue was all he had left.
"Gluttony!"
"Lust . . . ."
He despondently stumbled away, distinctly aware of the Fullmetal's prodding eyes on his back.
Lust was gone. Lust was sealed. Lust was dead.
Thoughts and words swarmed around in his head until he felt a dizzying urge to spit up his food. He didn't though, mindlessly roaming the halls of the house.
Why was she gone? Why was she dead? Because she was helping the boy, according to him. She'd been assisting him. But she couldn't have died like that. She was killed. Someone killed her. Who had it been again?
"Wrath killed her while she was helping me . . . he sealed her up . . . ."
Wrath. Wrath! The seventh. The kid.
Gluttony's chest was once again filled with a burning sensation. A familiar pain gnawed at his stomach, saliva dribbling from a doughy chin. He was hungry. So he was going to eat . . . .
Wrath was seated dolefully in the center of his bed, clasping tightly in balled fists the blankets of the bed, wanting so strongly to tear them apart.
Damn those stupid Elrics! Damn them for murdering his Mommy! How could he have been so idiotic as to absorb her weakness? Why did he fuse with her? Those brothers played him! They tricked him! He was going to steal everything from them! Ed, especially. He already took two of his limbs and his mother. But now he wanted that dumb, Fullmetal's body . . . and then . . . and then his life!
He'd be the new Edward Elric! He'd be the legendary, youngest State Alchemist! He'd make those brothers pay!
It would be so lovely to rip away Edward's other leg, so heavenly to watch him trip and fall flat on his face as his blood flowed out in a crimson torrent, staining the floors and his pants.
Wrath would just laugh and kick Ed with his own leg, enjoying his appalled screams.
A slow smile spread across the young, homunculus's face. Oh, yeah. He was going to love that.
But first, he was going to ask Dante to restore Mommy. Surely she'd say yes. Sloth was probably her favorite anyway.
He stood determinedly, swiping hair from his right eye and headed toward the door that led out of his room.
Somebody opened it before he did, walking in with heavy steps.
Wrath froze, momentarily frightened, until he realized just who it was. "What do you want, you big tub-of-lard?"
The other homunculus merely stared back at him with blank eyes and squeezed fists. His expression was unreadable, drool dripping to the carpet underfoot.
"What's the matter: cat got that huge tongue of yours?" Wrath taunted after several seconds of no reaction. It didn't matter. The big guy was never one to do anything about it when Envy called him names all the time. All he ever did was be gluttonous. Jeez, he could hardly speak.
Gluttony still didn't respond, taking one, big step forward, his immense hands still scrunched and looking punch-ready. The slobber was staining the rugs.
Wrath frowned, watching at the portly homunculus and then at the soggy floor. "If you have something to say to me, you'd better make it quick; I am not cleaning your spit off the carpet."
No reply. Only more slaver and a empty-eyed ogle. It was getting annoying.
"I wish you'd get outta my way. Your fat body's kinda blocking the doorway and I have to talk to Dante."
And then, slowly, Gluttony's mouth opened slightly, discharging an alarming surge of saliva that waterfalled from his jaws, creating a large, sticky puddle on the flooring.
Wrath leapt back a couple inches, startled. "Hey, what's the matter with you? Miss a couple of lunches today, didja? Why don't you-"
"Where's Lust?" Wrath's previous sentence was interrupted by the ferocity in the overweight failed transmutation's demand.
The younger homunculus blinked, wrinkling his nose. "Lust . . . ?"
Lust? What- what was he talking about? Lust? Lus-?
Oh, yeah.
A toothy smirk stretched across his lips. "She's dead, Gluttony. I sealed her."
"Sealed her?" Gluttony repeated impassively. "You sealed my Lust?"
Of course he did. Lust was a deserter for working with that loser, Ed. It was what she deserved after killing him twice. The expression on her pretty, little face while trying to run when he'd first created the circle had been priceless. He'd pay to see her helplessly cough up her stones all over again.
"That's what I said, wasn't it?"
Gluttony's lips gradually spread in a way that was almost feral, showing off razor-sharp teeth and a fat tongue. Saliva poured from the corners of his broad mouth.
Wrath shrugged, running a hand through his dark hair. "You were her sidekick, weren't you? Well, whoops."
"Traitor!" Next thing Wrath knew, he was on the floor, his breath temporarily knocked from his lungs. Something heavy was on top of him, stifling his breathing air and leaking something wet onto his face and chest.
"Oh, ewww!" He squirmed under Gluttony's weight, struggling to wipe the warm slobber from his forehead and cheeks. "What's your problem, fatso? Get off me, get off me, get off me!"
If only his right hand could touch something at the moment. Anything! But his arms were pinned down.
"You killed my Lust!" Gluttony hissed, spitting all into his face. "You traitor!"
Wrath flailed his legs and knees, hoping to knock him in the stomach. His big, fat stomach!
"Me, the traitor?" He screamed angrily. "I'm not the traitor! I'm not! I'm not, I'm not! Lust was! She hurt me! She was helping Edward Elric! I had to!"
Gluttony's dribble was burning now. It was hurting like . . . like acid.
"You killed Lust," he kept on growling. "You killed her. You killed her. You killed her."
"Yeah?" Wrath risked a teasing snicker. "What're you gonna do about it, huh? If you hurt me too, then you're also a traitor!"
A large, meaty fist crashed into his left cheek.
He heard something crack. "Oww, hey!"
He was punched again, that time in the belly. He couldn't even double over and clutch it, only howl in agony and grit his teeth. "Cut that out! We're supposed to be a team, dummy!"
Wrath bucked and kicked. "Get off! I'll tell Dante on you!" He crashed his head into Gluttony's pudgy one. "Leave me alone!"
His body felt hot with fury and frustration and the fact that he couldn't get away from that stupid pile of guts.
"You killed Lust!"
"So?" The son of Izumi bit ferociously at one of Gluttony's arms. "What do you care? All you do is eat a lot! You have less feelings than all of us, anyway!"
His grip slackened for a second, enough time to give the seventh homunculus the time to flip over and slam his stolen hand onto the ground. "Eat this, fatty!" A gigantic, clay-made fist shot out of the ground and plowed into Gluttony's face.
"Eat it!" He made a second one that smashed into the tubby homunculus's abdomen. "Eat it!" Another hand struck his black-suited back. "Aren't you hungry?"
Gluttony merely grunted and shook his bald head clear of pain, charging toward Wrath again, his fleshy arms trailing behind him. He used his body to knock him into a wall, pinning him again.
Wrath crashed into the wall, feeling winded as Gluttony hissed, "I should eat you . . . ."
Those words chilled the child to the core. He'd watched Gluttony eat. He'd seen what he did to his prey. He'd seen how much blood there always was.
Shocked, he gasped. "You wouldn't dare. Dante would destroy you."
"You killed Lust." Without warning, all of his rage seemed to diminish, only to be replaced with some sort of anguish. "My Lust . . . ."
He saw sadness in Gluttony's vacant eyes. It was something that should not have been there. Homunculi had no emotion. If they did, they shouldn't. They were not human. And so he felt the slightest bit guilty as Gluttony backed off.
Wrath scowled, glowering at his soiled clothes. "Well, she hurt me. I would've been dead, if not for the stones. She told me she'd kill me as many times as it'd take! So she had it coming for her." He softened though, if only for a little while. "I did her a favor, anyway. She wanted to die. She told me so. So there. You can leave if you've gotten that all out of your system."
Gluttony blinked and leaned against the farthest wall. "Wanted to?"
"Yeah. She . . . realized . . . I guess, that she only wanted to be human to die. She totally stopped fighting." He didn't add that that might've been the effect of the alchemy circle with her necklace tossed into it.
Gluttony seemed unstable on his feet, lurching and faltering everywhere.
"Seriously, are you okay?" Wrath asked impatiently. "I have somewhere to go."
Finally, the big guy staggered from his room, still muttering, "Lust . . . Lust . . . Lust . . . ."
Wrath sighed, once again sweeping his persistent strands from his eyes. "Man, the guy's obsessed . . . ."
Lust wanted to die . . . .
Somehow, those words were not that surprising, only the fact that she actually let herself was.
She always seemed to be musing over something, all pensive, with her arms crossed and eyes lowered.
Why would she want to die? Gluttony wondered. She was beautiful, she was the Ultimate Spear, she was dangerous.
She had him.
Always.
They were partners.
Gluttony's hairless head ached as he flopped miserably onto Lust's neatly-made bed.
The blankets smelled of her, of her hair, as did the entire room, a spicy, exotic aroma that reminded him distinctly of one of his favorite foods.
He missed Lust, he missed her voice, her touch, her . . . companionship.
The pain he was feeling was different from before. It was no longer the "Where is she, what happened to her?" It was now "She's dead and I can't do anything about it . . . she's dead and I couldn't stop it . . . ."
A guttural moan formed in his throat until it was almost a keening cry that echoed of the surfaces of the room.
Because his Lust would not return.
A/N: The End! Hope you liked this cuz I don't really know if Gluttony would be one to take action if he were truly distressed and angry. This was fun to write, nonetheless. R&R please!