A/N: Somebody slap me. Please. Because look what I just did. I started another multi-chapter fanfic. Ugh. *headdeskheaddesk* Um... but... SHIIIIINYYYYYY... it's so shiny... i had to write it...

Okay, so this is definitely a fantasy AU. I know that a certain person makes a cameo here (and probably will in other chapters), but this is not a crossover. Just want to make that clear. This will be continued from the end of FMA: Brotherhood, this will be fantasy, this will be AU, this will contain OCs, there will be SPOILERS for Brotherhood, and this will star five of the homunculi (the reason why the other two - er, three if you're technical - are not included is explained in this prologue). I'm gonna guess that there will be more of Greed and Envy than the others, just knowing myself, since they're my favorite homunculi. There are no pairings as of now, but that may be subject to change. There will be no yaoi.

This is my first time writing Greed, too, so... I hope it doesn't suck.

Dislcaimer: I DO NOT OWN FMA OR ANY OF ITS CANON CHARACTERS.

More A/N to follow at bottom of chapter...

Prologue

Heaven wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

It was heaven, right? One of two places you go when you die… That's what Greed had always heard, anyway.

Maybe this wasn't heaven, but… the other place. It was creepy enough. Sure, white was not the color most generally associated with that place, but somehow, he'd never imagined any good afterlife as nothing but an empty void.

He couldn't even hear his footsteps. Wait, did he have feet? He looked down. Yeah, he had feet. Not his feet, though. Or, well, not the ones he had when he 'died' (after all, who knew? Maybe he wasn't dead). The black boots pointed at the toes, and last he checked, his black pants hadn't been leather.

And his coat, his beautiful long, black coat! It'd been traded out for a vest with a fur collar… Well, it wasn't too bad. Change in style was easy enough to adjust to.

Hadn't he died, though? He sure felt conscious, and what was with the wardrobe change?*

"My, my, you certainly have a lot of questions."

The voice made him jump; who the heck would be wandering around a place like this!? Well… aside from him, at least. For a second there, he'd wondered if he ended up in his own personal dimension or something (which would be totally cool, come to think of it).

"No, this isn't your dimension. This is my dimension." Just ahead of him, at the base of a massive stone door that appeared from out of nowhere, sat a ghostly version of himself. He had no hair or clothes or skin or bones or a face, he was simply… white. In fact, the only evidence that he was actually sitting there was a faint grey glow around him.

Greed raised his eyebrows, opening his mouth to question. "Who-"

"-am I?" the creature finished with a toothy grin that reminded Greed of Envy. Just more… controlled. It snickered, which was unnerving when it had no other facial features besides that broad mouth. "I am everything, and nothing; one and all; dark and light; yin and yang; I am Truth."

"Uh huh…" Honestly, he wasn't at all impressed by the lengthy title. All he knew was that this guy crept him out.

"And you are Greed, third homunculus created by the creature known as 'the Dwarf in the Flask' about 204 years ago. Or, 204 years ago in a dimension where Time exists, anyway."

Again, Greed opened his mouth to voice a question, but was rudely interrupted once more.

"Where are you? You are in the Void. The place between time. My realm. And here will you stay, homunculus."

"What?" Greed finally got a word in edgewise, frowning at the ominous tone of that last sentence.

"Yes, here. See, you are an artificial human. You existed off of stolen life. You had no life of your own, but your consciousness must be stored somewhere after you die. Heaven nor Hell are suited for you, and so here you will stay."

"I don't much care for your sense of decorating," Greed deadpanned with a glare at the creature. It only grinned back at him, though, and laughed.

"You won't know the difference. From now on, you will simply cease to exist. Your consciousness will remain in limbo until the end of all things."

"And then?"

"Then you will die a second death, and be utterly erased from all of time and space."

"Sounds pleasant."

Truth chortled. "Trust me. You won't feel a thing."

"Somehow, this doesn't seem fair." Greed folded his arms haughtily. "You had to see what I just did back there. I just defeated the guy who was trying to take you over."

"Yes, aren't you the special one…" Truth seemed less amused at the statement, but his grin soon returned. "But does that really make up for everything else you've done? All the horrors and atrocities you've committed in your years of existence? Why, it wouldn't be equivalent exchange if I simply gave you a happy ending, now, would it?"

Greed clenched his teeth and was about to respond when the door behind Truth began to rumble open. The phantom-like creature seemed just as surprised as Greed was by this, and it scrambled to its feet, stepping away.

"After all these eons," came a rumbling voice from the shadows, from a tawny form beginning to take shape, "I finally found your nest, Malum."

From behind it, Greed actually saw the white creature tremble, fists clenching. Its breath came faster as the figure stepped into the light. A large head came into sight, in the face of which nestled two brilliant eyes that seemed to be all sort of colors at once, followed by rounded ears and a heavy golden mane. A paw stepped out, followed by three others, and a long tail ending with a tuft of matching golden hair.

Greed stared in awe at the large lion that had quite suddenly joined them from beyond the Gate. He was tempted to wonder if he hadn't actually died and simply been knocked unconscious and was now having some pretty messed-up dreams, but that didn't seem plausible. You didn't exactly forget a death like his.

"You didn't actually think your meddling would go unchecked, did you?" said the animal, in the same low voice as before.

"No… No, you can't! You can't just walk in here!" Truth – or Malum, if the lion was to be believed – spat, gritting his white teeth. "This is my dimension!"

"All dimensions are mine. You simply make forgeries." The lion continued to stride closer, calmly and slowly. Truth backed up until he bumped into Greed, who didn't move. No way was this creep getting any sympathy from him.

"Well, it's my forgery then!" Truth declared with impudent rage.

The lion sighed, closing its brilliant eyes for a moment before halting its steps and simply staring at the other-worldly being. It didn't seem to have noticed Greed yet. Either that, or it was simply ignoring him. Greed felt a little miffed at the idea.

"You attempt to govern the realms I have shaped in my stead, claim my name, taint my image with your own, and even when faced with your own creator, you remain arrogant. Where has your honor gone?"

"Honor!?" Truth cackled, looking manic once more. "Who cares about honor? Look at me! Look at this world that I've corrupted!"

"You are a con man, Malum, and nothing more. Tell me, what have you done with all of the things that you've stolen from the people of this dimension? I see no belongings, no evidence of your trade."

"That's just it, kitty cat," Truth sneered, "that's what I am. A trader. I trade one thing for another. I steal nothing!"

"You stole the lives of thousands to ensure the survival of eight homunculi," the lion said.

Suddenly, Greed got more interested.

"And look at their perfection! Look what I created!"

"Look what you destroyed. You created nothing. You forged and then tore down."

"I forged the greatest creatures in the seven circles!"

"You forged monsters created to serve the purpose of destruction and destruction alone."

"Hey now…" Greed muttered, but was largely ignored.

"They were perfect!" Truth screeched.

"They perished. Four to the foes of your tyranny-"

"My brother's** tyranny!"

"-one to his own despair, one for the sake of those he learned to love," at this, the lion finally shifted a glance toward Greed, but went right back to staring down Truth, "and the last fell to the devices of your own creations. He was his own downfall in the end."

Truth snarled, and then let loose a scream of rage.

The lion continued, unfazed. "You claim the title of Truth, yet you are nothing but deception, lies, forgery and falsehood. Here is your truth, Malum: you have lost."

"No, I will create more homunculi! I will continue to destroy those loathsome creatures you hold so dear!"

"No, you will not. You will leave this place, destroy this bridge, and never return here."

"I'm not alone here," Truth said, a grin twitching one corner of his mouth. "I'll take them down with me."

A few seconds of silence passed, and then the lion looked at Greed again. "That is the other matter to which I came to attend."

"You can't have them."

"They are not yours to keep."

"Oh yes they are; you have no claim over them whatsoever. And like I said, I am a trader. To get something from me, you have to give me something of equal value. And even you, O Great Lion, can't scrounge up enough to earn the consciousness' of my beloved homunculi."

Questions were racing through Greed's head a mile a minute, but he wasn't about to interrupt to ask them. He got the feeling that he was only witnessing the surface of some big thing that was way beyond him.

The lion, serene as it had been since it stepped foot in the void, looked to and fro, and then slowly hung its head. Streaks soon dripped from its eyes like tears, only crimson red, like blood. Wait… was it blood? It fell to the white floor in great drops, staining the crisp white scarlet. At the same time, a wound in its ribcage opened up, spilling more blood onto the white expanse. Truth howled, as if in pain.

"NO, NO YOU CAN'T! I WON'T LET YOU!" it shrieked.

Soon, blood covered the floor in all directions. Greed couldn't see the end of it, and the new red sea stood out in stark contrast against the white of the Void. It lapped at the edges of the Gate, stained Truth's own white figure red. As Greed watched the crimson flow circle his own ankles, he didn't feel disgusted, and he wasn't sure why.

"You should know that I have paid their debts and more," the lion finally said. The wound closed, and the last red tear left red streaks on the being's fur. "Here is your payment, Malum. Now haunt this dimension no more."

"Ugh…" Truth seemed to be in pain as the red stains lined his feet, creeping up toward his knees. "F-Fine… Take them… Take them!"

"You will keep your brother. You will take him, and leave this place. Forever. Is that understood?"

"Yes!" it moaned, looking like it would wish nothing more than to leap out of the sea of blood and never touch it again. "Just make it stop!"

"Be gone, then."

Truth vanished, without a trace. Greed blinked, and it was gone, like it had never been there in the first place. The blood drained away to the horizon as well until it was completely gone. But instead of the white void it had been before, soil and meadow grass formed solid ground in its place. Wildflowers sprouted up and waved in an invisible wind. When the red reached the distance, blue began to stain the void above them, turning white to brilliant skies.

Greed could only stare in fascination.

Who the heck was this lion?

"The Void is no more," the being said, and Greed realized that with no one else there, it had to be addressing him. "Shall we fetch your siblings, then?"

Greed cleared his throat rather awkwardly. "Sorry, but… who are you?"

"I have many names."

"What, like 'one' and 'all' and 'everything' and 'truth' and all that?"

"That creature you knew as Truth perverted a number of my names, yes."

"So… you're the real Truth or something?"

"I established truth, and truth is in me. I am not something; I simply am."

"…Well, what do I call you?"

"Many know me by Aslan." For the first time, Greed noticed that the intimidating calm had been replaced by something else… Still serene, like calm waters, but while the ferocity still glistened in the lion's bright eyes, they held a kindness deeper than any he had ever seen in any mere human's face. This being was ancient, but so… alive.

"Aslan… different. But hey, who am I to talk?" The homunculus shrugged.

Aslan chuckled, and it put Greed at ease almost instantly. The laughter was warm and soft, without any trace of condescension or malice.

The meadow swirled around them for a short moment, clouds wheeling overhead before they came to an abrupt stop. On first glance, the scenery hadn't changed at all. But then Greed looked closer, and realized that woods surrounded them, and mountains loomed in the distance. The air was sweet and fresh and crisp, birds sung all around them, and wind made the flowers dance.

…Boy, that was poetic.

"Did we go somewhere?" he asked when it became obvious that Aslan wasn't going to explain.

"Yes. We are on the edge of my country. And look, yonder." The lion nodded a ways to the right, where the grass rose on dunes of sand. If Greed listened close enough, he could hear the sound of ocean waves.

"We'll find your siblings waiting there."

Siblings. Meaning the other homunculi. Meaning the ones that would rather see him dead than say 'hey bro I missed you'. Greed hesitated. Aslan, having taken a few steps toward the dunes, paused and looked back at him.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

Greed waited a moment to gather his thoughts before answering. "Why are you doing this? What are you doing?"

Aslan fixed a long stare at him. When he responded, his voice was low, quiet, as he started walking once more. "The homunculi were created as embodiments of the names they bore. Programmed, if you will, not to feel the humanity that exists in every other race in the seven circles. You were given no other option, and that is a sorrowful existence."

Greed raised an eyebrow, following him. "You know who you're talking to, right?"

The lion didn't even hesitate. "Of course. By initial nature, your 'sin' as it were dictated that you sought after your own desires more than any of the others, which soon showed itself to be a flaw in your builders' design and allowed you a loophole to go against the flow of your siblings."

"And how I died? You know everything else, you must know that." Greed wanted some more explaining, and Aslan didn't seem to mind all his questions.

"Ah, that is the beautiful thing. Love conquers all. Love, the pure sort of love that you were exposed to by the very humanity your kind had been raised to despise, broke beyond the instinct to kill and be killed. Love gave you a choice that you hadn't been offered before, and you chose to give up your own ambitions to save the lives of your friends. There is no greater love than this."

By now, they had reached the dunes and looked down over a flawless beach. Beyond the sand, the water rose in an eternal wave the crashed and roared in an arc facing away from them. And on the stretch of sand before them, Greed could spot four human figures lying side by side.

Following Aslan down the dunes toward the bodies, Greed kept his eyes on them in a strange mix of dread and anticipation. He really had no clue what to expect. All of it was so fantastic and mysterious and he almost felt like a human child reading some kind of mystery novel. What was going to happen next?

"Are they dead?" Greed asked as they stood over the forms of four of his siblings – Lust, Envy, Sloth, and Gluttony. They looked just like they had the last time Greed had seen them, from their hair and clothing right down to their ouroboros tattoos in their respective places.

But wait, where're Pride and Wrath?

Aslan shook his head with a serene smile (that was the strangest thing, seeing a lion smile). "No. They are only asleep. They will awaken when I send you to the realm I have chosen for all of you."

"Realm…" Greed frowned. "I don't get it."

"I am giving you all a chance at the lives you were deprived of. For this, you will be given a place in one of the seven circles, or realms. You've seen one."

"Two if you count the Void."

"The Void was merely a gap between the realms, where Malum and Chaos had taken residence – you know them better as Truth and Father."

Greed's eyebrows shot up at that. "Um… explanation please?"

"They are jynx – imps that go from world to world, or between worlds, to cause problems for those inhabiting them. Their goal is to steal and destroy in any way. This is the path they have chosen. They were once stars in the skies of the different realms, lighting the night, watching over the inhabitants they seek to corrupt."

"You mean literal stars?" This was really getting to be too much. It was too much to take in, Greed couldn't wrap his head around just how big it all was. This new information, the fact that Truth, the creature credited with the power behind alchemy and all its forms, and Father, the guy that created all the homunculi, are nothing more than fallen stars out to cause problems for multiple worlds? Greed felt a headache coming on.

"It will take time for you to adjust," Aslan said, breaking through his thoughts. The lion had sat back on his haunches, examining the sleeping bodies of the four remaining homunculi. "There is much that you were deceived into believing, you and the others."

The thought reasserted itself and Greed pulled his thoughts away from the mind-boggling information dump to ask another question. "Speaking of others, where are Pride and Wrath?"

"Pride has already been given his chance at humanity, and as we speak, he is growing up as Selim Bradley, a kind, soft-spoken little boy who loves his mother and cares for creatures big and small." Aslan smiled softly. Then the smile disappeared as he moved on. "Wrath and King Bradley were one in the same, and while he had been turned into a homunculus, he was still originally human, with his own life, his own spirit, and his own free will. There is nothing more I can do for him now, in death. But…" He gazed over the last four again, eyes softening. "You five will receive the opportunity that he forsook."

"Right… How is that gonna work, exactly?" Greed kinda liked that this tranquil creature didn't seem to mind his blunt mannerisms.

"You will all be given a family – parents to raise you, a home to belong to, and you will have one another." Aslan stood, and walked over to Gluttony. "You will be given human bodies…"

As he spoke these words, Gluttony's gruesome mass that he had called a body for his whole life shrunk down into a tiny infant, still retaining his chubby face, but looking much more human. The dark clothing turned into a soft white blanket that wrapped snugly around him.

"…new names…"

Sloth became the size of a human child entering into their first full year. All that hulking muscle vanished and became soft and smooth as a baby's. His clothes, like Gluttony's, faded from black to white and almost swallowed him in what looked like an oversized shirt.

"…allowed to age…"

Envy shrunk as well, without the usual effect of red static, until he looked like a toddler. His green hair shortened to a pile of short, stringy spikes on top of his head, his already youthful features gained a layer of baby fat. That stupid, girly crop top lengthened into what looked like a, what was it called… a tunic? Yeah, that was it. And the skort turned into loose pants.

"…be raised with love rather than hate…"

Lust, last of all, went from a dazzling woman to a girl who wouldn't even know what being a woman meant. Heck, as a human, she probably would barely know how to say the word. Gone was the embodiment of physical desire, replaced by a little girl who would be utterly naïve of the world.

"…and they will not remember who they are." Aslan finally turned to Greed, who looked up from his slack-jawed stare at his siblings to look at the lion with confusion.

"Wait, what?"

"To be raised in humanity, they will not remember their time as homunculi for fourteen years. After that time is complete, their memories will return, and they will be given a choice – to return to the immortal creatures they once were, or to remain human, continue aging, and eventually perish the first death at the hand of Time."

"…That's deep," was Greed's intelligent response. "So… why tell me all this if I'm just gonna have my memory wiped?" He didn't really mind; none of his memories as a homunculus were particularly pleasant, and he really didn't have anything that he really wanted to hold onto… except maybe the memories of friends like Ed and Ling and the rest.

"You will not, because you were different."

"…Eh?" The homunculus perked up.

"I charge you with the care of your siblings, Greed. You will retain your memories, as much as your human mind can hold, and they will continue to return as you mature. You will know everything that has passed; you will be responsible for looking after them, and helping them learn the same lessons you have. Do you understand?"

He was… gonna have to be their babysitter? He glanced down at his chibi-fied siblings with a contemplative frown. In the age line, he was younger than Lust but older than Envy, and since they seemed to have kept the order, he assumed that he would end up somewhere in between. Having to watch them, keep track of them… boss them around… the idea wasn't too bad, he guessed. He was never good with kids, but heck, he'd be a kid himself, so oh well.

Aslan smiled. He knew the answer even before Greed nodded.

"Sure, I'll do it."

"Well done. Are you ready, then?"

What, now? He was going now? Well, why wouldn't he? Greed had no more questions. He didn't ask what world he was ending up in, since until today (today? Was there even time here?) he didn't even know there were multiple worlds. And he didn't ask about who his 'parents' would be, since even though he'd only met him, Aslan seemed to know what he was doing. Greed got the sense that he could trust him, despite him being a lion with fire in his eyes that suggested a ferocity behind the serenity that made him want to keep his distance, yet get closer all at once.

"Ready as I'll ever be?" Greed shrugged.

"Then close your eyes and sleep, my son."

Son? Well, he says it like he means it. That was kinda nice to hear, actually.

Come to think of it, he was feeling kinda tired. His eyes felt heavy, and suddenly, he wanted nothing more than to lie outstretched in the warm sand like his siblings had been, and sleep. Why didn't he? No reason. So he did. He felt the warm wind rush over him, and closed his eyes with a smile. The last thing he saw was Aslan smiling softly down at him.

"Rest, and go in peace, dear ones. When you wake, you shall know life in all its joys and pains and sorrows and great wonders. Sleep now, dear Lucia… dear Gredian… dear Ender… young Sorin… and little Glundil."

*To those that aren't clear on this, Greed has assumed his first form, as that was his homunculus form, and not a stolen human body like Ling's (er, volunteered, but whatever...).

**In this AU, Truth (Malum) and Father (Chaos) are twin jynx and opposites, with Malum being subtle mischief and Chaos being loud, well, chaos. In this AU, Father had been seeking his brother's power the whole time. I would explain why, but there will be more on that in later chapters.

A/N: So, um... reviews? Suggestions? I'm looking for plot ideas right now... Otherwise, I might just have to skip over those fourteen years to when the big plot stuff happens. If you have any ideas or want to see a scene with them as children growing up in their new world... say something! I always read my reviews, even if I forget to comment... *le shame* And I kinda want to write some wee!homunculi oneshots too, but I'm just plumb dry right now when it comes to ideas. I think I used up all my inspiration on novel ideas last month... e_e

Anywho. I hope I got everybody in character and hope you enjoyed this prologue. Follow, fave, review, you know the drill. XP

~Penelope

P.S. OH. Also, what do you think of their new fantasy names? I wanted to make them different, yet you'd still be able to tell who's who. If you have better suggestions, shoot 'em on over because I can understand if the ones I chose aren't the best. I kinda had to come up with them on the spot; I was in a hurry and it was late and I wanted to get it done before I went to sleep... So yeah.