Heartless ~ By: Megan Crockett a.k.a. Angelicbutterfly789
Chapter One
A full moon rose in the night sky, the wind whipped it's way through the forest as a scared woman weaved her way around the trees, trying not to trip on the raised roots from the forest floor. For a moment she had to stop running to detangle her long black hair from around various smaller branches sticking out from nearby trees. "Damn it! LET GO OF ME!" she yelled as she pulled out a short dagger from the inside of her right boot, slashing at some of the branches. She then quickly clapped her hands together in front of her face and slapped them against a nearby tree making the tree and branches to glow and retract their hold off of her.
"Hey! Did you see that?!" said a faraway male voice. "Yeah I did!" another faraway male voice said, before adding to the darkness, "We're coming for you! We know where you are!"
"Damn it!" she swore under her breath as the final branch finally let go of her hair. 'Finally!' she thought, as she scrambled to put her hair up into a ponytail at the top of her head before continuing to flee from her attempted captors; leaving her dagger behind.
At that moment she heard another set of voices as she managed to run farther away from her assailants. "But why are we in this scary foressst?" whined a woman's voice. "Yeah, what if there are…monsters…lurking around?" came another woman's voice. "Hey girls don't worry! It's safe out here, trust me," came a cool male voice as the fleeing woman got closer to the new group.
'SNAP!' "What was THAT?!" said the first whining voice, this time clearly terrified. "You said that it's safe in here!" said the second voice, just as terrified as the first. "Ladies, trust me. There is nothing to be scared of-" the cool male voice began just as the fleeing woman broke through the bushes and ran past them.
The two terrified women screamed at the top of their lungs and, without thinking twice, ran away as fast as they could. The man stood rooted to the spot, staring at the woman as a moon beam shined down on her from above the tree line. Aside from her long black hair, the man noticed that the woman has deep blue eyes and a body that would make any man in his current position drool in amazement; thin with large breasts. She wore a black mid-cape with a high collar and a burgundy coloured dress, the skirt of which covered mostly her left leg. She wore tights to just below her knee and black knee high boots. He only had a matter of moments to look her over as she accidentally tripped over a root and fell into a large hole face first.
"Whoa! You ok in there?" the man asked, bending down to look into the hole the woman fell into as she tried to gather herself up.
"I think she went this way!" came the voices of the young woman's assailants.
"Friend's of yours?" the man asked, as the woman sat up quickly, clapping her hands together.
"You didn't see me!" she said as the ground she touched in front of her glowed and dirt wound above her head covering her like a protective bubble of Earth.
"Whatever you say babe," he said nonchalantly as the two assailants got closer. The man then noticed that the people chasing the woman are in fact members of the state military. He looked down at the newly formed mound of dirt, annoyed at the woman hidden underneath. "Tch! I can't believe I'm going to do this," he said, realising that he has no other choice but to stay where he is and answer to the men approaching his position; he feared they would give chase to him if he were to run. He then placed his left hand inside his pants pocket and sat at the mound waiting for the soldiers to approach.
"You there! Stay where you are!" said the taller soldier while drawing out his weapon and pointing it at the man before him.
"What's the problem officers?" the man asked, looking up at them nonchalantly.
"What are you doing alone out here in the middle of the woods?" demanded the second soldier, drawing his weapon as well.
"It's not against the law of the military to take shelter in the forest," the man replied simply, unfazed by the two weapons pointed squarely at his face.
Meanwhile inside the hole-covered dirt mound, the woman sat listening to the entire conversation. She hoped to God that the man she just met mere seconds ago will cover her tracks and send the soldiers off on their way. 'Please, I don't want to go back to Central. Please! Please! PLEASE!' she silently prayed in her mind, clasping her hands together absentmindedly.
"Well no it's not…I guess…" said the second soldier as he lowered his gun.
"Never mind that! There was a girl fleeing on foot through this way. She is highly dangerous and cannot be allowed to get away with her life," the first officer said matter-of-factly keeping his gun pointed at the man's face, glaring down the barrel.
"Really? And what did this hypothetical 'woman' do to have the military chase after her in the middle of the night in a dank forest?" the man asked, mildly thoughtful.
"She has information that could jeopardize the security of the military and the Furher has placed a bounty on her head," the officer said. "So now, where is the girl?!"
"I'm not sure what you're talking about. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get some sleep," the man said, laying out on the dirt mound, placing his right arm above his head comfortably.
"HEY! Don't you dare-" the first soldier began but then a crashing sound filled the air. The two officers looked around to find where the sound came from and saw that most of the trees in the forest were falling down. Inside the dirt mound, while feeling grateful that the man was in fact helping her, the woman also felt annoyed that the soldiers weren't moving on. With the air running out on her, she decided to take matters into her own hands and used a technique of remote Alkahestry she learned while staying in Xing for a time. "She's over there! After her!" the soldiers shouted as they ran off to where the trees had fallen.
"They're gone now!" the man yelled out, after the soldiers were far enough away.
"Yeah I know, no thanks to you though," said the woman as she used her alchemy to open up the dirt mound above her head and crawled out. She inhaled a deep sigh of relief as she sat next to the hole and finally looked over the man next to her. She noticed that he has short, spiked black hair and his eyes are the same colour of her dress. She saw that he's wearing a leather vest with white faux-fir around the collar. And to finish off his look, the woman noticed that he also wore what looked like a leather muscle shirt and matching leather pants. She couldn't help but notice that his entire outfit fit his muscular body perfectly and had a moment of awkward staring as he looked at her indignantly.
"Hey! At least I bought you some time! I could've given away your hiding place!" he exclaimed, pulling his hidden left hand out of his pants pocket and angrily pointed at his chest. The woman snapped herself out of her awkward staring and quickly grabbed his hand, looking it over seriously.
"You…I know this tattoo. Are you a…Homunculus?" she asked, placing both of her hands on his, looking it over meticulously. "I've only ever seen one other Homunculus, a woman with the same tattoo but on her chest," she added, still looking over his hand thoughtfully.
"How sure are you that she or I are homunculi?" he asked, watching her with amusement and a small amount of flattery as her soft hands caressed the tattoo. 'I've had many women over the years touch me, pretty much ALL over but is this the first time that I'm REALLY enjoying it like a human?' he thought, as he suddenly felt a pleasurable shutter take over his body. He managed to pull his hand away quickly, much to her annoyance.
"Oh I'm one hundred percent sure. That's the mark of the Ouroboros," she said matter-of-factly. "I've read about it in some old alchemy books," she added quickly, noticing the man staring at her in disbelief. She looked down at the ground bashfully while thinking, 'Wow, I just sounded like a complete bookworm.'
"Huh, well alright then, you got me. I AM a homunculus," he said while pointing to his chest. "Name's Greed. Greed the Avarice," he said, introducing himself proudly. He held out his left hand, willingly this time, and asked, "What's your name sweetheart?"
The woman felt her face flush up immediately before shakily taking his hand in her right and responded, "M…my name is…Viola."
As she began to shake his hand, he stopped her and raised her hand up to his mouth, kissing the top of it lightly. "Nice to meet you Viola," he said, winking at her with a charming smile on his face.
She looked at him, feeling her face getting hotter then thought, 'Ok, this has got to stop! Get a hold of yourself woman and FOCUS! You just managed to get those soldiers off of your trail and here you are ACTING LIKE A FLUSTERED LITTLE GIRL?! COME ON! GET A GRIP!' She managed to drain the colour from her face and looked at him indignantly, pulling her hand away while huffily standing up. She folded her arms across her chest, looking around the forest, trying to find a discreet way out without the soldiers returning.
Greed noticed immediately what she was doing and stood next to her, while trying not to look directly at her chest. "I've got a hideout nearby, if you're willing to come with me for a while," he said, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly as she looked to him as though he were asking her to eat hot coals.
She looked to him indignantly and said, "Umm no. I'll be ok on my own thanks." She rolled her eyes at him, turning her back on him. "Thanks for the 'help'," she said, using air quotations before walking away without looking back at him.
"Yeah fine, whatever you say princess!" he yelled out angrily to her back. "Oh and remember to keep a look out for holes! Don't want that fine ass of yours getting bruised!" he continued to yell, causing Viola to look back at him angrily instead of watching where she's going. And sure enough she fell into another hole, this time flat out on her butt.
"OWWW! DAMN IT!" she yelled out, whimpering in pain while trying to keep her cool. Greed walked over to Viola's newest prison, trying hard not to laugh at her. "I told you this would happen," he said, as he knelt down beside the hole. He burst out laughing at the look of sadness and utter defeat on Viola's face before holding out his right hand to help her up. "Now will you come with me? I promise I won't hurt you," he said, as she looked at his hand unsettlingly.
"No funny business?" she asked, slowly raising her left hand up to take his outstretched right hand. "I swear on my life, no funny business," he answered reassuringly as she took his hand and began to stand. He helped her stand up completely outside of the hole. But that victory was short lived as she tripped, again, and fell forward into his chest. He managed to grab hold of her, wrapping his arms around her petite form, chuckling heartily at her clumsiness.
"What are you laughing about?" she asked angrily, looking up at him while realising how close their faces are to each other.
"I find it funny at how predictably clumsy you are right now," he said, still chuckling at her as her face went completely beet red with embarrassment.
"I am NOT predictably clumsy!" she exclaimed as she tried to push him away. Unfortunately as soon as she freed herself from his grip, her footing slipped yet again but this time backward; back into the hole. Quickly enough, Greed managed to grab hold of her hands and pulled her back to his chest while keeping his balance.
"Oh yes, yes you are," he said, laughing heartily, resting his chin on the top of her head. He absentmindedly tightened his grip on her, hugging her close to his body. She stood stalk still against him unsure of what to do next as a part of her began to enjoy the close contact. 'I haven't felt like this in a long time. Usually I just scare guys off with my off putting attitude. But this guy, well Homunculus actually we made that clear already, doesn't seem to care,' she thought, as she raised her arms up around his back and hugged him back.
"Greed, why are you hugging me like this? I mean, we just met and all so I hope I'm not being rude in asking this but really why?" she asked as he stopped laughing and looked off thoughtfully. 'That's a good question. Why am I hugging this human? I mean, yeah maybe I'm trying to seduce her like I normally do, but why? WHY?! UGH! What the hell!' he thought, as he pulled away from her, keeping her at arms length while trying to figure out what to do next.
"Ok, look I don't understand what's going on here but still if you want a place to hide out from the military then, I guess you can still come with me. BUT NO MORE HUGGING! Or being all 'mushy' or whatever you humans call 'love'. I'm NOT a one woman man. Let's get that straight right now. There will be LOTS of other women that I will have hanging off of me and if you want to travel with me, you know for protection, then you need to get used to it," he said, folding his arms across his chest, looking down on her imposingly waiting for her response.
Viola looked up at Greed's stone face stare, processing everything he just said. 'Do I really need to follow him around like a lost puppy? But I guess, maybe I should travel with him for now, he might be the perfect body guard. And yeah, I should really watch my emotions from now on. I mean, come on! He's a Homunculus! Like they can have such strong emotions for things like love,' she thought, while trying not to get lost in his eyes. "Ok, fine. I'll travel with you and I promise not to let my emotions get the better of me. I just need to distance myself from Central as much as possible," she said, folding her arms across her chest too.
He looked to her trying to see if she was really serious about this, and when he saw in her eyes that she really was serious, he cracked another charming smile and said, "Ok, fine but I hope you know what you're getting yourself into with traveling with me."
"Oh I think I can take care of my own thoughts and feelings from here on out," she said, while trying to feel around on her person for her dagger. "OH CRAP! WHERE DID IT GO?!" she exclaimed suddenly, realising that her dagger wasn't in her boot.
"Where did what go?" he asked, lowering his arms while watching Viola frantically feel around on the ground for something. He tried not to laugh at her crazy antics but after a while, he just couldn't help himself.
"HEY! DON'T LAUGH! I'M SERIOUSLY FREAKING OUT RIGHT NOW!" she yelled out as Greed continued to laugh, clutching his sides this time. "PLEASE HELP ME! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW PRECIOUS THAT DAGGER IS TO ME!" she yelled, grabbing at his ankles, beginning to sob uncontrollably.
Greed managed to stop laughing long enough to look down at her pathetic form. "This is all about a dagger? Really?" he said, trying to keep a straight face.
"Yes, it was given to me from my mother. Who had received it from her mother. It's…really special to me," she said, looking up at him pleadingly as he lowered himself down to her level. He placed his hands on her shoulders and smiled reassuringly.
"Alright, lets retrace your steps and try and find this trinket of yours," he said, grabbing hold of her hands and pulled her up onto her feet.
"It's NOT a TRINKET!" she said, pulling her right hand from him and punched his left arm angrily.
"Ok, ok. Wow, that was some punch," he said, rubbing the spot on his arm where she hit him. 'I have to remember to put my shield up when I piss her off next time,' he thought, mostly admiring her anger than being one hundred percent serious.
They then walked back to the first hole she fell into, looking for her dagger but unfortunately it wasn't there. "Damn," she said despondently as the continued their search. As they neared the spot where she was surrounded by the branches, Greed noticed something shine off of the forest floor as another moon beam penetrated the tree line one more time. "What's that over there?" he asked as she felt her heart give an excited jolt in her chest. She ran over to the area he pointed at and sure enough there it was.
"YAY! I'm so glad that I found it!" she exclaimed happily, scooping it up from off the ground and hugging it lovingly.
"What do you mean, YOU found it? I'M the one who pointed it out to you in the first place!" he yelled out in a menacing growl.
"Oh…yeah…I guess you're right. I'm sorry," she said, putting the dagger back inside her right boot and walked over to him smiling happily. "Thank you for helping me," she said, grabbing his hands, smiling sweetly.
"Uhh yeah, don't mention it," he said, feeling his face flush up a bit, while trying not to be too awkward.
"Now lets get going then! Where is this hideout of yours anyway?" she asked, letting go of his hands and looked around confusedly.
"It's back this way, come on the others are waiting for me to get back anyway," he said, pointing to the direction they came from.
"Others? Do you have some sort of gang waiting for you?" she asked as a sudden realization hit her. "Wait a minute! Those girls you had with you, the ones I scared off by accident, you weren't planning on taking them back to your gang members for…OH YOU ARE SICK!"
"WHAT?! No, that's not what I was planning on doing with those girls!" he responded, repulsion oozing from his words. "They were STRICTLY for ME!" he said disgusted at her accusation.
"Then what am I? A happy accidental compromise?" she asked, backing away from him, putting her hands up to keep him away.
"Look you can trust me on this one: I DO NOT use women like that! I refuse to fight with them and I refuse to take advantage of them in THAT kind of way. They were following me of their own accord," he said defending himself.
"So I'm to believe that you didn't get them drunk before taking them away to some random hideout in a dark forest where there are other 'people' waiting for you to get back," she asked defiantly.
It took Greed a moment to think about a proper response to Viola's questioning. He was so angry at her for thinking that way about him. 'I guess it's only fair. We did just meet out of the blue, but that still doesn't give her the right to think that way about me,' he thought as she stared at him waiting for a reply.
"Well if you're not going to respond to me then I'm out of here!" she exclaimed, folding her arms across her chest and turned to walk away.
"I'm a Homunculus, but I'm not a monster. When I say that I have somewhere for you to be safe from the military I mean it. I don't mean you any harm, but if you feel unsafe in my company, then by all means go," he said, turning his back on her when she didn't reply.
Viola stood rooted to the spot thinking about what he just said. 'What am I doing? He did help me out with those soldiers. He's also the only man that I ever felt comfortable with. Why did I think that he's some kind of pervert monster? I've got to fix this,' she thought, turning around in time to see him disappear into the darkness of the forest. "WAIT! GREED! WAIT FOR ME!" she exclaimed, running after him, weaving around the tree roots and branches.
Greed stopped walking at the sound of Viola's calls and turned just in time to see her fall forward into him. He grabbed hold of her in his arms again and asked, "Does this mean you trust me now?"
Viola tried to resist the urge to cuddle up against his chest as she remembered what they were arguing about a moment ago and why she wound up in his arms again. "Yes, I do trust you. I'm sorry for everything I said about you. Please forgive me?" she replied, as she absentmindedly ran her hands across his chest.
"Hmm I think I can forgive you," he said, as he tried really hard not to run his hands across her back. Feeling her large chest press against him almost drove him overboard. Luckily she managed to pull herself away first and said, "I'm sorry for punching your arm." She placed her right hand on the spot where she hit him and ran her fingers up and down his arm. "I think I can over look that," he said, nearly growling in pleasure at feeling her soft fingers caress his chest again. But before things got too hot and heavy, she stopped touching him and said, "And just so we're clear, I don't like to compete with other women so from here on out things between us stay here in this forest." "You know you can't resist me. No woman can resist this," he said gesturing to his body with a sneering smile plastered on his face. "I'm sure I can. Now lets get to that hideout of yours. You've got to introduce me to your gang," she said, walking ahead of him, smiling sweetly. "Yeah, yeah sweetheart let's go," he said following after her.