In the darkness that had its interlude only in the stomach of the night, the shadows held perfect cover for Edward, as he hid in its curtains perched high above on the support beams of the palace ceiling. He stayed out of the moonlight that cut through the black mist and avoided the windows, so that his automail wrist wouldn't catch light and cast it off onto the ground, potentially exposing his position and ruining the plan. He crept along the rafters, slithering his way stealthily down the hall and towards a pair of two large oak doors with dragons engraved on its smooth surface, light ebbing from the cracks in the doorframe from inside where he presumed Ling was harbored. Swinging his legs over the side of the rafter he was crouched on for a few moments to adjust the scenario in his head, he clung his arms to the support beam before slipping off and falling nimbly, immediately taking cover in the shadow of the hall, where he tried to tune in to the low murmurs inside the room.
"...For a specific purpose, I know it!" Was all the blonde could make out, the voice coming from elderly vocals, beginning to assume it was one of the black-dressed guards, before the voices ducked low again.
Damn it, Ed shifted closer to the door, leaning in and trying to catch more of the exchange of quiet words, if I try to get any closer, they'll know I'm here. He scooted even closer, leaning in more and more until his ear was pressed against the door, but it seemed to more he got closer to the room, the more their words became hushed. He could only estimate two voices from where he was standing, one much youthful than the crackly, withered one.
Wait a minute...
The Fullmetal Alchemist noticed a shift of shadows from the corner of his eyes, and he whipped around with his metal fist balled up, ready for his knuckles to drive right into the face of the other that lingered in the cloak of night, but his punch was caught half-way by another quick hand.
"Eavesdropping isn't polite, you know..." A mysterious voice purred, wearing a tone of seduction and amusement, the amethyst eyes of the beholder glowing in the darkness like a hungry predator's, gazing down at the smaller. Out of fear, the Elric brother ripped his fist out of his grip swiftly and skipped back into the silver light that poured onto the hallway floor, trying to use himself as bait to lure to animal into the light...but he already had his suspicions on who the predator was.
"Greed."
"You guessed it, baby!" Stepping out from the shadows was no-doubt the spitting image of Ling Yao, but the attitude, composure, and voice gave away the identity of the dark entity that usual hid its face from others; it was Greed, the Avarice One. "Sorry to intrude on...whatever you were doin' around here, but don't you think it's past your bedtime, little one?"
"DON'T CALL ME LITTLE!" The alchemist screeched out of comical anger, using his alchemy to morph his automail arm into his signature go-to weapon, ripping up his sleeve in the process, and lunging at Greed. Out of his blind rage, he forgot about Greed's Ultimate Shield, and the man rearranged carbon onto his forearms before Ed could process, deflecting the blade.
"Oh, misbehaving, are we?" The avarice smirked, raking his carbon-reinforced nails across the smaller's substitute arm, "Fine. I guess we can play for a lil' while."
As Ed aimed a high kick into his opponent's jaw, Greed's reflexes acted quicker and gave him the upper hand, grabbing his ankle when the rubber sole touched his cheek. Twisting his body around, he threw the blonde over his shoulder and across the hall, creating distance from the room where the two royal guards retired so that he wouldn't have them interfere.
Ed landed harshly on his shoulder with a heavy thud, grunting and sucking in the pain before rolling off his shoulder and jumping nimbly to his toes, right before Greed struck at him across with his lethal claws, drawing beads of blood through the tattered front of his clothes as he strained the scratches blocking another attack with his metal arm. Stripping weight from his figure, he shouldered off his scarlet cloak, letting it fall to the velvet floor before retaliating on the other. He locked their arms together and pulled backwards, letting Greed fall into his reeled-up iron knee, drawing a grunt from him and a quick escape of breath from the other's lungs.
"Where's Ling?" The Fullmetal Alchemist questioned quickly while the other was still winded, but got nothing but a chuckle for an answer.
"What are you talking about?" The Homunculus snickered, wearing a wide smirk, "He's right here." Catching Ed in a state of confusion and distraction, he pushed upwards and uppercutted him with the crown of his cranium, causing the short blonde to let go and stumble back with a choked breath of pain, inevitably falling on his ass. "But who cares about that annoying brat anyways, when I'm here~?"
"Wh-?!" The young teen tried to get to his feet to face him again, but his actions and voice were cut off when Greed grabbed him by the shoulders, picking him up and shoving him into the wall. Ed tried to push away, but the other's heavy body weight pinned the smaller, causing him to squirm beneath him and try to get a blow on him to knock him away.
"What's wrong, Fullmetal?" Greed cocked an eyebrow at his distress and eagerness to escape, "I thought you were a State Alchemist. Are you scared because a Homunculus has you cornered now?"
"Let me go!" Ed spat, kicking his feet with the small space that was provided between their legs, before the onyx-haired brute pressed their bodies flush against each other, closing any space provided as his hands locked onto the blonde's wrists, pinning his arms on each side of his head; the Elric brother was trapped, mentally and physically.
"Why should I?" The stalky Homunculus let a smirk curve onto his flawless features, "I haven't had enough fun with you yet."
"What are you...talking about?" Edward grunted out, still hopelessly trying to wriggle from his grip. He had no space to move; he couldn't transmute, punch, kick, or even slip out from beneath Greed, and he could feel his reinforced grip tightening around both his wrists, straining the automail.
"Aww," Greed leaned forward, his violet irises staring down and pinning the alchemist emotionally in those deep, lilac pools, swimming in the honey ones under him that were widened in sudden suspicious fear, "are you scared?"
"Let...go..." Ed breathed out, feeling the other dip closer and closer, practically tasting his warm breath in the final innocent moments as their eyes locked in a dominant battle to intimidate the other. He was unaware of his quickened pace of breath, and the shaking of his knees, as he tried to press his back further into the wall to avoid his contact, hoping he could just melt into the drywall and escape the scene...but he couldn't...and as the human-based Homunculus continued to creep closer to his face, the unimaginable happened.
His lips were soft and warm, like no other's, and they danced softly on the smaller's, sapping his breath from his lungs with the softest kiss placed on the young alchemist. Sparks nipped under his skin, and his heart suddenly raced, causing his back to arch off the wall and press his chest against Greed's, ever softly feeling for his own heart beat. He didn't know if it was the fact that the weasel had caught him offguard, or something else that awakened in him, but his body began searching for more of that small feeling subconsciously as Greed slowly pulled their lips away from the short-timed kiss. The dark entity couldn't help but snicker as the child chased after his lips, giving him a dazed and confused look.
"...Your reaction is more amusing than I imagined." He purred, "Tell me, have you ever been kissed before?" Greed's words snapped Ed back into the reality he was thrown out of through a trance, and began to violently squirm again, trying to hide the red blooming on his complexion.
"Fullmetal!"
"Brother!"
The two familiar voices that cried out from down the dark halls, followed by storming feet and the clanking of metal, snapped Ed out of his misty mind, and, when the other was distracted by trying to see who was on the other side of the stretch, was able to wriggle up a knee and kick him away. Greed stumbled back with a small growl of frustration, before smirking in amusement to the look on the blonde's face.
"This isn't over, Ed."
With a small whisper from the dark entity, he leaped back into the shadows of the rafters, right before Mustang and Alphonse turned around the corner of the hall, seeing a flustered and injured Edward.
"Brother!" Al rushed to his side, followed by the Flame Alchemist, who was searching his onyx gaze along the support beams for any signs of the attacker, right as he collapsed, "Are you alright?! You're bleeding!"
"It's alright," the older brother insisted, "just a scratch."
"It was Greed, wasn't it?" Roy turned to the younger State Alchemist, who nodded in reply as he held his bleeding wound across his abdomen, his younger brother helping him to his feet. "Don't worry, I'll try to find him. You two get back to your room immediately. I'll notify his guards."
As Al began escorting Ed back to their room, the blonde couldn't help but look back over his shoulder to the room he was previously spying on; neither of the two martial artists had appeared to separate the two, and the light the previously glowed through the cracks in the doors was gone.