A Tale of Greed

by The Crimson Moon

This story takes place after the series. It's an Alternate Ending. A return, a murderer, a new Homonculus, basic stuff, really. Oh, and an enslaved Ed. Hope you like it. Cri

3. Return

A Tale of Greed.

Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry,
sorry, sorry,
SORRY!

I'm sorry this chapter took so long, I just hung out with my friends, daydreamed, and had a writer's block for a while, so I kinda dropped the story for a bit. Really sorry, hope this chapter was worth the wait!

Anyway, After the Homonculus comes in, the story will focus on Ed, possibly Envy, and this new character of mine. Well, not really mine, just a Homonculus version of him/her. A lot of you probabley already know who it is, but if you don't, YAY, I DID MY JOB RIGHT!

I realize I can't spell the word 'Colnel' (Ker-nel), so I spell it 'Colonal'. I'm used to that. Nothing else looks right to me. Sorry.

So, next chapter of A Tale of Greed is now up, read and enjoy. Yes, enjoy, not reveiw. You may if you wish, I'm not going to beg you for compliments/Suggestions/questions or complaints.
Decide for yourself on the emotion this chapter gives off. I couldn't tell you.

To all EdxEnvy, EdxRoy, and EdxWinry fans, this is not one of those stories, nor is it EdxHomonculus, but you can decide to use your imagination and adjust the story in your brain to be about your favored pairing. Just keep it to yourself, though.

Characters in this Chapter: Edward Elric, Roy Mustang, Riza hawkeye, Rose from Lior, a single phone call with Winry Rockbell, Alex Louis Armstrong, Envy, 'Mystery Homonculus'.

Character Deaths: 0. I only count it as a death if the person STAYS dead.

Disclaimer: If I did own FMA, which I don't, there would be absolutely no hints of EdxWinry, because their relationship is strictly as siblings in my eyes. Nothing against those who like the pairing, just saying I don't like it. So yeah, don't own, never will.

There was near-silence in the office of a certain Colonal Mustang. The windows allowed the morning light to flow into the room, forcing his tired body to stay awake with it's constant picking at his closed eyelids until he freed his eyes of the once comforting darkness. A pen lay between his fingers, hand positioned as though to write upon the many papers scattered about his desk, but no words were formed.

Eyes of Grey and Dark blue lay half-open now. Roy sighed and glanced at the door. For a moment the crazy idea that the FullMetal Alchemist would burst in, armour-bound brother following him in because his brother was in a particularly rotten mood and needed to be controlled or the Colonal may be reported dead, crept into his unbelievably bored mind. That thought, however, was quickly shaken away. No, it had been two years since he'd seen either of the Elric brothers. Edward was asumed dead, even if Mustang heald the small hope that he was alive and therefore ordered that the paper be changed from FullMetal Alchemist to FullMetal Shrimp knowing that Edward would storm in the moment he cought the slightest murmer of the paper's title, and Alph-

His own loud yawn interupted his thoughts. Arms stretching as he bent his back against his chair and heard a series of cracks, Roy squeezed his eyes shut and heald his breath. Then, when he settled back into his slouched position, he let the breathe out slowley through his nose. There had to be something to do other than paperwork...

Of course! Find an excuse NOT to do the paperwork! That was something to do.

The man smirked and stood. He crept over to the door leading to a corridor, gently turned the knob so as not to make any noise, peeked through the small crack in the door, and...

He was staring directly into a gun. All color left his face, his eyes were wide, and his hairs seemed to stand on end.

"And where do you think you're going, sir? Just because we're happy that you're back doesn't mean you get to slack off again! Back to your desk, get to work!" A familiar blonde woman commanded. She had blood red eyes that were just as dangerous as the gun she pointed at her commanding officer. A mere glare like the one he was recieving now could send any man stumbling backward in fear.

"And sir..."

Roy gulped and slowley opened the door.

"Y-Yes, Leutenant Hawkeye?" His reply was far less confident than he hoped it would be.

"STOP TRYING TO ESCAPE!" she screamed, and she slammed the door shut. Roy could have sworn the floor beneath his feet shook. Riza might be his subordinate, but she was SCARY when she was mad...

Back to the boring paperwork, he supposed...

Roy braced himself for the meeting that was about to occur. He knew he would recieve at least one fist to the face, a few words that should be unknown to a sixteen year old that insulted his very existance, and a sloppily put together summary of FullMetal's latest mission. A failure with no progress whatsoever towards the boys' search for the Philosopher's Stone.

The door slammed open and the expected guest dragged his feet over to the couch. The boy with his golden hair pulled back in a braid flopped down on the black couch and spread his arms over the back, slumping down so his back was nealry on the seat.

"Alright, look, Mustang. I want to get this over with as quickly as possible, I've got this new lead and-"

"Report."

Golden eyes looked in Roy's direction, narrowing.

"What's the point? You already know everything we did. Why should I even bother-"

"REPORT, FullMetal. And Alphonse, close the door, would you?"

Just as those words left his mouth, the door was gently shut, and the empty suit of armour stood quietly in a nearby corner so as to keep watch over his clearly frusterated and exhausted brother.

Edward mumbled something Roy would rather not repeat, and stood, stumbling over to the desk. He slammed the report down on the wood and fell back over to the couch.

"There's your report, now lemme g-"

"Aren't you going to bother asking about the Philosopher's Stone?"

Edward hesitated, and Roy took note that he glanced at Al, who nodded before Edward answered.

"We give up."

Roy blinked.

"What?"

"You heard me. We give up. That Stone's a worthless fairy tale that'll never be within our grasp. We're finding a new way. It was a waste of time..."

"Five years of searching-

"Four." Edward corrected.

"-And you're just giving up? That's not like you, FullMetal."

There was silence from Edward. The boy was now laying down on the couch, rolled over on his side and breathing softly.

Alphonse's chuckle echoed throughout the empty prison of a body.

"I think he fell asleep, Colonal." The fourteen year old said.

Roy sighed deeply. He didn't even get to add a short joke into the conversation...

Ed mumbled and rolled over in his sleep.

"Well, get him out of here before he stains my couch with his drool." Roy said, adding in a smirk before beginning to flip through the report. He really only read it because he found it fun to read Edward's summary of his mission while knowing it wasn't the whole truth. This was a report on lab 5, which Edward was very resistant to telling the Colonal about. Roy read the few sentences that described it as a 'pointless dead end that just wasted his time. The place was abandoned and started crumbling when they got there'. What a load of crap. Roy knew that if Ed came out like that and Al was mising his limbs, something larger than stated occured.

A door slamming, a few shouts...

"I said GET UP, you lazy, procastinating, Ego-maniac with and over amount of confidence and pride! NAP TIME'S OVER!"

Roy's head lay on his folded arms, drool streaming downward and landing in a pool on his desk.

"Mmm... Go away, Ed... Report turned in... Go sleep now... Al, take 'em away..." he mumbled, eyes remaining closed.

Slap.

Roy sat up immidetly. He rubbed the back of his head and could have sworn he felt a vein pop out on his forehead.

"What was that for, FullMetal!" he screamed, dark blue eyes snapping open to give an enraged glare at his shortest subordinate. Wait... FullMetal? Why was he talking to... Oh no, another hallusitation... Those ended half a year ago, why start up now!
"FullMetal?"

Edward gave out a snort.

"Yeah, who else would it be? Now, did you hear me, or were you sitll taking a nap when I asked you about it!" He snapped.

Roy took a moment to glance around. He'd been asleep for about thirty minutes, and Edward and himself were the only ones in his office. He tried to keep his shock the Edward was back under control, knowing FullMetal would tease him about it, but his eeys were wide open as he now stared at Ed.

The boy dressed strangley. He wore a brown coat, a green vest over a white shirt, brown pants, black shoes, and his hair in a pony tail, but otherwise it was the same Edward, despite the one year added to his age since Roy last saw him. FullMetal was galring back at him, teeth bared like a vicious dog. He seemed ready to try and bite Roy any time.

"WELL! Answer me!" He slammed a newspaper down on the desk and slapped his hand over it with each word.

"What. Is. THIS!"

Mustang looked down at the paper.

"FullMetal Shirmp..."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!"

Mustang's eyes widened more, which was supposed to be physically impossible considering they were wide enough from witnessing the dead come back to life and scream in his face. He'd said that out loud, hadn't he? Here comes Roy Mustang's death...

Managing to force a teasing smirk, he repeated his words.

Edward's already narrowed eyes seemed to both widen and narrow further. His hands formed fists, and he gritted his bared teeth together. The anger inside him kept building and growing and screaming at him to let it out until the finally came.

With a deep breath, he got close to Roy and screamed in his face,

"Who are you calling a pint-sized, SHORT-tempered, impulsive runt that is so small, if you aimed to step on him, you'd miss because of his microscopic size!"

Roy couldn't hold it in. He let out a loud roar of laughter before smirking at Edward once more.

It only took one word to crush Ed's anger and send him into complete shock. One simple sound coming from Roy Mustang that could stop Edward dead in his position to hit the Colonal.

"You."

Edward's eye twitched. His jaw dropped, and his fists shook.

All at once, the rage flooded him, and he screamed with that same rage. At that moment, Hawkeye and Havoc burst in just in time to see Edward leaping over the desk to pin Roy down and kill him. They cought the Alchemist in mid-air, each one holding one of his arms with both of theirs, and they dragged him backward kicking and screaming. Screaming curses and words that no seventeen year old should know, of course.

As the great 'Hero of the People' was dragged with much difficulty out of the office, Roy called out to Hawkeye.

"Make sure to tell the runt-", Edward let out a fresh scream of rage before returning to his series of cussing and 'other' langauge, "-About his new mission."

Edward managed to get one arm free to hold the door open by a few inches, poke his head through, and scream at the Colonal some more before being thrown into the hall, the door slamming and leaving the Colonal to his paperwork.

It was just as hard to drag Edward out of the office as it was to get him to calm down.

"Let me go!"

"You'll kill him!"

"That's the point!"

"No!"

"Let me at that-"

"NO!"

"But-"

A gunshot. A whimper. Silence.

Edward was tied tightly with chains, and he was sitting against a wall. A bullethole was now beside his head. Wide, golden eyes were staring at the hole.

Hawkeye returned the gun to its rightful place and closed her eyes.

"That's better. Now, as for your mission. You're going to Lior. Help Armstrong clean up the place." She said.

Edward looked at her, then said with a bit of disbelief,

"What! Lior! But I just got back..."

"If you go, we'll answer any questions you have there."

Ed thought about this for a moment, then sighed. He supposed the trip would be worth it if it meant he could get some answers. After a small chat with Riza on his mission, he was off to the train station to be the newest member of the clean-up crew.

To put it plainly, the train ride to the closest town to Lior was unbearably boring. Ed lost count of the times he'd fallen asleep, and eventually started talking with people that he'd never seen before about his childhood just from the fear that he would die of boredom. The people were kind enough to listen, and they seemed to enjoy the stories. A nice change from some of the depression that had been going around, Ed guessed, so he left out the parts of his mother dieing, and focused on the happier days instead.

Once the train reached the town, Edward lifted the suitcase he'd thrown together at the last minute, and headed off through the desert. The walk would be worse than the wait, considering he didn't have a certain seven foot tall suit of armour to keep him company.

After what seemed like a year's worth of walking, Ed managed to reach Lior without dieing of starvation or dehydration.

"Nice location for a town. Right in the middle of the desert." he mumbled, sighed and dragging his feet forward into the town. His ponytail was loose, golden strands of hair sticking up everywhere, and he was slouching over, looking to be ready to collapse; But he was alive, and could see the fountain of red wine he'd discovered to be in the middle of the town around three years ago.

Normally Edward hated alchohal. He never really liked the idea of being so drunk you couldn't even control your own bodily functions, but he would have drank anything right then. So he dug through his suitcase to find a mug, dipped it into the fountain, and put the rim to his lips, chugging down the red liqaud.

"Hey! That's off limits to kids, Shorty!" someone yelled. That same someone got a mugged chucked at their face and a certain Alchemist screaming at them, saying something about being called a midget so small that he'd drown in a single drop of wine.

Then, just as Edward ran to kill the man (Or at least teach him not to recognize Ed's lack of growth spurts), two strong arms picked him up and squeezed him in a bear hug. His face began to turn blue, and he kicked his legs, not being able to use his arms as they were trapped by the larger man's arms.

A single gasp of air rushed into his lungs, allowing him to scream,

"Hey, hey, get off! Can't breathe! What are you th-"

"EDWARD ELRIC! Of all the people I expected to see, you were not amung them! Where have you been all these years?"

When Edward was released, he stood perfectly still, fearing what he might turn around to see. His eyes were wide once more, and only seemed to widen as he summoned the courage to peek over his shoulder. He was greeted by a large, muscular bald man with a single blonde hair curling out from his forehead. A thick mustache was the only other hair the man had on his head.

Then, of course, there were the sparklings...

"M-Major Armstrong..." Edward mumbled, and was instantly pulled into another bear hug.

"I can't beleive it's really you! Everyone said you were dead, yet here you are, in the flesh!" Armstrong roared.

"Yeah yeah, it's great to see you too, now get off me!" Ed yelled, struggling to get free. He didn't like the stares he was recieving. The situation was bad enough already.

When Armstrong let him go, he looked around, glaring at everyone he saw.

"What am I, a clown! Go back to your lives! Can't a guy come back from the dead without being stared at like some freakshow!" he screamed. They obeyed. All except for one.

"Ah, yes, go say hello to miss Rose, Edward! She's missed you too." Armstrong said, but it was unnessecary. Ed was already rushing over to the brown haird with pink bangs, lovely young woman that Edward had been with just before his death.

The woman seemed shocked, to say the very least. Her hand was slapped over her mouth, her entire body was shaking, and Ed was sure that if her eyes widened any further, they would pop right out of her head. The only word that she actually managed to form barely managed to be a word at all, considering it had to slip out under the cover of a trembling breath.

"Edward..."

He grinned at that, stopping right before her.

"Hey, Rose, it's been a long time, huh?" he replied before looking around. His grin instantly faded. It was horrible, terrible, depressig, absolutely tragic and such a shame he couldn't even bear it!

THE PLACE WAS FINE! He spent three days getting here, and the place was in perfect condition! They'd already cleaned up the place, and Ed was sure they had even made the town located in the middle of the desert a paradise.

One eye twitched and Ed ignored Rose's 'What's wrong?'. He looked back at her and sighed.

"Well, I came here to fix the place up, but it looks like you guys beat me to it. So, what did I miss while i was gone?"

Rose seemed to have calmed down. her voice no longer shook when she spoke.

"Well, we had another war, and of course you went missing. There haven't been any sightings of the you-know-whats..."

"Hm?"

Rose sighed and leaned forward. She then whispered and explination to Ed, and leaned back, causing her friend to sigh with releif.

"That's good. And their leader?"

"Gone. I'm fairly sure she's..."

"Dead?"

"That's the best reason for her absence I can find, anyway."

"Alright, what about Central, you know anything about what's gone on there?"

"Aside from Colonal Roy Mustang rejoining? Not really, though there has been another serial killer reported in Central and Risembool. Didn't you say you grew up there?"

Edward's eyes widened for what seemed like the millionth time. Risembool? A murderer in Central he could understand, but Risembool? It was such a peaceful place, why would a murderer be there?
"You're sure it's Risembool? It could have been Xenotime or Rush Valley or-"

Rose looked at her feet.

"I'm sorry, Ed, but we're sure. It's Risembool."

"We?"

"Armstrong and I have become friends, actually. That's how I know about Central and the other towns; Armstrong tells me about them."

Edward sighed, then motioned for her to follow him. What he was going to discuss next, he didn't want to talk about in the open like this. Just because no one had sighted the Homonculi didn't mean that they were gone completely.

A single red flame lit the small room that Rose and Edward sat in. He was sititng straight in his chair, and Rose was doing the same on the opposite end of the table that both chairs were placed at. They were the only things visable in the room aside from the candle set on the middle of the table.

Edward sighed and looked Rose dirctly in the eyes.
"Alright, Rose, do you swear you'll tell me anything I ask about?"

Rose nodded.

"No matter what it is?"

"Ed, you should trust me a little more." She smiled kindly. "I'll answer any of your questions."

That caused Ed to relax a little more. He slouched down.

"Good. First question, about the murderer. Evrything. I want you to tell me everything you know."

With only a moment of hesitation, Rose answered,

"It's been confirmed that it's a male. There's only been one witness that managed to live, and they died shortly after they described what they could see of the murderer. They said the only thing they could see was a gloved hand and purple eyes."

Edward's eyes narrowed, but he let her continue.

"So far he's killed twenty people, and someone made an attempt on Roy's life, though we know it wasn't the same man. Roy said his attacker was more of a feminine male than the other."

Edward had to hold back a chuckle. So someone finally tried to kill the Colonal?
"A-And did he... Kill... Anyone I know?"

"No."

Edward sighed with relief once more. He smiled and looked at the table. He didn't want to look Rose in the eyes anymore. She didn't seem to like talking about killing, so he wouldn't force her too.

"There's soemthing that's been bothering me, Rose. Ever since I died, this thought's been picking at my mind. Did... D-Did I succeed?" He asked.

Rose tilted her head.

"Succeed? In doing what, Ed?"

"In bringing back Al."

Rose blinked, then avoided looking at Edward.

He didn't like that.

"Well? Did I succeed?" Please, Rose. Please say he's alright...

"... I can't say, Ed."

Now he was just frusterated. He stood roughly, causing the chair to fall back agaisn thte wooden floor, and he slammed his hands on the table.

"But you said you'd answer any of my questions!"

"Any of them but that one!"

"No, you promised to tell me EVERYTHING!"

Now Rose stood as well.

"I can't say because I don't know!"

"That's a lie!"

"Just be quiet, Ed!" She screamed. The man could really overreact. She hadn't even said what happened yet, and he already asumed his brother was dead and gone. She could tell.

"I really don't know, Ed." She spoke softer that time.

Edward's anger and frusteration seemed to leave. He stood still.

"When I wnet back in to check on you because you hadn't come back out, I only found a puddle of blood and a bunch of ruins. I think the puddle of blood was yours, and the ruins was your doing, too, right?"

Edward pulled the chair back up and sat down, still staring at Rose in disbelief. So he really had failed? All that for nothing.

"You're sure Al wasn't there? Was there anyone thereat all? Maybe-"

She dismissed those thoughts with a simple shake of her head.

Edward took in a shaky breath, then put on a look of forced calmness.

In a small voice, he spoke before leaving.

"Thank you, Rose. I'm heading to Risembool now... I have to do something, if Alphonse really is... Dead."

"Hello?"

"Hey, Winry. It's me."

""

"Winry?"

""

"Winry, are you okay?"

"" There was a trembling breath on the other line, then deep breathing.

"Winry!"

"Wh-Who is this? Why are you being this cruel? Everyone knows the Elric brothers are gone!"

"Winry! I can't believe you're saying this! It's me, Ed, who else could it be!"

"It could be that murderer trying to trick me just before he kills me!"

"Winry, no! Listen, how can I prove it's me?"

"Don't bother, because I know it's not-"

"A doll. When you were little, me and Al made a doll using Alchemy for you. The only other people who could possibly know that are Pinako, who's right there with you, your parents, who are dead, my mother, who's also dead, and my little brother..."

"... Ed?"

"Yes, Winry, it's me already!"

"Edward! You're alive! Where have you been, what were you thinking, where's Al, how are you two, when are you coming home, how's your automail, why didn't you call sooner-"

"Woah, woah, woah. Hold on, Winry. Not so fast. I was far away, I was thinking I would save Al, I don't know, he ran off, I'm at the train station right now, I didn't call sooner because I couldn't, and my automail... That's kinda why I'm coming. You see, where I was, they didn't have such a thing as automail, so when my automail was taken, I could only get an arm made by my dad."

"Your dad? You mean Hohenheim? I thought he ran off again..."

"Yeah he did. Anyways, I gotta catch my train, Winry. See you in few days, okay?"

"I'm glad you're back Ed. Bye."

After Edward hung up, he began walking toward his train. He stretched his arms for a moment, then took the time to scan the area. It was no surprise that the train station was nearly empty. After all, with the murderer going around, not many people would want to be outside. All except for three people.

Edward Elric was, of course, the first. He was now staring at the other two people, eyes a bit wide. This was because of who they were.

The second person brave enough to travel Edward recognized instantly. That revealing outfit, those cat-like violet eyes, palm-tree style hair, and that stupid grin of his. It was Envy, all right, not even bothering to disguise himself.

The third person seemed to be following Envy. He was taller by about two inches and wore a less revealing outfit. His eyes were not the purple color of most Homonculi's, but instead a dark golden one. His hair fell down to about the middle of his back, right bangs being longer than his left.

About the outfit... It was right out of a nightmare. Ed's nightmare. The person was out of his nightmare, too. This new Homonculus wore tight black pants like Greed's, a shirt like Envy's though it covered his middle as well, and fingerless gloves that had been ripped off at the wrist.

For a moment Ed thought it was Hiedrich. He might have confirmed that he himself was not a Homonculus, but he never bothered to look for Hiedrich. Then something else clicked in his mind, a horrific thought that would later be known as true.

Both Homonculi stopped. The new Homonculus bent down slightly and cupped his hand near Envy's ear before whispering something to him. Envy's phsycotic look dispeared and was quickly replaced with a confused one before turning to fury. Snapping to the side so he could face the Homonculus, he spoke so that Ed could hear him from his position, which was about ten yards away.

"WHAT! Are you inSANE? We can't do that, he'll kill us for sure! Not to mention our master would-"

"YOUR master is no longer alive, Brother! Now, I told you. I. Want. That. Man. I want him to be my slave, got it?"

Envy growled.

"OUR master would disaprove, and besides, he can't be your slave, because I'm going to KILL him!"

The Homonculus growled back, eyes narrowing as well.

"You are NOT going to kill him! You said yourself, I should be true to my name, well now I'm trying, and you deny me the first thing that will help me reach that goal? I'm going to get what I want, Envy!"

"N-"

"Shut up and let me!"

"..." Envy snorted and began walking away.

"Fine, do what you please. Just be back in an hour. And please, if you're going to have a slave, make sure he gets at least one meal every two days. YOU have to take care of him from now on, because I'll kill him if you don't, got it?"

"Yes, Brother."

With that, Envy left, and the new Homonculus turned back to Edward, grinning. He wasn't smirking... That was odd...

Edward shook his head, deciding that he had a bigger problem. So a Homonculus decided to keep him as a slave? Just randomely decided to take him in like some lost kitten and treat him like dirt? That wasn't acceptable. he had to do something about that...

But, sadley, the famous Elric luck had to kick in, and before he could move to defend himself, the new Homonculus had gotten behind him. He heard the Homonculus say soemthing, then he slipped into darkness.

"Sorry about this, Brother."

Well, there's the third chapter of A Tale of Greed. Really hop it was worth the wait. I'll try to get the next one up sooner. Sorry again. Oh, and i edited it, this takes place only a year after Ed went to the other side of The Gate. I accidentally put two, sorry. -Cri.