Ode to Forgotten Histories

Chapter Three:

"Central"


1st May, 1807; in route to Central City, Central Amestris


The world passed by in a nauseating blur. Most people would marvel at the nature passing by outside the train window with wonder, much like the awestruck children whom had their noses pressed up against the glass several seats away. Nadine, however, did not fall into such a group of passengers.

When she had boarded the train that morning, Nadine had ignorantly chosen a seat by the window with the thought in mind that she could spend her time enjoying the hilly countryside on her long journey to the capital. Now, as she sat with one hand clenching the seat until her knuckles had turned white and the other pressed firmly against her lips to keep the nausea at bay, the girl was regretting her ill-informed decision. Being someone who only had the luxury of using her own two feet to transport her thus far in life, Nadine was ill-equipped to handle motion sickness or the resultant immobilizing fear of being propelled down the tracks at forty-five miles per hour.

"Don't tell me I'm gonna hav'ta wipe your chin again, am I?"

Oh? Right. How could she forget the most harrowing part of this journey? That insufferable man was lazily sprawled out across the same bench in the much too cramped compartment.

The amused sneer that had bloomed on Greed's face when he had slid back the compartment door and had found her sitting there, could have been described no other way but downright sinful. He then had wasted no time proceeding to purr a "Fancy seeing ya, toots," then taking up three-fourths of the seat.

"H-how are you-u-u so cal-calm when c-clearly we are ab-about t-t-to dieeee?"

Nadine's voice shook less from fear than from attempting to squeeze syllables around the vomit that lurched halfway up her throat.

The dark-haired man glanced her way for a moment before returning to gawking at the busty woman who was batting her eyelashes at him from the seat across the compartment. His eyes were angled far too low to just be taking in the woman's pretty face. The young woman's middle-aged husband was too preoccupied in attempting to corral the couple's unruly toddlers to notice his wife's wondering eye.

Still not looking in her direction, Greed finally responded, "I take it that you've never ridden a train before?"

"And you have?" Nadine retorted, moving her hand just enough to let the comment seep out.

She realized it was stupid question, considering that just a few days ago that he had all but come out and told her that he was rather worldly. Her eyes slowly trailed over the other passengers in the compartment, marveling at their composure. Even the children seemed to think her reaction was off. As young as they were, they still managed to point their chubby fingers in her direction and snicker.

"Well, aren't you quite the bumpkin, eh?"

The girl was not quite sure what 'bumpkin' meant, but she could tell that it was hardly a compliment from his tone, "Forgive me. It appears that I haven't traveled as many…places…as you have."

Gray eyes shot between Greed's waggling eyebrows and the tart's flushed face hoping the implication of her statement did not fall on deaf ears.

It did, of course.

"I'd be happy to show you around a few places when you get older, kid."

Ah, so it wasn't entirely lost on him then.

"No thanks. I think I'd r-rather stumble around lo-lost," Nadine snorted rather unattractively and attempted to choke down her bile at the same time.

Greed shrugged carelessly, throwing his arms up to rest on the back of the bench narrowly missing elbowing Nadine in one of her eyes, "Suit yourself. Your loss, not mine."

"Besides, I'm pretty sure a barbarian like you couldn't find himself around a wet paper sack if he tried."

"Oh, yeah?" The man edged closer and narrowed his peculiarly-colored eyes, "Wanna test that?"

Irritation flared in Nadine's gut, frustration overpowering her sense of nausea, "Well, it appears that you certainly have a more than willing participant."

"Well, well, brat. What brought on this sudden change in attitude? Beguiled by my pretty face, eh?" Greed leaned back a smidge with raised brows, the amusement clear as day on his features.

The sandy-haired girl flushed half from embarrassment, half from exasperation, "Not me, you pig!"

"Yeah?" That infuriating smirk was blinding.

Nadine openly thrust a finger at the woman across the compartment who was still desperately trying to catch Greed's eye despite the fact that her husband had abandoned corralling their children in favor of a nap.

"The cow across the way appears to need far more attending to than me," Her comment was less of a whisper and more of a shout, "She's all but spewed pheromones at you."

"Jealous?" The two syllables were easily the most maddening thing she had ever heard in her life.

The snappy remark died on her tongue as the train suddenly lurched as it began to slow. Accompanying the shuddering motion, the forgotten ill-settled contents of the young woman's stomach shot forward with a renewed urgency. Her teeth gnashed together in a desperate attempt to prevent emptying the contents of her stomach over the other passengers.

Although, she was near certain that the irksome man to her left deserved to have his silken suit ruined by her puke, she would refrain from doing so. After all, he was the barbarian. Not her.

Gotta barf!

Ignoring the voice on the intercom asking the passengers to remain seated while the larger cargo was unloaded, Nadine flew from the compartment. Before the train even had the time to come to a complete halt, the girl's worn boots had already passed the threshold of the open doorway. She stumbled into the sunlight, looking around wildly. The desperate search for some sort of receptacle made her look deranged.

I need a-! I need-! I-I need…

"Dammit, kid, you couldn't wait for the train to fully stop? You claustrophobic or somethin'?"

Watery eyes landed on the figure of Greed in all his opulent glory. However, the only thing she could truly focus on about him was the suitcase in his left hand. It was fairly large.

That'll do.

The thought had not accurately registered in her mind before she was blindly grabbing at the suitcase. Her shaky fingers quickly undid the clasp. As soon as it sprung open, the girl ducked her head in and made the most putrid retching noise imaginable. That was saying something, considering she had helped Lucille through the early months of her pregnancy.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?"

A relieved, pleased smile drifted onto Nadine's face once she felt completely emptied of the nausea she had spent holding in all morning, "Ah, nothing's wrong now.~"

"Are you insane, you brat?!"

The dreamy look was spooked off of Nadine's face when she jolted at the shout. Horrified, reality settled in. She had just grabbed a man's suitcase and deposited her breakfast into it.

"Oh…ah, erm…" Nadine chuckled nervously, sure that her face now matched Greed's mortified expression, "My apologies…"

One of the tall man's amethyst eyes twitched with what Nadine supposed was a repressed killing intent.

"So," The Huntly girl raised the suitcase she was holding shut with a death grip deliberately slow, "What are the chances that you were carrying this around empty?"

Nadine opened the luggage just wide enough to peer in. Of course, it was not empty. Her vomit was not the only thing held within in the leather folds. She closed it with a solemn face, panic now taking place of the sick in her stomach.

"You sure do have a lot of clothes for a guy, huh?" Was the statement that slipped off of her tongue when she had intended it to be a flurry of apologies.

The color drained from her already pale cheeks.

Idiot.

Idiot.

Idiot.

This is it. This is the moment that her fat mouth would escort her to an early grave. Not that she could blame if him if he did, in fact, kill her. She did call him a barbarian and then proceeded to blow chunks onto his personal effects later the very same day.

He moved with such speed that Nadine only realized he had shot her direction when her boots no longer touched the ground.

"Just so you know, girl," Greed growled down inches from her face, his hand had a firm grasp of the front of her blouse, "if you were a man, I'dve split you ten ways to hell and back. Lucky news for you, there's only one place I pound women, and that's not in the streets."

He released her not so gently, and she landed in a disgruntled heap on the train platform. When she had managed to right herself, the less than pleased man was already halfway across the station. Floored, quite literally, by his speed and strength, the befuddled young woman wished that she had apologized just in case their paths ever happened to cross again.

From her place on the ground, Nadine watched as his black coat fluttered amongst the crowd. A sigh left her lips as she pulled her knees up for her chin to rest despondently on. Why must she always have such a hard time controlling her big gob?

Then she noticed that the speck that was Greed's figure had stopped, and turned to face her once more. Her head lifted curiously. What did he—

"By the way, brat…" He voice was loud enough to cause several bystanders to startle and look for the source of the noise, "wipe your own damn chin this time! You've got puke all over it!"

Nadine's cheeks burned as she suddenly felt a hundred eyes on her squatting form. However, none of them belonged to Greed as she watched through slitted eyes as he resumed leisurely stalking away from the scene with his hands in his pockets and a whistle on his lips. She vigorously wiped at her chin with the hem of her dress, and attempted not to crawl underneath a bench to hide her shame.

Apology? Yeah, right. She took it all back. She should have hurled straight into his eyes.

"Stupid, bimbo-loving, debauchee…"


He could not believe this. For a guy who believed in the impossible so readily, he could not believe what he had just witnessed. Unbelievable!

That snot-nosed brat from Wellesley had grabbed his suitcase and ralphed all over his things!

The brat owed her life to the fact that he had spent the last seventy years learning to stifle his temper whenever his least favorite sibling decided to rear his ugly mug. That, and the fact that she had lady bits between her legs. If he ever had the misfortune of falling into her presence again, it would take great effort on his part to prevent her from tasting the carbon of his Ultimate Shield.

A woman had never irritated him so much before. Ever since he was "birthed", he had always been a fan of the fairer sex. But this woman, no, child, knew how to set aflame to his more irritable side. Then again, very few had ever revisited their breakfast in front of him, and even fewer, meaning one, had the gall to get sick inside of his suitcase. Not even the woman he had hidden in the very same valise to sneak in and out under his old man's nose had puked, and he had been far less than gentle lugging her about.

"Tch, dumb kid," the homunculus' grunt echoed off the walls of the narrow, dimly lit alleyway.

He held the suitcase as far away from himself as possible as he made the twists and turns that led him to his inconspicuous destination. Allowing his carbon armor to creep up one of his arms, Greed used an obsidian claw to pick the lock on the scrap metal before him. With a click the lock fell to the ground, and he moved the large metal piece away to reveal a doorway.

With even, heavy steps the homunculus made his way down a desolate hallway. Occasionally, the howl of a stray chimera would echo across the iron walls of the tunnel. The hall opened up to a cavernous area, empty excluding a few odd machines and a heavily foreboding presence.

"Greed," a hollow sounding voice reverberated around the room, "come. Tell your father of your travels."

The man in question forced down a cringe and pivoted on his heel. He had been so close to making it to the opposite hall that led to his room. After much effort, he swallowed the "Up yours, old man" that sat on the tip of his tongue.

Resting his half-lidded eyes on the hulking blond figure wired to the machinery collected at the center of the room, he spoke,

"Hey, Pops. Been a while, eh?"

The master of all homunculi, more "affectionately" referred to as Father by his sired children, looked wholly unamused by the greeting.

"Report, Greed. Tell me, what do you think of the girl Lust found in Wellesley?"

Immediately, Greed's mood soured. That brat again? Wasn't it enough that he had been volunteered to babysit the kid all the way here, but now he was subjected to her even when she wasn't around?

Instead of giving a long winded explanation about how he had never been so singularly frustrated with someone in his entire century of existence, he snorted, "What's there to think?"

Father continued to bore into his being with dull amber eyes.

"Well," Greed shrugged, "she's got a flat chest. Lookin' at her is about as pleasing as grindin' nails into your eyes."

Again, Father was silent. The only indication that he had even heard his observation was a slight narrowing of his eyes. However, his displeasure was very apparent when the gravity suddenly increased tenfold.

"Alright, alright," the brunet-haired man bit back a growl as he fought to remain upright, "the kid is as dense as carbon and only thinks after she has made a complete dumbass of herself. Trust me, Pops, she'd curl up in bed with ya if ya just promised her a bit of glory."

The crushing feeling lifted and air came much more easily to Greed's lungs.

"I see," Father hummed in acknowledgement. "And, you delivered her directly to the Academy? From Lust's brief account, it seems imperative that her indoctrination begin immediately."

Greed remained silent with a hand resting lightly on his hip, something that was never a good sign considering that it normally took the man being passed out cold to stop his tongue from spinning.

"It's the huge ass building smackdab in the middle of town. I'm sure even that prat could stumble around and find it," was his response when he finally reopened his mouth.

The lines on Father's face further deepened in disapproval, "Find the asset and deliver her as I asked."

With a role of his shoulders and turning back to continue on in his interrupted path towards his room, "Can't you have one of your lesser cronies give her a map or something? The palm tree headed piece of garbage could manage that."

"Greed."

Again the entirety of the world seemed as if it were descending down upon his broad chest.

"Fine, fine!" Greed hissed as he retraced his footsteps and the snark was nearly palatable when he called out, "You can suck your ego back in already. I'm going!"

Still battling against Father's ominous pressure, the avaricious tramp stalked back to whence he came.

"But, I'm leavin' this for you to take care of."

Greed set his suitcase down before sashaying out.

Damn human brat. Damn senile old man. Damn nationwide army of brainwashed alchemists.

One day this all would change, and he would no longer be a lackey to a homicidal maniac. No, in time he would be the sole man in charge and also possibly a homicidal maniac. Everything was rightfully his after all, henchmen included.


After Nadine had managed to crawl away from the scene of her humiliation, she found herself enraptured by the sheer size of the city.

"H-HEY, WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOI-"

That enchantment had quickly worn off when sidewalk traffic had pushed her into a street stall for the sixth time. In fact, currently she was desperately trying to find purchase for her feet as a man clipped her shoulder sending her spiraling sideways. Unable to decelerate her momentum, Nadine hurdled face first into a clothing kiosk.

In her panic as her face was verging towards the ground, hands shot out and grasped wildly at anything to catch her fall.

Once she heard the tell-tale noise of ripping fabric she wished she had opted for face planting in the middle of the street.

"Oh…uh…" her eyes widened to the size of saucers as she stared down at the sleeves in her hands.

The clearing of a throat shifted the young woman's attention.

From her position on the ground she caught eyes with a stall keeper who was glaring down at her with all the fury of a disturbed nest of hornets.

"Oh…" Nadine surreptitiously glanced between the sleeves and that of the still swaying garment from which she must have snatched them clean off of.

"Ah well, if it's any consolation, the coat looks much better now."


Meanwhile, Greed was stomping through the shopping district with his hands shoved down his pockets as far as they could go and his shoulders wrought with tension. He had headed straight towards that part of the city, figuring that Nadine's simple country dweller mind would be drawn to the opulence…and the thought of obtaining more material goods always made him feel better when he was frustrated.

"Hey," he poked into a stall when the glittering of golden watches caught his eye, "you seen a woman around here?"

The elderly stallkeeper he questioned stared back blankly before lifting his gnarled finger to point, "Uh, well, there's one there…and there…and there too…oh, here comes another… "

Noticing Greed's downturn lips, the stallkeeper furrowed his brow and said, "You have a particular gal in mind? Young man, you could stand to be a bit more specific."

Greed tried to recall what Nadine looked like, but the only feature that came to mind was her rather lackluster bust size.

"Well, she's wearin' a dress."

Unamused silence.

"Buy a watch or move along, son."


"What in all that is holy am I supposed to do with this?"

Nadine resumed her search for the Military Academy building, this time with the addition of a sleeveless coat balled up in her fists and a significantly lighter coin purse in her dress pocket.

"Dumb hag should have sewn it together better."

On top of that, she was lost. That much Nadine knew for sure. Nothing was comforting about that fact.

Suddenly the fancy shops and cafes that seemed so fascinatingly foreign to her became forebodingly alien. With each turn the girl took, the streets became narrower and less populated. Living in the same border town for all her life, Nadine had never truly experienced the feeling of being lost before. Now she knew the all too terrifying chill that accompanied having no idea where she had come from or where she was heading.

Travelling down an empty alleyway, Nadine rubbed her thumbs against the material of the jacket, eyeing its gleaming fabric.

"One hundred percent leather and sheep's skin, my ass."

She held the impromptu made vest at arm's length scrutinizing the garish fur collar as she continued to stride forward.

"No matter what angle you come at it from, it still looks tacky. What a waste of—"

A hand, heavy and firm, landing on her shoulder effectively silenced her rant and stalled her step.

Oh dear.

Frazzlin' dadgummit.

Death has come to descend upon me in the form of a disembodied hand.

So, she stood ramrod. Dropping the vest to her feet and holding up her hands in an unarmed gesture, Nadine refused to look any further passed the hand and protected herself in the only way she knew how: misplaced humor.

"Ahahahaha…" her nervous laugh filled the alleyway, "I don't suppose you're in the market for buying a cheesy leather vest, huh?"


Let me begin with...I AM SO SORRY ALL! Please forgive me for not updating in a century. My personal life kind of spun me for a loop ,and I was lost in a swirling shit vortex for quite some time. That being said, I will soon be back to updating regularly. This chapter ends on a slightly odd note, but I really wanted to get out something for all of you loyal people.

A SPECIAL THANKS TO: Thanks to gulogulo99 and bunnylover94 for favouriting! Thanks to oxCuteKataraox, gulgulo99, SongsofSiren, and thatswhatbeesaid for following! And, most of all I must express my deep and heartfelt gratitude to the sweet StariChanx, the ever helpful Pandoru, and encouraging words of BananaChips for all reviewing. Honestly, without your reviews, I would have never been able to get back up on my feet, so THANK YOU.

Ta-ta until next time! As always, feel free to make my days better with favourites, follows, and reviews. :)

pseudo ~