Happy new year all!


The Day approached, and they went to Resembul, and there they had really good apple pie. Oh, and met Winry. Sure, Ling had met her once, but it was interesting to both of them, seeing the way the alchemist and his mechanic(cough girlfriend cough) interacted. Then they were off again.

And looking for Ed's father this time. Ling thought it said something about himself and Greed that their immediate reaction to Ed's father was shock, because of his resemblance to Greed's father, and then their thought was nice punch. It sent the man flying several feet and he was clearly going to feel it in the morning, since it was the right hand. Their opinion of the man dropped even further when he had the nerve to whine about it, when Ed had very good reasons for the punch. Ling wanted to give him another one, but Greed thought it was a better idea not to. Greed being the voice of reason was weird.
And that thought had far too much of the little runt's word choice in it.
Shut it Greed.
So they listened to the man's story, and were appalled, but unwilling to forgive him for leaving Ed and Al behind. Greed felt scorn for anyone who possessed those boys and turned his back on them, and Ling just felt anger.

After Ed gave the message and they changed the subject, Ling thought pointedly at Greed. The homunculus thought it was good idea, and it was Ling who vanished into the night, returning to Ed's father.

"So you're Ed's rotten, no good, runaway, cowardly bastard of a father?" one of them asked.
"That's rather harsh," the man said mildly.
Ling shrugged and Greed spread his hands. "Edward said it first. Still, I'd call it as I see it."
"Oh? And why should a homunculus know or care about such things."
"Because I care about Ed." The 'unlike you' was implied, but he wouldn't say it. At least, not yet.

"While I admit I'm grateful to you for looking after my son, I see no reason to trust that you have his best interests at heart."

"Same here, old man," Greed said with Ling's mouth. "We've been together for four months and Ed's still in one piece. I don't see you doing anything to make up for leaving him. He's mine now. "

"You need him alive until the Day of Reckoning. Just because he isn't dead, doesn't mean you have good intentions for him."

Ling shoved Greed to the back. "You seem," he said in his native language, —the man was the Western Sage, he should be able to speak it— "To be under the mistaken impression that I serve the father of the homunculi." Ed's father looked shocked.

"You speak—"

"I am not one of them. I am Ed's friend. Greed cares for him as I do, and we stand on the side of the world remaining alive. We have no desire to see him dead."
Never had he been more grateful for the ability of his native language to be scathingly polite. Normally the waste of time got on his nerves, but now he needed it to make his point. Greed leaned back within, watching the show. Ling smirked slightly. "It seems something has disturbed your inner peace and tranquility. Might this royal one inquire as to the cause of this discomfort?"

"You may. This one does not desire to burden another with his selfish wants," Ed's father had an archaic accent, Ling noted absently, and his choice of words was clumsy. Still, he could play the game. "But a father cannot help but worry for his children when they are in the company of those who have been his enemies."

"One could say the same about one's friends, in the company of a man who refused to return to his home, even when it caused the death of his beloved." Ling responded neutrally. "How might one tell if that refusal would be enacted once again, harming his friend?"

"I would never–" the man had slipped into an older language still, and where they overlapped Greed's knowledge fed Ling the meaning of the words. "—harm my sons! I would die first!"

"As this one's imperial grandfather, Emperor Wan, once said: one who causes harm is not given the right to decide what harm is." Ling stated evenly. Greed applauded. "And how might one trust the words of the man who fled his kin before? Or is it not the case that you were gone for ten years?"

Shock painted itself on the face of Ed's father.

Remorselessly, Ling continued, "Then, when you did return, you spoke to harm him and departed with the dawn, never once showing remorse for the harm you caused. As to death? We know the meaning of such a promise from one to whom death is but an inconvenience. We shall not harm our friend. We have yet to judge if we believe you shall. But you, who were foolish enough to run from what one of us left to seek, you who do not hear his answer, you may yet harm him, by intent or mishap."

He backed up, melting into the shadows as Fu had taught him. "We will not forgive that," Greed's voice crept into his own, and together they finished, "whoever or whatever may harm what is ours." When both of them were trying to do the same thing at the same time, it was less a struggle for control and more a struggle to be faster, faster. And Ed said it was creepy, the dual tones of their sharing, which they were doing deliberately now, putting to great effect. They smirked again, and Ling relinquished control, allowing himself a smile the match of Greed's on his face, as the homunculus finished in the language the man had slipped into, "And any threat will be destroyed. Like Wrath said before he killed me, how many times do we have to kill you before you stay dead? We'll be watching, old man. "
Hohenheim stared into the night after them for a long time.


So I noticed in Episode 46: Looming Shadows, that when they meet up with Hohenheim in Kanima, Greeling and the chimera are scowling at Hohenheim right along with Ed. Later when Ed and the chimera are eating, Greeling is nowhere to be found. This is where my brain decided they were.

And now for the reviews:

ArtofthePlate: This is why the Bastard rant at the end of the previous chapter.

I too thought Ling would accept the consequences so long as they were for himself alone. He even says, back when they'd caught Gluttony, that he knew there would be consequences, he had thought he was prepared for them, but wasn't ready for what happened to Lan Fan. As such, I thought he would accept this.

Yeah, it gets really hard to tell who has control at any given moment in most of the later chapters, except a few notable exceptions like when Fu died, or (in the English dub) when Greed tells General Armstrong "You see the power he has?" I generally think its Greed alone for most of the fighting on the Promised Day, but then he says that and I abruptly realize that it's been the two of them. The voice is smooth when it's him alone.

Guest 2: I think Roy is an older brother figure as well. They get on one another nerves that way.