Aureate Bonds
Summary: Inside Gluttony, Edward took a gamble to get him, Ling, & Envy out of the unending dark. He used some of Envy's Stone & opened the Gate. But the equation turned out unbalanced & Ed... died. Yet Ed isn't the sort to be beaten easily & he swore he'd be back.
Ratings and Warnings: Rated "M" for sake of expediency and my typical writing style. Intermittent foul and 'descriptive' language, a bit of sarcasm, gender bending (Fem!Edward), brief mentions of homosexuality, occasional mild sexual scenes, etc.
Disclaimer: I do not own FMA or any other referenced materials, plain and simple. All non-original content is owned by all respective copyright owners. This is not being produced for money but rather for my own amusement.
Chapter Relevant References: Driving Miss Daisy, Tarzan, Lord of the Rings
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Reviews: Thank you, gaara king of the sand, Robinfyre, lexica1999, and MuRioDame for reviewing. Thanks to FangWearsFlowerCrowns, L'Immacolata, MuRioDame, and 'Sakurita Elric and Neko' (quoted out because of the 'and' in the name) for following and favoriting my story. Thank you blue orangutan, DandereGoneFishing, and frania for favoriting the story. Thank you, xmasfairyholly for following the story. Thanks also to Robinfyre for following me, the authoress.
Robinfyre, during the patch-up it was more looped-by-pain-and-drunk-on-adrenaline and the moment the adrenaline cut out? Poof. Done. She passed out. And when she woke up? Yeah, then she was drunk on pain and disoriented and all and probably couldn't be considered very good to talk with right then. It just kind of… flowed out. I tried to put myself in that bed, feeling her pain and probably hopped up on meds that loop you (I hate Vicodin). Oh, and usually pulling faces (or grabbing my tongue, pinching my nose, etc.) to figure out how speech would be affected when it is appropriately mangled. It's very hard to talk without moving your tongue, by the way. It likes to twitch a lot.
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Side Note: Just emailed myself something. My phone went off and I went 'ooh!' until I realized that I'd been the one to set it off. How dorky is that?
So... Eight reviews away from 150. Who wants to help a fanfic writer out?
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XXIV:
What she wouldn't do for some heels… She hated being so damn short. At least she got to dress girlish, having gotten enough fabric and a little metal to create a respectable bra, and let her hair down. Ah, she loved the freedom of being a girl for a while! Didn't mean she adored the stupid skirt, but she'd adapt and the guise was useful. No one looked for a guy in a skirt. It didn't change the fact she hated the built-in ventilation system, especially with it being winter and all. Good news was that she had some silk leggings on and it helped with keeping her warmer. Her automail still didn't appreciate it and being out-of-doors too long meant aches and pains, but at least it was a little warmer.
Evelyn had sent Darius off to get some money for their good 'patrons of Hermes'. The bill was steep, but considering they didn't want to be found out and Evelyn had little use for cash right now she had consented to the price. The rest of the cash he'd be pulling would be put to their 'survival fund'. Cash was, after all, untraceable.
Amazing, honestly, how simply the world worked when one didn't have friggin' debit and credit cards. Didn't have the cash? Fine. You didn't buy it!
Right now she was buying some supplies… She'd not eaten nearly enough in that hellhole of a practice despite the otherwise good treatment and her stomach gnawed at her spine with all the enthusiasm of a pit bull going after marrow. She had actually started with a pretty full bag of food before she'd turned to come back, but bites kept sneaking into her mouth and she couldn't resist the street vendor selling grilled meats on skewers.
She had already eaten two and was working on a third as she scaled the stairs to the practice.
She wondered if Darius had made it back yet.
Judging by the look of the stooge in blue wrapped in a black trench coat outside the door, she could wager he was unless the military had gotten that smart and was able to do more than follow people. Blinking in such a way she hoped was all pretty and sweet, she stared at the man. "Uhm… What're you soldiers doing here?" He blushed at the sight of a pretty girl looking at him and Evelyn was really glad for her less than masculine attire as her tailored shirt and ankle-length flow-y skirt provided ample enough evidence to her being a girl and thus 'not Edward' even with the semi-concealing off-white long coat that used to be red. She'd purged the dye from the cloth though it wasn't completely white. For one thing, her mother would have had a fit at wearing pure white while in winter. She was oddly old-fashioned in that way. A shame her boots weren't heeled and completely unfeminine, but it was winter and she would rather have ugly, clunky, and warm boots rather than sexy heeled boots. Uggs did not count.
Dammit, now she really wanted some heels!
"We're a search party," he told her. Neither of them was aware of the tensions in the room and Evelyn brushed the hair out of her eyes a bit more, mentally cursing the fact they refused to keep out of her face. They'd never given her this much trouble before. "Have you seen anyone suspicious come in or out of here lately?"
"Suspicious?" she asked, cocking her head to one side. "Maybe… What do these suspicious folks look like?"
"Let's see…" The private pulled up a slip of paper from his pocket, obviously having not memorized the details of the 'suspicious folks' he and the soldiers he'd undoubtedly come with were looking for. "Male, blond hair in a ponytail or braid, red coat, short."
He never saw her eyes flash in anger or the fist aimed at his chin. He squealed in pain as he crumpled and Evelyn mentally mused that he must have had a glass jaw before she stepped back, dropping her bag of groceries to the wooden floor of the hall carefully. While nothing was remotely glass or breakable within the confines of the bag, it was smart to not just let it hit hard and cause more noise than necessary. An instant after she'd put her load down, the door slammed open to reveal some middle aged officer shouting "Harris!" He reached down to grasp the poor private's coat. "Who did this to you?! Snap out of it!"
"Excuse me, sir," she chirped cheerily enough, causing him to look up. "You're looking for a 'short blonde'?" His eyes widened a fraction before she slammed her flesh fist into his face. He went down with his own short and shocked squeal. "Found one with a real damn short temper!" the alchemist snarled quietly. Not that she was nearly as short as she'd used to be. That witch of a female doctor had forced her to drink milk, pegging her in the ego about how she 'shouldn't let an inanimate object defeat her'. It didn't taste nearly as good as almond milk to her, but it also didn't taste nearly as bad as it could have and her body had decided it needed it. Evelyn still didn't like milk, though, if only for posterity.
She stormed into the practice right past where Heinkel and the doctors were and sighted yet another officer just around the corner of the doorway to the back room where Darius was currently caught. He missed her striding towards him as he was taking intermittent peeks while he called out to his fellow soldiers for a response. The rest of his attention was on Darius. The chimera didn't miss her coming, though, and didn't look too close as she set her jaw. Rearing back, the teen estimated where the soldier would likely be and punched straight through the boards to the right of him with her automail fist. The golden blonde could only imagine the look on his face as she hooked the arm about his neck and put him in a chokehold until he blacked out. She could smell piss and realized the poor fellow must have lost control of his bladder when she'd startled him.
"Y'know," mused Darius as he stood up from the bed Evelyn had spent time in for the past few weeks, tucking his pistol in his jacket. She loosed the fellow and he slumped to the ground. Withdrawing her arm, she flexed the appendage to test for any damage. "For a chick, you're a little scary."
Evelyn smirked as she lowered her arm. Besides some scuffs, nothing had been torn up. "Should tell that to my Teacher. That one's scary as fuck."
Heinkel frowned as she cheerily turned on heel to get her groceries. Sometimes laying a smack down was exactly what she needed, especially after having been forced into extended bed rest. Perhaps there was a little crazy in her, but she didn't care at the moment. "You need to be careful. You're not fully healed."
"Bah. Strong enough and rarin' to go!" Plucking her skewer of meat out of the bag she'd dropped at the beginning, she began to munch once more. Darius rolled his eyes towards Heinkel and the lion chimera sighed. "Whaaat?" she drawled around a mouthful, catching the expressions. The short blonde gave them a faux innocent look, knowing they saw right through it and not particularly caring. "Am I that awful to deal with?"
They ignored her, apparently not deeming the question worthy of a response. Finishing the kebab, she began on a loaf of crusty bread. "You guys should hurry!" the male doctor told them, looking at the trio in concern.
"Thanks a million, Doc," grunted Darius, glancing at them as Heinkel knelt down to check on the two soldiers, stealing their side arms and what little money they had.
"Yeah. You did a great job!" chirped Evelyn around a bite of bread and hoped dearly she didn't look like a chipmunk with the wad in her mouth.
"Save it!" chastised the doctor, making shooing motions with his hands. "Just get on outta here!" Spotting the slip that that 'Harris' Private had read from on the floor, Evelyn scooped it up and read it over.
"Hm… Seems like Kimblee's not reported my gender status yet," she mused once she swallowed a hunk of bread. Now, if only she had something to wash it down… "Looking for a blonde guy in a red coat and a ponytail. Not very good descriptors. Guess I'll stick with this getup for a while." She bit off another chunk, chewed, and swallowed. To hell with it. She was hungry. Water could wait.
"Freeze!"
The trio turned to look, seeing a pair of officers appear at the end of the hall. Evelyn sighed around her bread even as Heinkel grumped, "Ch… Not again."
"Drop your weapons!" ordered one of the soldiers. "Hands above your heads! Now!"
As the bread loaf vanished into Evelyn's craw, Darius and Heinkel moved into action. Before the teenager could blink, Darius had her in a fairly loose chokehold and a revolver pointed at her skull. 'Th' fuck?'
"You freeze!" snarled back Heinkel.
"Yeah! Don't make me put a bullet in this kid's brain!"
Evelyn blinked warily as the two soldiers balked in the face of such a dire threat. She couldn't see how it was dire, though. Considering the fact that at the angle the gun was being held and the way Darius was positioned, if he did shoot her he'd be possibly shooting himself in the arm, too. "Let the girl go!" wailed one, obviously distressed at the 'delicate lass' being assaulted. Perhaps they were just dumb or assumed she was in shock, but none of them seemed to notice that she was not nearly as alarmed as they were.
"You scum!" snapped the other. "How can you involve such a small child in this?!"
Perhaps it was the fact she did have a loaded gun pointed at her head or because she was actually in danger of being shot if she did choose to charge the offending parties with the intent to maul, but Evelyn started fuming noisily without struggling away from Darius's grip. "Small?" she hissed, her hands balling at her sides.
Heinkel cackled like a cheap two-sen villain. "We couldn't let such a great hostage get away!" he sneered.
"Small?!" she growled louder as she shook with rage on the spot.
"Now drop your guns!" Darius ordered. The two officers obviously were conflicted, but neither chimera gave a chance for them to dither long. One muffled and surprised squeak from their 'hostage' later, Darius had Evelyn tucked under his arm while she convulsively gripped the groceries in her arms and prayed the paper sack wouldn't give. The moment she'd been secured, the large ape chimera turned to flee down the hall with Heinkel right on his heels.
"Stop!" called one officer, his voice muffled slightly by the sound of their pounding feet.
"After them!" called the other. "Get around back!"
As the two caterwauling soldiers charged down the hall, they were tripped up and while Evelyn couldn't see what was going on, she more than heard it. "Oh, Mister Soldier!" cried 'Granny Doc', clinging to the officer's leg. "Thank goodness!"
"We were so scared!" 'Papa Doc' cried in a feigned reedy voice. He'd been a lot more firm when it came to Evelyn's recovery.
"There was nothing we could do! They were so horrible to us!"
"Don't leave us!"
"Let go, dammit!" growled the officer, trying to shake them loose.
"We were really, really scared!" cried 'Granny Doc'.
"Those two sure catch on quick," mused Darius as they fled.
Evelyn, however, was pleased. 'Protecting their interests and giving us cover to get away. Clever. Thanks, Patrons.'
They burst out the back and startled the two officers back there. Heinkel immediately brought up his two pistols. "Easy there!" he thundered before opening fire. The two scrabbled for cover and the lion chimera said, "Get us some wheels."
"On it," grunted the ape man.
"I feel like a doll," grumbled the still-toted Evelyn as the ape chimera scanned the streets.
"You're resting up, cutie."
"Call me that again and I will rearrange your face." Darius ignored her and her slight worming under his arm save for a slight tightening of grip in view of the very nice car that had just been served up to them. Seeing the obviously rich pair crooning over the vehicle at that very moment just meant they were even more easily targeted.
"Get away from the car now!" he snarled as he directed the muzzle of his revolver at them, making them jump immediately with an 'okay!' right before they bolted for safety from the 'madman' waving the gun.
Ten seconds later, they were in the car and bouncing down a wide stairwell. Evelyn growled as she jounced about the back. "Did you guys ever learn how to drive?!" she yelped, bracing a hand against the roof to keep from bashing her head in.
"Yes, we did!" protested Darius.
"Then why are you on the stairs?!" They shuddered onto the pavement of a street and Darius took off at a far smoother and faster rate. "Okay, this is less brain jarring." Taking a gander out the back glass, she was not overly surprised by the appearance of cars carrying military insignias on their tail. "Not to be a bitchy person, but… They're behind us!"
"Thanks for letting us know!"
"Pedal to the metal!"
"I'm going as fast as I can!"
"It's not fast enough! They're gaining!" warned Heinkel.
"This ain't no 'Driving Miss Daisy', Tarzan!"
"Don't call me names!"
"Then don't call me 'cutie'!"
"Now is not the time to be arguing," Heinkel bit out tersely.
"They're used to driving on snow, so of course they're better drivers!" Evelyn thought rapidly and came up with a very hasty plan.
"Fine! If you can't drive fast, drive smart! Take that next right turn!"
"Huh?"
"That one! That one! Now!"
"Why?" Darius demanded suspiciously.
"Bend to my will, minion, and do it! Then pull a U-turn the moment we're well enough around the corner!" She brought her hands together even as Darius did as told, the car swaying violently and nearly going up on two wheels as they screeched around the corner.
"Man… I have no idea what you're up to, but fine!" Another jarring turn later, and Evelyn's hands connected to the car, transmuting it from the stylish automobile it was into a similarly colored boxier 'enclosed truck'. As their pursuers sped around the corner, obviously tailing them still, Darius drove 'calmly' back up the road towards their previous path, darkly tinted windows keeping him and the other two automobile occupants suitably disguised.
The cars carrying military personnel trundled past as Evelyn sagged into her seat.
"Ah… Sweet victory. And far better style than my past self would have tipped his hat to," she smirked. "Roomier back here, too, though chillier." She eyed the walls of the cab. "Less insulation."
Heinkel and Darius both blinked somewhat dazedly and didn't respond. The cars that went past didn't turn and Heinkel let out a sigh of relief. "That… was close," he grumbled.
"Yeah. Good thinking."
"Thank you."
"Cutie."
"Evil. Keep the appearance commentary up and I'll threaten various bodily harms, buddy."
They trundled away quietly into the distance, leaving North City behind.
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An hour or so later, Heinkel glanced at the back seat's occupant over his shoulder. "Where to?"
Evelyn, settled comfortably in the middle of the bench, frowned as she folded her arms under her breasts. "Well… Planning first. We need to know what's going on and all." A sigh puffed from her lips as she examined the roof of the car's interior. 'Crap… I need to meet up with Al and find Winry and… shit.' "We need to join up with Al," she offered aloud, tugging an arm free to twiddle with a lock of hair. She considered the two in the front seat.
"Weren't you two staying at Briggs while you were up here?" asked Darius as they trundled down the road. She sighed and made a dismissive gesture despite the fact they wouldn't see it.
"Yeah, but Central's taken control of the fort. We couldn't get near it now."
"Alright. Strike that place off our resource list," groused Heinkel as Evelyn sat, still twiddling.
"So," she breathed as she considered their options. First thing was to find Alphonse.
'Where would he go?'
She had to think.
'What would be the logical place to meet?'
Assuming logic had any role right about now.
'Not Resembool. He wouldn't want to endanger Granny… Shit, gotta tell Granny about…' She glanced down her front, seeing the swell of her breasts before allowing her head to drop again to rest on the back of the bench seat. 'Al first. Then worry about biddies with bad tempers.'
After a little more pondering, she hit upon a thought. "Central. Head to Central."
"Closer to the middle of everything?!" Darius demanded.
Evelyn thought about her parents' love of all things geeky. "The closer we are to danger, the further we are from harm. It'd be the last place they'd expect." She grinned, recalling how she'd sat wide-eyed next to her mother as they watched 'Lord of the Rings' and amazed by the creation of a world using technology and a world's love for a single man's story. "And there's one place they'd never expect us to return to."
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She was bored.
"So…"
No response from the front seat, but that was to be mildly expected.
"Tell me about yourselves."
Still no response.
"C'mon!"
"Look, girl, we don't have anything to talk about."
Evelyn grumbled, irritated at her two buddies, as she slumped into her seat. "We're running around the country as co-conspirators and you don't wanna talk? Bah."
"We're only in this to make Kimblee pay," grunted Darius.
"Such limited dreams," she sighed before thinking a bit. "What's your first names? I don't think your names are just 'Darius' and 'Heinkel'."
She saw them look at each other before Heinkel slowly offered, "My first name's Peter."
"Michael," the ape chimera muttered.
Evelyn smiled, eyes distant. "Good names. I had a friend named Peter. I always called him 'Hughes' though. He was loud and funny and a total ass. Was manic, too, I think. And Michael is a good name. So… Family?"
"Do you ever shut up?"
"Look. We're in this damn setup together, you realize. And we're 'brothers in arms' even if you don't necessarily like it," she told the two men in the front seat, sitting forward so her head was between theirs. "Knowing each other is good. I'm not saying get all buddy-buddy, but at least know each other well enough, alright?" She paused and didn't get a response immediately. Huffing, she dropped back into her seat. "Fine. Family. I'll start first."
She chattered a bit about her brother, the Dynes, Peter, and Aunt Amelia. She talked about Winry, grinning a bit at the back of Darius's head as she recalled how she'd tricked the chimera, and about Granny, and about her Teacher and her husband. Evelyn didn't get too detailed, just describing a little bit about each, a couple mild anecdotes, and eventually fell silent after an hour's worth of dithering talk.
"You sound like you've got a good family," Heinkel said after a moment.
"I'd like to think so," smiled Evelyn though she knew he couldn't see it.
There were a few more moments before Darius offered up, "I don't have family, really. My folks are gone and I was a career military man before becoming a chimera. Had some good friends, but they've all moved on by now and I'm essentially a ghost."
"That's hard," the backseat passenger mused.
"It's not terrible. Still have my health, my life. And a goal."
She let go of a faint snigger. "How very zen of you. Bit bland, but at least you've got a positive outlook. You, Heinkel?"
The blonde man frowned slightly though she didn't see the motion any more than they'd seen her smile. "I had a wife and kids, though I left them after becoming a chimera. Helen was a good woman and Benjamin and William were handfuls. I think they're about ten and eight respectively by now. I left them in order to keep them from knowing about… my status as a chimera. Helen should be remarried by now as I divorced her to give her the freedom to move on. She needed support and I wouldn't be available to her. My father's passed but my mother's still around, as is my sister, who has her own family. I've no desire to see them again and let them know that I'm no longer human."
Evelyn frowned at that. "Well, is there a chance you might want to change back? To human, that is. The other two guys that you came to Briggs with want to get back to normal. Al gave them the hope to be and if anyone can do it, Al could."
"This body's not bad," Heinkel told her. "I could have been blended with something far worse than a lion."
"Lion, leo, león, raion, shiizi, leão, lev," she muttered, thinking about various languages. She sniggered, remembering another word. "Simba."
"What's all that?" he asked, curious.
"Lion in multiple languages. From Latin to Spanish to Japanese to Mandarin Chinese to Portuguese to Russian. Lion is the same in German. And the last one is Swahili for 'lion'." She smirked. "And 'gorilla' unfortunately comes out pretty much the same no matter the language. Except for Chinese and Japanese. Japanese, the 'l' sound goes into an 'r' sound, so it's 'gorira'. Chinese is… 'dà xing xing'? Sorry, not as much fun for you, Darius."
"I still can't believe you were from another world."
Evelyn gave a wry laugh before letting it fall into a sigh. "Sometimes, I can't believe it either."
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The drive south had been utterly boring after their little talks and while Heinkel and Darius weren't overly interested in chattering, Evelyn felt like she'd gotten some trust established. Several times they stopped for food, drink, gas, and showers. Evelyn loudly demanded showers. Her 'henchmen' merely went along with it as she was a girl, but not without a lot of grumbling about 'high maintenance women'. She 'ignored' their remarks yet did not appreciate them, either. As far as the lone female was concerned, baths were a requirement no matter the gender. It wasn't her fault the two chimera didn't like smelling of wet fur even if they hadn't shifted. Actually, that was a rather large peculiarity. And an offensive one. Wet fur did not smell nice though, thankfully, neither smelled like wet dog. If they had, then it would have been worse.
Finally arriving at the safe house that had heralded the beginning of the end of Edward's life, Evelyn eyed the dilapidated structure under the growing darkness, Darius just behind her and looming large. Way too large for Evelyn's comfort, but…
"Where is this?" he demanded softly as Heinkel crept up close to hear as well.
"Uh… One of our old hideouts. And the last place Edward saw in this world… though none of those bastards know it."
"Creepy," Heinkel mused.
"Anyway," Evelyn said, pushing on and not focusing on the dark, brooding agreement that Heinkel's single word had inspired. "I met with Colonel Mustang a while back here, since it was close to Central and we conspired here a bit. And there's a good chance Al will turn up here."
They silently moved towards the house and Darius lit the lantern he'd pulled from the car once they were inside. "No one's here," Darius growled, obviously frustrated and glaring at Evelyn. She scowled at him.
"No one's been here, either," Heinkel mused after a pointed sniff as though to remind her he had an excellent nose.
"Well, there's a lot of places where a great big armor could hide! Like I know them all!" their diminutive 'leader' sulked.
"This is ridiculous," hissed Darius, missing the way Evelyn stiffened suddenly and paled. "We came all the way here for nothing!" Heinkel also stiffened, sniffing at the air.
"Maybe not."
"Homunculus!" hissed Evelyn, whipping around worriedly to look the direction the sense was coming from. Heinkel made a slight gesture, shooing her to one side to hide as footsteps became audible. Darius snuffed the light and they waited in terse darkness as the moon could give very little light in the building. The footsteps grew louder and Evelyn wasn't sure if she couldn't hear them over her own thundering heart. Perhaps they could take one out…
Closer…
Her senses were screaming.
Closer…
Heinkel's finger shifted to the trigger of his gun.
As the homunculus stepped into the house, Evelyn chanced a peek and felt herself stiffen in surprise. Barely stifling a gasp, she stared as Greed in Ling's body stepped into the shack with a huge pained grimace on his face and panting harshly as he stumbled forward. Another step and he fell to his knees before sprawling across the floor face down.
"Ling!" she squeaked against her will, dashing forward to her friend only to hesitate as she re-registered the feeling of a homunculus pressing against her chi sense. "Or… Greed?" Heinkel edged forward, moving to get a clear shot around the startled teenage girl.
"So… hungry," grumbled the prone prince-homunculus-person. He shifted so his face wouldn't be pressed into the floorboards and looked up at her with that so familiar cheesy smile. "Thank goodness… I never thought I'd meet a friend in a place like this…"
Evelyn couldn't help the confused grin playing on her lips. "Ling? Has to be you. Cheese and all."
"Cheese?" His hopeful tone almost made her laugh but she didn't.
"Er…" Evelyn glanced at Darius as he relit the lamp. "No chance talking Heinkel down. Could you get the food?" Heinkel frowned.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Nope! But Greed is Ling and Ling is Greed and right now, Ling's top dog!"
"That makes no sense," huffed Heinkel.
Darius moved to the car to get their supplies and brought the sack in, depositing it on the floor before the prince. Much to the two men's astonishment, the teen promptly devoured the food as Evelyn looked on in disgust.
"Oh, thank you, golden eyes!" he chirped. "I feel like I've been brought back from the dead! Thanks!"
"There is another dimension. It is in your stomach," she mused blandly, wondering at the nickname he had bestowed on her. It wasn't overly imaginative, but… it still made her want to hit him. "Not even I could eat that much in one go." And she knew this because she had tried.
Darius snorted as he and Heinkel, who had finally put away his pistol, eyed the empty sack that once held their provisions. "You damn well try, cutie."
"Keep it up, Tarzan. Nails. Hammers. Lots of unpleasant pointy things." She paused for a moment for effect. "And all aimed at certain unmentionables."
"That was the last of our emergency rations," growled Heinkel, ignoring the girl and gorilla's byplay commentary. "He ate them all. Are you sure about this?"
"Answer hasn't cha-anged?! Ling?! What the hell?!" Ling, in the middle of her response to the lion chimera, had pounced her.
"You are a girl!" he blinked in wonder, taking in her state of dress as well as her more obvious curves thanks to the lack of her talisman. She shoved at him, pressing an automail hand to his face though he didn't immediately budge.
"No shit! Off, you pervy prince!"
"How? You were a man!"
"A long story! Now stop tryin' to grope me, you prick!" He sulked before settling back, ignoring the gun pointed at him thanks to Heinkel once more. She glared, shoulders hunched as she repositioned her skirt so it didn't threaten the chance of flashing her underwear or something.
"Are… those two with you?"
"Yeah. Darius." She pointed at the ape chimera before pointing at the lion chimera. "Heinkel. Affectionately known as Tarzan and Simba."
"We were originally soldiers, but circumstances… changed and we're working with this mouthy brat, now." Heinkel peered at Evelyn as his voice trailed off for a moment, eyes framed with glasses demanding answers. "So, who is this?"
"Ling Yao, greedy prince guy from Xing… Moonlights as a homunculus in his off hours." Ling snorted in amusement.
"I am a homunculus," he said with a grin.
"I could tell. Felt you a way off," she grumped and got a surprised blink of eyes.
"Are… Are you serious?"
"Eh… yeah." She shrugged. "Another long story." She gave him a long look. "What are you doing here?"
Ling frowned and gestured at his body. "Greed's cut his ties with the other homunculi. He started freaking out, so I took the chance to regain control of my body." He huffed slightly. "I was looking for a safe place to hide and found this… Ow!" He flinched from nothing, a spasm of pain apparent on his face.
"Ling?" The prince hissed even as Evelyn stared in worry.
"No… Greed's coming back." Evelyn ignored the two chimera who tensed slightly at the admission.
"Wait, what?! No, no, no! You can't let him have your body back again!" she yelped, jumping forward and grasping his shoulders. "Fight it!"
He scowled at her. "Look, Edward." He blinked at her own fierce scowl as she shook him.
"Evelyn, you dork. I'm Evelyn! Not Edward! And don't you toss off your body to that guy!"
"Fine, Evelyn. He's going to, but listen! That 'Father' guy that lives below Central is going to open the Gate when 'the day' comes!" Evelyn froze and Ling rushed on. "I know I'm not very knowledgeable about these things, but if you and your brother dive in when he does, couldn't you get your original bodies back?" She went rigid and let him go slightly.
"Wait… He's what? Well, yeah, maybe, but the toll." Her gaze hardened. "Why is he trying to open it? Do you know? And what day? Is there a specific day?"
"It's…" He grunted, hunching slightly as he pressed his left hand to his face, the tattoo of the homunculi visible. Growling with effort of clinging to control. It was a long moment, Evelyn staring in horror.
"Ling?"
"Shit," grunted the other teen. "Don't have much… Did you? Tell her?"
"Yeah, I did. She knows," soothed Evelyn, recalling Ling's first very short takeover. "I gave the message to Al. I don't know where she is, but she's good. Old man Fu came back. They're together."
"Whew… Thank you, golden eyes." He flinched, letting out a strangled yell. "Sorry," he gasped. "He's… getting stronger. Can't hold… on… Sorry…"
"Ling!"
His trembling stilled and Evelyn's hands remained on his shoulders for a moment. Then, she slowly withdrew when he made no response. The body of Ling Yao shifted and gave a grunt, blinking rapidly. "Ah…" He sneered the moment his eyes fell on the trio before him. "Fuckin' prince," he grunted. "He just had to spill the beans…" Eying the golden haired girl right before him as she stood up rapidly, he growled. "And you were a girl."
"Kudos to you," Evelyn snapped, suddenly regretting her choice of clothing and her divulging of details. "Greed, then?" She saw Heinkel lift up his pistol again, leveling it at the prince's possessed form.
"In the flesh," the homunculus replied before giving Heinkel a long look. "Don't waste your time. You'd need far more than a gun to kill me." He turned and began walking rapidly out of the house, waving a hand over his shoulder. "Thanks for the food!"
"Hold up!" He paused and glanced back. "You're gonna… let us go?" asked Evelyn, eyebrows high in her surprise.
"Why not? S'not like I care. And I don't hit girls." He turned more fully, jerking his thumb at himself. "You heard him anyway. Me and the others are through. I remembered a bunch of stuff, and it freaked me out so much I tried to kill Bradley." His disgusted look was accompanied by a snort of derision. "So, yeah. I don't even wanna think about what'd happen if I went back. I'm done with all of 'em." Again he turned to leave. "I'm off to do my own thing now. See ya."
"What about joining our side?" offered Evelyn on impulse. Everyone froze as she looked at Greed's back. He slowly turned, his expression of astonishment bemusing to behold. But she didn't laugh. "Y'see… we're a bunch of rejects, too. Fighting the guy that wants to hurt everyone, right? So, why not join up with us if you've got nowhere else to go?"
Greed turned to stare at her more fully, blinking. "Are you nuts? I'm a homunculus, remember?"
"And? I'm Edward Elric's reincarnation. Those two are chimera. We're freaks, too," huffed the blonde, ignoring the indignant protests of the two chimera behind her.
"Don't go blowing our cover like that!" Darius snarled, though Evelyn's attention remained glued to Greed and his look of astonishment at her casual admission.
"So what if you're one off? We are, too! What do you say? Join us? We have cookies!"
"We don't have any food. That guy ate it all!" Heinkel growled. "And you need more common sense, girl! Stop trying to join up with every person you hardly know!"
"Fuck common sense! I'm going with my gut! And my gut says that one's good stuff!" Evelyn protested, pointing at Greed. "Like you guys! If you were so bad, you'd've let me die!" She paused and grimaced before forcing the expression away. "Well, die again. Anyway…"
"'Anyway' nothing, cutie! You're not the one in charge! Stop acting like it!"
"Then why have you been following my ideas?" she asked innocently, leaving them to pause in sudden realization before they fell to noticeably sulking. The sudden laughter paused their lively discussion and they looked to the chortling Greed.
"Join you? Join you? That's rich!" he laughed, shaking with mirth. "Get real! This whole world belongs to me!" he sneered, straightening before turning to walk off again. "Maybe if you agree to work for me, I'd tag along." He chuckled again, moving off into the night.
Evelyn stared after him even as Darius poked her. "You just gonna let him go?"
"He might change his mind and let the enemy know our position," Heinkel muttered. "We need to move."
"No… Greed's shown himself to be many things. Liar's not one of them." Her thoughts were whirling and she eyed the direction she felt the homunculus moving. Thinking, she wondered on the information that Ling had given her. The bearded guy was going to open the Gate on some appointed day… She hissed in annoyance. "Dammit. We need him! How are we to win if we don't have him?" she growled. Turning to Darius and Heinkel, she asked, "Do you trust me?"
"Ch… You want him on our side, huh?"
"He knows a lot of stuff we don't. And he's given us a perfect in. Yeah, he said 'maybe', but Greed won't turn us down. I just know it."
"You want us to work for him?"
"Play along with it! We can hedge and offer our opinions still. The last Greed… this Greed. I met him before. His people were devoted to him because he gave a damn whether they lived or died. He cared, even if it was for the posterity of having people doing his bidding. He's Greed. He's greedy." She paused a moment before slumping. "Even if it requires me to make certain… sacrifices…"
"What do you mean?" Darius asked warily.
"In Dublith, Greed wanted three things. Money, power… and women." She looked up, not happy with the thought. "If I have to, I'll do whatever it takes to keep him on our side. We need his info. We need his help."
There was a long silence as they realized what she was saying. "You're… offering yourself up?" Heinkel said, visibly affronted.
"Not unless he demands it. At least he'd be better than Kimblee grabbing at me." She shuddered. "But then again… maybe I won't have to. He doesn't like hurting women and he's hit me a few times before he knew I was a girl. It might help us out. What do you say?"
The two chimera looked at one another before they finally looked at her. "I'm in." Darius was met by thankful golden eyes.
"Me, too… but not if he wants you to be his whore," Heinkel said stiffly. Evelyn glanced at him in surprise before a warm smile slid across her features.
"Alright… c'mon." They chased after Greed, traversing the rough ground with a bit of trouble to catch up. They found him on a rise staring out over a twinkling Central, nearly blended into the dark except for the pale skin Ling had showing in the moonlight.
"Greedling!" shouted Evelyn, slipping on some loose soil. "Greedling! Wait up!" The figure on the rise turned and eyed them incredulously.
"You again? Now what? And don't call me that."
"You're Greed. You're Ling," huffed Evelyn, stomping forward as she let go of her skirt so it fell back down about her ankles. "And you just made me run through a forest in a skirt. Shame on you. Anyway, that's not why we're here." Marching up to the taller teen, she glared, though some of it was lost in the dark. "We'll work for you." She was rewarded yet again with an astonished and somewhat funny look of disbelief.
"What?" asked Greed, confused.
"We," she reiterated, pressing a hand to her chest, "will work for you." She pointed at the homunculus. "We wanna beat 'Father' at his game, you said you want the world. Our goals line up with yours because that guy is obviously threatening your idea of world ownership. What do you say?"
"You want to work for me? You have no pride, do you?"
She gave him a very long look. "Greedling… I was a guy. I died. I got reborn as a girl. The only pride I have left is my awesome ability to kick ass in heeled boots." He snorted in amusement as did the somewhat nervous chimera behind her. "Not as easy as it looks," she defended with a pout before pausing. Slowly, she continued. "But… there's more to it than tossing aside pride. You're on the outs. We need intel. You want to make them pay for the guys in Dublith, right?" His expression darkened at that. "We can help you with that. Please."
He stood for a long moment staring at her and she stood silent, letting him think. And then he smirked before he grinned and then he out and out laughed derisively, grabbing her by the chin and forcing her face up closer to his. "You're on!" he leered. "But working for me means you're an outcast now!" Grinning widely, he told her, "Don't regret it!"
She grinned knowingly at him, dismissing the discomfort in her face from his grip. "This doesn't even rank in my top five of 'most horrible things ever'," she purred.
"Oh, really?" he smirked in a challenging way. "What's the worst?"
She couldn't help but laugh. "That one's a tossup. I'm not sure which was worse. Dying or being born." Knocking his hand free, she stepped back. "At least neither honestly hurt. They were just very weird."
He frowned at her before looking at the two chimera. "And what about you?"
"We're in," Heinkel told him.
"As long as we can get some food, we're in," Darius added with a sigh. Greed smirked before looking them up and down.
"So… What kind of chimera are you?"
"I'm a gorilla," Darius said with some pride.
"Lion," grunted Heinkel, though he looked pleased by the question.
"Hm… Very cool," mused Greed, absently grabbing Evelyn and tugging her into his side. "And you, sweetheart?"
"Evelyn Dyne. Call me 'cutie' and I will devise various tortures. Deal?"
"Heh… Not on your life, sweetheart. You're mine, now." Evelyn frowned at that, hoping that he didn't mean his in every form of the word. The homunculus and the alchemist missed the disapproving look on Heinkel's foreboding features, though he didn't say anything.
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Author's Note: I'm very fond of giving people names and backstory if you can't tell. Also, Heinkel's attitudes are because he's a father. Granted, a father to sons but a father and thus has fatherly reactions to certain things, especially to a girl that he's adopted as part of his 'pride'.
Please review. I appreciate it.