Sorry for the wait. I was out of town for a few days, got back for one and a half days, and was out of town again, so I didn't have time to post this chapter. Enjoy!
Gluttony shuffled uncomfortably, glancing furtively at me to see if I was still glaring at him, as I had been for nearly six hours now. I was seated cross-legged on the ground next to Alphonse, who was slouched forward and unmoving, his one remaining hand resting listlessly in his lap. The weight of his loss weighed so heavily on him I could nearly see it resting on his shoulders, a dark cloud amidst the early morning light. Biting his lip, the culprit spoke.
"I swallowed the human sacrifice. And Envy. What should I do…?"
"I don't know." Al's voice was quiet and resigned. Gluttony shuffled again.
"Father's gonna be mad…"
For the first time in hours, Al looked up.
"…You have a father?"
"Uh-huh."
"The person who made all the homunculi?"
"Uh-huh."
I blinked and glanced at Al, just as surprised by the news as he was. Reaching towards Gluttony, the armored boy nudged his stomach, watching it jiggle like gelatin. Gluttony and I both sent him odd looks (although I'd honestly been itching to do the same thing), but Al gave no explanation for his actions, lost in thought. A moment later, he shook his head as though to clear his mind.
"That's right… I don't know that big brother's dead. After all, someone created the homunculi! Gluttony," he began, getting to his feet, "take me to your father!"
I furrowed my brows in confusion at the sudden optimism but stood up as he convinced Gluttony to do as he had asked.
"Al," I called while the homunculus started to lead us out of the forest, "you think there's a way to get Ed and Lin out of that thing?" I motioned at the jiggling mass clumping ahead of us. Al nodded.
"Maybe his 'Father' knows what happens to the things that Gluttony swallows. Maybe then we can get them out."
"Makes sense. I guess we'll see," I sighed, flipping up my hood.
Gluttony took the two of us—and the little black and white animal—deep into the back alleys of Central City and through a rusty gate. Dull echoes floated up and down the underground tunnels we wound up in, as did an unpleasant smell that I found familiar but couldn't quite put my finger on. My thoughts kept wandering back to my days in the laboratory many years ago until I finally recognized it; the nonhuman chimeras back then were not well tended to, and often wallowed in their own filth. The stench here wasn't quite so bad, since these chimeras weren't kept in cramped cages, at least. I met their eyes, staring down at us through the grates above.
Despite the fact that we stumbled on a mangled mess of bones, it wasn't the chimeras that put me ill at ease. Something bad was down there. Although similar, it was much more intimidating than any of the homunculi I'd encountered, and not quite the same. Its presence danced over my senses like cobwebs and enticed my ears to flatten against my head and my nails to elongate into retractable claws, hackles raised. As I began to lag behind in my unwillingness to come any closer to the ominous being, Al looked back at me.
"Selena? Is something wrong?"
"…I don't like this…"
"Gluttony said the guardians wouldn't attack us as long as we're with him," Al assured me, even though he was obviously disturbed by the creatures himself.
"It's not the chimeras that bother me. There's just… There's something down there. I really don't like it."
"Maybe you should go back. You're more sensitive to these things, so…"
"But I don't want to leave you by yourself," I protested.
"I'll be fine. They seem to want my brother and I alive, so they won't do anything to me."
I paused, giving the ground a long, suffering look, and reluctantly agreed.
"Be careful," I told him, squeezing his hand.
"I will. See if you can find the colonel or Lieutenant Hawkeye. You shouldn't be by yourself at a time like this."
"Okay." I turned and hurried away.
Up ahead, sounds of commotion reached my ears, and I caught a faint whiff of blood. Furrowing my brows, I snuck up to the next corner and peeked cautiously around it. A swarm of chimeras was attacking two figures of contrasting stature—one a tall Ishbalan male, and the other a small girl wearing clothes reminiscent of Lin's.
Another foreigner? I wondered.
Xing idiot number four hopped over a carcass and drew a knife from the pack slung around her shoulder, whipping her arm out to send it flying at me. Yelping, I ducked out of harm's way and bumped into a chimera that had been walking past me. We both took a tumble and nearly ended up in the sewer water.
"Are you trying to kill me?" I sat up with a growl, rubbing my elbow gingerly.
The two humans blinked at me in surprise as I got to my feet. On closer inspection, I recognized the man as the Ishbalan serial killer who had been fighting the Elrics earlier. He was giving me an unnecessarily strange look.
"What?" I asked just before I thought to feel for my hood. Of course it had fallen off, again. "Why the hell does this happen so much?" I snapped at no one, hurrying to fix the problem. (Not that it served any purpose anymore; I might as well strut into normal society without my hood at this rate.) The two exchanged glances, and then the Ishbalan sent a glare my way.
"You're a chimera."
"That's right," I grumbled, getting to my feet. "A lot of people seem to be finding out lately…"
"Then are you the one in charge of all of these?" he prompted, referring to the nonhuman chimeras prowling the tunnel. I raised a brow.
"Why would I be in charge of—Whoa!" I stumbled forwards as the one I'd crashed into earlier nudged the backs of my knees, nearly sending me toppling again. "Fine, I'll move! Stupid friggin creepy looking…"
"They seem awfully friendly towards you."
"That's not my fault! Don't ask me how their heads work! I've never been here before in my life!"
"Then who are you?" he asked in a low, serious voice. I was tempted to reply, "I'm the girl that breaks in every so often," but remembered that I hadn't dropped through an air vent and this wasn't Dublith.
"…Selena. You're that Scar guy I've heard about?"
"That is what they call me."
"And who are you?" I asked Xing idiot the fourth.
"I'm May Chang of the Xing empire," she announced proudly. "Are you an enemy?"
"I don't think so… I was on my way out. Why are you here?"
"Because that demon suit of armor kidnapped my poor Xiao Mei!" I wasn't sure who Xiao Mei was or why the girl thought innocent, kitty-loving Al was a demon, but I just wanted to get away from the ominous presence in the tunnels and didn't feel like asking for an explanation.
"…Sure. Well, be careful down there." I started to take my leave, brushing past Scar, but his hand fell on my shoulder. I glanced back at him in annoyance. "What?"
"Earlier, you were with the FullMetal Alchemist's brother and a homunculus."
"Yeah. So?"
His glare darkened. I inched backwards.
"It's a long story, but I really just want to get out of here. Please don't kill me."
Grunting, he turned back to the chimeras that had continued to gather in the tunnel.
"As long as you don't cause trouble. Go."
I blinked at his back as he stepped forwards to confront the swarm, bemused. He might actually be a nice guy, I thought, heading towards the exit. It's not like he has no reason to hate the state alchemists that he kills. After all, many of his people were killed in the war; he probably saw a lot of his friends and comrades die.
I paused, struck by the thought, and peered over my shoulder at Scar in a new light. His back was still to me as he helped May Chang fight off the oncoming enemy. A chimera lunged at him from behind, and he splattered it across one of the walls. A survivor's gaze flashed from the blood that matched his eyes to my face. We exchanged glances, and then he spun back to his battle.
Turning back, I trotted out into the world in the sunlight.
A survivor.
Sorry if I disappointed those of you who were waiting for Selena to meet GreedLin in this chapter. ^^; The story is unfolding as planned, and a little that wasn't planned (for example, I didn't expect Selena to make friends with Scar. Well, at least she kind of sees him as a friend... His sentiments are unclear at the moment...) Characters really do write themselves.
