A/N Happy new Year everyone ^^ yay, 2012, this years the year I'm gonna get this fic done, really! ^^;

Previous reviews:

Wow 3 reviews, guess that makes a nice Christmas present ^_^

Muddywolf-

You know me, I have to make giant references to chapters ages ago ^^;; and of course Pride wants to be the best at everything , regeneration included. And of course wouldn't want anyone to know he was hurt so he'd also want to not spark at all. And from my observations in the series I assumed that the shadows must shock absorb most of it to prevent his skin from tearing, or something like that o.o aww, no, most of this doesn't have a narrator outside the characters, that was Lust considered that they'd be cheating , but it isn't like she cares if they're cheating or not ^_^

Moofy-fan-

You know I couldn't resist Pride and Lust fluff, with their time as friends being numbered and all ;_; I didn't mean it to be that gory, it just sorta…happened -.-;; of course Lust is very concerned about Pride and Greed, she knows what Father can do so she's always worried about them some ^^;

Velgamidragon-

Oh wow, I didn't know collagen did that (stupid science class, you made me look bad *bad reference I know I'm sorry*), sorry for not including it, though I'd be worried about too much of it making him look too young maybe, actually I don't know what I'm talking about I'll forget I said anything ^^;;

Ah yes…Envy, I don't like Envy enough to give him a nice intro ^^; yes, Greed is going to get lost in about 60 years, cant wait ^^ Yep, yep, it's all in hand, I have most of the chapters at least planned out very basically ^_^

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Sin's Child

Chapter Thirty-Six: Adjusting Errors

"Well, that certainly wasn't a waste of time was it?" Greed scoffed to himself, leaning against the wall, arms crossed. Lust felt herself nodding, but thought better of it, with Pride watching, it wasn't like he needed any more reasons for him to not respect her.

"Be quiet, Greed." Once Greed had begrudgingly shut his mouth, Lust turned her attention to her older sibling. He was standing beside her, weakly pulling at his crown, gaze boring a hole in the floor, brow creased in uncertainly and confusion. Of course he wouldn't know how he should feel, he wasn't allowed to be disappointed, but none of the other homunculi had turned out like this, or had made Father so angry, so she wasn't surprised in the least that he was feeling a little conflicted with himself. After a moment or two she watched him scowl a tad, sighing and easing his coat down despite the season, as if he saw no point in wearing his most illustrious clothes if there was no real homunculus to introduce himself to. The three of them hiding from Father in the corridor that lead to their rooms was certainly not the most dignified of situations either. Of course, after a few moments the cold caught up, seeping into his frail, mostly hollow little container without much resistance, and he soon slipped the silk coat back over his shoulders (it wasn't like she herself wasn't cold, she was seriously considering putting on her own coat, even though it wouldn't be considered polite to wear her big winter coat inside), nervously pulling at his cravat, the silence and the precarious atmosphere following Father's venom filled outburst no doubt lingering in his mind. It was not directed at him by any means, but she knew he was sensitive, that he would easily absorb those feelings around him and take them into himself to digest and curiously, if a little nervously, ponder. These being feelings from Father (Father was probably the only person's feelings he would take into account these days, if ever again) was what was affecting him so, his wholehearted devotion meant that he couldn't bear to see him displeased, even if he was not the cause of it. She knew he had far more selfish reasons though- if Father was displeased he was more likely to take his frustrations on the eldest, he had dutifully removed himself on Father's orders not out of respect for him, rather to avoid being on the receiving end of Father's wrath, still a very real threat, even more so now that he had one less sin to distract him from it.

Lust only stared at him as he continued to fidget with his cravat, the prince of Amestris and Aerugo's cravat, and clothes, the only clothes she'd stolen, the other she had bought, the one before that Father had made for him. She would never tell him that the prince was quite a bit taller than him when he had been alive, the slack, puffed out trousers he wore not nearly a puffed out when he had wore them, frilled cuffs not covering his hands, only reaching his wrists, it was probably no secret that Pride was far from the average height expected of someone at his assumed age, though his container being who it was that wasn't very surprising, most of those she had seen who were homeless and starving were far below 'normal' height. The best Pride could hope for should he realize his stunted stature would be to attempt to permanently stretch his skin to a new height, if the weathered, almost seventy year old bones of his human would allow such a thing.

Pride looked up as he felt her staring, twisting his mouth into what could be considered a smile if she squinted, one of his less sincere smiles, but not because he wished to be malicious, more that he didn't see a reason for smiling under such circumstances, a weak, reluctant smile. Lust smiled too, the same kind of smile, tentatively setting a hand on his head, and for the first time in who knew how long she felt as though they had a common ground in their mutual uncertainty about what was to follow.

"Oh God look what's come crawlin' in." Greed decided to speak up again, nodding in the direction of the small little speck of green that was hobbling towards them.

"Don't look at me." It tried to shriek at them, its voice loud-ish considering its size, but not loud enough for them to pay much attention to.

"Where d'ya think you're going?" Seeing its attempts to inch past them unnoticed Lust scooped it up, gently, as if it was so fragile she was afraid she would accidentally crush it. "I'm not really seein' the 'human' part of this homunculus, y'know? Ya sure Father didn't just botch up a chimera by mistake?" as if it was aware that Greed was talking about it the cobbled together mossy green mess turned to face him, eyes wide and terrified "Ugly little shit aint ya, no wonder Father kicked you out his room." Lust felt the way it shivered in her palm at Greed's words, hurt more than ever, even if only half an hour old. Seeing its eyes cloud up with tears she slowly began to run her finger along its snout, up over its head and down over its back, scarcely decorated with little spike-like bumps- it certainly was a strange thing, not in any way like them at all, Lust didn't know how it could have turned out so…not wrong, but so…different at least. Lust didn't think it so bad though, after all, Pride had been…different too, and he was treated better than any of them because of it, she was sure that, somehow, Father could accept Envy as his own, and actually treat him as such.

Yes, now that she could see it more clearly, with its rough skin, sickly green colour, long, bedraggled lizard like tail, eight stubby misshapen legs (four of them looking more like hands with equally blunt fingers), eyes much too large for its body (thank goodness the colour of them was at least normal, the same shade of magenta as Greed's) and a mouth at completely the wrong angle, surely it was ashamed at its appearance from how it had been received by everyone it had been acquainted with in the last thirty-odd minutes- very true to the nature of its sin.

"Shh, calm down, Envy, there's nothing to be depressed about, I'm sure Father'll find a way to fix you soon." it sniffed dejectedly to itself, but it stared up at her sideways, eyes either side its head she doubted it could see in the way that was 'normal'.

"Envy?"

"Yes, Envy, that's your name. Mine's Lust, I'm your older sister" She motioned towards Greed with her spare hand "that's Greed; he's going to be twenty-eight this summer. You poor dear, you know about numbers don't you?" she lowered her hand to let Pride see closer at his new younger sibling "and this is Pride- he's your eldest brother, please don't be fooled by how he looks, in May he's going to be one hundred and fifty." the last part was more for herself she was sure, she was always forgetting about it, but remembering him when he was so naïve and helpless, she would never manage to push down those maternal qualities of hers, but at least now she could try and force it onto Envy instead, maybe it would appreciate the concern more as well. Pride studied it with a curiosity tinged with disgust, even now Pride was still rather biased when it came to physical appearance, anything animal-like was lower than those humans who were already insects, more akin to chimeras and whatnot, so his quick appraisal of his new sibling was no doubt going to be of a subpar rating, though since Greed was made Pride's general opinion of everything had lowered considerably, so she had expected nothing less no matter how Envy turned out.

A few moments passed, and Envy seemed to calm a tad, still shuddering silently, but it seemed to be more at ease at least. Contently stroking over its nose again, Lust felt as though nothing else was really any of her concern outside soothing her youngest sibling. But then it flinched, and cowered away from something to her right

"Envy, what's wrong?" She turned to see what he was so anxious about. It was Father, his shadow covering all of them save Greed; hand tight on Pride's shoulder, Lust bent her knees as an excuse for bowing, her spare hand clasping over Envy so Father wouldn't see him.

"Good morning again Lust, Greed," Father's fingers tightened further "Pride." Pride's mouth was set in his usual emotionless line, but his eyes betrayed him, quick flashes of terror flickering across them, he was terrified, so utterly afraid of what Father could possibly want with him, when he was furious with Envy,even if he thought no one could tell, he was probably even trying to convince himself that was true. Littler things gave him away too, like the way his fringe shook with his otherwise unnoticeable trembling, or the way he had suddenly froze, and stopped breathing. There was no doubt in her mind that if Father didn't have any issue with Pride at the moment, he would if he could see the fear plastered on his face, if he couldn't already feel it, maybe his concern with Envy would keep him distracted, she hoped so. Father leaned over to half whisper in his ear "Pride, there is something I wish to discuss with you." Lust could practically see his pupils dilating "Come along." a more visible shiver ran through him at that. Slowly, slowly he tried to calm himself, batting his eyelids. After a few seconds that seemed to drag on for hours, Pride had managed to cloud his eyes so that they were as soulless as he desired them, hiding his fear beneath it like she had expected he would.

"Of…Of course Father." he still didn't hide the hitch in his voice as best he could, his disappointment of Envy and Father's unusual behaviour had unnerved him to a point that his perfect façade had slipped. Quietly, and secretly nervously, Pride padded after Father, emotionless and filled with the undying devotion that came with being Father's child. Lust watched him go, silent, still absentmindedly smoothing her finger down Envy's back. Envy was defenseless and naïve, it probably couldn't see that kind of fear that they all hid from Father, that they instead voiced as awe and loyalty, Envy was too young for that yet. But he'd grow into it.

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"Do you know why Envy has such a different appearance compared to you and your siblings, Pride?" Father had taken to sitting in his chair, and Pride was happy to stand, an audience with Father was far more important than the fact that he hadn't sat down for over an hour, he didn't mind at all.

"No, Father." He wasn't one to make assumptions when it came to Father, and even though he genuinely had no idea how something could have gone wrong with Envy to the point Father had become livid with them. Even if he had an idea he wouldn't have voiced it, mustn't ever think he could determine what Father was fully planning with anything, his thoughts were so far elevated above his own that he wasn't meant to truly understand them.

"Why do you not believe I created it this way intentionally?" Pride faltered slightly, Father was testing him, he needed to be cautious here, succinct and in no way presumptuous, Father would never accept anything but loyalty and the utmost respect, if he were to phrase it wrong it could be considered impertinent, and if that happened…

"You…you reacted to it as if you were disappointed, you did not formally introduce us to it, so I believe that something must have not gone according to your original intentions."

"Do you consider these to be faults caused by some error on my part?" At the very implication of such Pride paled, he hadn't meant that at all, he still didn't know why Father wanted to talk to him about such things, he didn't know anything about this new homunculus or why something had gone wrong with it.

"No, Father, you would never make such mistakes."

"But, Envy being a part of my soul, should it also not be capable of making such mistakes?"

"Perhaps, while being created, it acted irrationally once partly conscious, leading to its altered appearance." It was only a very feeble guess, but he couldn't see any other plausible reason for it turning out a way completely different to what Father wanted.

"Perhaps. It seems that while it is genderless as I had desired, it does not conform to the humanoid appearance that I expect from my children. For now I am assuming that it accidentally used the number of souls it was born with," Pride had seen it for himself well enough, it was quite grotesque and pitiful to say the least, and it looked so tiny and helpless, but it didn't deserve any sympathy if it had been foolish enough to squander all the souls Father had given it only moments before it was born. "reducing it to a rather basic form that I had prepared for it to revert to should it ever be seriously injured beyond what regenerating would be able to heal, rather than it dying." It was like Father had anticipated such a thing, giving it a basic, defenseless form that would prevent it from dying, though he didn't see the reasoning behind it, if whatever had injured it to cause it to revert to such a state they would have little trouble killing it if it had no means to protect itself. But Father had a reason for everything, so the thought of questioning him didn't even cross Pride's mind.

"As such, I shall be providing it with another Philosopher's stone to help it alter its appearance to something more-suitable." That sounded like the best thing to do, but if Father had suggested it of course it was the best thing "Pride, go and collect your siblings. I will rectify Envy's appearance immediately." was that all Father wanted from him? But why would he… it didn't matter, he had orders now, and following them impeccably was his first and only concern at the moment. He nodded, bowing low before him like he always would; Father would never expect anything less from him.

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After five minutes Pride was again in Father's presence, Lust and Greed standing a little behind him and Envy with Father, a ways off on the floor (the pathetic thing was still crying when it arrived), being repaired. Pride couldn't see very well in the dark of Father's room- most likely due to Father's less than pleased mood with today's events, but he could see Father crouched down on one knee, touching a finger to his head, no doubt to harvest another Philosopher's stone for Envy from the eye he concealed in his forehead, much like his shadow's own eyes, he'd only ever seen it twice, at least he was sure it wasn't just his imagination this time. A minute later Father stood and returned to them

"Envy will be with us in a more…adequate form momentarily." Pride still couldn't see anything in the way of definite, but soon something changed, and the silhouetted shape of his younger sibling seemed to swell, and rise high above them. He felt Lust pull him back gently by the his coat collar, but full of urgency, a large, green, clawed hand slamming down where he'd been standing, an inhuman roar filling the air and echoing off the walls. Before very long the creature stopped to groan, and began to fade, compressing into something much smaller, smaller...

But still it groaned, hunched over, feeling blindly around, form still uneven and constantly changing.

"Pride, help your brother to his feet." Immediately he did, stepping closer to the kneeling figure on the floor, holding out his hand, something of a smile on his face. Of course, he should be happy that his new sibling now held a more appropriate appearance.

"Hello, Envy." Pride crouched a little more, stretching his hand out further, the lace falling over his fingers but surely Envy would be able to tell that he was trying to help it. Something crackled with familiar alchemic sparks, and he felt Envy reach to take his hand, the sparks only intensifying to a point that he covered his eyes. Envy's hand was shaking slightly, like it was afraid, or…changing somewhat, soon it felt softer as the light began to die down, smaller too...

It took a moment for Pride to open his eyes, rather interested in what his new sibling would look like. When the same pair of soft violet as his own stared back at him he almost gagged, pulling away so violently he ended up dragging Envy across the floor. He could barely hear Father's voice mentioning something about Envy's ability to change its shape. That pale, perfect face, but not perfect on him somehow, only he was perfect, how dare Envy even try to emulate him, in such a wretched state too, hands hidden beneath flaps of skin growing out from its wrists, its futile attempts at imitating his lace cuffs, no clothes at all, just scarce skin coloured bumps over it. Coming out of its daze it pushed itself onto its knees, it did look…like him, but at the same time…no, it was nothing like him, not perfect like him. Pride saw it now, on its thigh, the red ouroboros shaped stain, marring what appeared to be his own milky white flesh.

I don't have a mark there, stop it…stop it…

There'd no shadows at all beneath it, only pathetic, almost human insides and that weak pitiful lizard sitting inside its head…

"Stop that, Stop that now! Change into someone else!" It seemed to ignore him, staring past him, and it began to spark again, face changing, eyes becoming more vibrant, hair growing out down to its waist and further until its limbs began to grow. Splotches of black formed over its skin from the neck down, imitating Lust's gloves and dress. It hadn't completed its imitation of Lust when it spotted Greed and started to change again, and Father soon after, trying to find a shape that suited it.

It went on for over ten minutes, glancing between the four of them, stealing characteristics from each of them, more often than not settling for black hair, once chancing Father's golden eyes but thinking better of it. Finally it settled upon something different entirely that it no doubt considered original, different from all of them yet still not appealing in the least, hair still reaching its waist, but falling in countless, long, thick strands from a piece of fabric wrapped around its head. Its sorry excuse for clothing was nothing but a thin sleeveless shirt like Greed's except seemingly cut in half, what looked like a skirt and two pieces of cloth folded over its feet in place of suitable shoes. It was Lust who stepped forward to help it…him(?) to his feet (she seemed to have quite a bit of trouble with it, was he that heavy?)

"Oh Envy you must be freezing like that, are you cold?" As soon as the words left her mouth he started shivering.

"Cold. I'm cold."

Pride didn't move from his place on the floor, watching as Lust fussed over his youngest sibling, wrapped him up in her coat to keep him warm. Murmuring things about his shape shifting abilities, how unique they were, and how happy she was to have a new brother. Still, Pride couldn't help but remember Envy's disgraceful parody of him, and yet Father had thought nothing of such a shameful imitation, he was far too disgusted to be ashamed. But still, Envy wasn't like him, Envy could only pretend to be others, Pride wasn't the one who had such a weak, pitiful creature that Father had to create to ensure it didn't die, as if he had already assumed it would lead itself into such a situation, he didn't do such a ridiculous thing as being born as a disappointment that required Father's intervention to rectify.

He certainly didn't need to rely on such affection from Lust either.

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Phew, hope this chapter was ok, as you can probably tell I…don't. like. writing. Envy.

Well, that's all for another two weeks, hopefully I can actually stick to this schedule once I'm back at school ^_^;