Pinned to a stone cross, hanging like a gutted fish while his siblings sneered—this was not how Greed had pictured dying.
But then, nothing in his life had gone as he'd planned.
"At last the prodigal son returns." A voice—that familiar, hated voice—said softly. Greed raised his head as he could look his tormentor in the eye. Golden eyes watched him coldly, so like Ed's and yet so different. Ed's eyes would never look so passionless.
"Hey, Dad." Greed rasped, "Been a while. I see you've been busy while I was gone." He nodded to the Fuhrer, standing stoically before Father.
"This is Wrath. Father made him 40 years ago for the final step of the plan. A homunculus that ages." Lust explained with a smirk.
"Made him? How?! That's impossible!"
"No such thing as impossible. Didn't you used to say that?" Envy sneered. "Your time with the humans has really dulled you."
"…Yeah, maybe." Greed admitted. He had changed during the years on his own. "Maybe that's not a bad thing. You can learn a lot from humans."
"HA!" Envy's smug grin stretched across his face unnaturally. "You learned their softness. Wrath says you surrendered as soon as he threatened the Elric brats. You gave yourself up for a pair of insects! Your attachment was the death of you."
Greed snarled. "Don't call my family insects."
"Family…what led you to use that term?" Father asked. "They're humans. Inconsequential worms. Why would you claim a relation to them?"
"Because it's true. You might not see it that way, but the ties are there, like it or not."
"What do you mean?"
Greed paused. Was he serious? He scanned Father's face for any signs of deceit. The old man had always had a good poker face, but Greed could still read him. He seemed genuinely confused. That meant—
"You don't know." A laugh escaped Greed's throat. Father didn't know they were Hohenheim's kids. It had been a coincidence that the military alchemist had showed up in Resembool. Father didn't know his brother had had kids at all. More laughter escaped him, high-pitched and hysterical.
Father frowned. The other Homunculi looked disturbed.
"What's so funny?" Envy demanded.
"YOU! You're what's funny!" Greed fought to gain composure, but the laughter would not be stopped. "You guys…you're sitting on top of a mountain of secrets, but the biggest one, the one that matters most to you, is right under your nose and YOU DON'T KNOW IT!"
Father's scowl deepened. He stood and stepped down from his throne—for him, that was the equivalent of an angry tantrum. "What are you hiding from me, Greed?"
"I'm not hiding anything." Greed grinned, his teeth flashing in the dim light. "It's right out in the open for you to see. You're just blind."
Lust snorted. "Is this an attempt to save yourself?"
"No…" Father muttered, meeting Greed's gaze with disdain. "Lying wasn't something you did. Treachery, yes, but not lies. Tell me what you know."
"Hmm…. No." Greed smirked. "I'll let you figure it out yourself."
Father's eyes narrowed. He stepped back to the throne and pressed a button. A metal vat rose dramatically from the floor underneath him—Father always was one for theatrics. A blast of heat washed over him from the liquid inside. Harsh fumes rose from the surface, stinging his eyes and throat.
"I can end you painlessly." Father said with false calm. "Or I can make you suffer. It's your choice, my son. Tell me—what do you know about the Elric brothers that I do not?"
So many things. He knew that the brothers had no self-control when it came to consuming candy. He knew that they argued a lot, but always made up. He knew that Alphonse loved kittens and that Ed hated being called short. He knew what stories they liked to read, and how to trick Ed into consuming milk, and what their favorite games were, and what foods they wouldn't touch if they were starving. A million simple secrets he knew that Father never would because he would never bother to ask. It felt wonderful.
"Screw you, old man."
The look of frustration on Father's face was priceless. Greed cherished the image as he burned.
He died laughing.