Sin

This chapter is dedicated to the incredibly awesome Nelja, for being so helpful with her criticisms on the original version of Sin! I hope the re-write lives up to her expectations!

Chapter 7

It would have been a night as it should have been at what remained of the Hughes household. Gracia was no longer alone, and Alicia was finally home. After crying tears of joy over the return of her daughter, she brought the unconcious girl up the stairs and tucked her safely into bed. Sin watched from the doorway as the woman sniffed away her sobs, kissing the sleeping child three times before standing and turning to face him, a painful smile on her face that portrayed the ultimate joy.

Deep inside, it felt like a hole within Sin's being was pried open at the sight of the two. It was a painful gap, existing for the sole purpose of reminding him that he had something missing there.

In spite of himself, he placed a hand on Gracia's shoulder as she came within his reach.

"Everything's going to be okay," he promised her.

"Yes," she agreed, wiping away her tears and smiling at him like she never had before. "Everyone is together now."

As they descended the stairs, Sin wondered what she meant by that.

The boy everyone called Edward Elric watched closely as the two of them came into the living room. He was small, but sharp in eyes and features. Sin was reminded suddenly of Wrath when he realized he had an arm and a leg replaced with prosthetics. He wondered if the boy was okay, off on his own, armed with his auto-mail and alone somewhere.

The way Edward stood was confident, but aggressive towards Sin, making the man uncomfortable. He stood at the other end of the room, closer to where Roy Mustang was sitting in a chair, hunched over in his place with hands folded in front of his face, his eyes closed. Next to him sat a rigid-firm Hawkeye, and a slightly-buzzed Havoc stood in his street clothes by the window, smoking his cigarette. It was very late, and no one else could have been reached.

"Edward-kun," Gracia said, ignoring the severe looks he was giving to Sin and approaching him. "I cannot thank you enough for bringing my Alicia back to me."

"I know, Gracia," he reassured, although sounding impatient. He put a supportive hand on her shoulder as she bowed to him, and he quickly turned on Sin. "The last time I checked, Hughes was dead."

"He is," Sin replied quietly.

"Then who the hell are you?"

Sin couldn't answer, and instead he simply looked away.

"Now I understand," Ed humphed bitterly as he turned to the military personel behind him. "Who's been teaching Alicia alchemy?"

Unanimously, everyone turned to stare at Roy, who hadn't moved. Ed hesitated before turning back, choosing to leave the subject alone for the time being. "I found Alicia inside the Gate," he said, forgetting how little they knew and moving to glare heavily at Sin. "How could she have gotten there, Colonel?" Choosing not to wait for an answer, he continued. "Human transmutation." He said, the words hitting hard for those who understood; a group to which Sin was excluded. The words sounded familiar from the short time he had spent with Al in Rizembul. "Alicia tried to bring her father back to life, and died in the process."

"Edward," Hawkeye interjected harshly, standing up and asking what everyone wanted to know: "What in the world is the Gate?"

"It's complicated," he replied simply, avoiding the subject, and beginning to advance upon Sin. "Do you even know what you are? What do you call yourself?"

Sin stepped back, feeling uncomfortable at the way the smaller man was staring at him as he walked forward. "I don't know..." he muttered.

"Edward, please!" Gracia pleaded, stepping forward while sensing Ed's ill-intent. "Leave him alone! He's done absolutely nothing wrong!"

"What he's done doesn't matter," Ed said, not averting his golden gaze from Sin's violet eyes. "You should not exist in this world. You are an abomination created by the clumsy hands of a child. You were created as a replacement of a man she probably doesn't even remember anymore. How does that make you feel?"

Sin realized in dismay that he was now cornered by the small man, and he pressed his back against the far wall, but Ed didn't slow his advance. His eyes searched for some means of escape from the situation, and he found nothing. Gracia was watching him with her clutched hands pressed to her lips. Hawkeye still stood at the couch, frozen in her bewilderment, and Havoc still stood staring from the window, his burning cigarette hanging from his lips. Roy simply remained in his place.

There was no escape.

"Homunculus," Ed muttered the word like a curse as he finally stopped, not even inches in front of Sin. "It's what you are. You are a lifeless being created without a soul, and now you have nothing." Ed pulled his prosthetic arm off to his side. "Just relax and make this easier for me."

Sin didn't realize that Ed had actually tried to hit him (unwisely with his fake hand). All he saw was Ed throwing back his arm and bringing it forward as hard as he could, quickly followed by an explosion of colour. Sin could practically hear the gears of everyone's minds screech to a halt as the entirety of Ed's prosthetic arm evaporated into a shuddering sea of multi-coloured butterflies, silencing everything beyond the sound of the fluttering gusts of their tiny wings.

Ed's eyes widened in absolute shock as he clutched at where his arm used to be, staring in confusion along with everyone else. Even Roy's eye had opened, and he was peering up at the spectacle as the cigarette fell gracefully out of Havoc's mouth.

Sin sighed in relief, raising his hands to the swarm that had settled before him, feeling the flapping of tiny wings batting relentlessly against his fingers as they settled all across his arms. But it wasn't just Sin - they were everywhere, beginning to settle in the corners of the ceiling while searching for an escape, or moving to rest comfortably underneath the warmth of lamplight. Hawkeye analyzed the ones decorating her uniform as Havoc picked up his cigarette from the carpet, a rainbow of glimmering wings clinging to his clothes. Roy sat in silence as he analyzed the situation, completely covered with them himself. Gracia stared in astonishment at them, at a complete loss of what to do.

Meanwhile, Ed shook his head vigorously and he managed to swat away quite a few of the little butterflies from his shoulders using his ponytail alone. He shot his head up to glare venomously at Sin just as the front door slammed open, welcoming in an excited and exhausted Alphonse Elric.

Panting, he didn't seem to notice as large swarms of the little bugs escaped through the door. "Ni-san!" He cried, running forward.

"Al..." Ed sighed, finally being distracted from the butterflies as well as Sin, but he yelped just the same as Al threw his arms around his brother and squeezed as tight as he could, lifting Ed from the ground.

"Ni-san! It's really you! You're really here!"

"Al..."

"If I'm dreaming, don't wake me up!"

"Al!" Ed said, much more firmly, inspiring Al to release his grip on him, and the younger brother stared up at Ed expectantly, only to get a ruffling of his hair. "I've missed you, too. But... let me go."

"Oh... sorry, Ni-san," Al laughed bashfully as he released his brother. The boy had a hard time containing his emotion, but he did a good job of it as Ed fixed his jacket with his one operable hand. Prideful, down to his last breath.

But rarely for his brother.

Ed placed his hand on Al's head yet again, letting his fingers fan through Al's blonde mane. To those who knew them before Sin, they recognized Ed's desire to confirm Al's real body. "You're too tall," he said, getting a chuckle out of Al, as well as Gracia. "...Let's go."

"Yes!" Al said, eager to please his brother as Ed passed him to exit through the door, leaving his hand lingering on his brother's head as he passed. Al couldn't contain his fond smile as he glanced back at Sin and the colours in the room. He delivered the people in the house a brief wave as he turned to walk with his brother.

The sound of the door closing behind Ed flooded Sin with unbelievable relief, and he even extended a sigh in their wake.

Nothing had been solved at all with the return of the renowned Edward Elric. There were more questions than ever. What was the Gate? How did Ed get through it? Why was Alicia alive if she died performing human transmutation?

But all those questions were just superficial to Sin - they didn't matter. He knew one thing, and that was enough.

He was an abomination.

A replacement.

A 'Homunculus'.

He had taken the place of a man who died because his daughter wanted her daddy back.

And now, Sin couldn't decide whether he would rather intrude on that man's space to stand in his place and be Alicia's father, or to respect the life of Maes Hughes and step down and away from the city and this entire situation.

In appreciation of the man, all he had done and in thanks for letting Sin borrow his family, Sin had practically decided on the latter choice late that night as he lay sleepless on the living room couch.

...Until Alicia came downstairs and curled herself under his arm and into his chest.

Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to stay...

Sin, Gracia, Havoc and Hawkeye had worked together late into the evening, finding all the butterflies and shooing them outside, all save for one which Hawkeye kept for the sake of having a specimen, although she had already confirmed that they were, indeed, living butterflies. She pointed out to Sin that, if what Ed said was true, then they had just experienced a deceased, revived and soulless human homunculus turn non-living material into thriving life.

What other conclusion could they come to after seeing what they had?

And after spending all night taking care releasing the butterflies out into the outside world, they had all turned around one moment and discovered Roy had left at some point when they weren't looking. Hawkeye just sighed and apologized on his behalf, which Gracia dismissed. They were all exhausted by the time the night was over.

And Sin lay there on the living room couch, cradling Alicia Hughes as he watched the house across the street light up as the sun rose in the other direction.

Edward wasn't going to just let him live.

Winry Rockbell claimed to be the best Auto-mail technician - next to her grandmother - in the world. For plenty of people, there was no one else they would turn to for anything of the nature. One of those people just so happened to Edward Elric, who had called her early that morning. She screamed for explanations over the phone and got none - she was just told to bring him an arm and a leg to Central. Winry was concerned for Ed's absence and his health, but she was more excited just to see him. For the longest time, she had been convinced that he was dead.

But now - by the voice in the phone - she knew he wasn't, and she was having a hard time keeping her composure as she urged the train to go faster.

"Don't worry," Shiezka said, grinning at her companion's excitement. "He's not going anywhere without his leg!"

Winry smiled and nodded back, brushing her hair away from her face. Shiezka said she was coming for moral support - acting as her assistant and claiming she also wanted to see Edward alive and well. Winry didn't doubt it, but she recognized the concern in the other girl's eyes to be elsewhere.

She wanted to see that man again. The one that looked like Hughes.

To be honest, Winry did, too.

Note:
I apologize on behalf of the possibly incestuous kind of style of the rest of this fic. I really don't ship Elricest. I don't like it very much at all, in fact. If you're into it, then good! If you aren't, I'm sorry! It wasn't intentional. This is just the way I percieve their relationship -affectionate. Isn't that the way it is?