Complete Set
R for language/violence
Greed/Envy
When Envy angsts, he gets seriously violent and evil. When Gluttony angsts, he gets soggy and wobbly. Putting the two together makes fireworks. Envy-centric, on loss and getting back.

For thetower, who does it all.

Gluttony had been a mess from the moment he'd been created—he nearly hadn't survived the resurrection. He retained the scars throughout his long existence; he never could tell the differences between the Lusts, the Sloths, never seemed to realize that he and Envy alone remained in stable bodies.

Gluttony was pleasurably uncomplicated—he didn't want a whole lot of different things, he just wanted a lot things he could shove in his mouth. Gluttony would never question his existence, his purpose, he never questioned himself or his own perfection because…his head just wasn't big enough. Gluttony was like a big dog; ravenous, a little stupid, and a little soppy.

Envy had tried to kill Gluttony once. He'd been in one of his black moods; the second Lust was dead, Sloth was moping, and Greed had…

…Envy had been in a very black mood.

Killing Gluttony had been like stabbing a gummi bear, like hitting a water bag. There wasn't much point in mutilating something already so ugly, of hurting the oaf when it was whining for Lust, stupid leather-chasing Lust, and there was no real way to take away his naïveté. Still, that was no excuse not to try.

"He didn't like you anymore."

Gluttony's empty pig eyes stared at Envy. Gluttony had been chewing on a chair nervously; only two wooden legs remained. Envy crouched on his heels, trying to appear as helpful and non-offensive as possible. The posture probably wasn't necessary—Gluttony was fairly malleable (when there was a Lust to direct him) and never questioned Envy. He never trusted Envy because even big dogs and bears have survival instincts, but he never questioned him.

"He left because you made him angry."

Envy always considered himself a work of art, and something of an artist when it came to taking things apart, to dumbing things down. It wasn't until later he realized he'd been practicing the perfection of his craftsmanship on himself.

"You got boring. He isn't coming back for you. Lust isn't coming back at all."

The words might not have been registering in Gluttony's thick head at all, but since he'd stopped whining and moaning for Lust and actually kept Envy's gaze, Envy felt there was reason to be optimistic.

Gluttony remained focused, a strange event.

"Want back," Gluttony's high childish voice sounded more feminine than usual. It was also more significant than his usual demand for grub or Lust. "Want back."

Envy was still, and then cocked his head to one side, like a bird considering a particularly strange species of insect. He wondered if anyone had caught on that he'd killed Lust. Well, anyone except the dead Lust, himself, and that bastard Gre--

Then he tried stabbing Gluttony and kicking him around, finding the whole experience as satisfying as kicking around a water balloon. Gluttony was strong underneath all that blubber, extremely strong and powerful, but the fighting back just wasn't happening. Gluttony was more likely to run away than actually fight back. Greed would've--

A pillar exploded as Gluttony was smashed through it.

The blood was cold on Envy's hands, and as much as he hated to admit it, this just wasn't doing it for him. This wasn't fun. Not here. Not now.

Gluttony was whimpering.

For a second, Envy's face turned ugly; real ugly, then he slipped into something a little more comfortable and went to the fat man's side and placed one hand gently on one wide shoulder. Gluttony was refreshingly different under his hands—not hard and rangy, not muscular or tall, just so very different.

"Hey," Envy whispered quietly, smiling wanly, eyes seductively low. "Hey, it's okay. It's okay now; it's all right," his voice was pitched low like sweet marijuana smoke, Lust's leather pants feeling strange and confining on his legs. His mouth hurt. He'd forgotten—no, he'd never really realized how tall this Lust was. At least Lust's hair had been long, liquid soft and deepest black.

Gluttony's whimpering slowed down, then stoppered and rose into a high wail as he snuffled into Envy's shoulder in Lust's form. Gluttony was chilly and refreshingly round and smooth to hold. Envy looked away, realizing how they must look to an outsider.

No matter what he did, Envy's shape shifting never actually fooled Gluttony. He identified all the Sins by smell, not by form; that was why their Master confused him so when she shifted bodies. Gluttony wasn't fooled now, but he wasn't letting go, wasn't jerking away from Lust's hands on his back even though he knew they belonged to Envy. He knew better than to trust Envy, but missed Lust so much…

Envy rolled his eyes, and remembered the craftsmanship, the journey towards perfection.

Fathers always despised cowardice.

Snuffling, Gluttony raised his face and looked into Greed's grinning mug, patting his back gently.

"Sorry sweetheart," Envy rolled Greed's words like gold marbles over leather, one hand trailing down Gluttony's chest and belly. "But with the prices he offered me, I just couldn't refuse."

One hand buried itself up the elbow in Gluttony's belly, the other diving in to widen the hole while Envy tried to hold on with his knees, ignoring the high schoolgirl screams and the huge hamhocked hands yanking his head off. Envy pulled one hand out, gripping three of the red jewels in his fist. An arm like three baseball bats roped together with ducktaped whacked the side of his head repeatedly, and even with the strength of Greed's bull-neck he was starting to feel the strain.

Two more red jewels in his grip.

High screams in his temples, one hand lost to keep Gluttony's maw from chomping on his head and melting it off, the other hand digging deeper, harder through thick bulbous organs filled with room temperature blood and lymph.

It was getting harder to hold on with his knees, Gluttony's saliva was dripping on his shoulders, burning holes in Greed's leather vest and fur collar and Envy's flesh, flat hippopotamus teeth gnawing through his arm, digging for just two more jewels because Envy needed a complete set damn it, Greed had gotten a complete set out of his stomach just before he'd kissed him goodbye and he wasn't settling for second-best agai--

"Envy!"

Envy jumped back and Gluttony's arm caught him in the side of his chest, shattering something. He didn't open his hand, the red stones fiercely hot against his palm. Their Master appraised him with the quick shocked-annoyed-wary glance she'd perfected for him (only she'd used it on Greed too) while Gluttony got to his feet. Envy glowered at Gluttony for a moment, then slipped out of Greed's form to his own, crossing his arms and glancing away pointedly.

"Gluttony! Leave."

"Lust--"

"Lust had to go away on a mission for a while. He'll be back with us shortly."

"Envy--"

"Go eat something now," Envy smirked bitterly when Gluttony was cut off again. He'd never let himself be pushed aside so easily. "You'll feel better."

There was a silence as Gluttony glanced back from their Master to Envy bewildered and hurt, holding his stomach. Envy didn't meet anyone's eyes; he was too busy trying to squeeze the Stones through the skin of his palms so his body could absorb them before they could be taken.

He deserved the full-set. He deserved the full-set and more.

"Go," their Master repeated in a gentle, maternal voice.

There was gentle flopping footsteps as Gluttony waddled away, understanding on some base level that he wasn't going to get more and not sure how to push. Envy didn't tense; wasn't the time, he was better than that. Clipped neat footsteps came closer to him.

"Envy."

Was he supposed to look up at that? Confess? Care? Hell, creating Greed had been her moronic idea, not his, never his. Creating a homunculus that was so damn reliant on another like Gluttony was on Lust, any Lust, from the stupid hormonal boy to the improved older recently-deceased version was also her stupid idea, not his.

"You realize you could go after him."

The smirk hurt his face; he couldn't help it coming. Another brilliant idea.

"Or you can mope here, as before. However, you are not allowed to destroy your brothers. The choice is yours."

"Is it?" he surprised himself. He wasn't completely sure what he meant by the question, but he had to stand up for himself somehow like Gluttony couldn't. He met her gaze from the corner of his eyes; she didn't even look bothered. By anything.

She probably knew he'd killed Lust. Probably. Like she knew he'd killed the others.

"And what would I do with him when I found him? Bring him back here? He couldn't be controlled before," that was your fault your fault you can't make anyone stay you can't do anything you're nothing but a liar a goddamned liar!

Envy kept his voice even, streamlined like a rifle design and just as warm. "Kill him? I could've done that here; besides, it's a shame to waste someone that good in bed. And he wasn't made exactly vulnerable." We both had him in bed and you couldn't control him. You made him to kill me. Me.

He betrayed us both. He hurt you. I can afford to let him run a bit more.

"Envy," their Master murmured gently, chidingly, a faint smile on her lips. "There is another way to kill homunculi. The only way. There is no defense against it."

"And you'll teach it to me?"

"Of course."

When the devil offers you a deal--

With the prices he offered me for my soul, how could I--

--There's only one right thing to say.

"Cool," Envy grinned brightly. The rubies had melted into his skin; he only need two more to complete the set. "When do we start?"

First I love you, then I hate you,
Then I love you more
--Celine Dion (weird, I know, these things happen).