Black Sin

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in the series except the Black Poison Alchemist and Lyanna. (And still more to come.) All other characters belong to their respectful owner (Hiromu Arakawa).

Chapter Nine: New Love

Black purred gently, eyes half-closed as Greed's hand gently stroked her face. Her head was resting in Greed's lap, already in a comfortable position as she continued her steady purring. Greed was stroking her as though she were a cat, as well as watching the current Devil's Nest occupants subconsciously.

He snapped out of his dreamlike state as he noticed that Black was no longer purring; upon looking down at her, he saw that she had drifted off to sleep. Dorochet paused while passing the two of them, backtracking.

"She seems oddly affectionate today…" he observed, arching an eyebrow curiously, in correspondence to his statement.

Greed chuckled, looking down at Black, still caressing her gently. Holding up a bottle of liquor in his other hand, he muttered, "Booze sure does do some strange things to humans…" Smiling knowingly, casually slipped his sunglasses off his face and into a pocket.

Dorochet blinked, almost, just almost, laughing as he pointed out, "She'll hate you for this later, you know… or at least, be very upset…"

Greed smiled, wagging one finger. "That's where you're wrong, mutt… I'm more than sure that she won't remember this incident at all…"

He bent down low enough that his lips barely grazed hers, hesitating slightly before kissing her, pulling away quietly. Brushing some stray strands of hair out of her face and behind her ear, whispering, barely audible, "And you're all mine."

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"Black Poison?" a voice called out, as Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc stepped into the small pool of light that was at the entrance of the dark alleyway.

There was no verbal answer, just a shifting somewhere to the left, near the boxes. Jean took a step forward, but was pulled back by a hand placed on his shoulder.

"That's not exactly the smartest thing to do at this moment," Lieutenant Colonel Hughes said softly, stepping into the light as well. Releasing his hold, he flicked his wrist, a knife sliding into his hand. Casually throwing it when he saw a figure move, its movement gradually ceased as metal thumped against wood.

Nodding at his companion, the Lieutenant Colonel went to investigate what he 'caught'.

Lyanna sat, almost helplessly, the knife pinning her shirt's collar to the fence. Apparently, Hughes had rather good aim, even in the dark. From the looks of her, it was obvious why she didn't get up and leave; one wrong twist of the knife could be fatal, and blood was pouring freely from her left eye. Even though the other eye was equally damaged, the blood on the cheek was dried and smeared. Her hair was matted with blood and rain, which had fallen the night before. Her normally bright blue eyes were pale and dull, and they focused on one place, unmoving.

The two military officers weren't able to identify her (even though they figured she wasn't Black), and criminal or not, she obviously needed help. All of this was taken into account by both men as Havoc kneeled, removing Hughes's knife from the fence. Upon doing so, she fell into Havoc's arms, though not purposely as she lay still. Havoc glanced up at Hughes, and needn't say anything; his superior officer was already in contact with the hospital.

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"How are you doing?" a voice asked, drifting somewhere above her, or to the side… she couldn't tell. For the time-being, she seemed to not be very direction-wise.

Lyanna opened her eyes partway, widening them as she realized that she could see. "I… I can see…" she muttered, not believing it to be true, too distracted with that jubilant thought to really take to mind that someone was holding her hand.

Havoc chuckled softly before taking her hand in both of his, rubbing it gently. "The doctor was able to wash out your eyes. You'll be fine, as long as you stay out of trouble.

Noticing him for the first time, she turned to face him, blue eyes glancing into those of the same hue. Normally, Black was the only one she would actually stand straight in front of, but... resisting her natural urge to leave, she relaxed her tense shoulders as she laid back against the pillow, softly sighing. "Who're you…?" she asked drowsily, aware that she had been awoken in the midst of a nice dream. Without waiting for an answer, she readjusted her position, her hands now holding his. Yawning softly, she closed her eyes, drowsily murmuring, "Never mind… you can tell me later…" Quietly drifting off to sleep, Jean glanced down at his lap, a slow smile crossing his face as he quietly tucked her in, leaving the room.

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Havoc was smiling as he left the hospital room, but that quickly evaporated as he saw the Lieutenant Colonel suddenly enter the hospital, approaching the lower ranking officer. Quickly saluting, he noticed that Maes had something in his hand, and he quickly lowered his arm, since he could feel the Lieutenant Colonel's tension.

There was a silence as the two men stared at each other, before Hughes opened his hand, a necklace resting in the palm. Upon closer inspection, they were really dog tags…

Thoroughly blood-stained, it was difficult to make out the name, and the Second Lieutenant stumbled back, eyes wide as he stuttered, "B-Black…"

"That woman in there," Hughes muttered, jerking his head inconspicuously to passerby, to the hospital room, continuing. "Attacked Black. She'll need to be interrogated when she's discharged from the hospital.