Disclamier: No, I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, don't sue!
Halfmetal Alchemist: Chapter 7
Ultimus
"A city is to be destroyed today." The woman looked up, sad eyes searching the boy's face for a pitiable emotion, but none where to be found in the amber pools of his eyes. "Which one?" she moved against her chains and winced, seizing to struggle. She thought she saw pain flash across his face, but then deemed that it must have been the shadows when his face once again registered nothing. "Lust says to go after Rizenbul next. Do you have an objection?" he asked after she gasped. "D-don't! Not there; it's where…" she held a small music box in her hands and pressed it to herself. "Please… don't destroy it!"
He shook his black hair thoughtfully, thinking about her request. "I'll see what I can do." he turned and swept out of the cell closing the door again. "You've been in there an awfully long time, Ultimus." Ultimus regarded Envy with barely concealed malice. "It's my business, isn't it, you undergrown deformed palm tree. Go irritate Lust, and see what she does to you."
Envy leaped in front of him and bared his teeth. "Be careful of what you say, Ultimus, it's because of us that you're alive. I'll rip you apart and enjoy it, I assure you." Ultimus waved him off nonchalantly and continued to walk. "Be careful of what you boast of, Envy. When I get angry," his eyes narrowed and a maddening look clouded his face. "When I get angry, nothing will protect you," Envy snarled at him, but took a step backwards and Ultimus kept walking and turned the corner.
He laughed at how easily he had intimidated Envy, for truly the dreaded Homunculus were not so frightening as they had been; or maybe it was just him. He had read books, of how a human named Edward Elric had destroyed them, but never had he been able to force out of Lust, Envy, or Gluttony, as to what might have brought them back.
Being human himself had not granted a special kinship with Envy, and Gluttony was just to daft to become acquainted with. Lust, however, had grudgingly taught him alchemy, something she could not use herself. He cast a withering glance at the dungeons. The woman down there should not be chained as she was; she could do no harm, being a human, and terrible at alchemy at that. But somehow, through his heated arguments with Lust he had not been able to grant her freedom from the chains.
Was she that important that she was to be chained night and day? Was someone looking for her, someone dangerous? He hid his face a bit more in his cloak and stepped briskly onto the dirt road to Rizenbul. It would be a long walk, a walk that he would gladly make longer to keep away from the pestilence that was Envy. He could not get the woman to talk very much, though when he was younger, she would soothe when he was downcast from Envy's beatings. He flexed his automail arm experimentally, the only thing that was not saved by Lust and the other Homunculi, the only thing that he owed them.
But… there was also, a kind of admiration of them, however twisted it might sound. The power to pull strings to get their own ends with minimal effort was one to admire greatly. And they had also promised… to help him find his father. For this, he would do what they said. Besides, what else had he to do? He was not given the name Ultimus out of humor, for they had close to none; it was because of power that he had been given the name, and he would use it to get ends to meet his way.
If he had anything to mourn of, it was because of the woman in the dungeon.
The woman that he could never call 'Mother' without fear for her life.
: ) Phew, one more chapter! Ultimus is his name, and there are many things that are his game, though he probably won't admit it to anyone. Just so ya know, dear readers, the reason for the Homunculi's 'regeneration' or whatnot will not be disclosed quite yet... I'll give you a hint tho'... It's closely tied in with Edward, the Fullmetal Alchemist! Don't you just love mysteries? ; )