Chapter 4: Meet Your New Boss

WARNING: From this chapter, here on out contain some spoilers from the final episodes of FMA. If you haven't been up to date with FMA, you may not want to read.

As we walk through the snow and deep cold alleys of central, I notice a tattoo of a snake eating its tail on the chest of the woman in green. The kid with the skirt has one too, on his thigh. Probably the little man has one too. I couldn't tell you where it is though. By looking at him, probably his tongue, or around his teeth, or something like that. He was a portly man. I'm still confused on why I'm going along.

"At least tell me your names." I ask

"Why should we do so when you haven't even given us yours." The woman in green said, looking over her shoulder to me.

"You probably know it already, so why bother?"

"Good enough. I guess its okay to tell you our names." She said "It's Lust"

"Envy"

"Gluttony"

"Hmm… By your appearances and attitudes, I'm not at all surprised." I say.

They are a little confused by this and continue on through these back alleys. I turn to the boy, Envy.

"Aren't you cold?" I ask.

"You get used to it" he replied. "Isn't that what you said before you killed the group in the bar?"

"Funny little bastard, aren't you?" I reply. He gets a little annoyed, but walks it off as we continue on.

After about ten or so minutes of walking, we reach a big building. I'm more than eager to go inside and see what the hell is going on, but the symbol at the top makes me a bit skeptical about going in. I stop, fearing the ominous cross that was above my head.

"Something wrong?" Lust asks me.

"Churches." I say, "I hate churches. You can make me go anywhere else, but not a church"

"So" Envy says, laughing to his self "The demon is afraid of something"

"I am a sworn enemy of God," I say to him, angrily "I don't cross into His domain."

"Well, if you knew half of the truths behind this old chapel," Lust said "You'd find it more to be a hell rather than a heaven."

Abiding by what she says, I hold my breath and walk into the church. I look around at all the stained glass. I really do hate churches. So pure, it makes me sick. We go down a hall at the end of the alter, leading down some stairs into some weird utopian looking fountain.

"That wasn't so bad" Gluttony said to me, in his child like voice.

"Me being as old as I am, I've never gotten used to churches." I reply. "So, what's this leader of yours like? Is he well-mannered?"

"She is very well mannered, and she is looking forward to meeting you." Lust said.

At last, we get to the end of our little journey, facing the ever-ominous doors. Something tells me I'm going to regret what's on the other side of them. Lust goes over to it and pushes it open to reveal what seems to be an underground mansion. Beautiful hard tile floor, lovely golden brown walls and a huge staircase, draped all in red. I notice a woman at the top of the stairs with short brown hair and a red dress. The trio bow down, I assume this is their master.

"Welcome to our lovely home, Mr. Griffin" she says. I'm taken back when I hear her say this.

"How do you know my name?" I ask. "I don't give my name out to people."

"I know quite a lot about you, Mr. Griffin." She replies "From your sad childhood, to your present day self"

"So, these people, if they are people," I say, jesting at the three who led me here, "said you wanted to meet with me"

"That is very true," the woman in red, says, "You are going to help me, you know."

"Why?"

"Because, six homunculi just can't be stretched out too far across the land," she says. It makes sense now why the three survived.

"So, they're homunculi" I say, looking at them "I'm not surprised. False humans that never die. But you didn't answer my question."

"I did"

"You told me you own desire, but why should I help you?" I ask

She is about to answer when she pulls out a watch. She looks down at it, and then at me.

"Would you like to join me for tea?" she asks.

"Tea?"

"Yes, I always enjoy a nice cup of tea."

"It's three in the morning!" I say to her "You tea this early!"

"Is that wrong?"

"Just weird." I say, "But who am I to refuse such an invitation from such a beautiful woman?"

"Follow me, please." She says, walking up the staircase. I follow her up them. At this point, I don't have anything better to do. Mindlessly killing would be at the top of my list of things I'd rather be doing than drinking tea at 3 in the morning. But, what the hell? She leads me into a huge room with a small table at the end. She sits down and I proceeded to sit across from her. The tea is already there, she picks it up and pours me a cup.

"Thank you." I say, taking the cup. "Now, "helping you" is the same thing as picking up my contract as an assassin, you know that right?"

"I'm old, not stupid," she says, adding sugar and cream to her own cup.

"So, what is it exactly you want me to do?"

"Have you ever heard of the Philosopher's Stone?" she asks

"An alchemic device that can overcome equivalent exchange, becoming that of a God in the lines of alchemy."

"How did you know that?"

"I'm old, not stupid," I say, mocking her.

"Cute, anyway, down to business." She says "Recently, the Philosopher's Stone was made in the desert town of Liore."

"You sacrificed an entire city to get a stone?" I ask.

"We sacrificed a military group invading the city." She says. "How did you know that?"

"I got bored, so I read some weird alchemy books. It's not that hard to figure out what it takes to make a stone." I reply. "So, why should I care you made it?"

"We don't have it is the problem." She says, "And an even worse problem is that the ones who have it are directly in the military."

"So?"

"The reason the military was there in Liore was because they were supposed to be there. The military's hidden agenda is to make Philosopher's stones."

"That makes sense. So let me guess, the wrong people have this information?"

"You truly are smarter than you look."

"And if these people that know these secrets were to succumb to a horrible accident, that would certainly make your day."

"I like people like you" she says, smiling.

"All I need is a list of people and your signature." I say taking out a piece of paper, a pen, and a knife.

"I'm confused." She says

"My contract is very serious. In order for you to give me rulings, you need to sign in your own blood."

She takes the knife, sticks her finger, and places it on the paper.

"I like your type." I say, "No fear."

"Thank you." She replies. "I don't have a complete list, but Sloth can get you one in a day." She gets up. "For the main time, you can stay here, with us."

"Name."

"What?"

"I want your name."

"Dante, now lets return the to the hallway." She says, heading for the door. "I want you to meet my finest work."

I'm a bit confused on what she means by that, so I follow her anyway. When we get back to the hall, thee more people, Homunculi, have arrived while Dante and I were upstairs. I look at the woman that is there, she has long brown hair and is wearing a blackish dress. There's a kid by her side. He's pale all over except for his arm and leg. The final man standing in the hall made me fall down and cruse at myself. A man I hated the most. The Furher, King Bradley. Seeing him makes me realize how deep this is. I see how the military could get away with this without that many questions from the subordinate maggots.

I don't know wether I'm going to have fun or regret.