Part 5: Rebirth

For along time, there was darkness. I could feel all my emotions swirling around me. Hate, jealousy, happiness, sadness, I could feel them surrounding me. But one stood out from them all…

…Greed.

I could feel it taking over me, I wanted it all. Money, women, fame, power, everything this world had to offer. The desire was over whelming. Yet, at the same time, infuriating. I could possess all these things and yet still want more. Nothing could slake my thirst for it ... Something would always be missing. I would never be able to get Elizabeth back … Wait, Elizabeth? Who's Elizabeth? I can't seem to remember anymore. I can't seem to remember anything. Images and faces flash by, but they have no meaning. Eventually they start to fade, as all becomes darkness again, consumed by the greed.

'Groan'

"Ah, you are awake."

"…Who are you? … Who am I?" I tried to sit up from the bed I was in but I found it hard to move, I could only manage to sit up a little and look around. It was an elegant room with giant currents draped over the windows, blocking out the sun. The only source of light was a candle lit chandelier that hung from the high ceiling.

"Ah, real bright one we got here Dante." Envy said mockingly.

"Shut up faggot." I said casually.

"What did you just say!" Envy shrieked at the new born homunculus. I could hear snickers coming from someone behind him.

"Envy, please! Calm yourself! You should not have provoked him in the first place…" Dante said trying to calm him down. It wasn't working though. Envy started walking towards me when a very attractive woman with long black hair and a slimming black dress put her hand in front of him.

"Now, now Envy, play nice." She purred. I looked at her and saw that she has the same tattoo that Envy's has, except it was just underneath her collarbone.

Envy growled at her. "Get out of the way Lust! He has it coming!" he screeched making his voice go shrill and girly, and then turned his attention to me.

I just stared at him. "As much fun as it is making this gender confused freak lose his -- or her -- cool, could you answer my questions?"

Dante smirked and sat down in a chair facing me. "My name is Dante. The man with the green hair is Envy, the woman is Lust. Before we continue, may I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"Do you remember anything? Think hard, it is very important that I know."

I thought, but couldn't really remember anything, only fuzzy images that vanished almost as quickly as they appeared. One stood out though, a little girl with short brown hair with a red ribbon tied around her head, but I couldn't for the life of me remember who she was. After a moment, that image was gone too.

"I remembered a face, but I can't remember who it was. It's gone now though." I was being very honest to her. Why not? Something had obviously happened to me and this 'Dante' was looking after me, along with her oddly named friends.

"Excellent, that is wonderful news."

"What about me? Who am I?"

Dante let out a sigh and then turned to face me again. She was a rather pretty woman. She had short jet black hair cut neatly with a white bow on top and slightly tanned skin. Her eyes stood out most though; deep sparkling purple orbs in her perfectly shaped face. I looked into her eyes and was amazed at how deep they were. As if all of life's answers lied within them. I felt lost in her dark violet orbs until I was snapped back to reality by her clearing her throat.

"You are not human. You were one, but due to certain … circumstances, you are no longer one." She smirked a little at that last sentence. "You can become a human again though, and regain the life that you lost. All you have to do is to help me find the philosopher's stone…" Dante left the sentence hang, letting me think over it.

I rested my chin on hands. Did I want to be human again? To not be human was bad, right? More importantly, I wanted to know exactly who that girl was, who I really am, and what happened to me.

"Alright. I'll help you find this whatcha-ma-call-it stone thingy." I highly doubted that I had a choice in the matter though.

Dante smiled down on me. "A wise decision. From now on, you'll be known as Greed."

"…Greed?" I mulled over the name. It seemed to fit, and to be honest, I liked the sound of it.

I tried to get up and walk around, but I fell back in my place. I felt so weak. I wasn't exhausted in a sense, but I just couldn't move. My muscles wouldn't respond.

I heard Dante tittering beside. "Quite the ambitious man. Here." She said holding out her hand. In her hand were many red stones. I looked at them, and then back at her.

"…What are these for?"

She put her hand right in front of my face. "For eating. If you eat them, you'll get your strength back, along with other powers."

I didn't quite understand the last part, but I wanted to move again. I took the stones from her hand and popped one in my mouth and tested it, swirled it around with my tongue. It tasted surprisingly sweet and seemed to melt in my mouth. I could feel a little bit of my strength returning with just that one stone. I snatched the rest from her hand and ate them, desperately, greedily. The sooner I could move, the sooner I could find this stone. The sooner I find the stone, the sooner I could become human and find out about my past.

Envy slammed his fists on the table in front of him. "Why can't we use the philosopher's stone we have! What's wrong with it!" he screamed.

Dante, Lust, Envy, and Gluttony had gathered in a different room to speak letting Greed recuperate on his own.

Dante Just ignored Envy's childish behaviour. "I had to use this stone to transfer my self to a new body. Creating our new comrade left that old body damaged."

"If we had the stone already, why did we need a new comrade in the first place!" Envy yelled. He was on his feet and shaking from head to toe.

Dante drunk from her tea cup delicately, waiting patiently for Envy to calm down. "This stone, although it has power, is not strong enough to revert you all back to humans. The stone is made up of the emotions of humans; mostly the malice they feel for being used. These people however did not harbour such feelings. The only ones that proved any use were the escaped convicts.

Think for a moment. The sick and elderly knew their demise was near; they didn't care what happened to them. All their lives, they had lived as kind villagers, practically being saints all their lives. Would people like that, even considering what happened to them, harbour such grudges? Why do you think I would create Greed if we did not need him?"

Envy scowled. "That makes sense, I suppose." He pouted and crossed his arms.

Dante flashed that smile of hers. "Now, please go and help out Greed you three, and introduce Gluttony to him."

They nodded and then left Dante alone. She smiled quietly to her self. "Mindless pawns will believe anything their queen tells them."

Just for reference, the Lust in the story is different from the anime and manga Lust. This is the one they talk about when they say the made Lust new, this is the old one … Just so everyone knows