((Mmmhmm. Second chapter...))
She woke up drowsy and uncomfortable. For a moment she had forgotten where she was, but after her vision cleared she remembered. She was in a room at the Devil's Nest. That familiar faced man, Greed had brought her there. He had given her a name as well; It was Charity. She was rolled up in her burlap cloak and was a bit cold too. The bed was lumpy and smelled of cheap cologne so sleeping in those sheets probably wasn't the best idea. The bar was completely silent, even though it was the middle of the day. She messed with her hair until it was presentable and made her way down to the main lounging area. A light smirk found it's way to her lips, as she found it comical and yet all too bothersome to see half of the men of the pub sprawled across the floor with the whorish women around them. They looked like peaceful little scoundrels. In fact, they were.
It
was time to leave. She obviously did not belong there and wasn't
going to try to fit in. Besides, this was how she had lived for
years. She began to step over the drunks laying on the floor and
finally made it to the stairway leading out. She turned back to take
one last look at the place. Taking a deep sigh she followed the steps
up and out of the Devil's Nest. "Calling all angels!" the
sound of an over confident sinner's voice shouted after her. "Are
ya leavin' Charity?" he asked. "I'm a drifter, it's what I
do. Thanks for the hospitality and all but I thought it over and I've
decided to leave." she replied, "You said you don't
remember when you were young." Greed began "But, if that's
true how do you know you're...human?" She shot him a skeptic
look and frankly had no idea what he was talking about. Doubt leads
to anger often, "I deeply apologize for this but; First of all,
I'm not a lizard or a dog so obviously I'm human and secondly why do
you care so much? Why can't you just go back to your women and leave
me be?" When and where she had plucked up the courage to talk to
someone more physically powerful than she was, she had no idea. "Do
you want the truth?" he asked in an defensive tone. "Why
would I want a lie?" she answered back.
He took a deep breath
and leaned against the brick walls of a slowly crumbling building. "I
care because..." Charity could tell this was WAY out of
character for him to say. He seemed like the type that kept a macho
attitude about himself all the time. "The reason I'm called
Greed is because of my nature. 'I want money. I want women, status
and power. I want everything this world's selling and eternity's
topping the list!' that whole sha-bang. But something changed when I
saw you. You look almost exactly like a woman I knew when I was
human. I'm a homunculus, an artificial human created by Dante. But
you, you're different. You don't have the Ouroboros tattoo. That and
ever since you stayed here I haven't had one greed derived feeling. I
think if we homunculi are devils you're an angel. Which means you are
a virtue. A symbol of God and the resurrection of Agape. That's why I
want you to stay." He then laughed "Besides, you can never
have too many women around!" He finished with a light hearted
laugh.
"Agape, huh?" Was she really an angel? Her
little explosion ability wasn't alchemy, so it could be a God given
gift. But then, why would someone like her be an instrument of God?
"I don't believe you." She couldn't possibly be an angel.
"I didn't expect you to. But it all fits, doesn't it?" He
gazed up at the clouds floating by. "If you get your memory
back, come visit." With that he put his hands in his pockets and
spun around to walk back into the bar.
For the rest of the day as
she journeyed through the broken down city the question of her true
form bothered her. A phrase echoed in her head from what seemed like
forever ago, "There's no such thing as no such thing!" it was
such a bizarre saying and made her feel nostalgic for old times she
couldn't quite remember. It was getting dark and she hadn't found
shelter yet, which worried her a bit but she had been in worse
situations before. She climbed up top a building and onto the clay
roof to watch the sun set in the West. A strange feeling came over
her now. One of homesickness and a longing to return to a place once
visited. She had never felt this way before and it also troubled her.
The only place she could think of was that damned bar, the Devil's
Nest. "There's no way I'm going back there. Sheesh." Gunfire
could be heard in the distance, "Another one gone. How sad humans
are with their blood lust." she spoke like a wise old woman rather
than a young naïve girl.
CHA CHNK.
The cold metal of a
hand gun to the back of her head chilled her. "Missy you picked the
wrong night to come up here." a cold voiced man said . "Stand
up." she obeyed without a word. "Turn around and put your hands
up." She complied again. The man in front of her was none other
than Frank Archer. She recognized him from the hunts before. Trying
to catch someone like her was one of the things he enjoyed most. Her
eyes met his in a death glare, "You can tell your precious Fuhrer
to kiss my ass, Archer. I'm not going with you." she spat at him.
"You don't seem to understand. I'm not taking my orders from King
Bradley anymore. This apprehension is purely because I can't stand
types like you." Charity narrowed her eyes and focused hard on him.
"Then you won't be spared." she said in a deadly tone. "And
neither will you." he tightened his grip on the trigger of his
gun.
BANG BANG BANG!
Charity gasped, ducked, and covered her
mouth with her left hand. Standing in front of her was Greed with 3
bullet holes through his neck. They had originally been aimed for her
forehead, but that idiot had gotten in the way while she ducked down.
She was baffled that he had been close enough to get in the way
because she was at point blank range from Archer. Greed merely
laughed a bloody and gurgled maniacal laugh. "You're always getting
into trouble, Charity." he said while Charity marveled at the
wounds closing themselves up. She stood up and watched Archer's face
contort in anger. "I'll kill you!" He backed up and shot his hand
gun until he ran out of bullets and fled. At which point Greed had
changed into his true form to deflect the bullets fired at
him.
Charity's eyes widened in fear. It was the thing that she
first remembered, the monster that had chased her and almost killed
her. "Get away from me!" she yelped and scampered back in a
panic. Her mind couldn't handle the fact that standing before her was
this thing that had been Greed all along. All the while the monster
looked so confused and a bit hurt. "Wait..." It said putting a
hand out . "Get away!" Charity hit the edge of the flat roof and
felt for the top of the gate around it. "Charity-" it pleaded
with her. She stopped. Something had changed. "Oh my God." It had
all come back to her. In her desperation to escape, memories of her
past life hit her like a ton of bricks. She gasped and clutched her
head. It was a bit too much for her to handle at once. Charity could
see and hear voices and images of this city in it's prime. Happiness,
sadness, even love. She remembered herself as Agape, and he as
Avaric. Her controlling mother, the strict nuns, and her need to
control her own path.
She opened her eyes and looked up at Greed
(now in his human form).
"I'm sorry... It's just-"
"Agape,
don't worry about it."
She smiled and blushed a bit, "I've
caused quite a bit of trouble while I was here. Sorry..." She stood
up and put her hands on her hips. "I guess things will be a bit
better now that I know who I am again. Long time no see, eh?" "It's
good to have you back."
--------------------------------
That night I went back to the Devil's Nest er- home. Greed introduced me to everyone and I was happy once more. The empty feeling had gone away finally. I slept better than usual and woke up in a good mood. I had a dream for the first time in what felt like forever. It was more of a memory than a dream, though; It was one of Avaric and I...when things were simple and we were young.
((YESSSS! I have spell checker again! dances I'm so so so happy. I won't get marked down on my school work now for misspelled words anymore! Yep. So after a week of no Internet and computer I finally got it back with all of my files! My hard drive had died. Plus I have Band Camp so my hours at home are limited. I hope you all liked this chapter! Archer is a pussy, Greed is a pimp and I don't own either of them. Damn. I just have Charity. Well, 'til next time!))
