The shuddering had come to an end, the heat had started to diminish. Lust listened to her own breathing, controlling it, feeling her muscles move deep beneath her skin. The man didn't do the same- likely he couldn't, his thoughts too far gone, lips wet where they were pressed into her shoulder. The candles had gone out, but the deep scent of their smoke still hovered in the air. A very familiar scene. Lust felt the man's hand curl around her hip- a protective, possessive gesture. He wouldn't want her to go, but she would go anyway. Before the sun rose she would leave the surface of the world. She was both too pale and too dark to belong in the healthy, gentle light of morning.

And besides that, she had things to do. Unlike this man- unlike others she knew- she wasn't in love.

It was the earliest of waking hours when Lust made it back to the Underground, where the faint lifting of the eastern edge of the sky could not be seen. Gluttony was loud, patrolling the wandering tunnels without her. He sniffed and slurped, crawling on all fours with his face low to the ground, licking at the dirt and dried blood in search of new flavours. In short, he was obvious.

Which was not to say that he was, necessarily, doing a bad job. Someone had to guard the borders of Father's kingdom. It was supposed to have been Greed- but then, Greed was supposed to have been a good many things. But it didn't matter. He wasn't here now, and that's all there was to it- Gluttony would do a well enough job in his place. His keen sense of smell would alert him to anything undesirable- intruders would not make it very far before he detected them. And he could be fast when he wanted to- he could be fast when he was hungry. Of anything he killed, there would be no trace.

Lust knew all of this, and thought of it as she listened to him pass by a few corridors over, his wet breathing echoing across the metal pipes that made up these walls. He did not seem to have noticed her. And that was the only problem, wasn't it- Gluttony could very well handle unwelcome intruders, but he wasn't as adept at dealing with what was supposed to be there. The scents of the homunculi overlapped so much, after decades upon decades of traversing these halls, even the freshest scent wouldn't register as noteworthy to him. In that way, he wasn't like Greed- he trusted his siblings. He was too simple to do anything else.

So he hadn't noticed what Lust had noticed- what Greed would have noticed, had he ever cared in the slightest for his duty.

Lust would have checked her watch now, if she wore one, but she was sure she was on time. There was a grate in one of these tiny peripheral tunnels that had no lights and smelled of old death, one that came into the Underground almost directly from the street, and it was just within sight of this that was her destination. The sun, by now, must have come up- and this entrance, after all, was located only a block across from the federal penitentiary.

Gluttony couldn't know what that meant, but she did. She was Lust. The expert in such matters.

And there, almost like clockwork the grate slid quietly open, and through that opening peeked a few green vines, too long to be held back, announcing the arrival of their owner.

Envy landed on the stone floor very quietly, considering their weight, crouching like some kind of predator animal. She had taught them how to move gracefully like that, when they had been barely born. They hadn't noticed her, but they should have. Even from here she could see how their eyes glittered, undoubtedly adjusted to function in the bare minimum of light that these tunnels kept. But they couldn't have been looking at anything that was before their eyes- only at what was behind it. Lust almost sighed. How careless.

She watched a moment more. Envy stood slowly- locked in thought, not purpose, hands playing with one long strand of that unruly hair, she saw them bite their lower lip (her night vision was just as good as theirs, fox pupils blown wide to eclipse the violet). They took a few idle steps like they wanted to head deeper in, but had forgotten which way to take- so sweetly dazed. She could guess at what had happened. Anyone, human or animal or homunculus, would be a little careless after a good fuck.

"Good morning, Envy," she called, and they started, a motion with all the mechanical hardness of a striking snake. "Back from the prison, again?"

For a moment they stared at her, still completely a reptile, and then understanding came back into their eyes and a smile grew on their face didn't seem to know whether to be confident or guilty.

"You must have been uncomfortable," they said, and even at its silkiest their voice sounded abrasive in comparison to hers. "...waiting there for so long."

"Not long," she replied. "Isn't it sunrise? I know you don't like being out at sunrise."

Envy stood, and their posture seemed uncertain, folding their arms behind their back and leaning minutely forward- an inclination to become something four-legged, and a simultaneous urge to conceal it. Well. If they were like this, then things certainly were serious. It was a little hard to hide the smile that wanted to creep onto her face, seeing them like this.

"Come along, then," she said, trying to be brusque. "I've been out all night too, and I want some tea."

A strange little serpentine sigh was the only reply she received to that, but she knew they were following her as she turned away. She wondered how long the heat they had gathered to them would last, in this cold buried place that never saw the sun. Perhaps it had already dissipated. They too, after all, were naturally cold.

Lust's personal rooms were different from the rest of the Underground. Piece by piece over decades she had built them up- call it vanity, or luxury maybe, like her true name, but she didn't enjoy living in squalor and old blood. To these rooms she had redirected pipes so she could run hot water and energy, and covered the floors in plush carpets, using scented candles and perfumes to keep the mould smell of the Underground at bay. She had a large bed with silken sheets- though she could never actually bring a lover here, there was room for two. She had a mirror, and a vanity table where she collected makeup and other feminine delicacies, a closet for her clothes and shoes. Her rooms looked like the apartment of any wealthy human woman of good taste. They were completely different from the rest of this place- and hence, hers alone.

Envy always looked a little strange in her rooms- a little too feral, for a place so well kept and decadent as this. She supposed they must have looked more natural in the desert. She knew they had truly loved that war.

Lust filled her kettle and set it over the flame on her small stove to boil, and as she did so Envy stretched out on the floor, ignoring the bed and chairs in favour of rolling around on the carpet like an animal. Well, they were an animal. Lust smiled to herself.

"So, how is he?" she asked, breaking the silence, and Envy let out a low, rumbling sigh. Of course, she could have only meant one person.

"I don't know," they replied. "He's always very happy to see me. He's not so happy to be in there. I want to take him out…"

Agitated, they curled on their hands and knees in tight circles, the way cats did before settling down to sleep. "Wrath still isn't having it, huh?" Lust said.

"Nope. I hate it. He gets to have that woman. He's kept her all this time, and she doesn't even do anything. How come he can do it, and not me?"

"Jealous?"

Lust sat on the armchair nearest to where Envy had settled on the floor, and they gave her a little glare with no real heat to it at her comment, and the moment she beckoned they came over to rest their head on her lap.

"It's probably not so great, being Wrath," Lust said softly, running her fingers through Envy's unmanageable hair. She always liked to play with it when she could. "After all, Pride's watching him all the time. Can you imagine? Pride in the shadows of your little cell, watching you and that man…"

Envy made a face at that, white lips peeling back from sharp teeth for a fraction of a second. "Ugh. You're right," they said. "That'd be the worst."

There came a moment of companionable silence, where both homunculi only listened to the sound of the kettle boiling, and then Lust spoke again.

"Well, we can't leave it at that," she murmured. "Tell me more. Have you been enjoying yourself?"

"Oh," Envy said, drawing their knees up to their chest almost convulsively. Even from just the memory, she could see their pupils expanding again. But of course, she tended to have that effect on everyone, one way or another.

"He's so good looking," they continued. "Even after all this time. He's still strong. I…"

"You like that?" Lust asked, not bothering to conceal the amusement in her voice. "You like the feeling of his muscles on your body?"

"Uh," was all Envy said to that, and then the kettle started to scream, which was enough to narrow the windows in their eyes back down to little blades, and they rolled acrobatically out of her grasp, head over heels.

"You're embarrassing me," they whined as Lust stood to return to the kettle, taking it off the heat.

"Sorry," she said lightly. "You know, I haven't had anything really good in a while. Too much work. There's a priest in the South I'm supposed to be starting on- he's a good candidate for setting up a blood crest there. But…"

"But he's a priest," Envy said, voice slightly muffled like they were hiding behind her bed, or speaking into the carpet. "That's gross. I bet he's old. And fat. I'm sorry."

Lust laughed out loud, and let the quiet fall again as she looked through her tea stashes. Something relaxing would be good- she didn't think she really wanted anything with caffeine, even though it was morning. Something like peppermint, though, would be nice, and she knew Envy liked that too.

"He'll be easy," Lust said slowly, setting the tea to steep, and taking two cups from the cupboard above the stove. "I know what he likes. Madonna-whore type. Very typical."

"Hmm," was all Envy replied.

"What does your alchemist like?"

She heard them sit up at that, and turned to look, raising one eyebrow in challenge, which made them laugh.

"He likes it when I wear wings," they purred, arms reaching up to massage their fake shoulder bones, designed to be pointed and obvious under their make-believe shirt. "Can you believe that?"

"Really? Like an angel?" Lust poured the tea into the cups.

"Sometimes," Envy said. "Sometimes, like a demon. But you know, most of all…"

They bit their lower lip, averting their eyes, and surely they would have blushed if they could, looking like they were about to say something particularly dirty.

"...he likes when I make noise. He's got a thing about sounds, you see…"

"Naughty," Lust said with a laugh. "He likes your singing voice."

"Aaghhh," was what she got for that, Envy curling back into a fetal ball on the floor, green hair stretched out on the carpet. So young, they often seemed, her little brother-sister. Even younger, sometimes, than the rest.

"And what does he prefer you be?" Lust asked, more for her own curiosity than anything, bringing the cups back over to the armchair. Now, the whole room was beginning to smell of peppermint, rising from the soft steam of the tea.

"... that's interesting," Envy said rather quietly. "He doesn't really care. Right from the start...he lets me do both."

Lust smiled. "I'm glad. That's very cute. I'm happy for you, Envy."

Envy didn't say anything to that. Perhaps she had touched on something a little too sensitive. Not quite looking at her, they crawled back over to where she sat, hiding their face in the folds of her skirt. There was no denying it was serious, if they were acting like this. But of course, she knew it was- she had met that Crimson Alchemist, once or twice. She had seen the look in his eyes. A man like that, with a monster like this? It was the kind of thing that had a ring of destiny.

"I'd like to keep him," Envy said quietly, still not showing their face, dark hair coiling almost like it had muscles to move with. "Right up until The End. He's told me he wants to see it, and I…"

Lust ran her fingers through that hair, and old comforting gesture, and they gave a shuddering sigh before finally looking up, reptile eyes overbright with unshed tears. How quickly their moods changed. Lust herself would find that unbearably difficult in a lover- but all the ones that gravitated to Envy seemed to enjoy it. She supposed they would have to. There could be no half-way measures, not with something like this.

"...it's not like it's so far away," Envy continued, tone of voice slightly petulant. "He won't even have a chance to grow old. So it's not too much to ask for, right? I don't even mind that he'll die, not really, I just want to have him, when it's all over..."

"Don't worry," Lust said, soothing. She couldn't make any real promises- such power was reserved to her older brother, and Father, of course- but at the moment that didn't matter. Truth and lies had no power over feelings. "It'll all be fine. I won't tell anyone that he knows. I won't tell anyone you love him."

"I know," Envy said with another sigh, folding their arms on her lap. There was a bit of shyness in how they averted her gaze now, their own still glittering, water drops catching in their eyelashes when they blinked.

"I'm glad you won't ever die," they murmured. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"That's one thing you certainly don't have to worry about," Lust said with a little smile. Poor Envy. What a strange thing the universe had made. Wasn't this creature really the most pitiful of them all? Stranger too, maybe, that she was glad for it. She enjoyed these little talks. Her whole life was filled up to the brim, overflowing with the thoughts and voices and desires of men- her very existence had been defined by these things. Among all that noise- her lovers, her victims, her brothers, her master- Envy was the nearest thing she had to female companionship.

The tea, now, was cool enough that it probably wouldn't burn, so she offered one of the mugs to Envy, who seemed to have been spiraling into some violent thoughts behind their eyes, though whether they had been self-directed or not she couldn't tell.

"Oh, thanks," they said, sitting up properly at last, the sharp scent of the tea seeming to bring them back to reality. The tears in their eyes had already cleared- perhaps they had forgotten what they were sad about. Both homunculi took a sip, and in the moment Lust thought that she would maybe like to change her wallpaper- the current design was old fashioned, she had been putting off the inconvenience too long- and then Envy spoke again.

"So the priest," they said, voice again clear and confident. "What's the deal with him?"

"Oh, he's really disgusting," Lust said, rolling her eyes. "You'd hate him for sure. But he has some kind of charisma. People like him. Trust him. He somehow comes off as a fatherly figure."

"Ugh," Envy chirped, grinning sharply over the lip of their mug. Clearly enjoying every word.

"I'm going to set him up in Liore- you know that little town?" she continued, and Envy shook their head. "You should. It's very near the southern border. The people there are almost Ishvalan. So it's a cesspool of poverty, little to no education, regular issues with food security...I'd say they're in need of some religion, don't you?"

Envy laughed, and their nose wrinkled slightly, almost in disgust.

"Oh, it's going to be really nasty, isn't it?" they purred with relish. "I can just tell."

"I hope so," Lust replied. "The plan is to start a cult. It will be very easy to get peasants like that whipped into shape. My priest, you know, has some pretty lofty ambitions. Wants to take over the entire country. He doesn't even consider that I might have another agenda- he just sees me as some vapid whore, another stepping stone on his way to power."

"Eww, I hate it, I hate it," Envy said, putting their mug down to shiver from head to toe. "That's so bad! You have to kill him. I bet it'll feel great, tearing his eyes out, cutting him open like cattle, making him suffer for it…"

"Yes, yes," Lust said with a laugh, amused by how vicious their tone of voice had become. "But not for a while yet. We still have to build up his forces. And of course, when they make their move- the righteous order of the Sun God, coming to impose His will upon mankind- the military will take action. Quell the rebellion."

"Bleed them all in the streets," Envy snarled.

"Exactly," Lust replied, and she took another sip of her tea. "I think it will go over very well."

"There aren't many points left, right?" Envy asked, face falling from a borderline demonic grin into something more contemplative. Innocent. Funny, how even unintentionally their character could seem to so drastically change shape.

"Only two," Lust replied. "This one, and a final in the North. At Fort Briggs, remember?"

"Oh, fuck that," Envy said. "Of course I remember. I hate that blonde bitch."

"Backfired on you, didn't it?" Lust murmured with some amusement, watching them snap at the air, biting something that wasn't really there. Envy had been the one to suggest sending Armstrong to the Fort after Ishval- a position that would isolate her, make her eventually obsolete, until assassination was convenient. She was far too powerful a woman to keep around, after all. But she had turned the false promotion in her favour, making herself indispensable in the North. An admirable woman, Lust thought. And given the state of things in Briggs, causing a bloodbath there would be very difficult indeed. A problem, though, for another day. Not something that really needed thinking about.

"What are you working on right now, anyway?" Lust asked, and Envy shrugged, seeming reluctant to forget their violent thoughts of the female general.

"Sometimes the lab needs supervising," they said. "Those armour-dolls are kinda troublesome. I'm also a secretary in the personnel office."

"A regular nine-to-fiver," Lust said with some amusement as Envy rolled their eyes.

"Yeah, it's pretty gross. Some men will flirt with anything."

"Some men will love anything," Lust murmured. "Even a monster like you."

Envy looked at her for a moment, expression wide and blank and utterly emotionless- sometimes, at least, they could hide what they were feeling. Then the shield cracked and Envy giggled, utter malice and cruelty and evil.

"Some men will stick their dick in anything," they purred, "even a slut like you!"

"Cheers to that," Lust said, holding up her mug with the last of the tea, Envy mimicking the gesture with a feral grin.

"Cheers!"

When the tea was finished and the peppermint scent was beginning to dissipate, Lust looked at the clock, and found the time on its face resentful. They were all too busy, weren't they? In these final days when everything was held in balance, and the stakes of success soared sky-high, there was little time for making conversation. Oh, well- there would be an infinity for it, when the plan was completed.

"Alas, there is no rest for the wicked," Lust said. "I have a train to catch. And I suppose you should get ready for 'work', shouldn't you?"

Envy stuck their tongue out, but didn't disagree, taking their mug over to her sink.

"Good luck with your priest," they said over their shoulder. "You'll have to invite me to the party, when it happens. I'll be happy to see."

"Blood in the streets of a desert town? You'll get nostalgic," Lust replied, and Envy laughed.

"That's better than being bored," they purred. "So call me if you need me. Or if you don't. I hate playing secretary."

"For sure," Lust murmured, but Envy was already gone. Not really the type for eloquent goodbyes. Probably thinking two steps ahead or two steps behind, never possessing enough control to be what Father had wanted them to be- the perfect, calculating, unwavering master-manipulator. None of them were what he had really wanted- but wasn't that true for children of every kind?

Lust washed the mugs briefly, and checked the contents of her travel bag, finally fixing her lipstick in the mirror. Her reflection was surely irresistible.

It was time to go back out into the sunlight. She had things to do.