Lascivious Appetite

"Lust," the disturbance in her ear made her internally flinch, but her face remained neutral and her stance calm as she brought her hand to her ear and adjust the signal.

"Yes?" feminine tones laced with a naturally seductive hum traveled to the earpiece from her ruby red lips.

"Prepare everything for Gluttony, I trust you know what MO to follow," her superior's voice had a hard edge to it, no doubt caused by either Envy's annoying presence or the current progress with the war.

Nonetheless, her lips curled in a smile, "Of course, sir," with that the line went dead and Lust returned to making markings on the map.

She mentally counted in her head, "The position is crucial. If I miscount even a millimeter…" brows furrowed and back taut, she drew the lines, "The first was…here. Then the second, there. Third was located over here while the fourth one was there." She smirked as she drew the final line, connecting all the dots, "And finally, the fifth one,"

Surrounding the city center was the shape of a pentagon, connected by the location of all five laboratories.

Lust smiled, retrieving her communication device from her pocket and speaking into it once the line cleared, "Head over to Number 5, make sure you are not seen,"

She waited for several seconds, before an affirmative grunt was her response, and at last the obnoxious voice of her brother, "Why do I have to go?! Look, I'm in the middle of spying on Greed's wench Lusty, so I can do that later,"

Lust's frown deepened, and her nails dug into the device, "Listen well Envy, time is of essence, we need to check the perimeter surrounding 5 until we can continue our other operations," a bloodthirsty smile stretched her pretty smiles, "You wouldn't want your little mission being interrupted again, would you?"

She sensed his compliance before he uttered the words, "Fine," with that the line went dead.

Lust smiled and slipped the device securely into the holster at her hip, swiftly pinning the small short blade into the center of the pentagon she drew.

It was all going according to plan.

With careful steps, Lust stepped out of the tent, nodding in greeting at several passing by soldiers, her target the larger tent off to the side, well away from the rest of the soldier's tents.

She pushed aside the tent flaps, meeting a steel door. She produced the keys from the inside of her pocket and slowly unlocked it, the steel door cringing slightly in protest after so long of not being opened.

Absolute darkness greeted her only broken by three rays of light peeking through the small window sealed with steel bars, illuminating a single spot of the ground.

Two small red dots appeared in the middle of the darkness and she smiled, "I have good news,"

Despite the demonic appearance of the red dots, the disembodied voice that spoke from within the darkness sounded almost childish, "…News?"

She reached behind her back bringing forth a dirty wrapped rag. The dirt on the rag was dried blood, perhaps days old and she tossed it into the darkness, where the unmistakable sounds of slobber, chewing and teeth meeting small bones could be heard, "Yes, it's time Gluttony,"

The voice sounded again, sounding a bit more cheerful, "Time to eat, Lust?" it sounded hopeful.

Lust smiled, almost motherly in nature, "Yes, Gluttony, time to eat,"

Something moved within the shadows and the small slivers of light showed a large foot shuffling forward, encased in thick dark leather, before an obscenely rounded torso covered by the same fabric broke through the darkness.

"Hungry Lust…so hungry…" whined the childishly voice helplessly.

She smiled and stepped aside, making room for him to exit his space, "I know," her eyes softened for the briefest of moments before her tone changed.

A sharp command which demanded authority, "Leave the candidates alive, the others…" the same bloodthirsty smirk twisted her lips, "…you can enjoy devouring as you like,"

An unnaturally thick tongue traced equally wide and thick lips, small beady eyes of an extremely pale blue color they almost seemed white zeroed in on the forest surrounding their camp eagerly.

Gluttony stuck his tongue out in anticipation for his upcoming battle, the symbol tattooed on his tongue seemed bright in the daylight.

It was the same symbol Sloth had: of a dragon eating its own tail.

"You've come to visit again, how nice," Madam Christmas waved one of her girls over who set Riza's drink in front of her, a glass of water.

The military woman smiled and nodded her thanks, "Unfortunately, it's not much of a social call," she smiled apologetically at her aunt-in-law, wishing the two women could meet as often as they did under different circumstances.

Madam Christmas waved her off, "Nonsense, seeing you even on business is good enough. I gotta teach that brat some manners when he returns," she rolled her eyes, putting out her cigarette.

Riza smiled.

"Got any leads?" at the Madam's question, Riza frowned.

"My previous hunch seemed false…but I wonder if it really was what it seemed," at the dark, raised eyebrow, she elaborated, "Would a man in a high position keep a drawer locked full of his child's drawings?" Riza asked herself that as well, she knew she would never do such a thing.

The Mustang matriarch rubbed her chin, "Not if he's got an encrypted code locked within those drawings deary." She chuckled, "He doesn't seem a stupid man to me, a jokester and a charmer but not stupid. Never underestimate the sinister quality of a smile," she laughed.

Riza's gaze hardened, "We know he…is involved in some questionable operations himself, one would be leading those soldiers. We still have Drachma to worry about, what could possibly be his hidden agenda?" her fingers traced the cool exterior of her glass absentmindedly.

The burly woman shrugged, "The military was always full of layers and even more mysteries surrounding them." She leaned forward on her elbow, a shadow passing over her face, "I would be careful if I were you deary, the walls have ears, even mine," she discreetly looked around, "It's safer talking here than anywhere else, but after what happened last time…" her gaze narrowed, "I'm not so sure anymore,"

Riza's lips formed into a thin line, "You still have no idea who that might have been?"

The woman shook her head grimly, "None at all. The uniform could've very well been stolen, thinking it may be one of them just may very well be the culprit's intention. But…" she gnawed on her bottom lip, "I can't shrug the suspicion that it may be an inside job,"

Riza lifted a brow, "An inside job?"

Christine Mustang nodded and discreetly pulled a thin, rolled piece of paper into Riza's hand, it looked like a cigarette at first glance, until Riza unrolled it beneath the protection of the ashtray.

It was a code.

Written in Grumman's handwriting.

Seven rooms. Two of them got torn down. One got locked and abandoned. Only four rooms were available for living. How many rooms remained?

Confusion washed over the military woman like a tidal wave, she looked at her aunt-in-law for any clues, but the woman remained tight lipped.

"Odd…Grandfather rarely resorted to riddles, perhaps it's too valuable information to be delivered differently," lightning a match, Riza watched the flame devour the piece of paper as it fell in the ashtray.

"Well?" Riza's thoughts were interrupted by the elder woman before her, "Does it make sense what that old crook wrote?" she grinned.

Riza smiled and shook her head, "If it would it wouldn't be any fun encoding it now would it?" Riza slipped a bill over the counter, ignoring the hard line of Christine's mouth, "I'll be sure to visit, hopefully with better news,"

Despite assuring the soldier that payment was never needed, Riza still payed for the drinks she ordered, even if it was cheap water.

With a disapproving shake of her head, Madam Christmas pocketed the money in her pocket, "I get the feeling our impost won't remain a mystery for long,"

From the crooked grin the woman gave, Riza suspected she may have a lead or at least be on to something, but one could never quite tell with her.

Making sure to keep her expression as relaxed as possible, Riza bid farewell to the woman and exited the bar.

Madam Christmas chewed on one end of her cigarette, tossing the burnt stick on the ashtray with a flick of her tongue, "If there's one thing I hate it's posers," she clicked her tongue irritably.

On her way home, once she was certain nobody was in her vicinity, Riza allowed her expression to relax into a scowl as she pondered over the coded message.

What could the rooms stand for? Military bases? Operations? Camps?

There were too many questions to even begin trying to encode it. Perhaps the blunt, direct way would work with getting information from her grandfather, however such a feat alone was like pulling teeth from a rhino.

In connection to Madam Christmas' words, the message must have something to do with the impostor or the suspicion of the actions against them being an inside job.

If they had a rat among their units…would solving the riddle lead them directly to the culprit or toward Bradley's hidden agenda? Riza couldn't shake the sneaking suspicions that the rooms referred to something else, not camps nor military bases, but something definitely sharing connections with it.

There had been seven rooms at the beginning.

Two got torn down, that meant five remained.

One room got locked shut, unusable.

Four remained.

Four rooms provided for living.

Had it something to do with the positions of the higher ups? Of the sins they've discovered?

She mentally counted in her head, "Lust, Sloth, Envy, Greed…" she froze before she could cross the street to her apartment, "Four sins…four rooms…were they connected? Why was the fifth room locked? Was one of those sins locked up somewhere? Did it refer to Sloth's brief imprisonment at the border?" Riza shook her head, "No…that wouldn't make any sense,"

Continuing her walk, Riza held her head high and mulled over her thoughts.

Five rooms. One locked, four usable.

She had no idea.

Heavy, uneasy footsteps waddled through the moist ground, the smell of the earth after the rain filling his sharp senses.

Gluttony made a short jump over a fallen log, the rifles on his back and chest bouncing from the action.

He grinned widely when his nose picked up a scent in the air, gunpowder and sweat.

And blood.

Feeling his blood begin to boil in a achingly familiar way, Gluttony made his movements more muffled, taking great care to step on grass than bare ground.

He was nearing what had been an active battlefield or still was, either way he was hungry.

Lust said he could eat everyone but the candidates.

He was going to have a field day.

Eat.

Eat.

Eat!

Sneaking forth from the bushes, his beady pale eyes zeroed in on the corpses of the fallen soldiers on the ground.

He paid the uniform no mind, all he registered was his meal.

Leaning down toward one fallen soldier, Gluttony raised the woman's arm up to his lips, licking them in anticipation.

The flesh of females in particular always interested him more than the hard, tough flesh of men.

Men had twenty-five percent more muscle mass than women, adding harsh training, the muscle tissue was hard and sinewy, difficult to chew and even more to digest.

Women's flesh was softer, the tissue was softer, mostly, and easier on his digestive system.

In some part of his still intact conscious, Gluttony realized his eating habits weren't normal, at least not meeting society's standards.

But Lust said it was alright.

Opening his mouth wide, his teeth sunk into the woman's exposed arm, dried blood marring the pale, cold flesh.

He put more pressure on his jaw, teeth sinking further into her arm until they finally broke skin.

Droplets of blood spilled from his mouth in small red streams, like a thin trickling river until he shattered her bone with a crushing lock of his jaw.

The severed lower half of the woman's arm hung from his mouth, eerily looking like a dog carrying a bone in it's maw, until Gluttony began to chew. He grabbed the wrist of the arm tightly and used his teeth to separate the flesh from the bone.

Devouring his victims was always a draining task, cooked meals were always easier, but often enough, Gluttony couldn't enjoy the privileges of a cooked meal.

Wincing when his back teeth hit the bone but were unable to shatter it, Gluttony spat out the limb, "Too hard," he sobbed, reaching for the rest of the woman's arm and chewing and biting on the rest of her.

"H-Hey!" a trembling voice interrupted his meal.

Gluttony slowly turned, beady eyes blinking slowly when his gaze landed on a trembling soldier on the ground, rifle in one hand.

Gluttony's senses went on overload at the smell of fresh blood, the blood coming from the still-alive man, whose knee was messily wrapped in a bandage consisting of his torn uniform, "W-what are you doing to her?"

Always the questions.

Gluttony didn't bother wiping his mouth, after all, he wasn't finished with his meal.

He always liked them best warm.

He would be warm, he was still alive.

Roughly throwing the carcass of mauled flesh aside, Gluttony stood wobbly on his feet, advancing toward the man with his thumb stuck in his mouth.

The man's eyes widened at the sight of Gluttony's bloody mouth and hands, "W-what the-?!" realization dawned on the soldier and he shakily lifted his rifle in self-defense, the weapon trembling terribly in his grip, "Y-you monster! C-C-cannibal! I didn't know you guys still existed!"

He tried shooting Gluttony, but he narrowly kept missing, his good arm shaking terribly from the scene he had witnessed.

"M-monster! Animal! H-how can-a human, she's a human just like you!" he scrambled back, crying out in pain when his knee gave out and more blood gushed forth from the wound.

Gluttony licked his lips.

"…Eat," he extended his chubby arms, a big, sinister grin on his lips, his giggles almost childish.

The man sweated profusely, hands fumbling with his reloading his weapon.

He was shaking too hard, he couldn't reload. Releasing a short bark of anger, the man grabbed the butt of his rifle and instead of shooting, swung it haphazardly around him in erratic arcs and circles, "S-stay away from me!" he felt nauseas, cold all over, his whole body trembling.

The soldier knew it wasn't only from the blood loss, from lying on the cold hard ground, it was because of the man- no the beast.

Screaming and shaking, the man fought for his life.

The weapon hit Gluttony's round stomach and the flesh jiggled, creating ripples along his flesh.

He blinked.

The man screamed when Gluttony advanced upon him.

Savagely, Gluttony's bit through the man's jugular, blood spurting from the injury like a fountain, but Gluttony didn't mind.

He was a messy eater.

The man's arms flailed wildly about him, eyes wide and uncomprehending in terror.

He was being eaten alive.

Gluttony's massive hands held him down, teeth tearing at the torn flesh of the man's neck, tendons ripping, blood spurting.

"Gaarghhck-" the man spluttered, blood spilling in rivulets from his open lips, a faraway look in his eyes as he grew dazed from the pain and shock, body trembling as Gluttony continued feasting upon him, until finally, he stilled.

Gluttony growled, blood filling his mouth as he chewed on the man's collarbone.

"Eat….eat…eat…" his hands tightened their grip around the man's ribcage, the bones sinking beneath his inhumanly strength as the torso deflated in a boneless heap.

"Are you sure sending the glutton off by himself was a good idea?" Envy pouted, crossing his arms as his older sister scoffed softly.

"Gluttony can handle himself," she waved at him dismissively.

Envy frowned, "He has the mindset of a child, Lust. That fool is going to get killed sooner if food is all he has on his mind, like usual," he growled, kicking a pebble with his boot.

Lust smiled, "It's alright, once Gluttony eats a bit, his focus returns," the cruel smirk twisted her pretty features again, her voice velvety soft as she spoke lowly, "Let's hope he hasn't lost his appetite when he encounters the group,"

Envy cringed, not wanting to envision the blood bath Gluttony was sure to create once he reached their enemies' base.

Derek sighed for what had to be the umpteenth time that day, "I ain't getting' paid enough for this," he mumbled under his breath, thoroughly annoyed.

The mechanic had spent the last hour stuck in an old pawn shop, trinkets odds and ends, that sort of thing.

He couldn't believe how someone could get swayed so much by the sight of automail.

He rubbed his sore neck, "Hell…I need to squeeze out more out of the blonde…" he hissed at the sore spot behind his neck, rubbing at it clumsily with two fingers, trying to remember how Rose always did it.

A dreamy expression crossed his face when he thought of his beloved girlfriend.

Well…if he hadn't been involved in some dubious affairs with the church in the past, he wasn't sure he would have even met Rose, not to mention the infuriating man who had adopted her after her parents had died in the aftermath of Ishval.

Oh, how he loved the smell of her hair whenever they watched movies and cuddled on the couch…

Derek abruptly jumped when he realized the blonde head behind the window pane was no longer visible.

Quickly springing up from his sitting position at the small coffee table, he carelessly threw some change at the bewildered shop owner before racing down the street.

How the hell did he miss her exiting the shop?! Ed was going to kill him!

Looking in every direction, Derek quickly pulled out his phone and opened several apps.

A few windows appeared, all camera views of the street in different angles, Winry's shop, Garfiel's shop and her friend's houses-

Oh!

There!

Grinning from ear to ear, Derek quickly jogged forward, making a right turn into the street a certain bastard's girlfriend lived in.

She just had to go to Lena's house.

He didn't know the woman personally, not exactly, but he sure knew her boyfriend.

Greed had been his source of entertainment when smart kid Elric got boring, the two sometimes went on random hunting sprees at local bars in search of a lady or two.

Unfortunately, it all stopped when the asshole met that woman.

Consequently, it all stopped for him too when he met Rose, so he guessed Greed wasn't too much of an asshole.

Shaking his head, Derek slowed to a normal walk when he recognized Winry's figure several hundred meters in front.

Finally!

He couldn't wait for that expensive alcohol and the new "tech stuff", as Ed called it, to arrive on payday. He counted his lucky stars for having a side job and Ed's generous payments.

Sometimes, playing the creepy stalker wasn't so bad.

Until it suddenly backfired.

Like now.

"Why are you following me?"

He hadn't even realized he had sped up his pace and was now being stared at by none other than the Rockbell girl herself.

Shit.

Play it cool, Derek, play it cool, play it-

"Meeeeee gurrra! Coma na?" Derek grinned broadly, raising a hand in greeting.

Winry's eyebrows shot to her hairline, "Aiiiii, jajajaa, merooa…e…emia bora bora!" Derek chuckled, broad smile plastered painfully on his face. He wildly pointed to his right, at a small intersecting street, "Oi….aaa…yumi yumi?"

He was fucked if his acting skills didn't save his sorry ass right no-

Winry's eyes lighted up in realization when she realized what Derek tried to tell her, "Ohh, you want to uh, eat?" she made hand motions of holding a fork and eating from it.

Awkwardly, Derek nodded rapidly, wicked smile still plastered on his face.

He hadn't noticed the dangerously large wrench that was peeking out of her bag, but now that he was aware of it, his actions grew even more hasty, "Aaaahhaaaaaa, thank yu!" he shouted at her in heavily accented Amestrian, quickly speeding down the street where he spotted a small restaurant.

He mentally praised himself for remembering it, it saved his life.

He quickly entered it, then stepped outside after several minutes, eyes stuck to his phone as the tracking device he once planted on Winry was moving again, signaling she was on the move.

With a relieved sigh, Derek left the restaurant and sighed, running a hand down his face.

"….I should seriously demand more," he groaned, trailing after the blinking red dot.

"Brother, I really think you should rest," Alphonse's pleading eyes were ignored.

Again.

The elder Elric crossed his arms stubbornly, "Don't be ridiculous, Al, I'm fine." He teasingly flexed his arm, muscles bulging slightly beneath his uniform, "See? Ready for some action,"

Kimblee smirked and glanced at the pair sideways, "It seems to me you've gone a few days without proper rest,"

Ed glared, "Shut it dynamite, I can still stand and I can fight, that's all that matters," Kimblee frowned at the nickname, but didn't say anything else, watching the other brother readying himself for another verbal battle.

"Why must you be so stubborn, Ed? You know how dangerous it is to go without sleep for more than 48 hours! I can give you a counter medication and you can wake up when we need you, right now there is nothing going on,"

Kimblee smiled secretly, hands in his pockets, "Well, we still need to be on guard, don't we, Ed?" he smirked when the guarded look in the blond's eyes increased tenfold.

"He's right, Al, anything could happen at any moment, it's best if we are prepared," absently, Ed rubbed at his right eye, "Drachma may attack, maybe they found us again, or some other kind of trouble greets us. We have to be ready," he rolled his stiff shoulder, ignoring the prickling sensations of exhaustion crossing his mind and body.

Tch, he could outlast way more than a few days without rest, he wasn't well respected in the military for nothing after all.

Fighting back a yawn, Edward stretched, rolling his shoulders and checking his ammo.

A twig snapped in the distance and his gun fired before either Kimblee or Al could move.

Silence settled over the trio for a moment, Kimblee's slightly widened eyes narrowing when Ed straightened and motioned to move cautiously forward.

Al kept his distance behind them, but readied his own weapons, medic pouch strapped to his lower back securely.

Ed slowly moved toward the dense forested area, blinking away the blurry spots in his vision.

His eyes were burning.

Dismissing his body's reactions, Ed pointed his gun at the spot he thought the noise had originated from.

Nothing.

"Maybe it was an animal," Kimblee's input made him snort.

"Yeah, a squirrel with a gun and a grenade belt ready to blast us," he retorted back dryly, eyes still scanning the woods suspiciously, "Hey, Kimblee, get Hughes and Mustang will ya? I get the feeling like we ain't-"

A sudden force slammed into him from his side and launched him into the air.

Ed barely had enough time to cover his head and curl into a protective ball when he rolled on the ground, using the impact to maneuver himself into a pained crouching position.

"Brother!" Alphonse cried out worriedly, hands flying to his own semi-automatic rifle to aim at the intruder.

Ed's eyes widened in shock when he finally looked at whatever the hell barged into him.

At first he had thought Kimblee had been right, the size of the thing reminded him of a bear, maybe even larger.

It was a man.

A soldier.

Possessing the height of Alex Armstrong and the width of one of their tents made to fit six people at least.

Chubby physique betrayed his physical strength, the same one the odd man had used to catapult Ed clean off his feet. Ed was by no means overweight, but he weighted more than the average male.

"Hey! What's the big idea?! Who the hell are ya, huh?!" Ed could feel his fury grow and he felt like sixteen again, back when he still had his regular temper tantrums.

Despite the veil of anger, Ed quickly analyzed his opponent.

Large, obese physique, inhuman strength, small beady, pale eyes, shaven head, large chubby arms and legs.

The man tilted his head to the side and suddenly stuck his thumb into his mouth, like a child, "…Food,"

Ed rose an eyebrow, food?

He sprung to his feet angrily, "You tackled me off my feet and nearly gave me a concussion because of food?! The hell?!" he grit his teeth.

Was this a joke? Was the man even a soldier? Did he just…wander around in a warzone and steal a uniform off from someone? How did he even get here?!

All those questions suddenly flew out the window when the man poked his large, flat tongue out.

What Ed saw made the blood in his veins freeze to ice.

The man's tongue was tattooed.

It had the same symbol Sloth had carried.

An old, familiar word floated back to him from his subconsciousness.

Ouroboros…

The serpent eating it's own tail…

Ed's eyes widened.

Immortality…

His pupils dilated in horror when he connected the dots.

"The sins!" he hollered, causing Al and Kimblee's heads to whirl in his direction in alarm, "Get the hell away from him! He's one of the sins!" his eyes narrowed, "Alphonse! Call for back up now!"

Without hesitation, the medic raced back toward their base, but it seemed like their opponent wasn't having any of it.

"None of my food can get away!" tongue sticking out obscenely, the man launched himself with impressive speed in Al's direction.

Just before the chubby hands could make contact with the medic's body, a bone crushing kick to the abdomen caused the man to sail through the air, stopping when he hit a tree, successfully destroying the bark.

Ed was panting from the impromptu kick, but straightened, hoisting the rifle in his hands, a burning fury shining brightly in his eyes, "I'm your opponent, fatty," he growled.

The man struggled to get up, but with support from the shattered bark, managed to wobbly get on his feet.

Ed didn't understand how a man his size and physique could move so fast.

"Hey! Where did you get that tattoo on your tongue from?!" he suspected he was a sin, or a part of them.

The man didn't respond and it further scraped against Ed's nerves, "Oi! I'm talking to you!"

He tensed automatically when the soldier suddenly hung his head forward, large tongue sticking out again, but his eyes seemed different.

Only one word sprung to mind.

Bloodthirsty.

Tightening his grip around his weapon, Ed confidently stepped forward with a haughty grin, "Heh, guess I'll have to beat the information outta ya, don't I?"

The man grinned sinisterly, bloodied teeth in full view, "Hungry…"

Aw damn Gluttony! . Well, well, well, Gluttony's moved into the fray! I know, for some, this chapter might be a bit confusing, but I promise to clarify some points as the story goes on! BTW: Rooms? Labs? Ohhhh we're getting on to something! :3 BTW: The things Derek said was complete gibberish (marked in italics) XD