The 8th Sin

-Secrets-

Hi Lunarkry! Glad to see that you're back up and writing. ;) I swear, if you stop suddenly again, I'd clobber you... Or just send Gluttony over so he can eat you. :P

Heheh, I got tons of inspiration from Fort Minor's 'Believe Me'. I recommend this song for dark stories 'cause it's really nice. : P It's helping me a lot in this story, so I doubt it very much if it can't help you with yours.

Alright, so far we ARE getting comfortable with the characters, aren't we? (Well, okay, if anyone doesn't like them, I guess I can take that fine... Note; I THINK)

So, let's get on with the show, shall we?

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-Dublith-

Freesia hid in a dark corner of the library, as she had snuck in through a small open window, big enough for her to squeeze through. She just sat there, like a scared little animal, trembling from head to toe and hugging her small, furry companion as if someone was going to take him away from her. Her breathing was labored as she looked at her right arm, the memories of what had just happened a few hours ago swimming to the surface and reminding her of that incident...

Greed had her cornered in the kitchen, his powerful arms on either sides of her as he asked her one question after another, each one she was certain she had no answer to, and yet she knew something about it. She just didn't know what. When more people entered the room, she freaked out. All the pressure of being cornered got to her and she finally snapped.

She ducked a bit, though there wasn't much space for her to do so and forced all her weight to her shoulder, where she rammed right into Greed, knocking the taller and more muscular man back a few paces. It must have hurt, even for him, even if he was a homunculus, or whatever it was that he said he was. She didn't pause to say 'sorry' or to even see if he was alright. All she cared about was to get out of there.

Voices were everywhere, as almost everyone in the place tried to grab hold of her, who was considered an intruder. She'd picked Shu up off the ground as she ducked out of the people's grips, grabbing her jacket as well as she bolted for the door like a wild animal intent on being set free.

A sharp tug on her jacket stopped her momentarily. Looking back, a tanned blonde woman had her hand firmly on her jacket, her arm extended in a humanly impossible length. She said something to the frightened girl, but at the sight of the knife on the woman's shoulder, Freesia felt even more afraid at what it would do to her. She released the article of clothing and sent the military-clad woman stumbling backwards from the pulling force.

As if that wasn't enough, a small-framed man with spiky hair and clad in a white martial arts suit had attempted to block her way. In her delirious state of mind, she had taken it the wrong way. She dropped her pet and held one hand out. Without the knowledge of what was happening, she could only remember seeing her nails elongate, taking the form of sharp spikes as she struck the small man in the shoulders, knocking him back at the same time.

A large man was her last obstacle from obtaining her freedom. She had bumped into him as she was trying to get away from a mob of the residents there. He caught her in a bear hug, not allowing any space for her to retaliate. That was the last straw. She kicked and screamed, thrashing about with what power she had and at one point, all she could recall was hearing water slosh about before she found herself free of the muscular man's grip. Scooping Shu up into her arms once more, she dashed out of the place at an inhuman sped, right between the large man's legs.

She didn't even have a destination set in her head. Her instincts just told her to run. And run she did, into the one place, the ONLY place in all of Dublith she'd consider a sanctuary; the library.

Now she was just sitting there, on the brink of tears from all the facts that had just popped up from the back of her mind. They were, in fact, the answers to Greed's questions. There were traces of blood on her fingers, where she had stabbed the agile man earlier on and now, she was confused; wasn't she human?

If she wasn't, then that would explain her supernatural healing abilities, all those things she was able to do back in that bar, the unusual color of her skin, the even more unusual color of her eyes. It all made sense.

But even if it did, why had her parents hidden this from her? Was it because they were afraid she wouldn't love them the way a child would to their parents, or was it because they were afraid she would hate them? They may have only been together for a very short time, but they have grown attached to her very much. She knew that.

Freesia shook her head of these thoughts, "That's impossible... They don't hide things from me! They mustn't have known..." Then, another fact made her feel pretty sure they knew what she was. Her father was an alchemist. So was her mother. Even if they never did human transmutation before, surely they've seen the mark on her shoulder in a book somewhere before.

Once she was feeling safe enough, she crept out of the library through the same window, not wanting to give anyone a heart attack fro being in there when the front door wasn't even open and went to think in a more secluded place; the roof of the tallest building in town. After the incident in the bar, she found that it was easy for her to accomplish what others cannot like jump great heights and distances, lift heavy objects, break obstacles.

Shu huddled close to her as the height scared him. She stroked the little creature fondly, feeling glad that he was there to be with her. She must have stayed up there for a long time, because she only realized that the sun had risen when something touched her shoulder.

Eyes wide with fear, she grabbed the thing and looked up, surprised to find the black-winged man she met just yesterday.

He looked down at her quizzically, "Now what brings you up here so early in the morning?" he asked as Freesia loosened her grip on him and backed away, still feeling that he was a bit of a threat.

She didn't reply, she just looked at him with those big violet eyes, waiting for him to make his move. Rin sighed, "I'm not going to eat you. I just came up here for a bit of fresh air," he sat down near the edge of the roof, looking as if he was going to fall, but his wings were there to keep him balanced. She looked over his shoulder at her, smiling as he saw Shu in her lap, "I see you've found yourself a friend."

Freesia didn't reply. She stood up and was going to walk away when he realized something; they weren't on solid ground! She was going to jump off the building and they were fourteen stories away from splitting their heads open upon landing!

"STOP!" he cried, but it was too late, she had allowed herself to fall and in these events, Rin was glad he had wings. He jumped down after her, spreading his wings and extending a hand towards her. She didn't look like she was going to take his hand anytime soon and if she didn't, he was going to witness someone die from the impact of falling off the town's inn's roof at point blank.

Something felt familiar about this situation. Freesia looked at the State Alchemist who was struggling to get to her and suddenly had the image of a smiling bespectacled man (Think Tenpo from Gensomaden Saiyuki) reaching out to her, as if helping her to get to her feet. Unconsciously, she had extended her hand, longing to just touch the face of that man...

All she got was a sharp tug as someone held her close, almost squishing her dog between them and before she knew it, her legs were planted firmly on the ground, and she was unscathed. Rin still had his arms around her protectively as he was breathing heavily. It was almost as if he was holding on to her for support.

Freesia was going to push him away from her when he whispered in her ear, "Do me a favor; DON'T do that again..." Shu's muffled yelp caused the two of them to back away from one another in a hurry.

Rin looked at her attending to her pet; so gentle, so caring... it was unlike how she treated those she didn't consider 'hers'. He'd gotten that impression ever since he first met her. He picked up the book he'd drop halfway down their fall and held it out to her,

"You dropped this yesterday."

Freesia looked at him quizzically. She considered him an enemy, and yet he was being so nice to her. But... she wanted the book... She reached out for the thing, slowly, cautiously, never once breaking their eye contact as if he would start doing something funny if she did. Freesia snatched it out of his grip at lightning speed and went off as soon as she got what she wanted.

"Hey, wait!" Rin called, breaking into a sprint to catch up with her. He lost her a second time, but this time, he used his eyes and his wings as his advantage. He flew up and searched for her from the sky. It wasn't so hard to find her. After all, not many people wake up so early in the morning just to fall off the top of the inn...However, another thing caught his eye. The Elric brother was trying to sneak out again... Great. First a girl with inhuman powers who thinks he's going to eat him at any given opportunity and now a State Alchemist and his suit of armor for a younger brother trying to get out of his grip.

He was going to decide who was more important when he noticed something; the two parties were heading straight for each other...

CRASH!

Ouch... That has GOT to hurt...

Down on the ground, Freesia had fallen over after ramming right into a suit of armor, which was pre-occupied, looking for his missing head...

Freesia got up, face twisted with anger as was the short blonde boy standing in front of her, "Watch where you're going, you creep!" she spat, looming over him.

"What do you mean? You were the one who bumped into US! If you apologize now I'll let you off unharmed!" threatened Edward, shaking a fist at her.

Freesia laughed mockingly at him, "Oh and if I won't? What are you going to do? Run me over with your tricycle?"

Edward's anger has now reached way past its limit, "That's it! Girl or no girl, you're going down!" he lunged towards her and pulled his automail fist back, intending to make his hit hurt more than usual.

That odd feeling swept through her again. The feeling where she knew what her opponents were going to do in a few seconds' time. She bent over backwards, her back forming a smooth arch as she used one hand to support her weight, the other still cuddling her pet.

Before Edward could pull his fist back, Freesia brought her legs up and kicked him in the jaw, forcing him backwards as she stood up again. Placing Shu gently on the ground, she was going to go for the alchemist again when someone stopped her at an impossible speed. With a simple twist of her arm, Rin gave her a push, which was surprisingly powerful due to the addition of speed power.

She was literally flung a few feet back, making her crash into a wall and at the angle she was thrown, her back made an odd sound. Her backbone was broken. Eyes wide from the shock and the pain, she fell to the ground, dead in a matter of seconds.

Rin, who had been the one responsible for her death, watched in horror as the young woman didn't stir. Edward recovered from the hit and Al finally found his head again as they also stared at the lifeless body of Freesia.

"Rin... is she...?" Edward started. Rin was speechless. When he found his voice again, he spluttered,

"I... I hope not..." As they were going to approach the body, they could have sworn she twitched. Shu barked happily, going over to lick his master awake. Surely enough, she moved, picking herself off the ground and looking very much alive. Her back seemed to have been mended again now.

However, she didn't stand up. She was on all fours, her head bowed and her shoulders trembling. They could hear her laugh, but what they did not see were the tears she shed as her horrible secret was revealed, "So it's true..." she said, barely audible to her three audiences,

"I'm a homunculus..."

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Ooh... O.O; She knows... Hey, since she didn't have any idea that she was a homunculus, obviously there was a reason for her not to know, right? And it most certainly is for a good cause...

And the things she could do. Kinda scared me as I was writing though. O.O;

So, how do you guys like it so far? Melody WILL have more of a role soon. (CHAP.5 SPOILER!) This is because Freesia will be taken to Central forcefully...

Oh well, stay tuned for more:-) I've got more running through my head, and this certainly isn't the end!