The 8th Sin
-Music Box-
Wow... It's chapter 14 already! Amazing, huh? It never fails to surprise me whenever you type a new chapter and go, "Wow, I've written so much already?"
Anyway, here's chapter 14. I haven't got much to say except that people should read stories by lightningstrxu, Problematic (now changed to Pretentious Frog, or was it Pretentious Toad?), Domenic and my other favorite authors. They are absolutely fabulous.
Let's get on with the story!
Please Read and Review!
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-CENTRAL, WINRAIN RESIDENCE-
John flopped onto his bed upon reaching his room, without even bothering to change into his house wear and stared off into space, sighing. Teresa, the mysterious alchemist that he just met earlier that day, mentioned a lot of things that should have only been known by him. How did she get to know so much about him in the first place? Reaching into his shirt, he pulled out a locket and further opened the ornament to reveal a picture of a younger version of him and a little girl.
"Mia..." he muttered to himself, tracing the picture gently with his fingers, almost hoping she would jump out of the picture and be alive again. Sighing again, he closed the locket and tucked it back safely into his shirt.
He then recollected the day's events and wondered if he was doing the right thing. Well, its was kind of odd to know that Teresa actually knew that he was looking for Greed and Freesia in the first place and it was even more surprising that she knew who they were at first glance. On second thought... it was quite reasonable. Those two could stick out of a crowd like an elephant behind a blade of grass...
The Storm Front Alchemist decided to leave that matter for another day. After all, his other issues were bound to find him anytime soon and he was very well prepared to tackle whatever comes his way.
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-TRAIN TO DUBLITH-
Melody was half-hysterical, holding a particularly heavy-looking umbrella that she'd pack for a scorching day (which was to be expected, considering her destination...) and was looking at Envy, who was crouching on the floor, holding his aching head.
"Ow... Hey, I may be a homunculus, but that hurt!" he cried, standing up and plopping back into his seat with a pout. Marcus found this funny and started to laugh.
"Marcus, he is not at all funny!" Melody said, glaring at her younger sibling, who to her dismay, waddled over to play with Envy, "Traitor..." she growled and put her 'weapon' away. Marcus, who had been fiddling around with his sister's chess set ever since they boarded the train finally arranged all the pieces and invited Envy to a game.
The homunculus had no idea how to play the darned game and somehow or rather, Marcus talked Melody into teaching Envy how and she wasn't at all pleased with the idea. The only thing that propelled her to really teach the green-haired man was her little brother threatening to rip her books in that goblin-like language he speaks in (which surprisingly, only Melody could understand) and the innocent little white puppy that blinked its adorably large, black eyes at her and swishing it's cute little bushy tail behind it. The most annoying thing about this creature was; it was Envy...
Melody gave up, "Oh, alright... But once I'm done teaching, you two had better leave me alone to do my studies!"
Marcus whined something to her and Envy shot her a confused look (he's back to normal now), "He said my next recertification exam's in three years' time."
Envy huffed, "That's three years. For now, why don't you just let out some tension and just relax before you reach Dublith? We've got a long journey ahead of us," he said with a smile, knocking a white queen over on the chess board. Melody looked at him and sighed, setting her books aside and sat down near Marcus, picking up the fallen white queen and setting it back in position on the checkered board.
"As you know, this is the queen. It can move in just about any direction but it can't move in an L-shape. This one's the king..." she continued to explain, Marcus chiming in once in a while (and Melody translating...) and before they knew it, Envy was playing effortlessly with the little chimera.
Of course, no matter how quickly one learns to play something...
"Checkmate."
"What! How'd your queen get there?" Envy cried out in frustration, pointing an accusing finger at Melody.
...Experience still rules over the fluency of play...
Tiredness washed over them quickly and before long, Marcus was curled up in a blanket on one of the empty seats and Melody just realized that it was 11 o' clock. The compartment was dark, and since she didn't want to wake Marcus up, she just continued reading with a small, fragrant lantern as a night-light. Envy was wide awake and was tracing odd patterns on the windowpanes with a look of pure boredom on his face. When he couldn't stand it anymore, he picked up one of Melody's books and flipped through a few pages, giving up a while later.
"What's the matter?" Melody asked as she looked at the homunculus whose boredom was enough to propel him to tear his hair out. Obviously, he wasn't one to sit still for more than a few minutes.
"How can you stand doing this all day? Sitting somewhere, reading things I can't even understand!"
Melody smiled, "It's something only alchemists can understand."
"...Then why did you become an alchemist in the first place?" he asked, bringing his legs up so he'd be sitting cross-legged in his seat, "Just so you could understand what others cannot?"
"Not exactly..." Melody said calmly, flipping to another page, "I didn't exactly WANT to become an alchemist. At first, I only did it to help make my father's burden lighter. You see, he was an alchemist. Always trying to look for ways on how to make human life better. Since humans, by their very nature are powerless without a weapon, he proposed to people becoming part-human, part-animal."
"A chimera," Envy added boredly.
"Thank you, Envy," his companion said with a bit of annoyance in her tone. He just smiled meekly at her, "Anyway, he never succeeded in creating one that had human thinking but the survival instinct of an animal. He kept on trying and trying until one day, I tried creating one via human alchemization. Well... I don't think I need to tell you what happened after that..." she said slowly, closing her book and leaning back, looking up at the ceiling of her compartment.
Envy, who was just beginning to get interested in her story waited for a bit before saying, "Come on, tell me. I want to know."
Melody smiled, "Do you really?"
The homunculus merely nodded innocently like a child, "Okay... anyway, I did the transmutation with two reasons; one was to help my father with his research and two, I wanted to save Marcus. Back then, he was suffering from a disease that can only be saved with a medicine made from a certain animal's blood. I used Marcus in that experiment, along with the animal whose blood was supposed to save him, or at least, the composition of the animal that was supposed to save him..."
She paused for a while and Envy waited patiently, his eyes never leaving the red-head's face. Taking a deep breath, she continued, "The alchemization backfired half-way. My father, who thankfully was there at that time managed to somehow counter-alchemize it so he would take the impact instead. I was unharmed, but my father lost most of his body parts."
"What did he lose?"
Melody bit her lower lip at the recollection. Why was she so willing to tell Envy the one thing she never wanted to remember? "The whole of his left arm, half his right arm and the rest of his body from the waist down... Of course, he passed away not long after that..."
Envy fell silent for a moment, "And what happened to Marcus then?"
"...The alchemization wasn't completed...He was barely alive, but I managed to finish the alchemization. Unfortunately, I also lost a few things..." she said with a sad smile, "I lost my lungs, my intestines and a kidney. It's not so bad when you think about it," she said as cheerfully as she could while Envy shook his head,
"You humans are crazy... You'd lose all that to save your sibling and still call it nothing. Sometimes, I can't understand you. Doing all those irrational things that are meaningless in the end, only to have the same problem arise one way or another and doing the same meaningless things over and over again," he said in an almost abstractly tone that made Melody giggle.
"You're missing an awfully important point there, you know?"
Envy just looked at her quizzically. Melody laughed. From the first time they met in Rin's room, she had never thought the homunculus sitting in front of her would end up being so nice to her after what happened to the winged alchemist. To add to the list, she never thought she'd live to find herself thinking that Envy was rather cute sometimes.
"Homunculi were once humans too," she said simply, making Envy roll his eyes skywards,
"How could I forget?" he muttered miserably, the look on his face making Melody burst into giggles again, "What's so funny?"
Melody shook her head, trying her best to stifle her laughter before she ended up waking everyone up and succeeded. She proceeded to yawn a few minutes later and said, "Oh boy, I'm getting sleepy. Aren't you the least tired?"
Her companion shrugged, "I don't really sleep. I don't find any significance in it."
She smiled, "Well, I suppose you should after all, I think I'd feel much safer if you sleep before I do," Envy shot her a dirty look, "I was just kidding! Well, anyway, I can't sleep unless you do first."
"As I said, I don't sleep."
"Then, would a lullaby help?" she said hopefully, pulling a blanket around her body to keep warm. Envy shrugged,
"Worth a try I guess," he said droopily, feeling a bit mentally drained after the many chess matches earlier on as he lay down on his side in his empty seat.
Melody smiled and gently sang,
(1)Close your eyes, tell me what did you see...
The night has come, the moon is out, can you hear the gentle breeze blowing through your window?
They hum a song, a lullaby, make you dream, don't open your eyes or they'll go away.
Don't be afraid of the dark, they're there to clear your mind,
Somewhere within you, I'm sure you'll find a light.
Heavenly bliss, or known as your dreams,
They hold you close, remember their embrace,
For one whole night, your mind drifts away,
When morning comes, the dream will just shy away...
Don't say goodbye yet, it's not the end,
They will find their way back to you, eventually...
Melody trailed off to a hum at that point and smiled at the sight of the sleeping homunculus across of her. He looked so peaceful, curled up in what he would consider a comfortable position. Melody stood up and gently draped the warm blanket she had been using over Envy's body. His thin clothing gave her the impression that he was going to get pneumonia should she not give him the blanket. She brushed away a loose strand of hair from his face and bent down, giving him a peck on the cheek. Feeling satisfied, she went over to her seat and pulled out a long coat she didn't know she packed and slipped it on before she sat back down with a relieved sigh and closed her eyes, humming the lullaby to herself...
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-DUBLITH, THE FOLLOWING MORNING-
Freesia yawned and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and attempted to stand up, but something was clinging to her waist. Looking down, she sighed. It wasn't her idea, but Wrath wasn't really intent on leaving her side, claiming that she was fun to be with and that she was weird. The night before, he actually climbed into her room through the window! No wonder it was kind of cold...
"Hey," called a voice. She looked up at her bed and saw Greed looking down at her, free of his binds. He was looking healthier than he did the day before, but he looked... jealous? At the little boy next to her.
Freesia smiled and waved at him, "Good morning, Greed," she said pleasantly, combing her long hair back with her fingers. He didn't reply. He still didn't look very happy.
"Who the heck is this?" he asked, motioning to the little fur ball that clung to her.
Freesia paused for a moment, opening and closing her mouth like a fish, trying to find some sort of explanation that wouldn't land her in any more trouble. Whatever came out of her mouth always had the tendency to land her somewhere bad.
"Well, uh... this boy's name's Wrath. Not really sure where he's from but..."
"Let's get rid of him..." Greed cut in, activating the Shield half way up his right forearm and ready to shred the still sleeping boy next to Freesia.
"Please, wait! He doesn't know he's a homunculus..." she said in a hushed tone as Greed made to claw at the boy.
He looked at her quizzically and put his hand down, "Freesia, how long have you known this kid?"
Freesia mentally counted, "Less than nine hours?"
"Okay, we're getting rid of him."
"Greed!"
"Whether he knows he's a homunculus or not, it's too risky, alright! We don't know if he's with anyone dangerous, we don't know what he's capable of doing and bottom line; we don't know him. I like gambling and for this case, my instincts tell me I'm on the losing side," he growled, crossing his arms over his chest.
Freesia fell silent. He had some pretty darned good points there. But, she wasn't so cruel as to just ditch the poor boy just like that, "You said we don't know him, right? Well then, what if he isn't what you think he is?"
Greed let out an exasperated sigh, "Have your parents never told you a thing about keeping other people in the house? It's because we don't know them that whether they're good or bad we keep them out. Unless you know him like the back of your hand, then that's a different story."
"Then was it a mistake for me to follow you in the first place?" she said, anger faintly visible on her usually cheerful face. Somehow, the look on her face reminded Greed very much of Lust.
The two had a bit of a staring competition before Greed gave up. She was just too stubborn for her own good, "Alright, you win. But I won't be responsible should something happen," with that said, he stood up, a bit too quickly that it made him wobble a bit, regained his composure and went out to the living room, where it was cooler. (Hey, being stuck under a stack of blankets that just plain roasts you and having to cut through them to get free wasn't very much fun.)
-LIVING ROOM-
"My, my. Are you sure you should be up and about at this hour? Is Freesia up already?" he turned towards the source of the voice and saw Freesia's mother in the kitchen, cooking. How did she know?
"Yeah, she's up. And I'm feeling just fine, if that's what you're referring to," he said lazily, though what he was feeling wasn't really what he just said. He was still feeling light-headed and any sudden movement of his head was bound to make the world spin at an incredible speed.
The elderly woman giggled and turned the fire of the stove off, "Your footsteps are irregular. Sit down and I'll get you some soup," Humans... how they know all these things, he just had no idea... He complied though; he wasn't in a good enough shape to be moving about. He rested his forehead in his hands and closed his eyes, feeling a bit tired again. At the same time, he didn't really agree to come back to Dublith because here, there were only things that he didn't want to remember. Things that made him feel human.
He opened his eyes at the sound of a bowl being set in front of him, "Eat up, you'll feel at least a little bit better," Freesia's mother said kindly before she resumed making breakfast for the other residents in the house. Picking up his spoon, Greed started to eat and flinched slightly when he placed the spoonful of soup in his mouth. It was HOT. When did the boiling point of soup get so high?
"Careful, it's piping hot."
Great, NOW she tells him... "I kind of noticed that."
"Oh?"
"Your warning came a few seconds too late," Greed grumbled, not liking the burning sensation on his tongue one bit.
The elderly woman giggled, "I'm sorry, I guess I should have warned you when I gave the bowl to you."
Freesia's father came down the stairs, bringing a heavy-looking suitcase along with him, "Honey, have you seen my..."
"You packed them upstairs last night by your bed-side shelf, Llednar."
"Oh, right... Hm? You're alright already? Freesia said you should stay in bed," he said, looking at the unwell homunculus.
"I had enough of the bed..." he said tiredly, propping his elbow up on the table, resting his chin on his palm and stirring his soup absent-mindedly.
"Well, here's a piece of advice for you; homunculus or no, it's better if you rest up when you're unwell, whether you like it or not. Oh, and Alice, honey, can you tell Freesia to pack her things? We're going in two days' time," with that said, Llednar rushed back upstairs to grab whatever it was that he forgot.
Alice sighed, "That man... We're going to Rush Valley in two days and he's acting as if were going in a few minutes!"
Greed, who couldn't help intervening, asked, "What's so interesting about Rush Valley?"
"My husband Llednar wants to visit an old friend of his in Rush Valley. They promised to meet there, see? I was wondering why we can't just go visit him in Aquoya directly," Alice complained, wiping her hands on her apron and sighing. As she raised her hands again, she accidentally knocked a few plates over. Muttering a few curses under her breath, she bent over, piled the pieces together and pulled out a piece of chalk from her pocket. She drew an alchemic circle around it and placed her hand on it. A gentle blue light covered the ceramic shards and when it subsided, the plates were back to normal.
"I just hate it when that happens... This makes it the fifth time this week," she mumbled to herself and put the delicate things into a cabinet before clearing the kitchen counter.
Once that was done, she walked over to the stairs and called, "Freesia, breakfast's ready! Come on down or I'll feed it to the birds!"
"Coming mom!" came the slightly muffled reply. Greed was guessing that her door was closed.
She came down minutes later, wearing a figure-hugging sleeveless black shirt and a pair of matching pants that looked a bit similar to Greed's and her long dark hair tied back in two high bunches. She was looking adorable, as usual. (Author:P)
The minute she came down, Wrath tagged along and both Alice and Greed could see that Freesia was cursing under her breath. She laughed nervously at her mother and said, "Morning mom... Slept well?"
Alice was tapping her foot impatiently, both arms crossed over her chest and motioning towards Wrath as if waiting for an explanation.
"Well... uh... He doesn't have a home, so..."
Alice sighed, "Freesia, I know you feel pity for the homeless, but we don't have that much food to feed so many mouths either. I'm afraid he'll just have to go back where you found him."
"But mom! He was on the streets when I first met him!"
"Well, surely he came from somewhere. People don't just fall from the sky, you know."
"But..."
"Freesia, people aren't pets."
"I know that, but you won't even let me keep a cat!"
"I'm allergic to fur, now if you'll stop talking back to me," her mother said sternly, frowning at the homunculus. Freesia hung her head in defeat, mumbling a, "Sorry, mom" and looked at her feet.
Alice looked at Wrath and said, "Your friend there can stay for breakfast before he leaves," she said softly, smiling and ruffling Wrath's hair before going back to the kitchen to fix something for the little boy.
Upon reaching the dining table, Greed and Wrath engaged in a glaring competition. For some unknown reason, they just hate each other... Freesia was too pre-occupied looking at some birds outside that she didn't notice the little competition going on next to her.
A few hours passed after that and Freesia decided that she wanted to go out and take a walk. Wrath was the first to grab her hand and say he wanted to join in and she agreed. However, the third person who came along wasn't exactly supposed to come with them.
"Greed, you're not well enough. You need some more rest! Besides, it's scorching outside."
"I need to take a walk myself. I hate being cooped up in one place too long, just so you know. I'm going, whether you like it or not."
Freesia sighed, "Alright, whatever grabs you, I suppose... But I won't be responsible should you collapse somewhere, alright?" she turned around and walked on ahead but stopped with a jerk when something pulled at her hair.
"Greed, that hurt! What did I do to deserve that?" she cried, rubbing her head where the pain was most intense.
He shrugged casually, "Just felt like doing it. Anyways, I feel like visiting an old place. Wanna join me?" he asked. He didn't wait for a reply though. He just walked on ahead. Freesia, being the curious being she was, decided to follow.
She thought the route was familiar and understood what Greed meant when they reached a very familiar building. It was the entrance to the Devil's Nest. Surprisingly, the area was still accessible and before long, Greed had disappeared into the ruined place.
"Greed, come back out here before someone sees you!" Freesia cried in a hushed tone, afraid of what people might think of his actions, but his footsteps steadily became more distant as he continued to explore the interior. Freesia grumbled and followed suit shortly after that, coughing a bit as a bit of dust flew about when she accidentally bumped into a wall.
"Greed? Are you still there?" she asked when her coughing ceased. He replied with a hum and before long, his footsteps started sounding distant again.
Wrath looked up at her, "This place creeps me out."
"I know. I was even more creeped out the first time I came in here."
"Why don't we just get out of here? It doesn't matter if he gets lost down here, I hate this place," he declared and made to exit the building but turned back when Freesia didn't follow, "Didn't you hear me?" he asked, looking at the female homunculus quizzically.
She looked at the small boy, "Sorry Wrath, I can't leave him behind," she said with a smile and a bit of a blush on her cheeks. Wrath didn't understand, "Well... let's just put it this way; he's annoying when you get to know him but when he's gone, you'll miss him a lot. I for one don't want to feel that way. You go on ahead, I'm gonna go catch up with Greed," with that said, she went off in pursuit of Greed, leaving Wrath all alone near the entrance of the former bar.
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-DEVIL'S NEST RUINS, UNDERGROUND-
Freesia found herself in the sewers and looked around. It was dimly lit down there, but bright enough for her to see where she was going. Now she was really creeped out. She never was good in dark places, and she didn't like this place one bit, "Greed, where are you?" she asked to no one in particular as she was alone down there.
Footsteps approached her. Turning around, thinking it was Greed, she squinted in the dim light to see if it was the person she was seeking. Unfortunately, it wasn't. The gleam of a well-worn blade by the person's side was enough to tell Freesia that wasn't Greed. The small figure donned a cloak about it and the hood made it impossible for Freesia to tell if it was a man or a woman.
"Leave..." the person growled. Now, she was sure that her 'companion' was a man. As she made no move, he held his sword at ready and lunged towards her, where Freesia instinctively back-flipped and completely avoided her assailant's attack.
However, the speed of her opponent wasn't to belittle. Once she touched the ground, the nimble man was already in front of her, sword raised above his head. She tripped over something behind her foot and fell, thankfully, in Greed's arms, who just came from the opposite direction and was attracted to all the commotion. As she fell, she swung her other leg up and managed only to kick the man's hood back.
Greed stared wide-eyed at the cloaked swordsman. The deep blue eyes, the partially exposed white gi, it was impossible not to remember...
"Dorchette...!"
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(1) I modified the lyrics to a song I heard from Gundam SEED Destiny. It's in the episode where Stellar dies and I like the song a lot. It's sad and slow, so I decided that it would sound nice as a lullaby. :) You can try singing it to see if it sounds alright. :P
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Hahaha! How do you like that! The puppy survived! Well, in the manga, they didn't exactly show if Roa and Dorchette really died, right? I didn't exactly see any decapitation either, so don't be surprised if you see more manga or anime or even another fanfiction character's 'Guest Star' appearance.
I'm stopping this chapter where it is because I purposely wanted to leave a cliffhanger. :) Note to everyone; Am currently not sure if I should make Roa appear too. I like Dorchette because a few fanfiction authors make him so cute and hilarious, so I decided that he should make an appearance here. Plus, I was kind of stumped here, so I decided that Dorchette has a thing or two to tell.
So! Should I or should I not include Roa? Your choice. If I don't get anything, then it's all up to me. :)
Enjoy the chapter, this one doesn't have much progress, but let's just lay back for now, shall we? I won't want to rush head-on to all the excitement we'll bump into in the later chapters...
P/S: Lightningstrxu, any ideas where you want Grendel and Betrayal to be explained more? After all, you are their owner. :P
Please R & R!