The 8th Sin

-The way of the chimera-

I think I'm jinxed.

(Readers: Why?)

The day after I uploaded chapter 14, well... you guys remember what happened to Greed, right?

(Readers: Yeah, he got sick. What about it?)

I came down with a fever the very next day, after I uploaded it... T.T

(Readers laugh out loud)

You guys are mean... T.T Anyway, here's chapter 15! I've decided to do this in secret, without mum knowing, but uploading the next chapter is going to be hell, so you guys ought to be patient...

Please R&R!

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-DEVIL'S NEST RUINS, UNDERGROUND-

The small man froze at the sight of the homunculus, "G-Greed...?"

"You're alive!" the two said simultaneously, pointing at one another in disbelief.

Freesia eyed Dorchette carefully and said, "Hey, weren't you that guy..."

"Whom you stabbed? Yeah. They still hurt, you know," the dog chimera grumbled, gently patting his left shoulder where she'd wounded him.

"Sorry... I was just trying to defend myself," she said apologetically.

Dorchette shrugged it off, "I would have done the same thing if I were you. Anyway, I've got a shelter nearby. We can talk there."

Greed looked at the dog limp away," Are you the only one here?"

"If I tell you now, it wouldn't be much fun, would it? Hurry up!" with that said, he scuttled off again and the two homunculi just followed.

Freesia smiled as they went and threw a sideways glance at her companion. Nudging him playfully, she then said, "I told you you'd find something that belonged to you."

Greed just nodded, "Whatever you say..."

They reached a small 'tent', or at least it passed for one in appearance and with a swish of fabric, Dorchette disappeared into the makeshift home. There was some excited chatter when the homunculi were within hearing range and a few seconds later, Dorchette's head popped out of the tent, "Come on in!"

The two entered and Greed was the first person to recognize the bulky body lying on the makeshift bed. (Well, it's comprised only of two blankets and a few stuffed sacks for pillows...)

"Roa!" the greedy homunculus' grin grew wide at this point, "I can't begin to imagine what it would take to get rid of you two."

A deep chuckle came out of the muscular chimera, "I'm just glad you made it out fine."

Greed just looked at Freesia, smirked and said, "I got lucky."

"You two scared me there. I was waiting for our regular visitor back at the underground entrance," Dorchette said breezily, smoking on his pipe. Miraculously, it survived the ordeal the owner's been through with only a few dents and scratched to tell the tale.

Roa however, looked a lot worse. His right eye was covered with a few layers of gauze and most of his limbs were bandaged. A few areas were in terrible need of a change and for the first time, Roa appeared weak and helpless.

Recalling what Dorchette just said, Freesia piped up, "Regular visitor? You mean there are people who actually come down here?"

Dorchette nodded, smiling, "Yeah. She's a gem too. Brings food and medicine for us. We could be living temporarily in her uncle's inn, but no one's strong enough to carry Roa. We'll just have to wait till he recovers, or at least till he's fine enough to walk," he then took another drag off his pipe, blowing the smoke outside.

Just then, Greed noticed something, "Someone's missing... Oh, right. Where's Martel? It's not everyday I see you three separated."

Dorchette nearly choked on the smoke from his pipe and Roa had to pat the dog on the back a couple of times. Greed raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"(Cough, cough!) M-Martel... She's... well... (Sigh...) she didn't make it..." the swordsman mumbled, looking down at the concrete floor sadly. He whimpered like the pup he was when Roa pat him on the head sympathetically.

The expression on Greed's face told it all. Freesia, who sat next to him could faintly hear him growl Pride's name under his breath, hands clenched tightly into fists. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him and thought, '...Martel...' she must have been the rubbery army woman from before. After all, she was the only one in the crowd who appeared to be fighting fit. At least, the only woman in the crowd who wasn't a prostitute.

The tension in the small 'room' was so tense, if it was a material, one could cut it with a knife. Light, rapid footsteps broke the silence and the 'door' was flipped open to reveal an oriental-looking girl of around 13 or so, dressed in a brown sundress, a white apron and a pair of black martial arts shoes, carrying a rather large basket full to the brim with food and a bag slung over one shoulder which looked too big for her and reeked of medicine. She had dark brown eyes and her chestnut hair was tied back with a red ribbon in a very odd fashion.

"Hey Mr. Dorchette, Mr. Roa! Sorry I'm late!" the young lady chirped, smiling at the aforementioned duo.

"Yukino! I thought you'd never come. I'm starving..." Dorchette whined, his stomach grumbling just to prove his point. Yukino giggled and set the basket down in front of the chimera,

"Here. I brought extras today," she said sweetly. Dorchette immediately grabbed a loaf of bread and started wolfing it down, making Roa sigh in such a way you could have sworn he just said, 'Do you eat to live or live to eat? Slow down!'

Their young visitor saw the two homunculi and asked, "Are you two friends of Mr. Dorchette and Mr. Roa?"

Since Greed didn't look like he was in the mood to talk, Freesia decided to answer for him, "Uhm... Yeah. I'm Freesia and this is..." Freesia paused before mentioning her companion's name. Should she create a name for him or shouldn't she? I mean, people would surely ask, "What kind of parents would name their son Greed?" should they know his name.

Thankfully, Roa was there to cover up for her, "We just call him Greed. He's not willing enough to tell us his real name. No questions asked," the bull smiled a the young lady who merely nodded and said,

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Freesia, Mr. Greed. My name is Shinkou Yukino. I work in a pharmacy."

Dorchette paused in the middle of stuffing his face and managed to say, "Can you believe this kid? She quit school just to help out at a pharmacy..." without choking to death.

She pouted at this, "Alright, that's enough out of you, (1) Doro-doro! Let's see if your wounds are healing well!" with that said, Yukino ripped the cloak off the swordsman and started inspecting the concealed wounds that Dorchette had kept hidden under his clothes. Greed was kind of surprised at how Dorchette still managed to move around or even live for that matter after sustaining such serious injuries. Several parts of his body were stitched and the homunculus highly doubted the dog to heal without looking like a rag doll.

Yukino frowned, "You've been doing vigorous exercises again! Really, don't you EVER listen to what a doctor has to say?" she scolded, motioning to a few burst stitches along Dorchette's dominant arm. Freesia had a really clear idea of how that came to be...

With surprising skill and confidence, Yukino had patched Dorchette up, as good as new and then scooted over to Roa, her bag of medicine less than an arm's length away.

As she changed Roa's bandages, Freesia was able to see the many hideous wounds the large man had. It must have been very painful, since some are still bleeding, though not profusely. She was just wondering how Roa could still keep a straight face through all that. To add to the list, an ugly scar marred the bull's face, running from the centre of his forehead, down past his eye and almost slicing it in half then stopping only on the right side of his throat, very close to an important vein. From the looks of him, it didn't look like his eye was going to see anything ever again.

"Oh yeah, by the way, Mr. Grendel said he may or may not be coming back. He said he had something to attend to. As usual, he said I'm too young to understand and told me to 'run along'... Gosh, what does he take me for! Five?" Yukino grumbled as she cleaned up Roa's wounds with some disinfectant and some cotton wool.

Dorchette huffed, "I wouldn't worry about him. Heck, he won't listen to a thing almost anybody says," As he put his pipe to his lips again, Yukino awarded him with a whack on the head, courtesy of her bottle of disinfectant, "Ow! What was that for?"

The nurse gritted her teeth at him, "How many times must I tell you; smoking is no good for you! Put that away before I dispose of it personally!" their favorite mutt quickly stowed his beloved item away in his gi, as if Yukino would never guess that he'd have hidden it in there.

Looking into the basket of food again, Dorchette pulled out a roll of newspaper from the bottom, "Hey, have you heard? That thief in Aquoya's active again."

Greed raised an eyebrow at the chimera, more out of habit than interest and said, "Why would I be interested to know that?"

Freesia looked worried, "I sure hope the friend my father's going to meet in Rush Valley isn't that thief..."

"Oh, right. Your mom did mention that his friend is a resident of Aquoya. Or at least that was how she put it..." Greed said, turning his head slightly to look at the female homunculus in the eye. She blushed a bit, recalled this as her first time having a casual conversation with him at such close proximity.

Their curtain of a door was flipped open again and a tall man wearing a weather-beaten oversized trench coat and a large, faded hat that hid his face came into the scene, towering over them, "Sorry I'm late." He mumbled, loud enough for everyone to hear him. Freesia could have sworn he was growling.

Yukino smiled, "Welcome back, Mr. Grendel. For a second there, I thought you'd left town."

Grendel simply nodded, "I would if I had the money."

"Good that you don't at least Mr. Dorchette and Mr. Roa won't be so lonely," Yukino chimed, gently patting a piece of gauze over Roa's severed eye.

They may not have seen it, but Grendel's eyes shifted their gaze towards the two homunculi sitting nearby and upon setting his eyes on Freesia, he lunged towards her and pinned her to the ground, a clawed left hand emerging from the left sleeve of his coat and the face of a blue-eyed beast from under his wide-brimmed hat,

"Why have you come, Lust? I told you I'm never returning there again!" he half-roared, tightening his grip on Freesia's neck. She gasped for breath, gripping Grendel's deformed but powerful arm in an attempt to dislodge it from her throat, but to no avail.

Everything started to grow dim and she could faintly hear Dorchette and Yukino asking Grendel to release her. She was as good as a goner when the pressure on her neck had disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. Freesia sat up, giving her lungs the air they so desperately needed.

A splash could be heard and Freesia turned to look. Greed was standing not too far away from her, one hand on his hip and the other hanging loosely by the side of his body and his shield was just itching to be activated.

Grendel resurfaced from the water, clambering back onto the concrete floor with ease, only to encounter a very displeased homunculus. From where Freesia was, she guessed that Greed must have thrown the chimera into the water. But looking at him sway slightly even as he stood motionless made her wonder if he seriously was going to pick a fight with Grendel.

The chimera growled at him, "Who are you and what business do you have with her?"

Greed rolled his eyes skywards, "I haven't seen anyone as clueless as you for quite some time now."

"What?"

"What I'm saying is, she's not who you think she is," the tall homunculus cocked his head in Freesia's direction, "She's not Lust."

Grendel frowned and looked at Freesia again, just to make sure. Just as Greed had said, she wasn't Lust. The crimson mark on her shoulder told it all. Also, Freesia looked younger and had larger eyes. The dark must have messed around with his eyes because Grendel looked like he just got hit by a ton of bricks.

"...Sorry about my attacking you..." he mumbled and retreated to a 'far' corner of the 'room' after retrieving his hat and stayed there, motionless.

Greed smirked; satisfied with what he just saw until the persistent itching in his throat came out as coughs. They got more violent the more he coughed and the pounding headache he had forced him to go outside as to not infect the others.

Freesia looked at him leave and said, "I'll be right back," she left the shelter swiftly and was just in time to catch Greed, who had clumsily tripped over his own feet as he was swaying dangerously. She sat the two of them down, Greed's back facing her and asked, "Are you alright?"

"What does it look like?" he rasped, attempting to suppress a cough but to no avail. Freesia frowned and reached around him to touch his forehead. He was warmer than he was the day before!

"I told you, you should've stayed in bed!" she scolded, sitting backed up to the wall and pulling Greed down so his head would be resting on her lap. Turning her right hand into water, she pressed it on his forehead before he started complaining.

Greed sighed, "It's not like this fever's going to kill me, now let me go," he attempted to sit up but Freesia's left hand pressing down on his chest prevented him from doing so, "...Fine, let's have it your way," he said grumpily, crossing his arms over his chest.

Freesia laughed, "It's for your own good, alright? He didn't reply, except for the occasional cough that broke the silence between them.

Just as he was getting comfortable, Freesia asked, "Greed, why did you help me just now? I could've pulled something off."

The person she was talking to scoffed, "Quote; "could've". Miracles don't just happen as you want it to, Freesia."

"...You haven't answered yet."

He sighed, "You're denser than you look, you know that? Alright, let's start with the basics. What's my name?

Freesia looked at him quizzically, "Greed."

"Right. As my name implies, I'm a very greedy person. Anything I like or fancy, I take it as mine."

"And your point is?"

Looking up at her lazily, he reached up and touched the side of her face, "I consider you mine. No one else's. And I don't like people who mess with what belongs to me."

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-DUBLITH TRAIN STATION-

"Gosh, what month IS this?" Melody whined, fanning herself with a book. Envy, who never liked the heat, was taking cover under Melody's umbrella as Marcus, who pretty much liked the sun squeaked something to her.

"Marcus, you haven't been messing around with my calendar, have you? Please don't tell me you're serious that it's still in the middle of October!" She whined some more, grumbling something about autumn never reaching Dublith and exited the station, dragging her bag behind her.

Envy brushed a damp lock of his hair out of his face and merely tagged along, "Your first time here in Dublith?"

Melody, who was fiddling with the map said, "I was originally from Aquoya. I moved to Central 5 years back without visiting any other cities. What do you think?"

Her companion shrugged, "So, where's our destination?" he asked absent-mindedly, looking around the desert city.

"Nowhere special. Just a darned inn called the 'Helios'. According to this map..."

Envy gave her a pat on the head, "Hey, Melody?"

The said alchemist swatted his hand away distractedly, "Not now Envy! I'm trying to find..." she was cut off when Envy held both sides of her face from behind and made her look at the building standing right in front of them, "The inn..." Melody finished her sentence and put the map of Dublith away promptly. She made to enter the building when Envy spotted a dark-haired boy wearing something similar to that of his own, wandering around aimlessly. He frowned at the glimpse of red under the boy's right foot.

He was snapped out of his trance by Marcus pulling at his hand and Melody calling to him, "Come on! I won't be responsible should you get serious sunburn. Who knows, I'll give you extra credit if you can bag yourself a stroke while you're at it!"

The homunculus smirked, "Keep on wishing, hun. Keep on wishing," with a swift movement of his arm, Envy had swept Marcus up and sat the small goblin down on his left shoulder. If Envy's guess was right, then he could've sworn Marcus just complained that he wasn't as tall as Major Armstrong...

Later that afternoon, once the trio had checked in, Envy had said that he wanted to go out and take a walk, which he did, leaving Melody and Marcus in their room. They too left not long after that, as they were feeling hungry and Melody still had to go and find Rin's 'prisoners', wherever in Dublith they may be.

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-DUBLITH, NEAR THE DEVIL'S NEST RUINS-

Freesia stepped out of the ruined entrance, Greed following close behind her and feeling much better thanks to Yukino's medicine. Dorchette had offered to come along with them, but Greed disagreed (no pun intended!) and Yukino totally refused to let him off and even threatened to give him anesthetics if he did. Grendel refused to co-operate, so they just left him at that. Roa... he was totally incapable of helping at the moment.

The female homunculus sighed at her companion, "I can't believe it... After all this time and you're STILL after eternal life? Isn't what you have enough?"

He shrugged, "This isn't what I consider eternal life. Once we run out of red stones, that's the end of the line for us. We'd be as normal as humans are, totally vulnerable to weapons. That's not what I want."

"Well then, what is it that you want then?" she asked, putting one hand on her hip in a disturbingly Envy-ish manner. Greed chuckled to himself and said,

"That's for me to know and you to find out. When I get my hands on eternal life, it'd have forever to think of what I'm going to do with it. No rush, right?" he walked past her and that was when Freesia noticed something.

"Hey, Wrath's gone!"

Greed huffed, "We're better off without the brat," he turned around to face her and was going to say something when a figure standing atop the roof caught his eye, "...Envy...!" he growled, looking up at the said homunculus.

Freesia followed his gaze and instinctively moved behind the Ultimate Shield, finding it the safest course of action. All of a sudden, it seemed as though not one resident of Dublith was in the area. As if they knew this was coming. Now, in that particular street were just the three homunculi against each other.

"Well, well, well... This is just my day, isn't it? So Life, you've been rounding up a lot of problems for me, haven't you? Have you thought of my proposition? Your mother wasn't very pleased with your running away," the skinny homunculus said snidely, looking down at them arrogantly.

Freesia, whom Envy called 'Life', snarled at him, "I don't recall having a mother. You can just go back and tell her I refuse to go to her. If she wants me, then she'll just have to come and get me."

Envy rolled his eyes skywards, "Aren't you going to make this any easier for me? Just so you know, you're running away with one of her masterpieces."

"...What masterpiece?" She got curious, but didn't let her guard down.

He smirked, "Don't you know? You're the only homunculus among the eight of us who was made from a complete Philosopher's Stone."

Both Greed and Freesia's eyes widened. The tallest of the three looked over his shoulder at her and said to Envy, "How do I know you're not bluffing?"

The aforementioned homunculus laughed, "How do I know? You're as dense as ever, baby brother. The Stone is capable of many things. One of them that you can see on her is that, she has the power to use alchemy, even though she lacks a soul."

"Is that the only reason why she wants me?" Freesia suddenly asked. To the men's surprise, she was smiling, "If it is, then all the more reason for me to decline. I'm not about ready to just give that conceited woman what she wants! As I said Envy; she wants me, she comes and gets me!"

Envy frowned at her, "I'm sorely disappointed. Well then, if that's how you put it..." Envy's body started to shift again. Freesia was expecting him to shift into a beast, but what she saw actually scared her. He was a monster.

Greed had to tackle her out of the way when the monster Envy had become jumped down from the building, causing the ground under him to sink ever so slightly, "What's the matter? You scared?" Envy taunted, laughing at the terrified look on Freesia's face.

Her companion cleared his throat, preventing a cough from escaping and said to her, "Snap out of it. You've gone through worse things than him. For all you know, he's just a confused kid who can't make up his mind; whether he wants to be a he or a she."

A vein popped on the monster's temple, "I dare you to say that again."

Greed smirked smugly and activated his shield, "Why can't you just tell the whole world you're a he-she? That would make everything a whole lot simpler than just having you faking to be a guy every time I see you?" he said off-handedly and moving into a stance.

Freesia was hearing things. She fell to her knees behind Greed, both hands on either sides of her head, listening to all those pained voices, pleading to be released over and over again, "Get out of my head..." she muttered, not realizing that she had doubled over in the process. She forced herself to look up, and at the sight of the monster's forearms, the pleads grew stronger, as if pulling her to them.

A memory resurfaced suddenly and Freesia froze.

Lilith was four then. She was just playing with her favorite ball in her mother's mansion and somehow, the little round object fell down into the basement. She grumbled. It was always dark in there and it scared her to no end. Her father was at work and her mother never liked to be disturbed, so gathering up all her courage, the little girl went into the dark basement with only a candle as she wasn't tall enough to reach the switch, neither was there a stool in sight.

Down below, the smell of something foul reached her nose and she coughed a couple of times because of the stench. But, determined to get her ball back, she waddled around the dark room, unable to see much of her surroundings when she heard voices. Human voices, moaning in pain and they were moving. It seemed that they've stopped against something, probably a metal fence to keep them away from her and before she advanced any further, she retreated. Her legs shook with every step she took and when she bumped into a cell and turned around, the face of a sickly old man reaching for her made her scream.

She dropped her candle. Everything grew dark. Lilith screamed again and shrieked when a bony hand gripped around her ankles. She was crying, calling out at the top of her lungs for her mother, no matter how much she disliked the woman and no matter how much the woman disliked being disturbed.

The mere recollection caused Freesia to break. She suddenly shrieked, tears streaming down her face even though her enemy stood before her. Greed was on the ground not too far away, regenerating himself as some of his limbs were missing and was shouting something at Envy that Freesia couldn't hear. She probably couldn't be bothered to hear him.

Before she knew it, she was looking down monster Envy's throat, her whole being frozen at the surprise attack and before long, darkness consumed her. Or rather, Monster Envy had consumed her.

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(1) 'Doro-doro' was a nickname that suddenly popped up in my head while I was reading the FMA manga one day. I recalled that they pronounced Dorchette's name as 'DO-RO-SHI-ETTO' in the anime, so I just took the first two syllables and started calling our favorite mutt 'Doro-doro'. :) The name's pretty catchy too.

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Uh-oh...

What do you think will happen? Envy's pretty intent on taking her back, isn't he? What will Melody say to that? We'll just see in the 16th chapter. However, the big question is, is this the end of the 8th homunculus?

I know what you guys must be thinking.

WHY in the world am I uploading? Simple. My mom can't keep me away from my laptop for very long. :) I found it hidden in my mom's closet one day and decided to do some typing in secret. Yeah, it's a slow process, but someone's gotta do it. I mean, I won't wanna be kept away from my friends who are reading this fic!

Okay, my general overlook for this chap; I think it's crappy... -.-;; Something just doesn't feel right while I'm typing so if anyone thinks I should redo this chap, please do.

Oh yeah, if anyone's asking about where Jonathan is, don't worry. He's got his hands full with other issues and I assure you, you'll be enlightened soon enough.

See you in secret for the next chap!

-TyrantFlame- (R 'N' R please!)