The 8th Sin
-Can't go back-
So sorry for the late update. I had to study. -.-;; The exams were closing in and I was getting really nervous that I temporarily had writer's block. -.-;; Oh well, I'm back now, so no worries!
Here we are, chapter 17. Wow, I've gotten this far already? O.o I was aiming to finish this in less than 20 chapters, but it looks impossible from here. O.O;;
Anyway, I hope you all like the story so far, because my chapter 16 didn't really look that interesting when I re-read it AFTER uploading it... -.-;; One of these days, I ought to remind myself to read whatever I typed BEFORE I upload it...
Okay, let's start the chapter:)
Please R 'n' R!
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-CENTRAL, WINRAIN RESIDENCE-
Teresa woke up to the sound of chirping birds. Looking straight ahead, she found herself looking at a white ceiling, tinted orange due to the setting sun outside. Strangely enough, this place was alien to her. It wasn't her room. Wait, did she even wobble all the way to her house? All she remembered was going out to do something, which she 'conveniently' forgot, with Betrayal. Then she saw John...
...That's it! John!
She sat up in a hurry, pain shooting up the back of her head from the sudden movement. She fell back down on the bed with a quiet moan, her hand gently touching the wound. To her surprise, she noticed some bandages wrapped around her head. As she did so, she also saw that most of her wounds have already been cleaned and tended to properly.
The door swung open and footsteps approached the bed. Looking up, she saw the person she wanted to see, "Good evening, Jonathan," she said with a smile, green eyes meeting his blue ones.
He didn't look particularly happy, "Since you're well enough to talk, would you mind filling in the blanks for me here?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
Teresa sighed and sat up, slowly this time, "Can't I at least rest first? You have seen what I went through just to save your skin."
"Why did you even bother to in the first place?"
She could've slapped him if she was well enough, "Ungrateful bastard..." she mumbled, looking away.
John looked like he could kill her for saying that. However, he was a gentleman, so he just bit back the urge to murder her in his own bedroom. He said nothing but retreated to his study table, where a book lay open, half-way read.
Teresa looked at him with a faint trace of worry on her features. She wasn't really sure why she helped him either. Plus, she was in an enemy's territory and she wasn't really sure if Betrayal was going to let her surprise attack earlier on slip. In fact, she could almost smell the scent of death around her.
She sighed, "Alright, I'll talk," a page was flipped.
"That homunculus, Betrayal, or whom you call 'Mia' can be considered my senior work-hour-wise. I met a mysterious woman who offered me a job, which I took and was introduced to a few more others. One of them was Betrayal. Sorry to disappoint, but I have no idea where she came from. One thing's certain; she detests me. So if you feel that I'm of no use to you, or you've run out of patience for me, just leave me out on the streets, I'll be sprawled out dead in a few hours," she said flatly, continuing to look at John's back.
John fell silent for a moment, "What did that woman you mentioned earlier on want?"
Teresa smiled, "Something that all alchemists dream of obtaining."
"...The Philosopher's Stone?"
"Smart boy. I have no idea what she wants it for, but I sure would love to have it at my disposal... Those fake Philosopher's Stone I've been hearing about are just too cheap to consider having," she said dreamily, playing with the ends of her hair.
John looked over his shoulder at her, "Do you know where it is?"
"...Where what is?" Teresa asked rather stupidly.
"The Philosopher's Stone. Do you know where it is?"
His 'prisoner' shrugged, "No idea. None of the rumors flying about are believable. I highly doubt Dr. Marcoh is willing enough to share his documents with us, so we'll just have to find an alternate source ourselves."
He eyed her intently, "And that would be?"
She smiled at him slyly, "What do you think? Of course an excellent alternative would be to make it yourself. Though with our level of expertise, we'd only have roughly 32 percent or maybe an even lower percentage of having it successfully created."
"Why would it?"
"Don't you know what the main ingredient of a Philosopher's Stone is?" she raised an eyebrow at him quizzically, amused at his clueless ness. He frowned at her, intent on knowing but Teresa blew it all by saying, "I'll just save the story for another day, seeing you're so tense and all."
John clapped the book he held shut, "Teresa..."
"Don't start. I'm not really sure if I should be telling you all this. However, I'm just giving you a huge hint; if you start with a different topic of conversation, we'll probably stray off to this topic again."
Now this was getting on his nerves. John wasn't very patient at the moment, but he had no choice; Teresa was his only source of information. She saw a small stack of newspapers sitting atop the bedside table and picked one at random, opening it up so she could see it.
"Ah, so you do keep yourself updated," she said in a bit of a regretful tone. John raised an eyebrow and said,
"Just because I'm clueless doesn't mean I don't know a damn thing of what's going on outside, you know."
Teresa giggled and let her eyes skim through the front page. The paper was a few years outdated, but the front page news was still interesting, nonetheless, "I bet you know about the traitor in the paper?" she held up the front page for John to see and he nodded.
"Military traitor, Zolf J. Kimbley. Why?"
His companion looked at him blankly, "You don't see the resemblance? Lots of people say I look somewhat like him," she placed the paper alongside her face so as to make John reconsider, but the man shook his head, "Oh alright, forget I said anything," she tossed the newspaper back onto the bedside table in defeat and lay down again to get some rest.
John looked at her turn over, giving her back to him. This was getting tiring and he didn't feel like entertaining her much, "Do I need to do anything else to loosen your tongue?"
Teresa turned over, smiling at him devilishly. John responded to this by looking as if a ton of bricks just hit him in the face as he rubbed his temples, trying to calm a nerve or two. He was pretty sure his blood pressure would be shooting through the roof if this kept up, "Jumping in bed with you will be the last thing I do in a few millennia. NO."
Teresa pouted, looking disappointed. But then she went and said, "An alternative to that would be just to wait until I feel like talking."
"And that'll take how long?"
"As long as it takes," she said as-a-matter-of-factly and with that, Teresa turned over again.
John sighed, "Teresa, I'm sick and tired of waiting. I need information and I need it now."
He heard her huff, "Since we're on opposing sides, you very well know that whatever comes out of my mouth will decide whether I live or otherwise. So, you have no right to complain as I appear to be helping you and at the same time, trying to prevent my own death," she said bitterly as John looked at her.
She had a point. Teresa was, in fact, in a very dangerous situation. If she knew that, then why was she still talking to him?
John had no idea. The alchemist lying in his bed right now was nothing but a bundle of surprises to him. She turned over again, facing John with a serious expression on her face, "I think you'll find this quite useful," she said abruptly, gathering John's blanket around her.
"Find what useful?"
Teresa smiled, "Well, you do know about the military traitor, right?" John nodded, "I heard he's been re-recruited into the military by a man named Frank Archer."
"And your point is?"
"I'm getting there, Jonathan. I'm getting there. You see, this man, Zolf J. Kimbley is the kind of person who tends to get himself into things he should be messing with and ends up getting in trouble for it. I heard he's got lots of contacts. Some of them probably know of the whereabouts of the Philosopher's Stone. In fact, I know some of the people he knows."
John looked at her questioningly, "Who?"
Teresa shook her head like an innocent child, "I'm not the one who's going to tell you. He is."
The raven-haired alchemist groaned, "Teresa, how would it be possible for me to even talk to him?"
She shrugged, "He's in the military now, isn't he? Just walk up to him, you know, 'Hi, how're you doing? Where's the Philosopher's Stone?' and all that fun stuff. He'll help you if he thinks it's 'fun'."
"...You sound like you know him."
Again, Teresa shrugged, "Why shouldn't I know him? After all, he is my elder brother. I know him like the back of my hand."
John could've sworn she just said Kimbley was her brother, "Did I hear you right?"
Teresa nodded.
"You're kidding me."
She shook her head.
"Liar, your surnames are different."
His companion sighed, "That's because, my dear John, we come from the same mother but different fathers. He's my mom's only son with my step-father Torrance Kimbley and my little brother and I come from my father, Rem De Lis. Gosh, both Zolf and I look like our mother, can't you see the resemblance?" she asked bluntly, tucking one arm under the pillow in a more comfortable position.
John looked at the green-eyed woman and said, "I didn't bother. Anyway, so it's possible for him to help me?"
"Maybe, if you talk to him nicely. I'd talk to him if I'm not so worried about myself right now. I might be leaving for somewhere else in a few days. You know, saving my own skin? So if Zolf doesn't want to talk to you, tell him I said 'please'. Oh, and don't call me 'Teresa' in front of him. He doesn't know me by that name."
"...Right. So what does he know you as?"
"Start by calling me Teresa. When he asks 'Teresa who', say 'Snapdragon'. He called me that because the flower Snapdragon symbolized deception. He always found me a good liar."
"...Are you sure you're not endangering yourself further? Why in the world are you helping me, anyway?"
Teresa shrugged, "I don't know myself. Who knows, Heaven forbids that I may have gotten hooked onto you! What did they call it? 'Love at first sight'?" she lay flat on her back and stared at the ceiling, "...To tell you the truth, I have a strong feeling I may not live long enough to see Zolf again..."
"Don't you have your other siblings?"
The woman scoffed, "I'm glad they're goners now. My step-father died from battle injuries. He was in the military, see? I never got the chance to know him. My father was never home, mother died getting close to something she called 'truth' and God knows how my other two siblings died. They just happen, one after the other."
John raised an eyebrow, "Why's 'Zolf' so important to you?"
"...That's for me to know and you to find out."
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-DUBLITH, HELIOS INN-
Envy awoke with a start, sitting up as soon as he regained consciousness and as soon as he sat up, his head came in contact with something that made an odd sound and ended up falling back down, both hands over the painful spot on his forehead.
"Ow... What hit me...?" he asked to no one in particular and saw Marcus rolling around at the foot of the bed in pain, also clutching his forehead and fighting back tears.
Melody came into view, grimacing, "Ouch, that has GOT to hurt. Are you two okay?" she picked Marcus up and lay him down on her bed then proceeded to tend to the homunculus.
"It's probably gone by now..." he mumbled, but Melody had already removed his headband to inspect the 'wound' further. Her fingers flitted over his pale skin gently and she removed them moments later, feeling quite satisfied,
"Alright, so you're fine. So, mind telling me what happened back there?"
Envy raised an eyebrow at her, putting his headband back on and suddenly remembered what had happened, "Did you see two people dressed in the same colors as I am when you found me?"
"Oh, you mean Greed and Freesia? I did."
"And you let them go?"
Melody rolled her eyes skywards, "During the freak transmutation, I traded in the very organ that allows me to run. Now I can only jog."
Envy sighed and fell back down on the bed, "Never mind... They probably won't go far..." he muttered.
Melody however heard the last few parts vaguely and asked, "Why are you after them, Envy?"
He fell silent and looked at her, "You won't understand. Not in a million years."
The alchemist didn't move. She just looked into his violet eyes, searching for an answer in their depths, "What about you? Why are you searching for those two? What is your motive besides just helping your winged friend?" Envy asked, looking at her pretty much the same way she was looking at him.
"...I'm afraid I can't answer you... What I will tell you is that I have my motives."
"And so do I. As you said, I can't answer you with my motives either. I don't understand your situation as you don't with mine. Let's just go with the flow, shall we? It's not like you can single-handedly take down both homunculi at once," he said lazily as he waited for a reply from the woman. He didn't want to have to fight her for something as small as the two homunculi he was supposed to take in. But one thing was certain; he had to make a move, and fast. Before Freesia grows any stronger than she already was.
Dante hadn't told him very much about this homunculus she fondly called her '8th Sin'. But from what he was told, Freesia was the first to be created. In other words, she existed before Envy. But, she lay dormant, even after she was fully 'grown'. She only arose as an innocent being, without any knowledge after Wrath, the last of the eight to exist, was discovered. Dante had been secretly teaching her about the other seven, how she was to somehow be their 'harness' in case she lost control of the other seven. Her body was slowly but surely deteriorating, so it was very likely that she wanted Freesia back so she could transfer her soul into Freesia's body.
If she could do anything other than that with the mysterious homunculus' body, Envy didn't want to know. If it wasn't because Dante knew what his weakness was, he wouldn't be taking orders from her. As a matter of fact, Envy hated Dante to bits. Now that he was stuck through all this, he was wondering what would become of him.
He closed his eyes. It was no use thinking about what would or wouldn't happen when the time hasn't come. All he has to do now was just let time make the first move, and he will follow.
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-FREESIA'S RESIDENCE-
"Mom? Where are you?" Freesia came through the door, sopping wet from head to toe and feeling more than just a little bit cold. She shivered as a cold gust of wind swept into the living room before Greed closed the door behind them. She looked over her shoulder at him and giggled at how miserable her companion looked. What really tickled was the fact that his spiky hair was now as wet as he was and it was now matted to his head, although he had swept his bangs back with his fingers earlier on. Now his hairdo looked a lot like Pride!
Alice came into the living room and sighed at the sight of them. Before Freesia could explain, Alice raised a hand and said, "Don't move a muscle and not a word from any of you. I just cleaned the rug and I'd hate to have to do it all over again. Stay where you are while I go and get you some towels," the elder woman then walked swiftly out of the room, probably out of fear the puddles around their feet would stain her almost dust-free rug.
Freesia undid the black ribbons that held her hair up and let her long hair hang down to her waist. Turning around to face Greed, she smiled, "You know, you look funny with your hair down."
Greed huffed at this, "You don't look any better yourself."
She smirked at him and was going to say something else when her mother came in with two large towels that looked like they could easily pass for a blanket that just got torn in half.
"Mom, when did we have towels the size of blankets?"
"Quit complaining and dry yourselves up before you go upstairs. And once you go upstairs, I don't want you staying in those clothes. You two are going straight to the bathroom, take a long hot shower and change into some dry clothes before you get hypothermia. Freesia, you can use the bathroom in the master bedroom and... Greed, was it? You can use the guest bathroom. Its right next to the store room, you can't miss it. Take off your shoes right here, I don't want mud anywhere else on the floor asides from where you're standing. Freesia, once we're done putting you two in dry clothes, you're to mop the floor," Alice instructed them sternly, earning nods from the two homunculi who couldn't help but wonder how a mere mortal such as her could actually make two homunculi obey her every order.
Freesia then remembered something as she dried where she could with her towel, "Mom, you're forgetting something important."
"And that would be what, may I ask?" Alice put one hand on her hip, more out of habit than annoyance to which Freesia replied,
"Greed doesn't have any spare clothes."
Alice waved it off, "That's not a problem. I've got that covered."
"One more thing mom; are you a fortune-teller?"
"I most certainly am not. What makes you say that?"
"You seem to have a back-up plan for everything," both homunculi said simultaneously. Alice merely laughed and sent the two off to the two aforementioned bathrooms.
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Freesia dried her hair for the umpteenth time, making sure it was as dry as she could make it and looked at herself in the mirror. What she was wearing looked more like she was getting ready for winter than just preventing hypothermia. As she combed her hair, she pondered. Her mother said she had back-up plans for Greed. That was disturbing. Greed was half a head taller than her and obviously, he would refuse to wear anything that would come out of her closet(As a matter of fact, he'd forever be marred by the memory...), the top of her parents' heads only reached up to her ears and both of them are a lot thinner than Greed.
She hated to think of what her mother was going to do, but all this while, she never doubted her miracle worker of a mom. She looked back at her bedroom door, almost expecting someone to barge in, but it didn't open. Shrugging, she just went back to combing her hair.
Downstairs, Greed had fitted himself in a navy blue, turtle-neck sweater and a pair of baggy gray slacks, his hair now back to its former spiky glory. For a family who were born small, the clothes he was wearing fitted him perfectly.
Alice came into the guest room a few moments later and smiled at the sight of him, "I knew it would fit you."
"How you know, I probably would never understand," Greed said flippantly, pulling the sleeves that he'd rolled up earlier down to his wrists.
The elder woman looked at the homunculus, "What you're wearing is made by pure alchemy. Stop complaining and I'll be nice enough to let you keep it," she said sternly, putting away some freshly laundered and folded clothes into a nearby cupboard.
"So, mind telling me why you and my daughter were in the rain?" Alice put away the last of the clothes and closed the cupboard. Greed shrugged,
"It rained and we were quite a distance from the house?"
His companion giggled, "Okay, I may as well ask Freesia later on, if that's how you say it happened. There's some hot tea in the kitchen in case you're thirsty," with that, Alice left the room, closing the door behind her.
Greed looked at himself in the mirror one last time before opening the door and seeing Llednar walk swiftly past the door and towards the stairs leading to Freesia's bedroom. The homunculus looked on and within the next few seconds, Llednar was walking back and forth, almost as if he wasn't sure where he was going and finally disappeared into his room. How these humans ever live with all the stress, he just doesn't understand...
Deciding he had nothing better to do and that his cough had somehow miraculously vanished after taking Yukino's medicine, he decided to go and disturb the female homunculus upstairs.
A nasty 'thunk' greeted him when he opened the door, followed by the inability to swing the door open, thanks to something blocking the door, "Ouch! Greed! Close the door! That's my face AND my foot you just hit!" Freesia gave the door a little 'ram' with her shoulder and this time; it was Greed's turn to feel the pain.
The door opened again, this time revealing Freesia looking a bit annoyed and rubbing her nose where the door had hit her, "The least you could do was knock! What do you want?" she asked, now balancing on one leg to rub the painful spot where again, the door had hit her foot.
"Is it a sin for me to just drop by? I'm the kind of person who gets bored easily when you coop me up somewhere too long," Greed said plainly, also rubbing a painful spot on his nose. Gosh, who would've guessed that doors could be such harmful things! Freesia smiled and retreated back to her room, allowing him to come in. Inside, Greed saw that she was packing some clothes into a medium-sized suitcase, "Where in the world are you... Oh, right. Rush Valley," he said as he recalled where she was headed to.
"Dad said we're taking the early train there. Hopefully we don't bump into any more homunculi asides from us. How many homunculi are there in this world?" she asked, tossing a few more shirts into the bag.
Greed shrugged, "No idea. There should be 8 so far, including you. Who knows, some idiot from God knows where would try human transmutation and add another one to the list."
"I sure hope not. Of all the homunculi we've come across, you're the only one who hasn't bumped into me with the intention of hurting me."
As she was arranging her things in the bag, Freesia noticed that the room had suddenly grown quiet, as if she had been talking to herself the whole time. Looking both left and right, there wasn't a sign of the greedy homunculus. Where was he? When she straightened up to look for him, a pair of strong arms were wrapped around her slender waist and there he was, resting his chin on her shoulder.
She gasped when he bit gently on a sensitive spot on her neck. Chuckling at her reaction, he murmured in her ear, "Maybe I do intend to hurt you... in a different way. Can you tell?" he pulled her closer to him and made Freesia's cheeks turn an interesting shade of pink.
She turned to look at him over her shoulder and was about to say something when the door opened, "Freesia, do you need help packing? This is your first time to rush Valley, right?" it was Freesia's mother. She raised an eyebrow at how flushed her daughter's face looked and how she was packing her bags at top speed while Greed sat at her desk, riffling through the pages of a book with a bored look on his face, as if he hadn't a care in the world.
"Freesia, honey? Are you alright? Your face is all red."
"I'm alright, mom! No need to worry! I'm just... uh... Done packing! Okay?"
Alice frowned, "Freesia, are you hiding something from me?"
The said homunculus bit her lower lip, twiddled her thumbs and with ease, went past her mother at top speed downstairs, "Freesia!"
"I'll be mopping the floor!"
The elder woman narrowed her eyes. There was something fishy going on... Looking back into her room and at her suitcase, where a few articles of clothing still stuck out of the sides of the bag, she then averted her gaze to the other homunculus sitting casually on Freesia's study table, "You haven't done anything to her, have you?"
Greed merely smirked and shrugged, "What makes you think I did? Hasn't she always been that way?"
Alice crossed her arms, "Freesia may be odd at times, but she doesn't act suspicious."
The homunculus closed the book and placed it on the table, chuckling to himself. He got off it and walked towards the door, where Alice stood in his way, a head shorter than him, "There's always a first time to everything. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be having a cup of tea in the kitchen."
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Hweel... Gosh, my schedule is sooo tight! Exam starts tomorrow and I'm having English 1, Chemistry papers 1 and 2! Argh, the tension!
I'm having a bit of trouble with Envy at the mo, for some odd reason. It's the first time I ever run out of ideas for the palm tree. Anyway, I haven't got much, just this for this chapter and for the next chapter, hopefully I can re-unite them with the Elric brothers. I remember they were supposed to do something but I kinda forgot. :P It'll come back to me. Nothing to worry about.
So, now all you have to do is review:) Was this chapter good or bad, it's up to you now. Oh and lightningstrxu, to answer your question; MAYBE. I'm not sure where I can slot him in for now. It's kinda cluttered, but I'll piece them together SOON. Very soon.
See you all in chapter 18!