The 8th Sin
-Snapdragon-
I went through a few of my exams already...Yay, I guess! Only a few more papers to go... Now I have this chapter up and running, I just hope the quality of my writing hasn't gone down. I've been busy lately, so I'm very sorry if the previous chapters haven't been very exciting. This time around, we'll have a few more guest appearances and hopefully, I can still remember what their roles are supposed to be and still manage to keep them in character. -.-;
Oh yeah, almost forgot! We've got a new character joining in and I sure hope the owner of this character likes how the character turns out. :) In fact, I hope everyone enjoys this chappie...
Okay, let's get on with it!
Please R 'n' R!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-CENTRAL HOSPITAL, THE FOLLOWING DAY-
A nurse walked into Rin's ward, just to check up on him and saw the alchemist standing in front of his open window, removing the bandages over some of the minor wounds that have fully healed.
"Aizawa-san, you should stay in bed!" she cried, rushing over to his side to pull him back onto the bed.
The winged alchemist easily wrenched his arm out of her brittle grip, "I know that very well. But if I were to just stay in bed without doing any exercises, how can I expect my wounds to heal?" he sat on his windowsill and looked at the woman straight in the eyes. For as long as he had lived, he had never come across anyone who had ever felt comfortable under his gaze besides John. The nurse fell silent, trying to think of ANYTHING to get him back to bed, only to have herself dismissed by Rin's words,
"Sorry, but I'd like some time to myself. Don't worry, the weather's not that nice to go around flying," he said firmly and before he knew it, the nurse he was with walked out. Now that's better. Looking behind him outside the window and mentally counting how many stories up he was from smashing his skull, Rin pulled on his blue military jacket. Then he looked around his ward one last time, just in case he forgot anything important. After all, he just received a call from a blacksmith friend of his. Something that he wanted was finally completed.
Sighing, Rin closed his eyes and let himself fall out the window. The breeze felt nice on his skin as his jet-black wings spread open and with negligible effort, he was airborne. He had to pause for a moment in mid-flight as a sudden pain shot up his ribs. They weren't fully healed yet... Taking a deep breath, the pain subsided and Rin flew behind the nearest building next to the hospital. He was a few blocks away from the hospital, just to be on the safe side and found himself in a garden that could have passed for a jungle.
Rin gulped at the sight of the barbs on the fences and some of them above him. Those aren't going to feel nice on his wings... He glanced over at the mailbox to see whose house this was and frowned, "...Teresa De Lis..." he knew her alright. She was known as the 'Venom Alchemist' for the alchemy she excelled in and at the same time, he despised her. Something about her made him uneasy. Perhaps it was the air around her that practically screamed that she was watching closely on whomever and whatever it was that caught her attention.
Behind that doll-like face, Rin could tell she was always hiding something and he for one doesn't want to find out. He's gotten himself into more than enough trouble already and he wasn't going to just indulge in another one. Let someone else deal with her. As he checked that the coast was clear, Rin casually walked down the block, hailed a cab and headed towards an old shop that only a few people knew of.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-CENTRAL, WINRAIN RESIDENCE-
John had left for work and Teresa was all alone in the house, seeing that she refused to come with him to the office, fearing that she may run into Lust or Gluttony. She was rummaging John's kitchen cupboard for some materials that she could use to make herself a mask. At least something that could help her create a new face.
"Okay... What am I missing...?" she grabbed a pencil from a nearby desk when she finally remembered that she needed some carbon. After gathering all that she needed in the correct amount, she drew an alchemic circle on a piece of paper, dumped all the ingredients in the centre and touched the array. She put on the mask that she had created and carefully smoothed it out so no one could tell the difference and went into the bathroom to look at herself in the mirror.
"Perfect," she muttered, and smiled at her reflection. The mask had successfully made her look a bit younger than she was, made her eyes appear larger, to put it simply, made her appear more adorable than matured. The drawback was, she wasn't exactly a pro when it came to making these things and noticed that the mask was making her smile like an idiot.
Teresa waved it off, deciding not to try and fix it as it made her all the more less suspicious and touched her hair. She always liked the color, having it almost as white as snow, but if she planned on living, she's just going to have to let it go. With a bit of alchemy on the water, Teresa had dyed her hair in a somewhat sandy, golden-brown color. All that was left now was her hairstyle.
The Venom Alchemist found herself sitting in the living room with a pair of scissors sitting comfortably on the table in front of her. She eyed it with utmost loathe, crossing her arms over her chest as if the metal object was just going to suddenly stand on its own and snip her hair off. In the end, the wretched item landed back where she found it; the kitchen. She found a rubber band instead and did her hair in such a way that it was over one shoulder and tied as if she had woken up to see pigs flying. In other words; she looked a bit shabby.
Being a perfectionist, Teresa decided to go and alchemize herself a set of uniform. She seemed pretty sure that John wasn't going to chew her head off for alchemizing some of his old shirts and pants, not to mention a pair of well-worn boots in his shoe rack into a complete replica of the military uniform. It fitted her perfectly and now, Teresa was ready for work.
"Let's just hope nobody can recognize me except for John and Zolf..." she muttered under her breath and walked out the back door towards headquarters.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-CENTRAL HQ-
Kimbley was bored. So very bored. He had long found himself sitting near the fountain for almost an hour now, picking up small pebbles, turning them into bombs and throwing them into the water or at some innocent birds who so happened to land in search of some crumbs.
The day was getting kind of hot, so Kimbley decided to go back into the shade, where it was cooler. As he walked down the empty corridor, the sound of another pair of feet walking behind him caught his attention. He hid a small pebble in his hand, ready to alchemize it and throw it at whoever was following him and finally walked himself to a dead end. Since when were there any dead ends in this darned headquarters, anyway?
Kimbley turned around and faced his 'stalker', "Can I help you?" he asked sarcastically. Not just anyone in their right minds would tag behind him just for the fun of annoying him. Probably because most of them went 'boom'.
John eyed the man in front of him. Why was he here again? Oh yes, Philosopher's Stone, "...I know this is ridiculous, but do you know where the Philosopher's Stone is?"
The amber-eyed alchemist looked at him quizzically, "Philosopher's Stone? Even if I knew where it was, why would I tell you? But... no. I don't know where it is."
"Then do you know anyone who knows where it possibly is?"
Kimbley chuckled as if he was high on sugar, "Let me think... No."
Like brother, like sister... Both of them were practically gnawing on John's good nerve. And John's good nerve was as thin as a strand of hair. He was going to go physical on the older man, but knowing that he had alchemic circles on both his palms, decided to count backwards from ten, take a deep breath and said, "Teresa said you'd help me."
Now, Kimbley looked confused, "Who?"
Okay, this is looking kind of good, "Teresa's a girl whom you used to call 'Snapdragon', wasn't she?"
The Crimson Alchemist smiled to himself, "Ah... So Snap's with you. And? Am I supposed to do you a favor?"
Not that good, on second thought. John had half a mind to just beat the information out of the mad bomber when a girl came into the scene, "You OWE me a favor, Zolf! And you can repay me by helping Jonathan here," she suddenly said, putting one hand on her hip and pushing back her sand-colored hair.
Both men stared at her, "Do I know you?" they both asked simultaneously. At that point, the newcomer had half a mind to just poison them with a few poisoned barbs. Carefully peeling off the mask that she had made so difficultly for herself, the girl revealed her face to the two to see.
"Remember now?"
"Teresa, what are you doing here? I thought you..." John started, but was cut off by Kimbley,
"I did NOT owe you a favor! When did I owe you anyway, you little liar?" he crossed his arms over his chest, looking annoyed at his half-sister.
Teresa smiled slyly and put the mask back on, "Do you really want me to spell it out for you in front of John, Zolf? I may be a liar, but whatever information I hold is the truth. You should know that better than anyone else."
John looked at Kimbley. For the first time, he actually saw Kimbley's face grow pale and he was actually looking a bit scared, "Alright, let's start with what happened..." Teresa started, an evil smirk tugging at the corners of her lips.
"W-W-WAIT! Teresa, breathe one more word about 'it' and..."
"And what? You'll blow me up like you did to all those other people? Not very likely. I'd finish my story before then. After all, you..."
Kimbley's face now grew a bit red. Out of embarrassment or out of anger, John wasn't really keen on knowing, "Alright, FINE! You win, okay? You win! Now shut the hell up and tell me what you want already!" he cried in exasperation, cold sweat running down the side of his face. Teresa smiled triumphantly at her elder brother, who was at the moment scowling at her.
"I know you love me, big brother... Put the frowns away, then we can start talking," she said sweetly, taking out a handkerchief from her pocket and wiping her brother's face dry.
The trio then went to the cafeteria to talk, but just as they were going to pick a table, Teresa asked John to wait at one of them while she went to have a word with Kimbley. The eldest of the trio was pulled into the corridor outside in a matter of seconds and Teresa made sure no one could hear what she was going to say.
"What now, Snap? I'm doing something for free here, don't tell me you want more," the amber-eyed man said grumpily, jamming his hands in his pockets as he leaned against the wall.
Teresa looked at him with a cross between a worried and a sad expression on her face, then sighed, "I can't believe I'm going to tell you this... Anyway, I need you to keep something between us. Can you? If I don't tell this to someone soon, something big's gonna happen."
Kimbley shrugged, "It sounds important. Go ahead."
"Zolf, it IS important. Whether or not I tell this to you, I'm still in someone's line of fire," worry was now evident in her tone.
Her half-brother may be a maniac, but he knows when to be a brother and when to be a mad bomber, "Okay, I'm listening. Just take a deep breath, relax, and then talk to me."
Teresa did as she was told and finally said, "You know about homunculi, right?" Kimbley nodded, "Okay. Good... Bad news; I got involved with them."
"You what?" Kimbley stared at her, wide-eyed. He had experience working with a homunculus, and the homunculus he had dealt with was bad enough. From the sounds of Teresa, he could guess that she was dealing with the worse bunch, "Tessa, are you saying that you're working for them?"
A nod, "I didn't know it would come to this, but they had something we both want."
Kimbley scratched the back of his head,"Correction; something YOU want."
"They're offering me knowledge about the Fifth Element, Zolf! How can I pass that up?"
"I know where this is going..." the man said tiredly, shaking his head lightly.
"Don't you want-"
Before she finished her sentence, Kimbley had moved. As smooth as water and before she knew it, Teresa was now standing with her back against the wall, and Kimbley looming over her with both hands on either sides of her, his yellow eyes burning into her green ones angrily,
"I don't, Teresa. I don't want to have mother or father back. Whatever happened, happened. They're in the past. They're MEANT to be there. Just leave them be, Tessa. Let them go."
Teresa looked like she was on the verge of tears and Kimbley took this as his cue to calm her down before she started the waterworks again, "Listen, the Philosopher's Stone may have the power to resurrect the dead, but what would that do? You get them back, they age again and then they die a second time. Do you want that?" his sister shook her head, "Fair enough, you don't want that to happen. To prevent that from happening, you just butt out of this search for the Philosopher's Stone. Easy as that."
"It's not that easy... They're after me right now. They don't want me passing on information."
Kimbley shrugged, "Then I'll have that done in your place. Since your hands are tied and I've got nothing to do, what's with helping each other out? Well, technically, I owe you a favor..." he grumbled under his breath, "So, are you safe from them at the moment?"
Teresa shook her head, "I don't know. Are you still hot on the Stone's trail?"
Kimbley nodded, "I got a story or two to tell. After all, I won't want to spoil the fun of looking for it."
"Alright, that sounds okay enough. I just need you to promise me something now."
"What would that be?"
Teresa looked around, making sure they weren't being watched and said, "If you're planning on taking John to your contacts personally, we may confront one or two of the homunculi along the way. What I want you to do is to just move on with John. I'll cover you and meet you where I hear rumors about you."
Before Teresa said anything more, Zolf had released her and was walking back into the cafeteria as if she hadn't said a word, "Zolf, are you listening?"
The said man shrugged, "What DID you say?" he asked sarcastically. Obviously, he didn't like the conditions she just told him, "You want me to help John or not? If you plan on helping him at all, the sooner the better, isn't it?" with that, he disappeared into the room, where the crowd was growing and where John was waiting very impatiently for the siblings.
"Took you long enough," John said sternly, arms crossed over his chest and frowning at the duo sitting across of him.
That annoying smirk appeared on Kimbley's face, "Chill out, we haven't met for 6 years straight. Can't you give a guy some time to have a reunion with his sibling?"
"So, what do you have for me?"
Kimbley propped his arm up on the table, resting his elbow on the table top and his chin in his palm, "Your interest in the Stone almost disturbs me, you know? Anyway, we've been hearing a lot about an alchemist somewhere in Ishvar."
Teresa raised an eyebrow "Ishvar? Isn't that the Aquoya alchemist who used to be a doctor? What's she doing in Ishvar?"
Her brother shrugged, "No idea. Rumor down below says she claimed to have found a way on how to create the Stone. No idea how she does it, but so far, a few people have been able to see her perform alchemy without an alchemic array."
"Doesn't she have them etched into her palms like you?" John asked out of curiosity.
Kimbley shook his head, "From what I've heard, no. She doesn't have alchemic circles on her palms and I didn't cut these alchemic circles onto my hands, John. I burned them," the Crimson alchemist opened his free hand so John could see the burned flesh in the shape of an alchemic circle.
"Anyway, you may be able to catch her in Aquoya because my sources said that some of the Ishbalan people doesn't like her presence in their land. So, since you're bad with words and my baby sister here would probably start blackmailing her and scare the poor girl out of her wits..." He was rewarded with a stinging slap to the arm, "...Ouch," Kimbley frowned at his younger half-sibling and continued, "Thing is, she's coming back to Aquoya in a week's time. All we have to do is grab the next train to Aquoya and meet with our alchemist friend."
John nodded, "Sounds easy enough. Do we have a name?"
Kimbley leaned back in his chair and heaved a sigh before replying, "Kayla Sheridan."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-DUBLITH, FREESIA'S RESIDENCE-
"Greed, have you seen my..."
"It's already in your bag. You packed everything up last night so if you don't mind, quit asking me if you've packed so and so already!" Greed was very irritated that morning as Freesia was looking through a checklist he didn't know she had and started naming one item after another, wondering if she'd packed it in already. When she ignored his complaint, he ended up taking her checklist and dumping the piece of parchment down the trash can, but not before shredding it to bits.
Llednar looked at the two have a bit of childish banter and sighed, "Looks just like when you and I were their age, doesn't it honey?" he slung an arm over his wife's shoulders, receiving a huff as a reply,
"Freesia deserves a better man. I won't allow this to go on," she said sourly, eyeing the taller homunculus who was at the time being, at loggerheads with the aforementioned young lady, "Why in the world is he coming along, anyway? It feels as if he's living with us for good!"
"Honey, for the time being he IS living with us. He said he's joining us because he thought he'd meet up with a few contacts of his in Rush Valley. If all goes well, he'll be living with a friend of his there," Llednar said helpfully, picking up both his and Alice's luggage and taking them outside.
Alice frowned. Why was Llednar so good-natured about all this? "Freesia, hurry up, we won't want to miss the train!" she called and put her bonnet on before following her husband's example and heading towards the train station.
"You heard her. Pack your bags and let's go already," Greed said lightly, also making his way to the door. He was now dressed in his usual attire and walking around without his fuzzy jacket and favorite pair of shades made him feel a bit... 'Incomplete', shall we say? He cursed Edward Elric under his breath for picking a fight in the Devil's Nest and making him lose his two most cherished items.
Freesia pouted and picked up her bags, but not until she finally recalled something important, "Greed, can you do me a favor? Can you take my bag outside for me? I forgot something in my room," without waiting for a reply, she bounded upstairs, forcing the greedy one to help her with her luggage. He wasn't even outside when she suddenly popped up right in front of him, hands behind her back and half-scaring him out of his wits but otherwise causing him to back up a few paces,
"Is it just me, or do you have a tendency to do that now that you have full control over your powers?" Greed asked as his companion shrugged,
"I don't know. I think it's kind of useful. Anyway, here's a bit of something for you. Dad helped me with it and I think it looks great," from behind her, she produced an exact replica of Greed's jacket and shades, to which her companion replied by simply staring at the two objects. The question was obvious, 'HOW in the world did you get your hands on these?'
The 8th 'sin' smiled coyly, "Remember the luggage that I took from the train when we got here? There was a black jacket and a pair of sunglasses so I just had dad to alchemize it into something else. I thought you'd like it..."
"'Like it'? That's an understatement."
"What?"
Greed paused for a moment, "Forget I said anything."
His companion giggled, "Alright, if you say so. Here, put it on! You look kind of funny without them," she said straightforwardly, handing the jacket and shades to the greedy homunculus while she took her bags from him. She smiled when he had put them on. Now he looked more like the Greed she met around a week ago. Before she could comment on him, Alice poked her head into the house and said,
"Freesia, if you're not coming out, we'll miss the train! Hurry up!"
The two were out before Alice got even more annoyed. For some unknown reason, she intimidated the duo...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-DUBLITH TRAIN STATION-
"Wow... I kind of can't believe we're heading for Rush Valley in a few minutes," Freesia mused as she got herself settled down in a compartment with her mother and Greed with her father in the next compartment.
Alice looked at her daughter get excited over the trip, "So, you're really looking forward to seeing Rush Valley, is it?"
Freesia nodded vigorously, "Of course! I haven't seen much of the world, save Dublith and Central, so it's a good change. Have you ever been to Rush Valley, mom?" she asked, looking out the window.
"I have, a few times. It's not a place that I particularly like, actually. Since you read a lot in the library, I think you've read about automail, haven't you?" Alice queried as she did a bit of embroidering to pass the time before the train started moving.
The homunculus scratched the back of her head, "Automail... isn't that what people nowadays use to replace missing limbs? You know, artificial body parts?"
"Exactly. Rush Valley is famous for their automail, so there isn't exactly much to see unless you're a fan of it."
"They sound interesting enough to me, so I'll be fine," Freesia smiled sweetly at her mother and stood up, "I wanna go see what Greed and dad are doing. Are you coming?"
Alice laughed, "Freesia, they're just next door. Just because I haven't seen your father for the last five minutes doesn't mean I miss him like I haven't seen him for five years!"
Her daughter shrugged, "I was just asking. Well, see you later, mom!" with that, she vanished from sight, but her voice could still be heard from the next compartment.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Freesia took one step into the compartment and stared. Since when did the compartment look so full? Greed was having a conversation with someone sitting next to him, who was hidden by his large frame and she could have sworn she could hear a girl talking from the seat next to her father, who was also hidden by her father's newspaper.
"Hey, I didn't know we had guests," she chirped, catching Greed's attention. A familiar head poked out from beside Greed and Freesia gaped, "Aren't you Dorchette? What are you doing here? I thought you're still injured..."
"I may be injured but I'm still well enough to walk. Staying cooped up underground with dim lighting would make me go blind should I stay there longer," the chimera grumbled. Freesia looked at her father. The man didn't look like he was listening at all.
She sighed, "Well, welcome aboard I guess. You do have a ticket, right? I won't want to go and pay it for you or worse, I won't want to go and bail you out of jail," Freesia quipped as she took a seat next to Greed, leaving the said homunculus half-squished between her and Dorchette.
"Freesia, as much as I like having you around, I don't quite like the feeling of being squished. Do you mind sitting next to Lolly there?" he motioned to a teenage girl with light brown hair sitting next to the window, looking outside nervously. She looked as if she just saw the grim reaper wave at her. Freesia did as she was told, being intrigued by this new character and caught the teen's attention by merely sitting next to her.
The thin girl looked at the homunculus up and down before smiling and moving over a bit so as to give both of them more room, "Hi. Lolita Brown. Nice to meet you," she said nervously, holding one hand out in a handshake. Freesia smiled and shook the teen's hand,
"Freesia. It's nice to meet you too. From the looks of you, I take it that you're with Dorchette?"
Lolita looked kind of surprised, "How did you know?"
The homunculus shrugged, "Well, since Greed knows you on a nickname basis and they look comfortable around you, might as well, right?"
"Yeah, I guess..." again, the brunette looked out of the window nervously and Freesia got curious. What was so interesting about the platform asides from the fact that almost all the passengers are already on board?"
"What are you looking at?"
Lolita sighed, "Well, before we got on board, I was just talking to Dorchette and..." the said man cut in before she finished,
"For the last time Lolita, the train will NOT be derailed half-way through the journey, there isn't a BOMB planted in any of the suitcases and it's PERFECTLY SAFE.Okay? No need to fuss over things that don't even exist. You being a pessimist at a time like this is probably the last thing we need," Dorchette stressed some of the words in an attempt to calm the pessimist down.
The brunette pouted, "REALIST, Dorchette,not PESSIMIST! I'm just being cautious. One of these days you'll thank me for that," she crossed her slender arms over her chest and frowned at the dog chimera, who merely chuckled.
"I know. I was just messing with you," he said playfully. He was just about to put his favorite pipe to his lips when Freesias father, whose face was still hidden behind his newspaper, suddenly said,
"No smoking in the compartment. If you want to smoke, get another compartment, please."
Dorchette stared. The look on his face clearly read, 'How did he know?' to all who saw his visage and both Greed and Freesia shrugged simultaneously. They've been hanging around Alice and Llednar too long to know just how strangely psychic these humans can be.
"Hey Lolita,"
The said girl looked at the male homunculus with a somewhat befuddled look, "Sir?"
Greed rolled his eyes skywards and heaved a sigh as the train started moving, "Knock it off, will you? I hate titles. Anyway, once we reach Rush Valley, you're to stick to Dorchette like glue. Besides having you like a pessimist, getting you lost in town is the last damned thing we need," he said lazily. He never was one to stay awake very long on train trips and this definitely wasn't a good time to start staying awake. He looked groggy already and Freesia was experiencing the exact same thing. Great. Not only was she not going o know her new friend better, she won't be able to see the sights! What a trip...
Lolita however, nodded in agreement to Greed's order and was going to try and start a conversation with Freesia when the female homunculus stood up and said, "See you guys later... I'm gonna go and get some shut-eye next door."
If Lolita was a cat, everyone could have seen her ears droop. Noticing this, Freesia called over her shoulder, "You coming, Lolita? I'm sure mom doesn't mind the extra company."
The teenager smiled and stood up, following the homunculus out but paused at the door to tell the men that she'd be right back before joining Freesia and her mother in the next compartment.
Before long, she was introduced to Alice as Freesia's new friend and within ten minutes, the three girls were acting like they knew each other for years. As the journey progressed, Freesia finally fell asleep and what she saw in her slumber was not something many would like to see.
She saw... Dante.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Err... Okay, I'm guessing you all weren't expecting the last bit:) I added that last bit because what happens with Dante in a few more chapters to come is a challenge from a classmate of mine who's also a huge fan of FMA. (He's a Sloth fan...)
So anyway, again, I'm sorry for the late update because I my mobile phone (which doubles as a modem) account was locked because I tried to guess a recharge card number too many times and I had to get it unlocked. :P
Pathetic, isn't it?
Alright, this is all I have for chapter 18, I hope everyone likes it because I'm hoping I could get some action done in chapter 19. :)
Ciao!