Hello, lovely people who are giving this story a chance. Here is another chapter.
On another unrelated note: For those of you that wonder when this story when follow canon. My answer for you is simply and completely this. 'Yes, 100% of the way', believe me. Though first things are first, and you might have to wait a bit longer to see Ed ad Al.
So without further ado, here is chapter six.
Chapter 6: The Missing Burden
(Previously)
Go to bed brat." Envy grunted as he tore his skort away from the slim fingers and swiftly walked to the door. "…and don't tell anyone about this either, or next time I'll break more than just your nose."
"But what's your name?" August slurred as she rubbed her eye tiredly and leaned against the bedpost. Envy rolled his eyes as he looked over at her tired frame.
"Still? Persistent brat. Fine, it's Envy." August blinked curiosity, never before hearing such a strange thing.
"Oh, well ok …goodnight then Envy" August yawned as she walked over to the bed and crawled into it. She wasn't worried about the bleeding, since the blood flow had stopped already. August curled into a ball and in a few minutes fell into a dreamless and painless sleep.
…
"Dumb brat! Stupid human! I hate you!" Envy hissed out his annoyance to the cold, windless, night as he stalked away into the forest yet again.
…
(6 months later)
"Damn you, you brat, get back here!"
Many men paused in the mist of their work as looked up; some women glanced up from their own business or merely peered curiously through their windows; and a few scattered children clutched at their mother's skirts in fear of the livid voice as everyone stared openly at the unusual scene unfolding before them.
"Envy you are making a scene" A boldly shaped woman with luscious raven hair, covered by a large dark cloak that did nothing to hide her incredibly feminine body, remarked as she approached a rather tall but well-built man with equally dark hair, tan skin, and a growing beard, dressed in a blue guards-men uniform. A rather conspicuously dressed Gluttony strolled by his female companion's side with a rather hungry yet clueless look about him as he sucked his fingertips. A large, tent like, cloak disguised him over his lumbering frame, and a poorly placed cap was perched atop his head.
"Like I care"
The disgruntled homunculus remarked as he whirled on his companion. Lust felt amused to find a spark of strained patience, among the overwhelming amount of dark annoyance, flitter across his constantly color shifting eyes, as they shifted from the fake shade of sky blue to his normal raging violet.
She smirked at him. Lust quickly realized a quirk that Envy seemed to have recently acquired with his powers; if the shape shifter became annoyed enough, his concentration would slip in the form of his eye color.
'How interesting', Lust mused as she looked past him towards the shape shifter's greatest source of current frustration.
Envy scowled at her and turned back to the more pressing situation at hand.
A little ways off, down the dirt street, was a crowd that had gathered to surround a small figure sitting on the dirt road, drawing strange symbols in the dirt ground. After a brief pause the child quickly clapped her small hands together and let them fall upon the in the center of the dirt drawn alchemic circle. With a flash of blue light and a faintly audible crackling noise, the once shattered marble statue that had been in the center of the circle, was fixed now stood proudly amongst the crowd of onlookers. The crowd mumbled and whispered in shock, amazement, and a smudge of fear as the young, little, alchemist stood and dusted herself off.
Suddenly a large burly man emerged from the crowd and knelt at eye level with the child alchemist. The man's old, hardened, rugged, features had a look of bewilderment and amusement as he leaned down to stare the child in the eye. August didn't flinch as he leaned in but watched warily.
After a tense moment the serious man's face split into a wide, gold tooth, grin as he patted the child on the head and stood, thanking her for saving his precious merchandise. She grinned shyly and scratched her auburn locks sheepishly.
Lust crossed her arms and raised a brow as she observed the scene.
"Hm. Master was right about this child, she certainly is a little prodigy…" She cast a sideways glance at the fuming Envy.
"…and might I add, quite the escape artist too." Envy quickly caught the smug expression on the female sin's face and he uncharacteristic glowered at her.
"Shut. Up." He seethed as he too crossed his arms, fuming about the brat's newest escapee stunt.
In the last six months since August became Dante's apprentice, her talents and hidden abilities had improved drastically. Due to the frightening furious pace of alchemic training Dante had mercilessly had placed on little girl, the August had become beyond talented for her years.
For what it would have normally taken for an average adult to learn, study, apply, and practice the basics of alchemy with notable results, two to three years, August had completed in only half a year. Even though this came as a shock to everyone in the manor, it still was not enough to satisfy their master, as she pushed the little frail human harder and harder. Those that watched on, namely the homunculi, where expecting the child to break soon, whether from the mental and physical exhaustion or the emotional fatigue. Either or. They were simply waiting for when she would dispose of the human child.
Namely Envy.
It was even laughable to them for their master to expect so much from something so little. Unfortunately for them, but fortunately for August, they were proven very wrong in their assumptions.
Lust sighed irritably as she watched Envy begin storming through the crowd and approached the girl. She shook her head in exasperation.
Really now, Lust wondered, what had the master been thinking when she allowed this ridiculous child to run errands for her in the first place, none the less in such a large place as Dublith?
Gluttony watched Lust curiously as she in turn watched Envy finally break through the sea of humans, much to his disgust, and quickly snatch up August before stalking down the street with a nervously fidgeting girl in tow.
Despite the girl's extreme intelligence and perseverance, the child seemed to have a talent for escaping their watch all to easily. Which infuriated the homunculi to no end, especially Envy.
Lust smirked once again and resisted to snigger as she noticed the girl's fearful expression and Envy's aggravated one as they rounded a corner. Lust frowned as she quickly followed after the two, wanting to prevent Envy from doing anything to hasty, naming butchering the human child, with a hungry Gluttony trialing behind her.
A loud thump could be heard echoing in the distance as August whined out in pain.
August groaned sadly as she walked along the road. The girl mumbled a few choice words as she massaged her aching head. It pounded from the coma inducing punches that Envy had so graciously rewarded her with for her little stunt in the marketplace.
August huffed.
It wasn't her fault that she couldn't help but want fix that old man's statue. He had looked so petrified when the statue's long, white marble, arms and then lastly its delicately featured head, had cracked before falling clean off its body.
…that and the fact that she had been the one that accidentally bumped into and knock the statue over, basically ruining what was probably a priceless treasure.
August grinned sheepishly and then chuckled as she remembered.
"Ow…" August whined when a fist suddenly came crashing down on top of her head, in the exact same spot as last time.
"What are you giggling about brat?" Envy hissed as August gently rubbed her bruised head where she could feel another large knot rising from her skull.
"Nothing, Nothing…" She muttered and proceeded to sulk. Envy narrowed his eyes dangerously.
"You better not be up to anything brat, or I swear you will never see the light of day again." He smirked when he noticed the child shiver.
August gimmicked as she shivered briefly in fear. She knew that she was on strict orders when Dante allowed her to run a few errands for her in Dublith. Go to the next big city, do this, do that, come back as quickly as possible. Those where her instructions, the same that she was being forced to do by the letter by the three figures trailing begrudgingly behind her. She frowned as she crossed her arms.
It really wasn't fair!
How could she be expected to simply ignore everything that this strange new world had to offer when she was never allowed outside. Heck, she rarely was let outside of the manor and had only been let into the deep woods twice to pick herbs.
August pouted slightly.
She had never, ever, been let into a town, and definitely not one this big!
The little girl shook her head as she tried in vain to stay focused on her tasks.
"What was it I had to get again?" She began listing the off her fingers.
"Um…salt, calcium, sulfur…that's three."
"uh… some ammonia…I think."
"eh…er…more metals and junk?" She groaned and face palmed herself.
"Oh great I forgot already" She whispered in alarm as she slowly turned to take a quick peek behind her.
They trio behind her looked bored as they surveyed their surroundings with cold indifference. Envy was glaring off into the distance, Lust was fiddling with her nails from boredom, and Gluttony watched her blankly. August breathed a sigh of relief. Either they hadn't heard her little slip up or they didn't care. She had hoped it was the latter.
After a moment August let her shoulders slump in defeat.
It was too hard for her to remember all of those ingredients when she was just too curious about this place!
"Oh boy I'm gonna get it if I make a mistake. Or worse, go back empty-handed…" She mumbled worriedly as she scanned the horizon. It looked around early noon. She took a deep breath and began walking again.
'Well I better find that store anyways. If I remembered right it should be in the middle of the city' August mused as she tapped her chin in thought.
'Hmm, but what was it called?' She spun around quickly.
"Hey Lust!" Said homunculus narrowed her eyes as the child ran up to her.
"Don't use my real name in public." August flinched slightly at the rebuke.
"Sorry… Solaris, but do you remember the name of the shop we're supposed to got to?" She asked carefully. Lust rolled her eyes.
"You've forgotten already. My, what a dimwitted child."
"Oh come on" August groaned "give me a break for once, please?" She pleaded with her hands outstretched. Lust raised an eyebrow.
This child was certainly strange. She knew that the child had been rather reluctant to communicate with any of them at first, Master included, but this newfound ease that this odd human seem to suddenly have acquired around them was uncanny and slightly uncomfortable to say the least.
"…um…Lu-Solaris?" August waved a hand before her. Lust blinked, coming out of her thoughts as they child impatiently shifted from side to side, awaiting either an answer or another rebuke.
"The name of the store is Galileo's Goods, its owner is familiar with the Master's needs and keeps a separate stock ready for her." Lust spoke in a clipped tone as she turned away from the pondering child.
"So he already knows what she wants?" August asked in puzzlement only to see her informer walking away.
"She must visit him an awful lot then, wait…" A light bulb suddenly went off in the child's brain. She grinned wildly.
'YES! The shop owner can just tell me what the old lady normally gets. I can tell him the list too and he can help fill in the blanks. I won't get busted, yes!'
Anyone that happened to look her way in that moment would have seen the streaming tears of gratitude and sparkles of happiness that had seemed to suddenly engulf the giggling child. Those that did see this display backed up a few paces. Suddenly she stopped.
'Wait, but I would still need a familiar face to prove who I am to the shop owner.' August frowned.
'Well, I can't have Lust or Envy there, they would definitely rat me out to the old lady.'
"Hmmm…" August wondered as she tapped her foot impatiently.
'I'll have to have Gluttony tag along then. I doubt he would tell, or even remember. Though, I'd probably have to keep him from trying to eat the shop owner.'
She shivered, still uncomfortable with the knowledge of Gluttony's diet.
Still, nothing a little prick of alchemy won't do to scare him a little, though she did feel bad for doing that to the poor brute.
She knew he was afraid of his master's alchemy, and as a result he feared August's alchemy as well. She sighed. No time to regret take on Dante's teachings now.
Suddenly a tangible sense of wickedness clouded over the path. Pass buyers shivered in dread and continued quicker down the road. Abruptly a mischievous grin suddenly spread across the child's face, replacing the innocence one in seconds. She rubbed her hands together and her grin grew into a devilish smirk as she scanned the crowd until she found Envy and Lust, her unsuspecting prey.
"Now to get rid of those two…"
"Hello~ " A chipper voice sang.
Envy blinked as he turned around in numb surprise.
"Huh?" He blinked again as he saw that it was the brat. She was smiling widely at eye level with him. He looked down, wondering how that was possible. She had created a small dirt platform with alchemy to make up for the extreme height difference.
Figures.
He glanced back up and with a start he realized that she was only inches from his face. His confused expression turned to one of disgusted annoyance as he glared harshly at her cheerful smile.
"What the hell do you want!" He snapped.
August simply grinned wider, practically bearing her teeth at him.
"I'm trying to teach you to be nice today!" She sang as she waved her arms about wildly. Envy made an odd choking noise in the back of his throat as he stared oddly at her.
"And what makes you think I care" He responded while attempting not to gag from the girl's overactive cheeriness. He swore he had briefly seen sparkles floating around the child.
"Because you need to be happy more!" August cheered, pumping her fists in the air excitedly.
"I'll be happy when you're dead. Now get out of my face!" He barked as he roughly pushed her off the platform. The little girl simply did a cart-wheel and quickly activated another circle she had made for such an event. In a flash she was standing face to face with the anger controlled homunculus once more. One of Envy's eyebrows gave an aggravated twitch.
"Sneaky little bitch" He grumbled as he gritted his teeth. August shook a finger in mock disapproval.
"Wrong, it's not being sneaky, its being prepared…Now smile, its time to be happy!" She smiled again and pointed to it, giving an example. He growled, willing himself not to stab her to death. His eyes briefly flashed from his disguise to their normal violet hue before he abruptly turned and began stalking away.
Envy paused as he passed an observing Lust.
"You deal with that thing" He seethed as he pointed back to a twirling, sparkling, August in the middle of the road.
Lust frowned in mild irritation and disgust.
"What on earth happened to her?"
"How the hell should I know!" Envy barked before quickly walking off. Lust growled softly as she watched the eldest homunculus disappeared, shrinking his responsibilities and leaving her with the annoying human twit.
"Hey L-Solaris!" Lust slowly turned around to find said insane child staring at her with large green doe eyes filled with pure innocence.
Like Envy, Lust wanted to gag.
"What" She answered, somewhat warily. August grinned as she pulled a large white flower from behind her back and held it out to her.
"Wanna put this in your hair? I bet it would look pretty~ !" Lust stared coldly down at the offering. After a brief pause the flower suddenly fell to the ground, cut in half. August blinked.
Lust began to walk away.
August merely blinked again, turning to stare at Lust's retreating form and then back down to the decapitated flower. She had sworn she had seen her fingernails shrinking as she left.
One of August's eyebrows twitched.
"She's good..."
Lust continued swiftly walking away as far as she could from the child's revolting acts of kindness. She passed a clueless Gluttony on her way.
"Gluttony watch the child until she finishes her tasks, then come find me. Do not eat anything while I am gone." A like a puff of smoke, Lust was gone as well.
Gluttony stopped sucking on his finger and blinked, and then blinked again. He turned down the road to stare at August with a somewhat sad expression but baffled expression.
"You made Lust leave." He sniffed tearfully as he approached the girl uneasily. August finally stopped staring at the dead flower and looked to the chubby sin. She sighed heavily.
"Sorry, but I needed to. I need your help with something and they couldn't be around" She confessed, feeling guilty for the lost expression on his face. If August hadn't known better, she would have thought of him as nothing but a little lost puppy without his owner. That ate people of course…
"But-But you made my Lust leave" He still looked sad. August groaned as she hit her head, her nagging conscious was threating to crush her.
"I'm sorry, I really am" August apologized. "But tell you what, I'll finish what I have to do as quick as I can and then I'll make you a HUGE cake when we get back, alright?" Gluttony's stomach rumbled with the mention of food.
"Really" He asked, perking up a bit. August grinned.
"Yep! A gigantic cake with as much frosting as you what." Gluttony grinned as well but then paused.
"Oh, oh, can you make it any flavor?"
"Sure" August smiled cheerfully.
"Can you make it human flavored?!" August froze, the cheerful expression still plastered to her face, though her eyes widened in terror. She twitched subconsciously in fright before swallowing the rising lump of terror in her throat.
"Umm… I c-can t-t-try?" She squeaked out miserably, terrified of the prospect. Gluttony practically beamed in delight.
"Ok!" He grinned widely as he came to stand closer to her, all pervious trepidation for her gone.
If August had half a mind at the moment she would have been startled to see just how much taller and bigger the ravenous sin was compared to her puny stature, as she was a tad short and a bit too skinny, and it would have only added to the child's growing unease. But as fate would have it, the poor child was already too frazzled about her promise to Gluttony to even take any notice.
She continued down the road slowly as she continued shivering in disgust and fear as she contemplated aloud how to make a regular cake taste like a person.
Gluttony trialed behind her happily as he ignored her inner turmoil, or simply did not notice, and sniffed the air hungrily. His stomach growled as he stared wistfully at the crowd of humans before him, and he whined slightly before patting his stomach. He sighed sadly.
Lust had said no snacks, and Gluttony would always obey her no matter what.
…
August sighed before yawning at the bright afternoon sky. She rubbed an eye tiredly with her fists as she ready to leave 'Galileo's Goods' shop for good. The little girl sat on the shop's dusty front porch and waited for the shop's owner, his name was Galileo, not surprising, to finish packing her supplies so she could finally go back to the manor.
August groaned as she continued swinging her legs and watched the street disinterestedly. Gluttony sat near by, at the bottom of the porch steps, and was content to stare off into space all while sucking his fingers absent-mindedly.
After using him as prove of her identity as Dante's student and getting the shop keeper to help her in sorting through the supplies list, August had quickly told Gluttony to wait outside, not trusting the hungry and slightly drooling looks he was giving the man.
She groaned again as she flopped back on the wooden porch, switching her view of the street with the equally boring view of a cloudless sky. Her long auburn hair fanned out around her as she stared at nothing, feeling the crushing blow of boredom.
"Good grief, how long is this gonna take?" She gripped. It had been close to an hour and half now and the man was still finishing checking off her list.
'Phf! He said it would only take a few minutes, not hours!'
Defeated, August closed her eyes as she took that opportunity to snooze for a few moments.
"HEH-YA KID!"
"AHHH!"
Startled, August yelped at the booming voice in her ear and sprang away, only to tumble comically down the short porch steps and land face first on the gritty dirt ground.
Beat red in either embarrassment or anger August sat up and looked up. The shop owner, Galileo, was laughing hysterically, as Gluttony looked down at her in confusion, wondering why she was down there. She growled and then pouted when it only made the man laugh more and clutch his splitting sides.
"What the hell…" She muttered grumpily.
"Heh ha! Oh that was good kid, one of the best reactions I've seen yet!" He chuckled as he wiped a tear of mirth from the corner of his eye. August simply stood and dusted herself off before crossing her arms and looked away shyly, clearly embarrassed.
"Ah don't be embarrassed girl!" The man spoke good-naturedly.
"Oh yea! Here you are, all the stuff on that damn long list!" He suddenly grinned as he produced quite a few large, bulky, heavy duffel bags over his shoulders. August nearly felt her eyes pop out of her skull.
The list hadn't been that long, had it!?
Galileo smiled guilty at her flabbergasted expression.
"I added a few things that I'm sure Ms. Dante would be wanting by now. Don't worry they're free of charge" He winked happily at her. August smiled shyly, both surprised at his generosity and his unusual thoughtfulness.
"W-wow t-thank you!" August stuttered as she felt the heat rise to her cheeks. This level of selflessness was really a novelty to her.
She wasn't really used to ever having this level of kindness given to her before.
'Especially in these last few months…' August mused darkly.
Galileo smiled and reached out to ruffle her hair a little, noticing the sudden mood change and thinking it was somewhat cute. Loud and bold one minute then shy and timid the next.
"Alright, well you were my last customer today." The perpetually smiling man suddenly stretched.
"Huh?" August answered smartly.
"Yea, you see I got somewhere where the Misses is expectin me soon, and I ought to not be disappointing her now." He spoke rapidly as he dropped her bags and quickly produced a large set of keys from the baggy overcoat that August had sworn that wasn't there a minute ago.
"I'm sure you got these, after all you got this big fella over here" He said as he pointed first to the bags and then to a clueless Gluttony.
"See ya kid! Feel free to stop by whenever you want!" He waved cheerfully as he hoped down the steps, practically skipping over Gluttony, and turned to leave.
"Oh before I forget…" The bearded man paused in mid-step and turned to view her from the corner of his eye. His normally cheerful disposition was gone and instead replaced by a serious expression and somber tone.
"Watch out for yourself girl, there's been a lot of funny stuff happenin in town lately, especially at night, ya hear me. Lot of kids like you have been just up and disapperin, and it's a down right shame."
His strong grey eyes suddenly seemed saddened as he broke eye contact for a moment and stared down the now vacant street.
August watched him curiously before something dawned on her.
In the shop she had noticed the many picture frames lying all around the place. One in particular that had caught her short attention span had the same Galileo, although abet younger, a stiff looking woman with warm but sharp eyes that stood proudly in his embrace, and a pretty young woman sitting in front of both of them with a bouncing, giggling, toddler dressed in a large yellow summer dress with white daisies and pigtails.
The obvious connection between the four was clear as the child laughed and reached with her pudgy arms to hug her mother's slim neck; said woman appeared to be laughing at the zealous embrace; the stiffer older woman was looking down at them with a scolding look but at the same time appeared to be biting back a large grin; and Galileo was watching them all with a with such a tender loving gaze and a small smile of his own.
The family portrait had made August's heart swell painfully and clench her hands into fists before quickly turning away. It brought up too many memories of her own family for her to handle all at once. She had felt slightly ill after that.
'That must have been his family. I wonder what happened…'
"Is that what happened to your family?" She felt the words tumble out before she could stop them and she clapped a hand sharply over her big mouth.
'No, Stupid! Bad August!' She harshly scolded herself mentally. Galileo looked surprised as he turned to look at her fully this time.
"Aye, you must have saw that picture then…hmm you're a sharp little thing aren't you?" His grin didn't reach his eyes this time.
"Ya, a few weeks ago my littlest one, me tiny grand-daughter, went to go run an errand for me and never came back…" He took a deep breath and looked to the afternoon sky.
"She was the first of the children to go missin…" He muttered sadly. "Poor thing, she was just finishing ajustin to her mama's absence and then…this"
The poor man looked so wretched as he finished. August had a sinking feeling that she knew all to well what kind of 'absence' he was referring to.
"Her mother… how did she…die?" She asked as hesitantly as she could, fearing the answer as her chest tightened.
"…Illness. It came from nowhere and killed a couple of others too… but it was so slow and terrifying, just havin to watch her waste away like that. She was so strong, never talked about it, helped everyone with everything as much as she could, and she fought so hard until the very end but-"
He didn't get to finish as he felt something collide with his legs.
Stunned, Galileo blinked through his tears, that had falling slowly and silently, and peered down at the child clinging to his waist. He was shocked to feel hot tears soak into his pant leg as she cried on him. Feeling like a grandfather once more he detached her from his leg and crouched down in front of the child before.
"Aw don't cry kiddo, I didn't mean for this old man's sob story to get you all worked up" He muttered as he patted her head gently.
"N-no it's j-just reminded me of my…I'm sorry I'm so s-sorry!" She sobbed and then hiccupped. The man stared at her in bewilderment as he contemplated something. He then smiled crookedly at her.
"Ah, I get it now. It's the same for you too isn't it, you lost someone that way." He spoke making it a statement instead of a question.
"I can see it in you, the same pain, the same loss. It's all in those big, old, green eyes you got."
True to his word, August glanced up at him, her irritated mint green eyes were practically glowing in the fading sunlight; they almost looked unnatural.
"Your story may different from mind kid, but if ever need it, I'll be here to lend you an ear and a shoulder to cry on."
"W-why...why are you being so nice to me?" August muttered as she struggled to stop crying and clear her tear-stained face. He shook his head.
"Ever hear the saying 'Misery loves company'? A kid like you shouldn't have to feel like this and keep it all deep inside of ya. Trust me this old man knows." He grinned crookedly.
"Beside you remind me of my grand-daughter a bit." August smiled bleakly and nodded as she took a step back.
"Alright…thanks Mr. Galileo"
He laughed.
"Don't be callin me 'Mr.' kid it makes me feel too old! Just call me plain, old, Galileo. Got it kid?" She chuckled, his good mood was restored and his grief was at minimal. It made her's bearable.
"Yes"
"Good." Galileo glanced at his pocket watch and jumped up in terrified surprise.
"Gah! Look at the time! The wife's gonna have my head! I gotta go kid. Remember watch yourself and stop by anytime!"
The energetic shopkeeper yelled comically as he sped down the road, a dirt cloud following in his wake as he sprinted away. August stared blankly after him before bursting out in laughter.
'What a wired character' She chuckled as she stood straight.
"Hey Gluttony, grab those bags and let's get out of here" She called over to the pudgy simpleton as he had observed the entire scene with a slightly curious gaze.
He obeyed and soon August was the one now trailing behind, as Gluttony began sniffing around, quickly picking up on his Lust's scent. He happily trotted along as he weaved around various alleys and buildings as he continued hunting Lust's trial with August running to keep up.
Despite his heavy stature and the multiple bags, he was pretty fast!
August huffed as she struggled to keep up with him.
"Hey Gluttony, slow down a bit, I'm losing you!" She called out to him, clearly ahead of her.
He either ignored her or simply didn't register what she had said as he continued in his frenzy to find his female companion. He took a sharp turn into a dark alley, and after a couple of moments August followed down the same path.
She was surprised to not see him anymore.
Was she really that far behind? Or had she taken a wrong turn? Oh boy…
She sighed heavily as she leaned against the brick wall and tried to catch her breath.
"Good grief, how is he that fast!" She exclaimed, wondering how he was possibly defying physics like that.
Then again Physics wasn't exactly her strong suit as much as Alchemy was…
She rolled her eyes.
"Oh well" She yawned as she looked up, noticing that the sun had just set and that twilight was upon her.
"That's no good. Old man Galileo said not to be out at night. Something about kids disappearing" She mused as she wiped her brow.
"How right he is…" An unfamiliar, deep, voice chuckled from behind her.
August felt her heart skip a beat in surprise and then dread. She spun around towards the exit, ready to run as her flight or fight instincts kicked in.
Suddenly she felt something grab her hair and drag her backwards into the alley. She tried to scream but a large hand clamped over her mouth and another one threw a blindfold over her eyes.
"Where are you going girly?" She shivered and held back the urge to whimper.
August struggled wildly as she stomped on her attacker's foot and drove her sharp, little, elbow into his gut. She heard the man grunt in pain and the hand over mouth loosened. August ripped away from it and bit down as hard as she could. She tasted the coppery scent of blood as she sank her sharp child-like teeth into flesh.
"GLUTTO-"
The man howled out in pain and before August knew it she felt her head being smashed into the brick wall. The world went dark for a moment and August felt herself hit the hard ground as the meaty hands dropped her. She moaned painfully as she felt something warm and wet slid down her temple. Her eyes refused to budge.
Suddenly a loud laugh grated against her eardrums as its echo bounced all over the alley.
"Damn" She heard someone new whistle.
"You didn't need to go that far did you man? I mean look at her, she's just a tiny thing" The new man laughed as she heard the same voice from voice curse angrily.
"Oh shut up! Look my hand, this one's a little devil I tell you. She teeth like a chimera!"
"Ha ha, you're over exaggerating man, seriously look at her. It looks like you knocked her out cold with smashing her skull into the wall. Honestly, you should have more class with women." The new voice tsked his friend as August suddenly felt someone pick her up. She distinctly heard the first voice snort.
"It's a brat, not a woman. If she was I'd have a little fun before we took her back." August felt her mind pause at the lewd suggestion and shivered again.
"Ah, what are beast you truly are..." She was suddenly glad for the new stranger that was carrying her as opposed to the one from before. She felt someone faintly pulled her hair back.
"Oh? But haven't you had a look at this one? She is quite the cutie. Such a pretty like face"
She took it back, they were both as bad.
"So?"
August briefly felt the second man start stand and then press a wet cloth, that smelled so sickly sweet it would have normally made her gag, under her nose. It was making her mind fuzzy.
'Chloroform' She realized faintly from the many chemicals Dante had introduced her to.
"That means that she's sell for a good price, stupid. Now hurry up and fix your hand so we can get out of here and get back to Central."
That, and the first man swearing some more, were the last things August thought she heard as she felt sleep claim her.
…
"Lust!" "Lust!" "Lust!" Gluttony yelled as he entered in the room where his trail ended. She was sitting in a lone booth by the far back corner.
Said female sin turned in her booth from her listless observation of the shabby, little, restaurant she had found herself waiting in and watched as Gluttony came barreling towards her.
He had no regard for his actions as he nearly flatten three humans in his quickened attempt to reach his beloved partner.
Lust quirked a brow when Gluttony came closer and finally stopped before her. She had to raise an eyebrow at the strange array of bags that he carried on his arms. The scene was like curtains hanging from a pole.
"Gluttony…what is this?" She gestures to his luggage.
He blinked, confused as he looked at his arms, looking as he had just noticed the extra weight and then puzzled for a moment as he tried to remember the just why he had carried them.
"Um…" He stood there for a moment placing a finger to his chin as he struggled to think. It wasn't one of his strong suits.
Lust rolled her eyes.
She should have expected this.
She knew Gluttony wouldn't even have been able to remember the simplest of things, nonetheless remember the reason behind the action. Unless it directly involved food, it remained beyond his intelligence.
Not that she minded of course.
It proved very useful when he blindly obeyed and followed her instructions, and occasionally a direct order from the Master.
'Maybe this is somehow the child's doing…'
Lust came up short.
Gluttony frowned as she abruptly stood from her seat.
"Gluttony where is the human child?" Lust scanned the room, and then the road beyond the windows.
No sign of her.
"Uh…um…I-um"
"Gluttony" Lust spoke in a warning tone. The normally placid voice she used with him now had a cold edge to it.
Gluttony whimpered sadly. Lust was angry with him.
"Where is she Gluttony?"
"Um-I don't know" He crouched into himself and sat on the floor miserably. He hadn't meant to make Lust mad at him.
Lust emitted a sound halfway between a growl and a sigh. She had to be more patient with him, otherwise she would never get anything useful from the slobbering sin.
"Gluttony" Lust spoke as patiently as a she possibly could. "Think, where was the last place you saw her."
"Well... I was following your scent, and I remember seeing her after we left that smelly human's shop, and it was before I found you." He concluded as he though as hard as he could.
Lust crossed her arms as she soundlessly stepped out of the restaurant and out into the cooling twilight. Gluttony trailed hesitantly behind her clicking heels.
"Lust…" Gluttony whimpered. "Are you mad?"
Lust took a minute to compose her self and refrain from snapping at the pudgy simpleton.
"…No. I should have realized something like this might have happened when I left you alone." Thought it was an insult though and though, the hungry sin simply grinned. His Lust wasn't mad at him after all!
"But…regardless of it being your or anyone else's fault. We simply cannot return to Master without her. She is her pet project after all."
Lust glared down at him.
"Find her Gluttony" She commanded indifferently.
His grin widened. His oddly white smile seemed eerie in the vanishing sunlight.
"Ok" He nodded and sniffed the night air. He immediately set to working on finding and following the little girl's scent.
The afternoon long gone and it was well into the night as duo continued searching.
"Lust I'm worried, what if something happened? What will Master do to us?"
Lust merely scoffed.
"Don't worry Gluttony. She is nothing more than a stupid human child. She is probably only lost."
"Who's lost?" A haughty voice remarked as they step forth from the shadows.
Lust narrowed her eyes in annoyance.
"Envy, where were you?"
Said shape shifter smirked.
"Who little old me? I was just rioting up some pathetic humans at some seedy little bar. Nothing much." He grinned. Lust refrained from scowling at him.
"So, what are you two doing now, wandering around here? I would have thought you would have stayed at the Maser's mansion." Lust frowned.
"We never left Dublith" This time it was Envy's turn to frown.
"…What?"
"Take a look around Envy, what do you see missing?" Lust spoke slowly, her tone sounding as if she were communicating with a practically dim-witted child, though her words were dripping with venom.
He blinked and shrugged, completely bypassing her thinly veiled annoyance. "What are you getting at Lust?"
Lust shook her head.
"The girl, Envy"
His eyes widened for a second before he shot her a frosty glare.
"Weren't you two supposed to be watching her! How could you possibly lose one pathetic, little, insect" He snapped. Gluttony whimpered and hid slightly behind Lust.
Lust merely raised an eyebrow at his hostile accusation.
"She was not our responsibility Envy, she was yours"
"What did you say?" He hissed dangerously.
"Lust-"
"Not now Gluttony" Lust sharply reprimanded him as she matched Envy's icy glare with one of her own.
"The well-being of that child fell to you, and you alone. Master placed you specifically in charge of watching over her. The consequences for failing will be on your shoulders, not on Gluttony's or mine" Lust challenged as she crossed her arms under her ample chest.
Envy stood completely still, rotted to the spot as the wheels in his mind began to whirl. His long hair fell into his eyes and hide them from view. Inwardly Lust felt the faintest spark of unease. It was not like Envy to stay quiet after a remark like that.
"Lust", Lust felt chubby fingers tugging at her dress.
"What Gluttony" She replied uninterestedly.
"Something's wrong Lust" She frowned again as she glanced down at her clearly troubled partner.
"What is it"
"The scent. The scent, it's almost gone...and its smells funny." Gluttony trialed off, he was clearly anxious to how she would take the news as he shuffled from foot to foot.
"What do you mean by that Gluttony" She pressed as Envy's head snapped up.
"Um…" Gluttony hesitated and looked nervous as he caught the oldest homunculus' stare.
"Spit it out fat-ass" Envy barked aggressively.
Lust glared back at him in warning. He shot her a withering look in response.
"It smells like the girl, but there are two other smells too"
"There where two other people?"
"What did they smell like? Human?" He nodded.
"One does, but the other smells too funny to tell." Gluttony sniffed the road again.
" It smells…like…um, a dog? A big dog, but he smells like a human too." He shuffled uncomfortably at his kin's intense stares before shaking his head.
"Well, which one is it. A dog or a human?" Envy rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his sharp hips.
"I don't know" Gluttony whined as he slumped dejectedly. Lust sighed. She patted his head comfortingly.
"That's good for now Gluttony" He smiled happily at her.
"It was probably a chimera" Lust suggested casually as she looked over her shoulder.
"What are you planning Envy?"
Said sin didn't respond. He glared straight ahead, ignoring her question, as if trying to recall something. After a minute's pause he rounded on Gluttony.
"Show me where the scent was strongest tubby." He barked sharply.
Gluttony paused before looking left, then right, and then sniffing the night air as a cold breeze blew by.
"Um, that way" He pointed and began to run towards it. Envy and Lust followed without a word. After a few minutes they arrived at an alley.
"In here" Gluttony responded as he stepped into the shaded alleyway.
Though the alley was drenched in shadows, it was no match for the homunculi's inhuman eyesight. The alley was bare expect for two small browning patches that looked suspiciously like blood.
Gluttony first sniffed the patch on the ground and wrinkled his nose in confusion. It was the dog-man's.
"No" He seemed to mutter to himself as he ran over to the other stain on the brick wall. He sniffed it curiously.
"Well?" Envy prompted.
Gluttony paused. Suddenly he licked it.
Lust and Envy both blinked, torn between confusion and disgust.
He abruptly smiled.
"Yes, this is hers. Yum, so tasty…" Gluttony whined as he licked his lips hungrily.
"Focus Gluttony. Find the scent again" Lust commanded him.
He nodded obediently as he sniffed the night air again. He immediately whirled around and pointed in a random direction.
"That way. They all went that way" He nodded.
"What do you mean all of them?" Envy questioned angrily. Lust chuckled behind him.
"Well then, it appears your charge has been kidnapped Envy" Lust smirked tauntingly as he snarled.
"WHAT!"
"Honestly Envy, haven't you heard anything at all of all the children that have gone missing in all the big cities? It's been some news for quite a while now." He whirled around to face her, his nostrils flared.
"You knew about something like that and you didn't even bother to mention it!"
"The situation never arose where such a thing would be useful, besides this is again your responsibility, not mine."
"Well that information is damn useless NOW!" He shouted. She sighed irritability, fed up with his excessive yelling.
"Will you stay here all night arguing with me or are you going to rescue your little lost charge?" She smirked devilishly. Envy snarled before whirling around to glare at Gluttony.
"Which way did they go again" He hissed dementedly.
Gluttony gulped as he sensed the murderous aura around Envy and pointed again in the direction of the scent trail.
"North?" Lust mused.
"Central" Envy growled.
Lust and Gluttony both looked taken a back as they stared at the shape-shifter.
"Why would you presume Central?" Lust scoffed as she raised an eyebrow.
"Back in the seedy human bar I went to. I remember there were a couple of drunk humans talking about scouting around Dublith for anything else that could be valuable to take back with them to Central. They kept hitting this bag next to them as they talked or something"
He spat as he glared heatedly at the blood splatter, the gears in his mind were at full swing again.
He really, really, really, wanted to go back to that bar and kill them all. His arm itched to hit something in his frustration.
He growled as he punched the wall and closed his eyes.
This was all the brat's fault.
...And he would make sure to beat her within an inch of her life when he got her back.
His violet eyes snapped open as he grinned wickedly.
Envy turned back to Lust as she finished reminding him yet again of what he already knew.
"It would make sense if they were the ones going around and picking up any street urchins that they could find wandering around alone. As far as them considering those little miserable creatures to be valuable, they must be planning to use them for something." Lust calmly concluded as her mind reviewed the future possibilities.
She suddenly paused.
"Wait, Envy…you said they had a large bag next to them?"
Envy blinked, then frowned as he raised an eyebrow incredulously. "Yea so, what does that have to do with anything?"
"You say that they had kept hitting the bag?" Lust questioned him slowly, wondering when he would realize.
"Just what are you getting at Lust" He snapped, annoyed with the guessing game.
"…was the bag big enough to...hmm, let's say…hide a small child in it?"
Envy paused.
Lust held her breath.
Gluttony covered his ears.
A silent breeze blew through the quiet town street, which was abruptly shattered yet again by the same loud voice.
"…Damn it all!"
Well there you have it. I actually felt the need to split this particular event in half. It was becoming a monster of a chapter.
As well, for reasons I can't explain, I strove to add quite a bit of humor to this chapter, but keep the plot on task at the same time. Tsk strange...
On a related note: Brownie points if anyone guesses correctly what the tugs wanted from poor, little, August.
Please remember, reviews are always appreciated. If you would like to correct, advise, question or give your own suggestions then please feel free to PM my account. Thank you for reading. Hoped you enjoyed.
- Mara Gin
