"What's wrong with you?!" Envy shrieked hysterically at Wrath's back. "How could you let that bastard go after what he did?! You should have pulled his spine out of his mouth!"
Greed was sitting on the steps, a dark expression on his face. It was bad enough that ever since that mishap in the tunnels a few weeks ago Envy was grudgingly withholding their affections from him, and now Lust was dead.
Gone. A being of such a vast intellect, power and cunning, almost three centuries old and instrumental for so many atrocities in Amestris' history that she was practically a national treasure… destroyed at the hands of a mere human.
And even Father would never be able to bring her back. There was nothing left to bring back.
Greed had not thought that such a thing was even possible. Then again… there's no way that there's no way, right? Greed had spent much of his long life abiding by this credo. It just hadn't occurred to him that such a fundamental law of existence applied to him and his siblings as well. Roy Mustang had proven that they were not untouchable.
Greed hated being wrong. He hated losing things even more.
"Lust," Gluttony sobbed next to him, "He killed Lust..."
"It's not too late to kill him, so get to it!" Envy continued to rant.
"He won't," Greed said flatly. Envy twirled to look at him, their pale face incredulous. "Isn't that right... little brother?"
Wrath turned his head, focusing his ice-cold stare at Greed.
"Cat got your tongue?" Greed's lips curled in disgust.
"We can use Mustang," Wrath insisted calmly. "He's worthless if we kill him, however."
"Figures," Greed sighed and stood up. "Come on, Envy," they looked at him quizzically. "It seems it's up to us."
"What do you think you're doing?" Wrath's eye narrowed at him. For a second Greed entertained the idea of covering his hand with the Ultimate Shield and driving an armored claw into his eye socket.
See if a Homunculus that aged was able to regenerate it, if nothing else.
But no… he had a wounded State Alchemist to kill, a dead sister to avenge, a pissed off lover to appease, and no time to waste on Wrath the Cowardly.
"I'm going to make Mustang beg me for death," he informed the Führer matter-of-factly, then turned to Envy, "While we're at it, I'm gonna need you to tell me who his friends and subordinates are. They're dying too."
Envy grinned cruelly. This was the first time they smiled at him since the tunnel. They stalked closer to him.
"Let's see," Envy crooned, "His right hand, Lieutenant Hawkeye, she's very close to him. It'd be funny to make him watch her die. Who else?" They tapped a slender finger on their delicate chin, "Falman, Breda, Fuery… Havoc's in the hospital with him… Hmm. Armstrong? Maybe Hughes' family?" They shrugged, then they flashed a positively feline smirk up at Greed, bloodlust and the opportunity for revenge finally sparking up their good mood, "Oh, and the Elrics too."
"Fair enough," Greed shrugged. He had a score to settle with the Elric brothers regardless. Might as well do it all in one, "Let's go."
You two aren't going anywhere, suddenly the whole underground staircase was submerged in darkness.
Shit.
It was never a good idea to forget about Pride.
The darkness moved and slithered around them like a living creature, black tendrils swirling on the walls. The air around the Homunculi suddenly felt heavy and inky, invisible cold fingers brushing against their skin.
You will stand down, Greed, Pride's soft voice whispered behind him. His instincts screamed at him to turn and face the threatening presence of his eldest sibling, but he knew it would be pointless. Pride was nowhere and everywhere at once. You will not retaliate against Mustang.
"Why the hell not?" Envy whined somewhere near him, but Pride was all around, drowning all light, casually violating sanity and the laws of nature and Greed couldn't see them. His head was beginning to throb painfully.
Because we say so. You could almost feel the indifference in Pride's disembodied voice. To him the rest of the Homunculi were as inferior as humans seemed to them.
Arrogant bastard.
Father grieves for Lust and Mustang will get what's coming to him. Yeah, right. It sure didn't sound like it.
And then it wasn't so dark anymore because the shadows opened their eyes.
Countless eyes, staring at them from every angle and surface, glowing, malicious and condescending. Envy was apparently startled because for a split second they pressed their lithe body to his before getting a hold of themselves and swaying away, playing it off as if nothing had happened.
Little bitch.
There was no need to tell the rest of you until now, Greed could see fanged maws grinning at them in the underground gloom, Lust knew, and so does Wrath. Mustang is the fifth sacrifice.
"What, you mean... for the portal?" Envy sounded astonished.
Yes, Pride hummed, sadistic pleasure almost dripping from the single word. So, you see, Lust will not remain unavenged. But you two will bide your time. The Elrics are not to be touched either. Same goes for you, Gluttony, Pride added, almost as an afterthought as the shadowy tentacles began to retreat and the unnatural blackness started to ebb away, vanishing like dark mist in unseen corners and cracks on the stony walls.
"Yes, Pride," Gluttony whimpered timidly, but at this point Pride was already gone. Greed could tell by the way his lungs felt lighter and his brain didn't itch with the need to cover himself head to toe with the Ultimate Shield.
Greed took a deep breath and plopped his ass back on the steps.
"Well fuck me," he muttered.
Maybe it would have been better to let the old man kill him, after all. Could Hell truly be worse than all this crap?
"I trust that now you will be more compliant," did he imagine it or was Wrath giving him a smug face?
God, the nerve of this whelp... Just because he got lucky back in Dublith and because he apparently was Pride's toady now.
There was nothing more disgusting than a youngest sibling. They always were the most spoiled brats.
He didn't want to look at the stooge Führer as he passed him by and started climbing back towards the surface world. He worried that he might do something that would only bring trouble. Well, more trouble anyways.
Instead he focused his stare back on Envy.
They still seemed a little sulky, arms crossed in front of their narrow chest, but at this point Greed suspected it was just stubbornness. He knew Lust's death had shaken them, and Pride throwing his weight around hadn't helped any.
Envy needed a distraction. And so did Greed.
"Transform yourself into some less... tacky outfit," he told them, eyeing the cropped top that left their flat midriff bare and the short skirt-thing. "We're going out."
He had had enough of sewers, and darkness, and Wrath, and everyone else.
Greed had an idea, and the sooner he and Envy got to it, the better.
This is an alternate, and slightly longer, version of the scene in Episode 21 where Bradley tells Envy of Mustang's role in the plan and why he didn't kill him back in 19.
I wondered initially if I could think of a way to save Lust, since this is an AU anyways, but I decided against it. This story is not about her, and her death is a useful tool for me.