Father's lair beneath Central,
roughly 175 years ago
Greed whistled a tune he had heard in one of Hovenstad's less reputable drinking establishments not even two weeks ago during his latest task. His gait had a light spring to it as he made his way through the underground tunnels.
Life was good.
All he had to do was go in, report, endure a bit of tedious lecturing from ole' Pops, and then he could go back to the vibrant world above. Greed always volunteered for the missions that took him away from the lair. Most of the time it worked like a charm; Pride was sort of essential for their operation and Father preferred to keep him around in Central, and Lust despised the silly little mortals so she'd only deal with humans if their dad specifically ordered her to do so.
As far as Greed could tell, she had actually been relieved when the old man made him. It meant less time spent on the surface for her, if nothing else.
Greed could never understand his older sister.
That world above them was everything this dark lair wasn't. It was full of noise and smells, things to see and try. Full of pleasures and opportunities.
Full of life.
Full of so much life, that it sometimes could make Greed forget how empty he felt when he was around his dad. The novelty of it wore out quickly, sure, but there was always more. Greed liked that word. More. More, more, give me more! It tasted almost sweet on his tongue. No girl he had ever fucked had tasted as sweet as the promise for more, for more tomorrows, for more fun, for more power, for more life.
He chuckled quietly at himself, as he walked merrily in the dark.
Lust and Pride, even the old man… they didn't know what they were missing on.
And that was just fine.
He didn't mind keeping it all for himself, and if his family wanted to hide beneath the earth instead, they were welcome to it.
Greed was so absorbed in himself and his thoughts that he barely saw the cloud of black shadows that stormed into the underground hallway, writhing on the stony walls and hitting impossible angles and invisible surfaces in ways that made your eyes hurt.
Out of my way, Greed, Pride growled with his immaterial voice instead of offering a proper greeting but that was alright. Pride was a mean bastard, and Greed had long since given up on him ever growing good manners. Curious, though, what had gotten him all fired up? Greed pondered it for all of a second as he sidestepped the mass of angry shadows and glowing eyes, and he grinned.
"What's up, big guy?" He asked. "Don't recall seeing you this mad ever since that diplomat guy found a peaceful resolution for that little war of yours in the West a few years ago."
Ugh, don't remind me, a few of Pride's eyes turned to Greed and narrowed at him. It's the new… thing Father made. Can't stand its bawling.
Greed managed to go as far as nod at Pride's words before his brain kicked in and he digested what he had just heard.
New thing?
That sounded interesting.
"Say," he began slowly, "mind explaining what you're actually talking about? It's not like I just got back from my mission and you know me, always starving for news," he put his thumbs into the new, richly-decorated belt he had gotten in Hovenstad and he gave Pride a sharp smile full of shark fangs. "What new thing?"
Everything was so much better before Father decided to make more Homunculi, Pride lamented, It was me and him, and we were doing just fine before you whelps came along. You can't imagine how aggravating it is to put up with you all.
"Sorry for offending you with my existence," Greed deadpanned and could almost see the joke flying over Pride's head. Or rather, the lump of swirling shadows that might have passed for his head if you squinted, tilted your head to the left and ignored the extra mouths and the tens of eyes that moved in the black.
Whatever, Pride's echoing voice gave the impression of a shrug. If you want to know that badly, Father made a new sibling for us a few days ago. It has not… adjusted yet.
Wait.
Wait, wait, wait, wait!
This was huge!
Greed's curiosity and imagination went crazy inside his head. A new sibling? This was so full of possibilities that he nearly giggled with anticipation. He had never had a new sibling. Ever since the old man put him together, all he had had were Pride and Lust, and they had been created before him. To get a new one… Greed did not know what to expect, what to do, what to say.
It felt wonderful. New experiences were all the sweeter.
"What's it called?" He asked before he could stop himself. "No, wait, actually, is it a boy or a girl? What does he… or she, I guess… look like? What about its powers? An…"
Pride just growled again and before Greed could blink the shadows were leaving in his opposite direction.
"Well, that was odd," he said to himself as he rubbed the back of his head.
He heard his new sibling's voice before he saw them.
To be more specific, he heard them crying – loudly – and Lust trying to calm them down as he walked towards the throne room.
The noises were coming from a small alcove you could find if you turned right and went into the opening of an old sewer that was older than the lair itself – probably a remnant of some lost civilization that had been around before Amestris – and Greed didn't even hesitate following them. Father could wait, this was way more intriguing.
It didn't sound as if Lust's efforts were very successful.
Perhaps it was her approach?
"Would you stop already?" Her voice echoed from somewhere deeper into the tunnel. It was always difficult to attach an emotion to her cold personality whenever she talked to you, but this time she seemed mildly annoyed. "Crying won't solve a thing. You must learn to control yourself, or else Father will just get rid of you."
"I can't! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Greed's breath quickened. This must have been the new one! He couldn't really assign a gender to this voice; it could have belonged to an effeminate male, or to a female with a scratchy timbre. It was difficult to tell, and it fluctuated weirdly as Greed's sibling spoke. But what Greed could discern was that the new one sounded deeply upset.
He frowned and moved faster through the darkness and the sounds of anguished sobbing.
When he finally found Lust and the new one, he wasn't prepared and couldn't stop himself from stopping in his tracks and simply staring.
Lust was standing over… something that Greed was just incapable of describing.
It was changing its form constantly, facial features and body parts moving fluidly across its body. Red lighting was crackling all around, and for a second Greed thought that if an unsuspecting human walked in on this, he would probably keel over dead of shock and terror. The new one's skin couldn't keep a color either, one second it seemed completely normal – if a little pale – the other, it turned into a scaly green hide. Limbs grew and withered across the new one's frame, and it seemed to have trouble narrowing it down to two arms and two legs. Its whole body was shaking as it cried his heart out, keeping its (actual?) face hidden behind a bunch of clawed hands and apologizing over and over to Lust who stood above it with her arms crossed, looking stern and lovely like an ancient statue brought back to life. The contrast between her beauty and the new one's ugliness was staggering.
And also, utterly fascinating.
"Well, well, well," he drawled, his voice making Lust turn and raise her eyebrows ever so slightly in what could have been either a greeting or a sign of surprise. Greed wasn't sure which, and he wasn't about to lose sleep wondering about it. "What do we have here?"
"When did you get back?" Lust asked him. "How did it go up north?"
"It was great, you should have come," Greed joked as he didn't even pretend to look at his sister. His gaze was pinned to the ever-changing body of the new one. He slowly moved closer and crouched before it, arcs of red light twisting in the chilly air, the glow reflected in the jewels that adorned the many rings Greed had taken to wearing. He could spot a terrified purple eye looking up at him from between the fingers of one of the multiple hands that covered its face. The new one had stopped crying for now, though Greed wasn't sure if it was due to it managing to calm down or suddenly getting fearful. "So…" He hesitated before he finally shot a glance at Lust, "What's all this, then?"
"Father decided to create a new Homunculus," Lust rolled her eyes. "The results are not… very impressive so far," she shrugged and Greed heard the new one taking a deep breath, as if it was trying not to burst into tears again. "Pride stormed out a little while ago, and I'm beginning to see the appeal of it too."
"Hrmmm," Greed looked back at the new one. "Yeah, I ran into him on my way in," he said distractedly. "Why don't you go and do… whatever you do to relax? I want to meet the new one on my own."
"Greed," Lust's voice held an edge of warning. His sister was older and thus of a higher rank. She was much more patient and forgiving than Pride, but one had to be a fool to antagonize her. "This has better not be another one of your hare-brained schemes. It," she threw a bored look at their trembling sibling in her feet, "has not gotten used to things yet. I don't want to find out you've put some stupid notion into its head later."
"Yeah, yeah, no worries, Lusty," Greed raised a placating hand, certain that the Ultimate Shield was superior to the Ultimate Spear. "You won't find out, I promise. I'm kidding!" He protested when she scowled at him. "Look, you don't want to be here, I don't want you here, and the little one sounded like it doesn't want you around too. So just go away and everyone wins," he grinned at her and watched as she rolled her eyes again, let out a long-suffering sigh and walked off into the darkness.
"Now!" Greed clasped his hands excitedly when Lust was gone. His sibling winced at the sharp sound. "Let's introduce ourselves. I'm Greed." He pressed a hand to his chest as he spoke, indicating himself in case the new one was a bit slow, and showing off his Ouroboros sigil at the same time. "I want to own everything this world has to offer, I'm going to be in charge one day, and I'm your big brother." He smiled down at the new one, his eyes shining in the dark. "Well? What about you?"
"I," the new one hiccuped and hesitated, before they gulped and whispered, face still hidden from him, "Father said I'm Envy."
Slowly, they lowered their hands and revealed themselves fully.
"Fuck!" Greed's eyebrows shot up to his hairline as he saw Envy's face for the first time. "You're hideous!"
It was the look in Envy's gaze that told him he'd struck a nerve, because it simply wasn't possible to get an actual expression from that shifting mess of pulsating facial features. One of Envy's eyes had at least four or five irises, and each one looked hurt and insulted beyond belief. Furious.
Greed had never seen anything like Envy before. And he was damn sure he'd never see anything like Envy ever again.
Unique. They were unique. Sure, ugly as sin, but unique all the same. And unique trumped pretty each and every time for Greed. You could find pretty everywhere; it was almost mundane. Unique, though, to own something nobody else could even imagine…
And then, before his very eyes, the red lightning that sizzled all around their half-fluid body, washed over their form and Greed could see the changes as it made its way.
Green hide was replaced by smooth, pale skin. The writhing, malformed limbs were transformed into a set of fine, slender arms and legs. Envy threw their head back and hissed as if they were in pain, and when they lowered it down again, their face was youthful and beautiful, with a small, pouting mouth and a delicate nose. Long, black hair fell almost to their waist. The only thing that had remained the same were their eyes; they were big and looked mostly normal – if one ignored the violet color of their irises – but they regarded him with the same look of hurt and anger he had seen just moments ago.
"I'm Envy," they repeated themselves, this time boldly and through clenched teeth, and even their voice seemed to have stabilized somewhat, although it retained that wondrous androgynous edge it had had before, "and I hate you."
All Greed could do was grin victoriously.
Father's lair beneath Central,
now
So that's how one became a god, eh? Create a country, pull its strings ever since its inception, orchestrate a few dozen wars and hundreds of massacres over the centuries because life and death meant power, then dig up an enormous alchemical circle to keep all that energy contained and focused, bide your time, gather a bunch of people who had seen the Gate of Truth and then use them to open a portal to the heavens at the exact moment when the celestial bodies aligned perfectly to match your blasphemy.
Easy, right?
All Greed and Envy could do was watch, restrained by Pride and Gluttony, as Father – who by now was no longer the bearded, long-haired old man Greed has known throughout his entire existence, instead having turned into what could only be described as a human-shaped black hole – sat on his throne and triggered the transmutation.
The human sacrifices started wriggling and screaming in fright on the ground. Ed and his armor suit of a little brother, a guy who looked like he could easily win a contest for a doppelganger of the old man and who Greed assumed was the Elrics' dad that Envy had mentioned before, that loud woman who had kicked his ass back in Dublith... and Mustang, Mustang who had lost his sight when Pride forced him through the Gate and he saw the Truth.
Greed saw the Eye appearing on each of their bodies, as the storm of energy Father unleashed howled through the dark lair, red light flickering and crackling all around. The air suddenly felt so absurdly heavy that he cried out at the pain that gripped his head and lungs, but he couldn't hear his own voice over the roar of the transmutation. Greed turned to look at Envy, his neck straining against the shadowy chains Pride held him with. Gluttony had them in his grasp as securely as he was able while they thrashed around, trying to break free; Greed wasn't sure which one of the two looked more afraid.
Greed's vision blacked out just as the old man began cackling madly on his throne.
He thought he could hear millions of voices at once, faint, echoing and terrified as the whole of Amestris died, to serve as the power conduit between Father and the unearthly force he was going to absorb. The nationwide circle had served its purpose, as had all the wars that had turned this country into what it was today.
Failure had a bitter taste.
A nightmarish picture floated into his mind as he shouted out into the complete darkness. A black, cyclopean creature rose from the vortex that had swallowed Amestris. It was enormous, taller than any mountain Greed had seen, turning its deafening rage towards the eclipse. It reached a colossal hand towards the moon and the sun behind it, pushing through the sky as dark clouds swirled around its giant fingers.
And then the Eye, the real Eye – not the false one inside Gluttony's belly, or the afterimages that had flashed across the bodies of the sacrifices – opened where the shadow of the moon was and stared down at the gigantic monstrosity that was rising towards it, thundering laughter booming through the heavens.
When Greed could finally see again, he was shaking, huddled into himself like a frightened child.
He could hear Envy sobbing quietly somewhere next to him and he tried to move, to reach them, to help them.
Funny, though, out of everyone in Father's throne room, it was Gluttony who spoke first.
"Father?" He whimpered, hesitant and confused. "Are you a god now?"
Father's lair beneath Central,
about two years after Envy's creation
Greed was in the process of finishing up a nice bottle of fine, dark rum, his feet plopped on the table as he was trying to just relax and enjoy the quiet.
Pride was doing something that required him to be away from lair tonight, Lust was off to the East to spark yet another revolt, Father had retreated into his throne room days ago to plot and think, and Envy was nowhere to be seen all day.
Which meant that Greed could just kick back, take a breather and not deal with anyone or anything. He was planning another long trip away from Central. Lust and Father had devised a network of spies all across Amestris, to serve as the Homunculi's eyes and ears, so once he boarded the stagecoach that would take him out of Central, he could still receive orders and do his job. He vaguely wondered where to go this time. Perhaps the South. There hadn't been any major conflicts there for a while now, so he had an excuse. With a little luck, he might be gone from the lair until the autumn came.
So when his door was suddenly crashed open, he almost jumped out of his skin and turned to look at the intruder.
Envy.
And they were livid.
"I hate them!" Envy cried out, little fists clenching so tight that their knuckles had turned white. "I hate them! I hate them! I hate them! I hate them! I hate them! I HATE THEM!"
Greed stood up, just to get a better view.
Envy was a sight to behold when they were angry. For some time now, Greed had started checking out his youngest sibling more and more, and he had caught himself thinking thoughts that weren't entirely… platonic.
It had been odd at first. Not to feel attracted to someone, that was old news to Greed who had indulged his desires with so many human girls and women that he had long ago lost count.
But to feel attracted to another Homunculus? That was… strange and new.
He had fought it at first. He had seen Envy before they had made the body that was standing in Greed's chambers now. Hell, they had created that form as he watched! Envy was the ugliest creature that had ever walked this earth. He shouldn't want a monster that didn't even look human.
Then again, sex wasn't about beauty, wasn't it? It helped, sure, but when it came down to it, it wasn't necessary. Greed didn't mind beauty, but what attracted him, what really got him going, was uniqueness. The thought of owning someone unique, of having someone unique in his bed, at his mercy, got him harder than the Ultimate Shield.
Perhaps that was why his desires had focused on a Homunculus like Envy instead of, say, Lust. Lust was beautiful, but Greed had seen and fucked countless women like her. And her cold personality was plain boring. Where Lust was ice, Envy was flame, enticing and dangerous. Where she was nothing but beauty, they were ugliness disguised and transformed until it had transcended beyond understanding.
Greed wanted Envy. He wanted them like he wanted his possessions, to be his property for all eternity.
No way.
There's no way that there's no way.
He didn't notice the blood until Envy began breaking things, shrieking in fury.
"Whoa, whoa!" He frowned and moved towards them just as they smashed a whole shelf full of old, rare wines. "Hold on the fire, freakshow! You're smashing the good stuff!"
Envy looked at him as if they had just realized he was there.
Then they grabbed one of the bottles that had survived the assault, stared at it for a second and they threw it right at Greed.
"Hey!" He yelled when the glass shattered against his shoulder and his clothes were soaked in wine.
"Disgusting!" Envy shouted, so mad that they seemed, well, mad. "They're disgusting and I hate them, and I hate you too!"
"Okay, that's enough," Greed grit his teeth, his patience wearing thin. He didn't have the habit of allowing his possessions to behave like that. He purposefully walked to Envy and he grabbed their delicate wrists in his hands. Up close, he saw that they were covered in blood, and if he was to judge from the splatter, it hadn't come from an injury Envy had sustained. Someone had died tonight, and it probably hadn't been pretty. "What's going on?"
"I hate them," Envy hissed in response, as if that was any help.
"Who?" He pressed, forcing Envy to step back until he had them up against a wall. "Who do you hate so much that you felt like coming here and breaking all my things?"
Envy looked him right in the eyes then, and for a moment he thought he saw something more than their fiery anger, but it was gone before he could blink.
"Humans, stupid," they spat up at him. "I can't stand them! They… they… They walk up there, all carefree and disgusting, and laughing and enjoying themselves, and pretending to be better than they are, and… and…" Envy's voice trailed off before it exploded in his face. "AND I HATE IT!"
But Greed was not as self-absorbed and egocentric as Lust and Pride thought he was. He was perfectly capable of understanding how others thought and felt, he just looked at it through the lenses of his own vice, always searching for ways to get more, and to fill the empty, howling void inside.
So what he heard instead was what Envy really wanted to say. And that wasn't I hate it, it was I want it.
The little one had began venturing out into the mortal world on their own lately, and the rest of the family soon realized that Envy's distaste for humans was bigger than Lust's and almost rivaled Pride's. That had actually helped smooth things over with the older siblings after Envy's unconvincing start at life, but sometimes Greed suspected there was more at work here. He was yet to figure it out, but one day he would, and when that happened Envy would belong to him completely.
"That so?" He smiled crookedly down at Envy, still holding on to them. "How can you hate something you can't understand, my little freak?"
"How dare you?!" Their purple eyes widened at him in offence, and they bared their white teeth. "Let me go, you scum! Let me go, I said! Le-"
Envy's words were cut off when Greed brought his face down and he claimed their mouth in a hungry kiss.
He had never kissed someone so inexperienced, and he had deflowered at least a dozen girls he could think of. Envy stiffened, and they didn't know what to do. They didn't have anywhere to go, encased in Greed's hold, and their lips trembled against his. And then, they started mimicking him, answering the kiss clumsily and greedily. Greed growled deep in his throat, pleased beyond belief.
This was it. This was fucking it, kids.
He was the first. He was the only one. He was always going to be the only one.
Envy arched their spine, pressing their face up to his, and he finally allowed his tongue to dart inside his sibling's mouth. The feeling was so intoxicating and empowering, that he no longer cared about the tragic loss of his collection of antique wines. And when Envy let their tongue to slither against his own, his hips buckled without the command of his will, pinning Envy even tighter against the wall.
When the two Homunculi broke their kiss, Greed stared down at Envy. Their purple eyes were almost alight, looking up at him. They were panting, and their lips were beginning to swell slightly.
What a sight.
"Again," Envy whispered and tilted their head up, to meet him. "Do that again."
Father's lair beneath Central,
now
"You actually did it?" The guy who looked just like Father sounded flabbergasted.
"Yes," came the answer from the being on the throne, "I acquired God."
Greed's arms trembled with effort as he pushed himself up and gazed at the old man.
Only, he didn't look old anymore. His form was… different. It was young and strong, wrought in the image of the ancient Xerxesian deities.
With a bored flick of his wrist the lair was suddenly lit by a bright, golden glow that hurt Greed's eyes and he squinted. He heard Pride hissing somewhere from behind.
"Is that…?" It was Ed who spoke, and when Greed's vision adjusted he saw Fullmetal staring with incredulity at Father's hand, where he held…
He held… a… miniature sun?
It floated gently above Father's upturned palm, bathing the black walls of the lair in the first sunlight they had ever seen. And yet, it burned with immense, highly condensed power. Greed could almost hear the energy humming around them.
It was then when the dad of the Elric brats stepped forward and started sassing Father. Greed could barely believe it.
Why was the guy doing that?
"He's making his move," Envy whispered next to him, and Greed saw a bunch of Pride's eyes narrowing at them, before turning towards Father.
Something in the world suddenly… shifted, and Greed immediately felt so much better that he briefly wondered how had been able to exist a mere moment before. He jumped to his feet, instinctively covering himself up to the jaw with the Ultimate Shield before he looked to Envy. They had followed him, turning towards Pride.
It was then when the energy tidal wave hit them and the whole lair shook.
Greed lost his footing and staggered closer to Father and his tiny sun, but the old man didn't even notice him, his will pouring forth against his former human twin who held his ground.
Then the walls began rumbling and pieces of stone and concrete began raining all around.
Despite the noise, he managed to overhear the exchange going on between his father and the Elrics'. Something about Scar staying above to trigger a transmutation that would create a reverse circle, using the shadow of the eclipse over Amestris to sap Father's ritual of its power and he would lose control over the millions of souls he had just devoured.
Or, at least, that's how Greed irritably rationalized the few words he had caught in all the commotion before Father suddenly hunched over and was split open by a tornado of screaming human souls that erupted above, leaving the lair in ruins in their wake. Greed barely managed to jump back, bumping into Envy. With his peripheral vision he glimpsed Pride and Gluttony retreating too.
When it was finally over and Father slumped back in his throne, they all moved as one, each of them realizing what had just happened.
They had dealt a blow to a god.
And he had just lost the resource needed to hold in the celestial energy he had stolen.
Homunculi and humans rushed towards Father's throne together.
Greed saw Ed pounding an automail fist to the ground to conjure an artillery of rudimentary cannons which began to fire slabs to heated metal transmuted from the service tunnels below. The burning projectiles hit a bubble of crackling red energy, Father using the power of his immense Philosopher's Stone to channel it directly.
He vaulted over a small avalanche of crumbling stones from the nearest wall when he saw Envy tossing a massive slab of concrete – much, much bigger than their petite form – towards Gluttony who couldn't duck in time. The little Xingese girl who had healed Hawkeye had fallen in alongside Greed and Envy, and she moved to support Envy with another of her weird transmutations, using throwing knives to detonate a set of explosions towards Pride's shadowy tentacles.
And then Greed swooped down as he ran, grabbing a piece of metal beam that had fallen among the steaming rubble. The giant clockwork devices behind the throne moved and creaked when Father deflected yet another attack, this coming from the Dublith butcher's wife. The mechanisms revealed a vat full of glowing, molten metal.
It was the same one where Father had once held him over, when he offered him to join up again, or be erased completely.
He launched himself into the air, invigorated by the desire to get back at the old man.
"That's irony, ain't it, Pops?" He shouted derisively when he flew up at him from behind and swung the metal beam at his white-blonde head. A blast of crimson energy sliced it off before it could struck Father, but Greed was already a few feet away, landing gracefully and twirling to toss the other half of the beam into the chains that held the vat with molten metal up.
"Hope you enjoy the bath you were going to give me, old man!" He sneered as he watched the magma-like liquid wash over the throne and the wounded god upon it.
For a second everything was quiet, the humans breathing heavily, and then a blast of energy forced the molten metal out and reveled that Father was unscathed. But also, very, very angry.
"You insolent wretches!" He roared. "You dare to think you can stop me like this? I can always get more souls! There are billions of you for me to use!" Then he looked at Greed and yelled, "Gluttony!"
"Yes, Father?" Gluttony whimpered fearfully as he edged away from Envy, and at the same hesitant to get closer to Father.
"Stay here and eat Envy and Greed," the old man commanded. "Pride and I will go above and deal with the insurrection."
"F-father? I… I thought I shouldn't eat family, Lust always said I…" He shook lightly. "Greed was very angry after I swallowed him and Envy once. Father? Can you bring Lust back now that you're God?" Gluttony suddenly babbled, desperation creeping into his voice. "She'll know what to do, she's smart, she will know if it's okay to eat them."
"Gluttony, stop with this nonsense and do as I bid," Father made to turn his attention away, but the fat fool spoke again.
"But… but you said you'd bring Lust back once you're God," Gluttony dropped on his knees before Father, his giant gut wobbling lightly as tears began to fall from his beady eyes. "You promised. Please, Father, I can't, I can't do it anymore, I can't be without Lust. You promised!"
Father just stared at Gluttony for a long moment before he muttered, "Disgraceful."
He reached and touched Gluttony's bald head with his perfect hand.
Greed's younger brother let out a blood-curdling scream as red lightning pierced his skull and crackled around him.
"LUST! HELP ME, LUST!" He screeched, "LUST! L-LUST! HELP! L…" His voice got choked up and he shuddered. "LU… L…"
He continued screaming, but he appeared to be incapable of producing words. And then, just like that, it was over, and Gluttony fell on his face, right in Father's feet.
"You will no longer be bound by your weaknesses, my son," Father declared. "I have purged it from you. Now, you're nothing more than hunger. Go and gorge yourself on your treasonous siblings."
With that, the floor beneath Father suddenly rose up, bringing him up towards the surface. Pride's shadows dug into the transmuted pillar, pulling the vessel up and following him.
Greed wanted to go after him immediately, to finish him once and for all, but before he could even make a move, Gluttony was upon him.
It happened so swiftly that Greed lost his footing and fell down, buried beneath Gluttony's weight. He looked up and saw his brother – or what had remained of his brother – letting out a roar so devoid of any trace of reason and humanity that Greed shuddered involuntarily.
He barely managed to lift an arm up and cover it with the grey armor of the Ultimate Shield before Gluttony's maw snapped around his limb.
One second later and he would have bitten into his face.
"Damn it!" Greed clenched his teeth. "Stop it, Gluttony!" No effect, at all. Gluttony had always been obedient and fearful. It seemed it was no longer the case.
Greed tried to free his arm, but Gluttony wasn't letting go, his big, meaty hands grabbing and squeezing at Greed's head.
He didn't have a whole lot of choices here. Feeling the Ultimate Shield slithering up his other arm, Greed shoved his claws right into Gluttony's eyes. Blood spurted out between his armored fingers and Gluttony screamed in pain. He began wailing at Greed with his heavy fists, striking him in blind, mindless fury.
"GLUTTONY!" A cold, commanding voice Greed hadn't heard in a long time echoed into the lair, and both Homunculi turned to it.
Greed almost grinned.
Envy had taken Lust's appearance, standing tall and regal in the dark. As Gluttony's eyes healed themselves, Greed expected him to start weeping in joy or something but, to his horror, Gluttony just let out an animalistic roar and lunged at Envy, without hesitation and without recognizing the form of his beloved sister.
Greed glimpsed Envy's eyes widening in shock as Gluttony came barreling at them, tackling them on the ground and immediately biting down.
Envy's scream was cut short by a disturbing, wet sound as Gluttony gurgled around a mouthful of their flesh just as crimson lightning began repairing the damage.
"NO!" Greed ran towards them and jumped at Gluttony, using his own momentum to drag him away from Envy's convulsing body.
He growled in absolute rage as he smashed an armored fist against Gluttony's snarling, mindless face. He hit him again, and again.
You try to hurt Envy, are you?
Not gonna happen. Not while Greed had even a spark of energy left inside his Stone.
Gluttony brought his hands up and grabbed at Greed's throat just as Greed kept pounding his face in. With a loud screech, Gluttony pushed Greed away and stood up clumsily, red light dancing around his bloodied head.
Greed came at him again, but this time Gluttony managed to instinctively lift one of his big arms, protecting his head and using it to slam his brother into the hard ground. He groaned as the air was painfully driven out of his lungs.
From his prone position, Greed saw Envy leaping into the air behind Gluttony, transforming their arm into a hooked blade that pierced the tendons between Gluttony's shoulder and arm.
"Gluttony, listen to me," Envy hissed in the effort of using the weapon to keep their brainwashed brother as steady and still as possible. "You don't have to fight us. He's not going to bring Lust back. Even if he took God's power, he still can't do something like that. She's gone. Stop fighting us, we can sti…"
Gluttony reached and grabbed Envy's long hair with his other hand, and cried out in pain as he lifted Envy's body up, pulling the blade out of his shoulder and bashing them violently against a half-collapsed column.
He opened his mouth again…
… And Greed shoved his arm right into it.
Gluttony tried to bite down, but the Ultimate Shield held on with a pained creak. He pushed down into his brother's gullet, down and down, until for a heartbeat Greed thought he could feel the pull of that quiet, dark void filled with an ocean of rotting blood. He shuddered, and yet kept reaching down into the blackness and then he finally felt the warmth of the Stone.
Greed closed his armored fist around it and pulled.
Gluttony made a choked, gurgling sound as Greed's gore-covered arm burst out of his throat, blood and chunks of flesh splattering everywhere. For a brief second that Greed wasn't about to forget any time soon, Gluttony looked so confused that it reminded him of how he had been before Father seared his mind away.
His claws flexed and the Philosopher Stone was no more.
Gluttony lurched forward and fell against Greed who held him as his body slowly turned to dust.
Greed took a deep breath and looked towards Envy.
They were still staring at the blackened pile of ashes that had been their little brother. A gust of wind that seemingly came out of nowhere scattered it away until not even the Homunculi could see the specks in the underground darkness.
"Envy?" Greed took a step towards them and grunted in pain as his Stone began fixing him up. "Envy? You okay, sweetheart?"
"He… he…" They shook their head.
"I know, sweet cheeks, I know," Greed knelt in front of them, trying to peer into their eyes. "I know you wanted to save them all. But I had to take him down. He wouldn't listen."
"No, he couldn't listen," he saw tears threatening to fall down Envy's pale cheeks and they reached to scrub them off with a frustrated little growl. "He couldn't. He wasn't Gluttony anymore. The Dwarf took it away."
"Yeah…" What else were you supposed to say to that?
A distant explosion thundered in the distance above and the two Homunculi looked up, towards the enormous pillar Father had transmuted to get to the surface and devour any mortal he could find.
"They're fighting him," Envy said, their voice a little hollow. "The humans."
"Yeah. Persistent little buggers, ain't they?"
They fell silent for a few moments. Greed moved to sit next to Envy, and they both gazed towards that stretch of blue sky, pristine and bright, and looking as if it was miles away.
"You said we," Envy suddenly said, still staring up.
"What?" Greed wasn't sure he understood.
"Before we fell down here, when Wrath and Pride shoved Mustang through the Gate," Envy shrugged. "You told me we might go live someplace cold after this is over."
"Oh, that," He smiled faintly. "It was just a joke, sweetheart. I know you prefer to be warm."
"No, I…" They sighed. "I mean, you said that you and I are going to go somewhere. Together."
"Envy," Greed turned to look at them. "Envy, look at me," they did, and for the first time in almost two centuries, Greed realized that he had never managed to quite understand his lover, his most precious companion, his sibling. Until now. "There's a lot we need to talk about. A lot of stuff I need to say that I never said. Things like that tend to pile up the longer you live, you know? And we will talk, but this is not the place nor the time. So for now all I need you to know," he swallowed, "is that the "we" part you mentioned? That's not negotiable. I'm not leaving you again, and I hope to God that you don't want me to leave either, because otherwise it's gonna be a tough eternity. You're not getting rid of me until I'm dead, sweet cheeks."
"Greed…" Envy whispered and lowered their eyes.
"No, c'mere," he murmured in response and cupped their chin in his hand – the one that hadn't been inside Gluttony's throat – and lifted their face back up.
This kiss was different that all the others they had shared over their long lives. It was gentler and softer, but it also felt as if something had finally clicked, something that went much deeper than passion and arousal.
Something that both of them had been afraid of, yet had desired all the same.
Each took a deep breath when they broke apart.
And they both spoke at the same time.
"We gotta help them, sweetheart."
"We have to stop him, Greed."
For a second they just blinked at each other, digesting what the other had said. Then Greed couldn't help it and chuckled loudly.
"It's not funny, stupid," Envy said sullenly, although with a smile hiding behind, and they punched his arm lightly.
"On the contrary, it's hilarious," Greed stood up, feeling stronger and determined. He bent down and reached a hand towards Envy. "Come on, sweets. Let's save the world."
Phew, this was an exhausting one. But I'm pretty happy with it, I managed to cover everything I wanted. In case it wasn't made clear, the chapter jumps a bit through time here and there, showing us moments from Greed and Envy's past as their present unravels.
The end is nigh,
Rinso