Greed's Charity

A/N- Hello and welcome back! Sorry for the delay, between a bit of writer's block (I rewrote this three times) and procrastination, I finally present chapter 2!

Response to yyh-ygo-fma- Well…I'm not telling. Not yet anyways. (Which basically means I'm torn between two things and have yet to decide.)

Disclaimer- Fullmetal Alchemist © Hiromu Arakawa

Chapter 2 – A New Start

It had been a few days since the escape from Central and I'd followed the man named Greed. We traveled the most during the night, staying in abandoned buildings or fields. Though I kept quiet at first, I slowly began to open up to the other chimeras, finding a small form of friendship with Dorochet, Roa and Martel. All three of them had been in the military at a point and somehow had also been dragged into this mess. Wanting nothing to do with military anymore, their goals were simply to get as far away from Central as they could. Greed happily led us too. Yawning silently, I looked around the cargo bin of the train that half of us were on. A few of us were sleeping, but in my case, I was too nervous to sleep and tried my best to stay awake, fighting off the growing lull of the constant dull, click of the train. Last night was when Greed had found a place to set up what he was calling a base. A small town called Dublith. For him it was simple. The majority of the group left with him soon after he informed us of his plan. They would go and use the money that they required on their nightly outings and take the building while we would come later during the night to regroup.

"We're close," the gruff voice of Roa sounded from next to me. In the distance, I spotted the glowing light of a town from the open side door. Others around us began to stir, having been cramped in this single cab for the past three hours. A few loud yawns and groans, followed by small complaints soon followed as others stood.

"When do we get off?" I asked as the train began to slow around a bend, the station now in sight. Roa searched the darkness ahead, his eyes catching something before nodding towards us and standing.

"Now," he said as he began to toss a few bags from the door. I quickly stood, a nervous ball forming in my stomach. Getting onto the train hadn't been too hard. Jumping off however…that required a different technique. As other chimeras began to leap from the train, I waited until I felt another click from the train before jumping from the side. My legs jolted from the sudden contact of my landing, losing balance momentarily as I stumbled forward in the darkness. A solid hand grabbed my shoulder, steadying me before moving away.

"Alright! Now that the rest of you have made it, it's time to finish setting up!" Greed said as he passed me, walking towards the others. Numbly, I bent down and grabbed a bag that was on the ground as I heard Martel approach.

"Nice landing," I heard her say with a smirk. I grimaced.

"Yeah, I know. I need to work on my abilities," I told her as she folded her arms. Being the only girls left, the two of us had formed some kind of female bond, and upon her notice of my lack of anything offensive or defensive, Martel decided she would take me in and train me in combat even though I hated to fight.

"That's not the only thing, either," Greed put in from my left side, making me jump. The strange feeling that I got when he was around had become a constant thing. I was so used to it that it was difficult to sense him when he was close. I gave the taller man a questioning look and he grinned crookedly.

"Martel, go ahead and return to the club with Talina. We'll stay back and get further supplies," Greed said as he turned his back to us and waved us off with his left hand. My brow rose in confusion as I turned back to Martel but she just smiled and shook her head.

"Come on, I think that you'll like this," Martel said as she started off towards the town. The walk was long, and I suspected not direct, for we took a lot of side streets and alleys before a building came before us. A sign that read 'Devil's Nest' hung above the door that Martel knocked on a few times before it opened. A chimera that had been introduced as part leopard opened the door and nodded.

"Where are the others?" He asked as he opened the door wider, letting us in.

"Getting more stuff. Greed sent us ahead to settle in," Martel replied and moved so I finally got a view of the first room. It was large, set similar to a club of some sorts. A bar sat along one edge of the room, while tables, chairs and couches were scattered around the open floor.

"Those rooms will be storage, that on…Greed mentioned something about a putting in a pool table…and past this door are our rooms and the bathrooms," Martel told me as she noticed my interest as to what would be what. She proceeded to walk down that hallway until she reached a room.

"Since we are the only girls, we will be sharing with each other, so this is our room." I peered in, spotting two beds, each on opposite sides of the room and a single desk between them. Martel, however, grabbed my hand and began to pull me down the hall. Before I was able to protest, I was shoved into a tiled room.

"Make sure you lock the door while you're in there. Everything you'll need is along the shelves, and inside the bag are some new clothes. You can thank Greed for them, he suggested it," Martel called from the other side of the door as I turned. On the far side of the bathroom was the bathtub a showerhead attached to the side and a thick curtain held back by a latch. There are many words of joy that I would've expressed at finally being able to get cleaned up. To wash away the dirt and grime that had been stuck to me from the Lab. Turning the water on, I discarded the dirtied, grey dress that had been given to me and stepped behind the curtain. A fully cleaned, soaped up body and two handfuls of some sweet smelling shampoo later, I stepped out carefully, wrapping a towel around my body to dry off. A sink sat by the door, and along with it, a mirror. I would finally get to see the changes that had happened to me. The first, and almost only, change was my hair. I had noticed it before, but it never really called my attention until now. Once being a dark blonde like most of Amestrians, it now was light silver that would make the moonlight envious and flowed down to the middle of my back. The other change had happened to my eyes. The dark green I once had, had now turned a honey-gold. Though saddened that I didn't look like myself much more, it was still me. The towel securely tucked around me, I reached for the bag and emptied the contents gently onto a small counter. A yellow shirt with a small floral pattern fell out, followed by a pair of tan pants and undergarments. For the first in a long time, I felt happy and grateful again. Having changed, I wrapped the towel around my half-wet hair and returned to my room with the bag, finding Martel sitting on the far left bed.

"Well? How do you feel?" She asked as she noticed my entrance. A shy smile tugged on my lips.

"Much better, thank you. But I do want to ask…it was Greed that got the clothes?" I tilted my head, the towel sliding slightly with my motion. Martel laughed, catching the hidden question.

"Well, he suggested it. But when it comes down to it, a guy is a guy. I helped pick out some of your clothes," Martel said as she tossed a hairbrush at me that I caught on reflex.

"Hurry and finish up, the guys returned a minute ago," She instructed as she stood from her bed to exit the room. With a nod, I began the process of quickly taming my difficult hair and rushing after her.

In the main room, every seat had been occupied, leaving a couple of people still standing in the soft light. Well, maybe it wouldn't be so if Greed wasn't taking up an entire couch for himself, but no-one was going to argue with him.

"We'll be able to move smoothly soon enough and everyone will be required to pull some weight. Everything must be permitted by me, or it won't happen, clear?" Greed said, his tone sharp, as I missed part of his speech. His eyes swept over the group before falling onto a small glass before talking again.

"Within the next day you will each be given an assigned task that you will be responsible for, failure to accomplish that task by any means will result in added duties for a starting punishment," Greed continued before calling on chimeras and giving them their jobs. From messenger, to tasks as bartender or waiter, to cleaning and cooking, we were singled down until only Roa, Dorochet, Mar tel, a few others, and myself remained, standing closer to him now as the others were dismissed.

"And you, all of you will be my top henchmen. I will require and turn to you the most to get stuff done. You each have the rank directly under me, and I expect the upmost loyalty. As a man who does not lie, I am telling this because I trust you more than the others. Now…I'm going to go and scope out the rest of the town," Greed said with a grin as he stood, grabbed his jacket and left for the door. After a few seconds of silence the leopard chimera whom Greed had addressed as Kagin, chuckled, shooting a dark look towards me.

"I don't think that this man really knows what he's doing. I for one don't see the puny girl being much help other than providing some entertainment." Kagin grinned darkly. I let out a low growl at the comment, my right hand balling into a small fist. This man may have a good foot on me in height, but if I was fast enough…

"And what exactly is it that you have helped us with? Though Talina hasn't been in any of his missions, she has done as much work as any of us," Dorochet scoffed out, his distaste for the brunette man as equal as mine. Mostly it was because of his scent though. His comment did annoy me, but I was quick to let my anger fade. Kagin glowered at us before slinking out of the room.

"Come on shortstuff, let's work on cleaning out the rest of the rooms. Then we can pick up on your training routine," Martel said as her hand landed on my shoulder in a reassuring pat. I let out a sigh, releasing the rest of the pent up frustration from my chest before nodding.

"Sure, where can we start?" I looked up at her before getting led to the back and given a broom. Sweeping up dust and knocking away cobwebs soon merged into a training warm-up that combined with lifting and carrying around cardboard boxes. When and where Greed had obtained all of this stuff, I would never truly question. In fact…I had yet to see him sleep…

"Heads up!" I heard Martel yell suddenly as a medium sized box was tossed at me. With a quick gasp, I raised my left knee, setting the box I currently held to balance on my thigh and raised my hands to catch the oncoming box. There was a solid thud as it landed between my grasp and my body swayed with the new weight, my right foot shifting to support myself.

"Good catch!" Martel grinned over at me, her hands on her hips. Leave it to Martel to throw in something unexpected. I shook my head in disbelief while shuffling carefully to the side to sit the boxes down. With that, the cleaning was dubbed as done and we headed to the roof of the building. Martel apparently wanted to work on my balance and muscle strength within my legs and arms. She had also mentioned something about training my stomach muscles, but it slipped past my attention. The next thing I knew…

"W-Why did w-we have to work so…high up?" I swallowed nervously as I took a glance down the side of the building. Sometime between our cleaning, Martel had managed to set up a metal pole, each side being weighed down by at least twenty pounds of water.

"I've seen your balance before, you can handle this. If you can manage to do this without spilling anything, will increase the weight and add more…obstacles." Martel brushed aside my comment as I focused on walking along the thin ledge. I shot her a worried look. More obstacles? I was too terrified to ask of what she had in mind for the future, more concerned about what lay twenty feet below me. My training was set then. Strengthen my muscles, work on my balance, and get the basics covered before trying to fight. Before long, the sun was beginning to rise and I was starting to feel the pull of sleep. Eventually Martel called it a 'day' and we retreated back inside, the bed hitting my body faster than it should be possible. In the back of my mind, I had a home again. I was no-longer bound by a cage and treated like an animal as the scientists of the Fifth Laboratory had. The thought of safety lulled me away, the cool darkness of the room surrounding me as I drifted off into a pleasant sleep that I hadn't had in a long time.

A/N- Okay! Other than being incredibly dull with little action and practically nothing revolving around Greed, how was it? This chapter pretty much helps to set up Talina's character as she grows to rediscover her new life. After this, I'll finally be kicking things off, so expect the plotline to move a little faster.

Thanks to XxDaydreamxSyndromexX, wintermoon13, KHandFF7fanforever, Bumblebeecamaro38, yyh-ygo-fma, and Fate's Obsession for reviewing!

Thanks for reading and remember to review!