Hi there people. Hurry for first actual downtime in two weeks. And what do I do with it? Write fan fiction of course! Well, here you go.

Disclaimer- I don't own FMA.

Chapter 10

Selim stared at the tall teenager standing over him. This was bad, very, very bad. Selim couldn't fight, he had a feeling Pride could take this kid out easily, but he wasn't Pride. He was just a timid little bookworm who had no idea what he was doing in the long run. The teen took a step closer, and Selim ducked his head down and covered it with his hands. He really had no idea what else to do, and it didn't look like Pride was going to help him any.

Selim opened his eyes, (when had he closed them?) at the sound of laughing. Getting the courage to look up, he saw the older teen snickering, shaking his head. The boy on the ground frowned, he didn't think his fear was very funny.

"Yo kid, relax, it's okay," The teen said, wiping his eyes. Selim didn't say anything, he didn't trust this guy yet. "You hungry kid? Here," The teen held out some kind of melon fruit thing. Selim just nodded and took the fruit, still rather confused. Biting into it, he didn't say anything as the dirty teenager sat down on the crate he'd tripped on.

"I'm Jed, and I'm guessin you saw the kids inside, right?" The teen, now know an Jed, asked. Selim simply nodded, his mouth full of fruit. He still wasn't quite sure what kind it was, but it was good none the less. "None of us have homes," Selim's head shot up at that. Of course, somewhere in the back of his mind he had considered something like this, but he didn't think it was really true. He just liked to believe they were kids playing. "Kind of like you, right?"

Selim though for a bit before nodding. He didn't have a home anymore. He'd left it all behind him, he wasn't going to get caught up with those crazy people. Sure, Pride wasn't so bad, but that didn't shake the terrible feeling he got when he thought of those underground tunnels and the people that lived in them.

Standing up, Jed dusted off his pants. "Now, I'm not gonna ask you where you came from, or how you ended up here, but you're welcome to come inside," Selim nodded and followed the teen into the run down building.

"Hey, we got a new one!" Jed called, stepping inside. The four kids that Selim had seen earlier all stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to the newcomer. Selim had to resist the urge to hide behind Jed. He'd never been the most social kid in the world.

Jed, who Selim had now worked out to be the leader of this little brigade, stepped passed him and into the middle of the room. "Well, I guess I'll introduce the gang here," he pointed to one of the kids Selim had followed here, the older one, he wasn't as tall as Jed, and he had shaggy red hair, "This is Derik," now the younger of the two, who looked nearly identical, only shorter, "Erik," here he turned to the only girl of the group, she looked like she was from Xing to Selim, which was rather surprising, "Noodles," and the last kid, he looked even younger then Selim, which was hard, Selim had gotten mistaken everywhere from six years old and up, "and Kano."

Selim nodded to each in turn. They all had their eyes on him now, probably waiting for him to do the same for them and tell his name. He could almost be certain that, if he hadn't already been on the news, he would now that he'd evaded the Elrics, so he couldn't tell them his real name.

"My name is… Pride," Selim said, trying not to sound hesitant.

"What? How dare you use my name, take it back!" The actual Pride barked inside his head. It was hard keeping his face straight with the angry sin's voice raging in his head, but he'd somehow managed to.

"Too late for that now, should of spoke up sooner," Selim thought, and Pride made a himp sound before receding back to the recesses of his mind, or so it seemed to Selim, anyway.

"Pride huh? That's one of the more original ones I've heard, but nothing wrong with that," Jed said, an amused tone to his voice. Selim just shrugged, it actually wasn't very original, but he wasn't about to tell them that he stole the name from the voice in his head.

"So Pride, you gonna stay with us now?" The younger redhead, Erik, asked. Selim shook his head. Ed and Al would search the city for him, it would probably be best if he moved on as soon as possible. It would be a mistake to stay in the same city he'd ditched them in.

"I probably shouldn't. I need to keep moving," Erik seemed to be a bit disappointed, but Jed simply shrugged.

"So be it, but stay the night. It's dangerous for a kid like you to be out there along, ya know?" Selim nodded, after all, staying one night couldn't hurt, and these people did seem nice. "It's settled then, Noods, go show our guest one of the usable rooms," The xing girl nodded, and began walking out of the hallway without a word, apparently assuming 'Pride' would just follow.

Walking down the broken hallway in awkward silence, Selim tried not to trip over anything and keep up with this Noodle girl. She walked pretty fast for someone so short. "So," Selim started, "You're from Xing?" she just nodded, stepping over a fallen piece of ceiling. How old was this building? "Oh well, that's nice," alright, not exactly the most productive conversation in the world.

"Here is your room," Noodle said, gesturing to one of the less wrecked rooms. There wasn't any door, but a rundown bed was still inside, along with a bunch of empty and open crates.

"Oh, thank you," Selim said, before Noodle walked away without another word.

"Don't worry 'bout her, she's like that with all newcomers," Selim tried not to jump at the unexpected voice. "I'm Kano, and you're Pride, right?" Selim nodded, now a bit over his shock. "Where are you going?"

"What do you mean?" All Selim was doing was going into the room they sent him too, so what did this little kid mean?

"You said that you can't stay because you have to keep moving, so I was wondering where you were going?" Kano explained. Oh, that made sense, he did say that. Although, Selim really didn't have any idea what to tell him.

"Um, I'm not really sure yet, some place safe I guess," Selim said, sitting down on the bed gently, not exactly sure about it's stability. Kano sat down next to him, apparently not so concerned, as he did it rather bluntly, the bed creaking loudly in protest.

"It's safe here though, Jed takes care of us," the young boy said. Selim couldn't help but smile at him, he was cute, not to mention he couldn't be any older then six.

"I'm sure it is, but I still have to leave," He hoped the little boy wouldn't ask any other questions, because he wasn't sure if he'd be able to answer them honestly. Lying was one thing that Selim didn't like to do, even if he wasn't that terrible at it. He preferred to think of it as acting.

"Okay, if you say so," Kano said finally, before standing up off the bed. "If ya need anything, just call someone, okay Pride?" Selim smiled and nodded. The little boy then ran from the room, and Selim laid down slowly on the bed, still not completely trusting the old thing.

"So, what do you think?" Selim thought in his head. He wondered if Pride was still mad at him for borrowing his name, and hoped he wasn't. He hadn't really had many options, and his last fake name hadn't exactly been a very good one.

"What do you mean?" Pride's irritated voice came echoing in his mind.

"About these kids. You know, how they're living on their own and stuff, what do you think?" Selim asked in thought yet again. Pride was quiet for a bit, and the current controller of the body knew he was thinking it over.

"It doesn't matter," Pride said finally. Selim blinked and frowned before pushing himself up on his elbows. Sure, Pride wasn't actually in front of him, but it was easier to just pretend he was.

"What do you mean?" Selim asked out loud the same question Pride had a few moments ago. He was pretty sure none of the other kids were there to hear him, and it was still a little weird to have a conversation completely in his head. If Selim could see Pride, he imagined he would of shrugged right about now.

"It doesn't matter. They're just worthless humans like the rest of them, who cares if they live on their own?" Selim sighed and crossed his arms. He was tired of this whole, 'human' thing and being looked down on. Sure, Pride had said he was some three hundred year old super being, but what did that mean?

"Why do you look down on people so much? Don't you care about any of us?" the boy on the bed asked. He was really curious, and hoped Pride would give him an actual answer for once.

"No, and it's for the simple fact that they are inferior, it's only natural," Pride said. Selim rolled his eyes, and wondered if he knew how much the voice in his head's name fit him right about know. A thought came into his head that made him frown a bit. Not even mother?" He could feel the slight shock from Pride. Apparently the sin hadn't thought that he'd bring her into this, and even more so he hadn't wanted him to, surprisingly. Selim let a small smile grace his lips. "So you do care about her," he said, surprised at the bit of smugness in his voice. He was spending too much time with Pride.

"She is…intriguing, I must admit," Selim just shook his head before lying back down on the dusty mattress. He really did miss his old bed. Thinking of his mother, she must be in a mad panic right about now. Once she found out he escaped the Elric brothers, she'd probably have every officer in the nation looking for him. Sighing softly, he realized that wasn't really his mother. It was Pride's, his was back home, in his world, and he'd probably never see her again.

Closing his eyes, Selim decided to take a nap. It wasn't that late at all, but he was still tired, and if he stayed up he'd probably just keep thinking about how he's never going to see his mom ever again and she probably thinks he's dead.

Opening his eyes an undetermined amount of time later, Selim saw that it was dark out. How long had he'd slept for? Still a bit sleepy, he started down the still unfamiliar hallways. Which way was it to that front room like thing again? Finally reaching it he saw Derik, or was that Erik, he couldn't remember, staring out the window.

"Um, hi?" Selim called, causing the other boy to jump slightly.

"Ah! Oh, hey, Pride right? Didn't hear you come down here," Derik/Erik said, looking out the window one last time before turning to him. Selim just nodded, trying to look behind the redhead and see what he was looking at. "Oh, there's a bunch of police out there tonight, not sure why though. I'm standing guard incase anything happens," He explained. Selim's eyes went wide, and he went passed the other boy to look out the window for himself.

"Police?" he asked, looking around in the darkness. Derik, or at least, he was pretty sure this was Derik, nodded.

"Yeah, I think they're lookin for something, no clue as to what though," Derik explained. Selim gulped and moved away from the window, the last thing he needed was for a police officer to see him and run in. "You wouldn't know, would you?" Selim turned towards the other boy and shook his head, trying to not look guilty. Derik nodded, although he didn't appear entirely convinced.

"Alright, well then, you hungry or something?" Selim nodded, and Derik threw him an apple. The two boys ate in silence for a while, Derik grabbing his own fruit soon after. "You're new at this, aren't you?"

"Huh?" Selim asked after he's swallowed the bit of apple in his mouth.

"Being on your own, you're still fresh," Derik explained, not bothering to swallow like Selim had. The black haired boy nodded. Was it really that obvious? "Don't worry, you'll get better at it. I'm not gonna question your decision to leave, so I'll just say good luck."

"Tha-" Selim stopped mid word, three loud bangs on what remained of the front door cutting him off.

"Police, open up," A voice from outside called, and Selim could feel his heart drop. Derik must of understood his panicked look, because he didn't go to the door, but just stared at Selim, a serious look on his face.

"We need to hide you, don't we?" He asked, and all Selim could do was nod and weakly say.

"Uh-huh."

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Hurrayz. Poor Selim, his situation just keeps going up and down. It's like a perpetual rollercoaster for that boy, depending on how I am feeling. I am a cruel god, that I am, but a just one. Oh, and if anybody knows where I got the name Noodle from, you are awesome. The other inspired name was Jed, although I changed it from the inspiration just slightly, so it's less recognizable, but it you can tell who it is still, you are even more awesome. Okay, reviews are love, thanks.