I love long weekends. I actually have time to write. Except my parents keep dragging me out of the house, and when I get back I'm too tired to do anything. Ah well, writing now I am.

"Pride talking"

"Selim talking to Pride"

Chapter 14

Selim awoke and quickly tried to shake the disorientation away. It was hard getting used to waking up in strange places all the time. Yawning, he tried to sit up without hitting his head on the top of the tube. Well, that failed. Rubbing the sore spot, the black haired boy decided to crawl out of the tube, and just sit on top. There wasn't anyway he could hit his head on the sky.

Looking around, there wasn't anybody in the park yet. The sun had just barely risen. That was kind of strange, he didn't usually wake up this early. Maybe Pride did though, and it was rubbing off on him or something. Staring at nothing, Selim tried to think of what to do next. His destination was Dublith, right?

"Hey there, kiddo," Selim's head spun around to see who had spoken. It wasn't someone he'd ever seen before. He was tall, and wearing all black. His hair was long and in a pony tail, and he looked like he was from Xing. Something about him didn't seem right though, and he jumped off the tube to face him quickly.

"Finally," Selim frowned when he hear that. Did that mean this was one of the mole people, he just hadn't met yet?

"What do you me…" The thought trailed off when he spotted the tattoo on the tall man's hand. It was that same weird dragon thingy that he saw on the guy who turned his arm into a blade, Envy. There was something about this guy that kind of reminded him of Envy too. Maybe it was the slightly less then sane smile? It wasn't as bad as the blade wielding maniac's, but that didn't mean he was going to trust this guy anymore because of that.

"Who're you?" Selim asked, trying to sound braver then he actually was. The Xing man frowned at his question, kind of like he'd been expecting it, but was hoping it didn't happen.

"What's the matter? Don't recognize your own little brother?" He asked, a teasing sound to his voice. The child was barely able to shake his head, his mind consumed with both the confusion as to how this guy, who was much older then him, would possibly be able to refer to him as the older brother, and the fact that his teeth looked much sharper then a normal person's. The pony tailed man simply shrugged, apparently deciding that whatever was going on wasn't worth going to far into. "Ah well, doesn't matter, let's just get you back so that pops can fix whatever's wrong with your head."

Selim took a few tentative steps back. He wasn't sure who this guy was referring to when he said 'Pops' probably the same person Pride called Father, but either way it was also probably not a good thing.

"I-I'm not g-going back," the young boy stuttered, mentally chastising himself for that, and also wondering exactly who this guy was. He was obviously one of them, but other then that he knew nothing.

"If you must know, that's Greed," Pride said, giving Selim an answer to at least one of his questions, but he was pretty sure that was all he was getting. It didn't seem to matter how far back he went, Greed was closing the distance rather quickly, looking amused at the child's small attempt at resistance.

"Look Pride, relax a bit, we're just gonna get you back to your normal, pompous and creepy self, so c'mon" The Xing man reached towards him, but Selim just kept shaking his head and stepping back.

"No… I'm not Pride!" Selim yelled, sending a black shadow shooting towards Greed more out of instinct then anything before he was able to touch him. The older man jumped out of the way with ease, although a look of surprise remained on his face. He could feel Pride's annoyance with his continued resistance, and heard him scoff in his head.

"The hell you're not," Pride mumbled, but the voice didn't say anything else, and Selim figured he should be insulted, but wasn't really. After all, Pride was agreeing with him, so why would he be mad?

Greed was standing a few feet away from him now, and was looking a mixture of anger, annoyance and confusion. "Well, if it's gonna be like that," He said, bringing his hands up in front of him and getting into a fighting stance. Selim started looking the pony tailed man over, both Pride and that Envy guy had some sort of weird power, this guy probably did too.

Just as he had expected, something about the man in front of him began to change. His hands turned a shade of dark blue, the tips now pointed like claws. The child willed a few more shadows around himself. He probably couldn't beat this Greed guy, not by a long shot, he couldn't fight. Maybe though, he could hold him off until he thought of some kind of escape plan, or people started coming to the park and screaming about two super beings fighting each other.

Almost before he could register, Greed was running towards him. He brought the shadows up in front of him as a kind of shield at nearly the last second, Greed's hand scratching across it. The man was almost instantly at his side, and he again made another last minute shield. He knew he had to do something other then defense, but he didn't know what exactly to do or how. He'd never fought a day in his life. Stupid sheltered childhood!

Selim quickly shot a few tendrils haphazardly towards his attacker, who easily dodged the inexperienced attack. At least it got him a bit farther away, so that he could have a bit more breathing and thinking room.

That didn't last very long though, as he was once again right up next to him, with nothing but a wall of shadows between them. Selim once again shot the unnatural shadows toward him, but once again he only dodged and was back in his place in a manner of seconds.

The black haired boy was just beginning to panic now. This guy was obviously strong, and skilled, and just knew what he was doing and Selim… well, he wasn't and didn't. Pride wasn't going help him. Pride was basically the enemy at this point, in terms of personal goals.

"C'mon, just give it up already. You aren't going to win this time. Whatever's racked your brain's messed with your skill like hell," Greed taunted. Selim shook his head though. He wasn't going to give up without a fight, not this time. Greed simply shrugged in response. "Suit yourself," and with that, lunged towards the child again.

Finally what seemed after five hundred tried Selim managed to ensnare one of his attackers hands in his shadows. He literally had to keep himself from jumping in celebration. Greed seemed much less enthused, and quickly tried to free himself from the dark grip, but didn't seem to be able to cut through the shadow. Apparently whatever that blue stuff was the coated his hands was strong enough to deflect the shadows, just not cut them.

Before the Xing man could find a way to actually get out, Selim quickly sent out several other tendrils to wrap around his arms and legs, binding them. He couldn't keep the smile off his face as he took a few careful steps toward the trapped man. He actually did it, he won! How did that just happen?

"You lucky little… I can't believe a mere child like you was able to defeat Greed," Pride's growl echoed through his head. Selim's smile widened a bit more, he was just as astonished as the annoyed three hundred year old super being, maybe ever more so.

"I did have your super cool shadow powers helping me," The child suggested helpfully. Selim could almost feel the eye roll before turning his attention to his prisoner.

"Um, sorry I had to tie you up, but do you think you could answer a few questions?" Selim asked politely. Now it wasn't so much an eye roll he felt but a face palm. Greed appeared more surprised then anything, although he quickly regained his nonchalant look.

"Alright, who the hell are you and what did you do with the real Pride?" the ensnared man asked. Selim knew that the sin named man was halfway joking, but decided it would be best to just answer anyway.

"Selim Bradley, and Pride's stuck in my head. He still talks to me, so he's okay, but I kind of took control of his body for the time being," Selim explained, and he could tell that was probably not what Greed was expecting.

"Wait… what?" The Xing man asked, blinking a few times. The black haired boy was somewhat expecting that. It probably sounded absolutely insane even to these people who were crazy to probably almost every single person in the world. Probably, at least.

"Um, I'm Selim Bradley. You're Greed right?" Selim asked. He was starting to get a bit worried. What if people started showing up. It was still extremely early, but you never know. Plus, he had no idea what to do with Greed now. If he let him go, then he would just start attacking him, right?

"Yeah, I'm Greed…" The still very confused man answered. The black haired child nodded slightly. Maybe he could get some answers from Greed that he couldn't seem to pry from Pride.

"Um, okay, what are you people planning?" Again, he was met with a befuddled look from the pony tailed man.

"You're seriously not Pride? How'd you manage to get the freak in there, kid?" He asked, ignoring Selim's question. The child wasn't sure if he should answer him or not. He still wasn't really certain of the answer himself, but if he explained it to this guy, maybe he'd know something.

"No, I'm not Pride. I… I'm not sure how this happened… I had died, back home, and I ended up in this place, and this white figure person told me I could live, and when I woke up I was in Pride's body," Selim explained. Sure he still didn't actually trust Greed in the least, but there was something about him that made him give the Xing man a chance. A bit like Pride, actually, and the exact opposite of Envy and his father. Although his father might just be from left over fear, while everyone else was more of just gut feelings. Probably not the best thing to rely on, but it was all he had.

"Well… that's an interesting story kid," Greed said finally. Selim sighed and shook his head. He didn't seem to know anything, so he had to get back on track.

"Um, okay, what are you and the people underground planning?" he tried for a second time. He hoped that this man wouldn't be as stubborn as Pride was, but from the half attempt at a shrug through his bindings, he probably wasn't going to get much farther.

"Well, I don't know everything that's going on really. I'm pretty young, you see. I just follow orders," he explained. Selim frowned slightly, but Greed saw this and sent him what the boy guessed was a charismatic smile. "You don't have to worry, I never lie, you see. That kind of stuff is for petty thieves and crooks, which ain't me," The child nodded. For some reason or another, he believed him.

"Is there anything you can tell me? At all?" He should probably be a bit more demanding, but that just wasn't who he was.

"Well, not really, but I can tell you that we're called Homunculus. At least now you can put a name to 'us people.' So that it, or is there anything else you want?" Greed answered. The black haired boy sighed. That wasn't much, but he was pretty sure he'd heard that word before somewhere in an alchemy book or something, so at least he had a starting point, no matter how small. Selim turned his attention to the Xing man's question. Anything else he wanted? There was only one thing, really.

"I just… I just don't want to die again," Truthfully, that was all he wanted. Yes, going home, seeing mother again and actually having a normal life, he wished he could have that too, but he knew he was just lucky to have survived this long. Right now, living was his first priority. Everything else was second.

When he looked up, Greed was staring back at him in an almost understanding way. This time it was his turn to look confused when the pony tailed man sighed.

"Don't we all, kid."

And enter GreedLing! And a bit of action. I don't think I've wrote a fight scene since 2008, so hopefully it wasn't completely terrible. I hope I've gotten out of the rut I've been stuck in for the past few chapters too. They weren't very good, but I think it's starting to pick up a bit now.

Well, please review and tell me if you agree, disagree, think Envy should change his name to SlenderMan, the works.