It's alive! I am so very sorry for not updating in almost a month. If you went on my profile you saw that it was from technical difficulties with my laptop, not laziness. I would never be that lazy for my loyal readers. The happiness high I get when people compliment me wouldn't allow it. (is a bit of a prideful person myself, sadly) It's finally fixed though, which means everything can continue to run smoothly again. Hopefully. (Cross fingers)

Disclaimer- No, I haven't been executing a massive takeover plan on the full metal alchemist franchise in the past month, so still nothing.

Chapter 15

Selim stared up at the tall man in front of him. The sun was slowly rising higher and higher, but he was still wrapped in the black bindings and the boy wasn't quite sure where to go from here. Greed would still struggle occasionally, but Selim was making sure the shadows wouldn't come undone. He wasn't losing his victory yet.

"Um, I'm sorry," he said, and commanded the shadowy tentacles to lift his captive off the ground. It wasn't that hard controlling the shadows, just very, very strange. Like he had a million arms he could stretch to any size he wanted. He didn't dare open the eyes or mouths. The one time he had, things had gotten rather disoriented very quickly. How did Pride deal with that?

"Whoa, hey! What do ya think you're doing?" Greed exclaimed, his attempts at freedom getting a bit more forceful.

"People will be here soon. It'll be bad if they see the shadows, right? And I can't just let you go, you'll try to take me again," Selim explained, looking around for a place to hide. There wasn't many though, and he eventually just ended up walking a ways into the woods in the park. It wasn't very permeate or even really good, but it would work for now.

"So, how long do you plan to keep me captive kiddo?" the Xing man asked, not sounding overly worried. Selim didn't blame him, he wasn't the most intimidating person. This Greed guy had probably been through a lot worse.

"Until I can figure out what's going on… and when I can let you go without you attacking me again…" He answered, sitting down on the grass.

"Why don't you tell me what's going on first. You say Pride's stuck in your head, talking to you?" Selim nodded. Hey, if they were talking, something might actually happen, and that was good enough for him. "okay…weird. What's he like… saying?" The tall man asked, neither quite getting the irony of his statement.

"Um, well," the boy began, and hoped slightly that Pride would say something, and luckily, or not, he wasn't disappointed.

"Tell Greed he better stop making small talk and get me back to father's this instant, I don't have time for either of your games!" The echo like voice demanded, and then added, "Also, tell him he has no right to be calling this weird, I've heard him talking to the Xing prince." Selim didn't quite understand that last part, actually, he didn't understand it at all, but nodded none the less.

"Well, he just said to stop making small talk and take him back to father, and he said that you shouldn't say it's weird because he's heard you talking to some prince? I don't know what he meant by that, but I'll just guess you do," The black haired boy translated, and Greed chuckled slightly.

"Oh yeah, it is a bit similar, I suppose, and don't worry about it kid, has nothing to do with you," Greed said, not going into much detail at all, but Selim decided not to push it. If it was similar to his situation, it was probably extremely complicated.

Selim could just begin to hear the noises of the waking city, and was glad that he decided to move his prisoner when he had. Only now he was stuck, There would be no moving until he was able to get rid of Greed somehow, but he couldn't think of anything that would be able to distract the man long enough.

"Stuck between a rock and a hard place, huh kid?" the Xing man asked, seeming to almost read his thoughts. It didn't surprise him that much, besides being used to someone doing that now with Pride and everything, he'd always been a bit of an open book. He just nodded, still trying to think of some sort of solution.

He couldn't though. It was too hard. If he let Greed go, then he would be captured, but he couldn't move around with Greed here, but if he stayed in one place too long, he'd be found and captured. Maybe it was just luck that he'd gotten this far. He was probably bound to be captured eventually. No one can run forever.

"Thank you for finally facing reality. Now either let Greed free and go back to Father without anymore struggle, or better yet, return control of my body. All you humans are bound to die sooner or later anyway," Pride's voice echoed in his head.

A frown set onto his face at those words. If the ancient being in his head had stayed quiet, or on a second though, if he'd just held back that last sentence, he might of gotten his wish. For some reason though, those words lit a fire in him he almost didn't recognize at first. Standing up off the ground, he started over to the man ensnared in shadows. He wasn't going to give up just yet. Stopping a few feet away from his prisoner, he willed the shadows away.

"Huh? Want's up now kiddo? Finally decided to come along all nice and easy like?" The Xing man said, stretching himself a bit. Gathering the shadows around himself, Selim took a deep breath. No going back now.

"I'm not letting y-you take me, and I'm not going t-to just stay here and wait to get caught either," the young boy said shakily, getting into a rather clumsy and most likely completely incorrect fighting stance. He could feel Pride's annoyance and what seemed to be shock at his sudden change of attitude.

"What the? You were about to give up!" The fake child nearly whined. Selim chose to ignore him though, trying to keep all his focus on the equally surprised looking man in front of him. After a few seconds he let out a low chuckle.

"Well well well, you got more spunk then you let on, kid. I like that. Hope you're up for round two, then," Greed said, the blue shield like substance quickly covering his arms before he started to lunge towards the young boy with as much skilled and confidence as before. Trying not to flinch back, and nearly succeeding, Selim willed several spike like shadows towards the man before he could reach him. They were quickly dodged, but they gained him enough time to resurrect a barrier to hold back his attacker.

Strike, dodge, scratch, strike, dodge, scratch. Greed was moving in a circle around him, hoping in and out and generally making it extremely difficult for Selim to even try to hold him back. Not to mention his mind was split in between fighting off the Xing man and finding a way to escape. It wasn't like there was any kind of distraction he could use. There weren't any people, just a bunch of trees.

The trees. Selim let a small smile play on his stolen lips as the haphazard plan formed in his head. No guarantee it would work, but it was something at least. Better then fighting till exhaustion and being caught before trying anything.

Shooting lance after lance of shadow after Greed, they were easily dodged, but managed to drive him towards the other end of the clearing, a good eight or nine feet away. Not that far, but it was good enough.

The last bladed shadow, larger then the others, zipped straight past the Xing man and into the forest. Swinging his arm to the side, the shadow mimicked his motion, slashing around the clearing, clean through any trees in it's path.

"What the?" Greed yelled, jumping out of the way of one of the fallen trees. Selim didn't let the shadow stop until it had completed a full circle and the sound of wood snapping and trees crashing was almost deafening. Pulling the shadows up in a sort of makeshift wood umbrella, he ran off into a random direction of the forest. He could hear the much taller man's attempt at following just slightly through the crashing, but didn't even attempt to look back or stop until he was out of the woods and nearly out of town.

Collapsing agents an old brick wall, Selim couldn't move as he sat and panted. Finally lifting his head up and looking down the street, he saw no sign of his pursuer. It was still early in the morning, he had no idea when he'd made the shadows leave, and he had no idea how he'd just managed to escape.

A smile suddenly broke out on his face, and he didn't try to stop himself from laughing. He did it! He was free! For now at least, but that didn't matter. He wasn't going to just lay down and die again, Pride would just have to deal.

"You little… I will regain control of my container! You have no idea what you're meddling in, and when you do realize, it will be a rude awakening," Pride growled, anger radiating off of his voice. It didn't stop Selim's smile though, he deserved to celebrate a little, even if this was just a small victory in the long run.

"Don't worry Pride, I know I have no idea what's going on, but I'm sure you wouldn't want a weak little kid ruining your reputation right?' The black haired boy said between pants. He had no idea how far he'd ran, but it was probably a good idea to get up and keep moving. He guessed the plan was still Dublith, if for no other reason then to have a destination, because even though it was pretty far away from Central and the homunculus, as he now knew them as, it probably wasn't far enough. No matter how far it was, it definitely wasn't far enough.

"It never will be," Pride growled, the close call with getting rid of him failing obviously leaving the voice a little bitter. Selim nodded in agreement though, he was right, after all, but that didn't mean he couldn't try.

"I know, so bare with me for a little longer please. You'll get your body back someday," Selim said, his voice once again meek. It was hard for him to be so optimistic that he thought he could run forever.

Heading towards the train station, he planned to hop on the first train he saw. It didn't matter in reality if it was heading towards Dublith or not. If it was, good, if not, then he'd just change his destination, it wasn't that big of a deal. He knew the odds were stacked heavily out of his favor, and he'd be shocked if he lasted another month. Not like Pride. If Pride was in his situation, he'd take control and be sure of himself and know for a fact that he was going to survive.

Seeking into the train station, the young boy realized that it didn't bother him that much anymore that he wasn't as confident or strong as Pride was. It wasn't who he was, and so far he'd managed to survive being himself, and, despite being absolutely insane that he had, it felt nice that he could.

It was funny how two people with the same name, kind of anyway, and were to some extent, the same person, (Selim wasn't sure how he knew it was like that, he just did, and he was sure Pride thought the same thing too,) were such vast opposites. Maybe if they weren't in a situation were the success of one equaled the death of the other and vise-versa, the could have been friends. Or at least learned something from each other. Maybe.

Until they found a way to meet both their needs though, they were enemies living in the same body, and for some reason or another, neither boy minded all that much.

And hurray for getting back on track! I wish I had a super long chapter to give you after such a long wait, but I thought that was a good place to end it. Selim's finally taking control, and managed to get away from Greed.

Well, hope you like this chapter and please review. I promise not to go a month without updating ever again. Unless my computer breaks again….