Hurray, new chapter not too late. Only have about two weeks of school left, but the teachers have decided to make these two weeks complete and utter hell with the amount of work loaded on us, and yet I take a break to write of all things.

Chapter 25

When Selim finally stopped walking, he was lost but rather used to that by now. It was probably better then he didn't know where he was, or else he most likely wouldn't of been far enough away.

"… it doesn't make any sense… I don't understand you…" Pride had been mumbling to himself for a while now, and the black haired boy wasn't too sure on how to answer him. It really didn't make sense what he was doing. Not even to him. He just had to get away from that house before someone found out who he really was. "But now they'll definitely know… are you trying to get killed?" the voice asked, and Selim shook his head.

"You know that's not it," he said aloud, continuing down the sidewalk. The city around him was becoming more and more sketchy the farther he went, but it didn't bother him as much as it had the first time he ran. He knew how to protect himself now. It was strange how Pride's powers were able to give him just enough confidence to not be a spineless wimp. It kind of bothered him though. If he ever got back home, would he just turn back into how he was before all this happened after a while? He hoped not.

"Then what is it, because right now your stories are not matching up," Pride asked, and Selim could only shrug as the answer escaped him.

"I just… didn't want to stay there anymore…" he mumbled, staring down at the clean shoes he was wearing. Knowing how things had turned out last time, they probably wouldn't stay that way for very long, that or anything he else was wearing, actually. Sighing to himself at Pride's sudden silence, he started forward yet again, since it was the only thing he could do.

Walking around the increasingly narrowing alleys, Selim was starting to wonder if this was a good idea or not. While he was more likely to be seen and recognized in the more hospitable parts of the city, the exits from the tunnel had led to places similar to this. There were pros and cons to each. Really he should just leave the city again, but he still wanted to find the Elric brothers.

The Elric brothers. Maybe he should just focus on finding them and ignore everything else for now. It wasn't a very safe plan, but it was the only one he had at the moment.

"Um, Pride? Do you have any idea where the Elrics could be?" he asked, thinking back to the last time he'd seen the two brothers. It hadn't even been in Central, but there wasn't a very high chance that they were in the same place he'd left them when he allowed himself to be kidnapped. He'd heard stories about the famous two, they never stayed in the same place for very long.

"How would I have any more of an idea then you would?" the sin asked in response, and Selim was quiet for a few moments. He kind of had a point. Okay then, he'd just have to find them the same way he did the first time, searching and following every clue he could possibly find. Hopefully he'd have enough time to before he was caught again.

Well, it was now well past noon, at least he was pretty sure it was, and he still wasn't all too sure on what he was going to do next. What if he left Central and the Elrics turned out to be here the entire time? Okay, no leaving until he was positive that they weren't here. How long that would take, he had no idea.

Selim started turning away from the more rundown parts of town to the kinder looking ones. That was where anybody sensible would be, right? At the very least he couldn't think of any reason why he would run into the Elrics in a place like this.

He made sure to keep his head down whenever he was around any large crowds of people, but continued to constantly look for any sighs of the only leads he had. It was getting later though, and the people at Pride's home were bound to notice soon enough that he was no longer there. Again.

It was when he was searching around for a safe place to hide and wrap himself in one of those strange, shadowy cocoons for the night that an eerie sensation kept causing him to turn around every few minutes. It felt like he was being watched, but if it was one of the other homunculi, why hadn't they come out by now?

"Pride…" Selim called out to the sin. It was dark now, and the feeling wouldn't go away. Someone was there, and it was giving him the creeps. He could sense the voice's attention on him, and he looked around the dark shadows that surrounded him. He was standing right under a streetlight, and severely hoped that it didn't go out. Pride's powers didn't work in complete darkness.

"What is it?" he asked, and Selim scanned the area again before answering.

"I don't think it's a homunculus," the child answered, inside his head for the first time in a while. He didn't want whoever was out there to hear him, especially if it actually was a homunculi. He could tell that it caught the sin's attention all the same.

"Really now? Then we ought to find out exactly who our little rat is, shouldn't we?" Pride asked, an almost amused tone to his voice for the first time in what seemed like forever. Selim had to keep himself from wincing at the sin's use of the word rat, memories of his so called father springing up in his head.

"R-right," he said shakily, before lifting his head to stare intently into the darkness. Whoever it was had the disadvantage, not him. He just had to keep reminding himself of that as he worked up enough courage to call out into the night. "W-whose there? Come out now!" he yelled, allowing for the shadows to leak out around him just a tiny bit, incase whoever it was tried to attack.

Footsteps sounded to the left of the frightened child, and he quickly spun in there direction. When the figure came into focus out of the dark, Selim had to blink a few times in surprise and confusion. It was a woman… and she looked kind of familiar. From the sneering he heard from Pride, it was obvious he knew who this was, but for some reason whoever it was wouldn't leave the tip of Selim's tongue.

"W-who are?- Ahh!" Selim wasn't able to finish his question, the recognition finally hitting him full force, and he nearly fell back in shock. It was her! The woman who'd come to his house the night he died! Her glaring amber eye were filled with confusion as he gapped at her in fear. He could feel Pride's shame at this pathetic act, but he really didn't care at the moment.

After a few moments he was able to regain a bit of control and wipe the shocked look from his face. Taking a deep breath, he looked back up at her, reminding himself that this wasn't really her, just a copy of the person he knew. Just like everyone else.

"Who are you?" he finally managed to ask, mentally slapping himself at her confused expression and remembering that Pride had apparently known her from the way he reacted. Oh well, there was no used covering it now, and he was running away, so as long as this lady… he couldn't remember her name in his world, wasn't working with the homunculus, it didn't really matter.

"Just what are you playing this time?" the woman asked, and Selim shrugged slightly. It would probably be best if he didn't tell her too much. He really didn't have any idea on if he could trust her or anything, so it probably wasn't worth the risk, especially since she spent so long following him and freaking him out.

"I can't tell you that, sorry," he said, although she didn't seem to appreciate his apology. Well, if she still thought he was Pride, he didn't really blame her. Sighing to himself, it was probably best to just leave. "Look, I have to go now, can you please not tell anyone you saw me here?" he asked, and she just continued to stare at him, stunned and confused.

"What in the world are you doing?" Pride asked, an exasperated tone to his voice.

"I can't explain to her what's going on, and I don't know how she knows you to know how to act, so I'm not really doing anything," Selim explained, and Pride just rolled his interior eyes in defeat. There wasn't really any arguing with him, even if his choice of action was utterly idiotic.

The woman nodded slowly, and Selim smiled at her before turning away from her, continuing down the sidewalk and in search of a place to hide for the night. He no longer felt the woman's eyes on his back, but he had to remind himself he couldn't relax just because of that. His real threats were still out there, and by now they knew something was very, very wrong.

"Hey Pride, what was that woman's name anyway? I can't remember," the black haired boy asked once he found a decent place to hide for the night. Inside a large cardboard box surrounded by other boxes, thrown away in an alley behind a clothing store.

"Riza Hawkeye, a military sniper woman," Pride said without much interest. Selim nodded before allowing the shadows to seep out around him, effectively covering him in their blackness and hiding him from view if anyone were to look inside.

He tried to get to sleep, but it was hard after having remembered what a real bed felt like. His mind started to wonder, until it eventually found itself on Pride, which really wasn't that unusual. He had gotten a bit more upbeat since they left the sin's home. It was strange, while he certainly wasn't happy, he was no longer silent and moody either.

"Pride, I just don't get you sometimes," the child wondered, catching the sin's attention. He didn't seem too bothered by the questioning though, instead opting to simply shrug it off.

"What is there to get?" He asked, but Selim shook his head. There was a whole lot to get. Pride wasn't just the pure evil manipulative monster he tried to put out himself to be, and while it was easy for Selim to see what he wasn't, it was kind of hard to see what he was.

"A lot, actually. Why were you so upset when we were back at your house and I was pretending to be you? I was this close to slipping up and being caught, but you seem happy that I left instead," Selim asked, hoping beyond hope that he would actually answer didn't of course, and instead Selim felt the sin's mood turn from it's normal neutral superiority to what felt like anger and sadness.

"Just get to sleep," Pride growled, and the black haired boy sighed under his breath. There was definitely something bothering him about what had happened, but he couldn't figure out what, and Pride wasn't going to tell him.

"I thought you'd be happy to be home," Selim mumbled, and quickly felt what he associated with Pride rolling his eyes.

"Of course… Happy. Why wouldn't I be happy about being utterly humiliated?" the sin asked angrily. Selim frowned, he hadn't humiliated Pride. No one even noticed he was a different person, so what did he mean by that? "You wouldn't understand…" he mumbled, and the black haired boy sighed again.

"I guess I wouldn't," Selim said, feeling a bit defeated. He still couldn't say why, but he wanted to help Pride. He just wouldn't let him though, and the sin was a puzzle all his own.

Tightening the shadows slightly, the child tried to shift into a slightly more comfortable position. It wasn't really all that much better, but it would have to do. he'll continue his search in the morning, and hopefully he wont get caught right after finding the elusive Elrics again.

"Goodnight… Pride," Selim mumbled, getting a scoffing reply from the sin, who still seemed to be in a rather sore mood from the mention of Selim's time impersonating him.

"Yes, goodnight. You're sleeping in a box and I'm still under the influence of an idiotic human child. A very good night," he growled, and Selim choice to simply ignore him. He was right though, it wasn't a very good night at all.

He would just have to make sure that changed soon, and both himself and Pride could get an actually peaceful night of sleep. Even if it seemed impossible now.

And chapter done. I hadn't realized how close I was to the one year anniversary for this, it's next month. Gonna have to make a super exciting chapter for that, don't you think?
Oh, about the timeline and Hawkeye already knowing who he is. I know it's messed up. If it was completely in cannon then GreedLing would have changed sides by now, or extremely close, and Ed and Al would be in the north. So I'm taking a bit of an artistic license, since I really wanted him to meet up with Hawkeye a bit.

Well, hoped you liked it, and please review.