Akk! Sorry once again for taking forever. I had to go on a fan fiction hiatus through all of May so that I could actually graduate. It's summer now though, so I'll have plenty of time to focus on writing. Of course, we've arrived at the penultimate chapter, not including an epilogue, so there isn't really much left for me to write in the first place. Well, seeing as I have five other fics to worry about, one of them also concerning Pride, I'm sure I'll still have plenty to keep me busy.
Anyway, I'll just let you all read the chapter now.
Chapter 37
Pride followed Wrath the short distance to where they would find Father seated in the center of the main room. He couldn't help but relish the feeling of being able to move of his own accord after so long. Finally free of that retched human soul that had appeared out of no where and disturbed everything. No longer confined to the horrible swirling abyss of souls in his philosopher's stone.
The lights were back on now, and the sin couldn't help but feel much more comfortable about being out of the pitch darkness again. Pride didn't know if he'd lit the room because he knew that 'Selim Bradley' was now gone for good, or simply because he knew that there was no way that the child could do anything to harm him. He could easily kill him if he tried anything or just shut the lights off once again.
The childlike sin kept his gaze on the ground as they went, not allowing himself to look up even once they stopped. He didn't deserve to look at the large figure now looming over him until he was told he was allowed. Father didn't say anything as the two came into his line of sight, instead clearly waiting for whatever explanation they had for him.
"Father," Pride said, knowing that he was the one who needed to speak. Wrath didn't have anything to account for, all of this was on his head. The sin managed to keep his voice strong, despite the fear he didn't want to acknowledge stirring inside of him. He didn't have any right to fear whatever Father had planned for him after all. It was only what he deserved for both holding up and jeopardizing their plan as severely as he had.
Even if none of that hadn't actually been him, for he would never do something of his own accord to damage anything of Father's. They all knew that, he was the most loyal to Father out of all of them. It had been that bothersome human soul. But the fact that such a weak and pitiful being was able to take control of his container, the special container that Father had made just for him, was reason enough for Father to enact punishment.
"I'm sorry to have inconvenienced you so much, Father. The soul of the human has been expelled from my container, and I am ready to do whatever possible to erase all damage it might have caused and further the completion of your plan for the upcoming promised day," he said, bowing as he did. The ancient being stayed silent though, and Pride closed his eyes as he managed to force the next few words out.
"You may punish me as you wish, Father."
The room was deathly silent for a moment, Pride not daring to move an inch as he kneeled, eyes still closed tight and waiting for whatever judgment Father would pass onto him. They weren't closed in fear though, he simply did not deserve to see his creator until he had been properly punished and forgiven. There was no reason for him to fear Father.
Anything that idiotic fool of a human soul had said otherwise was completely wrong.
"It pleases me to finally have you back, Pride," Father's voice broke through the silence, "I have no doubt that you will be able to rectify any and all damage that has been caused in your absence," the childlike sin couldn't help but feel a bit of relief surge through him at those words, but kept himself from showing any of that outwardly. He doubted Father had finished yet, after all. Proving him correct, the powerful being continued.
"However, you are correct and must be punished,"
Pride didn't attempt to evade the sudden burning that engulfed him from the inside. Even if he tried to he knew that there would have been no way to run from Father once he had decided something, and once again Pride would have never gone against what his creator wished in the first place.
Even still, the searing pain was almost unbearable, the shadows that made up his true form seeming to dissolve from Father's power. The ancient being didn't even need to move from his spot, creating whatever reaction he wished inside of the first homunculus' container with nothing but a thought. Flashes of red were visible just within his line of sight, although the sin couldn't move to tell if the light was actually breaking through his container, or originated outside of it.
Pride was barely able to focus enough to even try to tell himself that the intensity of his current pain was simply due to the fact that he wasn't used to being able to physically feel yet. Since surely Father didn't mean for him to suffer quite this much.
The ancient sin quickly lost track of time as Father slowly, oh so very slowly seemed to tear apart his shadows into flakes of nothingness. The entire time he managed to keep himself from crying out or flinching away in pain. His stillness might have been slightly due to the fact that he simply didn't have enough shadows left to move his container about, no matter how much he would have assured it was because he wouldn't ever act against Father.
Eventually he found the pain begin to ease up, and his container slumped to the floor, unable to keep himself upright with so little shadows left inside him. It took several minutes before he was able to regenerate enough of them to push his container to kneel in front of Father, although he could tell that it would still be a bit longer before his shadows regenerated enough to stand. As it was now, they were just barely able to stretch out enough to fill his container, but no where near strong enough to support it.
Pride made sure to keep his head tilted towards the floor, eyes downcast, still not allowing himself the privilege of looking up at Father. Just because he'd been punished didn't mean that he could assume that he was worthy enough to make eye contact.
"You are forgiven, my child," Father said at last, and only then did Pride look up to see his creator. With his eyes that he controlled now. Not that bothersome human boy anymore.
"Thank you, Father," he said, bowing his head once again. After a small moment Pride managed to push himself to his feet, his shadows finally up in numbers enough to allow for him to. The souls of his philosopher's stone were depleted by at least a third of what they'd been before Father's punishment, not including the ones that had been used to repair him when that boy had gotten his container killed twice. He'd have to ask Father to replenish his stone, or find some more souls himself. That could come later though, right now he was just lucky enough to have gained Father's forgiveness at the moment.
"I expect any and all damage to your human visage will be taken care of immediately. Your siblings shall catch you up on everything else from your leave," the ancient being said, a monotonous coating to the way he spoke. Pride nodded instantly.
"Yes Father. I shall go see to that immediately," he said, giving a small bow before turning around to start down one of the long underground tunnels. Wrath started after him without a word, and Pride had almost forgotten that the other homunculus had been present the entire time.
"Wrath, what is the current story as to the whereabouts of my act?" Pride asked, his voice quickly going back to the confident and strong tone he usually kept when not in his human disguise. The voice that pathetic 'Selim Bradley' had somehow managed to copy well enough to trick not only the other homunculus, but Father himself.
"It's believed that the men who had kidnapped you the first time snuck back in and took you from the garden. We'll make sure to quickly capture someone to blame for the crime," Wrath said, not looking down at the shorter sin. Pride just nodded. That sounded believable, and it didn't matter whoever they ended up blaming, no one would trust the word of a criminal over a sweet child and the president.
"Alright, I'll leave that part up to you. Surely you can handle that," he said, not receiving any response from Wrath other than a small nod to show that he'd heard.
It wasn't long before the two sins found themselves at the end of the tunnel. Wrath quickly went above ground, starting to work on finding someone suitable to blame for his 'kidnapping' and set in motion everything needed in order to successfully return him with as little suspicion as possible.
Of course, they wouldn't be able to completely repair everything that bothersome soul had done. That pesky Fullmetal Alchemist and his brother were not only aware of his true identity now, but a slight grasp of what his powers were as well. To think that he'd actually managed to compromise something as important as two of their potential human sacrifices.
Shaking his head, Pride quickly told himself that nothing he'd done was beyond fixing. Father wouldn't have forgiven him otherwise. Just because those two now know about his status as a homunculus didn't mean that they could actually do anything about it, or even tell anyone for that matter. It was just as they couldn't tell anyone about the Fuhrer, everything would be fine.
The child-like sin only had to wait for about an hour before he was taken from the underground tunnel and escorted to where several stern looking military officers stood. They were in one of the more rundown outskirts of Central, it wouldn't be hard to say that whoever had kidnapped him had been hiding out here, or at the very least was staying here for the moment before taking him to move on to somewhere else.
Looking at the officers, Pride didn't know if all of them were fully in on the realities of what was going on. He barely paid any attention to which humans were required to be let in on their plans, but he knew it wasn't many. The majority of them here probably didn't know. Even if they did, there was always a chance of someone else coming by and seeing or overhearing them.
Because of this, Pride instantly shifted into his human act, unsuccessfully holding back tear and clinging like his life depended on it to his 'father'. From the way that several of the officers softened at the display, chances are he was right about them not knowing the full story.
It didn't take even ten minute before they reached the fuehrer's residence. Unlike the last time he'd come back, when that imposter had been acting as he acted, he couldn't even make it into the house for Mother had him in her arms. Muttering a million things into his hair about how she was never going to let him out of her sights again and that he was safe now and how those men were going to pay for taking away her baby for a second time.
Pride didn't say anything throughout this, sobbing and clinging to her much how the human boy had done the first time. Eventually the clearly worn out woman, no doubt having run herself ragged with worry and trying to look for her son, managed to pull herself together to pick him up as she stood. Pride didn't protest at all, just holding onto her tighter as she brought them inside of the house.
"It's okay dear, it's okay," she whispered, sitting them both down on the couch. She'd been repeating nearly the same exact thing over and over again for the past ten minutes now, but the ancient homunculus couldn't rightfully say that he minded. Pride managed to nod slightly, if just to show that he'd heard her and believed what she said.
Despite the delusion they kept her in of their game of house, she was actually a bit right. Everything was okay now, at least for him. Father had forgiven him, despite the excruciatingly painful punishment he'd had to endure and the depleted souls he'd have to soon replenish. It seemed like their public appearance was going to be healed almost seamlessly. Even mother would be fooled with little effort.
Life was going to go on for him. Even with the new hitches in their plan, once the promised day arrived they would win. Father would become a god, and everything would be right.
Most of all, he'd never have to think about that foolish human soul Selim Bradley ever, ever again.
Yes, finally got this done. Once again, sorry that it took so freaking long, I just really had absolutely no time to write. Even once I was finished with school, I've had to help clean my entire house for my graduation party and everything. Haha, at least it looks better now.
The two year anniversary of this story is on the 16ths, so I'll try to update then, but seeing as it's only a week away I'm sorry if I'm not able to. It's summer now though, so hopefully I will.
Well yes, I hope you like this chapter, and no worries, we will finally get to Selim and what's happened to him on the next, and final real chapter. This was the final time we got to see Pride, so of course this had to happen first.