Chapter Two

--

Dante lived in a manor on the outskirts of Dublith, allegedly. I was vaguely aware of the underground, abandoned city, but as much as the public knew, she was a sweet old lady who lived alone in her manor. This entire statement was a lie. Sure, she was an old lady. About four-hundred years old. Sweet—more like sour. I have never met someone more indescribably evil in my whole life. Ironically, I was more frightened of Dante than I was any of the homunculi.

The claim that she lived alone was also a lie. I lived in that manor, too. I was never permitted to leave, unless it was to run an errand, and even then I had to be impossibly discreet and make contact with no one, since Dublith was a friendly community and most people knew everyone.

"Busybodies," Dante would say as she sipped her tea, "Will ask you who you belong to if you stray too long outside. You will go to the market, buy the produce, and leave before anyone has the chance to ask you who you are."

And besides that, I didn't leave the grounds. Sometimes I would wonder off into the woods, but I could not go too far, or I would be punished.

In case I haven't mentioned this yet, I was human. Those that I lived with were not. Therefore, I had a certain weakness that the others did not care for—I could die, I could be wounded.

Most usually, it was only Dante, Lyra and I in the house. Lyra was also human, but she didn't know about me. Lyra didn't live with Dante, but she came over quite often and most usually spent the entire day, sometimes even the night. Whenever Lyra was there, I was under no conditions allowed to leave my room. No one was allowed to know about me.

The other homunculi, Envy, Lust, Greed, Wrath, Gluttony, Pride, and Sloth, didn't live with Dante, and as far as I knew, they didn't live anywhere, except Greed, who was mostly found in a small pub called the "Devil's Nest", and Pride, who was actually the Fuhrer King Bradley. I rarely saw any of the homunculi besides Envy, Lust, and Wrath. The only time I had ever seen Sloth was when she had first been born. The thought of what she looked like at first was still enough to make me shudder. I was only eleven when Dante had brought her home.

I liked Wrath almost as much as I liked Envy. He had come to us very recently, and I was thrilled. He had instantly become something of a sibling to me, and I hadn't realized how lonely I had truly been before Wrath came.

--

At that moment, I had been sitting behind the house, crisscross on the ground, braiding beads of grass together. I tucked a strand of long blonde hair behind my hair and tried my hardest not to blink, just to see how long I could last.

"Nem." I flinched at the horrible nickname, without registering who had said it. "Nemesis." I corrected irritably, not even turning around to see who had spoke from behind me. Then the recognition of the voice made it through to my subconscious, and I whipped around, the braided grass falling from my fingers, forgotten and left on the ground.

"Envy. You're back." I couldn't conceal my vibrant grin. He wasn't nearly as delighted as I was, in fact, he looked a bit put off. "How long are you back for?" I demanded, "When are you leaving? "

"Come with me." He ignored my questions.

I frowned, eyes narrowed. "Where?"

"Dante wants to speak with you." he answered swiftly.

My frown grew. "Can it wait?"

"Hardly."

I didn't argue, but was reluctant to follow Envy back into the manor and toward the kitchen. "What is this about?" I asked him suspiciously. No answer. I was beginning to grow impatient. "What does she want to talk to me about?" I snapped.

"A task." He answered simply. "Task?" I echoed, as if I had never heard the word before, "What task?"

I had expected him to ignore me, so I was surprised when he stopped outside the kitchen door and said, "You'll see."

I pouted, disappointed. That was scarcely an answer. "Go." He instructed, gesturing toward the door. "Aren't you coming with me?" I was momentarily confused. He shook his head 'no'.

My brows furrowed. "Do you even know what's going on?" I shot at him. "Yes." He answered, and I recognized a pattern of simple, short answers from him today.

I opened my mouth to retort, but apparently Envy had grown annoyed by my disobedience and pushed me through the open doorway himself, shutting it behind me. "Well then," I muttered.

"Nemesis," said Dante, and I looked up to see her sitting comfortably at the kitchen table, looking very at ease and even giving me a small smile, although it wasn't so much friendly and inviting as it was intimidating and frightful.

"Sit down." She suggested, but I stayed grounded where I was. "Sit down." She repeated in a dangerously sweet voice, and I hastened to scramble to the kitchen table and sit across from her.

This was strange. I was used to being sent to the market, but the way everyone was acting…it was strange, as if something were different this time.

I focused on Dante, attempting without success to read her expression. She waited a few moments before quietly saying, "We have a job for you, Nemesis."

I waited, not speaking. I don't think she expected me to say anything, anyways. She just continued to smile curtly at me, and spoke again. "It's very different from the mundane chore of going to the market."

I stared blankly, trying to figure out where she was going with this. "You'll not be coming home for a long time." she added, and this is what caused me to speak for the first time since I had entered the kitchen. "What does that mean, 'I won't be coming home'? Where am I going?" I asked.

"It's not so much a matter of where you are going," she answered, "Because I can't even begin to know. It is a matter of who you are going with."

I felt my heart rise to my throat. Finally, after so long…did this mean I could leave my sanctuary and go out with Envy and the others? Was this what she was saying?

"You are going to do a job for me," she went on, and I listened with a new type of intensity. I sat up a little straighter and my ears perked.

"Nemesis, this is an extremely important situation that I am entrusting to you." she informed me, and I knew she was trying to make me feel important, trying to enthuse me, and she didn't mean a word she said, but that doesn't mean it wasn't working. I was practically beaming on the inside, though I'm pleased to say I managed to keep my expression impassive.

"Have you heard of an assassin, Nemesis?" Dante asked.

"You want me to kill someone?" I replied blankly.

She leered. "Perceptive, that's very good. Yes, you are going to kill someone."

"Who?" I inquired.

She looked, dare I say it, impressed by my lack of caring. She must've expected me to refuse, to be revolted, but in reality, I was already calculating how fast I should do it, so I could quickly come home and be praised.

"An alchemist that is utterly useless to us now." She replied, and I blinked in response. I knew that the homunculi had been rounding up alchemists to make them a true Philosopher's Stone, but I also new Dante held a high, well, for lack of a better word, respect for such people, so by utterly useless, she must've really meant…entirely inadequate, completely disposable.

This alchemist must've strayed pretty far from Dante's grasp to be sentenced to death by her, which made me wonder just how resistant he was. Did he decline making her the Stone? Had he not even attempted; deemed it too futile, not even worth his time to try?

Sure, that would tick me off too, but why kill the man? Did Dante really have such low regard for human life that she would execute someone who refused to do her bidding? Sheesh, I really wanted someone like that with the Philosopher's Stone in their hands.

"You can't rush this, Nemesis." Dante warned, "This needs to be your top priority. This alchemist has such a high veil of paranoia, it will be seemingly impossible for you to break through."

I waited for her to go on, and she did. "You need to make him trust you." she instructed, "make him comfortable around you."

I nodded slowly. "That paranoid, huh? Like, government conspiracies paranoid?"

"Not exactly." She replied vaguely, which instantly made me suspicious. "What's his name, anyways?"

"His State-issued name is the Fullmetal Alchemist." She replied, and I got the feeling she was holding something back.

"He's a State Alchemist?" I asked, surprised, "Don't they have like, years upon years of training? How is a fifteen year old girl going to lure some military guy into his death trap?" I demanded. She raised her eyebrow at my disrespectful tone and a chill went down my spine. "Sorry." I apologized instantly, "I just…don't think I'm the best person to do this."

"You are." Dante assured. I frowned, unconvinced. "Is there anything else I should know about Fullmetal?" I asked hesitantly. She considered that. "I think you'll see for yourself." She replied. I felt my heart speed up.

"When am I leaving?"

"Tonight."

"T-tonight?!" I repeated, shocked. "I'm not ready!"

She clicked her tongue impatiently, and I knew better than to argue. "Okay," I whispered, "Tonight."