There was only one time that Pride ever felt even the slightest bit human, and even though he never thought of it again, it had still happened. Of all things it could have been, it was a little girl that caused the brief flutter of human empathy and understanding in him. He never saw the little girl again so the memory drifted from him and he never mentioned it to his siblings, least of all Envy who was the rooted cause of the humanity that had plagued him for that single moment.
That little girl was called Elicia. A bubbly child who Pride had instantly disliked, hair the colour of mud and eyes like seaweed, or at least, that's what he had told himself when his 'mother ' had run into hers. Her smile had caught him off guard and his act of Selim shifted for a moment as he scowled at her while tugging at his mother's arm. The girl had looked hurt but within moments the smile was back, annoying him again.
"Mother, can we go?" Selim asked, trying through his annoyance to sound light and childish.
"Just a moment Selim, play with Elicia for a while." Mrs Bradley told him, letting go of his hand shooing him off, letting a body guard follow him as Elicia grabbed his hand and dragged him rather forcefully to a bench.
"My name's Elicia!" She beamed, swinging her legs the second she sat down. Her shoes were pink and scuffed compared to Pride's shiny black ones.
"Selim" He told her offhandedly. He wasn't in the mood to chat with humans, especially a foolish girl.
"My mom told me that your dad is the fuehrer! Is that true? " Elicia asked, her voice so childish and happy and Pride wanted to use his shadows to cut her throat.
"Yes, he is. What about yours?" Selim asked, knowing he had to remain polite of father would be angry.
The girl's eyes dulled for a second and her smile faltered. Selim could pick out the exact moment that the light went out in her face, it was the beginning of his moment of humanity. "My daddy is... my daddy is a hero!" She told him forcefully, believing what she said with all her heart. "But he isn't here anymore."
"Why? Did he decide to leave?" Pride asked, back to his almost pompous self.
Elicia looked up. "No. He didn't want to leave, mommy told me he went to live with the angels because they thought he was so nice that he should be allowed into heaven early." Her eyes dulled further and she looked down at her hands, legs ceasing to swing. "But I heard Uncle Roy telling mommy that somebody killed him because they didn't like him. My dad was good, no one could hate him so I think Uncle Roy got confused and maybe hit his head or something."
Selim nodded, so this was the daughter of the one Envy had eradicated. He had expected her to be more upset, maybe crying or something but she smiled again at him and he felt like she could see through his disguise of Selim and into his blackened soul . "It didn't happen very long ago, did it? I thought that you would be sadder."
"How can I be sad when my dad is an angel now! He's watching me and he'll be sad if I cry! Winry told me that if I listen hard enough he'll talk to me but I can't hear him if I'm crying so I smile and talk to him myself because I know he's listening." Elicia smiled again and Selim felt that her smile didn't annoy him as much as her innocence about her father's death made some part of him fell empathy for her.
"I see, I-"
"Selim! Come on dear!" Mrs Bradley called him and despite his earlier annoyance he found himself wanting to talk to the girl more but before he could think of something to say to her his mother grabbed his hand and led him back down the street, bodyguards trailing behind.
Selim turned his head back to Elicia, who was waving exuberantly at him, her mother smiling down at her. He raised his hand back to her before he realised what he was doing and waved back. For that brief moment he felt himself contemplating the human race, their belief and hope and the love for each other that they had. That was what made them strong and Pride felt himself wanting someone to love him like that.
"Mom, do you love me?"
Mrs Bradley turned to him in shock. "Of course I do!"
Selim nodded, perhaps the human race wasn't all vermin. Catching onto what he was thinking he stopped himself, casting Elicia out of his head forever.