Chapter 40

Heather and Pride spent a little more time on the side of the Elric house, talking together. Pride was hoping she wouldn't stay here too long. From what she'd said, it wasn't a good permanent solution. The Elrics, and Rockbells, seemed to like her, but they had their own lives they couldn't just drop because Mustang wanted them to watch a homunculus. She wasn't even one you could argue they shared some responsibility for, like Pride himself.

Pride asked Heather a bit about herself, learning more about her time working with Blaise, and the time she spent traveling to get here. Her perspective was interesting. While she was much more pleasant with humans than he was, had even befriended some on her journey, she really did view them as another species, and talked about the places she'd been to through that lens. Pride didn't see a problem with that, though she may have to be careful. Given how fragile the human ego was, and how tense these particular humans were about homunculi, some people might take it the wrong way.

Heather, meanwhile, had plenty of questions about homunculi that the Elrics couldn't answer, like if she could get a haircut, or ever be able to lie.

The answer to haircuts was a theoretical yes, but he and his siblings had never really bothered. It took a lot of focus. Drop your guard, and the Philosopher's Stone would automatically heal it. And that was just a stupid thing to waste souls on.

The answer to lying was also a tentative yes. Pride was his own example. He'd gone against his own nature a bit recently. Some of it was simply a perspective shift on what to be proud of, but not all of it. But after doing so, he couldn't recommend it.

"You don't have to lie in entirety," he pointed out. "You can get farther, with greater ease, through selective truths. Only telling people as much as you want them to know."

"Hey! In case you haven't noticed, I'm not good at that either."

She did have to bite out her own tongue the last time she didn't feel like answering a question.

"Not currently," Pride agreed. "But if that's something you wanted to focus on, I'm confident you could learn."

He didn't like going against his nature, and couldn't imagine why anyone would take an interest. But from a practical standpoint, it would be good if Heather's secrets weren't on such open display.

"Really?"

"I don't bother with empty platitudes. You have a lot of potential."

That brightened her mood considerably.

He didn't stay much longer than that though. It was getting late. While Edward and Winry might tolerate him if he stayed, it wasn't something any of the three would like. So shortly after, he got up.

Well, he and Heather were both in a better mood than when he'd arrived. He'd have to visit again, at least while Heather was still here.

"Aramis?" Pride asked.

He'd opened the door after a knock, to find Aramis standing there. He hadn't seen Aramis since Mustang established they'd be working together. (So ironically, not much working together yet.) From what he understood, Aramis had been in Ishval, sorting some things out with his family.

"What are you doing here? Does Mustang have some sort of job for us?"

He couldn't say he was happy with that idea. It was pouring rain. Aramis kept adjusting the damp stands of hair on his head. Mustang hadn't had anything for him to do in a few days, so Alphonse had brought him some readings he could translate from Xerxian. That was easy, and Pride had some enjoyment in doing that. (He might have put one or two obviously wrong translations in there. He'd correct them after he saw Alphonse catch them.)

Of course, he was okay with his life now, including the jobs Mustang wanted him to do. He couldn't ever make up for the things he'd done in the past, couldn't even make a dent. That would be an absurd claim. But the work Mustang had given him helped give him something positive to do for the rest of his, comparatively short, life.

He was just also enjoying having downtime with his mother right now.

"No. No it's nothing like that," Aramis assured him, waving his hands in what was supposed to be placating. "I was just . . . well I was coming back towards Central but . . . yeah this was a mistake." Aramis sighed. "Sorry for bothering you. I should just get going to-"

"Nonsense dear. Come in," Mrs. Bradley insisted, speaking up from behind Pride.

He even tensed up briefly. When had she come up? Normally sneaking up on people was his thing. But it seemed he was a lot easier to startle now that his hearing was half of what it used to be, especially since he wasn't going to be using his shadows to balance that out all the time.

He turned to her, and so did Aramis.

Mrs. Bradley smiled and shook her head. "He obviously wants to come in Selim. You should let your friend spend some time with you." Then she addressed Aramis. "We have some tea that's almost ready. Why don't you join us?"

Pride carefully stepped to the side and let Aramis in.

They went back to the living area they'd been in before Aramis showed up. There was a fire going, and someone brought in tea with three cups. Aramis was soon looking drier.

Mrs. Bradley worked on the newspaper's crossword. Pride worked on his translations. After a moment of twiddling his fingers with his head tucked, Aramis pulled out some paper and started working on alchemy circles.

They didn't completely ignore each other's company. Mrs. Bradley asked Aramis how his trip had been. Aramis asked Pride how his work was going. Things like that. But it was nice to spend time together without having to fill it with chatter.

Then there was a phone call for Pride. And despite his earlier reluctance, he found he didn't mind that too much. He set the phone down and rejoined the other two.

Mrs. Bradley was recommending places for Aramis to visit in Central. Some of them would not work out. Mrs. Bradley had been married to the Fuhrer and Aramis . . . didn't have those connections. But some of her suggestions weren't bad.

Pride smiled. Overall, things had worked out well.

Then he cleared his throat, and brought their attention to him. "Aramis, we've got a job."

[Well sorry it's a bit late, but here it is. This is the last chapter. Thank you to everyone who read this story. It's nice to know you enjoyed it. And thank you to dropout-ninja, who left a lot of reviews. They were fun to read.]