Number of words: 4,104
Published date: December 9, 2012
Began chapter: December 8, 2012
Finished chapter: December 9, 2012
Chapter 18: Sin
Something was different.
Greed couldn't quite put his finger on it. He couldn't identify the changes that made him think it, but he was positive that Lust and Envy were acting differently than they had been the day before.
It couldn't only be that the Elrics had left. That explanation just didn't feel right. If anything, Lust should be looking more pleased that they were gone and instead her face seemed tighter, a line of worry or perhaps deep thought marring her forehead when she didn't realize he was looking at her. And Greed would have expected Envy to be relieved. Instead, he seemed in an even fouler mood than before, which of course didn't mean a whole lot because, as far as Greed had seen, Envy was perpetually cranky.
Or at least perpetually cranky at him. Greed could remember his first few moments of life and, considering that the two had insulted each other right off the bat, there hadn't really been a chance for them to be civil to each other. In a way, he should have counted himself lucky to be assigned to guarding the tunnels; it meant he didn't have to see Envy very often. There was something strangely nostalgic and familiar in bickering with his shape-shifting sibling. Greed didn't even intend it, but when the opportunity presented itself, his mouth opened seemingly of its own accord to push his younger brother's buttons. Maybe it was something that he'd carried over from his first life.
Thankfully, Lust had assured him that he was the older of the two, even if he couldn't remember it. He'd be damned if the immature brat was really older than him!
Greed was tempted at first to ignore the changes he was sensing. Maybe he was imagining it, and he had only promised Ed that he'd protect Ms. Bradley, not that he'd be the responsible parent of the household and report on every little thing that might hint at trouble. He didn't care if he had sided with the humans; he was not the responsible type! Responsibilities just weighed a person down. He would watch the Missus because he'd said he would, but that would be because he wanted to, not because it was a responsibility.
Still, it wouldn't do to have those two plotting something behind his back.
The next morning, after that little scene over dinner involving his drawing of Envy's true form, Greed took the opportunity to talk to his eldest brother before Lust and Envy got up.
The kid, surprising for his physical (if not actual) age, got up rather early. Madam Bradley rose with the sun and in the summer that meant as early as five in the morning. With his bedroom window directly facing the east and taking the full brunt of the morning sunlight, Greed wasn't long after her in rising. And Selim got up around seven, usually so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed that it was hard to believe he'd just woken up. One of the first things he did was fetch the newspaper from the bottom of the mansion's long, steep driveway.
That morning, Greed laid in wait for his brother on the landing overlooking the foyer and, as soon as Pride said good morning to Ms. Bradley and put on his outdoor shoes, Greed pounced.
"I'm going to get the paper, Mother!" the kid called from the front entrance.
"That so?" Greed drawled, coming down the stairs to join the boy. "Then I'll come with you."
Pride- No, Selim – Greed still had a hard time remembering to call him by his human name – looked surprised at this, but gave no objections.
"Okay, Greed. Mother doesn't like it when I go alone anyway."
They started down the driveway and of course the morning was gorgeous, as it had been the whole week. Was this weather typical for the summers here? It was still early, but the day was already growing hot. Birds flitted and sang in the trees overhead, falling silent as the pair passed underneath, which was a little odd considering that they were walking without speaking.
The silence made Greed uncomfortable. He still wasn't used to the whole my-brother-who-tried-to-kill-me-is-now-an-innocent-kid thing.
He trusted Ed's judgment. He really did. And if Alphonse had studied in Xing, they could be certain that Pride didn't have his powers anymore. Still, there was the niggling worry that the Elrics had been tricked somehow. Pride was a smart and deceptive being. Could he really discount the possibility that Pride had more nefarious plans in mind than simply wanting his family back?
Greed found it hard to get the conversation started, for he wasn't sure exactly what he wanted to say.
Uh, I just kinda' noticed that Lust and Envy seem to be acting… different. No, I don't really know how and I can't explain it, but I just wanted to… point it out, I guess… You know, see if you had anything to say on the matter…
Yeah, Greed thought sarcastically, that doesn't sound entirely lame.
In the end, it was Selim, not him, who spoke up first.
"You didn't really want to come with me for no reason, did you, Greed?" he asked.
"No. I wanted to talk to you about something, but I'm not sure how to put it…"
Selim waited patiently for him to find the right words.
"Have you noticed that Lust and Envy seem to be acting… strange?" he finally asked.
"Strange?" the child repeated.
"Yeah," Greed nodded. "I mean, I thought they'd be happier to have Ed and Al out of their hair, but they just seem…"
"Upset?" Selim supplied helpfully. Greed nodded again. "Of course they're upset. They just found out that there's no plan."
"Huh?"
"They thought I was tricking Big Brother and Teacher. Lust tracked me down not long after they left so that they could question me about the plan without being found out."
"Wait a minute," Greed said, holding up his hand. "What plan? And where was I when this happened?"
"You went for a walk, remember? And that's just it: There is no plan. I was telling the truth all along and they didn't believe me."
"Hold on. I'm not following you. Back up a bit."
Selim sighed in exasperation, but his voice was only a little condescending as he answered.
"Lust and Envy thought I was lying about why I brought you all back. They were hoping that I was tricking Big Brother and Teacher and that I actually had a plan to get our powers back or to continue Father's plan or something. It was too risky to ask me about it when the Elrics were around and they didn't want to blow my child act, so they waited until yesterday to ask and I had to give them the bad news."
Well, thought Greed, that certainly could explain why they're acting differently. They were holding out hope that this wasn't permanent… And I guess this answers whether I can trust the kid or not. If there was some sort of plan, he'd hardly tell the one who betrayed them before. Unless all three of them are acting and he's just saying this to throw me off…
They reached the bottom of the driveway and Selim continued to talk while stretching up on tiptoe to reach inside the mailbox.
"Don't worry. I told them in no uncertain terms that we're not going to create any more Stones. I won't allow anything that could bring harm to Mother or me."
Do I believe him? Greed wondered, but without knowing the reason why, he felt that he did. He had learned an important lesson right before dying and, from what Ed had said, so had his brother. And maybe the lessons weren't all that different. As much as he wanted it to, stuff couldn't fill his emptiness. As much as Pride might wish otherwise, he couldn't stand on his own. The connection was that humans needed each other to be happy.
And wasn't that just a sappy line of thought!
He cut his thoughts off before he could get onto the subject of friendship and Ling and how much he wanted to just ditch this place and head out for Xing right away because all the rationalizing in the world couldn't guarantee that his avarice wouldn't take charge and send him walking to the nearest train station and he had promised Ed (Damn him for making him promise!) that he'd stick around and there was nothing quite so unpleasant as having two desires (the desire to leave and the desire to keep his word) competing with each other.
Instead, Greed grabbed hold of a topic related to his little brother's last statement.
"Speaking of not bringing harm to you, we need to make some plans on how we're going to do this training thing. I don't mind saying that I've never acted as a teacher before. What exactly did you have in mind?"
"Judging by what Big Brother's told me, when they were young, Mrs. Curtis just let them attack her however they wanted and they learned that way."
Geez, that lady's tough in more than one way! Beating up kids just to give them experience? It might be easier for me to hit a woman! And I don't fight women.
The pair continued discussing it as they trekked back up the hill. Greed decided that there had to be a better way to teach Selim how to protect himself. A curriculum was too much, but he wanted something at least a tiny bit more concrete than "just fight and hope he improves".
Then again, "just fight" was the only style he knew, and he'd be doing just as much learning as Selim, since he'd be working without his Ultimate Shield.
Knowing that he could be hurt – and permanently – was sure to put a damper on his style!
They came back in time to interrupt Lust and Envy in what sounded like a heated, if whispered, discussion in the dining room.
"-don't care. She was insulting me, Lust! You saw the look on her face; she was pitying me!"
"Stop being so sensitive. She didn't even know it was you."
"That doesn't matter!"
"Besides, even you have to admit you were rather ug-"
"Don't you dare say it, Lust," Envy warned her.
"-weren't the most attractive of creatures," she corrected herself quickly.
"What are you two talking about?" Selim demanded as he entered the room. Greed chose to remain standing in the doorway rather than get involved.
"Nothing important, Pride," Lust responded crisply while Envy looked past Selim to give Greed a glare. His right eye now sported a dark bruise which likely would have been much more impressive if Ms. Bradley hadn't acted as quickly as she had with the cream and ice. It gave him an unbalanced look, but added a lot to his scowl.
For a moment, the dark-haired child stood straight and haughty, staring at them as if he could intimidate them into admitting their topic of discussion, but when that failed, he gave it up in favour of being direct.
"What happened last night was an accident, Envy. You should know that Mother didn't mean anything by it." Envy didn't reply. "Besides, that's not your body anymore. You don't need to be insulted on its behalf." Still no answer. Selim sighed. "Where is Mother?" he asked them.
Lust responded with a lazy wave toward the kitchen and the kid left them to join his mother and Gluttony, but not before calling over his shoulder, "Someone needs to get Sloth up before breakfast."
"I did it yesterday," Greed said, coming in and pulling up a chair.
"So?" Envy snorted. "I'm not doing it."
Greed turned to Lust. Far from volunteer, she gave him a sultry look and affected an indignant air.
"Why, Greed, you aren't asking a lady to do the chores for you, are you? What a rude thing for a man to do!"
"Hey, hey! You don't think I'm dumb enough to fall for your type of trick, do you?"
She replaced sultry with injured.
"'My type of trick'? Whatever are you implying, Greed? That I use my beauty to manipulate men for my own purposes?"
"Uh, duh!"
She kept the injured pout for a few seconds, then the both of them laughed. Greed couldn't remember anything about his sister, but he instinctively knew the truth of his words. The sin of Lust would definitely use whatever charms were at its disposal to get its way. The only worrisome thing was whether or not his sister had used such techniques on him before and whether he had in fact fallen for them. It would be quite the disgrace for the sin of Greed to pander to someone else's desires rather than its own.
Envy clearly didn't like to be left out of the joke, so he returned to the previous topic.
"If that woman finds out too much about us, it's going to be your fault, Greed!"
"Yeah?" Greed drawled, choosing to avoid Envy's eyes because the bruise was more than a little distracting. "And how do you figure that?"
"You started it," Envy hissed. "You're the one who drew that picture."
"And you're the one who has to get over it," Greed replied. "Besides, I don't have anything to hide. What do I care if she finds out too much about us? I was the good guy, remember?"
Envy scoffed. "'Good guy'? You were only looking out for yourself, you selfish bastard!"
"So what's your point? What difference does it make if I was doing it for myself? The reason doesn't matter."
"Of course it does- Where are you going?"
"You're boring me and it's too early in the morning for this," Greed answered as he stood up and headed for the door. "Look, if you're so upset about what the kid said about there being no plan, don't take it out on me."
Both Envy and Lust looked surprised to hear that he knew about that, but he left before they could say anything. Maybe he woke up early, but that didn't mean he was a morning person; waking Sloth up was far preferable to listening to Envy's whiny voice.
And Lust's sultriness had nothing to do with it!
Greed had figured out the trick to getting Sloth up before running away from the Homunculi, and once he knew it, the trick was sadly simple.
First, Sloth usually refused to respond if he didn't hear his name.
Maybe it was an excuse of some kind. The giant man could pretend that instructions to "Wake up!" or "Move your lazy ass!" or "If I set your hair on fire, will that get you up?!" weren't meant for him if the speaker didn't add his name first. It could reasonably be claimed that they were talking to someone else, after all, not him.
The second trick was to mention Pride's name.
Greed didn't know the history between the two. All he knew was that Pride had been the one responsible for overseeing the creation of the Nationwide Transmutation Circle. Sloth really wasn't smart enough to be left without supervision; he'd needed more… immediate motivation than just Father's orders and since Father had had to remain in Central, Pride had been put in Father's place to direct the digging. Greed couldn't know for sure, but he doubted his eldest brother's form of motivation had been pleasant. After seeing Gluttony's punishment, Greed supposed it was entirely possible that every break Sloth took cost him some lives from Pride's shadows later.
Even knowing those two tricks, Greed was pretty sure that it was easier to get Sloth up now than it had been before.
He gave a few sharp raps on Sloth's door, then entered the room without reservation. The curtains were open (hardly a surprise; Sloth was too lazy to close them at night), the clothes Alphonse had made were still in the neat pile on the desk that he had laid them out in, and Sloth was lying on the bed, still dressed in the clothes from the day before. He was facedown, limp black hair forming a messy curtain around his face, his head tilted slightly to one side so that he could breathe and an ample puddle of drool on his pillow.
"Hey, Sloth," Greed said rather loudly, going over to poke the huge man's shoulder. "Pride says it's time for breakfast. Time to get up, Big Guy."
Before, it would have taken a few tries to get a response, but now, Sloth stirred with just that one call.
Of course, he didn't wake up right away. He groaned and yawned and scratched and rubbed at his eyes, blinking dully at Greed as if trying to remember who he was and why he was disturbing him.
Greed repeated his words. "Sloth, Pride says it's time to get up. Breakfast is ready." That was a lie, but by the time Sloth came downstairs, it would be true.
Greed waited until his brother actually stood up before leaving him, and as he headed back downstairs, he wondered if Sloth would think to change his clothes before coming down as well. If he wasn't ordered to, he probably wouldn't, but Greed was more worried that the giant man didn't know how to change his clothes. He couldn't remember how Sloth had gotten into his new outfit and whether he'd needed help doing it. He didn't care how many sultry looks Lust gave him, he was not helping his brother get dressed and that was that!
When he entered the dining room again, he saw that Gluttony and Ms. Bradley were just in the process of bringing out the food and that Selim was being somewhat heckled by Envy while Lust silently observed.
"-didn't need to tell him, Pride!" Envy was saying.
"There was no reason not to," Selim replied peevishly, "and we're not talking about this now. It can wait until later." He darted a worried peek at his mother, who seemed to be aiming for sedate but wasn't quite pulling it off. Her lips were pressed tightly together, emphasizing the wrinkles around her mouth, and her brow sported a few lines. It was becoming clear that she disliked conflict of any kind, which Greed found somewhat ironic considering her connection with the military.
Maybe her stress was showing because she had started to figure out that they weren't just going through a rough adjustment period; peace and harmony were foreign concepts in a household made up of Homunculi.
Greed slipped past them into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee, mouth already watering as Ling's stomach protested against even that brief wait before returning to the table and heaping food on his plate.
Surprisingly, Sloth joined them only a few minutes later. Still in the same clothes, Greed noted absently. They ate in relative silence that was broken only when Greed got up to return to the kitchen and tend to the coffee maker.
"I've been wanting to ask for a while now," Ms. Bradley spoke up, "but why do you keep calling him that?"
"What? 'Pride'?" Envy asked with a raised eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I call him that? It is his name."
The kid glared at Envy and then turned to his adopted mother reluctantly.
"Pride was my name from before," he explained as if the words were being dragged out of him. "Selim was an alias."
The old woman considered this for a moment, perhaps dredging through her memories to however long ago the kid had been adopted to see if she could remember the exact manner in which they'd been introduced, but Selim saw through that and corrected her without her even needing to speak.
"Not when we met," he said. "I adopted the name long before coming to live with you. But it doesn't matter anyway, Mother. I've told Envy to stop calling me that." At this he turned to the green-haired troublemaker to give another glare of warning. Envy shrugged and put his hands behind his head without any hint of an apology.
Selim probably thought the matter closed, but Greed saw another question form on Ms. Bradley's lips and internally grinned. It was just a habit of his to translate things into his own worldview of wants and desires. Ms. Bradley didn't want to rock the boat, but she also wanted answers; she had had one question answered and so would try for another.
He liked it. He liked seeing her go for what she wanted despite seeming, on first appearance, to be a frail and timid woman.
"Does it mean anything?" she asked curiously.
"My name? Of course not, Mother. It's just a name," Selim answered without looking up.
"Whaaat?" Envy drawled with that freakishly large grin spreading across his face. "You mean you didn't tell her? Pride, that's not like you! You're not usually so… humble."
Greed could see the trouble brewing and thought briefly about stepping in to shut Envy up, but then he thought that there was no harm in Ms. Bradley knowing what their names meant and he wasn't the least bit ashamed of his own title as Greed 'the Avaricious' and, in any event, he kind of wanted her to get her question answered (though she might regret it once she did; desire sometimes worked in a funny way like that).
"Envy…" Selim warned, but Envy ignored him.
"It means arrogant," he told her. "Pride the Arrogant." And then he waited, obviously hoping for her to be upset by this revelation.
Ms. Bradley disappointed him. Rather than being upset by the news, she looked like she didn't really understand what he meant. Selim, on the other hand, cringed in his seat as if embarrassed and glowered down at the tabletop.
"If you feel like running your mouth off so much, Envy, why don't you tell her what your name means?" he bit off at his younger brother.
His words immediately wiped the grin from Envy's face.
"Do they… Do your names all mean something?" Ms. Bradley asked uncertainly.
Greed couldn't help himself. He sauntered in from the kitchen with his coffee mug in hand, coming up to stand behind Envy's place at the table.
"Sure do!" he declared, placing a hand proudly on his chest. "Greed the Avaricious." He pointed down the table to the others in turn. "Sloth the Indolent." The big galoot didn't even blink. "Gluttony the Voracious." His tubby brother smiled. "Lust the Lascivious." His sister smirked and settled back in her chair, folding her arms in a way that emphasized her ample bosom. For a few seconds, Greed lost his train of thought, then, grinning, he leaned over, placing his arms on Envy's head and squashing him down in his seat. "And let's not forget little Envy the Jealous." Not surprisingly, Envy whirled around in his chair, growling at him to get off, and Greed let himself be pushed back rather than get into another scuffle so early in the morning. That, and he didn't need boiling coffee spilled all over himself.
The Missus clearly didn't know how to take this. She looked around the table at each of them in turn. Her lips moved silently and Greed easily read the way she was repeating their titles to herself, comparing what they meant with their personalities.
Sloth the Indolent… Well, that fit him perfectly, didn't it? Gluttony the Voracious… That explained his size and why most of his drawings had featured food. Greed the Avaricious… She hadn't seen a whole lot of that side of him yet, but given enough time, he was sure she would piece together why he held that title. Envy the Jealous… She merely looked puzzled at that one, for she didn't know Envy well enough yet to recognize the sin that was usually hidden beneath the surface of snide insults and sensitive ego. Truth be told, Greed wasn't too sure himself what Envy was jealous of, though he knew Envy must be jealous of something.
And lastly, Ms. Bradley looked at Lust.
Lust the Lascivious… I mean, come on! Just look at her! Greed thought.
"My dear," Ms. Bradley finally said, "that is hardly an appropriate name for a young woman."
Lust shrugged, unconcerned, and gave a small half-smile.
"It is the name I was born with," she replied simply.
Ms. Bradley didn't look satisfied, but there wasn't really any way to argue against a person's name, now was there?
Author's Notes:
Envy and Greed's 'first' meeting: They stripped this little detail from the anime, but in the manga, when Greed is born for the second time, Envy says, "Look who's back. Forgive me if your new form disgusts me, Greed," to which Greed replies, "You aren't much to look at yourself." (Remember that Envy was in his true form at the time.) Envy's response is to call Greed a bastard, so they don't exactly start off on a good foot.
Homunculi's names: This chapter may not make a lot of sense to those of you who only watched the dubbed version of the show. The Homunculi's names made sense to English speakers right away and we didn't need any extra evidence to show us which Homunculus represented which sin. Wrath and sloth are rather archaic and gluttony may have taken a moment to remember, but lust, greed, pride, and envy are all readily identifiable words that are used in everyday modern English. However, in the original version, the Homunculi had the same names even while the viewers were Japanese. Japanese people couldn't immediately identify what the Homunculi's names meant. Imagine that, in the English version, the Homunculi were called 'Ikari', 'Yokubou', Donyoku', 'Shitto', etc. We would need to wait and watch before knowing which sin they represented. You can see this difficulty in the translation in Episode 54: Mustang says, "Envy means jealousy. That's what your name means, right?" If the scene weren't so intense, we might think, "Duh! How can you be saying that as a question? Isn't it obvious?" But he was originally saying something more like, "Shitto means jealousy, right?" and the question made sense. This is also why the Homunculi have their special titles: Lust the Lascivious, Greed the Avaricious, Sloth the Indolent, etc. In Japanese, they were translations for the viewers: Shitto the Jealous, Ikari the Furious, Donyoku the Avaricious. Since I watched the subbed version first, I act as the original did in not having other people immediately recognize that the Homunculi's names have meaning, even though Ms. Bradley really should know the words' meanings without them needing to be given to her.
