XVIII. Doppelgänger
-—Greed and Ling Yao could not be any more different.


It's strange, sharing a mind (soul) with a human...especially one like Ling Yao.

He's almost intrigued, when he is first reborn and feels the presence of another—so distinctly—separate from the writhing mass that makes up his Philosopher's Stone. It's not like what he has experienced in the past, when his body was created around his existence; it's not even like Wrath, who has no recollection of his human life and does not recognize himself as anything but a Homunculus. But he—Greed—is some sort of hybrid, not quite Homunculus and not quite human, caught somewhere in between but simply expected to live with it.

He's not so much irritated as confused by this turn of events, because he's not sure how to handle this other being residing in his head. At first, it's easy enough to tune out the prince's ramblings about morals and friends and soul bonds, though, because what does he know? He's not even lived for sixteen years, knows next to nothing of the world and the mechanisms that drive it, and Greed has more important things to do than listen to the self-righteous ramblings of a child.

But he realizes soon enough that pretending Ling isn't there will only drive him to talk more, try to gain his attention—or, at the very least, distract and annoy him until he gives in. (He's always been able to tune out the screams, but somehow, Ling is more aware. After all, Greed supposes, this is his body they're sharing...) So one day, crawling around the tunnels beneath Central and watching out for intruders in Father's home, he simply listens.

And somehow, it's not as maddening as he had expected.

.

At first, Ling hates this monster that's taken over his body and deserted his friends.

He's in the country for a reason—a very important reason, thank you, which will impact the lives of millions of Xingese citizens. He has no time for Greed's "duties to his Father" that have his body crawling around underground for days at a time. He agreed to absorb the Philosopher's Stone so he could take it back to his own father and gain favor with his kinsmen (and, of course, the throne); he did not agree to an inhuman creature taking over his body and using it to his own ends.

(If he were being rational, he would think that he couldn't have possibly expected anything else to happen...but, of course, he isn't thinking rationally right now. After all, he doesn't know where Fu is, and Lan Fan is surely still recovering from her amputation, and he needs to be there for them, just like they've been there for him all these years.)

He takes to shouting these things to the empty nothingness within his soul (Philosopher's Stone), for that is all he is, now. A Xingese prince in line for the throne has been reduced to one wretched soul among hundreds, screaming his anguish and asking (not begging—but he will stoop to that if that is what it takes) for this monster to understand. He knows Greed doesn't listen to him, knows that, more than likely, he will never listen and he will never see his friends again...

But he does not stop, because there is that sliver of a chance that it will make a difference. He needs to get back to his friends, to his family, and right now he is powerless to do so. He needs Greed to understand.

And one day, he thinks the Homunculus finally starts to listen.

.

They have come to some sort of an agreement; even if Greed has refused to leave the tunnels (his Father would be furious, and he has no reason to go—he does not remember the upper world of sunsets and trees and fresh air, and so he does not want for such things), he listens to what Ling says as the long hours go by.

Many of the emotions he speaks of are foreign to Greed, but he listens and thinks he's starting to learn.

It wouldn't be right to say that they understand each other. Greed doesn't know why these other humans are so important to Ling, and Ling doesn't know why Greed shows such blind loyalty to his Father. But acceptance is forming there, and they try to understand. That, they think, will make some difference in their strange, warped lives.

(And when it all comes crashing down, when Greed murders one he has called friend, Ling is there to pick up the pieces and help them start anew.)

.

Now, Ling can feel Greed's impatience, can feel his body vibrating in anticipation of making it to the surface. After days (weeks? It is impossible to tell) of living underground, he is almost terrified of what the sunlight will bring.

But when Greed (Ling) first steps out of the catacombs of his Father's home, nothing special happens. At least, nothing spectacular. But as Ling looks around in his confinement, surrounded on all sides by the writhing souls long-since resigned to a fate worse than death, he can sense something...else.

Greed has been living, all this time of sharing a body. He has breathed and slept and ate as his body required...but only now does Ling feel this body to be alive.

The Philosopher's Stone (humans) around him seem almost more energetic as the whirlwind around his own soul continues, as if these shadows of men and women and children can sense that they are outside once again, that they are as free as they ever will be. They must be mirroring Greed's own reaction, Ling thinks, for while he can sense the Homunculus' general state of mind, he cannot properly understand his train of thought. Perhaps this is because he is human while Greed is something else. He does not know.

But they are outside again, and Greed is reluctantly agreeing to go search for his friends (though the frenzied rage that Ling can sense is barely contained, and he thinks that first they will be paying a visit to the Führer). Even if everything is not all right—will likely not be all right until the monsters still underground can be stopped—this is a step in the right direction.

And Ling thinks that eventually, given time, he might finally understand Greed, how he operates and why he is so driven to want and need when so much larger things are on the line.

(And Greed would never admit it, but he is thinking the same thing.)