Author's Note: This is the chapter I feel the least confident in so far. Would the fight with Greed really be this different, just because the Elric brothers are girls instead? Greed says he doesn't fight women (and he doesn't fight Izumi; the only reason she gets hurt is because she punches his Ultimate Shield). But I can't help wondering if I took him too seriously at his word about that, for all he claims to never tell lies. Regardless, here is my attempt to make the scene different enough to be interesting.
Requested by lilaclily00
Dublith boiled in the late afternoon sun. Shimmering waves of heat rose from the light stones of the buildings and sidewalks, reflecting back the summer sunlight that had been pounding down on them all day long.
But as hot as the asphalt and concrete might be, nothing could compare to the blazing anger rippling off the short, skinny girl who stomped down the streets. Sweat trickled down her brow and made strands of her blonde hair stick to the back of her neck where they'd escaped her braid, but she made no move to take off her black jacket or white gloves.
"Hey, girlie!" someone yelled drunkenly from a doorway nearby. "Donchu know you're in the baaaaad part of town?"
The woman with him giggled tipsily, but another woman lingering near a street corner said more seriously, "Little girl, you really shouldn't be in a place like this..."
El ignored all of them. A man who sidled up to her with a self-satisfied smirk actually flinched and backed away from the glare she shot at him, but she paid him no further mind. If anyone dared lay a hand on her, she wouldn't think twice to break a few bones. Nothing was going to get between her and the Devil's Nest.
Homunculus...ouroboros...kidnapping Addie...because they want information on her soul... I leave for one day and this is what happens...
At last, she saw the sign for the bar, with the same logo as the matchbox Master had shown her. It was a small sign, hanging over a doorway at the bottom of a flight of steps. Fitting that this bar was underground.
A tall, barrel-chested man with dark skin stepped in front of her, crossing his arms and glaring down at her. The sunlight gleamed on his shaved head. "And where do you think you're going, little missy?"
Unintimidated, El clenched her jaw and stared up at him, tilting her head back as little as possible. "I'm here for my sister."
The bouncer crooked an unimpressed eyebrow. "Am I supposed to know who that is? A lot of hookers work here, you know."
El's right hand curled into a fist, prepared for some imminent jaw-breaking. "My sister is Addie. She's in a big suit of armor. Supposedly, your boss wants to see me."
The guy just continued to glare down at her, but she'd seen the flicker of recognition when she'd mentioned the armor. It was pretty hard not to take note of something like that. Finally, reluctantly, the bouncer stepped aside and nodded her through. "Talk to Benji. The barkeep."
With a curt nod, El stomped down the stairs and hauled the heavy door open. Inside, she found a dimly-lit bar filled with everything she'd expected to find: leather couches, the stink of booze, smoke curling around the lights, scantily-clad women sitting here and there. El felt a quick burst of pride when she noticed that most of the men in the room were nursing black eyes, bruises, or bloody noses. Yep, the Curtises had definitely left their mark.
The men inside Devil's Nest were much more accommodating than the bouncer had been—but then, that was his job, wasn't it, to keep troublemakers out? All she had to do was mention her name, and a couple of the less-injured thugs led her through a door in the back. At least, she assumed they weren't critically injured; one of the guys was trussed up in bandages like a mummy, but he didn't move like he was in pain.
But El had more important things to worry about. She noticed, to her great displeasure, that they descended another flight of stairs and passed through a narrow stone hallway, going further and further into the bowels of the city. It didn't look like there was another way out except where they'd come from. If they had to fight their way back up to the street...
One of her escorts pushed open the door at the end of the hallway and stepped back to let her go first. How chivalrous. El stepped through, glancing around the small room and taking everything in at once. Her eyes immediately latched onto Addie sitting quietly on the floor in the corner, arms and legs chained together. She was surrounded by several tough-looking characters, but one guy in particular stood out.
He was dressed all in black, with shiny shoes and a sleeveless vest lined with fur. What with the outfit and his slicked-back black hair, he looked like he thought he was hot stuff.
El was unimpressed. "Are you Greed?"
Greed smiled, revealing teeth that looked just a little too sharp to be natural. "And you must be the famous Elaine Elric. Sorry to drag you down here, little lady. It would've been a lot easier if we only needed this kid in the armor." He tilted his head carelessly towards Addie, who leaned forward with a clank of chains.
"Be careful, Sister! This guy is a—"
"A homunculus, right?" El finished for her. That was what Master had told her, and by this point, El knew better than to laugh it off as a fairy tale. "That's a pretty bold claim," she said calmly. "Are you for real?"
Spreading his arms magnanimously, Greed said, "I make it a matter of principle never to lie. If you want, I'll prove it to you..." The big, beefy guy who stood off to the side hefted an enormous mallet, but before he could take a single step, Greed held up a hand to stop him. "On second thought, I don't think so. Too messy—wouldn't want our guest to faint or anything."
El ground her teeth together. Every word out of this smug dandy's mouth made her want to punch him more and more.
"El," Addie spoke up again, drawing her attention, "he says he'll tell you how to make a homunculus if you tell him how you transmuted my soul."
As if. "Equivalent Trade?" El snorted.
"Yup!" Greed said with that insufferable grin, like a kidnapper offering candies to children. "I hear you guys are interested in creating bodies. That's a fair trade, right?"
El couldn't stand it anymore. "DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!" she roared at the top of her lungs. "HOW DARE YOU, YOU CROOK!"
Greed's eyebrows shot up, and Addie made a quiet sound of protest, but as usual, El paid her no mind. All of the rage-inducing thoughts that had been bouncing around in her head, building up steam since she first got back and found out Addie was missing, now spilled out of her mouth without restraint.
"ARE YOU REALLY THAT STUPID?" she yelled. "I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU AND THE REST OF YOUR DUMB OUROBOROS GANG ARE SCHEMING, BUT YOU KIDNAPPED MY SISTER—MY FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD SISTER! LIKE A FREAKING HUMAN TRAFFICKER! AND YOU HURT MY MASTER! AND NOW YOU WANT AN 'EQUIVALENT TRADE?' YOU ARE, WITHOUT A DOUBT, THE VILEST CREATURE ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH! YOU WANNA KNOW ABOUT SOULS? WELL, I'M NOT GONNA TELL YOU ANYTHING! I'LL CRUSH ALL OF YOU PERVERTS! I'LL SMASH YOU INTO THE GROUND! IF I WANT YOUR SECRETS, I'LL FORCE YOU TO TELL ME! IN OTHER WORDS, I'M TAKING IT ALL AND GIVING YOU NOTHING! I'LL NEVER MAKE AN 'EQUIVALENT TRADE' WITH VILLAINS LIKE YOU!"
By the time she ran out of breath, El stood with her finger pointed accusingly at Greed, panting heavily. Everyone was staring at her, and Addie was hunched up as if trying to make herself as small as possible. Slowly, Greed began to clap, the sound echoing hollowly around the room.
One of Greed's henchmen, who wore a sword at his side, grimaced as he loosened his weapon in its sheath. "I hate shrill biddies like this. Please tell me I can shut her up, boss."
Greed shrugged. "Just don't kill her."
"Yeah, yeah," he said nonchalantly, unsheathing his sword as he advanced. "But it'll be my pleasure to break a few bones."
El ground her teeth together. Talking about her like she wasn't even there... Well, she'd show him.
Even as the man stepped forward, slicing his blade through the air, El leapt over it, planting her automail fist right on his jaw. "You're awfully slow," she said, landing lightly on her feet as the man sprawled across the floor, dropping his sword. "A lot slower than some condemned criminals I've met." He wasn't moving, so she turned her glare to the other people in the room instead, taking off her gloves and tucking them into a pocket. "Next!"
Greed just looked at her for a moment, his expression blank and unreadable. Then he barked out, "Loa."
"Sir?" the huge man at his side rumbled.
"Take the armor girl. We'll rip her apart for analysis. And patch Dorochet up, too."
Fear lanced through El's chest as Loa picked Addie up easily, slinging her over his shoulder like a sack of flour. "Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa!" El yelled, racing towards him and transmuting her arm into a blade. "No way am I letting you—"
The tip of her blade scraped against something hard and unyielding before the blow could land. El gaped in astonishment at Greed, who held his hand out almost casually to intercept her. His hand had turned completely black, almost all the way up to his elbow. It was as hard and impenetrable as stone, her attack not leaving so much as the tiniest scratch behind.
"Look, kid," he said patiently, "I don't fight girls, okay? So give it a rest."
El retreated a pace, just in case. She could see Loa carrying Addie through the door out of the corner of her eye, but she knew she had to deal with Greed first. "Why's that?" she demanded. "'Cause you're too much of a wuss?"
Greed smirked, but the smile didn't reach his cold, merciless eyes. "It's called chivalry. But come on. You can see now that you can't even scratch me with that letter opener. So why don't we just—"
But El had already stopped listening to him. Clapping her hands, she slammed them onto the ground, transmuting a whole row of stone spikes out of the floor, jabbing right towards him. Greed's other arm had turned black too, and he just laughed as he smashed the spikes away from him, as if they were no more threatening than a beach ball.
In a split second, El changed her tactics and deconstructed the nearest spike, just as Scar would have done. And while Greed threw up an arm to protect himself from the cloud of dust and debris, El charged in. She grabbed his neck with both legs and hurled him to the ground with a sickening crunch.
"You left your head wide open," El said triumphantly, wishing that her master could have seen—
Greed's rock-hard hand lashed out, and she barely dodged away in time. He slowly rose to his feet again, blood gushing out of several nasty cuts that disappeared with a fizzle even as she watched. "Ow, that hurts," he groaned, as if she'd done nothing more than slap him. "That would've hospitalized a normal human for sure."
"Yeah," El panted. "But you're not normal at all, are you?"
Greed cracked his neck and wiped a ribbon of blood from the corner of his mouth. "Well, the shape of my body and its biological components are the same as any human...but I regenerate instantly and I have an impenetrable shield. So I guess you could say I'm a little different."
"Oh, is that all?" El snorted. "You're not gonna tell me something crazy like you're immortal, are you?"
With a bark of laughter, Greed spread his arms wide. "I wish! But for practical purposes, I'm close enough."
El eyed the vicious claws made of that rock-hard black substance. How did it work? "So I guess you're giving up on the whole chivalry thing, then," she said, hoping to keep him talking until she caught her breath.
"What makes you say that?" Greed asked, shaking dust off his vest as if he had no other care in the world.
"You were this close to slicing me in half!"
"That was just a warning. Look, little girl, let's be reasonable. Don't you see what you're dealing with now? You can't get through my shield, and even if you do, it won't matter. I can heal up from anything you can dish out."
El's fists tightened as her mind raced. Her blood pounded in her ears, full of adrenaline and rage. Behind everything was the constant refrain of where's Addie, where is she, have to get to her... But, as much as she hated to admit it, she knew Greed had a point. It wasn't looking good. "You can't keep regenerating forever," El snapped, as much to reassure herself as anything else. "I'll just attack you where you don't have any armor, that's all."
For a long moment, Greed just looked at her with an odd smirk. Then, as he shrugged out of his vest, he said, "I don't like to show people this—especially not the ladies—because it takes away from my sexy good looks."
Suddenly, El realized the black substance covering his forearms was slowly creeping up to his bare shoulders. It spread up his neck, encasing his entire head like an exoskeleton. His hair disappeared, his eyes became glittering pinpricks above a fang-lined maw like some ferocious beast.
How? How did he turn a living, breathing body into this monster? It didn't make sense. Think, El, think!
"Didn't I tell you?" Greed chuckled. "You'll never put a scratch on me. Now, I'm not going to fight you. I'm a man of my word. But it's no use. Punch me, kick me, do more of your fancy alchemy—it won't make any difference. And don't think I'll let you get past me, either."
El's cheeks grew warm; she'd just been wondering if she could make a break for it while he was rambling along. Greed was probably right, too. He was fast, and not even her automail blade could penetrate his shield. He probably wouldn't tire very quickly either, with his regenerative abilities. It didn't look good.
"Come on, little lady," Greed said, beckoning with one monstrous claw. "No more of this nonsense. Do the exchange. That's the smart thing to do."
El glared at him. He might have a sliver of a chance if he'd stop being so patronizing about it.
Greed let out a long-suffering sigh, putting his clawed hands on his hips. At least he kept his pants on...okay, I really didn't need my mind to go there...
"Look, El—can I call you El?—I get it. You're, what, thirteen?"
"Fifteen," El bit out.
Unfazed by the animosity dripping from her voice, Greed continued, "A teenage girl in the military, that's got to be a constant uphill battle. Always trying to prove yourself, fighting tooth and nail for the people around you to see you as more than just a little girl. That's why you dress like that, isn't it?"
"Hey, what's wrong with the way I dress?"
Greed ignored her protest. "That's why you talk loud and carry a big stick, so to speak. You have to show everyone that you're tough, that you can fend for yourself, that people should think twice before they mess with you—or your little sister."
Cheeks burning, El hated to admit even to herself how close he was to hitting the mark. She furiously cast her gaze back and forth over his impenetrable armor, forcing her mind to work on the problem of how he'd made it, rather than how exposed she felt to have a complete stranger talking through her whole psyche. If there was one thing El hated, it was grown-ups and random strangers assuming they knew exactly what made her tick, before they'd even bothered to get to know her.
Slowly closing the space between them, Greed reached out. El flinched, but he just laid an almost paternal hand on her shoulder. "But is your need to prove yourself really more important than your one shot at the info you need to get your sister's body back?"
At the mention of Addie's body, El saw red—and she saw the answer. Clapping her hands together, she quickly slammed them against Greed's sides and activated a transmutation before he could react.
With a cry of surprise, Greed leapt back, glancing down at his sides...but nothing seemed to have changed. "What was that—"
Taking advantage of his surprise, El slammed her hands on the ground again and transmuted more stone spikes out of the floor. Her aim was true, and their deadly points stabbed at the exact spots her hands had touched. This time, instead of breaking against a substance as hard as diamond, they crunched right through the softened armor and into vulnerable flesh.
Cursing in pain and anger, Greed dropped to one knee, clutching at his sides. As blood gushed from the wounds, he spluttered, "What did you do to my shield?"
"Oh, it was easy enough once I thought about it." El tossed her braid over her shoulder as he straightened up. "You can't make something out of nothing. Therefore, your 'shield' is being created from something. You told me yourself that you're made of the same biological material as us humans. And I thought, 'What's an element in the body that could become a shield that's stronger than steel?' The substance that makes up one third of our bodies—carbon!"
As she spoke, Greed's body crackled with energy as his wounds healed, and then the shield extended to cover the new skin again.
"The hardness of carbon varies depending on how the atoms are combined," El continued. "For example, compare the lead from a pencil with a diamond." She swiped her hand across her sweaty brow with a fiercely satisfied grin. "Once I understood the chemistry at work, it was a simple matter of alchemy."
Greed pushed himself to his feet with a low chuckle, but there was an undercurrent of danger to his voice now. "You're good! This is more fun than I thought!"
El squared her stance, raising her hands and getting ready to clap again. "And I just discovered one more thing: You can't harden your body and regenerate at the same time."
Greed let out a harsh laugh that echoed around the room. "I like you, kid! Brains as well as beauty—the best combination. If you weren't a girl, I'd love to test your mettle, but as it is..."
He cocked his head, and El became aware of muffled sounds behind the door. It sounded like stomping boots, harsh orders...gunshots? El couldn't really read Greed's expression, but she could tell it had shifted, though he was still grinning eagerly.
"Sorry, little miss," he said. "Love to stay and chat, but—gotta run!"
"Hey, wait—" But before she could do more than hold out a hand, Greed vaulted into the air, tore a vent cover off the ceiling, and vanished into the air ducts.
"May we meet again, Miss Elric!" his taunting voice echoed back to her.
Just then, the door burst open and a whole squad of soldiers swarmed in. "We've found her!" they yelled, swiftly clearing the room and manning the exits. "We've got the girl!"
"Are you all right?" one of the men asked her, speaking in a soothing tone like she was a horse rearing in her stall. "Did they hurt you? It's okay, we're here to rescue you."
El shook off his reassuring hand. "Quit treating me like a damsel in distress!" she snapped. "I'm a State Alchemist! Now let me go; there's something I have to ask him!"
With a swoop in her stomach, she suddenly remembered why she was here in the first place. "Addie!" she cried, bolting for the door.
"Whoa, there, stop!" Two pairs of hands grabbed at her, holding her back.
She struggled against their grip, and could have broken free, but her arm still had the blade out, and she didn't want to injure soldiers who were just doing their job if she could help it. "But they have my sister!" she yelled instead, nodding her head in the direction she'd seen them go. "We have to save Addie!"
"We have the place surrounded," the soldier clinging to her left arm said, panting with the effort of holding on. "Don't worry, we're sweeping through every room in the place. We'll make sure all hostages are rescued, but please, you have to stay here!"
El hated it. She hated being told to just sit still and quiet while Addie was lost. She hated being held back by two men who obviously saw her as nothing but a helpless girl, a victim rather than someone capable of holding her own.
Always trying to prove yourself, fighting tooth and nail for the people around you to see you as more than just a little girl.
Greed's words echoed around her head, biting into her like the monster's sharp teeth. You're wrong, she silently grumbled to that voice. I don't care what people think of me. I don't! I just want to make sure Addie's okay.
Eventually, after El stopped struggling and they seemed to think it was safe enough, the soldiers on either side of her let go, but they kept a sharp eye on her all the same. El was just about to make a break for it anyway and go find Addie herself when she spotted a familiar form ducking into the room through the back door.
"Major Armstrong!" El cried, at first just happy to see a familiar face.
Then she saw the blood caked all across one side of his bare head. And the suit of armor he carried over one shoulder. Blood trickled from the gaps between the metal plates, dripping onto the floor and trailing behind them.
El's heart slammed into her throat. For a brief second, she half-forgot that Addie didn't have a body anymore, and thus didn't have blood to be shed. It wasn't hers.
Armstrong heaved Addie's armor off his shoulder and propped her up in a sitting position against the wall, not so far from where she'd been chained up earlier. The chains were gone now, and her limbs sprawled limply in all directions. She wasn't moving.
"Addie!" El cried, rushing to her sister's side. This time, the soldiers let her go. A medic saw to Armstrong's injuries, but El had no attention to spare for him. "Hey, Addie!" she yelled, shaking the big suit of armor by the shoulders.
Addie's eyes were glowing, she realized—that faint red light that always shone dimly from the dark recesses of the helmet, reassuring El that her sister was still in there. But...she wasn't moving. She wasn't responding. It was like she was in shock, just staring forward without seeing anything.
El's gaze dropped to the blood trickling out of the many chinks in the armor. It was hard to shake the impression that Addie was the one bleeding, but that couldn't be the case, which meant...
Swallowing hard, El reached out and unbuckled Addie's breastplate, setting it carefully to one side. And there, slumped over like a piece of roadkill, was a crumpled, bloody body. A woman, El slowly realized as she stared in horror. A woman with slender arms and legs, whose eyes stared blankly, face gone slack.
"Miss Adelaide seems to be in shock," a voice rumbled gently beside her.
El tore her gaze away from the corpse and looked up at Armstrong, who knelt at her side. A bandage had been wound around his head, covering one eye completely. He didn't seem to be hurt otherwise, though he had (naturally) lost his shirt somewhere along the line. "Do you know what happened?" El asked hoarsely.
Armstrong shook his head. After a moment's pause, he said softly, "Let me remove the body."
"O-Okay." She reached out trembling hands to help him, but Armstrong gently brushed her aside and lifted out the body on his own. Secretly, El was grateful she didn't have to touch it.
While Armstrong set the body aside and found something to cover it with, El returned her attention to Addie, who still hadn't moved or said anything. That had to be her priority now. That was always her priority.
"Addie, can you hear me?" she called, rapping her automail knuckles against Addie's metal arm with a hollow clang. "You're starting to freak me out a little... Addie. Addie! Wake up! Addie! C'mon, say something!"
"Sis...ter?"
El sucked in a huge breath, as if she'd just surfaced from the bottom of a deep lake. Immense relief flooded her chest. "Addie! Are you okay?"
Slowly, Addie's helmet turned from side to side, taking in the room and the state of her body. She looked down at the gaping, bloody hole the open breastplate had left behind. "Why is there blood...oh."
Following her gaze, El saw that she'd spotted the woman's body, which now lay under a dusty tarp someone had found in a corner. El put a comforting hand on Addie's arm, even though she wouldn't be able to feel it. At least she could hear the tap of metal against metal, and know that she wasn't alone.
"We opened you up and pulled her out," Armstrong gently explained.
"I...I couldn't help her." Addie's voice wavered, and El knew that if she'd been able, tears would have been trailing down her cheeks.
"I'm sorry," Armstrong murmured, bowing his head solemnly. At least, out of all the soldiers here, he understood.
"Hey, Addie." El waited until the helmet turned towards her, and she held her sister's glowing red gaze. "It's not your fault."
Addie turned her head away, the eyes going dark for a moment. Glumly, she nodded.
"Let's go home," El said softly, taking Addie's blood-stained gauntlet in her hand. "Master's waiting for us."
Addie's huge fingers gently curled around El's. "At least you weren't hurt, Sister."
"'Course not," El said, cracking a sad smile. "He didn't stand a chance against me."
Neither of them were wounded physically. But as they shared a knowing look, they both knew they bore wounds that went deeper than the skin. Hopefully, those wounds would heal with time.