Beta: TaintedLetter
(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
(A brief recap)
Edward and Alphonse Elric had hatched a plan rather mischievous in nature.
Every homunculus they had faced thus far has shown to be an adversary, and the boys were determined to uncover the entire truth of the homunculi and the philosopher's stone. They knew the two were related in some manner, but they did not yet know how.
Mustang and his men were working parallel to the Elrics, but ultimately toward the same goal. Mustang was hunting down the creature that had attacked Hughes, and inadvertently stumbled upon a possible conspiracy in the military. The military had framed an innocent woman for Hughes' attack, which drew Mustang's suspicion. When he came across a serial killer whose soul had been transmuted into another suit of armor—like Alphonse—he was able to learn that part of the military had been secretly working to create the philosopher's stone.
Then along came Lust and her own little devious plan and she baited Mustang and his men into invading one of the homonculi's laboratories. There, she "accidentally" revealed to Mustang that homunculi were created from philosopher stones... and in doing so, permanently tied Mustang into working alongside the Elric brothers.
Both potential threats were manipulated into one combined threat by her.
This forced the Elrics to launch their plan. The Elrics knew the homunculi would not allow them to die, and so they used themselves as bait—by forcing Scar to attack them—in order to draw them out. Their new friends from Xing assisted them in capturing the homunculus known as Gluttony, and so now Mustang, the Elrics, and the entourage from Xing found themselves in hiding with the child-like Gluttony.
And the eyes of Pride watched them from the shadows.
(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
(Elizabeth)
Elizabeth Luxanna was laying down on a stone autopsy table conjured by Grandpapa. She was in her thin night dress, and all her weapons were laid out on the table beside her as Grandpapa examined her.
He had offered her a sedative, but she wanted to be conscious and see what he was doing so she took a nerve blocker instead.
It was fascinating to see herself cut open.
Not in a dangerous, or drastic way, mind you.
Grandpapa said he had to be familiar with her nervous system, skeletal features, and so forth, for his own plan to work. This required some simple surgery—all of which could be instantly repaired by Grandpapa through his mastery over alchemy.
It was terribly interesting to watch. He even conjured a mirror above so Elizabeth could see when he cut open her leg.
"Human. Entirely human," Grandpapa absently muttered, a slight crease in his brow revealing a level of perplexion Elizabeth didn't understand. "Human. The body is entirely human, and yet...?"
She didn't quite yet see why Grandpapa was so confused by this. Elizabeth was born human, of course she was human.
Why would she not be human?
Selim politely cleared his throat. He had taken a seat at Elizabeth's head, watching the dissection with morbid interest. "Mrs Bradley is looking for Elizabeth."
With a wave of his hand, Grandpapa fixed the last incension he made and it was like Elizabeth was good as new. She slowly sat up, finding the movement odd and sluggish due to the nerve blockers. She looked up at Grandpapa, blinking vapidly. "Did I help?"
"You did well, child," Grandpapa praised her. "I have enough information for now."
She didn't know what he needed the information for, and she didn't ask.
Of course she wanted to know—the man was a GENIUS at alchemy and it looked like he was getting ready to have her assist in some MAJOR alchemy—but she also knew Selim would tell her if he could. The fact that he didn't mean that Elizabeth wasn't supposed to know, yet.
Whatever it was, Elizbaeth was beyond stoked to find out.
Selim reached forward, helping Elizabeth onto her feet. She wobbled for a minute, her grip tightening on Selim's arm. His shadows gently picked up her discarded over jacket and he helped her get dressed. Grandpapa thoughtfully tapped his chin, staring off into the distance as he pondered things unknown.
"Elizabeth?" Grandpapa inquired.
"Yes, Grandpapa?" Elizabeth asked.
"Have you done deep meditation?" he asked.
"A few times," Elizabeth admitted.
"Start it up again. Try to set aside a few hours every day for it now," he instructed her.
"Yes, Grandpapa," Elizabeth said, managing to do a graceless curtsy.
"Take her back up, Pride. I have work to do now," Grandpapa dismissed, turning away and walking over toward his work bench that was sprawled with complex alchemic diagrams.
Selim easily lifted Elizabeth up with his shadows. The child might have protested at another time, but her legs didn't work terribly well with a nerve blocker. It would be a few more hours before it wore off. Hopefully Papa won't ask for a spur of the moment training session. Elizabeth didn't think she'd be able to put up any kind of fight.
"Oh, um... Lust called me last night," Elizabeth mentioned to Selim as he carried her up the stone steps.
Selim scowled at that. "What did she want?"
"She was just letting me know that Nina and Alexander arrived safely and there are presently no signs of a rebound," Elizabeth explained, then paused. "She also wanted to tell you she bought both of us new clothes."
Selim's glowered darkened, and he irritably muttered, "Of course she did."
Now, Pride and Lust were fond of one another. They were the oldest siblings, and both were highly intelligent creatures.
That being said, the two were siblings, and siblings who enjoyed tormenting each other at that. It wasn't hard for Elizbaeth to pick up on this, because while Selim huffed and puffed, there was no genuine heat behind his mutters. His eyes didn't darken with malice like it would when he was truly angry. He didn't ooze murderous intent, nor make any moves to retaliate.
She could see the little clues, and she could correctly piece together that Selim care for his sister.
And so, Elizabeth chose to love Lust as best she could.
Which came rather easily due to Lust's genius with engineering and her charismatic personality. Elizabeth already had a deep respect for Lust.
A low gurgle escaped Elizabeth's stomach and she blushed brightly.
"Right... time to feet you, then," Selim snorted, a wry smile tugging on his lips.
"Yeah... food sounds nice," Elizabeth bashfully agreed.
(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
(Pride)
It was a simple matter to pass Elizabeth off as feeling unwell to hide the use of the nerve blockers. He tucked her into bed, and Mrs. Bradley wasted little time in preparing a homely soup and sitting with Elizabeth.
Pride excused himself from the bedroom and went off to find himself a little corner to hide in.
While he was an exceptional homunculus—the best of his siblings, to be frank—he wasn't perfect. Having to simultaneously monitor Sloth, watch for Scar in Central, spy on the capture Gluttony and their sacrifices, and maintain his vessel was tiresome. At least with Elizabeth around he could abruptly stop commanding his vessel, and she would cover for him, but Pride was still being stretched thin.
And now it was time for Gluttony to get out of that mess before he slipped up and did something stupid.
Honestly, Pride didn't get the joy behind manipulating stupid little humans like Wrath and Lust did. He was all for elaborate schemes, but there was a time and place. And with the eclipse arriving soon they shouldn't be playing around anymore.
Even Lust had finished her part here and was moving on to set up the next plan, she was still blatantly playing around. Pride wouldn't be surprised if his younger sister had started up a cartel in Drachma for the kick of it.
And Wrath!
He was starting to act like an old man. Not even a century old and he was rambling about the next generation.
If Wrath was already going to die soon—they all knew his body was not able to keep up with the stone's power anymore and had at most a year left—he should know better than to mimic humans like such.
And he should definitely know better than to let cheeky little punks like Mustang and the Elrics to get the better of him.
Yet lo and behold...
The only solace Pride took from this mess was that Father was continuing forward with the plan for Elizabeth. Pride knew his father was a man of boundless wisdom and patience, but he had to admit a part of him was worried that Father would throw Elizabeth away in a rush to obtain his desire.
Pride was ashamed of himself afterward for thinking so poorly of Father. Father was a smart being and understood Elizabeth's value.
In the long run—which is what Father always taught the homunculi to plan for—it would bring the greatest benefit for their family. While Pride was confident Father could take on Truth after the eclipse, the fact of the matter was the more weapons and knowledge Father had before that confrontation the better off everyone would be.
Had Wrath had his way, Elizabeth would have taken over his philosopher's stone upon death and become the new Wrath.
But simply becoming a homunculus after being a human would still result in her aging, and that was something Pride wou—could—won't accept.
She had to be something more.
She had to become—
Pride had found his neat little corner to sit inside his room. He made his vessel curl up before letting go and refocusing on the shadows that watched Gluttony. He couldn't hear very well due to the distance—and he had to stretch his shadows thin enough no one would notice—but that didn't matter. He only had to conjure a mouth near Gluttony to trigger his idiot brother.
There was only one way to get Gluttony out of his bindings without revealing his hand, and that was to make Gluttony go berserk.
How fortunate for Pride he knew exactly what to say to do so.
"Lust is in danger. She needs your help," Pride softly whispered.
The transformation was instant.
Glutton's affection for Lust was painfully easy to exploit. Pride never understood it. There was no need for a homunculus to create such weak—
"Promise me you'll be safe?" she asked, her brow creased with worry.
"I am not going to be in danger. They aren't a threat," Pride told her, resisting the urge to roll his eyes in exasperation for her needless worry.
"I know. But I love you, so I'll always worry."
Pride's shadows curled back, moving away from Gluttony as the homunculus began to rage and burst free from his bindings.
'Elizabeth is not a vulnerable point to me,' Pride told himself. 'She is a valuable asset to Father's plans and thus is someone I need to protect. I am merely affectionate because I view her as—'
He paused.
'Oh.'
(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
Chapter was going to be longer, but then I wrote 20 pages of Reverse Harem / Sakura instead. *Shrugs* And I like the cliff hanger.
We're entering the final arc. Man this story went by fast.
Answer: Videogames and writing. Big fan of WoW. :) Less so of the company nowadays.
Question: If you had to be a magical creature what would you be?
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