Chapter Nine

The skies were crimson that day. Even deep down in the underground city, they could see that it was red, a red that painted everything with bold, cruel strokes. The Stone had finally been created.

Of course, there was the fact that it was not a complete Stone, but that did not matter. All that mattered was that it had been created. If it was incomplete, it could still be completed. The hard part of the job was done. All that needed to be done was have Gluttony devour the Stone so that it could be finished.

Envy smiled to himself as he pushed himself off the sunken wall and began to walk toward the ray of light ahead of him. So Lust had helped Scar. Big deal. Certainly she couldn't feel anything for the man. She would soon realize the stupidity and unreliability that plagued humans all the time. They were weak, unable to detach themselves from the real world and therefore trapped within themselves. Unlike him. He could do it, he could be emotionally detached, and hell to anyone who tried to tell him not to.

Yeah, he was as unyielding toward humans as the desert. Anyone could tell him that, and he wouldn't give a damn. What did he care for their opinions anyway? If he had, he would have killed himself centuries ago.

Envy paused at the top of the stairs and stared down below him at the shadowed city. It was a ghost, only a remnant of the great city it had once been. Just like what Lior was going to turn into once the homunculi were through with it. Wow. It reminded him of what he thought the depths of Hell could look like, but then again, he was a homunculus. He'd seen Hell and come back from it a long time ago. In fact, if he wanted to put it in a cliché, he had been spit out by Hell. After all, why else was he back with the living even though he was dead already?

He laughed. What was he thinking? Was he calling himself a zombie or something? That would definitely be something new. Perhaps he could tell Lust his new joke. If she showed up.

x

We'd reached it, we'd finally reached that supposedly unobtainable goal. I couldn't wait to laugh at my brothers and wave in their face that we had gotten the Stone while they were still struggling in their humanity and trying to be moral when morality would never work in these situations.

It made me snicker. If Ed had transcended his moral boundaries, he would have been able to create the Philosopher's Stone months ago. But no, he had decided to stay trapped within his own mind and had sacrificed his desires for something completely useless.

But perhaps he had been smart, because we would have stolen the Stone from right under his nose. We had been the ones forcing him to create it after all by holding his brother hostage. We would have done it, too, if it hadn't been-

I stopped myself. It was no use reminiscing about things that couldn't be changed. I lifted my face up to the sky and embraced the heat, spreading my arms out as I did so. Wonderful. The sun invigorated my body, giving me energy that being underground didn't. It was odd, of course, because I certainly wasn't one of the sun's creatures, but it was still treating me like one.

Hmph. As if I cared. I reached up toward the sun as if I were going to yank it out of the sky and cup it to my breast. It would serve the humans right if I destroyed their only source of life.

After all-

I stopped myself again. I was becoming like the humans I hated, thinking way too much, plotting, planning, imagining things that would never come to be.

x

Lust watched as the city was enveloped in a wave of red. Just a few minutes ago, Scar had been alive, she thought. Now he was dead. Humans were so mortal, but perhaps it was better that way, because their suffering was only transient. She on the other hand..

She sighed deeply. What did it matter? The past wasn't something she could change. Scar was dead now, his body consumed by the Philosopher's Stone. How many souls was that now? How many had been sacrificed to create the Stone? And for what reason, Lust wondered. Was it only so that they could become human? She had never questioned Dante's motives, but now she was starting to. Surely Dante couldn't be that good-hearted. What reason did she have?

Her eyes slid toward the desert, which was ironically the only peaceful thing in the sea of red. She could feel a storm coming up, perhaps rising so that it could cover all the destruction that had happened in Lior. Perhaps it was a fitting thing, that Nature always covered up Man's mistakes. It was natural after all.

Lust paused. Up ahead of her, she saw Alphonse. She could feel it pulling to her, the Philosopher's Stone. It was tugging her, drawing her like a moth to a light. She was afraid to approach it for fear of seeing what Alphonse had become, but she could not help it. It felt so natural to be walking toward the life pulsing in the Stone. Was it because she lacked life then that she was so drawn toward it? It would have made sense, because wasn't it a common human saying that opposites attract? Life. Death. Neither could live without the other. Equivalent exchange. Greed for kindness, good for evil, death for life.

Her brow smoothed out then. So Scar's sacrifice had been worth it after all. Scar had given his life to the two brothers so that they could have another chance at life. Even at this distance, she could see the glow of the Philosopher's Stone inside his body. It was not a good sign, because if she could see it, others could see it. She had to warn them, warn them that they had to leave this area. She could not let Scar's sacrifice be in vain. He had lost everything for redemption, and Lust found that she did not want the same thing to happen to the Elric brothers, enemies or not. To lose someone important.. she was now just discovering how painful it was.

If it was in her power, she would prevent it. It would be her way of honoring Scar and his brother.

x

This would be my redemption, my chance to make up for all the sins I had committed. If I could help the two brothers, maybe I could return to the person I had once been.

Fat chance. I knew that would never happen. Scar was right; how could I be someone I barely remembered being? Especially if I no longer possessed her soul?

But what really was a soul? Why did the homunculi have none? It couldn't be so we wouldn't commit suicide, could it? And it couldn't be so that we couldn't have a conscience, because I was fast developing one now. So what was it? It seemed to me that a conscience was what humans called a soul. If so, what really distinguished us from humans if we too could develop a soul?

I stared at my hands, inspecting my nails. It might have been stretching it a bit, but that was what normal girls did. What did normal girls dream about? What did they wish for?

Again I thought of Scar. He had said there was no way he could love me the way I was now, but why had he jumped in front of me that time? Had he been lying? Was this only my girlish self hoping that he had been lying? Did I really want to be loved that much? If he saw what I was doing now, would he accept me?

My thoughts moved to Envy. How would he react when he found out what I had done? I knew Gluttony to say nothing, just as he had always done, but Envy?

He would probably kill me.

Why?

Because it didn't matter what my reasons were. It was the simple fact that I was helping the humans he hated most that he would kill me. Later he might regret it, but in the midst of all his passionate, unbridled fury, he wouldn't be able to stop himself. Wouldn't be able to reason with the facts.

Why?

Because he had never learned to let go of his hatred for Hohenheim. Perhaps it was something to be expected. The person he had trusted most in his life had let him down and left him to the dogs. His anger had to be rooted in fear, fear of abandonment, misunderstanding, fear of what it was about himself that made him so despicable.

I had to smile to myself then. Why wasn't I afraid? Wasn't this supposed to be something I was scared of? So why was I not trembling in place, shaking, unable to move? Was it because I was finally on the right track? That this was something I was meant to do?

If it was, I would gladly face the consequences, just as Scar had. Because that was what we did. Because that was what humans did. Because even if I could never return to the person I had once been, I could at least do my best.

x

As Envy watched, the sky slowly lightened to its usual color, and the red glow faded. He smirked. Great. All he had to do was find Lust now, who would have the Philosopher's Stone with her. His feet began to track across the hot desert sand, causing little whirlwinds of gold to swirl around his legs. The heat didn't bother him at all, even though it would have caused a normal human to melt, but hey, he wasn't a normal human. Why did he have to feel things the way he did?

Off in the distance, he saw a metal figure crossing the desert from Lior. Envy frowned. Strange. Was that the metal boy? But why? Envy had known that his half-brothers would be in the city, but he certainly hadn't expected them to come out of the destruction alive. Then again, they were both alchemists, and they knew what the creation of the Philosopher's Stone could do. No doubt they had protected some humans. He started to approach them, then froze when he saw a familiar, beautiful figure reach them first. Envy's eyes flickered. Lust. What business did she have with them? Was she going to steal the Stone away?

He could see her. She wasn't lashing out with her magnificent nails; she was pointing toward Resembool instead! She was too far away for him to read what she was saying, but he had a feeling it wasn't something he was going to like.

Lust walked away from them, and his two brothers stared after her, having as difficult of a time as Envy was having comprehending her actions. He saw the little smile on her face, wondered what it was all about. Why? Why was she betraying them like this?

He started to follow her. Surely she had some sort of explanation? Maybe she was leading them to a trap. Maybe she was doing this so that they wouldn't suspect a thing when the homunculi ambushed them. He clenched his fists. That had to be it! Why else would she dismiss them like that? It was all a cruel trick, one to give them hope, only to crush it by stealing the Stone away from them just when they were about to get all their wishes granted. Envy laughed to himself, wondering why he had even begun to doubt Lust. She surely was a devious one, coming up with such a wicked plan.

She was Lust after all, and he never should have thought she would have turned away from the homunculi's ideals. The old one had, but this new one had never showed any signs of wavering.

Until yesterday.

So it was still possible that she no longer followed their ideas, but he had to trust her. If he couldn't, then there could be no one else he could trust, because she was the one person he counted on to always remain the same.

Envy ran across the sands, ignoring the intense heat as his bare feet repeatedly struck the sand. Lust turned around upon hearing his approach and waited for him.

"Nice trick you played there," he said.

"That was no trick," Lust answered. "They have the Philosopher's Stone now, and I will let them use it as they wish. If we need it, we can simply create another one."

"What?" Envy demanded angrily. "What the hell did you do that for?"

Lust studied him, saying nothing. Suddenly, Envy was aggravated by the way she was looking at him, as if she were judging him, thinking him less than her because he was not a human lover. So what? He had the right to believe what he wanted to believe! She had never gone through what he had, so what right did she have to judge him?

"We live for such a long time," Lust finally said, lifting her eyes to look at him. She started to smile. "Yet in reality, we're not living at all. Why do we go through this? Why do we not end our lives?" Her gaze pierced into him. "What really is living?"

Envy laughed bitterly, almost unable to believe the words he was hearing from her. He had respected her for so long, but now all he could feel was contempt. He couldn't believe it. She, Lust, of all people. Lust, the one he had thought would agree with him most of all because she wanted just as much as he did.

"Perhaps I should end yours for you?" Envy asked, hoping, praying, that she would give him an opening to forgive her for what she had done.

But once again, Lust said nothing, only stared at him, her eyes unreadable. Then she smiled sadly, causing a chill to run down Envy's spine.

She was going to do it. She was really going to defect. He could feel it in his bones, feel that she was really going to turn away from him.

"Don't do it," Envy warned her. "You won't be able to come back if you do!"

But no answer echoed back to him across the desert. Envy could only allow his fury to consume him, his anger at her betrayal. He had thought this time it would be different, this time, the soul of Lust's Sin would recognize that he had been right, but it was not to be, was it? He would lose her, he would lose what she had once stood for. He would have to kill her again, sever her head from her pale, white body, and watch as her deep, dark, red blood was washed away by the rain. He would be forced to kill her, because it would be a sign of weakness to allow her to live. He could not change himself, not now, even for her, and so he would be unable to let her live the next time he saw her.

"Don't come running back to me!" Envy screamed after Lust's retreating back.

Slowly Lust turned around. "Remember what I said before? About not knowing if which of the two of us were better off?" She studied him. "I think I know now."

The nerve! "I'll kill you first!" he shouted, almost stamping his feet on the hot sand. "I'll kill you!"

But instead of responding, Lust simply turned around again and walked away.

The chill going down Envy's spine turned icy. It was happening all over again.. and there was nothing he could do about it. Not a single thing.

---

I figured I would let you guys read the story before I said what I wanted to say, which is.. I'm sorry this took so long to get up. I was planning on putting this up way back in the beginnning of February, but.. eek. There were some parts that weren't complete and it all got too deep for me, so I got stuck Glad to say.. I'm finally out of it. And just in time for my birthday. :) It's tomorrow for those of you who are curious to know. I will be.. eighteen on the 7th, the same age as Envy, but.. let's hope I don't end up like him! xD

I'm glad I have gotten this far with the story. It's about halfway done, possibly two-thirds, and I can tell you from starting with the chapter you just read, I'm going to be going into parts that are described in the show such as.. well, you'll see xD

And as always.. thank you those who have been continually supporting this story. You guys ROCK and totally make my day whenever I see a review pop up.

Oh.. and before I forget, two things. One, I edited the first chapter. Two, I made a forum for this fanfic. Seems a little.. err.. what's-the-word, presumptous? But oh well. Now I can post sneak previews for future chapters so you guys will never think I abandoned the story. xQ