Why is it I can only seem to write when I should be sleeping? As such, forgive any typos and thanks for reading and reviewing! I'm hitting the hay. Night!

Chapter 5

“Now, this is our little secret, right?” Greed spoke with an uplifted voice and put a finger to his lips. The little girl nodded happily and pulled a fake zipper across his lips. She was just so perfectly adorable. No wonder his predecessor had carried pictures of the darling angel everywhere to show off. The Little Lady was far cuter in person than in the memories in his head. “And why is that?”

“Because it's for your work!” Elysia repeated with glee. “And if anyone knows you'll have to go away again.”

“That's right.” Greed chuckled and pet the girl on the head. The little lady was truly adorable. “Now, you remember what I told you and go back to play with your friend. I'm sure she misses you.”

“Okay!” Elysia popped up from her squat and brushed off her skirt. She gave a salute (just like the soldiers did!) and ran off with a fond “I love you!”

“Love you too, Little Lady.” Greed chuckled and waved. That had gone much better than he thought. The little lady was all prepared for his arrival so when he showed up he'd only have to deal with the lovely lady reacting badly to his sudden appearance. Greed stood up from the ground himself and brushed off his pants. He'd save the mother for last, but first he had to go convert his best friend. Greed chuckled and flicked his cap with his forefinger. It shouldn't be too difficult. If his spy work was as accurate as he believed, than little Ed hadn't once mentioned homunculus to Roy. That would definitely work in Greed's favor.

“I just hope he doesn't have a heart attack.” Greed laughed to himself.

-----

“This is bad, Al.” Ed mumbled before kicking a wall. “We've looked everywhere and there isn't a single sign of the thing anywhere!”

“Well, if it is a homunculus, than maybe it was picked up by Lust or Envy or something?” Al added quietly. His brother was getting desperate to find their run away thing. They'd looked in all the related hotel rooms that the man who checked out the room had rented. Brother had even searched the streets and neighboring rooms. But there wasn't a trace of it anywhere save for the blood smears in the room.

And the red stone.

Al and his brother hadn't noticed the stone at first as it was shoved into a far corner, lost and forgotten. It had probably rolled over there and had been missed. But it was there, and currently Brother had it in his pants pocket. If Al had a lip, he'd be biting it with nervousness. That red stone only confirmed what they had worst fears. They were definitely dealing with a homunculus; no matter how much Al wanted to say 'If.' “Brother?”

Ed sighed and crouched down to rest his legs. Things could not possibly be any worse right now. First, they had a rogue homunculus loose. Second, Mustang was acting really weird. Like he was going out of his way to be nicer to Ed and his brother. The man had come over for dinner and made stew again and some desert thing. That wouldn't normally have been a problem, but it was Mustang and Ed had really liked it. And Al noticed, too. He had teased Ed about it for close to two hours after Colonel left. Ed hung his head between his legs and huffed. There was a homunculus on the loose and Ed was thinking about feelings and Colonel Mustang. There was seriously something wrong with him.

“Brother!” Al tried calling again. No response. “Brother! Hey!”

Ed looked up after a moment and blinked at Al. Ed really needed a nap; he was tired. “What is it Al?”

“Do you think that maybe we should tell the Colonel about this?” Al said quietly. “I mean, if there is a homunculus running around in Central, shouldn't he know?”

“No.” Ed's voice was clipped. “He can't know about it.”

“But why?”

“If he knows, he'll be involved.” Ed sighed softly. “If he gets involved he'll be in danger. He has enough to worry about without this.”

“Are you sure?”

Ed smiled at his brother and stood up. He tried to make things convincing with his newly uplifted mood. “No worries, Al. I'll definitely take care of this like I did back in Dublith. Trust me.”

“As long as you know what you're doing.” Al definitely thought they should tell Colonel Mustang, but for now he'd let Ed have his way. If they still hadn't found the new homunculus in a few more weeks he'd convince Ed to let the Colonel help. “Let's go check the library again and see if anyone checked out a book related to those circles.”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

-----

“Thank-you for accompanying me tonight, Hawkeye.” Roy yawned into his hand as the two got into the car. Gracia had already seen them out and shut her front door. “I appreciated you coming.”

“Are you going to be alright, sir?” Hawkeye spoke quietly. She had her suspicions, but now she was certain: Gracia was moving in on Roy. Maybe the woman wasn't doing it intentionally, but Gracia was definitely flirting and going out of her way to be close and a part of his life. It was almost sad and Gracia had Riza's pity, but not her approval. A relationship with Gracia would certainly be painful for Roy in the long run. He was already showing signs of discomfort now. “You don't look so well.”

“I'm fine, really.” Roy forced a laugh and stopped just as quickly when his Lieutenant gave him that look he knew so well. “Or at least I will be.”

“You know you can talk to me if you need it.” Riza offered while watching the man from her peripheral. He looked worn down. “I'm sorry, that was out of line.”

“No, no. I appreciate it. I really do.” Roy turned to look at his dear friend. She really looked out for him. And now Gracia seemed to want to be doing the same thing, only Gracia wasn't aiming for friend. Roy slunk into his seat and rubbed his eyes. He knew that the loss of Hughes was hard on the woman, but he never thought she'd turn to Roy as a replacement. “Ah, Hawkeye, can you drop me off at the office? I've forgotten something.”

“Alright.” Hawkeye turned the car around and headed back to the office.

Roy in the meantime, took this opportunity to think. Gracia had most definitely been flirting and Roy had no idea what to do about it. On the one hand, he wanted to be there to support the wife of his best friend in her time of need. On the other, well. Roy had no idea that the support needed was of the live-in, romantic sort. He felt guilty; it was unavoidable. Gracia was hurt and confused and reaching out to the only other close man to their family. Roy needed to avoid doing anything with her that she'd regret later while still being there for her.

When did life get so complicated?

“We're here, sir.”

“Thank-you again, Lieutenant.” Roy sighed and opened his door on his own. He closed it and tapped on the window. Hawkeye rolled it down and looked at him expectantly. “You can go now, I'll walk home.”

“Are you really?”

“Yes, I promise.” Roy chuckled for real this time. And Hawkeye must have believed him because she rolled the window back up and drove off. That was good, and Roy really did forget some documents in his office in his rush off to dinner.

Roy trotted through the empty halls before reaching his office, but froze when the door opened. The air in the room was deathly still and Roy instantly reached for his gloves and placed them on his hands. Once secure, Roy took very slow steps into the room while looking around for any signs of movement. There was someone in his office who was very uninvited. “Show yourself, immediately.”

“Nice to see you're still cautious. I'd hate for you to lose your touch, Roy.”

That voice. Roy swung around to the far corner fingers in snapping position, but his blood drew cold the moment his eyes locked on the figure. Roy could feel his breathing become erratic and his hand shook slightly. There was no way. Just no way. “Couldn't be.”

“Aw, don't act so cold. It's been a while, hasn't it?”

Roy's voice cracked. “Hughes?”

-----

“My, you're happy today.” Gracia chuckled. “Did you have that much fun at your friends?”

“Yeah! We played hide and seek!” Elysia smiled and ran about the room. She was just so happy! First Daddy came home and told her all about his secret mission and she was so excited! Elysia couldn't wait to see Mommy's face when she met him.

“I'm glad.” Gracia pulled her little girl up on the couch and smiled at her. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure Mommy.”

“What do you think of Uncle Roy?”

Elysia hummed and scrunched her face up in thought. “He's kinda' scary.”

“I see.” Gracia sighed. She should have seen that coming. The woman shook her head and ruffled the girl's hair. Gracia shouldn't have expected any other answer. “Alright, go wash up for dinner.”

-----

“Well, that's not my name, but I don't mind if you call me that.” Greed shrugged and hopped off the desk he had been sitting on. He put his hands in his pockets and started to walk towards Roy, the man was shaking and had taken a step back. Poor guy was confused and scared. “Don't be so stiff, Roy.” Greed smiled and shoved off his razor sharp teeth. “Relax, I'm not going to bite you.”

“Who are you?” Roy couldn't believe his eyes. It was, it was Hughes! Just siting there in a corporal's uniform without his glasses. Roy tried to calm his breathing. Hughes was dead. Hughes was dead. Hughes was dead. This was just some impostor; Roy narrowed his eyes. The eyes were the wrong color, too. Hughes had green eyes, not purple. The bastard messed up and Roy was going to make him pay. “And how dare you parade around as Hughes! I won't forgive you.”

“Now that's mean, Roy. I'll have you know that this is one-hundred percent my own face regardless of the resemblance.” Greed faked a pout and put a hand to his chest to emphasize how much he'd been hurt. Inside he was giggling.

“Stay back.” Roy shouted and held up his hand again. The initial shock was wearing off and now he was just angry. How dare he.

Hughes sighed and shook his head. He looked Roy straight in the eye and decided the blunt approach was best. Roy had always been a little thick. “I guess introductions are in order. My name is Greed and I'm a homunculus.”

“Homunculus?” Roy sputtered.

“Yup, when people try human alchemy the result is an artificial human with the donor's memories and face. In this case, someone tried to bring Maes Hughes to life and well, I'm sure Ed told you what the room looked like after the rebound.”

Roy shook his head as the man walked ever closer. The man's face was now inches from his own and Roy subconsciously moved his face back. Now that this 'Greed' was close, Roy could feel something skin-crawling chilly in the air. He swallowed and felt the sheer wrongness radiating off this man's skin. His claim to be inhuman was starting to become believable. “What are you?”

“I just told you.” Greed smiled and put his arms on either side of Roy on the desk effectively pinning the man in place. He rubbed one of Roy's gloves with his thumb. This was far too easy. He had expected a bigger fight from Roy than this. Maybe the shock was still setting in. “I'm a homunculus created from the body of your friend Hughes.”

“That's insane.”

“No, it's quite true. I have all his memories and one in particular is standing out.”

“Like what?” Roy shook his head. He must be dreaming.

“The day Hughes died.” Roy stiffened and Greed knew it was in the bag. “Hughes found out about the Führer's secretary, not that he knew what a homunculus was, but he knew she started the Ishbal war. He was killed by a homunculus named Envy while trying to call you with the information that would push you to the top.”

Roy's eyes widened. “What?”

“Call me sentimental, but I figured I'd come back and finish what he started.”

“No,” Roy shook his head. “This is wrong.”

Greed laughed. “No, wrong was Ed keeping secrets from you. You probably could have saved Hughes from those nasty homunculus had he known what he was dealing with when he discovered them in the first place.”

“What does Ed have to do with this?” Where did that subject even come from? This Greed was working too fast and Roy was off guard. He rubbed his face with his hand and froze when he realized the touch was smooth. The man had removed his ignition gloves and Roy hadn't even noticed. “What are you planning?”

Greed laughed and continued. “To push you to the top, and Ed knows all about the homunculus. Hell, he'd met the shape-shifter Envy that killed Hughes before.”

“Nonsense! He would have told me!” Roy shoved at the man's chest. This 'Greed' didn't move so much as an inch and merely looked amused. Roy snarled at him.

“Would he really?” Greed tilted his head thoughtfully and smirked. “He even lied to you about me. Saying that circle was for a chimera, really. He's out looking for a homunculus, Roy. It's all connected. Hughes death, Ed's hunt for the stone, your own goals. I know everything and I'll be more than happy to share it with you, Roy.”

“Why would you help? You said yourself you're not Hughes.” Roy met the man's eyes and almost spit at him. “We're not friends.”

“My name is Greed. I want everything including his goals and his friends. I want to be your friend, is that so bad?” Greed shrugged. “That's it, really. And you should appreciate it. I'm a very reliable ally, you know.”

“How so? You're sneaky as you stole my gloves, but that only shows you can't fight.”

Greed bust out laughing. “No, I just didn't want you interrupting by lighting things on fire.” Greed took a few steps back and tossed Roy's gloves back to him. The man then spread out his arms in an open, welcoming fashion. “Go ahead, light me up.”

“Are you insane?”

“Come on, Roy. I'm a monster that took your friend's face. Light me on fire!”

“Shut up!” Roy put his gloves on, but refused to be intimidated. “I'm not doing that and you're going to start telling me the truth! This homunculus stuff is insane and Ed would have told me something that important! You're just messing with my head!”

“Than punish me” Greed laughed. “Go ahead. Set me on fire! You know you want to.”

“I said quiet! Start talking!”

“I already told you the truth.”

“Stop smirking.”

“Come on, kill me.”

“No!”

“Do it!”

“Shut up!”

“Now Roy! Come on, you did it every day in Isbal. Just snap your fingers and it's over.”

“I said shut up!”

“No different from all those little kids, and children.”

“Silence!” Roy nearly screamed. He gasped when his fingers snapped in reflex and the impostor claiming to be an artificial human was lit on fire. He watched the man smolder in the fire and had to back up a few steps and ran into the desk. Roy did it. He lit the man on fire. He was a murderer. “What have I done?”

The laughter coming from the flames stopped Roy cold in his tracks. Greed felt his eyes regenerate and gave him the treat of seeing Roy's terrified, horror struck face as his flesh started to grow on his face. He choked out a harsh laugh as Roy's feet gave out and he feel to the floor. “Wow, being burnt alive hurts like a bitch, doesn't it?”

“What are you?” Roy tried to crawl away when that inhuman thing walked over and squat in front of him with that familiar smile.

“I told you, Roy. I'm a monster.”