A/N Hello all! thank you for clicking on my story. I hope you enjoy it! A small note, some of the dialogue in this chapter is taken from the manga. This chapter has spoilers for some of volume nine, but the story will eventually spoil all of FMA, so I don't suggest reading it if you haven't finished the series.

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Oh, one more thing! The cover art for this fanfiction was created by eamcline. She's under that name here, and on deviantart. If have some time you really should check out her deviantart profile because she's an amazing artist.

Lust turned as Envy entered the room. He was wearing the face of some low-ranking military officer, she couldn't remember who. There were too many humans, they bred like rats; she could barely remember the names of all the generals who were in on father's plan, let alone random officers walking around central.

She watched Envy from her position on Gluttony's back, waiting for him to turn back to his usual form. He seemed to be in no hurry, though.

He strode casually over to her. The chimeras and other alchemic experiments growled and shook the bars of their cages. The noise harmonized with the sharp thump of Envy's standard issue military boots as he walked across the cement, crunching occasionally when he stepped on a stray bone left from Gluttony's meals. He remained silent until he was right in front of her. "The Flame Colonel, it seems, has caught wind of some of our…operations," he said.

"Oh?" Lust asked. Now was not the time for Roy Mustang to be acting out. It would be a shame if they had to kill him before the promised day.

"He was researching laboratory five and he compiled a list of executed prisoners at Central City Prison," Envy stated. He watched Lust's reaction

She raised an eyebrow. "You think he somehow found out about numbers 66 and 48?" She asked.

"I don't know. Why else would he want a list of executed prisoners?" Envy scratched the back of his head, seeming unconcerned. "Also, he was asking about details regarding the death of that Lieutenant Colonel I killed a couple of weeks ago… Hughes I think was his name."

"I remember him. He threw a knife into my head. How rude," Lust shook her head. "My, my. I guess we have quite the detective on our hands don't we?" she sighed.

"So… Colonel Mustang is trying to find out what happened to Hughes?" Envy asked, and then sighed; the answer was obvious. "He's become awfully nosy lately," he said, facing the cage that held number 66's body.

"I wonder if he's found any hard evidence," Lust said, hand on her hip. This Colonel was becoming a problem. Still, she was reluctant to kill a candidate for human sacrifice. Hopefully they could find a more… practical solution.

"If not, he's getting close," Envy informed her, finally morphing back to his normal appearance. "What do we do about it?"

"I had him transferred to Central because I thought it would be easier to keep an eye on him, but maybe it was a mistake…" Lust mused, shifting a little as Gluttony moved to stare at the cage behind her. "Guys like him are hard to handle. I wish he'd just stay out of trouble. After all, he's a leading candidate to be our human sacrifice."

"Were you able to get any info out of your connections?" Envy asked hopefully.

"Not a thing," Lust answered, shrugging. "Is he acting alone or following orders?" she asked, then sighed to show that she had no idea. "He's a hard man to figure out." She gracefully pulled herself up, off Gluttony's back, and faced Envy. "Still I have a feeling that my latest source will prove to be most fruitful," she said, thinking of the poor Jean Havoc, so desperate for a girl. Yes, she was confident that she could get all the information that she needed out of him. Honestly, she didn't know why Colonel Mustang surrounded himself with such idiots. Well, he was a human after all. Not attempting to fathom what went on in the minds of those apes, Lust started to leave the room.

Gluttony turned his head, and faithfully trotted after her as he saw she was leaving.

"Aw Gluttony, c'mon!" Envy cried, seeing the pile of bones that lay right where Gluttony had been sitting. "Don't just leave your mess here and take off. Geez!" He shook his head. That pig was disgusting! Suddenly, Envy looked over his shoulder as an idea occurred to him. "Hey Lust," he called, to the retreating figure.

She turned back to hear what he had to say.

"You need the Flame Colonel to stay put, right?" he asked. "Don't you think we should have another plan besides relying on your information network?"

"Why? Do you have a plan?" Lust asked, drawn in by the sadistic look in Envy's eyes.

"Noisy dogs need to be fed," Envy answered simply, looking at the bones at his feet.

Lust smiled; this was getting interesting. "Go on," she said.

Envy quickly explained his plan. "So once we execute the girl, everything's over. Mustang's need for justice is filled and he goes back to being a good little Colonel," he wrapped up, theatrically spreading his arms wide.

"And you think that this Maria Ross will look like a plausible suspect?" Lust asked.

Envy shrugged. "I looked like her when I followed Hughes to that telephone booth. There had to be witnesses. No real trial would convict her of course, but," he turned to Lust, an evil glint in his eye. "There are advantages to controlling the head military generals and the führer of a country. She'll be guilty if we say she's guilty."

Lust grinned. "Well, then, let the games begin," she said. She once more turned to leave, but a voice stopped her.

"You two are idiots."

She whirled around, and saw a young boy emerge from the shadows. "Pride," she said. "I see you're lurking in the shadows again." She jutted her bottom lip out, a pouting expression on her face. "Don't you know it isn't nice to eavesdrop?"

"Shouldn't you be at the mansion with your dear daddy?" Envy asked.

"Don't mock me." Pride said. "I was sent by father to check on you three, and I happened to hear your plan, Envy."

"Yeah, and what's wrong with it?" Envy asked defensively.

"There's a reason Mustang holds such a high rank at such a young age. He's not stupid. Any child could see through your little scheme. He would never believe the charges against Maria Ross without having any real evidence. It would just deepen his suspicion about the military." Pride stated.

"And?" Envy asked, insulted. "We can't do nothing. Sooner or later he's going to come across something important," he pointed out. "Are you suggesting we kill him? What about the promised day? There are only so many alchemists skilled enough to open the gate and return alive."

"I'm not suggesting anything of the sort. I'm saying that if we don't want to kill him, and he's going to find something out, we should delay him, cripple him. He doesn't know it, but he's working on a time limit," Pride said.

"What do you have in mind?" Lust asked.

"The colonel depends too much on his subordinates. They're his crutch; take them away and he falls."

"Are you saying we should frame one of his subordinates?" Lust asked. Oh, this was sounding more fun by the second.

"Not just one of his subordinates, his most trusted one." Pride answered. "That woman who follows him everywhere. First Lieutenant Hawkeye."

"Wouldn't that just throw more suspicion onto the military?" Envy asked, pouting.

"Possibly, but it would distract him. If he doesn't believe she's guilty he'll be forced to spend a huge amount of time trying to prove her innocence. Of course, he'll ultimately fail and she'll be executed. If he believes she's guilty, then I've over estimated him, but the outcome would be ultimately the same as your original plan, only he'd be shaken. Disturbed that she was the one to betray him by murdering his friend in cold blood."

Even Envy had to admit that it sounded like a fool-proof plan, but he still tried to cling to the shreds of his original plan. "But what about the witnesses? I chased after Hughes looking like Maria Ross."

Pride waved his hand showing how trivial that matter was. "We can get fake testimony just as easily, In fact, this way the information can be more accurate and more incriminating."

"What about the witnesses who saw me?"

Again Pride waved his hand nonchalantly. "We can silence them. They'll not interfere with the plan."

"Great," Envy muttered, but finally he accepted Pride's plan. "When do we start?"

Pride grinned. "Immediately."

A/N I know, no Royai, but this is just the prologue, and I promise it's coming. I have the first nine chapters written (part one of the story) so updates should be pretty regular. And another note, the first chapters follow the main story really closely, but it does stray away towards the later ones. Please drop a review if you have time, liked my story, or even if you want to complain about it.