Sorry for the wait everyone. My intention is to type up long chapters, so added onto that factor which is making me take as long as I am is the fact that real life issues have come up. But I certainly have not quitted yet, not by a long shot.

Before I start the chapter, here are some general pointers about my switches in writing style modes. These rules do not ALWAYS apply, but it does for the most part.

When something's written like this, it's just regular storytelling without dialogue and without any of the below modes; this makes up most of the chapters.

'When something's written like this', it's a statement from someone's thoughts OR if they are at the Gate 'speaking'.

"When something's written like this", it's just regular dialogue from the characters.

"When something's written like this", the character IS talking, but in a low tone or even whisper; and sometimes, lines like this could be used for flashbacks.

When something's written like this, then it is the lyrics from a song of my choosing, and each chapter will have at least one different song representing it.

"When something's written like this", the character is spewing words in a venomous or ferocious fashion, usually when they're pissed off or something else is happening to them…

When something's written like this, it's to tell the reader when part of the chapter is temporarily changing the storytelling to another time, place, etc.

More modes might be added. But also keep in mind the punctuations marks used at the end of sentences as well.

CHAPTER 2: Seek and Destroy

Days Earlier…

On the night of Pride's birth, Hawkeye and Havoc went through with their search plans during the dead of night. Both were getting tired from working in Central Headquarters all day looking for the missing tetrad. By now, Hawkeye had developed a mild headache from the stress of not finding any signs of them, but she was not willing to back down from searching today just yet. Not until she found at least something of importance. Havoc admitted he was getting tired, but he himself desperately wanted to find their friends and the Fuhrer and prepared accordingly by drinking a few cups of coffee. He would stick by Riza even until it was time for the sun to rise. H

The search team also found no signs of the missing four, however, they were dismissed earlier due to regular military work protocols. Jean and Riza were dismissed shortly after, when all the other higher rank officers were, and it was still very early in the evening. They tagged along with Breda, Falman and Fuery and discussed things very quickly with them, before the three soldiers headed for their dorms. Jean told them they would be searching around the city without them, but all four of them were given the same task by the military. They were supposed to read through some military paperwork that each of them were given by superiors in order to further find more clues about the Fuhrer's possible whereabouts. It was getting late soon, and the military couldn't search the city the whole night, so it was about time that they did 'quiet work' instead. Other military personnel of their status or lower were given the same 'homework'. Knowing about Havoc and Hawkeye's search and how it might take the whole night, they offered to help them out with their own stacks of paper. If the Fuhrer went missing the same day as Mustang, Edward and Alphonse, they all concluded that it was obviously more than just coincidence. But what was the connection? That is what they were trying to find out on their own, with and without the military's involvement at the same time.

Riza, head hurting yet so determined not to quit, and Jean, on hyper alert than usual due to the caffeine he's just consumed, are the very last soldiers wandering the city amongst the regular citizens. Jean offered her some coffee some time ago, but she declined, stating that it would make her headache worse. Jean only shrugged and smoked his cigarette at a faster rate than usual. Riza only rolled her eyes at Jean's slightly absurd behavior during such a dire time and reminded herself that the men in her close-knit military unit can be silly sometimes. Now was no laughing matter, finding the missing four was the only thing on her mind now and she couldn't be distracted nor lose any hope.

They were both armed with only their default rifles, given to them from the military to take with them to their own dorms or houses after leaving C.C. It was more for protection than actual military action, but they would have to do for now. They didn't want to arouse any suspicion from the superiors by asking for more heavy weaponry, and were efficient enough with any type of gun they used. Still in their blue uniforms, and only shortly having left the Headquarters, they blended in pretty well with the darkened environment of the city structures and the shadowy hues that covered them.

They did not worry about getting caught wondering the city late in the night, nor did they worry about the lenient curfew time that was set up for the dorm quarters. Soldiers were still allowed the freedom to explore the city after a day's work. But now, almost everyone in the military would be rushing to go to their dorms and start investigating every document they've received. Most of the underling soldiers probably thought that if they discovered something significant, they would get promoted. Riza and Jean know full well that it takes more than just passionate hard work to get a promotion, you need enough experience, a little bit of luck and learn how to kiss the rears of superiors at times. Of course, on rare occasions, soldiers are automatically promoted if they do something miraculous for the military or the nation in general.

Then, you have the State Alchemists who, in their own way, are in a class of their own and are more fluid on the military hierarchy ladder, transcending most of the normal rules of rank elevation. They are automatically made into Majors. They're very valuable to Amestrian politics because there are so few of them in the meantime, compared to the size of the whole military itself. And now that two very valuable Alchemists have gone missing, along with the Fuhrer at the same time, some the higher-ups have immediately become a little antsy and, if not, very concerned that the military's power has started to wane already. They know it's still much too soon to draw conclusion about their whereabouts, but they realize how suspicious it is for three famous military figures to go missing in the same time span.

The two officers looked in all directions and listened very closely to the environment. They detected nothing out of the ordinary everywhere they went, whether it was between buildings in the alleys or out on the open streets. They searched together throughout almost every corner and crevice, and after a couple of hours later they still found nothing. She didn't show it, but Riza was getting a bit uneasy and Havoc himself tensed up. They did not want to declare the search a failure just yet, so they decided to keep searching until the very end of Central if they needed to. Riza was speeding herself up a little more now, and Havoc took note of that. Her headache has gotten a little worse from what it was hours ago, but she made no note of it to Jean.

He pulled out what may have been his tenth cigarette so far tonight "No need to rush, Riza, you'll tire yourself out . If we find nothing tonight then there's always tomorrow night and our military documents to look through once we get back to the dorms."

"I understand Jean, but the faster we move the sooner we will cover more ground, and the city is not small." Then she turns around to face him and says lowly, "I just have a feeling that we will find something tonight if we change pace. And split up farther apart too, not just search alleyways across from each other. Don't worry too much about me, I'll be fine."

"You sure, Chieftess? But if we find someone, we won't be able to hear us call each other if we're too far apart. I knew we should've dragged one of the others with us, preferably Falman since he's a better gunman than the other two." Just then, they heard a noise coming closer to them. They turned to the noise and realized it was someone familiar running towards them.

"You called for me, Havoc?" The voice said in weak breaks of speech. It was none other than Falman himself. He stopped in front of them and drew in a succession of rapid breaths, indicating that he had a hard time running this much. "I figured you'd need one more, even though you both insisted otherwise." They only looked at him somewhat dumbfounded, with Havoc's cigarette almost falling out of his mouth. Vato's breathing started becoming more clear, and he spoke up again once he could. "What? I may be older now and more unfit for endurance, but I'm still a great gunman."

"Damn Vato, you gotta go easy on yourself, you're not young anymore. Anyways, at least you're here now, and we need all the help we can get. Riza decided on splitting, so I was thinking you go with her to the right and I go to the left. You got your hand gun on you, right?" Vato pulled out his gun, and showed it to Havoc. "Good." Jean looked around the area and noticed that citizens have finally went indoors. "With less people out now, this will work out better for us."

Riza nodded and spoke up. "We should meet up here on this same intersection if we haven't found anything by the time we finished searching all over the city. It might take us another couple of hours, so we should meet up then. If one of us finds something important the other should go looking for them." Vato and Jean nodded, and then all three headed towards their assigned directions.

Riza, with Vato, continued the search at a normal pace gain. She slowed down a bit once Vato joined in, being considerate of his age. He noticed how worried Riza appeared to be under her focused exterior and wanted to lighten up the mood somehow, despite him not being good with making others laugh. After a few moments, he spoke up. "He'll ruin himself permanently with the amount of cigarettes he smokes per hour. I saw many thrown to the ground on my way here." She only faced him and nodded, thinking the same thing, but did not say anything. Vato knew that cheering Riza would be futile, but he was still disappointed at his poor effort. They were both quiet for the remainder of the search and looking at opposite sides of the street.

Until they stumbled upon some evidence…

Riza was the first to find it. It was a small trail of darkened blood at the very end of a dead-end alleyway and ending somewhere behind a huge dumpster, from what she could tell. She had a good eye, spotting the dark blood from that far away. It was losing its freshness but it was still bright enough for her to see. She rushed towards it without alerting Vato, the suspense of it all making her overly zealous. The intensity of the situation only became worse when she became absolutely horrified at what she saw when she reached the end, and her previously calm exterior was all but gone. Behind the dumpster was a familiar military man lying flat and face first on the ground. The spiky, black hair looked damp, and the uniform was torn and bloody in many places. Riza immediately knew who it was and, with teary wide eyes, she quickly leaped to action by turning him around and putting his upper body onto her lap. She then noticed a very large, but closed up, wound on his lower stomach, which was now scabbing up but still fresh. Riza shook him a little and choked out the words, "General Mustang, sir?! Roy?! ROY?! Please, don't be…" She choked up a little, preventing herself from saying anything else. Her tears were falling down, cradling his head a few minutes and trying to calm down.

A few minutes later, Vato, obviously alarmed by the outburst, came running towards her direction. He planned to call out to her once he wasn't out in the open where the whole neighborhood would hear him. "Hawkeye, what…" He shut himself up as quickly as he spoke and looked in shock at the sight. He saw none other than Roy in her lap, out cold and injured, and her crying over him. "Oh no, Mustang…what have you gotten yourself into?" He didn't know what else to say to Hawkeye while she was expressing strong emotions like this, but it was completely understandable during such a dire situation. He knelt down in front of them and gripped onto one of Roy's wrists, checking for a pulse. While Roy's low body temperature alarmed him, it was the very weak pulse Vato detected from his superior that chilled him to the bone. Then he looked at the large wound on his midsection and noticed it was starting to scab into a large scar.

Riza raised up her head and looked at Vato with bloodshot eyes. "I…already felt for a pulse…on his neck…and his heartbeat is very slow. Vato, please tell me he will be alright, that he won't die…" She clutched onto Roy's hair tighter now, rocking slightly back and forth. "I promised him that he wouldn't die before I did, why did he have to disappear without asking for my assistance?!" She hunched forward over the fallen General and let out more tears.

Vato was deeply saddened by all this. However, he realized that not all was lost. He rubbed on Riza's back to comfort her. "He's still alive Riza, we still have time to save him. I will go get Havoc and then we'll all carry him to the hospital. It's not very far from here." Vato got up and ran off without getting a response. He knew Riza was not in the right state of mind to be making commands or decisions.

Riza, tears still flowing down from her eyes, tried to calm herself down by laying her head on Roy's chest and listening to his heartbeat, further confirming to her that he is still alive. She checked the scarring wound again and curiously said, "Could it be, that he closed up the wound with his alchemy?" Some of the tension from before dissipated from her being after making that assessment, but the overwhelming sorrow remained. All she could do now was wait for the others to return.

Once they did, Roy Mustang was carried to the hospital by all three of them, on foot. By that time, Riza has long since regained her composure, but her face still displayed how she felt. Along the way, she resorted to deep thinking about Roy's well-being and his apparent near-death experience. She was not willing to show off anymore of her softer side in front of the men who worked with her. They too were extremely affected by seeing their commanding officer, and also friend, in such a reduced state. But even that assuring fact made her self-conscious. All three walked to the hospital in mournful silence, not even Havoc said anything to try and cheer them up. Bringing Roy to the hospital immediately was the only thing on all of their minds, by making as little of a fuss as possible. They did not want all of the military knowing about this and getting involved, at least not yet…

Present Day, Present Time

Once Envy left the room, Father ordered Pride to come forward. He wanted to see how much his homunculus son had changed from the bloody ordeal that happened above ground that same night.

"Now Pride, I want to check on a few things before I dismiss you." Father stood up and walked towards him. He put a hand under the younger blonde's chin and raised his head up. Father also took note of the height differences between them and uncharacteristically made a small smile. 'I remember how small you were, but it feels like a lifetime ago…' His mouth faltered and flat lined, immediately shrugging off the random thoughts and memories that resurfaced faintly in his mind. He thought he pushed them to the farthest corners of his mind years ago, it appears he will still have to suppress them further. He inspected Pride's eyes, noting that the slit pupils were much more noticeable now, just as Envy told him. But he also noticed something else, something darker now growing within Pride's irises, his amber-yellow eyes now took on a darker tone than before. Father also took note of the change in his skin tone and hair color, the slight reddish tint of his skin and bright blonde hair became paler by the day. It wouldn't be long now before the changes in Pride's features were complete, which indicated his transformation into a full-fledged homunculus.

Pride was becoming slightly uneasy from the close proximity and touchiness, and reverted back into his own thoughts to make the time pass. It's not that he despised attention, because that certainly wasn't the case. He loved getting praises from Father. However, right now, he felt like he was a lab rat under the merciless gaze of a scientist, his personal space not being regarded whatsoever. He started wondering why Father acted this way, but also kept in mind that he was the older man's most treasured spawn, so he tried to tolerate this temporary lack of privacy. If it were Envy doing this to him, on the other hand… 'Speaking of that asshole Envy, I really should convince Father to give me a better lower outfit than this annoying, flappy thing…' The skort Pride wore was really starting to irritate him, and it didn't help the fact that the hot-headed jerk Envy also wore the same thing.

He was taken out of his thoughts when Father spoke again. "Good, your eyes are finally on the right course of change, and so is the rest of your body. There's one more thing I must do before you can go. Now stay still for a few moments." Father got a hold of the lower part of his left arm, taking off the arm glove and gripping onto it. Then, he put the other hand on top of Pride's head and closed his eyes. Pride, following his orders of staying still, stood there dumbfounded looking at the older blonde man, noticing he was deep in concentration. He also noticed that, unlike the first time Father did something like this, this time he didn't feel a thing. And just as he promised, Father withdrew his hands moments later, looking pleased. "It surprises me how much progress you have made in such a short time, it could be that your craving and ingestion of blood this soon was the cause of this. You will need to learn the proper way of living as a homunculus, and it's best to begin as quick as possible. You are ready to start your missions with Envy, Lust and Gluttony. Tomorrow night will be when you go on your first one."

Father patted his head almost affectionately, but Pride couldn't help but cringe for some reason. He's had enough of others touching him tonight, treating him as a borderline pet and not as someone who wants his boundaries respected. Despite this, he was happy to hear the praise and good news, so that was always a plus for him. "Thank you, Father. Glad I could make you happy." He turned around and headed for the doors, on his way to his 'room'. Somehow, those words didn't sound right coming out of his mouth and directed at Father, but he was also glad that this was over. He had a handful of questions and one request to get off his chest, but he figured now wasn't the right time to tell Father any of them. He'll have the opportunity later.

"Oh, one more thing my son." Pride stopped midstride and turned around to Father, already getting quite annoyed at him for interrupting his thoughts again. "You will come to me tomorrow before you leave, I will feed you more stones so that you'll be properly sustained. In fact, you must come to me to be fed before all future missions, as they will build up your strength in the long-term. But make sure you consume as much blood as possible, that is also vital for your growth."

"Alright Father, got it." Pride headed straight for the door again but stopped moving when he heard the man behind him chuckle in a strangely light-hearted manner. This surprised the homunculus, and he turned himself around to see a smiling Father looking at him.

"Wait Pride, it's apparent you want to leave so soon, yet at the same time you seem to have something on your mind. Is there really nothing else you want to tell me?" Pride seriously thought carefully on how to respond. Sure, Pride had enough questions he would want answers to, but he wasn't in the mood to ask them right now. Not right after that strange check up session.

"No Father, I don't really have much else to tell you right now. When I do, I'll let you know." And with that, Pride finally headed out the doors, somewhat confused by Father's overall behavior. He soon shrugged it off and thought no more of it once thoughts about tomorrow night's mission came to his mind. Instead of heading straight to his room, he thought of taking a detour and seeing the sewers again. And maybe strike a conversation with Sloth one-to-one, since he did find her somewhat interesting to be around. He didn't feel like sitting on his 'bed' and doing nothing other than thinking all day, he'd rather walk for a little bit and think at the same time, exercising both his mind and body. This last minute exploration plan was cut short, however.

"Which direction do you think you're heading to?" A female voice spoke. He turned around immediately on high alert and saw the owner of the voice. It wasn't Sloth, but another female homunculus, from what he could tell by the mark above her chest area. Standing next to her was a short but extremely fat and weird-looking homunculus looking creepily at him. He couldn't see any mark on the monstrous looking man, though he figured it was somewhere not so obvious. He didn't want to dwell on this thought further, so he left it at that. Even without the ouroboros mark, he could tell he was a homunculus by the red node lines going up his massive arms. For some reason, Pride could not shrug off the gaze of suspicion the female homunculus was giving him.

"Who are you two? You're homunculi like me, right?" He realized that neither Father nor Envy mentioned there being two other homunculi around. He was already there for a week and saw no signs of them. Then again, a week still wasn't such a long time and he's barely explored a fraction of the lair.

She chuckled lowly. "My my, practically a newborn and already he's perceptive enough to be asking such questions." All of the sudden, her expression turned slightly fowl. "Better answer mine before I answer yours, Pride." It wasn't really a weak threat so much as a demand, but her change of tone surprised him, to say the least.

Gluttony let out a weird laugh, then said. "Pride, Pride! The youngest one of us, familiar—"

Lust smacked the fat man on the back of his head, making him shut up. "Be quiet, idiot." Gluttony only emitted a sad whine in response.

Pride only looked at them incredulously for a few seconds, then ignored the uncanny exchange, despite how suspicious it made him feel. He was about to ask her how he knew of him, but instead went along with her demands and he answered her question first. Not out of fear necessarily, but out of wanting to fulfill what he had in mind as soon as possible. "I thought I'd explore the lair some more by taking a different route to my room." Then, he added in with a snarky tone, "Is that a problem?"

She only smiled at him with one arm under her breasts and the other hand on her chin, inspecting him yet again."Aren't you the curious one among us, huh? I'd expect nothing less from one such as yourself." Strange response from someone he practically just met, even if it was a fellow homunculus. Pride didn't know whether to take that as a teasing insult or a compliment, though he decided on the latter option. He was getting slightly irritated, the amount of questions in his mind just keep piling up, and he feels like no one was willing to give him straight answers. "Yes, Pride, we are homunculi just like you. I'm Lust and he's Gluttony." She could tell Pride was smart enough to guess who was who on his own, but she wanted to be as clear as possible.

He eyed each one of them, before looking right at her again. Now that the first question was out of his mind, he proceeded onto the next one. "How exactly did you know who I was? You've never seen me before."

She chuckled at that in a knowing manner, looking straight at his eyes and noticing the yellow of his irises, before stating, "Word travels fast amongst us homunculi when we have someone like Envy in our midst. He's the top of the homunculus hierarchy and the oldest one among us. The one who knows the most secrets coming straight from Father and Dante themselves." She then laughed and said, "He also has a horrible temper, so it's best not to get on his bad side."

Pride wanted to laugh at what she said, because it was true. Instead, he let out only a snicker laced with sarcasm. "Too late, I already found that out days ago..." He didn't want to admit that he was starting to enjoy the conversation, and what she mentioned about a homunculus 'hierarchy' being in place interested him. However, he decided to finally end it. "I should head back now, wouldn't want him or Father finding me absent from my room." He walked past the two without another glimpse at them. Instead of taking another detour to explore the lair a bit more, plans of going straight to his room quickly replaced that.

Lust, as a final note, randomly said to the retreating blonde homunculus, "No matter how frustrating things might become, you will get used to this life sooner or later. Just as I have accepted it. I advise that you try tolerating everyone else in our 'family' as best as you can, despite all of our flaws. We homunculi are the physical embodiment of the sins, after all."

'Embodiment of the sins, huh? What exactly does she mean?' Despite the piling up questions,Pride as a response only looked at her sideways, appearing suddenly disinterested when he in fact was not. "Got it." He muttered, then walked away quietly.

When Pride was a good distance away, Lust turned to Gluttony and said lowly, "Envy told us not to reveal any hints that might make him remember his past, next time don't slip up like that. It appears that the Fullmetal brat's high intelligence has been transferred into his homunculus self, we can't risk being so impetuous. That wouldn't do for Father's plans in the long-term." It has only been a few days ago since she and Gluttony healed up properly from the attack they dealt with a week ago. The brother and General of Fullmetal really made hard blows against them that night of the attack, so much so that they were down for the count for some time. How pathetic was that, having only mere humans and their pesky alchemy get the better of two powerful homunculi? Due to incidences such as these, she sometimes wondered how 'immortal' and invincible homunculi were.

Lust herself had gone through a period of time when she started doubting the overall agenda of Father and Dante, the latter being a very powerful human alchemist, while the prior could've been considered something else entirely. She began to question if there was any benefit for her in the long run. If their promise to her was sound and her goal to become human would come to pass. However, the more she saw how humans behaved and how pitiful and ignorant they really were, the more she doubted that she ever would want her humanity back, if it was even there to begin with. She saw much benefit in staying essentially immortal, but she needed to depend on them for continual sustenance. She knew being dependent on them was a risk, but what else was there to do other than run away and have them come after her?

It can be said that she was also grateful for what Father and Dante have done for her, despite the fact that she doesn't wholly trust them. She would've been a complete fool if she did, but she knew better, remembering one particular eye-opening experience she had a few years back. She knew their tendency for deceit and secrecy, though she played along anyways to get what she needed. They have given her, and every other homunculus, a Philosopher's Stone to insert within them to give them a main power supply should they need it. They also told her that they were the only alchemists in the world who would be able to transmute her into a human, if she played her part in their overall plans. If she decided to run off for whatever reason, she would only rely on her own Philosopher's Stone, which meant she would eventually run out of the human lives that lie dormant within it. Lust, and all the other homunculi, needed the Red Stones on the side to actually ensure their immortality and continual powers. Father and Dante also sought to their immortality as well, and so they supplied them the stones if the homunculi played their parts well. Equivalent Exchange is not just a principle followed by mere alchemists alone, it must be followed even by the very homunculi who spit on their very existence. The very same alchemists who helped spawn them to life 'again', against their own wills, by manipulating the Gate. Damned alchemists always try to manipulate and control nature, but only a very few of them have a special type of arrogance to even attempt Human Transmutation.

Envy returned underground hours later. What transpired those hours ago was still fresh in his mind. His anger and vindictiveness towards Pride from that time still has not dissipated. Even after murdering a few humans in the upper world to try and quell his emotions, he still holds absolute disdain for his homunculus half-brother. It's not only due to what happened before, that only added onto his never-ending hatred. His hate, his own envy, for the blonde is for a far greater reason, a reason that goes back to pure sibling animosity. He would be more than thrilled to admit to this hatred, but there are the few factors holding him back which will ruin his own goals. For one, Father, who holds the main position to their 'family' now, would severely punish him for trying to eliminate his most precious piece. However, that's not the reason that worries him the most. If the pipsqueak finds out about his own past, that will severely put a dent in Envy's diabolical goals to transform the runt into a psychotic killing machine. This goal was the way in which Envy would try and get back at his half-brother, back at Father, and at everyone else they were connected to. It would be the ultimate payback, regardless of who else it will effect, as his hatred for all of humanity was also his drive in life.

He actually did not care for anyone but himself and his negative feelings, but the closest thing he felt to 'caring' was during the days of his homunculus rebirth, towards Dante. She was the only one who gave him his drive to live, sparked the fires of passionate animosity within him, even though she was a human. But she was special, definitely second only to Hohenheim herself, although Envy hated his bastard old man for abandoning them. That's why, despite the fact that he's now in charge of them all, and feels as if he's been utterly betrayed by the one who used to be his 'mother', Envy will never forgive nor forget what he's done. That was what he considered to be Hohenheim's ultimate sin, the abandonment of his original family, and then the start of his new one centuries later. It wouldn't do to have a repeat of a few years back and attack him directly though, the green-haired homunculus was going to behave more intelligently and patiently from now on. And he will surely do so by taking it out on Pride in any way he could.

Envy was now on his way to Father's throne room, ready to hear what the grand master alchemist had to say next. On the way there, he passed by the staying rooms and noted Pride laying on his bed, facing away from the door, in deep thought no doubt. Envy eyed him suspiciously, the unconscious fear of Pride finally remembering his past memories now at the back of the envious sin's mind. He would deal with him later. He reached the throne room and opened the two doors. Father immediately became alert of this, and stared at the homunculus as he walked towards him. Envy only stared back in attention, momentarily putting aside his feelings of vengeance and awaiting Father's commands. He stopped in front of the man looked around the room with his peripheral vision and took note of the singed scent, sensing that this room has been alchemically tampered with. He began to realize what Father may have done and grinned.

Envy was the first to speak. "Well, it looks like you were busy while I was gone. I thought you attempted that transmutation days ago." He said this slightly with his occasional smug tone, but not enough to annoy the man. If Envy couldn't defy Father, then he could at least tease him in more subliminal ways when he had the chance.

Father glares at him, responding with, "I have, Envy, but some adjustments and improvements needed to be added in to finish the process. I'm sure you can guess what I'm referring to."

Envy rolled his eyes in mock annoyance. To Father he may have sounded curious and interested, but other things were on his mind. "Whatever, I don't really care right now. What is it you wanted to tell me? Will he start going out on missions soon or are you delaying that further?"

"No delays, Envy. He is ready. Soon enough, his body will entirely change to that of a new form of pure homunculus, the likes of which the world has never seen yet. It's best this process starts as soon as possible. Time is not to be wasted, every one of his outings will help this process, by nourishing him physically and mentally. Although he must still be kept under watch until we are confident that he's trustworthy enough to be exploring the upper world on his own. In the meantime, he will only be going on missions at night. We do not want to risk exposing his identity to any familiar faces, at least this soon. We want everyone to believe my son has completely passed on from this world. Tomorrow night, all of you except Sloth and Wrath will head out."

Envy didn't previously mind Lust and Gluttony tagging along with him while they were on surface level. This time, however, he had mixed feelings about it, because they're going to join in on missions so soon after the blonde's rebirth. He felt Lust and Gluttony would distract both him and Pride from what he had in mind for the new homunculus. He made a mental note to talk with Lust about that later. Envy wanted to ask Father why he wanted Lust and Gluttony to even come, so he did despite already knowing the answer to that. "Why would you want the others to come along? Pride is still trying to get used to me."

Father eyed Envy seriously. "He needs to be exposed to more than one other homunculus at a time. It will further help with his development by having an idea of how each of you fight. His powers have not surfaced yet. Being a new brand of homunculus, it's quite different and unclear how his powers may come. I have a few theories about how they may come but it could take years for them to appear. Let's not expect anything for a long while."

"How about his unconscious side? Are you sure his memories can stay locked up for good inside his mind?" Envy blurted out a bit too soon and slightly regretted that. He didn't want to sound passionate about any of this, nor give away any hint of his plans for revenge.

Father nodded with certainty, but his eyes said otherwise. "Since he's a new type of homunculus, made by the corpse of Edward and hence his body, it was easier for me to tweak his mind by manipulating his part of the Gate. But even I couldn't remove his memories, nor the link to his human soul. Remember, he was turned into a homunculus before his human soul could leave him."

Envy's hands clench slightly at his sides. "But why bother keeping his soul intact within him?! It seems to be more of a disadvantage than anything else!"

"His soul still remains at his Gate, and it remains there for reasons which I cannot explain to you or anyone else at this time. This knowledge is strictly on the level of extremely advanced Alchemy, a concept which, other than myself, only Dante might be able to grasp. Why does this concern you so much, Envy? Do as I say and don't worry about him stepping out of line. Keep watching over him whenever you can and he won't stray from our intentions."

Envy stood still, looking away from Father and towards his left. "Fine. But I'm curious about something else. You said Pride is another form of homunculus altogether, right? Why does he have a craving for blood and not only stones like the rest of us? Did you intend that to happen, or is that how he's was supposed to turn out? He sort of reminds me of those legends…"

Father actually smirked at Envy's genuine analysis and what he was alluding to. "Yes, I see you remember the stories of the legendary blood-suckers from centuries ago. The stories about vampires and the countless bloody rampages that occurred during times of war. I will let you in on a few secrets, Envy. Only Dante and myself truly know the facts behind the vampire myth, and it is indeed connected to alchemy. Or more specifically, Human Transmutation. You will be surprised to find out that vampires as another form of being separate from humans did not exist. The idea that vampires existing as a separate supernatural entity is far from truth, because it is in fact homunculi who are truly the vampiric products of alchemy."

Envy actually opened his mouth in shock, then retorted as quickly as possible. "What the hell do you mean, that we are actually vampires? That we've been lied to all this time about what we really are?!"

Father raised a hand up, looking visibly annoyed. "Calm down, Envy. The explanation for this is rather simple. No, you are not 'vampires', per say. You and the others are indeed homunculi, even Pride is, as you are all beings who are the final products of Human Transmutation. However, the label of 'vampire' is given to any being that lives their life parasitizing off of other living beings in order to receive or maintain their immortality, super abilities or the bettering of themselves at the expense of these lives. Homunculi, well most of them, do this through the stones they consume. Homunculi are certainly not the only type of 'vampire' in existence. Some humans themselves can be considered vampires as well, if they make a habit of consuming enough blood or energy from other living beings, preferably other humans. Mostly during times of war, during our world's not too distant past, some humans took advantage of these times of great misery with the atrocious amounts of deaths that resulted from these wars, by spilling blood under the name of war as a disguise. Other humans, mainly those of the royal persuasion, also took advantage of other humans they ruled over by committing blood rituals on their poor prisoners in secret. However, this did not last long and once they were found out the royals were executed from most surrounding countries. That is what gave birth to the lore of the vampires, but once these blood rituals stopped, some of the more intelligent common folk of the time, those like Dante and I, decided to write out these truths in code by disguising it as a myth. What is faulty about the lore is the proclamation that these human vampires were anything but human, but that is a lie put in the legends to perpetuate the supernatural part of the myth, and for good reason. The world did not want to see the rise of vampires again. The homunculus myth is similar, in that almost all of humanity refuse to believe homunculi exist today, seeing them as just another folktale, with the difference being that they are regarded as mythical products of Alchemy. But the truth about homunculi has been kept from them as well. If humans know too much, they will use knowledge to their advantage and be doomed to the brink of extinction, but we cannot allow that. That is why we do what we do, to control the human herd and its population, and get rid of any dissenters or undesirables. Humans are being put to great use under our supervision, but if they step out of line they will get punished."

Even for Envy, all this vampire talk was a bit overwhelming to take in, but he now understood what Father meant. 'It all makes sense, in a way, if the physical similarities between 'vampires' and homunculi are noticed as well. Our paler skin tones, our sharper teeth, the pressure points on our bodies where we are rendered almost immobile if pierced into…' Envy crossed his arms around his chest and looked at Father in a careful manner. "And what about Pride? Care to explain what the real deal is with him? Is he nothing more than a hybrid? And why can't the rest of us homunculi thrive on blood like him?"

Father grinned at Envy's seemingly newfound curiosity, and he was surprisingly happy to oblige. "Very good questions, my son." Envy tried to suppress a cringe at being called 'son' by this man, but continued listening regardless. "However, you're looking at this all the wrong way. There is in fact one of you 'original' homunculi who can consume living material and thrive just as fine. He is none other than Gluttony, and I'm sure you're aware of that already. Although his composition is the same as yours and the other homunculi except Pride, all of you original homunculi were born straight from the material beyond the Gate, so you could see his cravings for living material as a prototype for how Pride's own cravings are like. But keep in mind, Gluttony's name also accounts for why he has cravings for human flesh nonstop. Pride is still very different from him in essence, and different from the rest of you. Yet at the same time not so different, because all six of you are partly born from the essence of certain dead humans in one way or another. It's the material used to make a homunculus which matters what kind of homunculus one is. Pride is a special case, in that he's more akin to the vampires of lore, since his body has only been reanimated from its original dying human state. However, he has been transformed through alchemy and can take in stones the same way other homunculi do, which is why he is almost entirely homunculus and not technically part human anymore. What we are seeing from him now is only the beginning of the final stages."

Envy would've still been intrigued by all this, however, he couldn't forget the fact that Father just called him his 'son'. His curious mood quickly turned to a sour one, and hearing about Pride only made it worse even though he requested to know about him. He barred his teeth and shook an arm out at him out of rage, for emphasis. He grounded out, "I'm not your fucking son, old man! Not anymore! You seem to forget that!"

Father sighed, and responded, "I cannot fathom why you still greatly despise me, while I'm trying as hard as I can to make a better union for both my families. There is more at stake now than your hateful feelings towards me or your younger brother. What we have to focus on now is a great task at hand."

"I don't care! I won't hear this shit now…I'm leaving…" He wanted to tell him more, tell him that he knew very well the reason why Envy still hated his guts, but the green-haired homunculus left it at that. Envy angrily turned around and stomped towards the doors, acting not unlike a child with a temper tantrum.

"You better not leave before I give you my orders, Envy." The tone in which Father said this made Envy stop in his tracks. He tensed his body while closing his eyes, then opened them again and turned around, trying to make his features become more relaxed. He tried giving off a more neutral expression, though try as he might he did a piss poor job at that. It was obvious to Father that the hate and anger he saw on his eldest 'son' only moments ago was still present on the homunculus' face, although only evident in his eyes this time. Nonetheless, Father intentionally ignored it, not seeing this behavior as out of the ordinary or even much of a threat. "You, Pride, Lust and Gluttony will go to the dwindling town of Aquroya, and kill whatever human population remains there. Those suicidal fools need to realize that a dying town such as theirs spells eminent death for those idiotic enough to remain within it. That desperate female alchemist we gave the red stone to a while back was warned that if she didn't go through with the task we gave her, her whole town would be reduced to rubble and eventually fall into the ocean. Since she has not listened to our commands, her and her whole town will suffer the consequences."

Envy did not say much to those commands before he left, all he said was that he would alert the others as soon as he encountered them. However, all his focus has reverted back to a certain blonde homunculus, whom he was headed towards now. He thought he may as well get his pissed off phase over with first by 'punishing' Pride, before telling Lust about the mission. Envy headed straight towards the blonde's room first, knowing exactly how he would deal with him.

When he got there, he slammed the door open, literally startling Pride out of his laid down position which initially made him face away from the door. The widened golden amber murky pools of his eyes, with their very small pupils, focused automatically on Envy and then returned to their original size, before the temporary shock. Envy just stood there a few moments, looking at him darkly. Not scared of the other homunculus, Pride asked him, "What do you want? Don't you know how to knock, bro?" He added in that last question intentionally to sound like a smartass, because he already knew that Envy wasn't the type to be polite and knock on doors before entering rooms. The was his first mistake he made in this current encounter.

Envy rushed towards him in a split second, punching him square in the stomach, then grabbing a hold of most of his long hair and smashing his head upon one of the bed's corners. He then lowered his mouth to his closest ear and proceeded to shout out, "Fucking smartass! Don't think I've forgotten that you ran your mouth a bit too much while we were talking with the old man hours ago." He saw Pride's shocked expression return, then the blonde coughed out 'blood', which pleased Envy. It was certainly not Pride's own 'blood', though, but it didn't matter to Envy. The jealous sin was pleased of the fact that he is still much stronger than Pride, or else he wouldn't have been able to 'injure' him this much. The blonde was also struggling to get out of his grasp, but to no avail. Whatever internal injuries Envy caused, they were soon healed up with the power of the stones, the regeneration of body parts being a default power for all homunculi. Envy smirked as he got a sudden idea, one which would further degrade Pride. "Next time, talk to me with a certain degree of respect!" He dragged Pride by the hair and onto the floor, next to the small pool of blood that was now present there. "Drink that shit back into your system, I can't have him see it. When you're done, listen carefully to what I'll tell you next." Pride sat himself on the floor looking directly at Envy with an equal amount of malice, intentionally ignoring the alluring pile of blood right next to him. Envy's clenched his fist, kneeled down in front of Pride and raised the fist near his face. "Hurry up, idiot. I don't have all day to babysit your scrawny ass!"

"No…I won't…" Pride said lowly, finally looking away from Envy, towards the opposite direction from the blood. What he got as a response he already expected, which was a punch in the face. Or rather, to put it more accurately, they were repeated punches on each side of his face. Envy put enough force into each that he knocked out a few of Pride's teeth from his jaw. The blonde, his lower facial region now extremely bloody and the red liquid continuing to trail down underneath his chin, spit out the teeth that have been knocked out of their roots. They landed on the clean side of the floor, the side which he was looking at moments ago.

Envy should've been even more pleased at his dirty handiwork, but got more irritated at Pride due to the new stain he's made. He smacked him this time, and said, "Pick up the teeth, insert them back into your sockets, then lap up all the mess you've made around you, filthy mutt."

Pride was not exactly able to hear him at the moment. Envy didn't realize this, but the blonde has been put into a trance, which all the more thinned his pupils. He then proceeded to shake a bit, with his irises getting smaller, and then lapped his tongue all over his mouth and chin, taking in a generous amount of 'his' blood that Envy was responsible for spilling. Then, he took his hands and scrapped off whatever blood that remained on him that he couldn't reach and drink it. Pride already had his bruises and other visible injuries healed minutes ago, but his teeth haven't grown back much.

Envy actually looked on with a bit of patience, waiting this all out until the blonde cleaned up his body. Once he did, Pride immediately went straight for the bloody ground, almost pouncing on top of it like a cat. He seemed to be unconsciously - that is, without being in control of his thinking process - following Envy's orders, but this wasn't the case. The blood was indeed the only factor driving him to act in such a feral, famished way yet again. Pride then proceeded to lap up and lick off as much blood from the floor as he possibly could. Envy only observed him in silence, with mild interest and disgust at the same time. He took note of the fact that he would have to get used to the pipsqueak acting like this from now on, even though the jealous sin himself was a little creeped out at this scary transition the blonde went through. It took a good amount of minutes for Pride to finish, and another few minutes for him to snap out of his trance. However, Envy, as patient as he was forcing himself to be, was not going to wait for much longer.

He looked straight at him while the blonde was still in his crouched position on all fours, standing a few feet behind him. "Finished up finally, you crazy animal? Now, get your teeth and do as I said, unless you want to a kick in the ass next." Pride already was out of the trance of bloodlust when he heard this. He was hyperventilating and trying to keep his composure from rush of all the energy he's taken back into himself. The energy gave him that lively feeling again, and it was hard to control.

Before he stood up, he looked at the three teeth on the drying up ground nearby, then felt the roots of his jaws where they belonged. His empty roots were already growing back teeth, to his amazement. The teeth that were knocked out of his mouth before started to melt down and transform into a white liquid. He was intrigued at this, and also satisfied at the fact that he wouldn't have to go through with Envy's next orders. The act of not doing what Envy told him, to get back at him in any way, even in such a small way like this, was a sweet victory for the blonde, and he relished it deep down. The more times he could get away with pissing off Envy and not be punished for it, the more enjoyable the experience was for him. And he had a feeling the older homunculus wouldn't hit him again anytime soon, or else the risk would be the spilling of more blood, and thus this cycle would repeat, which would result in pissing him off even more. Pride realized very quickly how thin Envy's patience was, and could use this to his advantage.

Without looking at the other homunculus in the room, he stood up confidently and then turned to him. He pointed at where the teeth were moments ago, saying, "There's the damned teeth, turned into a pile of mush right behind me. Can't do much about them now. So, what exactly do you want from me next, brother?" Pride added in the last word for an extra measure, in order to piss off Envy even more.

Envy, quickly realizing Pride was messing with him, stopped his shaking fists at his sides and tried suppressing his temper. Moments later, his upper face darkened and his mouth formed a small smirk, one that betrayed a small glimpse of his own insanity. He then ran so close up to Pride that he pushed him back towards the bed and intentionally stomped on the blonde's feet as hard as possible, planting him there. It was not hard enough to make him bleed again, however, so Envy had to restrain himself from completely crushing his feet. Pride, before he started struggling against the other's strength, shut his eyes and emitted what sounded like a combination of a yelp and whimper, but quickly quieted himself down. He did not want to respond in any way that would portray any signs of weakness, so he endured the pain knowing that he was still no match for Envy yet. If he were, he would be able to push him off and fight back.

"Listen to me, you cocky little shit." Envy said calmly in an eerily uncharacteristic manner. As he said this, he pushed further down onto Pride, pushing his body even more against the stony bed frame behind him. "I'm only going to say this once, so you better listen and listen well." He saw one of the blonde's eyes open half way and focus on him. The pressure of holding in his pain was also visible on his face. Envy enjoyed seeing him this way, and maybe enjoyed it more than if he saw Pride groveling and sniveling on the ground in front of his feet. As much as he wanted to bask in the younger sin's torment, he had to continue. "Tomorrow night, we will be going out on your first mission. Lust and Gluttony will tag along with us, but I expect you to do most of the work. To put it bluntly, you will have to prove yourself to us more by killing any humans in our way, and I expect the job to be done thoroughly. Do you understand all of what I'm saying, runt?" His feet smashed down onto Pride's even more, making the blonde emit a short wince with his teeth clenched shut.

Pride had to get the older homunculus off of him, so out of necessity he nodded his head slowly with one eye open. Apparently, that wasn't good enough for the other homunculus. Envy stomped down on his feet even more, visibly relishing the whimper and pained expression the blonde finally gave off. With clenched teeth, Pride told him, "I just told you yes…get off me-" Envy in response only put a bit more pressure into the stomp, making the blonde shut his mouth quick.

"You're not in any position to be giving off orders, idiot. Make sure you actually speak next time." Envy finally let go of his feet, making the blonde stagger in place for a bit. Pride was trying to regain balance and strength in his crushed feet. He refused to soothe his pain while in the asshole'spresence, so he remained mostly still until they healed up on their own. Soon enough they regenerated back to normal. The green-haired homunculus nearby only looked on in satisfaction, relishing in the blonde's pain further. "Make sure you see Father before we head out, he'll give you more stones." That's all he said, smirking, before he finally left the room, closing the door none too gently behind him.

Pride still stood there after getting healed, bewildered and lost in his own thoughts. Thoughts that he already had and thoughts that were newly formed based around this experience. He hated Envy now, with every fiber of his being. Pride did not appreciate being treated like a rag doll, or reduced down to a punching bag. He wanted to snap at him, give him a piece of his mind and even kick his ass for that. But Pride wasn't stupid nor ignorant of what he was capable of. He knew he was far from powerful, compared to the green-haired bastard. If he attacked Envy now, he would immediately get his ass handed to him again.

"Fucking asshole… Is this how things are going to be, to have him beat me down over every little thing I do that he hates?" Pride said lowly. What was on his mind now was a way to get back at Envy, and he had an idea how without having Father get involved. Pride would have to suck it up and act tough, he won't be resorting to snitching tactics. He needed to do something about this situation, and fast, by building up his defense and offense. 'If only I were stronger… I need more stones and blood until I reach up to his level. And I shouldn't let them go to waste, if what Father told me was all true.' Pride partly limped and partly walked back to his bed and landed on top of it. He may have healed moments ago, but the memory of the excruciating pain still lingered in his mind.

The door nearly slammed open, almost startling the blonde on the bed. "C'mon runt, it's time." Envy came to his room the next day to fetch him. It was hard keeping track of time when Pride didn't even have a clock to alert him. And it was even harder to keep himself busy during all those waiting hours, but he didn't want to expose himself much to the rest of the lair after that confrontation with Lust. At least not yet. It's also bad enough that he had an asshole for an older 'brother' constantly making his life as unbearable and miserable as possible. But he promised himself things would not be this way for long. He would get the respect and peace of mind he so deserved and wanted, not just from Father but the rest of them too.

Pride followed the older homunculus out of the room and straight to Father, while keeping his distance from him at the same time. It was time for him to get his second large meal of red stones. And soon enough, he would get his second taste of human blood. Thinking about drinking blood made him want to drool, but even as his desire tried to take over him again he retained a sense of self control and patience. Losing control of his mind would have to wait for later, when he'll actually be near blood. He really did not care much for human lives, all he cared about was his feeding on them.

Lust and Gluttony were already waiting for them at the entrance, and they would wait more until Pride and Envy finished talking to Father. They walked up to Father, he offered Pride stones to consume, and Envy stood there waiting for the blonde's small feeding session to finish. Pride felt his power growing with each stone he consumed, feeling a small rush after each one that went down to his stomach, but it felt like nothing compared to the rush he got from blood. Father looked on in approval, satisfied to see that his son was progressing. "Good, you are definitely ready tonight. However, I have one more thing prepared for you." Father took out an almost entirely black cloak, made from the same fabric his clothes were. Pride looked on in surprise, even though he knew what it was for.

"A cloak? You want me to wear it?" Pride asks, genuinely curious.

Envy rolled his eyes and grasped harshly onto one of his shoulders. "No, he wants you to rip it to shreds and consume the pieces… Of course he wants you to wear it, dumbass! Why else would he give it to you?!" He responded to the blonde sarcastically and condescendingly.

Pride's face immediately changed from calm to annoyed, and he suppressed the urge to growl. Better yet, he wanted to bite the other homunculus' whole hand off for insulting him. He analyzed Father for a few seconds in silence and noticed the old man didn't seem to care about Envy's verbal mistreatment of him. That, or Father just say that interaction as harmless sibling rivalry. Nonetheless, his apparent indifference just gives Pride even more proof that he would have to rely on himself to defend himself. Instead of doing anything drastic, he shrugged off Envy's grip from his shoulder, moving out of place by at least half a foot away. He looked at Father again, before asking, "Why, though? Can I at least ask that?" Pride said this with a bit of snark in his voice, but suppressed the tone.

"It is to conceal your identity from those who might find a way to go against us, at least until you become stronger. Pride, you are an important being that no human knows exists. It's best that you go in disguise until I say otherwise." Father was certainly not going to give a more specific answer to him, not unless he intended for Pride to remember his past.

That was not a sufficient enough answer for Pride. Already, just a week after his 'birth', his analytical and sharp mind worked wonders for his thought process. "But I don't understand why days ago you let me roam out freely. There shouldn't be a problem now!" He said all this with mild outburst, seemingly arguing with Father.

The older man actually stood up and angrily viewed the younger blonde through narrowed eyes. "You will do as I say and stop trying to rebel against my orders! Do you want to be punished for your insolence?" Father wouldn't normally get pissed like this, but he had a good reason. He discussed this with Envy before he brought Pride to him. And Father told Envy that the Fullmetal Alchemist's face was much more famous throughout Amestris than they previously imagined. Dante was the one to alert him of this news a while back, but Father did not think it was necessary to conceal Pride's face from the world from the very start. After what happened a week ago, when Pride had killed earlier than Father commanded, he was worried that Pride's identity had been discovered. He knew now that his sons lacked trustworthiness

Pride noted the ferocity in the way Father spoke to him, which was unlike how he's spoke to him previously. The younger blonde must have really got to him to make him behave this way, so Pride took note not to incur his anger next time. He did not like that change in the older man, but he tried to not show any fear towards him now. Pride still looked slightly irritated, hiding his newfound fear behind that mask. He looked away from both Envy and Father, before he responded with a meek tone, "No, Father, I'm sorry for that…" Then, he continued by saying more loudly, "I'll wear the damned cloak." Pride walked up to Father, determined, and then took the cloak from his hands. He undid it clumsily and then slung it over his shoulder. He didn't like cowering and kissing ass for anyone, but it was Father. "I'll wear it right before we head out. Before I go, I have something to tell you. But he needs to leave." He stuck a thumb at Envy's direction after saying this. Pride figured that if he was going to be miserable with his 'family', he would develop the courage to start making his own demands.

Envy growled and almost motioned to grab Pride by the arm, but Father stopped him. "I will listen to what you have to say, but make it quick. Envy, you wait outside of the room." Father focused his piercing stare on Envy, silently telling him to obey. Envy clenched his fists and left the room, almost stomping out. The jealous homunculus did not like being kicked out nor being left in the dark from anything they might say. He was internally making guesses as to what Pride might say, but all of them were for naught and far from accurate. The blonde wouldn't tell on him, that he knew for sure. And even if he did, he knew Father wouldn't be able to do shit. The old man should've expected him to mistreat the shorty.

Pride waited patiently for Envy to leave, before he spoke. "I want to request something, I'd like a change of outfit. This thing had been annoying me ever since I wore it." He pointed towards his skort, then pulled at it in frustration. "I would like to wear some pants instead, not this thing."

Father looked at him inquisitively. He was interested by the quick development of Pride's own interests and emotions, and surprised to hear him being assertive about them. But Father did not expect the skort to be his first ever pet peeve. He sooner expected to hear Pride complaining about Envy mistreating him, and it was obvious to Father, but his first complaint was about his outfit! The older man couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. "I understand your frustration, Pride. But there are more important matters you should be attending to at this moment. However, I will listen to your request, because you've voiced your discomfort. It will not do to have you feel as such when out on missions, although you must give me some time. After your mission come back here, and you will receive what you've asked for."

Pride nodded. "Okay, thanks Father, I appreciate it." He tried to say without sounding too much like he was sucking up to the man, but it was this man who birthed him in the first place. So it was fitting to display a little sense of gratitude towards him for this. Regardless, he still kept in mind that his 'family' was a mixed bag of sorts. Without another word from either of them, Pride finally left with Envy.

Lust and Gluttony actually went on ahead to Aquroya to get a head start, since they were slower than Envy and Pride. Envy waited behind for Pride, for the sole fact that Pride didn't know his way around Amestris yet. Pride put on his cloak before heading out of a sewer exit which was the farthest away from Central as they could possibly get, following closely behind Envy. He was about to manifest his scythe, but the older homunculus told him to wait until they got to their destination. They began their travel by running as fast as possible. It was during the very early hours of dusk, the more rural areas they passed through were almost pitch black. However, being the homunculi they were, they could easily see their way through the darkness with their better hearing.

All throughout the running, Envy held a frown and his mind was busy. He didn't want to admit, but he was curious to find out what Pride told Father. He was not going to pry the answer out of Pride, though, he somehow knew the pipsqueak would be too stubborn to tell him anyways. He also expected Pride to not be so talkative with him today, after what he put him through yesterday. Instead, Envy thought it best to tease and pester him nonstop tonight, stabbing at Pride's ego repetitively. He would just have to wait until they arrive at Amestris' city of water.

When they arrived at Aquroya, Pride immediately took in the sight of a crumbling city near the ocean. It was a city that was so close to falling into the water any day now, it's appearance regressed even more than how it was only half a decade ago. There was barely any commotion in town tonight, either. If a newcomer came into the city now and saw it, they would conclude that its already been largely abandoned. And they would be correct with their assessment. Pride was just the newcomer to have this first thought about it.

"What is wrong with this city?! It's dead silent and looks like it's falling apart! Are you sure there are humans still living here?" The blonde said this more out of shock than towards anyone in particular, but Envy was the only one there with him to give a response.

The older homunculus didn't respond with words, though, he instead smacked the blonder on the back of his head. "Pay attention to yourself first, idiot! Were you too distracted by your surroundings to notice your cloak's hood went down?! Put it back on your empty head!" Envy grounded out the last sentence with a snarl. The blonde only looked back with a mean stare, and did as he was told. Pride did not like the asshole insulting his intelligence again, but he knew he would have to tolerate it.

A rustling in the large bushes was heard nearby from where they were standing. Lust and Gluttony came out of them and silently communicated their presence to them. Lust was the first to speak, after she noticed Pride's new look. "Nice outfit you have there, kid." She said this with her typical devious stare. The blonde didn't know how to respond to that. He didn't know whether she was being serious or sarcastic, but he had to admit that the outfit wasn't so bad now. It at least covered his atrocious looking skort, and it wasn't uncomfortable.

Envy chuckled. "I know, he looks completely ridiculous! I can barely see his face under there. But I guess that look would have to do for him, wouldn't want certain individuals seeing how he looks like yet…" Envy looked at the cloaked homunculus with a smirk. "Now, let's get the action started."

Pride nodded, understanding what he meant. He figured that was his queue to manifest his scythe, for the second time being out on the surface world. He clapped his hands together, then alchemic lights sprung forth and recreated his six foot scythe seemingly out of nothing. The other three looked on, two of them looking a bit surprised. Envy already saw the light show before and quickly became disinterested, not caring about the science behind this seemingly impossible form of alchemy. However, he did internally note to himself that Pride looked very reminiscent to the Grim Reaper of legend.

"Oooooh, flashy…big weapon!" Gluttony said, childishly, after removing his finger out of his mouth. Envy rolled his eyes at him, putting a hand on his hip.

Lust couldn't help but state her own input, although she looked less amazed than Gluttony. She said, "Yes, intriguing." Like Gluttony, she was not a homunculus of many words, but she was definitely much more intelligent. Pride realized this almost immediately during their first encounter in the lair.

Envy, becoming increasingly bored, broke the silence. "Let's have Pride start the 'hunt', shall we? His scythe will give us all a head start." Envy gave him a small push forward. "All you have to do is swipe that scythe at every living thing you find and be as quiet as possible. We don't want your first killing spree to cause widespread panic and screaming. Learning how to mass murder silently and efficiently is important, we want this all to be a deadly surprise to the native to this retched city." Pride stood still a moments, looking at him and wondering why this mission must be done silently. "Well, what are you waiting for?! Go to the first house and kill anyone in it! Then, go onto the next house and repeat the second step." Envy pushed him more forward, but the blonde turned around and hit him on his side with the long hilt of his scythe.

"Don't rush me, Envy! I want to analyze the city first and find an easier way to maneuver it, if I'll be killing these humans silently." Pride spoke the last sentence in a strangely calm manner, after snapping back at Envy with the first one. He didn't look like it, but he was in deep thought, and with that large hood over his head it was hard for the others to notice.

We're scanning the scene in the city tonight
We're looking for us to start up a fight

Envy, standing feet behind him, wanted to backhand him for that, but Lust motioned at him to leave him alone. Gluttony only chuckled childishly, finding this amusing. Envy was never one to learn patience, but he had to start sometime. He backed off from the blonde, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away with contempt. The jealous sin wanted nothing more than to strangle him right now for what he did, however, he would have to save that for later when they were alone and not preoccupied.

And then Pride made the first move, finally entering deep into the ruined town. He stood in front of his first victim's house and observed the door. He undid the side latches with his scythe as quietly as possible. The huge weapon he possessed, which he moved around with ease, may have appeared difficult for someone of his height to use. He entered the house, looking around for any signs of human life. Soon enough, he saw a couple sleeping peacefully together on a cozy bed in a smaller room. Pride smirked, feeling victorious about his first finding for the night. 'Easy prey.' He quickly went in for the kill, quietly slashing at both their midsections in one swipe cutting them in half. They both opened their eyes from the excruciating pain that followed and unsuccessfully drew their last breaths, but they failed to utter any sound. It was an automatic instant kill, blood pooled profusely on the bed around their bodies.

There's an evil feeling in our brains
But it's nothing new, you'll know it drives us insane

Pride suddenly came down with the urge to feast, his bloodlust brought on by the sight and smell of their blood. His irises and pupils decreased in size and he soon entered into a sort of trance, his facial expression changing into one of near insanity. He pounced on the bed and started lapping up the blood that was gushing out from their open wounds in a maniacal zeal, slicing open their bodies up more to get a greater supply of fresh blood. He was slowly losing awareness of his surroundings, his main focus now was the bodies he currently feasted upon. But this would prove to be a mistake.

"Mom?! Dad?!" A little boy stood at the entrance and locked onto the cloaked figure on top of his now-dead parents, looking on with pure horror. "W-who a-are y-you?!" The little boy asked the figure shakily with tears in his eyes, but took a step forward. His curiosity would be the cause of his death very soon. Somehow, the sound of footsteps snapped Pride out of his feasting. He put his hood back up, before looking towards the direction of the sound. Before any other movement was made, a black spear came out of what seemed like nowhere stabbing the boy straight through the head. The owner of the spear, Pride soon found out, was none other than Lust. She revealed herself by coming into the room, bringing the dead boy with her elongated spear of a finger closer to Pride.

"Here's your dessert." She threw the small body onto the end of the bed. She did not seemed fazed by his bloodlust, probably because Envy told her already or because she was so used to seeing similar behavior from Gluttony a lot. Pride did not think much of it any further and then continued feasting on the boy this time, taking his hood down now that he knew the coast was clear. And while he feasted he smiled crazily in her direction, as a sign of gratitude. "Next time, be more attentive of your surroundings."

Gluttony appeared right behind her, looking on excitedly. "Can I eat them?" He said in great earnest.

Lust cross her arms under her chest. "Not yet. Let him finish first, then you'll be able to take out the trash."

Envy was the last to appear, whistling in an impressed way at Pride's handiwork. He did not say much else though, only looked on and waited until both Pride and Gluttony finished their meals, respectively.

Running
On our way

From house to house they travelled, with Pride almost every time repeating what he's done to his first victims. There were a few times where they found children hiding in small spaces, afraid to make a sound for fear of their lives. How these brats detected them without them not realizing was a sort of mystery, but Envy and Lust figured they were probably the few smartest children they've come across and did what was natural to them, which was to hide when they witnessed their parents or relatives dying before them.

Hiding
You will pay

They allowed Pride to lead all four of them towards the direction of any noise once they found out his hearing was becoming increasingly acute, beyond the normal level seen in the other homunculi. He was the one who heard the muffled sounds of crying from the hiding spots of the hiding children. It appeared as if the more blood and stones he consumed, the more acute all his senses became. By now, they must've killed the majority of the townsfolk. Pride had already filled himself up with their blood a long while ago, so afterwards he focused mainly on killing rather than drinking anymore blood. On occasion, he resorted to drinking some blood when the urge arose again, but certainly not to the extent when he started the killing spree.

Dying
One thousand deaths

Searching
Seek and destroy

When they stumbled upon one specific human female, a young woman in her late 20's with an attractiveness level similar to Lust, the interaction became more complicated for Pride. At least, at first…

Pride was the first to enter the house, as usual. This house was quite elaborate, in contrast to the other more modest looking homes he entered. He used his acute hearing to pinpoint any noise, and what he expected was either the snoring or soft breathing of at least one human occupant. He picked up on something very faint on the second floor, and quietly went up the stairs to it. He finally came across a bedroom with the sandy-blonde woman sleeping on it, appearing as unaware as the rest of his bedded human victims. He stepped closer towards her, making sure his footsteps made no sound on the wood below him. Right as he towered over her and raised his scythe to the air, the woman's eyes snapped open in immediate alert and she quickly made a leap off her bed and out of the way of the scythe's swing. The scythe instead tore a huge gap in the bed, shredding through it as if it were butter. What surprised Pride next was the fact that she revealed a transmutation circle right above her breasts, then she touched it and released many sharp cards at his direction, pinning him on the wall. The cards only pinned him up by his cloak with great accuracy. If he weren't a bit pissed off at getting defeated, by a female human no less, he would've been impressed at the precision.

"I always sleep with one eye open, as the saying goes…" She looked at him with a confident smirk. "Who the hell are you? Did they send you here to finish me off because I didn't follow their orders?"

"Why yes, Clara, we in fact did." An androgynous voice responded, and she immediately knew who it was. Without another warning, Envy ran to her from behind and landed a kick at her legs, making her fall down ungracefully. She counterattacked with her card-wielding alchemy, aiming for her to recover and head straight out of the room. And just at this moment, Pride ripped himself from the cards that were holding him on the wall. He then proceeded to go after her, but Envy stopped him then gestured for him to stay calm for a moment "That boring trick again? C'mon, it got old fairly quick, Psiren." He was not only insinuating about the attack she's done on Pride, but also her past heists as well. She became very well known throughout Amestris a few years after her famous serial robbery attempts that happened during a time when Aquroya wasn't as engulfed by the ocean as it is now. Her infamy, however, was not a good thing, because it attracted the likes of Father and Dante. And her knowledge in alchemy made them all the more interested in contacting her, not directly of course but through the homunculi. Speaking of which… "Keep trying to run from your past and your mistakes, just know that it will not end well for you regardless of what you do to try and escape. Humans like you are so laughably pathetic, always thinking you can take but never give!"

There is no escape and that's for sure
This is the end, we won't take any more
Say goodbye to the world you live in
You've always been taking but now you're giving

Clara was just about to head out her front door, when a black spear stabbed her in the right side of her abdomen and Gluttony tackled her to the ground, pinning her arms above her head. "Gahhh-" The fat homunculus was applying too much pressure on her stomach, as Lust instructed him to do, making it very hard for her to breathe. Soon enough, Envy and Pride jump down to the first floor to join in on the victorious capture.

Our brains are on fire with the feeling to kill
And it won't go away until our dreams are fulfilled
There is only one thing on our minds
Don't try running away 'cause you're the one we will find

"Let me tell you who you are and what happened to you, phantom thief… An arrogant bitch probably stuck in her memories of her glory days, and nothing more than a mediocre alchemist who was too full of herself to actually save her own city. You got too comfortable with the power we gave you and used it up for your own selfish needs. Did you not realize that we were fucking homunculi from the start?! That we could rip you to shreds if we so pleased?" Envy cackled. "We gave you the stone to use to fix your run-down town IF you completed our task, but instead you fucked everything up!"

Pride stood there in wonder at what Envy just said. 'They gave her a stone? Being an alchemist, she probably used it up already for her own selfish reasons.'

Lust walked up to Envy and handed him a pile of papers she found in another room. "Before we do anything else, you should take a look at these." The information written on them was quite alarming, to say the least. It was details on the homunculi, from the ouroboros symbol, which is their trademark, to the transmutation circle, which can be used to trap and destroy them. It's quite concerning to Envy how such a low-end alchemist like Clara was able to get a hold of this information within such a short amount of time. It also reveals to Envy that she did in fact realize what the homunculi were. She would be the type of person this desperate enough to save her own hide at the expense of others, and if that meant finding a way to kill homunculi then she would've definitely found everything she could about them. He wanted to find out who her sources were, and he would beat the truth out of her until she drew her very last breath. He motioned for Gluttony and Pride to make her stand and hold her by the arms, with Lust standing behind her to be prepared for any deceptive moves. Psiren always seemed to find ways to fool her opponent, but they would not allow that.

"You knew what we were all along, didn't you? How the hell did you get this shit?!" He shook the papers right in her face, but that did not faze her. She stood her ground and stayed silent, looking at the ouroboros mark on his thigh, which made Envy punch her square in the face. "I want a fucking answer now, bitch!"

Clara felt her cheekbone break when he punched her, but despite that and the pain that resulted from it she responded without cowardice. "I won't…tell you asshole… I am sworn to secrecy… Thief's honor." Envy wanted to stab her right then and there. However, another idea popped up in his mind suddenly. He could think creatively during circumstances such as this.

His mad scowl quickly turned into a mocking sneer at the thought of tormenting her more. All of the sudden, he shape shifted his arm into a thick spear and tore a gash over her Alchemy tattoo. "Take away your alchemy, and you're nothing more than just another weakling human. Now we'll see if you'll stick to your 'thief's honor' once he's through with you. Put her up against the wall," He told Gluttony. "And trap her in place with your spears." He told Lust. They both did as they were told, Gluttony pushing her back up to the wall and Lust piercing four of her spears into both her feet and hands, forcing her into an almost spread-eagle position. She held back her whimpers of pain as much as she could, not wanting her torturers to see her act vulnerable. Envy then crumpled up the papers into a sizeable ball and forcefully stuffed it in her mouth by squeezing her jaws open, almost breaking them in the process. "Even if you screamed, I guarantee no one else would hear you since we killed off most of your town, we only saved you for last." The horrified expression he received from her made him grin, satisfied that this got through to her thick head. He beat into her mind about the ones she failed to save, the people of the town she wanted to restore. Now, it was up to Pride to do his part. "Come here Pride, you will get your first lesson in torturing a human." The blonde obeyed by coming forth but still remained silent, but the silence was certainly not out of meekness. He was trying to stay true to the initial command he was given to be as quiet as possible throughout the mission.

Lust and Gluttony chuckled. "My, won't this be exciting to watch. Give us a good show." Lust said, and winked at Pride.

With authority, Envy proclaimed, "I'll be the only one questioning her. If she does not make a single sound each time I ask her something, you will have a go at her with your scythe. Just gash her wherever and however you want. But make sure not to inflict any fatal blows until I say so."

Pride only nodded in agreement, waiting for the next command with what he felt was excitement stirring within him. After the consumption of so much blood from before, he felt the next feeding urge coming on soon. Being near a human only intensified that urge, he could practically hear their blood flowing in their veins and even smell it. In time, he would need to learn to control this urge if he were expected to travel in broad daylight amongst humans.

"Now, Clara, or should I say phantom thief Psiren, tell us who gave you this information and where we can find them." Clara only narrowed her eyes at him, not voicing a single sound. No matter how hurt or trapped she was right now, it did not measure to her increasing rage toward what they've done. Envy only smirked and said, "You have until the count of three to utter just a single sound out of your pretty lips. 1…2…3… Nothing? Pride, you know what to do now.

Pride went to her left, put the tip of the scythe blade on her armpit, and stabbed it in, moving it downwards and creating a large gash that almost broke her rib bones. Her eyes widened and she screamed through the paper gag, trying to shake her way free from the pain. The huge open wound ended just above where her hips were. He stopped there, waiting for Envy to question her again.

He was getting annoyed at the fact that she was this hard to crack. Envy grabbed her face and pulled it to him. "Focus on me! The pain you're feeling now is nothing compared to what else he'll do to you next. Now tell me who gave you the info and where we can find them!" She immediately make a sound after that second try. Envy took out the paper gag, waiting for an answer. A few moments passed before he became impatient. "Well? TELL US ALREADY!" What happened next somewhat surprised them all. She spit out a ball of her bloody saliva aimed straight at Envy's eye, but Envy being as fast as he was dodged it in time and counteracted by grabbing her neck and squeezing it. "Try that again and you'll be very sorry, you fucking wench!" He reinserted the paper gag back into her mouth forcefully. Then, he stopped Pride before he could land the second blow on her. "Wait a second Pride. Remember how much fun we had dissecting a few other human filth on occasion? This time, I want you to take out one of her lungs. This is another opportunity for you to learn more about human anatomy. That gash is the perfect place to stick your hand up there, grab onto her left lung and rip it out. She doesn't need both." Envy laughed coldly, adding even more insult to what was said.

Pride locked eyes onto her bloody left side, then did as Envy told him. He felt for the lung by going between a couple of her rib bones in the process. This was all done with her thrashing crazily where she was held to try and shake him off, but it didn't break his concentration as much as she thought.. Lust and the others had made sure she stayed in place, he didn't worry too much about her getting loose. He finally got a hold of the large organ and pulled it out of place, then squeezed it right out from between the two rib bones, which have now gone out of place severely due to the pressure Pride exerted onto them. He held out the organ to Envy as a sign of proof, and the other homunculus grinned wickedly, looking at the poor woman who was now hyperventilating, wheezing and almost half naked.

What pleased Envy the most was the fact that he was finally able to break through to her, and it was evident by the way she suddenly burst into tears. Envy wanted to see her squirm and scream and cry from the very beginning, but it apparent that only now did his methods work. He was just one step closer to getting the information he needed out of her. But first, he had to shaken her up a bit more with a little threat he'd been meaning to see get carried out. He stood next to her right side and said loud and clear, "If you don't cooperate with me the third time, let's see if you can hold onto your sanity once he cuts off your breasts! I'm sure you would rather not see those lovely lumps of yours get sliced off in front of you, like pieces of meat at a butcher's shop." He faced her, and she wanted to look away from that sadistic gaze of his which just before she held no fear towards. But if she looked to her left, she would see the scary look of the homunculus called 'Pride'. Instead, she shut her eyes completely and gulped, trying really hard to relax and breathe properly, but now that she was missing one lung from her body it made things all the more difficult. She was bleeding so much, getting light-headed, and feeling so ill that she wanted to barf. She thought it best to just give in. Envy spoke carefully this time, "Tell us who's the fucking dead man that told you this information and where we can find the sorry asswipe."

She immediately mumbled through her gag with teary eyes. She looked utterly devastated and hopeless. She was no fool, she knew what might happen to her. Envy removed the gag again, this time looking at her in a way that told her not to play anymore games with him, because what little patience he had was now running dangerously thin. "It was a few years ago, months after I made the deal with you homunculi…back when I was visiting Central…a large man in a cloak similar to his…came up to me and asked for my Psiren autograph… He offered…to give me the info…in exchange for it…and my promise…to not tell anyone…about this conversation…" She wheezed out her response, her voice cracking at the same time. With each sentence, it was getting harder and harder for her to stop the deterioration of her body. She continued, weeping out, "He…he did not…give me…an identity…or location…and I could not…see his face…under the cloak…" She was getting extremely light-headed now, her body slightly limping down and she was almost on the verge of losing consciousness.

This answer was not good enough for Envy. He did not care what she was going through, he needed more answers and NOW. He punched the wall twice near both sides of her head, but that did little to grab her attention. "Fucking stupid bitch! You're no use to us anymore! PRIDE, I want you to strangle her until she's DEAD."

Both Envy and Lust moved out of the way to make room for Pride, and he then moved in front of her. The blonde homunculus took hold of her neck, then raised her body up with one hand. She was losing strength and could not raise up her hands to pry his grip off her. He didn't notice he was moving his head a bit too far back. His hood suddenly fell, revealing his familiar face to her. Even though he felt it go down, he didn't think much of it. He knew hiding his identity now would be futile, since he was about to kill her. But what he witnessed from her next slightly surprised him. Before he added on the last bit of pressure to instantly kill her, he noticed her bloodshot eyes widen when she saw his face. 'You! But how…' She was unable to speak out her thoughts of shock, but her eyes said everything. They displayed her last spark of life, right before he squeezed her neck just enough to crush it. 'Yes, death, take me please…', was her last fleeting thought before her desire was fulfilled. He let go and her body slumped to the ground. Before he looked at the other homunculi, he put his hood back up. His bloodlust was rising again, but he resisted the urge until one of the others spoke to him.

Envy was too pissed off to say anything, so Lust was the one who congratulated him instead. "Good work, Pride. I hope you had fun." She said with a smile.

Pride said smirking underneath his hood. "It was fun, felt good to have her life in the palm of my hands." He was starting to realize how much he really enjoyed making humans miserable and scared. Envy was already leaving his mark on him. Using humans as nothing but a food source also contributed to his sadism.

The female homunculus then turned to Envy and said, "We should let them feast on the spoils before we leave." She was clearly referring to Pride and Gluttony.

Envy was still mad at the fact that he received no straight answers from Psiren. This whole interrogation seemed all for naught, however, the clues she gave may give them a few leads. He needed to keep looking for clues around Amestris, and alert Dante and, of course, Father of this mystery person. All he knew was that it was a man of very tall stature who was most likely an alchemist like Psiren, although far more advanced in the science than her. With apparent moodiness in his voice, Envy told Lust, "Let them do whatever the hell they want but tell them to hurry up, I have other things to focus on now…"

Lust noticed his sour mood, but did not say anything else to him in the meantime. Instead, she focused her sights on the other two homunculi who were currently eying the body on the ground. "Dig in, boys. Pride gets to go first, as usual."

"Gladly." Pride took off his hood, definitely knowing the coast was clear, and made a wicked, and borderline crazy, grin. He pounced on the body, with his scythe in hand, and tore open her body from the huge gash he inflicted on her, breaking every bone in the process to get to her center. He was aiming to get a hold of one area in particular.

As Pride was doing this, he unintentionally made a certain other homunculus impatient and hungry just by witnessing him tearing at the dead woman's corpse. "Aww…but I'm hungry right now…" Gluttony whined but quickly fell silent and obeyed her immediately when she glared at him warningly.

Envy spoke up again, but not really to any of them in particular. "We need to find this unknown asshole and end him. I say we track down EVERY part of the godforsaken country where we've left our mark or where any alchemists lived. We cannot risk any of the human ingrates learning of our existence and of ways to destroy us. Father will definitely give us the okay to start widespread massacres once we make it known to him that someone somewhere in this country is out to get us all." Lust was the only one that looked at him, although Pride was still aware enough to tune into the speech. However, any second now and he would be sucked so heavily into his feast that he wouldn't give much thought about his surroundings. This was not a new experience for them to witness and partake in, as he's done this countless of times today.

Pride finally found the one part of the body he was looking for the most-her heart. He ripped it out of place, then with great force deeply sucked all the blood out of it until it shrunk a few times down its original size. Then he went on to the other parts of the corpse where blood was a plenty. After he was sure he finished, he snapped out of his feeding trance, hyperventilating slightly, then looked at the others with a faraway look and most of his face painted with blood. The size of his irises were reverting back to the way they were before the feed, but the color noticeably change, albeit even a little. Instead of them appearing completely yellow-amber-gold like before, their very centers were showing off a darker shade of purple. Both the yellow and purple were dissolved together, so it wasn't a solid purple yet. Once the size of his eyes went back to normal, his pupils noticeably increased a bit in size as well. Edward did always have expressive, unique eyes, which carried on over to Pride. But as a typical homunculus, he was now sorely lacking a number of things his past identity had. "I have finished." The blonde said nonchalantly, as if nothing happened, as he walked away from the unrecognizable corpse, satisfied. Gluttony gleefully and impatiently jumped at the corpse next, quickly swallowing it whole followed by any of the other dismembered parts down with it.

Envy eyed Pride's visible changes for a few seconds, not as enthusiastic about them as he was the first time, but he was content that the blonde was finally changing for the worse. It went in line with what Father wanted, and most importantly what he wanted in order to enact his long-term vengeance. Pride displayed sadistic tendencies already, sure, but the older sin knew Pride still had a long way to go before he would make him into a complete monster.

"It seems our work in this watered down town is done. There's only one more hour until sunrise." Lust said with not a trace of worry in her voice.

"You think we'll make it back in time?" Pride asked out of curiosity, adding onto what Lust said. It wasn't that he lacked confidence in his speed, but it was beneficial to get answers from the eldest in charge.

All the other three homunculi stood feet in front of Envy, essentially waiting for the next command. "Let's go, we have our speed to rely on, and various shortcuts. The closest sewer entrance is a few miles away from Central City. Besides, even if humans see us in broad daylight they'll be stupid enough to recognize who we are. And of course, a certain someone has a cloak on, so they should be the last person to worry about that." He spat out the last sentence specifically in Pride's direction.

Pride wanted to snap at him for even suggesting someone like him worried at all! "I don't worry about a damn thing! I only wanted to know, Envy."

Envy laughed aloud mockingly. "Right, sure you aren't, runt." Pride locked eyes on Envy, giving him an almost deadly look. Envy responded in kind, before he turned around and, annoyed, said, "C'mon, we don't have all day to fool around with dumb questions. The old man is waiting for us." That was Pride's queue to dematerialize his scythe. All four of them raced out of the town with their fastest speed. Pride, now pumped up with a whole ton of blood in his system, was able to catch up with Envy and ran with him side by side. And he was just about to bypass Envy. When the older homunculus noticed this, he stopped Pride, with the other two stopping nearby witnessing this, and he pushed him to a nearby crumbling old wall, causing a few blocks to fall out. Pride, now in slight shock from the hit, still was able to stand his ground and regain his balance. Envy, not satisfied with his unsuccessful attempt at overpowering the blonde, seethed out, "Do not go ahead of me, always stay behind me! You're still an idiot who wouldn't know your head from your ass if I wasn't here to guide you through your pathetic existence!" True to his namesake, Envy was getting jealous of the fact that Pride was out-speeding him. Pride already held the highest sin name, which Envy questioned from the very beginning, he was not going to have the little bastard outdo him in his abilities either! 'It was all that damn blood he fed on! I'll need to put him on a diet.' Envy knew the blood would increase Pride's overall powers and abilities, but not this much and this soon! Then again, if he did force the blonde to stop consuming blood, two outcomes would occur: Envy would not be able to transform him into a total evil bastard, and Father would eventually find out and punish Envy for being a piss-poor mentor. Both outcomes served to be disadvantageous for him.

Pride only smirked at him cockily. "What's the matter, Envy? Getting pissed off over the fact that you're slower than me now? You know you're wasting our time over your pointless competitiveness, right? Thinking about your insecurities and low self-esteem all the time isn't beneficial."

"Smartass little shit!" Envy growled out and aimed a punch in his face. His fist did not hit flesh, instead it hit the crumbling wall located behind the blonde. He missed Pride's face by an inch, because the blonde quickly moved his head out of the way. The younger homunculus counteracted by elbowing Envy in his solar plexus, knocking the agile homunculus off balance and falling ass first on the ground. In return, Envy figured the only way he could subdue him on the ground, and that was by knocking him off his feet. Pride tumbled down to the ground next to him, and Envy quickly saw this as an opportunity to trap him on the ground by hovering over his body and stabbing him through his palms. Then, he sat on Pride's midsection and started crushing him, forcing a gasp out of the blonde. "Can't do shit now that I've stabbed you right in your weak points, huh smartass?! You might be able to out-race me, but even you have your weaknesses. And if you keep antagonizing me, I'll keep finding ways to use them against you."

Pride grinded his teeth together and narrowed his eyes at Envy. He soon felt liquid coming out of his palms, realizing he was bleeding out some of the blood he's previously consumed along with some of the red stone fluid that liquefied in his system. He looked to one of his palms and saw what his thoughts confirmed. He became really mad really quick. "Fucking…asshole…GET OFF ME!" He grounded out. Pride was about to strike back, with his head and teeth, but his 'savior' spoke just in time.

"Envy…now is not the time for your childish sibling squabbling with him. We need to get back to the lair as quick as possible." Lust spoke. She literally viewed the whole fight as nothing more than pointless shenanigans that she wished she didn't witness. If this was how they were going to act like every time, then she'd rather go out with Gluttony alone.

Envy listened to her and let go of Pride, towering over the blonde and giving him a menacing glare. Pride only returned a similar expression Lust was always the one to knock reason back into him when his temper took over while they were doing missions together. But even so, he still suppressed the urge to strike at the blonde, specifically by wanting to kick him in the shin now when he had the chance. He decided on waiting until later to continue beating the shit out of him. "Get the fuck up and let's go…" Envy finally said, trying to calm himself down.

With his palms healing up immediately, Pride stood up from the grassy ground, noticing the two wet spots that were left behind. The blood that was shed from him got lost in the dirt forever. He looked away from the ground and glared at Envy. They did not need to say anymore, they all knew what to do next. Envy ran off first, followed by Lust, then Gluttony, and lastly Pride, who decided best to stay a good distance away from the asshole when they ran. He also didn't want them to waste anymore time, since they still had a long way to go.

They returned to the closest sewer entrance Envy mentioned before almost right on time, just as the sun rose in the distance. After that point, Pride took off the cloak and held it. The walk to the actual lair was almost entirely silent. They passed by where Sloth usually would be, but she was not there at the moment. Wild, little Wrath was also nowhere to be found. He was probably called upon by Father. Father actually told Envy that it was about time the boy had a weapon of his own from now on when he tagged along during missions. It wouldn't do for Wrath to have nothing to use besides his default homunculus abilities. Like Pride, he had no special powers of his own but Father is currently working on that. The four returning homunculi headed straight for his throne room. To Pride's surprise, both Sloth and Wrath were already there talking with him. He finally saw all the other homunculi together in the same room, a sight which he imagined would be pretty rare to witness yet here it was right in front of him.

With everyone in the lair currently in one room, Envy didn't exactly care if the others heard what he was about to say or if he even interrupted anything. What he had in mind was more important for Father now than any other petty issues. "We took care of the minor problem in that cruddy city. Everyone has been eliminated, including the phantom thief. But the good news ends there."

Father looked at Envy seriously. "Elaborate as much as possible, Envy. We now have all the time in the world to listen."

"Yes, we all need to listen, because it concerns us homunculi and the pesky human alchemists who've become too nosy for their own good." Envy took out the now dried out, but blood-stained, crumpled sheets of paper they found from Psiren's home and handed them to Father. "We might have gone overboard with the stains, but there's a good portion of it with legible writing. We had to tortured her for any leads on how she got all this information about us. Some clues were given, but no clear-cut answers. She said a large man in a dark cloak gave her all this years ago, and he didn't give her his identity. If such a low-end alchemist like her could get a hold of this, I wonder how easy other alchemist all across Amestris could too. And we have no idea who this mystery guy is! He could be anywhere these days."

Father spoke while clutching the armrests of his throne, "Yes, this is indeed concerning. So what are you proposing we do to be rid of this issue?" He spoke calmly, with any hint of worry or paranoia in his voice.

Envy grinned smartly. "Shouldn't it be obvious? I say we continue going on killing sprees upon all the small cities and towns in this damned country where alchemists live or have lived, along with any place we homunculi have passed through and left our mark on them with the stones. We cannot risk having these filthy humans learning about our existence and trying to snuff us out!"

"You are all right to be extremely paranoid. With their limited mindset and intelligence, humans do tend to find ways to ruin what we have laid out for them. However, it would be unrealistic to target all the places you've described. We must only focus on destroying those with least significance, places and people that are of a lower stock. Although keep in mind, we don't want to cause a mass genocide of their whole species. You may target most of these lesser places when I give you the command to do so. However, Central and its four other sister districts need to remain largely untouched for now, unless I say otherwise. I have big plans for their populations, and they might take years to be carried out. All of you will need to be put to great use for what I have in store." He looked at every one of them individually.

All the homunculi grinned in their own signature ways, but Pride was actually the one to speak first. "Gladly, Father. I enjoyed tonight's trip very much." The only thing Pride didn't enjoy was Envy fighting him again, but he kept that memory at the back of his mind.

Father eyed him proudly, taking note of the color change in Pride's eyes. "That's good to hear from your mouth, Pride. It looks like you've feasted quite a lot this morning, it's evident you are full of enough energy and power now." He focused his attention on the others in the room. "Now, is there anything else any of you need to state? If not then you are all dismissed. Except Pride."

Pride smirked in Envy's direction when Father said this, earning him a scowl from the green-haired sin, before Envy turned to leave. When he and the others left, Pride said, "Let me guess, my pants are ready?" The younger blonde said this with pure confidence.

Father nodded, finding Pride's new-found liveliness amusing. "Yes, they are." He reached into one of his long, deep pockets and pulled out the leathery cloth, holding it out to Pride. "They should be able to fit just like the other clothes I've given you."

Pride reached for them, then out of gratitude said, "Thank you, Father, now I'll finally be out of this annoying thing that looks too much like his…" Father actually laughed in response to this.

"I understand why you're trying to stray as much as possible from resembling Envy, and it's alright to do so. If that was the reason why you requested the pants you should've told me."

Pride shook his head. "That wasn't the only reason. They were too uncomfortable. I feel like I would work best while wearing pants and not that ridiculous thing." He looked at the pants, then down below at his lower body, still not quite satisfied yet. He forgot to ask Father for shoes too, but he figured the pants would have to do for now. He'll be asking for too much if he told him now. There was always next time.

Father smiled, still amused at this whole exchange. "Fair enough, my son." Without another word, Pride headed out finally satisfied that he was getting somewhere with what he wanted.

When he entered his room, he immediately took off the annoying skort and undid the pants from their fold. Before he put them on, he took a glance at the markings all over his lower body then traced them up to his upper body, wondering what their purpose was on him and why the others don't have elaborate marking like this. Except for the elaborate markings, he recognized the two red circles located on the outer side of his hands, along with two lines of different length trailing up to them on each arm and eerily appearing the glow on top of his gloves. He also noticed similar straight red lines trailing down the back side of his legs and going underneath his feet. He picked up his feet and noticed the same red circle nodes from his hands located underneath his feet. The only mark he shares in common with the others is the one on his left shoulder, the ouroboros mark. It didn't occur to him to ask Father before when he had the chance to, but he would have the opportunity to do ask him this also next time around. He put the pants on then sat up on the bed, staring at the abandoned skort he threw on the floor nearby for a long while.

He's been largely confused about his 'family' so far, but that confusion was decreasing and certainty was taking its place. It was the certainty about his position amongst the others, his true purpose to be something great. And he would do so regardless of Envy pestering him or not. He can finally be able to hold his head up high towards that asshole, with every feed he has, and not worry as much about being victimized. The next time the androgynous hot-head tries to hit him, for whatever reason, he would be able to defend himself, and at least be on equal standing with him.

Pride suddenly had a idea. He didn't want to be cooped up in his room the whole day, and he now remembered a few pathways of the lair that he could easily explore. Even if he was still too young to be out travelling on the upper world on his own, Father didn't forbid him from travelling a bit within their own lair, and everything appeared to be very quiet now. Everyone probably stepped out to do Gate knows what. Even Envy, who hated his guts for whatever reason he'll probably never realize, just seemed to vanish as well. Speaking of him, Pride had something in mind for the skort that looked very much like his. He grabbed it from the floor then headed out, appearing to know exactly where he was going.

ENDING NOTE: The song used is 'Seek and Destroy' by none other than Metallica. This is yet another band I admire, and this won't be the only song I'll use from them either.

You can listen to it here: watch?v=MVM8DUhdLyo

I would appreciate it if you let me know what you guys think, I'd like to receive as much feedback as possible. And if there are any spelling/grammar mistakes, do NOT make that the only point in your feedback. I'd like to hear about my story TELLING, first and foremost.