Lumina- This is my second challenge pairing (After I switched the order around), also known as my EnvyPride story. It's aimed at the angsty side, and I hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer- I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. If I did, God forbid...
Chapter 1- One of the Lost Ones
Pride sat all alone, outside the mansion all seven of the sins called home. He wouldn't have been there alone had Envy actualy kept his promise to the little sin. But wasn't that just like Envy, to keep the new recruit waiting? Dante would be angry if she ever found out about this, as would Hohenheim. His oldest son ignoring his younger brother? It was simply out of the question, and should have ceased to exist, but it didn't, and Pride couldn't help but feel rejected as he sat there, enjoying his own company.
Then again, why should anyone have to respect him? He was new, and still had his memories of when he was just plain old Edward Elric. Not to say he even wanted to keep these memories. More than anything, Pride prayed to forget, because the simple displeasure of just losing Al was enough to bring tears to his eyes. He thought of his past, and all of the memories that would haunt him until he changed into a full fledged sin. A few tears glinted in the remaining drops of sunlight as the sin had his first moments of realization, regret, fear and forgetting.
The more I feel,
The more I die...
And sure enough, there was that steady current of change going through him, begging to be brought out as the memories slowly faded away. His thoughts and memories of Al, his brother, would all be forgotten more quickly than he could recite them to begin with.
"N-no..." He whimpered to himself, trying to hold on to the flashbacks that filled his mind. His brother came quickly, a few hundred, no thousand flashes of dark, blond hair, and bronze eyes... "Al! Don't leave me!" And then it was gone; All of it was gone...
Nothing to give,
Nothing inside...
When his younger brother faded, he saw Envy standing in his place, holding out his hand to the young homunculus. Pride wanted to flinch, wanted to run from one of the people who had helped to ruin his life. But Envy could not be called a person. He would be better described as a monster, destroying the lives he wanted to destroy, and possessing the others that got in his way.
"What's wrong, Chibi? You look upset." Pride did, after all, have tears rolling down his face as he struggled to grasp onto the memory that was still his brother.
"Envy, what's happening to me?" Pride choked, hoping the elder homunculus would understand his need for an embrace. Instead, he was offered a hand that was accompanied by a strong look of remourse. Envy lifted the young sin to his feet, giving him a pat on the back and a slight smirk before moving towards the front doors of the mansion. "Listen to me! I want to see my brother!" It shocked Envy that Pride was still remembering bits of his pas, so, grabbing the little sin by the front of his shirt, and staring straight into his eyes, Envy answered in the coldest, most vile voice Pride was sure he had ever heard.
"Chibi, you leave him right were he is. Don't you remember what you did? You ruined his life. He's perfectly normal now. Don't ruin it for him again." The sin was placed back down on the ground as his older brother entered the front of the mansion, not bothering to look back for even a second. His heart pumped faster and the tears were free-flowing as Pride, the newest sin, sat down and burried his head in his arms. Had he really caused Al that much harm? He couldn't doubt it. Maybe Pride was a mistake... No, he knew he was one...
Everything I touch, I break.
He knew deep inside it was the truth. He was somebody's fuck up, just like all the rest of the sins were, and he would have to learn to accept it. Thinking on this more and more, he just ended up despising himself. He couldn't help but dwell on the fact he was no longer normal. No, he was a monster.
I wanna break you.
He hated Envy, hated him with all his black little heart, hated all those sins, Greed, Lust, Wrath, Sloth, and Gluttony. Why did he have to be one of them? Why did God hate him so?
Everything I touch, I break.
And oh how he hated that Dante woman. After all, she'd been the one to hand-pick him as the next Pride.
I wanna break you.
And was he the reason his father had lost his wits as well? After all, it was only after he was born that Hohenheim walked out on the family. Al too, but he doubted Al was the reason.
Everything I touch, I break.
Everything was his fault. He hated himself.
I wanna break you down.
"Chibi, come on. Quit crying, or Mother's going to think I've hit you or something." Envy had walked back outside so quietly that Pride hadn't even noticed him.
"It would be better if you did hit me, I mean if I am honestly as useless as I feel right now," Pride said, finally allowing his head to rise and look up at his older brother, expecting him to take this as encouragement. What happened next was extraordinary, as Envy knelt down next to him and embraced the shivering sin. It was starting to rain. "E-Envy?" Pride had a startled look in his eyes amongst the tears.
"Look, Pride, you're not useless. All of us see something or another in you. Now stop whinging and come inside so I can show you around to your room." Pride followed the green-haired sin a long ways around the mansion, which was relatively larger than he'd imagined it would be. All the same, Envy didn't let him lose his way, and grasped his wrist the entire time it took to get to the chibi's room.
The stopped short when they passed Greed. He snarled at the young sin, and even though Pride both felt and looked threatened, Envy did nothing to ease his fears. Wrath was sitting in the hallway, and he gave Envy a very large and admiring smile. Envy ignored this as well, and Pride began to see how Envy was, in many ways, just like him. An outcast.
I scratch and tear,
Until it bleeds...
"So Chibi, what do you think?" Pride was confused, but perked up when he saw how large his room was. It had all of those comforts, kind of like pillows and cushions, but aside from that, it also had its own bathroom. He would never have to leave his comfort zone.
I do not want...
Envy looked him up and down, enjoying the expression plastered on his face.
I only need...
"It's great..." He was still in awe.
I only need...
"Happy to hear it Chibi. We're sharing a room, so you'd better get used to me." Pride looked up, confused if he was hearing things, or if Envy had just said what he thought he'd said.
"You actually want to share a room with me?" Envy shrugged.
I only need...
"It was either you or that little brat Wrath, and I'd choose your depression over his whining anyday." Pride smiled. Sure he was aware of the fact that Envy was calling him Chibi, and he hated that name, hated it with a passion. Then again, being small could prove useful in one way or another. Wrath always seemed content, being that he was the same height as Pride now. He could cope with it just fine...
And then Pride's thoughts swung once more to his brother, the one Envy said he had ruined the live of. He could remember something about a failed transmutation, his brother becoming a bodyless suit of armor, or rather being trapped in one, and he could remember seeing his mother as Sloth. Yes, Sloth, mother. He would have to go consult her, tell her how much he missed her and how much he cared. Even in her current state, he still saw her as a mother, that that was all that mattered.
"So Chibi, ready to get reintroduced to the other recruits?" Pride nodded, unsure of exactly how Envy would react to his new string of confidence. The elder sin simply cocked an eyebrow and smirked. "Well, if you're sure..." Of course he was sure, wasn't he?
It was only when he was placed in front of Greed that he began to have second thoughts. After all, the Ultimate Shield had never been given a reputation for being the most friendly thing in the world. Envy imediately saw the look Greed was giving the chibi, who looked helpless, young, timid, and afraid. "Now what have we here, but the new Pride? Yes, Lust told me all about you." Envy glared.
"And how did she know about this?"
"Everyone knows, Envy. And everyone can't wait to meet him. Oh no, they can hardly contain themselves." Greed licked his lips and gave Pride a look that could scare anyone half to death. Those sharp teeth didn't look too friendly either.
"Very well then," Envy replied, motioning for the newest sin to folow him. Anything to get away from Greed, and those damn teeth, Pride thought to himself as he stroled alongside Envy, beginning to wish he had something to cling to. He considered the green-haired sin, but thought again, remembering Envy had been the one to kill him. When he finally looked up, it seemed they'd reached the kitchen.
Lust and Gluttony stood together, the female sin examining a book as the larger one raided the refridgerator.
"And who's this?" Lust asked, though Envy was sure she already knew exactly who it was. Then she saw one of the many markings on the sin's arm. "Envy, it's a bad idea to be introducing him to all of us before..."
"Honestly Lust, you think I'm that stupid?" Envy asked, as though the answer should be obvious. Lust ignored this and looked to Pride. She examined him, and suprisingly, gave the chibi a small smile.
"Keep him away from Greed. He's a cute one, so make sure he stays safe." She patted the young sin on the head before turning her attention back to her reading material.
"Who's he?"
A voice Pride could still recognize was emitted from behind him as he turned to stop and stare at the sins known as Wrath. However, his line of vision only lingered there for mere moments before he looked up to see Sloth standing behind Wrath. The equivalent of his mistake stood before his very eyes.
Everything I touch, I break.
He could very distinctly remember his mother just by looking at her face. It was almost exactly the same, and Pride cherished the moment as though it were his most prized treasure. It seemed that Sloth recognized him as well, knowing Pride as one of the two boys who called her their mother, despite all of her and Wrath's protests. "Well, well, well..." She began as Pride felt almost sure he would cry. And he did.
Pride cried right there in front of five of the other sins, and the most Envy would do was roll his eyes. However, Sloth saw his fear, and as she lightly pushed wrath out of the way, stepped over to the newest sin and wrapped her arms around him, muttering gently words of encouragement and hope. Then, with an evil glare, she expressed her feelings to Envy. "He's new here! At least try to make him feel wanted!" And somehow, deep inside, Pride could remember what this embrace felt like, tracing back many years ago. It seemed he had once again been accepted as her son.
The sin could feel Wrath's eyes staring at him, unforgiving and distressed. Sloth didn't seem to mind however, when the young sin began to throw a fit, and she addressed him as though he was also her son. "Quiet down now, little one. We musn't make your brother feel unwanted." One arm unraveled itself from Pride's back as Sloth held it out for Wrath. He took the hint, running to his mother and her open embrace. She seemed to be accepting both of the boys as her own, and Pride was, for the first time since he'd changed, happy.
Pride could cope with having his mother back, could cope with these homunculus even if it meant sharing the mansion with Greed. Pride could take all of these new responsibilities and surroundings with no problem at all.
But what the Ed inside of the sin couldn't handle was the fact that his younger brother Al, who he'd been with most of his life, was being replaced by Wrath. The idea of it tore at him, the statement, when echoing inside of his head, ripped him apart until Pride felt that he wanted to pull Ed out, kill him off, make him dissapear, banish him from his memory and his mind.
I wanna break you.
And from the inside, Ed tried to do exactly the same with his homunculus counterpart.
Everything I touch, I break.
Pride fought against it, though. Fought against those screams of pain and worry and blocked out the cries of torture as best he could allow.
"You can't just shut me out! This is my body! Stop already! I can't stay here!" The Edward Elric who had been pushed to the back of the sin's mind was pounding at a gate, which looked not unlike the other one he'd visited several times in his life. He could hear Pride's laughter, and after that, uncertainty as it bounced through the darkness. This mind was, if anything, uninviting.
I wanna break you.
Pride huffed to himself, now in a rage. This was Ed's body? Bullshit it was.
Everything I touch, I break.
"Stop this..." Ed's voice was pleading now, more so than it had been a while back. "Give me back my body, and let me see my brother. Please... I can't live like this." Ed controlled some of the emotions though, and Pride felt close to tears again. Damnit, he couldn't cry again, not in front of everyone.
So instead he smirked evilly, not ignoring the voice in his head. Not anymore. "You should have said 'we.'"
Those were the last words Edward hear, echoing in the darkness, before the gate to Pride's mind closed him off, leaving him alone to sit and think on his mistake.
I wanna break you down.
"Come on Chibi, time for the rest of your grand tour." And for the rest of that day, Pride was led around the mansion by homunculus, who could better be described as his family.
Lumina- So what did you think? I suppose I could make this a oneshot, depending on my reviews and how many I get. (Ahem.) So give me your thoughts, everyone. And if anyone is wondering, the lyrics in this song, which are in italics, are by Stabbing Westward. The song is called Everything I Touch. If you listen to that while you read this, it might help to create more of a feel... I wrote this while I listened.