Yo! My first Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood story that's not a crossover! It's about time!

Summary: "Humanity has always been plagued by the seven sins, and now they have physical forms, thanks to that bastard. What if I fought fire with fire?" - Van Hohenheim.

Note: The picture I've given this story shows Stoicism.

Disclaimer: Me no own Fullmetal Alchemist. Me only own ideas for Hohenheim's Homunculi and the OC Stoicism. I also do not own the song "My Immortal" by Evanescence.

"So who's this guy you want to talk to?" Ed asked Riza curiously.

Riza frowned. "He's the eighth homunculus, created shortly after the last Sin was made. He calls himself Stoicism the Apathetic, and he'll tell you anything you want to know if you ask. Within reason, of course."

Ed rubbed his chin. "I see. The Sins' creator would have nothing but apathy left, so he extracted that as well, huh?"

Al nodded. "Sure seems that way."

"We're here." Riza announced, stopping at a small shack that was starting to fall into disrepair.

"Come in." A voice called when Rose knocked on the door. The girl nodded and pushed it open, allowing them entry.

A teenage boy with blond, unkempt hair tied back in a ponytail (except for two front bangs), warm amber eyes, and a five-o'clock shadow greeted them, waving from an armchair Ed felt like he was looking in a mirror. "Riza Hawkeye, Edward and Alphonse Elric." The homunculus glanced at Rose. "I'd ask who you are, but it's of no interest to me."

"Certainly lives up to his name." Rose muttered. Stoicism smirked.

"That I do." He waved a hand around his messy house. "If I knew you were coming, I'd have entertained the possibility of cleaning up."

He turned to Riza. "Every time you visit me, you want information. So what do you want to know this time?"

"We want photos and descriptions of the seven Sin homunculi." Riza told him, getting down to business. "Can you give them to us?"

The teen shrugged. "Sure. You'll know eventually anyway, so I might as well speed things up a bit."

He dug out a stack of photos and a piece of paper. "This has basic descriptions of the Sins' mannerisms and methods of taking action." He waved the sheet, before holding up the photos. "And I think you can guess what these are."

He pointed to the photos. "The beautiful woman is Lust. She can sharpen and extend her fingernails to be deadly short and mid-range daggers or lances. The fat one is Gluttony. He has a false Gate of Truth inside him that leads to a bloody unending wasteland instead of to the Gate. When his stomach turns into a black hole with jaws and a ringed eye, he can swallow anything in that eye's line of sight, and it will end up there. Escaping from there is impossible, so be very careful when fighting him."

He held up the next photo. "This is Envy. He can shape-shift into anyone, making him a great spy and infiltrator. His true form is a giant green monster with great strength and resilience, so he's also a tough opponent. And this is Greed. He can harden his body into what he calls his 'Ultimate Shield'. It's really just the carbon in his skin changed to a dense, unbreakable form. Something that alchemy can easily disable. He's also a deserter, so he's an enemy of the other six. And the large one is Sloth. I've no idea where he's at now. He's very lazy and finds everything to be a pain, but when angered he is the fastest Homunculus. A weakness to his speed is that he's too fast to change direction."

Stoicism held up the last two photos. "These show Wrath and Pride, but that's the one thing I cannot tell you. You see, I am loyal to no one with one exception. That exception is Wrath."

"As it is, Wrath happens to be my favorite brother, and giving you the key to defeating him is something I don't want to do. I despise Pride, but he and Wrath work closely together, and to inform you about one would give away too much about the other."

Stoicism eyed Riza speculatively. "I already know your next question. You want to know about the remaining three virtue Homunculi, don't you? Very well."

He leaned back in his chair. "Edward is Temperance, Alphonse is Humility, Riza is Patience, and the girl I just remembered is called Rose Thomas is Charity. You're missing Diligence, Chastity, and Kindness."

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I don't know anything about Kindness. All I've heard is that she works close to Fuhrer Bradley. Chastity the Wise is the Elrics' teacher, one Izumi Curtis." Ed and Al paled.

"The Elrics and Riza also know the person who became Diligence the Persistent." Stoicism burst out laughing. "But I won't tell you who that is. You'll know soon enough and it'll be a very entertaining sight! Too bad I'll miss it, but your affairs are no concern of mine."

"How do you know all this?" Ed blurted out.

Riza chose to answer that one. "While Stoicism is unconcerned about most things, knowledge is not one of them. He has a vast network of informants under him, who find any information he wants. In return, he gives them information they want but can't find for themselves."

Stoicism nodded. "The Virtue Homunculi, created by Ed and Al's father Hohenheim, have Philosopher's Stones attached to their souls as well as to their bodies. That means that you have the instant regeneration and are ageless and almost immortal. However, you have no special powers, and if your bodies haven't fully matured yet, they will grow as they normally would have. Which means that Ed won't be short forever."

"You bastard!" Ed yelled out, jumping at Stoicism with clenched fists. Before Riza could warn him, he bounced off an invisible shield and crashed heavily into a bookshelf.

"That's my unique ability." Stoicism smirked. "I can block out anything I don't want physical contact with. Anyway, unlike the Sins, the Seven can perform alchemy without a circle, even though, with the exception of Ed, Al, and Izumi, they haven't been through the Gate. Don't ask me how that works, I've no clue. I doubt even Hohenheim understands."

The teenager sighed and stood up. "And now I'm going to take a nap. If you need anything else, come back another time. Or don't. I don't care either way."

Riza nodded. "Alright guys, let's go. Resembool awaits."

Stoicism watched them leave, grinning evilly once the door closed. "Resembool, huh? Then they really will meet Diligence soon." He shrugged. "I just hope she doesn't kill them, they are rather entertaining."

Riza's gaze sharpened when she noticed a middle-aged man pass by the train they were on. "Doctor Marcoh!" She yelled, leaning out the window. "Is that you?"

The man eyed her fearfully for a second, before running away. Riza cursed.

"Friend of yours?" Ed asked as the four chased the man.

"He served in Ishval." Riza told the others. "He disappeared right after that, taking all his research with him."

"The townspeople said he lives here." Al said, opening the door to a small house.

"Stay back!" The scared man yelled, firing a shot at them. Rose fell backwards with a hole in her forehead.

"That's one time I died." She remarked calmly, getting back up. Marcoh watched in fear as the bullet wound closed in seconds.

"Homunculi..." He whispered in shock. "Why have you come here? To silence me?"

"Nothing of the sort." Riza stepped forward, trying to calm him down. "We just want to talk."

"I remember you." Marcoh observed, lowering his gun. "You were there in Ishval." He frowned, thinking hard about something, before he stepped to one side. "Alright. Come on in."

"So what is it you want?" The doctor asked, once they were all comfortably seated.

"Why did you leave?" Riza asked instantly.

"I couldn't bear to stay with the military." Marcoh sighed. "The things I was ordered to do... I couldn't take it. I grabbed all of my research notes and fled as soon as the war was over."

"What were you doing research on?" Rose asked curiously.

"The Philosopher's Stone." The man whispered.

Ed shot up. "Is there any way we could study your notes?"

The man stared at him in shock and anger. "You must not seek that thing! It is the devil's research and I am ashamed I was ever involved in it!"

Marcoh scowled. "Besides, Homunculus, you already have a Stone inside you. That's how your kind functions, isn't it? Why do you want my knowledge?"

"I didn't ask to be immortal!" Ed shouted. "I want to study your notes to find out as much about the Stone as I can, so that I can find a more humane way of creating them!"

The doctor sighed again, before writing something down on a piece of paper. "Here." He said, handing it to Ed. "This is where you'll find my research. Look closely and maybe you'll find the truth hidden within the truth."

The man closed his eyes and leaned back. Seeing the subtle dismissal, the four travelers left.

"These wounds won't seem to heal." Winry sang softly, standing on the balcony of her room and staring off into the distance. "This pain is just too real, there's just too much that time cannot erase."

"Winry." Pinako sighed, stepping up next to her. "Stop singing sad songs. It's starting to get depressing."

Winry eyed her grandmother sadly. "I just wish Ed and Al would come back, or call, or send a letter. It's like they vanished forever those few years ago."

Pinako noticed something in the distance and smirked. "I'm sure they'll be back soon."

"They'd better be." Winry muttered. "I need Ed or Al to explain why the hell a mass of souls stuck inside me calls me Diligence the Persistent all the time."

"Hey, Winry!" A cheerful voice yelled, causing both Rockbell women to turn and stare at the owner. An armor-free Al and an unknown girl were waving happily with their free hands intertwined, while Ed walked slightly behind them, accompanied by a woman Winry recognized as Riza Hawkeye. Winry blinked. That she did not expect. So she responded the way she usually did.

Riza's bullet met the wrench halfway through and deflected its trajectory to an unoccupied grassy spot.

"What the hell, Winry?" Ed yelled. "We just came back and this is how you greet us?"

The girl just laughed.

"What the hell?" Winry moaned weakly, eyeing the shattered debris of Ed's arm.

"Yeah, sorry." Ed grunted, taking a sip of coffee and not sounding apologetic at all. "It got a little banged up."

"A little?" Winry repeated faintly. "Ed, do you see what you've done to my beautiful creation? I slaved over this!"

"In fairness, it wasn't really Ed's fault." Riza said. "He was ready to give his own life to stop a mad alchemist killer from hurting Al and Rose."

Winry eyed the other girl. "So you're Rose, huh?" Winry motioned to their still linked hands. "And when exactly did this happen?"

Al blushed. "Well, during the same fight where Ed's arm got destroyed, I was knocked unconscious. Anyway, after a few hours and still no signs of me waking up, Rose was getting panicky. She was saying increasingly private and desperate things in the hope that I would wake up, and I happened to open my eyes when she was in the middle of telling me her feelings towards me."

Winry blinked. "That sounds like something cheesy that only happens in movies."

Ed sighed. "So how soon can you get my arm fixed?"

Winry's gloomy demeanor vanished instantly. "Three days and it'll be good as new!" She smiled.

The evening when Winry finished Ed's arm, everybody was gathered in the Rockbell living room.

"So, Ed." Winry started. "How much longer are you going to be gone?"

"I don't know, Winry." Ed answered truthfully. "In all honesty, I could tear my auto-mail off right now and my real arm would grow back within seconds, but I don't want to do that yet. There's a series of fights we're going to get into and a metal arm is an advantage I plan to keep until it's all over."

Pinako exhaled smoke. "What kind of fights, exactly?"

Ed leaned forward in his chair. "Over a year ago, me and Al woke up to find his body and my leg restored. We both had Philosopher's Stones attached to us. It turns out that there's a group of Homunculi, almost immortal artificial humans, who seek to somehow destroy this country soon. Seven people in Amestris have become Homunculi of the virtues, and our purpose is to eliminate the Sin Homunculi before they finish their plan."

"You said 'your purpose'." Pinako observed. "Are you four part of those 'Seven'?

"Wait, I got this." Winry frowned, thinking. "If I remember right, the virtues are humility, chastity, charity, kindness, diligence, temperance, and patience. Hmm... Al is Humility. He's always been modest."

Al nodded. Winry turned to Riza. "From what I remember when I last saw you, you have a calm demeanor. I'm guessing you're Chastity, Temperance, or Patience."

Riza smiled. "I'm Patience. Ed's Temperance."

Winry blinked in surprise, before turning to Rose. "And you seem nice, so I'll say you're Kindness."

"You flatter me." Rose laughed. "No, I'm Charity."

"Anyway, what we're doing now is going around the country, trying to find the rest of the Seven. Once that's done, we'll track down Hohenheim, since he's the one who did this to us and he should know what to do next. That's what my Stone told me when I asked about him."

Winry looked astonished. "You can speak to your Stone? I can't."

Silence fell.

"Winry." Al started in a scared tone. "What did you mean by that?"

"Oh." Winry blushed, embarrassed. "I'm apparently one of the Seven. My Stone keeps on calling me Diligence the Persistent."

"Oh damn." Ed buried his face in his hands. "I'm screwed."

Author's note: Six of the seven have now been revealed.

Humility the Modest - Alphonse Elric

Chastity the Wise - Izumi Curtis

Charity the Generous - Rose Thomas

Kindness –

Diligence the Persistent - Winry Rockbell

Temperance the Restrained - Edward Elric

Patience the Merciful - Riza Hawkeye

A virtual cookie to whoever guesses who Kindness is!