Inerasable Sin

[b]\"Inerasable Sin\"
A fanfiction by Erin Lightning

Chapter IV: The Cost of a Life[/b]

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There was a harsh rap against the door of the small bedroom, nearly causing the boy\'s heart to leap from his chest. Edward couldn\'t bring himself to move, could barely lift one eyelid open to look in the direction the disturbance, mind initially shouting at him to hide, to run. Instinct kicked in; he was going to be raped again if he didn\'t get out of here. However, two very important details kept him fused to the spot.

The first was that the young blonde\'s body probably wouldn\'t handle the stress of an escape right now. Envy had not only taken that innocent part of him last night; he had also managed to make off with much of Ed\'s health. A fever was overtaking the young alchemist, and his stomach felt like a garbage disposal. It hurt to move his torn and blodied limbs, to even utter a syllable through lips pained with bruises for kisses that had been come far too hard, and much too fast.

The second was that Ed was quite sure a homunculus would never knock politely at the door and wait for an answer. In fact, Edward mused, that would be pretty out of ordinary indeed. What, was that palm tree just going to saunter in here, head held high, and say, \"Hey, Hagane, I\'m going to tie you to your bed and rape you mercilessly now, is that okay?\" In fact, Ed would have laughed. Would have, had his mind not immediately told him that the homunculus wasn\'t beyond such tricks. Damn, and Al and Izumi had gone off to get medicine.

But Ed was a risk-taker; he always had been, so he timidly raised his gaze to about the level of the door where the person\'s face would be when it opened, and he braced himself for the worst. \"Come in,\" he muttered feebily.

The oaken gateway clicked softly, a figure of rather masculine stature and sharp, obsidian eyes entered the room. His body was dressed down in military blue, hands covered by white gloves. That same belligerent smirk was pasted on his cocky features, as Roy Mustang brushed a lock of hair from his eyes. \"Good morning, FullMetal.\"

\"Colonel...\"

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\"Sir...\"

Greed was vaguely aware of a gentle hand prodding his great shoulder, and his eyebrows twitched in irritation, eyes squinting tighter closed and body curling up into a little ball. I don\'t want to get up, I don\'t want to leave this bed, or...his clawed hand reached out towards the other side of the bed, seeking the warmth and the delicacy that was Zolf Kimbree\'s flesh. Instead, his nails fell upon empty sheets, and this stirred him. His body shot straight up, and he almost mouthed the words when he caught sight of who was speaking to him.

A cross frown lit Martel\'s features, her hand hesitating several inches from Greed\'s shoulder, which, to his dismay, seemed to have turned to metal several minutes earlier as she had been prodding him. Her short, choppy blonde hair didn\'t really have a style to it, and her thin, lithe body showed teasingly from underneath a black tank top and army pants that were just a size too big. Ah, in another life, perhaps she would be the one on his mind. But not now.

\"Sir, I apologize for waking you. I know you hate being disrupted when-\"

\"Where\'s Bomber?\" Greed mouthed, trying to at least get himself in order. His hair was limp, bangs hanging in his face without the residue of gel to hold them in neat, even spikes. Defenseless without their trademark shades, his eyes seemed almost human. His body, though fit and muscular, lacked all most all requirements of an outfit. But there were other, more important things.

Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. The clicking of a human tongue against the roof of the individual\'s mouth drew Greed\'s attention, and he brightened to see Crimson stalking into the room, maroon suit draped over his agile, freshly cleansed frame. His tiger-eyes, golden and sharp, landed on Greed and his mouth flashed the homunculus a riling grin. \"What\'s the matter Greedy, missing me already?\"

Greed\'s eyes softened, but he tried to hide it. His hand reached for his glasses, on the nearby table, and be placed them on the bridge of his nose with care, so that the smoky lenses his the emotions that he himself couldn\'t. He forced the smallest of combative simpers, replying casually, \"You know I like to keep my possessions close to me.\"

This drew the suspected chuckle of demonic laughter from the other, who beamed back at Greed. \"Greedy Greedy never gets. I can go anywhere and do whatever I want. If you don\'t like that, too damn bad.\"

Challenged, Greed felt not only his temper, but also his eager, flare. He forced the anger back down, gritting his teeth in a smile so dangerous it must have been shooting off warning signals in Kimbree\'s direction. \"It seems I\'ve given you too much freedom.\"

The Crimson Alchemist didn\'t reply, merely retained that cool sneer of his, letting the tension slip like a fog into the room as he watched Greed slip almost seductively into an outfit almost identical to the one he wore every day. A sigh froze in the alchemist\'s throat, having just been about to make a comment on how his \"master\" really should buy some new apparel when Martel, who up until now had been ignored by the other two, intervened.

\"Pardon me, Sir, but you have a custo-\" She said, patiently, in Greed\'s direction.

Greed huffed loudly, standing to adjust his brown vest over his tight shirt. His smile faded to a dark frown. \"Tell them to leave. We don\'t open until midnight.\"

\"No, sir, that\'s not it...\"

\"Then what is it, Martel, I\'ve got matters to attend to.\" Yeah, matters. Matters like the companionship of a certain black-haired devil who was currently occupying the same room as himself. Irritation crossed Greed\'s visage.

\"Sir...\" An instant passed in silent hesitation, before Martel managed, \"Sir...it\'s Envy-kun...\"

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\"Edward...\" prodded Roy, just once more, as he sat beside the young alchemist on the bed, looking away from the boy. Mustang\'s words were the same as usual: brief, clipped, and stone cold. His eyes matched his voice. \"Tell me once more what happened.\"

\"Why?\" raged Ed, looking in the opposite direction from Mustang with a degree of anger looming in his voice. \"So you can take pointers from a sadistic bastard on how to seduce me? I\'m not playing anybody\'s twisted sexy toy anymore, Mustang.\" His eyes narrowed. \"But then, you don\'t care, do you?\"

\"No, Ed, I do care. I\'m here to help you, not sit by while you ramble off insults about me just to make your own broken ego feel-\"

\"What the hell do you think you can do?\" snarled Edward, sitting up all too fast as his blazing golden eyes landed on Mustang\'s startled orbs with an intense fury. He paid the price for this gesture, unfortuneately, as his body was too weak to be flung about like some rag doll. His head spun, his shoulders fell limp, and he found himself toppling back against the downy pillows when suddenly Mustang\'s arms were under him, around him, supporting his body.

Ed blinked. Roy blinked. An awkward silence fell over the two and then...

\"Ahem,\" coughed Roy, laying FullMetal against the pillows again with care and averting his glare to the floor once more. Unease settled over him, and what was this, the beating of his heart knocking against his rib cage like a wild beast? He inhaled deeply...then tried to cover up his slip with a quick retort, \"I think I have my uses.\"

Edward blushed bright red and turned his weakened head so that he wasn\'t looking at Roy any longer. But his eyes darkened. After several second\'s time, he growled, \"What the hell did you do that for? I would have been fine. I don\'t need to owe you anything, Mustang. Besides,\" he paused, \"I saw it in your eyes, just before you looked away. Uncertainty, but also that unmistakable want...\"

Roy\'s teeth grit, but he was calm, soothed more so now that Ed had found out, actually. \"You\'re right, Edo. I do want you. But I can wait.\" He turned his eyes towards the boy, watching as FullMetal\'s entire body stiffened at his words, as his young subordinate turned eyes clouded with loathing and fear towards him.

\"Can...wait?\" asked Edward, in soft undertones.

\"Because,\" Roy whispered back, his head bowing low and his lips brushing almost seducingly across the younger\'s forehead, quickly followed by a teasing gloved hand that pushed the locks from the boy\'s face. When he spoke next, his eyes were directly linked with Elric\'s. \"I love you, Ed.\"

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\"What did you come here for?\" snarled Greed, his hands already glowing bright with transmutation as the blackness crawled across them like the plague. Sharpened talons replaced fingernails, cold steel taking the warmth from his pale flesh. Standing outside the bar, in a small, dank alleyway, he found himself facing that same green-haired freak from several nights ago. Lousy Envy; Greed would make him pay now ten-fold the embarassment Envy had caused him.

\"Oh, I didn\'t come here to fight, Greedy.\" Envy let out a pitying laugh. \"Oh no, quite the contrary. I was just bringing a message from our father. He\'s been quite interested in you as of late, you should know, and I-\"

\"That\'s enough!\" Greed\'s voice became a low, throaty growl, menacing and deep in tone. Behind him, Kimbree and Martel stood like sentries, Kimbree\'s narrowed eyes glimmering with excitement and his lips curled in a playful smile; Martel\'s entire body conveying a warning. Greed paid them no heed, though his eyes did glance maybe once or twice in the direction of the alchemist, but whether it was for encouragement or not was hard to tell. \"I did come here to fight. I owe you one for the last time.\"

\"Well, well, is that so?\" Envy asked, drawling in a bored and tired way. Instantly, his mouth quirked to a grin, and his legs dropped down as if he were some human spring or the like. \"Well, Greedy, you\'ll have to catch me first,\" he issued his challenge. Then, in a blaze of movement, the homunculus leapt high into the air, flipped, and grabbed hold of the wall of Greed\'s bar, shimmying up the wall without much difficulty.

Greed, who had gone in a matter of seconds from being sexy bar owner to deadly predator, let the blackness spread up his arms, into his legs, his face becoming a ghastly mirror of a human\'s face, his teeth phantom-esque. Leaping up, he snatched hold of the wall in his claws and dragged his heavy metallic form upwards after Envy.

\"You\'ll have to do better then that!\" shouted the sin, diving across the roof, egging Greed on. Greed was more then happy to comply. Flinging himself upon the hard stone, the monstrous being chased after the wiry homunculus, driving kick after kick, punch after punch at the frail body, only to watch ith dismay as Envy dodged or countered every blow. Back and forth, back and forth, the roles switched and switched again, until both were panting and covered with a film of sweat.

Crimson eyes met violet ones, and Greed murmured, \"You\'re not bad.\"

\"Not bad youself,\" replied Envy, but he was already halfway to Greed by now, flipping and somersaulting towards his opponent with ease. \"But you\'ll have to try harder!\"

Envy\'s next shot hit Greed square in the jaw, and, pained, the homunculus stumbled backwards, towards the edge of the roof. Stunned, but not horribly injured, Greed\'s throat echoed a threat, and he moved towards the other sin once more, only to find himself this time unable to wear down the palm tree, gain a hit. Every punch, blocked. Every kick, evaded. With each passing minute, he could feel the breath in his lungs expiring, and for the first time Greed asked himself if a homunculus could really die of suffocation. he didn\'t know.

Particularly, he didn\'t care.

In fact, the fight wasn\'t seeming to go anywhere. For every blow landed,at least a hundred missed their mark. In the end, with both fighters covered in scratches and torn apparel, as well as with Greed only half the ultimate shield, half human-like, it was Envy who indeed won out, only because he had failed to fall first. Colors swam before Shield\'s eyes, and his body, overweighted with its metal parts, crashed to the ground, pumping forced breath from his mis-treated lungs.

A dark shadow fell upon him. \"I see you\'ve lost then. My reward, then, is this body of yours. I will take you, and you will know true submission, Greed.\" Envy\'s eyes flared, and the teen knealt beside the older-looking man, looking extremely pleased with himself. \"How I\'ve waited for this day...\"

\'No. No, no, no, no, no. This isn\'t the end; it can\'t be the end! I refuse to let some bastard with hair that looks like a toxic acid spill dyed it and a Lolita Complex have me. Not now, nor ever. I have to...\' His body forced itself to apply the pressure on his palms; forced itself to try and stand, but the legs of the teen were already coming over him, pushing him down. A hand was already reaching for Greed\'s glasses, filching them, examining them, then cracking them into a thousand shards with only the mere pressure of his hand. Shards of glass scattered.

\'No...\'

\"Greedy,\" Envy asked, pure malice in his every word, his legs straddling Greed\'s midsection, hands forcibly holding down Greed\'s writhing claws. \"Tell me, do you know the cost of a life?\"

\"What the hell are you talking about, you bastard?\" Greed growled, fighting to free himself, even as Envy\'s delicate hands lifted the two clawed paws that sought to destroy him and pinned them together above Greed\'s head with one arm. His other hand, now free, fumbled with the zipper on Greed\'s favorite pants.

\"The cost of a life,\" snorted Envy. \"Don\'t tell me you\'re weak AND stupid.\" He managed to get the zipper undone by now, and had reach a hand in to the dark, steamy depths beneath, his fingers searching to grip a hold of something firm, something-ah, there it was. \"What do you think it costs to make a life?\"

\"I don\'t know...\" Greed snapped, and a gasp fluttered from his lips as Envy found what he had been looking for, a gasp which he couldn\'t manage to suppress, and which forced him to nearly yell his next words. \"I don\'t care!\"

\"Oh, you had better start caring...\" Envy\'s lips brushed playfully against Greed\'s right ear, nipping softly at the virgin flesh. \"You had best start caring...real soon...\"

And it was at that second that the explosion hit.

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[b]To be Continued in Chapter V: State of Silence[/b]