The Empath Alchemist {Edward Elric X Reader}

10

It had been a week since (Y/n) returned to Eastern.

The moon filtered Central City in a milky glow. The streets were silent and the lights in citizens' windows had long been turned out. The city was sleeping, which allowed the immortal beings that inhabited this town to linger in the alleyways by Central Command.

Lust, Envy, and Gluttony loitered just outside their base entrance. Their forms were shaded by darkness, the moon's gaze only touching the tips of their toes and the strands of their hair. They were waiting for something- someone with impatient frowns. Gluttony occasionally whimpered with his thumb in his mouth, as if he were a small child who hadn't been fed in days. His stomach gurgled. He hadn't eaten anyone in over ten hours, so he was beginning to get whiny and irritable.

Envy let out another loud sigh, causing Lust to 'tch' and hold her arms in a manner that looked as if she had daintily crossed them. The Homunculi hadn't been prevailing much over these past seven days. Greed had gone AWOL, (Y/n) had supposedly been training to get stronger and more familiar with her ability, and Hohenheim had yet to show his face like Father had claimed he would. On top of that, Roy's entire inner circle plus Maes Hughes had been practicing extra caution by keeping the Empath and Fullmetal Alchemists separated- more importantly by keeping (Y/n) away from Central City. This made it harder to keep tabs on her progress, and it was seriously starting to piss the remaining six Homunculi off.

"This is pointless. He's not gonna show," Envy spat, his voice seemingly loud when exposed to the silence of the city.

"Patience," Lust hissed, though the tone of her voice contrasted her demand for composure. "It's not as though he'll be meeting with Father. It's just us. That fact alone should be enough for him to drag his traitorous ass here."

Envy rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall. "Why are we even going through the trouble? It's not like we need him, he's a liability."

"We just need to talk things out. He was one of us, it's only fair."

The envious Homunculus scrunched his nose uglily in disbelief at the dark haired woman's statement. "Don't start with that 'one of us' bullshit! He was given one stupid job, and he hasn't been back for a week! Clearly he's moved on!" he sniffed and looked the opposite way angrily. "I told Father we couldn't count on him."

"Would you quit your whining?" Lust's smooth voice spoke with latent enragement. "Talking to him about it will tell us where we went wrong. Then we'll kill him."

Envy cocked a brow and side eyed the lustful Homunculus. "And you think he'll just let us do that? He's a stubborn piece of crap. He's not gonna go down without a fight."

"I don't expect him to, Envy. I'm not an idiot. If it comes down to it, we'll just have Gluttony eat him."

Gluttony gasped, popping his wet finger out of his mouth to look up at his two comrades. "Eat... Greed...?"

Lust looked down at him with an unreadable glint in her violet eyes. "You're hungry, aren't you? Greed'll make a lovely entree after we're done talking with him. Don't you think?"

The gluttonous Homunculus blinked childishly up at the woman, tears pricking at the corners of his white eyes. He couldn't find the courage to argue with Lust, but he was still conflicted about eating a former friend.

"Is something wrong?" Lust asked.

Gluttony shook his head and looked down at his feet. He shuffled them, kicking up a few pebbles. "No," he mumbled, frowning deeply as the rumble in his belly grew louder and the idea of eating Greed momentarily sounded remotely appealing. The bald creature shoved his finger back into his mouth and grew silent once more.