Cardinal Sin (1) : Rebirth of the Fullmetal Alchemist

10 - Lurking outside the windows

Night had fallen and, seeing as it was a work week for most folks around, it was lights out and time to hit the hay. There were the occasional night owls whose windows glowed with electric light through the closed curtains as they sat in the still silence of that evening. Of course, there were those who broke that quiet, calm air, and those were the three young alchemists who were celebrating their new roommate (or rather Phil and Ed were; Frederick had his nose buried deep in a book). They had brought out a bottle of wine and were laughing loudly over glasses of it, two out of three were a little drunk. 

Joyful as they were, they failed to notice that every once in a while, a shadow passed by the windows, stealing peeks at them from the cracks in the two drawn curtains. 

This shadow belonged to a strong and cunning tall man in his thirties with such thick eyebrows, that they cast shadows over his eyes, making him look angry all the time. Overall, he didn't look very friendly, but, surprisingly, he did have many acquaintances whom he got on with quite well—though most of those were cruel-minded and had interests that in death, destruction and power. He thought that to be a small, irrelevant detail that didn't need much paying attention to.

He took another look inside the house; Philemon Smithson and Edward Elric were presently doing something that looked like a drunken and failed attempt at dancing. "They've got the Fullmetal Alchemist with them now, huh?" he mumbled to himself. "That could be good or troublesome. We'll have to see."

"I'd say it could be both advantageous and bad," replied his companion, who was sitting on an old tree stump, pipe in her mouth. She was not participating in the spying like her leader had instructed her to, too lazy for such things.

"How so?"

"Well..." The woman pushed hair off her bare shoulder and then took another moment to let out a puff of smoke. "For one, he had close ties to General Mustang."

"The Flamme Alchemist?"

"That very man."

"Oh, I see," the man replied, leaning against the brick wall beside to window. "You're in it for revenge, right?"

"Of course I am," she snapped. "It's literally why the Cardinal sin was formed. Because we all want our revenge. That heartless man is the one who burned Lust to death. He cannot be allowed to live!"

"What's the good of getting revenge, Sophronia?"

"What are you implying by that?" she snapped.

Smirking, he went on to taunt her with, "You're trying to get your revenge on the Flamme Alchemist for killing Lust, but what's the point if you're just trying to replace her?"

Sophronia stood angrily. "Trying to replace Lust?!" she shrieked. "How dare you? I could never take her place!"

"Keep it down, or the sober one will hear you," the man warned. 

"Fine, but tell me why you said that. To think I would ever be worthy enough to replace—"

"Look at what you're wearing, for starters. That dress looks exactly like the one Lust used to wear and I'm convinced that your hair is an awful attempt to style it like hers."

He was, in fact, correct. Sophronia's admiration for the homunculus had led her to adopt a similar appearance; the green dress was identical, though it look much less flattering on her, and she had died her hair black to try and make it look like Lust's. In the end, it was shorter and didn't possess the same volume and perfect waves. There was also the matter that Sophronia's face just didn't resemble the late Lust's at all. 

"You're not a homunculus. You're just a lowly human trying to copy the appearance of a being who was much greater than you. Face it, Sophronia; you can't be the Lust we once knew. Why don't you just be yourself? I like you better that way."

"Shut it, Herman!" Turning her head in the other direction, Sophronia took again her seat on the tree stump.

Herman sighed. "You complicated woman. Do you know if Greed will be taking part in our plans yet?"

"Greed?" Sophronia snorted. "Weren't you listening at the last meeting? We agreed that he wasn't reliable. He betrayed the Father twice in two different lives—what makes you think he'll want to help us now? All he cares about is getting his clawed hands on everything he wants. His loyalty lies with no one."

"He could still be a good ally, though, if we didn't get him too involved."

"Stop pushing it. We're already against it. If you had something to say that badly on the matter, you should have said it at the meeting. It's too late now."

Herman cast another look inside the alchemists' house. By now, Philemon was lying unconscious on the floor as he had a poor alcohol tolerance while the sober one, Frederick Galemi, tried to lift him up onto his bed. Fullmetal was standing on his bed, swaying dangerously from foot to foot saying things Herman could not hear from outside with a funny grin on his face.

"Who in the hell had the bright idea to send the philosopher's stone to these dimwits?"

"That silly military woman Vain was pretending to date," Sophronia said, stating what he already knew. "She's far more resilient than I thought she'd be. I wonder if Ire, Walt and my brother have captured her yet."

"But they're foolish youngsters! Look at them. They have an extraordinarily powerful weapon lying in their basement and they're drunk."

Seemingly to prove Herman's point, a very frustrated Frederick, who had Philemon hanging halfway out of his bed, yelled at Ed loud enough for the two spies to hear, "Stop reciting the concept of equivalent exchange, it's driving me mad!"

"We should sneak in and steal it while they're distracted," Sophronia suggested. "This is the perfect opportunity."

Herman turned to eye her with a thick eyebrow raised high. "Stealthily is for weaklings. We go face them like men in two days when they've recovered from the hangover they will evidently have. There's no better way to do things than to rush them head-on and fight!"

Unimpressed Sophronia, grumbled, "But I'm a woman, you violence-obsessed fool."

_________________

At first, I thought the idea of Ed drinking alcohol and getting drunk was kind of weird and I felt a bit like it was wrong when I started writing it. But then, I remembered that at the end of FMAB, so in this story as well, Ed was eighteen and in some parts of the world you're legally allowed to start drinking at that age. 

I can just imagine Granny Pinako cracking open a bottle of wine as soon as Ed and Winry turned eighteen...

Hint: There could possibly be an action scene next chapter. But if there was some, would I really tell you that? I don't know. Maybe, maybe not; you'll have to see yourself.

—Annalise