Story: Impossible (PG-13)

[silverviper2134]

Chapter One: Revelations

‘It’s impossible’ Marta thought as she ran her finger gently over her stomach. ‘Homunculi aren’t supposed to reproduce. That’s what Greed said.’

But then again, Greed had been drunk and wanted Marta to sleep with him. And she believed him and gave him what he wanted. But a week or so later, she started to feel sick to her stomach all the time, especially in the mornings.

The snake-chimera had dismissed it as a sickness caught sometime before by staying out at night. However, a few days later she realized she had missed for the month, and given her recent actions, she knew what was wrong.

“Damn you Greed” she hissed as she vomited again onto the dirt. The members of the Devil’s Nest were spying on Kimblee, making sure to stay hidden so they wouldn’t have to worry about him using his alchemy on them. And Marta had hidden in an alleyway, trying to grasp the situation she was in, and how to tell the others.

'No matter how stupid they could be at times, they would notice all the weird stuff happening to you', she thought to herself. However, she didn’t have that much time to think about it.

On the top of the building that Marta was hiding in the alley next to, Kimblee was doing what he did best.

“Please” the old man in the chokehold gasped, “Don’t do this”.

The Crimson Alchemist smirked evilly- as though he could smirk any other way- and shook his head. He placed the shaking old man at the edge of the roof and clapped his hands. He stomped on the poor man’s….manly area….and threw his palms onto the body.

Kimblee let go and started to walk away. Before he did, he turned to his latest bomb and said, “I’ve had a blast. Haven’t you?”

If the man wasn’t about to explode, he would have groaned at that horrible pun. He did however shake, although that was probably because of the alchemy Kimblee had just performed.

A moment later, he detonated, causing the edge of the roof to explode along with him.

“AH SHIT!” Marta cursed as she stretched to avoid the debris.

A piece of stone nearly hit her in the stomach, but she maneuvered out of the way and it merely grazed her side. She ran onto a plank to get to the next alleyway. But as luck would have it, as soon as she reached the other side of the plank- which was set up like a see-saw, just so you know- a piece of the no longer existing roof edge fell on the other side. Marta was thrown back, causing her to thump her head on the wall. She was out cold quickly.


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Dorochet sniffed around, looking for Marta.

It had been two hours since the explosion and she had never returned to the Devil’s Nest.

So now Greed was walking around with Dorochet and the new-comer Nell, a chimera who was part salamander.

She had pale skin that was always covered in a sweat-like liquid and her eyes were yellow/orange and watery. Her hair was red and cut very short so it framed her face perfectly. Nell was the ‘nurse’ of sorts for the others.

“Damn it Marta” Greed hissed, “If you just ran off, when I find you….God! You are in for a world of hurt!”.

He didn’t mean any of it of course. The Homunculus cared deeply for Marta; he may have even loved her, although he would never admit that to others, or even to himself.

“Hey, Greed! Nell!” Dorochet yelled from the alley, “I found her!”.

Marta groaned and smacks Dorochet in the cheek, causing him to whimper and causing her to grab her side. Blood trickled from the wound as she clutched it. As Greed and Nell reached them, Dorochet backed away from the injured snake-chimera like a dog that was just scolded for peeing on the kitchen floor.

Greed ran over to Marta, with Nell close behind him.

“What the hell happened?” he asked her as he helped her stand up, letting her lean on him for support. Normally, she would’ve told him to let her go so she could walk, but given her injury was still bleeding, she let him hold her. She tried to explain, as best she could.

“Kimblee exploded the roof edge or somethin’” Marta told Greed, coming out more in mumbles as she was falling asleep.

The Homunculus growled under his breath, baring his shark-like teeth for a moment. He hissed under his breath, commenting that Kimblee was a….the next two words cannot be said, but I can tell you that they begin with an M and an F….bastard. But the more important matter at the time was healing Marta. Thankfully, the Devil’s Nest wasn’t all that far from their current position. The four of them arrived ten minutes later.


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It had used to be just an empty space, a little nook to go to whenever they wanted to be alone and all the other rooms were full.

But since Nell, a former doctor of the military, joined with Greed and her fellow chimeras, it had become the medical center. At that moment, Marta was lying on a stolen hospital gurney with her tank top pulled up to the edge of her ribcage, revealing the cut from the explosion and her stomach.

“Mind if I go to the bathroom?” she asked Nell who was gently tying a length of gauze around Marta’s upper stomach. Nausea was beginning to sweep over her again, and she didn’t want Nell to see her; the girl would probably know something was up if she did.

Nell smiled at the snake-chimera as she finished tying the gauze and said, “Go ahead, Marta”.

Marta sighed and gave the younger girl a small smile before she got off of the table. She walked out of the room, not even noticing that she passed the father of her unborn baby on the way there, and into the bathroom.

Inside she couldn’t stop herself; she fell to her knees on the floor and vomited into the toilet. At least her breakfast and lunch had just been expelled from her, as well as some unknown substances.

When she left the room, she bumped, literary, into Law who had apparently been waiting. As they collided she looked up to see that he was wearing a highly confused face.

“What…” he began, “Are…are you okay, Marta?”

She was silent for a moment before giving him a short nod and saying, “Yeah, just a cold.”

He seemed to buy this, after all she was part snake and snakes are sensitive to cold, and let her pass.


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“So” Nell said when Marta got back into the room. “When you plan on telling Greed?”

Marta felt herself tense up, a reflex she sometimes had when someone surprised her. But she soon let her muscles relax as she turned to the younger chimera.

“On telling him what?” she questioned, playing a state of ignorance.

Nell was not buying a word of it however and retorted, “Do you really think I’d go through ten years of medical training and not be able to see the symptoms of pregnancy?”

Marta was ready to answer, but realized that none of the remarks in her head would make any sense. So she asked Nell something.

“How did you know…” she began, only to be cut off by the salamander-girl. “About you and Greed? Well let’s just say that you guys ain’t exactly quiet. Almost enough to make a girl take a vow of chastity….almost”.

A laugh escaped from Marta’s lips, so quiet that it would’ve been hard to believe if Nell said that she had heard it.

But the air in the room was soon filled with tension as Marta sat down on the medical table.

“I don’t know” she whispered, “what I’m going to do”.

She felt tears fall from her face, and mentally scolded herself for it as they cascaded down her cheeks. The thought disappeared when Nell sat down beside her and placed a hand upon her shoulders.

“It’s okay” she told Marta gently, “He’ll find out about the baby when you’re ready to tell him”.

At that instance the two woman heard Dorochet yell the words, “BABY?! WHAT BABY?”

All thoughts of sadness in Marta were replaced by anger instantly. She stretched her arms to pull open the door; Dorochet, Law, and Bido fell in, looking very embarrassed. Both women glared at their fellow chimeras but Marta looked completely pissed, while Nell only looked annoyed.

A moment of awkward silence followed the entrance before Nell said, “Okay, we got some stuff to tell you. Well, more Marta than me”.

The three men stood up, Dorochet and Law dusting themselves off. Bido starting walking around looking at the floor.

“Where’s the baby? Is it invisible? Am I gonna step on it?” he questioned Marta, who face palmed in annoyance at his stupidity. She opened her mouth to explain, but Nell interrupted her.

“No, Bido, the baby is not invisible and you are not gonna step on it” she told him, “Unless you step on Marta’s stomach, anyway”.

She smirked as she added the last line, and laughed when she saw the dumbfounded looks on Dorochet and Law’s faces. Bido blinked and said, “What you talking ‘bout, Nell?”

That was the moment that cued a face palm for Nell. She sighed and walked towards Bido, who squeaked like she was holding a very pointy stick to his throat. She grabbed him by the tail and picked him up, to have him be at eye level with her.

“Okay, I’m only gonna say this once, Bido, so listen carefully” she told him, sounding very threatening. Suddenly her face softened and she looked very innocent, so Bido smiled softly at her. Unfortunately, at that moment, she lifted him up so his ear was at her mouth and yelled, “MARTA’S PREGNANT YOU MORONIC TWIT!”.

Bido was so shocked, either from the news or the level of the scream, that he slid from Nell’s grip and onto the floor. The five of them stayed silent for a moment, none of them seeming to know what they would say next. Lucky for Nell and the boys, they wouldn’t have to, because just then Greed poked his head in the room.

“Hey” he said, looking a little disturbed at the scene he was watching, “Are you guys having a party or something?” He smirked, showing off his sharp teeth. “Mind if I join?”

At that moment, Nell grabbed Bido by the tail and walked out the door, giving Marta a look as she exited. Law, obviously knowing what she meant, followed suit. And of course, Dorochet stayed looking eager to see Greed’s sure to be hilarious reaction.

“DOROCHET! HEEL!”

His eager face turned to one of fear as he walked backwards out of the room, complaining the whole time. Now it was just Greed and Marta in the room.

“You wanna sit down, or something” Greed said to her, motioning to the couch. Marta gave a short nod before sitting down. Her boss followed her lead and sat next to her.

They sat there in silence, both a little anxious, as the last time they were there alone it ended up resulting in something involving Greed’s bed, both of them naked, and Bido being the fetal position for a week mumbling, “So much moaning”.

But, Marta knew why Nell had made the others leave- so she could tell Greed about the little problem she was having.

She decided to just hint at the news by asking him, “So…you remember that night we had like three weeks ago?”

He smiled at the memory, like he had just won the lottery. But his happy face faltered when the snake-chimera said, “Sorry, but we won’t be able to do that again anytime soon”.

Greed suddenly looked like a child who had been denied his favorite candy, then gave Marta a sarcastically hurt expression.

“Is this the part where you tell me that you think I’m ugly or something?” he asked her, smirking a little.

She shook her head and said, “No. This is the part where I tell you that I’m pregnant”.

Greed nodded for a moment, before the news actually set into his brain. And when it did, he wore a face that Marta thought she’d never see on him. Still with the expression on his face he jumped off the couch and started questioning her, yelling, “How? Where? When?”.

She rolled her eyes and began to answer him.

“I’m pretty sure you know how. As for where and when….your room about three weeks ago” she said, smirking a little at the first comment. Greed scratched his head a little and asked, “You mean the night that got Bido into that mumbling thing?”.

Marta nodded a little bit, but something was still bothering her. “Greed,” she began, “That night you told me that Homunculi can’t have children, so how did…”.

She didn’t even have to finish. Greed rubbed the back of his head, looking uncharacteristically embarrassed as he explained to her. “Yeah, well the truth is that we can’t, usually. But like once a year we can do the thing that results in the baby thing” he told her, darting his eyes away every few moments.

Marta nodded and closed her eyes, sighing as she fell back into the couch.

“How am I going to do this?” she asked Greed who shrugged in response. But what he did next really shocked her. The Homunculus placed one hand on her cheek and the other on her breasts, although Marta didn’t seem to notice this, being too shocked from the hand on the cheek gesture. He then gave her a gentle kiss on the lips, saying “Hey, don’t worry. You’ve been through worse than this before”.

He then stood up and walked away, leaving Marta alone and smirking to himself about touching her chest. She sat on the couch, stunned by the kiss. It was their first kiss not seemingly driven by alcohol, and she had to admit she liked. Suddenly she realized that Greed had grabbed her breasts before he left.

“DAMN YOU GREED!” she yelled to him in the hall.

He just smirked; he knew how to charm the snake.

[aspiredeathe]

That's pretty awesome, can't wait till you put more up..and if you don't i'll...i'll spam you!!!
^^

[silverviper2134]

Ha! XD Glad to see you liked it. Don't worry, I'll post the next chapter up now.

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Chapter 2- Reasons of Avoidance

The next day, things seemed to have calmed down a little. And that meant all hell was breaking loose.

Bido was hiding from Nell, with little to now success, usually leading up to a canopy of bangs and crashes. Marta seemed to try to stay out of any room Greed entered, making up odd excuses to leave.

The boys always believed her excuses, no matter how outrageous they were. But Nell and her partner, Eliza, knew the truth about her odd behavior.

After lunch Nell grabbed the stag-chimera and pulled her aside.

“Okay, we need to get Greed and Marta in the same room for a while” she whispered into Eliza’s ear, gaining a slightly confused expression in return.

“But she’s already...oh...” A look of realization spread over the other woman’s face as her comrade grinned widely. It was very much like the Cheshire Cat, and would probably give poor Eliza nightmares. But the two of them knew that they had to continue the plot...I mean find out why Marta was avoiding Greed. So they looked for the one person who could do the job.


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“You better have a good reason for disturbing my rest” moaned a gravely voice from a large red chair.

Nell rolled her eye and walked over to the chair, reaching over the back, and picking up the occupant. She sneered slightly and said, “Stop pretending you have balls Mort.”

The person in the chair was revealed to be a short and stocky man with mud colored hair and eyes. The man, apparently named Mort, sighed in defeat.

“What do you guys want from me?” he asked the two women who shared the room with him. When he spoke, it was easy to see the enormous over bite that he had.

Nell and Eliza exchanged a look with each other before the Salamander Lady placed the rat chimera on the ground, placing her foot on his to keep him from trying to escape. Of course, this didn’t stop Mort and he began to thrash around, desperately trying to break free. At last he gave up and glanced up at his captors, not making a sound.

“Okay” began Nell, leaning down to the man’s height- which was an amazing feet, seeing as he was only as tall as Edward Elric’s waist. “You know how Marta’s been staying away from Greed since yesterday?”.

Mort responded with a short, quick nod. Of course he knew about what they were talking about. The Nest wasn’t that big, any and all news spread rather quickly. But what did these crazy women think that he could do about it? He voiced his question to them.

Oddly, it was Eliza who gave him the answer. “Just make sure they get in the same room together- alone- and keep them in there” the taller chimera said, bending down and wrapping an arm around Mort’s shoulder. As the two of them walked together, Eliza made sure to step slowly in order to keep herself from dragging poor little Mort to the ground. Twas very difficult, him being so shor-

“Would you stop it with the short jokes? God!” Mort shouted angrily to the ceiling.

Fine, the short jokes will be saved for Ed when he appears later in the story.

“Well, how do you expect me to do that?” he questioned them, raising his oddly thin eyebrows.

Twin evil smiles formed upon the salamander and the stag chimeras’ faces.

Terrified, poor little Mort attempted to escape, but was thwarted by a slimy hand resting on his head. The hand slid forward, forcing the rat man to look up into Nell’s orange/yellow eyes.

A short silence followed until Nell spoke up, whispering, “Use the vents, the smallest holes you can fit into. Just use your imagination and do whatever you need to do to fix this, Morton”.

Sneering slightly by the use of his full last name Mort gave a short mock salute before he rushed out of the room and into a room where a vent was unhinged. He walked over to it and climbed into the ventilation system of the Nest.

‘A few noises in the vents’ he thought, ‘Should lead them to where we need them to be’.

With these ideas in mind, he scurried around the vents squeaking in a rat-like manner and banging on the metal when he heard Marta beneath him, and later with Greed. Scurrying again he led them to a small room that housed only a sofa. Once they were inside, he bit through the thin metal of the vents and dug through the dirt until he fell to the ground. He then slammed the door shut and locked the door. Oddly this was the only room that locked from the outside.


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Marta pounded angrily at the door while Greed took a seat on the sofa, watching her with mild interest. After realizing no one would come to free them, she pondered who could’ve wanted them stuck in a room together. It hit her like a ton of cinder blocks- Eliza and Nell.

“Damn them” she muttered shaking her head.

Those girls were well-meaning, but frankly had the brains of fleas when it came to anything. As Marta plotted how to get revenge on her fellow women, Greed stared at her, slightly concerned. The chimera was pacing around the room, muttering about hanging Mort by his nonexistent balls, until Greed decided to speak up.

“Hey” he called to her, causing her to turn in order to look at him. The two of them stared at each other in the same awkward silence as they had the day before.

“Come over here” Greed instructed her, patting the seat next to him with a slight smile.

Marta nodded and, slowly, made her way to sit beside the Homunculus. The two stayed facing each other for a moment, never connecting their eyes to one another. At last Greed questioned Marta.

“Mind telling me why you’ve been avoiding me, Marta?”

She sighed; she knew he was going to ask her something like that. Crossing her arms and leaning into the couch she explained, “You weren’t supposed to find out. None of you were, until I was sure...”

Her voice trailed off, she didn’t continue. One of Greed’s eyebrows rose as he questioned the chimera further.

“Until you were sure of what?”

As if she realized she had said the wrong thing, Marta’s face momentarily contorted into an expression of horror. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to keep the kid” she told him, talking slightly under her breath, “Since I didn’t know if you would want me to get rid of it or...”

She found herself cut off by Greed placing a hand onto her shoulder. Rasing her head, which she had lowered while speaking about the child, Marta looked at the Homunculus, her own moss green eyes meeting his catlike violet ones. The silence lasted for what seemed like hours before Greed started to speak.

“This kid’s mine as much as it’s yours” he told her, his voice sounding firm but oddly gentle. Placing his marked hand on her stomach and the other on her cheek, he continued. “And you know how I feel about what’s mine”.

His lips had been pulled into a smirk, showing off his shark-like teeth. And despite of herself, Marta smiled, the corners of her lips just barely turning up. Her expression of relief suddenly transformed to shock as Greed leaned closer to her, placing his own lips upon hers. Breaking the kiss, the Homunculus got off the couch and walked over to the door.

“Might as well leave” he said, his hands morphing into their diamond-like skin. Balling his now clawed hands into fist, the Ultimate Shield slammed them through the door, making a decent sized hole. A minute later, he pulled open the door and stepped into the hall, completely ignoring the exasperated expression on the Snake Chimera’s face.

“Why didn’t you just do that before?” she asked him as they walked down the hall.

Greed shrugged, stuffed his fist- which were now flesh- into his pockets and responded, “I guess I didn’t feel like it”.

Marta sighed once again at the answer she received, obviously wanting a better response.

“Greed” she said shaking her head in annoyance, “You’re an idiot”.

His only response to the insult was another shrug, but he gave no sign that he really heard what she said. Once again, she sighed, realizing he was just going to ignore anything she asked him if it related to why he didn’t get them out of their prison before.


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That night, Nell and Eliza were plotting their newest evil plan. Well, actually it was more like it was totally retarded, seeing as neither of the girls had very high IQs.

Marta sat nearby, watching the younger girls and making sure they didn’t do anything that would get them killed. And the boys were at the bar, getting drunk as hell.

“Now let’s get that kid!” Nell said, holding her fist in the air, a manic smile forming on her face.

Eliza cheered, her eyes widened in madness.

It was obvious to anyone who she was talking about, though everyone else was either drunk- in the case of nearly everyone in the Nest- or just didn’t want to damage their own sanity by interfering- in the case of Marta. The snake chimera did speak up though, quietly muttering, “Oh, crap. They’ve been hanging out too long”.

The manic smile still plastered on her face, Nell ran into the bathroom. When she emerged she was dressed in a spandex body-suit, though as she had only been in there for three seconds, it was obvious that she was wearing her nurse’s outfit underneath.

“Now let’s get the baby of the Rogue-wannabe” Nell exclaimed to Eliza, who was now wearing a newspaper hat and brandishing a papertowel roll sword, both of which sported bite marks.

“Kay!” the stag chimera said cheerfully, before looking down at her chewed sword in distress.

“Nell!” she whined to her best friend, tears streaming down her face, “Doro tried to eat my hat...again!”.

Nell smiled sweetly as she walked over to Dorochette, who was talking to Mort and Bido about poodles and miniskirts.

“Oh, Doro” she sang sweetly, the smile still plastered on her face. The expression suddenly turned to one of rage as she screamed, “STOP TRYING TO EAT HER DAMNED HAT!”.

While the poor canine chimera whimpered in confusion and fear, Nell cracked her knuckles menacingly.

From the couch, Marta watched the scene in silence. This type of madness had become customary in the past five months since Mort, Eliza, and Nell had joined them. The rat, the stag, and the salamander brought a new and wild life to the Nest. Like adopting two younger sisters and a younger brother into the family, as Marta thought of it as. For that was what they had all become- the most messed up family ever.

[aspiredeathe]

^.^
Happyness

[silverviper2134]

Chapter. 3- Troubleshooting

It had been about a month since Marta and Greed had talked about why she had been avoiding him.

And since then, some things had changed for all of them. For one thing, Marta had moved into Greed’s room, after a week of prompting from the Homunculus. Even then, she refused to actually share a bed with him, asking Law to take her bed into his room. He was more than happy to comply, though no doubt he was also glad that her bed was nothing more than a rolling cot, which made it that much easier to move. But she was still utterly confused as to why Greed insisted she stay in the same room as him at night. She also knew better than to ask, for whenever she did, he’d just shrug off the question. That or pretend he didn’t hear what she had just said. Either way, it was more or less a lost cause in trying to discover his reason, so Marta stopped trying weeks ago.

Not to mention she still had to keep an eye on the newest members of the “family”. Meaning she had to make sure Nell and Eliza were never so loud that they alerted the military to their location. Dorochette had brought up the fact that Kimblee was apparently working for some guy named Archer now, and could tell their location at any time anyway. Still, Marta didn’t like the idea of an officer coming to “keep the peace” because he heard a crash from the bar, especially as more likely than not keeping the peace would result in bloodshed.

Thankfully, the stag and salamander seemed more or less content to simply torment Mort and quietly scheme. Knowing those two, it was likely a kidnaping, but seeing as those two had no attention span whatsoever when it came to actual work, no worries. Their tormenting of Mort however...

”ENOUGH WITH THE BALLS JOKES ALREADY”

There was a great deal of surprise that the little man’s lungs didn’t explode due to the volume of the scream. Apparently Nell and ‘Liza were joking about his balls, or lack thereof. This had become fairly common ever since the midget joined their little group, though exactly what caused it no one could tell.

“Calm down, Thevale” Dorochette said from his perch on the wooden crate in the corner of the bar, “Not like they’re hurting anyone”.

The accused whipped around to face his comrade, face red and sweaty, either from the anger of the latest joke or the use of his formal name. He stomped slowly over to the dog-man and hissed, in a dangerous whisper, “What those morons are saying...I’d rather have my balls cut off”.

A certain red-head chimera heard him, apparently. “Oh, so that’s why you don’t have any” Nell said from the couch where she was scheming once again with Eliza, more likely than not a plan to kidnap the son of the pink-haired Lior woman.

Mort looked ready to kill as he faced them, but made no attempt to attack. Like Law, the little guy knew better than to waste all his energy on a skirmish with his allies. So he let out a huge sigh of annoyance and took a seat at the bar, ordering a beer from the ‘tender.

Marta was sitting there, not drinking but relaxing. Relaxing and holding her stomach. The pregnancy had started to take its toll on her in the past two weeks, so the snake chimera had a hard time eating. After all, she couldn’t eat half the stuff that she usually got due to the nausea screwing up the aroma of food and what she did eat was usually only half-digested by the time she was forced to expel it through her mouth. Mort wondered if he should comfort her, but at the risk of sounding like an asshole, decided against it.

After all, he had no idea what she was going through with this. None of them did. Except for Nell. Shortly after they were instated into the Devil’s Nest, Nell told her story of how she had become pregnant working as a nurse in the military and how her son had been taken from her soon after birth. She never found out what happened to him. Maybe that was why she wanted to kidnap that woman’s baby. Not that Mort or anyone besides ‘Liza really gave a damn about Nell’s insane schemes.

Finally, the bartender gave Mort a mug of beer; a mug that was about his height and weight. Needless to say, the poor fellow crashed to the ground with a splash. If you’re wondering what caused the splashed, Mort had landed in the mug of beer, which was oddly still intact.

Hooray for anime physics, eh?

No longer really caring about her sanity, Marta got off the bar stool and knelt down to yank Mort out of the mug. “You okay?” she asked him, holding him by the shirt like a mother cat holding a kitten. The fact that he looked like a drowned kitty did little to make the simile any more fitting. As he opened a caramel colored eye, his response was, “I wanna go to Candy Mountain, Charlie” spoken in a high pitched and somewhat creepy voice. Though the last word sounded more like Cha-Lee.

Marta shook her head, unsure of whether the statement was the result of brain damage from falling into the mug or if Mort got drunk from his alcohol bath. Not that it mattered so much, seeing as he didn’t seem to be in any pain, or if he was he was damn good at keeping it hidden.

So she looked to the bartender and asked him to pick up the mug, then picked up Mort and carried him to his room. All Marta could really say was, thank the lord that Mort wasn’t very heavy and that the beer he was covered in was mostly odorless. Doubtful that the rat-man would be too pleased if he awoke to half digested toast and bacon on his shirt. Placing Mort onto his chair, Marta hadn’t even noticed Greed had entered the room.

“Hey” he said, looking uncharactistically serious, “Come on; I have to talk to you about something, Doll”.

She wanted to smile at the pet-name he had given her shortly after escaping the Lab, but found herself unable. Something in his voice just made her feel...somber would probably be the best word for it.

Greed led her to his room, though technically it was now their room, seeing as Marta had been sleeping in it for a good two weeks by this point. The Homunculus sat on his king-size bed then motioned for Marta to join him. She quickly complied then stared at him, as if trying to ask him what was making him act this way. At first she wondered if he had changed his mind, if he wanted her to get rid of the baby. Not that she’d blame him or be upset if he did. After all, neither of them was in anyway ready for parenthood.

“We have to watch our backs” Greed suddenly spoke up, still looking so oddly serious, “Especially with this”.

By “this” of course he meant the pregnancy, though Marta wasn’t sure why. Not wanting to keep silent any longer she rose and eyebrow and question him.

“Why? Has there been any news on Kimblee?”

The mad-man bomber hadn’t been seen by anyone in the Devil’s Nest for nearly a month; not since the explosion of the roof edge that led to Marta’s little secret being blown. Marta was sure that he was waiting to ambush the pub when he had the chance. Greed shrugged a little and said, “In a way. Bido told me that he’s working for this pale-faced bastard named Archer.”

Marta rose an eyebrow. She had heard about Archer before, from reading a paper she had used the five-finger discount to get from a vender. He was a lieutenant-colonel who was obsessed with war, but apparently like order within his office and living quarters. Definitely not the sort of guy she could imagine a maniac like Kimblee hanging with.

“Not that this would be a problem; we’ve dealt with the military before and won without even breaking a sweat. But, a few days ago, I sent Bido out on a little spying mission. He told me that he saw the Fuhrer take off his eye patch and he saw the Ouroborus. The Ultimate Eye. He’s Pride, Marta. The bastard who’s running this hellhole of a country is a damned living sin”.

Instantly Marta knew what the problem was. Long ago, Greed had sat his inner circle of chimeras- her, Dorochette, and Law- down in the bar and explained his past. His birth to how he was sealed. Nothing from his human life, but they never pried into it. He spoke of a woman named Dante, though he usually referred to her as “Hag” or “She-Devil”. Apparently she was the one who created him, the one who controlled all the Homunculi.

And with Kimblee working for the military, things could get ugly. If he found out about the kid, he’d no doubt tell Archer, probably hoping to get some action with the man. Then, based on what she’d read in the paper, Archer would automatically tell the Fuhrer- Pride- what Kimblee had discovered. And if Pride told Dante, (which he probably would. The remain six that were loyal to Dante were like whipped little puppies that told their master anything and everything) they would be so screwed.

“Well, what do you want me to do about it? And if you say you want me to stay inside all the time, then I will rip your little friends out so there won’t be a chance in Hell of this happening again” she retorted to him. The last comment wasn’t meant to be taken seriously, at least not the last part. She wasn’t about to let something like paranoia keep her from trying to live her life. Chuckling a little, Greed shook his head.

“No” he said, seeming to return to his usual laid back self. “We just have to make sure that Crimson doesn’t find out about the kid until we figure out a plan. Cause, he’ll find out eventually, no matter what”.

That sure as hell was true. Even though Marta had mocked his intelligence when he was a part of their roster, Kimblee wasn’t stupid. He’d be able to tell what was going on with her sooner or later. Especially after she...for a lack of a better term, began to inflate.

Marta looked at Greed. It was obvious that he was still a little worried, even though his face said otherwise. She could feel his anxiety; a result of being mixed with an animal. Not letting her mind run her body anymore, she wrapped her arms around his neck and inched closer. Once she was near enough, she put her head on his shoulder and whispered into his ear.

“He won’t find out for a long time. But if he does...don’t worry about it. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it”. She closed her eyes, and felt more than saw him nodding.

But it wasn’t until he wrapped his own arms around her waist and brought her a little closer that she knew he believed her.

[aspiredeathe]

Yay! More!

[silverviper2134]

Chapter Four- Tales of Loss

The so-called heads of the Devil’s Nest- Greed, Marta. Dorochette, and Law- were out for that night, leaving Nell, Eliza, and Mort in charge of the pub.

Apparently they wanted the entire place to burn down.

However, the three of them were actually behaving themselves, probably due to the lack of people. Most of the customers had left shortly after Greed and the others, and the other chimeras had gone to bed in order to kill their horrible hangovers with sleep.

The trio had been talking for about an hour, subjects changing rapidly. Subjects included were: the advantages and disadvantages of being combined with a rat, stag, or salamander; what they would do if they ever were able to get their hands of the Philosopher’s Stone; and for some reason or another, how often they had almost drowned by falling asleep in the bathtub. Mort had the most, with a total of seventeen times. Finally, the topic had changed to what their lives were like before they were sent to the labs.

Eliza had given her story shortly after meeting her best friends and Mort didn’t have much to say.

He was single, and tall, until he was combined with the rat; then he became a midget...and he was still single. For a moment he had mentioned how he found something unjust in a world where someone like Law could get better looking women than he did, motioning to an average size woman with long black hair the entire time.

This comment was completely ignored by the girls, except for them waving to the woman, calling, “Hi, Nora!”

Mort ordered a beer from the barkeep, requesting that it be served to him in about fifty shot glasses. He didn’t want a repeat of what had happened about a week ago; Dorochette was still asking him who Cha-Lee was, thinking it was the name of some Xingenese girlfriend the rat had gotten. After the barkeep brought the fiftieth shot glass, filled to the brim with rich amber liquid, Nell swiped some of the sweat off her arm (Not that it would do much, seeing as she was always sweaty) and began to tell her story.

17 Years Ago

“Virginia Matilda Nell! What do you think you’re doing?!”

The little red-haired girl sighed and paused in her bandaging of the little turtle’s leg. She looked up, her light blues eyes meeting bloodshot amber ones, belonging to a woman. Maybe once, this woman was beautiful, but if she was, that time of radiance was over. Her hair, the same shade of persimmon as the girl’s, was long and tangled. Clumps of hair hung amongst the tangles, threatening to fall off. Her skin was too pale for even the ten and a half pounds of blush to give it color. And her breath smelled of dry wine and cheap beer.

“Well?” she pried, glaring at the girl, who held the reptile protectively.

“I found this turtle, Mummy” her daughter said, holding up the injured turtle so her mother could have a better look. “He was in the road, and his leg was bleeding. So...I decided to help him. I went into the water closet and grabbed a tiny roll of bandages, and came out here so that I could”.

Her story was interrupted by the woman ripping the turtle roughly from her hands. Before the girl could protest, she asked, “Why didn’t you tell me, Virginia? You know how much I love turtle soup”.

A look of horror fell upon the child’s face as she watched her mother take the creature away. ‘Maybe she was joking’ she hoped silently, staring at the kitchen window from the backyard. ‘Maybe she just wanted to be mean, like always’. But her hope was shattered as she saw steam rising from a pot on the stove to the open window. A few minutes later, the woman called her in, seating her at a small table. Placed in front of her was a green colored soup, served in a half-turtle shell. It took all the girl could muster not to puke.

“That was you’re mother?” ‘Liza asked her friend in disbelief. The receiver of the question nodded, which cued a shocked gasp from Eliza. She reached out a hand, placing it comfortingly on Nell’s shoulder, before the latter continued her story.

13 Years Ago

Nell sat in silence as her mother turned off the TV. It was brand new, and they were the only ones who had a TV in the neighborhood, because they were so expensive. And they only got it because of Nell’s uncle, Peter Peters.

A lot has changed in the past four years, for both Nell and her mother. Nell’s once long red hair was now cut short and close to her face; She was beginning to develop more, a sign of her maturity. Time hadn’t done so well for her mother, though. The woman’s face was still pale, and she no longer bothered to wear make-up, at least in the house. Her eyes were blood red and puffy, as though she never stopped crying. Her eyelids dropped lazily, due to lack of proper sleep, and her breath smelt of not only dry wine and cheap beer, but of cigarettes.

“I dropped my glass in the kitchen” she slurred, shaking on unsteady legs, “Go clean up Mummy’s mess, Virginia”.

Nell moaned in anger, but stood up and walked into the kitchen. Sure enough, there was a good bit of broken glass and beer all over the floor. They didn’t own a broom, so Nell knelt down and began picking up the broken glass. She hissed in pain as a piece of glass cut into her palm, causing blood to drip onto the floor.

Her mother saw this and yelled, “STOP BLEEDING ON MY CLEAN FLOOR! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD BLOOD IS TO CLEAN, YOU WORTHLESS SALAMANDER?!”.

Nell looked up from her bleeding palm to her mother’s puffy red eyes, her own eyes gleaming with rage. What did she know about cleaning? Ever since Nell’s father had left when she was three, Nell was always the one cleaning the house. And she always had to deal with her mother trying to control her life. Over ten years of insults...she couldn’t keep silent any longer.

“I wish you’d just die” mumbled the fourteen-year-old girl, her eyes glazing over as she stared at the floor. “I WISH YOU’D JUST DIE!” she screamed, looking back to her mother’s face, eyes now filled with tears.

The woman’s eyes widened as she gasped, and fell to the floor. Nell stared at her mother in shock, watching her chest to see if it would rise. It didn’t. She stared in horror for a moment longer, before she ran out the back door, leaving her mother’s body on the floor, the beer on the wood floor flowing into her open mouth.

Nell paused to see how her comrades were responding to the story so far. They seemed a little surprised. But, this was the fist time Nell had been so...serious since the three of them had met. Neither of them spoke, so she continued her story, skipping to her time in the war to the east.

9 Years Ago- October

“You shouldn’t be helping me” gasped the lean, light-skinned man, his red eyes burning with pain. “I’m your enemy”.

Nell, now a nurse/solider of the state military, ignored his words and bandaged the saber wound on his chest. She ran a thin hand through his snarled black hair. He didn’t mean what he said, about them being enemies. Their relationship was, in reality, the opposite of a rivalry. But, being on opposite sides of the battle, they couldn’t tell anyone that they had been involved romantically with each other for nearly six months.

“Hope I don’t have to see you like this again, Lucas” she scolded him teasingly, standing up, grabbing her medical kit, and exiting the building. Her lover chuckled slightly, holding his chest in pain as he did.

(Amestris Military Base, 2000 hours- Sunday)

The commanding officer of Nell’s squadron watched as she ate her dinner that night. Piles of chicken, potatoes, and carrots filled the plate. For the longest time, everyone wondered where she had been putting it all, the thin girl that she was. Though, the small lump on her stomach made it obvious that wherever her hiding place was, it was overflowing. Nonetheless, he had an important announcement to make.

“Attention!” he called. His troops turned all their attention away from their meal for a moment in order to listen to their leader.

“Tonight at 2200 hours, there will be a mandatory physical for all present in this division” he began, “Everyone who is seen as fit for battle will remain here until the war is over. Those of who that are deemed unfit will be sent away. That is all”. As he left, his soldiers looked nervously at each other.

(Nell’s Barracks, 100 hours- Monday)

Nell lied awake that night, too excited about the news she had gotten the night before. She was pregnant- three months along. It was something she had wanted for years, and the fact that she was having this child with Lucas...That just made it all the more worthwhile. It did surprise her, however, that her commanding officers allowed her to stay at the war front. She would’ve thought she’d be discharged, especially since they knew the father was part of the enemy. Still, she was grateful. She was sure that they would have taken the baby away from her, as punishment for treason. But, when she talked to her commanding officers about it, they told her that she’d be allowed to carry the child to term. Nell vowed to visit Lucas later in the day to tell him the news.

(1200 hours- Monday)

“Is there a Virginia Nell present?” the colonel called among the soldiers assorted in the medical barracks. An injured man with his arm in a cast pointed to the back of the room, where Nell was speaking to one of the injured soldiers. The colonel walked towards her, his expression somber and haunting.

Nell didn’t notice him until he was nearly at her side, and didn’t speak until the young man in the bed was safely asleep. After a quick introduction, the colonel got straight to his business.

“I heard you have relations to a Mr. Lucas?” Nell nodded, wondering why this man had come, asking her about Lucas. The answer she received was not a welcome one.

“I’m very sorry, but he died at 300 hours. The death was accidental, a cannon destroyed the roof of the shelter he had taken”. He continued his story, but Nell didn’t hear. All she could think about was Lucas; Lucas and her baby that would grow up without a father. And she promised herself, that no matter what, she would never leave her baby alone.

“Damn” Mort said in a hushed voice. He always was one to talk after a major event in a story. It didn’t matter whether Greed was telling them about the other Homunculi, or if Dorochette was having a drunken rant about a girl in a poodle skirt hitting him with a newspaper. ‘Liza was much more respectful. Though this may have been due to the storyteller being her best friend. Nonetheless, the young woman kept quiet as Nell continued her story.

8 Years Ago- March

Nell looked lovingly into the face of her newborn son, who had been born the night before. Despite the gunpowder abundant in the air and other assorted troubles that could have effected him, the boy was healthy. To Nell, he was perfect. His hair, though scarce, promised to be the same persimmon as her own. Other than that however, he was the splitting image of his father. His skin was the same tone as Lucas’s, as were his bright red eyes. He looked so much like his father.

It almost hurt for her to look at him everyday. But she ignored the pain and cared for her son. Before she became pregnant, they would discus what they wanted their children to be named, if they had any. Lucas said he would name his firstborn son Dirk, after his father who died in a civil war in their homeland. Nell had honored his wish, and honored him as well. She named her son Dirk Lucas Nell, after his grandfather and his father.

Now, as she nursed the newborn, she waited for her name to be called for transfer. Now that she had a son, she was liable for maternity leave. A woman with a baby only stayed where there was active duty under certain circumstances. And, as far as Nell knew, none of them applied to her. But when the last bus for department left, she was still in the camp; her name was never called. Not that she was bothered. Living on a military base until the war was over would be hard, but she would be able to handle it. Or at least, she hoped she would.

Eliza’s eyes seemed to enlarge at least five sizes as she squealed, “AW! He sounds so cuuuuute!”.

Her two friends stared at her. They glanced at each other, silently asking if their was anything wrong with her. A second look held their answer: it’s better we don’t know.

“‘Liza” Nell called to the stag Chimera. “This is what you’re doing” she said, flapping her hand rapidly before closing it and saying, “This is what I want you to do”. Eliza looked confused.

“Did you just tell me to-“

”Yes!” Nell nodded and froze as tears came to her eyes. Whipping them away, she continued her story, the last part she was willing to share.

8 Years Ago- May

“C’mon” the officer said coldly, grabbing onto her arm roughly. Nell struggled, the sounds of her strangled cries as she tried to get free from his grasp.

The noise woke three-month-old Dirk, who whined from his cradle. His mother glared at the man pulling on her arm.

“Now see what you did? What are you trying to do?”

She finally managed to pry away from his grip and heading towards her whimpering son. Before she could reach him, however, her arm was once again within the grasp of the beefy man. Coming into the room was a tall, thin and nearly demonic looking woman. The tag on her sweater introduced her as Yvonne. Nell didn’t really notice her presence until she was within a foot of the crib.

“What are you doing?” the red-haired woman questioned Yvonne as she picked up the infant from the crib and began trying to comfort him.

The elderly woman did not respond, but the man, whose grip had tightened on her arms exponentially, growled, “You’re going on a very long trip, and let’s just say, the place you’re going isn’t fit for children. So...we’ll be putting young Dirt into the care of one of our more trustworthy soldiers”.

The baby had stopped crying by this time, and Nell watched as Yvonne took him through the door. “HIS NAME IS DIRK!”

The mother screamed in protest of her son being taken away by the demonic woman. Her shouts her only stilled by a sharp thwack on her dead, delivered by the officer holding onto her.

Nell shuddered as she finished telling her story, as if the memory was too painful for her to stop shaking. Mort and ‘Liza stared at her in silence, unsure of what to say.

“Well, you guys hungry?” Nell asked suddenly, cheerful as ever.

Eliza cheered and Mort shook his head, following the girls into what acted as a kitchen. There were times when he was sure the nurse was bipolar, the way her emotions changed so rapidly. Nonetheless, a moment or two later, the trio was sitting at the bar eating toast and drinking vodka with anyone who was still awake- which basically meant Nora, who left about five minutes later to go to work. The meal was more or less silent, with short dialects exchanging between the four of them as they ate, most of which were too random to comprehend.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was about nine in the morning before Greed, Marta, Law, and Dorochette returned to the Devil’s Nest. They sat at the bar and began to eat, until Greed, probably noticing that Marta looked rather drained, told her to eat in their room.

Not really enjoying the feeling of bar stools, the boss told his “cronies” as some would call them to take a seat around the small slab of wood on legs that represented a coffee table in the pub. For about a half-hour, everything was more or less silent. The new recruits didn’t question their superiors on their mission. If Greed felt like they need to know, he would tell them, or have Law or Dorochette tell them, later. In fact, it wasn’t until almost noon that the silence was truly broken- by a low, familiar whisper.

“Um...Hello” spoke Tucker in his usual hushed tones. “I hope I haven’t been interrupting anything”.

As usual, he spoke as though he was nervous about something. However, he really was acting nervous this time, too. There was an obvious shake in his left leg, as well as a giggle.

Wait...

”Legs can’t laugh” Eliza said, sounding somewhat confused. Hitting your head on the wall when you got a headache would do that to you after all. Tucker smiled sheepishly, though due to his inverted face, it looked more like he was frowning, about to cry. He then stepped sideways, revealing a small boy.

The child’s skin was tinted yellow, as though he was sickly, and his face was smeared with grime and dirt, as was the once white shirt the boy was wearing. But what Nell and the others noticed the most was the bright shock of shaggy red/orange hair on the boy’s head- the same persimmon as Nell’s own short locks of hair.

Everyone stared for a second, before a mental switch seemed to go off in all their heads. Two minutes later, the only people in the room were Nell and the progeny she thought she lost years ago.

“Is that you...Dirk?” she asked, feeling her already watery eyes welling up with tears of joy and disbelief.

The boy, her son, smiled slightly, his crimson eyes shimmering brightly.

“Call me Dirt, Mama”.

[silverviper2134]

Chapter Six: Booze of the Century

Late afternoon was the most popular time for The Devil’s Nest, customer-wise. And while she knew he’d stop it before it got too far, Marta was a little uneasy with the women crowding around Greed on the couch.

In reality, she knew she had always been jealous of them. She had always been able to control her emotions, hide them from herself.

But lately, she had noticed that she was getting more irritable than normal. The day before, Dorochette had asked her if she was feeling alright, and she had ranted at him for about ten minutes, before going into her room and slamming the door in his face. She had apologized that night, though it was obvious Dorochette would watch what he said to her.

One of the women who had been clinging to Greed’s arm decided to walk over to the bar, requesting a beer from the barkeep. Marta gazed at the woman; one of the regulars at the Nest, she was here every other day, and while she said she loved a good beer, Marta noticed she was usually drinking in something else. The woman- a thin brunette about thirty with big breasts and a tiny brain- noticed the chimera scanning her.

“Can I help you?” she asked, scanning Marta herself. Her eyes froze on her stomach, and the woman smiled slightly, muttering, “My, my, you’ve really let yourself go, haven’t you?”

Marta took her eyes away from the woman. Looking at that smug face would make her puke, she knew that for sure.

“No need to be so angry” the whore said, crossing her arms in false-disappointment, “It’s not like I didn’t already know”. Marta looked at the woman from the corner of her eye. She didn’t want to say anything, out of fear of saying something she’d regret. The busty girl smirked as she continued: “Yeah, there’s been a bit of a rumor around us regulars. Word is that Mr. Greed got you knocked up... and you apparently think he cares about you and that little bastard you’re carrying in your gut? Here’s some advice- he doesn’t. All you are to him is a toy- something he’ll play with until it breaks, then he’ll throw you away. Judging by the size of you, already, I’d say it won’t be long before he throws you ou-“

Her rant was cut short by a rubbery hand slamming across her cheek.

The woman fell into the bar, her chest slamming onto the hardwood counter.

A bottle of booze fell onto the ground, shattering and causing the sweet drink to form a puddle on the ground. The poor barkeep was kneeling on the floor, staring at the mess in horror, before finally bursting into tears. Must’ve been some damn good booze.

“I’ve had that booze for fifty years!” he cried.

Everyone who had been drinking that particular drink stared at him in horror, before spewing any amount of booze that had been in their mouths.

“Can’t handle the truth sweetie?” the woman hissed as she managed to catch her breath- which smelled of dry wine- and smirked wickedly. “I mean, it’s so obvious: why would he want you when he could have someone like me?”

She failed to realize that Greed was now glaring at her as she continued to talk to Marta. And obviously, she was completely blind, as she didn’t even notice the snake-lady reaching for her knife. Though, luckily for her, Marta apparently felt that she deserved to live. That, or she just wanted to take a nap. So, rather than stab the bitch in the head, Marta slammed the handle into her breasts. The whore fell to the ground, looking as though she’d just been brain-damaged, which really gives some hints to her intelligence.

As Marta slid her dagger back into the holder on her shoulder and walked back to her room, Nell and Eliza were smiling at the customer on the ground. “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” ‘Liza said, sipping a glass of cognac.

Nell nodded and, taking a sip of her own drink, replied, “And if she’s pregnant, just don’t talk”. Dirt stared at his mother and his “auntie” in confusion. Apparently, with people like them, alcohol just makes them gain brain cells.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An hour later, the bar was totally empty, with the exception of the chimeras and the barkeep.

The poor man seemed to have calmed himself after his half-century old booze had been spilled, though if you asked him for the booze in the black bottle, he’d burst into tears, screaming about how it had been too young to go. Greed had whispered to Dorochette that they’d have to get a new barkeeper by the end of the week. Not that he could really name anyone who’d be willing to give booze to a bunch of chimeras, a somewhat self-absorbed Homunculus, and a seven-year-old kid.

Besides, the barkeep was like one of the family; he was like the relative whose name you always seem to forget. Marta always just said that he must’ve changed his name to Barkeep, seeing as he’d always respond to that, even in casual conversation. That, or his name was Robert John Frank Joe Bill David Michael Lucas Louis, which was just to long to use whenever you wanted to ask for a drink.

After he had cleaned up and gone home for the night, apparently, he believed that no one in the Nest would need a drink from two thirty in the morning to five in the morning, Greed decided to speak with Marta.

It was a quarter to four when he stepped into the lounge, where she was watching the (stolen) TV.

Everyone else was asleep, but Greed and Marta were both wide awake. For him, it was based on the fact that he technically wasn’t alive, and therefore, didn’t need sleep to keep him healthy. In her case, the inability to sleep could be blamed on the fact that whenever she’d actually get into a comfortable position and relax, she’d just be met with a wave of nausea. Apparently her morning sickness had been replaced with night sickness, which was just more proof that God totally hated her.

“You really did a number on that lady, Marta” Greed half-laughed as he took a seat in the big chair- his chair. She shrugged, not looking away from the television, although she wasn’t really watching anything, just flipping through the channels.

“Don’t blame me for that, blame the kid”.

Smirking again, Greed took a sip of brandy as he responded, in a cool voice, “In that case, remind me not to piss this kid off”.

An annoyed expression flashed over Marta’s face before she went back to her shows. Greed glanced at the TV as well, apparently trying to see if there was anything good on. Unfortunately, there was almost nothing but some old crime dramas and something called the Home Shopping Network. Nothing that someone like him could be interested in. Marta obviously had the same idea, seeing as she never spent more than five seconds on each channel. Soon, the only sound was the soft static emitting from the TV.

“You know” he spoke up suddenly in the near-silence, “I’m very attracted to a woman who doesn’t take shit from anyone”.

The whole time he was speaking, the Homunculus had gotten up from his seat and had stepped over to Marta- not really a long walk, seeing as the sofa was about three feet away from his chair.

Marta’s face burned hot for a second, mostly because on the second half of his comment, Greed had decided to wrap his arms around her waist, and whispered the last few words directly into her ear. His well-built body pressed lightly against the swell of her stomach, the Ultimate Shield moved his head slightly, beginning to nibble softly on the chimera’s earlobe, until he was shoved off.

“Hey, what’s the matter doll?” he asked, a somewhat hurt expression crossing over his face, quickly replaced by the normal care-free stare. It took Marta a moment to be able to respond to his question.

“That’s what got me into this mess” she told him, her fingertips running over her stomach, “I really don’t want to repeat it”.

Greed noticed that she was yawning a little as she spoke, especially on the word ‘repeat’.

“Hey, go to bed, okay? Don’t want you dead on your feet tomorrow, do we?”

She smirked slightly, and muttered, “I’m going to be up every ten minutes or so to throw-up, but whatever”, before heading down the hall towards their bedroom.

Once she was gone, Greed took a seat in his chair again, flipping through the channels, though his mind was somewhere else.

He thought about what that whore had said to Marta. Basically all of it was a lie, at least the parts about Greed thinking of Marta as a toy that he’d just throw away when he was done. Greedy as he was, Greed would never throw away something that was his, especially not if he valued it as much as he valued her.

As a subordinate, she was loyal, her devotion to serving him surpassed only by Dorochette’s dog-like loyalty. As a lover, she was perfect as a person could possibly be, though he hadn’t been able to experience anything with her since that night that apparently created the cause of her bulge. And now, she was doing something else for him: carrying his child for three-quarters of a year. Even more amazing was the simple fact that she stopped doing many of her favorite activities while she was pregnant.

She’d given up alcohol basically as soon as she’d confirmed her condition, and had ceased participating in sparring matches as soon as she began to show. Not to mention, she managed to deal with the constant nausea. For being the Ultimate Shield, Greed doubted that he’d be able to go nine months without booze or have to deal with needing to puke every day. That was what really made him attracted to her.

She was fucking amazing.

[aspiredeathe]

Amazing ^^.
I love Nell's past,it's touching and then Tucker bringing her kid back to her was cool
Obviously i love Martel slapping the whore xD
But again, greatly written and interesting till the last full stop.

[silverviper2134]

Yeah, and Greed's starting to get horny. XP

Kimblee's making a reapperance soon, so be on the lookout.

[silverviper2134]

Chapter Seven: Kicking and Kisses

Marta lounged on the couch of the private part of the Devil’s Nest, rubbing her stomach.

By now it was painfully obvious to everyone that she was pregnant. Not only had her stomach gotten larger but there was now a curve to it, which according to Nell was the main difference between being pregnant and just being overweight. And though she was huge, Nell had congratulated her on lasting this long. Apparently when pregnant with Dirt, Nell had “popped” when she was like three, four months at the most.

Still, it was hard to get use to the extra weight in front of her. Not to mention she was always getting dirty looks from the sluts who came to the pub to flirt with Greed. It was like they thought it was her fault that she had slept with him and gotten pregnant because of him five months ago.

Actually, it was, but only half.

But that was only the women, the men usually reacted differently. There was never a man who came to the Devil’s Nest more than once or twice a month, so they often lost track of current events. A usual routine with the perverts would be that they would get so drunk they could barely walk, then go over to her, stare at her chest and try to flirt with her, until they looked down a little and noticed her stomach. That instantly got them to lay off. Either they knew who had put her in that situation, or they just didn’t want to risk angering whoever they thought did.

Greed had given her a rather annoying order the week before. She wasn’t allowed to go on any jobs, even simple thefts, until after this kid was out. Which was why she was here now, sitting on the couch and watching television.

Thankfully, the daytime lineup for most channels was much better than what was on at night. But, no matter what, it was boring to have to stay behind while her comrades went on their missions and what-not. Still, she could understand. In her current condition, she would only slow them down. Not to mention the fact that, according to Nell, if she were to get hit in the stomach hard enough, either the baby would die in the womb, or she’d go into labor and the baby would either be stillborn or die immediately after birth.

So she was stuck waiting for Greed, Law, and Dorochette to return. Nell, Mort, and Eliza almost never went on missions, even the more simple robberies or vandalism.

For Nell and Eliza it was partly because they had to take care of Dirt, but mostly because they couldn’t go five minutes without making a quip about Mort’s balls. And that usually resulted in Mort screaming like a rabid chicken and giving them all away.

Just the other day, Nell told her about the day’s mission. Apparently it involved a bicycle, some bricks, and a rather annoyed cat. Hearing this, Marta could tell the tale would be very random. And sure enough, by the time she had told her tail, Marta was sure that she had lost at least ten IQ points. Not to mention a good bit of her sanity. It was kind of weird actually- after fourteen years in Laboratory Five, she managed to maintain a fairly good level of sanity, but after three years with the Terror Trio living with them, she was certain she could be emitted to an insane asylum.

But hey, at least she’d have been entertained before going to it.

She was brought out of her thoughts by a sudden jab coming from the inside of her stomach. She smiled slightly and felt the same motion, though a bit harder this time.

“Hey, knock it off” Marta said, hitting her stomach gently.

In retaliation, the baby inside it began kicking very hard and very fast. The action almost made her sick, but she managed to keep herself steady. Frowning slightly, she spoke to her stomach, and asked, “You’re going to do this for a while, aren’t you?”

The only response was a quick kick to her bladder, which did little more than make her really want to use the bathroom. Not that she hadn’t gotten used to that- ever since she had gotten pregnant, she felt like there was a cinder block pressing on her bladder all the time.

She sighed again. It wasn’t like she could really do anything about it. The kid was attached to the inside of her stomach, for Christ’s sake!

“Well, can you at least calm down enough so I can sleep?” she muttered, somewhat angrily to her belly. “I mean, you’re the one who’s sucking away my energy like a ten ounce leech, you better let me sleep. After all, fair is fair.”

She waited for another sharp jab to the gut, but was surprised to find that nothing had actually happened. That was just unbelievable. This kid had another four months almost before it would even be born, and already, it was deciding that whatever its parents say don’t mean crap.

Still, if the kid stayed this way for a few hours and if the Terror Trio decided to stay in the other rooms, she may be able to actually get some sleep, for the first time in like three days. So she decided to try and take nap on the couch, not even bothering to turn off the television. Not that the sound would really bother her- in Lab 5, she learned to shut down outside noise in order to sleep.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey, wake up Doll. You plan on sleeping in all day?”

Marta groggily opened her eyes and pulled herself in a sitting position. Blinking to attempt to wake herself, she saw Greed standing in front of her. “What time is it?” she asked the Homunculus, who glanced quickly at the clock hanging upon the wall.

Marta allowed her gaze to follow his, and almost fell off the sofa when she saw the time: 5:30 PM. That meant she had been asleep for almost ten straight hours. She knew she had been tired, but she had no idea that she had been that tired. Trying to excuse this, she said, “You can blame this”- she motioned to her stomach- “for my sleeping in so late. Not only does it suck away my energy but for the past few hours...speak of the devil”.

She rolled her eyes, and sighed as she placed her hands onto her stomach. Apparently the baby was either awake, or maybe just wanted to be a part of the conversation.

Though, apparently, Greed had no clue what was actually going on. Not that anyone could really expect him to; he’d never really been around a pregnant woman before, at least not long enough to actually ask them anything. Not that he’d care in most cases.

“What’s the matter with you?” he asked, staring at her, only breaking his gaze to glance at her stomach momentarily.

Marta sighed and shook her head, murmuring just loud enough for her boss to hear, “This ungrateful little brat keeps kicking me”. She winced slightly as she felt a particularly strong jab come from the inside of her stomach. As the baby’s movements became less forceful, Marta got an idea.

“Here” she said simply, grabbing Greed’s hand and laying it, palm down, onto her stomach. She was somewhat shocked and more so annoyed when the motions from inside of her gut came to a stop.

The Ultimate Shield looked hurt for a split second, as though he was insulted by the lack of movement from his future child. However, his usual charismatic smirk returned as he laughed softly, saying, “Rude little shit doesn’t like me apparently. I wonder why”.

Marta returned his smirk, her moss-colored eyes glinting mischievously, like she was prepared to play some form of a prank on him. “I’m guess it’s because you smell like a stripper”.

The silence lasted about three seconds, before being broken by the Homunculus’s snickers. Keeping his pink/purple eyes focused on her green ones, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, bringing her a little closer to him.

“It’s a little hard not to smell like a stripper when you’ve got two hanging onto at a time for three hours straight” he laughed, tilting her chin up, his smirk widening slightly. “But don’t worry, I’m not going to try and get into their pants. After all, you’re the real prize”.

He pressed his lips hard upon Marta’s, pushing his tongue through her teeth. Just as he managed to get his tongue on top of hers, he felt a sharp jolt hit his palm, followed by a series of softer movements. That surprised him, seeing as he forgot he’d left his hand on her stomach before trying to get it on with her. He stared at her stomach in awe as he asked, “What do you think that was- a fist or a foot”.

“To tell you the truth, I’ll be glad if it’s not a tail or something to that degree” she told him, showing that she truly wasn’t concerned with whatever part of her child’s body was hitting her. Greed chuckled slightly at the joke, before gently biting her at the base of the neck.

“Well” he began, “Let’s just make sure that once this little demon is out, we teach it not to interrupt our fun”.

[silverviper2134]

Chapter Eight: Kimblee

According to Nell, these would be the best three months of her pregnancy. However, she begged to differ. While she had to admit, these past two months had been easier than the early three months of her pregnancy, they still sucked royally.

She still had nausea for hours at a time, though thankfully without the urge to puke. Not to mention that she was getting the oddest cravings, and for things that she wasn’t even sure were edible. That morning she had to restrain herself from eating a live frog that had somehow gotten into her room!

She was actually a little afraid of what this child would be like if she was craving live frogs during pregnancy.

And now that the kid realized that it had limbs, Marta could constantly feel the pounding motions of either a fist or a foot slamming into her stomach from the inside.

In fact, it seemed that it would only stop moving whenever Greed attempted to touch her stomach, and would only start up again if her and Greed attempted to have a moment alone together. Not that it ever really had to; Because of the leech-like quality of the baby, she was usually dead tired by the time Greed was able to shake the whores off him and come see her. Suddenly she felt a hard kick against her bladder.

“Get your foot out of my bladder, kid, I’m close enough to pissing myself as it is” she said annoyed, lightly smacking her belly.

In retaliation, the child gave another strong kick, this time whacking her hard in the ribs. Marta hissed. That was one of the major problems with carrying a child of someone who was virtually indestructible. Every time the child’s heel connected with a bone or organ, the force was almost enough to take the breath out of her. Kicks to the ribs and kidneys were especially vicious.

“You’re an ungrateful little brat, you know that?” Marta rolled her eyes, resting her palm lightly against her stomach.

The baby kicked her gut again, as though to answer. And seeing how hard the connection was, it was obvious that it really didn’t care. Marta sighed and leaned back on her bed, rolling her eyes as her baby attempted to get itself into a comfortable position.

Her eyes snapped open as she heard a strange noise erupting from upstairs. It sounded like an explosion.

“Eliza must be trying to make backing soda-vinegar cherry pie” the chimera muttered, getting out of the bed.

The stag-woman had been attempting to bake the oddest things ever since Dirt had moved into the Nest two months ago. Some of the more believable concoctions she had made were a banana and rhubarb cake with lemon/blueberry frosting, toasted raisin and cranberry apple pie, and of course, the baking-soda vinegar cheery pie.

The cake and raisin-cranberry apple pie were actually fairly successful. Or, at the very least, some people- namely Dirt, Ulchi, Nell, and ‘Liza- were able to stomach them.

The backing-soda vinegar cherry pie, however usually didn’t get that good of reviews. It wasn’t that it didn’t taste good, far from it. The only problem was that, it usually exploded as soon as someone tried to cut into it, making a huge mess.

Still, Eliza made sure to make it every two weeks, since Dirt always said that it was his favorite. The stag-chimera really was a sucker when it came to kids, which was probably why she got along so much with Nell. It was also the reason why Marta was a little uneasy at the idea of letting Nell and Eliza babysit her own baby. Still, the younger girl was always well-meaning and that was what mattered.

She went downstairs from the loft of the Nest, into the main bar. The entire time, she was complaining to herself about having to clean the cherry goo off the walls.

However, when she got to the bar, she was greeted with a much more unwelcome surprise.

“Kimblee!” she hissed, her serpentine eyes narrowed dangerously at the madman bomber.

The Crimson Alchemist smiled deviously at his former co-worker, walking closer to the chimera. Marta stepped backwards, wishing she had remembered to take her dagger with her. Greed and the others, save for Eliza and Dirt, had left on a mission several hours ago, so God knew when they’d be back.

As for Eliza, she was lying on the ground, alive but obviously not in very good shape and her left arm was twisted in an impossible angle. She couldn’t see Dirt anywhere. Hopefully he had been smart and went to his bedroom when he heard the explosion.

“You’ve really let yourself go” Kimblee sneered, barely a foot away from Marta’s stomach.

He brought his hand, palm facing towards himself, onto her stomach and continued, “Or, have you just been busy?”

The only thing that Marta could really hope for was that her baby would not move; otherwise, who knows what could happen to it? Unfortunately, the kid was apparently suicidal seeing as a moment or two after Kimblee’s hand touched her stomach, Marta could feel the child’s foot slam into her gut, right where his hand was.

A slightly surprised look crossed over his face, before he smiled. The bastard always loved it when he was proved right. Though, when he was proved wrong it always had the same result- a random person was blown up.

Feeling the instinct to protect her unborn child, Marta seized Kimblee’s throat tightly and squeezed it. In order to keep him immobile, she extended her arm, coiling it around the alchemist’s neck. However, the moment she had her arm wrapped around his throat, a sharp pain shot through her stomach, causing her to release him.

Well, to Hell with that plan.

She had only allowed her focus to be taken off the murderer for a second, but that was obviously plenty of time. Within seconds, Kimblee had her pressed against the sofa, his hands palm down on her stomach.

The position of his hands was the only thing that kept her from delivering a kick to his groin. Marta had never been interested in alchemy, and having been tortured through alchemy didn’t really make it peak her interest. But she knew Kimblee and with his tattooed palms on her belly, she knew his attack would either kill just the baby, or both of them. So she would keep still, for now.

However, her sharp tongue was something she was unable (and unwilling) to keep in check. “If you do anything” she said this with a particularly sour venom. “To hurt my baby, I will hunt you down and I will kill you. Even if it means coming back from the dead, and don’t think I won’t find a way to do that”.

Greed had told them once that he had once been brought back from the dead, over a century ago. When asked who it had been to revive him, the Homunculus quickly ordered another round of shots. She was positive that Law and Dorochette would be willing to help her with her revenge should she die before she can preform it in life.

She waited for a slick remark from Crimson, but was surprised when a cold voice answered instead.

“Relax. We don’t want to harm your baby”.

Marta’s eyes shot to the door of the bar. There was Frank Archer. Great. So Kimblee had brought along his bum-chum.

Hopefully they had charmed each other’s one-eyed snake before coming here; she was nauseous enough from the pregnancy alone. As he got closer, she attempted to move, but Kimblee kept his palms pressed onto her stomach. All he did was slide them around.

The ghost-like Colonel knelt close to Marta, which made her desperately want to break his nose. If it weren’t for the explosives artist silently threatening to turn her uterus into a bomb, that would have been easily achieved. Archer’s bland face was mere inches away from her fist.

This desire only grew as he lifted her shirt, revealing her bulging belly and gently pressed down on it. The lack of force shocked her quite a bit. Even though the guy looked like a total sissy, Marta thought he’d at least be able to press down with a bit of pressure.

“Kimblee, how far along did you say she was? When you first found out about this?” Archer asked the alchemist, his hands still gently pressing on Marta’s stomach. Kimblee seemed to think about this for a second. Throughout all this, there was only one thing on Marta’s mind.

“If you’re not going to hurt my baby, then why the hell are you here?” she hissed at the two military men as Kimblee informed his bed-warmer that last time he checked- about eight weeks ago- she was three months along.

Archer smirked at her and made a comment about how surprisingly healthy she seemed, despite the lack of professional prenatal care, before answering her question. “We shall have a good friend of ours raise him” he told her, obviously referring to her unborn child as male because that was what he wanted. “After all, if a chimera such as yourself is so powerful, and a Homunculus is at the very least twice as strong, the possibilities for a child with your combined genes in unlimited”.

She really should have guessed that much. Most people in the military were power-obsessed and didn’t give a damn about anyone besides themselves.

She also didn’t have to ask what they planned to do with her once the baby was born. As long as she was alive, she would do anything in her power to keep them from turning her child into a weapon. The easiest way to prevent her intervention would be to kill her once she was no longer needed. Kind of like how she and her comrades were transformed into chimeras and locked in cages for fourteen years because they were no longer needed in the eyes of their commanding officers.

She was about to retort when a small voice suddenly cut through the silence.

“What are you doing?” Dirt asked from the doorway, his red eyes wide with a mixture of fear and awe.

Neither of the men answered the seven-year-old’s question, though they did look up to see who had made the sound. The carrot-topped boy stepped a little closer to the couch, though he seemed a little hesitant. Apparently he realized how creepy and insane those bastards were.

“I said, what are you doing?” he asked again, his brow furrowed.

Kimblee growled in annoyance and released his hold on Marta in order to grab a toy train that Dirt had left on the ground. He quickly noticed his mistake but it was too late- the moment his hands were off her, Marta slammed her foot, hard, into the madman’s groin. Even though she had a feeling her strength had deteriorated after a few weeks of not being on missions it was obvious by the look on Kimblee’s face that he was in pain.

Archer glared at his ass-monkey and looked ready to scold him when he suddenly heard a rattle coming from the door. While this was a great noise to Marta, Dirt, and Eliza, it was the sound of death to Archer. The people who were coming in were most likely Greed and the other chimeras.

And at the moment, Kimblee was too busy clutching his crotch to even attempt to attack them. Thus, Frank Archer decided to do something smart- he dragged Kimblee to the wall that led outside and forced him to clap before placing his palms on the stone. There was a small explosion, which cause Dirt to cry out in fear and run to Marta, before a hole large enough for them to fit through. God only knew how Archer was strong enough to carry Kimblee and run as fast as Dorochette to a dog show featuring poodles in miniskirts. But by the time Greed had opened the door, they were long gone.

Dorochette, Law, and Mort went over to help Eliza, though the rat-man appeared very willing to drop her, especially after the stag made a comparison to his balls. She said that Dirt had bigger balls than he did. Only because Law and Dorochette were both there, and they were both bigger than him, did he keep his grip.

As they carried her to the medical bay, Nell tended to her frightened son. Dirt shuddered and cried as he embraced his mother. No doubt the poor kid was traumatized by what he saw. At least for the next couple of weeks, then he’d probably be traumatized by some random kid’s show that he saw on TV.

Soon, the trembling child had fallen to sleep and his mother carried him upstairs so he could actually get a good night’s sleep. Or as good a night’s sleep as possible, seeing as the sun would be up in less than three hours.

That left Greed and Marta alone. The Homunculus took a seat on the couch next to her, looking mildly pissed off at the pregnant chimera. She could tell that he knew Kimblee had been here. Though, it wasn’t that surprising- there were several scorch marks on the walls and floor, not to mention the hole in the wall made by the homo’s escape.

“You shouldn’t have come down here. I thought you’d be smart enough to trust your instincts sometimes” Greed said, in a voice that was barely more than a whisper. The words held quite a bit of anger, though his tone of voice showed that he was more concerned than mad.

Marta rolled her eyes and leaned back, though not too far seeing as it seemed that as the days went by it got harder to stand up when she did this.

“I don’t see how you could blame me. Feels like I’m going to die of boredom soo-“

Her complaint was cut short by Greed wrapping his arms- one around her shoulders, the other around her waist- and pulling her close to his body. With a smirk, he leaned closer to her, and rasped in her ear.

“I think I can help remedy that”.

[aspiredeathe]

Hmm Greed will never stop being horny i think xD
Loved Kimblee and Archer's wonderful pet names.

Well written, so i was able to fully enjoy Kimblee's pain. ^.-

[silverviper2134]

Ch. 9: Nightmares and Conversation

Sighing, Marta slid her knife underneath the mattress, freezing as the springs squeaked under her shifting weight.

She glanced at Greed, praying...no, hoping that he was still asleep. Praying was for someone who believed in God, and she had stopped long ago.

She mentally scolded herself for being so afraid.

And all because of a stupid nightmare!

It had been at least two weeks since Kimblee and his ghostly boyfriend had tried to kidnap her so they could have her baby for their own bastardly plans. Still, she had been having nightmares for the past week, though they were always mixed with past horrors.

Along with her latest attack, she dreamt of the years spent in Lab 5 before and after the experiments were completed.

She had thought dreams like that were over. After all, she had barely thought of the years that she was a lab rat since before she got pregnant. Which probably meant that the nightmares were caused by her pregnancy. That would make sense, seeing as it felt that having this baby inside her made her feel more paranoid then ever before. And the attempted kidnaping two weeks prior to tonight was almost enough to put her over the edge.

She had even started sleeping with a knife under her mattress.

Making sure that no one, sans herself and Greed, were in the room, Marta put the knife back underneath the mattress. She didn’t even try to go back to sleep, even though it was the middle of the night.

Exactly how late, she wasn’t sure.

Her eyesight was still somewhat cloudy from waking, so she couldn’t really read the clock that was out in the hall.

But her heart was pounding and the baby was kicking wildly. Obviously, getting back to sleep would be nearly impossible at this point. So she quietly went and got a drink, surprised when she saw that the television was on.

What shocked her even more was when she heard Dirt’s soft voice come from the sofa.

“Can’t sleep?” he asked, looking away from the program he was watching.

“How can you tell?”

“You're awake”.

Marta nodded, as though what he was saying was an obvious fact. And it was. Why would you be awake unless you couldn’t sleep in the first place. But that didn’t answer a question of hers.

“Dirt, what are you doing up?” she asked, taking a seat next to the red-headed boy. He shrugged, going back to watching the program on the TV. It was something called “wrestling”, and it featured men in tights beating the ever-loving crap out of each other. The men and Dirt seemed to love watching the spectacular, though the women seemed to tolerate it as well as they could.

Still, it was doubtful that Nell would be too happy once she found out that Dirt was up so late. Or up so early, seeing as Marta had no idea whether or not the boy had been asleep at all since Nell sent him to bed. Though, if he had slept at all, it couldn’t have been much, judging by how much he was rubbing his eyes and yawning.

“Tired?” she asked, a smirk playing on her face.

The young boy shook his head and mumbled, “No”.

However as he spoke, his word was lost in a massive yawn. His eyelids were drooping, though he was fighting to keep them open.

No doubt that was because he knew that if his lids closed completely, he’d be out like a light. And what self-respecting seven-year-old boy would allow himself to go to sleep when he obviously wanted to stay awake and watch television?

Apparently Dirt didn’t have much self-respect, seeing as a few moments later, he had fallen asleep.

Marta probably wouldn’t have minded this, if it wasn’t for the position that he had fallen asleep in. He was curled into a ball, with his head and upper torso draped across her lap, meaning that she couldn’t get up without waking him.

Though maybe it was for the best, seeing as she wouldn’t be able to get to sleep, even if she did get back into her own bed. It was so messed up how much this was screwing with her mind.

It was bad enough when only her body was effected by the baby, but now it seemed like every part of her- her body, thoughts, and her emotions- were controlled by it.

At least there was only about three months left until this would all be over. And that was something she was looking forward to- her body going back to normal. Well, as normal as it could possibly be, considering her...abnormal identity.

Suddenly she felt an extremely strong jolt hit the inside of her stomach.

Dirt apparently felt it too, seeing as he fell off the snake’s lap and onto the floor. “Ow!” he cried, rubbing his eyes sleepily, “What I miss?”

He blinked several times, like he was trying to register his surroundings.

As he shook his head, Marta couldn’t help but smile.

There were times when Dirt acted quite a bit like a puppy- when he first woke up was one of those times. It was both cute and a little irritating, especially when he’d whimper softly. Sometimes she’d swear he had dog in him, like Dorochette. Though, as far as any of them knew, he didn’t lift his leg whenever he peed. The key phrase here is “as far as any of them knew”. For all they knew, he did piss with one leg up. After all, none of them wanted to watch Nell’s son go to the bathroom, and he didn’t want them to watch. If he did, they’d probably think there was something seriously wrong with him.

With a huge yawn and a quick shake of his head, Dirt finally seemed to be fully awake.

“You could’ve just asked me to get off. I would’ve just sat in the chair” he told Marta, who sighed and told him to blame the baby.

The red-head scowled and muttered, “That baby’s a rude little shit, isn’t it?”

Marta rose an eyebrow at the child’s words, especially the fact that he didn’t even seemed worried about her telling Nell about his use of curse words.

“You talk to your mother like that?” she questioned the young boy, who had taken a seat next to her on the sofa.

His eyes were fixed to the TV screen, but he was at least polite enough to turn and face her as he responded to her question. “Of course I don’t talk to my mom like that” he said, rolling his shoulder as he spoke, “But, Mister Greed said that the baby was a rude little shit, and I thought I could call it that”.

Well, that did make some sense and it did sound like Greed. Still, there was no need to have a child who was still grade-school age cussing like a drunken sailor.

After all, even though Nell was hard to get angry, when she did get annoyed, she was more terrifying that the plague.

There was silence once again, as the two of them watched the television with mild interest. In reality, they just felt like there was nothing to speak about. After all, it was like three in the morning and no one would be awake for at least another half hour or so.

Suddenly, Dirt decided to break the silence by asking, “You had a bad dream, didn’t you? About the bad people?”.

That wasn’t something that Marta was expecting. Obviously by “the bad people” he meant Archer and Kimblee. But, how did he know she was having nightmares about them? Was the kid physic or something of that nature?

She asked him how he knew and he just reminded her that he’d been there when they attacked.

Marta sighed. How could she have forgotten? Dirt was probably the only reason why she was even here, and not in a cell like the animal the military saw her as.

She nodded in understanding as the child said, “Those guys were nasty, huh Aunt Marta?”

This gained a smile from the snake.

Dirt would sometimes refer to her and ‘Liza as his aunts, despite the fact that there was no blood relation between the two of them. Maybe it was because of the fact that they’d watch him whenever Nell had to leave, doing things like reading to him and playing card games. The boys tried to play cards with him, but, unfortunately, all they could think of to play was poker. Not exactly a game for a seven-year-old who was still learning how to add. As for stories...Well, let’s just say Dirt will probably never look at a saw the same way again, thanks to a little tale woven by Dorochette.

The boy shifted on the couch, looking nervous for some reason.

“You aren’t gonna tell Mom that I said a swear, will you?” he asked her suddenly, his red eyes wide and pleading.

That was enough to get Marta to smile again. No matter how much he tried to act like he was older than he really was, Dirt was a little kid in his heart and to him, his mother controlled his fate. Or, she controlled whether or not he’d be grounded and, if he was grounded, for how long.

So she laughed a little and messed up the boy’s orange/red hair and told him, “I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I won’t tell Nell about you saying this shit, and you stop coming in here every night.”

Dirt seemed to consider this. What was worse? Getting in trouble for swearing, or being bored out of your wits? His mom was definitely worse than boredom, whenever she got angry. So he gave Marta a thumbs-up and went back to watching the show.

[silverviper2134]

Ch. 10: No Title

Her patience was really starting to run low.

Usually, she could wait days, weeks, even months if she had to for a certain event. But after eight months of nausea and other such crap, she just wanted this to be over.

Her stomach was tight and swollen, but there was still nearly a full month until the baby was supposed to arrive. She had to admit she was fed up with the waiting.

And she wasn’t the only one.

She smiled slightly as she felt a light, almost half-hearted, kick to her ribs. Over the past two months, she had noticed a lot less movement in her belly, most likely due to the lack of moving room.

But, even though there was less movement, whatever movement there was would usually be extremely vicious. In fact, at least twice in the last week, she could’ve sworn her ribs had almost been cracked by her unborn child.

Thankfully they never were, otherwise she’d be screwed over.

Though why there was less force in this latest assault was a complete mystery to the snake chimera. Not that she actually needed to know. It was just a relief to not have to worry about possible damage to her bones or internal organs.

However, whether she wanted to or not, she got the answer to her unspoken question. The small thump that she had just gotten, was followed quickly by a series of kicks, each made with about the same force as the last one.

When the assault finally halted, she looked down at her belly, feeling exasperated.

“What the hell was that all about?” she wondered to her stomach, receiving another kick in response. “Look, I want you out of there as quickly as possible too, but it’s not like I can do anything about it. I mean, if anyone decides when that happens, it’s you”.

The only response was a very forceful kick to the ribs. Marta touched her ribs lightly, making sure that there was no damage. Thankfully, with the exception of a little pain when she applied pressure to the area, it seemed nothing had been done. That was a relief, seeing as that was the most vicious attack ever.

“You really are a rude little shit, you know that?”

She laughed when she felt the baby kick again, this time quite a bit softer. “I’m guessing you don’t really care, judging by that response” she said, rubbing her stomach gently.

She had to admit, she liked being alone since she entered the eighth month of her pregnancy.

So she was perfectly fine by the fact that the entire Devil’s Nest was empty. Well, Tucker was in a small room in the private section of the Nest. Dirt was with him; the boy had grown attached to the monster-like chimera, for reasons no one could figure out.

No idea where everyone else had gone to, though she expected Greed and the others had gone on some type of a mission.

Marta wasn’t really worried. They could take care of themselves if they ran into any trouble.

But she was thankful that none of the women who came to the bar to try and get lucky with Greed were around. Some of them seemed to learned from the whore- who, according to Eliza, was named Carrie- that she had slapped into counter a few months ago.

Those who had learned from Carrie had stopped talking about Marta, at least when she was within earshot. Which, since she had a very good sense of hearing, meant whenever she was inside the Nest.

However, there still were some people who had no problem insulting Marta, calling her a slut and such, right to her face. These were the people who really pissed her off and they were lucky she could control herself, otherwise they’d each have a knife in their head within ten minutes of coming inside. But, how long she’d be able to keep her self-control, she had no way of knowing. By the way those bitches acted and spoke, it wouldn’t be long before she lost the will to spare their limbs.

Though, it may cause suspicion if a young woman with huge knockers ran out of the bar, a gaping hole where her arm or leg used to be.

And the last thing they wanted was for people to get suspicious, especially considering the fact that they had no way of knowing if those bastards from the military had really stopped watching them.

Neither Kimblee nor Archer had made a move since their last attack, but that meant nothing. Kimblee may not have been very patient, but Archer certainly was. He could wait for the perfect moment to make his move, to bring in soldiers to destroy them all.

Or worse, send them back to the labs, back into their old cages hidden away from the rest of the world and from any source of light. The chimeras they didn’t need for anything, they would simply torture to death.

If any of them were wanted for the military’s use, in a battle or, more likely, in a massacre, but refused to fight for the military...Well, they would simply be tortured until they finally broke. Bido and Mort would fight into this category. They could be strong-minded when they had to be, but physically they were about as strong as pencil lead.

There was one other category she could put herself and the others in, but the only person who fit into it was her. They didn’t need her to fight, not that she would do anything for them if she had the choice. However, what they did need her for was something she could not resist doing. Now that she thought about it, she probably could stop herself from doing it, but not without doing something that she would surely regret for years to come. The only reason they would keep her alive would be so that she could give birth, and they could take her baby from her. After that they would kill her. It’d be easy, seeing how she’d be considerably weaker after the ordeal.

A kick to the gut brought her out of her paranoid thoughts.

She couldn’t help but smile. “Bothering you, am I?”

The whack to the stomach that followed seemed to confirm her suspicion. Nell had told her once that when pregnant woman got stressed, it could effect their unborn child. And, worrying about the possibility of her and her friends being captured and/or killed by soldiers was definitely stressing her out.

Though it would be a little hard to relax, seeing how no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t shake the idea that there was no way of knowing what was to come.

Then again, maybe that was her problem.

She was too worried about something that she couldn’t know anything about. All the chimeras had extended senses of sight, hearing, and smell; some of them could even sense people’s emotions. But none of them could predict the future.

Well, the two cat-chimeras, Garfield and Halle, seemed to be able to predict when it was going to rain, but that was the closest to precognition that any of them possessed.

Feeling the baby kick again, Marta nodded and said, “I guess you’re right. No use worrying about - ouch!”.

Her statement was cut short by a jolt of pain cutting through her body.

“Hey, I just said you were right” the snake-lady said, hitting her stomach lightly. This wasn’t the first time this had happened. She had felt the same pain, like a bad stomachache or cramp, a few hours ago. She just figured it was indigestion, since she had been stupid enough to try Eliza’s cooking.

The girl was pretty good at making vegetarian dishes, but when it came to meat...Well let’s just say you’d be better off eating a rabid possum that had been dead for three weeks.

Not that they could really blame ‘Liza for her epic fails when it came to cooking meat. After all, how likely was it that you could make decent barbeque if you were combined with a herbivore? Not very likely.

Though, what really worried Marta was the fact that Eliza had once made fried rat, at the prompting of little Dirt.

Almost no one had touched the stuff, except for Mort. For about two weeks, people were whispering about it, and wondering if Mort eating a rat was cannibalism. Personally, she thought it was. To be fair, Mort didn’t know he had eaten a rat, since no one had bothered to tell the poor guy.

Nell and ‘Liza had embarrassed the rodent again, however, by getting Dirt to offer him his balls. Unfortunately, the joke didn’t go so well, since Dirt took the orders quite literally.

He had gone into his room and brought back two bouncy balls. So, the joke had lost all its effect. On the upside for Nell and Eliza, Mort had been very embarrassed by the offer of balls. He spent the next three hours with a beat red face, ranting about the salamander and the stag.

Not that anyone really listened to him. In fact, Mort’s embarrassment came entertainment for the rest of the Devil’s Nest. It was better than watching TV, especially in the morning, when there was nothing interesting on anyway.

It almost made Marta feel sorry for the midget. Key word being almost, since he usually didn’t seem to have a problem with being a form of entertainment for his fellow chimeras and Greed.

Suddenly, Marta saw Dirt walking down the hall. “Hey” she said, getting off her bed and walking over to the boy, “Where are you going?”

Dirt stopped walking when he heard Marta’s voice, and shrugged in response to her question. It took several moments before he actually gave a verbal answer.

“I tried to play with the furry girl in the tank, and then Mr. Tucker told me to go to bed, cause it was getting late”.

Ah, so Dirt had gotten too close to Tucker’s chimera. The man protected the half-girl, half-animal doll like she was a precious gem or something. And, while he never even tried to do anything physical to anyone, he would look very upset should anyone try to touch the girl.

Marta was curious as to whether Tucker had been telling the truth when he said it was getting late.

So she asked Dirt what time it was, and he said it was almost midnight.

Well, time certainly had flown by. It had been about half-past ten when Greed told her that he and some of the guys were going out for a while. Though, she wasn’t worried. The guys usually went out for hours at a time, coming back in the earliest hours of the morning.

Besides, they weren’t stupid, they knew not to do anything that would get them into too much trouble.

But, hearing the time was making her feel tired. That was very strange, in her opinion. She could be wide awake until she found out what time it was. After that, she’d have a hard time staying awake.

“Yeah, I guess it is getting kind of late. So, how about we both go to bed, okay Dirt?”.

He nodded quickly, running to the...what could be described as a living room, since that was where he was told to go to bed, should his mother not be home when it was time for him to go to bed.

Once he was out of the hallway, she went back into her and Greed’s room, shutting the door after her and laying on her bed. It took only about five, ten minutes at the most before she was fast asleep.

[aspiredeathe]

Lol i wanna hear a story from Dorochette now xD

[silverviper2134]

Ch. 11: Deliverance

Marta winced as she grabbed onto her stomach.

She sighed angrily as the pain passed. Every few hours since she woke up, about four in the morning, she’d been getting these really painful stomachaches. Now it was seven at night, and the stomachaches were coming every ten minutes or so.

And the constant kicks coming from the baby weren’t helping matters.

“Will you stop that?” she said to her stomach as she felt a very strong jolt.

Greed looked up from his poker game with Law, Dorochette, and Mort. (They each owed him twenty-thousand cens).

Nell and Eliza were trying to get Dirt to go to bed, with little success.

“Hey” Greed asked asked, staring at her concerned, “You okay?”

She grabbed an apple from the fridge; she really was starving. Of course, the moment she swallowed, her stomach cramped tightly, causing her to gag and choke. Not hearing him, Marta didn’t respond right away.

But as the pain stopped, she nodded a little saying, “I’m fine. Think I’m gonna turn in early, though”.

Greed nodded, frowning slightly, as though he didn’t really believe her. As she left the room, he returned to the poker game.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She glanced at the clock that was hanging on the hallway wall.

The door had been left open simply for that reason. A frown spread onto her face, for two reasons. One, it was only ten thirty.

And two, her stomachaches were back.

What was worse was that they seemed to be coming even faster and harder. It had only been about five minutes since the last onslaught of pain had stricken her.

She clenched her teeth and held her stomach, as if trying to brace herself from the pain she knew was coming. However, it didn’t help in the least.

Moments later, she felt her stomach cramp tightly and all she could do was wince, clenching her teeth even tighter, so she wouldn’t scream.

No need to bother anyone else, she figured.

This would be over soon enough.

The hours crept by slowly. And the cramps kept returning, first every five minutes, then every three minutes.

Each time they became more forceful, like someone was squeezing her insides.

But, this type of pain wasn’t new to her.

She had felt it, long ago. Almost eighteen years ago to be exact. When she had been combined with the snake, this is what it had been like. The feeling of being torn apart, and put back together with a reptile, it all came back to her.

There was nothing that she was able to do to stop the pain, and she could barely take it. Ultimately, the pain took her. Her body, worn out from the strain it was putting on itself, had caused her to sleep, to regain the energy she had lost for the next onslaught of pain.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Late at night, Greed awoke wanting to have a beer.

It was two in the morning, but that didn’t matter. In the Devil’s Nest there was no such thing as a proper drinking time; Happy Hour was at any hour of the day.

As he headed towards the door, he stole a glance at Marta and froze.

She really, really looked like she was in bad shape. She was clutching her stomach, her forehead seemed to be drenched in sweat, and oddly enough, there was a small puddle near her waist.

Walking a little closer, Greed called softly to her, hoping for a response.

When she didn’t answer him, he began to get worried, and seeing as this was Greed, that was saying something.

The desire for a drink was now gone from his mind; Hard as it was to believe, he cared more about Marta and the baby at this point.

Then again, he had about as much knowledge about pregnancy as Havoc had about smoking causing cancer.

So, he went to see the two people who had the most experience in this field- Nell and Eliza. ‘Liza had worked as a doctor in one of the Labs before becoming a chimera and Nell not only worked as a nurse, but she had been pregnant before.

Thankfully, they shared a room, (Marta used to sleep there, until Greed made her move in with him), so it didn’t take Greed very long to find them.

“Get up, you lazy bastards” Greed ordered to both women as he shook Nell’s shoulder.

Normally, he would’ve been less demanding, but right now, he had more important things to worry about.

The Stag-Chimera rolled over in her sleep to stare at her boss with sleepy eyes, while her roommate’s eyes snapped open.

“Greed?” Nell muttered, sitting up as she saw the look on his face, “What’s wrong?” She seemed to be fully aware now, staring intently and worriedly at him.

Eliza was struggling to pull herself into the same position as Nell when Greed simply said, “It’s Marta”.

Almost instantly, Nell jumped up, grabbing Eliza by the wrist and pulled her through the door.

Unfortunately, she didn’t pay attention to where her roommate was being dragged, so the stag-woman slammed into the doorframe. Though, on the upside, she was finally wide awake as they got into Greed and Marta’s room.

Greed stood out of the way, watching as Nell examined Marta. When she finished, she looked at her friend and gave her some instructions.

“Get some hot water, a sterilized knife, and towels, now”.

It was the first time the salamander had ever been totally serious, as far as Greed knew.

With Eliza gone to get the required items, the Homunculus stepped closer to the remaining (conscious) woman in the room.

“So, what’s wrong with her?” he questioned, nodding at Marta, who was beginning to shake.

Giving him a sideways glance, Nell softly said, “Let me put it to you this way: the baby wants out, and fast”.

If the tension in the room wasn’t so strong, Nell probably would’ve laughed at the face Greed made in response to her answer.

What he did respond to, though, was a soft mumble coming from the bed.

Marta was beginning to wake up, though she sounded almost as though she was still fast asleep. “What the hell’s going-“ Her question was cut short as another pain shot through her body, causing her to cry out.

Nell nodded sagely, before beginning to instruct Greed. Her first order was for him to help her stand up, so Nell could take the wet sheets off her bed.

He did this without hesitation, however, the next order caused him to look at her like she grew an extra head.

Once Marta was lying back on the bed again, Nell said, “Now, take off her pants and underwear. Then, spread her legs”.

A loud chirping noise filled the room.

“Jimmy, do you mind?” Nell said, looking at a thin man with greasy hair. He rubbed his legs together, making another loud chirp, before heading back down the hall.

Once the room was silent again, Greed pulled Nell aside, whispering, “So, you want me to take off her pants, panties, and put her into a spread-eagle? Cause that’s kinda the position that got her into this mess”.

The nurse stared wide-eyed at his statement. Obviously, he had no idea what was going on, or at the most, half an idea of what was going on. She gave him a gesture to tell him to just do it.

And he did, smirking like it always did before he got it on, until he opened up her legs.

Then he jumped back, fearfully asking, “What the hell is that?”

Fighting the urge to burst into a fit of laughter, Nell answered somberly.

“That-“ she motioned with one hand, “Is your new son or daughter. Which we’ll be getting out whenever ‘Liza gets back with that stuff I asked for”.

As if she had heard her partner’s voice from wherever she had been, Eliza came in, carrying everything she had been ordered to get. Nell sighed in relief then walked over to Marta, Eliza standing approximately a foot away from her.

“You ready hun?” she asked her friend, smiling to encourage her.

The snake-chimera shook her head, mumbling, “Not really” under her breath, almost too soft to hear.

She screamed as she felt another pain, sharper than any other, slam through her body.

The former nurse, touched her friend’s sweaty forehead gently. It was a little awkward, but Marta had to admit, it did help matters.

“Next time you feel that, push, okay?” the salamander told the snake, who nodded before she felt her insides contracting again, tighter than ever before.

Nell smiled softly and crouched down so that she could do her job correctly.

Not wanting to view the scene directly, Greed walked over to his own bed and took a seat, watching the women do what was probably the one thing men could never do.

Minutes seemed to pass like hours, as he watched the ticking clock hanging upon his wall from the corner of his eye. His gaze would switch every few moments from Marta straining on her bed to the clock and back again. Nothing seemed to be going on over there.

But, then, out of nowhere, there it was.

No...

”It’s a girl”.

There she was.

Greed watched with a mixture of awe and anxiety as Nell cleaned the newborn baby, cutting the umbilical cord and handing her to Marta, who instinctively held the child close.

He stood up, and walked towards Marta and her daughter- their daughter- for some reason making sure not to make too much noise.

He looked at Marta first. She looked flushed, and her face was covered in sweat and tear marks, but, at that moment, she just looked beautiful.

His gaze wandered to the squirming bundle in her arms. The baby was pretty cute, he had to admit, though still a little odd-looking. The downy hair that covered her hair was dark brown, like his, though there were areas where the hair seemed much lighter. She had a light complection, like Marta, and her eyes were a dark shade of azure. And even for a newborn, she was impossibly small.

“Looks like we did a pretty good job” he commented to Marta, who glared tiredly at him.

“What do you mean we?” she asked him, trying to sound angry but failing, “I did all the work”.

She looked away from Greed when the newborn girl began to whimper. Hushing her daughter softly, Marta paused when she felt Nell and Eliza staring at her.

“You really look like a new mom” the red-head said, smiling softly, “Scared out of your mind”.

The snake-chimera returned the smile and tenderly ran her fingers through her daughter’s hair. Noticing Greed watching, she couldn’t help but smile. “You wanna hold her?” Marta offered to the Homunculus, not waiting for a response before she adjusted herself to hand the baby to her father.

Greed seemed a little uneasy at first, but seemed to be okay once the child had settled herself in the crook of his arms.

“Where’d she get blue eyes from?” he asked suddenly, glancing at Marta who shrugged in response.

“I haven’t been screwing around, if that’s what you’re asking” the chimera said, raising an eyebrow.

Nell, never wanting to see her friends fight, was quick to step in with an explanation. “Babies are usually born with either blue or grey eyes. They change color later on” she told Greed and Marta, who nodded slightly.

They weren’t sure if she was right, but she did know more about this stuff then they did.

However, their thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the baby’s crying.

“She must be hungry” Nell told Marta, who nodded and took her daughter from Greed’s arms and into her own.

She began to lift her shirt, but stopped when she noticed that Greed was watching. “Do you mind?”

The Homunculus rolled his eyes, muttering, “It’s not like I have seen them before”.

Marta was about to say something, but realized that he had a point. There was no real reason to be embarrassed over him seeing her breasts. After all, if he hadn’t, she wouldn’t even be in this situation.

So she just lifted her shirt and bra and began to nurse her daughter.

“So” Eliza said, staring at the baby, who was now sucking her thumb. “What are you gonna name her?”

Marta sighed, knowing that neither she nor Greed had any ideas for names. To be fair, they thought it’d be at least two, three more weeks before the baby came.

Nell noticed her friend’s reaction to her other friend’s question and nodded in understanding.

“Mom? What’s going on?”

Everyone turned to the sound of Dirt’s voice, as the boy walked into the room. Once he was close enough to the bed to see the baby, he pointed to her and asked, “What is that?”

Nell chuckled slightly at her son’s words, before explaining that the bundle in Marta’s arms was her new baby.

The boy nodded, but his curiosity was not satisfied, so he asked what the baby was called. And when Marta said that she didn’t have a name, he crawled onto the bed and said that he would think of a name.

Stroking the newborn’s hair, he seemed to be deep in thought for several moments before he finally saying, “She looks like a Blair to me.”

When he said that, the baby opened her eyes and tilted her head in his direction, as though responding to the sound of the name. Seeing her daughter’s reaction, Marta decided that the name Dirt had picked out would work just fine.

[aspiredeathe]

Nice crack on Havoc ^-^

We all knew Greed would panic in such a situation =p

[silverviper2134]

Can you blame him?!

[silverviper2134]

Ch. 12: Dorochette

Noon. It was almost noon, and there was no sign of Greed or Marta. Come to think of it, Dorochette hadn’t seen Nell or Eliza in a while.

He wasn’t that concerned with Marta not being up. She had looked fairly drained when she turned in last night.

But, for Greed, of all people, not to have a drink before noon....That was just insane.

Another minute ticked by on the clock; it was exactly noon now, and Greed was nowhere to be found. Dorochette looked at the other guys, who were all either hanging out with their girlfriends- in the case of Law and Mort- or just drinking- as was the case with Bido, whose girlfriend was also missing.

Dorochette was the only one who seemed to be worried about the others.

Well, actually, he was kinda hoping Greed wouldn’t show up for a few more hours at least.

That meant Dorochette actually had a chance to talk to the women who came to the bar. Usually they flocked around Greed, completely ignoring the poor dog-chimera.

Maybe with the Homunculus gone, they’d actually pay attention to Dorochette for once.

Who knows? Maybe he’d even score tonight, if he could talk to tone of them long enough. Maybe he sounded like a jealous little kid, but who could really blame him? Everyone else had a girlfriend/lover! Greed had Marta, not to mention the customers loved to sit next to him and flirt. Law and Mort had Nora and Cha-Lee, respectively. Even Bido had found a girlfriend in Nell, though their relationship was strained sometimes, due to Nell’s....eccentric attitude. But, Dorochette had nothing going for him in the dating department.

With his boss gone, he might’ve had a chance.

However, the women ignored him as they usually did. Apparently they came to the bar primarily to hang around Greed, and not for the booze. Not one of the fifteen women in the Nest moved towards the bar itself.

Apparently Barkeep was just as annoyed by this as Dorochette. No idea why, seeing as nobody ever actually payed for the drinks and everyone was certain that Barkeep was gay, if his attitude towards male customers was any indication.

After another hour of no one showing up, Dorochette was getting tired of it.

Placing his drink on the table, he stood up and walked out of the bar, passing by several chimeras and humans.

He made his way to the private area of the Nest.

Lifting his head slightly, he sniffed the air. It was one of the few things he actually enjoyed about being combined with a dog- he had the best sense of smell. He quickly picked up five familiar scents- Greed, Marta, Nell, Eliza, and Dirt- and one that was completely new to him.

Okay, now he was confused.

And when he heard a baby crying, he thought he had completely lost his mind.

That is, until he heard Eliza say, “Oh, she’s so cute. I want one!” This, coupled with what he saw when he passed by Greed and Marta’s room, reduced his confusion entirely.

After all, if he saw Eliza sitting on Greed’s bed with Marta with a baby in her arms, and didn’t get something from it, he had to be retarded. It also wasn’t difficult for him to figure out the current situation.

Apparently, the baby had started to cry and Eliza had picked it up to try and comfort it while Marta slept. Unfortunately, 'Liza’s attention span goes ka-plooey whenever she sees babies, so the poor kid was still wailing.

“What’s wrong with her, Mama?” came Dirt’s voice from a corner of the room Dorochette couldn’t see. Since he was pretty sure the kid wasn’t talking about Eliza, it didn’t take long for Dog-boy to realize the sex of his boss’s kid.

“Hey, what’d I miss?” he wondered to the people in the room that were actually awake.

He managed to get the attention of Greed, Nell, and Dirt. Marta was still asleep and ‘Liza was trying, and failing, to calm the screeching newborn.

The Homunculus stared at his doggy man, apparently not amused. This was so weird, since usually Greed was the biggest joker in the world. Then again, he had no idea how long this baby girl had been screaming for.

Still, Dorochette really wanted to get a closer look. Unfortunately, apparently the three shots of booze that he had was enough to get him tipsy. And, of course, everyone knows that he has horrible luck, so he quickly introduced his face to the ground.

This resulted in two things: Dirt erupted into a fit of laughter, and Blair stopped crying. Obviously both the children in this place were complete and total sadists.

On the upside, Blair was still young enough to get it wiped out of her, so maybe there was hope for her.

“Let me see her” Dorochette said, taking the baby from a very reluctant Eliza.

He looked at the baby, who was only about half the size of an average newborn, and thus, very light. And, the fact that she wasn’t screaming like mad was a definite bonus.

For some reason Dorochette never had luck with young children, even before he was combined with that freakin’ terrier. No matter how much he tried to get kids to smile, all he managed to do was make them scream so long, they probably got asthma from the strain. In fact, the first child he’d ever seen that didn’t fear him was Dirt.

Nell had told him that the reason young children hated him was because almost every child went through a stage where they feared dogs. As she said, “For the most part, dogs are big, they have sharp teeth and they give you the biggest headaches. What’s not to fear?”

However, he’d never had luck with kids- even before the transformation. Whenever he had to watch his nephews and niece, they’d go nuts the second they were left alone with him.

Still, Dorochette couldn’t help but be relieved on the rare occasions where a kid didn’t seem to hate him. Of course, since this was his boss’s and his best friend’s daughter, he had to make sure she didn’t come to hate him. Though, he was relatively sure that an infant couldn’t even dislike somebody, much less hate them.

So, he really didn’t have anything he had to worry about.

He was brought out of his thoughts by Greed’s voice demanding, “Okay, now give her back”.

The order was strange, but not for Greed. Of course he wouldn’t want to share the kid. After all, he didn’t like to share anything that belonged to him- his drinks, his clothes, and now his daughter.

With the newborn out of his hands, Dorochette soon found himself unwelcome in the room.

It wasn’t that he felt he didn’t belong in there, not that he did. It was just...it was like he was intruding on something that was meant to be private. Nell and Eliza had lost the ability to care about privacy long ago, and Dirt was too juvenile to the Nest to understand, so they would stay. But Dorochette knew the rules of privacy and he also knew Marta wouldn’t be happy to know he had been in there while she was sleeping, so he left.

Besides, it wouldn’t be long before the baby woke her mother, most likely to be fed.

Dorochette felt it would be wise of him not to risk frightening the newborn into crying, and forcing Marta to wake prematurely.

Stepping into the bar and grabbing a new drink, he began to think about his newest acquaintance.

The girl, Blair, was....strange. There was no other way to truly describe it, and he couldn’t exactly define what he meant by it. She was just....different, even by the standards of the Devil’s Nest, where normalcy includes climbing on the walls. Appearance-wise, the newborn looked completely normal, based on the views of humans. It was the way the kid smelled that worried him. Her scent was just too similar to the way alchemy smelt- bitter and powerful, with a pinch of fear. It was a familiar smell to him, having been experimented on with alchemy in the past and lived with Greed for the past three years or so.

But....the chimeras and Greed, they had reasons to smell like alchemy; in one way or another they were all the results of alchemy.

Blair really shouldn’t smell this way....It just wasn’t right.

Dorochette scoffed at himself. What the hell was he so worried about? He was a former soldier, and still is a skilled swordsmen, and here he was worrying about a harmless baby girl!

His thoughts drifted to Mort and Law as he began to massage his temples. Stepping back towards everyone in the bar, he was about to tell them the news, when a gorgeous dark-skinned woman with long black hair caught his eye.

‘Oh well,’ he thought walking over to the woman sitting on the couch, ‘It can wait until later. I’m sure they won’t mind’.