A group of four sat outside what looked to be a decrepit building, a sign hung overhead read "Devil's Nest".
"How likely do you think it is for him to actually show up?" the flat voice of a blonde teen rung out as she drew designs on the cobblestone street with a stick. Expression set in a blank state, blue eyes surrounded by thick lashes and full lips set in a straight line. She wore a quarter-sleeved black shirt tucked into high-waisted pants and combat boots.
"I don't see why he wouldn't," spoke the reclined male above her head on an awning. His dark eyes hidden behind resting eyelids, black hair slicked back and spiked, and clothed in an outfit most would expect from a Xingese native, his katana at his side.
"We'll find out soon enough," commented a sandy blonde and blue-eyed woman. Her hair short and wavy with a single strand hanging in front of her face and wearing a similar outfit to the other female other than her tank-top and footwear. "Bido's back."
A pale figure with a hooded robe and blotchy tail scaled down the building in front of the group, "The armored boy is on his way."
"See, nothin' to worry about," the ebonette lying above them spoke, waving his hand around flippantly.
"Whatever." Bored blue orbs looked up to the hulking grey-haired man standing beside her crouching form, "It might be best for you to hide out 'til the kid arrives, Roa."
"Yeah," he replied tersely, moving to a more out-of-sight spot. Roa's ponytail swishing as the teen watched his earthy green clothed back disappear around a corner.
Sniffing could be heard, "He's here."
"Dolcetto the Wonder Pup strikes again," the blonde muttered tonelessly.
Brief growling was heard before the man Dolcetto jumped down from his previous resting spot. All four looked ahead to the approaching armor, "There you are," the ebonette spoke, "about time."
"It hasn't even been five minutes since Bido came back," was thought across the rest of Dolcetto's party members in varying tones of exasperation.
The armor stopped and held out a note, "'We know your secret'," the voice of a young lad rang out. "'Meet us at the Devil's Nest if you wanna talk.' I'm guessing that you're the people that wrote this note?"
"That's right," the short male walked forward, "and we know a lot about you."
"Well that's good 'cause there's a lot about me that I don't know."
"Then I'm the guy you wanna talk to!" Dolcetto gestured to himself. "Why don't you come with us?"
"But my teacher always said not to go with strangers," the armored soul retorted.
"Uh, how old are you?"
"Fourteen."
"Well c'mon then," the ebonette turned, making a looping gesture with his hand, "I'd say fourteen is old enough to think for yourself. Ya gotta act like an adult, start taking some risks."
"You think so, I should think for myself!?"
"Yes!" Dolcetto exclaimed happily, thinking it was a done deal. "And you can start by coming with us-!" The man was cut off with a knee to the face.
"So I thought it over with myself," the lad spoke, "and decided that I'd just make you tell me what I want to know."
"Wow," drawled the bobbed blonde as she strode forward to stand beside her fallen comrade, "that's a pretty arrogant claim, don't you think?"
Dolcetto nodded, "Guess we're doin' it the hard way." He hopped back on his feet and glanced at the taller female, "You helpin' out, Alois?"
"Sure."
Turning back, the ebonette drew his sword but was met with an open palm slamming into his face. Alois used the outstretched blade as a boost to jump off of and knocked the armor's helmet off, an indignant "Hey!" following suit.
Quick as a flash, the lithe form of the sandy blonde was in the armor, "Sorry to drop in." The armored soul began flailing about, freaking out that the woman was inside him. "Hey! Be a good boy and hold still!" She stretched her arms to fill out the armor's own. "So what's it like having someone control you from inside?"
"You can't stop from me moving! And you can't hold this up forever!"
"You're right, but all I'm trying to do is slow you down a little."
"For my turn," Roa's deep voice rang out from behind the hulking armor. In no time, he had the armor floored. "You all right in there?" the grey-haired male called to his companion after the rather rocky take down.
"Oh, I'm just wonderful," she replied sarcastically.
"Calm down, Martel," the blue-eyed teen chided, not seeing the other female's annoyed look.
"You're making this way too hard, kid," Dolchetto commented as he tossed the helmet to Alois and the remaining three approached the now restrained boy.
"You people aren't human, are you?"
"Good guess," a new voice replied as he walked on scene. A tall, muscled man with black spiked hair and dressed in tight pants and a tank, fur-lined vest and small circular shades in place. "They're chimeras and they happen to work for me." The man grinned.
"Cool," the man commented as he looked through his shades down into the armor that Martel was occupying, "you really are hollow."
"I would hope so or Martel would have a pretty tight squeeze in there," Alois spoke listlessly, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Ain't that the truth!" the black-haired male barked a laugh and rested an elbow on her shoulder. He calmed and placed a tattooed hand against his chest, "My name's Greed and I wanna be your friend."
"Then why don't you tell me what you people really are."
"Huh?"
"You're not chimeras, it's impossible," the boy Alphonse spoke confidently. "No one's made a chimera that can talk."
Greed stalked forward and crouched to the armor's level, "Ya can't believe everything the government tells ya, kid." He reached a hand forward and tapped the boy's shoulder, "Ya got all the proof you need inside you: the girl in there is part snake." The back-haired male leaned back, "This big guy right here— Roa, what were you made with? Cow?"
"Yeah."
"We also got a lizard and a crocodile; and the runt you took down earlier tends to lift his leg when he pees."
Dolchetto jumped in, "Tch, only once!"
The armored boy looked at the ebonette with a sweatdrop, "You're part dog?"
"Yep," Dolcetto replied, turning away with a hand to his chin and a smirk on his face, "it's really not so bad."
Alphonse turned his head to Alois, "So what are you made with?"
"Mule," she responded shortly.
Greed grinned and looked at her from over his shoulder, "She's as stubborn as one, too."
Blue eyes cut to her boss in a display of annoyance on her normally flat expression, "Am not."
The armored soul looked down in thought, "I don't believe it; it's not possible. Who would even be capable of creating one?"
Grin still in place, Greed replied with, "The military."
"Are you saying-?"
"You got it," the black-haired male replied, "there's a shadow world beneath yours that's jam-packed with the impossible." Greed tilted his head, "Hell, I'm more uncommon than they are." He raised his left hand up to give Alphonse a better view of the tattoo that resided there, "I'm a Homunculus."
"A Homunculus?" the lad echoed in a nervous tone.
"You know what that means, right? I'm an artificially created human." Alphonse released a breath as Greed stared him down from over his shades, "Really, no joke."
"You're lying!" the young teen cried after a moment of thought. "A Homunculus is just a theory; nobody's ever made one!"
Greed sighed, "Guess I gotta prove it." Alois took a step back and away from her leader, momentarily confusing the armored boy.
Without another word, Roa swung his gargantuan war hammer and clobbed off the gang leader's head. The mule chimera walked to the large man's side, "Great, who's going to clean the blood up this time?"
Alphonse gasped in horror before looking at the two chimeras, "Why did you do that?! And why are you so calm about this?!" He stopped as he heard the crackling coming from what he presumed was Greed's corpse. Turning, the suit of armor found Greed's previously bludgeoned head was sparking with red electricity and slowly but surely reforming until the black-haired male was standing up, smirking as if the whole scene didn't even happen.
"That's one time I've died," the man spoke, his index finger lifted into the air.
"No way..."
"You get it yet? Nothing is impossible, alright? I'm a little surprised you would have such a hard time accepting that considering you're just a soul in a suit of armor."
"Who told you that?" said armor asked quietly.
"People like to talk in the shadow world and I've got plenty of friends." Greed leaned towards the boy's helmet, "Let's skip the casual chit-chat; I'm more interested to learn what's it like having a body that'll never die." Alphonse turned away. "An individual soul transmuted and bound to an object? It sounds like that's the perfect recipe for immortality to me." Glowing red eyes stared at the Homunculus, "See, lemme explain: I'm Greed. I want everything you could ever think of: money and women, power and sex, status, glory, I demand the finer things. And, of course, I crave eternal life."
There was silence. "Aren't you already immortal?"
"Well, I guess I was put together a little sturdier than most," Greed responded. "I am nearly two hundred years old, but I wouldn't exactly say that I'm immortal." Amethyst eyes stared at the young lad, "So I've spilled my guts all over, told you my darkest secret, now it's your turn. How'd you get your body?"
All was quiet before Martel spoke from within Alphonse, "Just make this easy and tell him; unless you'd rather be examined, which means we'll have to take you apart."
"I wish I could tell you," the armor spoke, "but that would mean that I actually remember how I got it. But even if I could, I'm not the one who did the Transmutation."
"That's not a problem," Greed retorted. "In that case, I'll just ask the person who did."
A/N: YOSH, almost 2K word count on this! I'll try and keep it that much or more in later chapters ^^ Anywho, if you've found this story because you favorited me as an author I'M SORRY I'LL GET TO THOSE OTHER STORIES WHEN I FEEL LIKE IT FORGIVE MEEEEEEEEE TT-TT
I tried being more descriptive with each character's appearance since honestly I don't do it all that much XDD
Clothes are a bitch to describe no matter what tho if they aren't simple asf