Beta: TaintedLetter

(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Elizabeth felt a hair tickle her nose, making her nose wrinkle up as she slowly transitioned from peaceful slumber to groggy awareness. She bearily stared up at the ceiling of Selim's room, warm and comfortable in Selim's bed. Tomorrow—er—today was supposed to be a big day so Selim wanted Elizabeth to sleep in his bed. Not that she had any complaints whatsoever. She was used to falling asleep with him after the two finished reading their bed time stories of war crimes, psychology, and whatnot. Selim himself was curled up beside Elizabeth, his head on her chest.

Selim had no body heat of his own, and enjoyed the warmth Elizabeth provided. Like a cat finding a good sunspot.

It was super adorable and always made Elizabeth smile. She wished she could take a picture of her best friend like such. He rarely showed a "vulnerable" side, let alone displayed it around a camera.

'One day,' Elizabeth promised herself.

The sun had only barely begun to rise, judging by the slimmer of light peeking through the bedroom curtains. Early enough that Mumma would likely still be asleep, and breakfast wouldn't be served for a while longer.

'I guess I'll go back to sl—'

"Ellie," came Selim's soft voice. "It's time to get up."

"Ah," came the surprised noise from Elizabeth. Selim was rarely up before her. "Okay."

"Get dressed and pack something to entertain you for a day," Selim told her, sitting up from the bed and rubbing at his eyes. "Don't dawdle."

"Okay," Elizabeth agreed to, yawning as she crawled out of the bed.

Returning to Central almost a month ago had been a lovely affair. Papa, Mumma, and Selim were all at the train station to meet with Elizabeth, along with an assortment of soldiers who came to collect the unconscious, and maimed Scar.

The Xing girl Selim kidnapped was stuffed in Elizabeth's bag along with Scar's arm. Both were to be given to Grandpapa as a gift. Apparently the girl knew a form of alchemy that Elizabeth—and possibly Grandpapa—hadn't studied before. Selim was positive Grandpapa would be pleased with these gifts, which made Elizabeth happy.

Certainly made her feel a touch better than before. She would be lying if she said she wasn't still bitter over the Elrics apparently playing her like a fool.

Colluding with Scar, pretending to get beaten, all the while they were working with him.

To think she was so worried about them! All that time, and energy spent with them, helping them, felt like such a momentous waste.

'Ugh.'

Just thinking about them left a sour taste in Elizabeth's mouth and an undeniable urge to run them straight through with her rapier.

No wonder Papa and Selim were so wary of humans—they always did this!

Elizabeth was done. She well and truly learned her lesson this time.

The only ones she could trust were her family—homunculi.

Her bitter mood was marred only by Selim's presence. Her dearest friend kept Elizabeth so busy the past month with mass producing the fungi—which was named Briggs—baking, and shipping material to an address somewhere in Drachma. She didn't have the time to dwell on her anger, or hurt over their betrayal.

Which was ultimately a good thing. If Elizabeth spent too much time thinking about it she might've gone out and hunted them down herself.

(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

It only took about half an hour for Elizabeth to be done getting ready for the day.

Elizabeth hummed to herself as she packed an entertainment bag. She filled it with some notebooks, pens, books, as well as an assortment of weapons. Since she was able to carry a bag around, she wouldn't miss the opportunity to fill it with ways to defend herself.

Once her bag was prepared, she stepped out of her bedroom to find Selim already waiting for her. He was holding an oil lantern, which told Elizabeth that they were going someplace dark.

"Ready?" he asked her.

"Yes," she answered, the two friends now starting to make their way down the hallway. They were only halted by Papa walking out of his bedroom from down the hall.

"Selim, do you have our guest?" Papa asked, slowing moving down the hall toward them. He was holding his rapiers in an odd position, Elizabeth furrowed her brows when she noticed them.

"Yes, she's with Lust now. Mustang should be chasing after shortly," Selim said with a wicked smile.

"Guest?" Elizabeth echoed, tilting her head in curiosity.

"Mn. Riza Hawkeye. I used your paralysis drug to flood her house and kidnap her last night," Selim explained. "She's being held hostage for Mustang to... finally make himself useful. After I have escorted you, I will be meeting up with Lust assist."

"Only Hawkeye? Wouldn't it be more... persuasive if you used his whole team?" Elizabeth questioned.

"Perhaps. If we need to, we'll simply use force," Selim said with a shrug.

Papa stopped before Elizabeth, his expression unreadable. In his arms he carried his two favorite rapiers, oddly not hooked up to his suit. He held them out to Elizabeth, and she stared at them in confusion for a few seconds until—

It clicked.

'No.'

Her lips trembled, and she bit down on them. Her eyes burned as she blinked back the instant urge to cry. She reached out, accepting the rapiers too big for her to use.

Rapiers that, apparently, would no longer be used by Papa.

'Please, no.'

She wanted to speak—wanted to protest—but years of discipline held her tongue.

Papa would not allow her to say much else.

She was a soldier first, daughter second.

"I love you," she admitted quietly to him, her voice small.

He did not respond for several long seconds. He kept staring at her with an indiscernible gaze.

Papa reached forward and placed a large hand over Elizabeth's head.

"I know," he said. "My dangerous little daughter."

Papa retracted his hand, folding both of them behind his back as he brushed past them. Elizabeth turned to look at his back, grief filling her heart like a cold sea. She clutched tightly at his rapiers, hoping desperately that he was wrong. Hoping against all her instincts that she would see him again, at least one more time.

He turned the corner.

Elizabeth never saw him again.

(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

It took nearly half an hour of walking before they had apparently arrived at their destination. Selim had guided her to a dark room filled with odd thick wires, tunnels, and dark stone. There was a single stone throne that Grandpapa sat at, and beside him was a small stone table with odd pieces on it.

Grandpapa stood up from the throne when Selim and Elizabeth arrived. "Good. Elizabeth, come sit here."

Elizabeth tossed Selim a curious look, but did as asked. Grandpapa guided her to the throne, giving her a small pat on the back when she took her seat.

"You must not leave that spot until we return. Even, then, do not stray far from it, no matter what," Grandpapa said.

"No matter what," Selim repeated, stressing the point. "Understand, Ellie?"

"Um—yes?" Elizabeth glanced between the two of them. "What's going on, if I may ask?"

"I promise to explain everything tomorrow," Selim promised her, his tone uncharacteristically gentle. "Be good and stay, though."

"Y-Yeah, okay."

They left her shortly after that, and Elizabeth pondered what was to become of her in the darkness, holding tightly onto the rapiers of her soon to be dead father.

(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

(Lust & Pride)

The gagged and bound Hawkeye openly glared at the two homunculi who blatantly ignored her.

Pride resisted the urge to yawn out of sheer boredom. For finally being at the Promise Day, the day was going by painfully dull.

'But by the end of it, everything will have changed.'

It was a pity only Pride and Lust would the surviving homunculi from Father. Wrath's human body could not keep up with the stone's power, and would be expiring soon. It was not expected to expire today, but Wrath decided he and his wife would end their journey today. His purpose was fulfilled, his stone was nearly used up, and there would be no way for him to accompany them into the next plan. He understood that very well, and had no qualms about it. Pride felt it a shame that Katherine Bradley would not be able to join them, but she was too kind to make the adjustment to Drachma afterward. Dying in her sleep from one of Elizabeth's poisons was a mercy granted by Father in honor of Wrath's dedicated service. Wrath would be following behind his wife after everything was taken care of today, and that would be it.

Elizabeth, Pride knew, would be devastated by the loss of her surrogate parents.

But she was strong. She would survive.

Lust flipped her hair over her shoulder, silently reading from a small book written in Drachma's language. "Hm."

"I take it everything went well on your end?" Pride asked, tired of the silence.

"Yes. I have our identities set up," Lust answered breezily. "I am not an idiot."

Pride sneered. "At least half of the time."

She casually launched forward one of her spears, and Pride easily tilted his head to avoid the otherwise fatal blow.

"And Kimblee?" Pride asked, ignoring Lust's annoyed glare.

"With Nina," Lust answered, her tone clipped. "I don't understand why that man was spared."

"He's useful," Pride said with a shrug. "And it will help add credibility to Father's new identity."

"I suppose," Lust said dubiously. Her lips curled up into a devilish smile. "I already bought all of Ellie's new clothes. She'll be such a heartbreaker."

Pride's gaze narrowed, vexed by Lust's obvious attempt to bait him.

He hated that it worked, too.

She knew it worked on top of it all because she chortled.

"Whore," he muttered.

She outright laughed at that, delighted by his frustration.

"Ahh, good to see you two again," came an old familiar voice. Lust and Pride turned their heads to look over at that old crazy doctor with the gold tooth. He gave him his insane grin. "I'll get started on setting up the transmutation circle for our guest."

(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

(Elizabeth)

Elizabeth stretched up her arms, popping her back in the process.

'Sitting here for so long is a little hard on my butt,' she thought.

Her gaze drifted over to Papa's rapiers, her fingers reaching out to graze it. Looking at it, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of concern. Her sense of foreboding was only mounting the longer she had to sit in this dark room.

Her instincts told her that she would not see Papa again.

She hated her instincts.

"Ahh? What are you working on, Elizabeth?" came the distorted voice of Grandpapa. Elizabeth didn't notice his approach, turning around to properly face him. To her surprise Grandpapa looked... remarkably different.

He reminded her so much of her dear Selim.

He was shaped as a humanoid—albeit a robust one—made up of a dark black material similar to Selim's shadows. He had those scarlet eyes dotting his entire body, and a single massive mouth at his head.

What made Elizabeth raise an eyebrow, however, was that there seemed to be a... man half consumed by Grandpapa. His head was sticking out of Grandpapa's belly, but his legs were hanging out near Grandpapa's shoulders.

"My own version of a chimera," Elizabeth answered, standing up to properly greet Grandpapa. She was relieved that someone had come to visit her, and she couldn't hold back her bright smile. "Grandpapa, would you like to see what I have so far?"

"Yes, of course," Grandpapa said agreeingly, slowly approaching her. Elizabeth held up her notebook, and Grandpapa accepted it, flipping through Elizabeth's complex math and diagrams. "Hmm, hmm. So this version of a chimera is to focus on using photosynthesis from plants as an alternative food source for it?"

"Yes, I thought I'd tackle the hardest part first," Elizabeth answered, happy that Grandpapa was able to read her notes. Sometimes even Selim had a hard time following Elizabeth's math.

Grandpapa placed a massive hand on top of Elizabeth's head. "I look forward to your results, Elizabeth."

"Thank you, Grandpapa!" Elizabeth gushed, blushing cheerfully from the praise. "Um... Grandpapa?"

"Yes, Elizabeth?"

"Would it, um, be alright to ask who exactly is, um, sticking out of you?" Elizabeth hesitantly inquired.

"A sacrifice for my alchemy. He was being a bit of a handful, so I'm keeping him under control," Grandpapa explained.

"I have sedatives with me," Elizabeth offered.

"Appreciated, but this one has a healing factor like a homunculus," Grandpapa explained.

"Oh, I see."

"But please prepare your paralysis drugs for three guests—human guests," Grandpapa added as an afterthought. "Edward Elric, Alphonse Elric, Izumi Curtis, and Roy Mustang will be joining us shortly. Restrain them when you can."

"Yes, Grandpapa." Elizabeth turned toward her bag, pulling out the aforementioned drugs and coating several blades. She didn't have anything that could restrain Alphonse, but perhaps if she transmuted some carbon steel axes she could throw them hard enough to chop off his limbs. Or at the very least hit the joints to immobilize him.

With a hum, Elizabeth bent down on the stone floor beside the throne, pulling out her chalk and beginning to draw the transmutation circle needed. Grandpapa continued to flip through Elizabeth's notes, asking probing questions on some of her more... adventurous ideas.

"You're wanting to make dragons?" he asked, bemused by her rather childish idea.

"Yes," she bashfully admitted, a little embarrassed by how immature the idea was. Dragons would... well, they would absolutely devastate the ecosystem if set loose. They weren't very practical in comparison to technology, but there was just something fundamentally exciting about making one.

Or several dozen.

Or, you know, an army of them.

Since she had already decided she was thoroughly finished with the human race, she'd have to come up with some way to get rid of them all so she could replace them with better species. Maybe making an army of dragons to do it would be a fun way to do so.

Plus Selim mentioned he would enjoy flying on one if he could.

But still! Elizabeth had to admit it was silly and not at all befitting of a proper alchemist such as herself. Having such an esteemed scientist like Grandpapa find out about it was really embarrassing.

Elizabeth's cheeks burned and she pointedly looked away from the blatantly amused Grandpapa.

"Cute," wheezed the man sticking out of Grandpapa.

"Quiet, you," Grandpapa muttered, promptly shoving the man's face inside of his... gut(?).

Elizabeth transmuted one axe, and Grandpapa realizing what she was doing made her a dozen more with the simple wave of his hand. With the weapons now prepare all they had to do was wait—

A massive rumble shook the room, causing Elizabeth to lose her balance and grab on to Grandpapa's leg to sturdy herself.

'An earthquake?' Elizabeth wondered as their world shook for several minutes. When the tremors ceased there was a flash of red light and suddenly a woman was being pieced together right before their eyes.

'That must be the guest!'

Elizabeth did not give the woman time to finish... whatever she was doing. Elizabeth shot forward three toxic needles that dug into the woman's flesh with ease. Hitting still targets was absurdly easy.

Following the woman came—Edward! Elizabeth couldn't resist reflexively scowling upon seeing that—that—that traitor! She nailed him with five needles, half tempted to throw an axe at him, too.

After him came Alphonse, and Elizabeth had a bit of a harder time hitting him due to the angle. She managed to chop off his arms, though, which was satisfactory. It took all of her axes since she didn't have enough power to do it in one clean cut.

Lastly was... Mustang. Elizabeth used up another five needles to paralyse him when he materialized.

"Hmm. Alphonse is a bit late, but that's fine," Grandpapa mused. "How long will the paralysis hold, Elizabeth?"

"Six to eight hours," she answered.

"Plenty of time."

"Whenever you like I can give them something lethal," she sweetly offered, glaring in particular at that backstabbing Edward.

Grandpapa chuckled with his whole body at Elizabeth's blunt bloodlust.

"At ease, dangerous child," Grandpapa soothed. "Everything will come to fruition in only a few more minutes. Sit back down, and don't move from that spot."

Elizabeth obliged the order, taking a seat in the uncomfortable throne—How can anyone sit here?—and folding her hands neatly together in her lap. The guests were, unsurprisingly, still and quiet. They were awake, but could not move an inch. Some soft grunts escaped them as they tried, but Elizabeth had perfected her paralysis toxin years ago.

Besides, if they did move around too much to tell Elizabeth the drug was somehow not working she'd just throw an axe at them.

These "guests" were no longer a threat.

There was a rumble of familiar sounds and Selim's shadows stretched down from the ceiling. His shadows carried his vessel, along with Lust.

Selim and Lust stepped off the shadows, Lust reaching Elizabeth first and picking her up to kiss her cheek. "My sweet little Ellie!"

If looks could kill Selim would have already murdered Lust. All of his eyes were glaring scathingly at his sister, as his shadows curled in outright anger. Elizabeth squirmed in Lust's arms, flustered and abashed by both Lust's affections and how Selim was reacting. She had a feeling that Lust was only doing such to get under Selim's skin.

"Hi, Lust," Elizabeth squeaked out, finally getting free and taking a seat back on the throne. "How was your trip?"

"Productive. Your chimera experiment is doing well, by the way," Lust said, giving a rather seductive smile.

'Maybe that's just her default smile,' Elizabeth thought, tucking her hair behind her ears. "I see. Thank you very much for taking care of that."

"It's of little issue," Lust responded nonchalantly.

Selim cleared his throat. "Step back, Lust, there's no reason for you to be so near the center point."

"Mm-hmm." But Lust did indeed take several steps back.

"Ahh... Alphonse arrived," Grandpapa observed, as Alphonse's armor twitched.

"Huh...?" came the boyish voice of Alphonse, his tone tinged with groggy confusion. His suit rattled as he tried to push himself up, but the axes dug into his limbs made it rather difficult.

Grandpapa's body morphed as appendages shot out and wrapped around each of the guests, picking them up and slamming them into different sections. He walked confidently to the center of the room—to the throne where Elizabeth sat—and said, "It's time. Brace yourself, child, and try not to break."

Alchemic light filled the room, and a transmutation circle was formed using the guests as points. Elizabeth cringed as the light blinded her, and then—

Pain.

Pain so terrible, so great, it was beyond words—beyond comprehension. Her body was turned inside out, filled with anguish and unspeakable fire. Her wolrd was tinted in a haze of red, as she lost control of her limbs. She wanted to scream—to cry out—but the agony was overwhelming. It pulled her under like a dark river of lava, pressing down on her and strangling her.

She tucked forward, her body limp she hit the hard floor, unable to move.

In reality it was only for a few seconds, but those seconds stretched on for hours in her mind. Only the tantalizing sweet call of oblivion finally ended her torment and Elizabeth slipped into a state of unconsciousness.

(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

(Father)

The addition of nearly twenty five million souls inside of him was... an adjustment. Father had to take a moment to recollect himself, his hold on the sacrifices loosening as he did so. He looked down at the unconscious child he turned into a philosopher's stone, and wondered if it would actually be worth it in the long run.

His instincts said yes, but a part of him was a touch disappointed he had to wait a while longer for his ultimate goal.

Time would tell if Elizabeth was worthy—no. She is Elizabeth no longer. If—

Hohenheim's groans of discomfort pulled Father from his thoughts. He slowly sat up, a glimmer of smugness in his gaze. "Predictable."

"Are you in any place to taunt me now?" Father questioned, amused by his false bravado.

"For years I have been planning for this moment," Hohenheim said, forcing himself to stand. "I will have you release those souls now!"

"And how exactly will you do that?" Father asked in disbelief.

"While you've been building your vile circle and false family, I have been talking with the souls you so cruelly placed inside of me! Creating my own country wide transmutation circle!" Hohenheim declared. "We will undo your work—now!"

Hohenheim slammed his hands on the ground, and Father watched the alchemic lights flare to life as a telltale sign that alchemy was being used. A circle was formed once again, but—

The lights turned red, flickered, and then exploded back in Hohenheim's hands, knocking him off his feet.

"Ho? A rebound?" Father chortled, eyes dancing with malicious glee. "Let me guess, Hohenheim, you built your entire transmutation circle on the focus of a single target. A single vessel to return all the captured souls to."

"You—" Hohenheim was pale and shaky, eyes widening in disbelief. "You shared?"

Father placed a massive hand over Elizabeth's head, his taunting smile stretching over his face. "How fortunate of me that I did. Even if it means postponing my ultimate goal, it has already proved advantageous of me. You wasted all these years laboring under the belief that I could never share the power, could never give up over half the souls intended for myself. How arrogant do you believe me? I am without vice, I am without evil. I will ascend to the perfect being, and if that requires patience then so be it."

The despair on Hohenheim's face was delicious and made Father howl with laughter.

"This is the end! You, Hohenheim, have lost."

Pride's shadows sliced neatly through Hohenheim's chest, as he did the same for every other sacrifice. Father chortled and laughed as Lust and Pride cleaned up the mess with meticulous animosity.

"Wonderful!" he praised. "My biggest obstacle has been eliminated, his plan to counter me—"

'—Which would have worked,' he reluctantly admitted in the back of his head.

"—was nulled, and I have collected a new piece," Father finished, elated. He was so close to achieving his ultimately goal he could taste it. He was exceptionally pleased by his forethought to adjust his plan to include Elizabeth. Had he not done so, Hohenheim's plan would have undoubtedly worked. But because his long time rival had been so dead set in the belief that Father would not share the power, would not postpone his ultimately goal, he built his entire plan on that belief.

How very, very fortunate that Father was wise enough not to do so when the opportunity arose.

Yes, it would mean postponing his plan for another few centuries but what did that matter to him? Being immortal gave Father a boundless amount of patience and ironwill to follow through with it. A few centuries meant nothing compared to the eternity he was looking at.

He glanced down at the unconscious child.

No longer human, she was a philosopher's stone.

She would not age naturally. She could change her appearance as need be, and death was no longer an immediate concern for her.

She did well to survive the binding process—not that Father had much doubt. The old soul had already proven to be exceptionally tenacious when need be.

Father's vicious grin stretched wider and wider as the sweet triumph of victory filled him.

'A satisfactory conclusion.'

(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

(Elizabeth)

Elizabeth came to, her world spinning. Inside her gut she could feel things crawling, and squirming around inside of her. They were hot enough they couldn't be ignored, but she felt no pain or disgust from them, either.

If she focused on these worms inside of her, she thought she could hear them screaming.

"Good morning, Ellie," Selim chirped, his shadows wrapping around her and gently helping her to her feet.

Elizabeth rubbed at her eyes. "G... Good morning."

A large hand settled over the top of her head, and she looked up to find Grandpapa peering at her. She could feel raw power emanating from him, but it was tightly constrained. "The transition was a success. Congratulations."

Elizabeth blinked in surprise. "Tran... sition?"

"Amestris was originally intended to help me ascend to my rightful place as the new god," Grandpapa said. "This could have only been achieved through the sacrifice of every soul inside the circle. However, I decided to play it a bit safer... smarter... more interesting. I only took half the souls."

"Wh-Why?" Elizabeth asked, startled by this.

"A variety of reasons. Ultimately it was very good I did," Grandpapa answered softly. "It has set us back a few centuries, but that means little to me."

"Oh my!" Elizabeth was impressed. What a patient man! She knew it had taken them centuries to get this far... did that mean he would wait even longer?

But wait... only half...

"And when my firstborn asks something of me when he has never asked before... well, how can I refuse? You are a rarity, and it would be such a waste to lose you to something as trivial as time," Grandpapa mused.

'Ask...?'

"Ellie," Selim said quietly, his bright with warmth. "You're now a philosopher's stone. Father used the other half of the souls to turn you immortal."

There was a moment of shock. Needles pricked at her eyes and her jaw dropped. Tears slipped out of her eyes, overwhelming emotions making her tremble before she threw herself at Selim and hugged him tight.

She felt happy.

She felt joyous.

She felt grateful.

A stone!

A stone which meant—forever! Eternity was open to her. She could be with Selim for too many years to count, and she had time to every experiment she could think of. She could take her time exploring and conquering the world of science, and she didn't have to worry about silly things out of her control taking her away from Selim.

Forever, and ever, and ever.

The only thing that kept her shouting with glee, was from the bitter grief in her heart over the loss of Mumma and Papa.

She knew in her heart of hearts they were gone from her, and that pain was something that could not be ignored.

Thankfully for her, it could still be overshadowed by her unimaginable elation.

"With this, you won't die," he whispered softly in her ear. "You won't ever have to leave me."

And oh—

'Oh—'

He did this—

'He did this for me?'

She couldn't stop the tears now, burying her face in the crook of his neck as they poured out of her eyes. She wasn't sure if it was out of happiness, love, or the grief in her chest.

"Thank you," she whispered, her voice cracking. She pulled away from Selim to wipe at her eyes and to try and regain composure.

Grandpapa smiled approvingly. "Of course, with these changes in plans I'm going to need to destroy your attachment to Amestris, Pride, and upgrade your vessel. Bear with me as I prepare the rebinding."

Selim beamed at Grandpapa. "Thank you, Father."

"Thank you, Grandpapa," Elizabeth echoed, happy on Selim's behalf.

"Relax," Lust soothed, her eyes dancing with mirth. "You're one of us now. I hope you won't have any issues adjusting to your new identity."

"Of course not!" Elizabeth boldly declared, wondering what her new life would be like.

"Good... then let's be on our way, Lust, Pride... and Humility," Grandpapa said, taking the lead.

Pride and Humility joined hands, the immortals exchanging sweet smiles between each other before they followed after him.

'Forever, and ever.'

(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Sorry for those who wanted a super happy ending / one where everyone lived in peace with each other. Given the basic nature Pride & his family I couldn't think of a realistic way to make that happen. Not without taking them wildly out of character. And since this was a tribute story and I had to prioritize Pride over the Elrics... Bad guys win today. :3

In this ending Pride and Humility are able to adjust their physical ages. Pride because Father made sure his new vessel could blend in with humanity, and Humility because Father taught her how to perform self-modifying alchemy.

Survivors of this story are: Dwarf in the Flask, Pride, Lust, Nina & Alexander, Maes Hughes, and Kimblee.

Death claimed: Literally everyone else that was inside Amestris.

Next chapter: the epilogue & bonus scenes I wanted to use but fucked up the story too much to do so. :')