Chapter 1: The Chasm

DISCLAIMER! I don't own FMA, Hiromu Arakawa does.

Chapter 1: The Chasm

It was 2:34 AM when the earthquake struck.

Amestris had had earthquakes before, but none of them were this grand in scale; the ground in Central shook so hard that at least 54% of the buildings in the city collapsed in great clouds of dust and debris, many were trapped in their homes and many more suffered severe injuries or death sustained by various bits of flotsam.

But the quake didn't stop in Central; it branched out to Rush Valley, Risembool, Lior and every other town in Amestris, it caused massive fatalities and knocked out power almost everywhere, one of these places still with power was a lonely mansion in the deep woods: the home of Dante, the leader of the Homunculi.

At the moment Dante was feeling an emotion that she hadn't felt in nearly 400 years: worry.

Not for herself or for her seven "children", but for her plan: the quake could either help or hinder their pursuit of the Elric brothers, especially Alphonse, whom she had heard had become a living philosophers stone.

She had sent out Gluttony and Wrath to find them before the quake had hit and now she feared that the two had become trapped, she needed the stone to continue her cycle of body-hopping and stay truly immortal, You know that you can't run forever, you can't outrun equivalent exchange said the small voice in her head, she angrily brushed that thought aside No! I will become immortal, damn it! And no one will stop me, no one!

She turned to the massive window that overlooked the sea of green trees and far-off mountains, she hated that little voice; it reminded her of Hohenheim, she hated that man, he had left her and their son all those years ago, those wounds would never heal in either her or Envy.

She remembered the times when Hohenheim would sit with her and watch the sun rise and set, Dante felt a stab of fury and sadness in her heart at that memory.

She turned from the window and walked downstairs, she would have to get Envy to give Wrath and Gluttony some backup.

Wrath awoke to the sound of rumbling, what happened to me? he thought, then it all came back in a torrent: he and Gluttony had been spying on the Elrics when the quake struck, the last thing Wrath remembered was the section of street he and his brother were standing on collapsed and they fell.

He heard the rumble again and bolted upright, was another quake coming?.

There was silence and then...

"I'm hungry Wrath"

Wrath let out a sigh, to relieved to be angry

"Wrath?" asked Gluttony, his beady eyes peering out at him from the darkness
"What?" replied Wrath, getting to his feet

"I think we fell in a hole."

"Well duh!" Wrath growled, his namesake returning, "I swear if you were any dumber you'd be a friggin' rock."

Gluttony gave him a hurt expression, but kept his mouth shut, Wrath looked around him, his eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness: he was in the sewers, the stone was cold and slimy underneath his bare soles and the smell began to assault his nose.

He wandered ahead for a few steps before finding his path blocked by debris, he walked the other way and found it to be blocked as well, he felt his anger rising and he clenched his fists.

"How do I get out of here?" asked Wrath to himself through gritted teeth, then he realized what he needed to do; it was so simple he could have smacked himself in the head, but that would involve causing himself pain, which he didn't like, so he punched Gluttony in the gut instead, he whined and doubled over, Wrath was surprised when he felt a stab of guilt at doing that, it was so unlike him that he felt completely taken aback, then with a shake of his head he dismissed it.

This wasn't a good time to start feeling... Human.

Gluttony watched as his brother used his power to transmute his arm into the wall of fallen stone and pull, the wall came down with a resounding whump and sunlight streamed through, Gluttony watched as his brother sprinted through the opening.

Gluttony didn't like Wrath, Wrath always hit him or yelled at him, just like all of the others except for... Lust: Lust was the only one of his siblings who wasn't mean to him, she could be cold and bossy sometimes, but most of the time she treated him like he wasn't a dumb animal who was only good at eating and disposing of evidence.

Then Lust had begun to go crazy; she had said that she wanted to "be human", it had scared him and when she was going away she had asked if he was coming, he had said no.

Shame welled up inside of him and he felt tears begin to leak down his pudgy face, he sniffed and then started forwards, he didn't want to get Wrath angry.

He had almost caught up to Wrath when he smelled something that made him very, very afraid; he didn't know why it made him scared, but it did: it was a smell unlike any other, it was a sickening mixture of copper, blood, anger and patience, Gluttony walked up to Wrath and gently pushed him aside so he could look into the darkness that had wrapped itself around the beam of light coming from the damaged street.

"Gluttony! what the hell are you d-", Gluttony placed a massive hand over his brother's mouth to silence him, Wrath struggled and bit at his palm, his sharp teeth gouging and tearing his flesh, but Gluttony didn't let go, he couldn't let Wrath get hurt, as mean as he was Gluttony still loved him as family and if Wrath shouted too much the thing {Gluttony was sure that it wasn't human} might, no would, hurt him.

Gluttony picked his brother up and moved towards the hole, keeping his eyes on the blackness that surrounded them, Wrath had gone limp and Gluttony hoped that he hadn't smothered Wrath to death; that would definitely get him in trouble with Mother.

They were almost out of the hole when Gluttony heard what sounded like footsteps coming from within... and getting closer fast, accompanying the footsteps were the sounds of clicking and clacking metal, Gluttony felt terror well up inside of him when he saw the purple eyes, much like those of his siblings, materialize not a few feet from their position.

Throwing caution to the wind Gluttony hoisted Wrath over his shoulder and ran.