Edward's jacket billowed against the wind rushing down the alleyway, buildings blotting out the stars as they seemed to reach forever. Putting his hands together, he braced himself for the assault of the homunculus in child's guise.
"It's Edward! Where's Alphonse?" Selim acted the exact way he did when they first met, a happy, curious child with a desire for an older brother. Even without the eyes and teeth dotting every tendril of shadow that split from his feet like twisted roots from an ancient tree, knowing the truth behind him made it disturbing instead of endearing.
"No answer? That's OK, I always preferred you, anyway." He took a step forward, letting the facade drop an inch as his smile resembled a cat with a wounded mouse at its paws.
The elder Elric was cautious, but not scared. Clapping his hands, a blade extended from his gauntlet, warding off the homunculus's approach.
"Don't think just because Alphonse isn't here that you can win. There's no way I'm losing to the only person here shorter than me!" He smiled, the big words serving to psyche him up.
The shadows seemed to shrink, retracting into the youthful homunculus. For a moment, he truly appeared as just a lost child in the alleyway, right up until he raised his head.
"Oh, so that's all it would take?" It was far more disturbing than his earlier smile, this one a mix between giddy and childish, but with something darker just beneath the surface.
"What do you think you're-" Edward's words caught in his mouth as Selim continued walking forward, his form expanding as he did so. Every step saw him grow bigger, and soon the concrete beneath him began to shake. Envy was capable of shape-shifting, his true guise that of a massive, hideous creature, but was it truly the same for Pride? Unlike Envy though he was unchanged apart from his size, which now was over twice that of Edward.
As his mind raced to process what was going on, he had no time to react when Selim now stood directly above the state alchemist, and bending over like a child picking up a toy gripped Edward in his fist, before sitting down, legs crossed.
He gasped, feeling the pressure surrounding him. He tried to struggle, but quickly gave up, accepting it as utterly futile.
"How? How were you able to grow?" Maybe if he could buy some time, Alphonse would be able to arrive, there was no way he didn't hear or feel the quakes the now-giant young Bradley had created.
"Grow?" He giggled, holding a free hand to his mouth. It would have been cute, if he weren't a creature made from human souls and currently ten times the size of a tall person, let alone Edward. "Silly, look." He braced himself against the top of his fist as he was whirled around by the boy with a child's care for his comfort. Seeing his reflection staring back at him, he strained his neck trying to look around, as the surface looked familiar. As if reading his mind, Selim spoke up.
"Too close? Here, try this." Scooting back, Edward turned white upon getting a better view. It was a metal trashcan. Selim hadn't grown, he had somehow shrunk!
"Do you get it now? Of course you do, you were always smart. It's one of the reasons I idolized you, you know?" Turning him back around to face him, Ed offered no resistance. To think that the homunculi had powers like this?
"Growing is inconvenient, especially when you're supposed to play the part of a cute, innocent, helpless little boy. But if a few people go missing every now and again, well, what's a boy without a few toys?"
Edward went rigid. Missing persons weren't uncommon, but never his department. To think that... "You're responsible for all of them?" He growled.
Selim raised a hand in mock-surrender, as if the doll-sized alchemist was any real danger securely confined in his fist. "Of course not *all* of them, at the end of the day no one is worse to humans than other humans. Just a few, ones nobody would miss. I have to say, you'll be the first I care about." Opening his hand, he set the other to pinch his coat, pulling it off of the stubborn alchemist, despite his vocal protests. As he made to take off the rest, the tiny alchemist's hands made the circle, and with the blade from his gauntlet lengthened he slashed at the monster in human skin.
“Ow! E-Edward...” Selim sniffled, a large scarlet bead growing from the cut inflicted upon his thumb.
He cursed himself for it, but seeing the colossal young boy whom he had entertained in his state manor tear up from that minor cut was all the hesitation the homunculus needed.
Snatching both pieces of his automail inbetween separate fingers Pride laughed. “You really thought you could ever hurt me, especially at such a pitiful size?” The blood burned away in red sparks, and with it any hint of damage Edward had been able to inflict beneath. “Still though, that was very naughty. A toy has no right hurting his master, now does he?” The last line was delivered with that look that tingled the alchemist's spine, that face that only one who was aware of his true nature would see monster shining through Selim's innocent face.
Collecting himself, the elder Elric was set aflame at being called something beneath even shorty, and spat, “A what!? I'll!-” His words were cut off as the pressure on his automail began to increase, quickly exceeding the pressure limits Winry had built into them as evidenced not only by the squealing of metal, but the intense pain shooting through his torso, as if it were his own, real limbs that were being pinched.
Then pulled. At this point Edward yelped out in pain, struggling futilely against the child-monster's thick, powerful fingers. He couldn't be-
“Stop, stop! What are you doing!?” Tears stung his eyes, the physical pain was bad, but it was losing his limbs again, and in such circumstances that caused the state alchemist to crack.
“Pride! Alphonse! Selim, plea-” The automail was torn away, and the flesh celebrated its freedom with a ragged, bloodcurdling scream, raw with agony and loss before quieting to a sickly, wet gurgle as Edward fell limp, unconscious and defeated by the homunculus Pride.
Pride looked around, slinking into the shadows, some natural, some woven by him to ensure he wouldn't be spotted. 'Big brother' made a shocking amount of noise for his size, though given his treatment...
Blood oozed from the stumps of where his automail used to be, torn out down to the screws. Lifting his limp body up like a discarded doll, he snaked out his tongue to catch some of the nectar.
“It's strong, but still just as sweet as you are, big brother....” He licked his lips as his stomach growled. His consumption of Gluttony had left him with an appetite and an expanded pallet, but... “...Not yet, I want to play with you more first.” Gently touching the limp Elric's wounds, they sealed with the same red sparks that had closed his own exceedingly small cut on his thumb earlier.
Needing to keep his new prize hidden as he made his way back to the manor, he tucked the unconscious alchemist into safety, a light blush painting his cheeks as he hurried home like a good boy.
Edward dreamed of the past, something he had not allowed himself to do for years. He was at his childhood home, long since burned down.
But he was there, under the soft covers of the bed, and he wasn't alone either.
“Mom...?” She stirred, but did not answer. Edward had no complaints, hugging her tighter and soaking up her warmth and breathing in her scent.
Like all peaceful scenes, this one was interrupted all too quickly for the state alchemist as he felt the bed literally turn upside-down, the sheets still wrapping him up, but his mother slid out of his embrace.
“Mom!? Mom!” He tried to crawl after her, but found only one leg and arm responsive.
Clarity ran through his head like a steel rod, but when he woke up the world was indeed shifting, where ever he was.
“...K, I'm sorry. Good night Mom!”
Edward froze. That was Selim's- no, Pride's voice. But he was talking like Selim, which meant...
“Wow, you woke up pretty quick, didn't you?” Still left in darkness, the voice seemed to come from above him.
“Where am I you son of a bitch!” He roared, the pain of his dream and waking up with his limbs missing like that fateful night still fresh.
Light pierced his eyes as he lifted his remaining arm to block it. Blinking away spots, he saw the homunculus looking down on him. But that would mean...
Edward blanched as a hand wrapped around his torso and gently pulled him out of the homunculus-boy's briefs. Noting the reaction, Pride flashed a mischievous, sharp smile.
“What's the matter, * big brother *, was that too embarrassing for you? I'm just a little boy, unless-” A flash lit up Pride's eyes before skillfully adopting his innocent persona.
“Ahh, momma, poppa, help, Edward Elric was in my underwear playing with my pee-pee!” He playfully cried out, causing the miniature alchemist to sputter and squirm in his grasp.
“Shut up, shut up! I'll kill you, do you hear me, I will rip your stone out and smash it to dust before pi-”
Pride watched with one hand resting on his cheek, amused by the tirade the toy-sized teen displayed. With superhuman reaction his eyes darted upwards, and in a flash Edward found himself smothered under the backside of some clean white briefs, pinned by the weight of their owner.
“Selim sweetie, it's time for bed.”
Pride shifted to see Mrs. Bradley open the door. He shuffled where he sat- he may have been a homunculus, but his body was, with a few exceptions, human, and feeling the tiny human squirm vigorously under his butt was making him blush.
“I kn-know Mom.” It was a completely new feeling for the homunculus, one he had a hard time burying beneath his normally peerless facade. Unfortunately, it was to the point Mrs. Bradley frowned, and walked across the floor to her only child.
“Are you alright? Do you have a fever?” She placed a hand against his forehead, the act unconsciously lifting Selim's head and arching his back, causing his butt to push deeper into the mattress, as well as onto the state alchemist currently between the two surfaces.
“I'm OK Mom!” He spoke quickly, followed by an exaggerated yawn. “Just... Just sleepy.”
Smiling, she gently kissed his forehead, stroking his hair lightly. “I love you Selim.”
Pride returned a warm, soft smile, and replied just as genuinely. “I love you too Mom.”
Waving to her as she turned out the light and closed the door, Pride's smile turned predatory once more as he lifted himself off of the still-vigorous Elric.
Edward couldn't hear exactly who it was, but that didn't stop him from yelling impotently into the fabric and flesh pushing him deep into the mattress. He couldn't help but notice, as much as he didn't want to, how human the homunculus was. The clothes, as far as he could tell, were real, the heat coming from the young boy's body was real, even the smell-
Before he was forced to acknowledge anything more, he felt the bed beneath spring up as that sheer, round field of white finally lifted off of him, replaced by the young Bradley's wicked sneer.
“You * are * naughty, aren't you? You made me all tickly in front of my mommy!” The ease at which he transitioned between personas was fast enough to give him whiplash, but smooth enough that you didn't notice it until it was already done.
“I'll kill you-” He growled, but was cut off by a genuine yawn from the boy. “Yes, you were saying something like that, weren't you? Well, here I am, big guy.” Having been unable to stand, Edward had shifted himself to a kneeling position supported by his sole arm, which made it impossible to avoid having his hand pinched between Pride's finger and thumb, and lifted slowly, forcing the state alchemist to acknowledge just how small he really was, watching the place he had been kept in, then pinned under pass, and following the long path up to his face and beyond, the journey finishing a few inches above the homunculus's head.
“...Take off your clothes.”
The alchemist flailed like a fish on a line. “What? And you were pretending * I * was a creep! You're technically way older than me, get bent you sick-”
As with so often before, the homunculus ignored the uproar with a shrug, shaking Edward as he did so.
“Alright, don't complain that they're wet later...” He began lowering the wriggling teen down onto his tongue, and only then did Edward understand what was happening, recalling that night the monster had consumed his own sibling, Gluttony.
“No- no way....”
Pride responded with neither taunt nor assurance, as his mouth began to fill with the panicking, fully-clothed alchemist. He could feel the difference in the air immediately as his foot passed the homunculus-boy's lips, the heat and humidity cloying through his pant leg through to the skin long before it touched the wet, red organ. Kicking his only free limb, the living cavern collapsed on his torso and below, pinning him as the young Bradley now began slurping him like a bundle of spaghetti, the elder Elric's last view from outside his body being those eyes, focused directly onto him in that pitiful state held between his lips, like a favorite piece of candy. A blink later and his primary concern became avoiding the monster's glistening, perfectly white teeth but with only two limbs, he could barely keep himself facing upward, much less fight off the slick, smooth muscle as large as him as it buffeted and churned him around the boy's boggy maw.
Shockingly quick from the alchemist's perspective, the demented playtime was done, but instead of being spat out, his worst fears were realized as the wet surface at his foot gave out. Pulled down not only by gravity, but by slick, wet muscles eager to introduce him to the abyss that waited below, Edward's scream were consumed by darkness.
Touching his lips as he swallowed, he could feel his throat bulge as his fingers traced Edward's descent, the entire fifteen seconds it took for the soul inside of him to drop into his stomach. Resting a hand on the outside, his face split with a sharp-toothed grin.
“I couldn't have you running away during bedtime, big brother. I'm not done playing with you yet....”