“I was wondering when you’d find your way back here.”

Greed was stretched out on a low couch, his arms spread over the backrest and his feet up on a low table. He looked like the eternal scoundrel with a shot glass in his hand and a cigarette dangling from his lips. Did he think he was attractive like that?

“See,” he went on, grinning cheerfully around his cigarette, “I said to myself when I saw you ‘what’s a gorgeous babe like that doing hanging around with a prick like him?’. And then I figured now that you saw what else the world had to offer, you’d be coming to see me.”

He was being flirtatious. Sloth folded her arms and resisted the urge to lean against the closed door behind her.

“But I’m not a stupid man. Much as I’d like you to throw yourself into my arms and all of that, I know that’s not why you’re here. So why are you here?”

Sloth shrugged. She was here on Envy’s orders but she honestly didn’t see any reason to listen to him.

“Let me guess. You’re here to kill me. But you can’t, you know.”

“I know.”

“So it’d just be stupid if you were here to kill me. I bet I get it. It’s that old saying ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer’. But sweetheart, we don’t have to be enemies.”

“I didn’t say I was your enemy.”

“But you sure as hell haven’t said you aren’t.” Greed set down his shot glass and patted the couch next to him. “Why don’t you have a seat and we can talk this out like equals.”

“No, thank you.” She wasn’t going to put herself on level with him. She would remain standing, projecting an air of being in command of the situation. It was rather crude psychological warfare but she felt it would work with him.

“Suit yourself.” Greed shrugged, casual and at ease. Sloth was used to dealing with Envy, Greed’s sincere nonchalance was off putting. “But so far all you’ve done is stand there staring at me. Somehow I get the feeling you‘re not just overcome with my dashing good looks.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Didn’t think so. So, you’re Sloth. Do you live up to your name? Or did you just get stuck with it?”

“I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.”

“Ah, never mind. I’m just trying to make conversation. It’s rude not to entertain a woman, you know.”

“I have heard you’re not one to worry about rudeness.”

“I just bet you have.” Greed laughed. “So how old are you, anyway? You’ve gotta be young.”

“Younger than you,” was all Sloth said. She wasn’t going to hand him her age, let him wonder. She was less than a decade in reality.

“You think?” He laughed again. “I saw you out in the bar. You hung around out there for sometime. Learn anything interesting?”

“You keep degenerate company.”

“I keep better company than you.”

“Perhaps.” Sloth blinked, slowly. She supposed she did live up to her name. She moved slowly, spoke slowly, enjoyed taking her ease when she could. How odd, she’d never thought of it before. But it stood to reason. Envy relished taking the forms of others, Lust found her pleasures in the flesh, Gluttony was defined by his insatiable hunger… and then there was Greed.

“You want a drink?” Greed asked. “Anything you want sweetheart, we’ve got it.”

“I’m not your sweetheart.”

“You could be.” Greed winked at her and jumped off the couch. “Let me guess. A lady like you, you’ve got refined tastes. I bet you drink sherry. Or that fancy champagne that costs an arm and a leg.”

“I don’t drink.”

“There’s no sense in shunning life’s little pleasures.” Greed tilted a bottle of some richly colored liquid in her direction.

“You’re quite familiar with them, then?”

“Look at me! I’ve got it all, sweetheart. Beautiful women, good friends, good drinks, good cigarettes… what more could a man ask for?”

“I suppose you should tell me.” Sloth moved finally, crossing the room and dragging her fingertips along the furniture. She expected it to be dirty but it was quite clean. She knew there was an easy way and a difficult way to do this. But the easy way wasn’t one she considered herself capable of. Lust was the one who used her body to get what she wanted.

“So how long are we gonna go around like this?” Greed put the bottle down and raised his eyebrows.

“Until I have what I want.”

“And what do you want?”

Sloth only smiled, a slow and meaningless expression. There was a door at the back of this room. That would be Greed’s inner sanctum.

“Alright, much as I enjoy the company of a pretty woman, this is getting us nowhere.”

“No, it isn’t.” Sloth sat finally, crossing her ankles demurely. “You and Envy have a grudge of sorts. Any fool can tell that. Perhaps you aren’t the only one of us who holds a grudge.”

“You’ve got a problem with Envy?” Greed perched on the edge of the couch, obviously curious now. “You looked pretty cozy when I last saw you.”

“Indeed. Looks can be deceiving,” Sloth said.

“They can. Why don’t you show me what you really look like?”

“Hmm? Oh. Yes.” Sloth smiled again, shyly like a schoolgirl. She thinned her body’s consistency and reformed, the façade of Juliet gone in a moment. Replacing the brown haired woman in a lilac suit was a dark haired woman in a black gown and violet, slitted eyes. There was no mistaking exactly what she was.

“Well look at you.” Greed shook his head. “You are a good looking woman.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere. You’re mistaking me for Lust.”

“Haven’t seen her.” Greed shrugged. “You sure you don’t want that drink?”

“I have a proposition for you,” Sloth said, ignoring his offer of a drink.

“Oh, I like the sound of that. I’ve got a waterbed back there, you know.”

“Keep your mind out of the gutter, Mr Greed. We have a common adversary. We want simple things, from what I understand. I want to become human, you want whatever it is that you want.”

“Hold on a second.” Greed held up his hands. “I’m losing you here for a minute. What’s your deal with Envy? You’ve gotta know he’s damn dangerous….”

“So am I.” Sloth smiled. “As for why he is an adversary of mine, I would ask you the same question. And receive the same answer, I imagine. It’s between myself and Envy.”

“Fair enough. So you’re over here to turn traitor, huh?”

“You could say that.” Sloth folded her hands in her lap. “We can help each other.”

“We could.” Greed nodded. “So you’re proposing a partnership, huh?”

“Yes.”

“Huh.” Greed nodded his head as though he were thinking. Sloth waited patiently, watching him as he mulled things over. He was an odd creature, she decided. Perhaps too much time among humans had worn on his mind. “Alright,” he finally said. “Alright, sure.”

“You’ve accepted my offer, then?”

“I have.” He grinned and offered her a hand. “To us.”

“To accomplishing our goals,” Sloth said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes when he kissed her hand. He was easy to read and she was realizing that if she honestly wanted to get what it was she came for, she’d have to allow him his entreaties and flirtations. She wanted him to trust her. But that hardly meant she needed to return his favors.

“Well, I’d say this has been a good day. You gonna stick around here, or are you gonna keep our freakish little friend thinking you’re on his side?”

“For the moment I believe it best if he has no idea I’ve been to see you.” Sloth had already prepared for this. “I won’t be far.”

“So I can come crawl in with you at night if I have a bad dream.”

Sloth resigned herself to the fact that Greed was simply a flirt. She supposed it was endearing, in a way. Or would have been if she didn’t suspect he treated every female he came into contact with the exact same way.

“I look forward to working with you,” Sloth said, standing and smoothing her skirt. “I’ll be in contact.”

She didn’t allow him a parting shot as she left the Devil’s Nest.

***

She was back the next day. Envy had things he needed to do, and Sloth didn’t care. She found she preferred Greed’s company anyway. While both men were all smiles and quips, at least Greed’s were sincere.

“Hey there pretty lady.”

“Greed.” Sloth slipped into the Devil’s Nest and was grateful for the door shutting behind her. She was supposed to be here, but she felt as though she shouldn’t be.

“You’re back soon. Couldn’t get me out of your head, could you?”

Sloth ignored him and went to the back room immediately. He trailed after her and dismissed the young women that were lounging back there.

“Building a harem?” Sloth asked, her tone icy.

“Jealous? They’re nothing next to you, sweetheart.” He came up behind her and wrapped his arms about her waist, his breath warm on her ear. This, at least, she didn’t need to deal with when it came to Envy.

“Do you think about anything else?” Sloth asked, Greed’s nuzzling and licking of her neck eliciting no reaction.

“Not when you’re around. I can‘t get you out of my head.”

“Does this forceful approach really work with women?”

“Not with you.” Greed pulled away and threw himself down on his couch. “So what do you want to talk about today? I’m afraid I’m a little behind on current events - the whole being stuck down a hole for over a century kinda does that.”

“I want to know what it is you expect to do.” She sat down beside him, fixing him with her wide and unblinking eyes.

“Do? That’s my little secret sweetheart. Don’t worry, it doesn’t involve any of the others.”

“Then you have a plan?”

“Of course I have a plan. I’ve got a damn good one. And it’ll get both of us what we want, don’t worry.”

Sloth was flabbergasted. Was he bluffing? But what reason would he have to bluff? Did he suspect her of working for Envy? Or did he truly have a plan?

“You can make me human?” Sloth couldn’t keep the incredulousness from her voice. “But the philosopher’s stone…”

“Nah, I think I’ve got a better way. Don‘t worry your pretty little head about it. You just make sure it‘s what you really want.”

Of course it was. Why did he even bother asking her that? But still, she doubted him. Why would he offer her that? She’d yet to do anything for him.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why would you offer to make me human?”

“I like you.” Greed shrugged. “I don’t know where the hell you came from or what it is you do for Envy, but I like you. You’ve got spirit. And hell, you turned me down twice now. It’s a rare lady that does that.”

“You’re quite full of yourself,” Sloth said. “Are you certain you aren’t really Pride?”

“Was that a joke?” Greed grinned. “Well how do you like that, the ice princess made a joke. No sweetheart, I‘m Greed. I want it all.”

“Even what you can’t have?”

“Especially what I can’t have.” He moved in on her again, one arm behind her shoulders and the other on her knee. He didn’t go for her ear this time but right for her lips, attempting to catch them in a kiss. Sloth turned her head and he ended up with a mouthful of hair.

“You want me.” The words were spoken with no emotion.

“Who wouldn’t?” Greed spoke into her hair. She didn’t bother replying. “We could go far, sweetheart, me and you.”

She still couldn’t quite decide if he was charming or annoying. Men simply weren’t anything that Sloth thought about. They were time consuming and demanding and the ones that were stupid enough not to figure out what she was weren’t the ones she would have any interest in.

“Think about it. After we’ve got what we want, we can say to hell with this place and go see the world. You want to see the world? You and me, laying on the beach on some tropic island with fruity drinks and nothing but the sand and waves to keep us company. That’s a nice thought, isn’t it? I bet you’d look great in a bikini. Or how about visiting one of those little mountain temples in the east, the ones with the monks that never sleep? We can have the world, sweetheart.”

It was a tempting offer. To say to hell with Envy, Lust and the rest and simply take off for parts unknown with Greed. One thing Envy had taught her was the ability to detect a lie. Greed wasn’t attempting to manipulate her. His offer was honest.

“Greed?” The door opened and a grizzled face appeared.

“Busy here!” Greed looked up from her hair, his hands still on her.

“Yeah, I know, but there might be trouble. You better get out here.”

“Shit.” Greed pulled away. “Sorry sweetheart, I’ve gotta go. You stay here and think about what I said, huh?”

“I will.”

Sloth waited until he was out the door. She stood and moved to the other door, the one that she found locked. Locks didn’t keep her out. She dissolved her body and slid underneath the crack, rematerializing on the other side. The room was empty save for an old safe on a table against the wall. Sloth deconstructed her arm, slipping the liquid appendage through the edge of the safe and tripping the lock. She opened it and smiled. Within was a bleach white skull, slightly cracked.

This was what Envy wanted. It unnerved her, sitting there in the safe like an ordinary object. She didn’t want to touch it. She knew what it had been used for. She didn’t have to take it. She could stay, see through whatever plan it was that Greed had, and leave the others to their own devices. She could. But if she were human, she would have no defenses against them.

“So. That’s why you were here.”

Sloth turned, her face impassive. Greed stood in the doorway, his charming smile gone.

“You’ve been playing me. Stringing me along like a good little dog.”

“I should leave.” Sloth closed the lid of the box, leaving the skull where it was. She could fight Greed, she knew she could, and she could at the very least incapacitate him long enough to get away with the skull.

“Yeah. You should. Not gonna try and take it?”

“No.” Sloth shook her head. “If you’ll excuse me.” She brushed passed him but he grabbed her arm, pulling her against him.

“You could have had the world, sweetheart.”

“Not all of us want it.” She pulled her arm away and left, ignoring the pang of guilt that burst somewhere deep inside of her.