Kimberly sat with a knife in his hand and a piece of wood in the other. He wasn't an artist; at least, not with wood and knives, but it was a comforting feeling, the knife sinking into the wood and peeling curved flakes away.

The door opened and shut again, and Greed crouched in front of him, grinning at him, eyes glittering over the top of his glasses. "Hey."

Kimberly gave him a smile that was half sneer, drove the knife into the wood, peeled a flake away. "Mm."

"Hey," Greed said again, and put one finger on the blade of Kimberly's knife. "I heard you blew up one of my guys."

There was no point in lying, and Kimberly didn't try. He just smiled back, leaning forward with his hair falling between them so Greed couldn't meet his eyes. "I wanted to," he said, and twisted the knife very gently.

Greed held up his hand so it eclipsed the single bare lightbulb. The blood trailed down in a thin line to his elbow and dripped on the floor, once, twice, a third time. "Ah," he said, and lunged.

Kimberly found himself on his back, Greed's knees hard in the center of his chest, one hand pinned with the knife loosely held in it. Greed pressed his finger to Kimberly's lips, hard.

"Take it," Greed snarled. "You want it? Then-"

"No," Kimberly said, tasted blood between his lips and Greed's fingers. His free hand came to Greed's wrist. "Aren't you scared?"

Greed laughed.

Kimberly pressed the circle on his palm to the oroborous on the back of Greed's hand. "Scared yet?"

At that, Greed's gaze turned thoughtful.

It was a guess, but only a guess, that that was the seat of their power; destroy that, and could they come back, or not?

"I'm only giving you what you want," Greed said, after a moment, lips pulling back to show a wide, sharp, grin. "And you threaten me?"

Kimberly didn't answer, but moved his pinned hand suddenly. As expected, Greed's grip had weakened as he thought, and the knife Kimberly held opened a gash in Greed's hand. The Sin hissed, yanking his hand back, and Kimberly shoved up, slinging him off, and pinned him.

Greed met his gaze as Kimberly placed the knife against his cheek.

"I threaten you," Kimberly said, "because you want it. They all want it, really."

Slowly, Greed's face split with his smile. "Ehhh," he drawled. "You're right. Take all you want; it's all yours, really."

Kimberly's smile was tight; it had been a very long time since anyone had understood.

He drove his knife in and let peels fall to the floor.