"Such a sad and weak creature, another typical human," mocked Lust as she watched Riza fall to the ground, as she wept over the loss of her fallen superior. Alphonse stood in front of the grieving woman, protecting her from the homunculus.

"Stand up lieutenant," he said as he transmutated a weapon, intending to fight Lust.

Riza's world had come crumbling down and was shattered in the span of a few seconds. She wasn't thinking clearly, her guard was down, everything was a blur. Her colonel was dead. The man she swore to follow into hell. Her childhood friend. Her hope for the future. Gone.

She knew he would die someday, he was but a mortal, but she always pictured them going down together, or at least her before him. That was how difficult it was for her to picture a world without him. She refused to. She knew he wouldn;t want her to give up. but what choice did she have? Everything she had, everything she believed in, was linked to Mustang. She knew she couldn't go on living without him.

She didn't intend to. But she also didn't intend to let the bitch who took him away from her outlive her.

"Go Al," she ordered in a harsh whisper.

"Lieutenant?" he asked, confused.

"Leave her to me," she said, her voice becoming stronger. "Go find the colonel, please. Don't let this be his final resting place." She slowly, but surely, rose to her feet. Tears still stung her face but her eyes held a more determined fury rather than a sadness.

"No!" he protested. "I won't let you get hurt! Not if I can protect you!"

"I understand that feeling, more than you may realize," she said soberly. "But trust me when I say this is something I need to do myself. Please. If there is the slightest chance the colonel is still alive, I beg you to find him so he can be saved. I promise you, I will not give up the fight."

"I can't just leave you! She's too strong!"

"He has a point," commented Lust. "Your precious colonel had his alchemy and wits and even he couldn;t stop me, why should you be any different?"

Hawkeye glared at the homunculus, looking her dead in the eye. "Because I have nothing left to loose."

"Then this should be very interesting," respond Lust.

"Alphonse go, find the colonel!" ordered Hawkeye as she dodged an attack from Lust. Everything fiber of Al's being told him to stay, but he knew the lieutenant was right: if the colonel was still alive, he would be in pretty bad shape and in desperate need of medical attention. Al decided he would quickly find the colonel and then come back for Hawkeye. He knew she was capable of taking care of herself and even if she couldn't defeat Lust, she could at least hold her off for awhile.

"It's awfully kind of you to save me the trouble of having to kill another primary candidate for sacrifice," said Lust condescendingly, as she sent her claws at Riza, who managed to dodge them all perfectly. "Though I have to admit, out of all the sacrifices, your colonel was the easiest on the eyes. Though, I don't think that's quite so true anymore."

Infuriated, Riza shot another round at Lust. It was a momentary setback, enough to allow R iza to catch her breath but not enough to tire List by any means. Riza knew this situation would be mostly dodging until she could figure out a way to get the upper hand. She needed to make the murderess suffer.

"You fight so diligently in the name of a man who was merely your commanding officer," comment Lust. "If more soldiers had you dedication, they'd certainly be harder to kill."

Riza revealed another gun and fired again. Lust merely laughed.

"What, no comeback? You're no fun at all," she continued as she walked forward. Another shot. "It appears I've struck a nerve. Have I killed more than your superior officer, perhaps? Did you love him?"

A succession of bullets.

"I'll take that as a yes. How poetic, the lionheart continues to fight long after king has fallen. It's almost enough to make me shed a tear. Almost."

Hawkeye snapped. She leapt toward the homunculus who truly thought she had the soldier right where she wanted her. She prepared to strike her spears through the lieutenant's heart but just as she was about to, Hawkeye grabbed her wrists. Swiftly, she brought them behind Lust's back in a classic holding possession she had used countless times before on criminals.

"Foolish girl," smirked Lust. "Don't you realize I'm not some typical threat? Nice try though. Give the colle a kiss for me when you see him."

Riza felt the spears coming for her, acting quicker than she ever had to, she twisted the homunculus' wrist so her spears wen in the opposite direction. Rather than going through Riza's heart, they punctured their owner instead. It was enough to really affect Lust. She lost her balance and feel to her knees.

Riza kicked her to the ground, breathing heavily. She took out her last gun, knowing only one bullet remained.

"Impressive," managed List, gasping for breath. "The colonels had himself quite a woman."

"Shut up," she said, aiming her weapon. "You don't deserve to even mention him."

"Such a proud woman," mused the Homunculus. "You know that won't kill me."

"That may be true," admitted Riza. "But I intend to make you suffer as much as possible for what you did!"

She prepared to fire.

"Lieutenant!"

That voice. It couldn't be. She was hearing thing. She had gone crazy. Desperate, she took her eyes off her target and looked toward the source. And there he stood. Or was it a ghost.

"I'll take it from here!" insisted Mustang, he was obviously in a great deal of pain, covered in blood. He had a fresh wound and was holding it, it looked as though he had healed it himself. He was in pieces but he was alive. Alive.

"Colonel," she breathed in a combination of relief and disbelief. This was enough of a distraction for Lust to take advantage of and make her move. Before Hawkeye could follow through, before Mustang could intervene or even say another word of warning, Lust struck Riza from behind and the first lieutenant fell to her knees.

Everything went black.