Envy was bored out of his mind. 5 months of doing absolutely nothing. All there had been to do was periodically check up on the Flame Alchemist and the new Soul Binding Alchemist.

The younger Elric brother had actually made it through the grueling State Alchemist exams. His method included the ability to transfer a piece of his soul into inanimate objects and to control them. On top of that, he could do it without a transmutation circle. Not that Envy really cared or anything. Alphonse Elric was making no move to try and hunt them down.

Recently, all Envy had been doing was trying to get Pride to play poker with him and Lust or do something a bit more exciting than read books. All the short blonde Homunculus had been doing was read, read, read…and he even wasn't reading anything interesting! He read books about random scientists and alchemists and weird literature from Father's library. Envy didn't really care much for books, and even less for literature. Pride was lounging on the couch, reading a book about human transmutation. Envy, when bored, grew irritable at best, and downright nasty at worst. And today, was not a good day.

"Hey Envy! Did you know that the average adult human body contains 250g of saltpeter? And that saltpeter is the stuff they put in gunpowder to make it explode?" asked the Edward Elric look-alike.

"No," growled Envy, "And I honestly don't care…" he said grinding his teeth.

"Oh," said Pride, shrugging and continuing to read the book. Suddenly Envy grabbed the book and chucked it across the room.

"Hey!" shouted Pride in protest and irritation.

"Dammit Pride, why the hell are you so BORING?" roared Envy, jumping on Pride's stomach.

"Envy, Get. Off. Me!" growled Pride, shoving a red marked fist up towards Envy's head, hitting the green-haired Homunculus' neck, snapping his head backwards. Immediately, Envy's neck reset itself and the purple eyed teenager was far from amused.

"Oh that's it! You are SO in for it!" he roared.

Although Envy hated fighting, when he was mad enough, he became quite good at it. Pride on the other hand, was used to fighting and was a little more than 'quite good'. However, the blonde Homunculus was at a disadvantage since Envy was on top of him and weighed a great deal more than he appeared to.

"Just…what is going on here?" asked a deep, authoritative voice.

Both Homunculi looked up to see Wrath, the former leader of the country of Amestris, staring at them with his one eye. His other eye was hidden behind an eye-patch, but both knew that Wrath could see with that eye.

Suddenly Envy realized what he and Pride looked like. With him on top of the smaller Homunculus, whose hair was presently a mess; it really did look bad for Envy. Pride, however didn't seem to get what everything seemed like. He saw an opening and took it, slamming his fist into the green-haired boy's head, knocking him off of him. To make things worse, Lust had come into the room right before Pride had punched him. The woman had an evil look in her eyes.

"Envy! After all this time, I never knew you felt that strongly for the Fullmetal midget!" she said in fake shock.

"Shut up! You damned old hag!" roared Envy, getting up off the floor, charging now at the dark haired woman. He never got closer than ten feet. Lust's extendable claws had him pinned to the wall.

"You've got a new job to do," smiled the woman.

Alphonse glanced over to the Scarlet Alchemist at another desk. Ever since he had become a State Alchemist, he had only had desk jobs. Scarlet said that that was normal, since he was only 15, and that his commanding officer was General Mustang. She insisted on people calling her Scarlet, though she never told him why she was called so. She said that she didn't like her real name very much, and preferred her State Alchemist name. Scarlet had helped him study and make it through the exam, her presence as an examiner had reassured and calmed him down during the final stages of the exam. Alphonse had at some points actually considered asking her out for dinner or something, but hadn't managed to summon the courage to do so. Suddenly the General came in with a serious look on his face. "Alphonse-kun, Scarlet, get your things, we're going," he said abruptly.

"What is this?" asked Scarlet, not bothering with formalities with the General. In fact, she never did bother with calling him General or even sir. She knew too many people from the office to maintain a professional relationship with any of them. Apparently, she had known Hawkeye as a small child, Falman was her father's friend, Fuery was her uncle on her mother's side, and Havok, Breda and Armstrong were not related to her in any manner whatsoever, which had surprised Mustang greatly when she had explained how she knew everyone.

"A murder investigation," he said. The General had given up trying to get her to remember her rank and the formal structure of the army. She was just like Ed in that respect: seeing people for who they were, not what titles they wore.

"Murder? Isn't that the police's jurisdiction?" asked Alphonse as they continued through the hallways of the military headquarters.

Mustang nodded, but continued his explanation.

"Yes, murder investigations are usually under the city police's control, but for serial murderers like this guy, the military is usually called in," he said, grabbing his jacket from a nearby coat hanger.

"Figures," muttered Scarlet, adjusting the red balls in her hair, "Get the big shots to make a good scene about it," she growled, pulling on gloves. Mustang glanced towards the girl coolly.

"I take it this isn't your first murder investigation," he said, watching the girl's eyes.

"My parents were murdered when I was 10. The police were at a dead end, so they called in the military. They made a good scene about doing something about it, and never found the perpetrator," she said, in a conversational tone of voice. Alphonse looked surprised.

"Your parents were murdered?"

"Yeah…now I know why…"she said tapping the side of her head. Alphonse got the meaning instantly. It had had something to do with the Homunculi.

Scarlet glanced towards Alphonse.

"This isn't pretty," she said with a strained smile, "I'm not sure you'd really like to see this," she said sincerely. He shook his head.

"No, I'll see it," he said determinedly. She looked him in the eye for a moment before shrugging and stepping away from the doorway. The predominant colour of the room was red. Blood red. The walls were spattered with blood, and flecks of meat. In the center of the room on the floor, was a red lump that was all that remained of a young woman. Alphonse felt his body seize up at the sight of it. He felt himself being reduced back into a ten year old boy, trapped inside a suit of armour, holding his horribly injured older brother, staring at their mother's apparent transmutation. He felt his breathing quicken, and he was almost gasping for air.

"Hey! Are you alright? Hey!" he heard voices shout, as his world turned black.

Mustang recognized this state. He had first seen that look on Edward's face, when they had been investigating that Barry the Chopper fan serial killings. But Ed hadn't fainted. Both boys had been reminded of the result of the failed transmutation of their dead mother. He glanced towards Scarlet. Surprisingly, her face was devoid of any visible emotions. That girl was strong, just like Edward. She had already come to terms with that specific ghost of her past. Now back at the office, they were holding a discussion with the entire room about the case. Alphonse was present, ashamed of having fainted at the crime scene, he now tried his best to help out in the analysis of the crime.

"Was there anything in common with the victims?" asked the Soul Binding Alchemist.

"Besides the method of the killing? Not really," answered Havok, his trade mark cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

"All the victims were female, blonde and range in age from 17 to 20," said Mustang, with a glance towards Scarlet, who was presently poring over a couple of documents.

"Well that certainly narrows down the list of potential victims," she muttered sarcastically, flipping a page.

"The sarcasm isn't necessary, Lieutenant-Colonel," sighed Hawkeye, "It puts you in that category," said the older woman.

Scarlet laughed sourly at that, then scowled.

"I've got a lot of people who would love to kill me…"she said, and then suddenly she was staring at one page.

"All of these wounds look like they were from a sword…the ex-Fuhrer uses swords…"

Mustang looked at her through one eye.

"Do you always believe the Homunculi to be behind everything?" he asked wearily.

"Well they might be," said Alphonse suddenly, "They were behind the Ishbalan Extermination…"

"As well as the murder of Hughes-san…" added the General quietly. Everyone fell silent at that.

"Well," said Scarlet, breaking the uneasy silence, "If we're all done here, I'll be going home now…" she said, getting up. With that, everyone left the room.