Ok, so here's the next chapter. It's mostly fun filler.

Envy: Before she get's evil at the end.

Liz: But we won't spoil it.

Ed: Read it yourself.

Wrath: AND REVIEW BECAUSE I'VE STILL MAINTAINED CUTENESS!

All: sigh...

"Now that I know what you guys are doing I'm a little less worried" Winry sighed the next morning when I told her about our oncoming assignment. "As long as you guys are careful you'll be fine. Plus it sounds like you have extra help anyway, with the old homunculi and all." She cleaned her wrench absentmindedly. "I trust you."

"Not like that would stop us of course even if you didn't" I grinned.

Winry rolled her eyes, smiling.

There was a pause before she asked "So… Envy… you like him don't you?"

And here I thought I was being subtle.

"So, Ed" I retorted. "You like him don't you?"

Winry flushed bright red "That's not fair Liz."

"Of course it is. You like him. You're in denial. Get over it" I smirked.

"Well then you're in denial about liking Envy" she shot back.

"No I'm not, I know I like him… I just don't tell a lot of people for several good reasons." I shrugged. "But with you and Ed, it's completely obvious."

"You're imagining things" Winry huffed.

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow. "Then explain why Envy, who has never met you before in his life, thought that you two liked each other upon knowing you for five minutes."

"He was imagining things too!" Winry sputtered. "And jumping to conclusions! Ed and I are just friends!"

"All I'm hearing is blah, blah, blah, denial, blah, blah, blah, I have a crush" I wiggled my eyebrows. "You are so red right now it's not even funny."

"Sh-shut up!" Winry stuttered.

"I have seen tomatoes that look pale compared to you."

"Damn it Liz!" Winry shook her head. "Anyway, I finished a new model for Ed last night. I guess it's about time anyway with you guys going on another mission. Consider it my going away gift." She grinned. "You'll be doing research in Central right?"

"We'll probably start there yeah" I shrugged. I guess it was better not to tell Winry that this would probably be dangerous... and more than just research. Maybe she already knew that… maybe she was just trying to convince herself that we would be completely safe on this mission.

"Anyway, Ed did grow another inch so I went ahead and designed a new leg too." Winry said. "Why do you look suddenly so bitter Liz?"

"Stupid growths spurt" I growled murderously.

Winry sighed.


"Why does he still have to be alive" Ed growled as he sat down at the table that morning, opposite Al. "He was dead for two years and now he just comes back… I don't trust him… I'll never trust him."

"Why not?" Al asked curiously.

"Because Al… he's a soulless bastard with no conscious and he hates us." Ed pointed out.

"Well he definitely hates you" Al agreed. "But I trust him…"

"You do?" Ed blinked in surprise. "Why?"

"Because Ed" Al sighed in exasperations. "For one thing, it's obvious he hates Dante now… you saw him last night. And for another thing, he's not going to betray Liz."

"He left once, he could leave again." Ed muttered stubbornly.

"I'm glad he did" Al countered. "You wouldn't be home if he didn't! Brother, you don't have to get along with him but you at least have to except the fact that he could be a valuable ally. I don't get why you're being so stubborn."

"He's a homunculus" Ed shot back.

"Yeah? I don't see you complaining about the other homunculi." Al raised his eyebrows.

Ed was taken aback "Well… they… them too… I guess."

Al sighed and shook his head "You just have a grudge against Envy… I don't care if you hate him brother. But you're going to have to work with him whether you like it or not. And you were the one who complained about how Liz wasn't herself… you've noticed haven't you?"

"Noticed what?"

"Last night… she was happy… the old Liz came back." Al smiled.

"Yeah" Ed sighed. "I know… I'm glad she's happy." He rubbed a hand through his hair. "When Mustang came last night… that was…"

"Scary?" Al grinned. "Mustang is a level headed guy. But I still was afraid he might snap… there was so much tension in the room… I'm surprised Envy held his ground for that."

"That's just like Mustang" Ed huffed. "Letting Envy walk around free in the event he might be useful. He hasn't changed… he still acts like he knows everything."

Al laughed "Yeah…so… do you really think Dante is still alive?"

"No one else would gather up homunculi." Ed murmured. "Only she's crazy enough… and we never did actually kill her, or see her die."

"Yeah… though I kind of hope you're wrong" Al sighed.

"Yeah…" Ed muttered. "I do too."


"Hey Ed!" Winry sang, bringing in the case that held the new models and slapping it on the table between him and Al. "Consider this a little going away gift from me. Your old arm and leg are getting a little rusty, and I've been working on this new model." She opened up the case. "I would explain the fundamentals, but you probably wouldn't get them."

"Probably not" Ed grinned and looked over the arm and leg. "They look good!"

"Your arm is a little lighter but not so much that it isn't strong… we know what happened last time we did that… and your leg is a little longer since you've grown." Winry explained.

"Damn growth spurt" I growled.

Ed smirked at me over Winry's shoulder. He enjoyed the fact that I had stayed short. He chose to remind me of that fact by patting me on the head on several occasions.

Winry suddenly spotted something… "You didn't drink your milk."

"I'm still not going to drink it" Ed crossed his arms. "It obviously wasn't the milk that was keeping me small because I'm tall now! I see no reason to drink it!"

"It's good for you!" Winry snapped. "If you don't drink it your bones are going to become brittle and they'll break and you'll be even shorter than you were before!"

"My bones are strong enough! Get off my case Winry! I'm not going to drink it!"

"Drink it now!"

"Make me!"

"Hey, kid." I turned in the midst of this amusing scene to see Envy crouched on the window sill… because, you know, coming through the door is too much trouble.

"I'm locking the windows from now on" I muttered.

"Ha, ha. So what's going on?" Envy observed the argument between Ed and Winry.

"Drink it!"

"No!"

"Right now!"

"No way in Hell!"

"The usual" I sighed.

"This happens a lot?"

"Every damn day."

"Hmm," Envy smirked broadly. "They argue like a married couple already."

Two angry blondes whirled on him with vicious glares "What did you just say?"

I pointed automatically at Envy "It was him."

Winry chucked a wrench in Envy's direction but it was moving through empty air, as Envy had already swung out the window faster than I thought humanly possible.

…Oh wait…


Winry fitted Ed with his new arm and leg later that day through the usual, apparently painful procedure. While Al helped Winry with Ed I was content to watch beside the homunculi. Why were they watching? Well, Lust and Wrath were curious and Envy probably just liked to see Ed in pain… he's a nice person like that.

"This is very entertaining." Envy mused.

"You're a psychopath." I muttered.

"Oh, I know."

Two hour later, Ed was fitted with his new arm and leg and the brief pain of the aftermath had disappeared. I guess he was used to this enough by now that his nerves could recover quickly. Rolling his shoulders he stood and pointed at Al.

"What do you say Al? It's been awhile since we sparred hasn't it? Want to give it a go?" Ed asked grinning.

"Sure, brother" Al nodded, standing.

"What's this?" Envy asked.

"Call it a tradition" I shrugged. "Al and Ed spar all the time. Ed used to never be able to beat Al because he was a hollow suit of armor that couldn't feel pain, get tired, and was just larger, stronger and faster in general. Now, with Al being back in the flesh, it's more evenly matched." I sighed. "My aunt said that to train the mind you also have to train the body. If she found out we were getting sloppy well… So we basically choose between beating each other up and having her beat us up."

"The conclusion?" Envy raised an eyebrow.

"She hits much harder than any of us can" I said weakly. "I will always take my chances with the steel arm. It is much less painful."


I sighed and sat down on the stairs of the porch to watch. Envy sat on the railing above me and Wrath crouched just below me. Lust looked interest herself and even Winry, though she hated seeing Ed throw her valuable work around like he did, was content to watch through the window.

There was a brief standoff between the two brothers, no one moving to attack. Then Ed shifted his weight ever so slightly to his auto-mail leg, never breaking Al's concentrated stare.

"Wait for it…" I murmured under my breath.

Ed shot forward, pushing off and lunging at Al. I grinned, satisfied with my prediction "Ed always does that. His auto-mail leg gives him a better start off than his flesh one so he can move faster."

"I noticed" Envy said, not taking his eyes away from the fight. His eyes darted around, watching the two brothers, as if he was taking in their fighting patterns.

I turned my eyes back to the fight where Al launched a punch at Ed's side. Ed twisted out of the way and aimed a kick towards the younger boy's head. Al ducked and kicked out at Ed's legs. Ed fell but managed to catch himself in a roll before getting back to his feet to block another jab from his brother. It was always fun to watch an evenly matched fight. You could never tell who would win. One brother would seem to get the upper hand, then the other would come back and the process would start all over again.

Finally, twenty minutes later, Al punched at his brother and Ed caught his wrist, flipping Al over his shoulder. A few moments later, he was standing over Al, twisting his arm behind him as he laid face first in the ground.

"Give up Al?" Ed grinned.

"Fine, fine, you win this one." Ed released Al who got up, rolling his shoulder. "But you still have to beat me a lot more to catch up to all those times I beat you in my metal body."

Ed rolled his eyes then glared and pointed at Envy "You. Get over here."

Envy raised his eyebrows "Is that a challenge?"

"Hell yes. I want a rematch." Ed growled. "Unless you're too scared to."

Envy sniggered and jumped off the railing, landing in a crouch on the ground "I'd never miss an opportunity to beat you up little brother."

"Hey, no killing each other" I called out. "I know it's tempting but no 'accidents' ok?"

"Yeah, yeah" Envy rolled his eyes and stood opposite Ed. "Though this might be a little one sided."

"Shut up." Ed snapped.

"Fifty centz on Envy" Wrath whispered.

"No bet, sorry" I grinned. "Good as Ed is, Envy's faster, stronger, has more experience and is just all together, not human."

There was a short pause before I saw Ed shift his weight again. Envy caught this movement and a grin flashed across his face. Before Ed could lunge Envy shot forward and punched at Ed's right side, a blow he managed to avoid most of, but it still cuffed him enough to make him stumble back.

"You always shift your weight to your left foot" Envy smirked. "It's hard to jump away from an attack to the right when you don't have any weight on that side isn't it pipsqueak?"

Ed growled and lunged at Envy, but the homunculus was a master of dodging backwards as I had observed during his fight with Ed in the underground city. He just stepped and twisted back, dodging each blow, not even making an attempt to block.

"If you want to get me to try you'll have to give me reason to." Envy smirked as he twisted away from another punch.

"Damn you!" Ed suddenly dropped into a crouch and swung his foot at Envy, managing to catch the homunculus on leg. Envy used the momentum to propel himself to the side in a cartwheel where he landed a crouch.

"Ha, there we go." Envy's grin widened. "You actually hit me. Didn't think you could manage that."

He was so enjoying this.

"Well, if what you're doing right now isn't trying," Ed glared murderously at him. "Then what is?"

Envy got one of those evil glints in his eye as his smirk widened "Do you really want to know?"

Ed growled in response and lunged "I'll make you show me!"

…was it a good idea to give Envy permission to try? Would Ed's life be endangered?

The fight continued on with Envy, not really trying that hard and Ed getting increasingly frustrated. Poor guy… he should have known that he wouldn't win against someone who had been fighting for some four hundred years. I mean seriously, the experience difference here is astronomical.

Ed managed to score another hit on Envy's shoulder and I guess this was good enough reason for Envy to try. Before Ed could react he shot forward and kicked him in the chest, sending him stumbling back. This followed with a punch to the face and a knee in the gut faster than anyone I knew could dodge. Ed shot his arm blindly forward and Envy grabbed his wrist and flipped him right over his shoulder. Moments later, the homunculus had a knee on top of Ed's back as the alchemist was gasping for air.

"That" Envy murmured. "Was me trying little brother." He released Ed who coughed and brought himself to his knees.

"…How did you do that?" he panted.

"You never had a chance. You've been fighting for what? Twelve years maybe?" Envy shrugged. "How long do you think I've been fighting? For twenty times that at the least" Envy cocked his head to the side "I didn't break anything did I?"

"…No… I don't think so. Just bruises" Ed muttered. "How good do you think you'd be if you were a normal human?"

"Who knows… it's been awhile since I've been human" Envy shrugged.

"Here's a question" Al whispered. "Do you think he or teacher would win in a fight?"

"…They would destroy the whole world in the midst of the epic never ending battle." I answered after a pause. "Seriously, I have no answer to that question." I stood. "Ok, I find myself curious now. I want to try."

"Huh?" Everybody stared at me.

"I've never actually fought you Envy" I smirked at the homunculus who looked genuinely surprised by my request. "I want to see how long I hold up."

"Liz what about-" Ed started but I held up a hand.

"Pull the cripple thing on me and you're a dead man Edward Elric."

"But-"

"Dead." I glared at him viciously until he sighed and sat down on the porch.

"Ok, fine, go kill yourself. See what I care."

I rolled my eyes and turned back to Envy "So? Afraid I'll beat you?"

Envy sighed "Alright fine. I've only ever seen you fight briefly back past the gate so this should be… interesting."

"Yeah, I've gotten better since then." I grinned. "Oh yeah and do me a favor… don't start trying too quickly."

"Only try if you give me a reason to" Envy smirked.

I bent my knees in anticipation. My strategy was always very different from Ed's as was my fighting style. When in danger, I usually ended up dodging and I was pretty good at it. My strengths were speed and agility but I was lacking in the strength department. I had once managed to dodge Scar's attacks a long time ago for awhile, and he had both strength and speed working for him, as well as an exploding hand of doom. In order to get strength behind my blows I had to put speed behind it.

Envy lunged at me first. I managed to duck, just barely, and propel myself forward, managing to graze Envy on the shoulder before I flipped back out of the way. I wasn't going to let him just dodge my attacks. Because my specialty was dodging. This forced us into a sort of deadly dance. Both of us had to attack, both of us had to dodge. My fighting was very different then Ed's.

Ed was always more straight forward in his fighting, just wanting to knock heads together. It usually worked too except on a few people. It never worked on Izumi, she was a master of dodging backwards herself, it obviously didn't work well on Envy because… he was Envy, and it didn't work well on me.

I was surprised at how long I managed to last against Envy. Granted, he probably wasn't trying his hardest but I was still proud of myself. More than that, I hadn't had an attack yet, and that made me exceedingly happy.

Then I made a mistake. One of those where you take a wrong step and as soon as you do you realize it and think 'Well crap, there goes the fight.' I took a wrong step and the moment I did, Envy grinned evilly and caught my ankle with his foot, swiping my feet out from under me. Moments later I was on my back and Envy was crouched over me, smirking like he always does, pinning my wrists to the ground.

"Not bad kid."

I stared up at him for a moment before I grinned "Aw thanks palm tree."

He rolled his eyes and pulled me back to my feet "You're fast and better at dodging than actually attacking. Mostly because you aren't very strong because you're so short." He rested a hand on my head, smirking.

I glared at him "I may have lost, but I have one small victory."

"What's that?" Envy asked.

I smiled "I lost… but it wasn't because of an attack."

Envy paused before he laughed once "Guess not."


Much later I was on a walk around the empty countryside of Risenbol. It was nearing night time and it was starting to cloud up a bit, like it might rain, but I didn't really mind that much.

"Hey kid."

I turned to see Envy coming up behind me.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked.

"Lust said that you had gone for a walk and whenever you go on walks something bad happens." Envy smirked.

"Yeah and whose fault was that" I rolled my eyes. "I was heading back anyway. It's going to rain soon and it's getting dark."

"Hmm…" Envy looked up at the sky. "Guess it is."

"Envy, where'd you learn to fight like you can?" I asked.

"When you're immortal you have a lot of spare time on your hands." Envy shrugged. "I mostly taught myself. Watching other people fight helps too, I picked things up here and there."

"Yeah." I sighed. It was weird with Envy, knowing he was so old. A lot of times he just seemed my age, but then sometimes he would suddenly seem a lot older. Like the way he was commenting on our fighting today as we sparred. It reminded me of something my aunt would do.

I felt the first few drops of water on my head as the sound of rolling thunder reached my ears "The storm is starting."

"Ah, rain" another voice sighed, the voice of a younger girl. I turned to see a girl, maybe thirteen or so, sitting on the branch of a tree, looking up at the sky, an odd sort of grin on her face. "There are a lot of people who fear storms you know." Her face turned, her smile spreading into an almost creepy grin as violet eyes met mine. "What do you fear?"

Before I knew what was happening Envy seized one of the knives that hung in my belt and hurled it at the girl. She flipped back and out of the tree, landing in a crouch on the grass, her back to us. That's when I caught sight of it. In the small of her back between where her black skort and top cut off… was a familiar red tattoo.

"Homunculus" I hissed.

The girl giggled and turned back to face us, her head lolled slightly to the side, a grin of demonic glee twisted on her face "You figured it out right away didn't you?" She held her arm out to the side and it melted into a blade.

"My name… is Fear."


I am the master of cliffhangers!

Envy: All hail her cruelty.

Liz: Cause it'll get worse.

Fear: Review! (giggles creepily)

All: (Edge away) so...creepy...

MWAHAHA! DO AS THE CREEPY HOMUNCULUS SAYS!