Please review, favorite, etc. Thank you~! This chapter is dedicated to Ayame and Lynn Chise. They've been so sweet to me lately, and have always supported my writing. I can't thank them enough. :) Enjoy~!


"Izumi! Where are you!? Izumi!" Sig continued shouting.

Wendy slowly stood back up on her feet. Just a few seconds ago, Izumi was taken away to the Portal of Truth.

"Alex…do you understand what's happening here?" Olivier asked, turning to her Brother.

He stroked his chin in thought. "Hmm…perhaps. I believe the Elric boys once told me about this. After they attempted the transmutation, Edward described numerous strange hands dragged him to the Portal of Truth."

There was a moment of silence, until Olivier spoke up again.

"And what is this portal, exactly?"

Wendy slowly looked up at Olivier with sad eyes.

"I'm not sure exactly what the Portal is for. All I know is that inside of it, lies the Truth. I've seen part of it, but not all of it, because I only 'paid for admission' with my arm. However, it's still a mystery what's on the other side." She whispered.

Then she started thinking. Her older brother, John, had gotten his entire body taken away. She wondered exactly how much of the truth he saw. Then again, Alphonse had gotten his entire body taken away, and still doesn't seem to know anymore than Ed did. Maybe the amount you pay doesn't affect how much of the Truth you see, after all.

"What!? Repeat that!" A Briggs soldier in the room said into the phone.

Olivier turned to him. "What? You got through!?"

Sig quickly turned around.

"General, Headquarters is safe." The soldier told her.

Olivier nodded. "That's good. So, have they received any information about Izumi Curtis?"

"No." the soldier answered.

When Sig heard that, he lowered his head sadly, a look of heartbreak on his face.

"Oh, I see. Is there anything else to report?" Olivier said.

The soldier with the phone avoided her gaze, and was obviously struggling to say what he wanted to say.

"Yes. Captain Buccaneer and his men fought King Bradley. Trying to defend the main gate, they were all killed." He said, his voice deep and gravelly, "The Captain was working together with the forces from Xing. He inflicted a mortal wound on Bradley, and then pushed him into the moat."

'Forces from Xing' What does he mean? So does that mean that there are people from Xing fighting here too? Wendy wondered.

"Impossible! No! Impossible, impossible! I know King Bradley and I know that he's stronger than that! He can't be killed so easily! He's superhuman!" Brigadier General Edison shouted.

Edison was squirming around on the floor. Since he was a high-ranking official who was working with the enemy, Olivier and Armstrong had tied him up with a rope, and were holding him prisoner.

Then, to shut up his babbling, Olivier leaned over to Edison, and smacked him across the face harshly.

Olivier then casually asked the soldier with the phone how the main gate was holding up.

"They're still defending the gate. Anyways, are you familiar with the homunculus known as 'Greed'?" the soldier asked her.

Wendy's ears perked up at the mention of yet another homunculus.

"Well," the soldier continued, "Greed has come over to our side, and is helping us."

Armstrong furrowed his brows. "One of them is helping us?"

Edison then began babbling on and on again, which just encouraged Olivier to slap him across the face once again.

"Also, about Captain Buccaneer…they said he died with a smile on his face." The soldier told Olivier sadly.

Olivier clenched her fist. "Well, if he really did die with a smile on his face, then he wouldn't want us to be standing here weeping over him. Let's go!"

"Yes, sir!" all the Briggs soldiers saluted her.

Olivier turned to Izumi's husband. "Mr. Sig, come with us. We need to find your wife, as well."

He then nodded, agreeing to stick with the team.

Wendy picked up her large, curved sword from the ground, and gripped it in her hand firmly.

Then, everyone began slowly making their way down the stairs, one step at a time.


Ed's heart thumped violently against his chest.

"So…who will be our fifth? Right now, we have four out of the five human sacrifices we need right in this very room. Who will be our fifth?" 'Father' asked.

Izumi, Ed, and Al had been transported to a strange room. Right in front of them, was the homunculi's father. Since Hohenheim, Ed and Al's father, destroyed his last body, he was in his true form at the moment.

He was in the shape of a large man. He was a purple violet color, and had eyeballs all over his body. He had consumed Hohenheim, and then had a large grin on his face as he admired his sacrifices.

"Who will be our fifth sacrifice?" Father repeated once again.

Ed swallowed the lump in his throat.

All the people that were qualified to be human sacrifices were people who had seen the inside of the Portal of Truth.

That meant Edward, Alphonse, Izumi, and Hohenheim.

But that was only four people. They needed one more person. And 'Father' was still deciding who that person would be.

Sweat streamed down Ed's face.

The only other person he thought could qualify as a sacrifice would be Wendy. She was the only other person he knew who had been inside of the Portal.

Ed clenched his fists.

No, he thought, I don't need to worry. I sent her a letter warning her to stay away from Amestris on the Promised Day. She won't be dumb enough to come back.

Edward's body relaxed a bit. Wendy was safe and sound in Xing.

Or so he thought.


Wendy suddenly stopped walking, planting her feet on a step.

Everyone in their group looked back at her.

"Wendy…what's wrong? We need to keep moving." Olivier said.

Wendy gently rested both her hands on her stomach, dropping her sword.

The core of her body was doing flips.

She could sense it.

Using her limited sense of chi, she could sense something coming. Something big.

"Snap out of it! Come on!" Armstrong said, but Wendy just sat there in silence.

As she predicted, the hallway of stairs they were on suddenly started shaking slightly. They could hear loud crackling outside of the building.

Then, the entire building got dark. The darkness wasn't sudden, it was sort of like a slow liquid, flowing into the room.

Everyone screamed, but they couldn't do anything. They just got engulfed in the darkness.

Then, their screams could no longer be heard, as a high pitched sound rang in their ears, and the crackling from outside got louder.

Suddenly, the darkness vanished, and the room got lighter.

Wendy shrieked as hundreds of little black arms sprouted from the ground. Those were the same arms that had dragged her away into the Portal of Truth when she was four years old.

Except, the arms didn't even grab at anyone. They just stuck out of the ground, swaying left and right slightly.

Just then, everyone felt their throats being squeezed, even though no one was touching them. Everyone collapsed to the ground, screaming. They couldn't breath.

Their throats got even tighter, and Wendy heard every individual person's scream, barely escaping their lips.

Wendy, along with everyone else, was on the ground, writing in pain, struggling to breath.

'Father' had activated the country-wide transmutation circle.

Everyone in Amestris was going to die.

This was the end.

Wendy had given up all hope of trying to scream at this point. She didn't want to waste the potential last moments of her life wailing in pain.

Although, deep down, she didn't believe that that was really the end. Deep down, she knew someone was going to do something. If there was any good left in the world, surely someone would save them.

"Ed…save us….we…need you…I need you, too." Wendy murmured.

Then her body went slack, and her eyes slowly shut.


Wendy's finger twitched and her blue eyes fluttered open.

She groaned, and her body stiffened.

Olivier, Armstrong, Sig, and all the soldiers also opened their eyes beside her.

"…What…the hell…was that…?" Olivier mumbled, struggling to rise to her feet.

Everyone was groaning and trying to sit up.

Then, Wendy realized what had just happened. It took a few seconds for her to understand it.

Wendy realized that just about everyone in the country had just been robbed of their souls.

'Father' snatched away everyone's individual soul, and consumed all of them into himself.

Yet, now, they were lying on the ground, fine.

That means that Father's plan had failed. Somehow, someway, it didn't work.

But who did it?

Who stopped Father's plan and saved everyone's lives?

"That was…the freakiest thing I've ever experienced. It felt like…" Armstrong trailed off.

"It felt like being trapped. It felt like being encased in a jail you can escape from. It felt like I was going to be trapped forever." Wendy said.

There was silence, and then Olivier stood up, everyone else then following in her lead.

"Alright everyone! I don't know what that was, but we need to keep moving! We can't give up now! Let's go!" Olivier commanded.

"She's right. They probably need us to fight now more than ever." Wendy agreed.

Wendy picked up her sword and trotted after Olivier, who was leading the group down the rest of the stairs.

After they had been walking for a few minutes, they heard noises. Two Briggs soldiers ran ahead of the group, and turned a corner into a large space.

"Hold it! Don't move! We've got you!" One of the Briggs soldiers shouted, pointing his gun forward.

Everyone else caught up with the two soldiers, and saw who they were pointing their guns at.

A few human-chimeras were sitting in the middle of the space. One of them was a large, green, toad-like creature. The other resembled a boar, who had many spikes jutting out from his back. The last one was very muscular, and looked like a gorilla. He was holding an injured woman in his arms.

Building rubble from the walls and some of the ceiling collapsing littered the room.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye!?" Armstrong said, his eyes widening.

The woman the gorilla human chimera was holding was none other than Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye herself.

The human chimera set Hawkeye down.

Hawkeye glanced up, and locked eyes with Wendy.

"Wait…those blue eyes…they're unmistakable…" Hawkeye mumbled.

Wendy blinked, and then stared back at her.

Hawkeye grinned. "You're Wendy Havoc, aren't you?"

Wendy gasped quietly. "Lieutenant Hawkeye…you remember me?"

She nodded. "Of course I remember you. If you're trying to keep your identity a secret, you're not doing it very well. Anyone would recognize those bright blue eyes."

Wendy grinned, and then pulled down her mask, showing her entire face. Then she noticed something, and her smile faltered.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye…you're hurt…" she whispered.

Hawkeye's entire left shoulder was covered in blood.

Hawkeye smiled softly.

"I'm going to be okay." She reassured her.

Wendy nodded, pulled her mask back on, and looked to Olivier for confirmation on what to do next.

Just then, from the giant hole in the floor in front of them, Izumi rose up, standing on a concrete pillar, which she moved with alchemy.

"Darling!" Izumi gushed, jumping at her husband.

"Izumi!" he shouted back, pulling her into a tight hug.

When they separated, Izumi look up at her husband seriously.

"This is no time for happy reunions. Look after Mustang." Izumi told Sig, and he nodded.

Colonel Mustang revealed himself from behind Izumi and walked forward.

"Colonel! You're here!" Hawkeye shouted.

"We still have some business we need to finish up above. We'll be seeing you!" Izumi yelled over her shoulder, as she transmuted the concrete pillar to rise until she reached the surface, which was a long way above them.

Hawkeye bent down next to Mustang.

"Colonel, are you injured? What's wrong?" she asked him, worry etched in her voice.

"My sight is gone." He replied, lifting his head up.

Everyone gasped. They all figured out what happened right away.

Then Mustang began speaking again, "Lieutenant, how are your injuries?"

Tears ran down Hawkeye's face. "Don't worry about me. Just worry about yourself for once."

While they were talking, Wendy couldn't help but think about something.

If Mustang had been forced to open the portal, and then got his eyesight taken away…and now he was here…where were Ed and Al?

Just then, there was a loud rumble, and Armstrong transmuted the surface they were all standing on and moved it to a lower level.

"Greed! Are you alright?" The Gorilla-human chimera shouted, waving at a man.

"Gorius! Yeah, things are going prefect. Now, how about a lift? You could use someone who knows what's going on, right?"

"That's true. What the hell is happening, anyway?" Gorius asked.

Greed stepped forward, with a girl close behind. "Oh, not much. Except the father of the homunculi is going berserk out there!"

Wendy studied 'Greed' and the girl behind him. She concluded that Greed was the homunculus who was on their side that they were talking about earlier. He had long black hair, pulled into a pony-tail. His bangs were all parted to the right. Wendy also noticed his Xingese attire. The girl standing behind him had dark hair pulled into a bun, and had an odd-looking red, black, and white mask covering her entire face. Her outfit was also surely from Xing, as it was very similar to Wendy's.

Then Greed started talking again. "So let's go! We'll need anyone who can still fight."

Greed observed the crowd of people, and then he pointed at Jerso, Hawkeye, and Olivier.

"Except for you guys! The fat frog man and the two women. Get out! You're injured!"

Olivier gasped. "Absolutely not! I still have forces that need me to lead them! I can still fight!"

Then, Greed and Olivier began arguing over whether or not she was in a good enough shape to fight.

Interrupting their banter, a Briggs soldier spoke up and told Olivier she had a call waiting for her on the phone.

Olivier, Armstrong, and Wendy all huddled around the phone.

"General! The Central Command Center…half of it has been blown up!" the voice on the phone said.

They all gasped.

"Blown up!? How is that possible!?" Armstrong asked.

"We can't contact the North gate." The person on the phone answered.

"See the power Father has?" Greed told them.

Armstrong turned to Greed. "What sort of monster is he?"

"He appears to be an ordinary man. However, within him is a Philosopher's Stone powered by many thousands of people. He's basically claimed the powers of God all for himself."

Greed turned back to the entire group. "Any ordinary human should leave now. We need to go fight this bastard."

"My men are still fighting. I will not just abandon my forces. I have a duty as their commanding officer." Olivier pressed.

Just then, Olivier picked up the phone again. The soldiers on the other line insisted that they were fine on their own, and that she didn't need to continue commanding them. They said that since she was injured, they didn't want to risk her getting killed. They told her to stay where she was, and not worry about them.

"Alex," Olivier said to her Brother after she hung up the phone, "I'm staying here. Take the radio with you. Win this at any cost."

He nodded. "Of course."

Then, Mustang, Hawkeye, and Lanfan all insisted they would join the team against Father. Greed finally agreed to let them go.

"Alright. We've assembled our team," then he looked at Wendy, "Hey…what about you, kid? Are you an alchemist?"

Wendy nodded. "My name is Wendy Havoc. I'm the former Sapphire Alchemist. I want to fight, too."

Greed nodded. "Okay. Let's go!"

Armstrong placed his fists to the platform they were on, and used his alchemy to make it rise slowly to the surface, where Father probably was.

Wendy took a deep breath, ready for anything.

It was a large possibility that she could die today.

And she knew that.

But, if it meant possibly saving all of Amestris, she was willing to make the sacrifice.

If she did die, she at least wanted to be able to see Ed one last time.


Armstrong, Hawkeye, and Wendy stood behind Mustang as he snapped his fingers, igniting a giant flame to shoot out into the middle of the area, where Father was.

When the smoke went away, Wendy caught sight of Father, and gasped. He was a tall man, who had long, light blond hair and sharp golden eyes.

Mustang shot his flames out at him a second time. This time, however, Father caught the flames in his hands, and shot them back at Mustang.

"Incoming attack Colonel, dead ahead!" Hawkeye yelled.

Mustang growled, and transmuted a wall to block the flames just in time.

Everyone was trying their best to at least damage Father a little bit. All the soldiers were firing guns and missiles at him, and some people just went strait up to him and tried to attack him up close. However, it seemed that whenever someone tried to attack him, a red force field would protect him.

But no one was giving up.

It was a total war field. Dust clouded the air. Guns were constantly being shot. Some buildings around that area had been completely mutilated.

Wendy stood there, surveying the scene. She knew she had to do something.

"HYYEAAHH!" Wendy screamed, and charged at him.

She leapt up into the air, and thrusted her sword at him, attempting to do some damage. Her weapon just bounced off his force field, however, and she was flung back.

She then decided she would have to go with a different approach. She clapped her hands together, and shot giant pieces of rubble at him. He still didn't even flinch.

Everyone still tried. Screams, gun shots, an explosions rang in everyone's ears.

Wendy jumped at him again. Then, behind her, she heard the loud booming of a gun shooting somewhere behind her.

Suddenly, she felt a hot pain spread across her left shoulder.

Wendy landed on the ground, and glanced at her shoulder, which was now covered in blood.

She had gotten shot once again.

It was only a flesh wound, so it wasn't that deep. But, by now, she was starting to get pretty pissed off.

First, her left hip was grazed by a bullet, and then she got shot once again, now across her left shoulder.

She fell onto the ground, groaning.

Just then, Hawkeye gave Wendy a signal to back away from Father for a second. She did as she was told, and dashed over to Hawkeye and Mustang, trying to tuck the thoughts of pain to the back of her mind.

Then, their plan was put into action. Izumi transmuted the ground to make a semi-circle around Father. Then, immediately after that, Mustang snapped his fingers and sent more flames at him.

"NOW HE'S TOAST!" Mustang shouted.

When the flames died down, Father stood there, motionless. He glared at Mustang angrily.

Then the battle continued. Except, now, people were beginning to loose hope. Wendy stood, looking around the area.

She had been so distracted earlier trying to find Ed and Al, that she forgot about looking for one person.

Her cousin, Jean.

Her heart pounded against her chest.

"JEAN! JEAN! JEAN HAVOC! WHERE ARE YOU!?" she screamed, anxiously looking around. She didn't see him anywhere. She hadn't talked to him in a year. He could be sick or even dead for all she knew.

"What a futile battle. You poor helpless humans can't hope to lay so much as a finger on me." Father said, still easily blocking all attacks.

Suddenly, Greed leapt out of nowhere.

"Maybe humans aren't able, but what about a homunculus!?" he howled.

Greed then jumped onto Father. Greed covered his fist with his 'ultimate shield' and slammed his fist into Father's face, sinking into his skin.

Father grinned. "Wonderful. You're just in time, Greed. What a dutiful son you are. As it happens, I could use another Philosopher's Stone. I'll just take yours."

Father slowly consumed Greed's stone. Greed wailed in pain, yelling as loud as he could.

Then Greed grinned. "Good acting, right? You can't take my stone from me without dropping your own barrier. You stupid fool. Now I can take your Godly powers away!"

Greed smiled, and began consuming Father's powers, all while manically laughing.

"GREEED!" someone yelled, leaping at Father, only to get blown back onto the ground.

Then people began shooting at him again. Dust once again clouded the air, and people continued attempting to get at least one hit on Father.

Wendy pointed her sword and jumped into the air. While she was souring overhead, she saw another person trying to attack him at the same time.

When she saw his face, her heart stopped.

"EEEDDDWWAAARRRDD!" she cried out at him.

Right when Ed turned to try and see who was yelling his name, he was blown back by Father's shield.

Who was that? Ed thought, I didn't get a good look at them. But, I think I know that voice from somewhere…

Ed's eyes widened, and his stomach dropped.

Wait…was that…Wendy?...

No. It couldn't be. She's in Xing right now…

…Right?