A/N: This chapter has been brought to you by copious amounts of salted caramel ice cream and Arnold Palmer. It's been a crazy few weeks for me, honestly. Summer basically means that any schedule I may have had has been shot to hell. I've been busy, and crazy, and some of you may have even seen my slight meltdown on tumblr, but I'm not freaking out as badly anymore, so here's the new chapter!

Week after this one, I'll be at shotgun camp, which unfortunately has zero access to any wifi or even cell service, so the next chapter is either going to be short and come early, or be a bit delayed like these past few have been.

Feel free to leave a review, either to scream with me about how intense the story is starting to get, or scream at me for taking so long! Enjoy!

Yet again, Greed trudged along the pathways surrounding Central Command. As he'd been many times earlier, he was angry and needed to leave for somewhere else. Honestly, Ed felt like the homunculus was leaving his "family" dramatically every other day.

It had actually been mildly amusing, watching as the homunculi tore themselves apart from the inside, Greed as the main catalyst. Ed was always slightly reassured during every argument they had, as it meant their unity was crumbling, and the possibility of their plans failing was becoming larger.

Today, however, was different.

Greed could be a dramatic little shit all he wanted, and storm off fuming, but he better storm straight toward Alphonse, wherever the younger Elric may be. Al going missing had honestly been the worst part of Ed's day, topping even the traumatizing moment in which Greed had eaten his breakfast cereal and drank the milk from the bowl afterward. Al's disappearance had managed to top all the screaming souls inside Greed's philosopher's stone, which seemed to have increased their volume.

Greed mindlessly storming away might not have had a particular agenda, but Edward sure did, and he was fully planning on making sure that asshole homunculus was going to go along with it.

Last time he'd taken control, it had been a wild, spur of the moment ordeal, and he'd only done it because he distracted Greed and ran off. Truth was, Ed hadn't really had a concrete, definite idea of what he was doing, or where he was going. He wasn't used to the feeling of having to control not only his body, but a homunculus and the souls of thousands of screaming people as well.

He hadn't known how to overpower Greed's stone and keep it overpowered once he'd shoved it down.

This time Ed resolved to be better. Greed was going to get beat, and stay down if he didn't want to cooperate. Ed knew where he wanted to go (maybe Al told that asshole Mustang something), and who he needed to find, and he also knew what buttons to press to get the homunculus to keel over.

"Hey-" He began, grabbing the monster's attention.

"I am not in the mood, kid. Shove off," was Greed's savage answer.

"Greed, we need to go after Alphonse," retaliated Ed, getting straight to the point. There was reason to play games with another entity that lived in his mind.

"You obnoxious little brother is the reason we're in this mess. I don't particularly want to look for some kid right now," Obviously, Greed must have felt the same as Ed did, being extremely blunt.

"Call Al obnoxious one more time and I swear I will-"

"You'll what? You can't do anything to me, considering you're stuck in my head, soon to be my philosopher's stone."

Sure, Ed was stuck inside his own mind at the moment, but he wasn't going to let Greed prance around in his skin for much longer.

"You seem to forget this is my body, Greed. And I'm not going to let you just have complete control of it," Soon he'd make his move.

"Yours? I seem to recall a certain someone making a deal with me and letting me have the thing," Some fairly sound logic, but Ed ignored it. This asshole of a homunculus was about to go down.

"This 'certain someone' has said a lot of things to get out of tough situations, but that doesn't mean all of them are true."

"Touche, shrimp. Unfortunately, however, I can't relate because I don't lie," Greed gestured with one of Ed's hands- a completely unnecessary gesture, due to the fact that the conversation was inside his head. Or maybe not… It wasn't like Ed could use his own hands to gesture. The douchebag homunculus was just showing off.

"You act like you're so above it all, Greed, but just because you don't lie doesn't mean you aren't a dick in other respects," Ed kept his calm, attempting to look past the 'shrimp' mention and the not-so-simple hand gesture.

"Look, I'm not saying I'm perfect, and I get that you of all people would see me as an asshole, even after having agreed to this arrangement," Greed paused, carefully choosing his next words, "In all honesty, you're even more of a dick for going back on all your promises."

That elicited a scoff from Ed. He wasn't the asshole here, "Believe what you want, but this is still my body in the end."

"Sure, kid."

As much as Ed just loved bickering with his pesky little parasite, he needed to act soon or else he may never get a chance to do what he needed.

"We need to go after Alphonse," Once again, Ed stated his goals. This was Greed's last chance to go along with them or else Ed would have to use force.

"Like I said before, I don't want to go on a manhunt for that little adventurer. He's off on his own, and clearly he enjoys it that way," Damn. Ed was going to have to do this the hard way.

The one topic that was still sore for Greed was the one Ed had used before to gain control, and he reckoned he could do it again. Dublith. It was basically guaranteed to send the homunculus into a berserk state of confusion, giving Ed enough time to take the reigns. Those flashes of memories and emotions and god knows what else from the Devil's Nest would surely be enough to set Greed over the edge once again, and if used well enough, possibly set him off for a long time.

That asswipe insisted on playing dirty and doing what he wanted, and he'd been able to run around almost unchecked for weeks. Now, it was Ed's turn.

Central City had some of the best architecture Amestris had to offer. The clean, modern look of the entire capital city was like an art gallery to any true architecture buffs, who could end up almost anywhere and still find construction they loved.

Despite all these amazing accomplishments, however, there were definitely three structures in the city which acted as the crowning jewels of the city. For starters, there was the Central Command Center and Fuhrer's mansion, both built to be tall and imposing and show Amestrian military might.

Next, there were the Kirke Square fountains. Always lit up exorbitantly during solstice season, it was an area in which the citizens of Central go for a nice view and a nice afternoon.

The third structure in the city worth noting did the exact opposite; the Central Prison. Not particularly ornate or citizen-friendly, the building was arguably more intimidating than the Command Center. At least there, the military had the motto of helping the common folk and protecting Amestris. The maximum-security prison had no nice facade to hide under. It was just tall, and utilitarian, and drove fear into the hearts of anyone passing by.

… Everyone except Envy.

They were able to stand in front of the main entrance, unperturbed except for the itching annoyance caused by having to wait. Tapping their foot on the ground in impatience, Envy resented their human disguise. This soldier was in a hot, unbreathable, cotton, Amestrian military uniform, and direct sunlight was not a friend of said uniform. How could people possibly stand these things?

Finally, the doors opened, and out strutted a white-clad figure, smirking at the panicking guards behind him and straightening his white fedora.

"I'm here to pick you up, Kimblee," Envy motioned to the car, not wanting to give away anything of their true identity. The newly free alchemist narrowed his eyes, likely knowing his companion had more to them than met the eye.

Once both figures boarded the car, Envy spoke up, "It's been a while, Kimblee," They turned their head around to face the alchemist in the back seat, "Congrats on the early release."

Kimblee's mouth quirked up, a new devilish glint in his eye as Envy reverted back to their preferred human form, "I guess I have you guys to thank for that, then," He replied as Envy turned back to face the road and start driving.

"Yup," Red sparks accompanied Envy's transformation back into the soldier, "We could use a little bit of extra help with something," They elaborated, eyes flickering back and forth from between the road and the passenger in the back seat.

"My first day out of jail, and I already have a job," Kimblee's smirk spread, the man realizing exactly what kind of job the homunculi likely wanted him for.

"You remember Doctor Marcoh, right?" Envy began his explanation as to what Kimblee's job was, but had a hard time concentrating. That asshole Greed could be doing his job normally too, as Envy was, but noooooooooooooo.

Envy was the perfect example of efficiency, going out and doing everything they needed to. Greed spent the time he was supposed to be working by stealing couches and dragging them down underground for him to lounge around on. That lazy, obnoxious homunculus also went on multiple shopping sprees, buying clothes that were questionable at best. It honestly boiled Envy's blood more than most stupid humans did. Greed was a homunculus; he should know better!

But maybe it was that kid whose body he was put in…

The Fullmetal shrimp was a particularly obnoxious one, and Envy knew for a fact that little bastard didn't ever want to go down without a fight. Who knew if the kid was integrated into Greed's stone or not? Greed had had a few slip-ups before with Fullmetal taking over, so who was to say it wouldn't happen again?

"Hey, Envy," Kimblee called out from the backseat, snapping Envy out of their thoughts, "I accept the Marcoh thing, but you seem to have something else on your mind as well," Envy cursed.

"It's none of your business… Just an uncooperative little brat," Envy practically snarled back.

"You know, I could take this brat out for you, just do it quick before my real fun with Marcoh begins," Kimblee examined his nails, casual as ever while Envy seethed.

"We need him alive," They pouted, and Kimblee chuckled, "The obnoxious brat is someone who is unfortunately fairly important to our plans."

"He can't be that important if you're seriously contemplating my offer to get rid of him." Kimblee… had a point there… It wasn't like Greed ever contributed to anything, so he was just dead weight. The only problem would be with Father's anger after Greed died again.

"He isn't, but he's crucial enough that I don't want you to kill him," It stabbed Envy in the heart to have to admit it, but they couldn't just get rid of the dead weight asshole who dragged couches down underground.

"Alright then…" Kimblee turned to look out the window, prompting Envy to continue what he was trying to say earlier.

He talked more about the Marcoh job, but then suddenly Envy's eyes caught sight of a familiar golden-haired figure stomping away from Central Command in his tacky, too-tight, red, leather pants. Fucking Greed. What was he doing now?

Unintentionally, the car slowed, and Envy caught sight of the young homunculus. He was definitely pissy about something, stomping away like that, but something strange was happening- every few steps, Greed would pause and hold his head, both his automail and ultimate shield-covered hands running through his loose hair.

If that was what Envy thought it was, then Greed was in major trouble. Not only was that asshole going off to do whatever, but he was actively trying to keep the kid from taking back over. That was ridiculous; a homunculus should never have to fight their host after the initial takeover. Greed was fucking useless in two ways: his job, and the basic function of being a homunculus.

"You know what, Kimblee," Envy snarled, stepping on the gas and speeding away from Greed/ Edward/ whoever was in control at the moment, "I think I will take you up on that offer to take that annoying shrimp out of the picture. Just wait until I tell you, but that fucker is going down."

"STOP IT!" Greed shouted, clutching his head as pain laced through it like a migraine.

"NO!" Shrieked Ed back, trying to move his arms, "I'm never going to be able to forget what happened in Dublith, so neither can you!"

"I can't forget it because I never went through it in the first place!" Shaking more violently than before, Greed fell against the wall next to him, "I told you never to talk about this again, shrimp!"

"Too bad," Ed shouted, taking his anger about the shrimp comment out on the homunculus, watching as more and more fuzzy gray fragments of the Greed's time in Dubith flashed around.

The homunculus swatted the air, trying to hold back the floodgates before they spilled out, creating more of a problem than just minor pain. He knew what could happen if he let his guard down again, and was determined on stopping it.

"Don't you remember your little friends from down there?" Ed taunted, "What were their names?"

"I don't know who the hell you're talking about!"

"You do, Greed! You know exactly who I'm talking about!" Images of the chimeras fighting alongside Greed appeared, and Ed thought hard on trying to remember any other details about the gang.

"Remember that short one with the katana who I kicked in the face!" Ed yelled, causing Greed to jump up into the middle of the sidewalk.

"Remember that snake lady who hid inside Alphonse!" Once more, Ed screamed, his words more of a command than a question. Greed was going to remember his friends, whether he wanted to or not.

Greed grabbed his bangs, pulling at them and likely getting the strands of hair caught in his automail. Ed opened his mouth once more, but Greed stopped him by pushing off the ground and sprinting back toward the Central Command Center.

"We are not going through this again!"

"We are!"

The homunculus ran, haphazardly shoving pedestrians out of the way as he came across them. His mind was occupied by more important things than whether or not he kicked a seven-year-old into the street. It was occupied with much more important things than his public image, which would now be that of a rampaging lunatic.

"Remember our fight in Dublith!" Putting aside his feelings about Greed hurting innocent people, Ed turned back to his task, "I beat you then, I can beat you now!"

A snarl from the homunculus.

Suddenly, Greed turned on his feet, banging into the wall on his left and not even bothering to put up his ultimate shield as he did so. Red sparks danced across his shoulder, preventing any bruising. Even though he'd had the energy to regenerate his injuries, the homunculus couldn't turn his skin hard- a sign Ed's plan was working.

"I outsmarted you there, and I can do it again!" He kept at it, watching Greed's mind turn into an inferno.

Ed steeled himself, feeling Greed's control slip. His steps shook, and the automail went limp as Greed reached a doorway and threw himself in, not paying attention to the sight in front of him. A colossal mistake.

Edward's body tumbled down a flight of stairs, every other bounce or so, Ed feeling the blows. There was no shield, no regeneration, and for those few, crucial moments, no Greed. Ed never thought he'd be so happy to feel pain.

At the bottom, Ed tried standing, but the homunculus beat him to it and staggered to his feet. The move, however, was too fast, and Greed had to grab hold of a nearby railing in order not to collapse. Sparks came, but their intensity was greatly diminished compared to what they had been before.

"Fuck…" Resounded through the hallway between Greed's jagged breaths. He sounded tired and done, but Ed was nowhere near that point.

"Remember-"

"SHUT UP!" Greed's veritable roar shook the air around them, and Ed paled, the manic, distorted voice of the homunculus echoing in his mind and the space around them. These past two times, Greed hadn't even bothered to keep the words in his mind.

"Can you shut up for two minutes?!" Once more, Greed screamed out loud, voice sounding inhuman.

It scared Ed, but he knew he couldn't just stop now. He needed to see this through or else he may not get another chance soon, "You remember Dublith! I know you remember the Devil's Nest! And the fight we had! And the way I demolished your sorry ass while Bradley demolished your team!"

"NO!" Was Greed's last shriek before the maelstrom of memories and gray flashes and images of his friends became too much to bear.

Hands hurting and tired from grasping, Ed still managed to emerge victorious. Greed shrieked, but ignored him as he felt his own hands once more. He felt the difficulty his lungs were having, and the aching of his muscles from his tumble down the stairs, but Ed didn't care. He welcomed the pain, because it was now his, and it meant he'd reclaimed his body.

Dublithdublithdublithdublith repeated Edward in his head, subduing the panicked homunculus under the barrage of grainy gray images.

Now, finally, it was time to go after Alphonse.

Light streamed down the staircase from the open door at the top, but Ed huffed out and realized he didn't have enough energy to climb the stairs. He let go of the wall railing and stumbled forward into the dark hallway ahead of him. He needed to be in the Command Center anyway; Mustang was there, and the Colonel might know something about Al's whereabouts.

So Edward trudged forward, black boots clomping and echoing louder the farther in he went. Less and less light shone, and Ed squinted, his eyes straining to see where he was being led. It had to be somewhere good.

As Ed ventured deeper into the building, he felt the hall begin to slope downward, going farther underground than the staircase had brought him. He swallowed his fears, and kept going in hopes that he'd end up in the basement, so he could take an elevator back up to the main floor.

There was, however, after five minutes, no elevator, or even basement. There was only the slow transition of the drab hallway into one of the tunnels which ran under the Command Center.

"Shit!" Ed yelled, kicking a wall. Now he had to go all the way back outside, uphill and up stairs the entire way. Greed paused in his torment to laugh.

"Give it up, kid. You're lost and you're too tired to make this last," He yelled over the memories, "You can't hold me off forever."

"I can and I will!"

"What about when you collapse? It took a ridiculous about of energy to shove me down here, and to be crawling around half-healed. Even if you don't pass out, you're going to need to sleep sometime, too," Ed paled as the homunculus kept talking. He was right… What if Ed couldn't hold onto his own body for more than a few minutes?

How would he find Alphonse then?

Ed was such an idiot. How could he not have taken into account any long term plans? God, he was such a failure. He'd let his little brother wander off and he couldn't even follow. What kind of shitty sibling was he?

As Ed thoughts turned from hopeful ones to self-deprecating ones, and from Dublith to his problems, Greed saw an opening and pounced.

Shrieking filled the corridor once more, maybe from Ed, maybe from Greed, maybe from both. Ed shook, eyes wide with fear as he slipped down again. He felt crawling all over his skin and his arms swinging back and forth without his prompting. Greed.

In an experience almost more excruciating than anything else he'd ever been through, Edward fell back down into the recesses of Greed's mind, forfeiting his authority over his own body.

"Now you're back where you belong, runt," Greed scoffed, brushed himself off, and took a moment to heal himself fully. He wasn't back up to full strength, but neither was Ed, and he was still able to overpower the human.

Ed remained silent, half out of shame from his failure, and half out of the fact that he needed rest from the constant fighting. He just let Greed walk down the tunnel, marching toward an uncertain future.

"FIRE!"

BOOM

Shockwaves reverberated through the steel walls of Briggs' lower levels, and even induced echoing from Al's hollow chest. Tanks were so much louder in person than Alphonse could ever have expected. Sure, he didn't have real ears in which his eardrums could pop, but Al still sensed the uncomfortably loud noise.

General Armstrong kept her ice-cold eyes locked on to her target, staring with an intensity that Al swore could probably encase Sloth in a block of ice. That woman was tied with Teacher for "Most Intimidating Human Being In the World".

The way Armstrong hung out of the lead tank in formation, her hair cascading down her back and in front of her right eye, it looked like she was born to be there. Her grip on that shining silver saber never slackened, and she held the thing in front of her, pointing at the homunculus whenever she wanted another round to fly at his head. It was scary how comfortable she looked.

Once the noise from her latest shot subsided, Sloth turned his head from side to side, as if to alleviate a crick in his neck. As suspected, he still stood tall, pretending no tank had ever been aimed in his general direction. That was also terrifying.

"AGAIN!" She yelled, upset about the fact that her tanks were only slightly more effective at hurting Sloth than any of her guns or grenade launchers. These rounds knocked Sloth around a bit, and once drew the tiniest bit of blood from his cheek, but were still, for the most part, useless.

"General!" Al intervened, "It's not working!"

She snapped back, "I can see that, Major Elric!" Straightening her back, she continued, "We need to hit this thing with something stronger," She turned back to her opponent and narrowed her eyes.

What could this woman be talking about? There was nothing stronger to hit Sloth with.

"I need someone to bring me some tank fuel!" Armstrong barked out her order, thoroughly confusing Alphonse. Sloth had skin that deflected anything and everything; fire couldn't kill it.

"You've already tried burning it, and look how that turned out!" Al retaliated, but was only met with a scoff.

"I'm going to use something stronger than fire," General Armstrong kept her eyes of the rampaging monster, "You're about to see the Briggs way, kid."

As the homunculus and his body's original soul wandered deeper into the tunnel, it became apparent to Edward that this was one they'd never been in before. It was rougher and more unfinished than anything they'd encountered previously, denoted by the jagged stones lining the walls, and the pipes replacing any floor they used to have.

Keeping his eyes open and vigilant was a challenge for Edward, but he did so anyway, trying to ignore the unsettling quality of the path he was being led down.

Greed kept his pace throughout, now walking better with his healed injuries, and mindlessly growing and retracting the Ultimate Shield over his flesh arm. His violet eyes scanned his surroundings as carefully as Ed's gold ones did, an action which told Ed that the monster didn't know where he was going either.

Neither dared or wanted to speak to each other; the day's earlier incident still fresh in both of their minds. Ed knew that if he truly wanted to retake control of his body, he'd have to come up with a better, longer-lasting plan. He needed to ensure that nothing terrible happened to the body, and that he'd be mobile for a longer period of time.

At least, this afternoon, Edward had managed to keep his hold of Greed's body by thinking of Dublith the entire time until he'd slipped up. If he did that next time, his success rate should be just as high.

Even though it was probably pretty obvious to Greed that Edward was plotting something again, the homunculus just kept exploring the tunnel, ignoring the seditious human. He was as tired out as Ed, and arguing some more would just lead to another bad scenario.

Footsteps from Greed's heavy boots made resounding clomps, and for the longest time, those noises were the only ones in the tunnel. But soon, a skittering, pattering, echoing other sound reached Ed's ears. Was there some kind of animal in the tunnel with them?

"Hey," Greed called out, letting his shield overtake his hand.

The footsteps grew closer, and as they increased in volume, a panting noise accompanied them. Soon, even though the tunnel was almost pitch black, Ed spotted the source of the racket. A short man, enveloped by some kind of long, tattered cloak and dragging some kind of baggage along the floor behind him. No- dragging a lizard tail on the floor behind him.

"Who the hell are you?" Greed's voice came out at a low growl, threatening the newcomer.

The strange, bald man stopped in his tracks, eyes widening and a disbelieving exclamation in his voice. Clamping his hand over his mouth, the man turned in the other direction and ran.

"You asked for it," Pushing off the ground to pursue the tunnel intruder, Greed shrugged.

Today, so much shit had happened to im that the homunculus was pissed, and temperamental and moody, and was out for blood. Whoever that weird lizard guy was, it didn't matter to him; Greed as sick and tired and needed to take his anger out on something.

The man let out a small shriek, and tried to duck out of the way, but Greed was too fast, and grazed lizard man's head with his claws. Ed's heartbeat sped up as he realized that there was nothing holding Greed back from inflicting hell on that poor man. How far was Greed going to go with this?

He lashed out once more and hit the man in the jaw, propelling him through a pipe and into some space behind everything else. Steam gushed out, distorting Greed's vision, but he pursued his prey nonetheless.

"Who the hell are you and why are you down here?" Greed walked past the steam, cornering the lizard man. In this new space, yellow light flickered from some indeterminate source to the left, allowing both parties to observe the other in more detail. Something about that lizard man was familiar… Ed knew he'd seen that face before.

Greed held out his clawed hand in front of him, shaking off droplets of blood. After he'd finished, he retracted the shield and put the hand on his hip.

"That voice… and the ultimate shield…" The lizard man trailed off, "You sound just like Mister Greed… But you can't be!" He cowered closer to the wall, backing away from the monster about to inflict terrible things unto him, "But you look just like that Fullmetal Alchemist kid! Why are you imitating Mister Greed?"

"Don't kid yourself," The homunculus paused, clenching his automail fist, "I am the real Greed. Not any kind of imitation," A beat of silence.

"Greed… The avaricious?"

"The one and only," Greed smirked, "I want everything you could possibly imagine. I want money and power and women, sex, status, glory-"

"You demand the finer things in life!" Greed's awful monologue was cut off, and Ed realized why he recognized the chimera. That was one of Greed's old friends- he was sure of it.

"Hey," Snarled Greed, "How the hell did you know I was going to say that?" He marched close to the chimera and lifted the man by his cloak. Greed's hand trembled, and a sinking feeling consumed Ed as he realized Greed was barely holding his anger together. He was going to strike soon. Even though this man had helped the old Greed, he was relatively harmless, and didn't deserve anything the homunculus was planning.

"GREED! NO!" Ed's shrieking voice echoed through the homunculus' mind. Greed payed his body's host no heed as he extended the ultimate shield over his left hand, growing out his curving, knife-like claws.

"It's me! I'm your friend, Bido! You haven't been gone long enough from Dublith to forget!" The lizard chimera shrieked, terrified tears in his eyes. Ed remembered this chimera clearly now, and was shocked that he'd survived the massacre of the Devil's Nest.

"Oh, you're from Dublith," Greed made no attempt to hide the snarl in his voice, "I see now."

Greed had had enough of Dublith. Nothing about that town had brought him anything other than misery, and Greed was sick of Edward using it as some sort of bait to hold over his head. Every damn mention of that town was enough to send Greed into a frenzy, and he'd had enough. Ignoring the loud, gray visions threatening to overtake his mind, Greed tightened his grip on Bido's cloak.

"You remember?" A hopeful smile spread across Bido's face, but Greed's shaking black hand presaged anything but hope. Each finger twitched, the homunculus' rage increasing with every word the chimera spat out. Each and every digit wanted to rid the world of the existence of the chimera, and to rid the existence of Dublith from Greed's mind.

"I'm done with this goddamn fucking town and the goddamn fucking memories of it," Greed snarled internally, trying desperately to push back the memories flashing through. Bido's eyes were locked onto Greed's face, ignoring the hand that was inching toward his chest.

"GREED!" Edward cried out, fearing what the homunculus was about to do. That monster was fully intent on killing someone, and using Ed's body to do so, "THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE ABOUT TO DO!" He screeched, only causing Greed's rage to turn his face into something awful and distorted.

The next thing Edward saw, eyes shaking and unfocused and disbelieving, was his hand plunging through Bido's chest, tearing apart whatever resistance it met and exiting out the other side.