I don't exactly have a good impression of blood. The whole thing about seeing the spot inside Al's armor (I absolutely refuse to call it Martel's) and all the bleeding when Lanfan lost her arm kind of killed that for me. I could deal with it most times, sure, but it's not like it didn't make me feel a little twinge of queasiness or fear. And when the stuff is gushing out of this gaping hole where the left side of my ribcage is supposed to be—Yeah. Not good.

"Shit," I tried to say. But all that came out was dark, dark red, with black creeping around the edges of my vision, swallowing the red I didn't want to see and the nonexistent pain that should have been there. I should have heard the "thump" from when I hit the ground. I didn't.

Edward's dad wasn't exactly the evil-stupid-irresponsible guy Ed made him out to be. Actually, I felt kind of bad for him when shorty slugged him in the face—with his right arm, no less—and gave him the evil eye the rest of time he had to spend near him. Actually, he was the friendliest face I saw after leaving Winry's house under the cover of night, and although he gave me a bad feeling for some reason, he really seemed like a nice guy. I could see where Al got his quiet, polite nature from. Shorty, on the other hand…

He had old pops sobbing before the evening was over.

"H-huh? A g-grown man shouldn't cry like that!" Ed sputtered, utterly flustered and sweating like he'd just run a marathon. We chimeras were all sending him a disapproving glare, which he avoided guiltily.

"I'm sorry. You're right," Hohenhiem managed between sniffles, removing his glasses to wipe his eyes. Shorty wisely took that as his cue to get the hell out of there before I whacked him over the head with something sharp and pointy. The rest of us slipped after him to give his dad some space, but I stopped to glance back at him before I got too far.

"Selena?" That was Greed.

"I'll catch up with you guys later," I told him. "I want to talk to him."

Greed grunted and sauntered off, and with tactfully quiet footsteps, I approached the old man again just as he finished mumbling something to himself. I stopped a couple meters away from him, clasping my fingers hesitantly behind my back.

"You okay, pops?"

He looked up, wiped the last of his tears, and smiled.

"Yes. I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," I replied, rambling over to settle at a respectful distance from him. He had an atmosphere like Al's that made it hard to tease him or burst his bubble. I think the word for it is earnestness. Old pops seemed to misinterpret the distance, mistaking it for nervousness.

"You don't have to stay if you don't want to," he told me. "Anyone would be a little spooked after hearing about me."

"It's okay," I shrugged. "Greed's not exactly normal himself, but I get along fine with him. …Mostly," I amended at the doubtful look he aimed at me. "Okay, I have to mess with him a little—a lot, then—to keep things the way they are."

"You're sure?"

I furrowed my brows. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"If a young girl like you is friends with him even in the midst of a war like this, I'm sure you could let up a little and you two would still have the same relationship."

I blinked, caught off guard. "You're pretty insightful. Kind of like Ms. Izumi."

Hohenhiem smiled. "Thank you very much."

Smiling into the campfire, I laughed a little. "You're a lot like Al. It's kind of cool."

"Are you good friends with him?"

"Yep!" I beamed.

"So you like him a lot?"

"Uh-huh."

"Despite the armor?"

"Yeah."

"Then please take good care of my son." It was that moment that I realized he meant a different kind of "like."

"Wait a minute," I stuttered, waving my hands, "you're getting a little ahead of yourself. It's not like that."

"Oh, I'm sorry. You said 'yep' so sincerely, I thought—"

"No, no," I laughed awkwardly. "He's a really good friend. But…I already have crush on someone else right now." Even though the bastard said it would go away quicker than it is…

"I see. You'd better go see him, then." There was something in his smile that made me pause a minute.

"…You're really perceptive, aren't you, pops?"

"You could say that."

Shaking my head good-humoredly, I stood, waved goodbye, and went to catch up with the others, who were taking a stroll in the forest not far from the Ishbalan slums we were staying in. Heinstache heard me coming but didn't bother warning shorty before I tackled him. After a brief tussle and two disgruntled chimeras pulling us apart, we walked in silence for a while, with Greed walking arrogantly up front and me tagging along behind him. It wasn't long before both the other chimeras stopped abruptly and a chill ran down my spine.

"What's wrong…?" Ed trailed off, staring into the trees. A familiar clanking rang hollowly as a suit of armor emerged from the shadows. "Al?"

It barely registered at first that Ed was even talking to Al, or that it was even Al, who had been gone for so long. All I could think was get out get out get out, and my muscles all tensed visibly as a low, unearthly wail rose in my ears. It wasn't until Ed turned to me with an uneasy expression and said, "Selena?" that I realized the siren was coming from my own throat, an instinct, a warning that the retractable claws were out and the senses were sharpening in terror.

"Ed!"

The blonde turned quizzically back Greed, whose body was trembling and whose eyes were no long violet.

"Get away from him!" Lin growled. "He's a—It's a—!"

I barely caught what happened next. Ebony spears shot out at Ed, sped past Gori's nose, and sent us all retreating back a few feet. I couldn't have missed the voice that came out of Al if I wanted to, though; it was too dark, too threatening, too pitch black and too horrible to be coming out of Alphonse Elric. The eyes glaring out of the armor were the same way. It was awful, like seeing Edward holding a gun.

"So, Greed, I see you've gone over to their side," the voice hissed. "And you've allowed a human to take over your body as well." Shadows seeped like tar from the openings in the metal and dispersed like thick, black smoke. "Your soul is too weak!"

I hissed, my pupils barely ringed by a thin green line as they dilated. I was too tense to process the dialogue, but I heard "Pride" as the name of the predator before me. The first homunculus. And he had taken Alphonse hostage.

"Run, Selena!"

It was fast. Too fast.

I didn't realize my shoulder was gone until I tried to move my arm, and I paused in a strangely peaceful reverie trying to figure out what was going on until I tried to breathe and instead swallowed something that tasted like iron. It didn't hurt.

"Shit," I tried to say again, as the world tilted and Ed's horrified features turned sideways. I never hit the ground.