disclaimer: throughout this work, i refer to envy using 'they/them' pronouns. while i am a firm believer that those pronouns are valid - they are my own, after all - i understand that in literature it is harder to read and understand if i am simply referring to a group of people or one person, so i will do my best to make it as easy to read as possible. thank you.
•••
Red sparks emerge from the homunculus' seemingly pitless stomach as the other half of the safe house creaks, threatening to give way without the other half for support.
"Mustang, Mustang! Kill Mustang!" the ugly thing shrieks.
"Everyone, get out of the house, now!" Mustang shouts.
"Ling, we have to get Lan Fan!" Iris points to the room she was being kept in. The warrior had woken up with a start from the commotion, but still had no idea the amount of danger they were truly in.
"We have to get you out of here."
"The homunculus Gluttony is swallowing everything, and we don't want to be next."
The alchemist helps Ling hoist her up on his shoulder and carry her out of the remnants of the house.
"Go help your commanding officer," he says to her, "I'll take Lan Fan to the car."
"Right."
Iris runs off to the other side of the broken house, having heard the trio of alchemists arguing from that direction.
"We can't just kill him, we need information about him and the others!" Ed fights, but Mustang is having none of it. He dons his alchemic gloves in preparation.
"If we don't kill him, he'll kill us!" He doesn't hesitate. With one snap of his fingers, flames go flying in the monster's direction...
But they do nothing. The glutton's stomach absorbs all the fire, and the smoke is the only indication that there ever was any at all.
"Oh, hell," the Flame Alchemist says in frustration. "Run! Into the woods!"
The four do as told and split off into different directions. As soon as Iris enters the sea of trees, she feels the presence of the thousands of souls suddenly double.
'Could another homunculus be here?'
She doesn't have much time to dwell on it though. She hears gunshots that are unmistakably Hawkeye and follows the sound, seeing if she can be of any help. She finds Hawkeye helping her brother up, who obviously hasn't fully recovered from his last confrontation with the late Lust.
He hands Iris his overcoat. "Make a decoy," he says weakly. She nods and quickly transmutes a Mustang-esque dummy, throwing the fabric over it convincingly. Roy looks up at her in amazement over her newfound skill.
"How can you transmute- Argh!" He clutches his injured side.
"Let's get you out of here, Colonel."
The three exit the woods and head straight for the car. The prince of Xing is already there, trying to put his injured servant in gently but hurriedly. Ed and Al emerge from the trees as Iris is shoving her guardian into Dr. Knox's car. Hawkeye follows suit into the vehicle after him.
"Lieutenant, take care of Roy." Ling comes up behind her. "And Lan Fan, too, please." Riza nods in promise.
"Where do you think you kids are going?!" Dr. Knox shouts from the driver's seat.
"The car's full," Ed shrugs, looking back towards the forest. "But we can handle things from here. Three alchemists and a swordsman from Xing? No contest."
Mustang struggles to get the words out, forcing himself to shout. "You don't expect me to leave and let all of you children fight this alone!"
"You've got no choice! You're useless in this situation, Colonel." Roy was taken for surprise by Iris's remark at his title. "And besides, the leading of this country is a homunculus! Don't you think you should do something about that?! Now go!"
Edward puts a hand on her shoulder and looks to the residents of the car. "We'll get answers from Gluttony after we catch him again, don't you worry." The lieutenant has a skeptical look etched on her face. She reloads her gun, clicks the safety on, and hands it to the short alchemist.
"A backup plan," she simply states.
Conflict stirs inside of him, and it's evident in his body language. He looks at Al - possibly for some sort of permission, despite being the elder sibling - but he says nothing.
"You do know how to use it, don't you?"
"I do." He grabs it with his automail hand as if he was scared to touch it with his bare flesh. Hawkeye goes to say something else, but the homunculus in the woods behind them is becoming increasingly more upset at his failure to find the man that killed Lust, making an unsettling chorus of numerous falling trees.
"We have to go," Ling orders to the small group. "Gluttony is causing a ruckus."
Ruckus indeed. His incessant wailing and howling made him easy to track, and the four ran off without another word to the adults in the car, who were helplessly watching them through the tinted windows. Against his moral judgment, Dr. Knox drives away.
The team of kids reenters the forest. There's a presence behind them, but Iris somehow can tell that it's not a blubbering Gluttony. Ling looks to her and she nods her head.
"I feel it, too."
"Feel what?" Ed asks with a puzzled face.
"Behind us," she explains quietly, "...there's something." She finds the courage to turn around, and the others do as well. But all they see is a mutt. Until it starts speaking.
"Gluttony, stop this!" it barks.
"You got this worked up over for a dog?"
"That's not a dog..." Ling informs.
The shapeshifter laughs, red sparks emerging from their body as they transition back to their usual form, palm-tree-shaped hair and all. They give a pouting face. "What gave it away?"
"Wellllll, dogs don't talk," Iris pointed out.
The somewhat more relaxed Gluttony behind them almost chuckles.
"Do you feel them? The souls crawling inside of those two?" The girl alchemist whispers to the prince.
"Yeah, I do." He points to Envy. "Just how many people are inside you, homunculus?"
"Quite a perceptive one, you are. How unfortunate that you're the only one we can kill." The homunculus gives a big, cheery smile. "Well, unfortunate for you, at least."
The fatter homunculus perks up at this. "Does this mean I can eat him?"
They shrug. "Sure."
Ling runs away almost comically through the woods, Gluttony at his heels. Iris starts to run to catch up, making sure that her friend doesn't get eaten, but Envy elongates their arm to catch her by the throat. They hold her up so high her feet no longer touch the ground.
"Congratulations." They inch closer to her face, and Iris can feel their breath on her face. "I've heard from Wrath that you're a candidate now." She tries to find air, but it's to no avail. "Such a shame for your, ahem, 'sister,' though. She wanted to be the one to kill you herself." Her eyes widen and she gathers the remnants of her strength. Spitting in their face, she quickly transmutes a wooden stake from the tree beside her. She shoves it into their ugly green limb, making them release their grip on her. She collapses to the floor and heaves, desperately trying to catch her breath. Envy stumbles back with a smirk on their face.
"Hit a nerve, did I?"
Iris hadn't noticed that all three of the boys were fighting Gluttony until Ed shouts, "Ling, go help Iris get Envy!"
The prince is near her again, and she's relieved to see he's still in one piece. Alphonse creates a sturdy wall out of mud to separate the two battles.
"Don't let Envy get away!"
Envy looks at them both back and forth, as if analyzing which to make a move on first. They grin and extend their arm to Ling. It grows longer and longer and coils around his torso and his neck. A snake head appears from the end and it hisses, baring its fangs to his face. This distracts him and Iris has to grab her friend's wrist to angle it towards Envy to chop off their arm. They recoil in more annoyance and surprise than pain, trying to quickly regenerate.
"Damn humans," they mock, "so persistent. It's become such a hassle."
"Don't look down on us, you monstrosity of evil!" Ling spits. "We're capable of much more than you think! Once I get this philosopher's stone, I'll have just as much power as you homunculi do!"
"Now is not the time to rant! We need to-!" Iris is cut off by the wall of mud collapsing, Al being flung into it by Gluttony. The two look back and Envy uses it to their advantage. They grab Iris easily and fling her ways away into the woods. She goes flying and crashes into a tree with a sickening thud.
"Iris!" Ling calls then runs and grabs the homunculus by the neck, squeezing hard with one hand and a sword raised above them in the other. Envy plays their cheap trick, though. Lan Fan is suddenly being choked and about to be stabbed through the head with her master's sword. The prince is taken by surprise, especially with the innocent, almost bewildered expression on her face. But then her face turns wicked and sinister.
"Gluttony, it's time!" Envy says in their regular voice. Ling turns around to see the fat homunculus behind him, the eye inside his stomach widening even further.
"Watch out!" Edward calls to his friend, grabbing him in an attempt to get him out of the way. Envy's eyes widen. All would be lost if a sacrifice was swallowed, but Gluttony's lack of self-control was about as bottomless as his stomach. They grab the alchemist's foot to try and pull him back, but it's too late. The big homunculus sucks in absolutely everything in front of him.
Ed: gone. Ling: gone. Lan Fan's torso and head: gone as well. All that was left was her legs, but soon enough they vanish as well, floating towards Gluttony's slowly closing stomach. For a moment, Alphonse gives no reaction but pure shock. But once he sees that the large eye and the sharp teeth are caving themselves into the monster, he tackles him onto the mud.
"Where are they?! Spit them out!"
"I swallowed them," is all the confused homunculus can say.
"Spit out my brother and my friend!"
"I swallowed them."
•••
The Fuhrer's office is massive and intimidating. Roy Mustang sits in the chair parallel to the desk full of neatly organized papers, looking like a child who got sent to the principal's office for misconduct. It's not far off, though.
In short, Mustang blew it. The Fuhrer knows that he knows of his true ipseity.
With the door closed, the King of Amestris stands behind his desk, his hands folded behind him and his one emerald eye staring one of his many military dogs down.
"Perceptive, are you?" He chuckles, "Or did your little subordinate give you the news? Your foster sister, correct? I remember... Her determination is strong, it's just too bad she's not."
"Leave her out of this." The Flame Alchemist can't hide the desperation in his voice; the Fuhrer can't help but smile at his weakness.
"Oh, I can't very well leave any one of your entourage alone. Your entire team will suffer from my wrath. Especially the two you care for the most. Your right-hand woman and your sister are no longer any of your concern."
Bradley hands Mustang an official military document. It explains it all.
"Yourfive(5)subordinateshavebeendischargedfromyourunit.SergeantKainFuerywillbetransferredto...WarrantOfficerVatoFalmanwillbetransferredto...SecondLieutenantHeymansBredawillbetransferredto..."
Roy was already devastated by the loss of his men, but the next two carried out orders truly broke his entire resolve.
"FirstLieutenantRizaHawkeyeistobecome the personalassistantoftheFuhrer.StateAlchemist,See-AllIrisKingistoberelievedcustodyofRoyMustangonaccountofnorecordofadoption."
"No record of adoption?" Mustang queries. "I have official documents in my quarters of her adoption case."
"The state has no proof of this," the Fuhrer counters, "and besides, Iris King has already been adopted."
"Already?! By whom?!"
"Why, by Mrs. Bradley and I, of course."
•••
Roy drove home as quickly as he could. Immediately after getting out of the military car he saw the door to his home ajar. He swore under his breath and ran inside, having already slipped on a glove.
"Best come out," he spoke in a loud and calm voice. "I can easily burn you into a crisp."
No one answers or reveals themself, so they head to Iris's room. Empty. He goes to his own room and sees it awry from how he remembered. He checks under his bed for his safe first. It's been cracked open. Iris's papers are gone.
"Fuck."
