Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or Legend of Korra

Edward

Why hadn't Ling sent up the signal flare yet? He had seen him, Lan Fan, and Ayana disappear from the roof shortly after Scar had attacked him and Al. So surely, they had sensed a homunculus. Were they having trouble capturing it? Or maybe it was a false alarm and they were still lurking nearby, waiting for one to show up? Had they all been killed? He shuddered at that last thought and pushed it from his mind.

They had ended up in a train yard, and Scar now stood ten feet away, panting to catch his breath. He and Al stood waiting for him to make a move, and Ed was also breathless. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up.

"Ishvalen!" He heard someone scream. They were all surprised as a fat man jumped and landed in their midst. He immediately turned to attack Scar.

"Brother! That's a homunculus! It's the one Ayana described to me!"

Scar grabbed the homunculus' face and used his destructive alchemy in an attempt to kill it. It spit up some blood but was otherwise unaffected by his attack.

Ed clapped his hands and transmuted the ground, creating a deadly spike that impacted his fat gut. He stumbled backwards but regenerated himself from the bleeding wound. He turned to look at them and opened his mouth in a weird sort of hungry growl, which gave Ed a good view of the tattoo on his tongue.

Suddenly a manhole to his right burst open, and out of it sprang Ling and Ayana, propelled by a large amount of water. What?! Her eyes! Her eyes glowed pure white, no pupil or iris at all. It was both unnerving and intimidating.

They landed in front of him and Al. Ling let go of his hold on Ayana, but she kept the water suspended around them in a thick ring. The air whipped around them strongly, and it was enough to cause both Ed and Scar to raise their arms to shield their eyes.

As soon as Ling had let go, she brought the water under her body to raise herself into the middle of a waterspout. She began throwing fire and rocks at Gluttony relentlessly. The raw power emanating from her was so strong, Ed could feel it pulsing through his blood. It left him feeling like he'd just had ten cups of coffee.

Ling turned to him and shouted, "Quick, I need a strong cable, or rope, or something!"

Too baffled by what was happening to question him, he knelt and transmuted one of the railroad tracks into a thick cable. Turning back to Ling, he threw the end of the cable at him. Ling caught it deftly and immediately turned around and yelled, "Ayana!"

She didn't look at him but instead created a small tornado in front of his feet, while at the same time blasting the homunculus with an explosion so forceful it decimated his entire body except his legs. Ling jumped onto the tornado, and it morphed into a blast that launched him straight at the regenerating legs. He took the cable and wrapped it around the homunculus' body as he continued to regenerate, causing him to end up in a tight, uncomfortable ball, trapped in bonds that were too tight.

It all happened so fast that Ed just stood there frozen. He could see Scar hadn't moved either. And it wasn't over yet. A car, a convertible, came around the corner suddenly and skidded to a stop in front of them. The lone occupant shot several bullets at Scar and shouted, "Avatar! Here!" The driver looked suspiciously like Hawkeye in disguise.

Ayana airbent the captured homunculus up and into the car, then propelled herself over and landed in the back seat. Her bent water splashed everywhere as she released control. Ling jumped in after her, and the car promptly sped away.

He and Al stood there thunderstruck, and Scar was holding his bleeding leg. Apparently one of the gunshots had connected.

Al stepped forward with his hands raised. Ed was about to follow suit but out of nowhere a small girl flew at his brother and kicked him sideways, causing him to stumble into him. They fell over in a tangle but quickly scrambled back up to find the girl standing protectively in front of Scar.

What the hell? Since when does he have friends? He hadn't noticed until now, with all the chaos, but now he saw they were surrounded by MP's. They were all aiming their guns at Scar. The girl reacted quickly by throwing some kunai and drawing what looked like a transmutation circle into the dirt with her foot. She quickly activated it, and it caused the two coal cars behind them to explode and cover the area in a black cloud. By the time the dust settled, the girl and Scar were gone.

"Was that alchemy?" Ed asked, bewildered.

"And how did she do it from that far away?" Al asked in astonishment. As they stood stunned, the MP's were spreading out, trying to find where Scar had gone.

"Let's get out of here." He suggested, and Al nodded.

Alphonse

"Look what I found, Ed!" He held out a small panda bear in his hand.

"Al! We can't be adopting pets, you know that!"

"But I couldn't leave her behind in that mess back there! Look how sweet she is."

His brother still didn't look happy, but chose not to say anything further. Instead, he crossed his arms in a huff. Al put the panda on his shoulder. She seemed reluctant, but having nowhere else to go, she didn't protest staying with him.

Together, they made it back to the hotel, where they found Winry packing her bag. They sat with her for a while. Ed explained how he knew Scar had killed her parents, which Winry had unfortunately overheard during the fight with Scar earlier. Why she'd sought them out in the streets, Al didn't know, but she was extremely lucky she hadn't gotten hurt. After Ed's explanation and her tears had subsided, they walked her to the train station to catch her ride back to Rush Valley.

They hadn't seen or heard from Ling or Ayana. Al figured they'd come get them soon, or somehow relay the location they were holding the homunculus at.

Sure enough, on their way back to the hotel, Colonel Mustang drove up beside them. "Get in the car."

They did, and he drove them to a random house and told them to wait. He got out of the car, approached the front door, and knocked. A man greeted him and they talked briefly. The stranger went back inside the house but returned with a small bag, and together him and Mustang returned to the car.

They all rode together, heading outside the city, as the sun was setting. Al couldn't hear the men's conversation in the front seat, but he did see the stranger show the evening edition of the newspaper to Mustang, who seemed to be pretty angry about whatever it said.

Eventually they pulled up to what looked to be an abandoned house in the middle of a clearing in the woods. Upon entering they found Hawkeye, Ling, Ayana, and a very injured Lan Fan. The captured homunculus was still wrapped in the cable, and he sat whimpering in an adjacent room. The stranger, who Al now realized was a doctor, immediately set to work on Lan Fan.

He sat on the floor of the safehouse, leaning against the wall with Brother, Ayana, and Ling. He tried not to listen to Lan Fan's screams of pain as the doctor worked on her. The injury to her shoulder was bad enough that the doctor told them he was being forced to amputate, and there was no morphine or anesthesia here. It was agonizing to sit there, listening, and not be able to help. Ling hadn't said a word since the doctor had announced his prognosis; he sat as still as a statue, his eyes filled with pain and guilt.

"Are you out of your damn mind, Avatar?" Musting stomped into the room, fury dripping from his voice. Ayana winced as the Colonel threw the newspaper into her lap. She lifted it up to read the headline, and Al looked over to see that it read "FUHRER BRADLEY ATTACKED, ASSAILANT STILL AT LARGE."

Her head dropped, and she hugged her knees to her chest. She apologized in a small voice, "I'm sorry. Things got a little out of hand. I tried to prevent any witnesses from seeing me, but…."

"Yeah well, you didn't succeed." Mustang snarled. "Hawkeye's informed me they have your description, and there's a warrant out for your arrest. The one good thing here is that they think you're just a rogue alchemist. What were you thinking!?"

She surprised Al by admitting, "I wasn't. Gluttony was about to kill Lan Fan and Ling, and I snapped. Besides, it was all I could do to keep Bradley at bay; he's a very skilled swordsman." She looked up at the Colonel and met his gaze. "I really am sorry." Before Mustang could respond, she turned her head to look at him and Ed. "You should know. Bradley has an ouroboros tattoo. It's on his eye, under the patch. He's one of them."

A startled silence enveloped the room. Al watched the anger melt from Mustang's face, replaced by a calculating look. "They've infiltrated all the way to the top. This will make it easier to remove him from the seat of power."

They heard whimpering coming through the open door to the adjacent room, and Al looked over to watch Gluttony attempting to break free from the cables. But it was a futile effort.

"So that's Gluttony, huh?" Mustang asked as he eyed the homunculus. "We need to interrogate him, then I'll take his stone. It may be useful for healing Havoc."

Ling jumped up in anger. "Hold on! Lan Fan lost her arm capturing that thing! He's our captive, so we'll be taking him back to Xing!"

At that, Brother also stood. "Wait, he'll be able to help us get our bodies back! We've been working on that for a long time, I'm not going to let you waltz off with him!"

Al and Ayana still sat by the wall, not wanting to get involved in the disagreement. Everyone was yelling over one another, but at some point they stopped and turned to look in horror as Gluttony screeched loudly.

"Mustang! Roy Mustang, you killed Lust!" With newfound strength, Gluttony struggled and broke through his bonds. Al was shocked to see a lidless eye in a black void appear on Gluttony's giant stomach, complete with sharp teeth outlining the opening. It looked eerily similar to the eye Al recalled seeing on the night he and Ed had opened the portal of Truth.

Gluttony screamed in rage again, and in the blink of an eye, everything in front of him disappeared in a whirlwind. Literally everything vanished. The wall of the house, some trees outside, even one of the cars that had been parked there, all gone.

"I will swallow you, Mustang!" The homunculus threatened angrily.

Everyone ran outside of the now unstable house. Ling supported Lan Fan as they escaped, and everyone made it out safely. Gluttony attacked again, swallowing another section of the house. Al found himself standing beside Brother, Ayana, and Mustang, who shouted, "We have to bring him down!"

"But we worked so hard to catch him!" Al protested.

"Survival is our top priority. Besides, he's seen our faces now. It would be foolish to allow him to leave here alive!" And with that, Mustang snapped his ignition glove. A wave of fire flew over to Gluttony, who screamed in pain. But that didn't last long, as he simply sucked the flames into his gut.

The four of them turned and ran toward the woods. "Well, that worked well!" Ed shouted sarcastically.

"Spread out! Maybe we can lose him!" Mustang commanded, and they all split, running different directions into the trees.

Al ran alone for a short distance, then stopped to listen. He heard Gluttony crashing through the bushes, chasing after them. The sounds faded as the homunculus moved away from where he was standing. He made a sighing sound in relief. Moving carefully towards where he'd come, he met Ayana who suddenly burst out of the trees on his right.

"Hey! What do we do now?" She asked.

"We can't just kill him, it took so much to capture him! We have to try to restrain him again, but first, I think we need to get Mustang out of here. As long as he's around, Gluttony will continue to rampage."

"I agree." She froze, listening, then pointed off towards her right. "I can sense Mustang, he's over in that direction."

Together they made their way through the trees, trying to move as quietly as possible so as not to alert Gluttony to their location. Eventually they came across Mustang, who was keeled over in pain, clutching his injured side. Apparently, he wasn't as recovered from the Third Lab as he had previously let on.

Ayana knelt and moved Mustang's arm over her shoulder, pulled him to his feet, and began helping him walk back towards the destroyed safehouse. Al, struck with an idea, bent down and transmuted the ground to create a kneeling human shape. Hopefully that might fool Gluttony and buy them time to get the Colonel out.

As he turned to follow Ayana, he saw Ed approaching, who jogged over to join him. Passing the decoy, he shot him a thumbs up. "Nice idea, little brother."

As they exited the trees, they found the doctor waiting in the running car with Hawkeye and Lan Fan. Ling was standing by the passenger door. Ayana helped Mustang into the car, where he curled in on himself, obviously in extreme pain.

"Get in the car!" the doctor demanded.

Al shared a look with Ling, Ed, and Ayana; they were all thinking the same thing.

"The car looks full. Go on ahead, we're going to get some information out of Gluttony." Ed said confidently as he cracked his knuckles.

There were lots of protests at that, but they dismissed them all and turned to go. Hawkeye called back to Ed and insisted he take one of her guns. He hesitated at first, but she finally convinced him to take it, if only for self-protection. Al sincerely hoped he wouldn't have to use it. Ed tucked it into his waistband and together, the four of them ran back towards the woods, and toward the sounds of a rampaging Gluttony.

He let Ling and Ayana take the lead, since they could take them directly to the homunculus. Sure enough, it didn't take long for them to find him as he stomped through the woods, still searching for Mustang. They stopped and watched him from a safe distance.

"How are we going to catch him?" He whispered. They must have been as clueless as he was because no one answered.

"Stop it, Gluttony!" a voice called behind him. He turned around to see a large black dog.

"A talking dog?" He said to himself, confused. Was that really where the voice came from? Before his eyes, the dog shapeshifted itself into a man with spikey black hair.

"Long time no see, eh, pipsqueak?" The man teased Ed, who started yelling back immediately.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SMALL?"

Gluttony approached the newcomer. "Envy! Mustang was here. He killed Lust! Must avenge Lust!"

"You don't get to eat the Colonel, Gluttony! Or the Elrics! Or the Avatar!" Envy scolded.

Ling stepped forward, addressing Envy. "I've sensed this multiplicity before. How many people are inside you, homunculus?"

Envy sneered. "I know you. You're the one who crossed swords with Wrath, aren't you? You can eat him, Gluttony." Gluttony cheered happily. Throwing his hands in the air in glee, he ran towards Ling, who promptly turned and fled.

Ed looked up at Al. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

He nodded. "It looks like they really aren't allowed to hurt us."

Brother smiled knowingly. Bending down to touch the ground, he transmuted a long wall between Gluttony and Ling, who must have circled back towards them shortly after fleeing.

"Ling, Ayana! You get that one!" Ed indicated Envy, then he himself ran on the opposite side of the wall towards Gluttony. Al followed him and clapped his hands to transmute a giant hole underneath the homunculus.

"Nice one, Al!"

They ran over to peer into the hole, but Gluttony was able to jump out unharmed. Ed closed in on him, throwing multiple punches and kicks, which the homunculus dodged clumsily.

"Get away! I can't eat you!" Gluttony pleaded. "Please let me take a bite of the other guy!"

While he was distracted trying to avoid Brother's attacks, Al ran up behind him and grabbed his arms under his shoulders to restrain him. But Gluttony was stronger than he looked, and he brought his hands up and locked them on Al's arms. He heaved him up over his head and threw him through the transmuted wall. He heard Ling shout in surprise at his sudden entrance.

Al stumbled to his feet and gazed around frantically, trying to get his bearings. Hearing Envy shout, "Go for it, Gluttony!" he wheeled around just in time to see Brother tackling Ling out the way, Ayana earthbending a wall between them and Gluttony, and Envy reaching out to stop Brother.

Gluttony faced them and swallowed, and Ayana's wall did nothing to block him. They all disappeared in a strong gust of wind.

"No!" He cried in despair. His shock turned to anger, and he charged Gluttony. He tackled him to the ground. "Spit them out! Give them back!"

"I can't. I swallowed them." Gluttony replied simply. The void in his stomach that housed the lidless eye closed, leaving no trace of its existence on his body.

Al was devastated. They weren't dead, they couldn't be, no! He stumbled to his feet but immediately fell backwards to sit, stunned, on the forest floor. The small panda came out from where she'd been hiding inside his armor, cooing at him softly in concern.

They weren't dead. He couldn't believe that. He had to have faith, have hope, that they were alive. Where does everything he swallows go? It has to be some kind of trick.

Gluttony looked just as lost as Al felt. He paced around in front of him, making a pitiful whining sound. Al wasn't sure how long he sat there in his misery. It was several hours, though, because he suddenly noticed that it wasn't night anymore. The sun had risen, and its cheery glow did nothing to soothe the despair his felt in his soul.

Finally, Gluttony asked in a scared voice, "What should I do? I don't want Father to be mad at me…."

Al started. "You're Father? Does your father know what happens to people you swallow?"

Gluttony brightened. "I'm sure he does. Father knows everything!"

He felt a glimmer of hope. This was his only chance of finding out where they went, and maybe how to get them back. "Gluttony, will you take me to see your father?"

He thought about it for a minute. "I guess so. He'll be happy to see you, since you're a human sacrifice!" He turned and started walking away. He looked back curiously to see if Al was following.

Al stood, glancing at his shoulder to make sure the small panda hadn't fallen off at his sudden movement. Human sacrifice? Maybe I'll find out what that means, too.