A/N: Sorry, kind of short chapter. But don't worry, the next one makes up for it since its the longest one yet

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

Edward

He found himself falling to the ground and hit hard as he landed on his back.

"Ow…" He sat up and reached a hand back to rub his spine. He heard a thump to his left and glanced over to see Teacher sprawled on the ground.

"Teacher! Are you okay?" He ran over and knelt at her side.

"Yeah. Where are we?" She asked as she sat up and inspected their surroundings.

"I don't know. I just ended up here, same as you." Another thump, more metallic, sounded behind him and they saw Al's armor there. "Al!" He rushed over and knelt beside his brother, but there was no light in the eyes of the helmet. "Al! Wake up!"

He had the feeling they were being watched; the hairs on his neck were standing up. The sinister voice speaking behind him made him jump.

"One, two, three, four. There's still one missing. Perhaps it's being prepared as we speak." He and Teacher stared at the monster in shock. It was humanoid in shape, but had a thick, black body, and was covered in the same red eyes that Pride had. Hohenheim seemed to be fused with it, but in an awkward way; his leg protruded from the monster's shoulder, and his head stuck out from its hip.

"Hohenheim!" Ed shouted.

"Ah. I apologize. You'll have to excuse my sorry appearance."

"What is that thing!?"

"It's a copy of me. You know him as Father. I destroyed the leather bag of a body he was in but…." His voice became muffled as Father absorbed his head into his body, preventing him from speaking.

"Enough. You talk too much, Hohenheim. And now, to my honored guests. Please make yourselves at home for now." Father announced as he watched them with disinterest.

Edward glared at him, preparing for a fight, but something behind Father caught his gaze. He gasped. "Ayana!"

She was suspended about ten feet off the ground. Her wrists were chained together above her head, which had to be putting a painful strain on her shoulders. She didn't respond to his call, and her head was bowed. She must be unconscious. Bue stood off to the side beneath her, watching events unfold silently.

Father smiled widely at him. "Yes, you've noticed the newest addition to my home's décor. Please leave her alone for now."

Ed didn't listen. He ran over to her anyway and looked around as he tried to figure out a way to get her down. He moved his hands to clap, but Bue's arms shot out to grab his wrists and restrain him.

"Free her, and I will kill her." Bue snarled.

Ed glared at the spirit. "No, you won't. I know you need her alive."

Bue didn't look happy about being called on his bluff. All three eyes narrowed and his grip tightened painfully. "Then I will cut off one of her legs instead."

Ed knew that one wasn't a bluff. He fully believed both the spirit and Father were willing and capable of doing something like that. He lowered his hands, defeated, and Bue let go.

He felt guilty leaving her there, but there was nothing he could do. He walked back to join Teacher, since he was unsure of what else to do.

The room filled with sound of alchemic energy crackling, and they looked up to see Colonel Mustang fall into the room.

"Colonel! What are you doing here? What happened?" He and Teacher rushed over to him.

"I was flung into a strange place. Like a gateway of some sort." Mustang responded as he pulled himself up to his hands and knees. He was trembling. His hands were bleeding; it looked like they'd been pierced completely through.

Ed gasped. "You mean the portal of Truth? That means something's been taken from you! But your arms and legs, they're all here!"

"Fullmetal, how can you assess my condition when it's so dark in here?"

Ed's heart dropped like a stone. The Truth had taken Mustang's eyesight.

"You performed it? Human transmutation?" He accused angrily.

"Of course not! You think I'd willingly do that?" Mustang retorted. His voice sounded equally as angry.

"That's true, he refused. We had to force him to open it." Ed looked up as Pride spoke. He had entered the room unnoticed and now stood beside Father.

Father sighed exasperatedly. "I wish we could say that we now have all five sacrifices, but Alphonse Elric has not joined us yet."

Teacher was kneeling beside Mustang, rubbing his back as she tried to comfort him. Ed looked up as he saw Ayana stir and take in the scene below her.

"Ed? What's happening?"

Before he could answer, an explosion above them shattered a portion of the ceiling, and Mei jumped down into the room. Spotting Alphonse lying prone, she ran over to him quickly.

"Alphonse! What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know, he won't wake up!" Ed replied. Mei was shaking Al's armor vigorously and calling to him.

"My beautiful home now has a gaping hole in it. How dare you, girl." Father complained in annoyance as he gazed up at the ceiling.

Ayana was writhing against the chains, trying to free herself. Father glanced at her. "Even you can't bend metal, Avatar. Don't waste your energy trying to escape, it is a futile effort."

She replied by kicking a stream of air at Father. He blocked easily with alchemic energy as he gazed at her in displeasure. Bue extended his arms and grabbed her ankles to prevent her from kicking again. She took a deep breath and exhaled fire at the spirit, but he simply morphed his body to avoid the attack. She continued to struggle, but his restraining hold was too strong.

Al's body heaved dramatically, and he made a loud gasping noise as he sat up. "Mei, Brother, are we…?" He stopped cold when he saw Father standing there, watching them.

Apparently satisfied that Al was okay, Mei stood and faced Father. "Envy told me you're immortal!" She shouted at him, and he just gazed lazily back at her. "So, you're not denying it? That's all I need. I'll handle this one, Alphonse. Just keep the smaller homunculus out of my way!"

Ed looked towards Pride. "She makes it sound like he's the easy one." But as he watched, sections of Pride's face were flaking off and turning to dust. He must have damaged himself, forcing Mustang through the portal.

"I think we have a shot, Al. Let's do it!" Together they clapped and attacked Pride, who jumped out of the way.

"He didn't even try to use his shadows!" Al shouted to him as they ran after Pride.

"Yeah! That's a good sign!"

They attacked again by rippling the ground under Pride's feet. Ed heard Mei scream and glanced over to see her sprawled on the floor. "Al, go help Mei! I can take care of Pride!"

"If you say so!" Al yelled as he turned on his heel and hurried over to her. As soon as he was gone, Ed clapped and transmuted a long wall between himself and everyone else, effectively isolating him and Pride.

He blocked Pride's shadow attacks, which came quickly but, even so, seemed to be slower than what he'd been able to do back in Kanama. Ed was able to get a few good hits in, and each time Pride's body flaked off more material. He now had multiple gaping holes in his face.

Pride managed to grab him with his shadows and hold him down. He sneered as Ed struggled to free himself.

"This container isn't going to last much longer. Since you and I are both of Hohenheim's blood, we're practically brothers. That means I can take your body as my new container!"

Ed shrieked in pain as Pride's shadows dug into him, penetrating, probing his brain. The pain suddenly abated though, and he wasn't sure why until he heard Pride cry in outrage.

"Kimblee! Why are you interfering?"

Taking the upper hand while he had the chance, Ed got to his feet and ripped Pride's probing shadows out of his head. With a war cry, he clapped and slammed his palm onto Pride's forehead. He used his own soul's energy, essentially using himself as a Philosopher's Stone, and destroyed the homunculus in front of him. Pride vaporized into dust. Ed opened his hand, palm up, to find a teeny baby there. Pride's true form.

He wasn't sure what to do with it, with everything going on around him. He settled for removing his coat, folding it, and placing tiny, vulnerable Pride on top of it on the floor.

He was in the process of jogging to go help Al when suddenly he was grabbed from behind and yanked across the room. He landed on the ground at Father's feet, being held by a black tendril extending from his body. Glancing around, he saw Teacher, Al, and Mustang were all being held in a similar manner.

"It is time. I'm done indulging you. It's time to put you to work, my sacrifices!" Father explained joyously. "This planet, have you ever considered that it might be a life form? Actually, it's more accurate to say it is a giant nervous system. Imagine the vast amount of knowledge such a system would contain, having witnessed all of history, from the very beginning of time. My sacrifices, I will use you to open the planet's gateway!"

Father extracted Hohenheim from himself as he moved his body over towards his chair. Arranging all five of his captives around him, he slammed his hand down on the table, where he had a transmutation circle ready. Alchemic energy flashed around them as Ed struggled against Father's hold. He could see Ayana thrashing with renewed vigor, but it was no use.

Father was laughing hysterically and screamed happily, "Yes! So much power! I can barely contain it! I'll use it to open the planet's gateway!"

The ground shook, the alchemy flashed brighter, and suddenly it was over.

Ed stood awkwardly, due to his shaking legs. He heard the others moving, too.

"Well done, my sacrifices."

He looked up to see the black monster was gone. He had been replaced by a blonde man sitting in the chair, who was looking very pleased with himself.

"You actually did it?" Hohenheim asked in horror.

"Yes. I have created a Philosopher's Stone using the citizens of Amestris, and I have acquired the power of god." Father smiled haughtily. "At least, the god of this world. Bue, it is time."

Ed watched in panic as the spirit released Ayana from her chain and allowed her to fall to the floor. She didn't even airbend to catch herself, but she was able to absorb most of the impact with her legs and ended up on her hands and knees.

Ed ran over and knelt beside her. "Are you okay?"

She looked at him silently, but her eyes were filled with dread. He helped her to her feet.

Father announced to the room. "I have obtained the power of this world, now I will take the power of those beyond!"

He extended his hand toward Ayana, and she raised her own to bend fire at him. But the flame fizzled out shortly after leaving her hands, and Father blasted a narrow beam of alchemy, hitting her right in the chest. Ed wasn't sure what he was doing, or why her fire hadn't worked, but whatever was happening was not good.

"No!" She yelled in protest as she crossed her arms over her body, trying to protect herself from the relentless beam. But it didn't seem to be doing any damage to her.

Ed saw Al try to knock Father from his feet with alchemy. Hohenheim sent his own alchemic attack in, the shockwaves crossing the floor, and Teacher had transmuted a giant cannon and was blasting him with it. Father blocked them all with an alchemic shield, completely unperturbed by their efforts.

As Ed watched, a quadrilateral shape began to glow on Ayana's body, becoming steadily brighter. Father was laughing again, and his excitement was palpable. The light pulsed and suddenly the shape was pulled out of her chest, and Ayana cried out in pain and fell to her knees. The shape was bright white with sky blue designs on it; it looked almost like a flat snake. A few white tendrils flowed from it, and a long tail trailed behind.

Ayana's hands shot out and grabbed on to the tail, preventing Father from pulling it away. "No! Raava!"

Realization dawned on him as she called the spirit's name. Now he understood what was happening. But he could do nothing as he watched, helpless, as the red energy wrapped itself around Raava and tried to pull her towards Father.

"Ayana," The light spirit, Raava, called out to her. "You must let go!"

"I won't let him take you!" She cried desperately.

"You must! If you don't, your soul will get pulled along with me, and there will be no hope!"

She scrunched up her eyes in concentration, tears flowing freely. "I… I can't… I won't! I need you!"

"Ayana, please, let me go." The spirit sounded surprisingly calm, all things considered.

She didn't respond, and she didn't let go.

Ed examined Raava. He couldn't see any eyes on the spirit, so he wasn't sure where she was looking. But he felt like she was eyeing him, begging him to help. To make the decision the Avatar couldn't.

So he raised his blade and, in one hard sweep, cut Raava's tail free.

"No!" Ayana cried as she reached forward weakly to try and catch Raava again. But the spirit was pulled away too fast, and the spectators watched as she hit Father's chest and was absorbed. Father shouted in triumph, and his body released a shockwave of energy as the glowing outline of the spirit faded into his skin.

Ayana collapsed forward and lay on the ground, shaking with emotion.