The Golden Bloodline

by Foxxy Sensei

When Edena Elric was born, it was a bit of an accident. She came into her parents lives much earlier than her mother ever expected to have children, but she was there any they loved her either way. When Edena turned four, her life got a little bit crazier and her father showed her how to fly. When Edena turned five, she got a little brother and her hoard grew a little bit bigger.

7. So We Hunt Monsters Now?

Older and weary golden eyes stared down at tired and cold ones of the same shade.

Van Hohenheim stood about three feet away from his daughter as they had met each other at the entryway to the cemetery.

"Edena." He said in greeting. Ed just stayed silent. Hohenheim sighed and continued on speaking. "You've grown a lot."

Ed scoffed. "That's what happens when time goes by."

Hohenheim almost winced at that one. "I saw Alphonse and he was not very forthcoming with information. But I spoke with Pinako and she informed me that you tried human transmutation."

Ed grit her teeth and glared up at the man. "Why are you here? Is it your hoard? You should have just told Al and he would have packed it up. Besides that, there's nothing left for you here." She decided to ignore the man's accusation. What she'd done years ago had nothing to do with him.

Hohenheim continued to stare down at her. "I noticed. Tell me, Edena. What possessed you to let strangers move into my house?"

"First of all, they are not strangers." Ed growled out, her human pupils turning into reptilian slits as her temper started to rise. "Second of all, when you left and my mother started getting too weak to work and ultimately died, I paid the bills for that house. I paid the taxes. I bought groceries. I did the repairs. I made sure my little brother had a decent home to live in. You may have items in that house, but I'm the one who's name is on that deed now and Elric is the name on the mailbox." She stepped closer and poked a finger into the man's chest. "When you decided over ten years ago that you wanted to abandon your family and your home, you gave up any rights to call that your house! I have absolutely no problem packing up your shit and letting you run off back to wherever you've been all this time, but don't you dare come here now and try to act like a father!"

The older man gave her a flat look. "I am your father, Edena."

"MY FATHER IS DEAD!" Ed screamed in his face, causing the birds in the surrounding trees to squawk and fly away. Hohenheim looked down at the young woman in surprise. "You knew." She whispered. "You knew that you were a part of my hoard. You knew what happens to a dragon when they lose a part of their hoard, but you still chose to walk out of my life." Tears gathered in her golden eyes and she didn't even try to stop them from falling down her cheeks. "How was a little girl supposed to cope with the fact that her daddy wasn't with her anymore? So I convinced myself… Dad wasn't gone because he didn't want his family. He wasn't gone because he didn't want me. No. It was just so much easier to think of you as dead."

Hohenheim stared down at his daughter with sad eyes. "Edena… Maybe we should sit and talk about everything." He reached out to try and place his hand on her shoulder, but Ed stepped back out of his reach, her eyes falling to stare at the ground.

"No. We've talked enough. I'm too tired to deal with any more of this." She turned and walked away from him and the cemetery, ignoring it when he called out her name to wait.

When Ed got to her childhood home, Al and Gracia were outside waiting on her. Al wrapped her in a hug as soon as they were close enough to each other and Gracia placed a hand on her back.

"We heard you yell and Alphonse said he could feel how upset you were. I convinced him to stay here until you came just to keep the situation under control." Gracia said in a soft voice.

Ed hid her face in her brother's shoulder and just let him hold her for a minute.

"I'm sorry I couldn't warn you sooner." Al whispered to her.

Gracia left them to be by themselves, opening the front door and wandering inside. But then moments later, Elicia's voice could be heard.

"Big Sister! Mommy said you were upset so I brought Daddy. Daddy gives the best hugs when you're upset." Elicia called out as she pulled Maes Hughes out the front door of the house.

Ed felt a large hand on her back so she slowly pulled away from her brother to get a good look at Maes. He looked so different now. His hair was much longer and pulled back into a low ponytail, his beard was bigger, but still well groomed and he even had a mustache to go with his new mountain man look. Maes gave her a kind and understanding smile and she couldn't stop the new wave of tears that started to pour from her eyes.

"It's okay, Edena. We're here." He pulled her into his arms away from Al. "You can let it all out." Ed wrapped her arms around the man and gripped the back of his shirt tight. Soon she was sobbing quietly into his chest, but Maes picked her up and held her tighter as he carried her into the house and to one of the bedrooms to sit on the bed with her as the crying got louder and she finally let out the grief she felt for all those years of not having her father in her life.

Al watched them go and couldn't decide if he wanted to be infuriated at his father or sad for his sister at this moment. Elicia grabbed him by the hand. "Is Big Sister going to be okay?" She asked.

He smiled and knelt down beside her. "It may take a while, but Big Sister will be okay. She's very strong. But it's important to remember that even strong people can be not okay at times."

Elicia nodded. "Let's keep Big Sister company tonight so that she's not alone. That'll help her feel better, right?"

Al nodded his head at her. "Of course."

---

Later that night after they all had dinner, Ed and Al were curled around Elicia in their old childhood bedroom that the little girl had now taken over for herself. They were all quick to fall asleep, especially Ed since her spilling of emotions earlier. But she was also a light sleeper, so it didn't take much to bring her into an alert state as she heard the bedroom door creep open.

She felt Hohenheim's strange aura at the door and almost tensed up, but Maes was there as well so she pretended to be still asleep.

Hohenheim approached the bed and crouched next to it. Ed could feel his hand reach out to her head, but he pulled it back at the last second.

"A father shouldn't be afraid to touch his children. She's upset with you, but she's not going to bite you in her sleep." Maes mumbled to the man. There was obvious disdain in his voice, but he was trying to be encouraging. "I couldn't imagine ever being away from my daughter for too long. She's my pride and joy. I would literally kill for her. In fact, the only reason I'm able to be here with her now is because of Edena. I owe her my life."

Hohenheim let out a chuckle. "I'm not afraid to touch my children because I think they will hurt me. I'm afraid to touch them because I'm afraid I will hurt them." His voice was sad as he stayed crouched next to the bed, just looking over them.

"It's a little late for that, pal." Maes grumbled.

A heavy sigh escaped Hohenheim, blowing at Ed's loose hair that was resting on her pillow. "I have come to realize that." He finally let his hand rest on the golden strands, pulling loose some knots gently. "I never wanted to hurt my children, but I have my reasons for leaving for as long as I did. I would love to take a moment to sit down and explain it to them, but I still have more work to do."

Ed just knew, deep in her heart, that Maes was glaring at the blond man. "So you're just going to leave them again?"

"I have my own mission to complete before I can stay with them." Hohenheim said simply as if it was the obvious answer.

Maes scoffed. "You're not in the military. Your family, your children, are your mission. How much longer do you expect for them to wait around for you to be ready to be a father to them?" When Hohenheim stayed silent, Maes walked into the room to lean over the bed and tuck the blanket up around the three properly. "Don't worry. They've been my children for years now. You go ahead and handle your mission. I'll be here being their dad." The dark haired man said with a malicious voice.

Ed felt her heart start to race as the emotions between the two men clashed and made the room feel charged. Even Elicia stirred in her sleep from the feeling. She frowned and pushed her face into Ed's neck as if to hide herself.

Both men tensed and were quiet until the little girl settled back into a deep sleep.

After a few more tense, quiet moments, Hohenheim finally spoke up. "Your daughter is very beautiful. I remember when Edena was that small."

Maes reached down to tuck a lock of hair behind Edena's ear. "Thank you. Both of my daughters are beautiful and Alphonse is already so grown and handsome for his age as well. I love my kids very much and I'm so proud to be their father. Are you?"

Before the two men could clash again, Gracia's aura appeared at the door and was a little bit angry. "The both of you get out of here before you wake any of them. Especially Edena." Maes's aura turned to amusement as he left to follow his wife's orders.

Hohenheim, on the other hand, hesitated. He bent over the bed to reach out and smooth the frown off of Alphonse's face before turning his attention to Ed. He reached down and gripped her shoulder, bending to whisper to her. "Daddy didn't leave because he didn't want you. And I'm sorry that you had to convince yourself I was dead in order to cope. I'm sorry that I have to leave you and your brother again for a little while longer, but I hope I can be back soon and you can show me how big your wings are and we can fly together in the mountains like we used to." He rested his forehead against her temple. "I love you and your brother so much. Please know that."

"Maybe if you had told us that before you left, I would believe you right now." Ed whispered back to him.

The man sighed and squeezed her shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Ed could feel her heart breaking into pieces all over again as he stood and walked out of the door and then out of the house. She could feel his strange aura move away to the Rockbell's before he was gone out of her range for good. She glanced toward her brother and saw his hazel eyes open up slowly, sadness showing obviously. They locked eyes and Al shifted himself closer to the two girls and threw an arm over the both of them.

"As long as we have each other." Al whispered to his sister.

"As long as we have each other." Ed agreed.

---

The next morning, Ed and Al were up early despite the previous day's emotional drain and the late night eavesdropping. Ed made pancakes for the small family that was sure to be up soon and fixed her brother a plate before grabbing one for herself and leaving the rest in the preheated oven to stay warm.

Ed nibbled on the pancake plain as she walked out into the early morning fog to head to the cemetery to just be alone in the quiet in front of her mother's grave. It didn't stay that way for long though. Al came up beside her and sat down as well. He spoke up a little after he settled.

"Granny called. Our father left early this morning." Ed just grunted in response, continuing to stare at the grave. "Granny and Winry are coming to meet us here soon to visit the graves as well."

Ed sighed and pulled her hair over her shoulder and ran her fingers through it. She hadn't braided it yet because she still needed to brush it out, but it was up in a ponytail that looked the same way Hohenheim wore his. "That's convenient. There's something I need to tell them. It's not going to be an easy talk though."

Al let out a sigh of his own. "I actually have something that I need to tell you that's not so easy as well." Ed tilted her head to the side in question as she looked at her brother. He rubbed his eyes. "Apparently, the Colonel had some sort of operation going on while you were out in the desert. Hawkeye, Fuery, Havoc and Barry the Chopper were involved. The homunculi sent Barry's actual body with an animal soul bound in it after the armored Barry to hunt him down. There was a big attack that involved another homunculi we haven't met before. A beady-eyed short and fat guy named Gluttony that has the Ouroboros tattoo on his tongue." Ed frowned, fully turned towards her brother now and engaged in the recap. "Apparently he can eat anything. The Colonel had to save Lieutenant Hawkeye and Sergeant Fuery from Gluttony. He brought my armor along with him to help with the rest of the operation. Gluttony wasn't a problem anymore because I think the Colonel damaged him pretty badly, but Barry's body was still on the loose."

Al stared up at the sky as he continued the report. "This is where things turned bad. We followed the body and armor to the Third Lab and ended up in some underground tunnels where we lost them. We split into two groups to search, Hawkeye with my armor and the Colonel with Havoc. There was an explosion in the tunnels, but the Lieutenant insisted we keep searching for the Barrys and that the Colonel and Mustang could handle themselves. We found the Barrys in a large white room with a strange door. Armored Barry was standing over his downed body. But Lust showed up and cut him into pieces." Al ran his fingers through his hair. "Lust kept spouting about how she'd already killed a potential candidate for sacrifice and about how I needed to behave or she would find me and kill me too." Ed felt her hackles rise. "She tried to kill the Lieutenant, but my armor kept her safe until Colonel Mustang showed up injured and it took multiple tries, but he eventually burned her to death."

Ed looked at her brother in surprise. "He actually killed her?!"

Al nodded. "She'd attacked him and Jean before she came to kill the Lieutenant, and the Colonel found out that there was a Philosopher's Stone at the homunculi's core. Apparently, the stones aren't completely infinite with power. If you kill a homunculus enough times, the stones run out of power and they can't regenerate anymore. It explains why Greed stole my armor in search of how to seal a soul into a body like that. He wasn't completely immortal."

Ed nodded in agreement. "That does make sense. What doesn't make sense is why you said this was a hard story to tell. Sounds like you guys did okay."

Al's mood dropped and he looked down at the ground. "I told you that the Colonel was attacked by Lust before he came to save the Lieutenant… Havoc was with him, Sister. Jean was attacked as well." Ed's heart rate skyrocketed as anxiety settled in. "Lust stabbed him through the back, hitting his spine. He and the Colonel are currently in the hospital. Jean is paralyzed from the waist down—"

"I'm going to bring that bitch back from the dead just so I can kill her all over again." Ed growled out, standing up in her anger and frustration, wanting to sink her claws into something. Preferably a homunculus. "I have to leave now. I have to go see him. I have to see if there's anything I can do to help." She started to panic a bit.

Al stood quickly and wrapped his arms around Ed. "We'll leave tonight and you can see him in the morning. He's not going anywhere. Right now you said there's something you needed to tell Granny and Winry. You're going to have to prioritize that first since Winry is leaving for Rush Valley in a little bit."

Ed sighed as her brother had a point. As much as it pained her, Jean would have to wait.

They didn't have to wait for the Rockbells for long. The two women arrived with flowers for the graves they were visiting. Ed was gentle as she told the story that was told to her by Madam Shan and her theory about who killed them. Al held Winry as the girl cried about how her parents were killed, but Pinako held it together much better.

"Thank you, Ed. It's good to know my son and his wife helped people. I'm proud of them." The old woman said as she stared down at the graves.

Winry wiped her eyes. "Are you going to help them catch that man?" Her voice trembled with her anger.

Al frowned. "I remember Major Armstrong saying something about how the protection detail on us only lifted because Scar was assumed dead. Until there's proof he's not, there's not much we can do about anything. And if he actually isn't dead, I doubt they'll just let us go hunting for him. He was killing state alchemists. The Colonel would reinstate the protection on us immediately."

Ed waved a dismissive hand. "Until he shows his face again, there's nothing to say he's not dead. We'll worry about that bump in the road when we get to it. For now, Winry has to get back to Rush Valley and Al and I have to get back to Central. We'll keep you updated on anything that happens in the meantime."

They all nodded in agreement.

---

Ed and Al saw Winry off on her train and bought tickets for themselves while they were there. Ed also took the time while she was in town to stop by the bookstore to find more medical texts.

They had a quick lunch with the Hughes' and Ed took Al and Elicia on a piggyback ride in dragon form in the backyard. It scared the life out of Gracia, but Maes was a bit too much of a big kid himself to not want to ride the dragon, so he joined them. Ed took them on little glides from the top of the hill behind the house to the bottom and made Elicia giggle with the way she ran as quickly as she could to get back up the hill.

Al helped her with massaging her arm port when she eventually changed back. And soon after, it was time to say goodbye so they could leave for their train back to Central. The siblings insisted they didn't need to be seen away at the train station, but they did enjoy all the hugs they got before they really had to leave.

Ed read her new medical texts as Al leaned on her shoulder after they got comfortable on their bench. Al looked out the window past his sister and smiled at the night sky. "What was Xerxes like, Sister?"

Ed turned a page in her book before answering her brother. "The desert is incredibly hot. I wanted to shift so bad and feel the sun on my scales. The ruins… It was such a great city. I really wanted to know what it was like to have been there when it was in its prime. The city felt charged and full of energy, but it was probably still lingering from the amounts of alchemy that was used there at one point. And there were the Ishvalan people taking refuge there as well." She lowered her book and looked out the window as well. "It was strange though. The moment I stepped foot in the desert something felt off. I was anxious and excited at the same time. And when I got to the ruins, there was a noise. Like someone was screaming at me. No one else heard it, so I assumed it had something to do with me being a dragon."

Al lifted his head to look at her. "Screaming at you?"

Ed nodded. "Like a cry for injustice. A cry for help. It's making my hair stand on end just thinking about it." She let out a little shiver. "I have no clue what it was, but I may investigate it further when this is all over."

"Well, be careful if you do. I know I wouldn't be much help with something dragon related, but if you want me there with you, then I will be." Al rested his head on her shoulder again. "As long as we have each other."

Ed smiled and lifted her book to continue reading. "As long as we have each other."

The train ride went by quickly as Al fell asleep against his sister and Ed finished reading the book she was working on and moved on to the next. When they got off the train, Al led them to Central Hotel and it confused Ed when he didn't even bother checking in with the front desk.

"Did your armor get us a room already? Why wouldn't it have just gone back to Central Command where you could fix it in the morning. We could have just stayed at the Hughes's apartment." Ed asked.

Al scratched at the back of his head nervously. "Yeah… About that." He knocked on a hotel door when they got to the third floor and his armor opened the door for him. Ed looked it up and down, taking stock of the damage. It was missing an arm and the bottom piece of its helmet and there were claw marks in it's other arm. It stepped back to let them inside and Ed was annoyed to see what her brother was so nervous about.

"What in the hell are you two doing here?" She growled out.

Ling and Lan Fan sat at the coffee table with a ton of food on it and they were chowing down. Ling smiled around the turkey leg he had in his mouth. "Having a delicious dinner."

Al gave Ed a nervous smile. "I felt kind of bad and let them stay in the room with my armor. I figured you wouldn't want them invading the Hughes's home."

Ed rolled her eyes and shrugged off her coat and shoes before she moved to snatch the turkey leg out of Ling's mouth, smirking in satisfaction at the man's squawk of protest. She sat on the couch across from him and took a very large bite out of it while staring him dead in the eye. Her smirk turned into a grin when she saw fire burning in those navy blues as his eyes opened to actually look at her.

But then he and Lan Fan's attention turned to Al as he and his armor moved deeper into the room so that he could fix it. She had to hold back a growl as she noticed Lan Fan looking her little brother up and down and blushed a little.

"Who are you?" Ling asked as he picked up a fork to eat some pasta on a dish that was in front of him.

Al looked over his shoulder at the two foreigners. "Alphonse. Don't you recognize my voice?"

Lan Fan looked surprised. "You're Alphonse? So your soul is not actually bound to the armor like Barry the Chopper?"

Al let out a laugh. "No. People have just been assuming that and I never correct them. Years ago, Sister and I came up with an array that binds my qi into inanimate objects with the idea in mind of me controlling this armor from any distance."

Ling looked amazed. "Oh wow! That's a very interesting concept! But that also means you don't actually know how to bind a soul to armor." He let out a groan.

"No, I don't." Al said as he went back to working on his armor. "But Sister does."

Ed glared at the back of Al's head when Ling perked back up and focused his attention on her. She turned her glare to the Xingese prince. "No, I will not teach you how to bind a soul. That is human transmutation and requires sacrifice you probably are not willing to give."

Ling frowned. "You do not know what I'm willing to sacrifice."

Ed continued to glare at him. "You are willing to sacrifice Lan Fan's soul for your own?" The prince grew quiet and he turned his attention back to the food in front of him. "That's what I thought." Ed murmured as she stole little bits of the food here and there and even took enough to have a plate ready for Al when he came to sit next to her on the couch.

Later that night, Ed graciously let Ling and Lan Fan sleep on the couches in the room while she and Al shared the bed. They fell asleep shoulder to shoulder, but Al pulled away from Ed in his sleep as she started to heat up in the middle of the night.

Ed's breathing and heart rate picked up as she started to have a nightmare. She was running around in the dark and would stumble every few minutes only to find that what she stumbled over was a member of her hoard laying bloody and dead on the ground. She was so angry, so distraught that she shifted into her dragon form and let out an anguished roar that sounded exactly like the screams in the distance she had heard while she was in Xerxes.

Ed was startled awake by a hand on her flesh shoulder, giving her a little shake. She snapped up into a sitting position, body covered in a cold sweat, and turned golden eyes onto the person who woke her. Ling took a little step back when she did and held his hands up in a sign of surrender. Lan Fan was sat up on the couch, staring at them.

"Hey, it's okay. I think you were having a bad dream." He whispered to her. Ed groaned and ran her fingers through her bangs. "Your qi was going crazy and you were… Growling in your sleep. A-are you okay?" He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder again. He decided not to mention how absolutely animalistic and terrifying her growls were. It was strange, to say the least.

Ed nodded and sighed. "Yeah. I'm fine. You're right. It's just a nightmare. I'm sorry I woke you." She turned her head to look at the clock and noticed that it was extremely early in the morning. She then turned her attention to Al. At least he was still asleep. She let out another sigh. "Will you be bothered if I turn on this lamp?" She motioned to the lamp on the bedside table.

Ling gave her a smile. "It's fine. I'm just a light sleeper. You need to be when you're one of the princes of the Emperor. Assassins and all that fun stuff." Ed's eyes widened at her shock. "Don't worry." Ling said with a laugh. "I'm fine."

"As if I'd be worried about you." Ed grumbled as she turned the lamp on and sat up against the headboard of the bed. She picked up her medical texts off of the nightstand and decided to read until she fell asleep again.

Ling just laughed and moved back over to the couches to stretch out. Lan Fan stayed sitting up though, keeping an eye on Ed.

When a more reasonable hour rolled around, Al was the one sitting up and looking down at his sister while Lan Fan watched him. He let out a chuckle. "You can't absorb the information this way, Sister." He picked up the book that was open and covered Ed's face and bookmarked it.

Ed groaned and swatted at her brother. "I can at least try."

Al frowned at the dark marks under her eyes. "Did you not sleep well?"

"Just a nightmare." Ed said as she sat up and stretched. "I'm going to go shower and then we can head to the hospital. I want to see Jean now."

Al rolled his eyes. "I'm not completely sure you aren't covering up the fact that you're in love with him by pretending to have an attraction to men who are the opposite of him in looks." He threw his hands up to block the pillow that came for his face.

"I have told you time and time again, Alphonse. Jean is my best friend. I love him, but I am not in love with him. We understand and tell each other our secrets like friends do. He's handsome, of course, but I am not attracted to Jean." She growled and pointed her finger in Al's face. "Do you want me to spill my guts right now, Al? Do you want me to tell you why I'm not attracted to Jean? You seem like you really want to know why."

Al held up his hands. "It's okay, Sister. I was only teasing—"

Ed scowled. "Well your teasing pressed the wrong button this time, Al. Especially after what just happened to us. I'm not attracted to Jean because I'm so fucked up in my head due to that fucking father of ours that any man who even looks remotely close to having the same coloring as him triggers my fear of abandonment. It's also the reason I am constantly saying that I'm not that attractive, Al. Because of our father. Jean understands that. I hope you can understand that too and stop pestering me about it for once." She turned and stormed off into the bathroom.

Al looked like a sad puppy. "I'm sorry, Sister." He mumbled to himself.

Ling sat up from his spot on the couch. "That was intense. Why do you bother your sister so much about this Jean person that she would snap at you like that?"

Al sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "My sister was in a pretty bad relationship when she was still a teenager. And then when it came to dating after that, I never really approved of anyone she tried to talk to. I tease her about Jean because I guess I figured if I did it enough they would actually get together eventually. Jean acts like he worships the ground my sister walks on and Ed is literally always talking about him or to him when she has free time. They always seemed like they would be perfect for each other, but I guess I didn't actually know them as well as I thought. They really do love each other, but I guess it's more of a sibling love than a romantic one."

Lan Fan frowned. "Edena really finds herself unattractive because of your father? That's a bit silly. If she came to Xing, there would be so many jealous women. They would all probably whisper about how she is the embodiment of the sun."

Al smiled at the vassal kindly, making the girl blush. "Thank you. I think Ed understands that she's attractive to other people, but as I've just learned, it's more of an internal problem. Ed looks just like a smaller female version of our father. And our father left us when Ed was six and I was one. Not long after that, our mother died. So we don't exactly have the highest opinion of our father."

Ling nodded his head in understanding. He knew a thing or two about bad fathers.

---

Ed carried a small basket full of fresh fruits as she and Al walked into the hospital. The gift was mostly for Havoc, but she wouldn't be too opposed to sharing with the Colonel. After they learned the correct room number, Ed was quick to move down the halls to get to her friend, but of course, someone always had to get in her way.

"Edena. Can I have a word?" A voice called out to her.

Ed turned to see who it was and gave a small smile. "Dr. David. Sure. My brother and I were just on our way to see a couple of friends." Al gave the man a quick wave as they stopped in the hall to talk with each other.

"Lieutenant Havoc and Colonel Mustang, correct?" The doctor asked.

The siblings both nodded. Ed gave him a little head tilt of confusion though. She didn't think she ever mentioned Jean or Mustang when she was in the hospital. How did Dr. David know who she was coming to see?

"Colonel Mustang mentioned that you and Havoc were friends last night when they were talking and said that he predicted you would get here as soon as possible." The doctor explained. Ed rolled her eyes. Of course the Colonel would out her. "And knowing that you're friends, I assumed you would want to try and use your alkahestry on them." Ed frowned, neither confirming or denying his assumption. "Don't give me that look, Edena. I know you. As far as the Colonel goes, I have no problem with you healing him, but when it comes to your friend Havoc, I'm going to have to tell you that I do not approve of any attempts at healing."

Ed frowned at the man. "And why exactly is that?"

Dr. David sighed. "I really shouldn't be telling you this, but I want you to fully understand why I'm telling you not to perform alkahestry on the Lieutenant. The nerves in his lower spine were completely severed. We are looking into seeing if there's any sort of elective surgery that we can do to help with this problem, but currently, Lieutenant Havoc is paralyzed from the waist down. Now, I know you've probably read many books on the spine and nerves as soon as you found out, but these are not simple things. One wrong move and it could all get worse. You got lucky with your alkahestry when it came to the brain, but until you become a full fledged doctor and have the qualifications and the license to actually back you up, I cannot let you try to heal that man. And I'm sorry, but I will not back out of that decision."

Ed grit her teeth and looked down at her feet. Al reached out and squeezed her shoulder to try and comfort her. She was officially barred from even trying.

"Tsk. Very well." She looked back up at Dr. David. "But you better be researching your ass off about what kind of surgeries you can perform to help Jean."

Dr. David nodded to her. "Of course. Have a good rest of your day." He turned and took off down the hall, practically feeling the young woman's indignation like a wave of scorching heat against his skin.

Al sighed. "I'm sorry, Sister."

Ed huffed. "I knew it was a possibility. I just was hoping that it wouldn't happen." She rubbed her eyes. "Let's just go. I still want to see Jean."

They started back down the hall and ended up crossing paths with Sergeant Fuery who was bringing a map to the Colonel. The dark haired man gave them a polite smile, but stayed as far away from Ed as polite.

When they walked into the room, Hawkeye was standing by the Colonel's bed like a sentry while Breda was posted by the window and Havoc as the blond man was asleep on another bed on the other side of the room. Ed felt sadness well in her heart.

"Oh Jean." She whispered as she moved to his bedside and placed a gentle hand in his hair to comb the messy strands of his bangs into submission. "I told you to be careful."

"All of this is my fault, Fullmetal. I'm sorry." The Colonel said from his bed behind her. Ed looked over her shoulder at the man and he was staring at Jean's face with sad eyes. "I should have just done the operation myself or—"

Ed cut him off with a scowl. "It's a good thing you didn't or you would be more injured than you already are." She stepped away from Jean and placed the fruit basket on the side table between the two beds. "Let me see your wound." She approached the man and yanked his blanket down to yank his shirt up and started to undo the medical wrappings around his abdomen. She held back a chuckle at the squawk the man let out. Hawkeye glanced up only for a second from the map Fuery had handed her before turning her attention back to it. Al didn't hold back his quiet laugh at the two of them though.

"What are you doing, Fullmetal?" Mustang asked as he tried to swat her hands away.

"Dr. David said I was allowed to heal you. Now stop being a sissy and explain this wound to me. It looks like a burn. Did you catch yourself with your own alchemy?" Ed asked as she continued what she was doing to see the whole scarring.

Mustang huffed. "It was purposeful. That homunculus, Lust, stabbed me through with two of her weird knife fingers and I was going to bleed out if I didn't cauterize the wound." He stared at Ed's face as she poked and prodded gently at the wound. "You're really going to help me? Can you help Havoc as well?"

Ed sighed. "No. I can't help Havoc. I've been told that since I'm not a licensed physician, I cannot perform any sort of healing on anything as sensitive as the nerves in the spine." She closed her eyes and started to gather energy to perform the alkahestry.

"Does it have anything to do with what happened with Hughes?" Mustang asked. Al and everyone else in the room tensed up.

Ed opened and lifted her golden eyes to stare the Colonel in his angered navy ones. Her gentle touch on his scars turned into a painful pressure as she pressed down with her hand. Mustang winced and reached down to try and pull her hand away, but Ed was much stronger than him.

"This is the third time you've brought this up to me. The first time I understood and the second time I warned you. Do you really want to strike out with a third in this moment out of all of them?" She asked in a low and dangerous tone. Al and Hawkeye reached out to try and pull Ed away, but a raspy voice beat them to it.

"Please forgive him, Edena. He can be quite the idiot sometimes, but I still love him. So please don't hurt him anymore than he already is." Jean pleaded from his bed.

Ed continued to glare at the Colonel, but let up on the pressure she was putting on his wound, making the man relax a little and let out a breath of relief. "You should teach your dog some manners, Jean."

Jean let out a small chuckle. "I do apologize. I only adopted him a couple of days ago under your recommendation."

"Stupid recommendation if you ask me." Ed said with a smirk. "It's good to hear you actually listen to me every once in a while though." She went back to concentrating on gathering energy while everyone else in the room relaxed.

Hawkeye looked between Havoc and Ed. "Edena is the reason that you came to us that night?" She'd just finished up with the map Fuery had given her.

Jean gave her a small smile. "Yeah. Ed here gives the best and worst advice at the same time and told me that I needed to spill my guts. I just didn't think dumping the girl I was dating in order to do it would lead to me getting this kind of injury." He looked down at his legs.

Ed clapped her hands together before placing them over Mustang's wound. The sparks were gold at first before fading into the usual pale blue color of alchemy and alkahestry near the end of the transmutation. When she moved her hands away, Mustang looked down and barely saw any scar left on his side.

Hawkeye gave Ed a quick bow. "Thank you, Edena. And I apologize for the Colonel's terrible attitude. It seems he does need to be retaught some manners." Mustang pouted and folded his arms over his chest while Ed waved the woman off before going to Jean's side and sitting at the edge of his bed. Jean's arm went around her waist immediately and Ed was gentle as she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into an embrace against her.

"I'm so sorry that I can't help you with this. I'm not even allowed to try just in case anything could possibly happen. I'm also sorry I wasn't there to protect you." Ed mumbled as she hid her face in the man's hair.

Jean let out a weak chuckle. "You can't protect everyone all of the time, Ed."

Ed sighed. "You wanna tell me what you meant by getting injured because you dumped a girl?"

"Well, um…" Jean started to sweat and no one in the room held sympathy towards him at having to answer that question. "Well, you remember that hot woman I started dating when we moved here to Central? It turns out she was the homunculus, Lust."

Al snorted in surprise and Ed started to grit her teeth. "You're an absolute idiot, Jean Havoc." Mustang and Hawkeye nodded in agreement.

"But I'm your idiot?" Jean asked as he looked up to give her puppy dog eyes.

Ed rolled her eyes. "No. You're their idiot, now." She said as she pointed over her shoulder at Hawkeye and Mustang. All three of them blushed while Breda and Fuery snickered. "I claim no part of your idiocy anymore."

The occupants of the room smiled at their antics and Havoc's uplifted mood. Hawkeye let out a sigh when she knew she was about to ruin the mood by talking about the operation.

Ed let Al crowded around the map with the Colonel, Hawkeye and Fuery as they discussed things. She stayed with Havoc, peeling an orange for the man, keeping an ear out like Breda to listen in.

"I counted the number of steps it took to get to the basement under the Third Laboratory and I was able to calculate the approximate location of that strange doorway. It's not exact because the hallway curved, but I was able to deduce a radius with the lab at the center." She pointed to the lab at the center of the red circle she drew on the map.

Al folded his arms over his chest. "Well that's extremely alarming. It's the presidential estate in Central Command."

Mustang nodded. "Which means there's a very real possibility the Fuhrer is connected to the homunculi." Ed tensed up, pausing in her peeling, making Jean give her a confused look. "This is very strange, but one thing is for certain: the enemy has infiltrated high up the command so extreme caution is necessary at all times." He looked up at Al. "Swift, you and Fullmetal need to watch yourselves."

Ed sighed and handed the peeled orange to Jean. "You don't need to worry about us, Colonel. We know how to take care of each other." Al nodded in agreement.

They stayed with the team for a bit longer before Hawkeye made them leave so that they weren't stuck in the hospital all day like the rest of them. Ed would have stayed with Jean longer anyway, but the blond looked like he wanted some alone time with Mustang and Hawkeye, so Ed slipped Lieutenant Breda a note before leaving the hospital with her brother.

Ed decided that now would be a good time to go and investigate the Third Laboratory for herself to see if she could take a look at that doorway or find a homunculus to interrogate.

"Are you planning on telling the Colonel about how the Fuhrer feels like a homunculus or are you expecting them to figure that out on their own?" Al asked Ed on their walk over.

"I don't want him jumping right into a fight with the man. It's best to let him put the clues together himself. Besides," Ed rubbed at her temples. "Something about the Fuhrer is off. He gives off the same kind of squirming and slimy energy as the other homunculi, but I realize it's not quite as intense. I only realized the difference when I felt Hohenheim's presence when I met him at the cemetery. He has that same feeling. I meant to ask him about it, but I guess I let my emotions get the better of me." She let out a frustrated huff.

Al bumped shoulders with her. "Sister, I would be a bit surprised if your emotions hadn't gotten the better of you when you saw our father for the first time in forever. I wonder what he has to do with any of this, though." Al mumbled to himself.

"I have no clue, and I doubt we'll find out anytime soon." Ed grumbled.

They made it to the Third Laboratory and flashed their state alchemist watches to get in and get a tour of the place. The researchers thought it was a bit odd because it was so close to the evening time, but they relented nonetheless. Al distracted the man who showed them around with questions about everything in the lab that they saw while Ed kept her eyes open for a doorway to the basement. She noticed something on the wall of a long hallway they passed and let out a little sigh before lifting her head to pretend to pay attention to the man who was talking. She shook her head at her brother when he shot her a questioning look and they endured the rest of the tour even though Ed quite literally looked like she wanted to be anywhere but there.

When the tour was over, Al gave the researcher a quick bow in thanks and Ed just gave him a subtle salute. They got outside and before Al could start asking questions, Ed spoke up.

"There was no basement door to go through because they covered it up with some hasty alchemy. I saw traces of it on a hallway wall when we walked past." She smirked. "I guess it was a bit silly of us to think they wouldn't seal up the entrance."

Al nodded. "I guess so. Where does this leave us then? The best way to get any further in this investigation is to speak with a homunculus. What are we going to do if we can't find one?"

Ed frowned. "I'd really like to get my hands on one of them."

"You just wanted to beat up Lust for hurting Havoc and Envy for hurting Hughes." Al said with a roll of his eyes.

"Well, duh." Ed said. "But I'd also like to know what this sacrifice bullshit is all about and why I am one, but you're only considered one. They don't know anything about me being a Pure Blood except for that night I fought Envy and scared him, but other than that, there's no difference between the two of us." She cracked her knuckles on her left hand. "I can't wait to find one to beat the answer out of them. Too bad it can't be the Fuhrer."

Al chuckled at his sister's antics, but then got quiet as he tried to think of what the difference between the two of them could be. It was obviously not gender or the level of their abilities to use alchemy. They were both very talented at it. And Lust had called the Colonel a potential candidate for sacrifice as well. What was the difference between Ed and the Colonel and himself?

Al's eyes widened. "Human transmutation." He whispered.

Ed looked over at him with a confused look on her face. "What?"

"The difference between me and the Colonel and you, Sister, is that you've performed human transmutation. That's why you're a sacrifice, but the Colonel and I are only candidates." Al said in shock.

Ed closed her eyes as she realized as well. "Because I've been through the portal of Truth and survived." She shook her head. "That's one thing figured out, but we still need to find out what I'm even being sacrificed for."

Al grit his teeth and let out a growl that made Ed blink in surprise. "I don't think that really matters. They're not getting their hands on you. I'll make sure of that."

"Aren't I supposed to be the protective older sibling?" Ed asked with amusement in her voice as she reached out to ruffle his hair.

Al pushed her away, losing his serious attitude just as quick as it came.

Ed tilted her head to the side and looked back over her shoulder as she felt someone approaching them fast.

"Majors Elric! Wait up!" Sergeant Brosh called from down the street. The siblings stopped to let the man catch up to them. "I'm glad I found you!" He yelled as he stopped in front of them, a little out of breath.

"Why don't you tell us what's wrong, Sergeant Brosh." Ed demanded.

The man held out a piece of paper and Al took it to read. "You should both go back to wherever you're staying right now. I can escort you there if you'd like."

Al read over the paper and Ed frowned as she could feel his mood significantly drop through his aura. "This letter says that Scar is still alive and he's here in Central. He's already killed three state alchemists. It even describes him as having a tattoo on his right arm. Just like you thought, Sister." His grip on the paper damn near tore it.

Ed scrubbed her hand up and down her face. "Of all the things to happen now." She looked to the Sergeant and saluted him. "Thank you for letting us know. We're going to head back to our hotel now. Just get yourself back to where you're supposed to be safely. Come on, Al. There's nothing we can do about this right now in the dark. We might as well go rest before more shit hits the fan."

They split ways, Brosh hurrying along, but the siblings keeping at their moderate pace. Ed would be able to sense if they were about to get attacked and Al was on high alert himself.

"Just what we needed." The woman grumbled.

---

"What are we going to do about Scar? He probably killed Winry's parents and we told her that we'd deal with this problem if it came to it." Al said from his spot on the couch. They had just finished dinner and he was sipping on a glass of juice.

Ed had changed into some comfortable night clothes and was laid out on the bed on her stomach with a book open in front of her. "I was thinking about that on the way here, actually." She turned the page in her book. "We'll confront him. Or more like, I can confront him myself."

Al glared at her from across the room. "First of all, you're not confronting a crazy alchemist killer by yourself. Second of all, why are we confronting him? To ask him about killing the Rockbells?"

"In part," Ed said as she rolled over onto her back to look at her brother. "The other part is to lure out a homunculus. They obviously don't want us dead because we're their sacrifices in whatever plan they have, so they'll probably try to interfere if Scar is attempting to kill us."

"And how exactly do you plan to catch a homunculus and fend off Scar at the same time?" Al asked as he continued to glare. "The last time you fought him, he scattered your arm in pieces and almost killed you."

Ed immediately rolled back onto her stomach so that she didn't have to look her brother in the eye anymore. "We're stronger and faster now. And we know what to expect. We can take him." She said quickly.

"Ah yes. Please do ignore the question about how you're going to catch a super strong damn near immortal being. That's not something we need to worry about at all." Al said sarcastically.

"You know I come up with my best plans in the moment. We'll figure it out—" Ed was cut off by the sound of Ling's voice at the open window next to the bed.

"What exactly do you mean by 'damn near immortal'?" The prince asked as he and Lan Fan held onto the sill of the open windows.

Ed rolled over to glare at them. "If I didn't value books more, I'd throw this one right at your head just to watch you fall." She mumbled.

Ling and Lan Fan let themselves into the room and made themselves comfortable. Lan Fan sat on the couch across from Al, but Ling, much to Ed's annoyance and discomfort, settled himself onto the bed at her feet. As Ed twisted around to sit up and away from him, she gave Ling's thigh an annoyed kick that he chose to ignore, eyes still closed and smile forever present.

"Tell us about these homunculi." The prince demanded.

Al explained everything to the two foreigners about the homunculi and their supposed involvement in the military. Ed chimed in every once in a while as she still looked down at her book that was now sitting in her lap.

"Count us in! We'd love to help you guys out." Ling said cheerily from right next to Ed who looked up from her book in disdain. The prince had been scooting his way closer to her on the bed and was now practically pressed against her side.

"And why is that?" Ed asked, skepticism coloring her voice.

Ling turned a big smile on her. "I can't say I care much for the military stuff, but it sounds like these homunculi are just what we've been looking for." Ling then frowned when Ed raised a brow and was frowning at him. "What? You don't believe me?"

Al snorted, drawing Ling's attention. "No, we believe that you're interested in homunculi. We're more concerned about the you wanting to help part."

"You're going to need all the help you can get." Ling said to Al before turning to look back at Ed, smile finally dropping. "I'm serious about this. This could be what rescues my clan."

Ed and Ling stared each other down for a moment, trying to get a read on each other, but then Ed smirked and lowered her head back to her book. "Fine. Just remember that we're in this together."

Ling's grin returned full blast and he knocked shoulders with her. "I won't go running off with them. I promise. I owe you that much."

"What do you owe us for?" Al asked in confusion. He watched as Ling pulled a piece of paper out of his coat and slid it into Ed's book for her to look at. Panic flared in Al's chest when Ed read the paper and her face started to turn red with anger. What could the man have possibly shown his sister?

Suddenly, Ed closed her book and hit the thick spine over Ling's head, making him yelp and fall off the bed and Lan Fan jumped up to go defend him.

"You're about to owe me your life if that's the real room service bill!" Ed screamed at him. Al had to get up to hold Ed back from mauling the prince as Lan Fan helped him off the floor.

Al groaned in frustration as he had to calm his sister down so she didn't kill the Xingese prince. Ling didn't make it any easier, though. After he was dragged up on the floor by Lan Fan, he decided that he was going to stay seated on the bed next to the fuming blonde woman instead of putting himself at a safe distance.

"How about we try and discuss a real plan instead of trying to wing it when the time comes?" Al suggested as he tried to defuse the bomb that was his sister.

They stayed up for a few hours planning before Ed finally fell asleep on them, still tired from not sleeping well the night before. Al went to take a shower so that he could go to bed as well, but when he came back out of the bathroom, he found that his spot was taken by Ling who had somehow wrapped himself around Ed like a clingy creature and was snoring the night away as his head rested on her abdomen. Al found himself becoming annoyed with the prince.

"I'm very sorry." Lan Fan spoke up from her spot on the couch. "Master Ling can be like a cat when it comes to seeking comfort in warm places."

Al sighed. "That makes sense, considering Sister is basically a small heater in the form of a person." His brow twitched with annoyance at the stupid smile on Ling's face as he slept. "But I would appreciate it if he, an adult man, didn't find it so comfortable to so brazenly cuddle with my adult female sister in bed."

Lan Fan let out a giggle. "Isn't she the big sister? Why are you so protective of her?"

"The same reason you're younger than Ling and are so protective of him. Because he is your family and you love him with all of your heart and you don't want to ever see him hurt for any reason." Al said as if the answer was simple. Lan Fan blushed at being called out. "Which is why I should warn you ahead of time. If you don't want Ling to be thrown out of the window in the morning, you might want to wake him up before Ed." He reached over the two sleeping figures to grab a pillow and make his way over to the couches. "Sister is going to wake up and feel him wrapped around her and assume it's me. She'll go into mother hen mode and be super nice for about two minutes before she wakes up fully and realizes that it's Ling and it will be about another thirty seconds of her coming up with ways to murder him before she actually decides which one she wants to follow through with."

"You really know your sister, huh?" Lan Fan asked as she watched Al stretch out on the couch across from her.

Al smiled. "Ed raised me after our mother died when we were young."

Lan Fan nodded in understanding. It was quiet in the room until she decided to speak up again. "Can I ask you something, Alphonse?" The teen turned a questioning gaze on her. "We've never met anyone outside of Xing that can read the dragon's pulse. Who taught you?"

Al let out a sigh. "Our father taught Ed. Ed taught me." He obviously was not going to expand on the explanation.

"Can I ask you something else?" Lan Fan asked after another moment of silence. Al waved a hand at her to go on. "Why are you and your sister's qis so strange? The way the suit of armor's qi moves makes sense because it's alchemy, but you and your sister's qi still baffle me and my grandfather. Ling is choosing to ignore it. A normal person's qi is just a small presence that shifts slightly with emotions. Your qi, on the other hand, gives off a quiet hum that makes it easier to find you. I've never heard qi before, so it's very strange. Edena's qi though… Her qi is an imposing presence and is much louder. It's like the sound a raging fire in a forest would make. It's a bit terrifying when you first meet her, but becomes something quite calming the more you're around her."

Lan Fan sat quietly as she waited for Al to answer her question, but she was a bit disappointed when all she got in response to her ramblings was a small smile and a huff before he closed his eyes to go to sleep and his armor by the door reached out to flick the lights off.

The vassal let out a sigh and closed her eyes to try and get some sleep as well since she wasn't going to be getting anymore information out of the teen.

---

"Mommy, that mean boy over there broke my doll." A small girl no older than five cried as she ran up to her mother with said doll in hand. It was a small baby doll with its head disconnected from the body.

The mother sighed. "We'll just have to get you another one, Sweetie." She said and reached out to grab the doll and throw it away, but white glove hands beat her to it.

"Do you mind if I try my hand at fixing it?" Ed knelt next to the little girl, holding out her hands for the doll while the mother looked down at her in confusion. The little girl nodded and Ed gave her a big smile. "Great! Just close your eyes and the doll will be good as new." The child followed her instructions and Ed placed it on the ground quickly to clap her hands together to use alchemy on the doll and put it back together again. She picked it up and placed it into the waiting hands of the child. "See? I told you it would be as good as new."

The little girl opened her eyes and gasped in surprise as her doll was now back in one piece. "How did you do that?" She asked as she looked at Ed with excitement in her eyes.

Ed grinned. "I used alchemy to fix it. I'm actually a state alchemist. They call me the Fullmetal Alchemist."

"That's so cool! Why do they call you that?" The child asked.

Ed pulled back the sleeve of her coat to flash a bit of her automail. "I've got a metal arm and leg so the Fuhrer gave me the name Fullmetal." She stood back up and gave the mother a kind smile.

The woman returned it. "Thank you, Miss Fullmetal. You've saved me a little bit of money."

Ed just waved away her thanks. "It's no problem. Anything I can do to help." She waved goodbye as she walked away towards the railyard to meet up with her brother somewhere on the way. Her morning had already been filled with doing odd jobs in this part of the city to fix small problems here and there for people with alchemy. Al was doing the same thing not too far away. They were leaving a pretty easy trail of happy and chatty civilians along the way.

The perfect bait for a man who was looking to kill some state alchemists.

The siblings met up at a small cafe not far from the railyard to take a break at noon. They sat on the patio out front of the shop as Ed sipped on some tea and Al nibbled on a piece of sweetbread.

"Half the day gone and nothing yet." Al mumbled. "I've been putting out literal fires and helping with foundation work all morning and I've heard a story or two about you as well. You'd think he'd have heard something by now." Al murmured as he ate his treat.

Ed lifted her cup to take a sip. "He may not have caught up with us yet, but the Colonel seems to be wanting to pay us a visit." She glanced over just as a car parked on the street in front of them and the window rolled down to reveal Mustang.

The man glanced at them with a frown on his face. "I never knew the two of you would be so theatrical. Get in the car." He ordered. Al jumped up to do what he said while Ed rolled her eyes and chugged the rest of her tea before following suit.

Lieutenant Hawkeye drove them to a secluded back street where they all got out to talk.

"I had Lieutenant Breda follow up on your suggestion to find Dr. Marcoh to help with Havoc. It was a bust." The Colonel leaned against the car with his arms crossed over his chest. Ed and Al frowned in their confusion. "His house was a mess and he wasn't there. The townspeople said he'd been missing since after you all stopped to see him."

Al grit his teeth and Ed cursed. The man either ran for his safety or the homunculi had gotten him.

"There's one more thing I need to talk with you two about. I'm sure you've heard that Scar is back. So why are the two of you running around town showboating? Do you want him to find you?" He glared down at Ed knowing she was probably the mastermind behind whatever the two of them were doing.

Ed grinned. "That's exactly what we want, actually. We're drawing him out into a fight so that we can catch a bigger fish. You're not talking us out of this."

The Colonel stood up straighter to loom over Ed. "Have you lost your mind?" He yelled angrily. "Have you forgotten the way he tore you apart in East City?"

Al placed a hand on Ed's shoulder to try and keep her from returning Mustang's anger with more anger. The blonde woman gave her CO a flat look. "I do remember. I remember the entire interaction and I remember how he fought and moved. I think you're the one who needs to remember that Al and I went away for quite a bit of time to improve on our own skills just to be ready for stuff like this. I'm not saying it'll be easy, but I do know we can handle it." She clapped her hands together. "And we're out of time to keep arguing. Our baited bait is here."

Ed turned around to place her hands on the ground and produce a tall stone wall to block the trail of destructive stone spikes Scar sent towards the group before the others even realized he was there. She rushed around the wall to confront the man while Al stayed behind for a moment to explain to the Colonel quickly their plan.

"Hello, Monk." Ed called out as she ran to get closer to him and attack.

Al pulled his two steel pipes from his lower back where his belt held them and activated the arrays on them to create his tactical knives he and Hughes had designed together to better suit his fighting style. They were double sided blades that were about thirty centimeters long and slightly curved.

"We're using Sister as bait to lure out the homunculi. She's supposed to be their sacrifice and she's too important for them to just let her die." Al said quickly as the three took cover behind the stone wall. He peeked his head out and had to pull it back quickly as a stray piece of rubble came flying at him.

The Colonel grit his teeth. "That's crazy! I should have put a protective detail on the both of you the moment I heard he was back."

Al scowled. "We're not going to let anyone else get hurt by these homunculi. Using ourselves as bait was the best thing we knew to do."

"What happens if Scar gets shot by an MP? There's going to be a lot of them on the scene soon before any homunculus shows up." Mustang asked with a sigh.

Al smirked and tilted his head playfully. "You can slow them down though, can't you Colonel?"

Mustang smirked as well. "So now I'm taking orders from you, Swift? You've got some nerve." He chuckled. "You better share what you catch."

"Of course!" Al yelled and finally found an opportunity to duck around the wall and help his sister and to distract Scar from seeing Mustang and Hawkeye slip away.

Ed and Al tag teamed Scar perfectly. Al went in for the close combat attacks while Ed hit him with her quicker alchemy. She would have gone in to deal with him in close quarters as well, but they were still trying to put on a show in order to gain the homunculi's attention.

Having to draw out this fight was raining hell on Ed's nerves though. She'd been training for a while now to be quicker and more efficient when it came to fights. Having to continuously wear her weights to hold herself back was far too annoying for Ed. Those homunculi needed to hurry up.

Some MPs finally showed up and Al had to pull back from the fight to stop them from shooting into the alleyway they were fighting in. "Don't shoot or you'll hit my sister too!" He shouted at them. He looked for an opportunity to join back into the fight, but Scar had gotten closer to Ed with Al's departure.

Ed redirected Scar's reach with his right arm over her shoulder and used her new technique to quickly hit pressure points in his arm before he could activate the deconstruction arrays again. She smirked when she saw the confusion on his face when his arm felt like it stopped working for a moment, but he shook it off quickly and jumped back to put some distance between the two of them. He obviously realized that fighting close quarters with her was going to be more dangerous than with Al.

"You can't run now, Monk. We've only just gotten started and there's still much to do and discuss." She said with a sharp tooth grin and took off towards him, making him back his way towards the railyard to keep from having civilians caught in the battle. Al followed close behind her.

At one point while they were fighting, Ed finally felt the entrance of a homunculus into the area along with… The Fuhrer? She cursed and hoped Ling and Lan Fan could handle the situation.

In her distraction, Ed took a swipe to the head by a flying piece of rubble from Scar. She winced only slightly at the pain, but had no time to evaluate the now bleeding wound. Al called out to her in warning, but she already saw it coming. Scar came at her with another outstretched reach of his right arm, alchemical energy crackling up and down the limb. With some very quick thinking, Ed clapped her hands together and threw up her automail arm to touch palms with Scar and cancel out the destructive energy he was trying to kill her with. The energy pulse that happened between them threw them both back and shredded the sleeves of their coats and Ed's glove.

Ed skid to a halt at one end of the alleyway while Scar was pushed towards the other end. Al raced over to Ed and grabbed her shoulders to help him out.

"That had to be one of the most reckless moves I've ever seen you pull!" He yelled at her. Ed sighed and reached up to wipe some blood away from her eye.

"I couldn't think of anything else to do. We need to hurry up and lead him to the railyard and get out of this alleyway maze." She looked down at her missing coat sleeve. "There goes another one of these."

Al rolled his eyes. "I'll buy you a new coat later, Sister. Let's just try and make it out of this alive." He looked towards Scar. "He's definitely got a crazy tattoo there."

Ed nodded. "I'd bet you'd love to get a better look at it." She said with amusement in her voice. "Too bad he's trying to kill us." She let her eyes sweep the area to look for an escape route once the Ishvalan started towards them again.

"You say that alchemists defy god, but isn't that a bit hypocritical?" Al asked as the man got closer. "You're using alchemy just like us."

Scar frowned at them. "I explained it to the Golden One back in East City. Where there are creators like you, there must be destroyers. It's balance."

Al scowled at him. "That's a lie. You're using the name of your god to justify murder. All you care about is revenge. And on the wrong people too. I bet you thought you were doing your god's work when you killed Shou and Nina Tucker." He grit out.

Scar cocked a brow at them. "So you too saw that abomination your science created. And yet you still blindly follow it." He shrugged off his damaged coat. "That chimera was made because a man thought he could create when creation is the province of God alone."

Ed scoffed, making Scar give her a confused look. "You're right. And we both know that more than most. But we may have been naive in the past and tried to do something we had no business doing, but at least we're not the ones running around trying to end the precious lives that are given."

Scar shook his head. "You are still naive if you think that creature could have ever returned to being human. It would have lived out the rest of its days in a lab."

Al gripped his knives tighter in his frustrations at the man being right.

Ed clapped her hands and turned her automail fingers into claws. "State alchemists have done a lot of wrong, yes." She looked up at Scar with fierce golden eyes that seemed to pierce through his soul. "But that doesn't make any of what you're doing right. We're going to stop you." Scar narrowed his eyes at her and Ed sneered. "You act so self righteous, but do you remember two Amestrian doctors during the war? They continued to stay and help your people even after orders were given for your extermination." Scar's face morphed into realization while Al looked down in sadness. "They were a part of our family. Like an aunt and uncle to us. And I was told that they saved the life of an Ishvalan Monk with a tattooed arm who repaid their kindness by killing them in cold blood. Does any of that sound familiar to you?"

Scar scowled at the siblings. "That may have happened, but don't you dare forget it was the Amestrians, your people, who shot first and started the civil war."

"So that justifies you killing people who just wanted to help?!" Al screamed at the man. Ed held out an arm to hold him back. She was angry as well, but she wouldn't let her brother run into an attack recklessly.

"I once told you that the cycle of hatred and death had to end with you, my Red Eyed Wanderer." Ed said gently. At that moment, her golden eyes seemed too old for her years.

"And I told you that if we had met at another time then things would be different, Golden One." Scar placed his hand on the ground and sent a path of destruction towards the siblings. Ed countered it with a wall of stone that Al quickly drew a circle on and sent a group of stone spikes towards the man. Scar jumped back and out of the way towards a safe distance and used his alchemy to break a hole through the wall and escape.

Ed and Al followed after him and realized they were a lot closer to the railyard than they thought. With a bigger area with less civilians in it, the fight got a bit more destructive. Scar used his arm and deconstructive alchemy like a madman and the siblings reciprocated with elaborate alchemical hands that tried to grab him and water alchemy to flood him out of certain places.

Scar, at one point, tried to use some steam he made from one of Al's water attacks to create a smoke screen, but Ed couldn't be fooled by such things. She tore through the cloud with a flying kick from her automail leg that Scar barely threw up his arms in time to defend from. He grunted as he was pushed back from the force and the weight of the kick and rolled into a crouched position on the other side of the smoke.

The obstruction cleared and Ed and Al stood in offensive positions, ready to attack again, but then Ed cursed and looked to the right. "A homunculus."

"That's Gluttony." Al informed her as he saw the homunculus coming.

A big round body covered in a skin tight black jumpsuit appeared from the rooftops and grinned as he came after Scar. "I found you, Ishvalan! Now I get to eat you!" He attacked Scar, but ended up getting caught and fried by the man's right arm, killing him. It was too bad homunculi played by a different set of rules.

Red alchemical sparks sprouted around the short man's large body and he was good as new, smiling up at Scar, salivating. Gluttony knocked into Scar and sent him flying into the side of a train car before slamming his body into him harder this time, making a dent in the metal.

Scar pushed him away and got into position to fight back, but Ed came at the homunculus with a kick to send him flying away as she felt another presence approaching quickly from below.

The cap on a manhole flew up into the air with an explosion and Ling came flying out. He was missing his yellow coat, his knife was in between his teeth for quick grabbing, and there was a grenade in his hand. They watched as he landed on the fat homunculus's shoulders and shoved the grenade down his throat.

"Get back!" He yelled out before jumping off the shoulders and landing near Ed and Al as they threw themselves back from the impending explosion.

Blood splattered everywhere as half of Gluttony's body was blown away. His severed tongue landed right at Ed's feet before disintegrating into dust.

Ling stood from his crouched position as glared at the homunculus that was sparking red and regenerating himself from what was left standing after the explosion.

"Get me some strong cable." Ling demanded. Ed was quick to scramble over to the train tracks and turn a portion of it into a steel cable for the prince to use. She threw it to him and Ling started to wrap it around Gluttony's still forming body. "His regenerative abilities are working against him in this case and his flesh won't stop expanding and this will keep him tied up nice and tight." He explained as tied off the cable standing on top of Gluttony's body before jumping down to stand next to him, panting.

Suddenly, a car with no top came screeching into the railyard and Ed and Al glanced over just in time to see Lieutenant Hawkeye drift the car to a stop while pointing her gun at Scar and taking the shot, hitting the Ishvalan in the leg, making him fall to his knees.

"Put him in. We're getting out of here." She ordered Ling. And they all watched as Ling lifted the large and bundled Gluttony up and over the car door to settle him into the seat before jumping in himself. Hawkeye wasted no time driving off without a word to the Elrics.

"That was unnecessarily hot." Ed grumbled.

Al blinked at her in surprise. "Hawkeye driving and shooting Scar?"

Ed frowned and pursed her lips. "Well yeah, obviously. But I meant Ling." Al just shook his head at his sister.

"They're getting away! After them!" A voice yelled and the three people remaining at the scene glanced over to see a group of MPs running up.

"We need to distract them. Now that we've gotten what we wanted, let's end this with Scar." Ed told Al who nodded in agreement.

They both ran at him to start a tag team close combat fight, Ed throwing a punch at Scar's face and then using her pressure point technique to disable his arm when he tried to attack her with it, and Al using his knives to slice at the man's side before going for the tattoo on his arm to try and disrupt the circles on it. But suddenly a small Xingese girl with two buns and long braided hair ran up and kicked Al in his shoulder, making him spin away from Scar and skid into a crouch a few feet away. She tried to attack Ed as well, but the blonde ducked the kick and had to jump back to avoid a swipe of Scar's right arm.

The girl stood next to Scar donning a pink Xingese style outfit and had an incredibly small panda bear on her shoulder. "Are these people bothering you, Servant?" She asked Scar.

Ed and Al stood next to each other and glared at the two in confusion. "Where in the hell did she come from?" Al asked.

"I'm tired of people being able to hide their qi from me in order to surprise attack." Ed grumbled.

"This is the servant of the man who saved my life. You better leave him alone, little girl!" The kid yelled as she pointed at Ed.

Ed let out a growl and Al had to place a hand on her shoulder to stop her from attacking. "Who in the hell are you calling a little girl?! I'm taller and older than you, you damn pipsqueak!"

"Where did that child come from?" An MP asked as a group of them closed in on the scene.

The girl frowned and pulled out some throwing knives. "We're outnumbered. It's time to make an escape." She threw two sets of five knives at a couple of trains behind the group and then drew a pentagram on the ground with her shoe before dropping five more knives on each point and bending to activate the array.

Ed and Al blinked in surprise as alchemical sparks appeared and the trains behind them where the knives were thrown blew up to create a black smokescreen. "Did she just perform distance alkahestry?" Al asked, amazed as he reached up to cover his nose with his shirt to block the ash and fumes.

Ed was coughing horribly as he nose was more sensitive to the smell. She didn't even notice that the girl and Scar escaped.

---

By the time Ed and Al got back to their hotel room after doing a little bit of clean up at the railyard, having to give their verbal and written reports of the incident, and Ed getting frustrated at Al for finding and bringing along the small panda bear the Xingese girl had, the sun was just about to start setting.

Al had just exited the bathroom after a quick shower and giving a sink bath to the panda, and Ed was starting to get undressed to take one herself when there was a knock on the door. Al answered it, panda on his shoulder and wasn't too surprised to see the Colonel. He stepped back to let the man in.

"Good work today, I guess." He said as he stepped into the room, choosing to ignore the foreign creature. Ed rolled her eyes and yanked off her destroyed coat and dusty button up. Mustang's eyes widened as she now stood in front of him with just her leather pants and a bra on. But there was something else wrapped around her abdomen that made him tilt his head to the side. "Are those weights?"

Ed undid the buckles on her shoulders and the velcro around her waist to let the vest fall to the floor with a very loud thump. "Yup." She said as she undid another from her flesh wrist and tricep and then bent to undo the ones around her ankles. "They're part of my training." She said before making her way into the bathroom to shower as well.

The Colonel was a bit too curious about how much weight she had been carrying, so he walked over to pick it all up and hand it to Al who had approached the pile as well. He felt a lump in his throat at how much it all weighed.

"Why on earth does your sister torture herself like this?" He asked as his arms burned a bit under the weight.

Al tilted his head to the side like a confused puppy. "What do you mean, Colonel? She uses more weights than I do, but I wear the same stuff." He pointed to his pile of weights on the couch. "It's not torture. It's good for the core." He said with a smile.

Mustang started to sweat at his enthusiasm. "You both scare the hell out of me." He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I came to collect you and your sister to come to the meetup with the Lieutenant. I'm also to collect Dr. Knox."

Al frowned in concern. "Was someone hurt?"

"I was told a friend of Ling Yao's was very injured." The Colonel explained.

"Lan Fan." Al murmured. "I hope it's not anything too bad."

Ed came out of the bathroom not long after, toweling dry her long hair. She was dressed in another pair of leather pants, but the button up shirt she had on was larger than her usual fit and the sleeves were rolled up to her elbows. She immediately moved to her bag to grab a brush while Al moved to give the panda to his armor before grabbing a roll of medical tape and some gauze due to the gash on Ed's temple from the fight earlier. He knew that she could just heal it with alkahestry, but she probably wouldn't for such a small wound.

"I'm starving." Ed whined a bit as she brushed out her hair to put it into just a ponytail. She decided to use the spike wire she normally braided into it as a kind of belt to at least have it on her.

Mustang frowned. "Well, I hope you have snacks around here because your shower just cut into the time we had left." Ed poked her head around Al to glare at the Colonel.

Al chuckled and finished up the first aid. "It's okay, Sister. I'll wear my coat and bring snacks." He gave her a small smile that Ed returned. Her brother was the best.

The Colonel ushered them to his car outside after they were done, Al's armor coming along, and drove to pick up the doctor. They watched as Mustang conversed with the man outside his front gate before coming back to the car with him after Knox grabbed a surgical kit.

The ride to the safe house was quiet and it was dark by the time they got there. Dr. Knox was extremely agitated when he learned that his patient had been walking around the sewers injured and even scowled Ling and Hawkeye for it.

"You, Elric." Ed looked up at Dr. Knox from her spot by Lan Fan's bed. She was saddened to see that the girl was missing an arm and was in so much pain. Al had outright left the room, he and his armor walking over to hide in the dark with Ling. Seeing Lan Fan had stirred up the memory of him having to carry his sister to the Rockbell's house after the failed human transmutation. "I hear a lot of good things about you from Dr. David. Help me with this."

Ed nodded. "Yes, Sir. Just tell me what you need."

Lieutenant Hawkeye held the light for the two of them as Dr. Knox made Lan Fan's wound cleaner and sewed it up while Ed worked as his assistant. When it was all over and Knox was about to wrap the wound, Ed placed a hand on his wrist.

"I can accelerate the healing process to a good place where she's not feeling too much pain anymore. I just need to see the wound in order to do it, though." Ed explained. The doctor nodded and let her have free reign to perform some alkahestry. She clapped her hands and hovered them over the wound and it slowly started to look better as alchemical sparks lit the room. Lan Fan's tense body also relaxed a little.

"I can see now why Dr. David speaks so highly of you." Knox said as he inspected the work before wrapping the girl's shoulder. Ed just gave him a small smile in acknowledgment before cleaning the blood off of Lan Fan's face and neck.

The girl stirred and peeked open her dark eyes to look at Ed. "Thank you." She said weakly.

Ed smiled and brushed the girl's hair out of her face. "Think nothing of it." She smoothed out the worried frown on her face as well. "And don't be so upset. You won't be without an arm forever. We'll get you to a great automail mechanic and you can get back to chasing your silly prince around in no time. Now get some rest." She whispered.

Lan Fan nodded and rested against the pillows to close her eyes and get some sleep. Ed wandered over to where Al and Ling were hiding.

"I'm sorry about Lan Fan, Ling." Al murmured to the man as he sat on the bench next to him. Someone had given him a white dress shirt and black coat to wear over his bare shoulders. He wore it open just like he had his yellow and white one.

Ling shook his head. "Don't apologize. I'm the one who suggested it. Remember? We both had something to gain out of it so it made sense." He pulled one of his knees up to his chest to rest his chin and arm on it. "I knew when I went in search of immortality that I must be ready to make certain sacrifices." He started to tremble. "But I wasn't ready for this. Lan Fan was though. She made the decision that I was too weak to make."

Ed sighed and walked back into the other room to grab some bandages and alcohol wipes before walking back. She knelt in front of Ling and lifted his chin with her automail hand to get a good look at the cut on his face before starting to clean it. The prince looked down at her with surprised but sad eyes.

"You do have quite the lofty goal and it does come with the need for sacrifice." Ed said in a soft voice and Al had to turn his head to hide a smile. His sister was in mother hen mode again which always amused and pleased him. Ed placed a bandage over the cut before grabbing his hand to take a look at the messily wrapped wound there and clean it. "But nothing will ever prepare you for seeing the ones you love get hurt. It's a terrible feeling when you know you would do anything you can to keep them safe and they end up having something terrible happen to them anyway. But you have to remember, Lan Fan makes her own decisions. And just because you didn't like what happened, doesn't mean you're weak. It means she's strong for doing what she has to do and bearing with it." Once she cleaned the cut, she clapped her hands and did a bit of alkahestry to seal the skin back together. She then smiled and cupped Ling's face in her hands gently to smooth out the frown there just like she did for Lan Fan and stared into his dark eyes. "That girl is strong as hell and she's going to be fine. And I know that because I once had to go through the same thing as her. We'll get her a new arm and she'll be back to her usual self in no time." She knocked Ling under the chin, pushing his head up and surprising him. "Now chin up, Prince. You've still got work to do." Ed stood and stepped back when she felt Mustang coming around the corner to join them with a light.

Ling couldn't tear his eyes away from her for a moment until Mustang held a gloved hand out to him. Ling looked up at the man and was a bit surprised to see Xingese features on someone in Amestris.

Mustang smiled down at him. "I'm with the state military. My name is Colonel Roy Mustang."

Ling stood and placed his hands together and gave a slight bow in a Xingese greeting. "My name is Ling Yao, the twelfth son of the Emperor of Xing." He dropped his hand to take Mustang's and shake it. "I appreciate you finding a doctor."

"It was no problem. Thank you for helping us with the Ross incident." Mustang turned to look into the doorway of the room next to them with the lantern he held. "And also for bringing this thing here." Everyone in the house besides Lan Fan and Hawkeye came over to the doorway as well to get a look at the tied up Gluttony who was rocking back and forth on the floor and making whining noises.

"What do we have here?" Dr. Knox asked.

Ling leaned against the doorframe. "That's Gluttony. He's a homunculus."

Knox gasped in surprise. "He and his friends seem to have connections amongst some of the military senior staff." Mustang added in.

Ling growled. "Just some you say? It goes deeper than that. Your Fuhrer, King Bradley, I believe it's possible he's a homunculus as well." Knox and Mustang gasped and Ling pointed at his left eye. "I saw his eye. The one under the patch. It has the mark of the homunculi on it. He and Gluttony came after us, working together." Ed and Al frowned, their suspicions confirmed. "Although, Bradley doesn't have the same inhuman presence that I get from Gluttony. At his core he still feels like a regular person."

Mustang shook his head. "But Bradley has a son. How could he be a homunculus? They can't reproduce because they're artificially created."

Dr. Knox folded his arms over his chest. "Actually, the Fuhrer's son Selim is adopted. There's no direct blood relation between him and his father."

Mustang scoffed and they all looked at him. He was smirking. "Whether he's a monster or human, these new developments will make it easier to remove him from his seat of power." He glanced over at Ed and Al. "You both don't seem surprised about this though."

Al gave a nervous chuckle and Ed shrugged. "I have told you many times before, Colonel, I can sense people's qi and feel their auras. I knew the Fuhrer was rotten the moment I first met him all those years ago."

Mustang started to sweat. "Is that why you threw a spear at his head? Were you really trying to kill him?"

Ed rolled her eyes. "No. I wasn't trying to kill him. I was warning him that I was capable and willing to kill him. It seems he didn't heed that warning very well though." She frowned down at Gluttony.

Mustang shook his head. "Again, you both scare me." He looked back at Gluttony. "I guess we'll try to get information out of this one and then I can take his stone. It will prove useful to treating Havoc."

Ling scowled and grabbed Mustang by his collar. "Hey you! Lan Fan lost her arm to get him. He's our captive so we're taking him back to Xing!"

Al grabbed Ling's arm to separate him from Mustang. "Calm down, Ling. You can't just waltz off with a homunculus. Especially since Sister and I put in work to lure him out. We did this together."

Ed just kept staring at Gluttony as the fat man started to get more irritated. "I don't know what you're all arguing for. How much do any of you know about actually extracting the stone from him in order to use it?" She scolded with an annoyed voice, making the three pout like children.

Knox scoffed and waved as started to walk away. "Good luck, Mustang. I'm going home."

The three guys started to squabble a bit more while Ed frowned at the rising ire coming out of Gluttony. "Mustang? Mustang was one who killed Lust. Mustang must pay for what he did to her." Ed narrowed her eyes and held up a hand signal for the three to stop the noise they were making. Gluttony's body started to expand more as he growled out Mustang's name and stood on his feet that got loose of the cables. They all watched in horror as he exposed his belly and it opened up like a mouth with sharp wiggling teeth and there was a grey eye in the center with a slotted pupil.

Ed had seen something similar before when she had opened the gate of Truth. She sensed something horrible was about to happen so she moved quickly to push the group of men out of the way and down the hall just as a blast of some sort tore through the side of the house and gouged out a path in the ground. The front of the house started to fall down around them, but Al's armor jumped into action and threw itself on top of them to protect from the debris.

"Colonel?!" Lieutenant Hawkeye called out.

Al's armor stood and pushed the debris to the side, freeing them. Ling was quick to jump up and go to Lan Fan. The others tried to scramble out of the way of another blast that came.

"Run, Lieutenant! And don't provoke him! It's me that he wants!" Mustang yelled as he switched out his regular gloves for his ignition ones. "We'll have to take him down. Survival is the most important and he knows our names and faces. We can't let him get away." He snapped his fingers and sent a giant flame towards the rampaging monster, lighting it on fire. Ed, Al and Mustang watched as Gluttony screamed before the eye at the center of his belly seemed to activate and swallow the fire.

"He fucking swallowed it." Ed mumbled with a flat look on her face.

"Uh oh." Al murmured.

Soon the three of them plus Al's armor were running towards the woods to get away from the rampaging Gluttony.

"That worked so well!" Ed yelled sarcastically at Mustang as she headed the group.

"I offer you the opportunity to do better!" He yelled back from the middle.

Al and his armor picked up the pace so that he could pass Mustang. "Or we could just leave you in the dust, Colonel! It's you he wants!" The teen offered. Mustang was offended, but Ed was secretly proud. She loved her sassy brother.

They split up in the woods and Gluttony continued to run after the Colonel. Ed sighed. As much as she wanted to, she knew they couldn't leave the man for dead. She stopped and created a dummy with alchemy that looked kind of like Mustang before sending an telepathic image to Al trying to get him to herd the Colonel in her direction. He did, but it was more like dragging than herding as Mustang was holding his ribs in pain. The same side that Lust had pierced him on which means that, even though Ed healed him, the area was still sensitive and a bit fragile.

"How do you hurt yourself in the two minutes we aren't together? It's ridiculous." She grumbled as Al dropped the man on the ground and Ed shrugged his jacket off to put it on the dummy. The man just sat there with an annoyed look on his face. "Let's go."

They all took off back towards the house where everyone else was waiting in a car. Knox was in the driver's seat telling them all to hurry up and get in while Hawkeye was in the back with Lan Fan's head resting on her lap. Al's armor threw Mustang into the front seat next to Knox and stepped back. Ed stared out at the trees to gauge how much time they had before Gluttony found them again.

"Hurry up and get in, you idiots!" Knox yelled.

Al shook his head, a sad smile on his face. "Sister and I are going to hold him off. You guys get out of here."

Ling twirled his large sword around. "And I'm going to help these two. Let's face it, they'll need it." He looked at Hawkeye. "Please take car of Lan Fan." Said girl groaned from her spot laid out across the car seat.

Mustang scowled at them. "You really expect me to run away and let a bunch of kids handle that monster, Fullmetal?!"

Ed scoffed and pointed at herself and Ling. "Not a kid." She then pointed at her brother. "Has significantly more skill than you." She then pointed at Mustang. "Currently useless. Besides, the Fuhrer is a homunculus. Go do your job and handle that. We'll take care of this."

The Lieutenant gasped. "The Fuhrer?"

"We can talk about it later. Now all of you stop being idiots and get in." Dr. Knox yelled from the driver's seat.

Ed, Al and Ling all looked at each other before nodding in understanding.

"Nah. We're good. That car looks plenty full so you all go ahead. You're going to need whatever information we can get out of Gluttony." Ed said, placing her hands on her hips.

Al nodded. "We'll stay here and find out what we can. This is our mission and we're going to see it through. Thank you for all the help you've given us up until now though." He said with a small smile on his face.

Lieutenant Hawkeye sighed and checked the clip on one of her guns she had on her before handing it to Ed out the window. "Take this, Edena. I know you know how to use it. It's the least I can give to help you both protect yourselves."

Ed cocked a brow at the gun and stared at it for a moment before taking it. She checked the clip and the chamber before flicking on the safety and tucking it into the waistband of her pants. "Thanks, Lieutenant."

Gluttony let out another blast of energy out in the woods, making them all jump. No more words were exchanged as the four outside of the car steeled themselves before going after the monster. And then after a moment of hesitation, the car left as well.

---

Ed, Al, his armor and Ling all hid as they watched the monster Gluttony rampage and roar out for Mustang.

"He's creepy as hell." Ed deadpanned.

Ling and Al trembled behind her. "He seems a bit angry." Ling mumbled.

"How are we supposed to catch him?" Al asked.

Suddenly, Ed tensed up and looked over her shoulder. There was a rustling sound in the woods and Ling and Al jumped to turn and see what it was.

At the top of a hill overlooking them was a large dog with seemingly red eyes. Ed scowled.

"Stop it now, Gluttony!" Yelled the dog. Even though they could tell by the aura the dog was giving off that it wasn't an actual animal, seeing and hearing it talk was still a bit of a shock and made them all jump in surprise. The dog smiled down at them when Gluttony paused in his rampaging. "Hey there, little girl. It's been a while since I've seen you." Red sparks crackled around the creature as it slowly morphed back into a human body. Well, a homunculus to be exact. It was the palm tree, Envy.

Ed glared up at him. "Yes. It has. I remember the last time I saw you was when you were standing at the far end of a hospital hallway looking like a doctor because you were too scared to approach me after what I'd done to you when you attacked what was mine."

Envy scowled. "Whatever, you little bitch. I still haven't quite figured out what exactly you are."

Ed smirked. "And it seems like you're the type to be too embarrassed to ask others for help on figuring it out." Envy let out a little growl while Ling stared at her in confusion.

"I just came here to get Gluttony, not fight with you." Envy stated in a haughty tone, trying to gain control back over the situation.

Ed clapped her hands and turned her automail fingers into claws. "Oh, but I'm not done with you from last time." She took off up the hill to engage in close combat with the shape shifter.

Envy cursed and did his best to dodge and move away from Ed. "You stupid girl! Calm down! I don't want to fight with you!"

"Well that's too bad because I want to rip you limb from limb!" Ed growled out she was just seconds or centimeters away from taking chunks out of Envy. "Get back here you coward!" She yelled when he jumped into a tree before jumping to land by Gluttony.

"You're becoming bothersome, making me come here to deal with this." Envy grit out.

"Mustang was here. Mustang killed Lust. Swallow! Swallow him up!" Gluttony growled.

Envy rolled his eyes. "Well you don't get to eat the Colonel. Or the Elrics."

"Why not!?" Gluttony whined.

The group of four came into the clearing where Gluttony and Envy were talking. Ed looked about ready to attack again, but was holding back with gritted teeth.

"I've sensed this multiplicity before. How many people do you have inside of you, homunculus ?" Ling asked as he stepped out from behind Al's armor to confront Envy.

Envy cocked a brow at him and leaned on a crying Gluttony. "Oh, I've heard of you. You're the kid who crossed swords with Wrath."

Ling frowned. "What do you mean 'kid'? I—"

Envy smirked and cut off his tirade before it could get anywhere. He pat Gluttony's head. "Eat him."

Ling froze up for a second before he took off running and yelling as Gluttony chased after him with his freaky gaping stomach mouth. Ed just stared with a deadpan look while Al looked a bit concerned.

Ed was a bit upset about being ignored. Especially when she wanted nothing more than to eviscerate Envy. But Ling was in trouble and she supposed she would feel bad if she let him get eaten.

"It's very strange that they're so unwilling to do anything to us. But I guess we can use that to our advantage." She told Al who grinned. Ed knelt down and clapped her hands to place them on the ground and create a stone wall between Ling and Gluttony, leaving the Xingese prince with Envy. "Ling, you handle the palm tree! We'll handle Gluttony." She called out as she and Al ran in with his armor to fight Gluttony into submission.

Gluttony danced around them and whined about not wanting to fight them because he couldn't eat them. Ed smirked. "Well why don't you just stay put then?" She clapped her hands and created a deep well in the ground to try and capture him.

Al walked over to peek over the edge of the well. "Good job." He said with a smile, but apparently spoke too soon.

Gluttony used his strange moving teeth to push himself up and out of the well and try to run away from them. Ed was starting to get irritated. She growled and came at the homunculus from the front with clawed hands, swiping at his arms and even going low to try and disable his legs. Al backed her up by literally going for Gluttony's back with his tactical knives.

The homunculus growled at them and reached out to grab Ed by the automail arm, much to her surprise, to swing her around and into Al, pushing them towards the wall. They grunted as they were knocked around, but then Al's armor got thrown into them when it tried to grab Gluttony and they all went through the wall.

Ed and Al groaned, but quickly pulled themselves up in time to notice Ling standing over Envy, who was laying on the ground, about to stab him, but then Envy changed his image to look like the injured Lan Fan and Ling hesitated.

Ed cursed. It was the same thing that happened to Hughes.

"Go for it Gluttony!" Envy yelled out and the fat homunculus stepped through the wall to release an energy blast at Ling.

Al was the one to run and try to push Ling out of the way, but Ed was the one who felt her world slow around her. Instinct overtook her as she stepped in the path that Gluttony's blast was sure to follow and gathered an immense amount of energy from the nature around her as quickly as she could to clap her hands together and release her own alchemical blast to try and hold off Gluttony's to try and buy Ling and Al some time.

It surprised Envy for the split second she was able to hold the homunculus's blast at bay, but also realized that what she was trying to stop was inevitable and he reached out to grab her arm and pull her out of the way, not willing to lose a sacrifice. It was also apparently not enough time bought as when Envy grabbed Ed, he threw off her concentration and the blast hit Ed full on and ripped Envy in half before traveling past them and swallowing Al and Ling whole as well as they just barely made it to the edge of the blast radius.

Gluttony and Al's armor stood still, quiet and shocked in the forest as the lower half of Envy's body disintegrated and the animals in the forest slowly started to make noise again.

Al's armor seemed to short circuit for a second before looking towards Gluttony. "Did you just… swallow them?"

The gaping hole with teeth in the homunculus's middle slowly closed up and he stuck his finger in his mouth and nodded.

The armor dove and pushed Gluttony to the ground and tried to pry the monster mouth back open. "NO! Spit them out! Right now!"

Gluttony shook his head and the hole closed up fully. "I can't. I swallowed them."

The armor trembled and stumbled to it's feet away from the homunculus. "This can't be happening."

---

The strange location was drowned in darkness, the floors seemed to be flooded with a thick liquid, and the smell of iron filled the air. Large pieces of debris and rubble sat sporadically placed.

Over on a piece of rubble that was just barely sticking out of the liquid, Ed laid barely propped up with her head lolled to the side and her eyes closed, letting anyone that found her know that she was unconscious.

In another area, Ling found himself waking up laying flat in the pool of thick liquid that covered the floor. He groaned and sat up slowly, looking around, but not seeing much. Once he got his head working again and he got a bearing for his surroundings, he realized the stench of the place told him all he needed to know about the liquid he was sitting in.

What in the hell was this crazy situation he'd gotten himself into?

Not far from where Ed lay unconscious, Al was just stirring awake himself as he pushed himself up out of the liquid and found a slab of rubble that had some small spots of fire on it. He hissed and hesitated as he moved to go towards the fire and his leg let out an intense sting. He still dragged himself over to the fire, knowing he needed to get a good look at whatever damage was done. He kind of wished he hadn't though.

Looking down at his leg, Al figured out why he was in pain. Sticking out of his black cargo pants was something bright white and jagged. He felt his stomach turn a bit. His leg was completely broken and the bone was sticking out.

He rubbed his eyes and took a few deep breaths before looking around to see if there was anything or anyone nearby that could help him. All he saw was darkness so he reached out his senses and just barely felt his sister's qi.

"Sister!?" He yelled out. There was no response. "ED!" He screamed this time. He got nothing again. No verbal or mental response. Al's hands trembled as he started to panic, worried about Ed and queasy about his leg. "Sister! Please! Are you there!?" He yelled one more time, panic overtaking him.

He looked down at his leg in horror. This was a bit beyond his general first aid knowledge and he had no clue what he was supposed to do.

How was he going to be getting out of this one?