(4) Roadblocks.

Morning arrived; Edward and Alphonse found that finding this library was a little more difficult then first thought. People they asked; never heard of it, thought it burned down, tried to direct them to the old institute, or said all the books had been spirited away in the night. The searched the whole day asking shop keepers, farmers, and anyone they could find. When night came; the brothers where no closer to finding this archive then they were when they started. The one thing they did know is that the one place they had not looked was the old asylum.

"Are you SURE the path is this way?" Al asked.

Edward bristled. "NO!"

That was the sixth time Al had asked that same question; each time he asked Ed's hair seemed to stand more on end. They had been walking along the tree line around the village; following the different directions people had given them.

"Do you think the old road has over grown with all this plant life over the years?" Al shot in trying to calm his short tempered older sibling.

Edward tapped his forehead and sighed. "Probably, and it seems everyone in the village has a convenient case misdirection. It's strange."

"Not as strange as this…Full Metal." A voice purred from a near by dark alley.

Just then; four black spikes flew out of the alley hitting Alphonse's armored head taking it off smoothly.

Edward hollered, "AL!"

The fear in his voice was music to Envy's ears; the homunculus smiled and readied itself to drop into the scene.

Edward knew that with out the helmet; the array that kept Al's soul bound to the armor would be open, and vulnerable. Full Metal rushed forward to protect his brother at all cost, but he was stopped as Envy leapt down to block his path. Envy sneered and knocked the blonde down with a roundhouse kick to his face. Caught off guard, Edward hit the ground like a ton of bricks. Ed rolled to his side, and wiped blood off his split lip.

"Too slow pip squeak." Envy jeered.

Before Ed could move further, Envy leapt on him and wrenched his arm around and back. Edward groaned as his shoulder made a popping noise. With his arm occupied, there was no way for him to perform large scale alchemy.

He gritted his teeth, "Get off me! Leave my brother alone!"

"You know what we want Edward." Lust purred stepping closer to Alphonse.

Alphonse's tried to move around Lust's pinning claws, but the sharp ends had run deeply into his hollow armor.

Edward groaned. "Leave him alone! You hurt him, and you'll get nothing out of me!"

Envy snarled and pulled up on Ed's arm. He enjoyed hearing the creak of the straining tendons, and ligaments.

"Shut up small fry!" Envy snarled in Ed's ear.

Al backed up his body coming to rest against a tree. "BROTHER!"

A pair of small plump hands grabbed Al's armored leg. Al shrieked as he looked down and saw Gluttony.

"Can I eat him now?" Gluttony cackled.

The odd looking fat little homunculus opened his mouth and bit down on to Alphonse's metal leg. Smoke arose as the metal melted in Gluttony's jaws.

Al whimpered. "AHHHHH not again! Get off of me you…you GAH! Get AWAY!"

Edward's eyes darkened as his little brother called out for help. He whipped his head back and plowed his skull into Envy's head. Ed did this a couple more times until he felt Envy's grip loosen. The blond alchemist then dropped to the ground and lashed out with his legs. Knocking the homunculus's legs out from under him, but before he could do more damage Envy rolled back and regained his footing.

"Not bad for a shrimp." Envy growled wiping blood from his nose.

Though the created beings could not die; you could hurt them, even though the injuries did not last long, unless you had something of their original selves to weaken them. Fishing around in his pocket Edward felt the locket, and lunged at Lust. He touched the piece of jewelry to her claws; immediately the sin recoiled in fear. Her claws retracted slightly giving Al enough room to shake off Gluttony. The only problem with this strategy was that Ed only had the means to fend off Lust, Wrath, and Sloth. Envy and Gluttony origins were a mystery to them.

"Watch your back short stuff!" Envy called out.

The sin ran at Edward and caught him off guard with a spinning kick. Gluttony leapt onto Al and tried to bite him repeatedly. The fight was fierce and Lust's participation was a wild card since only one of them at a time could truly fend her off.

Envy was faster then Edward in many ways; he had rage on his side. Despite his size and shape Gluttony was quick, and his acidic mouth made it hard for all to fend him off. Lust did her part shooting a keen nail at both brothers when she could. Edward passed the locket to Al, who tossed it back to him, and so on and so forth. It was like a game of hot potato with both siblings protecting one another. Finally Ed fused the locket to Alphonse; he would have no more of his little brother trying to protect him. Edward was the older brother, and protecting the younger sibling was the first and only law of family.

Al protested, "Brother you can't!"

Edward tumbled across the grass landing against a tree. His head was bleeding, and his red coat was torn. Envy was a fierce opponent.

"I can and I did! I'm your older brother!" Ed retorted.

Edward's ability to perform alchemy without a transmutation circle was a disadvantage to Al who still had to use a transmutation circle. Even though the red glow tempted him he still had no idea on how to go about using the philosophers' stone. Ed grabbed a hold of Al's arm, and dragged him back towards the town. Not that it was far, the forest had been reclaiming the lands for some time. The two siblings headed down an alley of stone and brick walls on either side. Suddenly, the black nails of Lust sliced through Edward's shoulder pinning him a brick wall.

"No more running Full Metal. Now, give us what we want!" Lust said in her normal seductive voice.

Ed screamed in pain as Lust's weapons bit through the meat of his shoulder; amazingly the daggers missed the bones and vital veins.

Ed wrapped his hands around her elongated nails. "Piss off Lady!"

"BROTHER!" Al screamed and halted.

Before Edward could think up of an excuse that could reassure his brother, the walls on either side of them glowed in dark purple. Strange symbols alit on either side of them; Al had seen this array once before back at laboratory five. Three homunculus stopped in their tracks, their purple irises were pin pricks in their eyes. Lust's claws tips seemed to disintegrate as the walls lit up.