First off, thank you to everyone who answered my question last time! It was really helpful, and honestly really flattering that you all are cool with such a wildly long chapter. So it'll be staying long, just like I wrote it. It isn't this one, though it is coming up! I'm also really really glad people enjoyed the way I'm expanding on Lissa's relationships with everyone else, because that has been a big deal to me as I've planned this. I didn't want a character like Al, for example, to get pushed to the wayside just because the romance picked up. His relationship with Lissa is going to stay important, consciously, so I'm relieved that it's going over well. So anyway! This is where things start to really pick up, as we know... I've had some of this planned out, dialogue and all, since the very beginning. Fingers crossed you like it. As always, please let me know what you think, and I hope you enjoy!


Lissa, Al, and Ed saw Winry off at Central Station—it was a bit of an emotional farewell, compounded by the fact that they had some rough things to face once she was gone. But it was good she was going back to Rush Valley. She'd be safe there, Lissa knew, or at least safer than here in Central where the world seemed to be coming apart at the seams.

"I didn't know you owned a second hair tie," Lissa teased to avoid talking about the heavier things, giving a tug to Ed's ponytail as they exited the station.

He grinned. "I'm smart enough to have more than one, y'know."

But Al snorted at him. "You had to transmute one."

"Hey!"

Lissa smirked and patted Al's arm. "I knew it! See, at least someone's honest with me. I could've just given you this one." She tugged at his red hair tie, still looped around her wrist.

He waved her off. "Nah, you keep that one. In case I need it."

They headed down the steps, the sun already set behind the horizon. All around, lights were coming on as the sky darkened, night approaching. It had been a long day, Lissa reflected, but it wasn't over yet.

No, indeed—a fact evidenced as a car pulled up to the curb, just as they reached the bottom of the steps, driven by none other than Colonel Mustang.

Ed looked at him in confusion. "Colonel?"

Mustang jerked his head. "Get in the car, you three. Quickly."

They all piled in without any questions—there was no doubt what this was regarding, after all. Lissa managed to fit herself facing backwards in the backseat, opposite the boys, with her legs tucked underneath her. Really, Mustang could've grabbed a bigger car, considering that poor Al only barely fit inside, and that was with his head ducked down…

Mustang drove them to a sort of suburban neighborhood and got out, leaving the car idling while he waited by a gate across the street. Lissa nudged Ed's knee with the back of her hand as someone approached—none other than Dr. Knox, the same one who had handled the autopsy of the fake Maria Ross shell. So he was an ally for sure, and apparently Mustang needed his help for something, though she didn't know what.

"Why would he go out of his way to drag Dr. Knox into all this?" Ed wondered aloud, watching Mustang and Knox's conversation with narrowed eyes.

Lissa shrugged faintly. "I'm not sure. Maybe someone's injured… But who?"

Al gasped. "Lan Fan! She never showed up, did she? What if she got hurt or something?"

Despite herself, Lissa felt a pang of worry for the Xingese girl. "That's true," she admitted softly. "I hope she's okay…"

After a brief discussion, Mustang managed to convince Dr. Knox to join them, and from there drove all the way out of Central. Lissa sat with her hand absently resting on Ed's knee the whole way, just watching out the window as night fell and they passed into farmland, up a hill overlooking the city. Central, glowing in the darkness like this, was almost…pretty, somehow.

Mustang finally stopped outside a ramshackle old building, a rundown kind of place with a few lights on inside. It looked…sketchy, really. Lissa wouldn't have wanted to be here alone.

"So, what is this place?" Edward asked curiously, once they were all out of the car. "Some kinda safehouse?"

"Exactly that," Mustang confirmed. "It was the best place to hide that homunculus."

He led the way inside, holding a lantern to guide the way, and once there immediately directed Dr. Knox to a back room. Lissa followed quicker than the boys, while Mustang handled something near the front—and when she walked through the next doorway, she jumped in surprise, forcing back a startled squeak. Ling was just…sitting there in the darkness, gaze fixated on the floor, unmoving. If she hadn't sensed his breathing, she might think he was a statue.

"Ling?" she murmured, frowning at him. "Are you okay?" She'd never seen the Xingese prince like this. Something was…so very wrong.

A yell came from the back room: "The hell happened to her?!"

Lissa sucked in a sharp breath. The boys came up behind her—she could hear the clanks from Al's armor, and knew the feel of both of them by now—but neither spoke. They were just as worried as she was. "Ling." Lissa knelt in front of him, touching her hands to his knees lightly. He looked at her, his jaw clenched, eyes tight with agony. "It's Lan Fan, isn't it? She got hurt today."

He nodded, just once.

Dr. Knox railed about something again—this time something about the sewers, which explained a little more of the situation. No doubt that was how Lan Fan escaped the chaos without detection, even in her injured state.

Moments later, a horrible, heart-wrenching scream ripped through the air.

Lissa bowed her head, suddenly overcome by the leaden weight of sulfur on her shoulders, the heavy press of rain at the top of her spine… She sank sideways, curling her arms around her abdomen as the sense of it overwhelmed her.

"You feel it too, don't you?" It was hardly a question. Ling's voice was low, rough with pain, and Lissa didn't think she had the heart to lie to him. "The Dragon's Pulse. I know you sense it."

"Ling, wait-"

But Lissa held up a hand, staying Ed's defense. "Yes," she admitted quietly. She smothered just enough of the feeling to lift her head and meet the prince's gaze, sharing the pain for a moment. "I feel it. Sulfuric suffering and heaviness. I wish I could tell you why." Her throat burned with unshed tears. "She doesn't deserve this."

A hand touched her shoulder, and Lissa allowed Ed to pull her to her feet, to wrap his arm around her and keep her close. But she didn't close out all of what she felt from Lan Fan—bearing that was the least she could do.

"I'm sorry," Ed murmured.

But Ling shook his head. "No. Don't apologize." He looked up at them. "I'm the one who suggested it, remember? We both had something to gain out of it, so it made sense…" He drew his knees to his chest, for a moment looking every bit the fifteen-year-old he really was, hurting and lost. "When I went in search of immortality, I knew I must be ready to make certain sacrifices."

Ed's fingers tightened on Lissa's hip, and she leaned into him. The sulfur in the air burned her heart, but she refused to shut it away.

"But I…" Ling clenched a fist tightly. "I wasn't ready for this." His eyebrows furrowed in pain and misery. "Lan Fan was, though. She made the decision that I was too weak to make." He flinched as Lan Fan screamed again, her voice raw and muffled. They were probably having her bite down on something.

Lissa pulled away from Ed with a sudden conviction. "I'm going to help," she told them all.

Al touched her arm lightly as she went to walk past him. "Are you sure?" he asked softly. "You need to be careful too…"

She cast a glance back at Ling's form, still curled up, his shoulders trembling faintly. "Yeah, Al. I'm sure. I'll be okay." Lissa squared her shoulders and rounded the corner, stepping into the room and gritting her teeth. Riza stood over the bed, holding Lan Fan down by her remaining shoulder, while Dr. Knox worked on sterilizing and closing the wound…where the Xingese girl's left arm should be.

"Lissa, you should wait outside," Riza told her firmly.

But Lissa shook her head. "I came to help," she explained quietly.

Dr. Knox scoffed. "We don't need an alchemist, kid. There's nothin' you can do. Go look after your friends, you'll be more help out there."

She set her jaw. "What about oxygen?" she asked. "I can alter the oxygen content around her. I can alter the temperature of the air, the density…" Lissa stared down at Lan Fan, sobbing through a cloth in pure agony. "I can pull the traces of nitrous oxide from around us, too. That's an anesthetic, right? Wouldn't that help?"

He glanced up at her, scowling, seeming perturbed by her insistence… But then he shrugged and nodded. "Give it a go, if you're so determined. Not too much, though."

Lissa nodded and stepped up, taking a seat beside Riza and closing one hand around Lan Fan's. "I need you to focus on me," she asked softly, though she knew how difficult that would be. "Just keep breathing, in and out your nose… And if you get too dizzy, let go of my hand, okay?" She felt a squeeze—a confirmation—and that was enough. Lissa raised her right hand, feeling out the particles in the air. It was lucky Central was nearby…the pollution reached out enough to leave traces in the air even here, things she could use.

Unwilling to risk anyone else's safety, Lissa drew from the open window on the far side of the room, the air sparkling like starlight as she pieced out separate molecules, drawing together oxygen and nitrous oxide and concentrating it, affecting the composition of the air right around Lan Fan's head. In seconds, the girl's breathing had eased, her straining against Riza became less frequent, and her screams quieted to whimpers, gasps of pain.

"Not bad," Dr. Knox muttered. "'M not used to alchemy doing anything but destroying. How long can you keep that up, though?"

Lissa gritted her teeth. "As long as I need to."

It took half an hour for Dr. Knox to finish—half an hour of solid, continuous work. But Lissa absolutely refused to concede. Lan Fan had lost her fucking arm in the name of this mission… She could handle holding her transmutation until her body gave out, after what that girl did. Finally, though, Dr. Knox bandaged Lan Fan's arm and told Lissa to let up. Within moments, Lan Fan had sunk into a heavy, exhausted sleep.

"She won't be out long," Knox explained, shaking his head and sitting back. "The pain will wake her soon enough. But I've done all I can for now. The rest is just up to her body."

Lissa took the folded-up damp cloth he passed her and carefully lay it on Lan Fan's forehead, staring down at the Xingese girl thoughtfully. Before tonight, she wouldn't have said she cared much for her… But now all she could think of was the night of her state alchemy exam, how Lan Fan had followed her back to the hotel, kept pace with her the whole way… Why? Why had she done that when she needed to be looking for Ling then? No one should suffer alone, she'd said. Was that it? Lissa hadn't even considered what had happened then, but now…

I'm an ass, she realized. I should've opened up about the things I can sense immediately. What if I do have Xingese ancestry? They could practically be my countrymen and I was an ass to them. I'll have to make up for it.

Sighing, Lissa got up from the bed and stretched her back, feeling her joints pop at the motion. It was childish to dislike these people for no substantial reason. She'd fix that.

"That was a very kind thing of you to do," Riza observed softly. "I didn't know you had that ability."

Lissa gave her a little shrug. "I didn't either, not like that. I was just winging it because I wanted to help, that's all." She dipped her head towards the Xingese girl. "Lan Fan lost her arm helping us today, on a task we all set ourselves. It was the least I could do for her."

Riza set a hand on her shoulder and squeezed, just once. "I'll stay here and keep an eye on things. You can tell the others we're finished."

Though some part of her wanted to stay right there, Lissa nodded and stepped out anyway, finding the boys still seated in the hall with Ling. Ed and Al had sat down opposite the prince, both seeming drawn and anxious, but offering silent comfort all the same. All three looked up at her as she approached.

"How is she?" Ling asked quickly, his voice terse and anxious.

"Resting, for the moment. She should be all right." She leaned into the wall and sighed wearily, exhaustion clinging to her like a cloak.

The Xingese prince's eyes followed her movements. "You helped her, didn't you?" he murmured. "I could hear the change in her voice. Can I ask…what you did? I'm afraid alchemy is still a bit foreign to me."

Lissa nodded. There was no harm in it. "I altered the oxygen density around her, to up her oxygen intake—and I gathered what ambient nitrous oxide I could feel out and concentrated that as well. It's an anesthetic, so…I thought it might make this a little easier on her." It didn't sound like much, when she voiced it, but the look in his eyes told her it meant a lot.

"Thank you," Ling told her honestly. "You had no reason to do that."

She bit her lip. "You and Lan Fan risked your lives helping us today. It's the least I could do." Lissa averted her gaze from Ling's face, uncomfortable with the level of gratitude she saw there for something which just felt like…like nothing—only to see Edward looking right at her, golden eyes soft and warm as he stared up at her with so much open affection, so much gentleness… It took her breath away.

Riza stuck her head around the corner. "You can come in now," she announced. "Dr. Knox thinks she'll wake up soon."

The boys immediately got up to go in, but Lissa noted that Ling didn't move. "You coming?" she asked him softly. "I bet she'll want to see you."

He nodded slowly. "In a minute. You three go on."

Lissa wasn't sure about that, but she let Ed press his hand against her back and guide her in all the same. Maybe Ling just needed a moment alone with his thoughts, to gather himself before he faced Lan Fan. She could understand that.

To her surprise, moments after she and the boys stepped to Lan Fan's bedside, Mustang came in as well, standing at the foot of the bed beside Riza. Well…he would be concerned too, she supposed.

"Hey." Ed leaned into her side, his arm coming around her back to pull her into him. Sometimes his comfort with physical contact astonished her, it really did, the easy way he would just bring them together like that. "You holding up okay? You must be exhausted…"

She smiled at him. "I'm okay, Ed. It's nothing I can't handle."

He tipped his head in slightly closer, lowering his voice so only she could hear it, though she felt Al probably could too… "I'm proud of you, Liss. I really am."

Lissa bowed her head and didn't say anything.

"Oh! She's awake!" Al gasped, leaning in.

Ed released Lissa and leaned in as well, smiling kindly down at Lan Fan. "You okay?" he asked her gently. "Is there anything we can do?"

The Xingese girl peered up at him wearily. "That old trap of yours…worked pretty well," she murmured, her voice a bit frail.

Of course—the time Ed used his arm as bait in Rush Valley, to trick Lan Fan. But…did that mean she'd used her own arm as bait earlier? Lissa paled. That was gruesome, if ingenious. What a fucking brave girl.

"But…" Her face crumpled. "I'm useless without my arm. I'm going to need to find a replacement."

Ed clenched his own automail fist thoughtfully. "You know," he began encouragingly, "I can introduce you to a great engineer. She'll take good care of you."

Lan Fan's eyes welled with tears.

Lissa smiled and touched her shoulder gently, knowing this had to be so overwhelming. "You just get some rest, okay?" she murmured. "We'll all be around if you need anything, but you need to focus on healing first."

"Thank you," the Xingese girl whispered. "For helping me earlier."

"No, thank you for risking so much to help us earlier. We owe you, not the other way around," she insisted firmly.

Dr. Knox shuffled them all out—though Mustang and Riza had left before, unnoticed—and they headed back towards the front of the house. Lissa tuned into the writhing sensation she'd been smothering as they rounded the corner, finding Ling and Mustang talking just outside a darkened room. So that's where they'd put Gluttony, then.

"Hey, what do we have here?" Knox wondered as they approached.

Lissa cringed when she saw him—the homunculus was still bound by the steel cables Ed had transmuted earlier, rolling back and forth slightly on the floor in the empty room. It was…gruesome.

"That's Gluttony," Ling explained shortly. "He's a homunculus."

Mustang nodded grimly. "He and his friends appear to have connections among some of the military's senior staff."

Ling rounded on him suddenly, gaze fierce. "Just some, you say?" he scoffed. "It goes far deeper than that. Your Führer King Bradley… I believe it's possible that he's a homunculus too."

While Mustang and Knox reeled, Lissa felt Al's heavy gauntlet hand rest on her shoulder. The boys knew her concerns—she herself had posited something similar back in Dublith, after truly sensing Bradley for the first time, down in the tunnels. He'd been the one to defend her theory, when Ed fought back against it initially. Al had seen…something, down there. Something darker in the Führer. After all, the Führer killed that chimera girl inside him. That would've seriously altered his views on their country's leader.

"I saw his eye," Ling continued, gesturing at his own face. "The one under the patch. It had an ouroboros tattoo, just like this one. He and Gluttony came after us, and they were working together!"

Ed let out a harsh breath. "Dammit," he hissed. "Führer Bradley?"

"The leader of our own country," Al breathed, shaking his head. "That's…awful."

Ling's expression turned thoughtful. "Although… Bradley doesn't have exactly the same sort of inhuman presence that you get from Gluttony. At his core, he still feels like a regular person."

"Another thing… If the Führer really is a homunculus, what about his son? Shouldn't that be impossible? We read in a book that the homunculi have no reproductive capabilities," Al pointed out, though he sounded troubled.

But Dr. Knox spoke up in a heavy voice. "No. The Führer's son, Selim, is adopted. There's no direct blood relation between him and his father."

"I sensed it from him too," Lissa whispered. She'd never told Mustang about her extra ability—and the look of bewilderment on his face showed he had no idea about it whatsoever—but she knew the time for keeping secrets was long gone. "I… I've been able to sense certain things ever since I can remember, or at least, since I came to Central, which is when my memories start, mostly. I only recently suspected that it might be the same as what you sense, Ling. When I sensed Führer Bradley in Dublith, the one time I've really had my senses open around him… He felt…similar to the other homunculi. Not identical, but on the same wavelength. I don't know what other explanation there is for that."

Ling nodded, giving her a sort of contemplative look. "It doesn't seem to be an identical ability…but if you sensed something strange from him as well…"

"Lan Fan described what the homunculi feel like to you, remember?" Lissa pointed out. "Worms wriggling in the ground. And Ed, Al… Isn't that exactly what I said to you in Dublith, about the homunculi?"

Ed's eyes shot wide. "Shit, that's right. Lan Fan described the same thing."

Mustang gave Lissa a sharp look. "You and I are going to have a talk about this later," he told her, rather sternly. Then a smirk broke out on his face, and he told them, "Well… Whether he's monster or human… Either way, these new developments will make it easier to remove him from the seat of power."

Of course. It always came back to his ambitions.

"First we get information out of this one," he continued, jerking a thumb at Gluttony's wriggling form, "and I'll take his stone. It may prove useful in treating my man."

Havoc. But…taking the Philosopher's Stone that powered Gluttony…

"Hey, you!" Ling snapped, lunging and grabbing Mustang by his lapels. "Lan Fan lost her arm to get him! He's our captive! We're taking him back to Xing!"

Ed pulled on his arm angrily. "Hold it! He could help us get our bodies back! We've been working on that for a long time, I'm not going to let you just waltz off with him!"

Lissa winced and looked up at Al. This wasn't the best situation, with all this tension… It could go south in a heartbeat.

"That's right," Mustang added sharply. "Think about it, Ling. You're an illegal alien!"

Knox groaned and stepped back. "I'm too old for this kinda thing," he muttered. "Good luck, Mustang. I'm going home."

"Mustang?" a labored voice squeaked. "Colonel Mustang?!"

Lissa flinched back. Was that…Gluttony talking? "Guys, hold on for a second!" she yelled, taking Ed around the middle and forcibly pulling him away. "Something doesn't feel right here, you need to calm down and listen for a second!"

There was a horrible wrenching sound from Gluttony's direction, like metal straining. And finally they all froze, staring in shock as the homunculus's body continued expanding, pressing against the cables holding him in place—then he began to stand up, fighting his bonds, his feet planting unsteadily on the ground as he screeched, "ROY MUSTANG!"

Something writhed on his stomach. Lissa gripped Ed tighter as a line appeared, curved—and peeled open to reveal an enormous eye, surrounded by horrific, razor-sharp teeth.

The eye crackled with red energy, and Lissa sensed the disturbance in the air, the shifting that belied…something coming. "Move!" she screamed. She used the leverage she already had on Ed to yank him back with her as she thrust her right arm forward, compressing the air in the doorway and expanding it, forcefully. Not a second too soon, either. The entire group was sent flying back just as Gluttony's stomach sent out a wave of consuming energy, completely evaporating an enormous hole in the side of the house.

Lissa rolled to her knees immediately, Ed and Ling right beside her, staring into the emptiness that used to be part of the house. He'd…the homunculus had turned into…something else.

"What was that?!" Riza's panicked voice floated in from outside. "Colonel! What's going on?"

Across the space Gluttony had just consumed, Lissa heard Mustang yell, "Hawkeye, stop!" just a split second before Gluttony attacked again, sending another burst of energy out the same gap.

Part of the house crumbled, and Lissa jerked back, dragging Ling by his collar to avoid the debris she sensed over their heads. In the semidarkness, she could just make out Gluttony's altered form, teeth like an expanded ribcage protruding, eyes glowing a sick red color. His whole lower jaw seemed to have opened, shifting to be part of that horrible gaping maw with the eye at the center.

"Ling, get Lan Fan!" Lissa snapped, shoving him behind her and towards the end of the hall. "She can't move if Gluttony goes after her!"

He gritted his teeth and nodded. "Right!" Ling sprang to his feet and raced off immediately.

At the edge of the destruction, Lissa saw the debris shift, saw Hawkeye step into view and aim a pistol that way—but it was just Al, shoving free of the wood with Mustang and Knox below him, safe. The little panda had attached herself to Mustang's face, and he pulled her off and set her aside. "Lieutenant, don't provoke him!" he ordered. "I'm the one he wants!"

"Liss, c'mon, we gotta move!" Ed told her sharply, taking her arm and hauling her up. She sprinted out through the gap beside him, with Al and Mustang following close behind, while Dr. Knox was quick to move further away, to the far side of the house. Good. This wasn't any place for a doctor, not against that…thing. She was honestly a bit terrified to face him, in this advanced form… Gluttony in his original form wasn't so horrifying.

"Let's go," Mustang ordered. He ripped his normal gloves off with his teeth and slid his ignition gloves on decisively. "We have to bring him down!"

Al peered at him uncertainly, with the panda sitting on his shoulder. "But we worked so hard to catch one of the homunculi," he pointed out.

Mustang shook his head. "Survival is our first priority. Besides, he knows our names and faces now. It would be foolish to let him leave here alive!" He reeled his right arm back, snapped, and sent a blast of fire directly at the homunculus.

Lissa squinted against the explosion, watching Gluttony's silhouette through the fire as he screamed—but then she felt the air shift.

"Something's wrong," she hissed. "He's—dragging it inside!"

As they watched, the fire swirled, the air switching directions as Mustang's attack was sucked into Gluttony's stomach, right through that grotesque eyeball.

"Fuck. He swallowed it?" Ed groaned in disbelief.

"Uh-oh," Al whispered.

As Gluttony attacked again, the teeth around his stomach snapping out to grab them, the four scattered immediately and sprinted for the nearby trees. So the damned thing could eat fire?! What the hell?!

"Oh, that worked well!" Ed sneered as they ran.

"Think you can do better?" Mustang snarled. "Be my guest!"

"Or we could just leave you behind, Colonel!" Al pointed out. "You're the one he really wants!"

Lissa rolled her eyes. Boys…

"Y'know, splitting up might actually give us an advantage!" she yelled.

Mustang nodded shortly. "Those trees over there. Spread out!"

Lissa ducked left, veering off from the others and racing into the trees, trying to keep a fix on each of their individual energies to know where they were—she could feel Ed, to her left, amber and crystalline stars; Al almost directly behind her at this angle, ink and parchment; and Mustang on her right, the searing heat of fire and the sting of icy metal. Always a dichotomy.

And…she could sense Gluttony, though her skin crawled every time she tested where he was.

There was one more as well—gunmetal and smoke and the forest after rain. Riza. She'd have Mustang's back, then.

Lissa switched directions when she felt the others rearrange, following the closest energy until she rounded a tree and rammed straight into Alphonse's chest.

"Oops!" he squeaked. "Sorry, Lissa!"

She shook her head. "No, it's fine, Al. We need to get the hell out of here, I can feel Ed and Mustang—but I think Gluttony might have gotten off Mustang's trail, I'm not sure." Lissa gripped his forearm hard, unwilling to let the boy out of her sight again. Being separated from her boys was always terrifying. "Wait, they're…"

Lissa spun in time to catch Mustang as he stumbled out of the trees, Ed and Riza right at his heels. "You complete idiot," she groaned, scarcely able to support him. "You're still injured, aren't you?"

He gave her a rueful grin. "Now isn't the time to give me a lecture, Starlight."

Ed jerked his thumb behind them. "We gave it a decoy to chew on. That should buy us some time, we left the Colonel's jacket on it so hopefully that homunculus will track that scent, not us. But we gotta move."

Lissa passed Mustang off to Riza and took the lead, letting her senses guide her straight to where Ling, Lan Fan, and Dr. Knox waited by the house. The doctor had brought Mustang's car around, and they'd gotten Lan Fan into the back as well, thankfully. As they reached the car, a screech echoed out of the trees: "NO!"

Ed smiled grimly. "Perfect. He fell for the Mustang decoy."

"Doesn't sound like he's very happy about it," Al observed.

Sighing, Ed turned and began to help Riza get Mustang walking again, as he was pretty much overwhelmed with his side hurting at that point. "All right, now get in the car…invalid," he muttered, sort of forcing Mustang in the open door.

"Lieutenant, please take care of Lan Fan," Al asked of Riza.

Lissa nodded. "She's still unstable—I can feel how labored her breathing is from here. So you guys need to hurry and get out of here."

Ling gave her a poignant look—he'd reached the same inevitable conclusion she and the boys had, then.

"You expect me to run away and leave this to you, Elric?!" Mustang snapped, incensed.

But Ed glowered at him through the open window. "If you stay you'll just get in our way!" he growled.

"Yeah! Leave!" Al demanded as well.

Even Riza nodded. "They're right," she agreed, sternly. "You won't be any use here. Sorry."

Lissa touched Ed's wrist, settling him just a bit—so his next admonition came out less…wrathful. "Right now, you need to go and do your job," he insisted firmly. "The head of the military is a homunculus. Don't you think you should do something about that?"

"The head of the military?" Riza repeated, her brow furrowed. "You're talking about Führer Bradley, aren't you?"

Knox leaned back and scowled at them. "We can talk about it later! Now, get in!" he snapped, eyeing the four teenagers still standing outside the car.

Lissa exchanged looks with the three—Ling, Ed, and Al in turn, all four nodding firmly. They knew. They all knew what had to be done here. And it wasn't hard to accept it, really, with the boys backing her up, with the knowledge resting on her shoulders that there was truly no other option.

"The car looks full," Ed pointed out, smiling. "You go ahead."

Knox's eyes shot wide. "You dumbasses!" he yelled.

"You can't really believe we'll let a few children fight this battle for us!" Riza shouted, looking truly angry—and concerned, behind that.

Ling smirked. "With the senior staff involved in this, you're gonna need all the help you can get," he pointed out.

Ed slung his arm around Lissa's shoulders and nodded. "And that would include getting whatever information we can out of this Gluttony guy, wouldn't you say?"

"It was our plan in the first place," Lissa added.

"We'll stay here and find out what we can. I don't think it matters much that we're children," Al asserted, his voice steady and sure.

"It's like Liss said. This was our mission to begin with, and we're going to see it through." Ed's fingers tightened on her shoulder as he spoke, tugging her in close. She appreciated the connection, the reassurance before they went into this. "We appreciate your help up 'til now, though."

Riza's jaw set—then she loaded her pistol and stuck it out the car window, handle first. "Here, Edward. I want you to take this," she told him firmly. "You do know how to use it, don't you?"

Ed stared at the gun in shock, his comforting grip suddenly turning much too tight, nails digging into Lissa's shoulder. She knew he hated guns, didn't like the violence attached to them, never wanted anything to do with them. They both knew how to use firearms, of course—it was required for anyone in the military, even state alchemists—but most alchemists tended to dismiss the use of them. And Ed in particular had a serious distaste for this sort of thing.

"That's a weapon for killing people," Al murmured, staring down at it.

"Yes," Riza agreed softly. "But it's also a weapon for protecting your lives."

Ed's gaze shifted sideways to Lissa, just for a moment—and in that second, she saw this…unfathomable sorrow in him, a resignation she'd never seen before. "I'll take it," he agreed quietly, reaching out and accepting the gun from Riza's hand.

Something exploded behind them, deep in the forest, and Lissa gritted her teeth. They didn't have much time left.

"Look after Lan Fan," Ling asked of Riza, who nodded her agreement.

Lissa stepped back and tapped Ling's shoulder. "We gotta move," she told him. He nodded, his gaze turning sharper. She exchanged a single, pointed look with her boys—and then the four took off running, back into the forest towards Gluttony.

"This way, right?" Lissa confirmed with the Xingese prince, taking the lead beside him.

He pointed ahead. "Yes. I sense him this way. But if we loop around to the side, we can assess exactly what he's doing and figure out our plan of attack. Follow me."

Ling led them to a thickly-wooded section of forest, and they all ducked behind the trees there, watching Gluttony's mutated form stomping around, occasionally letting out bursts of that strange alchemical energy and swallowing huge chunks of the ground in his rage. He was…really horrifying this way, his other version comparatively tame when juxtaposed against this one.

"I know we said we'd stay and all," Ed muttered, eyeing the homunculus, "but that's seriously freaky."

"He seems to be a bit angry," Ling observed anxiously.

Al glanced at them, nervous. "So…how are we gonna catch him?"

"That's a good question," Lissa muttered. "I think…" But something pressed at the back of her neck, her senses alight—and she whirled at the same time as Ling did, brandishing his sword, both staring at the same spot just up a small hill behind them.

"What is that?" Al breathed. "Is that a dog?"

Sure enough, there was a…dog standing there. But Lissa could feel her skin crawling at its presence, and knew in her heart it was definitely not a dog. "Not quite," she corrected softly.

"Stop it!" the dog yelled, in a familiar, rough voice. "Stop it now, Gluttony!"

Ed scrunched his face up in confusion. "A—a talking dog?!"

The dog cast its red-eyed gaze on him and sort of…grinned. "Hey. Long time no see," it greeted.

"That's a homunculus," Lissa muttered, gripping down on the sleeve of Ed's shirt.

Moments later the dog's body sparked with red light, the transmutation energy she was beginning to associate solely with homunculi—and the dog shifted before their eyes, standing up on two legs from four, as an all-too familiar homunculus took form. Spiky hair settled over a youthful, angular face, and the homunculus from beneath the Fifth Laboratory grinned down at them. "How are ya, Fullmetal pipsqueak?"

Ed rushed for them immediately. "Dammit, I told you before!" he snarled. "Don't call me short!"

"Ed, no!" Lissa cried, chasing after him. He leapt for the homunculus, who dodged smoothly, evading the attacks Ed threw at him, all physical combat rather than alchemy. He had to be really pissed to forgo using alchemy, damn.

"Hey, calm down!" they cried, holding out their hands to stop him. "I'm just here to get Gluttony back, nothing more than that! I don't want to fight you, pipsqueak."

Ed's face contorted. "That's five now!" he ground out, leaping into another attack.

The homunculus dodged and leapt up to a tree branch, staring down at him in utter confusion. "What are you talking about?" they asked, baffled.

"That's five times!" Ed railed. "You called me pipsqueak twice here, and three times in the laboratory!" He clenched his automail fist and glared up at them. "And don't tell me you've forgotten already!"

The homunculus gave him an exasperated look. "Impressive," they muttered. "You've got a sharp memory there."

Lissa finally caught up, stepping in front of Ed to fend off any further attacks. No matter how offended he was, she was intrigued by whatever the hell this homunculus was doing—because they certainly weren't attacking. Even at the Fifth Laboratory they'd gone after Ed and Lissa, just a bit. "So which one are you?" she called up, folding her arms.

They eyed her. "Huh? Which one?"

"Which sin," she clarified. "You homunculi are all named after the Seven Deadly Sins. So which one are you, then?"

"Oh!" They grinned, and Lissa's skin crawled. "You picked up on it. Nice." A sort of head-tilt bow. "Name's Envy. Nice to officially meetcha. Now, if your little boyfriend's done screaming at me, I'm gonna go collect Gluttony." With that, they hopped off the branch and headed towards Gluttony, who was still stumbling around whining.

"Hold it!" Ed yelled, seething.

Lissa rounded on him. "We could use the opportunity, dummy!" she told him severely. "If that homunculus Envy can get Gluttony to stop freaking out, we might stand a chance!"

He winced. "Shit. Good point."

They raced back to where Ling and Al waited, near the two homunculi, reaching the odd group to find Gluttony whining at Envy—something about wanting to eat Mustang, and the homunculus called Lust. Apparently this was an ongoing issue.

"You don't get the Colonel," Envy told him dryly. "Or the Elric brothers, or the female alchemist."

"Why not?" Gluttony whimpered.

Ling sort of smirked at the two homunculi. "I've sensed this multiplicity before," he mused. "So… How many people are inside you, homunculus?"

Envy narrowed their eyes at him. "I know you," they noted, absently resting their elbow atop Gluttony's head. It painted an odd picture, especially since Gluttony's stomach was still gaping. "You're the kid who crossed swords with Wrath, aren't you?"

"What do you mean, kid?" Ling demanded, taking immediate offense. "I happen to be the twelfth son of the emperor of Xing! My name is-"

"Eat him."

Lissa jolted. The hell did that asshole just say?!

Ling's jaw dropped—then he frantically took off running, Gluttony at his heels, slavering just behind him.

"Wait," Lissa breathed. "He can only go after Ling? So…"

Ed grinned at her and Al. "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" he asked wryly, cracking the knuckles of his left hand.

Al bobbed his head. "Looks like they really aren't allowed to do anything to the three of us."

"In which case…" Ed clapped his hands together and pressed them to the ground, dropping to one knee for a moment. An enormous wall sprang up between Gluttony and Ling, causing the fat homunculus to bounce backwards unexpectedly, separating them immediately. "Ling! You get that one!" Ed ordered, pointing at Envy.

Gluttony took a step backwards as the three alchemists advanced on him, fear glimmering in his eyes. Lissa glanced sideways at Ed and nodded. Then she shot forward, parting the air around her, and took off after Gluttony as he let out a wail of terror.

"Al!" Lissa shouted over her shoulder. "I need a boost!"

"I'm on it!" he called back.

She felt the ground shift underneath her feet, tensed, and then leapt forward as Al transmuted a rising platform under her, angled to give her a boost towards Gluttony. Lissa rammed into the homunculus dead on, right at the center of his back, and kicked him forward end over end. At the same time, Ed transmuted an enormous hole in the ground, like a well, right in front of Gluttony—who toppled right in, flailing helplessly.

"Nice!" Ed cheered, rushing up beside her to peer inside, Al right next to him. "Got 'im!"

But Gluttony leapt out, springing upwards with the aid of those horrible extending tooth-ribs still protruding from his gut. "Whew! That was a close one," he panted.

Ed glared at him. "I've had enough of you!" he snarled, rushing in close and unleashing a flurry of quick attacks, all of which the homunculus frantically dodged.

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

But Al ran up behind him and grabbed him under the arms, hoisting him up and pinning him in a single motion. "Not today!"

Gluttony shrieked and heaved Al forward, up and over himself, flinging him right at Ed—and the damned wall. Lissa cursed and tried to pad the air against the wall, but a moment too late, only succeeding in keeping Ed from being totally crushed as he and Al smashed right through to the other side.

"Stay out of my way, guys!" Ling chided. "I'm busy!"

Lissa planted herself in front of Gluttony and raised her hands. "You keep back!" she snarled. "You're not eating our friend!"

The homunculus seemed to pout at her. "But I wanna!" He leapt up, over Lissa's head, and ran through the gap before she had a chance to stop him. Cursing, Lissa boosted herself over the wall, landing just outside the ditch, stunned to see Ling bent over… Lan Fan?

"Ling, they're a shapeshifter!" Lissa yelled, recoiling in horror as she pieced it together. "It's not her!"

Envy grinned up at her with Lan Fan's face. "Go for it, Gluttony!"

"Ling!" Ed cried, racing to get the prince out of the way with Al just behind him. He cut sideways, ramming into Ling as Envy lunged upward. All out of reach to her. So Lissa darted forward, forced to trust Ed to get Ling out of the way, the air crackling blue as she went for the one person who didn't stand a chance of evading in time.

"Alphonse, look out!" she screamed, ramming into him full-force.

The world exploded behind her, Gluttony's horrible swallowing power unleashing a mere centimeter in front of Al's outstretched hand. She felt it, felt it graze the back of her hair and sever an inch from the bottom, before she tumbled to the ground with Al's arm around her, keeping her from flying off anywhere else and getting hurt. Lissa lay there a moment, panting hard, before she shoved up and spun around to see the damage. Gluttony stood to her left, at the far end of a brand-new chasm cut in the ground, one finger stuck in his mouth uncertainly. To her right, the bottom half of what looked like Lan Fan was disintegrating, cut off from Envy's Philosopher's Stone.

A tree snapped and broke nearby.

"No," she whispered. "No, no, no… No…"

The space where Ling, Envy, and Ed had been…was empty.

Gluttony whined softly. "Swallowed them?"

Al lunged, grabbed Gluttony by his rib-teeth, and slammed him into the ground full force. "Brother!" he screamed. "Ling! You—spit them out!" he demanded of the homunculus, his voice high-pitched and desperate. "Damn you, spit them out now!"

Lissa crashed to her knees, her hands falling limply at her sides.

"I can't," Gluttony told him softly, his stomach slowly closing up. "I swallowed them."

She dug her fingers into the dirt, her body beginning to tremble, vision blurring. No… No… He can't…he can't be…

"Impossible," Al whispered, his voice breaking. "It can't be… Brother!"

Lissa folded in on herself as Al screamed, pure agony, the weight of his suffering twisting with her own and dragging her down. Tears cascaded down her cheeks, burning her eyes, but she couldn't move to wipe them away. She couldn't breathe. Ed was gone. Gone. He'd been swallowed, eaten, vanished into that—that monster's stomach.

The sound of Al sobbing pierced her dazed state, and she lifted her head, seeing him on his knees in front of Gluttony, the homunculus staring down at him in a sort of horror. Al's whole body was shaking, his hands crackling with latent transmutic energy, his emotions so overwhelmed he might destroy the whole area with a single gesture. He'd lost his brother. Lissa choked on her own self-hatred. How could she sit there and wallow in her own despair when Al…kindhearted Alphonse…had just lost his own brother.

She stumbled to her feet, knees barely able to support her, legs wobbling at every step—but she forced herself to hold it together and stepped down into the ditch, sliding down the incline. "Al," she murmured, approaching him. He didn't acknowledge her, so she rested her hand on his back and stroked down the cool metal, aware he couldn't quite feel it, but knowing he'd sense her presence all the same. "Alphonse, come on… Come here…"

He shuddered underneath her palm but didn't get up, didn't move at all.

Lissa knelt beside him and touched the side of his helmet gently. "C'mon, little brother," she whispered. He looked at her sharply, his voice catching on a sob. "Let's get out of this ditch, at least. Okay?"

Al nodded slowly, pushing to his feet. She took his hand and guided him from the ditch, noticing as the little panda crawled up her leg and came to sit on her shoulder—and even Gluttony followed, waddling after them without any clear purpose for himself at the moment. But she was only worried about Al, the way he was trembling uncontrollably, how faint the light of his eyes was…

Lissa led him to sit under the trees nearby, the furthest she could force herself to go. He sank down there heavily and dropped his head into his hands, still sobbing weakly. All she could do was kneel beside him and rest her hands on his armor, her heart aching for him, every part of her screaming out in pain at the loss—and the horrible reality of sitting there by a crying boy she considered her little brother, who couldn't even feel it when she hugged him.

"What do we do?" Al whispered. "He—he's gone, Lissa. Brother can't be gone, can he?"

She rested her forehead on his arm and shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I—don't want to believe it… I can't…" Her throat ached as she held back another wave of tears. "I…didn't protect him, I'm so sorry, Al, I…"

"Neither of us did," he murmured, looking back up at her. "He was trying to save Ling… Brother always tried to help everyone but himself…"

Despite her best efforts, Lissa sobbed weakly, burying her face in her hands. "I'm sorry, little brother," she choked out. "I'm so sorry…"

Al brought his arms around her, and they clung together, holding tight against the agony.

Edward…was gone.


(Um... Don't hate me?)