So...uh, hi. It has been an AWFULLY long time, hasn't it? I'm so, so, so incredibly sorry. And also kind of wildly, tearfully grateful because I've still gotten comments and reviews on this story despite vanishing into the abyss for a long time. To sum it up - I've had a whole slew of health issues that have just completely knocked me off my feet, and I've been just...not in a great way because of that. I get to have a brain MRI this month. It's great. Additionally I have an arm injury that set me back from about 10k words a day to, er, 0 words a day for a while. I'm not making excuses but I want to be transparent because I am writing for you all, the readers, and this is just where I am in life. I had to look after myself for a while. But I am here, tentatively, and I do have material so the show must go on, so to speak! I want to extend absolute mountains of gratitude to the people who reviewed, and especially messaged me (omg) to ask if I'm all right... That means more to me than I can possibly say. I love you all, seriously. And I hope this double update goes a teensy way in getting me back into your good graces. Lissa's story is by no means finished, and I intend to see it through to the conclusion!


Major Miles led them from the medical room in stoic silence, down so many unadorned, identical hallways that Lissa felt hopelessly lost in minutes. She didn't really like that, feeling so…beholden to somebody else showing them around, but there wasn't much of a choice here. For the time being, they were at the Briggs forces' mercy—and apparently, things were done very differently up here in the north. That much was painfully clear now.

"So, uh…" Ed looked up at Major Miles a bit curiously. "Exactly what kind of work will you have us doing?"

But the Major said nothing.

Still, Ed pressed onward, difficult as always to deter. "That doctor said people around here have a lot of things to hide, too. So what're you hiding, Major?"

Lissa touched the back of his hand lightly. Careful, dummy…

When the Major didn't reply, again, Ed grew even more determined. "It's no fair for you guys to ask all the questions and never answer any!" he pointed out irritably. "We said our bit, so what's your deal, huh?"

Finally, the Major paused, though he didn't turn to face them. "You really want to know?" he asked lowly. He removed his tinted goggles then, holding them in a couple clenched fingers as he turned to stare at them fiercely over his shoulder, his gaze harsh.

"Red eyes!" Ed gasped, recoiling.

Lissa felt her jaw drop. "But you're… That's…"

"An Ishvalan?!" Al breathed.

Ed's hand rested on Lissa's shoulder and gripped down tightly. "I don't understand," he murmured. "We were told all the soldiers from Ishval were purged before the Extermination."

"They were," Lissa confirmed quietly. "I remember when the order went out in Central."

Miles regarded them coolly. "It's true that Ishvalan blood flows in my veins, but my father and my grandmother were not from that region. They were a different race." He tapped a finger to his temple. "My eyes are Ishvalan, though. My grandfather's blood runs strong." Finally, the Major turned fully to them, meeting Ed's fierce look straight on. "Amestrian… It was your people who destroyed the land of my grandfather."

Lissa gritted her teeth. But we didn't do it! Not us, specifically. Why are we still being blamed for things we didn't do?!

Ed tensed, bowed his head a moment—then looked up sharply, resolute. "Ishvalan, your people destroyed our countryside," he shot back in an unwavering tone. "One of you is responsible for murdering my friend's parents. Your forces killed Lissa's parents as well, and were likely the cause of her losing most of her childhood memories."

She sucked in a sharp breath. That was…true, but dangerous to say nonetheless.

"Careful, brother!" Al warned, sounding shocked by the whole thing.

Yet Ed refused to back down—and after a few seconds, something shifted in Miles' expression, and he began to chuckle, his whole posture softening. "I'm sorry, but that's the first time I've heard anyone give me that kind of an answer," he explained, sounding almost…impressed."

"What, you were testing me?" Ed grumbled, narrowing his eyes.

Miles inclined his head. "I know, it was rude. Since the war, Amestrians always view me with a mixture of guilt and pity. To be honest, I'm getting tired of it." He regarded them curiously. "But you're different, aren't you?"

Lissa reached up to touch Ed's hand where it still sat on her shoulder, curling her fingers around his. "Our experiences have been…varied," she explained quietly.

Ed nodded his agreement. "An Ishvalan tried to kidnap us—one nearly killed us, and then briefly fought alongside us as well. After all that… I'd say our feelings are a bit conflicted." He stared determinedly at Miles. "Besides… I think people should try to ignore their race, and just treat each other as equals."

Inexplicably, the Major smiled as he stepped aside, and held out his arm for them to continue. So they'd…reached some kind of mutual respect with him, then, Lissa assumed.

"Major Miles, were you on active duty during the War of Extermination?" Ed asked as they continued, his hand now firmly in Lissa's—something he hadn't been doing before, perhaps out of some desire to protect her.

Miles nodded as he approached the elevator doors at the end of the hall, and pressed the button beside them, slipping his goggles back on at the same time. "Yes, I was. I've been under General Armstrong's command since then." He folded his arms over his chest as they waited. "The war began right after I was posted here. Many of my relatives, including my grandfather, were killed in the east."

"And you were allowed to keep serving?" Lissa asked, looking up at him curiously. "I came to Central around the same time, into a military-run facility… I remember kids being taken out of the facility if they had too much Ishvalan blood."

"I fell outside the military's purge requirements," Miles explained to her, "so I was spared the same fate."

Ed frowned at him. "You didn't hold any grudge against the military?"

Miles chuckled softly, amused by the question. "You don't understand how the world works, now do you?"

Ed looked down towards the floor, though Lissa had nearly expected him to be angry by the insinuation. "I know I'm ignorant about some things." He gazed up at Miles rather solemnly. "If I offended you, I'm sorry."

"An ignorant state alchemist, you say?" Miles grinned. "Interesting. You really do ask things directly, don't you?"

"What other way is there?" Lissa pointed out, shrugging. She watched Miles eyeing her curiously as the elevator arrived, and he slid the inner door aside to let them on. "We're used to soldiers talking down to us and not actually being truthful at first, just because we're younger. If we don't ask…then nobody would bother to tell us anything."

"Hm." The Major closed the gate behind them and pressed the button inside the elevator. "I suppose that's true." He looked at the closed doors thoughtfully. "I did resent the military's actions. And, I also had doubts as to why General Armstrong would keep me as her Staff Officer. The presence of someone with Ishvalan blood could cause discord among the soldiers stationed here. It would've been easier for her to get rid of me," he reflected. "Eventually, I just came right out and asked her."

"And…" Lissa frowned at him uncertainly. "What did she say?"

One corner of his mouth curled up. "She explained that there was no room for discrimination here at Briggs. General Armstrong asserted that my ancestry gave me a unique point of view she herself could not possess—and that my presence would help her see situations through a different lens." He inclined his head. "Her words made sense. I knew she was speaking without deception." He smirked just faintly. "I even went so far as to ask her—what if the Ishvalan blood within me cannot forgive what the military did to my people? And do you want to know what the General said to that?"

Al shifted, his armor clanking. "What did she say?" he asked softly.

Miles nearly grinned. "She said she would accept my challenge at any time. That was it."

All three wilted just a bit. "What a scary lady," Ed mumbled, looking sideways at Lissa and Al, his face scrunched up with a touch of genuine fear.

"Maybe she said that because she had her troops with her," Al suggested.

"No… That wasn't it at all," Miles told them, a bit fearfully himself. "The look in her eye… She really meant it."

Lissa gripped down on Ed's hand reflexively. "I'm gonna slap Alex next time I see him," she hissed under her breath, fighting back a shudder at the whole thing. "He did not warn us enough about his freaking sister!"

The elevator arrived with a ding, and Miles led them off and outside, through a set of thick metal double doors and into the freezing wind. Lissa shuddered as it stung at her exposed fingers, and hurried to put her second layer of gloves on as protection.

"You know what the law is here?" Miles asked, as he turned right and led them along the deck.

"Survival of the fittest?" Edward edged, reluctant.

"That's right," the Major confirmed with a nod. "Without power, you die. And if you have it, you might survive. That fact always remains the same, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. It's a simple life, really. Whether you're a private or a general, race, ethnicity, and gender make no difference."

Lissa could get behind that. A place where her gender made no difference in how she was treated… Now that was something she sorely wanted.

Beside her, Ed lost his footing and slipped, stumbling forward with his arms flailing as he tried to regain his balance. She cushioned the air beside the railing, quick as she could, anxious he might fall off—and beside her, mere inches from her outstretched arm, a sharp icicle came crashing down onto the deck.

She exchanged a horrified look with Ed. If he'd been standing there…

"Survival of the fittest in action," Miles observed. "Your luck was strong, so you survived."

Slowly, Lissa lowered her arm, the blue energy fading out as she released her alchemy. She hadn't even considered what might be above them, the dangers beyond Ed tumbling off the edge of the fortress… And that icicle had fallen so suddenly that with all her layers on, Lissa hadn't been able to sense the disturbance of the air in time. A sick wave of uselessness tumbled over her—up here in the cold, her gender might not matter… But out in the elements, her alchemy was severely muted. She'd never been in that position before.

Miles pointed up at the myriad of dangerous icicles above them. "These icicles all need to be scraped off. That'll be your job for today. When you're finished, one of my men will show you to your quarters."

Lissa craned her neck to stare up at the icicles, suspended far above them. That was their job? Really?

Miles retrieved three tools for the job from a nearby closet—really just pickaxe heads on long wooden stakes—and distributed them before heading back into the base. Lissa glared up at the icicles as though that were the source of all her consternation, all her problems. "He's kidding, right?" she muttered. "There must be a thousand damned icicles up here."

"I don't think he's kidding," Al told her dejectedly.

Ed marched up to the edge, with the railing between him and a serious fall, and stared up at the icicles. "Well, I guess we've got no choice then," he sighed. He stretched onto his toes and reached up with his pickaxe…and wiggled it midair, holding it at the very end… Yet the icicles remained stubbornly out of reach.

Lissa giggled into her glove. "Aw, if only you'd grown a couple more inches this year, Ed."

He turned and glared at her. "You're barely taller than me!" he shot back. "Why don't you try, huh?"

She pointed helpfully at the drop just a foot away from him. "If I'm doing that, who's gonna keep you from falling all the way down when you inevitably slip again, hm? Considering you can't keep your feet under you."

"Nuh-uh, you're not getting out of this," Ed told her fiercely, stomping over and taking her by the wrist. He pulled her over to where Al had begun to knock the icicles off, plenty tall enough to handle it. Lissa didn't want to be outdone—so she popped over to the nearest support pillar and stretched up to the top of that, balancing against it the whole way, and just barely managed to reach a couple icicles up at the top.

Ed's jaw dropped. "Dammit!" He reached up again, aiming for a couple longer icicles above his head, but still couldn't do it. "Ugh, this is hopeless, I can't reach!" he complained.

"Huh? Is that you?"

Lissa spun at the familiar voice, staring in surprise as Warrant Officer Falman walked out from inside the base, holding another of the icicle-pickaxes and seeming just as bewildered as the three alchemists were.

"Officer Falman!" Ed turned away from his task immediately.

Falman blinked at them. "Lissa, Edward, Alphonse? What are you three doing here?" he asked, confused.

"Us? What about you?" Ed returned. "I thought you were at the Northern Command Center."

Falman grinned sheepishly. "Uh, yeah… I was, for a while, but then Northern Command bumped me up here."

"Oh! And they promoted you!" Al realized, pointing out the brand new Second Lieutenant's star on Falman's shoulder.

That brightened him up. "Yeah, sure did."

Ed slung his arm over Lissa's shoulders and beamed at him. "Hey, that's great, congratulations!" But then he eyed Falman's pickaxe thoughtfully. "But…why're you knocking down icicles, then? That's…kinda strange work for a Second Lieutenant."

"If they have you doing something like this," Al mused, "then that means…"

"They've taken you off the career track!" the boys realized.

Lissa rolled her eyes and pulled free of Ed as Falman wilted. "Oh, don't be so mean about it," she told them, crossing to Falman and wrapping her arms around him. "It's good to see you, Falman. I didn't think we'd find anybody we knew all the way up here."

He smiled, a bit reluctantly now, and patted her head fondly. "You too, Lissa. How's everyone down at Central holding up?"

"They're okay," she murmured, inclining her head. She knew what he was really asking. "Mustang's still going after the same things—and Riza's doing all right, given the circumstances. We saw her just a few days ago, actually, she's in good spirits at least."

Falman nodded slowly. "There's more going on here than I know, isn't there."

"Yeah," Lissa told him softly. "There is."

Ed caught her gaze, looking thoughtful—then he stepped over and kissed her quickly, right on the mouth, before bounding back to Al and suggesting they get to work on the icicles again. Lissa marveled at how well he knew her, how he'd sensed without her ever needing to say it that she wanted a moment to speak with Falman.

"Aw, that's new," Falman teased lightly, leaning onto the railing beside her. "That's cute, you and Edward. I think we all saw that coming a mile away."

Lissa rolled her eyes as she leaned next to him, crossing her arms at the wrists and staring out at the snowy landscape. "Everybody but me and Ed, apparently." She bit her lip for a moment in thought. "Falman… Did everybody on the Colonel's team know that he was adopted?"

He raised his eyebrows. "I think so. It's not exactly a secret, not for us at least, but… That's right, he never wanted us to tell you. I'd forgotten all about that, honestly. Probably a miracle I didn't say anything. Who told you, anyway? I wouldn't think the Colonel did."

"No." She sighed wearily. "Riza did. And I didn't have a moment to talk to him before we came up here, either."

"The Colonel's always tried to look out for you, Lissa," Falman told her gently. "I don't know why he wanted to keep that from you, but I know he had his reasons—and he… Well…" He grinned. "He at least thought it was the right way to handle it."

Lissa gritted her teeth and glared at nothing in particular. That was true, but it didn't make it better.

"What's on your mind, kid?" he asked her curiously. "I've known you a long time, Lissa. I know something else is bothering you."

She tried to force her hackles to lower. Falman was one of Mustang's team, so she always had a certain…association with them, she supposed—but she'd never blamed them for the weird relationship she had with Mustang. They'd all known her for eight years now, seen her go from that angry, hateful little kid all the way to what she was now, in a much better space mentally… She didn't need to be harsh with him. "Sorry," Lissa murmured. "I guess I'm just…looking for answers, that's all. I'm trying to understand why he tried so damn hard with me, why he's always been…so interested in me. I don't get it."

Falman nodded slowly, staring out at the landscape alongside her for a moment. "I wish I had more answers for you. I really do. But the only one who can really give you what you want is the Colonel."

I know that. I'm just trying to pretend I can find out from anyone else because it'd be easier.

"However…" He squeezed her shoulder. "I know he's never been interested for his own gain. He genuinely wanted to help you, Lissa. I mean, I remember way back at the beginning, he-"

But he cut himself off.

Lissa narrowed her eyes and looked up at him sharply, latching onto that one little slip. "He what, Falman? Back at the beginning he what?"

"I…shouldn't say," Falman told her hesitantly.

She crossed her arms irritably. "You can't just—start saying something and then stop, y'know," she muttered. "That's not fair."

"I'm just…not sure how you'll feel," he sighed. "Look, the thing is… Back when you first came to Central, when the other state alchemists kept saying you were so dangerous—everyone except Major Armstrong, I'm sure you know…" Falman clasped his hands together. "Anyway… At that point, he… Well, he tried to…"

"Tried to what?"

Falman relented and bowed his head. "The Colonel very seriously attempted to adopt you, Lissa. To get you out of the system."

Lissa staggered backwards, pressing a hand to her face in shock. He… Mustang had tried to…

"They wouldn't let him," he explained, continuing in a softer tone now. "It was a conflict of interest, supposedly… And his age was a factor, as I understand it… I wasn't on his team at the time, but I heard about it later, I saw the paperwork. They thought he was too young. He would've been probably twenty-two or twenty-three at the time, so… I guess there was a point to that."

"I never… Nobody ever told me," she breathed, the world spinning before her eyes. Mustang had tried to get her out of that facility? He'd…tried to adopt her, to legally take her in? "Why, Falman?" she whispered, turning to him with tears brimming in her eyes. "Why me, why—out of anybody, why me?"

He turned the corner of his mouth up ruefully. "I don't know the answer to that. You'd have to ask the Colonel. But…I do know he's always really wanted to help you, no matter what it's felt like sometimes."

Lissa shut her eyes tightly, trying to rearrange her worldview. Roy Mustang had wanted to take a chance on that tiny, wrathful mini-alchemist—he'd been willing to legally take her in, even when she vocally hated him, even when she was constantly lashing out and struggling with control… He'd been willing to take a chance on her despite all of that.

And I was an ass to him. Something I never apologized for.

"Liss?" Ed came up behind her and pulled her in close, taking both her hands in his and leaning in to look into her eyes. "Hey, what's going on? What's wrong?"

Everything. And nothing, all at once.

"I'll tell you later," she mumbled instead, opening her eyes and finding a weak smile. "How's the icicle-breaking coming?"

He quirked a faint grin and tilted his head back. "Eh, Al's doing great, I…still can't reach shit." Ed tugged her in a bit closer and lowered his voice, turning the conversation just private enough. "You looked like you were about to cry… Did something happen?" As he spoke, his left thumb traced across her knuckles lightly, a subconscious, comforting gesture.

"Nothing bad," Lissa told him, shaking her head. "Just…later. Please?"

Ed nodded reluctantly, though she knew he'd remember that later on, when they were in private—he didn't like to let things go.

"If you kids are finished out here, why don't I show you around the base?" Falman suggested, resting his pickaxe back on his shoulder. "The next team will be in soon to work on these icicles anyway."

"Sure!" Al agreed eagerly. Even he wanted to get out of the wind and back into the base.

They put their pickaxes away, and Lissa was relieved when Ed draped his arm across her shoulders, keeping her close as they headed back into the base. Falman pointed out highlights as they wound their way back inside, trying to make sense of the rabbit warren for them as much as he could—though even he admitted it had taken him a while to get used to the layout.

Falman led them out onto a large catwalk overlooking a lower section of the fort, where they could see what looked like…well, tanks being put together. "This is the Development Sector," Falman explained."

"Wow," Ed breathed, peering over the edge of the railing. "Is this for what I think it is?"

"Probably," Falman conceded. "It was General Armstrong's idea. This department researches the country's latest technologies and develops them into weapons."

Ed eyed him curiously. "Does that include combat automail?"

"Sure does."

Lissa stared down at the half-assembled tank just below them. So this was why the General had been so interested in alkahestry—she had her very own R&D department at her disposal. If she actually did get any information from Mei Chang, she had the ability to do something with it, too. Damn. They couldn't let her do that, even if it might technically help Amestris. Not when any developments would be going straight to Wrath.

"Come on, follow me," Falman urged, heading off along the catwalk and beckoning for them to go as well.

He took them even further down into the base, so far down Lissa's ears popped in the elevator, and finally out onto an observation deck, overlooking an enormous room full of red pipes of varying sizes. The air was warmer, and Lissa eagerly stripped off her outer gloves, feeling confident she wouldn't get frostbite down here at least.

"This place is huge," Lissa observed, as Falman took them down the nearby stairs to the floor of the room. "How far down did we go, anyway?"

"This is the lowest level of Fort Briggs, actually," the Second Lieutenant explained.

Ed peered around curiously. "It's warm down here—not like it was up above." He grabbed Lissa's hand when she put her gloves away, keeping close to her like he knew she was still off kilter from before—even if he didn't know why just yet. She would tell him… But later, when they had a little privacy. When she could cry if she needed to.

"All the fort's most important functions—its lifelines—come through here. Even if the fort's attacked, this area will remain safe. It's kind of the heart of everything down here." Falman stepped aside while Ed, Al, and Lissa looked around in a sort of astonishment. It was just…so damn big, all of it.

Lissa sensed the disturbance behind them and yanked Ed out of the way by his shoulders, both narrowly avoiding a worker as he brushed right past them. "Keep outta the way, kids," he complained at them irritably. "Not a great place to stand!"

Ed wrinkled his nose at the guy's back. "Sorry," he muttered.

"That was rude," Lissa sighed, shaking her head.

Falman shrugged helplessly. "Eh, you get used to it here. Everybody's just…focused on working, really. The General knows how to light a fire under anyone's ass."

"Doesn't mean they have to…" But Lissa trailed off, the muscles in her shoulders seizing as her senses came alive. Pins-and-needles… Okay, what exactly is so damned important, then? She ignored Falman's baffled look as she closed her eyes for a moment, trying to focus in on the Dragon's Pulse. Briggs had so many people, it was difficult to piece apart what was bugging her, what had nudged past the usual damper she had on her senses to grab her attention.

"Are you sensing something?" Al asked her, sounding worried.

Lissa nodded hesitantly. "Yeah… It feels like…"

But she didn't get to finish her sentence. The ground rumbled beneath their feet, the whole room seeming to tremble. There was a tremor like an earthquake—and Lissa staggered into Ed, both unbalanced, as the floor underneath a large pipe ripped open, dust and debris exploding upward. A klaxon alarm blared as the Briggs soldiers scrambled into action, but the three alchemists remained where they were, watching in horror as an enormous being crawled up from the ground.

He was…huge, a monster of a creature with a thickly-muscled body, oversized limbs, and metal cuffs around his wrists dangling chains to either side of him. His hair was black, hanging limp and stringy down from his head—and his eyes were mismatched, one eerie and white and the other a concentric red circle, trailing a red line down from his face and onto his arm.

Lissa's senses roiled with the unmistakable, horrific feeling of worms writhing in the dirt.

"He's a homunculus," she hissed, staring ahead at the creature. "I know it, I can feel him, there's nothing else that feels like that."

"A homunculus?!" Ed echoed, recoiling in shock. "So they found us?!"

If the homunculi already knew they were here, at Briggs, and they'd sent this—horrible thing to deal with them… Lissa brought her arms to bear, expecting a fight. This was bad. Had they really been found out so easily?!

The homunculus stared at them, sharp teeth bared in a sort of grimace. He wavered, looking ready to fight…

And then dropped his head down to his chest and began to snore.

"You're sleeping?!" Ed shrieked, half stunned and half angry.

The homunculus startled back awake, and peered around himself in a sort of…confusion, Lissa thought. "What's this?" he rumbled in a deep, bone-rattling voice.

Ed glanced at Lissa uncertainly. "Um… I'm guessing—that creepy guy back in Central who you call Father told you about us?" he edged.

"But you see, we're just here trying to find a way to get our bodies back!" Al hurried to add. "That's all!"

"We're not doing anything wrong!" Lissa interjected, nodding.

The homunculus tipped his head to one side and regarded them, still seeming oddly confused by everything. "Why…should I care…about you?" His speech was slow, deliberate, like every word was a monumental effort just to get out.

"The hell?" Lissa whispered, stunned.

He sighed heavily. "Go dig…a hole," he complained. "How annoying." The homunculus turned and began shuffling off past them, muttering to himself the whole way. "Really… What a…pain…"

"He's not attacking us," she murmured, looking at the boys in shock.

Ed furrowed his brow. "You mean…he doesn't know?"

Al leaned in and brought a hand to his face, whispering, "No. I don't think he's heard about us from Father or Führer Bradley. So that means-"

Lissa cut through the air, shimmering blue as she rammed her arm into Ed's side and shoved him out of the way, just as Captain Buccaneer fired a single round at Ed from above. "What the hell was that about?!" she demanded, stepping in front of a very startled Ed.

Buccaneer glared down at her, still aiming his gun her way. "Ah-hah! So it turns out you really are Drachman spies!"

"We aren't spies!" Lissa yelled back, incensed.

Al shook his head fiercely. "We really aren't!"

"Don't lie to me! I saw you talking to the intruder like you knew who he was!" Buccaneer accused harshly.

"No we weren't!" Ed screamed up to him.

Yet Buccaneer wouldn't listen for a moment. "Your lies won't fool me!"

Lissa felt Ed grab onto her shoulder tightly, stepping up beside her as he yelled, "I'm not lying! We've never even met that guy!"

The displacement alerted Lissa just in time—she twisted towards the boys and rammed her palms together, creating a centralized compression of air that knocked her, Ed, and Al out of the way just as the homunculus flung a huge piece of piping straight at them. She rolled backwards with the force of her own blast, while Al managed to grab ahold of Ed's wrist and yank him back, all three landing in a bit of a heap nearby.

"D'you think he'll believe us now?" Al muttered, rising to a crouch and peering up at the Briggs soldiers, who had lined up to begin firing on the homunculus.

"I fucking hope so," Ed growled. "Who the hell is this guy, anyway? Which one is he?"

Lissa rested her knee on the floor as she tied her hair back, stuffing her earmuffs into her pocket so they didn't get in the way. "I'm guessing Sloth? Just by the way he talks. He's just…" She swallowed reflexively. "Bigger than I expected."

"It could be worse," Al offered. "He could be as big as Envy."

Ed groaned and passed a hand over his face. "Please, Al. Don't jinx us." He got to his feet and squinted across the room—then hissed out a breath through his teeth as the soldiers tried and failed to attack Sloth. "Dammit. Looks like this one's impervious to guns. This just got a hell of a lot worse."

"And he's…operating a lift." Lissa tugged at her own ponytail in distress. "Okay, seriously, what the hell is with this homunculus?"

"I have no idea," Ed admitted.

Al stared worriedly up after Sloth. "Isn't that lift taking him up to the Development Sector?" he asked, sounding anxious.

"Shit, you're right." Ed nodded firmly at Lissa. "C'mon, let's see if we can help!"

They took off running after the Briggs soldiers, Falman right on their heels, forced to go the long way up through the stairwell since Sloth had quite literally taken off with the elevator. The whole place was a mess of chaos and commotion, but all sort of purposeful, like everyone knew where they were supposed to be. Halfway up, that obnoxious klaxon alarm shut off. Lissa wondered at that. She guessed everyone must know there was something wrong at this point, so there was no use keeping it on, in the end.

The three emerged onto the R&D floor as Sloth went barreling through a makeshift barricade, and sent a huge metal locker flying straight at a few soldiers.

"Liss! I need a boost!" Ed shouted, sprinting ahead.

Lissa flung her arms forward and skidded to a halt. "Keep running, I've got you!" she yelled back. She sent alchemic energy scurrying along his path, parting the air around him and lending him extra speed as he raced for the endangered soldiers. With her help, Ed reached them in time and clapped his hands, slamming his palms on the ground and raising an enormous stone hand up as cover. It caught the locker midair, knocking it back and saving the three Briggs men who had been in its path.

Ed let out a heavy sigh and knelt there a moment, while Lissa and Al caught up to him. She approached and tucked an arm under Ed's, pulling him to his feet beside her and exchanging a fierce sort of grin. "I'm getting better at that, aren't I?" she asked, a bit breathlessly.

"Damn right you are," he told her, tugging on a loose strand of her hair. "Thanks for the assist."

Lissa waved him off. "It's nothing. Now, c'mon. We've got work to do, yeah?"

Ed nodded quickly, and the three hurried over to where General Armstrong sat crouched upon a tank, as though that sort of firepower would give her an edge. Lissa knew better—this homunculus might as well be impervious to everything, from what she'd seen.

"It won't work!" Ed yelled, as they reached the General. "Try whatever you want to, but he won't die!"

She stood up straight and stared down at them. "He won't?"

"Just what are you saying?" Buccaneer demanded, from where he stood beside the tank. "How does a kid like you know something like that, huh?"

Ed gritted his teeth. "Be—because we…"

"Drop the act!" General Armstrong snapped, ramming the sheath of her sword against the metal of the tank's armor. "You will answer all my questions clearly and completely! Both of you!" She narrowed her eyes. "First off. How do you know about that thing? Are you Drachman spies?"

"No!" Lissa shouted back, frustrated that they were on that same issue.

Ed glared up at the General. "We're not spies!"

"Is that thing a spy?" she pressed, pointing at Sloth.

Twisting his mouth up, Ed shook his head this time. "I really doubt it!"

"Does that thing know you?"

"No, apparently not," Ed told her honestly.

The General eyed Lissa. "Either of you?"

"Neither one of us," Lissa confirmed, as fiercely as she could manage.

Then the General asked the question she'd been absolutely dreading to hear. "What is that thing?" she demanded.

Ed's jaw clenched hard. "We can't answer."

Still, General Armstrong wasn't deterred. "Who does that thing work for?"

"We can't answer that!" he snapped, anger seeping through the cracks. Lissa caught his arm and pulled him back, though she was combatting her own rage and injustice at the stupid position they were in now.

The General's gaze turned sharp. "Why can't you answer me?"

Ed spoke one more time through clenched teeth, his voice tight. "We can't answer."

"Please, try to understand," Lissa begged, willing the General to recognize the deeper implications of their struggle, to recognize why exactly they couldn't dare answer. "We can't answer those questions. We can't." Dammit, you have to see that we aren't trying to cause problems! That's not what we want!

She took a moment to regard the two state alchemists, her expression severe, unyielding. Then she jutted her chin out and squared her shoulders. "This is my last question. Are you on our side, or are you in league with that thing?"

"We're not working with him," Lissa denied fiercely.

Ed gripped her hand tightly, a united force against things they could scarcely fight. "We don't want to see anyone here get hurt."

The General stared down at them, contemplating, giving nothing away in her face—then she exhaled sharply and nodded towards Sloth. "Then tell me what that thing's made of."

Lissa breathed a sigh of relief. That was more or less in the right direction.

"His body's structure and compositional elements are probably the same as a human's," Ed told her, seeming a bit relieved himself.

General Armstrong gave Sloth a thoughtful look. "The same as a human's, huh?"

Lissa shot Ed a surprised glance as she realized how clever he'd been—the same as a human's very subtly implied that Sloth was not human. Easy enough to extrapolate just by looking at him, naturally, but it was a confirmation for General Armstrong that what they were dealing with was decidedly inhuman. A careful risk, reaching out like that, but she was hopeful it'd make a difference not just in fighting the homunculus, but getting the General to trust them as well.

"Buccaneer!" the General ordered. "Bring me some tank fuel, now! We're going to douse it."

"Burning him won't do a thing," Lissa denied, frowning up at her. Had she not understood what they'd said at all?

Ed scowled too. "I told you, it won't work, General! You can set him on fire, but he still won't die!"

But the General's fierce expression didn't change. "I understand. I learned from our last attack that we can't kill it. The best that we can hope for is to stop or delay it. So we'll have to hit it with something even stronger than fire."

"Stronger than fire?" Lissa repeated, baffled.

The General smirked across at Sloth. "Now you get to see the Briggs way, kid."

Ed raised an eyebrow. "Uh… The Briggs way?"

"That's right," Buccaneer cackled, resting his enormous hands atop Edward and Lissa's heads. "Come, alchemists… Gimme a hand."

With that, he grabbed Ed up under one arm and Lissa under the other, simply carting them away by sheer force of size. Lissa squeaked rather indignantly, not exactly a fan of being manhandled like this—especially by some hulking soldier she hadn't even met before that day! It was pretty damned invasive, honestly!

"Brother! Lissa!" Al gasped, hurrying after them.

Buccaneer turned to him. "You too, tin man," he ordered.

Ed glared up at the Captain. "Hey, hold on a minute! We can't just-"

But a gun suddenly was pressed to his temple by a nearby soldier, at a jerk of Buccaneer's chin, and Ed clamped his lips together, staring at it in shock.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?!" Lissa demanded, trying to reach the soldier's arm to either yank the gun away or push it so it wasn't aimed at Ed's goddamned brain. She was really, really through with people pointing guns at her damned boyfriend, for fuck's sake!

"You were forced to help us under duress," Buccaneer laughed, nodding at the soldier, who turned the gun to face her then. "How does that excuse work for you?"

An excuse…to help. A way to cover their asses against the homunculi! Dammit but that was smart, it was a solid alibi—and believable, considering the Briggs soldiers' reputation.

"Hmm? Who's this?" Buccaneer wondered, encountering Falman standing in his path.

Ed grinned slyly. "He's an old friend of ours!"

"Ah." The Captain smirked and nodded in Falman's direction next. "Then he'll help too!" he announced, much to Falman's distress.

So with yet another gun at their backs, wielded by Buccaneer himself this time, Ed and Lissa were forced into carrying heavy canisters of fuel up the stairs, under the Captain's watchful eye—though he grinned the entire time, apparently enjoying himself tremendously. Lissa couldn't say she felt the same. "So what exactly is our plan?" she asked over her shoulder, giving a wary look to the gun only a couple feet away from her back. She'd placed herself between Ed and the weapon, though she didn't really think they'd be shot at this point.

"We're gonna cover that thing in tank fuel, and knock it outside to freeze it," he explained, as they emerged into a small room just outside a set of elevator doors. "I saw you using alchemy before, right, moving the air around." Buccaneer pointed above their heads, to a series of pipes hanging parallel to the ceiling. "Think you can get a few people up there?"

Lissa set her canister down and stretched her fingers. "No problem. Who's going up?"

"You, the red runt, and the Second Lieutenant." Buccaneer thumped Al's shoulder. "Me and the big guy will hide out down here."

"Got it." Lissa sucked in a deep breath, feeling the air currents around them, already plotting how to handle it. "Ed, you go up first, then I'll send Falman up after you." That was the safest way, she figured—since Falman wasn't an alchemist or acrobat, he'd have the toughest time actually being flung up into the rafters.

Ed nodded once, and bent his knees, ready. Lissa twisted her hands out in front of her, taking hold of the air beneath Ed—and forced it upwards with a sharp jerk of her hands. He sprang up with the boost, easily swinging up and sitting on one of the pipes.

"Okay, up you go, Falman!" Lissa didn't give him any further warning—she just boosted him right up. Thankfully Ed was ready for it, and caught Falman by the arm, hauling him up alongside him. Next went three gasoline canisters, one for each of them, and finally Lissa sprang herself up there, an easy transmutation that left shimmering energy in her wake.

She flashed Buccaneer and Al a thumbs up once they were in place. "Ready up here!"

Down below, Buccaneer all but dragged poor Al through a doorway off to the side, hiding there in the shadows to wait for Sloth to appear. Lissa supposed they just had to trust that the General and her team downstairs would get him onto the elevator—somehow—and that this magical fuel trick would work. A bit anxious, she peered over at Ed, who mirrored her expression immediately. It probably shouldn't have been reassuring that he was worried too, but it was, for whatever reason.

Finally, the elevator doors dinged open, and Sloth shuffled out, bewildered that he'd shown up somewhere random. Buccaneer leapt out behind him and quite literally flipped the giant homunculus over his head, slamming him down on the floor. "All right!" Buccaneer shouted up. "Do it now!"

Immediately, Ed, Lissa, and Falman emptied their canisters on the homunculus's head. Al leapt out from the doorway and added his too, and in seconds, Sloth was completely covered in fuel.

Buccaneer grinned and clenched his fists. "Nice!"

Lissa jumped down from the pipes and cushioned the air around her, softening her own fall as well as Ed and Falman's—the latter of whom seemed very afraid to fall from that height, but trusted Ed and Lissa at least—and stared at Sloth's drenched form in confusion. "Well… We did that," she mused.

"So now what?" Al pressed, looking back at Buccaneer.

Ed grimaced as he regarded the homunculus. "Yeah, how were you planning to get this big guy through the gate, exactly?"

Sloth sniffed his arm and mumbled, "Mh… Stink."

The elevator chimed again—and while Buccaneer stepped back with a grin and a salute, Ed, Lissa, and Al just screamed and jumped out of the way as a damned tank came rolling out into the hallway. A tank! All the way up there!

"Move it, you little runt!" General Armstrong snapped, when Ed didn't leap back fast enough.

Lissa snagged his cloak and pulled him into her, wrapping an arm around his middle as the tank rolled just off the edge of the elevator. Then, with a deafening boom, it fired a defused round right into Sloth's stomach. The impact knocked him clean through the doors behind him, slamming the homunculus into the railing outside, where he stood uncertainly, clearly baffled again.

The General ducked down into the tank. "Hey! One more!" she demanded.

But the driver inside called back, "We're out of ammo!"

"Well, in that case…" Falman drew his pistol and fired—not at Sloth, but at the icicles above the creature's head. A couple shattered and landed on him, stunning the homunculus.

Sloth muttered, "Hey… Ow…"

"You! Starlight!" General Armstrong barked. "I know what you can do—now make yourself useful!"

Ed gripped her shoulder. "Liss, be careful," he warned.

She grinned at him tightly—then strode forward, arms outstretched as the homunculus staggered a step towards her, readying himself to attack, she assumed. But Lissa was faster. She ducked through the air, between the ambient particles, and shifted within arm's reach of the homunculus, too fast for him to grab. With a yell, she rammed her palms together and compressed the air, then expanded it—right into Sloth's torso.

Sloth toppled off the edge of the fort, landing in a heap in a snowdrift below.

The force of the blast slid her backwards, her boots losing purchase on the icy metal, but Ed caught her from behind and grinned at her widely. "Nice!" he told her, keeping her steady with an arm around her waist. He and Al had both followed her outside, clearly intending to back her up if she needed it, and the thought made her feel warm despite the freezing air.

Buccaneer approached them from behind. "That fuel is specially blended for the cold," he explained, smirking. "It'll vaporize almost instantly, and as it evaporates, it'll sap his body heat." He gestured at the snow whipping around them. "This blizzard will help too. It'll freeze him, right down to his brain."

Lissa peered over the edge, pressing her hand over Ed's to keep him close, and watched from a distance as Sloth's body began to freeze over. Damn. We just…took out a homunculus.

"You can sleep there until spring, monster," the General muttered darkly, coming to stand alongside the group. "All right, Buccaneer." She jerked her chin towards the alchemists. "Now take these three away."

"Sir!" Buccaneer agreed immediately.

In seconds, their hands were bound and Buccaneer was dragging Ed and Lissa off, with Al and Falman being led along by another soldier. Lissa could only scowl at the ceiling, annoyed that she wasn't strong enough to shake the Captain off.

"Hey, hey, hold on a second!" Ed complained. "We helped you! Why are you doing this? How can-"

"You were forced to," the General explained smoothly. "That was just the excuse you needed to fight, wasn't it?" Her voice darkened. "Besides which, I'm not letting you go anywhere until you explain exactly what that thing was and what it wanted."

But we can't, Lissa thought desperately. Winry and Alex will be killed if we say a fucking thing!

Apparently off the hook for the night, Ed, Al, and Lissa were separated from Falman and taken to the damned brig, rather than military quarters, which was…insulting to say the least. At least the Briggs soldiers set up a couple cots and gave Al a stool, a slightly nicer touch than just the barren cells they passed on their way.

"This is so stupid," Ed grumbled, sitting hard on the nearest cot and dropping his head into his hands. "It's not like we're trying to hide stuff."

"It could be worse," Al offered helpfully. "At least General Armstrong trusted us during the attack—and she wants to hear us out, I think. Otherwise she would've just thrown us out earlier. And she wants to help find Mei."

Lissa wanted to share in his optimism, she really did, but as she sank down on the other cot with a heavy heart, she knew she fell much closer to Ed's frustrated pessimism in the moment. "But she knows we're hiding things. And she doesn't seem the type to just…let us go on about our lives without telling her. I dunno what we're gonna do about that."

Al glanced between the two a bit wearily. "You should probably try and sleep," he suggested quietly, taking a seat on his little stool. "We can't do anything for tonight, anyway."

"I guess so," Ed agreed, though he was clearly unhappy about it.

Trying for a little propriety, Lissa kicked off her boots and stuck them under the cot, going through the motions of getting ready to sleep—but recently…she'd grown so accustomed to sharing with Edward that she just…wasn't sure about sleeping on her own. Least of all in an unfamiliar place, in the cold…

Yet when she stole a glance at Ed, she saw him doing the same thing, removing his boots and adjusting his own cot, like nothing was bothering him. He even lay his cloak out over the blanket, clearly trying to add a little warmth.

Okay, well… It is a strange situation here, Lissa told herself, trying to find reasons for it. Maybe he'd feel awkward sharing right here with Al, too, and with guards posted down the hall… I guess that makes sense. She couldn't quite pretend some part of it didn't…sting, though.

"Liss, what are you doing?" Ed asked her curiously, when she went to pull her own blankets back.

Lissa eyed him guiltily. "Um… Going to sleep?"

He laughed fondly and shook his head. "C'mere. Don't be silly, why would you sleep all the way over there? It's fucking freezing, we'll be warmer together, right?" Ed smirked across at his brother. "And Al won't feel weird about it, will you?"

Al huffed at him. "Don't bring me into this."

"I just mean—it's not weird or anything, just conserving body heat."

That made Al giggle despite himself. "You don't need an excuse, brother."

Ed rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah…" He pulled back the blankets on the cot he'd claimed and scooted back into the wall, leaving a space just big enough for her if she curled right into him. "Come on, Liss. Don't keep me waiting."

Lissa couldn't help but smile at him—her dummy, her boyfriend, grinning at her like an idiot with slightly pink cheeks and this…hope in his eyes, hope that she wouldn't turn him down. "Well, it's better than freezing over here by myself," she teased lightly, as she slipped in next to him. Lissa shuffled in close as his arms came around her, tucking her head below his chin and closing her eyes, happy despite their tenuous situation.

He flipped the blankets over them, his cloak weighing the thinner cover down, and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Try and get some rest, okay?" he murmured.

She slid her hand underneath his jacket and shirt, tracing up his spine just a bit. "You too, Ed. And…" Lissa brushed her thumb across the base of an old scar, something she couldn't recall the origin of, and pulled him in closer. "Don't go anywhere, please?"

Ed tightened his arms around her. "I won't. I promise."