Oh, you all... I have absolutely no words. The fact that there are people who stayed from OVER A YEAR AGO makes me so happy I cannot even begin to tell you! I had no idea if anyone would care that I was updating again, seriously, I prepared myself for nothing at all, and you made this little chronically ill authoress about sob reading the reviews/comments after I posted. Even being able to write and post is an emotional thing for me, and seeing literally anything come from it makes my heart so happy. I can't really say much about this chapter without spoilers, but it was definitely a fun one to write, heavy as it is. I want to also let you know, because I don't know if I did before - there will be an epilogue, to tie it into the neatest bow I can. So look forward to that as we descend into some of the toughest parts of this story! I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can, lovelies!
Lissa hung limply in Mustang's grasp, all the energy gone out of her. He's gone… He's gone, he can't be gone, he CAN'T be! No!
She tumbled to her knees, pressing her palms against the space where Ed had just disappeared. He'd been there, she'd had her hand on his, he…how could he…
"He disappeared," Riza breathed, shaken.
Rage burned white-hot in her chest. Pure, soul-consuming wrath.
"You," Lissa snarled, lifting her head to stare at the gold-toothed doctor, her face contorted, hands trembling against the stone. "Where is he?! Where the fuck did you take him?!"
The doctor just laughed as his soldiers rushed forward again.
Lissa snapped her arm up towards the nearest one—he stumbled to a halt, clutching his throat desperately as she ripped the air from his lungs. "Tell me!" she screamed. "Tell me where you took him! Now!"
He eyed her amusedly. "You think I'll balk at the death of one leftover soldier?"
Mustang stepped in and knocked the soldier down, releasing her hold on him. "Don't do this, Lissa," he told her, grabbing her shoulders tightly. "Listen to me! You stopped me from going too far earlier—so I'm going to do the same for you! What would Fullmetal want? Huh? Would he want you to do that?"
Lissa wrenched free of him—only to duck beneath his arm and knock another soldier flying with a burst of alchemy, saving Mustang from a hit he wouldn't have seen coming.
"You need not worry where he's gone, my dear," the doctor told her, grinning savagely. "One of you will be joining him there soon enough. And I'm just dying to know who it'll be, in the end—the mentor, or the little girlfriend?"
Think, dammit! Fucking think, Lissa! They haven't activated the circle—that means Ed's still alive! The doctor admitted he went somewhere, so there's time, you just have to find him!
But her mind was spinning, her very being unhinged. She'd lost Ed. Again. She'd watched him vanish again! Why did she always have to watch the boy she loved vanish in front of her?! Why did he always have to suffer that same fate?!
Lissa sobbed out in anguish, though her eyes were dry. What could she do, on her own?!
"Snap out of it!"
She staggered as Riza slammed her palm into her chest, stumbling her back a few steps. "What the hell, Riza?!"
"You're every bit as capable as Edward when you want to be!" Riza told her fiercely, glaring at her with fire burning in her eyes. "So use your damn brain and think! You're not useless just because he's gone, Lissa! You've never been useless! You can't stop fighting just because he vanished—you have to keep pushing forward!"
She didn't stay long—the battle was still raging, and they had soldiers to fight—but it was enough to kick Lissa's mind into gear. Riza was right. She wasn't fucking useless and she would figure this out!
Best guess—they're gathering sacrifices, because they need to activate the nationwide transmutation circle. So who the fuck are all the sacrifices? Ed and Al… Which would mean…if they're going after five sacrifices, just like the five leftover soldiers this bastard doctor used… Three more. Just three more.
Lissa froze one soldier midair, suspending his body for a moment with her alchemy before sending him flying across the room. She'd lost almost all of her restraint, every use of alchemy sending waves of dizziness coursing through her head. But she couldn't stop, not for a moment.
It's all about human transmutation, that's why Ed recognized the circle—and why he panicked so hard! It's what happened to him before! So Ed, Al… Dammit, Izumi too… And…Hohenheim would make four. They need myself or Mustang to complete the five and we walked right into their fucking arms!
The truth slammed into her so hard it knocked her breath away.
We have to die.
Lissa turned, changed trajectories, and rushed clear across to fight beside Mustang. "Listen to me," she snarled. "They're going to get one of us to perform human transmutation and become a sacrifice! It'll complete the five and this whole country will die!"
Mustang grunted as he deflected a blow from the nearest soldier. "We knew that already!"
"Think, dammit! Ed and Al are sacrifices because they opened the portal—and so did Izumi Curtis, their teacher, and Van Hohenheim! Their father!" Lissa swung round, sending out a blast of air to buy them a moment's peace, and grabbed Mustang by his lapels. "You have to incinerate us both!"
He recoiled from her in horror. "What?! No!"
"If we both die they don't have five sacrifices!" Her voice cracked and tears rushed down her cheeks, her whole body trembling. "This is the only way!"
"I'm not killing you!" he shot back furiously, shaking his head. "Dammit, Lissa! That's not an option! Would Edward want-"
"Shut the fuck up about him!" she snarled, through a sob. "We don't have a choice!"
Mustang's face went pale as he considered it—the horrific option she'd found, the way out. Lissa felt like falling to the floor and sobbing, breaking down… They'd brought themselves here, made themselves easy to grab and force however the homunculi wanted—and now, if even one of them was somehow coerced into performing human transmutation, the entire country would die.
Two people, or all of Amestris.
"Do it!" Lissa shrieked. "Do it now!"
Mustang raised a shaking hand, fingers pressed together, shivers overtaking his whole body as he prepared to go through with it and incinerate them both in one blast.
Something rammed into Lissa's throat, and she tumbled away, stunned by the attack. She felt the commotion in front of her, around her, the battle ceasing in a few sharp movements. Hands yanked her arms down, pinned her hands down against the floor with her palms up, her body bent in half as she was rendered immobile—unable to transmute. When her vision cleared and she coughed air back into her lungs, Lissa realized…they'd lost. They hadn't been fast enough.
Beside her, Mustang was pinned with his arms held out to either side, hands clenched tight by two soldiers, his ignition gloves slit through their transmutation circles. Riza was flat on her back, held down by a soldier. And Scar was stuck between two swords poised at either side of his neck.
They'd…lost.
The doctor stood straight and clapped his hands, mockingly, grinning at them all. "All right, good," he complimented the soldiers. "Just hold them there." He clasped his hands behind his back. "Well, now. I'm afraid we're out of time. At this point you've no choice but to cooperate with us. So. I would like one of you to perform some human transmutation and open a portal for me."
Just like I thought! Shit!
Mustang glared across at him. "Are you serious?" he demanded.
"It doesn't matter who," the doctor dismissed, as though this were just a normal conversation. "A parent you've lost, a lover, a friend… Or…" He smirked and fixed his gaze on Mustang. "Or that man you were so close to. I forget, what was his name again? Hughes, right? He'll do just fine." Then he gave Lissa the same awful look, his golden tooth glinting. "Perhaps Starlight would like to see her parents again, hm? Richard and Miranda might be a fine choice. Or that little girl, the one who was turned into a chimera… Nina Tucker, wasn't that it?"
Lissa felt sick. Nina… He wanted her to transmute Nina?!
The doctor smiled benignly at them. "I'll get things set up for you right over here, and you can decide amongst yourselves who it should be. Otherwise…" His smile turned sharp and deadly, even as he began drawing the circle he'd promised. "We'll simply have to decide for you."
"The Elric brothers made it very clear!" Mustang snapped, incensed. "Human transmutation can't be done! Why would we even try to do it knowing it would fail?!"
That just made the doctor laugh at him. "You're right, there. But all I really need you to do is open the portal and then return. Either one of you will do nicely—but I'd make your decision quickly, before we're forced to pick."
"No! Not a chance!" Mustang shot back in a furious tone. "We won't be your puppets! You open it yourself!"
"Perhaps you won't…but wouldn't Miss Caito like to see her boyfriend?" the doctor asked lowly, turning to her once again. "You'd go right to him, once you passed through… And isn't that what you want? To rejoin him?"
Lissa recoiled in shock, though the soldiers held her fast. "Not like that!" she growled. "Never like that! I know what opening the portal does to a person! I won't do it!"
The gold-toothed doctor's gaze turned dark, for the first time. A chill ran through her as she regarded him, beheld the malice in his eyes, the downturn of his mouth… He was truly evil, she saw. "I told you," he began in a low, deadly voice, "we have run out of time."
Something cut through the air—Lissa felt it, even with her hands pinned. But she didn't realize what had happened, her brain unable to process what she was seeing until she heard Mustang scream.
"LIEUTENANT!"
Lissa flailed against her captors, struggling hard, but couldn't get her hands free. "Riza!"
Across the room, Riza slumped to the floor, blood pouring from a wound along the side of her neck, her eyes wide and unfocused.
"Now then…maybe you've had a change of heart, what say you?" the doctor asked, not flinching, not so much as glancing over towards Riza. "I would suppose…since Miss Caito was so willing to lose her own life rather than performing the transmutation…then I'll ask you, Colonel Mustang."
But Mustang was consumed with his own rage and grief. "I'll kill you!" he railed, yanking against the soldiers holding him.
The soldier who had injured Riza grabbed her underneath the arm and dragged her across the floor, tossing her carelessly into the transmutation circle and stepping aside. Mustang kept screaming for her, caught between rage and anguish, still struggling…but Lissa couldn't bring herself to try anymore. She could only stare in utter shock. Riza was alive…she could still feel her, the forest after rain, smoke in the air, the rasp of gunmetal… But so weak, such a faint thrum of energy across the room… Riza was dying.
The doctor glanced down at Riza dispassionately, before looking back up at Mustang, his chosen target to make a sacrifice, and ordered, "Now. Perform the transmutation and become the fifth sacrifice."
A shudder ran through Mustang's body.
"Come on," the doctor encouraged, his voice slimy and much too buoyant. "If you don't hurry, the Lieutenant will be lost to you forever."
Fuck! Riza… I have to do something! But what the hell can I do?!
"Ah, I understand… Would you like to transmute her after she's already died? That would be acceptable." His tone turned almost…condescending, like a teacher talking down to a student. It was sickening to hear.
A thin, tremulous voice rose up. "I'm not gonna die," Riza whispered, pressing her own hand to the wound on her neck, "What you don't know is…is that I'm under strict orders not to die…"
The doctor gazed down at her, smirking. "If it were that easy to obtain an immortal body, my dear…it wouldn't be very sporting, now would it?" he chided. "So… Tell me, Mustang. What will it be? Your precious woman is about to die. If you don't act, she'll bleed to death. All of that blood right before your eyes." He reached into his jacket, grinning now, and Lissa felt a rush of wrong…the sliminess of blood on her skin, sinking deep into quicksand… "Luckily, I happen to be a doctor who knows the use of alchemy. And…" He withdrew a small glass vial, with an all-too familiar ruby liquid inside. "…I have a Philosopher's Stone to add to the bargain as well."
No! A fucking Philosopher's Stone?! How did I miss that?!
But she knew how… Her focus had been on Ed, wholly, the rest of her senses mostly smothered to keep from being overwhelmed by Father's roiling evil… And she'd missed the stone, again.
"Meaning this: I am able, with all certainty, to save this woman's life. But if you don't make up your mind in time…there is nothing I can do." The gold-toothed doctor flicked his gaze over to Lissa. "Of course…you're still welcome to agree, Starlight. Your boyfriend awaits, after all." Stop fucking talking about him! "Whether you like it or not, her fate is up to you two now. Do you want her blood forever on your hands?"
Lissa tensed. If she said yes…if she agreed…
But that's not what Ed would want… And it's not what Riza would want, either. I know it. That's not how she wanted me to be useful! But—dammit, if she dies…
The doctor clicked his tongue and looked down at Riza, feigning sorrow. "She looks so quiet and still… Perhaps she's dead, what do you think?"
Riza took in a shuddering breath. "Colonel… Lissa… Please… You don't have to do this… Don't sacrifice everything…for my sake…"
"But you will do it, won't you, Mustang?" the doctor asked with a grin.
Lissa clenched her eyes shut for a moment. They couldn't… Dammit, there was no fucking way they could! But if they didn't, if they chose Amestris…Riza would die…
"Well?" the doctor demanded, sharper now.
No! There has to be a way out, another method—if I offer myself… But then… He wouldn't heal Riza until I performed human transmutation… What would I lose? What so-called justice would the Truth offer me?
"All right."
Lissa jerked her head up. What?!
But…he wouldn't! He'd been willing to end both their lives, why would he give in now?! No… He wouldn't. He isn't, is he?
"Good," the doctor drawled, beaming like he'd won. "I knew you'd see reason."
"All right, Lieutenant."
Lissa shut her eyes tight and bit back a sob. She'd been right…but it meant…it meant that Riza was going to…
Mustang gritted his teeth and jerked his gaze from the floor. "I won't perform the transmutation!" he declared.
"Hm. You'd forsake her." The gold-toothed doctor seemed genuinely surprised by his decision—truly surprised a person could have that in themselves. Lissa wondered, forcing herself to look at Riza, to see what was happening…if she could've done the same, if it had been Ed in that circle. Could she have made the choice to watch him die?
I could choose my own death… But his…
The doctor gave a curious look to the Philosopher's Stone in his hand, baffled. "How very cold of you."
Mustang glared at him. "You should talk," he sneered. "You seem to have no trouble treating these men as your sacrificial pawns."
"These men are more than happy to lay down their lives for me," the doctor told him blithely. "They were abandoned. Left by their parents, they would've all died without my care. I saw to their education. I gave them a reason to keep on living. I infused their very existence with purpose." He grinned broadly, truly not seeing how gross it all was. "For the kindness I showed them, they remain grateful to me."
Mustang smirked at him. "And that's just the sort of overconfidence that could get you in trouble."
Wait a moment…he's seen something, something I can't see from my angle… Tentatively, Lissa stretched out with the Dragon's Pulse—and felt a smirk curl her own lips. So that's it. No wonder his attitude changed!
The doctor narrowed his eyes, confused. "Hm? What are you-"
In a single motion, he was yanked upward, through the ceiling of the room and out of sight, before he could so much attempt to finish his question.
"He vanished," Scar breathed, not quite catching on yet.
Lissa grinned to herself. It's about fucking time!
"Oh, yeah, we're grateful all right!" Gerso's voice echoed from the hole in the ceiling, high among the pipes. "Let me show you just how grateful we are!"
Panicking now, the doctor screamed, "N-no, let me go!"
But the chimera didn't let up. "Let everyone down there loose right now, or that's the end of you," he ordered fiercely."
"No, wait!" the gold-toothed doctor begged, frantic, desperate to save his own skin. "Just listen to me! I'm the only doctor here right now who can use alchemy! Without me you can never save the woman! Don't you understand?!"
"Hah!" Gerso scoffed. "Yeah, nice try, doctor, but I won't fall for that!"
Lissa tensed the muscles in her fingers, readying herself to strike—and not a moment too soon. A heartbeat later, Zampano dropped from the ceiling with Mei Chang beside him, both launching into battle immediately. To either side of her, Mustang and Scar reacted, freeing themselves from their captors. The two holding Lissa down recoiled in surprise at the sudden attack, and it was all the opening she needed. She surged upward, transmuting as she went, and thrust both arms out to her sides, blasting the two soldiers away.
Taking advantage of the moment of respite, Lissa stood with her arms in front of her, a ready stance, and cast around the room with every damn sense she had to figure out what was going on. Gerso was holding the gold-toothed doctor hostage, up in the ceiling; Scar and Zampano were fighting the leftover soldiers, doing better than their group had done before now that they had surprise on their side; Mei was darting around, chasing the damn fallen Philosopher's Stone; and Mustang had made his way over to Riza and was cradling her in his arms, totally distracted. Lissa was worried for a moment, as his back was wide open—but as a soldier rushed at him, Darius swung in from the ceiling and knocked the soldier aside.
Okay, focus, Lissa. Focus! Ed's alive somewhere, probably with Izumi and Al, and maybe Hohenheim… They still need to turn you or Mustang into a sacrifice, which means human transmutation. If we save Riza, what will they hold over our heads? Each other? Would that even make sense?!
The flare of a transmutation startled Lissa from her thoughts. She looked up to see Mei had Riza inside a five-pointed array, and was…healing her.
So Riza would be all right—not safe, not yet. But she wouldn't die, either. Lissa made a note to thank Mei for that later, for putting her own desires aside for someone she really didn't know at all. That took a level of kindness she usually didn't see in, well, anyone.
Shit, if she gets her head cut off I'll never get to thank her!
Lissa sprang forward, twisting a leap through the air and kicking a soldier out of the way before he swung his sword down at the younger Xingese girl, and sent him flying all the way into the far wall. Mei squeaked and looked at up her in surprise, dark eyes wide in shock. "You gotta cover your back, kid," Lissa told her, pulling Mei to her feet.
The girl just smiled at her. "Thank you."
Aware the chimeras—and Scar, really—had the rest of the room covered, Lissa crouched beside Mustang and Riza and tapped Mustang's shoulder, a bit insistently. "Listen, if we get into trouble again…"
His gaze darkened. "I know. And you're right. But…" He gritted his teeth. "There's got to be another way."
Lissa breathed out harshly through her teeth. "If we get out of here, maybe. Or if we can find the others—if we start splitting up the sacrifices, we might stand a chance, but the way that doctor summoned them all… I don't know, Colonel. I'm trying to see a way out, but all I'm seeing right now is the fact that their two candidates for potential sacrifice are here, and they'll kill or injure whoever they need to force one of us to do what they want. How long can we hold out against that?"
Mustang looked up at her fiercely, suddenly, and grabbed her wrist tightly. "As long as we have to. You understand me, Lissa? As long as you and I hold out…they can't go through with their plans. It doesn't matter who dies to do that—because if they manage this, everyone in the damn country dies. We have to hold out. It's on us now, on our resolve."
"Our resolve," she repeated softly. Then a slow, sure grin crept over her face. "It's a good thing we've been playing a damn battle of wills since we first met then, isn't it?"
He matched her expression. "Exactly. So we hold out. No matter what."
Lissa nodded. "Deal."
"That's the last one of 'em," Darius announced nearby, dropping the body of the final leftover soldier.
Lissa wasted a moment on wondering if the gold-toothed doctor would've been able to snatch Ed away like that if they'd had the chimeras with them, but quickly bypassed that thought. It was pointless to dwell on that kind of thing, with so much still ahead. She was already letting her mind race forward, trying to figure out where Ed might've been taken, where the sacrifices would be gathered… It had to be within Central, considering the transmutation circle used was only citywide… That narrowed it down considerably. She could start working from there.
With Lissa's help, Mustang got Riza to her feet and slung her arm around his shoulders, helping her limp over to rejoin the others, grouped near the center of the room. "Everyone, thank you for all of your help," he intoned, sounding truly grateful.
Darius shrugged it off. "Sure. It was no problem at all."
"We need to get moving," Lissa began, a bit startled when everyone's eyes flicked to her. Were they…considering her in charge of all this? Usually people looked to Ed for leadership, while she stood by and offered support and guidance where it was needed… She wasn't used to leading anything. But with Mustang focused on Riza, and her own experience here… Lissa supposed it made her the default leader of their group. "That doctor took Ed somewhere, and I'd bet he gathered the other sacrifices too. We need to find them first, the homunculi can't activate the nationwide array without all the sacrifices in place."
"Wait, they took Fullmetal?" Zampano asked, staring at her in surprise. "But how?"
Lissa gestured towards the circle still in place behind her. "It was some kind of transmutation, I'm not sure what—but it opened what I think was the portal of Truth and dragged him through. I think it's how Father is gathering the sacrifices." That's my only idea, but they don't need to know that.
It startled her a bit when a presence moved up beside her, out of sight. Looking down, Lissa saw Mei had decided to join her, the girl standing close and flicking her gaze around the room, with her tiny panda Xiao Mei doing the same. Huh. Maybe saving her earlier made the girl more trusting? She wasn't sure, but she wouldn't send her away, either.
"Oh, right!" Mei gasped suddenly. "The stone!"
Lissa felt the press against her senses just as Mei skidded to a halt—and footsteps clicked on the stone floor. She recognized the unmistakable sense of a homunculus, but…perhaps…weaker, since she hadn't felt it earlier. So they were hurt? Who, then? Which one?
Gazing at them all hatefully, with both eyes exposed for all the world to see, Wrath strode into the room and picked up the Philosopher's Stone from where it lay at his feet. He was…in bad shape, Lissa realized with a jolt. Bleeding, clearly injured, and without the telltale red sparks to suggest he was healing at all. Like his body had lost the ability to repair wounds. Was he…dying?
Yet even dying, his skills would be…terrifying.
"King Bradley," Mustang breathed, sounding unsettled.
Lissa gritted her teeth. So now they had to get through Wrath to find Ed and Al, and the other sacrifices… And Father… Dammit, this was getting tougher by the second!
Wrath fixed his two-eyed gaze on Mustang, hate roiling out from him like a cloud. "It's been quite some time, eh, Colonel Mustang?" he asked lowly.
"Indeed it has, sir." The honorific sounded bitter, derisive. "I'm afraid I'd be lying if I said you were looking as good as ever." Mustang seemed to be…almost goading him, enraged and taking it out on the nearest target—but pissing Wrath off was a bad idea. Lissa hoped he knew that.
The homunculus inclined his head towards Riza, still clutched in Mustang's arms. "Knowing that weakling's heart of yours, I thought if someone dear to you fell, you would do anything to save her… Even if it meant human transmutation."
"There was a time when I might have," Mustang conceded, "but that time is behind me. Luckily…I have people by my side now who will stop me from being reckless, and keep me headed down the right path." It was a sweet sentiment—and proven true now—but all of this banter was setting Lissa on edge. Wrath wasn't going to go down easy, even with their entire group involved, and besides…they were wasting time! Ed was somewhere and she needed to find him!
Wrath scoffed at him. "And here I was under the impression you were all pathetic creatures who could never learn a lesson properly. But apparently there are those like you who can learn, who can change…" His eyes narrowed sharply. "That's one more reason why I can't stand you humans. It infuriates me when I can't predict how you'll behave."
But he was a human once! A human imbued with a Philosopher's Stone, turned into a homunculus, but he was human at his core! Is that really what comes from that beginning?
It wasn't, though. It didn't have to be. Ling and Greed were evidence of that.
Beside Lissa, Mei suddenly gasped and recoiled, staring down at the floor in a sudden burst of fear. Lissa focused, tried to feel out what the girl was sensing—and felt her stomach turn, a strike of nausea rolling through her.
"What's wrong?" Scar asked lowly, noticing their reactions.
Mei shivered faintly. "He's under us… Their leader's still down there somewhere… I can feel him…"
"Me too," Lissa breathed. "Right beneath our feet…"
Above them, the gold-toothed doctor suddenly began struggling anew. "NO!" he roared. "I won't let you interfere with him!"
"Oh, give it up, doctor," Gerso told him, almost exasperated. "You're not going anywhere."
In a moment of stunning unison, Lissa and Mei whirled around to face that hole in the ceiling again, leaping backward—Lissa brought her hands out to force the others away, knocking them back as a sudden rush of blood came gushing out of the ceiling. Gerso and the doctor fell, the chimera clearly injured and bleeding, while the doctor rolled away unharmed.
"I don't like this," Mei hissed, sucking in a sharp breath.
Zampano yelled Gerso's name and rushed forward to check on him, crying, "Get up!"
But Gerso lifted his head shakily and ordered, "Run…get outta here!"
Lissa could hardly breathe from the oppressive fear. "Zampano, get back!" she screamed. "Now! Get away from there!"
"This is bad!" Darius raced over to try and help, jolting into action quicker than the others.
"He's right, something's coming," Mei told them all darkly. "Something awful!"
Lissa took a staggering step backwards. "It's Pride," she realized, horror rising in her chest. "Dammit, it's Pride!"
But how?! He was trapped with Al, did he get out through a portal like the one that took Ed?! Or did something else happen?! Fuck, he wasn't supposed to be able to get here! We took him out of the equation! What the hell is going on here?!
Darkness swarmed from the ceiling, oozing down into the room just as the chimeras moved out of the way—and at the center, standing among half-lidded eyes cutting through tendrils of shadow, was Pride. Selim Bradley. He flicked his own purple-irised eyes open and stared across at them, not striking, just…waiting. Trapped in this small of a room, with a creature like Pride… They were just prey at this point. Lissa, Ed, and Greed had only managed to hold their own so long because they had room to dodge him, room to get away—but not in here.
Slowly, not taking his eyes off the homunculus, Mustang passed Riza to Darius. "Please, look after her for now," he asked of the chimera.
But then, he shifted his gaze, just for a moment.
Wrath rushed forward so fast Lissa nearly didn't sense the disturbance. She turned, flinging out her hand to try and add resistance to his path—but he leapt up and over the alchemical reaction, grabbing two swords on the way. Lissa saw Mustang snap his fingers, saw a lance of fire shoot out, but Wrath dodged that too with horrifying ease.
"Stop it, leave him alone!" Lissa screamed, parting the air before her as she sprinted for Mustang.
A wall of pure darkness sprang up in front of her and she rammed into it, stumbling to the floor with the force of the impact. Lissa rolled backwards and up to her feet, blood trickling down her face now, and brought her hands up—but it was too late.
Wrath slammed Mustang into the ground and stabbed him through both hands, pinning him to the floor with his borrowed swords.
"Colonel!" Riza screamed.
Lissa clenched her jaw and moved again—but Pride was on her, forcing her back with a swipe of one of its tendrils. She slid backwards on her feet, the flat side of the darkness pressing into her abdomen, fighting its strength. With all the effort she could muster, Lissa forced her shoulder forward and twisted around, ducking beneath Pride's outstretched tendril.
Only to feel something curl around her ankles.
She shrieked as she toppled, half her legs encased in darkness. And as she hit the ground, a jarring impact that made her vision bloom with stars, she felt that same oily darkness wrap around her wrists, her hands, yanking her up to her knees with her arms outstretched, hands trapped.
I can't transmute! I can't fucking transmute if I can't move my hands!
The gold-toothed doctor cackled as he rose to his feet, pulling saliva off his neck and grinning widely. "Very good, job well done, Bradley. That's the kind of man I brought you up to be-"
With a wet squish, one of Pride's tendrils stabbed through the doctor's gut from behind, impaling him. He hung there, suspended, twitching and choking on his own blood, as Pride engulfed him in darkness, lifting him high into the air above where Wrath had Mustang pinned. In the same moment, long, thin black shadows streaked outward from Pride's center, racing inexorably in a familiar pattern, a shape Lissa knew all too well by now…
"He's making a transmutation circle!" she realized, yanking hard against Pride's hold. But the homunculus didn't so much as twitch.
No, Pride was too busy smirking down at Mustang. "Well, Colonel Mustang… Looks like you're our fifth after all."
No!
"That's right," Wrath told him smugly. "The last one. Unless you don't survive, of course…" He inclined his head towards Lissa. "In which case, we're lucky enough to have a spare." His head lifted, and Lissa flinched under his horrible gaze. "You just wait right there, Miss Caito. We'll find out soon enough if we require your assistance."
"Don't do this!" she screamed, her knees scraping against the floor, trousers ripping on the stone as she thrashed, trying to free herself from Pride. "Stop it, let him go!"
But they ignored her pleas—and then, without any move from Mustang, any transmutation Lissa could see…the array began to crackle blue. But how?! How were they causing this to happen? Homunculi couldn't use alchemy!
"I was really hoping that I wouldn't have to resort to this," Pride told Mustang, almost disappointedly. "But there is no choice. We have run out of time now."
Wrath stared down at Mustang harshly. "Whether you like it or not, we're going to force you to open the portal. Prepare yourself."
It was never up to us at all… They could've forced us anytime, but they decided to wait and see if we'd do it on our own! Because it didn't matter until now! And if they can force a transmutation…there's nothing we can do, nothing…
"No, I won't do it!" Mustang denied, pained, as though he had a choice.
"As I said, it doesn't matter if you want to," Wrath explained lowly. "Pride has just assimilated an alchemist who possesses knowledge of human transmutation." The damn doctor! So that's what he's for! "He has the necessary formula."
Several more tendrils of darkness rose up and curled around Mustang, holding him in place. "He's safely pinned. Move back, Wrath. Now," Pride nearly ordered.
Wrath lifted off Mustang, dislodging the swords from his palms with a sick, wet sound. Then he moved out of the circle, crossing the transmutation light and pausing for a moment—coughing. So he really was in bad shape. "I wonder…" Wrath mused, turning and looking back at Mustang. "…What will be taken from you in exchange, Mustang…"
The light shifted colors, turning that same awful red-purple color from before—and Lissa could do nothing but watch as those awful hands rose from the circle and began to deconstruct Mustang right before her eyes.
"Colonel!" Riza shrieked, pulling suddenly against Darius.
But Mei flung out a hand. "No! You'll get caught up in it too!" she cried.
Lissa jerked against Pride's hold, panicked, wanting to do something, anything…but it was too late. There was no stopping a transmutation like that once it started. And if something went wrong…she was right there for their use, if they wanted her.
Something cut through the air nearby—Lissa jolted in surprise as five kunai landed before her, stabbed into the floor mere inches from her knees. Then light streaked upward from their center, so violently bright she had to close her eyes…and in that moment, Lissa felt the shadows pinning her disintegrate into nothing.
Someone caught her beneath her arms and dragged her backwards, and she didn't resist the pull. She'd already felt the rasp of burning hot sand and knew exactly who it was.
Lissa pressed her hands into the floor behind her when Scar released her, holding her own weight up and blinking past the rush of dust flooding the air. He and Mei had saved her—Mei had used a remote transmutation to break Pride's hold, and Scar had pulled her out of the homunculus's reach while he was distracted with Mustang.
I don't have a damn clue why he saved me…but I think I owe Scar, now.
The light faded, and Lissa pushed to her feet, peering through the ambient dust. Pride had utterly vanished, maybe dragged into the transmutation himself. Beside Wrath, a horrible, engorged lump of grey flesh landed with a disgusting, sick slap on the floor. And a pair of glasses dropped right beside it.
Lissa pressed a hand to her mouth in shock when she saw a huge, gaping mouth in the mass…beset with a single gold tooth.
The doctor?!
"The transmutation's complete," Wrath observed.
Zampano recoiled in shock. "That's the old guy with the glasses?!"
"But…" Riza's voice broke. "The Colonel…"
"Oh, Mustang's still alive. It seems Starlight lucked out—we don't need her as a sacrifice after all. Right about now, the good Colonel should be joining our Father. Although…I'm afraid that I can't vouch for his physical wellbeing." Wrath seemed a step away from smirking, so pleased with their plan working…
What would it take?! What the hell kind of justice would Truth exact on a man who was forced to perform that transmutation? Does it even matter?
Lissa remembered telling Winry how horrible she thought that entity was—how its justice was nothing more than sick irony, a form of punishment rather than Equivalent Exchange. And Mustang…was facing the Truth. What punishment would be handed down to him? If her theory was right, and it directly correlated to whatever the alchemist's focus was, then it would be something important…something vital to his continued existence. Yet Wrath seemed certain the Truth wouldn't kill him, not directly, anyway. Vital to his way of life, but not his ability to live. So what? What would it take?!
Wrath approached them slowly, his gait unsteady—yet he still seemed as fearsome as ever. "Take a good look. See what kind of shape I'm in right now?" he asked. Then he raised his swords, crossed them, and took a fighting stance, staring them all down fearlessly. "Who among you would care for the illustrious honor of taking down the Führer of Amestris? A chimera? The outsider? Mustang's dog? His protégée? Or perhaps…you'd all like to come at me at once."
He wants us to fight him… But why? In his condition, why would he want us to go after him?
"He's buying time," Lissa realized aloud, raising her hands in front of her. "That's all… He's just trying to waste our time and keep us from finding the others."
Gerso lifted his head, glancing at her—and then jerked his chin towards where Wrath stood. "Right there…beneath the hole in the ceiling. When Mei and Lissa said their leader was right below us, that crazy doctor guy said that he wouldn't let us interfere with him, right? So I'm guessing Bradley doesn't want us to go down there either."
Scar followed his gaze. "Ah. So that's the center," he mused.
"It must be," Mei agreed with a firm nod. "That's where the chi felt the strongest."
"Well then…" The Ishvalan lifted his right hand, curled his fingers, and Lissa felt a rush of adrenaline. So they were going to use his old trick—Scar's old habit of destroying the floor when things got bad. And for once…she was thrilled about it.
Scar rushed forward as Wrath did, but the Ishvalan was quicker—he brought his hand down on the floor, and with a crackle of blue energy, the room exploded beneath them.
Amid the chaos, Lissa felt an arm grab onto hers and yank her around, and through the dust she saw Scar's face loom out. He had Mei Chang held in his other hand, and his gaze was fierce, tense, determined like nothing she'd seen from him before. "You two have to go," he insisted sharply. "Find the others. I will handle King Bradley."
Lissa exchanged a quick look with Mei—and then nodded. "Good luck," she told the Ishvalan. And Lissa found she meant it.
Grabbing Mei's hand, Lissa jumped down into the hole Scar had created, using the dust and debris as cover. She could sense the others following, the chimeras looking after Riza, but they had to remain above—as backup, in case something went wrong. Only Lissa and Mei could safely make it down into Father's chamber.
Quick as she could, gripped Mei's wrist with her left hand, keeping the girl close at the very edge of the abyss. Then, without so much as a glance backwards, they leapt into the darkness.
(So, Lissa was not a sacrifice. I toyed with it off and on, I really did, but in the end I chose not to do that for several reasons. But I do know what she would've lost if she went through the Portal of Truth, because I did go so far as to conceptualise how that would've gone. It wasn't that I wanted to spare her, it just served my purposes better to have that remain true to the original. I was mostly excited to show the extent of how lethal she can be, there at the beginning of this chapter, considering she's actually a potential murder-child at all times. Also, weird thought… I think this is the only chapter Ed doesn't actually appear in? Maybe?!)
