A/N: Apologies dear readers, this is just a short chapter I've been dying to finally publish, it's been sitting days on my laptop now and I had to publish it BEFORE publishing Attack on Homunculus!

QUESTION: Am I writing too many Lena fics? Should I stop? I can leave her out and exclusively write (or write more) about the original characters of FMA:B if you guys want!

ANSWERS TO REVIEWS:

Daughterofapollo12345: Oh? Really? Hm..well, I'm not quite sure yet but maybe I'll write about both if interest is high enough. OR just about a character from the FMA universe. But thanks for the answer! :)

And he would smile...

He would smile and ask if they were friends, she would laugh and say 'yes'. He would laugh and ask if they were family, and she would smile back at him and nod her head. He would grin and hug her tightly and say 'I'm home' and she would smile and hug him back and say, 'Welcome home'.

The broken screams and painful cries of a woman that had lost nearly everything dear to her were the only sounds on the battlefield.

The battle was over and so was the war.

They've managed to beat Father but at a high price.

Many casualties ensued, lives lost and families torn apart. Just like this one.

She was gripping the dark material of his coat tightly in her arms, tears soaking into the material she refused to let go, as if it were her lifeline, her only grasp on reality at the moment.

When Ed cautiously approached her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, her sobs didn't cease. His own eyes were glistening, incredible sadness washing over him despite saving the world a few moments ago. It was what they've lost that got to him.

Greed had sacrificed himself to weaken Father so much and make him vulnerable so Ed could've been able to deliver the final blow. It was with all of their combined efforts that they've managed to beat him.

But now...

"He's gone Ed..." when Lena lifted her head to look up at her friend, the tears didn't stop, the broken expression on her face broke Ed's heart and he gently pulled her in close for a hug, squeezing her tighter when he felt her cry into his torn shirt.

The battlefield was silent save for her cries and sobs, muffled by his shirt as she cried into him. He tried to comfort her as much as he could, but he knew the pain would be there for a long, long time until it lessened with time.

Pain never went away, time could never make it go away, it could just lessen it so it's bearable. And Ed had a feeling she would recover hard from this.

Gently stroking her blood and dirt covered hair, Ed sighed heavily, "I know Lena...I know..." he resisted the urge to cry, for her sake, she didn't need both of them to break down and cry. She had shown her support when Hughes died, so now he was going to show his, an event he thought he wouldn't have to do in the near future.

Her cries destroyed his heart, "H-He's gone...j-just...h-he just-!" she gripped him tightly, "H-he just w-went away! That s-s-stupid, s-stupid jerk!" she choked, "H-He just...j-just left! He..." she trembled violently, voice falling into a mere whisper, "...He's d-dead..."

Ed squeezed his eyes shut, hugging her tighter, he swallowed hard, "I-I know...I'm sorry, Lena...I'm so sorry..." he trembled himself when he felt her choked sobs, gently rubbing her back to try and soothe her hopelessly.

He felt how her head lifted from his chest, looking at something over his shoulder, before his eyes widened when he was violently shoved away, Lena jumping over him and picking up her staff from the ground nearby, heading full speed towards Ling.

"Lena!" she ignored Ed's cry, eyes zeroing in on the sitting prince with his head hanging down.

Lan Fan immediately sprang into action, deflecting the blade with her kunai, both women trembled at the force Lena displayed, "Move!" Lena growled, pushing against Lan Fan's trembling weapon.

"Lena, snap out of this! You don't want to hurt the young Lord!" Lan Fan stood her ground but with a powerful kick to her legs, she fell to the floor with a surprised cry and suddenly, Ling's sad, nearly lifeless eyes looked up at Lena, the tears that were running down her face, the blade of her staff how it was poised dangerously close to his throat and the absolute fury displayed in her eyes.

The tears wouldn't stop coming and her words were pure acid, "You!" her staff trembled in her grip, "It was you that killed him!" her eyes would have been a menacing red had she been a Homunculus, "Because of you Greed isn't here anymore!" the tears flowed rapidly down her eyes, her vision of Ling blurring, "He would...he would have-!" she shut her eyes closed, fat tears sliding down her chin.

Her eyes shot open when she felt a tug on her weapon and when her vision cleared, she saw Ling's hand had curled around the wooden shaft of her Quandao, "Kill me then," dark, lifeless eyes looked up at her and it momentarily stunned her.

"Ling..." Ed whispered from somewhere to the left, having joined the scene to prevent the worst from happening.

Alphonse and Mei watched with rapt, horrified expressions how the scene unfolded, Mei clutching at the thin Alphonse tightly, a look of fear in her eyes at seeing Lena so bloodthirsty.

Lena trembled in outrage, the sharp blade moving a bit closer to Ling, "Tch, you wanna die?! Is that it?! After you finished Greed off you wanna die now too?!" she choked on her next words, "I've lost the man I love! I've lost him because I wasn't strong enough, because he was a damn fool to run to his death!" her hands trembled, "But you could have stopped him Ling! Why didn't you?! Why?!"

Ling's nearly emotionless eyes fixed themselves on her, "...Because...he pushed me away," his voice broke slightly, "...we were about to be sucked in by Father...but the bastard tricked me and punched me...he said I needed to stay alive and take care of you...he..." he grit his teeth, his hand clutching the shaft of the weapon tighter, "He told me he didn't want...t-to die in vain if..if all was lost, if you got hurt..." he met her gaze again, "So kill me Lena, I was the one that killed him, because I agreed with his stupid plan to come close to Father! I should've seen through the plan sooner, I should've stopped him when I could!" he was shouting now, his voice broken and just as distraught as Lena's own, "But I didn't! I deserve this! I deserve death!" he moved the bade directly to his throat, "So kill me Lena! Kill me!"

Before anything else happened, Roy's voice rang out from somewhere in the back, "Lieutenant," and in the next minute, Lena heard footsteps approaching her, accompanied by softer ones guiding him toward where she was standing and a familiar, heavy hand rested on her shoulder.

"Lena...listen to me," Roy's voice penetrated her ears and she bit her lip, rage and sadness and grief filling her heart and clouding her mind, "I know how're you feeling, believe me, I do," Riza frowned at that, averting her gaze to the ground as she stood to the side, "But you mustn't allow those emotions to take over you, that rage," his hand gripped her shoulder tightly, "That rage will drive you into a corner, into darkness you will never know how to escape from if you let it consume you," she bit back a sob, trembling, "It's alright to cry and grief and be angry, but not at someone who is innocent," his gaze moved to Ling, "It wasn't him that killed Greed, Lena. Greed did it himself, he did what he thought needed to be done to win this war and save the world he lived in," his own voice lowered, "He wanted to save the world you were living in, all of us here together."

Lena breathed heavily, pained eyes focused on Ling, the way he tightly gripped the shaft of her weapon, looking like he would greet death like an old friend.

"But...why? Why does he want to die? Why?!" she shut her eyes tightly closed, her whole body trembling.

Roy's voice brought her back from her dark thoughts, "Had Greed not done what he did, we would all be dead now and this world as well. He went against his own nature to sacrifice himself and save everyone, he wasn't even thinking one second of saving himself," Roy's voice turned gentle toward the end, giving her shoulder a final, firm but gentle squeeze, "Think again...is this really the man that killed him?"

Lena blinked shakily blinking away the tears until she could see again and when she looked upon the kneeling Ling again, her eyes widened in realization.

The dark eyes he rarely let show were open, nearly lifelessly staring at her, tightly clutching the shaft of her weapon and for the first time since she pointed it at him, she noticed his hand was trembling. She noticed the deep seated grief reflected in his eyes, the sag of his body, as if he was defeated and gave up, the tear tracks marring his face and the redness around his eyes. She saw the nail-like imprints carved messily into the insides of his palms from digging his nails into them and clenching his fists so tightly.

She saw him. Ling.

And for a brief moment, she saw Greed's features again, the roguish grin and sharp laugh and smooth voice.

How she got to know him and eventually fell in love with him.

How he would always greet her with a large smile and a tight hug and say, "I'm home," despite not having their own house to call it that.

Words he had uttered only weeks before resurfaced in her mind. It had been the time she asked him why he kept saying 'he was home' when they had none yet.

And he would smile and say, "Because you're my home,"

Trembling hands released her weapon as it fell with a metallic clang on the ground at her feet and Roy retreated slightly when she launched herself at Ling, whose eyes widened when she hugged him.

His eyes were wide, tears prickling at the corners of his eyes, "W-Wha-?"

Lena's voice broke, hands fisting the material of Ling's shirt tightly, "I'm sorry Ling...I...I'm so sorry..." she trembled against his frozen state, "...It wasn't you that killed him, it never was, I know that I was just...I..." she released a shaky breath, "I don't hate you, I never could you stupid glutton!" she chuckled shakily, smiling, "We're friends, we always will be. You did everything you could have done, you tried to save him Ling and that's all that matters. You fought for everyone's sake, you're a hero just as much as Ed is or Mustang or anyone here today in this battlefield,"

Silence befell them for a few minutes before Ling slowly wrapped his arms around her trembling form, burying his face against her neck, the tears spilling hot and salty down his face, "L-Lena..." he choked, "I'm sorry...s-so sorry..."

The two friends cried like that, in each-other's embrace and Lena shook her head, "Silly...don't be sorry,"

Ed released the breath he didn't realize he was holding, looking up at the sky in sadness.

Thank you...my friends...

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Ed grinned shakily, his bangs covering his face partially, "Heh...I hope you can rest easy now Greed..." golden eyes locked on the crying friends, "Everything will be alright now..."

Roy smiled in his direction, following the sound of his voice and nodded. Ed nodded back despite Roy not seeing it but he had a feeling he knew.

Everything would be alright.

Years later...

Lena slowly opened her eyes and when she shot up in surprise, scanning the unknown completely white terrain about her she didn't know where she was.

She rested a hand on her back, finding she didn't have any back pains anymore, her skin wasn't wrinkly either and when she brought a few strands of her hair in front of her face, they weren't grey anymore.

They were the same color she used to have when she was young, a dark chocolate brown, they looked healthy, she...she was young again.

But why? Wasn't she on her death bed?

Looking around, Lena spotted the only being she could perceive as 'Truth', grinning at her gently. Shakily, she stood up, dusting herself off. She remembered Ed telling her of his encounters with Truth and what it looked like, but this 'Truth' had a feminine figure, rather than the masculine one Ed had encountered.

She supposed Truth would take on the form of anyone it encountered at the Gates.

Truth giggled, a feminine sound escaping it, "I've been waiting for you, little lady," Lena rose an eyebrow.

"For me? Why? I was supposed to...die right now," oddly enough, she felt at peace, lighter...for some reason.

Truth chuckled again, "Yes, you did in fact die. But I've sent you over here on a little detour, you see," she watched the figure in white stand up and motion for her to come closer.

"A detour?" she tilted her head questioningly when Truth indicated once again to come closer and reluctantly, she complied.

She was standing in front of a Gate, most likely her own and she spoke before Truth could, "There's nothing more you can take from me," she smiled serenely, "You can't harm my friends now and you've already taken the man I love,"

Truth grinned nevertheless, chuckling, "Oh, how I adore you humans! So foolish sometimes!" almost seeming coy, Truth pressed a hand to its invisible lips, "Come and see for yourself," it placed its hands on her shoulders and gave her a light push, "I don't think you'll be disappointed,"

Lena turned her head to look one last time at the deity, Truth only grinned. Lena sighed and moved on, opening one side of the massive double doors with some difficulty, being nearly blinded by stark white light shining from it.

She could hear Truth's voice from behind her before she was being sucked in, "Have a good, long rest, alchemist,"

Truth's chuckles still echoed in her ears when her feet finally found purchase on solid, white ground.

Again, she was surrounded by white but this time her eyes zeroed in on a figure standing not too far from her.

Immediately, her eyes filled with tears when she instantly recognized the Xingese features, distorted by a very familiar roguish grin and sharp but warm violet eyes, "G-Greed?"

The Homunculus grinned, "Hey there, sweets," his voice had the same smooth, deep quality she remembered and she didn't even try to stop herself from launching herself on him.

The chuckle reverberating in his chest when he caught her in his arms sent pleasant vibrations through her and she relished in the familiar, strong embrace she had been deprived for so, so many years, "It's really you..." she didn't bother wiping at the tears of joy.

"And looking as hot as ever," he chuckled at his own joke and she couldn't help but giggle along, burying her face against him.

"I'm home, Lena," he affectionately caressed her head and she gave him a soft, deep kiss.

When they broke apart, her smile was real and bright and warm, "Welcome home," he bumped his nose gently against hers and she knew this was where she wanted to be all along.

Alright, apologies for making you all wait! I wanted to release this before I officially publish "Attack on Homunculus" tomorrow in the evening! :) Hope you all enjoyed! ;)