"Maes!"
Hughes' eyes went wide, jaw slack. A lone dagger slipped from his fingers, clattering sharp against concrete.
No. No no no.
He fell to his knees with a breathy gurgle, dark blood bubbling over his lips. His eyes drifted past Lust to Roy and Roy felt his chest bottom out, heart falling hard into his gut, cold and crushing.
Hughes looked back to Lust and his hands twitched, quivering, reaching together as if to clap, and realization slapped Roy across the face.
Ed was in there.
It wasn't just Maes. Ed was in there, too, and Maes wasn't strong enough to throw him out.
Whoever was in control of Hughes' body couldn't hold it and let his hands fall. He looked to Roy, mouth opening as if to say something but only releasing another foaming wave of blood. His body convulsed once, eyes snapping wide in agony as shuddering muscle contorted around the unmoving spears embedded in his flesh. Roy wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a grin or a grimace the way his lips twisted, baring bloodied teeth as his eyes settled back on Lust.
Both an eternity and a second passed before Hughes quivered and slumped forward, the spears in his chest the only thing holding his body upright, and he stilled.
Roy couldn't make out the rise and fall of his chest anymore.
Roy saw red.
His fingers snapped before his mind had the chance to catch up, engulfing the homunculus in an inferno bright enough to sear his eyes and bleach the dark a burning white. The claws at his throat disintegrated in the heat as the creature screamed, flesh sizzling, hair turning to ash.
Ed was dead, and so was Hughes.
And Roy wasn't going to die without taking this monster with him.
Lust turned on him as the flames died, reeking of smoke and burnt flesh. She was unrecognizable; skin mostly gone, ashen bone visible in places, but despite her head being more skull than face, she straightened. Red sparked and washed over her mutilated body, weaving a layer of muscle, pale skin and a flawless dress where burnt bone had been just a second before. Her eyes, no longer gaping sockets but once again filled with fluid and irises and malice landed on him. "That wasn't very gentlemanly of you, Colonel Mustang."
He snarled and snapped again.
Once again fire swallowed her, lashing at skin and muscle beneath, hot enough to kill, and Lust screamed but she didn't drop. She stepped backward, nothing more than a mangled humanoid shape robed in flame, and Roy followed, sending another wave her way, driving her back step after step. She raised a smoking corpse-like arm to send her claws at him, but even as it sparked red to heal Roy set it ablaze all over again.
Roy passed Hughes, the body now face down and still on the ground, but he couldn't look at him.
He couldn't. He could break down later, but he couldn't look right now.
Roy drove her back, incinerating the claws she sent his way and her monstrous body time after time until she was right at the fire escape.
Then she turned and ran.
From below, a gun barked twice and fell silent.
After a split second of surprise, Roy followed the reflection of flames dancing on the metal railing, his steps uneven and painful. He made it onto the top landing and stopped.
Lust was below him at the base of the stairs, fire finally fading into wispy smoke curling around her head.
Riza was there, a single claw running through her injured shoulder from behind, another impaling her hand. Her sidearm lay where it had fallen at her feet, her only free hand wrapped around the spear protruding her shoulder, slick with blood as she clawed weakly at the sharp blade. Her eyes were screwed up in rage and pain and reflected Roy's terror right back at him.
Lust smiled, and there was only hate in her eyes. "It would appear we are at a stalemate, Colonel."
XxXxX
Edward Elric had been dead for five minutes.
And he was just as incensed as the first time.
"Again?!" he screamed into the white void, but there was no response. He turned a full three-sixty, squinting into the sourceless light, but nothing.
Where was Truth?
"Well."
Ed jumped a mile, whirling to see Truth seated on whatever passed for the ground in the Portal, that big menacing grin—the only thing brighter than all the white—splitting its otherwise featureless face. "Looks like you did it, alchemist."
"I didn't even get to—wait, what?"
"You did it," Truth repeated. "You found your murderer."
Ed's eyes narrowed as he tried to coerce his brain into shooting something other than blanks.
He remembered hiding in the shadows and listening, following Hughes up to the rooftop. He remembered that homunculus, Lust, shifting her weight ever so slightly, and he'd known what she was going to do before she even did it. He remembered panicking. He dove for Hughes, merging with him just as a pair of claws speared his lungs.
Which, if he recalled, hadn't felt very good.
"It was Lust?" he asked, his sluggish mind recalling snippets of the conversation he'd overheard between her and Mustang. "She didn't pull the trigger, though."
"You alchemists are always so literal," Truth said, resting his chin on a hand. Ed's hand, to be exact. "I'm sure you gathered that the homunculus Lust orchestrated the whole thing."
"Why?"
"There are some things to know, and there are some things to learn."
Ed made a strangled sound in the back of his throat. "Why are you always like this? What does that mean?!"
"It means that you will have to find that out for yourself, Edward Elric."
Ed glared at the immortal being until another thought struck him hard and fast. "Wait, did you summon me here somehow, or did I just die again?"
"One would think you'd grow tired of it," Truth agreed dully, then he tilted his head, almost managing to look thoughtful. "You knew you couldn't remove your soul from a body unless your host removes you. Interesting that you decided to die in the place of Maes Hughes that way."
Ed was feeling a lot of things, but blinding panic surged to the forefront, breath hitching. "Hughes! Is he—"
"Your friend is still breathing. But you of all humans know how quickly that can change."
The panic eased into a dull sense of disquiet. Why did Truth always have to be so ambiguous about everything? Ed wouldn't be getting any more information on that front. "You said that if I found who killed me, I would get my body back."
Truth's grin returned full force, sending Ed's anxiety up a few notches. Truth's glee rarely boded well for Ed. "A deal is a deal, alchemist," it agreed, and with a gesture, Ed's body just appeared. If Ed had blinked, he would have missed it.
It stood before him, dressed in black and red, blond hair done up in his usual braid, white gloves covering its hands. Ed could have sworn he was looking into a mirror if it were not for the way his body was absolutely soaked, water dripping from its hair and nose. There was also a dull lifelessness in his body's eyes and a surprising amount of blood smeared underneath his jaw and down his neck.
Well, that just figured.
"You've had my body for months and you couldn't even bother closing the wound?!"
"That would cost extra, Edward Elric." Truth's grin gained an edge to it. "Is there something you would like to offer in exchange?"
"You say alchemists are literal?!" Ed shrieked. "My friends are back there risking their necks and in way over their heads. What am I supposed to do with a half-dead body?!"
Truth sighed, like he was already bored of the whole thing. "Hopefully attempt to keep it alive this time. Take your body and be gone, al-chem-ist."
And Ed froze.
He stared at his body and it stared back, it's skin chalky and lips blue, blood trickling down its neck, coloring the tiny streams of water running down under the collar of its shirt a dark pink.
Ed would be lucky if his body made it from his arrival straight to a hospital, never mind if his friends and Al were too caught up in a fight to immediately take him. And Mustang, Hughes . . . what if Lust actually hurt them?
What if she killed them?
And what would happen to Al if he lost Ed, Mustang and Hughes, all in one night?
"No."
Truth perked, lifting his head just a fraction, smile melting a degree. If he'd had eyebrows, they would have been raised high on his forehead. "No?"
"No," Ed repeated. "Send me back."
"My, this is interesting," Truth purred, leaning forward. "You want to go back without your body?"
"Did I stutter?" Ed snapped.
Truth's grin stretched wide again and he laughed, the sound sharp and undulating and disturbing to witness, making the hairs on Ed's neck stand on end. Ed knew that sound would probably be making an appearance in his nightmares if he ever got to sleep again.
"Well, well," Truth said, sounding one part impressed and one part menacing. "Your wish is my command, alchemist."
Ed bared his teeth in a grin.
"I'll be right back."
Okay, I'm really sorry for how short this is. Very very sorry, I usually try to make these things quite a bit longer than this. This chapter did not want to be written :') BUT Ed seems like he's got a plan, huh? :'D
Special thanks to firewood-figs and mildly-nerdy on Tumblr for all of their help. They both gave me a lot of help/encouragement on this one c:
Okay, so I HAVE LOST ANOTHER APPLIANCE. I have had to repair/replace THREE APPLIANCES in the past MONTH, what is this year?! :'D It started with my washer catching on fire, and then my air conditioner stopped working, and now my refrigerator/freezer stopped working. I quit. 2020 can have the rest of this year, I'm done with it xD
In other news, I haven't had ice cream in months, and it was delicious as I tried to save it xD
Thanks so much for reading! Please drop a review if you have the time, and I'll catch you next chappy :)
God Bless,
-RainFlame