Manami, Ed, and Al stared at Ling and the Ourosboros tattoo on his hand. They were still trying to process what just happened.
"Did he just say Greed..?" Ed asked to himself.
"The Greed from Dublith..?" Manami asked as she watched the "new" Ling approach Ed and Al.
"Dublith?" He asked, tilting his head. "No idea what you're talking about…"
"He was the Greed before you." Father answered.
"Makes sense…" Greed rubbed his neck again. "So, yeah, that answers it. I'm a different Greed from the one you knew."
"Ling is still in there… he's got to be…" Manami whispered.
"Wrongo, chickie." Greed held up a finger. "He willingly gave me this body, and I don't lie."
"Bullshit!" Ed gritted his teeth. "Ling! Answer us!"
"I told you, he's gone! Don't you listen?"
Suddenly, the entrance doors burst open, revealing a single chimera… but it didn't move. Instead, it fell over, lifeless. Behind him stepped in… Scar?! And the little Xingese girl from before!
The girl looked scared… it was hard to hear, but Manami could hear her mention something about "that man" not being human… she probably meant Father…
Manami then noticed something running across the room and remembered that it was the black and white animal Al had found before. It jumped into the Xingese girl's arms, and she hugged it tightly.
"Xiao Mei..! You're safe, thank goodness..!"
"What a touching reuinion!" Greed went to clap his hands.
"The FullMetal and Wind Alchemists are here, too." Scar mumbled to himself.
"FullMetal?!" The girl gasped. "Where?! Mister Edward is here?!"
"Mister..?" Manami raised a brow.
"Over there." Scar pointed, but she didn't seem to see him.
"I don't see him!"
"I'm telling you, right there!"
The girl looked closer and saw Ed under Envy's claws… and her smile quickly faded.
"How dare you toy with a maiden's pure heart, you bean-boy!" She yelled.
"What— who— who are you calling a bean, micro-girl?!" Ed snapped back.
"Brother, what did you do to that girl?!"
"Nothing! I don't even know her!"
"We really don't have time for any of this!" Manami yelled over the both of them. "If you haven't forgotten, we're still in the lion's den, immobilized and unarmed!"
"Gluttony, eat them already!" Envy shouted.
"Okay!~" Gluttony ran over towards Scar and the Xingese girl with glee.
But Scar quickly raised his hand and grabbed Gluttony's face, and blue sparks flew as Gluttony exploded in half.
"!" Everyone's eyes widened. He could transmute!
"You'll pay for deceiving me and kidnapping Xiao Mei!" The girl went to ready some knives in between her fingers and threw them at a rock near Envy. "You'll PAY!"
A giant fist came out of the ground and punched Envy right in the stomach, moving him off of Ed and Al so they could get away. While Envy was caught in the moment of weakness, his tail loosened and Manami pushed her way out of it before jumping down.
"Great!" She grinned. "Our alchemy is back!" She readied her fans to soften her landing right as Ed and Al clapped their hands…
But when Manami waved her fans, nothing happened, and she clumsily fell to the ground and stumbled to fall flat on her face.
"!" Ed and Al quickly realized they couldn't transmute either.
"What the hell?!" Manami yelled in frustration.
"How can you two use alchemy?!" Envy roared.
"Are you okay?" Ed and Al ran over to Manami, who was standing up.
"I somehow didn't break my legs." She muttered, rubbing her face in pain. "My face sure doesn't feel good..."
"If that's all that's hurting, we're not doing so bad." Ed looked back. "And I know a way to turn this around…"
He cupped his hands around his mouth. "SCAR! You want to know the truth about the Civil War?! The soldier who shot that child?!" He pointed to Envy. "He's standing right there! He's the one who disguised as a soldier and killed that child. He started everything!"
"..." Scar's eyes moved to look at Envy.
"It's true!" Manami added. "These guys are responsible for orchestrating this entire war!"
"Really..?" Al looked down to Manami, and she looked back at him and nodded.
"He told us himself… when we were in Gluttony's stomach." She answered.
"..." Scar's eyes narrowed. "I'd like to hear more details." He said in a low voice as he raised his hand. "... in between your screams."
He reached back, somehow knowing that Gluttony was behind him, and made him explode once again. The Xingese girl looked at him with trembling eyes, slowly moving to back away from him.
"Tell me… for what purpose did you choose to slaughter my people?" Scar asked. "Depending on your answer… no… you don't deserve to be sent to God alongside my fallen brothers…"
Blue sparks flashed around him. "Your only solace from my wrath will be your DAMNNATION!"
There was an explosion of blue sparks, sending everyone flying.
"We've got to get Ling back..!" Ed said to Al and Manami.
"But how?!" Manami asked, looking over to see Greed standing with his arms crossed as he watched Scar with a satisfied grin.
"Come on!" Ed ran over, Al and Manami close behind. "Ling, I know you're still in there!"
"Nope, just Greed." Greed looked over to them and smirked as he went to run away.
Ed chased after him, Manami following close behind… but at some point, she turned and noticed that Al was gone.
"?" She looked around, unable to find him in all the commotion of Scar's explosions. She dismissed it for now and looked over to see Ed and Greed now fighting.
"Come on!" Ed went to strike once more… but like before, Greed just covered that area with his Ultimate Shield so that it didn't even phase him.
Manami circled around them and then came from behind Greed. She extended her leg to trip him and then looped her arms from under his so that she could hold him tightly him by the shoulders.
"Aw, come on, that's not even fair… I don't fight women." Greed groaned.
"Trust me, I know." Manami rolled her eyes.
"Good one, Manami!" Ed went to lunge at Greed and Manami moved out of the way just in time so that Ed could pin him on the ground and punch his face.
"What about your country?!" Ed yelled. "Have you forgotten about Lan Fan?!" He landed a punch, noticing very quickly that the shield wasn't summoned… Ed's hand was in full contact with his face.
While Ed was distracted, Greed went to twist around and pin Ed down.
"Ed..!" Manami went to go help, but stopped when she felt a hand grab hold of her shoulder. Despite it's gentleness… the touch still felt shivers down her spine.
"That's quite enough." She heard Father speak from behind her. She didn't dare move.
She slowly looked over to see Envy enter the room with Al, holding Al's arms behind his back.
"Envy, take them to Wrath immediately." Father demanded, removing his hand from Manami's shoulder and giving her back a gentle tap to push her towards Envy.
"Come on, you three. Walk!" Envy snapped, as Ed joined her and they went to walk out the room.
"Ling… he's still in there…" He mumbled quietly, making Manami's eyes widen in surprise.
Envy had returned to his human-like form by the time he led them to an elevator. Nobody said a word as they started to go up, Envy suddenly transforming into a soldier in uniform.
"..?" It wasn't until the elevator doors opened and they stepped out to see what was out the window…
They were at Central Headquarters..!
"We were under Central command this whole time..!" Al said quietly.
"Hey!" Envy barked at them. "You're disgusting!"
"Likewise…" Manami spat, turning her head.
"Not like that! You're filthy, and I'm not about to get heat because Wrath had to deal with a bunch of stinky humans!" He pointed his thumb to one of the shower rooms nearby. "So you're gonna wash up!"
"Um…" Manami raised a brow. "That's the men's shower room… I'll pass."
Envy groaned and rolled his eyes. "I'm not asking your permission!"
"I'm not showering in a men's shower room!" Manami barked, her cheeks turning red.
"Isn't there a women's shower room somewhere?" Ed asked, now getting uncomfortable as well.
"I'm not bending backwards for you brats because you two can't grow up!" Envy yelled. "Go to opposite sides of the room, look the other way, and deal with it!"
"..." It didn't look like there was going to be any other way around this.
"I swear, next time we fight, I'll…"
"Yeah, yeah." Envy cut Manami off and opened the door to the shower room. "Get in and shut up."
"..." Manami went in first, walking to the furthest stall and frowning at the sight of it… these stalls were barely tall enough to cover anything…
She clapped her hands and touched the door of the stall, raising it and the surrounding the to stand much taller.
"I swear, if either of you…" She turned her head to see Ed and Al coming in the room with baskets of new, clean clothes.
"We won't, geez…" Ed wouldn't even look at her now as he handed her her basket. "This is just as awkward for us as it is for you."
"I might actually kill him." Manami kicked her stall open and stepped inside. She put the basket down on the floor and slid it to the stall next to her, so that it wouldn't get wet.
She looked around to make sure that there was absolutely no way she would be seen… before she started undressing.
They were silent as they got their showers started. Manami breathed a small sigh of relief when the water got hot. Despite the discomfort of showering in the same room as two boys, she badly craved a hot shower that would hopefully wash at least half this blood off...
She went to run her hands through her hair as it got wet, her eyes looking down to the floor to see the faintly red water going down the drain. After a short while, she could hear Ed and Al talking quietly amongst themselves.
"I can't believe it… his lair was under Central Headquarters this whole time…" Al mumbled.
"Yeah… it's not good." Ed replied. "It could be not just the Furher, but the whole military as we know."
He paused for a moment. "But… I do have some good news."
"Hmm?"
"We had to open the portal to come back… and on the way, I saw your body."
"?!" Manami's eyes widened in surprise.
"What?!" Al gasped. "You saw my body?!"
"Yeah. I tried to reach out for it, but… it said that it couldn't go with me, because I wasn't its soul."
"My body still exists… yes!" Al sounded so relieved.
"Yup!" Manami could hear the grin in Ed's voice. "And now that we know where it is, that's another step closer to getting it back!"
"..." But Manami couldn't say anything. She was genuinely happy about this breakthrough, but…
Hearing Ed's experience of going through the portal... only reminded of her own experience. What she had learned.
Ed and Al talked more, but she couldn't hear them through her own thoughts rushing through her head. Her experience at the Portal came back to her, all too vividly.
"Their souls have passed through the door, and their bodies remained in your world."
But why? Why were their souls taken if they didn't participate in the transmutation?
Even worse… the rebound had fused and deformed their bodies to make that abomination… when Manami started that fire in their home, she started with that body.
Their bodies.
Manami's shoulders began to shake, and her legs felt weak. She put her hand on the shower wall to hold herself up... fighting the urge to throw up, cry, and scream— all at the same time…
"GAAAH!"
"?!" She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Ed scream.
"That girl is inside your armor?!" Ed shrieked. "Can't a guy shower in peace without all this estrogen?!"
Manami noticed that Ed's shower was turned off by now… she quickly went to finish up and turn her faucet off.
"... Manami, you're awfully quiet Are you okay?" Al suddenly said.
"... I'm just tired…" Manami mumbled, drying off and reaching for her clothes basket in the neighboring stall.
"..." Ed didn't like the way she said that. Something was wrong.
"Hey, what's—"
"Hurry up!" The door to the shower room opened and Envy yelled at them. "We don't have all day!"
"We're coming! Geez!" Ed yelled back, sighing heavily as he finished getting dressed.
"We're decent on this end." He said in Manami's direction.
"..." But her door didn't open.
"Come on, we gotta go." Ed called again.
They heard a heavy sigh from Manami before her stall door opened, and Ed and Al's eyes widened in surprise once they saw her.
She wore a lavender button-down blouse, along with a black pencil skirt that cut off at her knees.
Both boys stared for a few seconds… and then Ed covered his mouth to stifle a laugh.
"Not. A. Word." Manami glared daggers at him. She then went to walk past the Elric brothers, avoiding further eye contact.
Al watched her, at first still distracted from the outfit, but then he noticed that her eyes looked red and puffy… and he started to get worried.
He wanted to ask, but she had already left the room...