Chapter 6

Heee's Baack!!! (well ... kinda)

The four ran into the house and halted as they saw someone who they'd thought was long-gone, Hughes. The black-haired man stood in the center of the living room, laughing.

"What the ..." Ed stopped in the center of the doorway, staring as Hughes approached him.

"Hey, Edward, how've you been? Al, nice to see you too. Sorry you've got to see me like this." Hughes chuckled as he stuck his hand through his stomach. "The first time you talk to someone you knew as a spirit is always ... un-nerving."

"How did you ... what I mean is ..." Al struggled to find the right words. "How did you come back?"

Hughes looked to Mustang, who shook his head. "I can't tell you how, but I will tell you WHY I'm here. You know, it's strange really ... I'm just 'here' long enough to give you my message, and then I'm back on the other side." Hughes "walked" two of his fingers over an imaginary bridge.

"Hurry up and tell us what you have to say, Maes. You know what happens the longer you stay." Mustang ordered.

"Uh ... right. The ones who are responsible for my death, the homonculi, are getting ready for a major offensive. All seven of them are together, and they're out for blood, a lot of blood." The room became smothered in silence. "You have to be ready. Ed, Al, and Leaha are going to be in the most danger. You three are the only ones who have lived to see the other side of the Gate, so you're going to be targeted the most, probably." Hughes turned to face Ed and Al. "I don't want to see any of you three on my side, understand?" The brothers nodded as Hughes slowly faded away. "Stay together, you'll be strongest that way ..."

Ed wiped away a stray tear from the corner of his eye. He really hadn't expected to get a chance to see Hughes again, and he yet he still hadn't had the chance to say good bye. He looked around the room. "Where is Leaha anyway?" When he met their eyes, Havoc and Hawkeye looked away.

Mustang sighed. "She's in the bathroom upstairs." The colonel waved a hand tiredly toward the stairway that led to the second floor of the house. Ed nodded and started up the stairs. "She'll kill you if you try to go check on her, Ed."

"I doubt she could, but thanks for the warning anyway."

"Forgive me for saying this, but if Hughes wasn't already dead, I'd kill him right now." Leaha moaned quietly and vomited into the toilet again while Gracia held her hair back. "Why'd he have to take so damn long?"

"Sweety, you know Maes ... I'm sorry." Gracia filled a cup with cold water from the sink and offered it to Leaha. "Rinse your mouth with this and spit it out when you're done. Do you think you'll be okay now?"

"Yes, I'll be fine." Leaha attempted to stand, but fell to the floor. "I just need a while longer to recover. Don't worry about me ... I'll be fine."

Gracia watched Leaha closely. "I'll go tell Roy to come up and check on you in a bit. He'll know if you're pushing yourself too hard." Gracia left and shut the door. Almost immediately, there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Leaha snapped.

"Ed."

"Go away." Leaha ordered.

"I'm coming in." Ed replied stubbornly.

"No, you're not!" Leaha placed her hands on the door and transmuted it into solid wall.

"Yes, I am!" The wall was transmuted back into the door which Ed pushed his way through.

"What do you want?" Leaha snarled as she forced herself to stand up.

Ed recoiled slightly from the scent of vomit that still clung to the room. "Hughes said that you'd seen the other side of the Gate. How and when did that happen?!" Ed demanded.

"That is none of your damn business!" Leaha yelled. "Why the hell would I tell you anything?!"

"You know what ... fine ... be that way!" Ed growled. "I should have let Scar kill you!"

"Psh ... that's funny ..." Leaha snarled. "I could have sworn that I was the one who killed that man, not you."

"What's going on in here?!" Mustang roared as he entered the room. "Both of you, grow up. You're acting like children."

Leaha flinched as if she'd been slapped. "I'm sorry, Musta- ... sir."

"Heh ... whatever." Ed growled as he shouldered his way past the colonel and out of the bathroom.

"You need to keep a check on your temper." Roy chided his niece. "You shouldn't let him get under your skin so easily, especially since I'm now assigning you to work with him at all times."

"WHAT?!" Leaha's stone-soldier facade crumbled. "You can't be serious!"

"I am serious. You're going to have to learn how to get along with the Elrics."

Leaha continued to plead with her uncle. "I get along with Al just fine, but don't make me work with Ed. I can't stand him! He's just another simple, egotistical alchemist that thinks the Philosopher's Stone will solve all of his problems! Uncle, I can't ... no ... I won't work with someone like him!"

Edward stood silently in the hallway and listened. Each complaint by Leaha made him feel like he was being stabbed repeatedly by a dagger in his chest. He walked down the corridor quietly and returned to the living room. "Al, let's go." Ed looked away from the pairs of accusing eyes that were watching him and went outside.

"Brother, we can't just leave!" Al protested as he also left the house. "You heard what Lieutenant Colonel Hughes said, all three of us should stay together."

"She doesn't want to work with me." Ed replied. "I believe the exact words she used to describe me were 'simple' and 'egotistical'."

"Brother, you have been especially pig-headed since we met Leaha." Al touched his brother's shoulder carefully. "Maybe you should back down for once and give Leaha a chance."

"Heh ... are you ready?"

"Of course, killing these three kids will be fun ..."

"Just remember the plan."

"Plan, shman ... let's move."

Ed brushed Al's hand off. "I'm going back to the hotel."

"Well, I'm staying here." Al announced. "Hughes wouldn't have told us to stay together unless he had a really good reason."

Ed groaned. "Al, he was probably over-reacting to some rumor he heard from some other lonely spirit."

"But what about the homunculi? Brother, I'm really worried. I don't like this at all."

"You shouldn't." Lust's voice echoed as the siblings dodged an attack by her finger-nails. "So the man did warn you ... oh well, at least that means the Liquid Alchemist is weak." She smiled devilishly and charged Alphonse with her nails extended.

"Oh shit! Leaha!" Ed turned to run back into the house, but he was blocked by the ever-hungry Gluttony. "Damnit!"

Leaha splashed some water on her face and turned off the sink. "What's that sound? It sounds like the walls are ..." The boards in the wall facing the street began to creak, break, and collapse. "Oh no ..." Leaha's eyes widened as she took a step backwards in fear.

"Oh yes. Remember me, girly?" Greed laughed darkly as he entered the gaping hole. "Didn't think you'd see me again, did you?"

"Quit playing around." Envy snarled and grabbed Leaha's arm. "Let's go, brat."

"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Leaha slammed the heel of her automail leg into Envy's toes and made a rush for the door.

"Not so fast." Greed laughed again as he attempted to block her way. Leaha dodged him, transmuted the door into solid wall, and grabbed Elisia from her bedroom.

"Out. Now." Leaha passed Elisia to her mother and started to herd the adults towards the back door.

"What's going on up there?" Hawkeye demanded.

"No time. Out the back door and run." Leaha ordered as two sets of heavy footsteps pounded down the stairs.

"Here pretty, pretty, pretty ..." Called Envy.

"GO!" Hissed Leaha before she ran out the front door yelling. "Come and get me, morons!" The two male homunculi growled and followed the young alchemist while the adults and child escaped.

"Fools! You were supposed to get rid of her inside of the house!" Lust cursed Greed and Envy.

"It's not my fault that Greed is useless!" Envy cursed back.

The five homunculi (Lust, Greed, Envy, Wrath, and Gluttony) were locked in battle against the three teen alchemists. Both sides were growing tired of the battle.

"How about we take this to the next level?!" Leaha laughed as she clapped her hands to the ground. "Now, things will get interesting."

"You don't think she's ..." Lust froze. "... no."

"... scary..." Gluttony whimpered as he tried to hide behind Lust.

The ground began to shake and a bright light erupted around Leaha.

"No! Make it stop! Make! IT! STOP!!!!" Wrath screamed as he fell to the ground.

Envy glared at Greed. "This is why we were supposed to get rid of her early."

Ed and Al watched from the side. "Brother, what's going on?" Al wondered out-loud.

"I'm not sure, Al." Ed responded.

The shaking stopped and the light faded to reveal Leaha standing in front of the Gate. "You five know that I can send you back without any trouble at all. I can seal you away, never to return again. Is that what you want?"

Ed's jaw dropped as Leaha continued to speak. "She just ... the Gate ... how?"

A/n: I'm sorry this took forever for me to update ... I've had a really bad writer's block on this story, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to keep writing.