Merry All-The-Holidays-That-Have-Passed! This is my longest chapter yet!

The Lovely Daaaarlings!

YumiXjaganshi: Hehe, why thank you! And welcome to the story. XD

Dragon of Twilight: Ed will find out as soon as they stop bickering. Trust me.(About the finding out. Who knows when they stop bickering. xP)

Point Counterpoint: We've talked.

Coliana: Glad you like it!

PixieStixys: Epic Battles FTW. Mwahaha, such a wonderful ability. AND HEY. I wanted skittles.

AnonymousGirl18: Hiii! Your username is on auto-suggest on OpenOffice. Just thought I'd share that with you.

It is long, isn't it? But hey, I like long titles. They're confusing and complicated.

Aaaaaaaand. I DO have a picture of Riley. Someone else asked for it as well. Take note, it's a rough draft I conjured up one boring day, but it's what she looks like so oh well. Link is:
http ://i775. Photobucket. c o m/ albums/ yy33/ GnarlyNeon/ Riley. jpg (Without all the spaces of course.)

Pigs, pills, what's really the difference? 8D

IceFire Dragon Alchemist73: An entire day passed. XD

cwizumi: Aw, yay, I gave a present! Yes. As long as Riley wasn't blown up, all is well with the world.

Yeah, I thought about making her condition even worse, but I figured some burns would be suitable considering the next chapter.

Hope you had a great Christmas too!

Lani99: NOOO! NOT ELECTROCUTION! Yes, action FTW. AAAAAND.(Ooh, all caps this time.) The romance thing will be advanced in the next few chapters(Kukuku.. I has idea.)

Want to Be a Lovely Daaaarling? Review! Bwahaha.

God, you people. I don't own FullMetal Alchemist. GET IT INTO YOUR HEADS. I do own Riley, however. And Blackburn. And the two dead guys at the end of the chapter. Hehe.

Chapter Twenty-Seven:
Death.

Ed and I had split up, running around town all day. Ed didn't bother saying a word to me since we left Dante's and I didn't want to deal with him. It turns out while Greed fought us, his buddies were kidnapping Al. And apparently, Ed couldn't help but feel angry with me because I didn't go after them. Which, in turn, made me angry with Ed. Hence, we haven't said a word to each other since we left Dante's. I knew he was just in a pissy mood because Greed beat him and he couldn't go after Al, but he didn't have to take it out on me. I lasted longer than he did with Greed. Then again, I didn't really fight Greed. He just kind of.. Knocked me over. And thinking about it put me in a pissy mood because compared to his "ability", our attacks were meaningless.

Sighing, I turned a corner to see the military standing in front of a pub called Devil's Nest. And, where there's military, there's probably Homunculus. So, I began scanning the area. There was another shop beside the Devil's Nest so I went into it, sneaking behind the Military officers. Looking around the room, I saw no one around. Good. I walked to the far wall and clapped, placing a hand on the wall.

And boom.

I really needed to start working on more quiet sources of entrance.

I ran through the hole in the wall and wound up in a bathroom in Devil's Nest. Sighing, I clapped and placed my hands on the floor. A low blue flame started on the floor around my hands, and the floor began to melt. I stepped away as the burning sulfur did it's job.

Looking through the hole, I saw a droplet of melted tile land onto the shoulder of, who I assumed to be Greed. He looked like Greed, save for the fact his skin was a dark blue. Stone-like. It was weird, but I couldn't just stand around to think about it at the time. He was about to punch Ed when he noticed it as well. "Hm?" He stopped, looking up to see the hole, and me standing beside it. He smirked, "You again, too, huh?"

Ed looked up, seeing me also. "Riley, get out of here!" He shouted up at me. Like he thought I actually would leave or something. Hah.

Glaring at him, I snapped, "Shut the hell up, Pipsqueak!" His brow twitched as he glared at me. I looked back at Greed and jumped down at him. He dodged backwards and I ran toward him once I landed. I kicked at him, and he stepped back to avoid it.

Ed darted passed me, handblade ready. I glared at him as he attacked at Greed. Greed reacted the same as he did with me, jumping back to dodge.

"Greed!" Everyone looked over to the doors to see a man standing there. "The military! They're he-" A bullet was sent through his head, and he fell to the ground, limp.

Two of the men rushed over to the door in alarm, slamming it shut. As one barricaded it, the other(Almost dog-like in appearance) looked back to Greed. "So what should we do now?"

"Well dammit," Greed muttered as he place one hand on his hip, the other in the air, "Those bastards ruined our fight!"

I would have found this slightly homosexual position and casual wording funny, if not for the fact he was our enemy, and he was dark blue.

The one who asked Greed the question in the first place gave said man a deadpan look as he sweat a bit. "Well hell Boss, don't sound worried or anything..." When banging was heard on the doors behind them, they turned and stepped back toward us.

"Don't worry boys. There's nobody in the military who can do us harm," Greed explained. An explosion occurred behind us and I immediately stiffened. It wasn't hard figuring out who it was. Ed and Greed turned to see who, but I didn't. I couldn't. I would've attacked if I did. "Kimblee...," Greed mumbled in surprise, only confirming my fear.

Ed gasped, so I knew I'd have to turn around. When I did, I saw no one other than Frank Archer standing beside Kimblee, holding a lumpy bag. Upon seeing the bag as well, Greed's eyes widened and his blue skin quickly changed back to a more normal skintone. "Bastard.. You've betrayed us, haven't you?" He asked in shock.

Kimblee only smirked in response. Another explosion happened and turning to see what that was, I saw a much bigger man, with white hair and armor on his arm, looking back at Greed and gang. "It's time to move!"

The others rushed to the new opening. Except for Greed. I looked over at him and almost... Almost felt bad. The look on his face was pure betrayal. Pure shock. "Greed, let's go," One man growled, grabbing the Homoncolus by the arm.

"No, wait!" Ed shouted, stepping forward once he spotted Al being picked up.

Before Ed could get anywhere, one of the men, the canine-like one, punched him in the face. He smirked down at Ed, "Sorry kid. It's been fun."

He turned and headed out with the others in his group. Ed glared, his cheek bruised, as he stood, "You're not going anywhere..." As he got back to his knees, three soldiers stepped in front of us with firm looks. Ed fully stood. "What is this?!"

"Please don't resist."

As Ed began to protest, I growled. I knew what these men wanted. They were with Archer, it was obvious. And Archer was with Kimblee. No way in hell was I going to sit around to be lead into the same room with him. So, I took off. A much more responsible thing, don't you think? "H-Hey!" One of the soldiers shouted, turning to grab me. I bent forward, swinging my arm around to knock the gun from his hands. I then shoved my leg into his stomach. He fell and as other soldiers ran over, I slipped through and ran for the hole. The last thing I heard was Ed calling my name.

. . .

I ran down the sewer "side-walk", looking for any one of them. I didn't care if Greed was so-called invincible. He now hated Kimblee, therefore he was tolerable in my dictionary. I just had to find them. Hearing shooting up ahead, I knew I was nearby. I neared a turn when I saw a soldier have a sword smash him in the head. As the impact sent him into the water, I quickly held my breath as I shoved myself against the wall, hoping the wielder of the weapon wouldn't turn down the "side-walk".

"Greed. Move!" A bold voice shouted, following by Greed's meek toned reply. Then footsteps.

I could hear the wielder still fighting with soldiers, so I knew it was then or never. Holding my breath, I took off around the corner and slid around a soldier who fell to the ground. Charging in the direction of who I saw to be Doggy-Boy, I used the soldier he was fighting as a cover. They did a one-eighty as the soldier tried dodging a move, so I took that as an opportunity to run for the next turn. I heard Doggy-Boy shouting, "Hey, kid!" But seeing as he didn't run after me, I paid little mind to it.

Running at a far enough distance that they wouldn't pay attention to my footsteps was hard, but doable. Until I tripped and landed face first on the concrete. That wasn't pleasant. Growling, I rubbed the now red and uncovered skin on my forehead as I stood back up. What a great stalker I was, tripping all over the place. I began to follow again, when an explosion stopped my targets in their tracks. I almost stumbled over trying to stop, but managed to do so and hide myself behind a wall. Rocks flew about, and as dust was settled, Armstrong was revealed.

Joy to the world. He should be more concerned about Zolf Kimblee working with that scumbag Archer than these rip-off criminals. This was a matter between Elrics(And me, of course. Don't forget me.) and Greed. Not the Military.

As I thought about all this, he was giving an introduction and history lesson. Once he finished, Al looked up at him, "Major!"

The big white-haired man placed Al down onto the ground and stepped forward bravely. These guys sure were loyal... "My demands are simple," Armstrong started, "You give Alphonse Elric to me."

The two began to fight, hand in hand and leg for leg. "Dear God, they're like sparring buddies!" I thought to myself sadly. And it was true. They fought as if they knew each other's styles. They were evenly matched. Greed and the others sat back to watch, which I was a tad grateful for. Getting passed Armstrong and Big Guy would be harder than the last pair. The two stood apart finally, and Big Guy mentioned being in the Ishbalin War. He knew about Armstrong, which explained the fighting. "So you're a comrad. I can't kill you, then. Surrender now and you shall live." While Armstrong's thinking was noble, it made me sick thinking about Kimblee. What if he had to fight Kimblee? Would he let him leave just because they were in a war together? That vile man?... Was this the thinking I used to look up to?

My thoughts were broken by a voice, "It's us, Major. Step aside. We'll take them!" I looked back to see a few soldiers, guns aimed at the group.

"Come now, don't waste your lives," Armstrong said.

Greed sighed in annoyance and then smirked, "Alright. I'll gladly take that advice. But pass a message to Kimblee and Tucker will you? Tell them both they've just wasted theirs." Big Guy stood and with a grunt and a punch, sent rocks, water and dust flying everywhere.

Dammit.

When the dust died down, rocks had been piled to block Armstrong from them. Luckily I was still on their side. I wasn't going to attack then. Not when they were still on guard, when their adrenaline was still pumping.

. . .

I waited outside. In the woods. Behind a tree. Staring at a shack. Greed, Dog Boy, Big Guy, and Al were all inside. Doing what, I didn't know. But, I waited outside and at a distance, looking into the windows to see as much as possible. Greed was smoking and looking pissed(And quite frankly, I didn't blame him. Two betrayals and some others died. That doesn't exactly call for wine and music.) Suddenly Greed looked startled. But about what?! Damn it...

Finally, I saw it. Lust and Gluttony stood at a doorway. The two shared some words, which I knew were intense, when Dog Boy unsheathed his sword. Turning around, he sliced Al's chains. My eyes widened in surprise. They shared words with Al and turned back to Lust and Gluttony. They stepped in front of Greed and more words were spoken. During their conversation, Greed looked surprised, almost touched in a weird, psychopathic criminal kind of way. He looked reluctant, and when Dog Boy shouted something at him, he finally took off out of the shack, along with Al. I may not have been able to hear them, but I had a pretty good idea of what happened.

And... I actually didn't want to fight Greed. Not because of his or my abilities.. I just didn't want to.

In a way, I wanted to barge into that shack and save- Wait, why couldn't I? That would be not only fun and interesting, but clear this "Greed-May-Not-Be-So-Bad-I-Can't-Kill-Him-Now" thing I had going on all of a sudden. It would be payback. Make us even. So I could kill him.

Letting out a sigh, I grumbled to myself, "Oh what the hell..." And so, I ran around to the entrance of the shack. I couldn't stay long as I wasn't going to let Al leave my sight; But I couldn't just let these two men die after acting so stupidly. Or bravely. Whichever came first. I would just simply... Give the first attack and let the other two warm-up. Then I'd leave to find Al(Okay. I'll be honest. I wanted revenge for the 'Almost Being Eaten' thing.) I opened the door to see the two men charging at Lust. Bad idea. She smirked and raised her hand. I knew it was then or never. Running forward was like a race with her nails. A battle with time and speed.

I clapped my hands together and leaped forward, grabbing her nail closest to me, and shoving it into the other nail. I slammed them both to the ground and she screamed as I melted the wood and, basically, glued her to the floor. Smirking, I looked up at her and charged. This was going to feel good. "This is for the last time we met, bitch!" I shouted, socking her right in the eye. She let out a yelp as her nails were pried from the floor by the impact. Hearing Gluttony come at me, I spun around, kicking him on the chin. "THAT'S FOR TRYING TO EAT ME, YOU SICK-O!" I screamed, panting as he stumbled backward.

Knowing I had used up enough time, I looked over my shoulder at the two men. They stood, blank looks on their faces as they blinked simply. I pointed to Lust and Gluttony, "I'll, um... Let you two finish this up then." What that said, I ran out of there to find Greed and Al. Maybe I acted a bit.. Impulsively.

I took off in the direction they headed quickly. If I wanted to catch up to them, I'd need to be fast about it. This way I would be able to rub it in Ed's face about being more responsible. I came to a clearing within a few minutes, and saw Greed and Al standing there. Hiding behind I tree, I listened in. "Hey, Marta. Stay in that can until morning. If I'm not back by then, you're on your own. Just make sure you have some fun. Okay?"

"Greed," I heard a female voice from Al, "What are you gonna do?"

He smirked, "Can't get into it, doll." He looked around them and cleared his voice, "Oh, kid?" My shoulders stiffened. He knew?! Pouting, I peered around the tree, glaring at him all the while. "Take care of these two while I'm gone." Al seemed surprised I was there, but as Greed turned to walk off, he protested about Greed leaving.

It was then the Marta and Al battle ensued. It was a fierce one, one unlike any other. The fight to behead Al was on. I sighed, "GUYS!"

The two paused and I shook my head, "Just stay put. I'm going ahead to-"

Suddenly Al's head lifted again to show the woman I assumed was Marta. "No way! If a kid is going, so am I!"

I glared, kicking Al's armor. She grunted and I heard the thud of head-metal contact. "Listen, you! Al's body has been through enough now calm your ass down and wait here! You got that?!" When she said nothing, I smirked and nodded, walking off. I could hear her grumbling about it all, but Al wasn't going to give up so easy.

. . .

I reached Dante's house and looked up at the windows in surprise. Blue light emitted from it. What the... Was Ed already there?! Why he... Thinking about this only pissed me off and as my shoulders shook at the thought of him beating me after all I had done, I charged into the building furiously. Looking around the building, I began running room to room to find where they were. A part of me was actually worried(About Ed or Greed, I wasn't really sure. I think both.)

Finally, I reached the room. My eyes widened when I saw it. The transmutation circle.. Lyra stood at the far end of it, watching as Greed stood in the middle of it, throwing up red stones. Dante's dead body was in a corner. I didn't fully comprehend it at the time, but I knew, after witnessing so much already. I knew. Feeling pissed and anxious and pumped all at the same time, I made my way to the circle. Fists clenched and teeth gritting, I scrapped the toe of my boot over a line of the circle a few times. It made a scratch over the circle, and suddenly the light disappeared. Greed fell to his knees and Lyra's head snapped up at me.

Greed looked over and his eyes widened weakly. "Kid.." I glanced down at him and when we both looked back up, Lyra was gone. I made my way over to Greed to see if he needed help up. God, since when did I want to be buddy-buddy with Greed?(My only possible answer to this was, 'When Kimblee betrayed him.') "You don't look too good," I snorted out sarcastically.

He glared down at me, raising an arm for added effect. "Well what do you expect, Kid?" Shrugging him off casually, I kneeled down to get a better look at the circle, curious about it. He sighed. "Thanks for that, anyway."

I wasn't paying too much attention until I heard footsteps. I looked up to see Ed standing there. He looked at Greed with a glare, and then looked at me and Dante's dead body. He looked back to Greed with an even worse glare. "Explain what happened here!"

Greed smirked and shrugged, "Beats me. I was going to ask you that, Kid."

Ed glared as he walked over. "You did this to her, didn't you?" Greed frowned and turned to face him. I was about to speak up with Ed interrupted, "Are you gonna answer me?" I twitched.

"Blame me if you want," Greed started nonchalantly, "I really don't care."

"How could you? She was helpless," Ed growled.

Deadpan expression on my face, I tried to speak up again. This time, Greed interrupted me. "Tell me, Elric. How could you go so far to protect your little brother?" Oh, that's nice. He interrupted me for something totally irrelevant to the dead chick on the floor.

"And what does that have to do with anything?!" There you go, great Psychic Edward Elric.

Greed smirked. "Feelings can be hard to explain."

"What have you done with Al?!" Ed shouted.

Sighing, I was about to speak up a third time, but no. Another interruption. "If you want him back, come on. You know what it takes." Not only was I now pissed, I was also a bit concerned about exactly what he meant. Ed, still glaring, got into a fighting position. Greed slipped off his jacket and turned dark blue again.

Damn those idiots. If they just listened to someone other than themselves, things would be okay!

The two fought with quick, short movements. I could keep up if I had wanted to. But I'd already see the end result. Why watch it all? From the quick movements, I could see Ed get punched a few times in a row. He tried punching Greed, when the hand on his auto-mail broke. "You still don't understand what you're dealing with do you?" Greed asked him before sending him flying across the room. I flinched. Seeing Ed get his ass kicked by someone I almost felt sympathy for was hard. Ed began to sit up as Greed continued. As he did, I noticed Ed's eyes widen in realization. About what, I wasn't sure, and that's what scared me a bit. "If you want to defeat me..."

"I must be ready to kill. I know," Ed growled out.

"And you think you're ready for that, Kid?" Ed made a quick comment about Winry and the two continued to fight. Greed grabbed Ed by the collar and Ed clapped, placing his hand on Greed's arm. Greed quickly let him go. "Your alchemy's worth nothing when fighting me!" I let a sigh as I slowly began to catch on to what Ed was thinking.

It was unavoidable. I'd witness it... I didn't want to. But I had to. For them both.

Greed sent his fist at Ed, who clapped and defended himself with his own fist. Suddenly Greed's muscles and such showed instead of the rock-hard shell. He stumbled back in surprise. "What is this? What did you do?!"

"It's easy when you realize one thing. There are no unexplainable events." Ed began explaining about the elements of the body and how he did it with manipulating Carbon. Once he was finished, he added, "Now that I know how to use it, this shouldn't be too tough."

I didn't like the tone in Ed's voice at all. Or the chill down my spine. Both sucked right about then.

I watched as Ed preformed another attack and demanded to see Al. Of course, Greed refused. Ed attacked in ways to harm him, but not kill him. It didn't help at all. It only made me more anxious. With every attack, he'd get more angered and more adrenaline pumped. And when Ed transmuted his handblade, I knew. Just by the look in his eye. He wasn't controlling himself as he normally would in a fight. The two charged at each other and began to fight again. I sat by the sidelines, watching silently. I couldn't stop these two rock heads. Ed performed his next alchemical trick and my gut began to wrench. If I was going to try to stop them, it would have to had been then. But it would've been too late. They moved too quick. Ed spun around on his heel and sent his handblade up. My first instinct was to whip my head around and not look. But I was going to. I wouldn't look away.

And I didn't.

My brows furrowed as I saw the blade rip through Greed's chest. His arms fell to his side and as his skin reverted to normal, Ed's blade slipped out. Greed fell to his knees. "A-Al.. Where is he?" Ed asked frantically.

Greed smirked weakly. "In the woods. I let him go," His sentence was cut off by coughing up blood.

I looked to the ground, unable to bare it. Ed's eyes widened, "But I thought..."

"We homunculi," Greed stammered out, "Are born when an alchemist tries to recreate life. We are weakened whenever we are close to the remains of the one the alchemist tried to revive. That's the homunculi's weakpoint. That's how we can be killed, understand? And not come back..."

"But why.. Why are you telling me this?" Ed asked in confusion.

"So you can beat them, Ed," Greed whispered out. Ed's eyes widened once more. "They sealed me for so long. You can't let them stay in control." He smirked, looking up at Ed. "I'm greedy. She always said it would be the death of me." He fell to the ground and upon hearing the thud, I flinched. "I'm counting on you two, Kid..."

It was silent a moment, when I heard Ed's stutter. "Greed, cut it out... This is a joke, right? Stop! Hey.. I thought nothing could kill you! You're the ultimate shield! You're indestructible, right?! I can't kill you!" Hesitant, I glanced up to see Ed grab at his head.

He let out a scream as he fell to his knees(Obviously, making me feel even worse). I walked over to him slowly and silently, lowering to my knees beside him. As Greed faded away, I placed a hand on Ed's back as we both cried.

. . .

"What did she tell you?" Izumi asked softly. Her, Ed, Al and I stood by two graves.

"Nothing. It was over when I got there," Ed replied.

Izumi looked to me. "What happened?" She asked me.

I didn't reply. She knew I wasn't going to. I just stared down at the graves. Thinking. First Maes, then Greed. Kimblee was back, with Archer and Shou Tucker. Archer was a two-bit criminal in military uniform already. Kimblee was going to be back in the military, I knew it. Things were changing. There was going to be a war soon. I could feel it in the air. And I was too scared to think about who would come out of it alive.

. . .

Roy Mustang sat at his desk, finger tapping lightly on it as he stared at the door. Waiting for Breda and Fury to return. His other subordinates sat in a tense silence, worried about him. Riza let out a silent sigh, "Colonel, please, stop worrying. It's just a simple check-in. There are two officers there all the time as it is."

The black haired man didn't turn to look at her as he shook his head, hands in front front of his face. "No, Hawkeye... Nothing is ever simple when it comes to Blackburn."

"What's going on?" Fallman whispered to Havoc, who heaved a sigh.

"Blackburn.. One of Mustang's worst cases. The only thing Mustang could get the guy on was simple stuff. He was put on house arrest, but Mustang's never stopped thinkin' about it."

. . .

Breda knocked on the oak door as he and Fury stood in the rain, waiting for someone to answer. "It's Breda and Fury! Come on guys, open the door! Mustang's impatient as it is!" Breda shouted through the door. He sighed, shaking his head, "What brilliant officers watching over an evil genius..."

The long black haired man, narrow faced and lanky bodied, smirked down at the two dead bodies on the floor of his attic.

"Try and catch me this time, Mustang..."

LEGASP. Original content! Be prepared peoples. This Blackburn thing is on like Donkey Kong. Blackburn was named after an aircraft, just to keep the spirit of FMA aliiiive! XD Ed and Riley... Legasp.. Get closer.

And now. CHAPTER TRANSLAAAATIOOOONS. (Audience applause.)
"Fünfundzwanzig!" is German.
"Iwakāluakūmāeono!" is Hawaiin.
"Sattaais!" is Nepali.
I know NOTHING but English, Spanish and Japanese numbers. If I'm wrong with something, let me know!

Be Responsible. Don't Flame and Drive! Rawr.