Chapter 20: Threat Revealed

Almost as though it was a magnet, the brothers were drawn towards the ruins of the theatre where Ed battled Dante and sacrificed himself to bring Al back. No matter how often they tried to avoid it in their examination of the centre of the city, they always ended up back there.

Finally, Ed stopped, frowning at the ruins. "We were meant to come here… No matter what way we took, we were meant to come back here…" He said, barely audible to Al.

Al paled as he stared at the building. "What does that mean, brother…?"

"It means General Mustang and the others are in serious trouble." He said, glaring at the building. "Whatever is here wants us alone. General Mustang and the others will be attacked by whatever else is running rampant in this city. We didn't encounter anything, and that bat chimera went for Roy specifically…"

"They'll be fine… they're the best in the military…" Al said, trying and failing to be confident. "W-we should go find them!" Al said worriedly.

"No. It's too late. We're already in her trap…" Ed growled.

"Who's?" Al asked.

"Get your ass out here now, Dante!" Ed roared, causing the colour to drain from Al's face.

Of all the scenarios that had run through his head, Dante was never among them.

"I am so glad you came! Unfortunately, I am not this Dante you speak of." Lyra's joyous voice was heard from behind the Elrics.

Ed turned with a dangerous expression on his face as he turned to face the woman, who smiled happily at the brothers. Her hair obscured her right eye and she wore a dress similar to those worn by Lust and Sloth, but otherwise she looked exactly as she had in their final encounter.

Al's expression was almost as dangerous as Ed's as she approached. It was a strange expression to see on the normally gentle face.

Lyra's hand raised as the brothers shifted into a defensive stance. "I wish to let you know that Noah is safe with a band. I kept my promise." It said happily.

"The homunculus…?" Al asked, a bewildered expression replacing the dangerous one.

Pain nodded as Ed continued to glare.

"Why should we believe you? You lied to us just like all the others of your kind did." He growled. Al looked at him worriedly as Pain frowned.

"Unlike those other trash, I choose to keep my promises." She said, her tone quickly turning angry at the mention of the other homunculi. "However, you're right: I did lie to you. I knew you were gullible; that you would believe anything should I spin it just right."

The façade Pain had been presenting finally dropped. "This is my true form, and I have a name: it's Pain. Dante made me in case something should happen to her. She sealed me away here for safe keeping. None of the others knew of my existence. She liked the form of that Lyra girl, so before she jumped bodies, she created me in Lyra's image. After creating so many homunculi, she got pretty good at making them how she wanted them to be made. After all, look at Pride; she made him so he could age." She giggled in amusement at the thought.

Ed continued to glare dangerously at her, unsure of what her motives were.

"I wanted to get you back to the world you belonged in. Dante said I was to keep an eye on you should anything happen to her. It was hard to do when you were on the other side of the Gate."

"So that's why you brought us back?" Al asked tentatively.

Pain nodded. "Yes. Dante had plans she wanted you to fill, Edward, but with you in a world where Alchemy was nearly impossible, it would have ruined those plans."

Ed made a noise in his throat at the mention of plans.

"I lost my form, but gained something much more valuable. I must thank you: every one of the homunculi I took the form of, with some exceptions, I have gained their abilities."

Ed and Al paled at the implications hinted at with that one casually spoken sentence.

"Do you wish to see my mark?" She asked in amusement as she shifted the hair covering her right eye, revealing the Uroboros marking above her eye.

"If you're a homunculus, then what is your ability…?"

Ed raised his hand, causing his brother to trail off as he transmuted his automail. Suddenly, he turned and slashed at the shadow creature that was in mid-lunge behind them. "That's her ability: shadow manipulation." Ed said with a growl.

Al noticed her shadow appear beneath her feet; a small detail he hadn't noticed before.

"What gave it away?" She asked with a tone that was torn between pouting and amusement.

"You revealed your Uroboros tattoo. I noticed something above that shadow beast's right eye the last time you attacked me in Rush Valley." Ed growled.

Pain shrugged in defeat. "True. Afterwards, I felt it was a mistake to do that. With my physical body now in this world, my shadow manipulation would have had a stronger presence. I never figured you would have caught on to that. You're more intelligent than Dante led me to believe."

"So you sent your shadow ahead before you sent us through the Gate to throw suspicion completely off you, then when you had gotten Noah out of the way, you came through the Gate yourself to finish whatever plans Dante had for you. Smart. We never would have noticed a missing shadow, or would have chalked it up to your lack of physical form."

Pain smiled happily at Ed. "Indeed. You really are a clever boy." Her eyes narrowed. "I have no desire to attack you; Dante ordered me to keep you alive." She sighed, almost as though she was irritated with that order.

"You however…" She said, turning to face Al. "Your lack of desire to help Dante caused her a lot of grief, and then she was eaten by that fat tub of lard!" She practically snarled at her creator's fate. "You, I have no qualms about killing." She said icily as her shadow launched suddenly at Al.

The ground between Pain and Al suddenly broke apart and collapsed, forcing the shadow to retreat back to Pain.

Pain glared at Ed, who was kneeling on the ground with his hands resting just shy of the large crack that had appeared in the ground. "Please don't interfere. I have orders not to kill you, but I will break those orders if you continue to interfere."

Suddenly, a flood of water that had been her arm launched at Ed. Caught off guard, Ed was knocked away easily, landing in an unconscious heap nearby.

"Brother!" Al yelled worriedly as the shadow lunged at him from across the crack. Concern for his brother slowed his reaction as the shadow threw him against a nearby building.

Pain began to approach Ed slowly. Her orders involved the creation of another Philosopher's Stone and using Ed to accomplish it. Why she was ordered to create it hadn't been discussed, as Ed had arrived far too early for her to give Pain any further instructions before being sealed away. Those Tringham brothers would pay dearly for their interference, once she had dealt with the Elrics…

Al wiped the blood away that trickled down his forehead. He now had a pounding headache from the impact with the building. "Stay away from him!" He yelled as he realized she was walking towards Ed.

Pain looked back at him in irritation as he stood.

"I guess I should thank you…" He said as a grin slowly spread across his face.

"You should have stayed down. You have no need to thank me."

"Yes, I do. The time you attacked us in Liore, I realized I had forgotten how to transmute without a circle. Now thanks to that little blow to my head…" He clapped his hands together and slammed them onto the ground.

A look of horror crossed Pain's face just as several spikes erupted from the ground and pierced her repeatedly, hiding her from view.

Al ran over to check on Ed. Aside from being unconscious; he had a few cuts from hitting the ground, but otherwise appeared to be fine. Al's relief was short-lived as a strange slashing noise caught his attention, drawing it towards the spikes.

There was a strange flash in the air around the spikes, which crumbled in clean slices.

Pain stood, dusting herself off as her nails returned to their normal length. She frowned at Al. "I guess I won't hold back against you…" She said grimly as her shadow launched at him again.

He responded by launching spikes at it.

Pain laughed in amusement as the shadow split up, avoiding the spikes and grabbing Al.

Al's curse was cut off as he was flung again. He stood up and launched another attack at her quickly before going for the flare gun, knowing Roy's quick flame strikes would help slow her down.

"Tsk, tsk. No calling for aid now…" She said as the carbon shielding that was Greed's ability melted away.

The spikes crumbled around her, the stone unable to break through the shield as she stepped towards Al.

Her shadow snaked up Al's body and snagged the flare gun. With one smooth motion, Al was thrown one way and the flare gun was tossed towards where Ed lay unconscious. "Besides, your precious General and his soldiers are already dead…" She said icily as she advanced towards Al, who was fighting to remain conscious after that last throw.