Ace: Still grounded, but I'm gonna answer reviews now!

Lela: Yay for that!

Envy: Furorensu-Chan, I will not shake your filthy human hand, but I do agree that a truce has been established and yes, I was very determined to hunt you down and gut you like a fish.

Ed: And please, I would NEVER hurt Kayla! But seriously though, do you just read the intros and exits before you review, and then read the story?

Lela: And besides, I'm sure Mustang would be okay with teaching you how to be even more perverted...

Kayla: Yeah, we've been bullying Ace into updating, my new buddy, CSI Aphrodite. Plus, she's really scared of Kimbley. She doesn't want to a-splode, and she's updating as fast as she can right now.

Envy: AND YOU SHOULD TOTALLY BE AFRAID OF ME!

Lela: Envy...

Envy: Shutting up now.

Lela: Good boy.

Ed: Hey look, DarkVampirePrincess8 liked the reward!

Kayla: YAY! THAT MEANS I GET TO TEACH! AND MY FIRST SUBJECT WILL BE ED! *tackles and drags off somewhere*

Lela: And if Lust didn't do something, the ending wouldn't warrant a sequel, now would it?

Envy: I hate Wrath too...

Lela: Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist.

Envy: Go read, you filthy humans.

22: Push Down the Castle

Sonya awoke groggily, not wanting to leave the comfort offered by sleep, but the homunculus known as Pride was having none of that. He yanked her up bodily by a chunk of her hair, making her involuntarily cry out in pain, and hissed, "Time to wake up, little demon. You've got an execution to attend."

"For your information, I am anything but a demon, you homunculus scum," she retorted, trying to maintain her normal bitchy attitude when her blood had turned to ice at the very mention of an execution. "Now, where the hell is my lover?"

He laughed cruelly. "Already dead and gone, but don't worry, you're soon to join him."

Her heart shattered. "You little shit," she growled, her eyes blazing red and promising eternal damnation, "I'm gonna fucking kill you myself!" her wings snapped out, effortlessly breaking the metal chains holding her. A powerful darkness seemed to radiate from her as a particular sword appeared in her hand, a life-sized version of the one tattooed on the back of her neck that marked her as the avenging angel Justice.

She knew that if she struck now, it would not be for justice. It would be for revenge, and that revenge would taint her blade forever. She didn't care anymore. Sonya was on a vendetta and did not want to stop until blood permanently stained her hands and blade. But everything changed for her when she saw her oldest sister following obediently behind a homunculus with palm tree attributes. "Hello, Lela. I'm guessing that's your current abuser you're cowering behind. You always did like having one."

"Envy doesn't abuse me!" the cat-girl protested, tail lashing behind her.

"I've lived with a homunculus for three years, sister. I know how they are, and he has to be abusing you." While her sister tried to come up with another response, Sonya gave a little sarcastic wave and simply disappeared into thin air.

Knowledge urged the black arms faster, sensing that Justice was losing it all over one little homunculus she'd been having an affair with. Surely she had known it would not last? Nothing that dwelled in the mortal realms ever did. Either way, his death had unlocked much of her powers, giving her the potential to do many horrible things. All the young angel could do was hope.

Lela was furious that Sonya had dared to say that Envy, her darling sweet Envy, was abusing her, let alone that Lela liked being abused. She hadn't. Not with their parents, not with the alchemists, and not when Envy had been abusive. Her little sister had a lot of nerve to suggest that! Her tail was twitching angrily, spraying her with the warming water she was going to be taking a shower in while Envy was talking with his master. What did her love's master want with him, she wondered.

When Edward suggested they take a walk, just the two of them, Kayla was ready to howl with joy. Alone time with her mate was pretty much the ultimate treat for her. She didn't even care it was night-time. Simply being with Ed was more than enough for her. Watching him, she could hardly believe it had taken her so long to realize she was unconsciously courting him rather than merely leaving him firmly at the Alpha status he'd earned. All that she felt now though was a boatload of love, fierce protectiveness, some lust, and a strong sense of satisfaction in knowing he was hers alone. "Kayla?" he said, instantly catching her undivided attention, "I ... love you."

Her heart flew to her throat after expanding to fill her entire chest. She started to say, "I love you too," only to interrupt herself before the last word so that the wolf part of her could push him down and she could rake her claws across thin air just in time to catch them on a thick steel blade that had come out of nowhere. "Sonya!" she cried upon seeing the sword's wielder, "What are you doing?"

"Do you have any idea what I just went home to find?" she whispered brokenly, tears streaming from her red eyes. "I came home expecting to see bodies. Bodies that were clearly laid out on the floor where they fell, not worth even a proper burial from those Military bastards in the raid that resulted from you being there, but I didn't find that. Instead, I found the place empty of any of my friends' remains and only a soot-covered corner to tell me their story." She took a deep breath here before continuing. "My friends' bodies had been taken and burned to such a fine powder of ash that it would be impossible to tell the difference between their remains. A fitting Military mass-grave for chimeras, wouldn't you agree, Fullmetal Alchemist?"

Ed didn't answer her; he was too busy looking horrified and slightly ill. Sonya turned to her older sister instead, not even noticing the chimera's claws were still grating sickeningly against her sword. "Rest assured, sister dearest, that I won't kill the man you protect so faithfully since I know firsthand the agony of losing the one you love. But I assure you, should he ever fall out of your favor, I will slice him into so many pieces, they won't be able to even properly identify the body anymore."

Kayla shivered delicately at the threat, but Sonya was already gone, leaving behind the pair with a little more important food for thought that the simply matter of love. What in the world had happened to Sonya during the three years they'd been apart?

Knowledge fell out of the Gate gasping and trembling delicately. Justice was rapidly falling out of control, spiraling towards evil, towards Revenge. He could not let that happen; never before had an avenging angel seemed to have gained power as she fell like Justice was. If Justice well and truly fell, she could easily have enough power to challenge the Truth and destroy the Gate itself. He had to prevent Justice from succumbing to the evil that was residing in her heart. Unwilling to waste a moment longer, he pulled himself together again, his wings adjusting with a slight fluttering noise, and disappeared from the holy ground.

Ace: *sigh* I hate having no ideas on how to start the sequel.

Sonya: Why not ask the reviewers?

Greed: Yeah! If you guys give her the recommendation with which character to follow first, she'll start there and go onwards. They're still all gonna be separated, but not for all too long.

Lela: Where were you guys?

Sonya: Beating up the Truth.

Envy: HEY! I WANTED TO GO WITH YOU GUYS!

Greed: Then we'll just have to make a return visit! *all three run off to go abuse the Truth again*

Ace: So who's gonna offer the reward now?

Lela: I will. I offer up the ability to go into the Gate with your choice of character. Or you know, just stalk whomever you want.

Ace: YOU STILL HAVE TO TELL THEM ABOUT THE CHALLENGE!

Lela: *sigh* Okay, Ace says that if she gets 7 reviews before the next chapter, she'll start putting up some of her out-takes and general side-stories for us. Most of 'em involve Kayla, ie giant snowball fight at HQ or the original way Izumi found out about her, and are highly impossible, but she'll let you read them all anyway.

Ace: SO REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!