The tunnel had been started. Their dream was beginning to turn into a reality. Soon they would rid the world of the weak beings that thrived off of it and they would open the gate. Then all would be theirs.

xXx

Selim heard himself breathing hard between the screams, but it seemed as if it all happened from a distance. The scenes continued overwhelming his mind, as if he could see years and years of memories in just moments; and they didn't stop.

xXx

"You should have waited for my permission," the blond man with the beard was saying. The only outward sign of his displeasure was the tone in his voice.

"Please forgive me, Father," Selim heard himself say, "but he knew too much. He will be easily replaced."

"We would not need to replace him if we simply manipulated him. The promise of power and wealth will buy the heart of almost any human. Do you understand?"

Selim nodded. "Yes, Father."

"Good. See that you do not forget."

"Yes, Father."

xXx

He heard of the exploits of the Fullmetal Alchemist and his younger brother and could only shake his head at them. Sacrifices weren't supposed to risk their lives and bodies like that. Then he'd met him and couldn't help but be…under whelmed. Seriously, were teenagers supposed to be that short? At least Selim and his container had a reason for being small.

That stunted, small being was supposed to be one of the keys to Father's plan?

xXx

First there was darkness, then light. It blinded and hurt. He didn't cry out though. He would be strong. Somehow this very idea seemed to be ingrained into the very fiber of his being.

Fighting back a grimace (somehow knowing it would be undesirable to show an expression of his discomfort), he looked up at the man towering over him.

"Welcome, my first born," he said.

xXx

"Selim? Selim?" Vaguely he heard Mandy shouting his name, but he couldn't seem to answer. There was so much there…so much knowledge, so many memories. It felt as if his mind would burst.

Is this what it felt like for an alchemist who saw the Gate of Truth?

Where had that come from? It seemed so foreign and yet familiar…

xXx

As soon as he saw the white, he knew he'd succeeded. Mustang stood rigid and prepared, but also confused and shaking as he tried to mask his fear. Then he turned around to see the being that kept the Gate. Selim couldn't help but enjoy the utter horror on the man's face. A deep, twisted smirk crossed his own face as he anticipated the pain that would follow. He wasn't disappointed. The normally stoic colonel screamed in sheer agony as his hands suddenly shot to his face. Selim's grin widened.

"That is the price you pay, Alchemist," the strange gatekeeper said.

Then the dark-haired man was suddenly pulled towards the gate by the pitch-black hands that so resembled Selim's own power. He frowned, knowing he'd have to hitch a ride to get back. This was where the risk to him came in.

Good mood dampened, he reluctantly followed Mustang through the gate, glancing back at the being just once before the giant doors closed.

"You paid an interesting price as well," it said before he'd found himself back in Father's lair.

xXx

It often surprised him how easily the sacrifices allowed themselves to be controlled. Couldn't they see it? Was it truly that difficult for them to not notice Father's hand in all of it? And they were supposed to be geniuses; amazing beings with incredible abilities. No wonder the human race was doomed.

xXx

He could see it now, just how well Father's plan would work. The mere idea behind it was so advanced it almost stunned him. He often found himself in awe simply when thinking about it. And today he would begin his first assignment. Today he would take on the persona of the adopted son of Amestris' leader. Today, they would take another step closer to ensuring their victory.

xXx

"Selim, answer me!" Mandy screeched.

"Too much…" Selim heard himself say. Somehow he'd ended up on the floor, hands clutching his head as he fought to contain the knowledge and information that continued to pour into his mind. How could he ever contain it all?

Fool. You can't.

Selim's eyes went wide, although they couldn't focus. "No…stay back," he managed to get out. "Get away!'

He didn't see Mandy's worried expression as she backed off, nor did he notice Mustang's grim stare.

Do you honestly believe you can win against me? Actually, Selim didn't really know what to believe at the moment, and he couldn't clear his mind enough to think it through either. I will not be subject to your weakness any longer.

He tried to stay conscious, he really did, but he wasn't sure how well he succeeded. With all the memories suddenly running through his head, he couldn't focus on much of anything. His eyes refused to take in any sight and he couldn't register any feeling from his body. It was as if his mind had been lost in a maelstrom of sorts, and he had no anchor to hold him to safety.

Unable to hold on any longer, he registered something akin to slipping inside of his soul somewhere, and then nothing.

xXx

Mandy already felt guilty enough for quite literally reporting Selim's secrets. She hated lying to him. The government already knew practically everything about him, but that didn't stop her from feeling terrible. His abrupt screaming and grabbing his head in pain only added worry to the guilt. Now she knelt by him, panicked as he continued to yell and scream on the ground.

"Selim!" she shouted, trying to be heard over him. "Selim, answer me!" They needed to get him focused on the here and now if the pain was really that bad. She'd do a field diagnosis and see what they could do, but she could really only do that if he could answer her questions.

"Too much," he managed to gasp out.

"What?" Mandy said, but she doubted he heard her. He just clutched his head tighter. She hated this. She felt so helpless and useless, not an unusual feeling for her, but she thought she'd put that behind her when she'd been accepted as a state alchemist.

She really needed to learn Alchestry. Healing just might be helpful at times like these. She berated herself for the sarcastic thoughts. Sitting here and commenting on the unfairness of the universe wouldn't change anything.

"No…stay back!" Selim said suddenly. Surprised, Mandy snatched her hand away from where it had been resting on his shoulder. "Get away!" he yelled. Instinctively, she stood up and backed away from him, bumping into her idol. She would often look back later and it would strike her as to just how worried she had to be to not even register that fact.

"Selim…" Mandy said almost desperately, but she didn't approach him. The General stayed silent.

The door burst open and several military officers began to pour in, lead by Lieutenant Hawkeye—a woman with short, blond hair that Mandy had only just been introduced to when she'd gone to meet the military personnel earlier (and been utterly shocked that the General Mustang had come to meet them personally). The Lieutenant and all of the soldiers had their weapons drawn, having heard the yelling and screaming.

"What is the situation, sir?" the blond woman asked.

Mustang opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again when, unexpectedly, Selim stopped screaming. Everyone watched with baited anticipation as he just lay there for a few moments, breathing hard. Then he got to his feet slowly and casually, as if nothing had happened.

"Selim," Mandy said again, going to step forward, but a hand on her shoulder held her back. Confused, she glanced back at General Mustang. He didn't move his steely gaze away from the dark-haired boy. "Sir," she started, but Selim cut her off.

"Roy Mustang," he said. Mandy gasped, her own eyes shooting to the homunculus. It wasn't the same person. It couldn't be. It sounded like several people had spoken at once, and his words alone held a hatred that sent fear shooting up and down her spine. It couldn't touch the emotion in his violet eyes; as if he'd stepped in a foul-smelling puddle and had to remain in the company of whatever pathetic creature had made it. It was an expression she'd seen on so many nobles her father had introduced her to; it usually meant that Mandy was just wasting the time of her supposed betters. She hated that expression, and she had never seen anyone pull it of to such an extreme. She felt a sickness begin to stir in her stomach as he continued to speak. "The Flame Alchemist. Still not Fuehrer?"

General Mustang's grip on Mandy's shoulder tightened.

Selim continued, tone still condescending. "I see you've regained your eyesight. Pity. I wanted the last thing you ever saw to be the gate."

Mandy's jaw dropped in disbelief. His words seemed to pound on her soul harder and harder with every syllable. She wanted him to stop; to say it was a joke and he was leading her on before grinning that somewhat condescending and yet horribly sincere grin of his. He didn't, and his continued, smug silence only proved her theory, no matter how much she didn't want to acknowledge it: This wasn't Selim at all. This was the homunculus; the one that General Mustang had said he would kill. Before, she'd been unable to imagine Selim ever being a real threat. Now though…

Several clicks from off to the side had them glancing at the guards and Lt. Hawkeye. She had a blank expression on her face as she aimed her gun straight for Selim's head.

"Fire at will," she heard Mustang say, and her stomach clenched. Just like that? What about Selim? Her Selim; the one she'd gotten to know over the last week. He had to still be in there somewhere, right?

She yelped and crouched down on instinct as several guns went off. Then she snapped her head up to look over at Selim. To both her great relief and confusion, he stood there smirking triumphantly, as relaxed as ever. She glanced back and around the room. The guards lay scattered, all on their backs and all looking down at their feet, where shadows had wrapped around them.

Then she heard a muffled sound over her head and looked up to see Lieutenant Hawkeye hanging over what looked to be a shadow monster of some sort. It had an eye above what looked like a long, thin mouth and razor sharp teeth. Mandy cried out, but didn't dare move.

Thankfully, no one paid her any attention.

"I think I'll let her be the first life to replenish the energy in my stone," Selim said in the same, smirking tone. Mandy blinked. Stone? What stone? "What do you think, Colonal? Oh, wait, you're a Major General now, aren't you? All that power and still useless." Without waiting for a reply, the shadows dropped the woman who fell, struggling, towards the mouth—

Snap!

A miniature explosion of flame blew Mandy down hard as it singed the seats. From the shaking floor of the train car, she blinked and looked back up at General Mustang, then over at Selim and Lt. Hawkeye. The woman had somehow escaped, much to Mandy's relief. She could see the blond jumping over the worn, red seats of the train, scrambling to get away despite her age.

Selim's eyes had narrowed, but otherwise he hadn't moved a muscle. "That was rather reckless. In such a small space?" he said to the General.

"Your shadows versus my flames; of all the powers the homunculi had, yours are the weakest against me; and I killed two of you."

Selim raised an eyebrow curiously. He didn't seem worried in the slightest. "You could have snapped several times earlier in the conversation. Why didn't you?"

"Any last words for your mother?" Mustang asked softly.

At first, Selim didn't respond. Then he burst out into a laugh; a cruel, heartless guffaw that didn't fit the boy she'd come to know at all. She wanted to stop him; to stop all of this, but had no idea where to even start. It suddenly hit Mandy as to how much she really hated the whole situation. She wanted to intervene, but as long as Selim acted like this, she didn't dare. Her mind somehow didn't seem to want to connect to her body anyway.

"Pity and sadness," Selim scoffed. "I shouldn't have expected anything else from stupid, sentimental humans." The General's mouth thinned into a hard line, and he went to raise his hand again, but then his eyes flew wide as his body went rigid. Puzzled, scared, and confused, Mandy tried to find the source of his worry. It took her a moment to catch the tiny, dark line that trailed from the shadows of the scorched benches to the General's own shadow.

Gulping, she glanced at his outstretched hands, and realized that she could see just the barest hint of the same dark lines encircling his wrist, glove and even fingers, holding them in place.

"You see, human," Selim went on, still standing with his hands tucked casually into his pockets, "my shadows are indeed susceptible to your flames, but only when you can use them. Did you honestly think I had survived for 300 years by relying on my shadows alone?" He scoffed again. "Just one of the many reasons why homunculi are superior beings.

"Oh, and I would warn your subordinates to lower their weapons if they don't want to watch as I squeeze your life out of you in front of them. Or I could just slice through your flesh. Although it would be a tad too painless for you, I can do it with my last thought. It's their choice." Mustang took a breath as the shadows tightened, drawing blood on his neck. Mandy hadn't even noticed a shadow there.

She'd never felt so torn before. This was her friend—the kid she'd immediately liked, despite his somewhat condescending attitude and pompous air. He'd been a good person; a good friend. She couldn't believe that was all an act, but she also could not see a trace of that person in the being standing before them.

It was that thought that seemed to allow her to snap out of her daze. She hated this and didn't want it to be happening, but it was. She couldn't just sit there and let what was left of her friend do this! Finally deciding on a course of action, she reached as nonchalantly as she could for one of her circled papers, but Selim's voice stopped her.

"You too, Mandy," he said. "Stand up and keep your hands in the air or we're going to have a blood bath on our hands." Slowly, Mandy followed his orders, standing while holding her hands in the air (no easy feat). Something about Selim's voice when he'd addressed her had caught her attention and caused the dying spark of hope inside of her to flare. Had it just been her imagination, or had the edge left his words? And he hadn't called her 'human', nor had he called her by her last name as he had with Mustang. Why?

"I guess it is a shame, General," Selim said mockingly, taking deliberate steps forward as he spoke. "A shame that there isn't a way out for you, this time. Don't worry, though," the smile on his face sent shivers up and down Mandy's spine, "I'll make sure all of your knowledge doesn't go to waste.

"You know, when I absorb someone's memories, it's like stealing them right out of the human's stupid head. They don't remember it at all after that, even if they happen to live."

"If you do anything to me, they'll kill you, Pride," Mustang ground out. Mandy shivered at the tone in his voice. She'd never seen anyone look so angry before. His eyes seemed to burn with an inner fire that made her suddenly very glad he wasn't directing it towards her. "And from what I hear, you don't have enough power to immobilize them all."

Selim's—no, Pride's—cruel smile widened. "Perhaps not," he conceded. Then, a shield of shadows sprung up between them and the soldiers, separating Mandy, Selim and Mustang from the others. "But I can do this," he said.

Several shouts from the other side of the shield followed by a series of useless, loud shots had Mandy cringing. She'd never been fond of fire arms and hadn't really gotten used to them yet. She'd only been in the military for a few months for crying out loud! It abruptly hit her as to just what she'd gotten herself into.

"You could have done that earlier," the General growled at Pride. "You were just gloating."

The homunculus laughed again. "Father always taught me to play with my food."

The ice in Mandy's stomach began to spread through her veins. She'd had some training, but this had been her first field assignment—it was supposed to be a simple reconnaissance mission and they'd needed a spy badly enough to send a green horn like her into enemy territory. She'd originally been excited as that spoke volumes of what they thought of her capabilities. Now she wished they'd taken a chance on someone else; someone with more experience. She had thought she'd been ready for situations like this, where she had to think on her feet and make possible life and death decisions for her friends and colleagues. It made her sick to realize just how wrong she'd been.

"And you say we're inferior beings?" It was Mustang's turn to scoff.

Pride's smile dimmed somewhat.

"Sir!" a shout from Lt. Hawkeye reached them.

"Tell them to stand down," Pride said, voice once again cold.

Mustang actually chuckled. "You need a human to give such an order? How the mighty have fallen. You're not even a shadow of the being you used to be. Pathetic."

"Something I will remedy shortly," Pride said, his voice dangerously quiet. Mandy noticed his hands had clenched into fists, shaking at his side.

"Selim…" she started slowly.

"Shut up," he growled at her, never taking his eyes off of Mustang. "And I'm still watching you. Don't move, or he dies."

"Reduced to useless threats?" Mustang asked. "Please."

Mandy couldn't figure out why the General was antagonizing him. Angry people tended to make stupid mistakes, and she couldn't see an angry homunculus as being much different there, but it still seemed like a bad idea to her.

Then she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. Lt. Hawkeye had opened a window and was leaning out dangerously as she positioned herself behind Selim and raised her gun to fire at him.

A distraction, Mandy realized as she glanced at the stoic General, impressed at their teamwork, even when they couldn't really communicate with each other.

"I was going to let you live a little longer," Pride glowered. "But it seems you are too dangerous to allow that, even for revenge."

Mustang rolled his eyes. "Why would you want revenge against me? I didn't reduce you to a sniveling shadow."

"Don't worry," Selim said calmly, although his smile had not returned. Beside him, a large shadow rose and formed itself into a sharp spike. "I'll take care of Fullmetal soon enough. One other thing I want you to know, General, is that once I eat you, all of your men will follow."

He'd barely finished speaking when everything hit the fan. Lt. Hawkeye shot at Selim as the train went over a particularly nasty bump in the railing and the shadow spike lurched towards Mustang all in the same moment. Due to the bump, the shot hit Selim's shoulder instead of his head and he cried out, clutching the wound, matching Mandy's own yell of denial as she felt her body move forward, situating herself between the shadow's point and Mustang.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion. It really had been an incredibly stupid move on her part. She didn't think jumping in front of that spike would do much except kill her too (probably wouldn't even save Mustang), but her body had moved on instinct. All she knew was that someone was going to die, and she'd had enough of standing aside while everything happened in front of her.

Then Mandy saw the spike accelerating towards her and realized that she was going to die. She half expected her life to flash before her eyes, but all she could focus on was Selim's brown irises as they glanced up painfully and found her own.

Brown…?

Then she squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself for impact as more shots from Lt. Hawkeye's gun rang through her ears, drowning out the train's clacking.

She waited, expecting a sharp pain that she imagined would come with having a spike shoved through one's chest. Not moments later, something wrapped itself tightly around her shoulders, pinning her arms to her side.

Then the world sped up again.

Gasping, she opened her eyes, surprised and extremely relieved, she found that Selim's shadow hadn't skewered her…and coincidently not the General either. The homunculus had fallen to his knees, grasping his shoulder as he breathed heavily. His shield had extended to block him from sight of Lt. Hawkeye and his make-shift spike had turned into a thin, dark rope.

"W-what? Selim?" she asked hesitantly, unable to resist breaking the heavy quiet that had fallen over the scene.

"General!" Lt. Hawkeye called from the other side. She must have come back into the car.

"Lieutenant," Mustang returned, sounding both confused and relieved, not that Mandy could blame him. That was about how she felt as well.

"Selim," Mandy started again as he lurched to his feet.

"What are you playing at, homunculus?" Mustang said, but his words seemed far more reserved than they had been. Mandy still cringed, but to her utter surprise, Selim ignored them completely, stumbling past them and the ruined remains of the benches. Then he began to make his way towards the door at the opposite end of the car.

"Running away?" the General called.

Selim paused, but didn't turn to look back at them. "It's taking everything I have to not hurt you, right now," he said in a pained voice. "I want to, desperately…I think. I didn't even know why…it's all so confusing. All the memories. I'm not sure…I need to think. Please don't goad me into killing you. I want to…but I don't. I'm not sure I can control it…so…shut up, you filthy human."

He began to stumble towards the door at the end, still breathing hard and clutching his shoulder. She was surprised he could walk with a wound like that.

Mandy wanted to call out again, but something stopped her. She wasn't even sure what.

He opened the door.

"Sir!" she heard Hawkeye say again.

"Be ready, Lieutenant," Mustang said.

No sooner had he closed the door behind him, than all of the shadows vanished, shrinking back to harmless pools of blocked light scattered around the room.

"After him!" the General ordered as Mandy stumbled to the side, leaning heavily on one of the burned seats. The soldiers stumbled past, but before they'd even reached the door, a jerk ran through the train and the General swore.

"He's uncoupled the cars, sir," she heard Lt. Hawkeye say.

"I know, Lieutenant," he growled. "Probably cut right through the coupling. Get to the front of the train, stop the engine. We're going after him."

A hand appeared on her shoulder, causing her to jump and look up at the harsh face of the General.

"Can you still fight?" he asked.

A million thoughts ran through her mind. 'Of course not!' being the first In 10 minutes she'd had all the harshness of the reality she'd thought she'd been able to grasp (and how wrong had she been about that) thrown into her face. She'd realized just how weak and inexperienced she was and had seen a friend try to kill (and eat?) people in cold blood. She'd almost died and almost seen both said friend and her idol killed.

But she couldn't say any of that. Not only did it make her sound even weaker than she'd felt before, but she'd be left behind again. Not to mention she'd lose face in front of Major General Mustang.

Feeling her features harden she took a deep breath and nodded.

"Yes, sir."

To her surprise, he smiled. "Good. Follow me."

She somehow found her feet again and went after him as he made his way quickly over the few, small debris littering the car floor and through the door on the other side. Mandy trailed in silence as they entered the next car. It looked exactly like the car they'd just left used to be before an alchemist and homunculus had decided to have a showdown.

"That was your first hostile situation, wasn't it," the General said when they'd reached the other car. It wasn't a question. Mandy cringed. Was it that obvious? She'd had a gun pointed at her before, but she'd never really felt like she'd been in such danger. She had always felt so confident that she could take on just about anyone else. Why couldn't she this time?

Of course the one pointing the proverbial gun this time had been a friend. Apparently that made all the difference in the world. She wasn't sure whether that was a good or bad thing.

"Y-yes sir," she said, finally acknowledging his remark.

"You could have stopped him at the end. You have transmutation circles that you use as a varying arsenal, useful in both espionage and battle. Why didn't you use them?"

Mandy felt an embarrassed blush rise to her cheeks. "I…didn't think of it, sir."

"Hesitation like that can kill you and the people depending on you in battle," Mustang said sharply.

Mandy flinched. "Yes, sir," she muttered.

"But, I believe you also just saved my life back there." Mandy felt her eyes widen in surprise. They reached the door leading to the coal car, and he paused. "And you pulled yourself together quickly. Well done, major."

With everything that had happened, his compliment felt more like a consolation prize than anything else, but it still made her smile in spite of the situation.

"Thank you, sir."

Author's Note:

I've had several people comment about Mandy being a state alchemist at her age, and felt I should address the issue as it probably won't be mentioned more than in passing in the story. Fuehrer Armstrong (Olivier) lowered the bar a great deal when she came into office. The reason it was so high before was because the homunculi were weeding out the best of the best for sacrifices. Instead of only letting in three or four of the best of the applicants in twice a year, they'll often take a dozen or more. Obviously they still have to pass a test and they have to show off what skill they have, but it isn't abnormal for the military to take younger people now mainly because they are more trainable-they still have to be skilled, but their age is now taken into consideration (a lot of that is the fault of the Elrics, because they really were just that good).

One thing that Olivier did get rid of is the name thing: no new alchemists have titles or names given to them by the Fuehrer (mainly because she doesn't want to have to deal with something stupid and petty like that).

A common age for people to enter the military is just after high-school graduation (or secondary school, as the case may be), or just after they become an adult (age of 18), so having Mandy become a State Alchemist at a young age isn't quite so unheard of anymore. Actually, she has several alchemists who entered about the same time as she did who were in a similar age bracket.

Someone also asked why she would have been chosen at such a young age to infiltrate an enemy base. Here are the reasons:
1. She doesn't look or act like a spy at all.
2. It was a very simple reconnaissance mission, more or less a 'get in, get out, give us the information we need'. She wasn't going to go in deep, they just wanted to see what was going on with the alchemists being hired. Once they had more word on the screening process, they would have sent in a more experienced alchemist (or two) to infiltrate deep. It was more or less a 'test the waters' kind of mission.
Note: She failed. ^^; Mainly because she became side tracked, and she had a pretty good reason, but her direct superior officer isn't happy with her right now. Unfortunately, we never get to meet him.
3. She worked hard to get where she is. She honestly saw getting into the military as her only way out, so she had the motivation to learn what she needed to learn. She's no Elric, but she is talented (about as talented as any normal state alchemist). So she's skilled enough that if something came up, she should be able to defend herself.

In the anime, it has been brought to my attention that Selim's eyes are purple/blue. For purposes of this fic, it's because he was always Pride. Hoenheim had gold eyes, so did the Homunculus in the Flask (Dwarf in the Flask/'Father'), those are closer to brown so I can see Selim's original eye color more as brown than blue. The blue-eye could have easily been a disguise of some sort (after all, he had to have a background, and perhaps his 'parents' had blue eyes), but either way that was his eye color when he was Pride, so that's what it changes to when he's in...well Pride mode. ^^;

I hope that answers all of your questions. :)