I hate being sick. Especially when I miss out on one of my favourite festivals because of it. Damn flu. Well, I hope this chapter makes your day better, mine is certainly once again ruined because I'm still the living equivalent of a zombie...

Thank you all for the reviews! :3

Chapter 31

And He Shall Burn

The fire roared, a raging wild thing that eats up almost everything that comes its way. It doesn't care that it'll die once it devoured everything, it's just a blind, barely controllable heat that won't mind killing itself just as long as it takes everything else with it. Only once nothing is left will the fire simmer out, will slowly lose its glow and fade away like an old man dying in his bed after having a long happy life. That's the fires nature: devour, devour, devour, then die because nothing is left for it to eat.

And the same went for the barely controlled alchemist controlling that raging force. The Flame. The Flame that used to burn safely, steadily, controlled, like a candle. But now that candle has been toppled over and the Flame went wild on all the new things suddenly within its reach. So suddenly presented with the murderer of his best friend, so suddenly presented with the source of so much grief and sorrow and guilt. So suddenly presented with all the things it wants to be gone, burned to ashes and swept away with the wind.

And then that homunculus wasn't even one bit sorry but mocked him in his face.

Too much strain on the already tight leash of self control, it snapped and with it the demon it was supposed to hold back.

Edward watched with wide eyes as the colonel didn't even flinch when Envy screamed and writhed. Oh, he did think the homunculus deserved a big amount of punishment for everything it had caused to happen. But not at this price. Not when the colonel actually laughed when the homunculus decided to take him on in the form of something giant and green that is too ugly for even the title of monster.

"A bigger target? How convenient!" he scorned and set the creature ablaze. And said creature screeched in pain and so did all the faces that cover it and Ed just knew those were the souls trapped in the Philosopher's Stone that makes up the homunculus' core. And remembering the Mustang who yelled at him in the Rockbell kitchen, telling him he was a murderer for killing off all the souls trapped within Lust, Ed also knew that he needed to do something or said caring Mustang would be gone.

His head seemed willing to kill him but while the homunculus decided that running might be the better action when faced with a Roy Mustang who is out to kill, Ed managed to get on his hands and knees. His stomach lurched and he used Envy, who now tried to take shelter in the remains of one of the toppled wagons, as something to focus on, set on keeping track of the things happening around him.

He could see that Envy wanted to run but the colonel wouldn't let him, burning the homunculus repeatedly and so fast he could barely take a step away. The creature finally made its way into the wagon, probably hoping to have time to think of a way out while having cover, but one snap and the freight wagon turned into a fireball.

"Hiding in a wooden wagon stuffed with wool, what a fool," Mustang said in a singsong tone that sounded like Envy himself. He walked over to one of the other wagons, climbing up onto its side, that was now the roof, with moves that seemed far too calm and precise for the uncontrolled rage consuming him. From his new vantage point the colonel waited for the homunculus to crawl out of its current funeral pyre and walk into the next one.

"Colo-" Ed tried to simultaneously call out for him and get to his feet. Neither worked out and he ended up on the ground again, groaning.

Envy burst from the burning train car, screaming and cursing, raced past the wagon the colonel was standing on and made a beeline for one of the others. This one was made of metal, probably because it contained the more critical freight. The homunculus made use of its inhuman strength to rip the bolted door open and vanished inside.

"You damn coward!" Mustang yelled at him. "But fine with me!" And the flames encircled the metal shell of the wagon, licked up its sides, made the paint of the green Amestrian lion peel away and the matt silver turn to black. The colonel moved his arms like a musics conductor, the array on his gloves glowing brightly, and the red and gold flared and surrounded the train car completely. It would have been an impressive, even beautiful performance had it not had the side effect of turning the metal wagon into a cooking pot for the homunculus inside.

The creature screamed. "You damn human, you won't get me like this!" The voice was contorted by pain and anger and the noise of the flames made it even harder to understand, but they heard him still. "Soon someone will come running and all I've got to do is take on the shape of some random train worker and they'll think you're crazy if you keep attacking me! They'll treat you like a wild dog!" Envy laughed and kept screaming at the same time, a horrible sound that made Ed want to hide.

Roy Mustang's answer was an angry growl and another snap of his fingers. The fire around the train car turned white blue as the Flame Alchemist drove the heat to its peak. The wagon itself began to glow from the temperature. Then there were the first popping sounds.

"The ammunition in the car is cooking off... why is he doing that? He should know better..." Ed turned towards the slightly disorientated voice of Hawkeye. The lieutenant was awake again and Edward momentarily forgot about his spinning head and the feeling of helplessness creeping up inside of him. He managed to kneel next to her as she got into a crouching position, checking for her guns as soon as she was somewhat steady.

"The homunculus who killed Hughes is hiding inside of the wagon," Ed managed to explain, blinking to keep his vision from blurring as he once again tried to stand. Hawkeye was faster on her feet and caught him by the shoulders when he was about to topple over again. She looked at her commander and by the way her face saddened Ed realised she didn't see the Roy Mustang they all knew and followed anymore, either.

"He needs to be stopped," the boy whispered. "Revenge is eating him up..."

"I'll go and try to calm him. You'll wait here." And Hawkeye made her way to the train. She staggered through the debris but just when she was about to climb onto the car wreck the colonel was standing on, the wagon he was smoking out exploded.

It seemed there hadn't only been the kind of ammunition that popped as harmless as popcorn when thrown into fire inside of that train. Whatever else it had contained tore the car apart with a loud bang and blinding light.

There was a ringing in Ed's ears, but he didn't think he was hurt anywhere. When he finally managed to blink the dark spots from his vision he could see that Mustang wasn't on top of his vantage point train car anymore. In fact, Ed couldn't see him at all, but the boy wasn't sure if that wasn't only his blurring vision's fault. Though he could spot Hawkeye who seemed to have been somewhat shielded from the blast by the wagon she had been about to climb onto. The lieutenant looked around, trying to locate her commanding officer. Not immediately seeing him either she seemed about to go search for him but stopped in her tracks when there was a more than crazy laugh to be heard from the exploded wagon.

The expression on the homunculus' face as he managed to rise once more looked like he had managed to regenerate everything but the brain cells needed for sanity. Salivating like a rabid dog Envy looked around with eyes wide open, trying to find his blue clad nemesis. His wild gaze landed on Hawkeye instead, grinning in what seemed to be delight but was far too dark to actually be it.

"So he doesn't like it when I hurt his little friends, eh? You'll make a wonderful shield for me!" he exclaimed and pounced.

He obviously hadn't counted on Hawkeye not being one to easily fall into the role of the damsel in distress. The blonde sniper always carried more guns than the regular soldier and now she made good use of them, confronting Envy with quite the portion of bullets. But then one of Envy's long green tentacles made it past her defences after all and grabbed her, slamming her to the ground hard enough to make her drop the guns she'd been holding. Edwards staggered forward, ready to clap his hands despite his head still aching and not being clear enough to properly transmute, but then a tongue of fire licked the green extension of the homunculus' arm away.

"And what do you think you're doing to my subordinate?" Mustang coldly, calmly asked as he walked up to them. He looked like he'd been thrown off the top of the train car by the blast of the explosion. Decorated by streaks of soot and dust, a bit of blood from where flying debris had caught him, his black overcoat billowing behind him, seam in tatters. And still the homunculus stared at him in fear.

The murderous expression shadowed by his black hair falling into his eyes darkened even more when the colonel received nothing but insults coupled with the word human for an answer. And then Envy burned once more and burned and burned and burned until he began to fade away, leaving nothing but something that looked like an ugly, green leech behind.

A heavy black boot came down to trap the creature and Mustang looked down at the homunculus. "Your true form, such an ugly thing... But then Envy means jealousy and what is jealousy but ugly?" the colonel mused. Edward had made his way over close enough by now to hear the tiny creature whine about how he didn't want to die. He was also close enough to hear the click of Hawkeye's pistol when she aimed it at Mustang's skull.

"That's enough, sir. Let me deal with him from here on," the lieutenant said.

Mustang barely spared her a glance, too focused at his enemy squirming underneath his boot. "He's as good as dead. I'll finish him off. Put the gun down, Lieutenant!"

"I cannot follow this order, sir. Put your hand down!"

"Like hell I will! And I won't ask you again!"

And Ed slammed his hands to the ground a couple feet away from them. The transmutation was neither very precise nor spectacular but Mustang looked like he'd burn the gun out of Hawkeye's hand so Ed just had to do something. He barely caught the homunculus his transmutation had thrown into the air but then his automail fist closed around Envy and immediately black eyes void of any warmth or compassion focused on him.

"Ah, Fullmetal. I'd like to have that back."

Ed stared at the colonel and found nothing that looked like the man who had carried him back to the dorms, had written stupid notes, had taken him in his home and dragged him out of the bathtub after nightmares. Not a trace of the Roy Mustang who listened to him, talked to him, comforted and held him. Who played cards, talked about alchemy all night, participated in a pillow fight and never failed to pull a short joke, laughing freely, sometimes mockingly, sometimes not. No, this Mustang he saw now wouldn't search the whole city for him if he ran away, would never speak a thoughtful word to cheer him up or help him through hardships, would never protect someone with his life. He wouldn't change the country to the better, wouldn't reward his subordinates' loyalty with dedication to their cause and wouldn't care who died, who lived, who suffered and who made himself a better life exploiting others.

All he'd ever be from now on would be a burned out shell of the man they all had admired, called their friend, loved. A name with nothing behind it but dreams gone bad.

"That was an order. Give him to me right now!" Mustang yelled, impatient and angry.

"I won't!" Ed didn't want to lose the colonel, he didn't want the others to lose the colonel and most of all he didn't want the colonel to lose himself to his rage and sorrow and desire for revenge.

The Flame glared at him. "This thing deserves to suffer the worst death there is!" he spat. He lowered his hand as he did so though that didn't mean anything, Ed knew.

The boy said "No!" and Mustang's arm was up again, alchemical discharge flickering over his gloved fingers like lightning.

"Give him to me! Or I'll burn your arm along with him!"

The words hurt more than the burning would. He thought Mustang cared for him yet here he threatened him with bodily harm should Ed not let the man have his way.

"Fine!" he yelled, trying to suppress his own disappointment and anger. "You'll get a fight if you want one! But think about it well before you use those flames on me!"

Mustang looked like the last tiny resolve not to hurt his friends just disappeared. "This is your last warning, Fullmetal! Hand him over!"

And Ed marched towards the colonel and slapped him hard enough that the sound reverberated through the whole side of the train wreck. Mustang blinked, momentarily stunned by the action. Ed on the other hand was seething almost as much as the colonel was just a moment ago.

"You said I could slap you if you were about to do something stupid, remember?! Well, newsflash, Colonel. You are being more than stupid right now, you're not even yourself anymore! You're turning into just another monster! And you want to run the country like this?! You egoistical, stupid, thoughtless, pyromanic idiot!" Ed refused to admit that his eyes became moist as he yelled at Mustang. "Do you even care about what you are doing to us right now?!"

"All I'm doing is getting rid of that pathetic, murdering creature, there's nothing wrong with that!"

"There is something wrong with it because what you're doing is reckless! Please, Colonel!" Hawkeye said, the gun in her hand not steady anymore but still raised to do what she had promised all those years ago.

"But I've finally caught him, I have him right here!" Mustang protested.

"And we won't let him get away! I can dispose of him!" she told him.

"But he's mine!"

"We won't let you have him like this! This is nothing but pure hatred! I thought you were better than that, I thought you were the only one of those military assholes who really had a greater goal in mind than just grabbing for power to feed the ego! But it seems I was wrong and I shudder to think of what will happen to Amestris if we bring you to the top!" Ed pounded the fist holding Envy into Mustang's chest while he hissed at the man.

"He is right. This is only hatred and it won't help anybody. Neither you, nor the country nor our friends. I can't let this take you." Hawkeye said, sad resignation creeping into her voice as she tried to prepare herself for pulling the trigger.

The colonel shivered, torn between the dark and the light side of his heart. "I don't particularly care about getting shot." he said quietly. "But then what will happen to you when I'm gone?"

"I'll follow you into the depths of hell, sir, as promised. I'll end my life and remove the secrets of flame alchemy from this world along with my body."

Mustang flinched.

"And I'll wither away in Resembool. There's no other colonel who'll put up with me."

The fight inside the man was visible to everyone. Ed thought the white gloved fingers would break soon from the tension but then the ignition glove finally sparked and Mustang let go with a howl, the pent up anger evaporating together with the heat of the flame that burned nothing but air somewhere off to their side. The proud man slumped, head hanging.

"I really deserved that slap... such stupidity. I had to be lectured by the child I wanted to look after and I hurt my friends. I'm truly a fool." He turned to Hawkeye, putting his hand on her gun and gently pressing it down. "I'm sorry. Please forgive me." And then all energy and fight seemed to leave him and he just sat down in the middle of the remains of the train car.

Ed smiled and would have sat down next to him, leaning against his side but then the homunculus in his hand reminded them all of its presence.

"Oh come on! Really? He was about to burn you, pipsqueak, he obviously doesn't care for you and here you forgive him? And Hawkeye! He didn't look far away from burning you too and then he broke his promise and strayed from the way to the top just to get me! He would have let all of your hard work go to hell! Or are you humans really nothing but worms unable to pull through with something?"

They just looked at the little green creature in contempt.

"Come on Mustang, you want to get me, don't let them talk you down with a few sappy words! Put them out of your way! Fight each other, burn and shoot and try to get me! You make me sick! Just listen to your guts for once and do what you want to! Kill and gravel in the dirt, hate and weep! This is impossible, you can't just make up like this!"

"Yes we can. And you are jealous, aren't you?" Ed looked down at the sad thing caught in his fist. "Now I get it. You envy us humans because we can forgive, we can stick together and we can love. You homunculi think we are nothing compared to you yet we always get back on our feet, no matter the challenge, and there are always loved ones by our side, supporting us, picking us back up. And you are jealous, you envy us for that."

Envy stared at him, eyes like saucers even wider in horror. "Humans?" it whimpered. And then the green creature seemed to get angry and started wriggling, biting Ed until he got out of the young alchemist's grip.

"Hey! What are you up to!" Ed yelled and then Envy was curling up on the ground.

Mustang and Hawkeye got ready for attack but then they realised the effort wasn't needed anymore.

"I'm not pathetic like that!" Envy claimed in a voice that sounded just that: Pathetic. "Jealous of humans? I? Never! This is so humiliating... getting trampled on by humans! Those weak useless creatures! I'm not jealous! And even worse, the pipsqueak just had to be the one! This is the ultimate humiliation!" And then it cried and wailed and reached inside of its mouth. "

Good luck, pipsqueak!" it said with a sad chuckle. It pulled out the precious stone that kept it alive. And shattered it. Ed watched with wide eyes as Envy dissolved into particle as small and black and insignificant as the sooth on the train wreck. "Good bye, Edward Elric..." and then the homunculus was gone.

"What a coward," Mustang said after a while of them just staring at the now empty space.

Then the colonel stood back up. "Come on. Let's see if maybe some of the train workers were lucky after all."

Nodding, Hawkeye and Ed started walking towards the crashed locomotive.

"Wait, Fullmetal, let me look at your head first!"

Ed stopped and Mustang stepped towards him, pulled off the horrible gloves and carefully picked through Ed's hair, searching for injury. "I think you are concussed. Sit down and let me and Hawkeye do the rescuing."

"I'm fine..."

"Fullmetal, sit down."

Sighing, Ed and his pounding skull gave in. The boy sat on what used to be a train seat and watched as Mustang followed Hawkeye towards the train's front. Though the colonel turned back, dark eyes settling on the younger alchemist once more. "And Edward? Thank you," he said, giving his red cheek a meaningful touch before walking away to search the train wreck.

Ed kneaded the hand he had used for the slap and smiled.