Leave A Scar

I woke up with a blanket over my body. Soft, thick, and a deep red—it was incredibly nice, but I didn't remember even cuddling up with it before I fell asleep. I sat up, looking down at the blanket. Come to think of it, I don't even remember noticing any blankets around the hotel room...

My attention was drawn to the kitchen area, where Al was humming in front of the stove. His back was to me, but I could see the tall chef hat on top of his helmet, the ties of a white apron across his back.

"Good morning, Al!" I chirped.

The younger Elric looked behind his shoulder and smiled at me. He echoed my greeting just as happily. The silence left me to look around, wondering aloud where Ed was.

The alchemist in question stepped out of the bedroom, bright eyes blinking at me.

"You called?"

The events of last night shot into my consciousness, the pain forcing me to look down. I listened as Ed approached the kitchen, stopping at the bar counter to say something to his brother.

He was completely happy... Like nothing between us had even happened. I watched him continue to lean on the counter, grinning at Al as the teen in the suit continued cooking... Whatever he was making.

"You've been reading all those recipes at the library, huh, Al?"

Al turned to look at him, making me notice how his chef hat was a little crooked. The front of his white apron was stained with pancake batter, too. He smiled at Ed with his eyes, giggling a little.

"I sure have!" Al replied. "There's so many books on cooking I haven't read yet! I'll need you guys to be my taste testers so I know which recipes to save for when I get my body back!"

Ed just grinned a little more. "Sure thing!"

I only smiled, and a few moments later, a small stack of piping hot pancakes were being offered to me.

"Bon appétit."

I looked up at Al, seeing his smile. I wanted to reach up and adjust that crooked hat, but something about the skewedness just seemed to fit...

"Thank you!" I took the plate, giving a small laugh as I picked up the fork he had in between two of his fingers.

"Hey, not bad, Al." Ed commented through the side of his mouth. He was leaning against the counter, one arm resting on the granite slab.

"Really?" Al said.

Ed nodded a few times, taking another bite. "Needs some syrup, though."

"Oh‼" Al sped off to the stove again. "I made some right here! I just forgot to put it on!"

Ed and I both grinned as Al darted between us, pouring enough syrup on my small stack and Ed's massive pile. I blinked at how many pancakes he had; how did he eat that much?!

"Thanks, Al." Ed grinned as his brother tilted the syrup container upright.

Al smiled. "You're welcome, brother! I'm glad you like the pancakes!"

I smiled, watching with one arm on the couch, one hand supporting the side of my face. Ed just nodded at his brother's reply, cutting off another piece of three pancake layers.

He slipped the fork in between his lips, the utensil turned upside down.

"Hey, so I bumped into Hawkeye on the way back from Central library." he said suddenly.

I wasn't sure who Hawkeye was, but Al seemed ecstatic.

"Really? How's she doing?"

Ed just nodded along, taking another bite in that weird way of his. "She's doing well. Nothing much going on. She told me a little bit about that Philosopher's Stone in Dublith, though."

"She did?" I asked. "What'd she say?"

Ed's stare flickered to me, and just meeting his eyes caused a flash of pain to my ċhėst. He resumed eating.

"Said something about a friend of a friend of a friend buying one. They're trying to trace that one all on their own, but Hawkeye said the stone costed a hoot load of money."

I raised my eyebrow at his censored language as Al started thinking.

"This doesn't make any sense, brother." he said. "There's no way..."

"Yeah," There was something in Ed's voice; a frustration, a pain, as he set his empty plate on the counter. "Which means we're just going to Dublith to bust some fakers."

"So it's a lost cause..." Al's voice echoed in the suit more than usual, the sound of hopelessness ringing clear.

Ed remained quiet, picking up the mug of coffee Al had set down with his breakfast. He took a sip as I looked down, wanting to say something and get the mood light again. I noticed the blanket again and leaned to the side, setting my partially-eaten breakfast down on the coffee table.

"Where did this blanket come from?"

I held the item in question away from me as I spoke, noticing a familiar Flamel insignia decorated through the blanket's faux fur. I turned to Ed, watching his eyes curve into a smile over the rim of his cup. Heat rose to my face as I looked down, resting the blanket on my ŀȧp again in wrinkled folds. I had to say something; I felt awful for last night...

And he was nice enough to do this after everything...

Why was I such a terrible friend?

My stomach felt like it was about to reject Al's breakfast when I heard Ed's voice. Both he and Al stopped walking.

"You okay?" he asked me.

I stopped walking as well. I looked to him, still pained by the sight of the concern on his face. I nodded, turning away from his gaze.

"Yeah. Just... Wondering about getting home, is all."

Al tilted his head. "What do you mean?" he asked.

I blinked at him, momentarily at a loss for a reply. "We're... Parting ways at the station, aren't we?"

Ed seemed just as shocked as I was. He shook it off, giving a light scoff as he buried his hands in his pockets.

"Like we'd leave each other like that." he said, the slightest of pink in his face. "We're already waitin' to hear back from that last case, so you might as well tag along. If anyone needs to contact you, they can just find us. Makes everything easier."

I felt incredibly relieved, but I only let it spread into a smile. My face heated up a little bit. "Yes, that's right! I guess I wasn't really thinking!" I tried to laugh a little bit, seeing that slight smile come back to Ed again.

We all started walking, and I found I had my hands behind my back. There was a happiness fluttering around me, too, and I was even smiling without realizing it. Without forcing it.

The buŧŧerflies increased, tickling the inside of my stomach. I felt like a little kid again. But my mind had to go elsewhere, falling back into that abyss.

"I just hope I can help you out on this case!" I said, echoing my thoughts.

I heard a quick grin shoot onto Ed's mouth. I turned just in time to see him finish looking away from me. I followed his gaze, seeing we were approaching the train station's platform. The train to Dublith was already waiting.

"You don't have anything to worry about." he told me softly.

"Rush Valley... Next stop, Rush Valley..."

I glanced away from the ceiling, hearing the conductor's voice fade into the train's light background noise.

We'd been on this train for hours... I needed to get up and stretch. But I noticed something about the two alchemists sitting across from me had changed.

"Are you two alright?"

"Y-Yeah!" he said. "It's... Just been a while since we've been here!"

"Really?" I asked. "How long has it been?"

Al tapped his chin, looking away from me. "Ummm..."

"Three years." Ed's voice sounded horrible; incredibly weak.

I looked to him for a long moment, seeing his head had moved down enough to hide his bangs over his eyes. Covering his expression from me.

"Y-yeah." Al nodded quickly. "Almost three years, that's right! It's been a while..."

I wondered what in the heck was going on... I looked down at the aisle, wondering what I should say. What I could say... My mind was pulling me in another direction, away from this conversation.

"What do we do," I began, "When we get to Dublith?"

If anything, this comment just seemed to make Ed even quieter. I saw his shoulders slump a bit further, part of my mind listening as Al spoke.

"We'll probably just ask around, like we did before."

I nodded absentmindedly, still wondering what was going on... First Rush Valley, then something with Dublith?

I didn't understand.

My hand curled into a fist, bunching up my skirt a little bit.

"Ed..."

He looked towards me, bangs swinging and covering half of one eye. His hand lifted, finger sweeping his hair away. Those golden eyes looked perfectly normal, everything I had seen before... All that strange heaviness... Gone.

"Yeah?" he asked, and returned my name back to me.

I looked to him for another moment, trying to find something more in his perfectly innocent stare. A blush moved to his cheeks, and I quickly held up a hand with a smile.

"Nothing!" I replied, waving a hand a little bit. "I forgot what I was going to say!"

"Um," He sat up a bit, confusion clenching the space between his brows, "Okay. Lemme know when you remember it."

I nodded, fighting back the embarrassment on my face. "Of course. I will."

I didn't, of course...

It was nice to get to Dublith, but almost as soon as I started to enjoy the feeling of walking again and stretching out my legs, I noticed Ed slump into that space again. He kept walking alongside me, and even though Al was following behind, he didn't seem to comment about his brother's shift in mood.

Al suddenly stopped walking. I turned around, hearing the pivot of Ed's boot as he did the same.

"Should we go door-to-door again, brother?" Al asked.

Ed straightened his posture, leaning his head back with a slight groan. "Yeah, maybe. We might wanna just see what we pick up walking around town, though. This place has to be buzzing with activity, if they're really selling these things."

I nodded, and a minute or two later, Ed was leading us into a restaurant. He spun around and pushed the doors open with his back, giving me a mischievous grin.

I smiled, turning away. "If you really wanna pay..." I honestly didn't want him too, but he seemed to really enjoy spending money like that. Whatever I had to do to get him out of that funk.

Ed just grinned even more and gave a light cackle, stepping back and holding the door open as I entered the restaurant. I blushed a little bit, keeping my hands behind me as I walked past him.

"You really don't have to." I said quietly.

Ed just had the side of his finger against the base of his nose, a blush on his face as well. "Well... Y'know..."

His attention snapped to the outside as Al spoke.

"I'll go look around town."

Ed nodded, seeming just as pleased with the suggestion. "We'll check in here, Al!"

"Alright!" With a quick wave, Al started along the sidewalk again.

I turned back, about to tease and ask him just how much we were going to work on this case. But Ed was already getting us a table, waving at me from the center of the room.

I smiled back, striding over and fighting back the buŧŧerflies in my gut. This wasn't our ice cream date, but I had to give him a hand for setting this up so smoothly.

Conversation was strained at first, nothing but us staring down at the menus we'd been given. Despite the fact that I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast (and denied Ed's offer to buy something on the train), I didn't feel very hungry.

I looked up, watching Ed continue to stare at my side of the table. He looked focused, hands folded in front of his lips. I realized what he was doing; the background noise of the restaurant became a little sharper, the voices gradually becoming separate from each other.

The restaurant looked fairly high-end, and I put together another piece of Ed's complex plan. He mentioned the stone was expensive, so if anyone would be talking about it...

"Can I get you two anything to drink?"

My attention snapped back, seeing a waiter beam down at me. I frantically opened my menu, searching for the drink section.

"Is your chardonnay any good?" Ed was asking the waiter.

The man nodded solemnly. "Very smooth this afternoon, sir."

"Ed," my voice turned the Alchemist's attention towards me, "It's one in the afternoon... And you're working, aren't you?"

This last point seemed to be the one to change his mind. He frown a little. "Ah, yeah. I guess you're right."

His hand began waving the waiter away. "Give us a minute, will ya?" Ed suddenly stopped, eyes widening as they stared at me from the rim of the menu. His hand moved into a fist. "No, wait."

The waiter stopped walking away, and instantly he was back to our table. "Yes, sir?"

I suppressed a sigh. I wondered if this guy actually thought we had any money at all...

"Uh," Ed's eyes were frantically searching the menu, wide with nervousness. He looked to me again, asking what I wanted to drink.

I smiled to the waiter. "Just some water, please."

Irritation spiked into Ed's expression, and I grinned. Water was so cheap that it was free to drink. I was keeping my side of the bill as low as possible, especially in a place like this.

"Make it some really nice water..." Ed murmured, setting his menu down as he closed it.

"Yes, sir."

The waiter didn't move to write our order down, probably just thinking about how cheap we were. Wondering if he should lock the doors, in case we decided to dine and dash...

He just blinked, continuing on. "And to eat?"

I quickly focused back to my menu, listening as Ed rambled on and ordered at least half the menu for himself. How can someone eat this much?!

I suddenly found something on the menu that looked appealing. But my eyes swept to the price, and I shoved the idea of having lobster out my brain.

Ed's voice suddenly cut off. He seemed to be following my stare, turning to the next page and looking at the same side I was.

"No, Ed—"

"And we'll split your lobster, too."

My face found the table. I sighed against the white fabric, wishing I could somehow get rid of his attention for detail.

"What?" Ed returned as the waiter nodded and walked away with a long list of food. "We're splitting it."

I picked my head up, supporting my jaw with one hand. I reminded myself not to comment; this was getting him away from whatever mood he had been in before. The sounds of the restaurant drifted into my focus again.

"Have you heard anything?" I asked him quietly.

Ed swept his eyes to the people behind me, stare searching. "No. Not yet. We should probably keep talking, though. Make it look like we're just, um..." His stare dropped, mouth becoming a grin as his cheeks went a bit red. "Like we're just a couple of friends out for lunch."

"And ordering half of the kitchen." I muttered, returning his grin.

He just nodded, eyes moving down and away from me. He picked his arm up, bringing it around to the back of his head. I recognized the tinge of pink coming to his face; the same shade it had been last night, when he half-yelled at me for us to go have ice cream together.

"Ed..." I began. "About last night..."

The Alchemist instantly shook his head, dismissing my soon-to-be apology. His eyes swept the space off to my left, still focusing.

"Don't worry about it." he said quietly. "I understand."

I hated hearing that. He'd been crushed when I was STUPID enough to reject him, and now he's probably even more hurt. He must have seen the emotions in my face because he looked back to me. Ed gave a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"I said don't worry about it!" he told me. "We're having something now, aren't we?"

"Y-yeah." I straightened, avoiding his gaze. My fingers moved along the table, nails gently scraping against the white fabric. "I'm..."

"Your waters." The announcement was spoken with a slight bite to it, and I picked my hands up off the table as a glass of ice water was placed in front of me.

I beamed at the waiter, who met my expression with a incredibly polite smile. "Thank you!"

He simply nodded. "Your food will be out in just a moment."

I returned his nod, and heard Ed give a word of thanks as the man walked away from us a little too quickly. I sighed and Ed instantly asked what was wrong.

"That guy probably thinks we're broke..." I said, shaking my head.

The Alchemist just grinned. "Wait til he sees his tip, then."

"The military pays well." I added a question to my voice; one he answered with a nod.

"I've been taking more cases lately," he replied, and I noticed a bit of sadness in his voice, a bit of roughness, "So that's where the influx of cash is coming from."

I nodded, wanting to find out more but deciding to keep the topic at bay. There was something he didn't want to talk about, and I wasn't about to make him.

Ed motioned to me with his water, almost like a toast. "So tell me about that martial art school you run."

Memories ransacked my brain.

Alphonse's voice, asking me if I had to go home and teach soon. And I told him I might call and have someone cover—I COMPLETELY FORGOT!

My panic was written on my face as a complete expression of hopelessness. Ed looked alarmed. "Is everything okay?!"

I snapped out, realizing I could cover my tracks. "Y-yes! Everything's fine! I just remembered I forgot to call and have someone cover, that's all!"

"Oh." He relaxed, the hair that had stood up falling back into place. "Okay. What're you going to do?"

"I could probably stop by a phone after we're finished." I mused, looking out to the entrance. "Classes don't start until tomorrow, but I'm sure everyone's wondering why they haven't seen me around!"

"Yeah," Ed leaned back, still seeming a tad shaken from seeing me so stressed, "I'd be worried, too."

I sent him a smile, one he looked up to catch and send right back. The arms of the waiter suddenly came into my sight, hands placing a massive, steaming lobster between us.

Ed was already drooling, fork and knife in hand. "Ah, wow, that looks great!"

He looked around as more food was placed in front of him by multiple people, quickly covering his side of the table. He grinned with pure glee. I just smiled, reaching to pull off a claw from the lobster.

The dial felt heavy against my finger as I rotated it. Dialing the number like I was phoning a ghost.

I held the phone to my ear, hearing the dull tone disappear and reappear as my call was connected.

And kept trying to connect.

I cleared my throat, looking out beyond the glass beside me. Meeting Ed and Al's smiling eyes as they waited close by.

"Hi," I said into the phone, "You're still here, right?"

No one spoke; the tone repeated again.

I made a sound of agreement in the back of my throat, nodding a little bit. "I'm glad to hear that!" I forced a smile onto my face, turning to the dial in front of me. The numbers stared back. Just as empty as the non-existent person I was talking to.

"See, I was calling about that, actually..." I began. "I was hoping..." I couldn't even say the words. I pretended to agree again, beaming a smile. "Yes, that's right! I don't think it'll be for too long, but you'll be able to handle it, right?"

The dial tone just buzzed.

"I'll let you know when I'm about to come back. Shouldn't be for more than a few days!"

I felt my ċhėst begin to crack. I couldn't go back. I couldn't even bȧrė the thought...

I pretended to laugh, hoping Ed and Al couldn't hear me through the glass. The sound was horrible.

"Okay. I'll talk to you soon... Yes... Okay."

The phone was replaced, and I kept my hand on it. I resisted the urge to hang my head, realizing I had to step out of the phone booth now. I could hear Ed and Al talking about something, the tone of their conversation light. It made it easier to slip out of that glass box, the door falling shut behind me.

I stepped around, meeting them again with a smile.

"Hi!"

Ed turned, giving a grin as Al greeted me.

"Did you get everything squared away?" the younger Elric asked.

I nodded, fighting back the feeling of my insides drying up. "Yes, everything's perfectly settled."

"Great! We can keep looking now." Al turned, head moving across the opposite side of the street. "I was just telling brother I got wind of a shop on the opposite side of town. Downtown, actually."

"Really?" I asked. "That's wonderful! Is it close by?"

Al nodded. "It's only a few minutes walk from here."

Ed just put a hand on his brother's arm. "Just lead the way, Al!"

"Right!" Al nodded.

Ed and I trailed behind as Al led us down the sidewalk again. Within a few minutes of silence, however, I noticed Ed's posture slumping again. I suppressed a sigh, making note of how his head was bowed so low, bangs hiding his eyes from me again.

My mind suddenly, finally, started working again. A memory came; I'd asked about Winry, and Ed's soft reply accompanied the sight of the sidewalk.

"...In a relationship with some guy from Dublith, which is interesting."

I looked to Ed, seeing his stare stay so low to the ground.

"Last I heard, they were making plans to marry."

Before I could think otherwise, I reached out, taking his hand in mine. He looked up, seeming to snap out of whatever thoughts he was having. A blush touched his cheeks, and for a moment, he did nothing but stare at me.

I smiled, trying not to feel morbidly embarrassed for what I was doing. Suddenly, the suit of armor in front of us shifted, and before Al had even turned around half-way, both of Ed's hands were in his pockets. His eyes were closed, a light scowl replacing whatever he had been feeling before. I withdrew my hand, trying not to feel hurt as I listened to what Al had stopped to tell us.

"The Devil's Nest, right?"

I heard a sound of interest come from Ed, his calm voice accompanying it a moment later.

"Yeah, if that's the place you say it is." A grin came to him. "What a trip, huh?"

A much different voice came from Al's suit and it rang out clear. Like someone wasn't speaking from a suit.

"You don't know the half of it, you little runt!"

I watched as a red light surrounded Al, parting from the middle and revealing another body. Long hair flowed down, wildly framing a wicked grin. Purple eyes narrowed.

"Hey there, pipsqueak." The thing that was ONCE Al said. "See you've grown about half a centimeter since I saw you last."

Ed's eyes were wide. Fearful. His boot slid back, about to take a full step as a single word came from his mouth.

"Envy..."

The... Person in front of us just grinned a bit bigger, laughing through his wide smile. "Uh, yeah. Been a little while, hasn't it?"

"W-Wh..." Ed was struggling for words, still trying to regain his composure. His face was pale, ghost-like. "What'd you do with Al, you bastard?" His words were broken, the curse nothing but a sound cracking out of his throat.

Envy grinned again before his hands left his hɨps, raising out in a bored shrug. "Ah, he's probably having a nice talk with some fellow Homunculi of mine. Seems fitting that our mutual hatred for you two brought us together."

"Fellow Homunculi?" I repeated quietly. I flinched a little bit as Envy spoke to me, lips puckered as he teased.

"Nice hand-holding there, girlie. If I'd known you and the pipsqueak were so close, I would've kidnapped you instead."

This seemed to kick Ed back into his normal self. I heard a growl before seeing him in front of Envy, holding the Homunculus up by the shirt. Ed jerked his hands forward, roughly giving a shake as he spoke. His voice was low, and I felt my insides turn cold at the sound of it.

"Tell me where Al is or I'll kill you again."

Envy just smirked. "Like I wouldn't just come back." His eyes closed, one hand on Ed's human wrist. "Well..." The hand clenched, the strength seeming painful. "Instead of just telling you..."

Before I knew what was going on, Ed had been thrown through the double doors, barreling down the staircase. "LET ME SHOW YOU!"

I hit the back of my heel against the ground, revealing the compartment ready to tie this THING up with the ground.

"Oh, no." Envy was suddenly behind me, and I felt his leg sweep mine. My arm came up just in time for the side of my forearm to scrape against the ground, cushioning the impact and saving what could have been a possible broken neck.

I continued on with the momentum, pushing against the ground with my other hand and rolling to my feet. My balance was almost off-set by the ground rumbling, like there was an earthquake. My hand found the side of the building's broken entrance as Ed's voice yelled at me from the base of the stairs, telling me to get out of the way.

I watched as the ground beneath Envy shot upwards in sections, the ends becoming narrow and tapered to points as they pierced through him. My eyes shut as I saw the blood begin to spray out of his body like miniature fountains. And when the rumbling had stopped, I willed my eyes to open again. They did, and with my vision a little skewed from how heavily I was leaning against the doorframe, I saw what happened to Envy.

Spikes had been embedded into him. A lot of them. The sharp points of the ground lurched upwards, and as soon as they had fully slammed through their target—whether it was through an arm or a leg or all the way from the groin to the forehead—more spikes shot out from the sides like thorns.

I stared in horror. There was so much blood...

Ed's ragged breathing brought my focus to the staircase as he finished climbing up. With his body bent over, he looked at me, making sure I wasn't hurt before his eyes turned to Envy. Envy met his stare, mouth open in shock—or perhaps because a spike was holding his chin downwards.

"That should hold him until I get Al back," Edward told me. "You need to get out of here."

"But—"

"No." He held up a hand, and I only had to remember the first time I had tried to help them.

I stepped back. I wasn't going to risk losing Ed's sight again because of my stupid mistakes.

"Alright." I looked to Envy, who gave the best glare he could given the spikes in his forehead. "Where should I go? What if he finds me?"

"Fuck."

I turned back to Ed, incredibly surprised to hear him curse like that. His hand was in his hair, expression narrowed in frustrated thought.

"Dammit," he cursed again. I could tell his mind was at a crossroad. Soon, he picked a path. He looked to me.

"How well can you transmute carbon?"

I popped the lid beneath my right shoe open. "I got a transmutation circle engraved right here."

I heard Envy sneer with the upper portion of his mouth, the annoyed sound turning into pain. I guess doing facial expressions hurt him, too. I noticed Ed glance to him, and briefly I followed his gaze, seeing the Homunculus' skin try and regrow. Regenerate around the spikes. But there were a lot of spikes for him to work around; like Ed had told me, it would take a while for him to recover.

"Let's go." Ed took off down the stairs and I followed behind.

He didn't seem hurt from the concrete steps he'd fallen on, or if he was then he wasn't showing it. Maybe the metal parts of his body absorbed most of the impact, or maybe he just healed himself again...

We were headed down a long hallway and seemed to be approaching the door at the very end. As Ed began to turn his shoulder to the door, he clapped his hands, placing his left one on his right wrist. The transmutation light was nearly blinding, the color a roaring mixture of blue and red.

"ALRIGHT, LET'S GET THIS OVER WITH!"

The entrance broke open under his force, slamming down onto the floor as Ed followed through with the momentum. He landed ahead of the broken door, and despite the cloud of dust from the wood, I could see the massive blade he had transmuted part of his arm into. The tip dragged against the ground as he rose from his hunched position, the blade bȧrėly touching the floor as he straightened to his full height.

"Which one of you disgusting Homunculi am I killing first?"

What was happening?! I'd never seen Ed like this, but I was also so confused about Homunculi. Artificial people were nothing but hypotheses... But maybe not; not after I had seen Envy...

I braced my fear, surveying the room. Al was there, bound to the wall in thick chains that also captured his hands and feet together. They had gone a bit overboard, but the positions of his hands and feet together like that did prevent him from using alchemy. I shook the thought away, scanning the other two in the room.

One of them a blonde haired lady, who seemed incredibly bored with the situation. The other, a man who was much more fat than he was tall.

"Thanks for the quiet entrance," the woman drawled. "You ruined our door, too..."

"What a pain, right?" Ed replied, seeming to be quoting something. "Now who the hell are you?"

The woman just smirked. "I don't feel like giving an introduction." She shrugged one shoulder, hand flourishing away from her face and staying palm-up. "Just let me be the one who collects the bounty on your head, Fullmetal Alchemist."

Ed stared at her. "What? What bounty?"

Her purple eyes narrowed, smile turning coy. "Let's cut the chit-chat, shall we? I've got more work to do after this."

"I couldn't agree more." He charged forward, and Al suddenly grabbed both of our focus.

"Brother! She's not like Greed!"

I heard the slightest sound of surprise from Edward before seeing the blood shoot out of his arm. Pieces of his coat fluttered to the ground as I saw something else swing down. Something long and narrow; stringy. Oh, God—was that a tendon?!

I tried to scream for him but the sound of his voice drowned out mine.

He fought to stay standing, the muscle dragging against the floor. He ġrȯȧnėd through gritted teeth, watching as the tall Homunculus slowly walked forward, heels clicking against the floor.

"See," she began, "the thing about Homunculi is that we have these powers." Her hand went towards Ed's face, and he cried out again, like she was ripping the muscles in his face from the inside. "But I'm sure you know all about that."

My mind came back to me. I hit my shoe against the floor, transmuting the ground and attempting to grab her. She slipped out of my concrete grasp with a single jump upwards, the makeshift hand crumbling as she stood on it. Searing pain came to my leg, and through squinted eyes I looked down to see my muscles outside of my skin. Disconnected and spread out against the floor.

I cursed loudly, the word ripping out of me as I heard Ed yell out my name. The sound of clapping came and I saw nothing but bright red. Another scream wailed out, but this was from a voice I didn't recognize.

When the flash died down and the dots crowding my vision cleared enough, I saw the room was mostly filled with spikes. Coming out from every direction, every side of the room. And in the center, the blonde Homunculus, now coated in pink-red blood, twitching in silent agony.

Ed walked forward, hand about to clutch his left arm before thinking better of it. He stopped in front of the Homunculus, the purple eye that didn't have a spike driven through it looking to him.

"Who sent you?" he snapped. "What's this about a bounty on my head?"

The Homunculus twitched one side of her lip. Ed blinked.

"Oh... Right..."

He clapped again, placing his usable hand on a few of the spikes through her mouth and neck. They retracted, her wounds healing over in bright-red currents of electricity as she smiled.

"Foolish boy."

Multiple muscles in his right leg ripped out, the longer ones splaying onto the ground as he fell forward, holding himself up against a spike with a forearm. He screamed through his agony, and I adjusted some of my weight onto my right leg; the one with the muscles ripped out of it. I stifled a scream, voice lurching against my mouth as tears ran beneath my vision. But soon, the marking on the bottom of my shoe was completely against the floor.

I transmuted one of the spikes, driving a longer one through her head. Pink blood shot out, splattering the base of the spikes and the surface of the floor. The tips of Edward's leg muscles, too. I took a prolonged blink, holding back my nausea.

"Why won't you die?" I asked her.

"Oh, it seems we have a novice!" she said, her voice sounding odd; like she was speaking while holding one side of her mouth wide open. My eyes shot open again. I looked up, realizing I had driven the spike through the side of her mouth and beyond. She could still talk, so she could still transmute.

I was ready to drive another spike into her when Ed called my name.

"Don't," he said. "I need to get information out of this bitch."

The part of me that was still worried about trivial things once again became stunned by the language. I looked to him, watching the arm he used to support himself drop away, weight leaning into his metal leg.

"Will you tell me what I need to know," he asked, "or do I have to be holding your stone in order to get you to talk?"

"Stupid boy." Her eyes narrowed, but something about her voice just sounded so funny. I'm sure I would've laughed, if the situation wasn't dangerous and my leg didn't feel like it was numb...

"Pretty impressive Alchemy you got there." A hand suddenly grabbed my hair.

Ed turned, his eyes widening at the person behind me. I tried to get away, hearing a smooth voice speak near my ear.

"Now, now, hold on. Let's take it easy for a second, alright?"

My body suddenly went limp, all hope of struggling gone. I could only meet Ed's fearful gaze with my own, hoping he could hear my pleading thoughts.

"Greed..." he whispered.

"Mm, yeah, that'd be me." My body rose, being pulled up by my hair. I couldn't even scream; I was that disabled.

"How... You're still alive... You, and Envy... And Gluttony..."

The fatter Homunculus, who had been in the corner suċkɨnġ on his entire hand, suddenly started jumping around. He clapped his oversized hands together above his head.

"New me! New me!"

"New...?" Ed repeated.

Gluttony trained his stare on Edward, a large open-mouthed grin coming to him, strings of drool separating between his large teeth.

"Food..." he said. "I've been hungry. There hasn't been anything to eat down here!"

"Here." Ed clapped his hands again, leaning back and placing his metal one on the spike behind him. I watched another spike shoot forward, spreading out into three pitch fork-like tongs that embedded into the Homunculus' arms and mouth. His tongue had risen upwards, the middle spike piercing through the large tattoo before stabbing into his face. "Chew on this."

The tip of Gluttony's tongue wiggled around, a soft mȯȧn coming to him.

Behind me, Greed gave a smirking laugh. "Damn, you really don't know what's going on, do you, kid?"

He moved the hand holding me up, waving me around like I was a doll. "So are you gonna come with us peacefully or do I have to make your girlie friend here really scream?"

Anger finally came to Edward's face. I could see he was still in pain from his injuries. The glossiness of his eyes told me that much.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. His metal hand pointed to Gluttony, who was hopelessly trying to wiggle his body out of the spikes, just resulting in more pink-blood sloshing out onto the floor. "Why is he back alive?!"

Greed just sighed. "God, you really don't listen do you, shorty?" He ignored the flash of pure annoyance in Ed's expression. He moved me around again, and this time I was able to cry out. "Come with us," he said, sounding out everything as if he were scolding a child. "We'll let your—"

"That's it." Ed clapped his metal hand against his disabled one. "I'm done asking questions."

Red lightning roared towards me.