Envy stood there, stiff as a board as Astaroth the body of Marcoh. This was bad. So very, very bad! Before he had figured out a way to tell the demon king what had happened without being killed, the Demon King burst in, suspecting the intruders had hidden in there. The look of shock and outrage on Astaroth's face in that moment caused any words of defense he would have said to be bitten back, for fear of angering him further.

However, Astaroth did not scream. He did not shout. All he did was silently examine the body. This, coupled with the quiet and cold atmosphere of the cell was somehow far scarier than the demon's fury. Envy felt like he was just waiting for the demon to turn on him and tear him apart for letting this happen, or worse.

It was then that he noticed the door was still open. His proverbial heart leapt and he slowly began scooching towards it. If he could just creep out of there, he could get a headstart to get back to Father and avoid being repeatedly disemboweled with a rusty saw blade or whatever other sick punishment the demon had in mind. He inched closer and closer to the open door, almost able to slip through, when all of a sudden the demon called his name.

"Envy," the Demon King barked, causing the homunculus to jump.

"Y-yes sir?" he said, trying to muster up some confidence. His whole body was shaking as the demon stood up and turned around.

However, the demon's face only seemed mildly annoyed, not enraged. "Go find Pride or that new homunculus your Father created and track down Marcoh before he gets out of the city," he ordered as he walked past the now very confused homunculus.

"But…" Envy said after a moment, causing the demon to pause, "He's DEAD. His body is right there!"

Astaroth glared at him and sneered. "You idiot. That's obviously not his!" he growled, "It doesn't even smell like him."

Envy narrowed his eyes. "Then who-"

"Think about it," the demon responded, "There were two chimeras guarding him, were there not? And now there is only one left and it's dead. Marcoh is a master alchemist. He could have easily killed them and used bio alchemy to make one look like his body. And he probably got help in escaping from the intruders."

Envy almost wanted to slap himself as the realization dawned on him. Why hadn't he thought of that? ...Oh yeah, the whole 'gripped with terror' thing.

"Now stop wasting time and go find him, damn it!" the demon king demanded, snapping Envy out of his train of thought.

The homunculus quickly nodded and ran off into the underground. A smirk started forming on his face as he ran through the tunnels. He was gonna make that Ishvalan pay for all the crap he'd put Father and the rest of the homunculi through. Him, that dog chimera, and the little girl too!

….

The clock ticked quietly as Mei and Alphonse sat together in silence . The girl kept glancing at him as she waited for the time to pass by. How long did she have to stay here? When was she going to get back to Scar and Dolcetto? What were they waiting for? A phone call? That boy with the brown and yellow hair to come back? She hoped he'd hurry back soon. This place was extremely boring…and she didn't know if she really wanted to talk to the boy in the suit of armor. There was something really off about his chi… not demon off, but still off nonetheless.

Alphonse glanced at Mei every so often. She was surprisingly a lot more quiet than expected… he wanted to break the ice but he wasn't sure what to say. After all, she was friends with Scar… Still, he had to do something. The silence was maddening.

"So uh…" Alphonse started, "I guess I never really introduced myself…" He rubbed the back of his helmet before turning towards her. "My name is Alphonse. Alphonse Elric," he said, "It's nice to formally meet you. You said your name was Mei Chang, right?"

She stared at him for a moment before nodding. "And you're from Xing, correct?" Mei once again nodded. "Oh wow, that's cool! My brother and I do a lot of traveling, but I've never been outside of Amestris. What's it like in Xing?"

Mei smiled a little as she remembered her home. "Well…" she started, "It's very different from here. We have tall, forested mountains where mist covers the trails through the villages in the morning. High cliffs with nesting swallows and ice cold rivers that stay that way even in summer…" her smile widened as she remembered how she used to sneak off and play in the river when no one was watching her. Her mother would get so angry with her though. She would talk of how she couldn't allow herself to get hurt as she was their one claim to the throne… Her smile began to fade.

"Wow…" Alphonse breathed, "It sounds beautiful!"

She nodded with a frowned."It is, but the area is too rocky to grow a lot of crops," she said, "And it's hard to raise livestock because there is little space for them…as a result, my clan struggles a lot to get by."

"Oh, I'm sorry…" Alphonse said, now regretting bringing up Xing, "So… what are you doing here in Amestris?"

"Well, I was trying to find the key to saving my clan," she said, "It's my responsibility. As the princess I have to look out for my people and-"

"Wait, you're a princess?!" Al interjected, "Whoops, sorry…"

She paused before smiling. "Yes I am, and it's alright," she said, "I mean, it's not every day you see royalty from another nation, right?"

"Well actually, a prince from Xing has been hanging around us too," Alphonse said.

Mei's eyes widened and she gasped, standing up on the bed. "What?! Who?!" She exclaimed.

Alphonse was taken aback by her outburst. "Ling Yao." Alphonse responded carefully, "he was looking for the Philosopher's Stone, you see…"

"Nooo! Darn it! Why does this have to happen!" she clutched her hands to her forehead and gave a frustrated growl before flopping down on the mattress, "I worked so hard to get here, and he's already here! Who knows how many others could be here as well?!"

Alphonse looked down sadly. Now he felt bad for bringing up Ling. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you." he said, pushing his fingers together before looking up, "But hey, it might not be so bad! Ling is a nice guy, maybe you guys could work together!"

Mei glared at him. "We can't just work together! There's only one seat on the throne," she said pointedly, "One of us is going to sacrifice our opportunity and I can't afford for him to stab me in the back for the sake of his own clan."

"Ling wouldn't do that!" Alphonse defended, "Why would you even think that? He's your brother, isn't he? I know he wants the throne, but do you really think he'd care so little for you that he'd leave your whole clan to die?" Maybe now that he was a homunculus he would but before…

"HALF-brother," Mei clarified, "and our blood relations barely matter. Most of the Emperor's children have probably ordered at least one assassination attempt on another to better their prospects."

"WHAT?!" Alphonse cried, absolutely astonished, "How could you do that to each other?! You're family!" The poor boy in the suit of armor couldn't even imagine something so awful. Then again, he had seen a father use his daughter as a science experiment, so really, he shouldn't be so surprised.

Mei shrugged sadly. "It's just the way things are…" she sighed, "It's just something we have to live with…"

There was a solemn silence. "Do you though?" Al said, "Look...maybe there's no way you can get along with everyone in your family and mend all ties,but that doesn't mean you can't trust anyone. Ling is my friend and my brother's friend. We can convince him to work with you side by side." 'Once we get rid the homunculus within him, that is,' he though

Mei's eye's lit up. "You… you'd really do that?"

"Yeah!" Alphonse responded, "I'd be happy too!"

Mei brought her hands to her mouth to keep herself from screaming with joy before she launched forward and hugged the suit of armor. "Thank you!" she cried, "Thank you Alphonse! You're so kind!"

Alphonse chuckled a little and hugged her back. "You're welcome!" he chirped. He then set her down as he got up. "Hey, let's go get you some food," he suggested, gesturing to downstairs, "It's probably been a long time since you last ate. It would be good to get something in your system. I can make you some pasta or something."

Mei smiled and took his hand, "Thank you Alphonse," she chirped, "I'd love to have some lunch with you!"

…

"And as we were making our way through the tunnels, all of a sudden this HUGE horde of ghouls shows up!" Rin explained, gesturing wildly. Roy was silent as he held his hands to his face. He listened to his son tell the story of what happened to them, with Ed occasionally interjecting to add details. Despite his calm exterior, inside he was carefully trying to hold back the worry and rage that had been building throughout the story. He almost wished he hadn't asked for an explanation.

There were so many points during the story when Rin, Ed, Al, and their friends could have died. Even if the homunculi and demons had no intention of killing Rin, Edward, or Alphonse, who knows what they would have done if they hadn't escaped. They could have locked them away until whatever they had planned for them was ready. After all, they did call them sacrifices. A shiver ran down his spine and his fists tightened with anger as he remembered that. And they still weren't out of the woods yet. Theses monsters still had their eyes set on these boys for some reason, and were determined to make sure he was powerless to stop them.

"Uh...Dad?" Rin said, derailing Roy's train of thought, "You ok there?" Rin tilted his head to the side in confusion and Edward raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"I'm fine," Roy said, straightening up, "I'm just...I've very relieved you boys are safe. You've been through quite a lot and are very lucky to have survived all that." There was a tired look in his eyes but he smiled.

Rin smiled back but Ed blinked and frowned. He wasn't expecting that. Roy was usually more formal when people reported back to him. Granted, this wasn't exactly a formal report, but he rarely saw Roy drop the cool, stoic facade unless he was angry. He studied Mustang's face. There were more emotions in his eyes that he couldn't read, but they were definitely very painful ones. These past 12 hours must have been brutal on him… was it all just worry or did Bradley's cornering really psych him out?

"So Shura is currently with Scar and his cronies?" Roy clarified.

"Yeah, I guess," Rin said, "We weren't really there for that call, but I think that's why Bon had to give you that number. Cause she has to talk to you about Scar or something."

"It probably has to do with that little girl," Ed pointed out, "She's still resting at your house with Alphonse watching her, and she was working with Scar. She's probably trying to organize some kind of trade off."

Roy nodded, glancing down at the number in his hand. "I suppose there's only one way to find out…" he said as he reached for the phone.

Ed nodded, "You go ahead and take care of that," he said, "I've got my own call to take care of. Now, your end of the deal?" Roy glanced up from dialing the first two numbers to see Ed outstretching a hand before him. The man rolled his eyes before reaching into his pocket and grabbing the 520 cenz to place in Edward's hand. "Remember to pay me back later," he said sternly.

"Yeah yeah, I will. I'll talk to you later after I make this call and you can tell me what Shura wants," the blonde haired boy said as he headed out the the door.

"I'm gonna head out too," Rin piped up as he rose. "I'm gonna go check up on how that girl back at your house is doing," he explained, "See ya later, Dad."

Roy nodded and waved as he finished dialing. "Alright, don't get into any more trouble," he responded as the phone picked up.

"Hello, this is Colonel Mustang. Is Miss Shura Kirigakure there?"

sorry this took so long. Getting back into writing has been hard for me, but thank you for all your support. It really, really helped. Lots of love guys. I'll try to have something else posted soon!