Seeing Red

Chapter 1

Author's Note: This is an old story I wrote years and years ago, but I was rewatching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood recently, and it kinda reignited the old flame. So, I went back through and revamped it! I will be posting a new chapter every Wednesday, Lord willing. Enjoy!

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I just have to keep running.

That was the kind of thought a homunculus was never supposed to have. They weren't supposed to run from anything. They were supposed to face all opposition without fear. They definitely weren't supposed to shapeshift into a rat and scurry away in the dark, barely escaping a fiery death, and then spend the next several weeks wandering around Central with no idea of what to do.

They're gaining on me.

He hit the ground hard, tumbling head over heels and slamming into the side of a building with a sickening thud. Scrambling to his feet the second his momentum stopped pushing him into the wall, he half stumbled, half ran towards the only possible escape.

If I can get underneath the city, I can hide.

Falling into the wall again, he rounded a corner and forced himself to continue putting one foot in front of the other, blood splashing against the pavement with every painful step. His entire body throbbed, heat coursing through his veins, his nerves crying out. Even the wind on his face had become agonizing.

Father! How dare you? He ducked his head and pumped his arms, skidding around another corner and rushing towards the closest manhole, vaguely aware of just how empty the streets were. Just because you couldn't defeat a few measly humans, you didn't have to take it out on me!

Or rather, Father didn't have to take it out of him.

"Get back here!"

He denied the fear swelling in his chest and continued to run, staring down at his bloodied hands and feet as he silently lamented the loss of his superhuman abilities. Only the more severe injuries were healing, and he couldn't take on his monstrous form. Shapeshifting was a thing of the past. He was still more capable than the average human, and he was certainly more durable, but compared to what he once knew, he was nothing.

It won't let me die, but this body knows it's running out of juice. No matter how hard I try, it only heals the bare minimum. I hate it. I hate it!

Still, the weakened homunculus refused to surrender and kept on running. He listened to his surroundings, painfully aware of the fact that he was being followed by at least a dozen different assailants, one of them much more dangerous than he would have preferred.

"Envy!"

Sliding around one last corner, he staggered halfway down the road and dropped to his knees, placing his hands on either side of the metal disk embedded in the ground. He dug his fingers in and immediately froze, eyes widening as they scanned the surface of the plate.

It's a trap.

He leapt to his feet, abandoning the idea of the sewers and trying to make it to the closest alleyway before his pursuers caught up. He saw a stray cat running to get out of the way, and he got a sinking feeling that it wasn't running from him.

Snap.

He hit the ground yet again as a wall of fire struck him, flames engulfing his body and tearing an agonized scream from his throat. His skin peeled away from his muscles, the fluid in his eyes dried instantly, and breathing only served to drag the heat down into his lungs.

He was hit again, both arms coming up to cover his head despite the absolute futility of such a move. And then it came again, pitching his body another five feet and pulling scream after scream from his dried, bloodied lips.