The Price of Life [Fullmetal Alchemist]

Chapter Thirty Three

Out of the Woods, Into the Belly

"are we out of the woods/in the clear yet?"

-taylor swift

disclaimer: throughout this work, i refer to envy using 'they/them' pronouns. while i am a firm believer that those pronouns are valid - they are my own, after all - i understand that in literature it is harder to read and understand if i am simply referring to a group of people or one person, so i will do my best to make it as easy to read as possible. thank you.

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Red sparks emerge from the homunculus' seemingly pitless stomach as the other half of the safe house creaks, threatening to give way without the other half for support.

"Mustang, Mustang! Kill Mustang!" the ugly thing shrieks.

"Everyone, get out of the house, now!" Mustang shouts.

"Ling, we have to get Lan Fan!" Sonia points to the room she was being kept in. The warrior had woken up with a start from the commotion, but still had no idea the amount of danger they were truly in.

"We have to get you out of here."

"The homunculus Gluttony is swallowing everything, and we don't want to be next."

The alchemist helps Ling hoist her up on his shoulder and carry her out of the remnants of the house.

"Go help your commanding officer," he says to her, "I'll take Lan Fan to the car."

"Right."

Sonia runs off to the other side of the broken house, having heard the trio of alchemists arguing from that direction.

"We can't just kill him, we need information about him and the others!" Ed fights, but Mustang is having none of it. He dons his alchemic gloves in preparation.

"If we don't kill him, he'll kill us!" He doesn't hesitate. With one snap of his fingers, flames go flying in the monster's direction...

But they do nothing. The glutton's stomach absorbs all the fire, and the smoke is the only indication that there ever was any at all.

"Oh, hell," the Flame Alchemist says in frustration. "Run! Into the woods!"

The four do as told and split off into different directions. As soon as Sonia enters the sea of trees, she feels the presence of the thousands of souls suddenly double.

'Could another homunculus be here?'

She doesn't have much time to dwell on it though. She hears gunshots that are unmistakably Hawkeye and follows the sound, seeing if she can be any help. She finds Hawkeye helping her brother up, who obviously hasn't fully recovered from his last confrontation with the late Lust.

He hands Sonia his overcoat. "Make a decoy," he says weakly. She nods and quickly transmutes a Mustang-esque dummy, throwing the fabric over it convincingly. Roy looks up at her in amazement over her newfound skill.

"How can you- Argh!" He clutches his injured side.

"Let's get you out of here, Colonel."

The three exit the woods and head straight for the car. The prince of Xing is already there, trying to put his injured servant in gently but hurriedly. Ed and Al emerge from the trees as Sonia is shoving her guardian into Dr. Knox's car. Hawkeye follows suit into the vehicle after him.

"Lieutenant, take care of Roy." Ling comes up behind her. "And Lan Fan, too, please." Riza nods in promise.

"Where do you think you kids are going?!" Dr. Knox shouts from the driver's seat.