Scarlett's P.O.V.

We followed Gluttony though Central's cramped back alleys. After living most of my life in this city, you'd think I'd have every nook and cranny memorized. After following the Homunculus I realize how wrong I was.

"Scarlett? I'm getting a bad feeling about this..." Alphonse shuffled closer to me as the alleyway started to get even narrower.

"I know, bud." I but my lip. "The minute things get hairy, we're snagging diabetes here and running. No playing hero, no fancy tricks. We'll find another way to set Edward and Ling free."

"But what if there is no other way?" Alphonse worried next to me.

I bit my lip and felt the stress swell inside me. I don't want to think about what would happen if Ed and Ling were trapped forever inside this blob fish.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." I muttered; a little less confident than I had hoped for. The panda on Al's shoulder started to get restless and bounced around as we continued forward. "Hey little guy," I gave a friendly smile up to the anxious thing, "It'll be alright, don't worry."

"Here, Here! Here!" Gluttony ushered us forward until we finally came to a gated doorway in the side of a building. Even in the strong, afternoon sun, the darkness just inside the door is as thick as night.

"In here?" I repeated, only for Gluttony to nod and head on ahead. Geez, this looks just like a scene from a murder mystery novel; and Al and I are the unsuspecting teenagers walking to our death.

"Scarlett," Al pushed forward and turned back to me, "let me go first. Just in case this guy tries anything funny." I know he's being the cautious little metal bean he is, but I couldn't help but smirk and try to pull a funny joke out of it.

"My hero in, literally, shining armor."

Alphonse's P.O.V.

The deeper we went into the darkness, the worse this plan started feeling.

I made Scarlett walk behind me, just in case Gluttony decided to pull a fast one. I'm not going to let her get hurt on my watch, so I need to toughen up! If not for me, for her!

There was a little whimper on my shoulder from the panda, and I shifted to see him shivering. Aw, I'm sure he's scared to death; in a new place, nothing familiar, and here we are taking him into a place that could hold even more danger.

"Are you cold little guy?" I lifted my hand up and rubbed soothingly at his cheek. "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you." He didn't relax, but instead gripped onto my finger with his whole little body.

"Come here, bud." Scarlett moved from behind me to my side, and reached up on her tip toes to let the panda rest in her palms. "Let's let Ally-bear stay focused." She wrapped him up in the bottom of her shirt and made a little pouch supported with her arms. The panda seemed to slowly stop shaking in her arms, but his nervous gaze never lessened. "Now, let's catch up with th-"

A sickening crunch reverberated through the hall, followed by Scarlett stumbling. I looked back to see that she had stepped on a pile of human bones that were barely visible in the low light.

"What the fuck is this??" Scarlett cried at Gluttony who looked back at the two of us innocently.

"The gate keepers did that." He explained. "Don't worry, they shouldn't attack you because you're with me!"

Starting forward again, I was even more cautious of wherever he was leading us. Who the heck has this type of security?!? Scarlett, caught my attention with her gaze frozen at the ceiling; a cold look that I started to recognize as the 'this is really scary but I can't show it so I look angry' look. I followed her eyes upward to the blackness above the pipes.

In that darkness, I saw what she was so scared of: thousands of glowing red eyes carefully watching our every move. Their gaze made us move impossibly closer together as we watched out for each other.

Still trying to get information, I tried to talk to Gluttony. "So this Father, does he know what happens to the people you swallow?"

"Father knows everything!" Gluttony exclaimed, not even looking back at us as he continued rambling.

"I swear to god, he's acting like we're going to see the grandpa that lives down the street and volunteers at the local soup kitchen." Scarlett muttered under her breath, making sure the homunculus in front of us couldn't hear her, but I snickered a little at her comment. "But remember, this Father guy still made these guys- these homunculus, so he's still bad news."

"Right" I nodded.

Finally, the red eyes of the "gate keepers" were left behind as we entered a gigantic room. Unlike the long hallway, this was well lit with strands of sunlight trickling down from between cracks up above.

"Father!" Gluttony went walking up to the shadowy figure just out of sight. "Look! I brought you a human sacrifice!"

"Ope-!" Scarlett awkwardly paused behind me, like Gluttony's statement caught her off-guard. Honestly, I don't blame her, even I was put off by it.

"And who is it you brought?" An all too familiar voice echoed through me. As he stepped into the light, I was met face-to-face with the man from all of the family photos in our house. The sight of him brought back memories of Ed and I on the floor of his study; pouring over his alchemy books and indulging in every little bit of knowledge in them.

"Al, whatever you're thinking," Scarlett's voice dropped from her usual carefree tone to a scary, protective one, "that man is not Hohenheim."

Out of nowhere, Gluttony started to convulse forcefully. I watched as the mouth on his stomach that swallowed Ling and my brother opened up once again, the homunculus screaming out as he was forced to regurgitate-

BROTHER?!?

Right in front of me, a large, horrifying green monster, along with Ling and Ed were forced out of Gluttony's stomach and onto the floor. For a few moments, I was too shocked to do really anything. Seeing 'father' look like Dad, and our main problem of Ed being stuck in Gluttony solved, was all to much.

Edward's P.O.V.

Thank god that worked.

"Looks like we made it back to the real world." Ling mused, raising a fist to give me a fist bump.

"yeah.." I sighed, returning the gesture.

"YOU FUCKIN IDIOT!" Before I could process it, arms wrapped around my neck and a knee was brought up to dig into my gut painfully. I only saw strands of red hair; vibrant in the thin strands of light. "Don't ever do that kind of shit to me again..." Scarlett buried her face in my collarbone. The more I understood my situation, the more I could feel my face getting redder. Ahahaaa, is it hot in here?

"Brother!" Al said from behind Scarlett. I felt another pair of sturdier arms wrap around the two of us and I'm pretty sure I felt my ribs crack at that point. "YOU'RE ALIVE YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HAPPY I AM TO KNOW THAT YOU'RE SAFE!!"

"AL HE'S NOT SAFE IF YOU KILL US NOW!" Scarlett cried out, having been caught up in this crushing reunion. After a minute or so, we were finally let go. Scarlett bent down and picked up a small panda that seemed pretty shaken up and scared.

"Don't worry, little guy.." She murmured as she whispered reassuring things to it.

"And where is it we ended, up?" I asked, looking around the cavernous area. It doesn't look familiar to me, where are we?

"This is somewhat surprising." The voice came from the darkness and shook me to my core. Scarlett's wary gaze behind me didn't help to ease the shock I felt. "People emerging from his stomach..." I turned to face a man that at one point I knew as my "Dad".

"Ed-" Scarlett squeaked as the guy shoved his faced closer to my face, analyzing me.

"Tell me, are you two the Elric brothers?" He looked between Al and I while I tried to pry Scarlett's hand from my arm. Damn, she's got some grip! "And this father you speak of, you wouldn't mean Van Hohenheim, would you?"

"uh, yeah..." Al answered.

... There was a long moment of pause as he looked the two of us over more. ok, I fucking get it, it's hard to see a strapping young man like me and a thick suit of armor came from that piece of dog shit, Hohenheim.

"hahA! I DIDN'T KNOW THAT MAN HAD KIDS!" He laughed and patted my head while I growled at him angrily. LIKE FUCKING STOP I'M NOT A LITTLE KID. I AM A STATE ALCHEMIST AND I DESERVE RESPECT-

My inner rant was stopped short as I watched this man take a look at Alphonse's cut off arm and promptly regenerated it from thin air. Legit, metal and all! Suddenly, I feel the guy grab at my broken arm; sparks signaling alchemy fly from his fingertips, and my arm is fixed!? What the fuck?

"He didn't even use any movement for his transmutation.." I whispered under my breath at Al, who seemed just as shocked as I was by this man.

"He didn't thin out my armor when he transmuted my arm, either." Al added.

I turned to get Scarlett's opinion on the situation, but realized that her hand was gone from my arm. I found that as the man approached Al and I, she actually started to back up and away from him.

"Ed, I don't trust him." She had a touch of nervousness to her words. "This doesn't feel right."

"I know his kind; he looks down on us and sees humans as fools!" Ling Pulled out his sword and joined Scarlett's side.

No matter what, I've come to respect Scarlett's instincts- alternate universe aside. The fact that Ling is siding with her means that this guy is giving off some serious bad vibes that I could never catch onto. Slowly, I started to inch away from the pale guy as he kept his heated gaze on Scarlett and Ling.

"When you see an ant on the ground, do you pause to contemplate its life? To think about wether it is a fool?" The man explained. "What would stop you from just taking your foot and taking out a couple hundred? There will always be more."

His eyes finally dragged away from Scarlett's brown eyes to land on me, and I felt a shiver of fear rack through me. 

"That is how I perceive humans."

"Look, just because you healed our wounds does not make us friends!" I snapped, trying to get enough distance between us so we could attack.

There was a reverberating clap, and the familiar sound of alchemy as a row of sharp rocks protruded from the ground and created a barrier that I was trying to do.

"Yeah! So I'll ask you as nicely as I possibly can," Scarlett yelled at the man, "step the fuck away from my two idiots!"

Yeah! Way to go Scarlett!

...

WAIT- WE'RE NOT IDIOTS!

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Hello everyone! I know I've been horrible about uploading in 2019, but I hope to finish this fanfic in 2020, so I need to be better about uploading! Promise!

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~Saturnthehero