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Description
Selim Bradley lay un-moving on the ground by Roy Mustang's feet. Roy didn't move. Didn't breathe. Could this really be happening again? Shadows shifted and he held up his hand, ready to strike, as Selim....no, Pride, got to his feet again.

"Uh-huh. Okay. Thanks, I'll be there as soon as I can. Have you called Al? You should, he'll probably be more help than I will. Uh-huh. See you soon."
Edward Elric put the phone down and put his face in his hands. Edward rarely cried, yet this one of those rare times. Pride had returned and killed one of his best friends. That had shaken him up more than he thought was ever possible. He took a deep breath, composed himself and started to pack his things. Looks like he was going home again.

Alphonse Elric, Mei Chang and Ling Yao sat in silence staring at the phone. What could you say to news like that? Ling finally broke the silence.
"You'll both be returning to Amestris then?" The emperor asked, lifting his gaze to look at their faces.
"Looks that way. Brother said he'd be going back too, so I better help." Alphonse said, glancing up at Ling.
"I'll help in any way I can. Those beasts cannot be allowed to revive again." Mei added, standing. Xiao-Mei nestled into the side of her neck. She didn't want Mei to get hurt again. Mei patted her, comforting her that everything would be ok, but Xiao-Mei didn't believe that it would be.
"I'll arrange you some transport right away, then. If you're going you may as well leave now." Ling stood up and Alphonse followed suit.
"Thanks, but you don't have to. We can just get the next train." Ling shook his head.
"I can't leave my country so this is the least I can do." Alphonse agreed reluctantly as the emperor of Xing arranged him and Mei transport to Amestris.

Central was busy. Central was always busy. Yet, today it was busy even for Central. Riza Hawkeye knew the exact reason for this, as did most of the people gathered in the fuhrer's office. She turned away from the window to look over the sunken faces of her friends, who she has been through so much with. Heymans Breda, Kain Fuery, Jean Havoc and Vato Falman. She sighed.
"I guess we're not going to get used to this, huh?" Hawkeye said, smiling sadly.
"Yeah..." Havoc agreed
"He was a great man." Kain nodded.
"I think we can all agree with that." Breda said, Falman nodding to his left.
"Shall we get on with it then, miss furher?" Havoc said, lighting up a ciggarette. Hawkeye sighed.
"Please don't call me that and don't smoke in my office." He laughed.
"That was contradictory."
"Be quiet."
Havoc laughed and Hawkeye sighed and put on her new jacket, preparing herself for the announcement that she was about to make. Preparing herself to accept the death of yet another of the people she cared the most about. She took a deep breath, glanced at her friends over her shoulder (who gave her nods and smiles of encouragement) then walked over to the balcony window and stepped out to face the crowd below.

"It's been too long, Mei-chan!"
"It has! Good to see you again, Winry-chan!" Winry and Mei seemed to be the only ones enjoying the reunion of the two Elric brothers. The brothers themselves were too busy discussing the more grim topics of Pride's return and the untimely death of the furher Roy Mustang because of said homunculus.
"How could this have happened?! Weren't they monitoring Selim?!" Edward Elric shook his head in disbelief.
"I feel the same way as you, Al. From what the Lieutenant said no-one really knows what happened; the reports just say he went mad and killed everyone in sight."
There was a moment of silence between them, Mei and Winry's light conversation sounding distant as the troubled brothers went over worst case scenarios in their minds.
"Ah! You're here already." Riza Hawkeye was obviously suprised to see the four of them arrive in Central so quickly, especially with the funeral of Roy Mustang being today.
"Yes, Mei and me got express passage back to Amestris from the emperor and nii-san wasn't that far away." Alphonse answered her with a solemn smile.
"How have things been since...the incident?" Edward asked, wanting to avoid the subject of the fuhrer's death for as long as possible. Hawkeye sighed and gestured for them to begin walking again.
"Se-....Pride has disappeared. No-one has seen anything about where he might be and there are patrols around the areas that the homunculi previously occupied. So far, there's still no sign of him and no sign of there being anything soon." Edward nodded once and frowned, becoming lost in his thoughts once more.
"You're the fuhrer now aren't you, Riza-san?" Winry asked, moving from behind the brothers to walk next to her. Hawkeye nodded.
"I didn't particularly want to do it, but everyone seemed to think that I should so, as of 3 hours ago, I am officially the fuhrer president of Amestris." Winry smiled.
"Congratulations! I think you'll be a great leader; this country could do with one at the moment!" Hawkeye smiled.
"Thankyou, Winry-chan."

As soon as they arrived back at central head quarters, the chaos began. Welcomes turned into reports turned into tears.
"So nice to see you!"
"Nothing new on Pride yet, did you see the funeral procession?"
"The coffin...oooh, I can't believe that he's gone!"
"I know...It seems like only yesterday he was in his office sla-err...working to make this country better!"
Soon, pretty much all of the people in Central millitary HQ had turned to the grim subject of the funeral and mourning, Edward and Alphonse were starting to regret coming to Central on the day of Roy Mustang's funeral, then again it was probably going to be like this no matter when they came, until either Pride or everyone else had been killed. Some sort of odd relief flew through them when Kain Fuery burst into the room screaming some kind of report.
At first, no-one could understand what his high pitched babbling was about, it was only until Havoc and Falman calmed him did the message get across. Pride. Seen. Bradley mansion.
Edward Elric was running before he'd even registered what he'd heard.
Pride was going to pay. He was going to pay dearly for what he had done, for all the people he had murdered and all the tears he had caused.
"Ed! Wait!" Alphonse charged after his older brother but that didn't slow him down. He wanted to be the first to get there. The first, so that he could have the satisfaction of punching that smug face and kicking that twisted sense out of the homunculus. He hoped at least. Alphonse knew that it was pure fury that kept his brother running; that was exactly why he needed to be there. To make sure that he didn't get himself killed in his rage filled revenge. To make sure his brother was still alive by sun down.

The Bradley mansion loomed before them, without slowing down Edward and Alphonse Elric charged through the gate and up to the front door, knocking it off it's hinges and crashing into the hallway. Pride. Sat on the bottom step of the stairs was a little boy with jet black eyes and an evil smirk on his face. Alphonse grabbed his brothers arm as he want to charge at the boy, stopping him from rushing to his death.
"Nii-chan! Don't be so hasty! We should wait for the others!"
"Who cares about the others, Al?! We can take him! We've beaten him before, right?"
"You had alchemy then and there were more of us! Don't do anything rash, the only thing that would acchieve is your death!" Edward sighed, reluctant to acknowledge the sense his little brother was making. Why was he always right?!
"My my, too scared to take me on by yourselves?" Pride taunted, obviously trying to provoke them.
"No, just not stupid enough, unlike certain fuhrer's." Edward gritted his teeth and glared at Pride to stop tears from beginning to form. He musn't cry. He musn't cry. Pride laughed.
"Well, you have your back-up," Hawkeye and quite a few other soldiers and state alchemists were running towards the house"Shall we begin?" Pride stood and shadows, shadows with mad eyes and smirking mouths, surrounded him and the walls of the building in which they stood. Suddenly, this seemed like a very bad idea. The various millitary personal filed in, not phasing Pride in the slightest, Hawkeye, Mei and Alex-Louis Armstrong joining the brothers whilst Winry hovered nervously in the door way. A shrill scream broke the tense atmosphere and the shadows retracted rapidly, returning to the Pride's body. He continued to scream and collapsed forwards onto the floor, tears pouring from the young boy's eyes. He looked as innocent as helpless as any ten year old boy ever could.

"Please...help me...save me, please!" Edward was speechless. Had he really been thinking of getting revenge against this same little boy? This same little, helpless ten year old boy?
"Selim?" Edward wasn't confident that he wasn't being tricked, yet....The boy nodded and tried to un-sucessfully wipe away tears that were non-stopping.
"He...I...I...killed mama..." Fierce sobs prevented him from carrying on. Edward glanced around at his little brother who looked as concerned as he felt, so he got as close as he dared to the quivering child and knelt beside him.
"You're a good boy Selim, you wouldn't do anything like that. Pride...he doesn't rule you. Pride is more of a bad personality disorder. You can be rid of him. You can get rid of him." Selim's expression turned pained and he doubled over again, harsh laughter ripping through the silence that had occured.
"Selim? Selim never existed! Selim was nothing more than a facade to fool you humans! My name is Pride. Remember?"
Ed gritted his teeth.
"Just then...that was not Pride talking. That was a scared little boy who had been trying to live his life peacefully, not a power hungry homunculus! Selim Bradley exists whether you like it or not, he's a part of you! You can't just extinguish a soul as easily as that!" Alphonse could tell that his brother really meant those words, he could tell that his brother was close to tears. Alphonse could feel his own eyes watering but blinked away the tears, this was not the time nor the place and especially not in this situation. Especially not when his brother was in danger. Pride laughed, threw up his arms and the shadows swirled around them, encasing the entire room in a sheet of black.
"Humans are fools! All of them! Selim has and has never had any part in me! Selim Bradley never existed! Selim Bradley never existed!"
Screeching furiously, the shadows began to wrap themselves around the paralysed team.
Pride's maniacal laughter the last thing Edward Elric remembered before fading into darkness....

Description
Selim Bradley lay un-moving on the ground by Roy Mustang's feet. Roy didn't move. Didn't breathe. Could this really be happening again? Shadows shifted and he held up his hand, ready to strike, as Selim....no, Pride, got to his feet again.

"Uh-huh. Okay. Thanks, I'll be there as soon as I can. Have you called Al? You should, he'll probably be more help than I will. Uh-huh. See you soon."
Edward Elric put the phone down and put his face in his hands. Edward rarely cried, yet this one of those rare times. Pride had returned and killed one of his best friends. That had shaken him up more than he thought was ever possible. He took a deep breath, composed himself and started to pack his things. Looks like he was going home again.

Alphonse Elric, Mei Chang and Ling Yao sat in silence staring at the phone. What could you say to news like that? Ling finally broke the silence.
"You'll both be returning to Amestris then?" The emperor asked, lifting his gaze to look at their faces.
"Looks that way. Brother said he'd be going back too, so I better help." Alphonse said, glancing up at Ling.
"I'll help in any way I can. Those beasts cannot be allowed to revive again." Mei added, standing. Xiao-Mei nestled into the side of her neck. She didn't want Mei to get hurt again. Mei patted her, comforting her that everything would be ok, but Xiao-Mei didn't believe that it would be.
"I'll arrange you some transport right away, then. If you're going you may as well leave now." Ling stood up and Alphonse followed suit.
"Thanks, but you don't have to. We can just get the next train." Ling shook his head.
"I can't leave my country so this is the least I can do." Alphonse agreed reluctantly as the emperor of Xing arranged him and Mei transport to Amestris.

Central was busy. Central was always busy. Yet, today it was busy even for Central. Riza Hawkeye knew the exact reason for this, as did most of the people gathered in the fuhrer's office. She turned away from the window to look over the sunken faces of her friends, who she has been through so much with. Heymans Breda, Kain Fuery, Jean Havoc and Vato Falman. She sighed.
"I guess we're not going to get used to this, huh?" Hawkeye said, smiling sadly.
"Yeah..." Havoc agreed
"He was a great man." Kain nodded.
"I think we can all agree with that." Breda said, Falman nodding to his left.
"Shall we get on with it then, miss furher?" Havoc said, lighting up a ciggarette. Hawkeye sighed.
"Please don't call me that and don't smoke in my office." He laughed.
"That was contradictory."
"Be quiet."
Havoc laughed and Hawkeye sighed and put on her new jacket, preparing herself for the announcement that she was about to make. Preparing herself to accept the death of yet another of the people she cared the most about. She took a deep breath, glanced at her friends over her shoulder (who gave her nods and smiles of encouragement) then walked over to the balcony window and stepped out to face the crowd below.

"It's been too long, Mei-chan!"
"It has! Good to see you again, Winry-chan!" Winry and Mei seemed to be the only ones enjoying the reunion of the two Elric brothers. The brothers themselves were too busy discussing the more grim topics of Pride's return and the untimely death of the furher Roy Mustang because of said homunculus.
"How could this have happened?! Weren't they monitoring Selim?!" Edward Elric shook his head in disbelief.
"I feel the same way as you, Al. From what the Lieutenant said no-one really knows what happened; the reports just say he went mad and killed everyone in sight."
There was a moment of silence between them, Mei and Winry's light conversation sounding distant as the troubled brothers went over worst case scenarios in their minds.
"Ah! You're here already." Riza Hawkeye was obviously suprised to see the four of them arrive in Central so quickly, especially with the funeral of Roy Mustang being today.
"Yes, Mei and me got express passage back to Amestris from the emperor and nii-san wasn't that far away." Alphonse answered her with a solemn smile.
"How have things been since...the incident?" Edward asked, wanting to avoid the subject of the fuhrer's death for as long as possible. Hawkeye sighed and gestured for them to begin walking again.
"Se-....Pride has disappeared. No-one has seen anything about where he might be and there are patrols around the areas that the homunculi previously occupied. So far, there's still no sign of him and no sign of there being anything soon." Edward nodded once and frowned, becoming lost in his thoughts once more.
"You're the fuhrer now aren't you, Riza-san?" Winry asked, moving from behind the brothers to walk next to her. Hawkeye nodded.
"I didn't particularly want to do it, but everyone seemed to think that I should so, as of 3 hours ago, I am officially the fuhrer president of Amestris." Winry smiled.
"Congratulations! I think you'll be a great leader; this country could do with one at the moment!" Hawkeye smiled.
"Thankyou, Winry-chan."

As soon as they arrived back at central head quarters, the chaos began. Welcomes turned into reports turned into tears.
"So nice to see you!"
"Nothing new on Pride yet, did you see the funeral procession?"
"The coffin...oooh, I can't believe that he's gone!"
"I know...It seems like only yesterday he was in his office sla-err...working to make this country better!"
Soon, pretty much all of the people in Central millitary HQ had turned to the grim subject of the funeral and mourning, Edward and Alphonse were starting to regret coming to Central on the day of Roy Mustang's funeral, then again it was probably going to be like this no matter when they came, until either Pride or everyone else had been killed. Some sort of odd relief flew through them when Kain Fuery burst into the room screaming some kind of report.
At first, no-one could understand what his high pitched babbling was about, it was only until Havoc and Falman calmed him did the message get across. Pride. Seen. Bradley mansion.
Edward Elric was running before he'd even registered what he'd heard.
Pride was going to pay. He was going to pay dearly for what he had done, for all the people he had murdered and all the tears he had caused.
"Ed! Wait!" Alphonse charged after his older brother but that didn't slow him down. He wanted to be the first to get there. The first, so that he could have the satisfaction of punching that smug face and kicking that twisted sense out of the homunculus. He hoped at least. Alphonse knew that it was pure fury that kept his brother running; that was exactly why he needed to be there. To make sure that he didn't get himself killed in his rage filled revenge. To make sure his brother was still alive by sun down.

The Bradley mansion loomed before them, without slowing down Edward and Alphonse Elric charged through the gate and up to the front door, knocking it off it's hinges and crashing into the hallway. Pride. Sat on the bottom step of the stairs was a little boy with jet black eyes and an evil smirk on his face. Alphonse grabbed his brothers arm as he want to charge at the boy, stopping him from rushing to his death.
"Nii-chan! Don't be so hasty! We should wait for the others!"
"Who cares about the others, Al?! We can take him! We've beaten him before, right?"
"You had alchemy then and there were more of us! Don't do anything rash, the only thing that would acchieve is your death!" Edward sighed, reluctant to acknowledge the sense his little brother was making. Why was he always right?!
"My my, too scared to take me on by yourselves?" Pride taunted, obviously trying to provoke them.
"No, just not stupid enough, unlike certain fuhrer's." Edward gritted his teeth and glared at Pride to stop tears from beginning to form. He musn't cry. He musn't cry. Pride laughed.
"Well, you have your back-up," Hawkeye and quite a few other soldiers and state alchemists were running towards the house"Shall we begin?" Pride stood and shadows, shadows with mad eyes and smirking mouths, surrounded him and the walls of the building in which they stood. Suddenly, this seemed like a very bad idea. The various millitary personal filed in, not phasing Pride in the slightest, Hawkeye, Mei and Alex-Louis Armstrong joining the brothers whilst Winry hovered nervously in the door way. A shrill scream broke the tense atmosphere and the shadows retracted rapidly, returning to the Pride's body. He continued to scream and collapsed forwards onto the floor, tears pouring from the young boy's eyes. He looked as innocent as helpless as any ten year old boy ever could.

"Please...help me...save me, please!" Edward was speechless. Had he really been thinking of getting revenge against this same little boy? This same little, helpless ten year old boy?
"Selim?" Edward wasn't confident that he wasn't being tricked, yet....The boy nodded and tried to un-sucessfully wipe away tears that were non-stopping.
"He...I...I...killed mama..." Fierce sobs prevented him from carrying on. Edward glanced around at his little brother who looked as concerned as he felt, so he got as close as he dared to the quivering child and knelt beside him.
"You're a good boy Selim, you wouldn't do anything like that. Pride...he doesn't rule you. Pride is more of a bad personality disorder. You can be rid of him. You can get rid of him." Selim's expression turned pained and he doubled over again, harsh laughter ripping through the silence that had occured.
"Selim? Selim never existed! Selim was nothing more than a facade to fool you humans! My name is Pride. Remember?"
Ed gritted his teeth.
"Just then...that was not Pride talking. That was a scared little boy who had been trying to live his life peacefully, not a power hungry homunculus! Selim Bradley exists whether you like it or not, he's a part of you! You can't just extinguish a soul as easily as that!" Alphonse could tell that his brother really meant those words, he could tell that his brother was close to tears. Alphonse could feel his own eyes watering but blinked away the tears, this was not the time nor the place and especially not in this situation. Especially not when his brother was in danger. Pride laughed, threw up his arms and the shadows swirled around them, encasing the entire room in a sheet of black.
"Humans are fools! All of them! Selim has and has never had any part in me! Selim Bradley never existed! Selim Bradley never existed!"
Screeching furiously, the shadows began to wrap themselves around the paralysed team.
Pride's maniacal laughter the last thing Edward Elric remembered before fading into darkness....