Chapter 1

"Don't interfere lieutenant."

A harsh scream filled the tunnel; it was lost though in the deafening roar of flames. Lt. Riza Hawkeye watched the scene play out in front of her with an odd fascination. As the blasé stopped for a moment, she heard the weak pants and his ragged breathing, then the flames were back and he was screaming again, and again, and again. She looked up from the crippled pile of smoldering flesh to her superior, his eyes held no sympathy only the raw need to cause pain, the look frightened her but she wasn't fearful for herself as much as Roy Mustang himself. Was this the future leader of Amstris? This cold hearted monster? Her faith in him was wavering as she saw him snap his fingers once more. That's when she saw that his face held another emotion, not just the need to avenge his friend, there was a gleam in his eyes that said on some level he was enjoying this. The inferno ceased again and she heard Envy let out a desperate sob, no remarks about how worthless humans were and he no longer tried to fight back. Envy curled in on himself, his body crackled with red lightening and his long hair was almost completely absent from his head. He shook and wrapped his arms around his torso in some sad attempt to comfort himself. At that point she felt that Mustangs game of burn the homunculi had gone on long enough.

"Stop!" She stood as she spoke. Mustang turned to look at her, his already cold eyes focusing on her.

"I thought I told you to stay out of this!" His voice was bitter and commanding. Riza stood her ground staring right back into the Colonels icy gaze.

"Colonel, this has gone on long enough, just finish this already, I don't think Maes would condone such torture sir." Mentioning Maes turned out to be a bad idea, as it apparently only served to renew the Cols need for vengeance. The Col's glare intensified if that was possible and he turned away from her glaring back down at Envy's wrecked body.

"I say when it enough and at the moment I don't feel that this freak has suffered nearly enough!" Envy whimpered, at this point he just wanted it to stop, but his punishment wasn't even close to being over. The Col snapped again bringing about a new wave of agony to Envy, and ripping a tortured cry from his charred lips.

"Sir-"

"Leave. Now!" He commanded his voice was steady but harsh as he glared at his subordinate. She stared back stubbornly and unwavering into the Col's eyes. She saw a flicker, and then suddenly his eyes softened and he looked down. Envy's recovering form saw this display and allowed himself to feel hope that his suffering was soon to be alleviated.

"Lieutenant… Riza, your right. I guess I just let my hatred overwhelm me," he paused and looked up and Riza allowed herself to hope that the Col really did just have a lapse in judgment, and what he said next convinced her.

"What would I do without you, who would I be without you and Maes and everyone else there to help me. You right though this, has to end now. Just let me clean up this mess and then will go on with our lives and Maes will finally rest in peace. Please go back to HQ and report what happened I'll finish this quickly and be right behind you." Riza smiled grimly and nodded his face had softened and now he just looked sad and hurt, the expression on his face said that he needed some time alone, time to morn one last time and so she would of course allocate to his wishes. Her faith in him was strong enough for her to trust that he would indeed clean up and come back to her when he was ready and strong enough to push forward towards his ultimate goal, but in the deep recesses of her mind she couldn't help but wonder what exactly "cleaning up," entailed.

"Yes Sir." She said saluting him and turning on heal and walking away. The Col smirked; his face darkening as he mentally patted himself on the back commending his own acting skills. As Hawkeyes' footsteps faded away he turned back to the lump on the ground.

"Alright where were we." He laughed a little when he saw that the freak had apparently recovered enough to attempt to escape, and that he was now stumbling around the corner at the end of the hall. The Col ran towards him not wanting to lose his pray but hoping to give him enough room to think he had a chance. As he rounded the corner he had to force himself not to laugh as the ash covered abomination lost his footing and fell right onto a pile of rubble that had been dislodged in a previous fight.

As luck would have it Envy had fallen right on to a metal pipe that was sticking up out of the rubble pile he had tripped over. The pipe lodged itself in Envy's shoulder; he hissed at the pain but it was nothing compared to the flames he had been bathed in only minutes ago. He took a shaky breath as he attempted to push himself off the pipe, but froze when he heard the heave resounding footsteps that were coming towards him. Looking back and seeing the Col, that horrid monster, coming at him renewed his vigor and he shoved against the floor and forced the pipe from his shoulder, he gasped at the pain but used he mostly healed lags to push himself forward. Oh Gate, help me! He shouted in his head as her heard the snap of Mustangs fingers, he visible cringed but felt sudden relief when the heat was felt only beside him, the flames singed is hair again and creating small blisters on his new skin, he continued to push forward but he didn't get far. The next blast hit the ground that was currently under his feet and the flames licked up his legs, hungrily searing at any flesh it could reach.

Mustang herd the shrike that tore though the boy's lips as he fell to the ground still trying frantically to escape. Mustang walked forward at a leisurely pace, until he was towering over the homunculus on the floor, he could practically feel him shivering and he was excited. He couldn't wait to see how much punishment his new toy could take, he could already tell, this was going to be fun.

Grabbing Envy up by his hair and forcing him to stand on raw legs, he looked into the eyes that had once held so much malice, hate, and arrogance and only found fear and pain. He leaned in next to Envy's ear and whispered,

"I hope you're ready, because it's time for the real fun to begin."