Scar continued to move along, the injured nerves and muscles in his leg and shoulder blade screaming incessantly with every step he took. He could hear Lust following along behind him, her high heels unmistakable on the stone. He didn't care if she followed him, and even if he did, it's not like he could have done anything to stop her. It was like that mercenary had said: "Even a serial killer can make a mistake if he's in enough pain."

Yup. Right before Scar had seriously kicked the guy's arse with his own alchemy. The fool, he thought. To have doubted my abilities, especially after he harmed my kin. The memory of defeating the mercenary made Scar smirk, but only briefly. He could barely keep a straight face from pain, never mind a smile. Suddenly, he came to a dead halt.

Lust happened to be looking at the ground, absorbed in her owns thoughts, so she didn't notice when the Ishballan stopped. Which made it impossible for her to predict that she was about to slam right into his back… Which she did, about three seconds later. Lust bounced back, startled slightly, and Scar hissed in pain, grabbing his shoulder blade. "Watch where you're going!" He snarled at her.

"Why don't you watch where you're stopping!" Lust spat back. Scar glared at her for a moment again before turning back.

"There's something written on the wall," He said, reverting back to his usual, cold and bored tone. Lust calmly snatched the torch from his hand and strode over to read the message. Scar's fists shook with barely contained anger for a moment, and a few creative (code for "completely inappropriate") names for Lust ran through his head. Lust leaned forward, brushing a strand of dark hair from her face and reading quietly to herself.

"'Beware all who choose to enter this maze, for it may very well be your tomb.'" She mumbled as Scar came up beside her. "'Inside lie creatures too ghastly to be released into the real world, thus they are trapped in these tunnels. Enter this maze and put your on life at peril. You have been warned.'" There was a pause, and Scar took this time to grab the torch back from her.

"Clearly, if you and the other homunculi aren't in these tunnels, then they forgot a few ghastly creatures." Scar muttered. Lust let out an audible growl and turned to strike at him, but he moved back. The slightest flinch of pain was the only sign that Scar was injured. Seeing this, Lust refrained from striking at him again, though it was much to her own confusion. Why NOT attack Scar? She loathed him, and had tried on more than one occasion to shish kabob him on her nails.

And it's not like Scar felt any different towards Lust. He thought Lust was little more than an ostentatious slut who showed off way too much cleavage and happened to bear a striking resemblance to his dead sister-in-law. The difference was, though, that he couldn't attack her. She would kick his arse in a matter of seconds. Besides- walking was painful enough, never mind fighting.

"Snide comments aside, arsehole," Lust added quickly under her breath. "It's not like we have much of a choice but to continue… Unless, of course, you'd like to claw your way up the rocks about two-hundred feet up." She cocked an eyebrow at him, waiting for his response.

"I never said I didn't want to go this way."

"You were thinking it."

"So what, you're a mind-reader now, too?" He asked coldly. Lust simply smirked and didn't answer, choosing instead to move ahead of him into the tunnel. Scar hesitated for a moment, mindful of the warning. He then decided that there could be few creatures that were worse than Lust, and went after the homunculus.

The passage, if possible, seemed to get darker. It also seemed to tilt a bit, making the two feel as though they were moving deeper into the earth. "How far down do you think we are?" Lust asked coolly.

"You seemed to have an estimate." Scar said, recalling her taunt about him clawing his way up the rock. She waved her hand vaguely.

"I was being sarcastic, I wasn't actually guessing." She said.

"Pretty deep; Maybe a mile or two. With our momentum, and the time it took to fall, we could be any number of miles down." Scar said, remembering how long it took before he landed. He was lucky that he had managed to slow himself down during the fall, else he probably would have been killed on impact. His efforts hadn't prevented him from getting some fairly serious injuries, however. But it's not like he was about to admit that, least of all to Lust.

"Stop." The afore-mentioned homunculus said suddenly. Scar stopped. "Now, isn't it nice when someone tells you to stop before you crash into them?" She asked snidely. At that moment, Scar wanted to shove her, just to spite her mocking tone.

"Why did we stop?" He asked, restraining his intense dislike for Lust as he stepped out from behind her. Coolly, the woman gestured to the path up ahead. Scar moved forward and held out the torch, illuminating the area before them. "What is it?" He asked, not seeing anything.

"I heard something. Something… Or someone… Is down there." Lust said. Her tone was calm and collected, as though she was merely discussing a change in the weather. Scar got the idea to mock her a little, ask if she was scared, but he was too tired at the moment. His injuries were throbbing, and all he wanted was to lie down. But, as was said before, he'd be dmned before showing any weakness in front of Lust.

So, biting back a potentially rude comment, he strolled down the tunnel with more feigned ease. Lust, still vaguely amused by his stony front, followed after. But all the while, while keeping an eye on Scar, Lust strained her senses to detect what she had sensed earlier. There was something down there- and she was sincerely hoping it didn't have an appetite for homunculi. She wasn't afraid, or anything, since homunculi can't feel real emotion, but the prospect of a dangerous fight concerned her slightly.

Outside, or, at least above ground, she had a chance to make a clean getaway- with her abilities, Lust could go just about anywhere she chose. But down here… down here, it would take (even her) days to claw her way out of this place. Maybe weeks, if the stone was tough enough. It was time she had, but just wasn't willing to spare. She did have some varying duties, but they could just as easily be picked up by one of the other homunculi.

Now there was something that bothered Lust- the fact that she was replaceable among the homunculi. It went without saying. Even she had replaced someone; The Lust that had come before her. This thought would have made anyone else tremble with fear and keep every part of themselves on the right side of the line, but Lust went about her usual ways, pretending to think that she couldn't be replaced on a dime. The thought didn't scare her.

There.

She heard it again.

"Stop," She said suddenly again. Scar turned.

"What is it?" He repeated. Lust strode forward, unfolding her arms and taking the torch from him.

"Quiet," She whispered, gesturing for him to follow her. Slowly, the two crept down the passage, until Lust stopped. "There." They found that the tunnel emptied out into a fairly vast, stone room. It could have easily served as an amphitheater at one point during its existence. Carefully, Lust's eyes scanned the room like a hawk's eye might. Scar stayed totally silent, also straining his senses to hear what Lust heard. But he heard nothing.

"What exactly do you hear?" He said in the quietest voice he could manage. Lust paused a moment before answering.

"It's a sort of humming… Maybe a buzzing noise." She said slowly.

"Animal or mineral?" Scar asked.

"Animal, I think. Stay sharp." Lust whispered. A part of her wondered vaguely why she was advising Scar to be careful. Usually, it'd be considered a pretty good day if he was severely injured and or killed.

Needless to say, Lust didn't have many good days in that particular aspect.

After what seemed like an eternity, Scar heard something. Not a very prominent noise; just the slightest of sounds, really. It was the sound of a pebble falling from somewhere. But in an otherwise silent place, it was like an earthquake. Lust and Scar's eyes met at once. "Did you-" Lust began, but Scar cut her off.

"Yes. It came from over there." He said, nodding to one of several doorways on the other side of the room. The doors were really just holes in the wall with arches over them, and were noticeably quite dark. The two walked over and eyed them.

"Which one do you think it came from?" Lust murmured, her eyes flipping neatly from door to door. Scar gestured to the farthest one on the left. Carefully, Lust approached the door and stepped in, handing the torch back to Scar. He moved to follow her, holding out the torch, but she shook her head. "Wait here," She said. Scar was slightly irked at the fact that he was being told to stay behind, but made no visible or verbal complaint. He quickly lost sight of the homunculus as the darkness enveloped her.

Lust wasn't a cat- she couldn't see perfectly in the dark- but she did possess vision slightly sharper than a human's was, which did make it easier to see in dark places. She didn't look back at Scar as she moved, choosing instead to keep her eyes glued on the area ahead. She just hoped there wasn't a sharp turn up ahead, else she walk face-first into a wall. Oh yes, that would certainly be grand… Making a fool of herself into front of Scar.

…Wait a minute… It was pitch black. He couldn't see her. Hn, thank goodness for small miracles. Lust thought. Well, the small miracle provided comfort for only a few seconds. Because it was just then that Lust caught sight of two glowing, red eyes, glaring out at her from the darkness.