Kidnapped
Izumi woke up at the sound of a commotion outside the room. She didn’t know what to make of that racket at first except that the doctors where rushing on some kind of emergency. Because of that, she intended to close her eyes again and mentally shut her ears from it. There was nothing else she could do anyway.
But it was then that she heard her husband’s voice.
“Check him first; he was hit on the head.”
And then she heard Winry’s voice too.
“But, Mr. Curtis, your ribs!”
Izumi tensed at once. What was that about Sig’s ribs?! And who was hit on the head?!
She brought herself into a sitting position without so much as a second thought. She was still hurting, of course, but that wasn’t important right now. She needed to find out what happened, and she needed to find out now. She got out of bed and froze for a moment, testing her strength to remain standing.
She could walk. That was good. It meant she could get out also. Keeping her body straight, she steadily walked up to the door and opened it to have a look outside.
Sig was sitting on a chair, where a nurse was bandaging his torso. Mason was on a bed, unconscious, and the doctor was examining his eyes with a small flashlight. As for Winry, she was sitting a little further away, looking at the two men with a worried expression on her face.
“What happened?” Izumi demanded.
“Mrs. Izumi!” Winry exclaimed, not expecting to see the woman there.
Sig shook his head.
“You should be in bed,” he said quietly.
“And you shouldn’t be in this condition,” Izumi said, glaring at him. “So what happened?”
“They were attacked by thugs,” the doctor explained at that moment, placing the small flashlight in his pocket. “They wanted to rob your shop.”
That had Izumi thinking hard. No thugs were ever able to get the upper hand on her husband or even Mason before, so that was an unlikely story. But the doctor wouldn’t lie about such a thing either.
It was obvious that her husband and Winry were hiding something.
“Did they get anything?” she asked Sig, hoping that her husband would understand what she was really asking.
“One thing only,” Sig answered.
One thing… She looked around and she noticed what was missing. She sighed mentally.
Of course… the homunculus.
“Did you recognise any of them?” she asked again.
“No,” Sig said. “However, one of them dropped this.” Sig reached for his pocket and took out something small to hand it to Izumi. She held it up and looked at it carefully.
It was a matchbox, and on it was written the name of a particularly notorious bar: Devil’s Nest.
“I see,” she said.
“I suggest you keep that,” the doctor said at that moment. “It could be an important piece of evidence for the police.”
Izumi nodded absent-mindedly, not really paying attention to what the doctor was telling her. She turned to look at the unconscious form of Mason. “Will he be fine?”
“Yes, yes, don’t worry. He’ll just have a bit of a headache when he wakes up,” the doctor answered. “However, your husband should stay in bed as well. There is a possibility that he might have cracked a couple of ribs.”
“I understand,” Izumi said. “Can I stay with them for a while?”
“I suppose,” the doctor said after a brief consideration of matters. “However, I wouldn’t suggest staying up for more than five minutes. You’re still in quite the weak state too.”
“All right. Thank you, doctor.”
“All part of my job.” And with that, he and the nurse were gone, leaving their patients alone.
That was the opportunity Izumi needed.
“How are you feeling?” she asked Sig, keeping her eyes locked on him.
Sig returned the gaze unwaveringly. “Strong enough.”
She nodded. “All right. I’ll go get dressed.”
“What?” Winry exclaimed, looking at both of them with eyes wide open. “You’re planning on leaving?”
“We have to get the boy back,” answered Izumi. “You understand that, don’t you?”
“But you’re still weak,” the girl said. “The police…”
“The police don’t know what they’ll be dealing with. Besides, I can’t afford to wait that long,” Izumi said. “Just say here and look after Mason. All right?”
That finally silenced all of the girl’s objections. She bowed her head in defeat. “Yes.”
Izumi nodded, and then clenched her hand into a fist around the matchbox.
“Good.”
The first thing that Ed felt as he became alert once more was the throbbing headache and the ache in his jaw. At first he wasn’t sure why he should feel this way, but he quickly remembered what happened. He opened his eyes and found himself staring at a ceiling.
“What--?” he tried to ask, but his voice was unusually thick.
“I wouldn’t move for a little while longer if I were you, Edward Elric.”
Ed turned at the sound of that voice in surprise. Dante was sitting on a chair next to him, holding a wet piece of cloth. And when he looked to his left, he saw Lyra drawing a transmutation circle on a torn picture on the wall in order to fix them through alchemy.
However, there was someone missing.
“Where’s Al?” he asked hoarsely.
Dante shook her head ruefully. “I’m afraid they took him.”
Ed felt like his heart had missed a beat. “Who did?”
“Three strange creatures only made to resemble human,” Dante answered. “Your brother tried to fight them, but there was nothing he could do.”
Only to resemble human?
Only then did Ed remember the homunculus that had punched him on the face. And Ed couldn’t help but bite his lower lip as her realised that the homunculus didn’t work alone. The question was: who did he work with?
“Had you seen those creatures before?” Ed asked, now wishing to find out as many answers as possible.
“No, but I had heard of them. They cause trouble around these parts now and then,” Dante said. “Their usual haunt is the Devil’s Nest, a small bar at the other end of the city.”
“Right.” And with that, Ed sat up. He hissed in pain as his head protested that motion.
“What are you doing?” Dante asked at once. “You must stay and rest.”
“Not when my brother is in the hands of kidnappers,” Ed answered. He stood up and headed for the door, but he froze as he remembered himself.
“Mrs. Dante… my Teacher’s medicine…”
Dante waved her hand dismissively. “I’ll send it to her with Lyra, you need not worry. Just be careful.”
“Of course,” Ed answered, and then he quickly exited, hoping that he’d find Al soon.
He never saw Dante still looking at the direction of the door, a strange smile crossing her features.
“Yes… You are valuable, after all.” She stood up and looked at Lyra. “When you finish here, go clean the mess in the kitchen, too. There’s some other business I have to attend to.”
“Of course, Dante,” the servant girl said with a nod.
Dante didn’t bother with a reply this time. She just headed out the door and towards her study, where there was a phone. And as she started dialling a particular number, she only thought of one thing.
I had warned you, Greed. Now you will pay the price.
Al sighed again and looked around the basement. The place where he was placed by his kidnappers was quite barren but for a couple of barrels on which that Dorochet creature sat.
However, Al knew that it wouldn’t do any good if he tried to escape now. For Dorochet wasn’t the only one guarding Al.
“I’m sorry about this,” Martel said, still residing within his body. “It may feel disgusting with me inside, but you’ll have to deal with it.”
“That’s okay; I’ve gotten used to it,” Al said politely. “Try not to scratch my seal, though. That could kill me.”
“No problem,” Martel answered. She paused for a moment, and Al could tell that she was examining him. “You know… your body is pretty interesting,” she finally said.
“I guess so,” Al said, shrugging a bit. “But you aren’t an ordinary human either, right?”
She chuckled. “No, I’m not. You know about chimeras, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, my body was merged with a snake,” she explained.
Al gasped. “No way!”
“Yes way! I’m the living proof, after all!” Martel said.
Al had to admit that there was no reason why the woman wouldn’t be telling him the truth. “But… how did that happen?”
“It’s kind of a long story. However, the short version of it is that I used to be in the military and I got seriously injured during the Ishbalan War. I was half dead when they carried me into the military’s research labs to be used in experiments. I didn’t have the strength to say much in the matter and so this was the result.”
“That’s cruel,” Al said softly. After all, he could still remember a little girl that was merged with her dog in the name of experimentation. Nina didn’t have much to say in the matter either – she was too young and she loved her father.
“Yes, it was,” Martel said, her tone becoming a bit gentler.
It was then that Dorochet decided to join in the conversation as well. Snorting, he took out of his pocket a small pipe and a matchbox.
“You think it mattered to them, kid? In their eyes, we were nothing but lab rats,” he said to Al. He lit his pipe and shook his hand to extinguish the small flame on the match. “Nevertheless, we can still consider ourselves lucky. We were the successful experiments, because we wanted to live that badly. Others though…” His voice trailed off, yet it was clear what Dorochet was implying.
If Al could, he would have shuddered in horror.
“So… what are you merged with?” he asked, looking at Dorochet.
Dorochet let out a bark of laughter. “Take a wild guess.”
“Yes,” Martel said with a tease. “Just watch him when he’ll lift his leg to--”
“Hey! I don’t do that!” Dorochet exclaimed defensively.
If the woman even meant to retort, she never found the chance. At that moment, the door of the basement opened and a tall man stepped in, followed closely behind by other chimeras that served as an escort. Al watched all of them, trying to determine what each of them had been merged with. He certainly recognised the lizard-like creature that apparently posed as a beggar to get close to him and Ed, but he couldn’t say the same about the others.
That is, until he locked his gaze on a large bear-like chimera that was desperately trying to hide his face with a thick raincoat and a hat.
“Mr. Tucker?! Is it really you?!”
Tucker let out a small, frightened noise. “Don’t misunderstand me,” he said in his usual whisper, which nevertheless did nothing to hide his panicked state. “I’m not here because I want to.”
“No,” another chimera said, his sneer making him resemble a very large cat. “He’s our guest, since he’s the only who can revert us to our original forms.”
“Quiet, if you please,” the tall man finally said, raising his hand. The chimeras fell silent at once, and so Al knew that that man was the leader of the chimeras. However, he couldn’t determine if that one was also a chimera or not.
The tall man stepped closer to Al, looking at him with quite the scrutiny and with a curious smile on his features. Suddenly, and before Al could do anything about it, he had also reached for Al’s helmet and picked it up.
“Amazing,” the man exclaimed. “You really are empty!”
“Yes,” Al answered. “And I think I already know who could have told you.” His shoulders turned slightly, indicating that he was looking at Tucker.
“I wasn’t the one that had you kidnapped, Al,” the bear-chimera said.
“No,” Al said. “You just stood by and watched.”
“Please, you can sort out your differences later,” the tall man said with a nonchalant wave of his hand. He put the helmet back between Alphonse’s shoulders with a smile. “I’m called Greed. Let’s be friends, okay?”
Al just huffed. However, Greed had gotten so close now that the suit of armour could easily see a very familiar tattoo on the back of one of his hands.
“You’re a homunculus.”
Greed whistled. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves here a genius!” he announced with a grin. “So what gave me away?”
Al pointed at the tattoo. That was enough as an answer.
Greed chuckled. “So you know about this. That’s good; it makes things easier for me.”
“So where are Envy and Lust?” Al said, aware that there was no time for such meaningless chat. “You work with them, don’t you?”
But Greed shook his head. “No, I don’t. Actually, I’d say we’re more like mortal enemies.”
Al’s flickering eyes widened in surprise. “Then why would you want to kidnap me?!”
“Because I want to ask you a question,” Greed said. “What does it feel like to live in a body that can’t die?”
Al stared, unsure what to make of that question. “Why do you want to know?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I want that secret of yours,” the homunculus replied, his hands twitching. “They don’t call me Greed for nothing, kid. I want it all! Money and women; power and fame; everything within this world – including immortality!”
“So…” Al said cautiously, “…what makes you think I can hand you that secret?”
“Well,” Greed said with another big toothy grin of his, “the fact that I’ll obtain it one way or another.”
Al tensed at once. “Then you’re no different than the ones you call enemies.”
“You can believe that if you want… OOF!”
Greed never managed to complete his sentence, because it was at that moment that a giant fist emerged from the ground and hit him squarely on the stomach.
“You let your guard down,” Al declared. Indeed, he used the opportunity while no one was paying close attention to draw an alchemy circle with a piece of chalk he always kept in his gauntlet. “Now to take care of the rest of you!” And with that, he started drawing again before Martel would try and stop him.
However, Greed was hardly daunted. “Really? And do what?” At the next moment, his hands had turned black and claw-like and cut the stony fist in two. And before Al had the chance to react, he had grabbed the suit of armour from the back of his neck and pushed him violently on the ground. “Just relax, will you?”
“Ow…”
Surprisingly enough, Greed chuckled sheepishly - because it wasn’t Al who let out that moan of pain.
“Sorry, Martel. I forgot you were inside.”
“That’s… okay…”
Al just lifted himself slowly and in silence, accepting his defeat.
Greed clicked his tongue, clearly disapproving that kind of reaction. “Now what’s with that long face? Don’t get me wrong, kid. I like your feistiness, I really do. It’s just that it will hardly do you any good in this case. If you want to beat me, you’ll have to do at least this.”
That was the last thing he said before Loa swung his sledgehammer and struck. His force was so terrible that Greed was actually decapitated and his head rolled a couple of feet away from the chimeras. The body collapsed with a sickening thud.
Al stared in shock for several moments, trying to take in what had just happened.
“W-Why did you do that?” he shakily asked Loa. “I thought you were working for him!”
Loa didn’t answer though. And a second later, Al was horrified to see that Greed’s body was anything but dead. In fact, it got back to its feet and stood up. A skull sprang up from the base of the neck, and soon the skull was covered with crimson muscles and eyes. Moments later, the muscles got covered with skin and hair and Greed was smiling broadly as though nothing strange had happened whatsoever.
“See? I have died once now. Although, I must say, it could have been a bit less messy.” He glared at Loa’s direction as he said that.
“Sorry,” the bull-chimera said embarrassedly.
But Greed didn’t bother with a second look at the chimera. He turned again to Al.
“You’re probably thinking that I already can’t die that easily, so I shouldn’t need immortality.”
Al didn’t say anything, for he was in too much of a shock. Not that it mattered to Greed anyway; he just kept talking.
“Well, you see… a body like this isn’t really immortal. When--”
Suddenly, the light of another alchemic reaction filled the room, and a large door formed on the wall. Startled, the chimeras backed away from the particular wall, waiting with bated breath to see what would happen next.
“Hey, kid!” Martel exclaimed. “Do you want Greed to get us acquainted with the floor again?!”
“But it’s not me!” Al said. “It has to be my brother, trying to rescue me!”
Al realised just how wrong he was when Izumi stepped into the room, her hands clenched into fists and her features drawn to a snarling expression. And, to Al’s horror, she wasn’t alone either – Mr. Curtis was right behind her, looking just as ready to start fighting.
“Excuse my interrupting,” she said, her voice resembling a growl. When she caught sight of Al, however, she could only raise a quizzical eyebrow.
“Care to explain what you’re doing here?”
“Um… long story?” Al stammered so nervously that it was a miracle he just didn’t break down right then and there.
“Whoa! Whoa! Hold on a second there; I’ll do the talking here!” Greed said, stepping forward. He looked at the newcomers from head to toe. “Okay, I remember you,” he mused, looking at Mr. Curtis. “But what are you, lady?”
Izumi had only one answer to that.
“PISSED OFF!”
Ed ran as fast as his feet could carry him, looking to his left and right for any sign of the Devil’s Nest. And yet his search wasn’t easy. Though he had lived for quite some time in Dublith and he had learned his way around well, this was the one part of town that he wasn’t familiar with.
In short, he was looking for his brother blindly, and that proved frustrating. He certainly didn’t want to think what the kidnappers could be doing to Al, while he was wasting his time like this.
He turned left to another alley, but that one proved to be a dead end. Swearing under his breath, Ed retraced his steps and got ready to spring away again.
“Wait, Edward Elric! What’s the matter?”
Ed froze and turned around at the sound of the familiar voice.
“Major…”
Major Armstrong was really behind him, looking at him in a curious manner. “What has happened? Why are you running?”
Ed bit his lower lip. “Nothing. I just… have to be somewhere,” he lied. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the major, far from that. But Al was his responsibility.
Armstrong nodded. “I see. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“What? Why?” Ed exclaimed before he could help it.
“Because you’re getting close to a bar named Devil’s Nest. According to an anonymous tip, it’s the lair of all the chimera fugitives from Lab 5, so the Führer has already ordered an assault – and to kill them on sight.”
Ed felt like his heart had stopped. “Is that where you’re going now, Major?”
Armstrong nodded.
“Then I’m coming with you!”
“Edward…”
“No, you don’t understand!” Ed said. “My brother’s been kidnapped by those chimeras and he’s being held in that bar! I have to find him before they hurt him!”
Armstrong’s eyes widened. “Young Alphonse… is captured?”
Ed nodded.
“Right! Then there’s no time to lose! We must inform the Führer at once!”
Ed was relieved to see that Armstrong was willing to help him. However, he never expected the burly man to just grab him from his waist and then start running!
“Hold on, Edward Elric! This method of sprinting has been passed down my family for generations!”
Ed couldn’t argue with that. He was more concerned about the stomach he was forced to leave behind.
TBC…
But it was then that she heard her husband’s voice.
“Check him first; he was hit on the head.”
And then she heard Winry’s voice too.
“But, Mr. Curtis, your ribs!”
Izumi tensed at once. What was that about Sig’s ribs?! And who was hit on the head?!
She brought herself into a sitting position without so much as a second thought. She was still hurting, of course, but that wasn’t important right now. She needed to find out what happened, and she needed to find out now. She got out of bed and froze for a moment, testing her strength to remain standing.
She could walk. That was good. It meant she could get out also. Keeping her body straight, she steadily walked up to the door and opened it to have a look outside.
Sig was sitting on a chair, where a nurse was bandaging his torso. Mason was on a bed, unconscious, and the doctor was examining his eyes with a small flashlight. As for Winry, she was sitting a little further away, looking at the two men with a worried expression on her face.
“What happened?” Izumi demanded.
“Mrs. Izumi!” Winry exclaimed, not expecting to see the woman there.
Sig shook his head.
“You should be in bed,” he said quietly.
“And you shouldn’t be in this condition,” Izumi said, glaring at him. “So what happened?”
“They were attacked by thugs,” the doctor explained at that moment, placing the small flashlight in his pocket. “They wanted to rob your shop.”
That had Izumi thinking hard. No thugs were ever able to get the upper hand on her husband or even Mason before, so that was an unlikely story. But the doctor wouldn’t lie about such a thing either.
It was obvious that her husband and Winry were hiding something.
“Did they get anything?” she asked Sig, hoping that her husband would understand what she was really asking.
“One thing only,” Sig answered.
One thing… She looked around and she noticed what was missing. She sighed mentally.
Of course… the homunculus.
“Did you recognise any of them?” she asked again.
“No,” Sig said. “However, one of them dropped this.” Sig reached for his pocket and took out something small to hand it to Izumi. She held it up and looked at it carefully.
It was a matchbox, and on it was written the name of a particularly notorious bar: Devil’s Nest.
“I see,” she said.
“I suggest you keep that,” the doctor said at that moment. “It could be an important piece of evidence for the police.”
Izumi nodded absent-mindedly, not really paying attention to what the doctor was telling her. She turned to look at the unconscious form of Mason. “Will he be fine?”
“Yes, yes, don’t worry. He’ll just have a bit of a headache when he wakes up,” the doctor answered. “However, your husband should stay in bed as well. There is a possibility that he might have cracked a couple of ribs.”
“I understand,” Izumi said. “Can I stay with them for a while?”
“I suppose,” the doctor said after a brief consideration of matters. “However, I wouldn’t suggest staying up for more than five minutes. You’re still in quite the weak state too.”
“All right. Thank you, doctor.”
“All part of my job.” And with that, he and the nurse were gone, leaving their patients alone.
That was the opportunity Izumi needed.
“How are you feeling?” she asked Sig, keeping her eyes locked on him.
Sig returned the gaze unwaveringly. “Strong enough.”
She nodded. “All right. I’ll go get dressed.”
“What?” Winry exclaimed, looking at both of them with eyes wide open. “You’re planning on leaving?”
“We have to get the boy back,” answered Izumi. “You understand that, don’t you?”
“But you’re still weak,” the girl said. “The police…”
“The police don’t know what they’ll be dealing with. Besides, I can’t afford to wait that long,” Izumi said. “Just say here and look after Mason. All right?”
That finally silenced all of the girl’s objections. She bowed her head in defeat. “Yes.”
Izumi nodded, and then clenched her hand into a fist around the matchbox.
“Good.”
The first thing that Ed felt as he became alert once more was the throbbing headache and the ache in his jaw. At first he wasn’t sure why he should feel this way, but he quickly remembered what happened. He opened his eyes and found himself staring at a ceiling.
“What--?” he tried to ask, but his voice was unusually thick.
“I wouldn’t move for a little while longer if I were you, Edward Elric.”
Ed turned at the sound of that voice in surprise. Dante was sitting on a chair next to him, holding a wet piece of cloth. And when he looked to his left, he saw Lyra drawing a transmutation circle on a torn picture on the wall in order to fix them through alchemy.
However, there was someone missing.
“Where’s Al?” he asked hoarsely.
Dante shook her head ruefully. “I’m afraid they took him.”
Ed felt like his heart had missed a beat. “Who did?”
“Three strange creatures only made to resemble human,” Dante answered. “Your brother tried to fight them, but there was nothing he could do.”
Only to resemble human?
Only then did Ed remember the homunculus that had punched him on the face. And Ed couldn’t help but bite his lower lip as her realised that the homunculus didn’t work alone. The question was: who did he work with?
“Had you seen those creatures before?” Ed asked, now wishing to find out as many answers as possible.
“No, but I had heard of them. They cause trouble around these parts now and then,” Dante said. “Their usual haunt is the Devil’s Nest, a small bar at the other end of the city.”
“Right.” And with that, Ed sat up. He hissed in pain as his head protested that motion.
“What are you doing?” Dante asked at once. “You must stay and rest.”
“Not when my brother is in the hands of kidnappers,” Ed answered. He stood up and headed for the door, but he froze as he remembered himself.
“Mrs. Dante… my Teacher’s medicine…”
Dante waved her hand dismissively. “I’ll send it to her with Lyra, you need not worry. Just be careful.”
“Of course,” Ed answered, and then he quickly exited, hoping that he’d find Al soon.
He never saw Dante still looking at the direction of the door, a strange smile crossing her features.
“Yes… You are valuable, after all.” She stood up and looked at Lyra. “When you finish here, go clean the mess in the kitchen, too. There’s some other business I have to attend to.”
“Of course, Dante,” the servant girl said with a nod.
Dante didn’t bother with a reply this time. She just headed out the door and towards her study, where there was a phone. And as she started dialling a particular number, she only thought of one thing.
I had warned you, Greed. Now you will pay the price.
Al sighed again and looked around the basement. The place where he was placed by his kidnappers was quite barren but for a couple of barrels on which that Dorochet creature sat.
However, Al knew that it wouldn’t do any good if he tried to escape now. For Dorochet wasn’t the only one guarding Al.
“I’m sorry about this,” Martel said, still residing within his body. “It may feel disgusting with me inside, but you’ll have to deal with it.”
“That’s okay; I’ve gotten used to it,” Al said politely. “Try not to scratch my seal, though. That could kill me.”
“No problem,” Martel answered. She paused for a moment, and Al could tell that she was examining him. “You know… your body is pretty interesting,” she finally said.
“I guess so,” Al said, shrugging a bit. “But you aren’t an ordinary human either, right?”
She chuckled. “No, I’m not. You know about chimeras, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, my body was merged with a snake,” she explained.
Al gasped. “No way!”
“Yes way! I’m the living proof, after all!” Martel said.
Al had to admit that there was no reason why the woman wouldn’t be telling him the truth. “But… how did that happen?”
“It’s kind of a long story. However, the short version of it is that I used to be in the military and I got seriously injured during the Ishbalan War. I was half dead when they carried me into the military’s research labs to be used in experiments. I didn’t have the strength to say much in the matter and so this was the result.”
“That’s cruel,” Al said softly. After all, he could still remember a little girl that was merged with her dog in the name of experimentation. Nina didn’t have much to say in the matter either – she was too young and she loved her father.
“Yes, it was,” Martel said, her tone becoming a bit gentler.
It was then that Dorochet decided to join in the conversation as well. Snorting, he took out of his pocket a small pipe and a matchbox.
“You think it mattered to them, kid? In their eyes, we were nothing but lab rats,” he said to Al. He lit his pipe and shook his hand to extinguish the small flame on the match. “Nevertheless, we can still consider ourselves lucky. We were the successful experiments, because we wanted to live that badly. Others though…” His voice trailed off, yet it was clear what Dorochet was implying.
If Al could, he would have shuddered in horror.
“So… what are you merged with?” he asked, looking at Dorochet.
Dorochet let out a bark of laughter. “Take a wild guess.”
“Yes,” Martel said with a tease. “Just watch him when he’ll lift his leg to--”
“Hey! I don’t do that!” Dorochet exclaimed defensively.
If the woman even meant to retort, she never found the chance. At that moment, the door of the basement opened and a tall man stepped in, followed closely behind by other chimeras that served as an escort. Al watched all of them, trying to determine what each of them had been merged with. He certainly recognised the lizard-like creature that apparently posed as a beggar to get close to him and Ed, but he couldn’t say the same about the others.
That is, until he locked his gaze on a large bear-like chimera that was desperately trying to hide his face with a thick raincoat and a hat.
“Mr. Tucker?! Is it really you?!”
Tucker let out a small, frightened noise. “Don’t misunderstand me,” he said in his usual whisper, which nevertheless did nothing to hide his panicked state. “I’m not here because I want to.”
“No,” another chimera said, his sneer making him resemble a very large cat. “He’s our guest, since he’s the only who can revert us to our original forms.”
“Quiet, if you please,” the tall man finally said, raising his hand. The chimeras fell silent at once, and so Al knew that that man was the leader of the chimeras. However, he couldn’t determine if that one was also a chimera or not.
The tall man stepped closer to Al, looking at him with quite the scrutiny and with a curious smile on his features. Suddenly, and before Al could do anything about it, he had also reached for Al’s helmet and picked it up.
“Amazing,” the man exclaimed. “You really are empty!”
“Yes,” Al answered. “And I think I already know who could have told you.” His shoulders turned slightly, indicating that he was looking at Tucker.
“I wasn’t the one that had you kidnapped, Al,” the bear-chimera said.
“No,” Al said. “You just stood by and watched.”
“Please, you can sort out your differences later,” the tall man said with a nonchalant wave of his hand. He put the helmet back between Alphonse’s shoulders with a smile. “I’m called Greed. Let’s be friends, okay?”
Al just huffed. However, Greed had gotten so close now that the suit of armour could easily see a very familiar tattoo on the back of one of his hands.
“You’re a homunculus.”
Greed whistled. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves here a genius!” he announced with a grin. “So what gave me away?”
Al pointed at the tattoo. That was enough as an answer.
Greed chuckled. “So you know about this. That’s good; it makes things easier for me.”
“So where are Envy and Lust?” Al said, aware that there was no time for such meaningless chat. “You work with them, don’t you?”
But Greed shook his head. “No, I don’t. Actually, I’d say we’re more like mortal enemies.”
Al’s flickering eyes widened in surprise. “Then why would you want to kidnap me?!”
“Because I want to ask you a question,” Greed said. “What does it feel like to live in a body that can’t die?”
Al stared, unsure what to make of that question. “Why do you want to know?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I want that secret of yours,” the homunculus replied, his hands twitching. “They don’t call me Greed for nothing, kid. I want it all! Money and women; power and fame; everything within this world – including immortality!”
“So…” Al said cautiously, “…what makes you think I can hand you that secret?”
“Well,” Greed said with another big toothy grin of his, “the fact that I’ll obtain it one way or another.”
Al tensed at once. “Then you’re no different than the ones you call enemies.”
“You can believe that if you want… OOF!”
Greed never managed to complete his sentence, because it was at that moment that a giant fist emerged from the ground and hit him squarely on the stomach.
“You let your guard down,” Al declared. Indeed, he used the opportunity while no one was paying close attention to draw an alchemy circle with a piece of chalk he always kept in his gauntlet. “Now to take care of the rest of you!” And with that, he started drawing again before Martel would try and stop him.
However, Greed was hardly daunted. “Really? And do what?” At the next moment, his hands had turned black and claw-like and cut the stony fist in two. And before Al had the chance to react, he had grabbed the suit of armour from the back of his neck and pushed him violently on the ground. “Just relax, will you?”
“Ow…”
Surprisingly enough, Greed chuckled sheepishly - because it wasn’t Al who let out that moan of pain.
“Sorry, Martel. I forgot you were inside.”
“That’s… okay…”
Al just lifted himself slowly and in silence, accepting his defeat.
Greed clicked his tongue, clearly disapproving that kind of reaction. “Now what’s with that long face? Don’t get me wrong, kid. I like your feistiness, I really do. It’s just that it will hardly do you any good in this case. If you want to beat me, you’ll have to do at least this.”
That was the last thing he said before Loa swung his sledgehammer and struck. His force was so terrible that Greed was actually decapitated and his head rolled a couple of feet away from the chimeras. The body collapsed with a sickening thud.
Al stared in shock for several moments, trying to take in what had just happened.
“W-Why did you do that?” he shakily asked Loa. “I thought you were working for him!”
Loa didn’t answer though. And a second later, Al was horrified to see that Greed’s body was anything but dead. In fact, it got back to its feet and stood up. A skull sprang up from the base of the neck, and soon the skull was covered with crimson muscles and eyes. Moments later, the muscles got covered with skin and hair and Greed was smiling broadly as though nothing strange had happened whatsoever.
“See? I have died once now. Although, I must say, it could have been a bit less messy.” He glared at Loa’s direction as he said that.
“Sorry,” the bull-chimera said embarrassedly.
But Greed didn’t bother with a second look at the chimera. He turned again to Al.
“You’re probably thinking that I already can’t die that easily, so I shouldn’t need immortality.”
Al didn’t say anything, for he was in too much of a shock. Not that it mattered to Greed anyway; he just kept talking.
“Well, you see… a body like this isn’t really immortal. When--”
Suddenly, the light of another alchemic reaction filled the room, and a large door formed on the wall. Startled, the chimeras backed away from the particular wall, waiting with bated breath to see what would happen next.
“Hey, kid!” Martel exclaimed. “Do you want Greed to get us acquainted with the floor again?!”
“But it’s not me!” Al said. “It has to be my brother, trying to rescue me!”
Al realised just how wrong he was when Izumi stepped into the room, her hands clenched into fists and her features drawn to a snarling expression. And, to Al’s horror, she wasn’t alone either – Mr. Curtis was right behind her, looking just as ready to start fighting.
“Excuse my interrupting,” she said, her voice resembling a growl. When she caught sight of Al, however, she could only raise a quizzical eyebrow.
“Care to explain what you’re doing here?”
“Um… long story?” Al stammered so nervously that it was a miracle he just didn’t break down right then and there.
“Whoa! Whoa! Hold on a second there; I’ll do the talking here!” Greed said, stepping forward. He looked at the newcomers from head to toe. “Okay, I remember you,” he mused, looking at Mr. Curtis. “But what are you, lady?”
Izumi had only one answer to that.
“PISSED OFF!”
Ed ran as fast as his feet could carry him, looking to his left and right for any sign of the Devil’s Nest. And yet his search wasn’t easy. Though he had lived for quite some time in Dublith and he had learned his way around well, this was the one part of town that he wasn’t familiar with.
In short, he was looking for his brother blindly, and that proved frustrating. He certainly didn’t want to think what the kidnappers could be doing to Al, while he was wasting his time like this.
He turned left to another alley, but that one proved to be a dead end. Swearing under his breath, Ed retraced his steps and got ready to spring away again.
“Wait, Edward Elric! What’s the matter?”
Ed froze and turned around at the sound of the familiar voice.
“Major…”
Major Armstrong was really behind him, looking at him in a curious manner. “What has happened? Why are you running?”
Ed bit his lower lip. “Nothing. I just… have to be somewhere,” he lied. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the major, far from that. But Al was his responsibility.
Armstrong nodded. “I see. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“What? Why?” Ed exclaimed before he could help it.
“Because you’re getting close to a bar named Devil’s Nest. According to an anonymous tip, it’s the lair of all the chimera fugitives from Lab 5, so the Führer has already ordered an assault – and to kill them on sight.”
Ed felt like his heart had stopped. “Is that where you’re going now, Major?”
Armstrong nodded.
“Then I’m coming with you!”
“Edward…”
“No, you don’t understand!” Ed said. “My brother’s been kidnapped by those chimeras and he’s being held in that bar! I have to find him before they hurt him!”
Armstrong’s eyes widened. “Young Alphonse… is captured?”
Ed nodded.
“Right! Then there’s no time to lose! We must inform the Führer at once!”
Ed was relieved to see that Armstrong was willing to help him. However, he never expected the burly man to just grab him from his waist and then start running!
“Hold on, Edward Elric! This method of sprinting has been passed down my family for generations!”
Ed couldn’t argue with that. He was more concerned about the stomach he was forced to leave behind.
TBC…
Subtitles
- Brother's Debt
- Fullmetal Body, Fullmetal Heart
- A Quiet Day
- In The Night
- Two Men's Faces
- Transfer
- Making Plans
- Shadows Of The Past
- Underworld
- The Price Of Immortality
- Departure
- The Key
- Enemy Revealed
- A Step Back
- A Step Closer To The Truth
- A Race
- Rush Valley
- Responsibility
- Izumi
- Time To Stand Still
- Wild Child
- Encounter
- Riddles In The Dark
- In Search For Answers
- A Teacher's Mistakes
- Complications
- Visits
- The Nature Of A Homunculus
- Dante Of The Deep Forest
- Kidnapped
- Fight At The Devil's Nest
- Innocence Lost
- Blood Spilt
- Recovering
- Bearers Of Ill News
- The Flame Alchemist
- True Colours
- Markings On The Ground
- The Mission
- Heading To Liore
- Change Of Plans
- The Scar
- Holy Mother
- A Mother's Face
- Final Moments