Innocence Lost
Running footsteps, screaming and shouts jumbled into one big chaotic sound as the raid still continued on within the walls of the Devil’s Nest. There was a big crash, and the police task force barged into another room, firing at everything in sight. A chimera fell down, cursing the raiders and declaring that he wouldn’t go back to the lab alive. Those were also his last words as one of the policemen shot him on the head.
And then other voices were heard. Those of a man, asking for help.
“Please, my wife isn’t well. She needs a doctor!”
The policemen toted their guns, but it was an unnecessary action. The burly man that walked through the door wasn’t a threat, for he was holding the bloody form of a woman in his arms.
“What’s your name, sir?” the commander asked, lowering his gun.
“Curtis,” the man answered. “Help her, she’s lost too much blood.”
“We will, sir; but I need to know something first,” the commander said. “Are there any other friendlies here?”
“Three boys and one of them is in a suit of armour. They’re further inside.”
“All right, we’ll find them,” the commander said. “Please follow one of the men outside. The place is no longer safe for you.”
The man didn’t say anything this time; he merely nodded and complied with the commander’s words. The task force went further down, entering another door, but little did they know that there was one chimera that didn’t want to die just yet. Jumping among their ranks, he hacked the policemen that were closest to him. Two fell dead, while the commander fell down, clutching a deep gash in his abdomen.
Still, the raiders were too many for the chimera, and he was certainly no match for the guns that were now getting aimed at him. But the small chimera wasn’t alone. A terrible roar filled the air and a large chimera charged forward, wielding his sledgehammer. In one blow, he managed to strike four policemen, making short work of them. The commander lifted his gun to fire at the inhuman creature, but the chimera was faster. At the next moment, the commander was dead, his blood staining the floor red.
“You let your guard down, Dorochet.”
“Sorry,” the dog-chimera said, scratching his ear in an embarrassed manner. “Where did you put Martel?”
“She’s safe for the time being,” Loa answered simply. He nodded his head in the direction of a corridor to their left. “We can’t get out from the main exit. We need to fight our way out.”
Dorochet’s eyes widened at this. “What about Greed?”
“He’ll come, you know that,” Loa said, swinging his sledgehammer over his broad shoulder. “Let’s do our part of the job, shall we?”
Dorochet smiled wryly. “Without killing ourselves in the process, I hope?”
Loa just shook his head at that.
Stains of crimson adorned the wall, trickling down to the floor and making gruesome puddles next to numerous steel bolts and plates that were scattered everywhere. As for Ed himself, he was in a bloody heap against another wall with his eyes shut, not moving.
Feeling his curiosity overwhelming him, Greed approached at the boy, examining it with quite the scrutiny.
“Are you still alive?” he asked. He wasn’t in the least concerned, of course, but he wanted to know the outcome of the battle.
The only answer the homunculus got was an angry glare from a pair of half-opened eyes and some blood-filled spit landing on his face.
Greed smirked and wiped the blood with the back of his claw. “Good. Kids like you should be livelier.” Long fingers grasped Ed’s neck and lifted the boy practically in mid-air. “And now that I have your attention, you will tell me the secret of the soul.”
Surprisingly enough, Ed didn’t fight back. He simply let out a weary chuckle.
“What’s so funny?” Greed inquired, crimson eyes piercing the young alchemist through.
Ed returned the stare unwaveringly. “I could… tell you. But… I’d rather tell you I’m thinking more clearly now.”
As the last words flowed out of his lips, Ed clapped again and pressed his hands on Greed’s arm. Fearing that the boy was about to pull some other alchemic stunt, Greed dropped Ed at once.
“Enough!” he declared angrily, raising his fist in a threatening manner. “You will obey me, boy!”
Ed didn’t remain idle. Curling his automail into fist too, he snatched the homunculus’ hand and didn’t let go until blue light surrounded the black claws. In a matter of moments, the black skin was destroyed, revealing the pearly-white bones underneath it. Taken aback, Greed pulled his hand away, but his alarm changed into a cocky smirk when he saw his arm regenerating once more.
“Nice try, kid. But futile.”
He charged again, but Ed was already prepared for him. He jumped back before the claws could slash him, and then used his alchemy to create huge blocks on the floor. He jumped on one of them so that Greed wouldn’t be able to hit him again, and then lunged at the homunculus, clapping and placing his hands on his adversary’s chest.
Blue light surrounded the homunculus again, but Greed was hardly fazed. He grabbed Ed and threw him across the room on some boxes.
“If it didn’t work before, what makes you think that it’s going to--”
He never completed his sentence, because Ed created a rocky spear which ran through Greed’s torso. Blood spurted out of Greed’s mouth and he staggered back, eyeing the boy incredulously.
“What… what did you do to my shield?” he asked, faltering.
Ed stood up, a small smile of smugness evident on his features. “It’s pretty simple if you think about it. You can’t make something out of nothing. In other words, you made your shield out of something. Since homunculi are failed human transmutations, it means they have the same composition as humans. And within the human body there’s carbon. The hardness of the compound changes depending on the intermolecular bonds of the carbon atoms. That’s why it can be as soft as a pencil and as hard as a diamond. As long as I know how it works, my alchemy can do the rest. And there’s one more thing, too.”
At the next moment, Ed had jumped on Greed again. After clapping his hands and placing again them on the black body, he slashed Greed’s unprotected chest with his automail. Ed took a few steps back, blood trickling from his blade.
“I discovered you can’t harden and regenerate at the same time.”
Greed checked himself as his body returned to its normal black form. And yet the homunculus didn’t seem troubled at all. In fact, a loud roar of laughter rolled out of his lips and filled the room.
“Well, well… You might prove an interesting adversary yet!” he announced. “For a moment I really thought you were just a hot-headed brat!”
“You’ll pay for that mistake,” Ed said, setting himself in an attack position again.
It was then that the door burst open and about a dozen policemen rushed inside. Ed and Greed stared at them in disbelief.
“Well,” the homunculus said with a haughty smile. “I think that’s my cue to leave then.” He face Ed with a grin, as though in a cheeky “farewell”, and then jumped to the nearest ventilation system.
That wasn’t good at all, Ed knew that; for Greed still had Al hostage.
“WAIT!” He tried to run after the homunculus, but a pair of arms grabbed him and held him in place.
“Easy, kid. Leave the matter to us, okay?” the policeman said.
“But you don’t understand! He has my brother!” Ed said, struggling to pull himself away. “I have to go!”
“Not in the mess you’re in!” the policeman insisted. “Now let us do our job and rescue you!”
Ed couldn’t help it. He cried out his frustration, and hoped that Al was alright.
“Behold the legendary mastery passed down in the Armstrong family for generations!”
And with that, Armstrong side-stepped again and grabbed the sledgehammer the huge chimera wielded. Yellow light surrounded the sledgehammer and, in a matter of seconds, it had been transmuted into a statuette that bore a striking resemblance to Armstrong himself.
The chimera stared at the sledgehammer dubiously, then at the smaller, sword-wielding one that offered back up. It was clear that neither had expected such artistic tendencies.
Armstrong merely beamed, his sparkles glowing more strongly than ever.
“Well,” the huge man said then, throwing away his now useless weapon, “It looks like I’ll have to use my full power on you.”
Armstrong didn’t really understand what the chimera meant by that. That is, until a terrible snorting sound reverberated through the corridor and the chimera became bulkier and larger. Horns adorned his forehead, and veins popped up in the thick muscles.
The major looked on, realising with what kind of chimera he was dealing with. He placed himself in defensive position, ready for the incoming attack. A whole bulk of muscle charged at him and nearly threw him off balance, but Armstrong didn’t back down. He grabbed the chimera by the arms, trying to subdue him as he would have an actual bull, but it was easier said than done. The chimera was a tough opponent, throwing Armstrong continuously up against the wall, making sure that the rough surface grazed the alchemist’s face.
Still, Armstrong still had a few tricks up his sleeve. With the agility that belied his physique, he managed to pry himself off his adversary’s grasp and knock him off his feet. A roar of surprise escaped the chimera’s lips, and landed on the floor with a loud thud.
It was the perfect opportunity to finish off the chimera, but Armstrong did no such thing. He just stood there, looking at his adversary with quite the amusement.
“I must thank you. I haven’t felt my blood rushing through my veins likes this in a long while,” he said.
Surprisingly enough, the chimera was just as cordial as he stood up and chuckled. “And I must congratulate you, Sir Armstrong,” he said. “You’re certainly as powerful as in the past.”
Now that was something that Armstrong didn’t expect to hear from the chimera’s lips. “You know of me?”
“Indeed,” the chimera said with a nod. “I’m Loa. I also participated in Ishbal. And so did Dorochet here.”
Armstrong regarded both chimeras thoughtfully. “That makes you former comrades. One more reason I should do this.” He put down his fists. “If you know me at all, Loa, you are aware that I don’t enjoy senseless killings. Please, surrender yourselves now.”
Loa snorted. “That’s out of the question.”
“Are you sure about this?”
Sound of footsteps filled the corridor and about six armed policemen stood behind Armstrong, ready to fire at the first opportunity. But Armstrong didn’t move away.
“Major, step aside!” one of the policemen said.
Armstrong didn’t heed him, though. He meant to talk some sense to Loa and Dorochet, and he would see that he did.
“Don’t be foolish,” he continued on. “Don’t throw your lives so recklessly.”
“Why should we listen to you?” Dorochet exclaimed.
“Because the Führer is here, too; the very man who ordered the massacre in Ishbal,” Armstrong said. He looked hard in Loa’s direction. “You know what that means, don’t you?”
Dorochet swallowed hard. “Damn it…”
“He’s planning to wipe us out,” Loa completed.
Armstrong only nodded this time. That was enough as an answer.
“Then we need to get out now,” Dorochet declared. “We--”
He never completed his sentence, for it was then that the silver blade of a sword pierced his stomach through and through. Blood spurted from the chimera’s mouth, and his eyes widened in disbelief and shock. And as he collapsed on the floor, everyone could see that Bradley was standing right behind the unfortunate creature.
“What do you think you are doing, Major?” Bradley asked. His voice was cruelly cold, his grey eye reflecting nothing but determination to kill.
Armstrong never got the opportunity to answer, because a bellow of wrath filled the air.
“DOROCHET!” With that, Loa charged against Bradley, blinded by fury and desperation.
A pair of shining blades moved so fast that, before anyone could blink, the large chimera had fallen on the floor, nothing more than a bloody slashed-up mess. Everyone gaped dumbly at the sight as they became witnesses to Bradley’s fighting ability. All, that is, except for Armstrong.
“My orders were clear. Kill everyone but the objectives,” the Führer said in a quiet tone. “You shouldn’t feel sympathy for your enemies. That is why you haven’t been promoted, Major.”
Armstrong said nothing. But if anyone saw his trembling fists, they would have realised what kind of answer the major was willing to give his superior.
“This way! Come on!” one of the policemen said, and the rest of the squad followed him.
But Envy didn’t follow the task force. Keeping the private’s form and the gun in his hands, he turned to another corridor and started opening the doors one by one. He knew that Greed kept the skeleton somewhere here, and Envy needed to find it in order to confront the runaway homunculus.
So far he had opened three doors, only to find nothing. Wherever Greed kept the skeleton, he had made sure to hide it quite well.
When he opened the fourth door, however, he came across an even more interesting find: a young, unconscious boy that Envy didn’t see on his last visit at the Devil’s Nest.
The homunculus approached cautiously, feeling his curiosity getting the better of him. He examined the boy from head to toe, only to see there was something very unusual about the particular boy. For one thing, his limbs were mismatched. And, as he looked closer at the boy’s feet, Envy made yet another discovery. The red symbol of a homunculus on the boy’s right sole.
“Well, well, I see we have a newborn here,” Envy commented, transforming to his androgynous form, and he shook the boy by the shoulder. “Hey, kid. Wake up.”
The boy moaned and stirred weakly. His eyes blinked, reflecting his confusion as he checked his surroundings – only to widen in horror as they caught sight of Envy.
“Where did you come from?” Envy asked, hardly concerned about the boy’s terror.
The boy screamed and, at the next moment, he merged himself with the wall in an attempt to escape through it.
Envy just grabbed him from the ankle and yanked him back to the room. Though the boy struggled to pry himself loose and get away, the older homunculus’ grip was too tight.
“You know a few tricks too. I must say I’m impressed,” Envy said with a chuckle.
“LET ME GO!” the boy shouted.
“Come, come,” Envy admonished in a paternal tone. “Is that a way to greet a brother?”
The boy stopped his fighting at once, and he stared at Envy with eyes wide open. “B-brother?”
Envy nodded. “That’s right. This is what binds us,” he said, showing his own symbol of the homunculus on his thigh. Feeling that he could let go of the boy now, he loosened his grip. “Tell me. You don’t remember much of your life, do you?”
The boy hesitated to answer for a moment, trying to think. But in the end, it was clear that he had to admit that he didn’t, in fact, remember much; for he shook his head.
“I thought as much. Neither do I,” Envy said. “Because we’re homunculi, created out of human foolishness and pride. Although…” and with that, he gave the boy the once over, “you could use some kind of improvement.” He reached for a small pouch that was tied on his clothing from a piece of string and opened it to reveal several red stones inside. He picked one up and held it up in front of the boy. “Eat this.”
The boy pushed himself back, staring at the stone apprehensively. “What’s that?”
“Something very good for you. Don’t be afraid,” Envy said. He didn’t wait for the boy to voice his objections; as soon as the boy opened his lips, he shoved the stone inside the young one’s mouth.
The boy flinched, but he didn’t spit the stone out. He remained frozen for several moments, taking in the taste of the object in his tongue, and then chewed.
“Need more?” Envy asked sweetly, handing out some more red stones.
The boy snatched them in the blink of an eye and started eating them with such an appetite that could easily be matched to a hungry wolf’s. It was a sight that certainly pleased Envy.
“Savour them well,” he said with a smirk. “Savour the human life that’s encased inside them.”
The boy stopped himself, horrified.
“Human life?!” He immediately spat the half-chewed stones out, wiping his mouth in an attempt to rid himself the foul feeling.
Envy raised a thin eyebrow. “What’s the matter? You don’t like it?” His cruel laughter filled the room. “You will change your mind soon enough.”
If the boy ever meant to ask what Envy meant by that, he never got the chance. Spasms started coursing through his whole body, making him scream his pain and agony.
“Don’t fight it,” Envy said with eerie calmness. “It will be over soon.”
Sure enough, the seizures stopped as soon as they had started. A minute passed, then two… and then, breathing heavily, the boy pushed himself back to his feet and locked his violet gaze on Envy.
“Did you awaken me?” the voice was emotionless and resembling almost an angry hiss.
“Indeed,” Envy answered. “Welcome… ” He stopped, making a face as though he was thinking hard. “You know… you need a name.”
The young homunculus clenched his hands into fists.
“Just call me Wrath.”
Envy grinned.
“Wrath it is.”
Still on his guard and the gun totted in his hands, Lieutenant Colonel Archer walked down another corridor and found himself in the Devil’s Nest main room. The place was in a mess, with chairs and tables upturned – it was clear that, whoever was there, had tried to run for their lives to escape their death.
Some of them didn’t quite make it. Archer could see their motionless bodies sprawled on the floor, their eyes hauntingly open and reflecting their terror.
Then again, Tucker was always a coward.
Archer only snorted a bit, and then used his foot to push aside the body of a lizard-like chimera as he kept walking. He didn’t need obstacles in his path, after all.
It was then that he heard another set of footsteps approaching. He tensed and held up his gun, ready to fire if necessary.
“I’d rather you didn’t shoot me before you heard what I have to say,” a calm voice sounded from the shadows of the corridor. “It might interest you.”
“I’d rather negotiate with criminals face to face,” Archer said. “So why don’t you show yourself?”
“The military is always so sceptical,” the voice said again and, at the next moment, a neatly dressed man in civilian clothes stepped out. “Satisfied?”
Archer felt his eyes widening ten-fold, for he recognised the man.
“You’re Zolf J. Kimblee! The Crimson Alchemist!” he exclaimed. “You were supposed to have been executed a long time ago!”
“Well, guess what… they let me live,” Kimblee said, swinging the small bag that he was holding in his hands over his shoulder. “And I have a little something that just might please his Excellency.”
“What is it?”
“Tut, tut,” Kimblee said, shaking his finger in a ‘no’ gesture. “I want something else first. If the top dog himself ordered I should remain alive, it means that I have yet some use to him. But I can hardly offer my services when I’m considered a runaway criminal, isn’t that right?”
Archer lowered his gun just a bit, whereas his brows furrowed in a frown as he contemplated matters carefully.
“Tell me…” he finally said, “Your ability is to use the elements of any object, organic or not, to blend them into a bomb, right?”
Kimblee nodded.
Archer put his gun away.
“I’m Lieutenant Colonel Frank Archer. Congratulations, Crimson Alchemist; you’ve convinced me. I’ll talk to the Führer about your… good intentions.”
Kimblee just grinned broadly.
TBC…
And then other voices were heard. Those of a man, asking for help.
“Please, my wife isn’t well. She needs a doctor!”
The policemen toted their guns, but it was an unnecessary action. The burly man that walked through the door wasn’t a threat, for he was holding the bloody form of a woman in his arms.
“What’s your name, sir?” the commander asked, lowering his gun.
“Curtis,” the man answered. “Help her, she’s lost too much blood.”
“We will, sir; but I need to know something first,” the commander said. “Are there any other friendlies here?”
“Three boys and one of them is in a suit of armour. They’re further inside.”
“All right, we’ll find them,” the commander said. “Please follow one of the men outside. The place is no longer safe for you.”
The man didn’t say anything this time; he merely nodded and complied with the commander’s words. The task force went further down, entering another door, but little did they know that there was one chimera that didn’t want to die just yet. Jumping among their ranks, he hacked the policemen that were closest to him. Two fell dead, while the commander fell down, clutching a deep gash in his abdomen.
Still, the raiders were too many for the chimera, and he was certainly no match for the guns that were now getting aimed at him. But the small chimera wasn’t alone. A terrible roar filled the air and a large chimera charged forward, wielding his sledgehammer. In one blow, he managed to strike four policemen, making short work of them. The commander lifted his gun to fire at the inhuman creature, but the chimera was faster. At the next moment, the commander was dead, his blood staining the floor red.
“You let your guard down, Dorochet.”
“Sorry,” the dog-chimera said, scratching his ear in an embarrassed manner. “Where did you put Martel?”
“She’s safe for the time being,” Loa answered simply. He nodded his head in the direction of a corridor to their left. “We can’t get out from the main exit. We need to fight our way out.”
Dorochet’s eyes widened at this. “What about Greed?”
“He’ll come, you know that,” Loa said, swinging his sledgehammer over his broad shoulder. “Let’s do our part of the job, shall we?”
Dorochet smiled wryly. “Without killing ourselves in the process, I hope?”
Loa just shook his head at that.
Stains of crimson adorned the wall, trickling down to the floor and making gruesome puddles next to numerous steel bolts and plates that were scattered everywhere. As for Ed himself, he was in a bloody heap against another wall with his eyes shut, not moving.
Feeling his curiosity overwhelming him, Greed approached at the boy, examining it with quite the scrutiny.
“Are you still alive?” he asked. He wasn’t in the least concerned, of course, but he wanted to know the outcome of the battle.
The only answer the homunculus got was an angry glare from a pair of half-opened eyes and some blood-filled spit landing on his face.
Greed smirked and wiped the blood with the back of his claw. “Good. Kids like you should be livelier.” Long fingers grasped Ed’s neck and lifted the boy practically in mid-air. “And now that I have your attention, you will tell me the secret of the soul.”
Surprisingly enough, Ed didn’t fight back. He simply let out a weary chuckle.
“What’s so funny?” Greed inquired, crimson eyes piercing the young alchemist through.
Ed returned the stare unwaveringly. “I could… tell you. But… I’d rather tell you I’m thinking more clearly now.”
As the last words flowed out of his lips, Ed clapped again and pressed his hands on Greed’s arm. Fearing that the boy was about to pull some other alchemic stunt, Greed dropped Ed at once.
“Enough!” he declared angrily, raising his fist in a threatening manner. “You will obey me, boy!”
Ed didn’t remain idle. Curling his automail into fist too, he snatched the homunculus’ hand and didn’t let go until blue light surrounded the black claws. In a matter of moments, the black skin was destroyed, revealing the pearly-white bones underneath it. Taken aback, Greed pulled his hand away, but his alarm changed into a cocky smirk when he saw his arm regenerating once more.
“Nice try, kid. But futile.”
He charged again, but Ed was already prepared for him. He jumped back before the claws could slash him, and then used his alchemy to create huge blocks on the floor. He jumped on one of them so that Greed wouldn’t be able to hit him again, and then lunged at the homunculus, clapping and placing his hands on his adversary’s chest.
Blue light surrounded the homunculus again, but Greed was hardly fazed. He grabbed Ed and threw him across the room on some boxes.
“If it didn’t work before, what makes you think that it’s going to--”
He never completed his sentence, because Ed created a rocky spear which ran through Greed’s torso. Blood spurted out of Greed’s mouth and he staggered back, eyeing the boy incredulously.
“What… what did you do to my shield?” he asked, faltering.
Ed stood up, a small smile of smugness evident on his features. “It’s pretty simple if you think about it. You can’t make something out of nothing. In other words, you made your shield out of something. Since homunculi are failed human transmutations, it means they have the same composition as humans. And within the human body there’s carbon. The hardness of the compound changes depending on the intermolecular bonds of the carbon atoms. That’s why it can be as soft as a pencil and as hard as a diamond. As long as I know how it works, my alchemy can do the rest. And there’s one more thing, too.”
At the next moment, Ed had jumped on Greed again. After clapping his hands and placing again them on the black body, he slashed Greed’s unprotected chest with his automail. Ed took a few steps back, blood trickling from his blade.
“I discovered you can’t harden and regenerate at the same time.”
Greed checked himself as his body returned to its normal black form. And yet the homunculus didn’t seem troubled at all. In fact, a loud roar of laughter rolled out of his lips and filled the room.
“Well, well… You might prove an interesting adversary yet!” he announced. “For a moment I really thought you were just a hot-headed brat!”
“You’ll pay for that mistake,” Ed said, setting himself in an attack position again.
It was then that the door burst open and about a dozen policemen rushed inside. Ed and Greed stared at them in disbelief.
“Well,” the homunculus said with a haughty smile. “I think that’s my cue to leave then.” He face Ed with a grin, as though in a cheeky “farewell”, and then jumped to the nearest ventilation system.
That wasn’t good at all, Ed knew that; for Greed still had Al hostage.
“WAIT!” He tried to run after the homunculus, but a pair of arms grabbed him and held him in place.
“Easy, kid. Leave the matter to us, okay?” the policeman said.
“But you don’t understand! He has my brother!” Ed said, struggling to pull himself away. “I have to go!”
“Not in the mess you’re in!” the policeman insisted. “Now let us do our job and rescue you!”
Ed couldn’t help it. He cried out his frustration, and hoped that Al was alright.
“Behold the legendary mastery passed down in the Armstrong family for generations!”
And with that, Armstrong side-stepped again and grabbed the sledgehammer the huge chimera wielded. Yellow light surrounded the sledgehammer and, in a matter of seconds, it had been transmuted into a statuette that bore a striking resemblance to Armstrong himself.
The chimera stared at the sledgehammer dubiously, then at the smaller, sword-wielding one that offered back up. It was clear that neither had expected such artistic tendencies.
Armstrong merely beamed, his sparkles glowing more strongly than ever.
“Well,” the huge man said then, throwing away his now useless weapon, “It looks like I’ll have to use my full power on you.”
Armstrong didn’t really understand what the chimera meant by that. That is, until a terrible snorting sound reverberated through the corridor and the chimera became bulkier and larger. Horns adorned his forehead, and veins popped up in the thick muscles.
The major looked on, realising with what kind of chimera he was dealing with. He placed himself in defensive position, ready for the incoming attack. A whole bulk of muscle charged at him and nearly threw him off balance, but Armstrong didn’t back down. He grabbed the chimera by the arms, trying to subdue him as he would have an actual bull, but it was easier said than done. The chimera was a tough opponent, throwing Armstrong continuously up against the wall, making sure that the rough surface grazed the alchemist’s face.
Still, Armstrong still had a few tricks up his sleeve. With the agility that belied his physique, he managed to pry himself off his adversary’s grasp and knock him off his feet. A roar of surprise escaped the chimera’s lips, and landed on the floor with a loud thud.
It was the perfect opportunity to finish off the chimera, but Armstrong did no such thing. He just stood there, looking at his adversary with quite the amusement.
“I must thank you. I haven’t felt my blood rushing through my veins likes this in a long while,” he said.
Surprisingly enough, the chimera was just as cordial as he stood up and chuckled. “And I must congratulate you, Sir Armstrong,” he said. “You’re certainly as powerful as in the past.”
Now that was something that Armstrong didn’t expect to hear from the chimera’s lips. “You know of me?”
“Indeed,” the chimera said with a nod. “I’m Loa. I also participated in Ishbal. And so did Dorochet here.”
Armstrong regarded both chimeras thoughtfully. “That makes you former comrades. One more reason I should do this.” He put down his fists. “If you know me at all, Loa, you are aware that I don’t enjoy senseless killings. Please, surrender yourselves now.”
Loa snorted. “That’s out of the question.”
“Are you sure about this?”
Sound of footsteps filled the corridor and about six armed policemen stood behind Armstrong, ready to fire at the first opportunity. But Armstrong didn’t move away.
“Major, step aside!” one of the policemen said.
Armstrong didn’t heed him, though. He meant to talk some sense to Loa and Dorochet, and he would see that he did.
“Don’t be foolish,” he continued on. “Don’t throw your lives so recklessly.”
“Why should we listen to you?” Dorochet exclaimed.
“Because the Führer is here, too; the very man who ordered the massacre in Ishbal,” Armstrong said. He looked hard in Loa’s direction. “You know what that means, don’t you?”
Dorochet swallowed hard. “Damn it…”
“He’s planning to wipe us out,” Loa completed.
Armstrong only nodded this time. That was enough as an answer.
“Then we need to get out now,” Dorochet declared. “We--”
He never completed his sentence, for it was then that the silver blade of a sword pierced his stomach through and through. Blood spurted from the chimera’s mouth, and his eyes widened in disbelief and shock. And as he collapsed on the floor, everyone could see that Bradley was standing right behind the unfortunate creature.
“What do you think you are doing, Major?” Bradley asked. His voice was cruelly cold, his grey eye reflecting nothing but determination to kill.
Armstrong never got the opportunity to answer, because a bellow of wrath filled the air.
“DOROCHET!” With that, Loa charged against Bradley, blinded by fury and desperation.
A pair of shining blades moved so fast that, before anyone could blink, the large chimera had fallen on the floor, nothing more than a bloody slashed-up mess. Everyone gaped dumbly at the sight as they became witnesses to Bradley’s fighting ability. All, that is, except for Armstrong.
“My orders were clear. Kill everyone but the objectives,” the Führer said in a quiet tone. “You shouldn’t feel sympathy for your enemies. That is why you haven’t been promoted, Major.”
Armstrong said nothing. But if anyone saw his trembling fists, they would have realised what kind of answer the major was willing to give his superior.
“This way! Come on!” one of the policemen said, and the rest of the squad followed him.
But Envy didn’t follow the task force. Keeping the private’s form and the gun in his hands, he turned to another corridor and started opening the doors one by one. He knew that Greed kept the skeleton somewhere here, and Envy needed to find it in order to confront the runaway homunculus.
So far he had opened three doors, only to find nothing. Wherever Greed kept the skeleton, he had made sure to hide it quite well.
When he opened the fourth door, however, he came across an even more interesting find: a young, unconscious boy that Envy didn’t see on his last visit at the Devil’s Nest.
The homunculus approached cautiously, feeling his curiosity getting the better of him. He examined the boy from head to toe, only to see there was something very unusual about the particular boy. For one thing, his limbs were mismatched. And, as he looked closer at the boy’s feet, Envy made yet another discovery. The red symbol of a homunculus on the boy’s right sole.
“Well, well, I see we have a newborn here,” Envy commented, transforming to his androgynous form, and he shook the boy by the shoulder. “Hey, kid. Wake up.”
The boy moaned and stirred weakly. His eyes blinked, reflecting his confusion as he checked his surroundings – only to widen in horror as they caught sight of Envy.
“Where did you come from?” Envy asked, hardly concerned about the boy’s terror.
The boy screamed and, at the next moment, he merged himself with the wall in an attempt to escape through it.
Envy just grabbed him from the ankle and yanked him back to the room. Though the boy struggled to pry himself loose and get away, the older homunculus’ grip was too tight.
“You know a few tricks too. I must say I’m impressed,” Envy said with a chuckle.
“LET ME GO!” the boy shouted.
“Come, come,” Envy admonished in a paternal tone. “Is that a way to greet a brother?”
The boy stopped his fighting at once, and he stared at Envy with eyes wide open. “B-brother?”
Envy nodded. “That’s right. This is what binds us,” he said, showing his own symbol of the homunculus on his thigh. Feeling that he could let go of the boy now, he loosened his grip. “Tell me. You don’t remember much of your life, do you?”
The boy hesitated to answer for a moment, trying to think. But in the end, it was clear that he had to admit that he didn’t, in fact, remember much; for he shook his head.
“I thought as much. Neither do I,” Envy said. “Because we’re homunculi, created out of human foolishness and pride. Although…” and with that, he gave the boy the once over, “you could use some kind of improvement.” He reached for a small pouch that was tied on his clothing from a piece of string and opened it to reveal several red stones inside. He picked one up and held it up in front of the boy. “Eat this.”
The boy pushed himself back, staring at the stone apprehensively. “What’s that?”
“Something very good for you. Don’t be afraid,” Envy said. He didn’t wait for the boy to voice his objections; as soon as the boy opened his lips, he shoved the stone inside the young one’s mouth.
The boy flinched, but he didn’t spit the stone out. He remained frozen for several moments, taking in the taste of the object in his tongue, and then chewed.
“Need more?” Envy asked sweetly, handing out some more red stones.
The boy snatched them in the blink of an eye and started eating them with such an appetite that could easily be matched to a hungry wolf’s. It was a sight that certainly pleased Envy.
“Savour them well,” he said with a smirk. “Savour the human life that’s encased inside them.”
The boy stopped himself, horrified.
“Human life?!” He immediately spat the half-chewed stones out, wiping his mouth in an attempt to rid himself the foul feeling.
Envy raised a thin eyebrow. “What’s the matter? You don’t like it?” His cruel laughter filled the room. “You will change your mind soon enough.”
If the boy ever meant to ask what Envy meant by that, he never got the chance. Spasms started coursing through his whole body, making him scream his pain and agony.
“Don’t fight it,” Envy said with eerie calmness. “It will be over soon.”
Sure enough, the seizures stopped as soon as they had started. A minute passed, then two… and then, breathing heavily, the boy pushed himself back to his feet and locked his violet gaze on Envy.
“Did you awaken me?” the voice was emotionless and resembling almost an angry hiss.
“Indeed,” Envy answered. “Welcome… ” He stopped, making a face as though he was thinking hard. “You know… you need a name.”
The young homunculus clenched his hands into fists.
“Just call me Wrath.”
Envy grinned.
“Wrath it is.”
Still on his guard and the gun totted in his hands, Lieutenant Colonel Archer walked down another corridor and found himself in the Devil’s Nest main room. The place was in a mess, with chairs and tables upturned – it was clear that, whoever was there, had tried to run for their lives to escape their death.
Some of them didn’t quite make it. Archer could see their motionless bodies sprawled on the floor, their eyes hauntingly open and reflecting their terror.
Then again, Tucker was always a coward.
Archer only snorted a bit, and then used his foot to push aside the body of a lizard-like chimera as he kept walking. He didn’t need obstacles in his path, after all.
It was then that he heard another set of footsteps approaching. He tensed and held up his gun, ready to fire if necessary.
“I’d rather you didn’t shoot me before you heard what I have to say,” a calm voice sounded from the shadows of the corridor. “It might interest you.”
“I’d rather negotiate with criminals face to face,” Archer said. “So why don’t you show yourself?”
“The military is always so sceptical,” the voice said again and, at the next moment, a neatly dressed man in civilian clothes stepped out. “Satisfied?”
Archer felt his eyes widening ten-fold, for he recognised the man.
“You’re Zolf J. Kimblee! The Crimson Alchemist!” he exclaimed. “You were supposed to have been executed a long time ago!”
“Well, guess what… they let me live,” Kimblee said, swinging the small bag that he was holding in his hands over his shoulder. “And I have a little something that just might please his Excellency.”
“What is it?”
“Tut, tut,” Kimblee said, shaking his finger in a ‘no’ gesture. “I want something else first. If the top dog himself ordered I should remain alive, it means that I have yet some use to him. But I can hardly offer my services when I’m considered a runaway criminal, isn’t that right?”
Archer lowered his gun just a bit, whereas his brows furrowed in a frown as he contemplated matters carefully.
“Tell me…” he finally said, “Your ability is to use the elements of any object, organic or not, to blend them into a bomb, right?”
Kimblee nodded.
Archer put his gun away.
“I’m Lieutenant Colonel Frank Archer. Congratulations, Crimson Alchemist; you’ve convinced me. I’ll talk to the Führer about your… good intentions.”
Kimblee just grinned broadly.
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