The Ultimate Punishment
Author's note/full summary:
parental RoyEd (Homunculus!Ed) and parental RoyAl. Alternate Ending/Alternate Universe. dark n' angsty o3o and pretty graphic. Get ready for some tear-jerking peeps. ;3
This is a sort of alternate story that extends from the ending of Brotherhood. But not the VERY end of Brotherhood, it changes the outcome of Edward's battle with father before he looses his alchemy. It's kinda like the whole Pride Ed thing but this is a completely different. :3 I just wanted to write something different for a change instead of the humor-ish actiony stories I usually write. I may over-do it tho... Meh, get over it. I'm not used to this so get ready for a butt load of terribleness!
The story starts out after Father basically blows up. :I you know, when Ed gets pinned against the concrete and Al uses himself to get Ed his arm back so he can escape. But Ed doesn't get his arm back in this story. (Mainly because I like Ed's automail and it adds to the drama 'n angst.) :F Muahaahaa!
Also, some of the battle isn't completely cannon, I'm writing it from memory so it wont be perfect. some things are skipped, some things are changed, and the whole outcome is completely different. well, that's the point of an alternate end thing anyway. :3
I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.
-Chapter 1
The air was thick with rubble and dust after the shockwave. Edward groaned and opened his eyes but couldn't see a thing through all the damn debris in the air. He tried to move, but a wave of pain shot through his arm.
"What the hell..." Ed hissed and looked to his left where the pain was coming from.
"W-WHAT?!" He gasped. He was trapped, his body pinned against a broken wall of concrete. His arm dripped blood, a thick metal rod protruding from the flesh. "SHIT!"
"My stone..." A horse voice wheezed.
Edward's head snapped up and stared in horror at Father. The homunculus looked weak, his movements clumsy and labored. He turned his head to look directly at Edward. The man's face twisted into an expression of rage and hatred.
"Give me my stone..." Father demanded as he began advancing upon the young alchemist.
Edward's eyes widened in terror and he tried struggling against the rod that pinned him to the concrete. All that gave him was another wave of pain. He lifted his head back up to stare at the advancing homunculus.
"You brat... You took my stone... But I still have some of it's power left... You shall pay for what you have done!" Father rasped, staggering closer towards Edward.
"ED! Fullmetal, get out of there!" Ed's friends cried from the outskirts of the crater. But they all were incapable of helping the boy. All they could do was watch.
- Al
"Damn it..." Alphonse cursed. He looked down at May who was standing next to him, calling out to Edward. "May..." Al murmured sadly.
The Xingese girl looked up at Al, worried about his sad yet determined tone. "Y-Yes?"
"I need you to use my soul as payment." He told her pleadingly. "To save my brother..."
May gasped in horror. "But Alphonse! Won't you be-"
"I know." Al interrupted. "But it's the only way." he begged.
May nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Okay..."
- Ed
"You puny human, you ruined everything!" Father snarled.
Edward struggled harshly against his pinned arm, tearing the wound apart and making it worse. his automail hanging uselessly at his side. "Shit!"
"Ed!" A voice shouted from somewhere behind Father.
Edward and father stopped abruptly and looked at the Xingese princess who called out. Al was lying on the ground in front of her, a transmutation circle surrounding his armor shell.
"M-May? Al?! What are you doing?!" Ed shouted.
"I'm sorry Edward..." May whimpered, tears staining her cheeks. She threw five knives in Ed's direction, they all stabbed the concrete around Edward's automail arm in a star shape.
Ed's eyes widened in horror and realization. "N-No! Stop!" He shrieked. he was too late.
A bright light suddenly flashed. But an explosive sound was heard and the alchemic reaction was suddenly cut off. May gasped in shock as her transmutation failed.
Father grinned a creepy smile at the little Xingese girl. He held her throwing knives in his hand tauntingly. "Ha! you puny human, a simple transmutation cannot stop me!" He sneered. "But the damage has been done, to you!"
May gasped in horror when she realized what Father meant. Alphonse was gone. May's alchemy had been interrupted too far into the reaction, Al was still deconstructed. He was probably at the gate now...
"ALPHONSE!" Edward screamed in rage and grief.
Father laughed and looked back at Edward. "You know... You might be of use to me after all..." He murmured. Father reached his arm down to Ed in a fast blur.
"What-" Edward's words were cut off and replaced with a gasp of shock and pain.
Father smiled evilly as his hand collided the young alchemist's chest, sharp nails digging into his core. The boy cried out in agony as alchemic light flashed and Father's blood veins glowed red.
"EDWARD!" Roy, May, Izumi and the others shrieked desperately.
"W-What the hell are you doing to me, bastard?!" Ed managed to gasp against the pain.
"Im weakening in my current state. So I need a new body if I'm going to fight back... Yours will do fine." Father sneered. The last of his Philosopher's stone was draining from his body and into Edward's. Now all that was left was the soul transfer and Ed's body would become Father's.
"I don't think so!" A voice shouted.
Father gasped as Greed suddenly leaped down upon the two blondes, arm covered in the ultimate shield. In one quick blur, he sliced Father's arm off with his claws.
"Wh-What?! No! It was nearly complete!" Father snarled as he stumbled away.
Edward gasped as the hand that was digging into his chest turned to ash and disintegrated. His eyes closed and he limply slumped forward.
"Sorry, Pops, but I can't let you do that!" Greed laughed. Then his expression changed and he turned his head to look at the lifeless Edward behind him. "Ed, You alright?" Greed asked in Ling's voice. The blonde teen didn't answer.
Suddenly, Edward's body convulsed in painful spasms and red alchemic light sparked through the air. Ed made pained choking noises as some kind of alchemy affected him.
"Ed?!" Ling gasped, turning around and grabbing Edward's shoulders. "Edward Elric, what's going on?!" Edward didn't answer. 'It looks like what I went through when I became greed...' Ling thought.
'Idiot prince! Behind you!' Greed's voice shouted in Ling's mind.
Ling spun around and saw Father running towards him. Ling gasped in shock as Father stabbed him in the chest. Red alchemic light sparked and Greed's Philosopher's stone started to drain from his body.
"NO! I WON'T LET YOU HAVE IT!" Greed snarled.
"Come on Greed. be a good son and give me your stone!" Father demanded.
'Greed! What do we do!?' Ling shouted to the homunculus in his mind.
'There's nothing we can do!' Greed gasped. His soul was suddenly pulled away, but Ling grabbed him.
'I won't let you go!' Ling cried.
'Cut it out, kid! There's no way out of this for me! But you don't have to be sucked into my old man with me!'
'No, I won't!' Ling argued.
'Heh, fine. We'll fight him together!' Greed shouted. Ling smiled and nodded, eyes flashing in determination.
Ling gasped as a fist suddenly collided with his face. He let go of Greed's soul and fell backwards in shock.
'Greed!' the Xingese prince cried out as the soul was pulled away.
'Ha! I can't believe you fell for that! I'm gonna miss you, ya annoying brat!' Greed laughed.
'Greed! You liar!' Ling screamed. But it was too late, he was gone.
-
"Greed!"
Edward's golden eyes opened groggily at the sound of his friend screaming. His whole body felt like it was on fire. Especially his heart...
"Ling? Wha?" Ed looked up and saw the prince falling away from Father with the blonde bastard's severed arm disintegrating from his body.
"What?! What have you done?!" Father shrieked. His arm began to turn grey and brittle like ash, spreading up his limbs to the rest of his body.
"Ha! I reversed my ultimate shield! Turning your body into the most weak and fragile carbon there is!" Greed's voice laughed.
"No! I Wont be humiliated like this!" Father shouted. He suddenly grabbed Greed's soul from inside himself and ripped it from his body.
"Greed!" Ed screamed as the black soul disintegrated into the dusty air. His head whipped around to look at Father in rage. The blonde homunculus staggered away as his body began to crumble.
"You... BASTARD!" Ed shrieked. He ripped his arm free from the sharp metal that pinned him, ignoring the massive wave of pain and streams of blood it brought and advanced towards Father.
Father tried stumbling away from the teen but couldn't avoid his attack. Edward's fist cracked strait through the homunculus's chest. He staggered away from Ed in shock.
"B-Beaten by a tiny human..." Father rasped. His eyes flashed in uncertainty and focused on Edward for a moment, studying him. A smirk suddenly appeared on his face. "But he is no longer human..." Father wheezed.
"What?" Ed gasped, not sure if he heard the blonde homunculus's quiet statement correctly.
Before Father could reply, he suddenly spasmed and thousands of eerie red souls spilled from his body. Edward stumbled backwards in shock and stared at them with wide eyes.
"The stone... My new stone..." Father rasped. He shuddered once and his body crumbled into dust.
"What did he mean by... No longer human?" Edward whispered to himself. "Must have not heard him right..." He shrugged and turned towards the cheering crowd of soldiers. Edward didn't notice that the wound on his arm had mysteriously healed itself...
