Equivalency

By: dontwaitupxx

"…To obtain, something of equal value must be lost…"

"…but equivalent exchange is nothing more than a theory…"

Chapter One:

It was a cold and rainy day, that day November 13. Edward Elric stood in front of Laboratory Five, his red jacket flapping in the breeze, and his blonde hair blowing across his face in strands. He had a determined expression on his face, one that matched his expression to Roy Mustang when the Colonel had assigned him the task of catching the chimera that had gotten loose from Laboratory Five. Except the expression was one of pure hatred towards the lab itself. He never had wanted to go back in there ever again, but if he wanted Mustang to give him the promotion that he had been striving for since he had gotten into the military when he was twelve, then he would have to play by Mustang's dirty rules.

His expressions of determination and of hatred looked identical to the person watching. Only Edward knew that inside, it was a hell of a lot different.

So there Edward was, and knowing that the chimera did not have anywhere else to go now, he started walking forward and into the building.

There were many things about Laboratory Five that had given Edward the chills when he had first arrived back there. He had completely forgotten about how eerie it was when you stepped in. Edward thought that he would never have to feel those feelings ever again, but his life had decided to stab him in the back and push him into the direction of one of Edward's greatest regrets and embarrassments.

When Edward walked into the building, the walls seemed to recognize his return. Immediately when Edward closed the door, the walls turned a dark shade of gray, seeming to indicate that he was not welcome there. He ignored them. He held a candle lamp up, and for once, wished that he had the Flame Alchemist there to light the way, but he would only remind him about how he was still the dog of the military. Even standing there at the age of sixteen, he was nothing more than a dog…

…or maybe a dog was more than he.

Whether he was only a dog, more or less, he was somewhat glad that he was able to go on this mission alone. Roy had told Edward that the chimera had escaped unwillingly. The fact that a State Alchemist was going to catch the chimera was only for safety precautions. If the chimera thought of someone to be a threat to their lives, then the chimera would surely attack. A State Alchemist could surely take care of a chimera on frenzy. The State had no intentions of harming the beast, but after it was given back into the hands of those who know watched and controlled over Laboratory Five, it was out of the State's hands to what was done to the chimera. Although, the State in general wouldn't care if the beast lived or died for all it cost them. It was Edward who wanted to be as gentle as he could be with the chimera, but he wouldn't back down if the chimera pounced.

Edward's ideal mission would be to head into Laboratory Five, find the chimera with ease, restrain it peacefully, and return it to its owners and still have time before dusk devoured the day to start his report and hopefully finish it by the night's end. Then he hoped that he would be able to turn in his report the next day, and Mustang would promote him from dog, to maybe a cat or turtle. Whatever was next and got more respect than a dog Edward would aim for…

…but before Edward got a promotion, he'd need to get his self confidence back, and stop calling himself a dog. Just maybe Edward would have some real luck and he would be promoted to a Lieutenant…

…Edward was probably thinking too full headed.

As Edward walked down the dark, narrow hallway with the candle only illuminating the first couple feet in front of him, he had the faintest feeling that he was being followed; or watched for that matter. Edward turned around to look behind himself and saw no humans, no chimeras, and no homunculi, he was happy to report. But he didn't see the chimera. Or all of it anyways. As Edward was turning around, something hit him straight in the chest. He saw the faintest sight of a tail being whipped back as he was propelled backwards. He hit the metal wall hard with his head. Edward saw stars, but managed to keep conscious.

The tail that had knocked into him had blown the wind out of him and for the first few seconds, he couldn't catch a breath. But sooner than he thought, he was up on his feet, taking a defensive position towards whomever or whatever had hit him. His answer came soon. His attacker looked up and its face was illuminated by Edward's candle lamp that he had dropped in the hit.

It was indeed a chimera. The chimera. It had the face of a human, but it was twisted in a way to the extent that Edward wasn't able to recognize the man he once was if he had known him in his travels, which in some ways was a good thing. He didn't want to know who the unfortunate soul was that was alchemically fused with another creature's body. He seemed to have the body of some beast, like a bear or a mountain lion. His tail though, seemed to come from an amphibian. It was large enough that it could be from an alligator, but seemed to have the smoothness of a turtle's belly. All together, it made the infamous chimera that had been the news across central for the stunning day and a half. News dies easily in Central because there is always something else to report.

Edward thought about what Roy had said about the chimera earlier that day. Mustang had said that the chimera would not do any harm unless its life would be threatened. Edward wasn't sure how he had threatened the chimera's life, but then he knew that you couldn't be sure with chimeras. For all he knew, this chimera was a savage who liked to eat humans. Edward had already given up two of his limbs. He didn't want to give up anymore.

The chimera looked to Edward, and the twisted face on its head grew even more twisted and it gave a whimper. It spoke in hardly a whisper, but enough for Edward to hear.

"I do not want to go back…" The chimera whispered, "I will not go back… no matter what it takes… you will not take me back…"

Edward wasn't sure what to say. Sure, the chimera was smart and knew that he was coming for him. Edward spoke slowly.

"I've come here to collect you," Edward tested; the chimera made no moves to deny, "You need to go back. You need to go back to where you belong."

The words sounded all wrong in his mouth. He knew that if he were in the chimera's place, God forbid that he ever be, that he wouldn't want to go back to whatever test lab they had stored him at. But Edward couldn't ignore his job again. Whenever emotions got in his way, something normally went wrong. It was a custom.

"I will not go back… you will not take me… I will die before I go back there… if this hell of a life isn't already death, but of purgatory…"

Those were the last words spoken before the infamous fight between State Alchemist Edward Elric, and the chimera began.

It said that it was six o'clock on the Roman numeral clock on the edge of Riza's desk. Normally, Hawkeye would be out on field work or helping Roy with paperwork, but today, she had her own paperwork to fill out.

She didn't like this at all. The Fullmetal Alchemist said that he would be done no later than dusk. According to her window by her desk, it was already dusk, and no glimpse of the sun could be seen. She tried to keep herself concentrated with the reports that she had gotten from other field workers and needed to look over, but only managed in pacing her fingers along her desk, making a taping noise that kept her occupied. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. She lifted herself from her seat and headed for her door. Once opened, she poked her head out and looked both ways. There was nobody to be seen, but it was okay if she was. She had her gun after all, even when she wasn't on field expedition. She headed over to where the offices were for the higher ranking Colonels; Roy Mustang's office.

She passed by lower ranking officers who saluted her on her way to Mustang's office. She kept walking. She felt as if she was giving some ort of important news to Roy from the praise that she was getting. Either that or she felt as if she was going to her death sentence, and her fellow officers were wishing her best, but she ignored those thoughts.

She stood outside of the Flame Alchemist's office. Taking a deep breath, she sighed to herself, and then knocked. She heard a swift "enter" and then she let herself in.

Sitting at his desk was Roy Mustang, and upon his desk, were recognized as the documents on the chimera that had escaped. She began to feel relief that she wasn't the only one who realized of Edward's disappearance. Whenever Edward is late from duty, it's normally because something bad had happened. Either that or he ran off to find the Philosopher's Stone, and the military would have to track down Edward if he had decided to go search for that brain crushing dream again.

"Is there something that you need, Hawkeye?" Mustang asked from his desk, not taking his eyes off of the case that was in front of him.

Riza took another deep breath, and then she said, "I'm worried about Edward."

"Aren't we all?" Roy said, and then laughed, "Someday that kid is going to blow himself up with all of the alchemy catastrophes that he commits."

"He should have come back by now. It doesn't take long to capture a willing chimera."

"Or does it?" Roy looked up from his work, "Perhaps I made the wrong decision on letting Edward go without a fellow military officer to accompany him. It's better to be with someone than no one, isn't that right, Hawkeye?"

"Yes sir," Hawkeye saluted, "But I've come here to request to round up a search party for him, sir. I believe that if Edward is late, than something has happened to him. Other than that, he keeps his word and does come back when he says that he will."

"That is true in some cases, lieutenant," Roy mused, "but I know of many cases when Edward hasn't kept his word, but he had came back fine. Do as you wish, but I'll stay here in case he comes back, which I do entirely have a gut feeling about. It's only one chimera; a willing chimera. How entirely difficult could it be?"

Immediately, the chimera lashed out at Edward with his claws. Edward was taken by surprise and took the entire blow from the chimera on his auto mail arm, which comparing how much the chimera tried, it would only need some shinning when Edward got back to central as he awaited his promotion.

Maybe at the time Edward was being too cocky. Maybe if he had decided to take his eyes off of the chimera, then he'd have noticed the chimera's "friends" come up.

From behind, another chimera clawed at Edward's back. Edward cried out from the unawareness and stumbled forward. After a few seconds, Edward didn't feel the pain anymore. Adrenaline did that to you occasionally. As Edward stumbled back up, he found himself rounded into a corner. He saw himself facing a hefty total of three chimeras. Edward wasn't sure why there were more. Only one had escaped, only one had been reported… unless…

"I helped my friends escape…" The first chimera said vaguely. It was more than obvious that he had helped the other chimeras escape.

Edward was now easily out numbered and now he was out matched. Edward wished that he had asked for at least another solder to back him up. Maybe having Hawkeye there with her shotguns wasn't a bad idea now that Edward thought about it. But Edward had to face himself with the cold, hard truth that was almost as cold and as hard as the metal he was backed up against. He was outnumbered. He was outmatched. He couldn't handle all of the chimeras at once, but he could most certainly try. These chimeras didn't look like that they would be backing down and deciding to surrender anytime soon. They wanted freedom. They wanted rights, but finding freedom and rights in this world was hard to come by. Even for Edward.

Edward wasn't sure whether chimeras were supposed to be friendly and peace loving, or if they were really nasty and sought for revenge. He thought that maybe it was a little bit of both, or one or the other, dependant on who the person or animals were that made up the chimeras, but these chimeras seemed to come from people or animals that had it rough. Or maybe they just didn't like Edward.

It was probably a little bit of both.

Had the chimeras wanted to kill Edward or just injure him enough to the point where he couldn't stop them was entirely futile. It was the same outcome either way. If the chimeras killed him there, then Edward would have to go through much less agony. But if he were to be only injured, He might have lived through the agony, and then he would die, before the military would arrive there, curious to know why Edward hadn't shown back up at headquarters.

Edward made the first move, but regretted his decision immediately.

In one swift movement, Edward used his alchemy to make his auto mail into a sharp blade. That was his first mistake. He swung out his blade in an attempt to defend himself; his second mistake. The moment that Edward used his alchemy, the chimeras backed away, trying to stay away from the very elements that had changed them. Next, when Edward lashed out his blade, he missed from misjudging how far away the chimeras were. Using this mistake as an opportunity, the second chimera, the one that had slashed Edward's back, hit Edward over to the nearby wall. He hit Edward like he weighed nothing; Edward crashed against the metal with an Earth shuddering bang.

Edward moved onto is hands and knees as he felt the upcoming of materials up his throat. He released them violently; throwing up more blood than he thought was healthy. But how was puking up blood healthy anyways?

The third chimera picked Edward up by the foot, his body limp; helpless. The chimera held Edward against the metal wall as the other two clawed at him as if killing him meant their freedom, which in some ways it was. Edward didn't scream. His screams were reserved for homunculi.

But as if a violent angel had come to save Edward, he heard one of his favorite sounds, no matter how disturbing the sound really was.

It was the sound of a gunshot.

But it wasn't just any gunshot. It was the sound of Hawkeye's. He knew this because her gun had a ring to it like no other. Her gun had a personality. After the first shot went out, the Chimera that was holding Edward up fell to the ground, Edward falling the opposite direction.

From that moment on, Edward didn't move.

Hawkeye shot the two other chimeras. They both fell down as easily as the first did. So much for not harming the chimeras.

Hawkeye and several other solders that were behind her started running towards the scene. Thankfully, Edward was away from the chimeras and didn't have any dead chimera parts fallen onto him, but that was the only thankful thing about this situation. That and also the fact that Edward might be alive, which was still yet to be determined.

Hawkeye knelt down by Edward, "Edward, Ed! Can you hear me? Are you alright?"

It was a dumb question by appearances, but the fact that he gave no answer approved that he wasn't in the dearest bit alright. Hawkeye quickly checked for his pulse on his wrist that wasn't all slashed up and found that he did have a pulse, but it was near faint, and if someone didn't have a sensitive touch like herself, then they would make the assumption that he was dead. Edward wouldn't give up that easily though, but Edward was in dire need of help at that moment, or he might just give up.

Hawkeye made no hesitation to scoop him up in her arms and to head to the door as quickly as possible.

"Go up ahead! Make sure that the car is ready. Inform my driver of Edward's condition and tell him to head to the military hospital as soon as I get into the car." Hawkeye didn't care who decided to do it, but it was urgent that someone be the one to do it. It turned out that she got three volunteers, probably too afraid of Hawkeye's temper if someone didn't do it, rather than for Edward's sake.

Edward had hardly gotten into the building to find the chimeras, yet he had hardly gotten out. If Hawkeye didn't remember that Edward said that he would be done in no more than two hours, then no one would have come for him.

They made it outside in no time at all, but with no time to waste. As fast as she was to get in there and get Edward out, she hopped into the backseat of her car and her driver sped off. Behind her, other cars followed, knowing by Edward's appearance of where they were going.

Constantly, Hawkeye checked Edward's pulse to make sure he was still alive. Amazingly he was and seemed to be breathing on his own, but it was in labor.

She was urgent to get to the hospital as soon as she could and to get Edward safe so she could call up Colonel Mustang and General Armstrong. They needed to hear about this and to come and see this for themselves.

All the while, Riza was scared. She was scared that Edward wouldn't make it. That the infamous Fullmetal Alchemist wouldn't survive the trip or even in the hospital. But she knew that she could not let herself think that way. The Fullmetal Alchemist had to make it through. He just had to.

Please review and tell me how I did for my first fan fiction for Fullmetal Alchemist.
Everything will come together soon. Please bear with me until then.

With love,

dontwaitupxx