Hey all! This idea has been swimming in my head also, although not nearly as long as my Sonic fic idea has been, but either way, I felt like I had to get this down, so I did! Disclaimer* I do not own Full Metal Alchemist or any characters within the series. I do own my characters and the plot to this story. Enjoy!
The Thunder Alchemist
Chapter 1:
Actions Speak Louder than Words
A man sat alone in his apartment office. One lamp was on, all the doors and windows closed. All the furniture in the room was moved to the wall, leaving a large open space in the middle, where the man was currently drawing a large circular symbol with white chalk. His golden eyes gleamed in the dim light behind his glasses at the possibilities that could unfold after he was successful.
"This is finally it!" he exclaimed, "The day I learn as much as humanly possible about alchemy. Are you all ready out there?" he shouted to a group of gloved men sitting in the living room outside the office. One of them looked at a metallic manikin in one of the chairs; it's head's glass case was open, waiting. He didn't like the look of its face, too robotic. He turned to the office door.
"Yeah, we're ready when you are, Frederick," the man replied.
"Excellent, then let the greatest alchemical endeavor for knowledge, begin!" he slammed his hands on the ground, activating the human transmutation circle. He was just going to transmute himself into what he already was; there was no need to hide his true intentions from the Truth. He would give up his entire body, except for his brain, to spend as much time behind the door as he could, absorbing as much information as he could, without sacrificing others. Then when only his brain was left on the floor, the men would come in and grab his brain and put it into the automail body sitting in the chair, enabling him to live and tell the world of what he knew.
It was crazy, both he and the men waiting knew that, but Frederick felt he had nothing left to lose since his wife suddenly left him, and he lost his job as a state alchemist for failing his biannual research exam. Little did he know, in the room directly above his, his former wife had dropped their son (unbeknownst to him) off at his friend's who happened to live there.
The transmutation circle lit up brightly, then quickly turned to a sinister dark purple, as an eye opened up in the center of the circle. Black hands shot out of the eye, reaching all around the room, even touching the ceiling. They tore away at Frederick's body, piece by piece; Frederick accepted it eagerly. As the final pieces of his body were taken, a large hand shot up, phased directly through the ceiling, and grabbed someone else who had been unfortunate enough to stand directly above the center of the circle.
Frederick opened his eyes to a white space. Looked around and saw a white silhouette of a man his size standing in front of a large door.
"Well, well," the silhouette said, "You've paid quite a hefty price to come here, haven't you?" it smirked.
"So, you must be the infamous Truth," Frederick said, ignoring the question.
"I go by many names," Truth replied, "I am the world, I am the universe, I am God, I am Truth, I am One, I am All, and I am also, you." Truth pointed at Frederick.
"Funny," Frederick chuckled, "My grandfather told me you said the exact same thing to him when he opened the portal at the age of eleven." Truth grinned. "But let's get down to business, shall we? I'm here for knowledge. Will you grant me it?"
"Very well then, alchemist," Truth said as the door behind him opened, "Ask and you shall receive." The same black hands came out and pulled Frederick into the door, and the door closed.
Truth continued to grin as the next guest arrived: a small ten-year-old boy with blond hair and the same color eyes.
"W-Where am I?" the boy asked shakily, "Who are y-you?"
Truth grinned wider. "I go by many names," Truth replied, a little louder this time, "I am the world, I am the universe, I am God, I am Truth, I am One, I am All, and I am also, you." Truth pointed at the boy.
"W-what does that mean?" the boy wondered shakily.
"You'll find out if you turn around," Truth answered. The boy turned around and saw a large door open, revealing an eye with black hands coming out at him. The boy screamed and tried to run away as he was pulled in, and the door closed.
"What a naïve boy," was all Truth had to say to that.
Frederick was enjoying himself thoroughly with all of the knowledge he was gaining; how to create successful human chimeras without a philosopher's stone; how to bond organic and inorganic matter; subatomic alchemy; but he still couldn't quite figure out human transmutation. Oh well, he thought, I figured I wouldn't be able to reach that far with the price I paid. He was pulled out of the door, facing Truth once again.
"Did you enjoy yourself, alchemist?" Truth grinned, "I hope you didn't enjoy yourself too much, because the fun part's about to begin: going back to the real world! Goodbye, alchemist!" Frederick barely showed any emotion as he was sucked out of the portal of truth and into what felt like a never-ending darkness.
Frederick swam in that darkness for about five minutes before he awoke breathing hard, long breaths, barely able to see the men standing around him.
"It worked!" He faintly heard someone shout. "Frederick! Can you move? Your breathing sounds terrible through that machine." Frederick felt he could barely take any more of this, and raised his metallic hand and touched his glass-case head. Orange-yellow lightning sparked from the alchemical reaction of the water turning into the proper fluid for holding his brain. He then continued transmuting his new body until it functioned just as well as human body, except for the need to eat, sleep, or go to the bathroom. He transmuted it one last time to give him the appearance of his old self.
"Well, gentlemen, our work here is done," he said to the gaping men around him. His voice had a barely noticeable metallic ring to it. They walked out of the building, completely disregarding the hole in the ceiling of his office.
The boy suddenly reappeared in his friend's room from where he'd been taken. His eyes were wide with horror as he continued to scream, but no sound came out. It was like a bad dream, only real. His blond friend, crying from when he disappeared moments ago, walked in and saw him as he started coughing up blood. "Mommy! Mommy! Alex is back!" Her dark-haired mom ran in and saw the little boy still coughing up blood; and finally pass out.
"Oh no!" she shouted, "We have to get him to hospital, now!" She picked him up, and the two of them ran down to her car and drove to nearest hospital as fast as they could.
At the hospital, Alex's mother was arriving from her work and came across her son's friend and her son's friend's mother, sitting outside the room where Alex was having emergency surgery done on his throat. "Is he alright? How's he doing? What happened?" She frantically asked.
"He got grabbed by this black hand-thingy and disappeared!" the little girl responded.
"Now, now, Cassidy, darling," her mother said. She turned to Alex's mother, "I don't know all the details, but after Cassidy had come screaming that Alex had disappeared, we searched our entire apartment but couldn't find him for several minutes. I began to get worried when Cassidy called me to her room saying she found Alex, but when I got there he was coughing up blood, so we rushed him here as fast we could."
"Oh dear," Alex's mother said, and tears started forming in her eyes as she put a hand to her mouth. Cassidy got up and hugged Alex's mother. She hugged back.
"It'll be okay, Ms. Alex's mommy," Cassidy replied, "Alex is strong, he beats me in arm wrestling every time!" that put a small smile on Alex's mother's smile. They sat down together and waited for a few hours before a doctor finally came out of the room.
"Mrs. Kara Elric?" The doctor asked, looking at the two brown-haired women and the girl. Alex's mother stood up.
"It's Ms., and how is my boy doing? Will he be alright?" The doctor looked up from his clipboard; Kara couldn't read his facial expression.
"He'll be alright, but, come into the room with me; you two can come as well," he looked at Cassidy and her mother. There was a large curtain concealing what Kara guessed was the bed her son lay on. "Before I let you see him, there's something you need to know," The doctor's expression was now a little more solemn. Kara was wide-eyed at what the doctor was getting at. "He'll never be able to speak again. His vocal cords—" he sighed, "his vocal cords aren't there."
Kara gasped, "You mean someone cut them out?"
"Well," the doctor began, "That seems to be the only logical explanation, except that if someone cut them out, there would be no easy way to do that without opening his throat, which hasn't happened, it's like his vocal cords just disappeared. We managed to seal up the holes they left when they were—taken, but like I said, he'll never speak or make any vocal noise again. I'm sorry."
Kara started to sob, "That's alright," she said softly, "As long as he's safe, and no one came after him, that's what matters…"
"I'll take you to him now," The doctor said. Kara, Cassidy and her mother were led to the white curtain. The doctor opened it, revealing Alex laying there with his golden eyes open. He looked over at his mother, and saw Cassidy and her mom as well. He smiled and opened his mouth as if to say something, but then frowned, closed his mouth and looked away.
"Oh honey, it's okay!" His mother said as she walked over and hugged him; they both started crying, but only Kara's sobs were heard…
"Someone activated the portal," a shrill, but male, voice said from the darkness.
"Yes, indeed," a deeper male voice said, "We must seek out this person."
"That makes three times this year," a smooth female voice said, "Maybe we'll actually find the person this time," she added sarcastically.
"Quiet, Dendroa," another male voice said, "We will find this one; I sense he is much closer to our current location." A flash of red lightning and his face suddenly morphed into one resembling a king cobra, eyes glowing red. "In fact, he's so close I can almost taste him!"
A few days later…
"You're certain no one cut his throat?" A blonde mustached man asked the doctor who had treated Alex.
"Yes, the skin on his throat was completely unscathed before we began surgery, Inspector. His vocal cords seemed to have just disappeared, but I don't know how that's possible. I mean, this little girl who claimed to have witnessed him disappear said he was grabbed by this huge black hand and dragged into the floor below." The Inspector's eyes widened at the mention of a black hand.
"No, it couldn't be…" the Inspector muttered, "Tell me doctor, where did this take place?"
"On the second floor of Dublith Apartments; the girl that gave that ridiculous story's home."
The Inspector looked serious. "I have to find that girl and her mother. Excuse me, doctor." With that, the Inspector left for Dublith apartments. He already had information on Cassidy Flowers and her mother Irene, so he knew what apartment room they had.
He ran up to the room and knocked on the door. It had started to rain. Irene opened the door slightly, "Hello?" she asked.
The blond mustached inspector suddenly had a sparkle next his eye. "Good evening madam," He replied, "I am Inspector Adam Armstrong, I'm here on the case of just what happened to Alexander Elric."
"Oh," Irene said, "Please, come on in."
"I apologize for the interruption, but as soon as the doctor told me what your little girl had told him—"
"Oh, about the black hand grabbing little Alex? Surely, you don't believe—" she was cut off by Inspector Armstrong's serious face.
"Believe me, I don't want to believe it, but there's only one way to know for sure; please show me where you found the young Elric coughing up blood."
"Okay," She sounded unsure of what was going on now, "It was in this room," she opened the door to Cassidy's room and found…that it was empty. It was a typical ten-year-old girl's room. "We cleaned up the blood, obviously, but there's no trace of broken wood or anything that would show that Alex was grabbed and dragged into the ground like Cassidy said,"
"Or so it would seem…" the Inspector mumbled, "Forgive me madam," he took out two metal cestuses with special circle inscribed on them, and put them on. He then punched the floor of the room, causing blue lightning to shoot from his cestuses and form a circular hole in the floor.
"Oh my! Are you, an alchemist, Inspector?" Irene asked.
"Indeed I am, madam, and little did you probably suspect, but another alchemist lives below you; the father of Alexander, Frederick Elric." Irene gasped, and wondered how she never ran into him going to or from the apartment. She knew how Kara had left him without telling him she was pregnant; she also knew the boy didn't know his father was so close.
"Just as I feared," Inspector Armstrong said as he looked down through the hole, "A human transmutation circle. I guess Frederick didn't bother to clean it up."
"Human transmutation? Isn't that forbidden?" Irene asked, having minimal alchemical knowledge.
"Yes, indeed it is," the Inspector replied, "Poor Alexander must have been above the center when it was activated." The inspector suddenly remembered something. "Madam, where is your daughter, currently?"
"She's over at Alex's house, trying to make him feel better," she answered, "Why?"
"That's good to hear. We should leave immediately." The Inspector stated.
"W-what? Why?" Irene inquired.
"Because, this is the third known case of human transmutation in Central, and after the last two cases—" the ground suddenly started shaking, interrupting the Inspector. "Quickly! We have to get out of here now!" He said as he picked up Irene, bridal style, and ran to the front door as fast as possible. He was about to kick the door open when a brown scaly fist broke through it and ripped the door off of its hinges. Standing in the doorway was what looked like a large humanoid komodo dragon.
"I don't think so," it said in a deep, reptilian voice.
Inspector Armstrong set Irene down. "Step aside, reptilian, before I make you!" he said, striking a fighting pose. A big snapping sound came from behind them, and suddenly a giant frilled lizard was holding Irene. She started screaming. "Irene!" Armstrong shouted.
The frilled lizard laughed. "You'll be coming with us, alchemist." It said in a shrill, raspy voice. Three more wood snapping sounds were heard raising dust. From the dust emerged a feminine humanoid black snake and a humanoid tan cobra.
"Actually, he's not the one we're looking for, Chlamyd." The cobra said, drawing out the s sounds, "but I do believe he knows where we can find him." He smiled a menacing smile. "So, tell us where the human that was foolish enough open the portal is, and the lady doesn't die," Chlamyd held up a sharp claw to Irene's neck.
A woman's scream was heard outside. The komodo dragon turned to look and saw a woman with two small children who had just stepped out of a car. The cobra's head turned toward the doorway. "Well, well, well, looks like we won't require your services, Inspector," the cobra said, "Chlamyd! Drop the female; we've found our prey," his tongue shot out of his mouth and back in.
The komodo was the first to jump toward the woman and children, all of whom had now gotten back in the car and were driving off. The komodo jumped after them, followed by the cobra and black snake; the frilled lizard running after the car, and catching up quick. "That's Ms. Elric's car," Inspector Armstrong said to himself, "No! You don't understand! He's not the one who opened the portal!" he called out, but they were long gone already. "I have to chase after them," he said as he ran down to his car, "Irene, stay there!" and he drove off after them, into the city.
The frilled lizard ran alongside Kara Elric's car and hissed at her. Kara screamed and turned right onto the next road, causing other car wheels to squeal and drivers to honk. The other reptilians jumped on the cars, continuing after the car, their sights set on Alex.
He seemed frightened, but after realizing he couldn't scream, he felt more defeated than scared. The cobra found this odd as he looked at the child through the car's rear window.
One black car with a siren going on was finally catching up to the reptilians. The cobra turned to look as jumped onto Kara's car. "Varanus!" he shouted to the komodo dragon, "Take care of that annoying inspector!" Varanus landed on the street and used his powerful leg muscles to jump straight through the Inspector's windshield and out through the other side as it turned onto the road, causing the Inspector to lose control, crashing into a fire hydrant.
Inspector Armstrong leapt out of his car and struck a fighting pose, despite having many cuts from the broken glass. Varanus charged at him again, but the Inspector was ready. As Varanus was almost upon him, the Inspector threw a punch, right in the komodo's gut; the force of the blow enough to stop Varanus' momentum.
"Now, I, Adam Alexander Armstrong, will show you the power of the alchemy that has been passed down the Armstrong family for generations!" the Inspector shouted as he tossed Varanus in the air and ripped his coat and shirt off at the same time, revealing more muscles than the human body should have; all the while managing to sparkle. As Varanus fell back down, Adam punched the ground with his cestus, causing several long sharp spikes to shoot upward into the air. Varanus was still recovering from that previous blow, and couldn't move to avoid the spikes. They pierced his body, in the same place he was punched. His mouth and eyes were wide open. "Well, that takes care of one," Adam said as he turned around.
"Where…do you think…you're going?" he heard a deep, strained voice say from behind him.
"No…" Adam said as he turned around, wide-eyed. A strange red lightning was emitting from Varanus' wound; it almost looked like it was healing! But Adam couldn't believe it, until the brown-scaled komodo broke of the spike he was on, and the gaping hole in his chest healed completely, like it was never there. Adam looked genuinely frightened as he stammered, "W-what are you?"
Varanus grabbed the Inspector and slammed him into building a few feet away. "Better than a human…" he said as he headed toward Kara's recently crashed car.
Chlamyd ripped the driver door off the burning car and grabbed an unconscious and badly injured Kara and threw her aside. Cassidy was also injured, and barely conscious. Alex was the only one still fully aware of what was going on, so he undid his and Cassidy's seatbelts, grabbed her arm to take her out of the car, stepped out, turned around and stopped. Standing in front of him was the humanoid cobra, staring intently into his eyes.
"So, are you the one that opened the portal?" he asked the frightened boy. Alex just stood there, paralyzed with fear. "Speak!" That snapped Alex out of his paralysis. He mouthed the words, "I can't" but the cobra didn't understand; he just grew angrier. "Tell me!" Alex was in tears now, not knowing how to communicate to the cobra he couldn't talk and that he had no idea what portal he was talking about.
The cobra's voice became quiet. "A few days ago, I sensed someone had opened the portal. It was so close that could practically smell it; and you reek of that portal, but up close, I'm not so sure; you have that scent, but, something is just a little off about your stench; so tell me, did you open the portal?" his voice rose at the question. Alex stood there. "So be it. Chlamyd! Throw me the boy's mother!" The frilled lizard picked up Kara like a rag doll and tossed her to the cobra. "Now tell me, or I'll rip her heart out and crush it!"
Alex's eyes were completely filled with tears; he wanted to scream at the cobra, to make any type of sound that would make him stop, but he couldn't, so he fell to his knees in defeat, tears still streaming down his face. He didn't even look up when he heard the heart-wrenching sound of flesh ripping and blood spatter on his face. He stopped crying, and didn't move at all.
"Ophio," the black snake said to the cobra, "What if he fell into the portal by accident, and then it took away his ability to speak?" Ophio threw the body aside and looked at the black snake for a few moments.
"That would actually make sense, Dendroa," he said after a while, "Well, I would feel awkward about killing the boy's mother, if hadn't planned on doing it already!" he said to Alex's still-kneeling form. Ophio laughed maniacally after that, and finally said, "Let's go. This boy didn't open the portal." He turned away and started walking over to a manhole cover.
Something snapped in Alex. He had to do something, he thought. He couldn't let them walk away without a scratch. His fists tightened. His head snapped up, golden eyes burning with rage. He clapped his hands together and slammed his hand on the car. That cobra-freak wanted a sound? Well, he would get one.
Alex wasn't completely aware he was doing this, but he moved the air molecules that the sound of his hand hitting the car made was traveling through closer together, and created a chain of tighter and tighter air molecules directly at Ophio's right inner ear; the blue lightning of the alchemical reaction flowing along this chain. The molecules vibrated faster and faster, until they broke the sound barrier as they struck the cobra, sending him flying into a nearby building.
"Ophio!" Dendroa shouted. She turned to the angry blond boy and hissed. Varanus and Chlamyd also grimaced at the boy. Alex's expression remained unchanged as he stared at the pile of rubble Ophio was in. Red lightning emitted from that pile as Ophio rose from it, the right side of his head covered in blood until it healed.
"So, the brat has some fight in him, does he?" he spat, angrily. "I'll kill you myself!" he screamed as he ran toward Alex.
"Not today, reptile!" the inspector said as he ran in front of Alex and punched the ground. Blue lightning shot out as the ground collapsed, sending the inspector, Alex, and the car plunging into the sewers. "Hold on tight!" Adam said as he grabbed Alex and Cassidy out of the car and shielded them from the falling debris. He picked them up and ran through the sewers, away from the reptiles, and the murder site of Alex's mother.