"So, uh...what...exactly is that?"
A befuddled blond questioned those in his company.
"We were kind of hoping you'd be able to tell us that...,"
What it was an understatement, 'why it was' happened to be more fitting in this particular situation.
Edward reached up to absentmindedly scratch at the growing in stubble on his chin, quite the itchy annoyance but he was honestly just happy to have facial hair. So he continued to let it grow without peril of the swift flick of a razor.
There happened to be a giant glowing...thing, in front of him and his companions, which apparently seemed to defy explanations. Numerous individuals had been set up inside a make-shift room around said 'thing', by the military in attempts to block out more unwanted gawkers.
"Have you...tried poking it with a stick? Or some other sort of large object, like perhaps your ego Colonel Mustang?"
An of average height, brunet cut his eyes at his former comrade, "That's Brigadier General Mustang, to you Peasant."
A strong arm wrapped around the blonde neck, and a happy voice accompanying a happy human popped in between the silent eye war the other two men were having,
"Come on now, we're here to solve a mystery, unite the lands, make sure my vacation is well spent and more over...I'm a prince therefore more powerful than either of you can ever hope to be."
All eyes in the room were now focused, with annoyance from most and amusement from very few, onto the 'Prince'.
"..Right. Seriously though, have you tried anything...with..the What?" Edward forcefully shrugged off Ling Yao's arm, and turned his golden eyes back towards the aforementioned 'What.' He was more-so thinking about why on earth he decided meeting up with the King-To-Be(If He played His Cards Right), was such a great idea at the time.
Mustang's eyesight moved back to the glowing object, ignorant to the inner fit the young adult was having. Not that he ever really seemed to care about the inner workings of the Elric mind, as the man was stubborn as a horse. Pun very much intended.
The thing had appeared overnight in the middle of one of the newly established trade routes between the once again Ishvalan-owned land, and Xing country.
It was fewer than 4 feet deep with no apparent front or back, and at least 10 feet high with contained glowing light emitting from all parts, the middle of which looked to be almost like reflective water, and the sky all that the same time. Yet held within a golden hue.
Mustang chuckled and brushed a hand through his slicked back hair, a style he'd never be completely used to but supposedly made him look more 'leader-like', according to Havoc anyway. Though there was an equal chance of that man purposely making the leader look bad, as to ruin his chances with the ladies. Giving Havoc a much better chance himself, as it took very little time to get over his little breach in trust after 'Solaris."
"You're honestly asking if we, the military, have refrained from fucking with something? You should know better than anyone, shouldn't you?"
A grim expression crossed Edwards face at Mustangs tone, but he said nothing and let the Brigadier General keep speaking.
Mustang continued on to say that a younger farmer had seen the object forming, but saw no one in the area that could have been the culprit.
As Brigadier General, Mustang's duties were in Ishval; keeping the peace, creating new trade routes and areas for individuals going and coming from Xing. So when this happen in a town not more than 30 miles away from his base, it was him who had gotten the order from Grunman to check it out.
No human dared touch the thing, yet there was always a crowd of villagers and military men and women crowded around when they got around to testing it. Hence the reason after a day or two, the makeshift room around it had been set up. Carefully of course, as to not touch the thing.
The only thing they had really been able to work out from the giant golden object, that the natives had taken to calling the Sun Disk, was that anything that went in...didn't come back out.
At first the tests were nothing more than people tossing rocks into it, and checking systematically to see if anything came back out from either side and angle. Eventually the tests progressed to larger and larger objects, before it came the time and the call to test it on living beings.
Now, the Amsteris military had it's past well rooted in using living things as metaphorical kindling when it came to any sort of alchemical testing, but those days had gone with the passing of the last Fuhrer.
Instead of keeping with the rather bloody and horrid history of the last regime, the new Fuhrer Grunman deemed to do away with all traces of the last, and that just happened to fit in perfectly with their plans.
After the defeat of the Homunculi, the underground tunnels and passageways that once belonged to the Father, were now firmly in capable human hands. The only problem being the pests; Chimera.
Sad, pathetic, violent and supposed affronts to God, the Chimera still roamed the corridors like they had no idea their creator had long past. So, they were rounded up by the bravest of soldiers and put in cages. Alchemists such as General Armstrong, or Dr. Marcoh were quite interested in trying to return the things to their previous bodies. This would prove quite beneficial to the human chimeras that were still walking the world, unthreatened by military interference due to their quite convincing connections.
However, the new Thing, (dubbed; Anomaly#56, by the Military and more affectionately, 'pain in the ass' to Mustang.) was more important to the new Fuhrer, than the lives of a few left over chimeras from the sewers.
So, 8 chimeras were shipped in, and 8 went into Anomaly#56, and none came out.
"Wait, what? You put chimeras in that thing? Marcoh, did you know about this?" Edward whipped around, quick enough to have his hair smack firmly into the loitering Ling's royal nose.
Dr. Marcoh had been called in, as well as the former Fullmetal Alchemist, as another experienced scientific mind for consulting. His companions were all familiar faces to Edward, as they should be since a few of them saved his life. Another scarred faced individual, who the soldiers turned a blind eye to on strict orders, had almost killed Ed a few times.
Another yet, was one of the most precious individuals in Edwards life. None other than his brother, Alphonse himself, that had been spending the last few months traveling with Mei Chang, Heinkel and Darius. Just recently he had met back up with Dr. Marcoh and the chimeras Dolcetto and Roa.
"He didn't know, none of us did until we were told last weekend, Brother,"
Alphonse smiled pleasantly at his elder brother, mostly happy to be able to smile at all, regardless of having gotten his body back a few years ago.
Edward had been back at 'home' rebuilding their old house, and helping out at the Rockbells, and while the elder Elric would always be happy to help out...too much time spent in once place usually ended up with Edward going a bit mad. So the key in this situation was to break all news to the young adult as gently as possible.
Edward's lip twitched down again, regardless of Marcoh not having been involved in the Chimera testing, the blond was bothered enough by not having been brought in earlier.
But was there a point in bringing him in at all, really? It wasn't like he could use any sort of alchemy, he thought with bitter amusement. Oh well, he could at least serve as some sort of human alchemic library.
"Okay," Ed began slowly as possible, with as much patience as he could muster up, "I volunteer myself to go into it."
A resounding "No." filled the makeshift room in response.
Mustang hummed to himself, strumming his fingers along his dark blue military assigned pants before nodding. "I'm opposed as well, but I'm fairly sure no mater what anyone says here, you're going to go charging in regardless,"
All naysayers went silent, even Al frowned in frustrated agreement. Edward just had a cheeky grin on his face
All except Ling, who chuckled to himself. It wasn't like it was the first time Edward had ended up in a fake realm with supposed 'no way out'. The prince had faith in his friend.
"Here are my terms, former-fullmetal. You will be connected to a extremely strong rope, and you will have a radio and portable backpack phone with you at all times. Your signal to be pulled back slowly will be 3 rough tugs on said rope, provided you survive. Agreed?"
Edward stared blankly at Roy Mustang, a man he disliked and looked up to all at the same time. The truth of the matter was, Edward was going a bit crazy back in Risembol. He could tell Alphonse was picking up on his distress, but it wasn't something so easy as not being able to travel.
Alchemy was his life for so long, being without it was almost like loosing a child...or being handicapped. He got along fine, and was able to do everything he used to be able to do...maybe with a bit more effort, but the pain was far from gone.
Even after so long.
So, he did what any man on the brink of a mental breakdown, in his early twenties would do. Something extremely stupid, that is.
He turned, waved to the faces of his friends and family and thrust his hand into the so called Sun Disk.
And that was all it took to set off a series of particularly unhelpful events.
As soon as his hand hit gold, the color flashed to blue and exploded, before imploding back upon itself.
And then, it was gone.
And they were gone.
"Mama, look there's a shiny thing on the TV!" A little girl tugged at the cloth of her mothers dress, and frantically pointed to what simply had been white noise of the local news station in the background of their modestly sized apartment.
The brunette mother, turned to the screen and pushed a strand of hair out of her face, hand clenched on her daughters shoulders.
"Oh my..that is interesting isn't it, Lilith?"
"This is Tori Matsukawa, reporting from downtown live! No more news yet on the strange object that appeared in the sky just minutes ago, but experts agree that it's very unlikely to be a prank- I...wait, there seems to be something..emerging from the- oh my god!"
A small smile curled over dark lips.
Meeting after meeting, order after order, annoyance after annoyance. Life was simply too much trouble sometimes, thought the newly promoted esteemed businessman.
People were aggravating on a daily regular basis, and became more so when they were sniveling under you for approval.
He had retreated to his own personal office not more than 10 minutes ago, and his phone line was already beeping red. But, that would have to wait, he mused to himself. Reaching for his remote control, he turned to the news, hoping for some update on the latest information on the Sho.D Corp collapse. He had clients that depended on the outcome of the following meeting regarding the merger sure to come.
But, tonight seemed to be a bit of something special.
"This is Crispin Shang, reporting for Channel 10 News. Breaking news, something seems to be coming out of the object that appeared in the downtown Metro area. I repeat, this is NOT a joke. We've gotten word from the Chief of Police, that all individuals need to STAY inside, until this situation is handled by the proper authorities. Do not panic!-"
A deep chuckle rumbled out of his chest. Telling humans to not panic in the face of the unknown was like telling water to not be wet.
"Oh come on!" Said the man, with his arms hanging threw the steely bars of the local police department.
"If the city is really in a state of emergency, then aren't you fine sirs and..very fine madams, better suited out there? With the general populous? Rather than here, with me and few drunkards?"
He queried onwards, hoping sooner or later to hit paydirt, rather than a billyclub to the face. He had been known to charm even the hardest of hearts in the past, and in a situation like this...could they really risk public safety just to keep their eyes on him, rather than the streets?
The nearest cop eyed him wearily behind his spectacles, before looking back at the wall mounted LCD television screen.
"The team here at Local Channel 2 has just received more breaking news on the ongoing situation in the downtown metro area. This is Willow Savarez-Kimbo reporting from our news helicopter. While we can't see the object that came out of the first anomaly, the anomaly that has since vanished, we now have new information that more anomalies have been sighted in the following areas-"
The incarcerated individual glanced upwards with a growing smile when he heard the telltale sound of footfall coming towards him.
"I'm only letting you go in case this freaky situation turns freakier..and you need to rush home to be with family or something," The cop said uniformly, with a grimace on his handsome face. The pety criminal sent him a sharp grin in return as the jailcell lock was opened.
I haven't had any family for a long time, he chuckled to himself...but he needn't tell this gentleman that. He looked like the family type anyway.
A teenager flopped down onto a floor pillow in front of a short table, mildly annoyed that their Baba had to, of course, be too tied to the olden ways. It crimped their style, and more importantly was hard as hell to sit comfortably in a miniskirt.
Not that they cared, sitting in a rather unflattering manner in their school uniform, with spread legs. Who cared about manners when you looked this cute, they smirked to themselves.
Violet eyes flickered down to the table in front of them, and more importantly to the nearly empty bowl on top of it.
Frowning, they called out, "BABA, WE'RE ALMOST OUT OF TANERGINES."
Not entirely caring if 'Baba' answered or not, the teenager grasped for the remote next to the bowl of assorted fruits, and hit the 'on' button.
"- Our on going coverage of this very important emergency to the country, continues now with more exclusive unseen footage. We now have video of one of the creatures that emerged from the 3rd Anomaly. Prepare yourself, for this may change everything you believe-"
The teen stared at the screen slack jawed as the images moved across the television in the corner. Their grandmother walked into the room, and replied with a cold, "Then why don't you go get some more, I pay you good money, too good for the amount of work you do around here-..what on earth are you watching?"
Blinking repeatedly as though trying to make sure what they were seeing, was in fact reality, and ignoring the cold feeling of dread washing over their body, the teenager responded quite hollowly,
"..That's a Chimera..."
Edward attempted looked around, in what was utter darkness. There was no point in attempting to use his eyes, but yet..he felt like there was something else-
Voices muttered to life around him, some whispers, some grunts. Until,
"Hey, Fullmetal are you there?"
He turned in the direction the voice had come, a voice most certainly belonging to Roy Mustang.
"Yeah," the blonde croaked out, throat dry and strained while still trying to process that could have possibly happened."Head count, anyone?"
"I'm here!" Pipped Ling's voice from far too close for personal comfort, and a quieter 'me too' was heard from what must have been the constant shadow, Ran Fan.
"I'm here too, brother." came a voice from another few feet off, before it was heard speaking softly to a small feminine voice.
Edward grinned to himself, he knew that no matter the situation, he could get through it with his brother and his friends.
After a rallying of voices, one after the other, they realized their group consisted of; the Elric Brothers, Mustang and Hawkeye, the Xingese trio, Dr. Marcoh, the 4 chimera, plus Scar.
Quite the strange little group by itself, until another voice, a smaller voice pipped up.
"I'm here as well, and I'm rather confused as to why."
And then, the room flooded with white..yet the change in lighting did no harm to the eyes. Edward spun to where he had heard the smallest of the voices that responded. He open and closed his mouth a few times, before questioning,
"Selim?"
The others were all there when the Sun Disk went ...crazy, but Edward was fairly certain there was no way in hell Selim had been there. And why there was that little annoying voice in the back of his head, saying 'be on guard, idiot!' that sounded suspiciously like his former teacher.
But sure enough, standing no more than 7 feet off was the unmistakable Selim. Looking much the same as when Edward had fought the homunculus Pride all those years ago. Except, this time, he had the incomplete oroborus tattoo displayed on his forehead.
"Actually, it's Pride," The only living homunculus responded looking a bit bored, and glancing around the new wall-less white expanse of a room they were currently occupying.
Edwards jaw clenched with realization that, that voice in his head had been spot on, "How long-,"
"Long enough. I did quite honestly have amnesia, but it didn't last long. Don't worry, I have no intentions of doing any harm to anyone...I'm content in my life..with my mother." The elder of all of them, yet small as an 8 year old looked down at his feet, still feeling more than a bit conflicted as to his emotions regarding humans. Which was unneeded confusion, when piled on top as to questions as to why he was currently where he was.
Edward took a few striding steps towards to boys frame, "How could I possibly trust you...and for all we know, you're behind all of this! You were NOT there when that Sun Disk imploded!" He growled out, blonde hairs covering his eyes did not contain his anger and rage. It was, however, unlikely that the homunculus could have created something so powerful when he was running on empty in regards to philosophers stone.
Edward knew he was partially upset with himself, if it hadn't been for him jumping head first into this situation, then maybe...maybe they wouldn't be here and. No, he bit his inner lip, there was no use thinking about could have been's.
"Oh, Edward Elric. Trust me, he's not responsible, in fact..you need him in order to get back home."
It was a whispy voice, like a million people whispering in tandem, in the same tone.
And then, Edward realized where they were. The Doorway of Truth materialized in front of the company of misfits...and suddenly, Truth...God, stood before them.
In front of all of them, because he had split himself into a thousand perfect copies. Eyeless eyes, lighting up with mirth, a vile grin spread across it's faces.
"-How...To get here we...We never performed human transmutation!" Alphonse pipped up, looking more distraught than anyone, but he had a reason to be, after all this place was all too familiar to the younger brother.
"No, you ended up here because you went into a gap between worlds."
He tilted his heads, all thousand of them. As if asking if anyone wanted to cut in there and question him more.
"...What you've seen, when you saw Me; Truth. Is only your world. Your universe even, is too large for you poor things to ever take in. Your heads would explode and it would be quite mess for me to clean up...Now, obviously I can't show you...for the...aforementioned head exploding reasons...But I can tell you,"
Truth's mouth shut, and they seemed to be considering something for a moment,
"There is ..a what you might call fabric, between your universe, and others. However, they are all one in the same, as well as they are different. However, since the little stunt Mr. so called Homunculus pulled a few of your years back..the fabric has been damaged in a few places. It's possible to restore it, using the same energy that made up that creature, whom you called Father"
"What was he anyway? Where did he come from? The Father, that is." Ling spoke, all cheerfulness drained from his voice. Ling had lost Greed during that fight, which had been like losing a brother. Or even closer than that, given Ling had many brothers..and none of them meant near as much as Greed had.
Truth's gaze, if it had eyes, turned to Pride. "Care to answer that, little homunculi?"
Pride looked uncertain at the sudden pressure, already violently aware that Hawkeye had silently pulled her weapon and was aiming it directly at his temple.
"I have no idea. Father never said anything besides that it was supposedly 'Beyond the Door of Truth.'" He spoke, unsuredly, shifting his position from one small foot to the other.
Truth's grin grew larger, "And he was correct in that. What he was, was ...in fact, the fabric. He was never a created human, or a true what you would call a homunculi. He was part of the stuff that keeps the universes together and in check. But he escaped, and thought that by obtaining me, he could control all of the universes. Which would have never worked, by the way. One worlds power is not nearly enough to control me, nor would it be enough to control all of us, or our doorways. "
The thing chuckled, and Edwards mind was reeling. There were multiple universes? Not just that, but it sounded as though the thing was implying there were multiple..it's? Besides the thousand something standing before him, that was.
"No, Edward Elric. Just like the universes themselves...I am but of one part here, however I am all the same, and of one being. All is one, and one is all and all that...And yes, I can read all of your minds, so nothing dirty alright?" And with that, the thousand of beings, slide seamlessly into one Truth, standing before their group.
Somewhere in the background, Edward heard Darius mutter a quiet 'Why are you blushing?' to a spluttering Marcoh, before Truth carried on.
"Now, soon, you will be ripped from my grasp, and the break in the fabric will lead you into another world. Listen closely, I've brought Pride here for one very specific reason. The homunculi contained part of their fathers being in their own bodies. The only way to save all of the universes from completely unraveling is to bring together all seven. I have no way of controlling that world, and the me of their door has no way of controlling this..otherwise i'd simply do it myself."
"But they're dead. All of the Homunculi besides Pride are dead..." Muttered Mustang to Edward's right. He seemed less pleased than one would usually be over the deaths of inhuman monsters. It was likely he was thinking about the opportunity to kill Envy himself, being taken away from his grasp.
Truth's grin grew so large it literally took up the majority of all of its face.
"In this world yes, in the world you'll be going to...not quite. And, as a bonus...they're all very much human. However they still contain the essence of their father, regardless of their human bodies. So I'd like to make a very strict Do Not Kill, policy here. In return, if you are able to find any other individuals who may be not of this world, but of theirs..I may allow them to return with you."
Truth vanished as quickly as it had appeared, but it's voice was heard as a powerful sonic boom.
"But once and only once, you bring together ALL of the Seven!"
Then, in a blink of an eye, they vanished from that room. Their bodies feeling as though they were being ripped apart and rearranged, a feeling Edward was unfortunately all too familiar with.
And then, all parts of their odd little group tumbled onto earth.
Edward grunted as his hands balled up into the soft grass below him, feeling very uncomfortable...as though there was a huge weight upon his back.
"Oh, oh my, I'm sorry Edward Elric," said a voice that sounded suspiciously like as the weight removed itself off from Ed's back.
As he pushed himself onto his forearms and glanced around to survey what this new situation had brought them, he took in Alphonse helping a embarrassed Ran Fan to her feet. Similarly, Hawkeye was yanking Mustang to his feet by the back of his collar, though it didn't seem as if he needed help in the first place.
Ling seemed to be up and conversing with one of the Chimera, with Scar somewhere scowling in the background.
"Eeeii! Get off me, get off, get off!"
Edward rocked backwards onto the balls of his feet, and swiveled his head around. Mei was frantically pushing a very startled looking Pride away from her, and repeatedly punching him in the face. That was most likely the part that had the homunculus a bit rattled
A less than subtle grin made it's way onto Ed's face, he knew Pride was feeling each of those punches. Because if what Truth had said was true...
Truth...
"Hey guys, anyone have any clue to where we are...?" Edward got to his feet, brushing bits of plant and dirt debris off his pants and burgundy jacket. He looked immediately to Alphonse, who just shook his head silently in response.
"Well we're sure not in Ishaval anymore.." Mustang huffed out as he looked out towards the distance. Edward opened his mouth to respond, but it was lost in his throat when he spotted what just exactly Mustang was looking at with narrowed eyes.
They seemed to be in the middle of some sort of park, with a large expanse of grass beyond a smallish outcropping of wooded area.
But, beyond that...the unmistakeable glow of a city, and the shape of buildings climbed out of the light.
Ed shook his head in amazement, the buildings were too big. Bigger than anything he had ever seen in any city on the earth he knew.
No, he thought, that was wrong. Some of them were at least the size of the Brigg's fortress in height..some even taller. Yet, they we're slick and smaller in mass..more like a conventional office building stretched almost infinitely into the sky.
It was growing darker out by the minute, and new lights seemed to appear in the mega-city by the second.
A small mechanical roar overhead made all of the company look skyward, as what appeared to be a giant winged submarine flew threw the sky effortlessly.
But it wasn't something completely alien to Edward, he once again looked over towards Roy Mustang who now had a very dark expression across his features.
"I've..seen something like that in the past..but there was no way it was ready for flight..or even that big."
Mustang shook his head, previously slicked back hair becoming unkempt once again, "It's true that we were working on something our researchers were calling an Aeroplane, but the tests have been iffy and the machines often more poorly built than an automobile," He pointed skyward at the flying object.
"That, is far beyond any of our capabilities."
There was a heavy and thick span of silence after that, as they all tried to wrap their heads around this new world around them.
Alphonse was the first to break it, with a soft "So...what are we going to do?"
"We go into the city, and we find out what we're dealing with." Scar spoke gravely, for the first time since Edward had seen the man again.
"If we're meant to find the the other homunculi, it's not going to be easy in that type of city. There's probably well over 100,000 people inhabiting that area...and contrary to popular belief, I don't have a built in 'homunculi' finding device in my head." Pride said, smoothly. It was all true and Edward knew it, and that's what worried him.
There was an unspoken 'if they're all even in the town in front of us..and not spread out over the globe.'
"Hey now! You're forgetting you have three Xingese people in your presence!" Ling grinned, throwing an arm over Ran Fan's shoulder, who dodged at the last second.
"...And? Last time I checked, you weren't a bloodhound...even if you do eat like one." Ed grumbled under his breath, sending his friend the 'I still haven't forgiven you for that' look.
"We might not be able to smell them but,-"
"But we've felt their chi before! So we can use that to find them again! Even if they don't look the same!" Mei cut in, and Ling may or may not have given Ran Fan the signal to kill the small girl.
"I mean, I can feel Pride's disgusting chi like it's all around me, so it may be difficult ...but I have faith with the three of us, we can definitely find them!" Mei finished proudly, looking quite content with herself, even as Pride muttered 'Yeah well you smell like porkbuns...and jasmine.' to himself.
"So...," Edward cut in, "The plan is to make our way into the city...find out where exactly we are..when we are, and the general lay out of the town before making any further decisions based on the locations of the Homunculi. Sound about right?" He took a few strides forward towards the looming city in front of them, before turning to face his companions.
Hands on his hips, looking boastful as ever. This was exactly what he needed, some 'Hey by the way, the world is going to end if you don't do something entirely dangerous and also you need to ally yourself with a bunch of folk that kind of want to kill you' -type of adventure he was longing.
Edward loved Winry, he loved Pinako( though he'd never admit it), and he loved his little old town and the home and life he was rebuilding there. But, a life left there? Well, maybe once he was of pension age.
The group nodded all around, and Edward could see Ran Fan and Hawkeye's gazes already sizing up the city before them, like it was assigned obstacle to overcome with near deadly force. Alphonse took a few steps towards his brother with a smile on his face, as they were most definitely an unbeatable team.
Mei spun on heel to shake a finger directly into Prides face, the girl was taller than him...but not by much. "And you! We can sense you if you try to run away, so don't even think about it!"
"Why on earth would I run, I want to get back home probably even more than the rest of you. I've never had a human life before, not a real family and yet, chances are I'm going to die no matter what I do on this stupid little trek." Pride's voice was calm and cool, like it always was, but there was no mistaking the look of utter frustration on the childish features, and the clenched small fists tucked to his sides.
Mei was taken back, loosing some of her bravado of previous, and awkwardly lowered her judgemental finger.
"Why would you die, Selim?" Alphonse questioned, tilting his head slightly, seemingly nice yet quite purposely using Pride's human name instead.
Pride sighed to himself, "You heard it didn't you? To fix the gaps, it has to use Father's essence left in the homunculi. Father created us, and chances are...once it's removed..." He trailed off, eyes cast downward at his brown loafers.
"Well...all I can say is good luck trying to convince any of my siblings to essentially give up their lives as a favor to you. I can already see how well that'll go down with a few of them." Pride finished, smirking slightly, no doubt thinking of the many ways their situation could backfire on them. They weren't of course allowed to kill the homunculi, but there was absolutely no guarantee that they'd return the same courtesy.
Edward was silently thinking much of the same thing, but he had a much more positive outlook on the matter. Chances were, if the Homunculi had remained in the same forms as they had in the previous world, the only main threat to their safety would be Wrath.
Without their superhuman powers, the rest would be less of a threat, and more of a bother. It's possible that someone like Lust or Envy could pull a weapon, but with numbers on Edward's side...it's unlikely they could do much at all.
So with that, and everyone thinking about their varied plans of attack, they set off towards the gleaming city in front of them. Something that was quite possibly far more daunting than ever finding their targets.
It didn't actually take all that long to make it into the outskirts of the city, having reached some of the 'slums' of the town in less than 15 minutes. The park they had been in wasn't completely vacant, having a few what appeared to be folks out for a late night jog took a look at the group and made a face before continuing on their path in more of a sprint than a light trot. So their opportunities to ask any passerby's looked a bit grim there, but it was more than likely they'd be able to find someone to speak to in this part of the city.
Calling it a slum was a bit of an insult to the area, as it wasn't so much dirty as it was just less wealthy and less stunning than the tall buildings a bit further into the distance casting a shadow upon the area even at night.
There was trash that needed cleaning, and graffiti on the walls. A few alleyways a smart person would think twice before heading down, sure. But over all, the place had finely paved small streets lined with small businesses. Glowing signs in the windows indicated whether they were 'Open' or 'Closed', and more were open than the latter.
Alphonse pointed toward one of the 'Open' businesses, a little market it appeared to be, with a sign on the top happily declaring 'McDowell's' to the rest of the world.
"Look, they have new's papers in there!" Al smiled, trotting towards the store and opening the doors that jingled with the clinks of bells tied to the handlebars.
Edward's mouth twitched, but it wasn't like he of all people could comment on someone else's impulsive attitude. So he continued on in behind his brother, as did a few more of their group. Edward was a bit surprised when he noticed Ling standing in the street, looking straight at a blank stone wall like it was whispering bad things about his dress. But Ed didn't comment on it, and held the door open for Hawkeye and she passed by, and promptly let it go to smack into Mustang.
The store attendant was busy staring at... Well, Edward wasn't entirely sure.
It sounded like a radio, but appeared as thought it was playing film...but that wasn't possible on such a small piece of equipment, with no film reel in sight.
But whatever it was, seemed to have the man's rapt attention and he chewed rather viciously on his knuckles and tapped his other hand at hummingbird speed on the counter top.
His attention was drawn from the man's nervous appearance, when he felt a sharp tap to his shoulder. Looking over, Mustang was motioning to look at what was playing on the screen itself.
Edward felt his stomach drop into his boots.
There was another Sun Disk on the screen, in what looked to be the middle of the city. People were yelling, and a woman who seemed to be narrating what was happening was saying things like '4th known anomaly.' 'stay inside' 'something has come out of the anomaly'
Edward walked up to the store clerks counter and smacked his hand rather roughly onto it, to get the mans attention.
"Hey, is that happening right now?" He gestured toward the screen that was mounted on the wall.
The man bit his lip and nodded his balding head, liver spots jumping out at him. "Yeah, it's a live broadcast," he seemed to look a bit closer at them, and then glanced out the window to take in the rest of their group outside. "Are, you ..ah..from out of town?"
Mustang stepped forward smoothly, and shoved Ed out of the way, flashing his 'look i'm handsome and you can trust me Sir.' smile.
"Yes, and our vehicle was actually supposed to carry on past this city, but it broke down just outside town. None of us have actually been here before, so is there anyway we could by chance look at a map and newspaper?"
Riza rolled her eyes in the corner and Roy stepped up the smarm levels in his voice.
"Sure..go ahead and take one. I think I'm going to go home and close down shop for the night anyway..." The man pointed at the display of newspapers and maps near a large machine that said 'ICE' in bright blue. They all nodded their thanks and gratitude to him, before exiting with their newly found bounty.
As they left, Edward took in again a rapt looking Ling who was still staring at that damn wall. Every few seconds the Xingese prince would mutter something and tilt his head just slightly. Like he was on the loosing end of a very confusing conversation with it.
But then, he noticed Ran Fan in the shadows looking in the same direction, face drawn in and expression murky. Ed looked to Mei next, who seemed to be a bit distracted from the conversation she had been having with Dr. Marcoh, as she glanced in the same direction as the other two.
The deciding factor that something was exceedingly strange was Pride, who had been perched on the sidewalk, looking for all the world like he extremely did not want to be there...which he probably didn't. But then, he glanced in the same direction as the other three and wrinkled his nose.
Edward had a mild epiphany. Pride might not have some magical Homunculus-seeking device in his head, but he did have Gluttony's nose.
But just as he was about to say something intelligent and deep, Ling's eyes widened and the young man darted off down the street with cheetah like speed. Ran Fan was next, and Edward yelped a loud, "Oh come on, if you get lost we're not going to come find you!" before he betrayed his own statements and took off after them. Judging by the sounds of footfall behind him, so had the rest of their little merry band.
He turned a corned, and then another, and yet another and each time only caught just the back foot of Ran Fan as she vanished around the next obstacle.
He heard a 'What the hell?' up ahead, before rounding the final corner and smacking dead center into another human being. That force was enough to send all four individuals tumbling to the pavement.
And for the second time that day, Edward found himself in an uninvited pigpile on the ground. Thankfully, this time he was on top. Less thankfully, he received a very hard automail elbow to his stomach courtesy of one Ran Fan.
So he flipped himself off to one side, grunting in pain and wrapping his arms around his waist and would worry later about laying in the middle of the street.
The next moment, Ran Fan was flusteringly trying to help him to his feet, but her attention was elsewhere.
So gold eyes glanced to where any why he had smacked into his friend. His eyebrows raised exponentially at the sight.
Ling was laying atop another man of equal size, with his arms wrapped around him in what could have been taken as very strange to anyone passing by. Hell, it looked strange to Edward, and he knew Ling.
The man below Ling was almost snarling he was grumbling so loud, like a permanent bumblebee below his friend.
"Seriously, what the fuck, who the hell-"
Ling sat back onto the mans thighs, mouth drawn in like he was trying to jam down emotions and eyes watering as he looked down at the figure below him.
Only then did Edward understand why.
They had been in this world for less than 2 hours, and had already found their first homunculus.
And out of all of them, it had to be him. Truth must have been laughing at them.
A highly confused and rattled Greed gazed back at Ling.
There was an awkward silence, and Edward felt his hopes start to dwindle as he started to wonder if the sin even remembered them.
But, then..
"...Ling?"
That was all it took for Ling to launch himself back at Greed, embracing the poor confused former-homunculus like a brother.
Ed took a moment to wonder if he looked anywhere that stupid when he embraced Al for the first time after his body had been restored. But, no, he figured. He must have looked heroic and awesome.
Red eyes snapped to Ed standing there, while awkwardly trying to pat a sniffing prince on the back.
"Ed too? And the girl...Huh, so I was right after all." The eyes twinkled, with a toothy smile. And then he shoved Ling off. Hard.
I mean, he was going to have a couple bruises afterwards.
Standing, and stretching, Ed was able to take in that this Greed seemed to be a mish mosh of both the original Greed's features, as well as when he was in Ling's body. Short hair, but his facial features were more regal than they were hooligan. But he still had those damn weird looking sunglasses.
Edwards grin split his face and clapped Greed on the arm, before what the sin had said sunk in.
"Wait...what do you mean 'You were right'?" Ed frowned deeply, did the homunculi all know they were here? If so, this was about to get a LOT harder.
"Those glowing things are poppin' up all over town! Throwing out chimera's from Pop's old labyrinth like old meat! I figured if something that fucked up was happening, it wouldn't shock me if you all were behind it somehow!" Greed laughed heartily, before turning and frowning at Ling who was getting closer like he was about to tackle him again.
Greed may have missed his friend and one time Mind-flat mate, but enough was enough. He was in the public here..he had a reputation to hold up. He didn't need to be seen by some of his enemies prancing along with a couple young men with long hair.
"..The chimera..they're coming out here?...in the city?...The alchemists here should ..should be able to handle them though, right?" Ed looked a bit pale, Greed realized. He didn't particularly care about the areas of the city the Chimera were showing up. Rich bastards. You break in one..or more times, and suddenly you're banned from the gated neighborhoods.
He smirked,
"Kid, there's no alchemy in this world. No alchemists since the something-hundreds. Here, it's a dead and failed science. Here...they use things way worse than anything alchemists had back there. Bombs that'd kill more people in a moment than the amount of people it'd take to make a philosphers stone."
Ed and Ling stayed silent after that comment, letting it slowly sink in.
No alchemy? At all?
The sound of footfall behind them alerted them that rest of their company had joined them, and Ed had an idea.
"Al, Mei use alchemy and alkahestry!" Ed snapped at them, and the two looked a bit dazed both at seeing Greed, and then being yelled at. For the most part Ed was ignored, as the Chimera and others ran up to greet Greed.
"OKAY, okay, you're done. Now, Al use alchemy. Mei, use alkahestry. It's important!" Ed yelped again, more upset at being jilted, more than anything. And he so did not stamp his foot like an angry woman.
"Uh, okay brother.." Al nodded slowly, speaking in a manner that one would use if they wished not to rile up a wild dangerous animal.
And so Alphonse and Mei did their move, a clap here, a flinging of knives there. And presto; Alchemy.
Or, there should have been. Because when Al and Mei attempted it in this world, it amounted to squat diddly.
Greed snorted at their failed efforts, "I told you didn't I, Alchemy doesn't exist here. The manner in which these humans use 'Chemistry' is something related, but highly different than anything you'd be used to."
He then took in everyones now very forlorn faces, like someone just ripped a binky from a baby. Which, if Greed thought about it, was a pretty good metaphor for Alchemists and their craft.
He sighed deeply, "Come on, the lot of you. I'll take you to my hang out. I'll fill you in more on this world. Trust me, you'll need it."
Envy leaped the stairs two at a time, to reach the second floor of their home. After the news special, it was made very clear to the former sin, that they needed to get more information.
So Envy did what Envy did when they needed to get more information.
Grabbed up their backpack, with a modified laptop in it, grabbed the not entirely legal smart phone off their dresser, threw on a dark hoodie, and then as they donned a pair of dark boots were on their way. Back down the stairs, and wiping around the corner at speeds only a 5"2 genderqueer gymnist could obtain.
"Are you going to get tangerines? We need bok choy too, go get some while you're out."
Envy stopped dead, and drew their lips into a thin line while looking upon their 4"8 70 year old Baba.
"I...Okay fine. But I'll be gone for awhile! Like, at least ...awhile! And...wait do you even care that there's chimeras out there, and I'm going outside!" Envy whined, following their Baba as she turned around and scoffed,
"You'll scare them off with your whining, go on. Be back by midnight or no dessert."
Envy rolled their violet eyes, and slammed the front door behind them. It was odd to compare this life to the life they had back in that world..but...
Envy frowned and touched a spot on their throat, remembering rather vividly their last moments of that life...
No, Envy thought, no matter what, this ...what they had now, was worth preserving.
"I didn't finally become human only to have it all ripped away by some shitty chimera" Envy snarled to themselves in a dark street.
It was time to do some first class snooping.
Greed led the group further into the city, but along back roads. It wasn't hard to tell that this was the seedy underbelly.
Greed called it 'Wonderland', but it's actual name was so mundane no one bothered to remember it. Receiving a few strange looks at the nickname, Greed expanded and told them the story of Alice; a young girl who fell down a rabbit's hole and discovered a new world that was strange and alien to her.
He continued on in saying that the city had received the name when the first people moved here. The unique aspect of the megacity was that it was made prior to anyone moving in, rather than being built up as a normal town would be as it expanded.
It was the great experiment. Wealthy businessmen and politicians coming together with the greatest architects of the century and creating what was supposed to be a utopia. In it's entirety the city had only existed for 60 years, but it only took less than 5 for things to start going very wrong.
The idea itself of creating a place for the business minded and politicians of the country was a bad one. Corruption happened quickly, Not to mention that the newly declared 'Utopia' had people begging to have a spot in the city which caused strife in other parts of the country which was brought along with them when individuals moved. Backstabbing, drugs and the black market flourished.
Regardless, when the first tours of people arrived into their new home state, seeing such marvelous buildings and lights out of the bleak forests neighboring them started the nickname.
The name all but died out until the drug trade started up again, bringing a whole new meaning to the world 'wonderland'. Everything became an 'Alice in Wonderland' reference. The most popular drug was 'The White Rabbit', prostitutes were called an 'Alice' where as courtesans were nicknamed 'Queen of Hearts'. Various corrupt politicians were called the 'Cheshire' in mockery of their fake smiles.
The group looked a bit ill when Greed finished his mini-history lesson, but Edward thought back to the origin...falling down a rabbit's hole and finding a new world. It was rather fitting really.
But that time was over, and they turned to Greed to find information on the Homunculi, now that they had a reliable ..mostly..guide and maps.
Greed's good mood at re-finding his friends instantly vanished. He ran a hand through his choppy hair, and thought it over looking at the room around him. Dank and dirty, concealed and musty. Not the most happy hang out in the world, nothing compared to the club he had back in that world and life. He glanced at Ling momentarily, wondering what the chances of were him actually being able to go back with them. Pride, the little fucker, made it sound unlikely he'd survive...but...he had a few targets on his head in this town anyway.
And it was a wonderful chance to completely fuck over some of his least favorite people.
"I know of one...and I might know of another. But they're both going to be hard as fuck to track down." he said, grunting and pulling a ...weird little thing out of his pocket. He brushed a hand over what looked like a screen and turned to glare at the all too close Ling.
"Be damn happy you didn't scratch my phone otherwise I would be shoving this up your ass until you could taste SIM disk." No one commented, because they weren't entirely sure how.
"So uh, which..do you know of?" Edward coughed, breaking the silence.
Greed's phone buzzed to life and the former homunculi..now well tested to be very much human, seemed to stare very intently at the screen before he frowned and turned it around to show everyone in his hang out (ie; hide out).
A picture of Fuhrer Bradly was on the screen, looking virtually the same, but in a dark suit rather than military clothing.
"This here is the main Cheshire. Everyone knows who he is pretty much...He's got more pull over business than the fucking Mayor probably. But that's the problem. He's so well known you can be well assured even getting the chance to talk to him could take years and you might even have to break some laws..."
Mustang laughed hollowly, "Figures...Never could catch a break could we?"
Greed nodded knowingly, "Though the brightside is, if anyone knows where the other homunculi are, he will. He's got his eyes all over Wonderland."
It was a bit of silver lining, and it didn't take much effort to see the wheels and cogs working in everyones heads. A constant thought was, we took him down before once, we most certainly can again.
Pride broke the silence this time, "You said you may know of another? How come you're not certain?"
Greed looked a bit awkward at the question and shifted in his cushioned seat, a run down old couch.
It seemed getting addressed by his former older brother was still a bit nervewracking.
"It's more of a hunch really. See there's this hacker, damn good one too. They can slip in and out in seconds, and change anything they damn well want. They keep a low profile and have avoided being caught so far, but everyone knows the name. Ever since one time...a few years back when they hacked into the broadcasting system. For a few hours ...on the TV ..on the Radio..on the Internet, over and over again it just said 'ALL I EVER WANTED. ALL I EVER WANTED. I AM LEVIATHAN.'"
Greed took a deep breath and looked at the entire group, waiting for something to happen. But it didn't.
"Uh, Greed? We...have no idea what a teevee or internet is.." Ling whispered quietly and Greed huffed in exasperation.
"A TV, as in the letters T-V, is like a combination of film and radio-"
"Oh, we saw one of those in a store!" Ed pipped up.
"Yeah, okay so the internet is like...a way to connect almost anything, anyone and anywhere. My phone here has limited internet, but it let me instantly find that picture of Bradley. Get it? It's like an interactive phone call, crossed with a map, crossed with an entire unseen untouchable world. A Hacker is like a thief, in that they can come into that world, not just use the backroads but create new ones...A good enough Hacker can do amazing things. And we just might need a Hacker if want to get to Bradley."
The group slowly nodded, though it was apparent most of them didn't entirely understand.
"So this other homunculus, they might be this...hackers. How do you know it even is a homunculus?" Alphonse asked.
Greed sighed, "It's in the message! 'all I ever wanted...I am Leviathan'!" he was greeted again by silence. "In this town, everyone uses Alice in Wonderland to convey things. On rare occasions, people use other storybook characters. But never Biblical references."
"What's the b-"
"Oh my sweet money, shut up. The Bible is an old manuscript, and in other parts of the world, and even parts of this country it's still a religious movement. But here, it's just considered old and too hard to read. Then anyway, before that message, now everyone talks about it... I even had to look it up."
" The Leviathan comes from the books of Revelations. It's an end of world kind of monster. Giant, and destructive. The reason I think the hacker 'Leviathan' may be a homunculus is because that monster represents a very specific sin."
Greed looked like he was chewing on something rather unpleasant before he said,
"The Leviathan represents Envy. ...The message on the screen was..-"
"All I ever wanted...I am Envy" Ed whispered. Everyone in the room had less than happy run ins with that particular 'Sin'.
He had killed Hughes. He started a war, which had a chain reaction culminating in Winry's parents being killed.
The testing they did in the war left Marcoh a mentally scarred man, and was part of the reason the chimeras were chimeras.
The Xingese group had all had very unhappy encounters with Envy, especially Mei who had been tricked by the little monster.
Edward did not believe Envy was the most frightening foe, but all together possibly the most threatening.
"The thing is, I've never really wanted to check...to see if it was Envy or not. We've..never had the best relationship..." Greed muttered, looking a bit spiteful and Pride snorted off to the corned somewhere as though Greed had just reminded him of a particularly amusing memory.
"But, I have contacts. If need be...I could get 'Leviathan' to respond to us."
There was a long bout of silent whispering, muttering, the occasional gnashing of teeth as everyone minus Greed and Pride tried to think of what to do in this situation. Finally they came to a consensus.
"Do it." Mustang said gravely.
Envy had just gotten set up next to a power grid, when their phone hummed in their hoodies pocket.
Yanking it out with a huff and puff of air to remove a strand of hair from their face, Envy looked at text message on the screen.
This caused them to almost drop it in response.
'How bout them Chimeras? Want 2 meet me at Carpenter Park at 10pm? Bye Ugly- Greed'
10oclock was about 20 minutes off still, but Carpenter Park was on the other side of town. It didn't take long to make up their mind, and pack up their equipment again. There was a nearby electric trolly, which would take off some of the time needed to get there. Envy would have liked to arrive at the spot before Greed, but it was likely Greed was already there having given that close of the time limit. That's what Envy would have done anyway.
Typing a quick reply, Envy pocketed the phone again and took off.
Greed chuckled and grinned , holding up the phone for all to see,
'Don't call me ugly you assface. I'll be there. - Envy.'
Envy stared up at the night sky, or what little of it you could see through the pollution and lights. Gripping onto the bar of the Trolly and standing on the edge, letting the wind ruffle up their clothes. In Wonderland, there was no wind. No real wind. You could catch gusts on the outer areas, but down town? No way. The multitude of high buildings, bridges, billboards and various other things cut it down to a minimum.
Sometimes Envy would hack into some of the larger buildings in the area, just to go up to the top and feel those gusts. To feel big and powerful again? It was nice.
Their life was already enough of a clusterfuck in this life, let again the last one. Envy had done a pretty good job of forgetting about that one. In fact, for a good portion of their life Envy had no idea any of that life.
Envy was one of the 'Oysters', an unpleasant name but less so than 'Bastard'. Oysters were the children of Alices and Queen's. Girls who couldn't make a living if they kept the kids, so they were given to individuals with little sympathy for the orphaned kids. They were sent to 'foster' homes, but instead of the families receiving funds for taking the kids in it was more like a slave trade. The children were raised as essentially that. Labor and various other things, none of them happy. Of course if a child outwore their stay, they were bumped to a number of different homes until they were old enough to move out and work on their own.
Envy had gone through 10 homes. None of them particularly liked the small troubled child.
It didn't help about their...condition. Envy was a hermaphrodite. A rather cruel change from the perfectly genderless being Envy had enjoyed being in the other world.
Hermaphrodites in this culture were usually viewed as Alice-fodder.
Envy prided themselves in being so unbearable even as a small child that no one wanted to keep them around to...teach the trade.
Unfortunately, this backfired. The last family Envy had stayed with, at the age of 10, had decided it was just too much trouble to keep them.
Instead of trading Envy back to the Walruses that run the horrible child trade, Envy was kicked to the streets.
That's where Envy had a mental break down. Leading to the recovery of their memories. All of their memories.
Which led to yet another mental break down. For weeks Envy lived like a feral cat on the streets who could only envision a world wrapped in flames and self loathing.
But, an old woman found Envy. She was a child when her family moved to Wonderland and never really felt at home here. Seeing the little child curled up with the eyes of a much older individual was all it took.
She promptly hit them over the head and brought Envy home.
It was a lengthy process, taming Envy down.
It didn't hurt that little old lady was the former owner of one of the wealthiest electronics companies in Wonderland. And she wanted revenge.
Envy smiled to themselves, it may have taken nearly 200 years but they finally felt like they had a family. A mother. A purpose.
An LED sign changed to say the trolly had arrived in the town of Carpenter, only minutes from the park.
And then a chimera darted past the trolly.
Envy stared for a moment, mouth ajar before jumping off the trolly and taking off down the street after the beast. Envy was pretty sure they recognized that particular chimera, being the only survivor of the two that had been left in Marcoh's room while on patrol.
Envy was rather fond of that chimera. And there was a good chance it would recognize them.
Yelping out a 'come back here, you stupid-' while running around a corner, not registering that they were entering a grassy building-less area.
Until someone caught them by the arm. Hard.
Then it sunk in, and Envy whipped their head around fully expecting to snarl into the face of their not-so-brother Greed.
Not the darkened face of Roy Mustang.
Edward had to step in quickly, not expecting things to go this badly that quickly.
As soon as the chimera ran into the part, and past their group standing in a tactically smart spot, all attention was diverted towards it.
Until they heard a throaty scream, and saw a teenager struggling in the vice-like grip of the Brigadier General.
۞ TBC
AHAHAHAHAHA WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST WRITE. ._. if pages were years, this fic could drink legally
I have nothing really to add here actually. Uh. I don't think I'll really put in pairings, as much as I'd like to (but my tastes tend to be a bit crooked XD so. no)
(Let me just say here. I do. Not. Care. if. You. do. Not. Want. Envy. To. be. A. hermaphrodite.
It's purely for this story, not something I believe envy to be. I honestly see Envy as COMPLETELY Genderless. There will be NO romance or sex involving envy, so I'm not entirely sure why anyone would care. )
idk where the alice in wonderland references came from tbh. I really. just.
Lolololol I have so many other things I should be writing right now ._.