By the way, I changed some of the characters' ages, so they'll fit better in the story. And I didn't use all of the main characters from the series as well, so please forgive me if your favorite character isn't in the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Spiral, Full Metal Alchemist, Witch Hunter Robin or Hellsing.Chapter 1: The man from the south
The gentle light of the dawning sun broke trough the window of the speeding train, making the young man that was staring trough it to blink. He moved his shoulders heavily, stretching them from the uncomfortable position they were during the last night. His meaningless gaze became slowly more focused, as he checked the view ahead of him, seeing high mountains, cowered with dark green forests.
Slowly- all his movements seemed to be slow, as if he had all the time in the world- he turned his head and looked around his wagon, noticing the few people he saw last night before the small train left the station, to the young man's final destination. He counted 5 people, sitting in deferent places in the wagon, most of them asleep, except one man, who had black hair and silver eyes (which were focused in the window he sat next to), who seemed somehow able to ignore the quite snores that came from a young, brown-haired girl who's head was leaned on his shoulder. When he saw that the young man looked at him, his gray eyed focused in the young man's gold eyes, with empty expression.
The young turned his back quickly. There was something weird in this couple, something that he couldn't put his finger on. But he wasn't really interested in them, thought, that's why they left his thoughts, being replaced by worries and plans for the near future.
"The next station, Alivia, Transylvania." Said a man's voice loudly, after a few minutes, being heard all over the small train "This is the last station for this train. All passengers requested politely to get off the train" the voice made the request sound as an order.
After about half of an hour the train reached the station in Alivia. It was a very small town in the northern area of Transylvania, with cold weather and even colder temper of its population. Definitely not a place for a young man such as our hero, but, alas, he had to visit it for a while.
And so there he was, standing in the middle of what looked to be an almost deserted street (which was acceptable, due to the early hour of the morning), with a large brown suitcase, as all his belongings, and a small letter in his front pocket, written with black curly ink, as his guide and the reason for being in that place at that time.
"Well I'm here…" he said to himself, analyzing the situation "Now lets go and find a place were I can find something hot to drink"
Two figures watched the golden-eyed boy as he made his way in the street, examining carefully every one of his moves.
"So this is he?" asked one of the figures. It was a short silver-haired girl, with big gray eyes. She wore an orange sweater and black pants and shoes.
"I guess so, Rio…" answered the second figure. It was a red-haired young man, with deep green eyes and orange glasses. He was much taller, so he had to bow to her in order to speak quietly.
"Why don't you go back to the castle and inform the others? I'll go and greet him, at the meantime, Kousuke" suggested the girl named Rio.
The boy called Kousuke nodded in agreement. "Take him up to the castle after you finish debriefing him. We don't have much time to waste. Especially not after what happened last night"
"Ok" promised Rio, and came out to the street, following after her target, that meanwhile came into what looked like a combination of a restaurant, a pub and a coffee house. The brown building had a weird sign on its wide front door, on which was written the word "Larry's".
Rio entered the restaurant, which was half-full with peasants and town folks on their way to work. From her not very long stay a Alivia, the girl had known that this is how every morning begins for many people around there- from a cup of coffee of from a breakfast at Larry's, while discussing the events of yesterday. And for the last months, there was definitely a lot to talk about.
"Hey, Rio! Good morning" few of the people around there greeted her. But most of them just looked at her with angry faces, mumbling something under their noses.
Rio Takeuchi, a 17 years old girl, in whose life had to deal, so far, with more problems then many people deal with in their entire lives, just smile politely and came close to the bartender.
"Hello Rio, what can I do for you, my child?" asked her the owner, Larry, with his sweet soft voice, his brown eyes smiling toward her.
"A cup of hot Coco, please" she asked, smiling back.
Larry made her the hot dark drink. "It's on the house," he added to her with another smile when the young girl searched her pocket for coins to pay the good man.
"Arrigato" she thanked him in Japanese, knowing that the man understood her words, after her thanking him so many times. She then turned around and spotted her target in the corner table, at the farther side from the entrance, enjoying his own hot drink in a white mug.
"The Iris flower grows wonderfully in this time of year, don't you think?" she asked him behind his back, making him turn around and look at her with his golden piercing eyes. She saw that he recognized the password that was mentioned in the letter they sent him.
"The fate can be changed with the power you believe in," he said with rich voice, responding to the code with his part, which was also mentioned in the letter.
"I am Rio Takeuchi, hashimashte," she said, throwing again few words in Japanese, this time meaning "nice to meet you".
"I an Edward Elric, it is nice to meet you too" the golden-eyed said, gesturing her to sit in the chair in front of him.
"You seemed to be surprised" she mentioned while sipping from her mug.
"You are not the one that I expected to meet. Are you the one who wrote me the letter?"
"One of them, yes. I assume you know why we asked for your help?"
"Not really." Ed answered honestly "I came to Transylvania to find a way to go back home. This letter indicates that you- or you friends- can help me. Can you?" he asked directly, his voice sharp, as saying that a negative answer will put him on the first train back to where he came from.
"Yes, we can, but before than we require your help in some matter," said Rio "and who knows- maybe we'll find out that our goals are not that different…"
"What do you mean by that?" He asked "And what kind of help do you need? To do what?"
"All will be explained to you, I promise," she said "but not by me. Come on, we have got to meet with the others"
And as if it was a cue, the doors of the restaurant opened sharply, slamming against the near wall. A high and muscled man came through them, cursing very creatively.
"Misha!" one of the costumers recognized the man "What happened?"
"It's my daughter, Anna! They've taken her!" he shouted, half angry and half frightened. "The bloody beasts! She was walking home from a friend and they graced her. I heard her screams and came out running, just to see their tall and strong figures, their sharp teeth and yellow eyes! They took my Anna…"
His eyes suddenly fell on Rio, widening with pure rage and hatred. "It was you!" he shouted "You and your vampire friends that live in that Dark Castle! You killed her!" his pointing finger was pointed straight at her.
"She's just a child, Misha" said Larry with his calm voice.
"I don't care! I want to see blood spilled for my daughter's!" Misha kept soughing in rage.
"I think it will be wiser to leave, Rio," suggested Ed "With haste" he added and grubbed the girl's hand, both of them exiting quickly before giving Misha any chance to execute his threats.
Just as they passed the door, Ed stumbled sharply in a man. "Excuse me…" he apologized and lifted his eyes to see the man we pumped in. Imagine his surprise when his golden eyes gazed at the gray orbs of the black-haired man from the train.
The stranger was looking with no expression what so ever at Ed, being followed by the young woman that stood a few steps behind him, her brown hair creating a hairstyle that Ed had never seen before.
"Let's go…" Rio pulled his hand "We have a long way up"
"Up where?" Ed asked while following her quickly.
"Up to the Dark Castle" she answered, pointing her finger to a gray structure on the top of the mountain above them. It looked like a hell of a voyage for Ed, but he didn't say a thing.
Well, that's it for the first Chapter. I really hoped you liked it : ) Now, if you can be so kind, please go to the review button and write a review! It will mean the world to me!