Hi, Kallypso here, and this is my attempt at a more dramatic war fanfiction. If you've seen my other fics, they tend to be more on the humorous side of things and this will not be as much. It will have some humor in it, I'm not going to be completely depressing since that doesn't really suit me, but it will be more dramatic.
Also, in order to make this story work the events that took place after the Lior incident... the second Lior incident involving Scar... have not happened. That stuff is gone and being replaced. This is anime based yes, manga fans can sue me if they don't like it (I will eventually make a manga based fic I swear). Basically an alternate idea of what occured if Mustang went and revealed what the Fuher was immediately after finding out...
So anyway, Enjoy and please REVIEW and tell me what you think!
Chapter 1: Old Central City
The war had changed Amestris.
It had changed the landscape, the people, everything. It had been a war that split the country in two. The majority of Old Central City had been obliterated. Once tall white towers and lively apartments had become dilapidated ruins, sad excuses for stone against an often dark grey sky. To top it all off was a layer of ash covering the cobblestone ground and a stench of death. It hadn't been that long since the bombs had been dropped.
These new scientific breakthroughs were what had wiped out a near third of the population in Amestris. Thousands of innocents had died in the war. It had begun right after Mustang revealed the Fuher for what he was, a homunculus. This had split the country and the higher ups, half staying with Bradley and half breaking away to fight him. No citizen could not take sides in the carnage that followed. No one was neutral. The rebels were shut down after long months of struggle and their survivors were forced into hiding. Large players in the rebel cause were black listed and hunted down. New head quarters were moved to just outside Old Central City, a mocking gesture. It was as if the Fuer wanted to wake every morning and be able to see sweet destruction outside his window.
The Fuher King Bradley, now also known as Pride, worked on his own judgment now. Dante had been seemingly wiped from the map and since the Fuher no longer seemed intrested in philosiphers stones it was clear Pride did not bow to her will any more if she was alive.
Pride constructed a new government for his own purposes, one more strict, to ensure that domination was maintained over the remaining, weak rebel forces. The new government was harsh and people who had once supported the resistance lived in fear. It had been a year since the war had ended, three years since its beginning, and it had left a scar on a once unifed country.
Under the ash grey sky in the shadows of the broken buildings two figures crouched talking in low voices as if afraid of being heard. They had reason to of course, they were both black listed as traitors. The first was a blonde boy about nineteen years old; his hair pulled back in a braid, his red coat worn and dirty just as his face was. There were dark rings under his eyes and a scar extended from the center of his brow to his ear. Hidden by his long clothing and gloves were an auto mail right arm and left leg. He had been a state alchemist for the military once. The Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric.
The second figure was a slightly younger boy, about seventeen, with sandy brown hair pulled back in a pony tail and grey eyes. Alphonse Elric, Edward's younger brother.
The two brothers had expierienced their fair share of hardship and battles during the war. The one bright spot had been the recovery of Al's body, though that was basically where the bright spots ended.
When the was broke out and the military split, the rebels managed to secure control over Western headquarters where they began to operate. The rebels had Major General Grumman in favor of their cause as well as Brigadier General Mustang and a few other officers. The majority of the higherups had stuck with Bradley however, their thirst for power un quenchable. Mustang had once said that power hungry men would naturally be attracted to an immortal homunculus but that he had other ways he would obtain his goal of becoming Fuer.
Edward and Alphonse had gone to aid Colonel Mustang and the rebels. Winry had also come with them despite their protests. She wanted to work as a doctor in the war, like her parents had in Ishbal, and she argued that the rebels would need automail.
Not to long after they arrived the brothers were split up from their child hood friend as she went to help the rebels that were grouped in the South. She sent letters for a long time, religiously each month. That's why when the letters had stopped and Mustang recieved word on a brutal attack on the forces in the South that they knew Winry... was gone.
They had denied it for awhile, but almost half a year went by and there was still nothing. Edward didn't cry... not in front of anyone anyway, but he was notably grim. He still had her automail on his body to remind him every day of his past friend.
Then a year, two months and five days ago a massive force from Central swarmed Western headquarters. The battle was long, bloody and devestating. The brothers had managed to escape... but afterwards could make no contact with Mustang or any of his subordinates. Two months later the rebel forces from the East attempted to retaliate and take Central. But the military had suspected this, evacuated long before except for a small force of soldiers. In the heat of the battle the bombs were dropped. Rebels, military, citizens, they all died and Central was reduced to a series of broken stone fragments on the horizon.
There was no denying the rebels had lost. With the West, South and East forces gone the remaining members scattered. Ed and Al, among these survivors, hid out in Rush valley for a time before it was destroyed under accusation of being "a hot bed for rebels" and the Elric's were forced to move on. They never stayed anywhere more than a few weeks at a time and they still couldn't contact any of their old allies.
All except for Riza Hawkeye.
They had found the woman in the Youswell coalmines. She was no longer a subordinate but a leader of a growing resistance force hiding out in the old mining town. She was the reason the brothers had come to Old Central city. There were rumors of "The Resistance" being built up somewhere near Old Central, a force that struck at the reformed military without warning and often did considerable damage.
Hawkeye had asked the boys to find them and negotiate an alliance with them. SHe herself couldn't go as she had her hands full keeping order but the brothers had agreed, wanting to help an old friend.
There had been no luck with many of the surrounding cities and all of their leads had pointed to Old Central City. It seemed ridiculous with it being as close as it was to New Central Command, but maybe that's why the Resistance had chosen it: Because no one would suspect them.
So here the brothers were sneaking around like they did a lot these days.
"Why do they have military stationed in this place" Ed muttered glancing around. "It's a friggen ghost town."
"On the bright side, they aren't homunculi" Al pointed out half heartidly a half smile on his face. It was true, the homunculi seemed to have been wiped off the map along with Dante. While Sloth still worked as Pride's secratary, Greed was dead, and Lust, Envy, Wrath and Gluttony were missing. Ed wouldn't have honestly minded if they were dead, but their absense made him uneasy none the less.
"You always look on the bright side don't you?" Ed muttered glancing around before pointing "This way."
They ran quickly but quietly through the alleyways, trying their best to stay out of sight at the few guards stationed around.
Ed peered cautiously, trying to decided where to go next when he cursed and ducked quickly back into the alleyway and pressed his back against the crumbling stone wall "Shit… what is one of the Black Hand doing here?"
"M-maybe he's just chatting with friends." Al murmured a slight shake coming into his voice.
"Yeah and maybe he's gonna go out for morning coffee after that" Ed muttered sarcastically. "Come on, we have to keep moving."
The Black Hand was a special group of soldiers, skilled in hand to hand combat and with many types of weapons. During the war they had infiltrated many headquarters of the Rebels and wiped everyone out. They were the ones who had turned the tide the same battle in the West that Ed and Al had been in when everything fell apart. They wore all black clothing and had a black handprint tattooed over each of their faces. There was no attempt to hide their identities. Now and days their purpose was to hunt out the black listed souls who were in hiding and they had particularly keen noses. They were no one you wanted to mess with.
Down the alleyway the two brothers hurried until they stopped for a minute to rest. It was hard to run too much in this filthy air without having to rest every few minutes.
"I think we're far enough away from them." Ed panted.
"Halt! Who goes there?"
"Teach me to open my big mouth" Ed growled before turning with his brother to face the oncoming soldier and his gun.
"What are you two young men doing out here?" the man asked gruffly. He wasn't the most athletic of guards, a bit pudgy around the middle, a mustache hanging over his mouth almost completely obscuring it from view.
"We used to live here…" Al murmured in a well rehearsed lie. "Back before the war. We weren't sure how bad the damage really was, we wanted to see for ourselves."
"Names?" the officer grumbled pulling out a long list of what Ed and Al could only guess were black listed names.
"Rusl Tringam" Ed lied smoothly. "This is my brother Fletcher."
"This is payback for the times you borrowed my name you jerk" Ed added in silence. The names were always enough at least to get past common guards.
"Well you aren't listed" the guard said after a pause. "Don't you two know that this place is off limits?"
"Of course they do" said a smooth, snake like voice that for some reason sent chills up Ed's spine. The brothers turned to see The Black Hand from earlier sauntering towards them with slow steps, absentmindedly taking a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it. He stopped beside the officer in front of the brothers, blowing smoke into the already filthy air with a smirk. "You shouldn't believe what others tell you officers. Especially not these two black listed criminals."
Ed wanted to run but he couldn't force his legs to move. The man casually took the list from the officer's hand and scanned it with his eyes briefly before pointing a finger lazily in Ed's direction "Edward Elric. Formerly the Fullmetal Alchemist, hero of the people." His finger trailed to Al. "And his brother Alphonse Elric."
The brothers exchanged glances and Ed noticed Al swallow slightly a realistic reaction to the situation.
The assassin smirked, handing the list back to the bewildered officer and taking another puff from his cigarette. "Did you think lying would work? All of us have memorized your names and faces. We aren't amateurs; we're good at what we do."
"Well it sure as Hell was working well with tubby right there" Ed growled, swallowing his fear and bending his legs in preparation for a fight.
The assassin chuckled slightly, completely relaxed. It made Ed's blood boil. "Elric brothers… do you know how high you are on this list? It's quite considerable. So much so that…" he gave a malicious grin. "One of you is wanted at Central for some questioning before your fate is decided. But only one."
His meaning was clear and Ed almost subconsciously stepped in front of Al. It was habit at this point. Al had just gotten his body back and he didn't want him to get it injured.
"Who will be the better one I wonder? Who will survive the longest" the man mused tossing his half used cigarette to the ground and crushing it with the toe of his boot.
"Don't underestimate us" Ed growled clapping his hands together and drawing a blade from his auto mail arm as Al also drew a spear from the stone behind him and held it tightly in his hands.
"And don't you get over confident" The Black Hand drew a long sword from underneath his black leather jacket, holding it in front of him. The officer stepped back a ways, obviously not wanting to get in the middle of this fight.
There was complete silence as the three just stared at each other, waiting… waiting for someone to move first. Finally in a blur of steel the assassin swung his blade so quickly Ed barely saw it move. It sliced the air in between the two brothers as they barely managed to jump apart in time to avoid it. The assassin waited no time in swinging his blade up again towards Ed who blocked the teeth rattling strike with his auto-mail blade and flipped back on one hand. Hell the man was strong! Ed clapped his hands together and sent a stone spike flying at the Black Hand who jumped to the side before lunging forward with a stab aimed for the blonde boy's gut. Ed ducked under the stab and rolled quickly out of the way, bringing his blade up to block another strike that followed moments later.
This guy wasn't even giving him time to make an attack and all Ed could do was try to stay alive. He moved with such speed it was hard to follow the swinging blade. Al came at the man from behind with his spear and attempted to stab him but the man moved aside with lightning speed and sliced the spear shaft in two with his sword before he lunged at Al. Ed was in front of his brother in seconds, parrying the blade's stab and countering with a slash of his own. The assassin dodged smoothly out of the way.
"Al!" Ed yelled clapping his hands together.
"Right!" his younger brother followed suit and they both slammed their hands to the ground.
Several huge stone spikes shot from the ground and in the assassin's direction, hitting the walls and ground, sending up huge clouds of dust. There was silence as the dust began to clear and Al coughed, waving it away.
"Did we get him brother?"
"I-" Ed started to say when he saw the flash of metal from the cloud. He stumbled back but the blade still succeeded in slicing his side painfully and he fell back clutching his wound, gritting his teeth against the pain.
"Not bad" the Black Hand sneered. Blood was soaking through the black clothing on the assasin's shoulder where he had obviously been hit but he paid it no mind except to casually wince and place his free hand over the wound.
"Brother!" Al lunged at the man to engage his attention. The man countered with a kick that hit Al square in the ribs sending him flying back into the wall. Ed was sure he had heard a cracking of bones.
Al shook from the pain, trying to push himself to his feet, only succeeding in coughing up blood and falling back to the ground.
"Well now… how many ribs of yours did I just break?" The Black Hand mused, approaching the younger Elric his sword at his side in a mocking nonchalant gesture "I think we have a loser."
"Don't you dare touch him" Ed yelled trying to move, but the pain in his side forced back. "Al!" he saw the assassin raised his blade. "ALPHONSE!"
Al shut his eyes and awaited the pain to hit him but instead he heard a sharp metal clang of blade hitting blade.
"Brother?" He asked questioningly opening his eyes.
So that's the end of the first chapter, I hope you liked it. I'm trying my hand at more serious FMA fanfiction. I can garuntee that I'll be updating this alot since my other two FMA fics are of first priority but I'll try to get in a chapter every one or two weeks.
Anyways, tell me what you think and REVIEW!
