Chapter 1: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori

Amidst the shadows, a spy quickly ran into the telephone booth and called him. "It is the Freezing Alchemist, he has a few men down.."

Roy replied cooly "Oh, an old friend of mine…hmm..Issac…" as he looked through the confidential documents,possessing Issac's records,one of them being his withdrawal letter as ordinated by Bradley himself "Well I cannot handle all of the dirty work, maybe I should get the pipsqueak to help us out…" somehow Roy watched the formations of ice caved over the city, seems his task seem bigger than he thinks. Quietly he rung up the line "Call the Elric Brothers, we have a radical to catch.."


Issac blinked his eyes slightly as he watched the prison guards moved rhythmically back and forth, one seems to be in the humdrum of their duties, an avenue of escape, after all, they did not endure the hardships of the Ishval war, a terrible war which he wished to forget, but never.

A quiet moment of a guard forgetting about his duty and covered the dull prison, covering the room with cigarette smoke, his hands gripped his neck and soon steam came across the room. He watched his face with indifference dictated in the war he was birthed too, the face of horror and terror. He shut his eyes closing out his final thoughts of his victim, for answers is what he is hungering for.

His eyes opened again. His body collapsed to the ground. He quietly took his coat and draped over his broad shoulders. The underbelly of the prison is nothing in comparison to the trenches of war, as he walked to the endless tunnels of prison, with men counting their days to their deaths. Isaac could read their solemn expressions, their demons soon strangling their feeble bodies.

However, a familiar face seems detached from all of the destruction. "Interesting…" the skinny man smirked cheekily, somehow his tone seems poetic to Issac's cause. "..At last, you wanted my help.." his hands revealed his tattooed Transmutation Circles. "You probably know of the assassination of the superior officers.." Kimblee paused slightly, it is deemed as classified in the military's watchful eyes,

"I am here to take down the bastard.."

"King Bradley…I assume" Kimblee laughed coldly "Not that easy, you know the killing of the superior officers, it is not for some noble clause...It takes bold men to oppose rule by his voice" Isaac noticed the dull sheen of the Philosopher's Stone inside Kimblee's mouth

"You still keep this…."

Kimblee chuckled slightly " Why to ask an illogical question Freezing Alchemist..." as he rolled the stone back to his mouth. "I am not God himself... I am a mere mortal.." Kimblee somehow glimpsed at the shrivelled bodies lying on the floor, for he enjoyed the scent of decomposing corpses "...Who knows if I could get my freedom back...It does not come with a clause. I am still charged with war crimes because of my sadism" The mood of the room went sombre, perhaps unusual of his mercurial character, but it showed his worst side. "I come to glimpse at the pain of humanity.." Kimble could be those trickers hungering for chaos. "Personally if I were you. I would think twice of throwing down a government." Isaac's heart twinged slightly. "You are simply fighting for a lost clause.."

That cannot be it, that cannot be it, that cannot be it. Isaac grimaced slightly, and there he wandered into a hopeless cause.


A hopeless cause he cannot imagine as he slept at the corner of the train, with the tracks rumbling down as music to his ears, maybe he could hear the tinkling of the watches in their pockets. His hand clutched on that last letter from a relative, it gave him a happy memory of what he left behind. For they will go through a tumorous run, something bigger dictated by King Bradley, a mysterious figure of the military. A face intrigued him, as he seems detached to the sadness of leaving home. He only nodded him with a fedora placed on his chest. He seems to settle himself comfortably, narrowing his eyes quietly, observing Issac's uncomfortableness. He noticed the tattooed Transmutation Circles in his hands, but he quietly slipped it with kid gloves. He watched the sights change, with bridges flowing by, with children walking to school until it stopped to the next station. Another face came in, he noticed that he worn gloves marked with a flame Transmutation Circle, his eyes seem cocky, "Is this seat vacant.."

"…no.." That young man stays comfortably in his seat, smoothing his uniform, Isaac withdrew himself slightly. "Well I am Roy Mustang.." he lay down with ease, as he passed him an apple "They called me the Flame Alchemist.." His smile eased him slightly as he reluctantly took the apple and eat it quietly. At that moment, he saw another state alchemist, he seems loud and brash. "Well..well..well, it is the famous Flame Alchemist…bastard nearly beat me to my State Alchemist test…" Issac watched over him, and he gave a quiet chuckle "You, you seem sulky…" He protrudes himself, giving scoffs to Roy, who have to squeeze with a noisy man "Well I am pretty much a hot shot…" Slowly that young man reached his hand out "Call me The Giant-working Alchemist…"

"You mean Drunken Alchemist, Archer…" Roy shot back at Archer "I cannot forget that after the test, you went to a bar, with Hughes and I after our test and I could recall is.." Archer placed a finger on Roy's lips "You are going to bitch about that.I wanna know who the hell is he.."

Isaac swallowed slightly, "Well I assume you have a name silent one…" as Archer extended his hand out to give him a shake. "Issac…The Freezing Alchemist.." Archer gave him a big smile. "Well, I hope we will be brothers in arms, no matter what.." Isaac swallowed those words, that moment Archer's smile brought him to that realization. He knew those words will haunt him, as he climbed out of the drainpipes scrawling through the circle with chalk, He thought that Archer would appreciate a cleaner world, a world without war and corruption. The heat of war overcome him, pushing him to the edge, no matter what.

Isaac will be the Usurper to take the king down.


Note: Well I hope you enjoyed this new fanfic, this has been in my head since I rewatched the FMA brotherhood of the Freezing Alchemist which I wonder how Issac become an anti-government radical and the Ishaval War, which we know little (Well I guess Arawaka's storytelling came in at best, as she mentioned in fragments), I took an approach from Joseph Conard's Heart of Darkness,which we focus how the unrealiable narrator hunted for Colonel Kurtz, and David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (One of my favourite films and I highly recommend it to grab the biggest screen) on T.E Lawrence's nuances to madness, played brillantly by Peter O'Toole.

The chapter's name came from Horace's words meaning "It is sweet and proper to die for the fatherland." which refers to an old WW1 poem by Wilfried Owen which I used it as inspiration for this fanfic. Surprisingly I enjoyed writing Kimblee's characterization in this chapter, and I recommend watching "Solf J. Kimblee - The Psychopathic Realist." by Aleczandxr on Youtube if you want to know Kimblee's characters (His FMA character analysis videos are pretty damn good) , as I am going to feature quite a bit of him alongside the rest of the State Alchemists along the way!

As usual, feedback and comments will be appreciated and I will post that chapter on my Tumblr account!