Chapter 1: The incompetent Colonel
"Wow! mom look, we are passing through a forest" yelled Elicia over the rattling and clunking of the train. Bobbing up and down her heels and holding on to the window ledge for support she was beaming with excitement. Her face shining against the setting sun.
Garcia too looked at the green valley they were passing through."Beautiful isn't it?" she said with a smile brushing Elicia's hair. She was sitting next to the window besides Riza Hawkeye and Roy Mustang who were busy going through some paper work in the rapidly diminishing sunlight.
"We will reach Amesteris soon Elicia" said Al bringing his head to Elicia's level as he too stared out the window.
"Winry,you have to come stay at our place for a few days before you leave for rush valley" said Garcia leaning forward to see Winry who was sitting on the edge of the opposite berth and polishing her tools. Ed was snoring inbetween winry and Al with his head on Al's shoulder.
"Ofcourse" chuckled Winry. "That way I'll get to spend some more time with Elicia chan as well".
"We can do the rest of these after we reach central" sighed Mustang as he snapped the file close. "I absolutely hate these paper work" he said with a muffled yawn.
"I'll go see if we can get some tea and cookies for everyone" said Riza, standing up and stretching.
"I'll have a cup too" Elicia squeaked without turning her face away from the window. "Look we will be crossing over that bridge soon" Elicia told Al with her cheeks pressed against the window glass, trying her best to look at the trains engine as she pointed to a wooden bridge a little ahead of them stretching over the valley.
"Mhm" Riza smiled and walked out of the cabin.
The train had only 4 carriages. They were sitting in the third one. The first one was the pantry cart and 2nd one was being used by King Bradley and his two stewards. They were all returning from a military co-op in the neighbouring state . They met Garcia , Elicia, and Winry who were returning from there vacation together on the station and on King Bradley's permission they were allowed to travel on the same train with them. But there were two more people on the train of whom King Bradley wasn't aware of.
Riza, instead of going to the pantry cart headed for the last carriage. It was a storage compartment. "We should reach Amesteris soon,do you guys want something to eat?"said riza on opening the door. It was dark with some wooden boxes propped against the walls. A silhouette of a man sitting on the box at the very end of the carriage stirred but didn't say anything, instead his stomach made a loud rumbling noise audible even over the rattling of the train.
"I-I think master has fainted again" said a worried females voice. She tried to wake him up by shaking him a bit but it only made his stomach growl louder." C-could you please bring him some food? He should be fine if he eats something " the woman pleaded to Riza.
"A-Alright,I'll bring something right away." Said Riza and dashed for the pantry. That guy was a friend of Elric brothers and supposedly the prince of Xing. His name was Lin Yao and the woman with him was Lan fan,his bodyguard. He found Edward when they were at the station and begged him to give him a ride to Amesteris because he had no currency of this country and some restaurant owners were also after his life. Edward was not in favour of helping him but on Al's insistence, he and Mustang allowed him to travel in the storage cart.
Riza hurried to the pantry as the trains rattling sound changed to a low grumbling and creaking as it climbed on the wooden bridge. Riza was able to hear the faint excited screams of Elicia as she walked past her compartment. But before she could reach the pantry she suddenly froze in her tracks, as she heard a loud banging and crashing noise from outside the train. Before she could figure out what it was, she was thrown forwards as the trains brakes were applied. There was a loud screech between the tracks and trains wheel and within seconds the train came to a complete stop. Riza tried to get up to find out what was happening. But before she could even get on her knees there was another loud crash from below and the train dropped a few inches with a jolt and she was again on the floor . Then without any warning the whole train wobbled and started to tilt to the left. Riza couldn't do anything but only wait for what she knew was coming.
With another sound of wood breaking into splinters, the train was completely off the track and fell down the crumbling bridge into the valley.
It was dark. She could hear some faint shouting.
"Riza…..Riza…wake up…Riza"
Someone was constatntly tapping her cheeks and shaking her,honestly it was quite annoying. She hoped whoever was doing it would stop or she might shoot someone.
"Her head is bleeding,tie this around it…" said a girls worried voice. She felt someone tying something to her forehead. It stung, why cant they leave her alone. Where was she anyway. Slowly as though she was being pulled out of deep water, the murmuring around her became clearer and distinct. She tried to open her eyes,it was a blur but she was able to make out Mustang's face. She was in his arms and he was tying a piece of cloth to her forehead. She tried to get up by grabbing his collar.
"Chui you are awake!" mustang cried supporting Riza's back and helping her sit up.
"Taisa,what happened?" Riza mumbled rubbing her eyes while mustang stealthily wiped the tears off his eyes.
"You are alright!,I was so worried" Elicia ran and glomped Riza. She was crying. Riza looked around. Al, Winry and Garcia were all,standing surrounding her. Al's helmet had a few dents and everyone else had a few cuts and scratches but they seemed alright. It was already night time but the moon was shedding enough light to see clearly. They were in what appeared to be a clearing in the forest buzzing with crickets and occasional hooting of owls. There were bridge and train debris scattered everywhere with signs of freshly extinguished fire. She hugged the sobbing Elicia as she adjusted the piece of cloth tied around her head and looked at Mustang.
"The bridge collapsed,Hagane No managed to transmutate the carriage into rubber and I decreased the crash speed with a counter fire blast just before collision. "Explained mustang.
"What happened to the others?" enquired Riza looking around.
"We found the body of the stewards who were with King bradly in the debris. They were already dead by the time we got to them. However neither King Bradley nor the xing's prince and the girl with him,could be found. I am guessing they somehow escaped the compartment before the crash. Hagane no is currently looking for them."Mustang finished with a sigh and stood up.
Winry came and took Elicia away from the Riza's lap and Al handed Riza her pistol. She smiled and took it,for some reason just holding that rough cold chunk of metal made her feel a lot better.
"Thank you Al" she said and stood up. "So whats the plan Tais-" Riza was cut short by mustang who covered her mouth with his hand.
"Do you hear that?" he wishpered.
Riza tried to concentrate, which wasn't easy since her head was stinging a lot but she too heard some faint growling and rustling.
"AAAAhhhh Look!" screamed Elicia. Everyone turned towards Elicia and then to the direction she was pointing to.
There were atleast twenty pair of eyes gleaming in the darkness from behind the bushes. Al rushed infront of Garcia and Winry. Riza took out her gun but mustang laughed and just casually walked towards the beasts putting on his gloves.
"And here I was wondering what I'll have for dinner" smirked mustang. "Roasted wolves anyone?" he said and clicked his fingers. A huge pack of flames surged towards the wolves and set everything in that direction ablaze. The night suddenly became alive with cries and howling of wolves as they started to scatter in every direction with their furs on fire. Few wolves at the back ran back into the forest but most of them just went out of control and started running and jumping wildly in every direction.
"That incompetent idiot" Riza cursed under her breadth and started to shoot the wolves that were running in her direction.
"ELICIA NOOO" Garcia screamed.
The gun shots, wolves on fire and the howlings became too much for Elicia to take and she started to run towards the bushes.
"Al go after her" mustang shouted over all the commotion.
"H-HAI~" Al shouted back and ran after Elicia who had now disappeared into the bushes.
"ELICIA COME BACK!" Garcia cried and she too ran after them .
"Garcia stay here,Al will find Elicia" shouted mustang as he blasted away one wolf rolling infront of him ,but it was too late she too had now disappeared into the shadows.
"GODDAMIT! Chui you stay here I'll come right back" said mustang and ran after Garcia.
"Taisa you fucking idiot! Winry stay behind me" Riza roared as she reloaded her pistol. Winry was trembling but she picked up a piece of wood from the debris and and ran behind Riza.
None of the wolves were attacking them but they were everywhere ,running into the trees and screaming,biting each other. Riza and Winry just stood in the center of all the wolves,back to back, shooting and clubbing the random wolves that ran in her direction.
After a while the commotion died down a bit and most wolves were either completely burned or too injured to do anything. Just when Riza thought she could take a breather, she heard a bone chilling growl from her right. She turned on her heels , her pistol held steady.
There was a whole pack of uninjured wolves and they looked livid. They were the ones who had managed to stay outside the range of Mustang's flames and retreated. They were stepping forward very cautiously and slowly,perhaps expecting another flame burst. Riza was pretty much out of ammunition and only had four more bullets in her pistol.
"Riza san I-" winry started.
"Run" Riza said calmly.
"Bu-"
"I said run. Run towards the forest and find a tree you can climb. I'll be right behind you" Riza commanded but Winry wasn't moving.
"I promise I'll be right behind you" She finished with a smile over the growing growls of wolves who were within jumping distance. Winry finally nodded and started to run .Two wolves jumped towards her but Riza shot both of them in the head.
"Heh" Riza smirked."Taisa,if I die here ,I swear I'll kill you"
After another two minutes of growling and gun fires,the wolves finally started to loose there patience. A drop of tear trickled down Riza's face and she realized she was trembling. She was holding the piece of wood winry dropped before she ran away as her last means of defence. Swinging the log she didn't notice the two wolves who had managed to get behind her ,ready for strike.
Deep in the woods,away and unaware of Riza's struggle, a girl was picking fruits from a tree. She had a couple of cuts on her forehead and her elbows were grazed.
"Don't worry waka,I'll be right back" she mumbled to herself as she tied all the fruits and a rabbit in a bundle and jumped off the tree.
"And who might you be?" said an amused gruff voice from behind her.
Lan fan dropped the bundle,took out her kunai and turned around, all in split second only to find an old man leaning lazily against a tree with his arms folded.
"Oh,that stance,it seems you are no ordinary women. It doesn't look like you are from this country either. So let me repeat my question. Who are you?"The man continued with a smile. "Depending on your answer I might ignore your kunai and help you or I might slice the arm holding it."
The man didn't know who that women was but lan fan knew exactly who he was. Her grandfather told her about this man before she left Xing in search of the philosphers stone with her master. He perfectly matched the description. His name was King Bradley and according to her grandfather, he was a very dangerous man.
"As far as I know, no one lives in this part of the forest. "Bradley countinued, standing up straight and stretching his arms. "Makes one wonder if you had something to do with the collapsed bridge," he said walkings towards Lan Fan with his eyes gleaming red. Lan fan now understood why her grandmother marked him as a dangerous man. Even though he was unarmed,Lan fan could feel a threating aura from him. She gripped the kunai more tightly in her sweaty palms,contemplating whether to run or to fight.
"I w-want to see mommy" Elicia sobbed. She was in Al's arms who was just as anxious as Elicia.
"You will see her soon" he tried to comfort her. Al had followed Elicia into the forest and while looking for her he had lost track of where he was. It was really dark inside the forest compared to the clearing they were in before and every direction seemed the same.
"Lets go that way then"he said trying to sound confident,even though they were completely lost.
"Elicia,where are you?" Garcia continued to cry out thickely. Her throat had gotten sore now and she felt a little dizzy.
"Al was right behind her when she ran away,I am sure he would have found her" Said mustang trying to calm Garcia down. He was really annoyed with himself.
"There were a million ways to handle the wolves,but I just had to show off" He thought to himself. "I hope chui is alright,I just left her with those wolves. She'll kill me next time she sees me" he mumbled to himself.
"M-maybe they are already back at the clearing now" Garcia said in a strangled voice. "We should head back too"
"Yes,lets head back" said mustang relieved that Garcia had finally calmed down."it was this way right?"
"I think so" said Garcia.
And so they walked in a direction away from the clearing where Riza was waiting for a miracle to save her life.
Yes,they are lost too.
Winry ran as fast as she could,away from the wolves . She ran through the forest,jumping over broken trees and rocks,the growls and barks getting fainter with every step. Soon she was in quite deep in the forest, panting and gasping for breath she stopped with her hands on her knees. She looked back hoping to see Riza behind her but all she saw were endless trees and vines. It was quite dark except for the few streaks of moon light which managed to pierce the canopy. Still panting she wiped the sweat off her forehead and started looking for tree she could climb, just as Riza told her to. She found a tree that was tilted a little in one direction. She once again looked back,but on finding no sign of Riza she started climbing,panting all the time. Using her hands for balance she crawled up the tree and then reached a branch she could sit on. Once her breathing became normal,she heard a faint rumbling. She looked around for the source but couldn't find it. Again,she heard it,it was coming from somewhere really close ,she looked every where ,then suddenly she realized, it was coming from above. Nothing could have preapared her for what she saw when she looked up. She almost shrieked in surprise.
"W-who are you?" she asked. There was a person sitting on one of the branch above her. Apparently, it was his stomach that was making all that noise. No reply came ,though she realized he must be the person Ed went looking for.,
"Are you Lin yao? A-are you alright mister?" she asked again. Still no reply, looking closely she realized that he was sitting on a platform made out of logs and vines propped on two branches.
"I-Is he hungry?" she thought to herself. She climbed up and sat beside him on the platform. His right leg was supported by some brances as splints and his ankle was swollen. She rummaged through her bag and took out some choclates,biscuits and bread they were able to salvage from the train debris.
"Here eat this" she brought the chocolate to his mouth. His nose twitched,eyes fluttered and slowly he opened his mouth.
After all the food was over, he finally opened his eyes and bowed to Winry and thanked and thanked her for the food. Not knowing what to do she just sat and smiled. He told her about Lan fan who saved him from the crash.
"She probably left to get some help or collect some food" he told himself more than Winry. Winry too was worried thinking about Riza and the fact that she didn't come after her finally hit her. Her vision became blury with tears of guilt and regret.
"I shouldn't have left her alone" she thought. Lin yao who had no idea about Riza or others tried to comfort her by patting her back. Winry who was trembling and sobbing uncontrollably collapsed in Lin yao's arms completely. He winced a little but patted her all the same.
Not too far away from them, a short blonde kid was running throught the forest as fast as he could towards the clearing , towards the howling wolves, hoping, that he wasn't too late.