This is an idea that has been on my mind for a long time...The chase scene was inspired by the Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Opening #1 "Again"
Fullmetal Alchemist and its characters belong to their proper owners.
This story and the mysterious chimera belong to me.
…Please enjoy my first published fanfiction.
*Chapter 1*
Monsters and Mysteries
"AL! HURRY UP! WE'RE LOSING IT!"
What had once been a quiet afternoon in Central City turned chaotic, citizens and store-owners alike dodged frantically off the crowded walkways to avoid being slammed into, some cursing at the individuals responsible for their misfortune but most screaming instead.
In the midst of the parting crowd, a white humanoid creature, with red fur going down the length of its spine, rushed past on all-fours, followed close behind by a young man with blonde, braided hair and a long red coat. Heavy footfalls and a clanking of metal signaled the coming of a second pursuer, a person much taller than the blonde teen and donning a complete suit of gunmetal-gray armor.
"I'M TRYING, ED!" shouted a small boy's voice from within the giant metal suit, "THIS SUIT IS NOT BUILT FOR SPEED!"
The young man risked a moment's glance back at his armored ally, his younger brother, before refocusing his attention on the creature. Edward Elric, famed alchemist and something of a hero in the capital city, had seen a lot of crazy things in his life, most of them were enough to drive anyone else mad. But neither he nor his brother, Alphonse Elric, had been expecting what they saw today.
The two brothers had been walking around the capital of Amestris earlier that day, reflecting on a case they had been working on that had a connection to an object they had been searching for, a legendary substance known as the philosopher's stone.
Apparently, citizen reports had been coming in about sightings within the city of two individuals whose descriptions matched two particular homunculi the brothers had crossed paths with before, Lust and Gluttony.
"It can't be a coincidence," uttered Edward, holding his chin in one hand while deep in thought, "After fighting with Greed and Envy a little more than a week ago, and Bradley making that announcement to the squadron a few days back…"
"Brother, I don't think we should talk about this out here," came Alphonse' voice from inside the walking suit of armor, which was holding its hands up slightly as if the boy within was afraid something would come out from nowhere and bite him, "Some of that information is top secret…and Colonel Mustang said that Envy could be anywhere in the city."
"I wasn't going to say everything," Ed replied in exasperation. He then stretched up his arms and crossed them behind his head, "Talking out loud just helps me think."
"We still need to be careful…" mumbled Alphonse quietly, not wanting to upset his brother.
A large grumble stopped the brothers short of any further conversation on that subject. Edward gave an embarrassed smile when the armored titan turned its head to look at down at him with the eerie lights in the helmet's eyes.
"You skipped breakfast again, didn't you, Brother," stated Alphonse in a flat tone, more of a statement than a question.
Edward's smile dropped to a hard grimace, and he crossed his arms, "I didn't have the time! Hughes had me running errands all morning."
The suit didn't move. Ed could almost swear he saw those lights in the armor's eyes narrow.
"Okay, okay," sighed Edward reluctantly, rolling his eyes and turning slightly away, "Maybe I did forget. I'll just grab something to eat for lunch down at the market to make up for it." The lights in the eyes of the helmet disappeared, as if Al had closed his eyes, and the armor slowly shook its helmet.
"You need to stop doing this, Brother," the armor seemed to sigh, the boy within speaking in a slightly worried tone, "I know things have been hard lately, but you need to keep your strength up. I'd hate to see you hunted down by Winry again because you aren't taking care of yourself."
The young man went rigid at the thought, "I'm still recovering from the last time she clocked me with her wrench," he shivered at the memory, "Seriously, if she wasn't so set on being a mechanic, she could probably win this whole confrontation single-handedly with ease."
Alphonse let out a small giggle at the thought of the homunculi running in terror from Winry, the blonde mechanic waving a giant wrench in their direction. The two soon enter the market place.
Over by a fruit stand nearby, a petite figure in a brown hood and cloak was inspecting a pear in one sleeve-covered hand. Edward noticed the person as the cloaked head lifted up slightly in the direction of the owner of the stand, who was looking down at the shady character with great suspicion.
Edward was in mutual agreement, finding it strange for anyone in their right mind to casually wear a full cloak and hood at noon in the middle of May. He watched the interaction from a short distance away, sensing trouble.
"How much for five of these?" asked the cloaked individual with the voice of a young woman, lifting the held pear slightly for the store owner to see.
Stunned by the honest question, the man in charge of the booth stood there in silence for a few moments, having expected something completely different. He shook his head and answered in a gruff tone, "You can have them for one-thousand cenz (About $10.00)."
The apparently cloaked woman further stunned the store owner, and Edward, by lifting the other sleeve-covered hand and setting the exact amount of currency onto the wooden counter in front of the man.
"Will this be enough?" the woman asked, sounding concerned.
"Y-Yes….Yes, it will do," the store owner managed to say, collecting the payment slowly. It was as if the man was still trying to understand why an obvious-looking thief wasn't stealing from his booth. He sighed, seeing that he didn't have to worry about the unusual situation anymore, and gave the cloaked woman a hesitant smile. "A pleasure doing business with you, ma'am," he said with a short wave of his hand.
The cloaked woman nodded once in farewell, and began walking away, heading across the street.
A leather hand landed on Edward's shoulder, "Hey, Brother, are you alright?"
"Hm?" Edward snapped out of his observational trance, looking back at his armored brother.
"You tensed up," explained Alphonse, seeing his brother's confusion, "Is something wrong?"
"The cloaked woman by the fruit stand," answered Edward, giving a small sigh "I guess this whole business with the homunculi has set me a bit on-edge."
"You just need to eat something," reassured Alphonse, giving his brother's shoulder a gentle pat, "C'mon. Mrs. Hughes told me of a great place you cou-" "HEY! Watch where you're goin', creep!"
The brothers turned around just in time to see a group of four men surrounding the cloaked woman, workers by the looks of their attire and the crates they had been transporting in an old pick-up truck.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get in your way," uttered the woman fearfully, her cloaked head looking around at each of the men, yet never lifting high enough for the sun to penetrate the shadows over the woman's face. Sensing that this could get out of hand very quickly, Edward and Alphonse started walking towards the workers.
"If you're so sorry, you'll take off that stupid hood, and watch where the heck YOU'RE GOING!" yelled a red-faced man, roughly pushing the cloaked woman down and causing her hood to fall off her head as she hit the ground.
Instantly, the four men seemed to freeze in place, as if time had suddenly stopped.
Edward could only stare in shock, Alphonse giving a faint gasp beside him.
What should have been a woman's face was more like something out of a nightmare. The face was white as pure snow, and completely devoid of any features save for two large, glowing yellow orbs where eyes should have been. A large horn curved upward from the forehead, and two long, snake-like tentacles came out the back of its head behind where ears should have been. A messy mane of blood red hair covered the top of its head and went down the back of its elongated neck.
A chimera?! Edward's thoughts exclaimed, his eyes fixed on the still form in front of him. With a shiver, the newly identified chimera started to get up onto its knees, seemingly stunned by its fall.
There was a sudden scream from the surrounding crowd in reaction to the creature's movement, bringing everyone from their stupor like a spell being broken. The chimera brought a sleeved hand to its head, stiffening upon realizing that its hood had fallen, and quickly got to its feet as people began to panic. Completely forgetting the bag of pears in its own panic, it ran off.
For a moment, Edward couldn't move. The face of the chimera brought back painful memories….ones he would have rather forgotten. Its face looked so familiar.
A jolt suddenly ran through Edward's thoughts.
…The chimera had spoken fluent English. The last time that happened…the last time he had seen a talking chimera…
"Looks like lunch has to wait, Alphonse! We have to catch that chimera!" shouted Edward, coming out of his thoughts at a full sprint.
Alphonse, having figured out the same thing, rushed after him...albeit hesitantly, having glanced down at the bag of pears for a moment.
Edward chased after the chimera as fast as his legs could carry him, dodging civilians while trying not to lose sight of the creature's glossy red mane.
I can't use my alchemy! Too many people around to risk someone getting hurt! thought Edward, a curse muttered under his breath. His luck suddenly seemed to change as the chimera turned and cut through an alley.
"Gotcha!" Edward clasped his hands together before slamming them into the walkway. A tremor shook through the ground, and the walls of the buildings on either side of the alleyway suddenly seemed to come alive as they moved to merge together to block the chimera's escape.
The chimera gained a burst of speed, leaping for the opening and making it through just before the alley way sealed off behind it, leaving a stunned Edward on the other side.
It stood from its crouch to start running again, but stopped short and fell to the ground. A dull sound, like a muffled groan, emanated from its throat. Lifting itself up to look behind, the chimera found that part of its cloak was embedded in the newly formed wall. It gave a muffled growl, got to its feet, and started tugging hard on the cloak, trying to get free. It suddenly heard something from above, and stopped to listen.
Footsteps….someone was approaching from the rooftops. The chimera tugged even harder on its cloak.
Edward leaped down from atop one of the two-story buildings framing the alleyway, breaking his fall with a roll as he hit the ground. Looking around for the chimera, he saw a large piece of cloth on the ground in front of him, with part of it embedded in the wall he had made. Realizing that it was the chimera's hood and cloak, he turned his head just in time to see a snow-white limb disappear out of the alleyway.
Cursing under his breath, he took off again in pursuit. Alphonse jumped down from the roof to land in the exact same spot just as Edward left the alleyway. The armor glanced down at the cloak, the back at where his brother had gone.
Edward soon heard the tell-tale signs of his brother following swiftly behind him as the two ran after the chimera through the bustling streets of Central City. The creature's strange form was now fully exposed without its cover as it galloped, almost gracefully, on all-fours swiftly from the brothers.
"AL! HURRY UP! WE'RE LOSING IT!"
"I'M TRYING, ED! THIS SUIT IS NOT BUILT FOR SPEED!"
"IF IT WEREN'T FOR ALL THESE PEOPLE, I COULD USE MY ALCHEMY TO TRAP IT!"
"THAT NEVER STOPPED YOU BEFORE! ESPECIALLY WITH SCAR!"
"DO NOT BRING UP THAT CREEP'S NAME RIGHT NOW!"
The chimera ran passed startled civilians, weaving through the crowds with cat-like agility. Still chasing the creature, Ed gave a small smirk. Even with its maneuvering abilities, the growing crowds were significantly slowing it down. If this kept up, they would catch the chimera in no time.
Seeming to read his thoughts, the creature jumped onto the side of a building by the road, using its long-fingered claws and talon-like feet for grip as it scaled the wall even while running the building's length to keep up momentum.
Edward's jaw dropped in shock upon seeing this. At this rate, if the brothers didn't think fast, they would run out of stamina and the creature would get away before they could tire it out instead.
"OH, FORGET THIS!" Edward shouted in frustration, clapping his hands together in front of him before slamming them into the wall. A pulse of energy shot through the bricks, a pillar exploding out of the side of the building right where the chimera was headed. Happening too fast for it to react, the creature collided with the pillar head on at full speed.
Many bystanders, even Al, couldn't help but wince as the chimera hit the pillar, cracking it. Having lost all momentum, the creature fell from the wall, landing in a cloud of wood chips and splinters from impact with some crates that had been stacked by said wall.
Edward slid to a skidding halt a few feet from the settling debris cloud, Alphonse coming to a stop beside him, both brothers poised ready for a confrontation with a possibly dangerous being.
"Aright," called Ed warily, "We have you surrounded. Come out slowly."
"We don't want to hurt you," added Alphonse, his voice radiating child-like concern. Planks of wood started to shift as the form underneath slowly lifted itself out. The two brothers stiffened in their fighting stances, preparing for any hostile retaliation. A red-furred back was revealed by the shifting wood.
Soon Edward, Alphonse, and many bystanders get a clear look at the humanoid chimera as it hesitantly turned its head to regard them.
The hauntingly white face stared at them with the bright, practically glowing yellow circles that Edward now assumed were its eyes. It had no mouth, no nose, and no expression at all, as if its 'face' was frozen like that. Edward felt a shiver as he made eye-contact, opting to look elsewhere for fear of being hypnotically paralyzed.
He noticed that scratches covered its face and forehead horn, most likely from running into his pillar. He was actually surprised that the horn wasn't in worse shape, seeing how it curved upward from underneath the red hair of its mane that draped over its forehead.
How could it take such a hit with so few scratches? Ed wondered, his face slightly pale, And how could it talk with no mouth?
Slight movement attracted his attention to the two long, snake-like tentacles that sprouted out the back of its head, behind where ears should have been but didn't seem to exist. The strange appendages moved with a slow, flowing smoothness, the tips curling and uncurling like that of a cat's tail. They were far longer than he first thought, slightly longer than he believed the creature could stand at its full height. But that was hard to gauge since it was currently slouching, its long neck bowed with the weight of its own head….or was that a submissive stance?
The thick mane of blood red, glossy fur ran the length of its entire spine, covering its back and spilling slightly over its body, which was abnormally long and thin, as if it hadn't eaten in months. Yet there was a strange sense of grace and power in its movements, no sign of fatigue or weakness at all.
This puzzled Ed even as he observed the chimera further. Three deep red slits sat above where its heart would have been if it was human, one vertical and the other two branching off of it. They consistently enlarged and contracted with the expanding and contracting of its ribbed chest, almost as if they were what it breathed through in place of a mouth and nose it did not have. Long, thin arms ended in elongated human hands, tipped with razor-sharp fingers. Red feathers long and short decorated the backs of its lower arms.
Its lower half revealed nothing of its gender, almost as if it was a person in a suit, and its abnormally long legs appeared to be the most human feature about this chimera. This stopped at its elongated ankles, which didn't touch the ground until the balls of its three-clawed feet. The outer two claws of each foot were small, short, and thick. The middle toe, if it was even a toe, curled backwards like a reverse-raptor's foot. Scratches and small, bleeding cuts covered its otherwise snow-white skin.
Edward's observations happened within the few seconds that it took for the chimera to fully face them.
What kind of hideous combination of madness made this poor soul? He thought grimly. A scream from the crowd once again brought everyone back to reality.
The distinct clicking sound of a hand-gun being primed was the only warning before several policemen on the sidelines opened fire at what they saw as a dangerous threat to civilians. Still slightly disoriented, the chimera dodged most of the fatal projectiles. A growl of pain was heard within its throat as one bullet went through its upper left arm and another barely missed its left side.
"NO! STOP IT!" cried Alphonse in horror, turning and holding his arms out to block a few shots with his suit of armor.
"Stop shooting, you IDIOTS!" roared Edward, forced to jump behind Alphonse to shield himself from stray bullets. The police reluctantly stopped, their guns still aimed at the chimera. Taking advantage of the halt in their fire, it made a run for it.
"You scared it off!" an enraged Edward exclaimed. Not wanting to waste anymore time, he chased after the chimera once more, a stream of curses under his breath, with Alphonse right on his heels.
The creature's gallop was slower now due to its injured limb, but that didn't stop it from making a desperate effort to escape the brothers. Alphonse noticed large drops of blood on the ground with a gasp, "Brother, its hurt! Badly!"
Those fools must have hit an artery for it to lose so much blood, realized Edward after seeing the chimera's left arm become covered in crimson, It will die if it doesn't get treated soon.
Memories of Nina flashed before his eyes. Once a human girl, and like a little sister to the brothers, she had been merged with the family dog, Alexander, and turned into a chimera by her own father, who had been driven into a maddened desperation to create a talking chimera for fear of losing his job.
It had torn Ed and Al apart seeing her in such a state, physically and mentally. She had been broken, all because her dad only cared about keeping his State Alchemist certification. But it was only made worse when they learned that Nina had been murdered. The event had traumatized the brothers deeply, and haunted their dreams many nights. They couldn't let it happen again. They would not let history repeat itself.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, Edward made a tough decision, "So much for being careful."
With a series of alchemic claps, Ed made several obstacles in the chimera's path. The sudden appearance of a wall blocked off the chimera's way down one street, making it turn sharply down another street, only to have several pillars shoot out of the ground that made the creature run down yet another. Pedestrians and motorists scattered wildly in alarm at the sudden chaos, running away to avoid injury.
A deep hole in the ground swiftly opened wide in front of the creature, the blonde alchemist's attempt to slow it down. Not missing a beat, it made a leap for a street light above the road, jumping from one to another to by-pass the hole before jumping down again. Because of its injuries, it buckled upon landing, but forced itself to its feet to once again attempt its escape. With a swift activation of alchemy, Ed closed the hole back up before he and Al reached where it had once been.
The three quickly found themselves running down a narrow roadway near Central City headquarters, the chimera beginning to waver in its run. Knowing that it could not last much longer before passing out, Edward clapped his hands together once more, then slammed them into the ground. The energy surged through the road, under the chimera, and erupted into a large wall in front of it, blocking its exit.
"Brother, you did it!" exclaimed Alphonse in relieved joy. Ed nodded, panting, "Yeah, now we just have to get it back to HQ, and patch it up before questioning."
Their relief turned to astonishment as the chimera leaped, rebounded off the wall, and suddenly charged straight at them, horn lowered and eyes brighter than before.
Alphonse backed away, intimidated by the action, "B-Brother!"
Uttering a curse, Edward tried to activate his ability before the chimera rammed him. But just before it pierced him with its horn, it surprised both brothers again by leaping clear over Ed. Alphonse backed away even more, so much that the armor accidentally tripped and fell onto his back as the creature landed harshly beside him. At the same time, Edward slammed the ground with his hands before he could stop himself.
A surge of misfired energy coursed into the buildings on either side of the road, and both erupted into several long pillars of various sizes in front of and above the creature, blocking its way. But because the energy wasn't stabilized in its execution, the pillars were unstable and the buildings of their origin were too weak to stay upright.
Edward realized this too late, watching in horror as much of the two buildings collapsed on top of the chimera and his brother in a cloud of rubble and debris.
"ALPHONSE!"