Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, or Dgray-Man.
Authoress Note: I was shocked at how little FMAxDGRAYMAN stories there were. Even just watching the shows, I was thinking of different scenarios that could play out between the two. So here I am, attempting my own story. Oh and when people die, they get the knowledge about akuma and the earl, just so that I don't have people being like "how do they know about the akuma?" and what not.
Be warned, there will be character death.
Oh and before I forget, I know people will probably correct me with the spelling for Ishbal/Ishval, and Rizembool/Risembool, but I'm sticking with Ishbal and Risembool. I don't know why, I just like it better.
Obvious Grief
By: animeroxsmyworld
Chapter 1: Crossing Paths
"What…what do you mean…dead?" Alphonse whispered hoarsely, dread dragging it's claws across his chest, making it hard for him to breath. Sharp sobs broke the air as Winry's shuddering body continued to cry out into the morning, tears rolling down her red face and darkening the table cloth beneath her.
He was forced to take a step back as her cerulean blue eyes peered over her tiny arms to look up at him, the shattered grief and devastation reflected in them crushing his very being.
"Don't be stupid Al! They're plain dead! My mom and dad are dead!" She shouted, her voice cracking and wobbling horribly. Al could feel Edward shift next to him, the older Elric braving a step into the grieving household despite the female's distress.
"But…but how? I thought they were just doctors?" He questioned, voice going high, the boy confused at how two doctors as cheerful and kind as the Rockbells had just gone and died doing work that saved people lives. How could the opposite happen?
Winry's body shook harder as she buried her face in her arms. "They went to go be surgeons in the war in Ishbal. There was a surprise attack." She choked out wailing even louder.
The cries were like sharp blows to the boys and Al fumbled to try and comfort her, stepping slowly inside and placing his stout, transmuted horse on the table next to her. He fumbled for the right words, hoping that they would be comforting at a time like this. He wanted to do something that would ease the heartbreaking grief that was consuming his female friend.
"Winry, our dad's gone too you know. We still make it ok." He offered kindly, his voice sympathetic and soft as the words fell out of his young mouth.
Anger swelled inside of her at his words, bubbling like acid inside of her. With a vicious sweep of her arm, his horse was sent tumbling to the ground below as Winry launched herself upright, face red with a mix of anger and tears.
"Shut up you idiot! You're dad just ran off but my parents are both dead! They can't ever come back!" She shouted with all the rage she could muster, propelling herself to her feet as she did so. How could he be so blind! Couldn't he see that?
What on earth did he know?
Al flinched away from her instinctively, watching as her lip trembled, Winry struggling to hold in the angry words that threatened to spill out of her like a tirade.
No one had noticed Ed entering the room as well until he bent to pick down Al's fallen creation, his movements silent and swift. His whispered words cut through the air like a knife and caused Pinako to tense up.
"That's not necessarily true. I read it in a book. There's this artificially made thing called a homunculus. It's sort of a living doll without a mind to begin with. But some scholars believe with alchemy, and if you're willing to give up enough-"
"Stop!" Pinako barked sharply, causing all three kids to jump.
They had forgotten she was there.
"They'll be no talking like that in this house, you understand me. That's a forbidden science." The elderly little mechanic continued crossly, missing the intrigued look on Winry's face, the hopeful gleam blooming in those big blue eyes.
Could she really have her parents back?
"But Grandma…" Winry pleaded, desperate to hear Ed finish his explanation. If there was a way to get her parents back, she wanted to know what it was! If Ed and Al knew something, they should tell her!
Pinako was quick to turn on her before she could even start.
"No Winry! Alchemy will not solve everything and you can't go around bringing people back from the dead. That is not how the world works. If we were meant to live forever, we would never die."
"Backwards old bat." Ed muttered grumpily under his breath. Pinako's eyes narrowed dangerously before she grabbed the nearest object by her and hurled it at the two boys, continuing this process until they scrambled out of the house like they had been scalded with hot water.
Winry watched their retreating backs for a second before her shoulders sagged, tears stinging at her eyes again. She didn't even jump at the hand that landed on her shoulder in a comforting gesture.
"Why don't you go upstairs Winry?" Pinako advised, her voice laced with as much pain as Winry's. Winry had lost her parents, but Pinako had lost a son as well. She was also grieving. She was just holding it together that much better than the child in front of her.
Winry could only nod in response before fumbling up the stairs to her room where she stayed for the rest of the night, not even coming down for supper.
If Pinako knew what would transpire later that night, she never would've left the poor girl alone. For that night would be Winry's last.
Winry didn't even consider falling asleep. Her eyes were dry and slightly itchy from crying, she had no more tears left, but they would not seal up with sleep. It just wouldn't happen no matter how much she wished it.
Deep down, she was waiting for the door to open and for her parents to enter the yellow automail house, tired from the war, but still so very much alive.
But it wasn't going to happen.
She wanted to die. It hurt so much, how could this pain not be physical? How could there not be blood somewhere from how much she hurt? There had to be a hole in her heart, if she even still had a heart left.
The blond was so caught up in her thoughts as she sat in her bed, hugging her pillow and staring blankly at the floor, that she didn't register that someone had appeared through the window, the glass pane sliding up soundlessly.
"Hello." A goofy voice greeted.
She jumped in fright, a squeak escaping her lips as she was pulled from her own torturous world. Her eyes snapped up to be greeted with a slightly deformed looking clown.
That was the best way to describe it.
He, she was guessing it was a he, had purplish skin with a permanent grin too big to fit on a normal person's face, the painted grin elongating his demented face. His eyes were concealed behind glasses and he wore a top hat with skulls and flowers decorating the base, his pointed ears sticking out from beneath.
Winry opened her mouth to scream but he continued talking before she could, his voice stealing her words.
"Hold on, hold on, hold on now my dear!" He called out, stepping forward, and raising his hand to try and stop her from alerting Pinako of his presence. Not that he was scared that the little decrepit mechanic could actually do anything to him, but it was the principle of the matter.
Do things quick and sneaky. That's how business was done.
It was sometimes tricky working with children though. They let their emotions run wild, which could either be a good thing, or a bad thing depending on the child. With her, it looked like bad since it seemed she wanted to scream and run away from him. He needed to get her hooked and grab her attention.
"I just came to give you a gift. You lost your parents rather tragically did you not?" He continued jovially.
Winry's open mouth clicked shut, eyes widening.
"How…how'd you know that?" She whispered, despite the fact that she was talking to a ridiculous looking stranger who came in through her window in the middle of the night.
The fat clown, as she named him in her head, only waved his hand as if shooing off the matter. "I know many things, Winry Rockbell. You're grief called to me, so I came to you."
This had to be some kind of dream. Believing that to be the case, Winry continued with the questions that flashed in her mind.
"Who are you?"
"Please, call me Millenium Earl." The clown grinned goofily, his voice as silly as she had ever heard it. Winry was beginning to believe that she had officially slipped off into la la land by accident when the Earl tapped the floor in front of him with the pink pumpkin umbrella he held in one hand.
A light shone on the floor in front of him and Winry watched in fascination as something big, and metal, rose from the wood planks.
Alchemy maybe?
She couldn't be sure. She had only ever seen Ed and Al do alchemy before. If they were here, they could tell her.
Fascination turned to horror as she saw the contours of a skeleton in the center of the metal square.
"This is my gift to you. It's a magical body that I created. You can insert a soul into it and it will be revived. Don't you want your mom or your dad back?" He asked as he placed a hand on the skeletons head and walked to the side of the contraption…almost lovingly.
Winry froze as her thoughts whirled to earlier today. Her conversation with Ed and Al springing to the front of her mind and playing in fast forward.
That was a doll of sorts…
An artificial person…
So…
"A homunculus?" She questioned quietly to herself, her eyes looking at the metal person in a new light.
It actually existed? She could bring her parents back? Hear their voices and feel their touch? It was all true? This could actually happen?
The Earl wasn't done explaining however. "All I need from you is to call out the name of whoever you want to bring back, plain and simple. Then you can have one of your loved ones returned to you. Just say their name."
Winry hesitantly got down from her bed. There was only one doll so who would she bring back? Even being the age that she was, she knew that she could only bring back one. But maybe that was only for right now. Maybe she could bring back the other later.
But who should she call for now, at this moment?
Her mom…or her dad?
It didn't matter that this sounded like magic or anything else that Ed and Al didn't believe in, this seemed so real to her. Her heart was swelling with hope. How did they know that this wouldn't work? Maybe magic really did exist in this world, who said science was the only thing out there?
She needed to believe, she just had to. She wanted her parents back so badly, she didn't care how it happened.
Stepping forward, she outstretched her hand, words tumbling from her lips before she could stop them, her mothers first name pushing to the front of her mind.
"Sara." She murmured.
Lightning flashed in the room making her squeal as it shot at the skeleton, words scrawling across the doll's forehead, the name Sara writing itself in perfect cursive underneath a star that suddenly appeared on the doll's forehead.
The head jerked causing Winry to flinch before a voice that she wept with joy at hearing spoke her name.
"Win…ry…?"
Winry sobbed, tears rolling down her face. "Mom! Oh mom, you're back!" She choked hoarsely, wiping at her face, the crushing weight on her chest shattering into thousands of tiny pieces. She didn't care that the thing before her was just a metal skeleton, her mom was back from the dead! It was a miracle!
"Winry, what did you do?"
The rage in her mother's voice made her start, eyes going wide. "Huh?" She gurgled wetly.
"What did you do to me? I'm an akuma!"
"Akuwhat?" Winry repeated in confusion, stepping back in fright as her mother made angry motions, freeing herself from the confines of the metal square.
A hand suddenly stopped Winry backing any further and she looked up into the face of the Earl, his eyes not even trained on her, but instead fixated on her mother. "Oh Sara, my darling akuma, kill this girl for me please. Then you can wear her body as your own."
Horror crashed over Winry like ice, her heart beating loudly against her ribs as his words echoed in her head.
Kill?
Her?
Her mom was going to kill her?
Her mother?
No…no…that wasn't right.
She had to of misheard.
But her mom gave an angry howl and charged, the wood underneath her metal feet shuddering as she barrelled towards the blond.
Winry didn't realize she was screaming until she felt her lungs struggling for air, her brain barely registering that the shrill noise filling the air was her own voice as she tried to scramble to the door, jerking away from the Earl's hand and stumbling with blind panic on her way to the handle.
A metal body collided with her own tiny one before she could reach it, the sound of crushing bones echoing through the air as her skull smacked cleanly against the wall,, her ribs shattering from the momentum of the impact.
The Earl watched with gleaming eyes as blood sprayed the walls, the screams turning into a watery gurgle as the audible snap of the spine broke through the air, the jerky movements of the struggling child coming to a complete, disturbing, stop in an instant.
He merrily hummed 'Happy Birthday' as he watched the metal skeleton slide into the girl's now broken body, her legs kicking about as Sara took over and tried to fit herself into her new form. Waving his umbrella, he wiped away all the blood, showing no signs that something out of the ordinary had transpired here.
The sound of pounding footsteps made the Earl cock his head. The other occupant in the house must've woken up. Glancing back he saw the girl's body rise, her hands slowly making fists before uncurling them, checking the movements of her newfound form.
The gaping, purely revolting wound that ran across her throat was healing, one of the many wonderful akuma skills that some possessed, the blood receding before only a tiny, jagged pink line showed that damage had been done to the female before him. And even that would disappear in a few minutes.
Her face was that of a killer…of an akuma, the only emotion being the tears that silently slide like silk down her face.
"Be free my child, and kill all you can." He order merrily, tipping his hat to his new creation, his devil horns glinting in the moonlight.
She nodded firmly and he disappeared out the window, his work now done and Winry now dead to an oblivious world.
"Brother, have you noticed anything strange about Winry lately?" Al asked Ed, the two boys lagging behind the mentioned female as they walked home from school. She was insanely quiet and barely spoke or ate anymore, yet none of the adults seemed concerned by her change of behaviour. They acted as if her behaviour was perfectly normal.
Ed frowned as he watched her back.
"She lost both of her parents Al. Imagine what we would be like if mom died." Ed provided sympathetically after a second of thinking. She was probably still grieving in her own way, it only had been a couple of months since the news reached Risembool.
And everyone grieved in their own way…took their own time.
Al's eyes fell to the ground, his shoulders hunching up to his ears. "I don't ever want to think about that." He whispered. The two boys walked in silence, Ed in contemplation, Al in sadness until eventually, they reached the point in the road where they separated from their female friend.
"See you tomorrow Winry!" Ed called out good naturedly. His mother encouraged their friendship with the girl, even more so now that her parents were gone. The slight incline of her head was the only sign to show that she had heard him as she walked down the path to her house, the Elric brothers frowning as they watched her go.
Though they were learning not to expect a verbal response from her anymore. The fact that she had even inclined her head was, in itself, an improvement. It showed that she had at least heard them.
"I hope she begins talking again." Al murmured as they turned and walked up their own path to their own house. They were greeted to the sight of their mother, Trisha, standing at the kitchen counter, cutting up some apples with a frown marring her face.
Which was odd because she was usually happy when she was cooking or baking.
"What's wrong mom?" Ed questioned as he closed the front door behind him, Al already inside the house and disposing of his school bag. Her green eyes slid over to her two boys and her frown was replaced with a small smile.
"Oh just some sad news in town again. Mr. Miller passed away yesterday so I thought I would send the family something to show my sorrow at his passing." She supplied as she expertly passed the knife through another piece of apple.
She turned and offered a few slices to the two who took some graciously, sitting at the table to watch her work. And to wait to see if they would receive more snacks.
"There have been a lot of people passing away recently." Ed commented with a frown as he chewed, his words muffling slightly. There had been Mr. Miller, Ms. Keita, Lucy, Tina, Anthony, Adam, Tracy, Ms. Lithmin, Cole, Mr. Jenkins… he was sure there were more but he couldn't quite remember all of them.
With the passing of each person, his mother baked a pie.
He regretted his words immediatley as his mother's shoulders sagged, looking like she was going to collapse where she stood. But she didn't. She was merely weighed down by grief and worry. "Yes, there has." She replied softly after a moment of silence, her knife cutting into another apple. In a small town like this, it was quite unusual for so many to die so soon without it being some kind of sickness or pandemic.
Though she knew what the cause was. A murderer was loose in Risembool, a murderer that no one could find. Some of the villagers were frightened to do day to day things that required them leaving the house and a few kids had been pulled out of school so that they wouldn't have to walk to and from the building that was so far from their homes.
Though the murderer seemed to only attack at night. Or at least for the time being anyways. But it was still a scary thought. With the town being as small as it was, there were no strangers. It put her on high alert because, unless the murderer was a random stranger who decided to take residence in town, she knew this person.
She knew them, laughed and chatted away to them. Like any friend would.
And so did most everyone in town. And that was a chilling thought indeed.
"Mom?"
She started slightly, surprised to find herself staring at the apple pieces in front of her, knife paused in it's descent. How long had she spaced out?
She turned brightly to face Al, the one who had called out to her. "Yes?"
"We're going to go outside and play." He informed her, already hoping off the chair and joining his older brother who was already making his way towards the front door. She nodded though a seed of fear planted itself in her stomach, blossoming as the door swung shut and her kids were out of her sight.
Was it safe?
Was Risembool safe anymore?
Winry stood over the dead body of Mrs. Boon, the elderly woman gaping lifelessly at the night sky overhead. The moon hung in the sky, the only witness to the bloody scene below.
But the moon would tell no tales.
Winry strode out every night to fulfill the mission the Earl had given her, her form degenerating back to that of a lowly, level one akuma made of what appeared to be guns and a balloon with a face as she sought out those who still lurked the streets at night.
Despite her low level and lack of more complex thoughts, she knew enough about survival to not blow her cover and kill the other occupant that resided in her house. That and the two boys that seemed insistent to follow her everyday. They were the only hindrance that prevented her from killing in the broad daylight.
She needed them to keep her cover.
If it was blown she would be found and they would come.
Winry's blank face finally twisted into something akin to fascination as her blue eyes closed, a humming something vibrating through her throat. She could feel energy pumping through her body from her latest kill, echoing through her and resonating with the energy of all the other people she had killed.
Then like a snap, thoughts flooded to her head, emotions following shortly after. Memories followed by, choking, confusing, suffocating emotions, and loyal thoughts to her creator. She gasped, staggering for a second before looking down at her hands.
She didn't look different in her human body but she could feel stronger power in her veins…
"Did I kill enough people? Did I achieve level two?" She whispered in wonderment as she stretched her arms out to the moon above.
The silent moon that told no tales.
That had to be it. She was thinking after all. Level ones tended to just go around mindlessly, without thought, without feeling. Living corpses really. They were just weapons for killing.
Only when an akuma killed enough did they evolve.
They became level two's, advanced killers able to blend into society and kill within limits. Truly terrifying creations.
She watched with sick pleasure as her arms formed into sickles. Even her akuma body had changed as well. Letting her eyes slide from the gleaming sickles to the moon that was washing her, she spoke to the sky, up to the Earl who ruled her.
"I'll kill plenty my Earl." She said graciously, a smile of sharp teeth stretching her face grotesquely.
The moon just stared silently back, but if it could, it would weep.
