Full Metal Alchemist: Dark Night

By Tansho S. Erizawa & Chie Shidara

Chapter 1: Central Command, 06:00 hours.

The halls of Central were a bust of activity as usual. People walked from room to room, office to office, and floor to floor. The day was as ordinary as ever. In the phone room, lines were transferred, calls were made, conversations ended, while many more activities unfolded.

Amongst the seemingly chaotic daily life of the citizen soldiers of Central, a single man, a colonel, walked down the hall.

His name was Roy Mustang, also well known as the Flame Alchemist. He had decided to take a brake from his mounds of paper work and talk a short walk.

"Are you going somewhere Colonel?" said a voice from behind him.

Roy turned and stood face to face with his subordinate 1st Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye. He smiled at her with his usual smirk and explained himself.

"Well it seems you caught me Lieutenant," he replied coolly, "I was just going for a walk."

"Don't you have work to do sir?" she responded back.

Roy laughed softly. "Well, yes, but I need a break every now and then."

He turned to leave and took one last glance at his subordinate. "I won't be long. Just try and stem the flow of papers until I'm back."

As he walked away Riza sighed and headed back to Roy's office. As she was walking however she noticed a commotion around the newsroom. She walked over and saw that everyone was reading the newly arrived papers.

"Did you hear? There's been another kidnapping!"

"I heard it's connected to the serial killer who drains a person dry of blood."

"Eww… like some sort of vampire?"

"That's what I heard."

Riza almost laughed at the thought. 'Vampires'? Honestly, the Colonel would have started an argument if he heard something as ridiculous this.

Then she noticed the rumor spreader was none other than Cain Fury, one of her fellow subordinates who worked under Roy Mustang. Upon further notice, she spotted Breda and Havoc, more fellow subordinates.

Taking one last glance, she walked away. She had work to do and she needed to be ready for the Colonel's return. Meanwhile, walking out of the main entrance was the man in question.

Roy walked down the streets of Central, which was as busy and alive as the halls of the Command Centre. As he continued walking people passed by him without a care, they being quite used to seeing military figures of his rank and stature.

However as he turned a corner, he bumped into a short standing man dressed in shawls and tattered clothing. Apologizing, he helped the man up who appeared quite startled.

"Y-ye mustn't roam these streets alone kind s-sir," he said quite shakily. "Th-these be dangerous times…"

"Dangerous times?" questioned Roy, "What do you mean?"

"Just be warned… do not venture out at night, lest ye want to be taken…"

With those last words, he left, leaving Roy with many questions. Instead of perusing the mysterious man, he decided to head back to headquarters.

"'Dangerous times'? What was he talking about?" Roy asked himself as he walked up the steps of Central Command.

It was true that there has been a rash outbreak of disappearances and mysterious deaths, but to say that he, the legendary Flame Alchemist, was in trouble, now that was new! He didn't believe that he was in trouble. Why would he after all?

As he walked down the hallway, he ran into Breda and Fury who both looked rather scared.

"Colonel! It happened again!" yelled Fury who held a paper in his hands.

"Another attack?" asked Roy.

"Not really," replied Breda, "it's another kidnapping."

Yet another kidnapping which meant that it was the 6th in the last month. Add that to the 6 deaths and the 6 missing people and… This thought cast and eerie sensation on Roy.

"Sir, you realize what this makes right?" asked Fury.

"6 kidnappings, 6 missing people, 6 deaths…" said Roy as he calculated the numbers, "666."

What did this mean? Was this some sort of sign or some madman's sick idea of scaring the people?

"Sir, I think I know what's causing this," said Breda as he walked closer to the Colonel. "I think... it's… it's…"

He paused and Roy grew angry.

"Well spit it out!"

"Vampires!" yelled both soldiers.

Col. Mustang sighed and shook his head. "Don't tell me… that this is the best idea that you could come up with?!" he yelled angrily.

"B-but sir!"

"Enough," said Roy trying to calm himself down. "Listen; think this through for a second. You're sounding as scared as you did with the whole Warehouse 13 incident!"

The two soldiers looked at each other and sighed, defeated.

"Yes sir."

Their senior officer walked away and the two headed back to their office. Roy couldn't believe his two subordinates, always scared about such superstitious nonsense.

When he walked into his office, he found Lt. Hawkeye waiting for him. She had a report in her hands and Roy had a feeling that he already knew what it was about.

"Colonel, you're back soon," said Riza turning to face him.

"Yes, well… the walk wasn't very relaxing," he replied heading to his chair. "I trust you have something new for me."

"Yes sir." She handed him the report. "We have been given a distress call from a neighboring town. They are asking for military help, but gave a specific request."

"Request? What kind of request?"

"They are asking with someone, namely and alchemist, specializing with fire."

Roy gave a small chuckle. "So they asked for the Flame Alchemist then… well they came to the right person."

"Colonel, sir," said Riza, "due to regulations, we can only send one military representative to scout out the operation."

"Well, I'll give a report as soon as I'm done," said Roy. "When do I leave for the mission?"

Riza sighed. "In one hour, sir."

"One hour?!" yelled Roy jumping up from his chair. "Why haven't they informed me earlier of this?"

"Well the report just came in," she replied calmly.

The Flame Alchemist slumped back down in his chair. "Alright, I'll be ready to leave Lt. Hawkeye."

"Yes Colonel," said Riza saluting him.

She walked out of the office. The mission's parameters classified that only Roy could begin the assignment. If he were not to report within two hours of starting the mission they were to send in backup.

Normally Riza accompanied Roy on any mission he took, but this time, she had to stay behind. This worried Lt. Hawkeye. If anything were to happen to him, she wouldn't be there to help. She saw Roy, who was wearing his black overcoat and cap, heading out of his office.

"Good luck with the mission, Colonel." She said quickly.

Roy gave a smirk. "Don't worry Lieutenant, I can handle this."

With that last remark he headed out of Central Command and to a waiting car. His only aide on the mission was a pair of lightly armed escorts, who were his drivers for this mission.

He walked towards the car and the escorts saluted him. Climbing in, he wondered why the help request specified someone greatly skilled with fire. Also, was this incident connected with the murder and kidnapping cases? And when he put the totals together, it came up as the numbers 666, signifying the devil's number. What could this all mean? He was jarred from his thoughts when he felt the car begin the move.

"We'll be arriving there soon Colonel Mustang sir," said one of the drivers.

He nodded and looked out the window. The sun was setting slowly, casting shadows over the buildings of Central. He remembered that the man from earlier said not to go out at night, but he chose not to listen.

After all, what's the worst that could happen at night?

Suddenly the words of his subordinates Fury and Breda came into his head. He sighed lo himself and kept thinking. 'There are no such things as vampires. It's all just a bunch of superstitious nonsense."

The car soon left the city limits and Roy saw the tree line of the forest that lay outside of the city. Tree by tree passed by like a statue, no leaves showing movement as the wind was faint and almost nonexistent.

"Where are we going exactly?" asked Roy to one of the drivers.

"A small village not far from here called Rein."

"Do you have any knowledge as to why they would request such help?"

The driver shrugged. "No sir, all I know is that they are a very superstitious people."

Roy sighed and leaned back in his seat, it's just as he feared. They probably summoned him hearing about the murders and rumors around them, thinking it was vampires.

The car hit a bump as it moved off the main road. It seemed the village wasn't to far now, as Roy saw lights in the distance.

Soon, he thought, he'd be able to sort this whole vampire nonsense out and get back to his office. He'd take paperwork over superstitious wild goose chases any day.

They approached a sign, it read: "Town of Rein". What Roy noticed was strange was the population. It looked as though it had been changed recently. He took no extra thought of it though, and leaned back in his seat.

He was unaware that the whole trip, he was being watched by a single hooded figure in the trees; its red eyes glinting in the encroaching moonlight…

-To be continued… -