The cold rain hit her inflamed skin, cooling it. She laid there, not daring to move for the pain it would bring. Her eyes stayed closed, she took a deep breath savoring the fresh cool air.
'Gosh, That was a hard fall. Everything hurts. I really, really, really should have thought that whole leaning all the way over my bike thing through more carefully.'
A clock bell rang loudly through the pouring rain. A startling rumble followed. Evelynn flinched.
'I'm probably in the middle of the road, I should move. Getting hit by a car doesn't sound all that pleasant right now.'
She opened her eyes and shielded them from the drizzle. She sat up carefully, her whole body aching.
'That's odd. I don't recognize any of these buildings, or the alley. I must have gone farther than I thought.'
She stretched a bit, joints popping and muscles throbbing. A series of loud crashes sounded through the air. They were getting closer. Evelynn looked around frantically.
'What is that! I better get out of here.'
The only way out was towards the loud noises. She settled for trying to squeeze her small frame into a crack between the wall and a building. Her heart pounded rapidly in her chest. A rolling clap of energy carved a large scar out of the building she was behind. Rubble scraped her as it flew past. She coughed on the dust that started to cloud from the fallen brick as running footsteps came close to her hiding spot.
'What the hell? I was riding my bike and now I'm about to be in the middle of some-some gang war! I did not sign up for this.' She tried to push herself further back but the rubble blocked her way, 'Nice, now I am going to die and I didn't even get to drink that Arnold Palmer,' She clutched the charm to her chest tightly. The footsteps stopped right in front of the alley
"Who are you anyway? Why are you after us?!" an oddly familiar voice yelled
'Where have I heard that voice?'
A deceptively calm rumble of a speaker interrupted her thoughts. "As long as there are creators like you in the world, there must also be destroyers."
"Yeah, well it looks like we're gonna have to fight."
She peered out from behind the building and froze. Her eyes met a blonde in a red coat, a giant suit of armor and a tall man with white hair and a scar covering a majority of his face.
'Wow, I must have hit my head harder than I thought. It's that or I'm dreaming.'
A shaky hand reached towards a throbbing on her head. She touched a tender sticky spot, and her hand pulled back red.
'Oh. That explains it.'
Evelynn slowly stepped from behind the building and started walking forward. The brothers were racing towards Scar. They missed, allowing Scar to rip open Al's side. He crashed and tumbled to the ground.
"Al!" Evelynn and Edward screamed in unison. The girl raced towards Al as Edward and Scar continued to fight.
"Al! Are you all right?" She knelt worriedly beside him, trying to gather as many scraps as she could. The hollowed suit of armor looked up at her in shock
"Yeah, no! Wait, who are you? You need to get out of here it's too dangerous. How did you know my name? Your head is bleeding! What are you doing? You need to leave!" He frantically tried to wave her away.
"My name is Evelynn and I'm trying to get all of your parts back" She stated with a matter of fact voice and blank face. She dumped some scraps into the hollowed out part of his armour "Sorry, I know that must be weird." They landed with a loud clang.
Exasperated, Al turned away from the strange girl and looked back towards the fight. Edward was taking some serious damage. Al started to crawl towards the duo. "Brother, don't! Just run away!"
Edward glared at his brother."You idiot! I'm not going to leave you behind- Who the hell is that?! You need to get out of here, it's too dangerous." Scar turned towards the person Edward was yelling at.
"You have no business here, leave if you know what's good for you."
Evelynn moved in front of Alphonse "And you have business trying to fight people smaller than you?" She cocked her head.
An indignant cry came from behind the Ishvalan "Who are you calling so small he can't fight his own battles without needing an adult to save him!"
Evelynn and Alphonse stared at him blankly.
Scar stepped towards Evellyn and Alphonse. "I've had enough of these games, I have a duty to my God, you kids aren't getting in my way. Those who interfere become my targets as well. Leave before I have to do something regrettable."
Evellyn stepped forward and stuck her chin out. "I'm not leaving them behind." 'Oh my gosh! Why am I doing this? I don't even have alchemy. I don't stand a chance! But My being here changes things; it could mean that they don't get out of here alive. If they get hurt now, It's on my hands. I can't just leave them here like this. It's my responsibility now.' Evelynn took a breath and grasped at her necklace tightly. She strengthened her stance, completely guarding Alphonse.
"Edward take Alphonse and run!" Evelynn threw a rock at Scar, trying to catch him off guard, he dodged.
"You think that can stop me. You are more foolish than those you are trying to protect." He sent a rippling wave of rocks toward her. She barely dodged and stumbled towards the wall. 'How did I even get myself into this situation? Why did I ever think that throwing a rock was actually going to help?' She spared a glance towards Edward. He was standing frozen in shock.
"Run! You blithering idiot!" She dodged an attack aimed at her right, only to walk into another that tore at left her shoulder. A loud pop echoed through the alley and she bit back a scream. Scar turned back towards the blonde who was trying to get Alphonse into a covered area. Scar ran towards him, and tore off his automail arm; sending Edward flying backwards.
"Brother!" came the distressed cry from the crumbled armour.
"Now you will not be able to use your heretics alchemy." Edward scrambled back frightened.
Before Evelynn knew what she was doing she clapped both of her hands to the ground and sent a massive shockwave through the cobblestone. It sent a wave towards Scar, pushing him away from the unnerved blonde.
"An alchemist as well? You are wasting your gift to aid the military. You too shall suffer"
She could barely hear Scar over her own thinking 'Did I just? I just did. Oh my god I just did Alchemy!' She looked down at her hands, vision dotting. 'That made me feel really dizzy.' Blood got in her eye. 'Oh, I forgot about that.' She was suddenly launched into the back of the alley by a large ripple of stone. She cried out in pain as her body collided with the brick wall. Her vision was swimming and her head was throbbing. Scar turned back to Edward.
"I will give you a moment to pray to God"
Al tried to scramble from the safety of his spot. "Brother, run away. Brother!"
"Unfortunately there isn't any God I'd like to pray to." He paused and panted out in laboured breaths. "Am I the only one you're trying to kill today? Or are you going after Al and that girl too?"
"If they interfere again, I will eliminate them. But Fullmetal Alchemist, you are the only one who is receiving judgment today. You alone."
He clenched his fists "Okay, in that case I want your word. Promise me you won't hurt my brother." He takes a brief look at the crumpled and bleeding figure slumped against the wall. "Or that girl over there." Al took in a sharp breath.
"I will keep that promise."
Alphonse leaned forward "No! Brother what are you trying to do? What are you thinking? Run! Get up and run!"
Scar reached towards Edwards head and Alphonse struggled towards them, "Stop! Don't touch him!" Scar was about to grab ahold of the blond hair "No! No you can't! Stop it!"
A gunshot resonated through the air.
Evelynn was shaken out of her foggy state by the loud ring of a gunshot. 'Finally some help is here. I can close my eyes and rest now, they're safe.' Evelynn nodded her head and her eyes drooped all the way closed.
The fight continued. Edward was spared, Mustang made a fool of himself, Armstrong's shirt came off and Riza saved the day, as per usual. Scar left the fight with a graze, escaping into the sewers.
Edward got up and looked towards his brother. "Oh no Alphonse, Alphonse!" He ran towards his brothers fallen form. "Al! Talk to me, are you alright? Come on Al!" He tried to shake his shoulder. A metal fist clunked against his skin, sending Edward spinning in the air dramatically. Edward screamed.
"Why didn't you run away when I told you too? What kind of idiot are you?!"
Edward sat back up and shouted in disbelief. "No way am I just gonna run away and leave you behind!"
"That's exactly why you're an idiot!" Alphonse punched his brother. Again.
Edward sat against the wall and clutched his cheek. "What do you keep punching me like that for? If I'd run away you could've been killed, ya know that?"
"And maybe I wouldn't have been! Making the decision to die is something only and idiot would do."
"Hey! Easy on the idiot stuff. I'm still your older brother, Got it?!"
Alphonse clutched Edward by the front of his shirt. "I'll say it all I want to! Survival is the only way Ed. Live on. Learn more about alchemy. We could find a way to get our bodies back and help people like Nina. You can't do that by dying!" His voice broke. "I won't allow you to abandon the possibility of hope and choose a meaningless death!" The arm that was gripping Edward fell off. "Oh great! And now my arms come off because my brothers a big fat idiot!"
Edward sighed and looked down. "We're really falling apart, aren't we brother? We look like we belong in a junkyard."
Al looked at his brother. "But we're still alive." His voice shook.
Edward chuckled. "We are."
Riza came over to the brothers and covered Edward with her jacket. She sent him a warm smile.
Al looked up suddenly. "Where is that girl, that was here during the fight? She was hurt really bad!"
Edward looked up shocked and remembered the back of the Alley. "She's back there in the rubble!" He shouted, pointing with his good arm. Riza and other military personnel looked over at her. She was covered in rubble, her black hair was clumped together with mud. Half dried blood clung stickily to the right side of her face. Her left arm was limp and stuck in a weirdly droopy angle. Yet she looked peaceful lying in the rocks. As if this was the first chance she had to rest in a long while.
"Get an ambulance and take her to the hospital!" Riza ordered.
Ed got out of the way of the people rushing to unbury her. He sat down next to his brother. Al looked at him and nodded in the girls direction.
"She was trying to help me when you and Scar were fighting. She gathered a bunch of my pieces back together. She wasn't phased by my empty armour. She knew who we were."
Edward frowned. "That's weird, we should tell the Colonel and visit her in the hospital for questioning then. She may give us a lead, or she could be a threat."
Alphonse butted in. "And to say thank you for trying to help us, that was very kind of her. For a minute there, I didn't even know if she was an alchemist."
Edward grumbled and waved it off. "Yeah, yeah." He stood up. "Now we just have to find a way to get all of you back to HQ for the team meeting." He rolled his eyes. Edward moved Al into the backseat of a military car, getting as many pieces as he could together. They headed off towards HQ. All he could see in his head was a picture of a girl standing in front of his brother. Her eye's a deep mossy green. Fierce, but obviously shaken. He Looked out of the car window, tracing droplets with his fingers. 'I'll question her later, she seems to know too much. She could be dangerous, or the key to finding the philosopher's stone.'
How did you like it? If you have any thoughts and/or suggestions please let me know! I was thinking of doing a sort of spin off of this story called Authors Mind Theater: Chasing Storm Clouds. It would be all of the cliches and crack that I think would fit into the story while I'm writing it. It would be mostly comedy and chapters would probably be out Sunday mornings. Any thoughts on that? 'Till next Saturday :-)