Author's Note: Hey, guys. I got some attention for this story, which is cool because it's my favorite one so far. I hope you all stay interested with it until the end!
Chapter 2
The drive to the hospital was a bit awkward. With Roy driving, he kept glancing into the rear-view mirror at Riza, still unnerved at the spot on her face where a tear had fallen.
"Sir," she said finally, killing the silence. "Why is it that you need to talk to Edward at this moment? From what I've heard, he won't be waking up for a few days, at least."
"Then I'll force him awake." Mustang grunted. Soon after, he parked the car directly in front of the hospital, surprised to see no one outside its doors. They got out quickly, Riza hot on his heels. It was very near winter, and the icy blast of air that met them when they exited the car made them shudder.
"But sir, please!"
Mustang stopped near the deserted hospital doors and whipped around to face Riza. He placed both of his hands on her shoulders.
"In order to bring his brother back to his original state, Ed needed to have possession of the Philosopher's Stone. If Alphonse is alive and human, then it means he must have somehow gotten hold of it." He said.
"Yes, but what other conclusion could you come to? If you want to know where he found the stone--"
"No. He could only have made it." He said quietly, removing his hands from her. "And that means that he must have killed a vast amount of people to use as ingredients." He finished. Riza let out a gasp
"Edward…" she whispered.
"Let's go. We'll have to get him before the higher-ups do." He ordered, opening the hospital door.
When he stepped inside the building, he was hit with a sense of dread. Riza must have felt it too, for she instinctively reached for her gun.
Mustang walked to the reception desk, looking for the woman who ran it. He looked over the desk and found her, sprawled out over the floor in a pool of blood. She was dead.
"Stay alert." Mustang whispered. Riza nodded, her blonde eyebrows meeting together. She brought her gun closer to her.
They ventured into the first long hallway of the building as Mustang fitted his gloves to his hands. There was a strong smell of iron in the air.
"Blood." Mustang said softly. "It's everywhere. Everyone in here…is dead."
"Let's find Ed and Al's room." Riza said, moving to another desk in the hall and checking its clipboard. "Then we'll report this."
Mustang shuddered. A chill ran up his spine. "Do it quick." He said simply.
"Here, the second floor!" She said in a loud whisper, "Beside each other in rooms 21-A and 21-B."
So the ran quickly up the stairs with Riza leading, all the while hoping that Edward and Alphonse were somehow alive and uninvolved with whatever horrible murder occurred in the hospital. As they turned the corner quickly, reaching the hallway they needed, Mustang tripped over something hard and let out a surprised, "Gah!" as he fell to the ground.
Hawkeye immediately whipped around and pointed her gun in the colonel's direction.
"It's alright!" mustang told her quickly, staring at the loaded gun in her hands. "I just tripped over somethi--Ed!"
The thing Mustang tripped over was Edward, lying on his stomach in the middle of the dark, bloody hallway, his right arm missing and his face as pale as a ghost.
Mustang flipped him roughly onto his back while Riza quickly felt his wrist for a pulse. There was a long couple of seconds while Mustang waited for Riza to say something.
"Edward… he's alive." She informed, and Mustang sighed.
"But why?" He asked, picking up the unconscious Edward bridal-style.
"Worry about that later – we need to find Alphonse!"
"Right." He said, forcing his thoughts to the back of his mind as they ran to room 21-B, where Al was. Slowly, Riza opened the door to his room. The squeaking of the door's hinges echoed across the empty hallway.
The room was dark, with the rest of the hospital. Riza stuck her head in.
"Alphonse?" She called, and ventured in. Mustang, carrying a heavy Edward, followed. There was no answer. "Al!" She called again, searching for the light-switch with her left hand as her right held her gun. She found the switch and flipped it on.
The light blinded them for a split second, but they recovered. They blinked, and a skinny young boy with short blonde hair, dressed in a long black shirt that was way too big for him was standing beside the cold window, with his back to them. He turned around and locked eyes with Mustang. Riza put her gun away and rushed towards him.
"Al!" she cried and wrapped her arms gently around his skinny form. He accepted the hug without a word. Mustang walked forward slowly and placed Edward on the floor in front of Al's feet. The boy looked down at his brother and showed no facial expressions.
"Is he dead?" He whispered in his sweet, young voice. The question hung in the air as Riza and Mustang's eyes met. "Is my brother dead?"
"N-no." Riza answered. "No, he's alive. Just hurt. Al, we need to get you out of here. Do you have any idea what happened?" She brushed some blonde hair from her watering eyes. Something seemed different about Alphonse Elric.
He didn't answer. Instead, he studied his feet, glancing over at Edward.
"Are you alright?"
"We don't have time for this." Mustang said angrily. "We have to report this! Someone just killed everyone in the damn hospital! We've got to move!"
"Sir." Riza replied and turned to Alphonse. "Can you walk?"
Al didn't reply. He was still looking at Edward. Mustang made a move to pick up the young alchemist, and he awoke with an alarming start.
"Ah!" Ed screamed, sitting straight up. Immediately, he cried out in pain and clutched his side, wondering how many times he'd have to repeat that when he woke.
"Brother…" he heard Alphonse whisper. At first, he thought nothing of it but then his brain caught up with his reasoning ability. He gasped and whipped around on the floor to stare into the large, golden, real eyes of his brother, Alphonse.
And he burst into tears.
Edward, pushing past the immense pain, got to his feet and threw himself onto Alphonse in an enormous, one-armed hug. Aware that he was probably hurting his fragile little brother, and more than aware that he was hurting himself, Edward didn't let go.
And Alphonse, who had stayed silent until then, began to cry as well. He hugged his brother tight, and the Elrics stood there on the cold hospital tile, crying. And as the world outside the hospital door was as sadistic as it ever was, there was a moment of serenity and peace within room 21-B.
They were finally together. And there was hope. Life could be the way it was before their mother had died and their father had left them.
Alphonse pulled apart. "Brother, your arm and leg… they're still automail!" Al exclaimed, looking at his brother in pity.
Edward smiled, "Don't worry about it. It doesn't matter. You finally have your body back. Don't waste time feeling sorry for me. You should get strong quick, and we can go visit Winry."
"But Brother…"
"In case you haven't noticed, there are a hundred people dead outside this room. The longer we wait-" Mustang began to say, but Ed interrupted him with a gasp.
"That damn homunculus!" He shouted. Mustang eyed him. He wanted to learn the secrets of how Edward obtained the Philosopher's Stone, and Ed's outburst reminded him of it. But now wasn't the time for it.
"Homunculus?" Alphonse asked, startled. "But you killed-" and he was silenced by a glare. Edward's eyes met Al's, and they both fell silent.
"We'll discuss this later." Riza said sternly. "Ed, Al, can you walk?"
Edward nodded and took a few staggering steps towards the door. Mustang sighed and held his left elbow, steadying him. Riza did the same for Alphonse.
"Ed, where is your automail?" Roy asked as they left the hospital room.
"I don't know. When I woke up it was gone, and I didn't bother looking for it."
Mustang let go of Edward's elbow. "You three go ahead, I'm going back to get it. And be on your guard!" He said. Ed opened his mouth to protest but Mustang had gone.
Riza sighed. "That could have waited. Let's go! We've got to get out of here before anyone else gets here or you two will be questioned." And she marched towards the front door, helping Alphonse and leaving behind a wincing Edward.
They walked outside into the chilly air and stood on the sidewalk, just breathing. It was beginning to snow. A minute passed, and Riza led them to Mustang's car. The brothers got in and Riza turned it on, but she didn't get in.
"Fullmetal, you are ordered to stay in the car until I get back. Roy must have gotten lost." She said suddenly.
Ed blinked. "Its dangerous in there, I should go with you!"
"No, whatever killed those people seemed to have gone. I'll be fine alone. Besides, you are in no condition to fight. I'll be back in a couple of minutes, at the most." She closed the door and walked off. Ed sighed, and his breath was visible in front of him. Suddenly, the passenger side door opened again and Riza stuck her head in. "Be safe." She warned sadly. "We can't lose you two." And she was gone.
Edward looked at his brother. "I can't believe your back." He said, smiling. "Did the doctors cut your hair? It looks horrible!" he laughed.
"Brother…" Alphonse cut in. "when we were outside just a minute ago, I felt a snowflake on my cheek. It was cold and painful at first. But then it melted, and I was sad. Something so beautiful had died simply by making contact with warmth."
"Al…"
"I can feel again, Ed. I can feel and I can sleep. I can eat and drink, too!" He smiled and a tear fell down his cheek. "We did it – we reached the unreachable goal. So I want to think that the hardships are over! But… when I was sleeping, I had a nightmare about a homunculus. It was a female named Hu-"
"Hubris?" Ed yelled out.
Alphonse blinked sadly. "Yeah."
"That's who I saw when I tried to leave the hospital before. I saw that black-haired homunculus, but I was awake. She said I…created her right after I killed all the other homunculi. But, that can't be true! I never performed human transmutation after our mom! Unless…" Edward was saying, but was cut off when Alphonse punched him straight across the face.
Edward flew into the back of the seat he was in, hitting his head so hard against the door that it opened, and he fell out backwards. Already with a broken rib, Ed let out a grunt of surprise and pain. He lifted his head up. "Alphonse?" He said weakly. "What the hell was that for?"
His brother closed his eyes and got out of the car, closing the door behind him. Ed lifted himself up a sitting position as Alphonse, without a word, grabbed Edward around the neck and, with strength he didn't possess, lifted him from the ground with one hand.
Edward choked and grabbed Alphonse's wrist. His brain had not yet comprehended when his brother was doing to him. Ed's nails sunk into Al's skin until blood ran down Alphonse's arm, but his brother never blinked. Desperate for air, Edward kicked his foot out and hit Alphonse in his thin chest, causing him to drop Ed.
"Al!" Ed choked on the ground, coughing, "What the hell are you doing!" He yelled, finding the energy to stand up straight. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt his already frail brother, but Alphonse seemed to have found a new, demonic strength, and was for some reason using it against Edward. Al aimed a kick toward Ed's head, but Ed dodged it and got to his feet, pushing himself on top of Al, so the both fell to the pavement. Ed was on top of Al now, holding his chest against the cement with his one arm. Edward was having a difficult time breathing, but Al was completely calm and collected.
"Alphonse…" Ed said between the gasps of breath he was taking. Al had his eyes closed. "Why did you attack me? What is wrong with you!" He yelled. In response, Alphonse opened his eyes, sending a chill down Ed's spine.
Al's bright golden eyes were now completely black.
"Hubris…" Edward whispered just before Alphonse picked up a rock beside his head and aimed it at his brother's head.
A/N: WHOA! So much confusion! And quite a bit of angst, too! I take a while to explain things, don't I? Ahaha! Anyways, stay with me and you'll all know what's going on. Oh, and Roy isn't just lost. Don't think that I'm that bad of a writer.
Also, I did some research on "Hubris" before I started this story. Just so you know!
Review please! Let me know what you think!