2. City of Heresy
"Are you guys street performers?"
The juice in the braided boy's mouth was spat rather gloriously. At his side a golden haired, golden eyed girl much like the boy next to her slid a handkerchief calmly. She then flipped her long hair - the top half pulled into an elegant braid by the sides and the lower half flowed freely like a river, her sideswept bangs fluttering and the small spike that pointed to the sky twitching in interest. She grinned at the man who asked the question before she pulled three knives towards her and began juggling.
"Ryn, stop that," the boy who had just spat his drink said after wiping his mouth. Then his attention shifted towards the barkeeper. "Okay, pops, what part of us look like street performers?"
"Well, there's a girl juggling knives, for one thing," the man began and the girl stuck out her tongue at the glaring boy before putting the knives down. "And I keep looking, but that's all you could be."
The suit of armor at the other side of the braided boy moved slightly towards him, creating a creaking noise that couldn't go unnoticed. They soon were engaged in a conversation about the town's very own Father Cornello, the miracle worker, but the braided boy didn't seem all that interested, the girl opted to poke at her food, and the armor... he didn't know about the armor.
The group soon turned to leave, but the armor accidentally bumped his head and sent the barkeeper's beloved radio crashing to the ground.
"AH!" the barkeeper yelled. "Hey! Don't cause any problems here!"
And then the armored man (boy?) fixed it right up. Like magic. Like a miracle.
Like Father Cornello.
Except the short blond boy and the armor denied it easily, saying that it was only alchemy. The girl, still hasn't uttered a word, nodded in certainty. After the series of yells the boy gave for being called small, he - Edward Elric the Fullmetal Alchemist - went with Rose along with the suit of armor and the quiet girl to the Church of Leto, seeking audience with the father.
The barkeeper sighed. Somehow, he felt like the three would bring a storm together with them.
"This is human transmutation... The bodies of the sinners who has crossed the God's domain!"
Rose and the father stared at the metal limbs attached to Edward's body, silent. Edward discarded his red coat dramatically and raised his automail limb. "Come and get some, you third rate. I'll show you what's different between the two of us!"
The room was locked in a state of silent for a moment, before a loud noise of a marker scratching against paper was heard. And the blonde girl suddenly held up a paper with big red seven on it towards Edward.
"Eiryn, I'd say the score's six, myself," Alphonse commented. "The dramatic flair is alright, as usual, but the coat makes him look ragged."
The girl, Eiryn, held her chin on the tips of her fingers thoughtfully before nodding in agreement.
"What the - are you guys seriously scoring me about my appearance now?!" Edward couldn't belp but yell. Eiryn's response was to grin.
Father Cornello stared still at the automail limbs and muttered, "I see... I see. It was quite the mystery as to why a brat was called the "Fullmetal", but this... So this is why." He turned to Rose. "Rose, these people, they have done something that is absolutely forbidden to alchemists: they have performed human transmutation. They've committed the greatest crime! And for that reason, they have been punished. Some body parts or all of it was taken from them."
The look of shock in Rose face was both unbearable and completely predictable. Then she turned to Eiryn. "But... No! That can't be. Eiryn looks perfectly fine!"
"The price taken for a sin is not always seen, dear child," said Father Cornello. "What is it that you lost, girl? What sort of mostrosity did you turn into? Is one of your foot metal too? Are you missing your internal organ?"
Eiryn stared at him before her hands moved to untie the choker she wore around her neck. A scar immediately greeted the sight of anyone who were bothered enough to look. The girl opened and closed her mouth soundlessly, pointing to her throat, before putting the choker back on.
Father Cornello laughed. "So that's your punishment. Now you've all turned into bloody cripples. A boy without body, a crippled boy with two missing limbs, a mute girl. God sure is ruthless to stupid people!"
All of a sudden a loud bang interrupted his laugh. A bullet sailed and hit the wall behind the fake father, nearly missing his head. Father Cornello froze, staring at the girl who now held a handgun in her hands. She gave a hard glare, even more piercing than Edward's, before motioning to her head. The message was clear; next time, it will be your head.
"Ryn, calm down," Alphonse put his hand on Eiryn's shoulder. She tensed for a moment before relaxing and strapping the gun back in its holster, hidden beneath the black jacket she was wearing.
Rose was trembling. She asked quietly, "How?"
Slowly, Alphonse began to narrate how they met their loss. "... we were positive that we could create life. She was kind... She really was a kind mother. All we wanted to do was just to see our mother's smile, just one more time. Even if that alchemy was forbidden, we learned alchemy just to be able to do that one thing.
"The transmutation was a failure."
Rose gasped softly, eyes never leaving the three siblings. Eiryn and Edward both had their eyes on the ground, bangs obscuring their faces. Alphonse was unreadable, but there was a defeated air about him.
"Brother lost his left leg in the transmutation. I remember I saw Eiryn falling while clutching her throat, her mouth open but I couldn't hear her voice. And I lost my entire body. Then, I lost consciousness... When I opened my eyes again, I was this armored body, and amidst the sea of blood... Brother was there. His leg gone. His arm gone. Eiryn was next to him crying soundlessly. While Brother was suffering from the loss of his left leg, he traded his right arm to transmute my soul into this armor."
Ed gave a pained, sarcastic smile. "Hm. This is the mess that happens when people try to resurrect a human being. This is what resurrecting a person means, Rose. Do you have guts tl do it? Do you?!"
Rose flinched.
But Father Cornello wasn't finished yet. "And then you joined the military, Edward Elric!" and once again words spewed from his mouth, accusing the siblings of desiring philosopher's stone to resurrect their mother perfectly this time. Eiryn gave a loud sigh as Edward explained that they only wanted their original bodies back. Alphonse demanded once more for the stone, and of course the father had to transmute his cane into a machine gun.
Eiryn sighed again as they fled the room. Honestly, Ed's mission could be such a handful sometimes.
"It was a fake?!"
"Yeah, just another dead end. And here I thought I could finally restore you..." Edward gave a sigh. "And Ryn's voice, too."
Eiryn shook her head and jabbed her finger at Alphonse, then held up two fingers and pointed at Ed, and then held up three fingers as she pointed at herself. She smiled lightly.
"Yeah, okay, you told us that so many times already," Ed smiled. "Al first, then me, and your voice is the last priority, right?"
Eiryn nodded, remembering what she had written so many years ago on a piece of paper to give to her brothers. Big Brother Al has to have his body back first. That's the first priority! Then Big Brother Ed needs his limbs back. After all that is achieved, I can get my vocal chords back. I can live without a voice. I'll survive. But you two will have your bodies back!
"I'm more worried about you, though, Brother. Automail causes a lot of problems," Al commented. Ryn gave him a look. Like being a suit of armor doesn't cause problems? Al laughed a bit at the look she gave him.
"Well, we can't help it now," Edward stood up and dusted his pants. "We'll look somewhere else."
They moved to leave, but a soft "...No..." stopped them. The three siblings turned to see Rose sitting on the cold ground, completely defeated.
"He said he could bring him back..." she sobbed. Tears streamed down her face. "What am I supposed to do now?! How am I supposed to live now?!" Her eyes moved toward Edward, begging, pleading. "Tell me!"
Edward's answer was short. "Think about that on your own." The begging look in Rose's eyes changed into shock. Then Edward continued, "Stand up and walk. Move on. After all, you have two perfect legs to stand on."
Edward walked away, followed immediately by the clanking of Alphonse's armor. Eiryn made a quick stop to put her hand on Rose's shoulder and smiled reassuringly at her before she, too, walked away from the ruins of the Church of Leto.
From a distance, she glanced back at Rose, looking up to the sky, tears filling her eyes.
A/N: and there you go, 2nd chapter. Most of the dialogues were taken from the manga for this one, so excuse whatever inconsistency it has with the anime.
Now, I gotta warn you with this. Update will be completely sporadic. I was never good at making sure I follow schedules. Deadlines just make me procrascinate really hard, even Mustang might have to fight the urge to shoot me. It just makes me feel lazy. Other people work betrer under pressure, unfortunately pressure makes me go all 'meh' and become unresponsive. So I'll just do this according to my mood and post whenever I feel like posting.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter. And please leave a review! It makes me feel happy and motivates me to write more!
