Chapter 3! Thank you, thank you, thank you to my reviewers and everyone who added this story to their alerts. It makes me happy
Saying that everything exploded was an ideal way to describe the way Gluttony, Sloth, and Pride came into the fight. The walls on either side collapsed as Gluttony came charging out of one and Sloth from another. Marco fell into fighting the round Homunculus, and Armstrong to Sloth, who seemed to have abandoned his laziness for the sake of the fight.
Roy made to charge towards Wrath, who was locked in a swordfight with Edward, but the steel doors behind him were suddenly blown off their hinges and into the fray. Roy managed to dodge, but was soaked from the waves of sewage that the falling doors raised.
He glanced over his shoulder and felt his stomach drop. Salem Bradley was standing in the doorway, head tilted curiously, eyes wide and innocent. The two stared at each other in silence before the young boy suddenly grinned and black hands erupted from his shadow.
'Idiot! That's Pride!' Roy screamed mentally and backpedaled as the hands began to head his way.
"Mustang! Take Wrath!"
Surprised, Roy turned around, again, to come face-to-face with Edward. The blonde's black jacket was torn in several spots along his right arm and the automail glinted through the tears. Behind him, Wrath was struggling to detangle himself from a mass of twisted wires that Edward had alchemized around him.
"What? Why?"
Edward scowled at him for about the millionth time that day. "I can get rid of Pride easier than you can. And besides, don't you want the pleasure of clearing your way to the top?"
Edward had a point. Killing Wrath would be plenty enjoyable for him and Edward had a better chance of getting close enough to Pride to deal the damage needed. "Fine. Just try not to make a mess," he replied sarcastically before running towards Wrath, dodging out of the way of the fallen blocks from the recently destroyed walls.
He slid to a halt and cracked his knuckles, thankful that he had invested in getting new gloves that dried out very quickly. Once in firing distance, he snapped, and the mass of wires and the single Homunculus inside erupted into flames. Around him, he could roars of pain and shouted swearwords echoing off the walls as the other three fights raged behind him.
Taking a deep breath, Roy charged closer, one hand pulling the necklace out of his shirt, the other positioned for yet another snap.
The fight had begun.
Roy watched grimly as Wrath reconstructed himself after another onslaught of flames. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get close enough to the Homunculus to destroy the Stone inside.
Wrath glared at him, sword raised and the two began to warily circle each other. Roy tensed as he stumbled over a submerged hunk of rock and was forced to back up several steps as the Homunculus darted forward. He snapped instinctively, but Bradley dodged, a smirk on his face.
"That was sloppy, Mustang. I hope that you're not getting tired," he chided, smirking confidently at the Flame Alchemist.
Roy growled under his breath and rolled his shoulders nervously. He had lost track of time the moment they had gone down into sewers, but he was pretty sure it had been at least two hours. Unlike the Homunculi, he didn't have a powerful Stone to fuel him forever and he was getting tired. The blood loss was not helping, and the cuts from Wrath's sword were starting to burn a little. Hopefully the sword hadn't been laced with poison.
Wrath began to stalk closer, eye trained on Roy, and he was reminded of a giant cat about to spring on its prey. He raised his hand to snap, and, to his horror, saw that it was shaking.
'Damn,' was all he could think as Wrath pounced and he snapped, but the flame missed by almost a foot. The Homunculus tackled him and two fell into the shallow sewer water, effectively soaking Roy's gloves.
Bradley's hand was at his neck and the sword was raised, ready to plunge into his chest. Roy sputtered a handful of curses at Wrath, who only shook his head in amusement. "You humans are something else. I still can't figure out why you came down here, looking for a fight. Good thing I saw you coming or things could have gotten a lot nastier," he said, raising an eyebrow and smiling happily as another one of the walls collapsed from a fight. In his position, Roy couldn't tell what had caused it, but as a disintegrating Gluttony went flying across the room, Roy figured Marco had won his battle.
Wrath watched the remains of the rotund Homunculus fall into the waters, a bemused frown on his face. "Well, that was different. No matter, though, you're time's up, Must-"
The Fuhrer was cut off abruptly as Marco slammed into him, hands on Bradley's ribcage. The aging doctor was covered in blood and wheezing loudly, but the force of the impact shoved Wrath off of Roy and into the water.
Roy sat up hastily, eyes wide. "Marco! What the hell?!" he exclaimed, shaking water from his gloves as he turned to see what was going on.
The elderly alchemist was thrashing in the sewer water with Wrath, and alchemical sparks were erupting from the Homunculus's chest. Marco was trying to destroy the Stone, but it looked like Wrath had figured that out. Growling loudly, Roy ran towards them, hands clapping around the medallion in the process. A flash of pale blue light erupted from between them, signifying the successful activation of the array. At that moment, Wrath ripped free from Marco and stood up, back towards the approaching Roy.
It was almost too easy.
His hands smashed into the Fuhrer's back, and the Homunculi howled as the activation began. Roy found that his hands were stuck to the back and despite the violent alchemical wind that swept around them and seemed to want to tear him apart, he could not move an inch. Wrath's shrieking escalated and Roy clenched his eyes shut as his ears began to ring painfully. He could dimly hear Marco shouting at him, but he couldn't understand what the doctor was saying.
Then his right leg exploded in pain. He tore his eyes open in time to see Bradley's sword get ripped out of his thigh from the raging winds. The Homunculi was nothing more than a skeleton with a couple of ligaments attached, and was deteriorating rapidly, but clearly the Fuhrer had used the last of his strength to try and stab Roy.
Good thing the limited amount of mobility meant Wrath had only been able to reach his leg and not his chest or head. There was a final, sucking gust of wind and Wrath collapsed into a pile of dust at Roy's feet.
He and Marco stared at it for a long moment before Roy burst into laughter. "Holy crap, Marco! I just assassinated the Fuhrer!" he exclaimed joyfully, clapping a hand over his face as the snickering continued.
Marco rolled his eyes and shook his head, a smile on his own face. "Makes it that much easier to get into that nice big office, doesn't it?" he asked wryly , watching Roy with obvious amusement.
"Gentlemen! We have been victorious!" crowed Armstrong suddenly, appearing out of nowhere from behind Marco. The shirt was gone and he was bleeding and bruised, but the Strong Arm Alchemist still sparkled and flexed triumphantly before proceeding to grab each of the other alchemists in a bear hug. "We have saved Amestris from certain doom! We will go down in history as the ones who saved our glorious country from defeat and have ensured peace for many years to come!"
Roy struggled in the iron grip of the blonde alchemist before wheezing "Armstrong! Can't breathe!" He was instantly released and fell into an undignified heap in the water. "I take it you got rid of Sloth, then?" he asked, shaking his hands to rid the gloves of water.
The sparkles only seemed to grow in number. "I did, indeed! He stood no chance against the Armstrong family's Homunculi Destroying Technique, for which I am the creator of!" Armstrong declared happily.
Roy snorted and staggered to his feet, wincing as his right leg began to tremble. He leaned against one of the large pieces of concrete, fighting another cringe, and began to stretch the leg out to test the damage.
"Looks like it's just a deep cut. Should heal with time," Marco said as he examined the wound. "Try to keep off it."
Roy raised an eyebrow. "Alright. I'll try not to walk anymore," he mumbled sarcastically. The three stood in a relieved silence before Roy suddenly stiffened and glanced around, eyes narrowing. "Anyone seen Ed?" he asked.
Armstrong and Marco exchanged worried glances. Marco slowly shook his head, but Armstrong pointed in the direction of the doors. "I saw him and Pride fighting a little ways inside the doorway," he replied, voice rumbling in the dead silence.
Roy glanced over his shoulder at the gaping hole left by the doors and swore under his breath. Chills raced up his spine, almost a warning that something bad was happening. Without a word, he turned and raced through the doorway, ignoring the stabbing pain in his leg. That could wait; he had to find Edward first.
Father's lair had been completely demolished. Roy could recognize Ed's work anywhere and mentally winced at the destruction. The young alchemist had gone on one hell of a rampage. The walls had been torn down, and pipes spewing water all over the place- Roy found himself standing in ankle-deep sewage. Beneath him, the ground seemed to have exploded; large pieces of cement were scattered like miniature mountains, which obscured Roy's view.
"You always have to be over-dramatic," Roy grumbled as he quickly made his way through the mess, ignoring the shouts from Marco for him to stop using his leg- he was going to make it worse!
After a couple of minutes of searching, Roy found himself losing hope in finding the young alchemist. He couldn't move any of the rubble without possibly creating an avalanche, and he hadn't been able to find any trace of Edward- no clothing, scraps of automail, or even blood.
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, the unmistakable iron tang of blood crept into his nose. Roy pivoted, trying to find the source of the smell. He stepped forward, and the smell instantly became stronger. Encouraged, he darted forward, the stench getting more and more prominent.
He flew around the corner of one of the large pieces of wreckage and slammed to a halt in a puddle of blood, eyes wide. "No. No! EDWARD!"
More angst :D
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