"Am I being plain delusional, or did I really hear what I heard?" Ed crouched down in front of the massive cage. The beast was resting on its side, head tilted in such a way that he noticed it was caked in dried blood. "If you really have something to say, spit it out now. I don't have all day. I gotta track down Nina's cursed serial killer."

For the next minute, images played yet again in the reel of his thoughts. Painful, yet so addictive. Horrible, but necessary in driving him to bring the little girl's killer to justice. His spirits were rising to agonizing anger once more.

"I am no stranger to pain, either." An intelligent-sounding female voice spoke from in front of him, almost making him jump. But the creature was unmarked by any little movement. Except - its eyes - they fluttered ever so slightly. Ed saw that they were a deep olive green, shimmering with the ruddy light cast by the only lamp in the room.

"Who are you?" he asked, though hesitantly. It was a she!

That second, the animal craned her head to him, distressing itself a little because of the injury it sustained. "They called me Lynxmon. The lynx monster," its mouth appeared to be moving. Ed repeated the word to himself: Chimera.

"My head, it…burns," Lynxmon writhed. Her tone contained rage; the kind you keep with you in your suffering. Suddenly she began to growl, fangs bared, & eyes gaining a bright violet luminosity. Ed watched in awe again as the flames started 'growing' from her body, when he realized it was a mystery worth unraveling:

The fire. Like the one from the candle. It seemed eons ago when his mother proved that fire could be made in a beautiful purple hue. Her purple candle was one of the select few treasures he & Al wanted to bring along on their journey, after their home was burned down. However, both siblings found it too painful to keep any object that drew in the countless memories of Trisha Elric; memories too vivid to bear.

A picture of Nina in pain flashed through the Fullmetal Alchemist's mind. A Chimera, let alone any creature given the breath of life, would find the element of pain so foreign even if it had to live with it for years on end. A strong act of his conscience urged him to identify with this beast's wound. "Shhhhh…," he attempted to soothe Lynxmon's tumult. "Let me look into it." While studying her, he ripped a shred of a cloth he brought over, preparing to dress the unsightly scab. Lynxmon's eyes were snapped open by now, looking pretty intimidating. "Now tell me, what brought you here?" asked Ed.

"I ran from them. I've been running from them."

He saw how she'd already melted the lower end of the cage bars. "Who are 'they'? Was it that wretched Tucker? If he's the one at fault, that'd mean he has made another Chimera that can speak!" A bit of colour was driven from his countenance. He gritted his teeth in disgust, "I'll have more reason to get him locked up in the ideal prison cell…"

"I am perfectly happy to engage in earnest conversation, but I'm afraid don't follow," said Lynxmon.

"What?"

"Unlike what you said, I am not a Chimera."

This confused the alchemist for a moment or two. "You're right. It'd make no sense to come anywhere near here if Tucker created you," he concluded. Next he hardened his words, upon remembering the main purpose for his coming, "You said back there that you had something to tell me."

She put on a puzzled expression, propping herself up on her front legs, "Don't know what you're talking about."

"I told you, I don't have eternity to sit here & listen to GARBAGE!" Ed snapped violently, head still drowning in flashbacks of his fight with Tucker. Fixing his hands around the bars of the cage, he stared her down, despite her being so large in size, "You were looking me in the eye & speaking with my mother's voice, urgently saying you wanted to tell me something important."

All they did for the following few seconds was exchange glances. Lynxmon got up on all fours, but still gave no reply. It ached Ed to the bone to hear something. Really, few experiences were more amazing compared to hearing the dead speak.

"Answer me! I want to hear you TALK!" he rattled the metal.

"I don't know!" she lowered her head but looked up to meet his stare.

"I want to hear her talk," he next whispered. "GIVE ME A DARN REPLY, MOM!" The hot heavy tears were bursting to come out.

She took the threats in too serious a light. It was as fast as a thread could snap; Lynxmon retaliated: her ebony claws shot outward at their target as she snarled. Ed fell back after feeling the dangerous heat her body radiated when she initiated the attack. In the pause that followed, was a strange volatile space. To work at controlling their tempers, both of them inhaled & exhaled. Lynxmon's face softened with time. Ed was appalled the second he picked up that same mellow voice, "I've come to help you, Edward." Right away, he fixed his gaze to the beast. Sure enough, she was definitely facing him with those orbs that…oddly…were beginning to look like hers. But the big cat's mouth hadn't even twitched. He may well have been hallucinating all the while.

"Enough of this nonsense..," he spat. Forcing back emotion as his eyes welled up, he turned around to exit.

She went to lie down once more, muddled inevitably by questions of all sorts. Maybe if Ed earned more of her trust, she'd explain to him what she was, & why they were on her tail. For a very long time she'd been living this runaway life. One that seemed accidental & non-directional. Even worse, it was probably a life created intentionally, but solely to serve evil purposes. Sadly, she couldn't bring herself to recall the details. Fear enveloped each part of this type of life; after all: she was the last of her kind at this point in time. She would only bear it for so long before she'd either be killed, or her secret got out & brought about more torment.

Her short fuse had gotten the better of her today. Twice. A cloud of guilt bothered her till she finally hung her head, & she decided she'd say it. "Thank you," she mentioned softly, though he was out of the room by then. Perhaps there was another opportunity to make a connection with him. In meantime, she thought it best to sleep on it a little more.

To be more comfortable in the rectangular confines, she used another one of her alchimal (short for 'alchemic animal') abilities - changing form. A glow took over her figure temporarily before her size decreased. In no time was she two & a half feet tall, resembling a cat or rabbit. Her fur was the same pale purple, but unlike the Lynxmon form there were only three dark stripes across her back. Given her far more lightweight frame she could actually walk on two legs if she wished. In this form, she took the name 'Gazimon', apparently meaning 'voracious monster'. It was a curse to be called so.

Looking down at her claws, which were like thick black needles, she uttered, "We are no strangers to pain." Much of it was comprised of the pain of losing one's identity. Not having a clue to what place you hold on the Earth's face.


"The investigations are at a standstill. We got no clues & witnesses to go on. Bodies are all sliced & diced but none of us can figure out how he does it such a short time," Hughes told Ed at lunch. The ongoing murder case had been plaguing the city for some time.

Ed worked through a few pages showing info on suspects, "Maybe he killed them somewhere else & then moved the bodies later. There must be a blind spot you're missing here. A car that can hide bodies or-"

"Or maybe this could all be the work of an alchemist," Hughes said, casually munching his little bread loaf.

"Alchemists are NOT cold-blooded MURDERERS!" Ed threatened to slam his food on the table. He wasn't willing to partake of the Colonel's joy.

"Excuse me, sir. Are you Edward Elric?" an officer came to ask.

"Who's asking?" Ed looked up.

"There's a visitor here to see you."

The officer led him out to the front entrance, but in between the pillars or on the steps there was no one to greet Ed. "That's odd..I told her to wait right here," the man scratched his head.

That was when Ed noticed a silver object gleaming on the driveway. It was a screw that looked all too familiar. "Is this…Winry?" He matched the screw to those on his automail arm. His childhood friend had travelled quite a distance. But where would she have run off to in the interim? His first guess was a hardware shop downtown, but she wouldn't get carried away so quickly.

"Was there a car stopped here when you left her?" he scrutinized the tyre marks ahead that looked very, very fresh.

"Oh yeah. There are always refrigerated trucks parked here to drop off food -"

"Refrigerated trucks…where they can hide bodies…," Ed tensed up. He burst into a sprint to follow those same tyre tracks.


Gazimon was becoming annoyed with the uneasiness bubbling inside.

Go find him.

"No, I don't see myself having much to do with him," she whispered audibly back to herself. In her secrecy, she was mad at her lack of self-control.

He needs protection, for that killer he's after…

Were these really her inner thoughts? This wasn't the first time she battled with this voice she knew wasn't hers.

He needs protection that only YOU can offer.

The only way to shut it out: do what it tells you. Or at least, she concluded that she'd trust the power of inner knowing. Just a few electric stun blasts - the special ability woven into her being - & she'd smoothly escape.


Ed spotted the truck; it was surprisingly light green in colour, not shady or suspicious black, or grey…the alleyway untouched by sunlight disguised its presence from most people.

He proceeded to enter the building that housed the butcher shop…