Character Thoughts: "{abc}"
Note:These events are based around the 2003 anime. Anyone who flames will be blocked.
Chapter 4:
Wanted
Envy is first to arrive at his room finding Sybille hiding under the bed; she isn't very good at hiding as her foot is sticking out. Izumi is behind him as they enter the room. That's when the door out front is busted down, and the man stands there with his gun pointed, smoke coming out. The Transmutation Circle on his gun is glowing, revealing itself to be a Darkness Alchemy Circle having the pentagram as the distinct indication. The symbols are a skull with a rose behind it in the middle, and a simple wing at the top point. No bullet was shot from the gun, but instead it was an alchemic blast, which means the only way this person can use alchemy is through his gun. Scar had just barely avoided the blast, his left arm burned from it. Ed quickly transmutes his arm into a blade and blocks the doorway with Al right behind him. The man lowers his gun.
Ed demands, "Okay asshole, just who do you think you are? And what do you want with Sybille?"
The man replies, "My name is Anselm-" being quicky cut off by Scar, "Oh great, I thought it was something intimidating like 'Bob' or 'Gregory'."
"..." Anselm continues, "So, her name is Sybille, huh? Why do you protect her?"
"We made an agreement to help look after her. You'll be lucky to get through this doorway." Al replies.
"An agreement?" Anselm asks.
Suddenly, Envy comes rushing out the back and over the roof, soon slamming down on Anselm while performing a kick. A dust cloud is produced from the force, and Envy is seen jumping back in front of the building. Al looks back towards the hallway seeing Izumi. She gives a look indicating Sybille is safe. The dust cloud settles and Anselm is standing as if nothing happened. Ed looks at the gun, seeing that Anselm had transmuted it into a shield to protect him from the attack. The gun is transmuted back to normal, and Anselm loads in a bullet, and purple and black energy sparks from the load. Seeing this, Envy quickly announces he's a Darkness Alchemy user.
"Indeed I am, Homunuculus." Anselm says.
"But, how are you performing alchemy?" Ed asks.
Anselm explains, "You see, Darkness Alchemy is not limited to transmuted from the four basic elements like regular alchemy users. We Darkness Users can perform alchemy through objects ranging from toys to weapons. However, the user cannot simply choose an object and transmute with it. The object is unknown to the user; if they can transmute with the object without the need for a Transmutation Circle, then that means it becomes their only means of alchemy. Sure we can transmute, but more energy is wasted through that, especially when it fails."
Envy starts to think, "{That explains why Sybille faints after a failed transmutation.}"
Izumi comes out saying, "In that case you Darkness Users would have quite a few openings. But why are you after Sybille?"
"Because, she's my daughter." Anselm replies.
Envy becomes angered and punches Anselm in the face shouting, "You f*cker!"
Anselm recovers asking, "Why so enraged, Homunculus?"
"You left her for dead, you bastard! Why aren't you still in prison?" Envy demands.
"I was released early for good behavior. When I found this picture of Sybille in the newspaper, it was like a big slap in the face. Sybille should be dead; she killed my wife." Anselm replies, earning a roundhouse kick to the head.
Envy shouts, "Your wife was obviously one of the unlucky few who couldn't handle the stress of childbirth! It's not like it's uncommon! Sybille didn't kill your wife."
Anselm says, "Do you not get that infants in fetal form are parasites? While my wife was pregnant with her, throughout all nine months she'd violently vomit, be under constant stress, refused to eat for days, until the day that parasite was born. She became so weak that she died, all because of Sybille."
"You're a monster! You can't blame everything on Sybille because of that! You should be glad to have a legacy!" Al yells.
"Hey, I wasn't hoping for a daughter. I wanted a son, and now I'll never have the chance!" Anselm says, slamming the gun to the ground, rune first, firing stone spikes from the ground.
Izumi quickly puts up a barrier and the spikes all slam into it. Ed rushes out preparing to slash Anselm, when Anselm sudenly fires the gun at Ed, destroying his automail leg, pieces flying everywhere. Ed falls to the ground, looking at his destroyed leg, soon discovering it had been blasted clear off the base. Before Anselm could load another bullet, Envy grabs his head and knees his face several times before kicking him. Anselm falls to the ground with his nose broken and bleeding. Al rushes over to Ed and picks him up. Both of them are able to see the damage behind them; Ed's leg had been destroyed to the point of no return. Envy continues his attack by pinning Anselm to the ground by placing one knee on his chest and pummels his head.
As Alphonse tries to rush back inside, Anselm is able to slam his gun into the ground and send Envy flying into the brothers with just pure alchemic force. All three hit the ground witn Envy tumbling onto his stomach, Ed falling onto his right arm, and Al on his back with his head detaching and tumbling a few inches away. Anselm gets up and quickly loads another bullet while Izumi rushes to their side and puts up a barrier. Scar comes running out at Anselm, who goes to fire his gun when Scar acts faster by slamming his hand to the ground, causing it to explode beneath Anselm. Anselm falls to the ground while Scar closes in and grabs his head, preparing to literally blow his brains out. However, Anselm retaliates by kicking Scar's abdomen, causing him to let go. Anselm then pistol whips Scar in the head, knocking him to the ground.
Suddenly, Anselm finds himself stuck into the ground, seeing that his feet have been surrounded by the ground. It was transmutated, but the color of the ground is purple and black. In the doorway stands a stressed out Sybille, having heard most of the fight. Anselm sadistically smiles seeing his daughter, Darkness static dancing from her hands. Envy fills up with fear seeing her coming out to battle.
Envy calls, "Sybille! Go back inside! It's too dangero-GYAAAAAHHHH!" before his entire left arm is blasted off from Anselm's bullet, blood spilling everywhere.
That's when Sybille's eyes start to glow a bright yellow, and she flies at Anselm, punching his stomach. Anselm doesn't go flying as he's stuck in the ground, giving Sybille the opportunity to continue punching him while Darkness static flies out from each impact. Anselm cannot react or block as each hit brings him closer to getting knocked out. Everyone watches in shock and awe as Sybille pummels Anselm without taking a breath. She then finishes by jumping and drop kicking him in the chest, breaking him from the ground. Sybille jumps back, claps her hands and slams them to the ground, trapping Anselm in a cage. Anselm tries to sit up and looks at Sybille, who's eyes have not stopped glowing.
Anselm maniacally laughs before saying, "It's happening! The power inside her is starting to awaken!"
"Power? What power?" Izumi asks.
Anselm replies as his irises slowly glow green, "Each Darkness User has their own individual stress limitation that causes them to enter an alterred state of mind. I entered mine fifteen years ago and never came out of it. Sybille is just discovering hers! It's wonderful!"
Scar asks as Sybille closes in, "How does it end?"
"Not until the user kills their oppenent!" Anselm giddily replies.
Sybille grabs onto one of the bars, and turns the empty space into glass. A hole appears in the middle of the ground, and rushing water can be heard. However, Anselm counters this by shooting at the cage, creating a hole. He rushes out, only to be grabbed by Sybille. He points his gun at her head, cocking the gun with no bullet. Knowing the point-blank range will kill her, Al throws his the helmet to his armor at Anselm's head, causing him to flinch and point the gun at the sky. Envy jumps out from behind the barrier, his arm not regenerated, and tries to drop kick Anselm. He recovers in time and avoids the attack, but Sybille is hanging onto him. She grabs his gun and tries to rip it away, when the rune reacts on its own and causes Sybille pain, making her let go.
Anselm jumps back and shoots at the groung, causing a smokescreen. After a few seconds, the smoke clears and he's gone. The cage Sybille created melts back into the ground, the water having never made it to the surface. Izumi transmutes the barriers back into the ground and Scar grabs Al's helmet. Sybille's eyes soon stop glowing and she returns to normal, looking around confused, soon spotting that Envy is missing his left arm, and Ed his left leg. She freaks out asking what happened before she quickly faints with Envy catching her.
"Damn that bastard...how dare he..." Ed growls.
Scar returns Al's helmet as he says, "I can't get over how strong that man is; he's stronger than me."
"That's an understatement. The fact that he can transmute just by slamming his gun into the ground scares me. He can transmute faster than we can." Izumi says looking down at Ed.
"He said that he was in that alterred state for fifteen years. Could that mean he passed on his Darkness Alchemy abilities to Sybille?" Al asks, placing his helmet back on.
"It's possible. We can only use regular alchemy, and that isn't a trait that can be passed on to the next generation like that. She never had regular alchemy to start with." Ed answers.
"Hey guys...I don't feel too good..." Envy announces before he blacks out.
"Shit!" Ed shouts as he looks at Envy, "He never regenerated his arm!"
"No, he couldn't regenerate his arm." Sig says, emerging from the house.
Scar looks at the blood pool, soon seeing a part of the bullet that was shot at Envy. He picks it up saying that the bullet could be the cause as Anselm's only means of performing alchemy is through the gun. Izumi then sees blue lights coming from Envy's shoulder; he's starting to regenerate his arm. Sig walks over and picks up Envy and Sybille while Al picks up Ed, and everyone heads back inside.
It is late afternoon. Everyone's wounds have been treated. Sybille is lying in a separate bed from Envy with a cold wet cloth on her forehead. Al is currently keeping an eye on them both while Ed tries to contact Central to report what just happened, stating that they now have a new enemy, and that he must return to Resembool in order to get a new leg. Izumi is preparing dinner while Sig sells one last item to a loyal customer before closing shop. He had helped Izumi clean up the streets beforehand so no one could really tell that a battle occured. Al moves on to Envy who's headband was removed in order to place a cool cloth on his forehead. His arm is fully regenerated, but is covered in multpile bruises, a good indication that the bullet is the cause. What crosses his mind is how the regeneration was delayed so badly; it took Envy the rest of the afternon to recover his arm.
Alphonse then starts to think. Anselm can only transmute using his gun. Homunculi are results of failed Human Transmutation and are basically immortal until a weakness is introduced. They are given Red Stones so they can take on a human form. Red Stones are false Philosopher Stones created from Red Water. Since both Red Stone and Water are comprised of alchemical amplification substances, is it possible that Darkness Alchemy can manipulate it? Anselm can pass his alchemy onto his bullets as an extension to cause damage, since it appears to mimic Scar's ability of stopping at the Deconstruction step of Alchemy. The first bullet destroyed Ed's leg to the point where it was just pieces and wires. The second bullet destroyed Envy's left arm, not even bothering to leave a trail of skin or tissue behind. Darkness Alchemy is a stronger form of regular alchemy. Al soon becomes frustrated from thinking so critically unable to wrap around the amount of damage done.
He soon hears Sybille ask, "Alphonse? What happened?"
He turns to see she is awake and replies, "It's rather complicated, but you passed out. You also had a slight fever, but it looks like it's going away."
"Is Envy okay?" she asks.
"Yeah. His arm's recovered." he replies moving so she can seen him.
"...His face is all red."
"His fever's a little worse than yours, but he'll recover. It took him all afternoon to regenerate his arm."
"All afternoon? That's not right."
"Like I said, it's complicated what happened. Everything will be explained when you're more awake."
"...That guy earlier...I heard him say I was his daughter. Does that mean...?"
"He's your dad."
"Why does he want to kill me so badly?"
"Your mother died from the stress of giving birth to you, and, well...he blames you for it."
"Me? Why?"
"...Sybille..."
"He's just being a dick; forget about it." Envy suddenly says, his eyes half open.
"Niisan! You're awake!" Sybille says.
"Yeah, but-Aaaahhh, my arm! What the f*ck?" Envy tries to say before feeling the pain.
He looks at his arm seeing it's covered in multiple bruises. Al tells him it could be from the bullet, but Envy denies it since he isn't dead, even from losing a lot of blood. Scar knocks on the door and Al lets him in. Scar tells them that dinner will be ready soon and Sybill becomes excited since she's gotten hungry.
After dinner, Ed and Al decide they need to head to Resembool so Ed can get a new leg; he had called Winry after contacting Central. Sybille announces she'll be joining as she discovered her automail arm isn't holding together well, and she doesn't have the tools to fix it. Although a bit reluctant, Ed agrees to let her tag along, with Envy quickly stating he'll be coming along. Scar decides he'll stay with Izumi and Sig over trying to reach his actual destination, but Izumi quickly denies him this, not wanting to attract anymore unwanted attention. This forces the Elrics to take on Scar seeing as how he wants to help Sybille master her alchemy.
Meanwhile at Central HQ, Mustang sits at his desk reviewing the report Ed had called in. Sheska was the one who was called to talk to Ed and record everything. As he reads over the events that took place and starts to piece together the connection between Sybille and Anselm. Ed had neglected on purpose to tell Mustang that Anselm said Sybille was his daughter, instead saying that Anselm was after Sybille because he wants to be the only Darkness User left. Mustang starts to ignore this small bit of info, already starting to piece together that Anselm and Sybille must be related as both are users. But Envy appearing out of nowhere and having to defend himself makes no sense to him. Mustang starts to think that Envy may have wanted to fight them, but became injured in the crossfire, and had no choice to retreat. Mustang becomes frustrated with the information.
On the train a couple hours later, Ed reveals to everyone that he lied about certain parts in his report, trying to keep his word about revealing the truth about Sybille. While Envy is thankful for it, Sybille yanks Ed's bangs saying it's wrong for even a State Alchemist to lie. Envy tells her that the truth about her must remain a secret so that she isn't sought after by the other State Alchemists. She sighs and takes out her progress journal to record everything that happened, asking the others for information on what hapened during the time her eyes were glowing. They fill her in on all the details they can before she becomes tired. Not wanting to fall asleep yet because she wants to relax, Al offers to play Go Fish with her until she can't play anymore. She agrees and they start to play a round. Scar tries to become comfortable before he falls asleep. As Sybille starts to lose the battle to fatigue, Envy pulls her close so she'll lean against him and not fall onto the floor. The only round of Go Fish lasted only ten minutes as Sybille falls asleep, dropping the cards. Al gathers the cards and stores them away.
Trivia:
1) Scar's line is a play off a line in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs when Buck introduces Rudy, and Manny retorts.
2) Darkness Alchemy is further explained by Anselm, who is really Sybile's father; since users perform through objects, they are unknown to the users at first, yet Sybille has no object.
3) It is unknown how long Anselm was placed in prison, but he was released early on good behavior; this can happen.
4) I learned in one of my Bio classes that fetuses are a kind of parasite as they live off the mother-to-be until they're born. They can cause certain things to happen as well. (if you flame because of this, you'll not only be blocked, but reported as well).
5) Anselm's bullets are NOT specially made; he can perform alchemy through his gun, so he can change their composition.
6) Envy's arms being covered in bruises is really part of the regeneration being delayed.
7) Ed lies to Mustang in order to keep Sybille's truth a secret. Him figuring Anselm and Sybille being related is because he knows both are Darkness Users, and most people would make that assumption.