OMG I AM SOOOO SORRY!
It's been like a week since I said I would post and I never did! CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE MEEEE?
It's just that school is a fucking pain in my ASS! I mean it! I started high school! ITS A FUCKING PRISON! Compared to my middle school, it's a fucking paradise, but it's still a prison.
So to make up for my shamefullness, I will post now, and post on saturday late at night so it's like a sunday morning. Also, this is the longest chappy so far! So Extra long chappy AND an early posting. God, I must really love you guys.
And about the chapter. SOME SIRIUS SHIT IS ABOUT TO GO DOWN HERE! If this was a fucking movie, this is the part I would want to see in 3D. I wouldn't want the sex in 3D, that would be weird. I would want that on the bid screen though...
And if you have noticed the new picture on the front, that is explained in this and a bit later. I found it on Tumblr and when I saw it I was like, WHAT THE FUCK! Did someone read my story and make this for me? Wait... I haven't posted that much yet. SO IT WAS BY PURE CHANCE I FOUND IT? AYIIEEEE! *Fangirl squealing*
So anywhooo... Lots o blood and gore. Yay!
So read on my lovelies! And you will hear from me very soon!
They left early the next day to go back to central.
They had no idea where to go from there, and Kathryn had insisted on coming with them from now on. So their duo became a trio.
When they got to central, Kathryn rented out a room in her normal hotel. They went down the hallway to the room and Kat made dinner. Ed updated Kat on their search, having heard a bit here and there from Mustang, she knew what they were up to on a general basis.
Kat now stood at the sink washing their dishes. Ed still sat at the kitchen table while Al was on the couch in the adjacent livingroom. A hallway to the left of the livingroom led to the master bed, guest bed, and bathroom.
Kat sighed and gripped the sides of the double sink. "Ed?" she asked.
"Yeah?"
She took a deep breath, "I-I want to become a state alchemist,"
There was only silence. Alphonse had turned his attention to the now very interesting kitchen.
"You, what?" he growled.
She turned around and dried off her hands nonchalantly. "I want to become a state alchemist,"
"No. absolutely not,"
"Well why not?" she asked as she threw the towel down on the counter. "Ed, you can't do this all on your own,"
"Kathryn, they are my burdens to bear. Not yours. You don't need to be chained to the military."
"If you haven't noticed, Ed, I already am. I am the military," Ed stood up and walked into the livingroom. "And as part of the military, I have a pretty short leash," she said following him. She grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop. "If I was an alchemist, I could have a longer leash, and I could help you two instead of just being stuck wherever I'm stationed," She tried turning him around to no avail. "Ed, we both have burdens, but that doesn't mean we have to face them alone,"
"No," he said shrugging her off. "I refuse to make you apart of this more that you already are,"
"Ed! I'm as deep as I can go! If I was a state alchemist, I could have better protection! My alchemy would be amplified and I wouldn't have to sleep with one eye open anymore, I'd be with you!"
"No. I won't let you do this to yourself. Only one of us needs to be a dog,"
"Edward, you're not indestructible! You need someone to watch your back,"
He moved around her and she reached out for his hand. He yanked it away as if she had burned him.
"Ed why won't you listen to me? Edward!"
"I'm going out!" he yelled. He went out the door.
Kat winced as the door slammed shut. "Edward!" she called out as she reached for the handle.
"It's best if you leave brother alone for a bit," Alphonse said before she could twist it.
"But-
"He cares about you. A lot. He doesn't want anything bad to happen to you. He's trying to keep you as safe as possible. Neither of us want to see you as hurt as you were after the uprisings. Ed didn't sleep for days when you were in the hospital. Just give him some time. Brother still might not let you go, but you need to know that he is doing it in your best interest," he said, his words laced with wisdom despite his young age.
She turned around and walked to the hallway. She stopped at the entrance and looked partly over her shoulder. "Do-do you think he'll be back tonight?"
"Don't worry about brother. He will come back when he is ready,"
She nodded her head and went to her room. She tucked herself under the covers, looking at the large window in the room.
Why must they have such large windows on the first floor? She thought.
She would have gladly taken any other room but one on the first floor. Hell, she would have gladly taken the broom closet if it was on a higher floor. She never liked the first floor. Safety precautions for herself. I guess it's just because I'm in the military… looking over my shoulder, all that bullshit… she yawned and fell asleep.
She woke up to the door slamming open.
On instinct, she reached for one of five wrenches by her nightstand and threw it at the door. It stuck in the door frame next to Ed's head.
"Ed I'm-
He shut her up with a searing kiss, climbing on top of her after kicking off his boots. "The next alchemy exam is in three days. I don't want you to take it, but I won't stop you if you pass. I will help you study. I know it's short notice but-
She silenced him with another kiss. "Please don't walk out on me like that again,"
"I'll try not to," he said quietly. She gave him a stern look that had him a bit scared. "All right, all right. I won't. I promise,"
He kissed her again, sneaking his hand up her shirt. She pushed his coats off his shoulders and he shrugged them off, never breaking contact. The only time his lips left hers was when he took off his shirt and pulled hers over her head, tossing them somewhere else in the room. They wiggled out of their pants until all they had left was their underwear.
Ed kissed and dragged is tongue down her neck to her breasts, taking one into his mouth, kneading the other with his hand. Kathryn moaned at his ministrations, arching her back into him. She dragged his head back up to her mouth for another smoldering kiss. One arm was across his back, the hand entangled in his hair.
"Brother, Kathryn-
Kathryn's eyes widened as Alphonse walked into the room, thankful for the placement of Ed's arm. If it hadn't been where it was, Al surely would turn red, even if he was a suit of armor.
"Al, get out," she husked out.
"But there's-
"GOD DAMMIT ALPHONSE GET OUT NOW!" she screamed as she grabbed the second wrench on her nightstand and chucked it at the door. Al had just closed it and ran away as the wrench lodged itself in the wood. "Oh my god,"
"Remind me to never make you mad," Ed joked.
Kathryn pushed him off of her and sat up, pulling the sheet with her. "Guess we should find out what he wanted," she sighed. "Well, that ruined the moment,"
She began to run her fingers through her hair when Hughes burst through the door in his usual cheery mood. "I don't know whats got Al so worked up. I-" he stopped as he saw the state of Kat and Ed's undress. "Kathryn, nice bod-
Hughes got hit in the face with a wrench before he could blink, let alone finish his sentence. "GET OUT NOW!"
After Edward and Kathryn redressed themselves, they all sat in the livingroom.
"You know I was joking right?" Hughes asked, holding and ice-pack to his face. "I would never cheat on my darling Gracia or do anything to upset Elicia,"
"Hughes! Don't make me find another wrench," Kathryn groaned.
"Sheesh, you need to calm down a bit. Relax. You and Roy are just the same,"
"Where's my wrench. How dare he compare me to that arrogant, egotistical Colonel Jackass," she muttered, standing and looking around the room for anything that would be remotely painful if thrown. Ed grabbed her arm and pulled her back down to her seat on the couch.
"But as to why I am here. I heard Ed was snooping around for the alchemy exam. So Alphonse, you gonna take another crack at it?"
"So what? Now girls can't be alchemists?" Kathryn asked, standing up, fists clenched and fuming. Ed and Al swore that they could see steam blowing from her ears.
"No, I just didn't know you could do alchemy. Plus, as you well know, there aren't any female state alchemists," Hughes replied quickly.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hughes, why are you here?"
"Well, I came to tell you. They changed up the exam,"
"What!" they all shouted.
"It's virtually the same thing. But the Führer has made some adjustments. The only time he ever came to an exam was to see Ed's performance, seeing as he was the youngest. Now he will be overseeing the entire thing each year.
Also, they added on a new event. There are more people chosen than normal in the practical skills, where you show what you can do. So now, the final category of the exam is, virtually, another practical skills test. You now have to go up against an official state alchemist and they judge you on how you do in an actual battle. Then the state alchemist is picked," Hughes explained.
"The Führer really is out to get me…" Kat muttered.
"Kat, what do you mean, the Führer is out to get you?" Ed asked worriedly.
"Ohh… I forgot to tell you about it didn't I?" she asked. She sparred a glance at Hughes before turning to Ed. "He knows about our… shall we say… predicament, right?"
"Yeah, he knows,"
"Okay, well you know how we've been running into Envy, Lust, and Gluttony? Well, I found Wrath, and he's the one who fucked up my arm. And the one who stabbed me in the arm, was Bradley. And he told me that he had been trying to kill me because Envy needed to get to you, and I had been keeping him from doing so,"
"But what does all of this mean?" Hughes asked.
She looked at Hughes with a solemn gaze. "It means that the Führer of Amestris is a homunculus."
"The Führer? That can't be. Kat, are you sure?" Ed asked.
"I'm positive. Unless I was in some sort of delirium and I lost my arm some other way, then I'm right,"
"Then everything goes so much deeper than we thought," Hughes said thoughtfully.
Kathryn stiffened.
"Kat, what is it?"
"Hush. I'm trying to listen." Everyone heard a faint rustle from the side of the apartment facing the street. "Ed, Al, go check the bed rooms. Hughes, stay out here with me incase they try to come at us dead on," she instructed, clapping her hands together and pulling a small dagger out of the wall.
Edward clapped and extended his auto-mail plating and led Al to down the hallway.
Hughes pulled out his push knives and stood with Kathryn to the door.
They heard a lamp break in the master bedroom.
"Go, I can manage," Hughes told her.
She nodded and headed for the door when someone burst through the hallway window. They elbowed her in the back slamming her into the wall, then smashed her hand against the door frame until she dropped the dagger. Her attacker put his arm around her neck in an attempt to strangle her. She kicked off the wall and smashed him into the adjacent wall.
The edges of her vision were getting fuzzy as she clawed at the man's arms. She quietly clapped her hands together and pulled another dagger out of the wall. She looked over to see Hughes knocked out on the floor with someone coming up behind him. She stabbed her attacker in the stomach and let him slump against the wall.
She coughed as the air entered her lungs painfully. She ran to Hughes and grabbed the push knife in his hand and sliced open the oncoming attacker's throat. Ed came out into the hallway as the attacker fell to his knees dead.
"You okay?" Ed asked as Kat turned to face him.
Someone came up from behind Kat, making a slight shuffle. She thrust her arm backwards over her shoulder, shoving the blade into his head. "Yeah," she rasped, her throat still burning. She saw someone come up behind Edward and threw the knife with pinpoint accuracy into his chest. "You?"
"A bit terrified of my girlfriend. What happened to Hughes?"
"Oh his attacker got to him and made his vision a little fuzzy. He's awake, he just hasn't gotten up yet," she said with a glance over her shoulder.
"Very perceptive, Kathryn. How'd you know?" he asked as he stood from the floor.
"When I grabbed your blade you were a little reluctant to let go of it,"
"Yes, well I was going to take the enemy by surprise…" he said with a look around. "But it looks like you handled it well. No wonder you're one of our best,"
A clank came from the guest bedroom. "You okay in there Al?" Kathryn called out.
"Yeah. All's clear," he replied walking out of the bedroom with a man under his arm.
"Kat, did you check our bedroom yet?"
"No. I was a little preoccupied," she said, glancing at the bodies littering the hallway.
They both changed their auto-mail and went inside. Kathryn glanced around the room. "Clear,"
Ed went over and checked in the closet. "Clear"
"Okay, I'm not risking anything," Kat said as she changed her auto-mail back into an arm. "Hughes, you're staying the night. We are all sleeping in here tonight. God, I really hate being on the bottom floor at the moment," she said with a glance to the window. "And large windows," she sighed running her fingers through her hair. "Al, do you want a chair to sit on?"
"No, I'll sit with my back against the door. Then it will be hard for anyone to get in, leaving the window as the only way to get in,"
"Good idea," She ran her fingers through her hair again. "Hughes, there are blankets in the closet. You can sleep on the floor next to the bed. Me and Ed can will take the bed,"
"Well now I won't be able to sleep. You two better keep it down,"
"Hughes, if you want to keep your tongue and maybe even your life, I suggest you shut up."
She ran her fingers through her hair again with a sigh. Ed grabbed her hand and she turned to look at him. "Kat, we're fine. Nothing is going to happen,"
"You're right. There's nothing to worry about," She glanced at the door. "Should we get rid of the bodies?"
"Yeah, I don't think the hotel will approve of blood stains on their carpets," Ed replied with a chuckle.
Kathryn and Edward went out and tossed the bodies out the window, the fixed all the broken things in the apartment. They went back into the room and everyone situated themselves after Hughes gushed on the phone to his wife. Kathryn had to slap the back of his head to get him to leave the phone.
"Night all. Sleep with an eye open," she said.
"Kathryn…" Ed said sternly.
She laughed. "Kidding,"
Then they fell asleep.
"Kathryn. Kathryn wake up,"
"Mmm?" Kathryn woke up to Al sitting next to the bed. She propped herself up on her elbow. "What's wrong, Al?"
"I heard something outside the window," he said worriedly.
"Oh, that's great Al. Go back to bed," she said with a yawn. She lay back down and shut her eyes. Then, what Al had said sunk in, her eyes snapped open and she bolted upright. "Outside the window, you said?"
"Yeah. It sounded like breathing. Not breathing, but like… panting,"
Her eyes widened and she shook Ed until he fell out of the bed. "Ed, wake up. We've got problems," she said. She moved down the floor and rolled Hughes until he woke up. "Hughes, get up. We've got company," She clapped her hands and pulled a miniature version of her sword from the floor.
They heard a twig snap and growls coming from outside the window. She breathed in deeply and faced the glass. "I have a feeling I know what's outside. You all stay back, this stays between me and Bradley. They won't attack you if you don't attack them,"
"Kathryn-
"Please, Ed. Just listen to me for once," she pleaded, taking a ready stance.
Something came crashing through the window, flying at Kat. She whipped the sword through the air and a very normal looking wolf landed on the left side of the room.
"Just what I thought. A successful combination of a human and a wolf. These are people synthesized with wolves. In other words, these are chimeras… I didn't think they were real until now."
She turned back to the window to see multiple wolves jump through the window and surround her.
"What do you mean, you didn't think they were real?" Ed asked.
"Some rumors have been going around that there were successful chimeras being made in an underground lab," Hughes explained.
The wolves encircled Kathryn, she continuously turned around at the slightest movement. The wolves snapped their jaws at Kathryn's feet, but she didn't play chicken like they wanted her to.
"The rumor was that they made people into wolves, except instead of being human changing into half-human, half-wolf, they were able to create humans who could change into full wolves. People thought they were made for any upcoming wars,"
"Are you the one they call Kathryn Rockbell?" A large wolf moved out of the ranks to face Kat.
"Ed, don't even think about coming over here, got it?" she warned, sparing a glance and small smile to Ed. She poised her sword to strike the wolf. "That's me. Come and get me wolf boy,"
Then, the wolves lunged, all at once. She managed to fight most of them off until the Alpha attacked her from behind. She fell under the weight of him, and the other wolves jumped in after her.
Edward went to lunge over the bed when Hughes and Al grabbed him. "Trust her, Ed. She knows what she's doing," Hughes told him.
The growling and screaming filled the room. Then, a growl that was not wolfish came from the pile. A clap sounded and sparks filled the room as the floor extended to points, skewering the wolves.
Kathryn was on her hands and knees panting. She put the floor back the way it was before falling over on her side. Ed jumped over the bed with no restraints this time. "Kat? You okay?" he asked. He looked down at her face, twisted in pain and bloody. Her hair was now red, as was the carpet. He went to lift her up but she pushed him away closed her eyes.
"They got me good. I need to go into the bathroom though. I'll be right back." She said as she hoisted herself up against the wall and ran into the bathroom.
Ed followed after her. "Kathryn?"
"Fuck. Edward... It's really bad. Think twice before you come in here,"
He walked in and nearly lost his dinner. She held a wet towel to her face and it was already soaked through. The sink was running and filled with blood droplets. Blood ran down her arm and her right shoulder sleeve was ripped open, exposing more cuts. Her hair was drenched with her blood and droplets were dripping into the sink from her chin.
"Kathryn, I need to take a look," he said as he grabbed more towels. They switched them out, dry wet dry for a bit until they were sure the bleeding stopped and the wound was mostly clean. "Ready?" he asked.
"I should be asking you that. As you can already tell, it's pretty bad,"
"I'll take my chances,"
She pulled the wet towel from her face and Ed gasped. "Oh my god, Kathryn. I'm amazed you still have an eye left,"
"That bad huh?" she asked. She brushed the hair away from her face and looking into the mirror. There were several medium cuts surrounding her right eye and one very large one right down the middle of it. She had a small one dragging from the bottom of her ear to her jaw, a few down her neck and two or three across her shoulder a quarter of the way down her arm. "Can you heal it? I know you know a bit of medical alchemy. You should be able to close it right?"
"You underestimate me," he said with a smirk, trying to make light of the situation. I won't be able to heal all of it, but hopefully I can heal her enough. He though as he clapped his hands. She hopped on onto the sink and sat there as Ed healed her. "Oh shit. Kat, you have huge scars. It didn't heal fully. I'm sorry,"
She washed her face and rinsed the blood out of her hair. She looked up into the mirror and sighed. "Well, at least I can see out of my eye, it's not all mushed together or anything," she said as she dried her hair and messed with her bangs for a bit. When she finished, her part was on the left and her bangs hung over her eye. "Well, I think I can pull this look off," She tugged some of her hair down in front of her left ear, then put the rest of it up in a pony tail. "How's my new look?" she asked Ed as she turned around with a smile on her face. She yawned then sighed and changed into the shirt that was hanging on the hook. "Come on, we need to sleep if I'm going to pass this thing,"
"You're still going to do this? Even after what just happened?"
"Of course. There's no way I'm going to let Bradley get the best of me. I'm not giving up so easily," she said determinedly.
"You're crazy, you know that?"
"But it's why you love me," she retorted. She went on her tippy toes for a kiss, but thought better of it and left the bathroom.
They went back into their room and she crawled back into bed. "Okay. I think we're fine for the moment. Just to be safe though, we will go as we were. Night," she said.
They all went to bed in silence, no one questioning Kathryn. They couldn't decide if they looked up to her because of her ability to cope, or pitied her because she didn't feel.
