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Summary: [postseries - slightly AU Alphonse would do anything to get his brother back, and his new friend is willing to help, for a certain price. Now, Edward has returned from Munich, without a clue of how he came back and Alphonse is acting strange, but unknown to Edward, Alphonse is in much more trouble than he can handle.
Venom
6. Fake
"Amestris," Ling said out of the blue one day.
"Amestris?" Ran Fan repeated, raising an eyebrow. "What interests you there, Master?"
"The Philosopher's Stone," Ling answered, staring out the palace window, where the sky was painted crimson reds, pale yellows and deep oranges as the sun began to set. The warm glow shone on Ling's face, however inking out one eye in a black shadow. "They have a form of RentanJutsu there… Alchemy, they call it… it holds all the keys to immortality." He turned to her, a smile on his lips. "Just think, a hop and skip across the desert and we're there. We could leave tonight, no one would notice."
Was he serious? Ran Fan just stood there, taken aback. She knew all of their leads to everlasting life had come up as a dud and she thought Ling had given up months ago, after his father – and emperor of Xing – had fallen into a coma. This was the first time he had spoken about immortality since, and it was quite obvious he had been thinking about it for a while.
"Do you want to leave?" Ran Fan asked quietly, regaining her voice.
Ling didn't reply, but she saw it in his eyes. The yearning, desire, desperation… silently, he was saying; "You can come with me or stay here, either way there's not going to be a trace of me tomorrow morning."
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Ling pounced, just as the green haired teen turned around. Ran Fan watched from a distance as the tip of Ling's sword was gently pressed against the skin between two violet eyes. For a moment, the homunculus looked surprised, but slowly, a grin spread its way across the pale face, showing a mouthful of pointed pearly whites. Ran Fan could tell this guy wasn't going to give up easy. Then again, neither would they; not without a fight.
"Ahh, Ling Yao. We meet again. Came to reconsider my offer?" the cross dresser raised an eyebrow and placed his hands on his hips. "And you brought a lady friend too!"
Ran Fan felt her heart speed up in confusion and fear as emotionless eyes slid her way, but she didn't move from her hiding place. Ling had already met up with their lead before? Without protection? Without telling her?
"Where are we going to do this, Envy?" Ling inquired, lowering his weapon.
Ran Fan couldn't take it anymore and jumped from behind the pew, just as a loud crack echoed and she suddenly found herself incased up to her chin in rock."Here, and now," a soft voice whispered in her ear as she watched Ling whirl around. His surprised look held for a moment, before slowly melting into something dangerous.
"Let her go," Ling ordered quietly.
"I'm afraid I can't do that," Ran Fan could now tell that whoever was behind her was a woman. "We don't want her to get in the way."
"So, now that we know your friend won't interfere, we can start now," Envy purred, grinning (if possibly) even wider.
Ling was tense, the swords in his hands trembling from the force. His eyes darted from her to Envy. He was starting to break.
"Do it," Ran Fan suddenly blurted out, surprising herself.
Ling stared at her incredulously, "What…?"
"Do it," Ran Fan repeated, unable to find any other words. She didn't even know what they were talking about, but she assumed it was something important. "Just… do it."
"Alrighty then!" Envy exclaimed, placing a hand on Ling's shoulder, smiling cheerily at the woman who had Ran Fan captive. "Now that we have the lady's permission... Dante, you do the honors!"
Ran Fan felt herself drop and she only just managed to throw her hands out in front of her to catch her fall. She heard a loud, echoing crack, as if lightning broke the skies and thought for a moment she had blacked out.
Ran Fan's head jolted up and a pounding silence came over her as she came back from her memories, awaken by a loud gun shot. She didn't have much time to dwell over it, however, as she watched as Alphonse bolted out of the alley way. The two standing at the entrance turned as Envy walked towards them. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but Envy seemed extremely satisfied. Then, the woman walked away, in the same direction Elric had run off, leaving Envy and him alone. They exchanged words and then he nodded, looking up, directly into her eyes as Envy walked back into the alley. No turning back now.
September 18, 1917, 2:00AM, Central, Amestris
Alphonse stared at the shop across the cobblestone road, but none of it actually registered in his mind. He felt the cold rain drill into his skin, seep through his jacket and drip from his hair, but he barely noticed it.
His tired eyes followed the car as it drove past, splashing water up around its tires, its headlights leaving him momentarily blinded. He blinked, pressing his nose harder into his soaked arms, which were wrapped around his knees. How long had he been sitting outside, across the street from Winry's store? How long had he been too much of a coward to face his brother? He couldn't remember. He didn't feel like thinking back. He figured it had to be only a couple of hours until dawn… until the city would slowly wake and continue on with their day… until Edward would find his little brother missing.
Alphonse sighed and pulled his legs closer to his chest, leaning closer to the brick wall behind him. He could make an excuse for being out of bed and he could easily use alchemy to dry himself off… but Edward was immediately going to notice something was off. He had just killed someone; anyone would notice something was wrong with him.
He tilted his head, staring at the turmoil in the sky. He closed his eyes, holding them shut for a moment, letting the rain run down over his face, his forehead, his eye lids, his cheeks, his nose, his lips, around his ears, slither like ice down his neck. The water had washed away the man's blood… he just wished it would wash away the memory.
What would his brother think? He had killed someone. He, himself; Alphonse Elric, the little, lovable brother of the Alchemist of the people… killed an innocent man.
It was disgusting.
And even worse: he could've stopped himself. But he didn't. He fell for Envy's trick. His lips twitched at the corners, tugging into a small, cold smile as the rain started to pour down harder. It was quite silly, quite stupid of him, really. How could he have fallen for something so obvious? Envy was a shape shifter and he knew that Edward was his role model… his reason to live… the list would go on. So even a child could figure out that in Alphonse's time of doubt, Edward would be the only who could console him.
But for some reason, even though Alphonse knew that Edward would never, ever in a million years ever kill anyone; he fell for Envy's act.
Alphonse placed his head back in his arms, glaring at the black fabric covering his skin. He didn't feel any anger towards the green haired homunculus. He yearned to, but he just… couldn't. It was as if his mind wouldn't let him, as if all the frustration was just seeping out slowly and he was forgiving Envy without realizing it. He knew that he should absolutely loathe the creature, but he couldn't… no matter how hard he tried.
But then, as he thought more, he suddenly realized that he would have never been in this situation if he didn't listen to his brother. He wouldn't have ever been eaten by the Gate, he wouldn't have been stuck in a suit of armor for five years, he wouldn't have lost his memory, he wouldn't have lost his brother for three years, he wouldn't have met Envy, he wouldn't have committed to Envy's deal, he wouldn't have gone through nearly a month of absolute agony, he wouldn't have killed someone if he didn't listen to his brother.
It was all Edward's fault!
If Edward hadn't talked him into transmuting his own mother, in some wild hope that she would magically come back to life, his life wouldn't be completely falling apart at the seams. Human Transmutation was forbidden for a reason!
It was Edward's fault completely and he deserved some sort of punishment, some sort of exchange for putting his own little brother through a living hell. Edward deserved to have his soul put into a tin can, where he couldn't live like a real human being. Edward deserved to lose five years of his life and wake up in a hospital where everyone gave him looks of sympathy, for reasons he didn't understand. Edward deserved to be hopelessly, utterly alone, any aspect of even the slightest bit happiness torn away from him. Edward deserved to be put through a month of extreme pain, where his mind was in oblivion while trying to grasp at last strands of sanity.
Alphonse suddenly came back to reality, his unfocused vision slamming back into him as he gasped for air, his body held so tense that it felt like it would snap. An overwhelming feeling of guilt crashed on him, twisting his insides into knots. What the hell was that? Where did that all come from? What was wrong with him?
He wanted to scream to the heavens; take back everything he just thought. He had never in his life been so disgusted with himself. Edward probably went through even worse than Alphonse ever had, and here he was cursing something that was worse than death, his own brother. His brother who, in desperation and haste, transmuted Alphonse's soul so he could have another chance at life.
Alphonse ran a hand through his bangs, breathed deeply and forced himself to relaxed, the sound of rain rushing over him, calming his senses, literally cooling his head… everything was going to be alright, he told himself. Edward was back now, he had all he needed. He didn't need pity, or anger, or anything… he just needed his brother with him, in the same city, at least and he would do fine. And he had that, so he was better than fine. He was brilliant.
"Alphonse?"
He jerked upright, startled by the voice. Standing there in the rain was Clara… not Lust. Her mouth was set into a frown, her eyes empty, as usual. She knelt down, holding her umbrella over both of their heads, even though he was already soaked.
Alphonse tensed slightly as her hand reached out to his, pulling something out of his weak grip. He watched in a little bit of curiosity as she placed the object in her trench coat pocket. It was then he realized that it had been the murder weapon. He looked away in shame, all of his previous confidence gone. He had completely forgotten he still had it.
"Are you alright?" She asked quietly.
"I'm fine," he paused, staring across the street again. "Well, not fine." He answered in a strained voice. "I…"
"It's okay. I get it," Clara cut him off and he attempted to smile in thanks, but he couldn't.
They fell into silence; the only sound in the night was of the rain pelting down on the city and a car off in the distance. It was Alphonse who spoke up first."Did you…" he reconsidered his words for a moment, then continued. "Did you ever… kill anyone before?"
"Yes." Her answer was quick and emotionless, catching him off guard for a moment. He blinked and looked up at her, but she didn't look back.
"It was about two months ago," she muttered and he quietly stared down at his hands. "Envy and Greed were there too… but Lust was controlling me… there was nothing I could do."
"Was it because you didn't listen to him?" Alphonse asked. "Envy – I mean."
He heard Clara shake her head."What happened tonight wasn't a punishment. Envy was going to make you kill that man either way," Clara let out a breath. "I tried to hold this off for as long as I could – he wanted to do this for a long time, but you were still bed-ridden back then so I managed to talk him out of it until now."
Alphonse stared at her incredulously, but then it all sank in and he grimaced. "I can't believe I hadn't realized... but, thank you."
"In that state of mind… it's only human that you couldn't. And don't worry, you're not the only one, I fell for his trick as well," Clara murmured, then laughed coldly. "We were controlled, like we're his little puppets. I should've noticed it earlier… perhaps I could've done something."
Alphonse couldn't find anything to say, so he remained silent, listening to the rain pounding against the umbrella above his head. He was still soaked and was beginning to shiver, but he didn't notice. He did notice, however, footsteps that were steadily coming closer.
He looked up and down the street for the source of the sound, but saw no one. He frowned in confusion and was about to ask Clara if he was going insane, when someone dropped down in front of him, just missing his toes, earning a surprised squeak from him.
Whoever it was didn't stay still for long and stumbled backwards as someone else jumped in from behind Alphonse, aiming for the first person. There was a dangerous silence as the two strangers stared each other down, the first one – who was dressed in all black and a bizarre red and white mask - panting heavily, while the other stayed motionless.
"Greed?" Clara stood up and Alphonse could feel the tension in the wet air rise.
Whoever was in the mask, was staring at Greed, then at Clara, then Alphonse, backing away at the same time. He or she was obviously stressing out, his or her eyes darting around wilding. Then, suddenly, there was a loud explosion and Alphonse instinctively raised his arms to cover his face. He felt moist air rush to him, dirt particles and small rocks cutting into his skin. He peeked out from behind his arms and could see nothing but a cloud of dust. He waved a hand in front of his face, trying to clear the muck from the air, while covering his mouth and nose with his other arm. It seemed to work and after a few seconds; the crud cleared and he found only Clara next to him. Greed and the masked stranger were gone.
"Are you okay, Alphonse?" Clara asked, pulling him to his feet, steering him quickly across the street, not giving him much time to figure out what had just happened.
Alphonse could now see lights turning on in windows, some people sticking their heads out to see what the commotion was. Thankfully, no windows lit up in Winry's apartment. He was suddenly aware of something warm and wet drip down his left arm, a slight surprise in contrast to the icy rain. He looked down to see a large rip in his shirt, revealing a gash in his arm, where blood was oozing out and mixing with the rain. As his eyes trailed along the rest of his appendage, he began to notice small pebbles dug into his skin. He winced, the sight bringing along the stinging pain.
"Ouch," he muttered, pressing his glove to the cut, guesstimating at the depth. He prayed it wasn't too deep, he didn't feel like stitches.
Suddenly, he gasped as there a hot feeling spread all over his arm, and on small places on the rest of his body. It wasn't painful, in fact it seemed to get rid of some of the pain, but it was still unpleasant. Soon the warm feeling turned numb and he thought for a moment he had somehow done Alchemy as blue arcs of energy made themselves clear in the air, crackling over his broken skin.
It was then that he realized what was happening, as he watched in horror as the rocks were squeezed from his skin, dropping to the ground with small 'ticks', the small dots of open skin closing themselves. He watched his own blood from the ground darted back into his arm like magnets attracting each other. Then, once that had finished the gash started to sew itself together, as if an invisible nurse was stitching him up. And then… it was as if nothing had ever happened, his skin back to normal: perfect, not a flaw.
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I'M SORRY THIS IS SO SHORT!!!
I'm also sorry it's so late… I know I promised it would be out soon… but… yeah.
How many people picked up on Al's… 'condition'? I hope not a lot… I really wanted it to be a surprise, but I think I've made it too obvious in earlier chapters. Ah well. If this had been one of your suspicions, then you're correct; congrats!
Anyway, please review, sorry if it's rushed…
--Renneh
PS: I'LL TRY TO GET NEXT CHAPTER OUT SOONER!! I can't make any promises though…
