Azalea's POV._
"AZALEA!"
But I couldn't hear him. Those.. Those things were everywhere, grunting, laughing, waiting. Waiting for me to make a move; they thought I was nothing to those bastards.
_ Estimated twenty minutes before::
It was a day or so after I sortof-kinda blabbered to Al. He hadn't talked to me much, I was sure he was hiding things from me. He and Ed had left the night before, having yet to return. I was uneasy, but Nik, however, seemed the happiest I've seen him since we begun the mission. I adverted my gaze as he grinned at the window.
"Seems like Mr. King has been found out."
"Who?" My attention was brought to Nik, and the main square of the town, which was only a blur of colors to my eyes, probably the citizens. Nik constantly brought his senses up with his Muscle Alchemy.
'Wait.. What's that?' I squinted. There, in the middle of the square, and moving, was what looked to be a giant statue. And moving. Nik busted out laughing, while my expression remained blank.
"Dafuq."
I deadpanned, rolling my eyes although a smile remained on my lips. Moments later we were both outside of the hotel, walking to where the sounds of chaos sounded. The sun heated the back of my neck almost painfully, making me sigh, before turning a corner and slipped into the cool shadows of an alleyway, connected to other shaded spaces. I nodded to myself, knowing that Nik was behind me.
"Muuuuuch better, yo."
"Yup."
I laughed, before heading off again.
"O-Oi! Wait up!" Nik exclaimed, running after. But I was faster, and easily disappeared from his sight. How stupid of me. I didn't see them. I couldn't sense them. I didn't even hear their disgusting grunts and groans, their hisses that smelt of death. They were already in my peripheral when they attacked, leaving me with a mild gash in my left arm.
I gasped, forcing my body into a backflip, barely dodging a fatal slash of a fleshy claw. I took a few steps back to assess the attacked. 'Kishin. Hurry up and kill them."
"Tch! You could've said something!" Hunched over, I placed my hand over my shoulder, the arm connected to it flashing white for only a moment, before I was met with another attack, escaping with only a small cut on my cheek by dropping to the ground and rolling out-of-the-way. Now equipped with a black and silver blade instead of a right arm, and jumped to my feet.
"Eh? You're the awesome quality, 'I'll castrate you with a rusty spoon' assassin!" I ignored her, now glaring daggers at the things that were possibly the cause of my family's death. My blood burned with rage, an ache to kill.
And that's when Nik turned a corner leading into the alleyway where I, and several other Kishin, stood. His arm was curled into his own blade, having hastily killed the closest Kishin. His blade extended much past his real arm length, by a good seven or eight inches. His eyes widened as he took in my.. predicament.
"AZALEA!"
But I couldn't hear him. Those.. Those things were everywhere, grunting, laughing, waiting. Waiting for me to make a move; they thought I was nothing to those bastards. How wrong I would prove them.
There were about nine or ten of them. Perfect. We already destroyed six a few days ago, and so these were probably the last of them. But none of that registered in my mind then. All I wanted was to destroy them.
Arm poised and ready, I nodded at Nik, signaling him to help.
I made eye contact with my first soon-to-be victim. And I charged, arm raised to strike.
My blade clashed with the Kishin's claws. Grunting, I leaned forward, putting more weight into it. Before long, I side stepped, his abnormally large hand striking the ground and creating a small crater into the ground where I used to be.
Nik, however, was just finishing up his work on the smallest (though still pretty freaking huge) Kishin, his blade jutting from its back. It fell, leaving only a single red soul. My attention was ripped away from him as the same Kishin jumped at me, both hands extended to rip me apart. Cussing under my breath, I narrowly dodged. Transforming my arm back to normal, I clapped my hands together and slapped the to a conveniently placed, run-down building, made of what appeared to be steel. Said steel stripped itself from the building, molding into a good 20-30 perfect replicas of myself, their arms morphed into blades. Blinking simultaneously, they awaited my orders.
"Kill the Kishin!"
And kill the Kishin they did. Within minutes, they were gone, relieving me and Nik of a good six Kishin. A shaky sigh left me. My arm was still bleeding, but not as heavily as before; I hadn't used it at all during the fight. Running towards Nik, I shouted,
"transform!" He nodded, his legs bent slightly as he propelled himself up, morphing into his scythe form mid-air. I ran to meet him, twirling the weapon in my hands, ungloved, as to slow him down.
"Two left. Behind you!" Reflexes controlling my limbs, I jumped forward, twirling around midair, only to come face-to-face with one of the biggest Kishin I've even seen. I blindly swung Nik, the purple crescents from years past accumulating and attacking the Kishin head on. Both of us were flung back from the force, the Kishin dazed, having fallen.
The unknowing Kishin, planning out a surprise attack, was taken out by a blade to its chest.
The last one was waiting.
_ Edward's POV.
"He was pulling my tail the entire time!" I cussed under my breath, leaning against a stone wall. Al was seated beside me, quiet.
A nearby patch of clear-blue sky illuminated purple for just a moment, catching the attention of both of us. Only I was to me feet faster. Al was soon to follow, however, as we cautiously moved to where we assumed the sky had glowed purple. My eyebrow furrowed in frustrated curiosity. 'What the hell could that be, anyways? Damn.. It can't be Cornello.. All the citizens I know of are still at the square.'
"I really hate this place," I muttered.
Azalea's POV_
The last Kishin appeared almost out of nowhere. I threw Nik up to block his attack: A pointy set of teeth with a jaw that opened a bit too far. Okay, a lot. I heard Nik groan in disgust at being shoved into a Kishin's mouth. A channeled my soul wavelength into the blade, shocking the Kishin and sending him flying, myself running after him.
He was up before I reached him, Nik's blade clashing against his teeth.
This continued for a few minutes.
"..Damn. Azalea, hurry up! A certain set of brothers are headed this way. A few roads down," Zale exclaimed, her voiced rushed. "Finish it off already!"
"I know, I know!"
Arching my back into a flip headed towards the damn thing, I positioned Nik to hit him head on, but alas, I only caught his arm, sending it screeching and wailing like a baby.
"Screw it! Nik! Resonance!"
A mental image of a nodding Nik infiltrated my mind. Grunting as our soul wavelengths neared each other, I swung Nik back, preparing a strike.
"Soul Resonance! Witch Hunter! Die!"
Nik's blade grew, extending and curling around my body. I took a step back, stancing, before my arms thrusted forward just as I jumped forward, a white flash illuminating the alleyway and moat likely the entire city.
Of course, the Kishin was killed. Nik reverted to normal, and I relayed to him what Zale told me. He cursed, gobbling up his share of souls, and me, mine.
"Zale, how close are-"
"Get out of there!"
"Sheesh," I muttered under my breath, disappearing around a corner just as I came, leaving the alleyway just as I came, Nik in tow.
"Mission accomplished~"
_Edward's POV.
"There's nothing here.." I groaned. "It was probably just Alchemy." Al and I stood at the foot of the alleyway, gazing upon a wreck of a building. All that was left of it was the steel "skeleton", what held it in place. Lumps of other steel lay scattered everywhere; there were craters and dents in both the floor and other buildings.
"You're just trying to reason everything again, brother.." Al muttered under his breath. I scowled.
"W-Whatever! Let's go pick up Kenzie and her brother so we can get outta this place," Al snickered, and I resisted the urge to glare at him.
-TIMESKIP TO HOTEL-
"Th-They're gone.." Al voice penetrated my thoughts. Kenzie was missing. I didn't care much for her brother, but I was still shook up. I wasn't sure if it was worry, or fear that Colonel Idiot would have my head for this for sure.
"L-Let's call Colonel Mustang.."
"N-No! He'll kill me, Al!"
"But what if Kenzie's hurt?" I froze.
"Tch. Then you call him!"
"Fine, I will!" He left the room, and I was left to my thoughts. 'Their stuff is gone.. Their room was returned. They must've left! But why? Tch.." Kenzie was really getting my head in a jumble.
Third Person POV_
Azalea and Nik had made a quick trip to the hotel, to grab their things and return the room. Now they were making a speedy trip back to Amestris, by way of flying skate-thingies. Azalea's injured arm was wrapped snugly in gauze, and a band-aid was fixed on her cheek. Both of them were carrying their own luggage.
"I feel bad for just leaving.." The girl murmured, her voice barely audible over the hum of their skates. Of course Nik caught it.
"Why? Colonel's orders."
"I know.. It's just, they're friends of mine. What if they worry?"
"You can call them when we get back."
"Oh." The conversation ended with Azalea snorting.
Edward's POV_
"He said not to worry." Al reentered the room a few minutes later. I scowled.
"So she did just up and leave!" I grumbled.
"Screw that. I'm hungry."
