CHAPTER 8
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or Harry Potter.
"Don't only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets, for it and knowledge can raise men to the divine."
~ Ludwig van Beethoven
"I'll handle this guy." Ed said. Harry smirked. "Fine by me. I'll sit this one out." "You two aren't going to attack me together?" The armour asked incredulously. "Got a problem with that?" Ed asked. "No, it'll end just the same. The both of you will die, along with your knowledge of this place." The armour replied. "Allow me to introduce myself. I 'm Number 48, your executioner. " "Nice to meet you. My name is Edward Elric, and that's my younger brother Harry Potter Elric. Let's get this party started."
"I suppose you should know who's going to kill you. My name is Number 66, also known as Barry the Chopper. I was a famous serial killer, but I got caught and put on Death Row, and now I'm here! Would you like to hear the full story, it's really...interesting." Barry said. "You see, there was once a butcher who lived in Central. He really loved his work, and his favorite part was cutting up the meat. But this butcher grew bored of cutting up pigs and cows and went out into the streets and started cutting up people instead. In the end, this butcher got caught and sent off to prison to await execution, but not before 23 victims were killed by this butcher. But the story doesn't end their, now, this serial killer is living in a much stronger, more durable body! This butcher is now Number 66, a trusted guard of this place. If people come snooping in, I get to cut them up!" Barry laughed.
"Have you heard of Barry the Chopper? I'm sure everyone knows that name by now." Barry said. "Sorry, never heard of you." "What? You haven't heard of me? Well, even so... this should surprise you!" Barry took off his helmet, revealing that he didn't have a body. Al just watched confidently. "HEY! You're supposed to be scared! You're supposed to be like, 'AHH! Where's your body?!' Like that!" Barry said indignantly. Al took off his helmet. "AHH! Where's your body, you freak?!" Barry asked. "Hey, that's not nice! You could hurt someone's feelings that way." Al said angrily. "I know... you were put on Death Row, like me! Ah, it all makes sense now." "HEY! I'm not a criminal, if you must know, I lost my body trying to accomplish something that was impossible, and my brother gave up his right arm to transmute my soul onto this armour!" Al said indignantly.
"Your brother?! " Barry asked. Then he started laughing. "Of course! Your brother! I bet he just wanted a puppet he could control! He most likely created your soul out of scratch, along with a bunch of fake memories that had you believe he was your brother! Ha! Ha!" Al clenched his fists. "There was a time when I would've believed you." he said hollowly "But after that day..." The words that Ed spoke rang in Al's mind. ""I was scared. Scared that you two blamed me for what happened. I was scared that Al would hate me and curse my very existence after that day! " "DON'T YOU DARE ACCUSE MY BROTHER OF SOMETHING LIKE THAT!" Al roared. "Hey, now. Take it easy." Barry said, a hint of fear growing in his voice.
"Was that Al?" Harry asked. "Somebody got him angry. I've never seen him get angry before. Your friend out there is toast" Ed smirked "What do you mean?" Number 48 asked. "Never mind, let's get started. You were given a number after your so called 'execution', what was your real name?" Ed asked. "I was known as Slicer, if you must know. I was famous mass murderer when I was human, and now I've been charged with the task of guarding this place." Slicer said, "And now it's time for you to die!" Slicer ran at Ed, who clapped and extended his automail. Ed's eyes widened slightly. My automail! What's wrong with it? he thought
FLASHBACK.
"I've raised the percentage of chrome, to reduce rusting, but as a result, the automail is less durable. Don't do anything crazy. " Winry said to the both of them.
END FLASHBACK
Back at Risembool, Winry noticed a loose screw on the counter of her room. After examining it, she paled. "This is.. Ed's... CRAP! He's going to kill me!" Winry said nervously.
"Oh well! I'll just have to make do." Ed ran at Slicer, and punched him as hard as he could. "That sound... you're hollow inside, aren't you?" Ed asked. "You're observant." Slicer said, "I recognize that sound because I spar against someone like you on a regular basis." Ed said. "Yeah, and you lose every time." Harry snickered. "SHUT UP! Just because you can win against him doesn't give you the right to gloat." Ed groaned. Harry snickered again. Ed huffed and turned to face Slicer. "Anyway, what's the deal with this place. Who's making the Philosopher Stone?" "I can't tell you that." Slicer said.
"Here, let me give you an advantage. This is my blood rune, if you destroy this, the match is yours." Slicer said, opening his helmet. Sure enough, the blood rune was located at the back of the armour's 'throat'. "That's awfully considerate of you." Ed said suspiciously. "I like to give myself a little bit of a challenge to make things more exciting." Slicer said. "So you like taking risks, huh?" Ed said. "It's been such a long time since I've had prey worth hunting, so I'm trying to make the most of this experience" Slicer said,
Meanwhile, Al was fending of Barry's attacks with ease. Barry jumped back. "OI! Stand still so I can cut you up!" Barry said angrily. "I'd rather not." Al replied. Barry started laughing. "You're scared because I have the advantage! You don't know where my blood rune is, so I am immortal to your attacks! There's nothing you can do!" Barry started laughing. "You don't know where mine is either." Al replied. Barry was dumbstruck. "I.. uh... well..." he sputtered. "So I suppose we're in a stalemate" Al said, "Since neither of us can run out of stamina, we could fight until our bodies reject our souls!" Barry groaned. "What do you mean by that?" Al said, suddenly nervous. "There's downsides to having a body like yours and mine. Eventually, a body that's not the soul's original will reject the soul, thus leaving it an empty shell." Barry replied. "That's not good..." Al said, scared. "No, it's not. For once, we agree on something." Barry said.
Slicer and Ed were still at it. After Ed had dodged several of Slicer's attacks, he clapped and placed his hands on Barry's armour. The helmet containing Slicer's blood rune was separated from the armour. Slicer was surprised enough that he was at a loss of words. "Well. You beat me. Now hurry up and destroy my blood rune!" "No way!" Ed replied. "What do you mean?" Slicer asked. "Since I beat you, you're going to tell me everything you know about this place!" Ed snarled. "You're sadly mistaken if you think the fight is over!" Slicer said.
"ED! BEHIND YOU! " Harry yelled. Ed turned to see the armour get up and charge towards him. Shocked, Ed barely had time to dodge the attack. "What is this?" Ed demanded. "My older brother didn't tell you the whole story." a new voice said. "What...?" Ed asked. "You see, the mass murderer Slicer was actually a pair of brothers. We were quite the duo." The younger Slicer brother said.
Ed was about to clap, but the younger had his sword at Ed's throat before he was able to put his hands together. "I'm not going to give you time to transmute!" younger Slicer snarled. At least he's smarter than Cornello, who thought that taking our pocket watches would stop us from transmuting without a circle. Harry thought. Ed quickly dodged and clapped, putting his hands on Slicer's armour and separating it from it's legs.
"Well, looks like we've lost. Now put us out of our misery! Please let us leave this life." The older Slicer said. "I'm not going to kill you!" Ed snarled. "Why not?" the younger Slicer asked. "Because I don't want to kill another human." "Don't be a fool! Do you really think we could be considered human while our souls are stuck in this armour. Please, just get it over with!" the older Slicer said. "If killed you because I didn't consider you human, then that would be the same thing as saying that my brother isn't human. Even if your souls are stuck in armour, you're still human."
The older Slicer started laughing. "Brother? What's so funny" the younger Slicer asked, confused. "Don't you see the irony in it? Even while we were alive, people looked at us like we were freaks! And now, after we've been shoved into this body, we're at the mercy of a boy who refuses to kill us because he sees us as human! For that boy, I'll give you a parting gift. I'll tell you everything." The older brother's words were cut short when his blood rune was speared by Lust's fingernails. She retracted them, with the now soulless helmet around her fingers like an over sized ring.
"My, my. We can't have you go and spoil everything, can we?" Lust said. "Just what do you think you're doing? HUH?" Envy snarled, scratching up the younger Slicer's blood rune with a sword. "You can't just go and tell the enemy all of our plans! Top secret information is to be kept from the enemy." he said, continuing to spear the younger brother's blood rune. The Elrics' eyes were wide with shock. "You bastards..." Ed growled. "I don't know who you are, but murder is unacceptable, no matter who it is!" he said. He was about to clap... when his automail arm completely shut down. Ed looked at in horror. "Technical difficulties?" Lust asked incredulously. "Lucky me! The poor pipsqueak is defenseless!" Envy grinned, running up and kneeing Ed in the stomach. "Don't call me a pipsqueak." Ed growled. "The pipsqueak has guts, I'll give him that." Envy said. "You two are lucky that we have important plans for you. We aren't allowed to kill you quite yet." Lust said. "That being said, I'd advise you get away from here as soon as possible." Envy said. "Why?" Harry demanded. Envy grinned. "Because this place is going to blow sky high! KA-BOOM! " Envy said, leaving. "Remember that you only lived because we spared you. Otherwise, you would be dead right now." Lust said, before following Envy out of the building."Let's Go! I can carry you, you've lost a lot of blood!" Harry said. "No, I'm..." Ed passed out. Harry sighed, before activating the transmutation circles on the bottom of his feet, grabbing Ed, and fleeing the building.
"I know that sound. Time to hightail it out of here!" Barry said, dashing off into the streets. "Wait!" Al said. Harry ran out of the building, carrying an unconscious Ed on his shoulders. "Brother!" Al exclaimed, running up to them. "There's no time! We need to get out of here!" Harry said, giving Ed to Al.
Ross and Brosh were about to get to lab 5 when they noticed the Elrics running as fast as they could, with Al carrying Ed. "What's going on..?" Ross asked. "Oh! Hi Ross, Brosh! Good to see you two!" Harry said, waving, before following Al and Ed to the Hospital.
AN: I know, I know. They should have been attacked by Scar by now. I'm not going to have Scar play a major part in this fanfic.
