Disclaimer: I don't own fullmetal alchemist or any of it's characters...

Back again! (Finally)

Thanks to all those who have reviewed... and please keep it up!

Hope you enjoy this chapter.


Ed landed in a brightly lit corridor, the sound of his fall masked by a cacophony of barking, screeching and hissing. The almost clinical white-washed walls were packed to the ceiling with cages, each one holding a single bedraggled captive in its cramped confines. Varying in size, the cages held a range of different species, from spiders to dogs to cowering humans. Quivering with fear their exposed flesh revealed signs of brutal beatings and what could only be the hastily restitched work of a scalpel. It was clear that they'd been the subject of some sort of twisted experiment, and Ed didn't doubt that the animals had been similarly treated.

Rushing over to the nearest person's cell, Ed was horrified to see that their only reaction to his presence was to curl into a tighter ball.

'What's your name,' he softly called to gaunt form in front of him. He only received a barely audible whimper of fear in response.

'I'm here to help you,' he tried again. This time however he was met with silence. Whatever these people had clearly traumatized them to the point where they couldn't trust him no matter what he said, if they could even understand him at all.

Ed heard a soft thud behind him, followed by a soft, 'Oh. Those poor people.'

Ed felt his hands tightening around the bars of the cage. His entire body was shaking in a mixture of disgust and anger. For people to be reduced to nothing more than whimpering masses of flesh, incapable of even recognising a chance of freedom, it went beyond horrifying. He could feel a cold grip of pure fury grip around his heart, a mindless all-consuming rage the like of which he hadn't felt since confronting Shou Tucker. It was an abomination, an action beyond redemption; there would be no forgiveness for the monster behind this.

'Al,' whispered Ed, a tremor in his voice, 'how many are there down here?'

'I can't tell. The chi of everything in here is screaming with pain and fear, the chaos is stopping me from getting a clear count. There are definitely hundreds though, and there are more rooms than this one,' replied Al in a small voice.

Ed unconsciously grasped his chest, his breathing suddenly becoming haggard. Over a hundred! It was unthinkable, it was inhuman. And worse yet, how many of those had already become chimaeras?

'Can you feel them? The people who did this?'

'Maybe, there's an area where the life-force seems to get less dense.'

'Good,' Ed growled, his voice turning dark and firm, 'we need to stop them Al. We need to hunt them down and shove them in the deepest hole that we can find.'

'I know Ed. But maybe we should do something to help them first,' replied Al, gesturing around him.

'There are just so many Al. What could we do for them now?' Ed sighed, staring at the shaking person in the cell, 'we need to find the people who did this.'

After a pause, Al nodded in agreement; he hated leaving these people like this, even if it was just for now. But he also knew that Ed was right, if they wanted to stop this from ever happening again then they had to find the team of alchemists responsible first.

'Come on, it's this way,' he said, grabbing Ed's arm and pulling him down the corridor.

They walked in silence at first, each of them staring around them in horror at row upon row of howling beasts. Eventually however, Al broke the silence in an effort to escape from facing the poor creatures.

'Where do you think they all came from?' he asked, 'all these people, surely the military should have noticed.'

'I'm not sure,' frowned Ed, 'there have been the occasional reports of disappearances for a while now, but nothing like this.'

'Maybe they've been here for years; slowly picking people up one by one.'

'Maybe,' replied Ed dubiously, 'then again, there have been a lot of demolitions in Central lately. The whole city is undergoing haphazard construction. Maybe these are people who lost their homes to development companies.'

That sounded like it was probably true, Al had seen the number of homeless wondering the streets even in his brief time in central.

'It should have been dealt with by now. But for some reason the Minister for Infrastructure has been away. So all of this kind of stuff has been pushed to one side. No-one really seemed to care about a handful of homeless. But then, I suppose no-one imagined something like this,' reflected Ed sadly, unaware of the feelings he was eliciting in Al.

Doubt crept into Al at Ed's words, weakening his previous resolve in regards to Mustang's offer. If what Ed said was true, and the military didn't really care, what's to stop something like this from happening all over again. Will they bother to do something about the homeless population? About public services like the hospital being so understaffed that people like Ms Allan were having to take leadership positions. They only really cared about the people enough to make sure that no other country had the chance to kill them. That realisation troubled him greatly; he couldn't bear to think that there was no one to stand up for people in that position. To look after them, represent them, fight for them. Could he really turn his back on them?

They turned a corner and were confronted with a pair of hospital style double-doors. Sharing a quick look and a nod of assent at what they knew the other was thinking, Ed silently counted to three on one hand before kicking the door open and bursting into the room.

Inside wasn't what Ed had been expecting. The room was split into two distinct, but unseparated, areas. One side was an operating room. Row upon row of shiny sterilized tools lined the walls. But it wasn't just the sort of materials usually to be expected in a hospital, the walls alos held a series of hack saws and other vicious blades that would be more at home in a torture chamber than an operating room. On the other side however, the room changed from white tiling to rich wooden flooring, antique book cases and plush leather chairs. The bookcases were filled with various texts on Alchemy and biology, a gold mine of knowledge for human transmutation. Curiously, the room contained a single elderly man idly flipping through a text.

He was a peculiar little man, perhaps only five foot tall, grey hair and an open, friendly face. Shabbily dressed in a baggy black tracksuit and matching gloves, not a single bit of flesh was visible below the neck. Hanging from his neck was a small vial of clear amber liquid, it's brightness in the like looking quite out of place with the rest of his attire. As they entered he looked up from his book and flashed them a welcoming smile.

'Ah finally, I'd almost given up on waiting it took you so long. It really is quite rude to keep your host waiting like this,' the man admonished them.

'You?' muttered Ed incredulously, 'you did all this? You created them? Where's everyone else?'

'Hmmm? Oh! You mean my children out there! Why yes, yes I did. Beautiful chimaeras aren't they, made them all by myself. What did you think of them? Works of art every last one of them, I couldn't be prouder,' smiled the man.

'Y-y-you crazy, evil bastard,' screamed Ed, 'how, how could you do that. Torture and torment all those people. How can you stand there and smile so casually?'

'Well that's rather rude. I hardly think that's called for,' he replied looking offended, ' I've done each and every one of my children a service. Given them the greatest gift I could have, in fact, or will soon once I've found a good match for them. I've liberated those poor souls from the drudgery of their lives, given them shelter and food, and then transformed them into something unique and beautiful. Given them power and purpose. And you call me evil? Crazy? Frankly you've hurt my feelings.'

'YOU FREAKING PSYCHOPATH,' bellowed Ed, running forward, transmuting his arm into a sword as he did so, 'YOU DESERVE TO BE IN A CAGE.'

Sighing, the man placed his book on the table and rose to his feet, 'I had hoped we could be more civil about this, but seeing as you insist.'

Ed swung wildly at him blind with rage, raining down a furious storm of blows on the diminutive man. Despite his age however, the man appeared to be quite agile, easily avoiding the attacks with minimal movement. Seeing the difficulty Ed was having, Al joined the fight. More controlled with his attacks he chose his blows carefully, trying to maximise his chance at making contact. To his surprise however, the man avoided both their blows just as easily.

'Must we really do this? I'll have you know that there is no way you can beat me. I mean look at you, so limited by those ungainly forms. How could you possibly hope to even land a single blow on me.'

'You experimented on yourself?' asked Al incredulously still throwing punches wherever he could.

'Of course I did! Why wouldn't I? What's an artist without his masterpiece?'

'You're crazy,' growled Ed.

'You know, I think I have a way to make you understand. Maybe I should let you feel the freedom of being a chimaera, the joy of joining yourself with another creature. Then you'd understand,' the man said kindly as he ducked under one of Ed's kicks and stepped over to a bookshelf.

Arming himself with a particularly thick alchemy book, the man launched himself at Al delivering a resounding blow the side of the young man's head. He did it so quickly that Al didn't have a chance to avoid it. The sheer force of the blow took him by surprise, the moment it made contact he realised that the little old man was ridiculously strong. The blow might as well have come from Armstrong, with the power of it sending him sailing head first to the other side of the room. Turning back to Ed the man smiled once more, as he pulled a jar of snails from his pocket, and gently extracted its contents.

'Now young man, how about I show you what true beauty is. Now just relax and don't worry, I'm a doctor.'

Like a cannon the man shot forward at Ed, grabbing his face and pinning him to the wall. Ed's eyes widened as a flash of alchemic light surrounded his face, the old man's kind face taking on a crazed and maniacal cast in the blue glow. At the same time the amber liquid around the man's neck began to shake and glow as well, matching the alchemic light in intensity. But even as the light formed it began to fizzle and fade, the energy seeping away harmlessly and dissipating without any visible effect. The snail in his hand however wasn't so lucky; it burst into blue flame and was consumed in seconds. The fire burnt through the man's glove revealing a circular patch of scaly green skin.

'Hmmm, well that's peculiar,' whispered the man.

Not questioning his luck, Ed clapped his hands and smashed them to the floor, creating spikes of rock to skewer the man from either side. Flipping backwards, he avoided the first set, but was nearly caught by the second wave shooting at him from where he landed. He avoided it, but barely, his vial of amber liquid getting ripped from his neck. He frantically tried to grab for it, but by then it was too late, the rock had opened up and swallowed the vial, retreating back into the ground with its prize.

'You will give that back to me,' glared the man in his first display of anger.

'Make me,' snarled Ed, rising from the wall.

'How barbaric. Tell me young man. What exactly are you. Any normal person would have been transmuted into a human-snail just now.'

'Well I assure you that I'm 100% human. As for you, well I'm not so sure,' gritted Ed looking at the spot of green scales.

'Me? Well I –' he began, getting interrupted when Al sprung forward knee first delivering a vengeance blow to the side of his face. Just as Al, the man was sent flying. However he seemed to be in much more control than Al had been. Just as he was about to smash into the wall he twisted in midair, gracefully 'landing' on the wall feet first. His knees bent with the impact, but then miraculously he straightened, standing on the wall, perfectly parallel to the ground.

'Now that was as rude as it was pointless. Didn't I tell you that I am my own masterpiece.'

Ed and Al shared glance, why did things always have to get complicated?

'Oh no, don't you worry, our little clash is over for now. You've given me a lot to think about Mr Fullmetal Alchemist. Yes a lot to ponder. Don't worry though, you'll be hearing from me soon enough, just as soon as I figure out what I can do with you.'

'The hell this is over, you wall-walking creep. I'm not letting you leave here free. Besides, we both know you won't abandon all your 'children''

'Oh? I'll admit it will be a shame to lose so many,' mused the man, walking along the roof to the centre of the room, 'whether I'd be willing to sacrifice them is another matter entirely. After all this is just one lab.'

'Wait, you don't mean...?' whispered Al in a horrified tone.

'Well of course there are more labs, if you have a service such as mine you have a duty to spread it as far and wide as you can, don't you think?'

His body started to disappear, quickly blending into the background until eventually only his white smiling teeth remained, but then they too vanished.

'Get back here!' raged Ed, searching the roof and walls for any sign of him, but of course he was too late. The man's camouflage was absolute, matching perfectly with the roof.

'Let it go Ed, there's nothing we can do, at least we got his lab,' sighed Al, trying to sound like he was actually glad.

'But you heard him Al, there are more. Who knows how many more. Who knows how many more chimaera he's made.'

'But we have this lab, and no matter what he says, the loss of so many and such a library can only be a blow. Plus you got his amber vial, whatever that was.'

It's not right Al, it's just not right,' growled Ed before sinking to the ground to bring the vial to him.

'Oww,' he cried as he went to pick the vial up, 'that's really hot.'

'Really?' said Al taking a poke at it and then picking it up with no problem, 'if anything I'd say it's rather cool.'

'How can you say that? Look here it burnt me,' he said showing his hand.

'Well I'm not having a problem with it.'

'Alright then you just volunteered to look after it, and be careful, he seemed like he wanted it back.'

Al took a moment to fix the string and tie it around his neck before saying, 'so what do you think he was?'

'Some sort of chimaera obviously. Did you see that skin, and his speed, no way he's a normal human.'

'He was as strong as an Ox let me tell you,' murmured Al rubbing at the side of his head.

'Here,' said Ed clapping and touching Al's head to alchemise the wound, 'that should help.'

'Oh wow. When did you learn healing alchemy?'

'I... picked it up somewhere, read a book or two in Creta, no problem,' replied Ed. In reality though he still couldn't remember where he'd learnt it, and combined with the odd things that had happened today and in his fight with the Jack of Diamonds he was starting to get a little bit worried about just what exactly was going on. 'Come on Al, we need to go and get the soldiers to clear this place out.'

Al knew that there was something Ed wasn't telling him, Ed was a terrible liar after all, but decided not to push it, simply saying, 'sure thing, I'll go, you stay here and see if you can find anything useful.'


It was late by the time they'd finished organising the release of the prisoners and transport of all the evidence and books, and frankly Ed had had enough; he was tired, though physically, or at least perhaps only partially. The tiredness that he was feeling right now was more of a tiredness of spirit. The things he'd seen today, the lack of caring in that Alchemist, left him feeling distraught and wrung out. As he and Al staggered up the steps to his house, Ed's thoughts were dark and a gloom hang over them both that he was positive wouldn't go unnoticed.

Inside though they found Winry and Mei waiting for them. All smiles, they gave them a warm welcome and then rattled on merrily about their day, completely ignoring almost total lack of response they were getting from the brothers.

They'd somehow even managed to make the imposing size of the house seem warm and cosy. Maybe it was the thought of dinner, or maybe it was the enticing smell of a pie baking in the oven or maybe it was just them being there, Ed honestly didn't know. Whatever it was, it was a stark contrast to the otherwise gloomy nature of their day; which for the most part it was a good thing. But in many ways it was a reminder of what those people today had lacked, and what military oversights and bureaucratic fog had allowed to happen.

Ed could tell that Al was having the same thoughts. Much like Ed himself, his brother had withdrawn into himself, not talking but just sitting and listening, all the while in quiet contemplation over the events of the day. It was obvious that their uncharacteristic behaviour, particularly for Ed, was playing on the minds of Winry and Mei, who continually glanced worriedly at them when they thought they weren't looking. Wisely however they decided not to draw attention to it, instead attempting to keep a jovial air and constant stream of conversation. Ed was thankful for their discretion, he didn't see any particular need to distress them about what they'd faced, nor did he really have the energy to go through it with them.

So he listened, he ate, and he gave the occasional half-hearted smile and then at the first opportunity excused himself and went to bed. Al did the same soon after, usually so well mannered, but tonight barely sparing a moment to wish them a good night. At their departure Winry and Mei shared a concerned look but then decided to simply let the brothers get some sleep.

Ed had a fitful night's sleep. Filled with a chaotic flickering of dreams about chimaera's, playing cards and the strange glow of the vial of mysterious amber liquid. By morning he'd managed to settle into some sort of normalcy, and he woke physically, if not mentally, refreshed. Thinking over the events of last night however, he resolved to put on a positive face for Winry, he owed her that much after all she'd done for him. Besides if he was gloomy for too long she'd probably use her wrench to beat it out of him.

In the kitchen he found the others, already breakfasting. Al looked tired, but had clearly made a similar decision as Ed and was at least acting like nothing had happened. Winry looked up and gave him a smile as he entered, which he returned as he pulled up a chair next to her. He made a show of pigging out like usual, consuming anything and everything that was in reach, and it was that more than anything else which seemed to convince Winry that he was ok; her worried look quickly turning to one of disapproval, disgust and dismay.

On arriving at the Central HQ Ed was quickly abandoned by his companions. Mei and Winry heading off to the library and workshop respectively. Al waited with him long enough to see them leave, but then he too excused himself, saying that he had to speak with someone.

On arriving at his office, he spared a quick glance at the day's copy of Central Intelligence (which was still reporting along the same lines), before falling on the pile of documents that they'd gathered from the raid yesterday. There was a surprising amount of information about the group here, and Ed was starting to get quite excited about his discoveries when he was interrupted by a messenger.

'The Fuhrer requests your presence in his office immediately sir!' saluted the young soldier.

Ed groaned and got up from his desk, 'I don't suppose you know why?'

'A meeting, sir!'

'Probably wants a report on yesterday,' muttered Ed under his breath, 'all right then, lead on.'

On arriving at the Fuhrer's office Ed was surprised to see that all of the ministers were present. He was particularly surprised that both Armstrong's were present. Although still a tad pale, Alexander Armstrong was as lively as ever, loudly greeting Ed as he entered the room. But the thing that shocked Ed most of all was that Al was in the room, sitting quietly in the corner, apparently in deep conversation with Mustang.

Why's he here? Thought Ed hoping that the suspicion that had been growing in his mind recently was unfounded.

'Oh ho, it's the man of the hour,' said the fuhrer around his teacup, gesturing for Ed to take a seat, 'now that we're all here we may begin.'

Despite his statement, the Fuhrer took a moment to take a particularly loud slurp from his cup, taking an exaggeratedly long time to enjoy his sip. 'Well the first order of business is to welcome young Mr Alphonse, who this morning has been kind enough to position of Minister for Infrastructure.'

Ed inhaled sharply. He couldn't say that he was particularly surprised though, it did make sense after all. He just didn't like it. For years he'd fought to keep Al from joining the military, only wanting one of them to be a dog of the state. And Al knew that, and what's more he'd agreed with him. What on earth could have possessed him to join now?

'He is of course granted similar rank as the rest of you, as well as status as an official state Alchemist. I think we can all agree that testing is hardly needed in his case. Hmmm, ho, I think that the Healing Breeze Alchemist is a fitting title, in the hope that the name will reflect his efforts in cleaning up the terrible state the Central is in at the moment.'

'Congratulations young Elric, a fine name it is,' declared Alex, giving Al a spirited pat on the back.

'Thank you,' replied Al, wincing under the blow.

'Now then, onto more pressing matters,' said the Fuhrer turning serious, 'I found on my desk this morning a report of a moderate scale raid performed yesterday. Would you care to elaborate Mr Elric. Fullmetal that is.'

Ed quickly outlined the details of yesterday's attack, glossing over the exchange between himself and the alchemist when the latter had attempted to transform him into a chimaera.

At the end of his story, he continued to say, 'I was just beginning to sort through the various files that we liberated before I was called here. And unfortunately it has confirmed some of our worse concerns.'

'Oh?' said Mustang, 'like what exactly.'

'Well for one thing it seems that our adversary wasn't lying when he said there were other labs and other chimaera. His notes make continual reference to the work he's been doing in various facilities. Unfortunately however, there's no mention of the number or location of these labs. But given the way he writes about them, it's probably fair to assume there are at least another four or so out there.'

'Proposterous,' claimed Olivia, 'It would take years for a lone man to make so many chimaera, it must be a ploy.'

'Normally perhaps, but we're not dealing with normal here. We're dealing with an expert. According to his notes the chimaera he makes are made from one brief moment of alchemy. How he's making such perfectly blended Chimaera so quickly I have yet no idea, but I don't doubt for a minute that he could.'

'Let's assume you're right,' mused Mustang, 'and there are that many out there. Perhaps it means they're planning to overrun central. With that many chimaera at their disposal, it would be a simple matter to take the forces currently in the city, especially if they have any more alchemists like our iron friend from the other day.'

'Ho? So you think it's necessary to bring in more men?' asked the Fuhrer.

'If Fullmetal's intel is even close to accurate, I don't really see we have much of a choice. And even if he's wrong, displaying the state's strength may somewhat deter the Amrita organisation.'

'It is most fortunate then that the ongoing wars are quiet of late. We've achieved a truce on all four fronts,' chimed in Alex.

'They'll need special training though, the average infantry man is no match for chimaera. And the sort of training that they're going to have to go through takes time, time which we may not have. Perhaps we should also draw in some of the State Alchemists as well,' mentioned Mustang.

The Fuhrer idly stirred his tea, clearly deep in thought. Eventually though he appeared to make up his mind, 'Ok then, let it be so. Armstrongs I want you two to work on securing central against any attack, internal or external, bring in whatever men you feel you need to and do some work on the weapons we have available. Edward and Roy, you'll both continue in the Amrita investigation, try and identify them as soon as possible, you have discretion to follow any lead you see fit. Alphonse, you're being shoved in on the deep end; you'll have to organise suitable housing for both the incoming soldiers and the increasing numbers of homeless that are being preyed on. At the same time I want you work on improving our communication networks, medical facilities, food channels and other supporting systems. Are we all understood?'

'Yes sir,' resounded around the room.

'Excellent.'


The first thing Ed did after leaving the meeting was corner Alphonse and politely inquire as to why he'd joined the military.

'You frigging retard,' he growled, barring as many teeth as he could, 'what in hell possessed you to accept that position. Do you want to be a dog of the military?'

'Someone had to do it,' replied Al simply.

'Yeah but it didn't have to flippin' well be you. What about learning Alkahestry? And Xing? You said you loved it there. Are you just going to give up on that?'

'No, not entirely, I'm sure I'll be able to do that sometime, but for now there are things that I need to do. At first I didn't think it had to be me either, but then I realised that anyone who would do it would be from the military themselves. Sure they'd probably help here and there, but at the end of the day the people wouldn't really benefit all that much. The military is only interested in one thing, and that's war. They don't really care about an average citizen much past their strategic value. The homeless would probably be shoved in some hovel somewhere and forgotten about. And after yesterday, well, I couldn't let that happen. Those people deserve better.'

'Yeah, yeah, ok fine, you might have a point. But let me just warn you that I won't be there to help you when Izumi and Pinako come down to kick your arse. Heck you're even on your own against Winry. I'm sure she'll have a thing or two to say about all this.'

At the mention of their former teacher, Al turned a very satisfying shade of white. It was petty Ed knew, but he had to make a stand against this somehow.

'You don't think teacher will be angry do you?' he said worriedly, 'I'm sure she'd understand, once she see's Central, I'm sure she'll forgive me.'

'Nope, she'll kill you. I mean she got mad at me when I became a state alchemist. And let's face it, people expect me to do rash stuff like that. But you, you were supposed to be the level headed one. She'll gut you like a fish.'

'Yes she really is a fine woman that teacher of yours,' smirked Mustang, walking over to talk to them, 'it's a pity she declined a spot in the military.'

'She did?' asked Al in a small voice.

'Yes, something about despising the military, and all those who work for it.'

'Oh no,' Al was visibly worried now, 'maybe I should send her a letter, or give her a call. Maybe it will be better if it comes from me.'

'Ha, good luck with that, that's one strong woman, it'd take a lot to change her mind. Anyway, Al, if you'd be so kind as to give me the amber vial you retrieved. I'll handle the investigation of it, have it properly analysed.'

'I'm not sure if that's such a good idea. The alchemist really seemed like he wanted it back. I should probably keep it on me just in case.'

'We need to analyse it Al, see if it's anything worthwhile or just a false clue.'

'I don't think it's too much of a problem,' grinned Ed cockily, 'I took a quick stock of the documents from that lab. It seems we've been lucky enough to get fairly detailed notes on it, I'll take a look then pass on what I think you need to know.'

Mustang of course had too great a self control to rise to the bait, 'I want a full report on this Ed, no mucking me around. If I'm going to help you in this investigation I need to know whatever you know. Do you have any more leads yet?'

'Well I'll know better this afternoon, but for now not really no. We'll need to check the minds of the chimaera that attacked Al in the desert to see if we can find any more of these labs, but I seriously doubt we'll find anything. Other than that, we know that, the only thing we've got to go on is a possibility that Amrita has a connection with the media, and the off chance that that escaped convict has anything to do with all this.'

'Hmmm, we'll need more than that. I'll have Havoc and Fuery look into it.'

'I thought Havoc was looking after that kid?'

'He can juggle both, he's a big boy.'

'Just as long as the poor kid's not put in danger. He's seen enough.'

'Hmmm, yes well, I'm sure he'll keep it in mind. Anyway, I'll talk to you about those documents once you've gone over them. Later you two. Oh and Al, I wouldn't worry about your teacher, you have a much bigger problem in Mei. I took the liberty of telling her myself, and I must say she was quite worked up about it. Good luck.'

A look of panic had spread across Al's face. Despite himself Ed couldn't help from laughing.

'It's your fault brother, your decision. Now you have to face it. Try not to let her hurt you anywhere it'd show, we have to keep up appearances an all.'

And with one final grim chuckle, Ed marched off, leaving a pale and sweating Al to regret not telling Mei immediately.


'They're starting to take Amrita more seriously,' said his partner, her immaculately neat clothes barely disturbed by the wind on the rooftop, 'just like you said they would.'

'Excellent, and they're even ahead of schedule,' replied the Jack of Spades, distractedly rolling a playing card across the back of his hand and staring across the city.

'They've even gone so far as to start recalling troops.'

'Even better, the more they have the merrier. You reckon you'll be able to handle the new forces right?'

'Soldiers are just simple little boys at heart. The live with their drives just under the surface, it shouldn't be too hard to do.'

'How did the rest of the group react?'

'Annoyance and anger mostly. At first they seemed to think it too dangerous to rush things forwards, but I was able to convince them to stay the course. That poor little chimaera maker was more than a little distraught at the time though, I doubt he even realised I was there.'

'Hmpf, I'll never understand him. It's just a measly few chimaera, it's not like he doesn't have plenty of others.'

'He did mention something interesting though.'

'Oh?'

'It seems he tried to perform his tricks on Fullmetal, but couldn't. Claims that there's something strange about him, something that prevented his alchemy. I'd guess that means you were right about him.'

A smile of genuine joy lit up the Jack of Spade's face, 'really? That is interesting. I was more than a little concerned after the incident with his arm. Does Amrita know what he is?'

'No, they have no idea. That may change though; they decided to reassess their position in regards to him. They've decided that he needs to be captured and studied before he can do any more damage. To be honest though, they think he's dangerous; there's strong support for just simply killing him.'

'Ha! They seriously think that they could kill him huh? Well I suppose that as he is they might have a chance. Unfortunately however, I need him alive, and I need him free. He's not yet ready, he needs to be free to grow and realise his potential.'

'So what are you going to do? That is, if they decide to put their plans in action.'

'I'll intervene if I absolutely have to. But I really don't want it to have to come to that. Did they say how they were going to do it?'

'All I know is that the King of Diamonds volunteered. Something about it being a chance to correct the balance.'

'Ha, no surprises there. Just out of prison and he finds some young upstart in his place. I can't say that I'm surprised that he plans on taking action.'

'What does this all mean for us? What do we do now?'

'Now? Now we wait, the pieces are in motion. We watch and see what happens. And if it turns out we have to pull the pipsqueak out of the fire, then maybe then we'll start to move.'


Well that's it for this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it

I wasn't really sure about this chapter so I'd really appreciate some feedback on it if anyone is willing...