Hey guys! So here's chapter 9 of Fullmetal Heart! Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 9: Twilight Town part 2
Ed spun around to see a man with dark raven hair and a woman with blond hair standing behind him. "COLONEL! LIEUTENANT!" Ed said happily, running in their direction. "You're okay!"
Riza was dressed in all black and her hair was down. She stepped out in front of Roy, sadness and regret shown on her face as she pointed her gun at the blond key wielder.
Ed came to a sudden halt and gasped. "Lieutenant? What's wrong? It's me! Edward!"
"I know," Roy said, stepping out reveal that his appearance had changed drastically as well. His jacket had lengthened and the lining had turned blood red, the Heartless emblem on his right arm instead of his military rank. His pants and shirt were as dark as his current demeanor and his left eye was covered with an eye patch. A wing of flame burned brightly as a dark keyblade appeared. It was mostly black and red, looking like demonic fiery wings wrapping around each other and on the end of the chain was a pentagram. He thrust the tip of it at Edward as if to challenge the boy.
"Edward... Why did you leave without my permission?" As he spoke, the black tears began to seep from his eyes again.
Alphonse stepped back and rested his hand on the hilt of his own sword, "Colonel! What are you talking about! We couldn't help it! Our world was destroyed! You remember! You tried to save us!"
Roy cocked his head to the side and then charged at the armor, "IT'S YOUR FAULT THEN!"
But Sora blocked the attack with his own blade and pushed the darkened Colonel back. "Some friend you are! Giving you heart to the darkness like that! I'm gonna kick your ass!"
"Not if I stop you first!" Riza yelled, firing some shots at Sora.
"No! Stop it! Don't fight!" Ed yelled, seeing Roy lunge at Al and Sora and Riza firing her guns at Sora. Ed summoned his keyblade and jumped between Sora, clashing blades with Roy. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!" he yelled. "It wasn't our fault we disappeared! Our world was destroyed and we got sent to other worlds! If you really cared about us then you wouldn't have given your heart to the darkness!" Ed yelled and kicked Roy in the gut with his automail leg.
Riku watched all this in horror. "He's a friend of theirs? Then this must be Maleficent's work..." he muttered darkly, remembering that he too lost his heart to darkness.
Roy's hand shook as he held his abdomen. "It was... the only way I could find you... The darkness... I'M NOT AFRAID OF THE DARKNESS! It's made me stronger! I can protect you now! Come back, Edward!" He attacked the boy again as if he was a puppet on a string, the blades clanging sharply.
"He's completely lost it! C'mon, Riku!" Sora hollered among the sound of steel and Riza's bullets as he summoned his keyblade and went after the Lieutenant.
Alphonse however, didn't know what to do. He knew something was wrong with Mustang, but he couldn't attack him. He shook and a reflex made him draw his sword and without warning he yelled "F-FIRE!" The ball of flame hit its target of the Colonel, but it did nothing as the flame wing absorbed the attack.
"He's immune to fire!" Donald quacked angrily.
Riku nodded, taking out his keyblade. "Kairi, stay out of sight."
"But I want to help!" she said as she watched the struggle go on.
"Just do so for now. I don't want you getting hurt!"
"IF you want to protect me THEN WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING?" Ed yelled, jumping out of the way of Mustang's attack. He then looked behind him at Goofy. "Goofy I need your help..."
Goofy nodded knowing exactly what Ed was asking for. "Okay!" he said and followed Edward.
Ed stood still and concentrated on what he wanted. "Give me power!" he said and transformed. He then stood there in his Valor form, two keyblades in hand and Goofy nowhere in sight. "Snap out of it and come to your senses!" Ed yelled, charging at Roy with great speed. He then jumped up in the air and started smacking Roy constantly with the duel blades.
"Colonel!" Riza yelled and went to go help him, but was stopped by another keyblade. "Not so fast, sweetheart..." Riku muttered.
"We know you don't want to fight us," Sora said, pointing the end of his keyblade to Riza's back, "Just please, tell us if this is Maleficent's work. We can help him!"
Alphonse opened up his armor again and motioned Kairi to take refuge in him, "Come on! I don't know how well I can defend against magic, but you'll be safe in here!"
Roy blocked all of Ed's attacks with ease and even if he was hit, he took it like it was nothing. He stood his ground and pointed his blade at Ed once again, a maddening smile creeping onto his face, "I'm perfectly sane, Edward. It's you who's denying me. You always have, after everything I've done for you! I've even taken you in like my own family, and this is how you repay me! BY LEAVING ME BEHIND!" He howled with crazed laughter and started his own offensive, moving so fast that it rivaled Ed's Valor form speed.
Kairi nodded and frowned, climbing inside Al's armor, but watched the fight through the grill beneath Al's helmet.
Riza pointed both of her guns at Riku and Sora but didn't fire, knowing that all three of them were at gun point. "Yes…It was Maleficent," she said, biting her lip, trying not to cry. "I tried talking him out of it, but he insisted that he become more powerful so he could save Ed and Al. Apparently the power overwhelmed his mind and heart and he became insane..." she said, lowering her guns.
Riku lowered his weapon as well. "I know. I was the same way once. I gave into Maleficent's power and lost my heart to darkness. But it's not too late. He can still be saved..."
Ed gasped and stumbled back, trying to block Roy's attacks with both keyblades. "Leave you behind! That wasn't our fault! Your feelings are driving you mad! Snap out of it! Find your light, Colonel! Don't become a heartless!" he yelled, managing to smack Roy in the head with one of his keyblades. Ed then flipped back and panted, losing the power of his valor form. "Damn... What happened?" he asked, seeing Goofy beside him.
"The drive forms only last so long since they take a lot of power and energy," Goofy said sadly but held up his shield to protect Ed from any attacks that came from Mustang.
"You just need to point him in the right direction, get him back into the light," Sora added, lowering his weapon as well, "I can see you're not influenced by the darkness, so it's up to you to help him. Get him away from Ed and Al for now, the last thing he needs is to be tormented by his own feelings."
Roy fell to the ground and landed on his hands and knees, panting and the dark aura beginning to fade. "I'm sorry... I... I don't know what I'm doing... E-Edward..." But from around him, the aura that had left began to manifest into Shadows. Obviously, this wasn't his doing.
Riza nodded to Riku and Sora and quickly ran to his side, helping him up. "Colonel, stop this! We found the boys now and know they're safe. Stop attacking them and letting those negative feelings take over!"
Ed stood up and held his keyblade close, not sure what to do now. The shadows that came from Mustang's dark aura formed into shadow heartless and neo shadow heartless. "Damn! There's so many!" he yelled, whacking as many as he could with his keyblade.
Kairi couldn't take it anymore and jumped out of Al's armor, summoning her keyblade. She then whacked away a shadow that jumped for Ed's head.
"Just get me out of here, Hawkeye, while I still have my head," Roy managed to groan out as he held Riza.
Sora smiled at Riza, happy she took his word, but then focused his attention on the forming Heartless. Alphonse joined in too after closing himself up and swung his sword at the wave of blackness.
"Thundraga!" Donald casted as he took out a large group threatening himself and Goofy.
Riza nodded and lead him to the back alley where Hayner, Pence, and Olette's hide out was. She didn't know exactly where to take him. She couldn't go back to that castle, not back to Maleficent.
Goofy plowed through a group of heartless with his shield, standing side by side with both Sora and Ed.
Riku joined Sora, slashing at every heartless he came into contact with. "Kairi, I said stay out of sight!"
"And you guys need my help! I'm sick of standing by, doing nothing! Besides, that Colonel guy is away from us now. I can handle some wimpy shadow heartless," she said, grinning.
Sora smiled back, "Yeah, Riku! Let 'er join in on the fun!"
"You can count me in too!" Alphonse exclaimed, always by his brother's side.
Ed continued to whack and swing his keyblade until every last one of the heartless were destroyed. With 4 keybearers, the heartless were gone in no time.
Goofy fell on his behind, sighing in relief. "Well, I'm glad that's over..." he said, Donald collapsing beside him.
"Heartless terminated! Not bad huh?" Kairi asked, slinging her keyblade over her shoulder.
Ed was silent and took off in the direction Roy and Riza went. "I'll be right back!" he yelled over his shoulder.
"Ed, wait!" Riku yelled, but the boy had already disappeared down the street.
"He's just too fast!" Sora whined, shoving his hands in his pockets, not even bothering to chase Ed again.
Alphonse shook his head, "One stressful thing after another, I'm surprised Brother's head hasn't exploded yet."
Goofy frowned. "I hope he'll be okay on his own..."
"We should follow anyway and stick close by," Riku said, keeping his keyblade out.
"Yeah, I'm with Riku. We should stick close by and make sure he doesn't get hurt," Kairi said in a worried voice. "That guy is still not completely free of the darkness."
"I have the sick feeling I've done this before," Sora groaned as he followed after his friends.
Donald looked up at him, "I think there's a term for that."
"Déjà vu..." Alphonse replied, thinking back on a similar event. Brother, don't be stupid! This is just like with Scar!
Roy held his head in pain as Riza lay him down on the ground. With his other hand, he clutched his chest and winced. "Uh... What was I thinking? You were right, Hawkeye, I'm s-sorry..."
Riza shook her head. "It's alright. We just need to find someplace for you to rest right now..." she said, brushing a few bangs out of his eyes.
"Yeah... Somewhere other than here..." Roy smiled at Riza and slowly lifted his head up as he heard loud footsteps approaching. "Ugh... I feel sick..."
Ed approached the two, obviously out of breath as he bent over and gasped before speaking. "Wait, Colonel! Tell me what's going on! Why are you doing this?" he asked persistent.
"Not now, Edward..." Riza said, figuring that Ed was going to follow. 'I have to get him away from Ed before he tries to hurt him again...' Riza though sadly and opened a dark portal back to Maleficent. 'I have no other choice...'
"Lieutenant, wait!"
Roy smiled weakly at Ed and waved goodbye before clutching his abdomen in pain. "S-Sorry Fullmetal... maybe next time..."
"W-Wait!" Ed yelled as Riza and Roy disappeared through the dark portal. Ed was about to follow them through, but it closed up before he could enter. "What's gotten into you two...?" he asked sadly and shrugged his shoulders.
"Edward!" Goofy yelled, running toward the boy. "Gwarsh! There you are! We were worried about you!"
"They're gone..." Ed muttered.
Riku frowned and looked passed Ed as if he could see where Roy and Riza exited. "Hopefully that woman could help him find his light. I'd hate to see someone make the same mistake I did."
"Where ever there's darkness, there's always a light. I'm sure he'll be fine..." Kairi said, smiling to try and cheer Ed up.
Ed just sighed.
"Yeah, and he looked like he still had some near the end of that," Sora said with a nod, "That lady friend of his will keep him from turning 100% Heartless."
"Still, how could this of happened? The Colonel's never shown anything hinting darkness before..." Alphonse said sadly.
Donald shook his head, "Doesn't matter. There's darkness in all hearts, even though it's not always shown to the rest of the world."
Ed sighed again and looked up at the sky. "So what now?"
Goofy looked to Donald and Sora, worried. "Er, well...now that we found your brother, we need to find the King. So we're probably going to the next world."
Riku nodded. "We'll go wherever you guys are going. Its best if we all stick together on this journey."
"Fine... but we're looking for the Colonel and Lieutenant too. I'm not giving up on them," Ed said, looking to Al on his opinion.
"Yeah. And we need to find Winry too! Knowing her, she has a strong heart so must have made it!" Alphonse said triumphantly.
Sora snickered and elbowed the Elrics, "She your girrrlfriend?"
"Sora!" Donald hissed, "Not in front of Kairi!"
The keybearer's face turned blood red and looked at the girl with a stupid grin.
Ed's eyes widened. "N-No! She's just a friend! She's my automail mechanic! She fixes my limbs!" he yelled, pulling up his sleeve.
Kairi giggled at Sora's remark then stopped, seeing Ed's metal limbs. "My goodness! What happened?"
"Long story..." he mumbled. "I can explain on our way to the next world."
"Yeah, explain to us over the intercom since we have two ships," Riku said, crossing his arms across his chest.
"C-Can't we travel in just one? I haven't seen my brother in a while..." Alphonse whimpered, hugging his brother (gently this time) like a young child does with his teddy bear.
Sora looked to Riku and gave his best friend puppy dog eyes, "C'mon, you know how it is to be lost, without anyone to take care of you, right?"
Riku shrugged. "I guess so... What are we going to do with the second ship though?"
"Well...We could take the other one apart and store the gummi blocks," Kairi suggested. She didn't want to just leave a whole ship in this town.
"You could do that?" Ed asked, surprised as Al lightly hugged him. Normally he would tell Al to knock it off, but this time he let his brother hug him all he wanted.
Goofy nodded and smiled. "Yup! It shouldn't take too long.
Donald nodded. "Especially with the Aero and Gravity spells!"
"Ooh! What do those do?" Alphonse asked, only knowing the Fire spell.
"Well..." Sora said, "One lifts things into the air and the other brings them back down."
"I think that's kind of a given..."
Riku rolled his eyes. "I'm sure you guys will learn those spells soon enough," he said and began walking toward the ships. "Let's get going then."
"Right," Ed nodded. "Let's go, Al."
