Chapter 9

18 months later...

Scar sighed and rested against the tree trunk. Clara was holding a rabbit in her arms and petting it's twin. A lot of time had past. The homonculous were appearing less often to them. Clara was getting more open to the world. But she was still unable to participate in full, head-on combat. Even when Scar was helping her practice, she wouldn't dare try to attack a living organism with full potential to harm it. The dry sun drove most of the animals back into the bushes. Clara saw a baby bird and picked it up, laughing and petting it. She held it against her and lightly tapped the ground, a small pool of water formed. The bird pecked at it until it had enough strength to fly away. She smiled and swirled her fingers around in the water. Scar felt something land on his stomach. A rabbit.

"Um..." Clara look towards him. The rabbit began to sniff at his face.

"Oh! How cute!" She ran towards him and kneeled down. The rabbit froze.

"Hey little guy... it's ok!" She petted it head, scratching it's neck. Scar smiled a bit.

"Well... I don't see why it chose to land on me..."

"Here! Pet him!" Clara cuddled it in her arms and sat closer to Scar.

"No... thanks... I don't think-" She only gave him a pleasent smile. He sighed and awkwardly petted the rabbit. She laughed and took his hand.

"That's not how you pet a rabbit!" She guided his hand down the rabbit's head.

"Isn't he cute?" Scar coughed and nodded.

"Yes... cute..." He muttered. She released the rabbit and started picking at the grass.

"When are we going to go again?" She asked. He closed his eyes.

"Later... I'm not sure... we still need to head further into Central... I know you hate the city, but we need to find them..." Clara frowned and stopped fiddling.

"Those... those things bother me... a lot..." She kept her eyes on the ground.

"Why do they kill people?" She asked. Scar shook his head.

"Because they are wanting to cause others pain..." Clara lowered her head.

"We have to fight there... don't we?" He lightly touched her arm. She looked in his eyes.

"You don't have to if you don't want to." She smiled.

"But... I don't want to drag you down... it... I wouldn't be able to stand it..." Scar smiled.

"It's alright..." Clara was pulled into a hug. He gently kissed her cheek. She rested against his chest and closed her eyes. She lightly touched her stomach. The pain came back. She bit her lip, hiding it from him. She felt sick. It had bothered her many times before, but this time it was more painful. She slapped her hand to her mouth as she coughed. Scar straightened up, holding Clara's shoulders in his hands. Her stared right at her eyes.

"Clara? Something wrong?" Her coughing increased. Blood dripped from her hand.

"Clara!" He tried to pull her hand away. She struggled against him and turned her head away. Scar saw blood in her hand and dripping to the ground. He got worried. He lightly cupped her chin his his hand.

"What's wrong?!" She pushed him away and got to her feet, running through the treeline and out towards the road. He followed. He jumped over a few bushes and saw her fall.

"Clara!" He saw her on her knees, coughing and shuddering.

"Clara!" He touched her back. A vibration ran through his hand.

"It hurts!" She wheezed.

"What hurts?" She gripped her stomach.

"It hurts!" She whispered. He tried to find out what was wrong, she pushed him away again. She held her head in her hands. She let out a pained scream. She rocked back and forth.

"Clara! What's going on?!" He yelled, moving back towards her. The symbol on her forehead glowed again. Her eyes changed to blue.

"Go away!!" She said through her teeth. Scar touched her shoulder. Her eyes turned white. She slapped his hand away.

"Clara?" She stood up, silent. An angry expression was across her face.

"Clara?" He reached out to her again. Clara held up a hand. He froze. Her expression was a warning.

"They call... they are in the city..." She hissed. She bared her teeth.

"The ones who caused all the suffering!! They are there!!!" She screamed. Scar was unsure of what to do.

"Clara... what are you talking about?"

"I'm going to kill them!!" She ran past Scar, leaving heavy imprints in the ground.

"Clara!!" She jumped into the air, caving the ground in underneath her. She let out a scream and continued down the road. Scar pulled up his hood and followed, wondering what was wrong with her.


Envy drummed his fingers on his knee. Lust patted Gluttony's head.

"Is she coming?" Father said.

"Yes, Father. I can sense her anywhere..." Lust said.

"She's in a lot of pain. Are you sure you shouldn't have just put it in her head? That would have knocked her out!! Then beating time would be easier!" Envy laughed.

"Quiet Envy... Wrath has people ready to guide her here... As long as she doesn't run into Edward, or Edward doesn't decide to be nosy and investigate her appearance, we should be fine..." She ran her fingers through her hair.

"Tch! That little midget wouldn't be able to find anything with the crowd this place has! Hahahaa!" Envy laughed. Father sighed.

"Let's just hope she doesn't decide to go all out right when she enters the city looking for us..." He muttered.

"We'll make sure she doesn't... Gluttony..." Lust looked towards Gluttony. He grinned.

"Do I get to eat?"

"Only the unnessecaries of the city. Make sure she is lead into Wrath's protected streets. Once he has her in his grasps, disappear."

"Yes! Yes!"


Mustang let out a sigh. The traffic was backed up. Hawkeye was silent. Their disguises were convinient and also unconvinient. They couldn't use their authority to move around traffic to save time.

"Ugh!! This is torture! Isn't there some sort of allyway or something we can go through?"

"Unless you want to break the law, no." He groaned.

"Aw come on, Hawkeye! Have some fun for once! I'll protect ya if you get caught." He winked. Hawkeye calmly turned around and smacked him across the head.

"Ow!! What was that for?!" Mustang froze. He heard a faint rumble. Hawkeye heard it too.

"Get out of the car." Mustang and Hawkeye leapt from the car just as the road suddenly bent upwards, sending the car to going flying through the air.

"You alright?!" He yelled. Hawkeye nodded and took out her gun.

"What the hell was that?" She said. Mustang looked around.

"I'm not sure..." There was another rumble; this one was much closer. Mustang looked around frantically.

"Where the hell is it coming from?" He whispered. A few meters in front of them, the road caved in and then heaved upwards; sending civilians and all sorts of things flying through the air. Screams were heard. Everyone ran away from. Clara leapt up from the crater and landed on top of a car, caving the roof in. She looked around, an angry expression on her face.

"Dammit! What's she doing?" Hawkeye said. Mustang looked around.

"We need to restrain her before more people show up!"

"How are we supposed to do that?! You only have fire!" Hawkeye snapped.

"I don't care! Restrain her!"

"Yes sir!" They ran towards Clara. She peered around at them and bent down, her fingers brushing the hood of the car. Electricity ran through the ground.

"Watch it!" Mustang snapped his fingers. Fire disruppted the current by blowing a hole in the ground. Clara leapt through the smoke and tackled Mustang.

"Sir!" Hawkeye jumped forward, reaching for Clara. She twisted around and jumped into the air, slamming her feet into Mustang's chest.

"Agh!" She flipped forward and landed on another car. She jumped down and began running.

"Damn! Hurry! We can't let her get away!" He stumbled to his feet and ran after her. Gluttony let out a thrilled laugh and landed in front of Mustang.

"Hello!"

"Shit!" Hawkeye let out a barrage of bullets. Mustang ran around him and went after Clara. Gluttony grabbed a car and threw it at Hawkeye, he went after Mustang.

"No! Father says don't touch her!!" He lunged at Mustang.

"Crap!!" He snapped his fingers. Gluttony was engulfed with flames. He let out a scream. Mustang ran out into an open square and looked around. A lot of people were running frantically to get somewhere safe. He growled.

"Dammit... where is she?" He heard the sound of tanks moving through the streets.

"Dammit! Already?!" He ran to a shop stall and climbed up it, grabbing onto a second story railing and pulling himself up. He saw the sea of blue uniforms.

"God... damn... This isn't good... Of course it's on the day the Elrics are not here! Damn!!" Mustang saw Gluttony jumped over him to the other side of the square.

"Where is he going??" Mustang jumped down and started to follow. He stopped. The Furher was riding a tank, arms crossed behind him and keen eye looking in front of him.

"Furher... shit!" He dashed behind a pile of trash.

"Why is he getting personally involved??" He felt a whoosh of wind beside him.

"Wha?" Clara was dashing out of the same ally way and charging at Bradley.

"YOU!!!" She leapt into the air, a club in her hand. The Furher swiftly drew his sword and sliced the club in half. He turned the blade to the flat side and stuck Clara in the back. She let out a cry and stumbled.

"Shit... why is he doing this?!" Mustang whispered. Clara dodged one swing and jumped to Bradley. He blocked her attack and slashed down her torso. Even though the blade was on the flat side, a splash of blood sprayed from her chest. She fell off the tank and onto the ground.

"Damn... damn you!!" She hissed. Bradley jumped down and held the tip at her throat.

"Now... I think it's time for you to go down there..." He said.

Down there?? What does he mean-? Gluttony landed heavily on top of the tank, making it explode and send pieces to the line behind them.

"Gluttony, make a good distraction..." He bent down over Clara and took out a bundle of chains. She whimpered and tried to crawl away. Bradley roughly grabbed her hair and pulled her back.

"Shut up, little girl... I don't like hurting women at all. But if you keep acting like this, I'll have to beat you, again." Gluttony was devouring the soldiers behind the flaming tank. Bradley lifted the chained up Clara onto his soldier and sheathed his sword.

"Let me go!!!"

"If you try to escape those chains..." He held out a remote.

"I'll hurt you." He pressed the button. Clara froze, tears fell from her eyes. She let out a scream and started to wriggle in agony. He let go of the button. She fell limp. Drool dripped from her mouth.

"Good girl. Now don't stuggle or you'll get hurt again." He walked down the street. Mustang flattened himself against the wall. Furher Bradley opened a door to an abandoned pub and walked in, locking it behind him. Mustang ran to it and tried to open it; it wouldn't budge. A few second later, the door disappeared.

"Damn Alchemy..." He growled.


Bradley threw her down on the ground. Her eyes were glazed over and skin a sickly white. Lust bent down and played with her hair.

"Poor girl... She needs a haircut..."

"I have brought her, like you requested, Father."

"Good, Wrath. You've done well. You may go to reassure the people that the culprit has been caught." Bradley bowed and left. Envy kicked Clara.

"Man. That thing really worked well! She's just not moving or anything! Hahaha!!" Clara lurched out and bit his ankle.

"Ow!! God dammit!! Let go of me you fucking! Bitch!!" Envy slammed his heel in her nose. She whimpered and closed her eyes. He rubbed his ankle and cursed under his breath. Lust chuckled.

"God dammit! I ought to kill you!" He snapped.

"Envy, calm down."

"Sorry Father..." He growled.

"Lust, go ahead and take her to the cell. Make sure her hands and feet are bound correctly." Clara let out a whimper. Lust grabbed her collar and began to drag her away.

"Dont' worry, sweety, I'm much nicer than the others. I'll make sure you don't suffer too much." She threw her into a dark room. Lust wrapped stell chains around her feet and then snapped shackles on her hands. She turned a lever to tighten the restraint on the shackles, making Clara hang by her wrists in the air. Lust then bolted the chains that were attached to Clara's legs to the floor, making sure they were taunt so she couldn't move.

"There... now... Don't harm yourself. You are so very important to Father. You may not realize what power you have... but don't you ever notice that when you black out, a whole mess of things go down? Face it, Clara, dear... you are the equivilent of me; a homonculous. You are no more than I am, you are probably less than what I am. Don't think your friends are going to come here just to save you. You will be a secondary reason to come after us. Edward and Alphonse are looking for a way to get their bodies back and Scar... he's looking for revenge. That girl you have become fimiliar with... she is looking for a way of immortality. Tch... you are pretty useless in all of those fields. You can't harm anyone... you have no will to fight... you're out of control when provoked, and you also are in the middle of Father's domain. Your food will come once a day. Water will be given to you to drink twice a day. Someone will rinse you off every two days or so... Oh... and... if you need to go to the bathroom, just go. I'm sure you're used to that..." She closed the door, leaving Clara in total darkness; again.