A/N at the end! I'm too lazy to put one up right now!
Disclaimer: I do not own FMA! I'm exicted to write the next chapter! YaYaYaYaYaYaY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Al ran with all his might. He made his way to the exit and to the edges of Central before colapsing from pain and exaustion. His stomach rumbled, since it was lunch time. And in Central, in the middle of the day, it gets hot outside.
Al panted as he leaned agenst a large metal dumpster in an alleyway. He couldn't be seen in public, for he would surely cause a scene. His eyes burned from all the crying he had done. His legs ached from running on hard pavement and dodging walls and other small objects, such as stools or buckets. His ribs throbbed from the painful black boot that had been lodged forefully into them. Al coughed and sputtered. His mouth was dry.
Al was inturruped when a large shadow loomed over him. It was an old woman, wrapped in a purple cloth of silk, and a deep blue dress. She held in her hands a crystal ball.
"Alphonse?" She asked.
Al looked up.
"I know what has happened, please, come with me." The woman gestured, moving out of the alley.
Al had no other choice. He could either sit here and bake, waiting for Ed or somebody else to get him, or go with the woman. She seemed nice enough. Why not?
"My name..." She said, without looking back. "Is Madam Fate."
The wrench was slammed down on his head, harder than ever before. And again. And again. And again.
Ed slipped to the floor, a massive headache pulsing throughout him.
"You idiot!!!" Winry screamed at the top of her lungs. Her face was beat red and she was shaking from anger. Tears swept down her cheeks. She banged Ed a few more times with her wrench.
Ed cringed with every blow. He glanced down at his boot, the one used to kick the poor boy, and saw a small blood stain. No, it wasn't from the beating he was recieving, but from Al. Ed cringed harder upon the sight. He didn't know weather to hate himself or to take pride in what he had done. Winry's actions suggested he hate himself.
Winry stopped. She fell to her knees. She threw down her rench. Why was she waisting her time? This was a matter of the Elric's. Not the Rockbell's.
Ed bit his lip. He stayed silent. Even words seemed to stop within him.
Roy shook his head. He sighed.
Riza sat in his office, her head down, a single tear streaking down her face. Roy didn't look at her. She stood up, grabbing her gun, and made her way to the hallway.
"Hawkeye, what's on your mind?" Roy asked, staring worridly at the black, well-pollished gun in the female officer's hands.
"I'm going to rid the world one less soul." Riza said, sturdily.
Roy's eyes widened. "You don't mean....?"
"This is the first time I've ever had my mind set to kill somebody, I knew it would happen. I just wouldn't have ever imagined that he is the figure he is." Riza said glumly, stopping.
Roy's eyes narrowed. "Riza Hawkeye, I will not permit such behavior from you. Stand down!" Roy comanded.
"Sir, the soul I am seeking is not Alphonse. It is Scar." Riza's lips edged into a slight smile. She walked down the hallway and out the exit.
Roy stood, dazed, yet smiling. "And that's why I picked her to be my subordanant. Well... At least my favorite, anyway." He smerked smugly, going back into his office and closing the door behind him.
"Madam Fate?" Al asked.
"Yes." Madam Fate answered. She walked to a parked wagon just behind the train station.
Al stared at it oddly. "A wagon?" He asked.
Fate nodded. "I am not a commoner as you and your brother are. But... I'm not sure how a blonde, short state alchemist and his brother, chimera or suit of armor, are cocnicdered commoners, either... Well, come with me. I came for you, Alphonse. I am here to protect you until all harm is out of the way." Fate smiled.
Al looked down. "So... Are you like a gypsie or something? A forutiune-telling monk?"
"I suppose, to some degree. There is food waiting for you inside." Fate said, climbing up to the steering position and grabbing the reins of each horse in her frail hands.
Alphonse lifted his nose. He could smell food in the drawn part of the small wagon. The wagon was no bigger than the car Roy Mustang owned. The horses were small and strong. The place to sit inside was no bigger than a cage for two large dogs. Yet, it was shaded and a food plate and water dish were sitting near the back. Al, acting like the animal he was, carefully stepped into the back and headed for the food. He dug his nose into the raw meat and chomped down. It tasted so firmillar. Al shook his head and swallowed the bite.
Fate looked back behind her, as to make sure Alphonse was inside the small wagon, and whipped the horses. They whinnied and started to gallop. The wagon creaked and moaned as it passed over the train tracks. A conductor yelled at Fate. But all was ignored. Al sat in the back, finishing the last of his water, and watched the world pass by.
All was well until one of the wheels on the wagon spun off.
There was a blast at the wood with gun shots. Three large spikes shot up threw the floorboards of the back of the wagon. Al's foot was caught and injured, but he managed up and out of the hole. He ran to the front of the wagon, limping, and saw Madam Fate, also wounded. The two horses had been shot dead.
"Are you okay?" Al asked.
"Yes. I'll be fine. Just get out of here!" She commanded.
"No!" Al stuttered.
A bullet hurtled into the air, heading for Madam Fate's head. Al heard it, just inches away, and moved to protect her.
Blood spattered his tan mane. He stumbled to the ground.
"Remember who you are, Rage."
Al opened his eyes. It was the last thing Wrath had said to him before Wrath turned on him. Rage. That was it. To survive, even if he was a chimera, he had to remember who he was. Move with the stealth of a chimera. Fight with the power and protection of armor. Think like a weild such power is to control his rage.
"Rage..." Al murmered, finding the strength to stand up. He turned to see Riza and Ed coming up the tall hill the wagon had just swept over.
Al growled deeply at Ed. He wasn't wanted. He was a waste of time. He was unwanted. If he was never liked, then he should go down disliked.
Al charged at Ed, moving to quickly that Ed had no time to defend himself. Al swiped his long claws with the force of nature at his will. Ed screamed out, grabbing his chest and toppling backwords. Three long, red slahes marked his skin.
Al looked down at his claws. They were blood-stained. The oder travled to his wet nose. It smelled just as the meat he had eaten tasted. Al hungered for more. He lunged at Ed, who was just barely standing. Ed tried to clap his hands, but all attempts failed. Al had become too quick. His paws, suddenly, burned with the strength and heat of a thousand flames.
Ed called out to Riza. She was paralized. Everything was shocking. Al, getting hit in the head with a bullet, and still found the strength to stand and even attempt to kill his brother?
Al swiped his claws Ed. Ed watched as actuall fire shot towards him.
Ed closed his eyes tight as he held his arms up in front of his face.
A stream of fire came from behind Ed. It hit Al's fire and sent it back, ten-fold. Al screamed and flew back.
"Not so fast, Elric." Came the command of the Colonel.
Ed looked up to his rescuer. "Roy?" He stuttered, grabbing his bloody chest once more.
"Fullmetal, don't you remember when I said that I'd have your brother in for tests? I allready knew the results. Al had a tremendous power concealed within him, both from his knowalge of alchemy and from what the homunculi donated. The homunculi manefested that power into this- And labeled it Rage. I'm not sure what has set it off this time, but we've got to stop it. And it looks like you're his target. Hawkeye, take Edward back to the hospital. I'll deal with Alphonse." Roy smerked.
Ed nodded and Riza came over and helped him up. They stumbled away, just long enough for Al to stand.
He looked around, shaking from pain. His fur was magled from blood and burns. Anger made him dizzy. The power pulsing threw him was unbearable. The knowlage of not even his brother able to help him made him weak. He could manage but a low growel as he fell back to the dusty ground. Dust clung to his blood as he listened to his heartbeat ring threw his ears. Only until the world went black, that is.
Ed looked down, after an hour, at the small black stitches running in three lines across his bare chest. He groaned. The hospital smelt like hand sanetizer and rubber. The bed was stiff and unchomphortable. He was suprised that he didn't see Winry in the corner of the room, waiting for him to wake. It was empty.
Winry stared at the bed in front of her. She stared at each of the tiny dozen tubes hooked up to water and blood supplies hooked by a metal chain to a rack. She stared at the oxygen mask hooked up to another maciene, providing oxygen to whomever used it. She stared at the small cart with wheels by the bed. She stared at each of the needles, at the thread, at the medicene bottles, the bloody cotton swab, and the blood-stained black bullet on a tray on the cart. She stared at the un-drinken glass of water on the cart. And she stared at the muzzle and leash, both bloody, on the floor, tangled with clumps of fur, dust, and blood. It took a three-hour-long operation to hook up each tube, remove the bullet, remove the muzzle and leash embeded in skin, stitch up gashes, put a cast around a broken anchle, and give blood and water to the dehydrated chimera. With a team of eight doctors, all working with something covered in blood. And still- This is how he lay. Mangled and beaten, just bearly alive.
Winry felt a hot welling in her throat. Staring at the unconcious Alphonse Elric made her break down. All she wanted to hear him do was cough. Wisper. Even growel. Just one sign that he was concious would make her feel better.
Her prayers were granted when Al breathed in loudly. He coughed and opened his eyes.
Winry leaped from her chair and wrapped her hands around Al's neck gently, smiling hard.
"Thank god," She wispered. "Oh thank god!"
Hey peoples...! Sorry this is so short, I had to get it out. What are you thinking? Am I rwisting the plot too fastly? Or is it totally sucking? Please, please tell me!! I LOVE YOU ALL WHO READ THIS!!!!!!! PLEASE R&R!!!!!!!!!!!!!