Chapter 11: A Fox and a Rat
Alphonse was quickly realizing how stubborn Beryl could be. When he'd returned to the house with the groceries by himself, Izumi had vigorously questioned him on her whereabouts, forcing him to spill about their argument and how Beryl had said nothing about her destination before taking off. Despite the concern written on her face, Izumi only sighed before telling Al to give her time, and to remember that his and Edward's experiences made them more mature than most others their age. Beryl would need time to cool down before eventually lumbering back home.
He didn't quite like that plan, but given her actions in the short time they'd known each other, Al had agreed to give her some space.
Instead of worry needlessly, he chose to pass the time by sweeping the outside of the shop, letting his mind wander as he diligently did his chores.
Chores that were interrupted when a crumpled wad of paper bounced up against the bristles of his broom. Al paused, looking around for the person who threw it, but finding the streets around him nearly empty. So who could've thrown it? Gaining his interest, he picked the ball up, unfolding it and smoothing it out with his large metal hands. He found words scribbled messily across the page, reading them once, then twice for clarification, before he crumpled the paper once more and lifted his helmet slightly and dropping the evidence into his hollow body.
Alphonse, however, missed the hooded figure retreating over the rooftop with a smile on his face.
The Devil's Nest.
The dingy old bar just outside of Dublith's version of a red-light district, Ed and Al took shortcuts around it as kids when Teacher demanded more supplies, but after the youngest Elric gained a swollen red cheek from one of the hoodlum kids around town, they started taking a different path home. The smell was always the marker of where they were in town, the smell of old wood and fermenting booze that burned the nostrils. Though he could no longer smell it, the memory of the smell as well as the three intimidating people outside the bar brought Al to a halt in the road.
A man with a sword at his back and a rather pointed nose gave him an equally sharp look. "There you are," he greeted, as if he and Alphonse had known each other for years and were having a warm reunion. "About time."
The paper ball in his fist crinkled as he unfurled it. "We know your secret, come to the Devil's Nest if you want to talk… I'm guessing you're the people that wrote this note?" he kept his voice unwavering in the face of the uneasiness he felt.
A woman with short blonde hair and a tattoo that ran up the length of her arm and neck to her chin smiled, cocking her hip but saying nothing as her companion stepped forward. "That's right, and we know a lot about you,"
"Well that's good, cause there's a lot about me that I don't know."
The man extended his arms in a welcoming gesture, "Then I'm the guy you want to talk to, why you come with us?"
Al bowed his head in an innocently submissive manner, "But, my teacher always said I'm not supposed to go with strangers." While true, Izumi had also told him to never let himself be overpowered, and to use the combat skills she'd taught him to make opponents rethink underestimating the boy despite his age.
His timid voice seemed to catch the man off guard, as he looked up at Al with a confused look on his face. "Uh… how old are you?"
"Fourteen."
The shorter man scoffed, "Well come on then! I'd say fourteen is old enough to think for yourself kid." He explained, waving his hand around dismissively. "You gotta start acting like an adult and taking some risks,"
Al visibly brightened. "You think so? I should think for myself?"
"Yes! And you can start by coming with me…" Alphonse silenced him with a hard knee to the jaw, knocking him to the ground with a crash.
"So I thought it over for myself, and I decided that I should just make you tell me what I want to know."
The man was quick to jump back to his feet as the armored boy stalked towards him, reaching for the sword at his belt and pulling it from its sheath in an offensive stance. "So you wanna do this by force,"
His knees bent as he began to lunge towards Al, but the boy was quicker as he slammed his palm into the man's face, breaking his nose under his hand in a spray of blood. The man darted his arm forward, the sword slipping between Al's helmet and the rest of his metal body as a short upwards snap detached his head from his shoulders. His vision went black as he felt someone land on his shoulders, holding him steady as they easily slipped inside him. "Sorry to drop in," a female voice soothed as she slithered inside his chest.
It was a feeling Alphonse had never experienced, having a person inside his armor, and it could only be described as uncomfortable and weird. He panicked as he tried to grapple with the woman wiggling in his chest, but she had the advantage of sight. "Hey!" she scolded, "Be a good boy and hold still!"
Her arms slipped into his, halting his protests by binding his arms from within, Al tried to use sheer strength to break free of her, but the woman was stronger than she felt. "So, what's it like having someone control you from inside?" she asked, a tease at the edge of her voice.
"You can't stop me from moving!" he yelled, clenching his fists as he tried to regain control of his body. "And you're not strong enough to hold this up forever!"
She chuckled from within the empty space of his chest, "You're right, but all I'm trying to do is slow you down!"
"For my turn."
Unable to see the source of the voice over his shoulder, Al swung blindly for their head, only to be blocked and pushed to the ground by the stranger's weight. Inwardly panicking as his mobility was taken away, he continued to struggle, attempting to pull his arm free, but the man had twisted it towards him successfully pinning him down.
The clatter of his helmet being tossed away reached his nonexistent ears. "You're making this way too hard kid."
None of this was good. What did they want with him? What was their goal? Did it have something to do with Ed? Alphonse didn't have any answers and it put even further on edge; that woman's overly fluid movements, the short man's sharp canines, and the towering stranger's brute weight, none of it was normal. "You people aren't human, are you?!" he demanded.
"Good guess, they're Chimeras." A new voice sneered, dripping with callous snark and overzealousness as he gave Al's helmet a good kick. "And they happen to work for me."
He didn't need to see to hear the smirk in the man's voice, his cocky snicker feeling like ice in his hollow stomach. Where was Ed when you needed him?
Alphonse had been sitting in silence as the supposed chimeras stood guard over him. No one tried to speak to him, only examining him from afar with the occasional curious sniff. He stared at them in return, and aside from the woman still sitting in his chest, he had looked them all over at least a dozen times. No matter how much he took them apart with his eyes, it was too unbelievable to him. Chimeras. The image of a little girl and her dog was enough to pull him back to reality, the reality that chimeras that talk are impossible. A chimera that looks like a human is even more impossible, it just doesn't happen.
Nina was proof enough of that.
After another minute, the man came back, the snarky one with the icy voice, and now that Al could see, it was easy to understand that this man was the alpha male of the room. He stood tall and demanded respect without saying a word, a permanent smirk etched into his face as he looked over everyone around him, including Alphonse, like they were a priceless treasure just for him.
Al tensed as the man approached him, but he only laughed. "Relax kid, I just wanna take a peek inside is all."
The fact that his bound wrists and stiff body forbade him from flinching away from the man removing his helmet set him on edge even more. He was in unfamiliar territory, unable to move, and currently unable to get out.
The man whistled as he examined the hollow space of his body, not including the blond woman inside. "Whoa, cool… you really are hollow…" he dropped Al's helmet back into place, flashing him a smile. "The name's Greed, and I wanna be your friend."
"Then why don't you tell me what you people really are?"
That seemed to give the man, Greed, pause.
"You guys aren't chimeras; it's impossible, no one has ever made a chimera that can talk." Memories of Nina's twisted, animal-like body and empty eyes made him clench his metal fists.
Greed laughed, "You can't believe everything the government tells you kid, you've got all the proof you need right inside you." He tapped a heavy finger against Al's metal shoulder, smirking as the echo reached his ears. "The girl in there is part snake."
He gestured to the large man in the corner, "And the big guy is…" he paused, "Roa, what were you made with… cow?" the large stranger nodded. "We've also got a lizard, a crocodile, and the little guy over there tends to lift his leg when he pees."
"Only once!" he grunted, grinding his teeth and growling.
"You're part dog?" to describe what Alphonse was feeling didn't feel like shock or horror, rather a mix of the two combined with scientific wonder.
The shorter stranger scratched the back of his neck, smiling almost in pride. "Yep, it's actually not so bad." He admitted.
Al could only stare in silence. Every ounce of research he'd ever studied on chimeras ran through his mind; that making one even remotely close to a human in appearance or function was unheard of and impossible. "Impossible… it's just not possible… who would even be capable of making one?"
Greed looked him in the eye, but Alphonse could not see his eyes in return. "The military."
The gasp that left him was enough for Greed to be convinced that he believed him.
"There's a shadow world beneath yours, even you're less uncommon than they are, and to be honest I had some trouble tracking you down." He gave Al's helmet another tap. "If it wasn't for my little sewer rat, you'd have probably slipped right through my fingers." A sneer twisted his lips as he snapped his fingers.
He gave Roa a single nod before the man left through the only door in the room, giving Al the perfect view of even more chimeras on the other side. They were grunting and laughing as they repeatedly kicked someone mashed into the dirt, aiming for their stomach and face and landing most of their hits despite them tightly covering their head.
Roa grabbed them by the scruff of their shirt and threw them into the wall the armored boy sat against as if they weighed nothing.
Al gasped as he recognized the dirty yellow sweater, the newly washed wool patched by another layer of filth and spots of blood from Beryl's nosebleed.
"Gotta say Flea-Bag, you really outdid yourself this time." Greed laughed as he grabbed a fistful of her hair and tugged her head up. She was sporting multiple bruises and a train of blood pooling down from her nostrils, but she still grit her teeth in annoyance. "If it wasn't for you, I probably would've never found this kid, so thanks, you're the best."
He dropped her head and she flopped back down with a whimper.
"Beryl!" Alphonse struggled against the woman inside him, fighting just to turn his head, to make sure Beryl was at least still conscious. "Why are you doing this?! She didn't do anything!"
Greed let loose a roaring laugh, clutching his stomach and wiping a tear of mirth from his eyes. "Didn't do anything, that's a good one kid… wow, she really didn't spill a single thing did she?" he reached forward, pinching her cheek and tugging it affectionately regardless of her bruised cheek.
"Shut up!" Beryl jerked away from him, lashing out and punching him in the jaw with a violent crack. His head did not even turn, but she clutched her hand in obvious pain, Greed giving a smirk before walking back.
"Aww hit a nerve did I? Did you make some new friends while big brother was at work? Or did you screw them over too?" Beryl's glare turned soft before she stared down at her boots, almost ashamed.
Anger built up in Alphonse's gut, wanting to stand between them to protect Beryl and to get answers as to why they were here. "What are you talking about?"
A moment of silent understanding passed between Beryl and Greed, and he chuckled. "Nothing to say? That's precious." He gave Al an almost pitying look, "You see kid, this little rat works for me just like the rest of these guys, but the thing is… a while back she decided to run away with quite a bit of my cash, and I don't appreciate being stolen from!"
He gripped her by the neck and hoisted her above him, pinning her to the wall as her feet dangled off the ground. She choked and tried to kick him, but he did not seem to feel a thing. Al panicked, "Stop it!"
His pleas went ignored as he struggled harder against Martel, but she held strong, "Be quiet, you couldn't stop him even if you could move." She said, her voice betraying the fear she had for what her boss would do.
Greed tightened his fist, cutting off the girl's air and preventing her from crying out. "I dragged you out of that shithole, feed you, clothe you, and raise you… and you repay me by stealing my money and running away?!"
He gripped her harder before throwing her across the room, her sweater catching on the corner of a wooden crate before it tore away from her left shoulder, exposing the large bruise forming there.
"Honestly kid, that hurts my feelings!" he stomped his boot on top of her hand, grinning when she coughed up a howl of pain.
"Leave her alone!"
"Be quiet!"
Beryl pushed against the floor, still trying to stand, but Greed was a lot stronger than she was. "And you think, you can just come back here?!" he swung his heavy leather boot into her stomach, making her gag and choke, but her empty stomach only wrung painfully as she tightly held her abdomen.
Alphonse pulled against his chained wrists, fighting Martel's grip on his insides as he struggled to get free. "Stop! You'll kill her!" he didn't know anything about Beryl, but he knew she was a good person despite being rough around the edges. She didn't deserve to be beaten to death just for stealing, no one did.
Greed leaned down to look her in the eye, "Look at that, you really did make some new friends, that's adorable… not that he'll be able to help you."
Her brown and blue gaze was clouded, but still able to aim a nasty glare as she spat a mouthful of blood into his face. "I don't need his help…" she groaned, her voice sounding like a jagged piece of metal being dragged against the sidewalk. "And I never needed yours!"
His smile didn't waver even when his tongue darted out to lick the blood from his cheek. "That so? Don't forget kid, that I gave you what you have," his finger tapped against her automail aids. "And if I wanted… I could take it away too."
Beryl started screaming when Greed started pulling on her automail, hard. He showed no mercy as he started ripping apart the pieces of metal that let her hear, that made up most of her inner ears. Alphonse started yelling, begging for him to stop, to leave her alone. Even his subordinates looked extremely uncomfortable around them while the girl they all helped raise was being tortured on the floor.
She suddenly went silent as her right ear shut off completely, nothing but the ringing from the shock and the absent white noise on her right side filled the empty space. Greed held up the bloody, twisted piece of metal, examining it almost curiously before he gave it a bored shrug and tossed it away. Smaller pieces of the automail still sat in Beryl's ear, but the red mess masked most of it.
He wiped his bloody hands on his leather pants, sighing like a disappointed parent scolding a child. "Didn't have to be that way kid, you're still my possession, don't waste my kindness again."
Beryl clutched her right ear, red threads slipping past her fingers as she glared at him. She grit her teeth and refused to cry, no matter how many pain-filled tears burned behind her eyelids, she wouldn't cry in front of Greed. He wouldn't care if she did anyway.
"Now that that's taken care of, let's you and me have a talk hm?"
Alphonse wanted to punch him in the face as hard as he could; he'd never felt such anger directed to another person before, if Greed really raised Beryl like he implied, then how could he hurt her that way? How could anyone hurt their child in that way, by ripping out their automail. Had he hurt her before? Is that why she didn't want to come back to Dublith. He felt sick at the possibility that he and Ed had possibly hand delivered Beryl back to her abusers.
He needed to get out of this place, and make sure Beryl never had to be afraid of these monsters again.
He'd make sure she was safe.
*Twiddles fingers villainously* Let the shipping begin!
WOW! Been a while huh guys?! A lot has been happening to me since I last updated: I got a job, started school, started therapy, lost my job, parents are splitting up, i'm moving in February, etc. etc... Anyway, I hope you'll forgive me and accept this chapter as a gift. i'll try to update soon but no promises, but stay sharp kids! Chao!
