I do not, and will not ever own Fullmetal alchemist
11
Melody followed Scar as he headed to lab five. The facility was in sight, but neither of them went running towards it. She looked over at Scar, the two had remained silent for a good time now, it was starting to get awkward. She picked up her pace and walked beside him.
"The last time I saw you," She started, "You asked me my name." He looked over at her, "From what I understand, you go by the name of Scar, but what's your real name?" He looked back at the facility.
"I gave up my name a long time ago." He said, Melody sighed.
"Okay, whatever floats your boat." She said, "My name is Melody, Melody Kilgore. If you call me by my last name, though I'll take my knife and stab you to death." Scar didn't say anything. They continued to walk in silence. They came to a spot on a barbed wire wall where it had been removed. The wire hang down like a rope. "They must've come in this way." She muttered. She listened and she heard the sound of metal against metal, she heard voices, too. She took the wire and started to climb, it pierced her skin and she was starting to bleed.
"What's wrong? Something on your mind? Your reactions are slow and clumsy!" A voice said, "It seems an artificially created soul doesn't quite measure up to the real thing!" She peeked over the wall and saw Alphonse fighting someone else in a suit of armor. Alphonse wasn't moving at all. "It must be such a shock to find out who and what you really are!" Al took a step back.
"No!" He looked down at his hand, "You're lying… I'm… I'm… I'm Alphonse Elric!" The other man charged him and smashed him against the wall. It was the same wall she was peeking over and she almost fell from the impact. The other man was laughing.
"Like I said, you can't prove that can you?" He mocked him, "Just accept it, you'll feel better." Scar jumped up on the wall she was on and pulled himself up.
"If that's the truth, then what about you?" Al asked, "What about you!" The man gasped and jumped back. "You have memories from when you were alive. And that means--" He was cut off by something. Alphonse looked at the man in front of him, who was looking at Scar, who was jumping down from the wall. The man laughed.
"How exquisite, the fools keep coming, one by one." he said, Melody jumped off the wall after Scar, "What about me, you ask? It's really quite simple." Melody turned her attention to him as he spoke to Al. "I love to tear the flesh of the living, to kill for the simple, intoxicating pleasure of blood between my fingers! I kill, therefore I am!" The man started charging towards her and Scar, "Whether I'm real, or human doesn't matter! I'm a killer, and that's all I need to know!" He brought down a huge knife to try and slice Scar, but he caught it.
"You're right, there is no need for you to prove you exist, because very soon," He said, "You won't." Melody came out from behind Scar with a smile on her face.
"Hi Al." She said.
"Melody! What're you doing with him?" Al asked. The man turned to Alphonse.
"You know these people?" He started flailing around, "No fair! You didn't say anything about having other allies around!"
"Allies?" Scar repeated.
"Gotcha." The man brought his hand in an attempt to claw him, but Scar used his right arm to destroy the man's arm. The other man fell to the ground, no arm was sticking out of the armor. Melody realized he was like Al, body-less armor. He screamed in shock when he saw it was gone, "What the--! How did you--!"
"So you're in that pitiful body as well." Scar said, he lifted up his sleeve, "May God show you mercy when I send you to him."
"Ah!" The man pointed at Scar's tattoo. "Why is that symbol there on your arm?" Scar glanced down at it.
"Then you've seen it before?" He asked.
"Oooh, you don't have any idea what that is, do you?" The man asked, Melody looked around, the facility was much darker than she had anticipated. No wonder Shane's gut was always right. She saw Shane lying face down on the ground a few feet away. She ran over to him.
"Shane!" She said, she flipped him over and saw he was unconscious. Scar looked down at the man for a second.
"Tell me!" He growled, charging at him. The man leapt up and headed toward the wall. "If you know what this is, tell me now!"
"I see." The man said, "You're just dying to know the truth, aren't you?" He put his hand behind his head. He turned around and started messing with something on the wall. "Well, now… hm, let's see…" The man moved a panel on the wall to reveal a red button. He turned back around at the group, and in a singsong voice he said, "I'm not going to tell you." he pushed the button and a huge explosion went off, Melody covered Shane with her body, while Al did the same to protect Scar.
The man started laughing like a maniac and bounced and twirled around in joy, "This building is loaded with explosives, so I can bury everything anytime I want!" He looked over at Al and Scar. "And now, I must bid you all farewell." He jumped through the debris.
"No wait!" Scar yelled.
"If you want to know about those markings on your arm," He said in the same singsong voice, "You'll have to come in here and find me!"
"He got away." Al muttered.
"Get up." Scar said, Al looked down and scrambled away from him.
"Oh! Sorry!" He said, Scar stood up. Melody grunted and got the attention of the two.
"I… could use some help over here…" She said underneath a piece of the stony debris, Scar walked over and pushed it off of her. Melody pushed herself up on her arms and gave Scar a weak smile while her arms shook. "Thanks." He grabbed her arm and pulled her up. She took it away and bent back down to Shane, she lightly smacked his face. "Shane… come on, wake up, sleepy-head…" Shane slowly opened one eye and looked at her.
"Mel…?" He asked weakly, "What-What're you… doin' here?" She smiled at him.
"The library was boring." She said, "I had nothing better to do than come and make sure you and the Elrics were okay." Shane smiled weakly.
"Sounds just like you…" He muttered before laughing a little. Melody laughed with him, she picked him up and leaned him against her with his arm draped over her shoulders. He looked up and saw Scar. "Who's this?"
"This is Scar." Melody said, "The guy's who hunting down all state alchemists." Shane's eyes narrowed.
"The same guy who's trying to kill you?" He asked, Melody shook her head, but he didn't notice.
"Not anymore." She said, she hefted him up. Scar started to walk away into the hole made in the wall.
"Where are you going?" Al asked.
"If you're here, then Fullmetal must be somewhere inside as well." Scar said, he kept walking
"No, stop!" Al said, "Wait for me!" Melody hefted Shane and she followed Al and Scar.
"Well, look at the bright side," She said, Shane looked over at her, "Now you won't have to take mental notes of this place for me. I'll see it for myself." Shane chuckled and lifted himself off her and walked in after Al, she followed. "Hey, Shane!" She whined, "Wait for me!" Shane stopped and let her catch up with him. Then they both ran after the two.
"Hey, uh, I was wondering if you could s-stop hunting down my brother, now." Al asked Scar as the four of them walked down the hall.
"It is the will of Ishbala." Scar said, "He is a cursed alchemist, and if that alone wasn't enough, he seeks the philosopher's stone."
"But why is alchemy so bad?" Al asked, "I mean, you use it, your right arm has a transmutation circle on it, though I've never seen one like it before.
"That is the brand I received when I accepted my calling." Scar said, "To kill all state alchemists." Al stopped walking, as did Shane and Melody, but they did it in confusion.
"And as for the philosopher's stone…" Al said. "He's not looking for it to use as a weapon, he wants to use it to return me to my body." Scar stopped walking when he said this. He sighed.
"You don't know the horror of the philosopher's stone." He said.
"But we do!" Al said, "Legend says that those who get too close to the stone will perish, right? But if we were afraid, we'd never learn anything! Huh… Now that I think about it, I heard that Ishbal was destroyed because someone got too close to the stone."
"Lies!" Scar yelled, he gripped his right arm, "Ishbal didn't perish because of the evil of the stone! It was destroyed by another…" He gripped his arm tighter. His eyes swam with emotion as he remembered something about his past. Melody came up and put her hand on his arm. He looked down at her.
"Scar… We've heard the philosopher's stone…could be made from the flesh and blood of humans." She said, her stare stern, but unwavering, "We came here to fine the truth, because we need to know… If it really is true, then we'll--"
"My, my, my." A voice said, the group looked to see a woman with a voluptuous body and dark hair lean against the entrance to the door in front of them, beside her was a fat, short, beady-eyed man with a crazed grin on his face. "This day is filling up with all sorts of unpleasant interruptions." Shane stepped forward and put his hand on Melody's shoulder.
"Who're you?" He asked.
"You again…" Scar muttered glaring at the woman, "This time, you're gonna tell me why you have that face. My brother's work… did he succeed in bringing you back?" Melody looked over at Scar. Bring her back? That's crazy talk! You can't bring back the dead no matter how hard you try!
"What are you talking about?" She drawled.
"Can I eat them now?" The man asked, Shane's grip on Melody's shoulder tightened. The woman stood up straight.
"I don't know, I think the armored one might give you indigestion." She said with a smug smile.
"I still wanna try." The fat man said, Shane stepped in front Melody now. Glaring at the man who said he wanted to eat them.
"The homunculi." Scar said, Al looked over at him.
"Homunculi…?" He repeated, "They couldn't be…" The woman held out her hand, her fingers turned into long spears. Melody pulled out her switchblade, Shane pulled out a hunting knife with a handle in the shape of a Celtic cross. Al swung a punch at the fat man, who dodged it and tackled him, crashing through the wall. Melody tried to run in after him, but Shane held her back. The woman came and used her spear-like hands against Scar. He blocked it, but his sleeve was torn off, revealing his tattoo.
The fat man charged in the direction of Shane and Scar. He came towards Shane, who took his knife and cut him across the face. It didn't seem to do much, because he came right back. He knocked the two against the wall, he went up to hit Scar, but he stopped his blow and hit his stomach, sending him flying backwards. A cloud of dust came up with his fall. Shane heard footsteps and attempted to cut him again as he came out from the side of the cloud he created. He came at Scar, landed to hits, then head butted him against the wall. He came at Shane, and did the same. Their eyes widened as he charged at them both, smashing through the wall. Scar slipped through a hole in the floor, Shane tried to catch him, but he fell with him instead.
Shane and Scar became unconscious as they hit the floor a story below them. The man walked in to keep fighting, but he looked at where they landed, and his beady eyes went wide with fear. He started shaking, and he muttered, "It's the bad place…" He staggered back out of the room.
Meanwhile, Al and Melody were fighting against the woman, and it had led into the room next to the hall. Al was in a defensive position, as was Melody. The woman smirked, "I've been watching you, child." She said, "The first time I caught a glimpse of you was four years ago," Al's position relaxed a little, "The sky was ablaze with fireworks that night." Al's eyes widened at the memory of seeing her before.
"Who are you?" Al asked, "He called you a… homunculus. But that can't be true." Melody looked up at him.
"Oh, really?" The woman asked, "And why is that?"
"I know I'm killing the mood and all, but what's a homunculus?" Melody asked, still keeping her position.
"A homunculus is an artificially created person." Al said, "A human that's not human, a living doll! No one's ever successfully made one before, it's impossible."
"Oh, it's very possible, believe me." The woman said, "It's no less possible than a boy who has a soul, but not a body to go with it." She extended her fingers and pinned Al against the wall, Melody growled.
"You bitch!" She yelled, the woman extended her fingers again and pinned Melody to the wall a few feet away from Al.
"You really aren't human, are you?" Al asked, Melody struggled against the woman's hold. She didn't notice the beady-eyed fat man come up behind Al. She did notice him when he spoke, however.
"Oh, goody." He said, Melody looked over at him, "Can I eat him now?" Without waiting for an answer, he bit into Al's armor. The armor smoked as he bit off some of Al's arm, like a reaction to acid. Melody froze.
Melody squirmed around in her ropes, she didn't like being tied with her hands behind her back, she preferred the front. Having them tied behind her was painful, and reminded her of how many times she lost the game 'Uncle.' She looked over at Al. The fat man had eaten all of his limbs, so he just sat there, a useless torso, underneath the woman.
"And where's the scarred man?" She asked the fatty.
"He fell into the bad place." The man said, Melody quirked and eyebrow. The bad place? These creatures had a 'bad place?'
"Really? And the other boy?" She asked.
"Him, too." He said. Melody turned sharply at the two. Did she mean Shane? Was he safe? Was he alive? As long as he was in this 'bad place' Melody figured the homunculi wouldn't go after him.
"That's no big loss." The woman said, "Greed my show up to put a wrench in things any moment. We've gotta get Fullmetal boy to hurry up while we can." Melody glared at the two of them. She grimaced as the man smiled at her.
"The girl, can I eat her? She looks good." Melody's eyes widened in fear. She started to shake.
"You try and I'll hit you where it hurts!" She yelled, the woman shook her head.
"No, you can't eat her. If the armor isn't a valuable tool, then we'll have to use her instead." The woman said. Melody glared at her, how she'd love to send a knife through that skull. Her thoughts were cut short as a huge eruption of something came and rumbled through the walls. She looked up at the ceiling.
"What the hell was that? An explosion?" She asked, the woman sighed.
"Sounds like somebody's getting reckless." She muttered and stood up. "Carry the armor, would you? I'll take care of the girl." She reached down and grabbed Melody's arms roughly.
"Ouch! Careful, Goddammit!" She yelled, the woman glared, raised her hand, and slapped Melody across the face.
"You need to be more careful with your words." The woman said, "I have the power to kill you any time I want, you should be grateful you're still breathing." Melody glared at her before she smirked.
"Sorry, I've always had trouble keeping my thoughts to myself." She muttered, the woman glared and pushed her.
Melody followed the homunculi down the dimly lit hall. The fat one was dragging Al behind him by his helmet. Melody was behind the woman and she was walking. They were coming up to a door, when Melody heard voices.
"Who are you?" Ed's voice sounded, "What's your name?"
"Well, that depends, I can be whoever you want." Another voice said, she didn't recognize it, "So who would you like, Mr. Fullmetal pipsqueak? Huh? Maybe, a taller version of you?" She heard a growl and a small swish. "My, my. The determined little pipsqueak wants to start a fight. But I don't know, I'm really more of a passivist."
"You should stop calling me a pipsqueak, it puts me in a really bad mood!" There was a clanking sound and Ed's voice stopped. She heard grunts, and the sound of somebody hitting another in a very painful way.
"Just remember that you're the one who started this sparring match, pipsqueak." The voice said, at this point Melody looked into the door and saw a big red room with a gigantic transmutation circle on the floor. There was a big hole in the ceiling, and there was a large group of men sitting on the floor, wearing wooden handcuffs and in prison clothes. She saw Ed laying down on the floor, a pale boy with long green hair stood over him. "Do you have any idea who you're trying to pick a fight with here? Huh?" He kicked Edward on the last word.
"The reason you're still around, the only reason I haven't killed you is that we were told not to. But I can never forgive you." His voice turned from taunting to hating, "And there'll never be a time when I'm able to forgive you. For carrying that bastard's blood in your veins!" He raised his foot to stomp on him.
"No, don't!" Melody yelled, the boy stopped and looked at her.
"Melody…?" Ed asked weakly, he saw the brunette with ropes tied around her.
"Envy." The woman came around her and picked up a metal thing, "Don't take it out on him because you failed to screen the ingredients thoroughly enough." The boy, Envy, looked over at her with a bored expression, then he looked over at Melody and smirked. She got scared. Ed looked over at the woman.
"I've seen you…" He muttered.
"If you don't want to suffer any more physical punishment," The woman said, "Then I suggest you get on with the transmutation. We had a minor, unexpected setback, but the ingredients are still fresh." Ingredients? Melody questioned, she looked over to the group of men in prison uniforms. Wait, you gotta be kidding, they're the ingredients? Ed looked over at the men.
"You want me to use these convicts to make a philosopher's stone?" He asked. "Was that your plan, you really think I'd take their lives?" The men looked scared, they ran for the door, but was stopped by the fat man dragging Al in.
"I think that you have no choice in the matter, Edward." She said. The fatty flung Al over beside her. Ed's eyes widened.
"Al!" He yelled.
"Brother…" Al said, "These people… they're homunculi…" The woman sat on top of Al again.
"Homunculi…?" Ed's voice was shaky.
"That is correct." A voice said, Melody looked and cringed at where the voice came from. It came from some kind of half human, half monster creature. It had the face of a man, but it was upside down, the rest of it was some kind of brown furry creature, almost like a bear, but its tail and ears said otherwise. It held something in its arms, she saw it was another furry creature, only, this one had the face of a young girl, and she looked lifeless. "These people are indeed homunculi." Its voice was nothing but a whisper, "Perfectly created artificial humans. They've promised to provide me with the secrets for generating a homunculus. So I can, at last, bring my precious Nina back to life." He looked at the girl creature in his arms.
"Why are you even trying to recreate your daughter's body?" Ed asked, his voice still shaking, "When you can't do the same for her soul!"
"But I already have her soul." The creature said, he pointed to his head, "I keep it here. My Nina's indomitable spirit lives on in all my memories of her. I can implant those in the mind of the homunculus, giving birth to a Nina even more perfect than the one who inspired her."
"Memory implants…?" Al repeated, Melody looked over at him.
"It still won't be the real Nina!" Ed shouted, the boy from before kicked him in the face and Ed lay on the ground. The boy squatted down next to him.
"This pointless chit-chat stops here." He said, "So, pipsqueak, why don't you shut up and get to work on the transmutations, now? You can start by fixing the ceiling." Ed scowled and looked away. The woman sighed.
"I'm embarrassed to admit, but our group isn't capable of using alchemy on our own." She said, "We have to rely on others to do it for us."
"If you can't use alchemy, then what's the point?" Ed asked, "What could you possibly do with a philosopher's stone?" The woman didn't reply, "The same as Cornello, huh? Let me guess, you've got a god complex and a desperate need for world domination."
"I wanna become a human." The woman said, "Nothing more." Ed sat up and looked at her.
"If you guys really are homunculi, like you say," Edward said, "There must be an alchemist somewhere who created you. Why don't you get him to do your dirty work for you?" Envy kicked him again, but he didn't fall.
"We weren't created by anyone," He sneered, "We were born."
"Given our limitations, all we could do was leave a trail of breadcrumbs pointing toward the stone." The woman said, "And advise some eager alchemists on how to go about constructing the stone for themselves."
"Wait a second, you mean you're the ones that showed Mugiar what to do with that red water in his mine?" Ed asked, "And when Marcoh was working here in this lab, you must've told him about the secret ingredient! Not to mention Tucker's experiments and Cornello's fake stone, which I guess you were behind too."
"We laid the fake bait and, soon enough, every idiot interested in the stone came flocking." Envy sneered.
"And that's the way we found you boys. You found us." The woman said. Ed's eyes went wide.
"Are you saying that… Me coming here was part of your plan all along?" He asked, the woman said nothing, only smiled smugly, "No, Al and I started this journey three years ago for our own reasons. Of our own free will! And we went through Hell to get here…"
"You're here because that is what we wanted." The woman said. Melody's anger grew as she spoke.
"Edward and Alphonse are nobody's puppets!" She yelled, "Not the state's and most definitely not yours!" Envy looked over at her with a sneer.
"Cheeky brat…" He muttered.
"It's and equivalent exchange." The woman said, "I'm going to tell you everything you need to know to make a philosopher's stone. And in return, you're going to use it to turn all of us into humans."
"And why the Hell… Should I trust you guys?" Ed asked.
"Oh, but you misunderstand me, Fullmetal." She said innocently, "We're not asking." She picked up a metal helmet and opened it to reveal a blood seal inside, "We're telling." Ed looked over at her. "Do you have any idea what will happen to an attached soul," She touched it with her extended finger, "When you do this?" She began scratching it off from the armor.
"Stop it!" Ed yelled, "You can't do that, he's still a human being!"
"Edward Elric…" The voice said weakly, "I want you to--" It was cut off from the woman slicing the armor up. She let it fall to the ground. She took off Al's helmet and put her finger on his blood seal. She placed her finger on it, Al gasped from the contact.
"This won't take long." She said, Melody's anger grew even more.
"No! Please, don't hurt him!" Ed pleaded, "He's my little brother, please don't take him away, I'm begging you!" He sounded like he was about to cry. Melody raised a foot and kicked the woman away from Al.
"You leave him alone!" She yelled, "Al is not some bargaining tool for you to-- Ah!" She fell to the ground as Envy stood over her. He had punched her, hard. Melody could taste blood in her mouth and a bruise was forming on her cheek. Envy squatted and grabbed a painful fistful of her hair.
"Miserable girl. Don't take part in things that don't concern you." He warned, he traced a finger down her cheek, she shivered "It'd be a shame to have some clean-up to do, especially with such a soft skin like yours."
"Guys! It's okay…" Al said, "What am I, after all…?" Melody looked toward him.
"Don't give up on me, now, Al. 'Kay?" Ed clapped his hands and transmuted the ceiling back together. Envy whistled when the transmutation was complete.
The fat man was scaring the prisoners into the array as Ed was setting up the containers of red liquid in the points on the circle. "Brother, no!" Al called, "You can't do this, it's not worth it!" Edward didn't listen as he put the container in place.
