So this chapter is being posted early because I surprised me as well!
FMA and DGM do not belong to me, or else Allen would have had a much better life :|
Ed glared around the bustling West City, and continued up the steps to the hotel where he and his brothers were staying. He got up to their room and let out a large groan as he flopped to the floor.
"Still can't find him?" Al looked down at his brother who was rolling across the ground.
"No! None of the alchemist around here have seen him at all! How is that even possible!" Ed yelled, flailing his limbs in the air.
"Come on boss, it isn't that bad, it's like paid vacation!" Havoc spoke from where he was lounged nearby on the couch.
Ed responded with a rude hand gesture, making Al groan and Allen, who had been sitting at the table watching the display, laugh.
"This was just the last place he was seen, nii-san, he might have moved on...he never really made sense," Al trailed off and shrugged, moving back to the table where he and Allen had been trying to map Gluttony's movements.
Ed groaned and slumped over to the table as well resting his head in his hands, "Maybe I should do the Scar route, you know, just go make a spectacle of myself, he might show up then."
Al glared, "Yeah, because that ended so well last time."
Ed grimaced.
Allen got to his feet, "Alright, lets go get some food and then work on where he might have moved next."
~~.~~
They left the hotel and began walking down the main street, Ed smiled as they followed Havoc to what was apparently "the best damn food in the West!"
"As long as we don't end up in another bar, I don't care," Allen spoke from Ed's right, and Ed grinned.
Al popped up from his left as well, "I think he learned his lessons when the people at the last place saw how much you two eat!"
Allen just shrugged, and smirked.
His face then blanched, and a strange whirring noise started.
"Wha-" Allen spoke but then grimaced and fell to his knees.
Ed moved over to help him, and Al called out for Havoc, but Ed froze.
A gear had appeared over Allen's cursed eye, it was floating in front of it and seemed to be tracking something's movement. Allen's face blanched even further, and then he burst forward and knocked Edward and Alphonse over.
Just in time for a huge explosion to rock from where they previously stood.
Gluttony stood in the massive hole, beady eyes staring at the three of them without any recognition.
Allen then heaved to the side, and Ed grabbed his arm, and pulled him up.
"Allen?" Ed whispered as he and Al slowly moved back from the creature, who was himself slowly shuffling out of the hole.
"Oh,oh no, what is that," Allen swallowed convulsively, and he tried to cover his eye, "there are so many souls, tortured forever and ever, just stuck and unable to leave."
He swallowed again and took in a great heaving breath, "I'm ok, just wasn't expecting that."
Ed nodded and slowly let go, giving his full attention the beast that had finally toddled up to flat ground.
"I missed, " Gluttony spoke, and then looked up.
It sprang forward with a velocity that did not work with the mass it had. Allen activated his innocence and moved Ed and Al away from the next blast zone, placing them down on opposite sides of the homunculi. Allen then used his cloak to begin a game of cat and mouse.
Ed clapped and placed his hands on the ground, calling up hundred of sharp rods to impale Gluttony, but the creature was moving faster than he could keep up. Al clapped his hands together as well and froze in statues along the pathway came to life, and he quickly motioned for them to move the passersby out of the way and then focused on the assault against the homunculus.
Ed ran forward, his automail forming into his standard weapon. He began using the threads of Allen's cloak to propel himself forward, and leapt at Gluttony, plunging his arm into the homunculus' side and springing away up the white spider's web when Havoc distracted the monster with shots to the joints.
Gluttony let out a roar of pain, but the bullet holes healed almost instantly.
While Ed, Allen, and Havoc distracted Gluttony, Al finished out the large design of the Flamel transmutation.
"It's ready!" he called out, and then moved back in preparation to bait the trap.
Ed grinned and kicked Gluttony in the back, using the force to propel himself backwards towards where Al was standing.
Gluttony charged after him, and didn't notice the circle placed on the ground.
Ed clapped and a wall was transmuted right in front of Gluttony, causing him to fall back right into the circle. Ed fell back and shouted, "Go Al, go!"
Al clapped and started the transmutation, but grimaced as he saw Gluttony standing up far too quickly.
"Shit!" Ed breathed out, but the circle worked in time, causing Gluttony to shriek in pain. A blast of pure power pushed Ed and Al back, but both stood up to try to see through the dust.
A roar followed by a large boom burst through the dust, and Al was pushed off his feet as Gluttony ran straight into him.
"Al!" Ed turned to him, but a shriek filled the air, and Gluttony was pinned through his chest with a large sword.
Gluttony's hands scrabbled at the sword, but then the movements slowed, and the beast fell to the ground.
A wind seemed to pick up out of nowhere, and Ed moved closer and grabbed Al as they watched the remains of the homunculi turn to dust in the wind.
Allen landed nearby and grabbed his sword. He deactivated his innocence, and his arm returned to its original shape.
Havoc walked up behind them as well, holstering his weapon, "Good job Fullmetal, Steel Soul, yet unnamed with a cool code name Allen." Allen gave him a quirked grin.
"This seems to be the least amount of property damage that has ever happened when Fullmetal is around, I'm so proud!" Havoc had fake tears streaming down his face, but keeled over when Ed jump-kicked him.
"Shut up! It's not like I try to destroy property!" Ed yelled, and then he huffed and clapped his hands to get rid of the huge indentation on the ground, and some of the marks in the surrounding area.
Allen grinned, and watched as Al moved the statues back to where he had originally got them, but was having trouble trying to get them back into their positions.
~~.~~
Al sat down with a sigh, "Well, at least we didn't have to pay for dinner ourselves, the Western alchemists were really happy with finally getting rid of Gluttony."
Havoc snored from the couch, having enjoyed the celebrations with his normal amount of zeal.
Al looked up at Allen, "I'm surprised your innocence reacted to Gluttony."
Allen frowned, "I am too, but I guess..." he trailed off and placed his hand over his eye, "there were so many souls, so much was just wrong with what Gluttony was. He held souls inside of him and used their power to do what he did. So I guess he was similar enough to the akuma that it reacted."
Ed spoke next, a frown marring his face as well, "So that is the last of the homunculi here, all we have left is the Noah...and Envy."
Al blanched, "I forgot! I forgot all about Envy and Father!"
Ed nodded, "Bastard was never around anyway, but I survived in Allen's world, so he and Envy are probably still around as well."
Allen leaned back, "and from what you told me, Envy is more interested in getting at you then any of the others."
Al bit his lip, "in fact...he might want to go after Allen the most after all of this." At the raised eyebrows of his brothers he spoke, "You know the whole, father, brother thing he has..."
Ed groaned and threw his head back, "But I guess our plan for Gluttony would still work on Envy, so that shouldn't be too bad, I'm still not sure how to face the Noah."
Al piped up, "I have an idea for that, actually," he continued quickly, "from what Allen said, all of the Noah used to be normal people, but then they 'woke up' so if we can find some way to separate the Noah soul from the person soul, we should be able to send the Noah straight to the Gate."
Al then pulled out a piece of paper he had been playing with and laid it out on the table, "I have been practicing moving souls for a while, and so I sketched this out."
Edward immediately leaned over the table, his eyes pouring over the transmutation circle, "This...this might work, maybe change the layering here to an inverse triangle?"
Al leaned forward as well, " I was thinking of that, but then I thought of the stability between the split. It would have to have the two interconnected circles, and then I want to send one of the souls to the Gate, so I needed to be careful of how they were combined."
Ed nodded, and continued to look over the work, "This, this will probably work... Al you are a genius!" Ed blasted from the table and got Al in a headlock.
Allen had been looking over the paper as well, and was delighted to see that he could actually understand what the circle was supposed to do. Studying with Ed and Al was really paying off.
"We should try it," Allen spoke, and then he looked up at his brothers, "We need to try it."
"Allen," Al spoke, and then looked over at Edward.
Ed glared, "No."
Allen rubbed a hand through his long hair, "We need to test it before we try it on the ones in my world. I'm the only one who you can actually test it on," he fidgeted, "I have doors that open to both worlds already, so even if I lose the power of the Ark we can still go through, and Truth wants me to finish things, so I doubt it would keep me there."
Ed worried his lip, but in the end it was Al who spoke up, "Nii-san...I think we should try it, I know you are worried, but it should work, and Allen is right, even if he does end up in the Gate, Truth would just send him back."
Allen sat down next to Ed, "If...if there is a possibility to get rid of this thing inside of my head, I need to take it."
Ed's shoulders fell, "Fine! Fine...but don't you dare leave understand!" He pointed a finger at Allen who gave him a small smile.
"Really not planning on it."
~~.~~
Allen stood in the middle of the array that they had drawn in their room, he relaxed his shoulders and gave Al a smile.
Al and Ed stood on opposite sides of the array.
"Alright, here we go, 3-2-1"
They clapped, and everything around Allen went black.
"Well...this is not what I expected."
Allen whirled around, and the monochrome area around him seemed to lighten. In front of him stood a man, taller than Allen. He had shorter hair and stood straighter, his suit seemingly freshly pressed. His skin was a light gray, and the stigmata stood out starkly against the background.
Then he switched, his skin gaining the pink tinge of humanity, and his hair turning a deep red.
Nea looked around the empty space that surrounded them, "Though I guess this works better than what I had planned."
He then turned to Allen.
And smiled.
"I can honestly say that you continue to surprise me every day, from the day you were born," the smile turned wistful, "Who knew that my own son would be born with innocence." The man shook his head ruefully.
Allen was completely frozen, "Wha..."
Nea's smile faded, "I...couldn't let the Earl know, he would have killed you, and your mother died in childbirth," his face turned grim, "I left you in an orphanage, you know, I thought it would be safer than having you with me, but we can see what happened there."
Allen stared and slowly felt his knees collapsing under him, "What, what do you mean?I-"
Nea sat down in front of him, and gently pulled him into his arms, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that we don't have enough time for me to truly explain. I'm sorry I had to leave you, I'm sorry you were born into a war you shouldn't have even been aware of. I'm sorry that you have held all of these burdens to yourself. I'm sorry I never had the time to help you."
Allen began to tremble in the man's hold.
"I'm sorry that Mana was an idiot, you can't believe how terrified I was when I woke up, and I realized I was here, out of all the places I could have been. I didn't know what to do, the souls of the Noah just take over, and I tried to hold it back, and only come out when I thought I could help, but it seems you handled it better than most."
Allen felt a hand move through his hair, and another clench in the jacket on his back. A soft sob escaped his lips.
"I'm sorry. I tried to kill the Earl, I thought if I could defeat him, if I became the new Earl, I could find you again, and you would be safe." The hug tightened, and Nea breathed deeply.
Allen was shaking in his hold, unable to even think about what was going on. A tear rolled down his cheek, and then another. Soon he was crying, trembling in the warm hold of his father.
His father curled in tightly around him, and played with his hair, a wistful sigh escaping past his lips, "It used to be bright red, you know, like mine, before this whole fiasco started."
Allen breathed in deeply,"What...what was my mother's name?" Then he stilled completely, "What is my name?"
Allen heard Nea swallow, and the he spoke, "Her name was Kari, she worked as a nurse in one of the towns I stopped by. She had dark hair and gray eyes, and was always smiling," then Nea let out a small laugh, "and you, we named you something that was noble, that strode to prove that harmony could happen, even between Noah and people. You were always called Allen, that Mana was some how able to think of that despite his madness might be the one thing I can thank him for," Allen could hear the disgust at the thought of Mana, and the arms around him grew tighter.
"He was supposed to protect you if I couldn't...and in the end he did, but I never meant for it to happen like this. I'm sorry, Allen."
Allen then collapsed against his father, allowing gentle words to help chase away all of the fears he had felt since his first day on the streets.
~~.~~
It was some time later when Allen finally moved away, sitting back and looking up at Nea.
"This is going to make you leave, you know," Allen spoke out, his voice cracking.
Nea nodded, and placed his hand on top of Allen's, "I know, and I am glad for it, I never wanted to take over your life, and I am glad you found a way for us to speak at last."
Nea looked around, and back at him, speaking quickly "The Ark is yours, it is in your blood, so you don't need to worry about that. The sword that the Earl has is not his, it's mine. If you take it back from him, you should be able to defeat him. He isn't like the others, he is purely Noah. He can hide in his human form but it is truly him, not anything else."
Neah grabbed one of Allen's hands in his own, "Stay safe, be happy, do what you want to do with your life. Walk your own path, " he smiled at those word and continued, "and thank Alphonse and Edward for me, would you? I'm glad you have finally found a family of your own."
At these words Nea leaned forward and placed a kiss in Allen's hair, "Keep walking, son."
~~.~~
Allen woke standing up in the middle of the circle, and as he looked around, he could see that no time had passed.
Ed moved forward, "Allen?"
A sob hitched in Allen's chest, and Al walked into the center of the array as well, "Allen are you alright?"
Allen gulped down another sob, and quickly rushed a hand under his eyes to stop the tears.
"He was my dad," the words tore past his lips, and Ed swore, grabbing Allen and moving him towards the couch.
Al sat down next to him, and placed hand on his shoulder. Allen got his breath back under control, and when he looked up again, Ed had plopped down on his other side, placing a cup of something warm in front of him.
Allen grabbed the cup and took a sip, breathing out as he felt himself relax back into the sofa.
"He tried to kill the Earl to save me, because I would never have been allowed to live. He never meant to get stuck inside of me," Allen sighed out, and gently placed the cup back on the table, his fingers trembling a bit.
"Fuck," Allen and Ed turned with wide eyes at Alphonse, whose own eyes seemed to be glowing.
"Alphonse!" Ed choked out, but stopped speaking when Al glared at him, and then turned to Allen.
"No matter what happens, the Earl will be stopped, I'm sure of it."
Allen nodded and breathed out again, the warmth of his family, and sound of snoring from the main room lulling him into calmness.
So...that happened. I didn't even mean to make Nea Allen's father, he just sort of took over the conversation! *glares at Nea*
Anyway, almost time to head back to Allen's world! Which should be extremely fun and cause so much chaos.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
~not necessarily in between
