Chapter 11: Clowns

"Komui something is coming through the ark!" Komui snapped back towards the scientist that called out in alarm and then faced the ark which was preparing to open for their new visitors.

"How many are coming through?!" He yelled rushing towards the main computers.

"Eight of them!" Allen and the others ran in front of the science department as the alarms went off. Edward... Allen thought in worry as the ark finally opened; the whole room went silent with the siren flaring in the back ground. Allen took a deep breath when he saw a large figure appear in the white.

"It... it can't be..." Lenalee gasped; their fears were confirmed when the figure stepped away from the ark with a gigantic grin on his face.

"The Millennium Earl." Lavi growled as he tightened his grip on his hammer, prepared to run in for the fight. The Earl laughed; behind him more figures began to appear. Allen narrowed his eyes deeper when he saw that two of the Noahs had Edward and Alphonse as prisoners'.

"Damn it..." Allen heard Lavi mutter under his breath. The Earl snapped his fingers towards Cyril; the Noah walked forward while pushing Edward ahead. Ed had his teeth clamped shut due to the immense pain but nevertheless gave out a growl when the large man placed his hand under his chin and lifted his gaze to meet his.

"As we are all reunited again, I believe it's time to tell a story," The Earl spoke up after turning away from the angry blonde briefly and then he grabbed the boy and jumped down in front of the exorcists. Ed tired to pull away but his bleeding hand was grabbed by the Earl and he fell to the ground in pain. "Now don't be rude."

"This is the story about a man that we all know as the 14th Noah. He was quite rebellious towards me and always decided to wonder around different parts of the world; one day he met an alchemist from another world, they both became very good friends and the 14th wanted to help the man return home as he spoke fondly of his wife and two children." The Earl drifted off at the end of his sentence seeing if everyone was paying attention.

"It was also of this alchemist that the 14th's song was born; you see, the alchemist's wife sang this song as a lullaby and the 14th grew fond of the song and it became the arks song. Anyway back to the main story; the 14th tried to think of a way for the alchemist to return home and then discovered he could use the ark and behind my back returned the man back home. Not long after their separation he tried to kill me. The rest you can pretty much imagine."

Everyone was silent after the Earl finished speaking. Yet one thought appeared in Allen's head and he had to voice it out.

"What does this have to do with Edward and Alphonse?!" The Earl chuckled at the young exorcist.

"The alchemist that came into this world was called Hohenhiem, the father of Edward and Alphonse Elric."

So that's how he came back... Ed thought glaring at the ground. He then remembered the time when Allen was possessed by the 14th. Everything began to make sense; the song, his words, everything! But not about the heart.

"Since you are so... open to tell us everything then why do I have the heart?" Ed snapped trying to turn and face the Earl without causing too much pain on his arm.

"That's a tough question... it took me a while to figure it out actually. The 14th discovered the innocence before your father left to his world; but just before that he gave the heart to your father to hide so I would eventually be defeated," The Earl paused to chuckle. "He must of guessed you would never enter this world but looks like he was wrong~"

Allen's hands clenched. Edward was never supposed to be in his world. Yet he could help but feel grateful that he did; they hadn't spent a lot of time together but in those few days something grew and he became angry at the fact Edward was kneeling down in front of him in pain... at the mercy of their enemy nonetheless.

The Earl coughed gaining Allen's attention back into the situation.

"I believe it's time to begin the ceremony."

"Ceremony?" Alphonse piped up as he glanced warily towards the large man and then to his brother.

"Yes; we are going to open your gate and bring out all of the lost souls inside and transform them into Akumas!" The Earl laughed and then threw Ed to the ground before jumping back. Ed tried to get up but felt an immense pain take over his body. He glance towards his bleeding hand and watched in horror as his blood began to circle around his body.

"Edward!" Allen called out and began to run towards him when a bright flash of red light shot up from the ground and he was flung backwards.

"Allen!" Lenalee cried running over towards him. Ed looked up in pain at the cry.

"Allen..." he whispered. The red glow started to grow brighter as, what he could guess, was a transmutation circle of his blood completing. Looking back at his hand he notices the symbol beginning to melt away revealing another one underneath. The symbol he recognised as love.

Not that the pervious one was confusing enough. Ed thought darkly; a moment later electricity flashed through his body and he looked down to the ground and stared with wide eyes with one large one.

"NO! NII-SAN!!" Alphonse screamed as he watched black tentacles rise up and surround his brother. Allen quickly got to his feet and ran towards Ed with his hand out reaching towards him. Ed saw him running and in an act of instinct reached out towards him desperately. Allen was a few steps away when suddenly he felt someone grab his waist tightly and pulling him back; looking back he saw Kanda glaring at him and grinding his teeth when Allen began to struggle.

"No! Let me go Kanda! No! Kanda!" Allen pushed at the strong arms holding him back.

"Stupid Moyashi! You'll get sucked in too! Then what will you do?! You moron!" Kanda snapped back trying to keep his grip on the struggling exorcist. Ed watched the struggling Allen with his hand still outstretched; he realised what he was doing and lowered his hand giving a bittersweet smile.

"... I never got to tell you how I felt..." Ed whispered as he felt the black arms wrap around his throat. Allen stopped moving, watching in horror as the blonde alchemist sunk into the ground with a pained smile.

"Edwa-!" He cut himself off when a flash of light filled the room and disappearing as quickly as it came, leaving no trace of Edward.

"Nii-san!" Alphonse sobbed as he fell to his knees. The Earl clapped his hands as if he was at the theatres watching a play. Kanda released Allen who fell down just like Alphonse with tears flowing freely down his face.

"Get up Moyashi, stop crying." Kanda said as he walked past the hunched figure.

"How can you order me to do that?" Allen choked, "Why did you stop me?! I could have saved him!"

"No you couldn't, you would have just been pulled in along... besides, the shrimp had gone through that before and he still lived; he can do it again."

"What makes you so sure he's still alive?!" Allen cried glaring at the Japanese samurai who turned to glare down at him.

"He has the heart doesn't he? If he was dead your arm would have disappeared moron!" Allen snapped his head towards his left hand to see it was still there. If the heart was destroyed it would have disappeared. "Get up Moyashi." Kanda spoke calmly as he unsheathed Mugen and held it out in front of him; Allen wiped his tears away stood up next to Kanda activating his innocence.

"It's Allen, BaKanda." He said before rushing forward to attack the Noahs and the Earl.

-

Ed opened his eyes to see that he was surrounded by white. Groaning he lifted himself off the ground and gazed upwards at the large stone doors before him. The gate.

"Back again so soon?" A voice pipped up through the door startling Ed. He smirked at the door, placing his hands on his hips.

"Yeah, but it wasn't my intention to see you again."

"Oh?" The voice questioned, making Ed frown slightly.

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"I was thinking that you would have wanted to return home," The gate opened revealing a green field and it slowly rose up to a very familiar house. Ed watched in surprise as Pinako walked out the house looking older than when he last saw her taking out her pipe to smoke. The scenery changed into the workshop where Winry was building more automail with a bright smile on her face. It changed again to Mustang in his office sleeping before Riza walked in with a scowl and hit him on the head with her clipboard. "Didn't you want to return?"

Ed snapped back to the reality and looked at the ground in confusion. He hadn't thought about returning home ever since that first mission he had with the exorcists. Allen... he met new people that made him feel like he had a place to belong. Of course they would never replace what he had but they were real. He doubted the existence of the people of his previous world until Alfons convinced him otherwise.

The one he mostly thought of was Allen. That one person made him experience emotions that he didn't believe he could feel with another that wasn't family. He smiled softly at the thought of the white haired boy.

"No..." he finally responded, "I would have stayed... because of him."

"I see... it does not matter either way as you and that innocence of yours has been sacrificed." Ed looked up as once again he was face to face with a giant eye. Black arms sprung out and grabbed him. Before being pulled in completely he gave out a single thought before hearing the doors close behind him.

XoxoxoxoxoX

If people are still reading this or still waiting for it... why haven't you left?!

I probably would have but this is my story xD anyway, sorry it's short and... Probably makes no sense? I actually had forgotten what I was going to have in the end O.O

I'm not reliable am I? Haha! And I'm still thinking of writing more fanfics xD

Next chapter (hopefully I'll write it) is... The last one? And then the epilogue.

So... if you are waiting for the end or want to know the progress of chapters, it's in my profile or go on my DeviantART account (link in profile too) where I set up a lot of journals that might explain why there is no writing (but warning; there's a lot of whining and stuff)

~ L.o.v.e.l.e.s.s – H.e.a.r.t.l.e.s.s