Flowers of Antimony

by Lady Norbert

A/N: I have returned from Zenkaikon, where I acquired some shiny FMA items. Even better, I had the opportunity to spend time with Vic Mignogna and Todd Haberkorn, who are the voice actors for Edward Elric and Ling Yao, respectively. They are both absolutely delightful human beings who treat their fans like gold. It was a rare treat to be able to socialize with them away from the con, if only for a little while. It was also awesome to hang out with other members of the Risembool Rangers (Vic's official fan club). So if any of you are reading this, hi! Thanks for contributing to my con experience - I had a wonderful time, partly because of all of you! Be sure to check my blog to see all the pictures from my Zenkaikon adventures.

Also, I apologize - I originally listed the wrong two chimera as accompanying Al into Xing. It's corrected here, and I fixed the instances in previous chapters as well.

Chapter Thirteen: Anodyne

Anodyne: A medicine or drug which alleviates pain.

Around three in the morning, the formal demand is finally delivered.

Havoc is tasked with bringing the notice to Fuhrer Grumman, who looks tired and cranky. He supposes it's hard to blame the guy, all things considered. "So what do they want, Lieutenant?"

"The unconditional surrender of the Emperor of Xing and Princess May Chang. If you don't give up the royals, they'll come in and take them by force." Havoc knows the situation is grim; it's been hours since Fuery's conversation with Fullmetal, and there's been no sign that he, Mustang, or Hawkeye are within the city limits. "They've got Central Command totally surrounded, and with the city streets still blockaded, no backup units can get in to help us."

"I'm not giving them up." Grumman's voice is like iron. "If we have to fight, we have to fight. Get every available man to help barricade the entrances; I'll be part of the fight myself if need be."

Havoc hesitates, wondering if he should mention the possibility of assistance coming. Then he remembers what he so often forgets, what none of them knew for so long - that Hawkeye is the Fuhrer's granddaughter. The old man probably won't appreciate knowing that his only living relative may or may not be jumping into the thick of things. "We'll defend Central to the last man if that's what it takes, Your Excellency," he says instead. Let the Fuhrer think Hawkeye is safe in Resembool. Havoc almost wishes she were.

The bathroom door opens slowly. "So it's us they want?"

Havoc and the Fuhrer both turn to look at the Emperor. He is oddly calm. "I'm afraid so, Your Majesty."

"I don't want your men to all be killed over this, Fuhrer Grumman. That wouldn't be right." Ling steps more fully into the room, and glances at the far corner where his sister is still asleep on the little cot. "I will surrender myself."

"No, my lord!" It's Lan Fan who speaks, a hushed outburst, and she's across the room in the blink of an eye. "Xing needs you, you must not!"

"And Amestris needs to be left in peace. This is not their fight!" He pauses, and looks at Havoc. "Who is it?" he wants to know. "Did the person behind all of this identify themselves?"

Havoc squints at the message. "Not exactly," he says. "They just claim to be 'the rightful Emperor.'"

Ling groans, and pales a little. "I was beginning to have my suspicions," he admits. Lan Fan tries to usher him into a chair, but he waves her aside.

"Who is it, then?" asks the Fuhrer.

"His name is Dong Bao," Ling replies gravely, "and he is my eldest half-brother."

"It's Ling's brother?" Falman repeats in disbelief, when Havoc relates the conversation to him, Fuery and Breda.

"That's what he says. Apparently Ling was the twelfth son - the Emperor had fifty kids, and when he was dying there was an all-out brawl for the throne. Ling won because he got the Philosopher's Stone." Havoc can't imagine having five children, let alone fifty. "May was the seventeenth daughter, she was even lower in the pecking order than Ling. So this Dong Bao was pissed because he assumed he'd inherit the throne, being the oldest. Instead, not only did he not get it automatically, but he wasn't even named Ling's heir."

"I guess that'd make me a little resentful too," Breda acknowledges, "but not enough to invade a neighboring country."

"Ling says he made the Princess his heir because she was the only one out of the whole family that he likes at all," Havoc continues. "But he's been financially supporting the other forty-eight ever since he was crowned. He's never trusted most of them, but he says he never expected any of them to go this far."

"What about the people we've seen out there? The ones who seem to be of different nationalities?" asks Fuery.

"Not sure yet. Maybe they're hired guns."

"We can't let the Emperor give himself up," Fuery insists. "That's just - wrong!"

"We won't, kid, don't worry. Right now we've got to get every available soldier on the steps," says Havoc. "Leave a few to guard the Crisis Room, get the rest outside and ready to fight."

"What about the General? Anything?" asks Falman.

"Haven't heard a peep. Maybe the balloon didn't pan out and they couldn't get into the city. We can't wait for them. Let's just...let's do what he'd expect us to do. Fight."

"Just remember, we're still under orders," says Breda.

"We are?"

"You weren't there." The 'rook' gives his comrade a half-smile. "When we convened in the sewers, Fuery and Hawkeye and me - Mustang gave us just one order. Don't die."

"I see. Yes, that order applies to all of you."

"You too, Havoc," says Fuery.

The collective Amestrian military fans out in formation on the stairs leading into Central Command. The city is abnormally silent, and one might choke on the sheer tension polluting the air. They stare out at the strange sea of faces, and no one is entirely sure what is about to happen, but their spines are rigid with the strain of knowing that something is most surely imminent.

A man steps forward from the approximate center of the line of intruders. "I have given your Fuhrer an hour to decide," he calls out. "Will he surrender the Xingese usurper?"

"Our Fuhrer has considered your request," Havoc calls back, "and I believe his exact words for you were 'Go to hell.'"

"I shall take you all with me!" Dong Bao shouts.

To a man, the Amestrians pull their rifles. "You'll have to go through every last one of us first," Breda growls, probably too low to be heard by their enemy.

"Attack!"

But as the motley army starts to advance on the building, a burst of flame erupts from a side street. The instant it dies down, Zampano appears, causing a few murmurs of surprise; he has not been seen since the parade was disrupted. His gait is strange, as though his leg is injured, but he shifts quickly into his hulking boarlike form and fires a round of spiny quills at the strangers. They start to retaliate at once, only to be diverted by a second flame burst from a different side street - and there is Jerso, froglike and spewing slime, as soon as the flames die down.

Before anyone can react to the appearance of a second chimera, the screech of rubber on asphalt echoes through the empty streets as a military-issue vehicle tears toward the building. It shows no sign of stopping even as it nears the chaos, but at the last second the driver jerks the wheel hard to the left, causing it to spin violently into the group, which scatters in self-defense. Only then does anyone realize that a person is clinging to the side of the truck with one arm, brandishing a gun with the other, and the newcomer fires off several shots before the truck even stops moving. Riza Hawkye jumps to the ground, tucking and rolling, and there is what can only be described as a sort of elegance to her fluidity. While Edward Elric exits the vehicle and runs to join her, she gets to her feet and proceeds to belt the nearest insurgent.

Havoc, watching her, is peculiarly reminded of two things at once - first, exactly why it is that every member of Team Mustang has always, always adored their 'queen'; and second, exactly why it is a very bad idea to piss her off. The third thought, barely half a step behind the first two, is that if Hawkeye is on the scene, then Mustang must be very close by. This third conclusion is rapidly reached by those around him, and a strangled cheer rises. Just as Falman had predicted, Mustang's arrival has a salutary effect on the Amestrians' morale. They rush down the steps, meeting the enemy head on, but try not to kill - since the events of the Promised Day there has been an unspoken oath, at least among certain officers, never to kill if it can be helped.

Fullmetal alone does not have a gun, and Havoc wonders at it - the kid is putting himself in harm's way without a weapon and without alchemy to defend himself. He realizes, in between his own skirmishes, that Hawkeye has put her back against Edward's to protect him as much as possible, and Fullmetal is no slouch in the hand-to-hand combat department; he disarms and disables two insurgents before Havoc can reach his side.

As he does, a veritable wall of fire rises up behind them all, blocking the enemy's potential escape.

Havoc grins around his cigarette. "Hail to the king, baby."

The scene promptly descends into utter chaos. Although Dong Bao's forces do indeed have alchemists in their midst, they're no match for the Flame Alchemist, and his reputation is just horrible enough that a few of them surrender without a struggle. These are disarmed and taken into custody and herded into the building.

The others take a bit more convincing. Somehow, both Lan Fan and Alphonse manage to 'escape' from Central Command and join the fray. Between Al's walls, Mustang's flames, Hawkeye's bullets, Lan Fan's weird but effective ass-kicking style, Ed's fists, Zampano's quills and Jerso's gross ability, Havoc feels like he should have just bought tickets to this melee and watched it from the grandstands. Still, there's plenty of action to go around, so he's hardly what you might call bored.

Somewhere around dawn, the dignitaries move from the Crisis Room to the Situation Room, where they are brought face to face with a subdued Dong Bao. With one of Amestris's best alchemists standing to his left, its finest former alchemist standing to his right, and its prettiest sniper holding a gun to his back, the dejected royal starts to talk. It seems he's been using Ling's financial support all along to purchase the loyalty of disgruntled citizens in Drachma, Creta, and Aerugo, building something of a mercenary army and waiting for the right time to strike. As Al had theorized, with both the Emperor and the Princess in Central City, it looked like a plum opportunity to take what he saw as rightfully his.

"You have no concept, none at all," he tells his younger brother and sister, "of how much I detest you both. I have never hated anyone or anything this much. It eats me alive."

Fuhrer Grumman allows Ling to call the shots in the interview; after all, it was his life, and that of his favorite sister, which were being demanded as ransom for the city. May is silent, and pale with shock and grief. She stands to one side, Al's arm securely folded around her shoulders for comfort. Ling asks question after question, wanting particulars of transactions and details of who was involved. He is almost unnaturally calm, not demanding, his questions very nearly soft-spoken. Lan Fan stands behind his chair; she reminds Havoc of a snake, poised to strike if Dong does anything that even remotely implies he's going to attack.

The interview concludes, and Ling looks at his older brother with harsh contempt. "You are no longer considered a son of the Emperor, Dong Bao," he says. "You and your clan will be exiled from Xing, and your name will be stricken from the imperial records. Fuhrer Grumman, if you will be so good as get this traitor out of my sight?" He turns his back on the table and moves to embrace May for a moment; it's as if the treachery of one sibling has only served to highlight his affections for another.

As several soldiers escort the prisoner out of the room, Ling sighs, and looks over at Ed. He's smiling again. "Admit it, having me here has made your wedding preparations lots more interesting!"

"Yeah." Fullmetal cracks a grin. "You'd better have brought me one hell of a wedding present, Ling."

"What? My presence isn't present enough?"