The Blade Alchemist: The War

Rendezvous In The Slums

Drake POV

I woke up and saw my wife was sleeping peacefully on my lap. I checked watch, and saw that the train was about twenty to twenty-five minuets from the station. I gently shook her awake. "Hon, wake up. Time to go." She sat up and rubbed her eyes. "But the train is still moving. We're not the station yet." I looked around and saw no one, then looked at her. "Who said we were getting off at the station?" She looked at me surprised. "We're jumping?" I nodded. "We can't let anyone see us in Central. Lets go." We stood up and I grabbed our bag. We walked to the rear door and opened it. "Change forms. You can handle the jump, I can't. I'll ride on your back." She nodded, took her shirt off, and changed to wolf form.

I put her shirt in the suitcase and climbed on her back. "Ready?" she asked, and I nodded. "Okay. Here we go." She leaped of the back and landed on the ground with a thud. "Can you smell Ed from here?" I asked. She sniffed into the air for a moment. "Yeah. He's that way." she said pointing in a direction. "Alright. Lets go." I held on tight as she ran at an amazing speed towards Eds smell. She ran for about thirty minuets until we came to the top of a hill. We could see some shacks and huts all crowded in a small area. "He's down there." she said, pointing at the buildings. "That must be Kanama. Lets change you back."

I hopped off her back and got her shirt back out as she changed back to human form. She put her shirt back on and turned to me as I smiled. "I take back what I said about 'cheap'. I really do love your fur, hon." She smiled as kissed me. "Thank you. Glad you like it." We chuckled and started our walk down the hill and into the slums. We walked around trying to find Ed, but no luck. And there were too many people for Jess to follow his scent. "What about his dad? That Hohen guy?" Jess asked. "Yeah. Lets ask around for him." We walked around asking the occasional people if they had seen Hohenheim.

We finally found someone who knew where he was and he took us to him. "Hey, Hohenheim. Long time no see." He looked at me and turned around to me. "Well, hello Drake, Jessica. It's good to see you again." I walked up and shook his hand, but Jess didn't move. "Hon, you okay?" She relaxed a bit, but still seemed on guard. "Sorry. No offense sir, but I just don't feel right about you." He just stared at her. "So, you can feel it, can you?"

"Drake!" I turned around to see Ed and the others walking up to us. "Hey, Ed." We all shook hands and Ed turned to Hohenheim. He suddenly charged at him and slugged him with his metal hand. Hohenheim flew back a few feet from the force of the punch. "Sigh. Ed, why do you have to be so hostile?" I asked. "Yeah! You could have at least warned me you were going to slug me! With your metal hand too!" Hohenheim complained. After a minuet, he stood back up and walked back to us. "I see you've brought some friends with you." he stated.

We had a short conversation about who they were and the such. I noticed that Hohenheim was looking at Greed ouroboros tattoo sternly. "That's an interesting tattoo." he calmly stated and I walked over. "Don't worry about him. We have more pressing matters to discuss." Ed jumped in. "We need to talk. The promised day is tomorrow." Hohenheim and Ed just stared at each other for a while. "Fair enough. I'll tell you everything."

We walked over to the fire he was sitting at when we arrived and we all sat down. Hohenheim began to tell us about what happened to Xerxes and that he was there when it happened, and that he was part of the blame for it. He told us that he was a living Philosophers Stone, made with the souls of the people of Xerxes from four hundred years ago. Every one of us were completely shocked. "So, that's what I sense about you. I knew something was wrong." Jess flatly stated.

Hohenheim continued to explain what 'Fathers' plan was, confirming our suspicions. He said that there was going to be a solar eclipse tomorrow, and that it was needed for there plan. I jumped in. "So, all we need to do is hold him off until the eclipse passes, right?" Hohenheim looked at me. "No. He can still use the array to make a new stone. The eclipse will just add power to the transmutation. We have to stop him altogether. I need your help to do so."

"Help you!?" Ed yelled. "I'm going to stop that bearded bastard! I'm not doing it to help you! Our best chance is to team up! And that's the only reason I'm even talking to you right now!" I stood up and put my hand on Eds shoulder. "Ed, calm down. I know you hate him, but we can't afford to be fighting each other right now. Save your energy for tomorrow." He looked at me and slightly calmed down. "Fine." I dropped my hand as Jess stood up. "We're going to get something to eat. We'll see you guys later." she said and they all nodded at us.

We walked through the slums and found a place that sold noodles and we ordered some. "Sigh. Ed sure has one hell of a temper, huh?" Jess asked. "Yup! Like someone else I know." I retorted and she lightly hit me in the side. "Freak." I chuckled. "Wolf." We kissed and the cook handed us our food. We sat there and enjoyed our meal. "So, what do you wanna do? We got some time before we go to sleep for the night." I asked and she shrugged her shoulders. "Don't know. We could just walk around. I need the exercise anyway." I chuckled as we finished our food.

We left the shop and started looking around. We stopped a few times and just chatted with some of the locals to pass the time. We ran into a young woman and Jess and her talked for what seemed like hours. She asked if we had somewhere to stay and we both nodded. "We thought we would just sleep under the stars. It's nice out anyway." Jess answered. "Are you sure? I have a spare room if you would like." the woman, who's name was Melanie, offered. We thought about it a minuet. "We really don't want to intrude Mel." I stated but she shook her head. "It's no bother. Can't have a lovely young lady like her sleeping on the ground." Jess smiled. "Thank you." I shook my head. "Thank you, Melanie. You're too kind."

We walked into the hut and she showed us the room. It only had a small bed and a lamp on the floor beside it. "Make yourselves at home." she said then walked away. We walked in and sat on the bed. "My legs are a little worn out, hon. That long run took a lot out of me." Jess stated and I chuckled. "Thanks for the ride, honey." We kissed and layed down. We slowly drifted off to sleep, but Jess suddenly sat up. "Honey? What's wrong?" I asked and she was shivering, looking out the window into the woods. "Somethings here!" I sat up and looked out that window.

"What is it?" I asked and she continued to stare. "It's the same! The presence in the tunnel! It's the same! It's here!" I stood up and strapped my gear on. "Let's go!" She nodded and we left the hut running into the woods. We ran through the woods until we came to a clearing where Ed and his friends were standing. We ran up to them and saw Al standing at the edge of the clearing. "Al?" I asked. Ed ran up to him and started talking to him. I looked at Jess and she was frozen in fear.

"Honey, what is it?" I whispered in her ear. She swallowed hard then turned to me. "Somethings not right, Drake. That presence, it's coming from Al." I looked at Al, then back to here. "What do you mean?" She was shaking with fear. "That's...that's.." I looked back at Al, and looked closely. He started to walk into the woods, But Ed asked if he was okay, and he stopped. I turned back to Jess. "Tell me, what is it?" She looked at me. "That's...not Al." My eyes went wide as I turned back to Al. "Ed! Get away from him!" I heard Lings voice yell. "He's not…..he's a…." I looked at Jess, then to Al. Then I realized it.

"Ed! That's not Al! Move!" Suddenly, a dozen black blades shot out from Als feet. Me and Jess rolled out of the way, then the blades retracted back into Als feet. "What the hell!?" I yelled. "What the hell was that!?" Ed followed. 'Al' turned around to us. "I see you're working with them now, huh Greed?" he spoke in a voice that was mix of Als and something else. Me and Jess stood up and she quickly changed forms, ripping yet another shirt. "How pathetic that you share your body with a human. Your soul couldn't be any weaker" the voice spoke and Als was not there this time. Suddenly, dozens of purple eyes opened it the crevices of the armor.

"What in the hell is that!?" Jess yelled. "It's Pride." Greed answered and we all turned to him. "He's my oldest brother." We were all shocked and looked at the armor. "That's...a homuculus?" Ed asked. I watched as Pride spoke with Greed about him betraying 'Father' again. "Damn it! How did you know I was here!?" Greed asked. "That's true, how did he?" I asked Jess and she shook her head. "No idea. But you are right. It seems that he knew exactly where we were." she answered. "How dare you disguise yourself as my brother!" Ed yelled and Pride chuckled.

"Who said that this was a disguise?" The helmet lifted up and the black inside split away, to reveal Als blood seal in the back of the armor. "This is, without a doubt, your brothers actual body." We were all frozen with shock. Ed and Pride continued to talk about him and Al body. Pride told Ed to go with him, but got into a ready stance. Me and Jess followed suit and I drew my sword. "I may not be able to kill you. But if I have to slice off a few of your limbs in the process, so be it." Suddenly, Jess tensed up. "Here it comes!" she yelled as the black blades erupted from Als feet again. They came at us, and we dove into the woods.