Chapter 28
Fire and Death
"Here we are," Edmund announced, the plane coming to a shuddering halt on the white expanse of snow near the rendezvous point: the village southwest of Germany's northern military base.
"I don't ever wanna do that again," Bido groaned, one hand over his mouth as he staggered out of the cockpit and off the plane, tripping and landing in the snow with a puff of white.
"You said it," Martel agreed, hair ruffled, cooky-eyed, and stiff, deliberate in her time getting off the plane behind Bido. Roa got out first and helped her down. "Thanks, Roa," she said.
He grunted in reply.
"Oh, come on! It wasn't that bad!" Edmund yelled grouchily over the plane's rotors – which were rotating to a stop.
The plane piloted by Kilduff – carrying Edward, Ulchi, Dolcetto, and Kilduff – pulled up behind them.
"It was lucky we were able to lift off with such severe weather," said Kilduff.
"Yeah, I guess it was," said Edmund as he unbuckled himself.
Kilduff stood on the cockpit seat, fixing his focus to the village before them as the others climbed off his plane. Taking into account the dreary and poor demeanor of the place, he decided, "We'll have to be quick. The Thule Society isn't far behind."
"Right," Edmund agreed, descending the rungs to the cockpit of his own plane.
They approached the village with caution, knowing they couldn't blend in, being the band of misfits they were: Roa, a man the size of a bull; Ulchi, another large man with little hair and a squished face; Dolcetto, a shorter, sharp-nosed man with a long sword at his hip; Martel, a small, shifty, snake-eyed woman; Bido, a short, bald, scruffy-looking man; Kilduff, a tall stranger in a trench coat and bowler's hat on his head that concealed most of his face and body; and then Edward and Edmund, the two clones polar opposite of each other in everything but appearance, minus their hair and eye color. (And the polar opposite expressions on their faces.)
They attracted quite a lot of attention, – it was true, – but thankfully Bido led the way without pause – as if he knew where he was going.
Eventually, they arrived at a house near the marketplace, on the edge of the village of rundown hut-shaped houses. After scanning the area to see if anyone was watching, Bido stepped surreptitiously toward the door, leaned in close against the wood, and whispered something.
Nothing happened for a few minutes, – during which Edmund became extremely impatient, – until the door opened. Everyone piled inside.
"Good, you're finally here. We were starting to worry if you hadn't been able to escape."
Edward recognized that voice. "Wait, are you...?"
A small, baldish man with a pointy black mustache faced him. "Hm?"
Edward's jaw dropped. "Yondee?!"
"Hey, I'm here too!"
Tears filled Ed's eyes. "Mei!" He had never been happier to see a familiar face in his life. Even as Jiang, Mei's cat, hissed at him from under Mei's pink silk hood. "You're okay...!"
Edmund, Kilduff, Mei, Yondee, and the chimera copies watched Edward, who was doing his best not to cry.
"You know these guys?" Edmund asked.
"Yeah," Ed said, shaking his head to rid himself of tears, "But I thought... I thought you guys had been abducted by Envy with all the other gypsies..."
At this, Yondee and Mei seemed to shrink in stature.
"We were out buying groceries to feed Dr. Mordred's patients when Envy and the Thule Society attacked," Mei said. "But when we got back... we saw the place had been trashed, and you and Teresa were being carried off by them. We didn't know what to do."
"We went to your friend's, you see," said Yondee. "That little boy with an ego. What was his name again?"
Edmund sputtered, "Wolfrik?! Wolfrik Curtis?! He's okay too?!"
Mei said, "Of course he's okay! Do you really think his scary mother would let anyone lay a finger on him?! If they did, she'd send her bear-sized husband after them! They wouldn't live through the next day!"
Edward gave a full bellow of laughter – the first in a while. "Hahaha! You're probably right! Izumi and Sig would definitely do that!"
"Anyway, I told Wolfrik what had happened," Mei went on, "and he told his mom. You know as well as I do how much the Curtises hate the Thule Society and everything they're scheming. So Mrs. Curtis connected us to the boss."
"And they're how we've been able to get here and help you in the first place," Edmund finished.
Everyone nodded.
"...This boss... why won't you just tell me who it is already?!"
"In the event we fail our mission and someone catches you, they could torture you for information about us," Kilduff answered, blunt as could be. "And then the entire operation would go downhill. You'll see soon enough."
"We need a path back into Munich City is all," said Martel. "Then we might have a chance at beating the Thule Society and putting an end to this."
"Wait, you have a plan that might actually defeat them?!" Edward asked. "What is it?"
"That's also classified for the time being," said Edmund.
Edward growled, clenching his fists. "Why does it matter if we'll be there soon enough anyway?!"
Another voice interjected, "Now, now, Elric, don't go blaming them for our rash behavior."
Ed turned toward the source.
From the kitchen of the home, a man with a monocle and smooth clothes strolled into the shaggy living room where all others were gathered, assisted with his ivory cane.
"Mabuse?!" Edward called out incredulously. "You... you're the one who gave me those books on alchemy to help me find a way home!"
Planting his cane between his feet, the elderly, Bradley-looking man tipped his bowler hat to Ed respectfully. "Good to see you, Fullmetal Alchemist. I hope those books were of some use to you."
"O-of course they were!" Ed stammered gratefully. "With the Central Munich Library being burned down, I had nowhere else I could go to for research! I've been able to learn more to understand the connection between this world and Shamballa, my home."
"Yes, we thought they would be far more useful to you, who could understand all the alchemical references better than us who have merely recreated what we can with our imaginations." Mabuse smiled at him pleasantly, pipe brush mustache curving upward.
Edmund burst, "You know this old coot too?! Geez, how many adventures have you had while impersonating me anyway?!"
Edward grinned – just barely. All the familiar and unfamiliar faces of the people he'd met flashed through his memory. "Too many to count."
Mabuse spoke up from the entrance of the kitchen. "The boss and I thought it would be best to leave you in the dark about our operation just in case the Thule Society decided to move ahead of schedule and interrogated you for information. We had been planning to tell you about our plan to get you home and stop them before it went quite this far, but... they did move faster than expected. And many lives were ruined because of it." Mabuse stopped there, giving a moment of silence to all those who'd been sacrificed to get this far – mostly innocent gypsies who were manipulated and brutally murdered by Envy. Brutally murdered for no reason.
Edward joined him. The blood that had stained the walls when he'd arrived in Rille's hospital... the blood gushing out of Jeta's mouth and stomach... the flames that'd scorched the gypsy campsite of Barsali, and hundreds of others all across the countryside...
The Thule Society was willing to do anything to get what they wanted.
Or perhaps... it was Envy? Just Envy who drove them that far?
Doesn't matter, Edward concluded. All of them are guilty if they decided to just go along with whatever Envy said all this time. The Thule soldiers, Dietlinde, the Heiderichs, even Teresa... all of them. No one is free from the guilt. Not even me, who was helpless to stop the soldiers when Barsali's group was attacked...
Mabuse said, "Whether we're successful or not, their sacrifice to us will forever be remembered. We will never forget those who have perished."
Everyone in the room – even Yondee, who hadn't seemed to have been listening all that closely – nodded as one.
"We'll destroy those Thule Society punks if it's the last thing we do," Dolcetto declared.
"Quite right," Martel agreed.
"Couldn't have said so better myself," Edmund joined in.
For the first time since he was exposed to Thule's evil plans to use the alchemy in Shamballa as a weapon of war, Edward seemed to be surrounded by friends. By people with their humanity still intact who would not allow such a thing to happen.
The betrayal of the Heiderichs and deaths of the gypsies he'd traveled with were still fresh in his mind, and made him wonder... could his luck really last?
"Where are they headed now?" Envy/Eckhart inquired the soldier coming to meet him/her on the snowy hill above the village the Eds and company had pit-stopped in. By nightfall, another blizzard loomed over the area, reducing the visual of the Thule soldiers tailing them.
"We can't be sure," said the soldier. "They may have already left – it's impossible to tell with this storm."
Envy gritted his teeth, muttering under the furry white neck of Eckhart's coat, "Damn brats, using this to their advantage." He knew they couldn't get too close, or they'd increase the risk of being seen. They'd lose the chance of following Edward and his band of misfits to the boss of this new organization against Thule. Not knowing what kinds of abilities they had, this organization could be their undoing, and Father would not be pleased.
Envy continued to stare into the dark white obscurity of the nighttime storm. We took away all opposing forces. The gypsies are scattered everywhere. The Heiderichs are under our custody. Even the Elrick girl is once again under our command. Who else could there be who knows of our plans...?
Envy's/Eckhart's bright, pale-blue eyes widened. So that's it. Envy sneered.
The soldier on the hill with him asked, "Sir?"
Envy turned around, heading back to Eckhart's limo, buried in snow. "Rally the troops. We leave immediately." The corners of Envy's sneer grew. "I think it's time we dropped mommy and daddy a little visit."
Ulchi awoke everyone the very second conditions were good enough to fly. With the planes refueled, and the storm passed, the small resistance buckled up behind the cockpit glass of the planes once again. With three more passengers, it was quite cramped in the cockpits labeled with an occupancy of no more than four. By fitting the smaller passengers – Edward, Edmund, Martel, Mei, and Yondee – in the plane of six and the larger passengers – Kilduff, Dolcetto, Roa, Ulchi, and Mabuse – in the plane of five accordingly. (Some large and small in each plane.)
The flight wasprolonged throughout the entire day, and at night they landed in the field near another town, – not quite so winter-ish or rundown as the last, – and received the assistance of another familiar face.
"Take your stinkin' fuel and get outta my face," said Tim Marcoh's copy, Doctor Mauro, barely opening his front door as Roa and Ulchi went to the cellar of the house to retrieve the fuel.
"Could we have some provisions too, sir?" Martel asked earnestly. "We still have at least another day of travel ahead of us before we reach Munich City."
Mauro grumbled, "I know you lot think the gypsies aren't a disgustin' race who have tainted the countryside of our beloved Germany, but you're wrong! They'll drive us all to ruin with their filthy way of life! Always stealin' and moochin' offa the land that's ours! You can have your freakin' provisions, but I better not hear another word outta yah askin' for help until all this business is over. Yah hear?"
"Yes, sir," Martel said, she and Dolcetto going inside to gather food from Dr. Mauro's kitchen – he eyed the rest outside his door contemptuously while they did.
"Thank you, Dr. Mauro," Edmund said, nodding to him as they left.
"Yeah, yeah, shut up," the old man grumbled, slamming the door behind him.
Edmund stood there for a moment with an agitated expression, frozen in place with his armful of food – so did Martel, Dolcetto, Edward, and Mei. "How did the boss get someone like him to help us out in the first place?!" Edmund asked Kilduff.
He shrugged. "Must have been the only one available at the time, I guess."
Refueled once again and refitted back into their trusty air crafts like a jigsaw, most dozed off, lost in the darkness of the midnight sky. So far above the white-with-snow grasslands, – which gradually transformed into a rocky mountain range, – Ed's thoughts drifted back to the gypsies who'd become his family over that month. The mountains passing below were the very same Edward had crossed with Barsali, Camlo, Jeta, and the others.
Ed hated thinking of them. No matter what other happy associating memories came to mind, it was their curdling screams and the heat of the fire of their camp that always completed his thoughts.
Jeta's death disturbed Edward the most. Not only had he witnessed her death, unable to do anything to save her, Ed hadn't even known anything about her past life.
Barsali had had a wife and son to care for. Camlo had had nothing left of his family, but he'd still been able to laugh and make others laugh with his jokes and humorous stories. All the gypsies had had tales to tell of their lives before their homeland was invaded in Poland, but not Jeta. She hadn't spilled a word of it. And that disturbed Edward the most. For the others, he'd been able to link their lives to their names and faces, but... he didn't even know where if Jeta had a family. Had she even been part of all the others who'd grown up in Poland?
She'd died quietly, without recognition, before his eyes... and he couldn't even bring a face or name to her life or her death, because he didn't even know who she was... truly.
What seemed like long ago, Edward's bane had been focused primarily on his longing for his past life in Shamballa, but now... it was those he'd encountered in Germany who occupied his mind.
Icy winds blew his gold bangs against his cheeks, high up in the clouds. Aside from Ed, Edmund and Kilduff were the only ones to remain awake to steer the planes. All the others were sleeping soundly. How could they rest so easily when so much suffering was going on down on the surface below? Perhaps they really were convinced this "plan" they had to defeat the Thule Society would work. Perhaps they could relax, because they hadn't seen the things Edward had seen.
They'd helped Ed escape from the military base, but what else had they done? What else have they been doing this entire time? While Ed encountered people who he ultimately had to abandon or died before his eyes, had they been sitting around waiting for things to happen?
Ed couldn't possibly fathom that they'd faced quite the multitude of terrors he had. And not only when it came to the Thule Society. This included in Amestris, where he'd faced Truth too. Where he'd faced the Homunculi before, and tragedies like Nina and Alexander... at the hands of Nina's own father.
Ed used to wonder if this world was just a game, trapped in Truth's imagination, but then what would that make the lives of everyone he'd met here? What would that make the lives of everyone back home in Shamballa...? Would it make them any less part of Truth's imagination...?
Ed wouldn't do that; he wouldn't forsake those here. He wouldn't forsake the lives of everyone he'd encountered and all those who had died to keep him alive in this alternate reality.
Thinking one world was more important than the other was what got him into trouble in the first place. Edward had vowed not to return to Amestris until the Thule Society was brought down, knowing how they could destroy everything he held dear back home, but... he missed that life more than anything in the world...
They arrived in Munich early that morning, landed the planes behind the forest on the northeast side so they wouldn't be spotted – which was conveniently also the direction to the "boss's" house. Yondee and Mei played their part, being expert smugglers, and snuck everyone into the city without being discovered.
Rightoff, they headed toward the higher-salary residential area of the city, toward a place Edward had been before. Initially, this confused him, but he realized where they were going long before they got there.
Creeping along the tall, hedged walls surrounding the mansion to reach the dirt driveway, they were discreet, but the smell of smoke burned Ed's nostrils before the mansion was in full view. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, and his heart stopped when he heard the snaps of fire devouring the Elrick Manor.
Envy and the Thule Society soldiers had gotten there first.
Side note I thought I might add (and slight spoilers for anyone who's just starting the show): So I know that Wrath, or rather, Führer King Bradley has a twin on Earth, but you may have noticed that none of the other Homunculi copies have been mentioned, right? Well, this is because while Bradley was originally a human, then transformed into a Homunculus by Father, Lust, Gluttony, Envy, Greed, Sloth, and Pride already took over their bodily vessels hundreds of years ago, meaning their actual copies probably still wouldn't be alive.
Except for Greeling, of course, who took over Ling's body. And Lin exists in this alternate world of Earth, so yeh~
Just thought I'd add that in case someone wanted to see a copy of their favorite Homunculus and was confused why they weren't getting one...
Speaking of which, if your favorite FMA character's Earth copy has not appeared thus far and you would like to see them do so, I would be more than happy to fit them in somewhere before the story ends~! (I've been trying to include everyone I can from Brotherhood... anyone I've missed...?)
Sorry for the update so late in the month! Thanks for reading~!
