Ok so its been awhile because of the musical and then I had writers block. Really this story is coming very slowly for me right now as far as how I'm going to piece it all together. i know certain scenes i want but I'm bad about transitions. I'm working on it though.
Cara: Especially since this is kind of the depressing arc of the story.
Chloe: Plus the author is going to have to start building on the romance.
Ed: Speaking of which, we're doing a redo of the pairing poll
Envy: Because every revier seemed dissapointed.
In other words: EDXCARA FANS! GET YOUR REARS IN GEAR IF YOU WANT IT TO BE A PAIRING AND VOTE DAMNIT!
Lust: Well said
Al: REVIEW!
"You said we'd find him again" Wrath murmured. "But… where do we start?"
"I did not think about that" Cara sighed, wishing absently for Chloe's sight… or lack thereof. "Where would a homunculus go when he lost all his henchmen and was being hunted by other homunculi?"
Wrath was silent, shaking his head pensively.
"Hmm… well he might try to destroy is weakness" Cara thought. "And Dante has the rest of that… but you don't think he'd be stupid enough to go there do you?"
"Well, he might want to kill her too." Wrath reasoned.
"Right… " Cara leaned against the wall of the alleyway. She suddenly heard footsteps running towards them and heavy panting. She looked up to see the weird lizard guy, Bido, casting a fearful glance behind his shoulder.
"Hello, solution to our problem" Cara grinned, snatching Bido by the collar of his shirt and slamming him down against the ground. She planted a knee on his chest and pressed a knife to his neck.
"Y-you!" the chimera stuttered, struggling from beneath the red head.
"Me" she smirked. "Where'd your boss run off to lizard boy?"
"I'm not going to tell you that!" he spat in a feeble attempt at bravery.
"I'm thinking you should" Cara said, pressing the blade of her knife harder against Bido's neck. "Or I'll have Wrath cut off your tail."
Wrath placed his hand against the ground and drew a stone blade up around his hand before placing it halfway up Bido's tail.
Bido squeaked and shook his head rapidly "No, no, no, don't do that!"
"Where's Greed?" Cara asked.
"He s-said something about going to the old ladies house. Th-that's all I know!" Bido stammered. "Honestly!"
"That's all we need to know." Cara jumped off of the lizard chimera and motioned for Wrath to follow her. "Come on kid, let's find him."
The two Homunculi darted away leaving Bido shaking with fear.
Ed had looked everywhere for Al, every building he could. But he was nowhere. "Damn it." Ed hissed leaning against the wall of a building and pushing his hair out of his face angrily. "The military is crawling everywhere, Al is kidnapped… what the hell am I supposed to do?"
"Come on kid, let's find him" he heard an all too familiar voice say. Across the street he saw a flash of red hair as Cara… or Apathy, emerged from the alleyway, followed by teacher's psycho kid. They hurried down the street and around the corner.
"Did they take him?" Ed's eyes narrowed. "Only one way to find out." He took off in pursuit of the homunculi.
"We're here" Cara skidded to a stop just outside Dante's house. She heard yelling from inside.
"Who the Hell are you? You're just a freaking kid… unless…"
That was Greed's voice.
There was a sudden bright flash of blue that illuminated the room.
"Alchemy… what's the old lady up to?" Cara cocked her head to the side. She heard the snap of a twig behind her and turned, only to be tackled to the ground.
A second later she was on her back, a familiar blade pressed against her neck. Ed was above her, his gold eyes fierce with anger "Where is my brother?"
Cara smirked up at him "Nice sneak attack pipsqueak. Didn't even hear you coming."
"Shut up" Ed hissed.
"Let her go!" Wrath snapped, starting to move towards him but Ed glared at the younger homunculus and pressed the blade harder to Cara's neck.
"Back off! I know she isn't completely cured of her attacks yet! She can still die!"
Wrath stopped in his tracks, glaring at Ed hatefully.
Cara raised an eyebrow as Ed looked back to her "Really? Are you going to kill me? Do you have the guts to kill me?"
"I think I can find them" Ed growled. "After what you did to Chloe."
Cara ignored the comment "What do you want Edward?"
"Don't play dumb! I want to know where my brother is! You took him didn't you?" Ed yelled.
"No" Cara replied honestly. "No, we didn't."
"How do I know that I can trust you?"
"You don't."
There was a tense silence before Cara sighed "Though if you really want to know, the guy who took him is in that house. His name is Greed."
"So it was one of you." Ed's eyes narrowed.
"No. He's a rouge. Some of the others have bitter feelings towards him." Cara said.
Ed studied Cara for a long time before he withdrew his blade and stood to his feet.
"Not going to kill me pipsqueak?" Cara smirked.
"I should" Ed muttered. "I really should." Then he ran for the front door of the house.
"Can I kill him yet?" Wrath asked.
"No" Cara shook her head. "I don't think you're allowed to."
"Why didn't he kill you Apathy?" Wrath asked.
Cara sighed "Because even though he hates me, he's a soft heart. I don't think he's ever taken a life intentionally."
"Are we still going to get Greed?"
"Yeah, I'm not letting pipsqueak do all the work."Cara looked down at Wrath. "You stay out here kid. Make sure no one else comes."
"You sure?" Wrath asked.
Cara nodded "Positive. I'll be fine."
"What have you done with Al?" Ed was yelling.
"You're the older brother huh?" Greed asked, an amused look playing over his face. "Somehow I expected you to be a little bit… taller."
"Shut up you bastard!" Ed snapped. "Tell me where he is!"
"You want him back? Then come on" Greed gestured with his hand. "Though I've got to warn you, I don't bruise very easily."
"We'll see" Ed clapped his hands together and transmuted his arm into a blade.
"Won't take him to long to realize that it's useless." Cara muttered under her breath. She smirked "But I quite frankly want to see how this plays out."
Ed charged Greed and tried to bring his blade down on his head. Greed blocked it with his shielded arm.
"What the Hell?" Ed gasped, flipping back away from Greed.
"I told you I don't bruise easily" Greed grinned. "I have the ultimate shield. You can't possibly hope to get past it when I-"
Cara had unsheathed a knife at this point and thrown it at the male homunculus, hitting him squarely in the uncovered shoulder.
"Yeah, unless you talk before you shield up" Cara smirked stepping from behind the stairs.
"You" Greed hissed, yanking the knife from his shoulder.
"What are you doing here?" Ed demanded.
"Yeah, I forgot to mention that this guy is our job." Cara drew another knife from her belt. "He's a liability."
"Red headed bitch" Greed muttered.
"Cocky bastard" Cara retorted.
Greed's shield was beginning to come up, coating his full body "You want me to cut the chatter? Fine." The shield now completely encased his body in an unbreakable shield. "Let's see you get past it now."
He charged Cara this time who flipped out of the way of his attack, landing in a crouch and skidding back a few feet. "Crap… didn't think about that."
"How do you get his shield down?" Ed asked as she dodged.
"You don't!" Cara yelled. "He's not going to take it down for anything."
"There has to be some way to get through it." Ed growled.
Greed's fist knocked into the wall as Cara ducked it, driving a crater into the woodwork. He laughed "Not a chance. Nothing breaks through this shield."
"Well I'll find some way!" Ed charged Greed and Punched upwards into his jaw. Pieces of his auto mail hand flew off, leaving the metal a little worse of wears.
"You still don't realize what you're dealing with, do you kid?" Greed asked, throwing Ed into a table. "If you really want to beat me then you better be prepared to kill! Do you think you can handle that kid?"
Ed brought himself to his feet and flexed his broken auto mail "Remind me to thank my mechanic. It's smashed up but it still works just fine."
Cara's eyes narrowed. Ed had a change in attitude. It seemed like he'd realized something.
"Let's go!" Ed charged Greed again and the fight renewed with increased vigor. Greed seized Ed by the collar and Ed clapped his hands together, placing them on Greed's wrist. Greed threw him to the ground and observed his hand before laughing.
"Your alchemy is worth nothing against my shield." Greed approached Ed on the ground. "Now it's my turn."
Ed raised his head as Greed raised his fist and clapped his hands together, drawing spikes from the knuckles on his hand and punching up to meet Greed's punch halfway. Greed staggered back as his shield peeled away, revealing muscle beneath.
"He did it!" Cara's eyes widened surprise. "How the heck did he do that?"
"What did you do to my shield you little bastard?" Greed demanded.
"Homunculi have roughly the same body structure as humans, elementally anyway." Ed explained. "And there's one key element that makes the human body harder: Carbon. Carbon can be hardened or softened by alchemy. There are no unexplainable circumstances. Everything can be explained by science. I can alter the structure of your shield because it's made up of Carbon. Carbon makes the difference between a diamond and pencil lead."
Cara sighed and crossed her arms "Ugh, it's an alchemy thing? That sucks. I can't do alchemy… and I don't care enough to try and understand it either."
"Now that I know, this shouldn't take too long" Ed charged Greed again. It didn't take long for him to destroy another patch of shield on Greed's side and open up another wound. Greed staggered back, his breathing a bit labored.
"Where is Al?" Ed demanded.
"Why would I tell you when I haven't lost?" Greed straightened, repairing his shield on his side.
"Don't kid yourself. It's over now that I know your weak point." Ed shook his head.
"Your brother would tell you, I'm not so easy to kill" Greed gestured at Ed to come at him. "Let's start."
"Let's finish!" Ed charged Greed. He stabbed at the homunculus who leapt away and landed across the room before catapulting himself back towards Ed. Ed flipped away from his grasp, clapped his hands together and pressed them against Greed's torso before spinning and stabbing him, right through the chest.
Greed groaned as Ed pulled the blade out and his shield melted away "Nice. Shot. Kid." He crumpled to the ground.
"He… killed him" Cara breathed. "He's actually killed him."
"What?" Ed stared at Cara. "N-No. He's a homunculus. He can't die right?"
Cara shook her head "I don't…"
"Where's Al?" Ed asked Greed, kneeling down by him.
"Back in the woods. I let him go" Greed coughed.
"But I thought…" Ed's eyes widened.
"We homunculi" Greed muttered. "Are born when a human transmutation is attempted and because of that we grow weak when we are near the remains of the person that was meant to be brought back. I weakens us."
"Why are you telling me this?" Ed asked.
"So you can beat them." Greed murmured.
"But you're… one of…" Ed said in surprise.
"He's not." I walked towards the two. "It's hard for the greedy to be part of a group and not have the power am I right?"
"Yes I'm greedy as hell. She always said it would be the death of me." Greed half laughed before coughing up blood. "You know red head, you don't seem like one who could belong to a group either. The Apathetic care about nothing, especially loyalty."
Cara turned her eyes to the window "That's true." She felt Ed's eyes glaring at her and she ignored them.
"You have to beat them if no one else can." Greed coughed at Ed. "I'm counting… on you kid."
Silence.
"H-hey Greed. Come on. I can't kill you." Ed murmured. Cara closed her eyes. Yeah, Ed was a soft heart. "Greed!" Ed gripped his hair in his hands "Augh!"
Cara looked at him for a second where he knelt on the ground before she began to walk away "I'd harden yourself to this Edward. Next time I'm here I might be your opponent."
The sun was beginning to come up as Cara walked out onto the lawn where Wrath was sitting against a tree. He stood to meet her.
"Is it over Apathy?"
"Yes, Greed is dead." Cara nodded.
"Fullmetal seems to be torn up" Cara whirled at Envy's voice. He was leaning against a tree, observing Ed's break down through the window. "I would be annoyed that you didn't kill him yourself but I like seeing him suffer."
"What do you want?" Cara muttered.
Envy looked at her and smirked "We're going to central. That is where Dante has headed. We have a place there. Lust and Gluttony are already there."
"Fine." Cara nodded, casting a glance back at Ed. "Is it too much to ask what we're planning here."
"Yes" Envy crossed his arms. "Just follow blindly for now Apathy. You'll do whatever we need for the stones."
Cara glared at him and tossed a knife his direction, it hit the tree right by his head. He glanced at it "You missed."
"Shut up, bastard." Cara stalked past him. "Are we going or what?"
"Chloe we're back!" Chloe raised her head as Al's voice echoed through the house. The brothers entered through the door, Ed looking exhausted.
"Where have you been!" Izumi threw a butcher knife in their direction. Ed froze as it landed right over his head, embedding itself in the wall. "I've been worried sick!"
"W-We're sorry teacher!"
"Don't call me that" Izumi crossed her arms. "I expelled you as you know."
"Right" Ed sighed. "But teacher we need to talk to you. About the philosophers stone. We came here to ask you about another way."
"I cannot help you with that." Izumi turned her gaze out the window. "I had a teacher who studied the concept herself, Dante. But she does not believe in people or the world. I could not accept her teachings." She turned back to them. "Are you planning to leave?"
"We have to" Ed nodded. "You know, the state alchemist exam is coming up" he glanced at Chloe. "And she wants to take it."
Chloe raised her head a bit "You're going to help me?"
"Of course we are" Al laughed. "Brother needs to take his retest anyhow. We'll talk to Mustang for you and recommend you."
"Thank you. Both of you" Chloe managed a smile.
"I plan on going back to Risenbol" Winry sighed. "As long as you guys are safe in Central I feel better."
"Good luck" Izumi nodded. "To both of you."
"We will meet again" Ed promised.
Izumi nodded in a silent promise.
"I'll get my things." Chloe excused herself from the room, glad she could get away from this place where Apathy had been born.
Ugh...I swear of all the fandoms I have ever written: Envy is the hardest character to write. Even worse than that is writing the relationship with him in Cara. It's very different then the relationship between him and Liz and even that one is hard!
Envy: I'm glad I am causing you misery
Oh screw you... Not to mention Cara is a hard character to write right now. I'm having a hard time not making her a total bitch.
Cara: I am a bitch right now. I'm Apathy.
But you're still the main character so I have to draw some empathy!
Lust: They'll find out that Hughes is dead soon anyway.
Cara, Chloe, Al and Ed: What?
Envy: Nothing! Go away!
Wrath: REVIEW!
