A/N: Another quick update. This chapter has a couple of flashbacks from The Lightning That Thunders. There are some differences though, most noticeable the POV (this time it's Kimblee's perspective) plus the fact that it's rewritten. Thanks to DarkestInk, Arinlianette, and UnderTheHood for their reviews. I think that next chapter should be out around next weekend. It seems weekends are when I'm mostly free, considering that I intern during the week and come home very late. Enjoy!

CHAPTER 29 – Believe It or Not:

BOOM!

Naminé flew back. She fell down on the pavement hard, scraping the palms of her hands. She laid there for a moment, her mind still reeling from what Kimblee had just done. He had blown up an old man without a care in the world. Like it was the easiest thing to do. Did Romberg's last moments on earth go by that quickly or did Kimblee slowly drag it out?

Naminé forced herself to get up, barely catching a glimpse of Kimblee disappearing around the street corner. I can't let him escape, she thought as she rose to her feet. She ran after him, following him around the corner.

She spotted him up ahead, leisurely walking away. He looked so out of place with everyone else trying to figure what had happened just around the corner. Without hesitation, she snapped her fingers. The lightning bolt barely missed her target.

Kimblee turned around. "You just won't give up, will you?"

People now looked at her and Kimblee. Immediately she remembered the poor old man who hadn't stood a chance. "Everyone, get away from this area!" She ordered, not willing to give the mad bomber the ammunition he needed. There were hushes as the people stood back from the two alchemists, some actually listening and leaving the area. But there were still too many civilians around for her liking. "Get out of here now!" She said, trying again. "This man is highly dangerous!"

Kimblee clapped his hands. "You shouldn't under estimate me."

Naminé unleashed another lightning bolt but Kimblee dodged. She thought he was going to create another human bomb but instead he touched the side of a building. He flashed Naminé a sadistic grin before he transmuted part of the building into a bomb.

The explosion was much bigger than the last one the last one, a lot more. Rubble fell on the sidewalk, probably crushing who knew how many people and unleashing a cloud of dust. She raised her arm to stop any dust from blinding her. Why now? She had dealt with crap on the border but at least it had been somewhat manageable. This was ridiculous.

Kimblee stepped out of the smoke, throwing up a small rock in his hand.

"You're supposed to be dead!"

"Am I?" He stopped tossing the rock. There was an alchemic glow in his hand. He threw the explosive rock at her. With precision, Naminé struck it with a lightning bolt, causing it to disintegrate into almost nothing.

He smirked. "Naminé Thomson, the Lightning Alchemist. It's been a long time." He approached her but she moved back immediately. He frowned a bit, wary about her change in tactic. Before, she had charged at him, taking the offensive and being unrelenting with her attacks. Now, she was acting like she was scared. For all he knew, she could be trying to lure him closer. That determined look was still on her face after all.

"If you come any closer, I'll kill you!" She threatened.

He stopped, not because he took her threat seriously but because he was confused. Wasn't she going to kill him anyway? Why else was she hunting him down? He clapped his hands again. "Try it, babe!" Before she could respond, he touched the street. The street caved into the sewers below. Naminé ended up falling on her bottom in the disgusting sewer water as Kimblee landed on his feet on some rubble.

The sunlight entered the gaping hole above them but behind them both was darkness and most likely, Naminé would use it to evade him. He, however, planned on using it to take her down. Unlike Naminé, he had killer instincts and because he knew her, he could at least predict some of her movements. And just like he had thought, she headed for whatever safety the darkness had to offer.

Carefully, he moved across the rubble, trying not to disturb any loose rocks. Then he moved along the side of the sewers, following the narrow walkway. The smell was awful and the stench only worsened once the gaping hole was no longer above him. Up ahead he could hear her breathing, her footsteps echoing from somewhere up ahead. He moved a little faster, getting more daring as thoughts of catching her off guard entered his mind. Her footsteps were getting louder which meant he was closing in. Sure enough he could see a dark figure moving up ahead. He moved even faster, keeping his noise level to a minimum. Then he made a crucial mistake. He missed the walkway and stepped into the dirty stream.

The footsteps stopped and he paused. Quickly he removed his foot from the sewage. Not sooner than a second later, he heard a snap and a lightning bolt struck the sewage nearby. The flash of light was enough to see that she was only ten feet away.

"Bastard!" She snapped her fingers again and he dodged the attack. Then he moved in. In less than a moment, he closed the distance between. He clapped his hands and reached out for her. Naminé stepped out of the way and into the sewage, nearly losing her footing. Before she could even consider her next move, Kimblee tackled her.

There was a bit of the struggle but soon Kimblee had Naminé face-up under the sewage. There was a few gurgling sounds as he held her there, pinning her with his bodyweight. After a while, he pulled her up by the wrists.

Naminé took a big breath of air, trying to recover from her near drowning experience. For the first time in years, she was so close to his face. Even in the darkness, she could still make out his features. His golden eyes stood out so well and because he had pulled her that close, she felt that if they inhaled deeply at the same time, their chests would barely touch. It had been a while since she had felt so powerless but she still fought to keep a strong front.

"So, what are you going to do to me?" She challenged.

Kimblee smirked. "I was thinking of blowing you up but that would be too easy."

"Like it was for Romberg?"

Kimblee raised an eyebrow. She had practically spat those words at him. "Romberg... Why bring him up?"

"Because you killed him!"

Now it made sense. He should have remembered that his long list of crimes included the death of Thaddeus Romberg. And all these years, she had been angry at him for it. It was funny how the military had spun that tale. They had painted Romberg as a dedicated, well-meaning soldier that fell during battle thanks to the psychotic, bomb-happy, uncontrollable Crimson Alchemist. He had already killed other soldiers according to witness accounts. Why should Romberg be the exception? A part of Kimblee wanted to explain to Naminé what had happened but he knew the brunette wouldn't believe him. Not under these conditions.

His smirk returned. "What difference would it make if I hadn't? All that would have happened is that he would marry you."

Naminé stared in surprise. He knew that Romberg was going to propose to me? She hadn't known until the funeral!

Kimblee continued. "Not like it matters anyway. You weren't that loyal to him in the first place, were you, babe?"

"Shut up!" She didn't mean to lose her cool but he had dealt a low blow.

"Since when have I listened to you?" She started to struggle but he maintained his hold on her. Somehow, he managed to hold both wrists with one hand, leaving the other free. He reached behind her back and into the sewage. He tugged the back of her blouse from out of her pants and moved underneath it. Immediately, she tried to arch away from his touch. Kimblee almost laughed out loud. She acted as if she had forgotten what his touch could do to her.

His hand moved higher until his fingers brushed against where her alchemic tattoo should be. He saw the look of horror on her face and smirked. "What's wrong, babe? Don't like the idea of me blowing you up piece by piece?" First he would blow the tattoo off. Then he would do what he pleased.

Before he could even begin, he heard voices. I guess the military finally decided to arrive. In any other circumstances, he would fight them. However, fighting them meant letting Naminé go. If he didn't let her go, well, chances were the soldiers didn't come empty-handed. He removed his hand from under her shirt and stood up, still holding onto her wrists. Then he finally let go of her wrists. "I'll take care of you some other time."

Naminé sat there helplessly in the sewage, watching him disappear. "You have the potential to be the most beautiful bomb I can ever make but I would never turn you into one."

"Liar," she found herself muttering in the darkness. Suddenly the sewer became bright. She looked behind her and saw that there were military men there, a few of which were holding lanterns. She stood up, groaning when the sewage made a squelch sound. "Hey," she said awkwardly. "How did you find me so quickly?" She took a deep breath when they continued to stare in shock. She could only imagine how terrible she looked.


"You expect me to believe that all that damage was done by one man?" Archer asked from behind his desk. His temporary office was a small one but that was mostly because his arrival to South City was short notice. There were a few unpacked boxes and some green curtains hanging by the two windows but besides that, the room was practically bare. Archer glanced at the alchemist's report again, which looked more skeptical than when Naminé went through the story herself. He arched an eyebrow, waiting for the brunette's answer.

"Yes sir," she said after awhile. She was sitting across from him. After taking a long shower and changing into her gym clothes, she was feeling better. The only thing was that her wet hair that was dripping on her t-shirt but it seemed so minor compared to the crap she had been fighting in.

Archer went through the report again. "You claimed that a man with a few grenades blew a man to nothing, destroyed part of a building, and blew up the street. You also claimed that this bomber managed to keep you, an alchemist, at bay without much difficulty."

"There was some difficulty," Naminé corrected.

"I think you're lying, Thomson," Archer said, finally putting the report down. He leaned back into his chair but his blue eyes never left hers. Naminé was trying to be unreadable but he had seen that quick loss of composure at his words. She was definitely hiding something about what had taken place in the market. "Was there more than one person involved?"

"No."

"Was it someone you knew that committed the crime?" She hesitated and he smiled. "Why are you protecting this person? He, or she," he added for good measure, "killed five people today and injured at least two dozen. It wasn't your sister, right?" He remembered hearing that Naminé was going to meet the young Kaili Thomson today but Naminé quickly shook her head.

"Then who are you trying to protect?"

"I'm not trying to protect him, Lieutenant Colonel," she said, trying to not explode. "That's the last I'll ever do for that man."

He examined her for a moment. "Then why are hiding valuable information?"

"Because if I told you the truth, you would not believe me."

"Try me."

Naminé looked away, not sure if she should even bother. But after some thought, she found herself muttering, "The Crimson Alchemist."

Archer gave her a funny look. "He was executed by the military, Thomson. I personally saw the file when I was doing a background check on you."

"I know who I saw today."

Archer gave her a false reassuring smile, as if she was losing her mind right before his eyes. "Why don't you take the rest of the day off? Get some rest. Apparently, the death of your friend has affected you more than you know."

Naminé got up and nearly stormed out of the office. She should have known that Archer wouldn't believe her. The only way a person would ever believe a dead man was walking was to see it with their own two eyes. She headed down the hallway, lost in her thoughts. Somewhere, out in South City, Kimblee was running loose, wreaking all kinds of havoc. It was surprising that up to now, there had been no reports about explosions.

She stopped walking. Now that she thought about it, Vi was supposed to come down from Central tomorrow. Her sister and Mel were still nearby. She could call in sick tomorrow and organize a hunt for the Crimson Alchemist. They might take some convincing but she was sure she could at least convince them to come. She wasn't about to let Kimblee get away with what he had done today nor with what he had done in Ishbal.


"Then there was boom, boom, boom!" Bido exclaimed as he recounted his version of today's events to Greed and the others. He hadn't left the Devil's Nest the same time as Kimblee but he had eventually spotted the man in the market with that alchemist. What had happened had been a pleasant surprise. He looked at Kimblee. "Did you kill her?" He hadn't seen what had happened once they went underground.

Kimblee was sitting by the bar, pouring himself another shot. He couldn't believe he had been followed. He was kind of hoping that despite how he had looked and smell upon his return to the Devil's Nest, he could still fudge some of today's events. However Bido had such a big mouth. He sipped his drink, taking his time about answering but then he heard a hiss from across the room. He smirked at the snake chimera before looking at Bido. "Nope. She's still alive."

"Oh?" Greed said, clearly surprised. The two women sitting on either side of him snuggled in closer. They were trying to divert his attention for a moment but the homunculus's was still on the Crimson Alchemist. "Why didn't you? You seemed to be having some fun today."

"Because the military showed up," Kimblee explained. "It would be too difficult taking Naminé and armed soldiers at once."

"So it was a female and a familiar one at that," Greed concluded. "Was she a lover?"

Kimblee smirked. "You can say that. I sure knew her intimately enough." He thought about every sinful thing they had done together, every bit of lust they had tried to satisfy. She had always acted so innocent back then but he had known better. He had known what she was capable of. But the woman he ran into today, he couldn't say the same thing about her. At least that had been the case until Romberg was brought up. She had acted like the pain was still fresh and for those few moments when he had her pinned, he had seen the woman he had known under the hardened exterior.

He hoped to see Naminé Thomson soon. 'Soon' would come a lot quicker than expected.