Roy stared at his son, wide-eyed and frozen. His eyes were locked with the demon, and he was completely confused. What was going on. What was wrong with Rin?! He was covered in blue flames and his demeanor was like that of a rabid animal as he growled in a low tone. Maes stood there in similar horror, completely confused at what he was seeing. Rin was standing there before them, but there was something seriously wrong with him. He shuddered as he realized the boy reminded him of the demon king they had seen only moments before try to chase them down the hall.
"Rin?!" Maes said, "What the hell?! What happened to him?!"
"Roy?! Maes?!" Riza said, both relieved and worried at the same time, "But Lust said she..." Riza began.
"I cauterized our wounds..." Roy said, not taking his eyes off of Rin, "Where is she? What happened to you three? What did she do to Rin?" The boy hissed as to make a point and Riza cocked her gun.
"Don't!" Roy said, as Riza took her stance, a pleading and worried look in his eye.
"W-we don't know," Al said, "She came here to attack us, but when she told us she had killed you, Rin flipped and attacked her! He chopped off her arm! Th-then he burned her alive after she broke his sword-"
"SHE BROKE HIS SWORD?!" Roy cried in absolute horror, making everyone take a slight step back aside from Rin. He glanced around the room where he saw the mangled sword in the corner. he was brought back to the situation at hand as Rin growled at the intensity of his voice and moved forward slightly. Roy moved back, eyes once again locking on Rin. This was bad. Very, very bad. there was no telling what state his mind was in at the moment, or if there was anything left of the human part of his mind. Rin growled once again as he moved closer. Riza cocked her gun again, Maes pulled out a dagger defensively, and Roy instinctively held the lighter up, ready to snap it. There was no denying it. Rin had completely lost control. There He had become a monster. Although Rin was a demon, his body was still human. If he set him alight it could very well be the end of it and he could save them all. And if he didn't...the whole world could perish.
He stared at Rin, hand shaking. As he did so, all he could think of was the scared little boy who had clung to him when that cannibal attacked him, his laughter and mirthful face when he had first been able to light the torches on fire, that mischievous look he got when he was about to do something he knew would upset Roy, the way his eyes shined when he got excited...and he lowered his hand. "I can't..."he said, voice cracking, "I can't..." He snapped the lighter and a fireball was sent bouncing off the walls of the room. Roy hunched over, his face in his hand. "DAMN IT..." he growled as angry tears streamed down his face. Why?! Why did this have to happen?! It was one thing to have to kill people he didn't know. He had been able to stand living with that guilt for years...but he couldn't do that to the boy he had cared about for so long.
Rin's brow furrowed and his features softened. He was so angry that his vision was too blurred to be able to distinguish anything. To be honest, he felt like his mind was caught in a hurricane of rage. He couldn't even tell why he was angry anymore. But out of everything going on inside his head, he could still hear something. it sounded like someone crying. Someone he knew. But he couldn't put his finger on it. he started moving forward. Maybe if he did, he could find this person.
Roy's head whipped up as he noticed Rin moving towards him again. His heart raced with fear at first...until he noticed his brow was furrowed not in anger, but confusion. Maes also hesitated slightly, but Riza didn't. She knew the Colonel would never forgive her if she killed him, but she had to protect him. she couldn't let Rin do to him what he did to Lust. So as Rin got closer, she fired...straight into his leg. The demon boy was caught off guard and he stumbled forward. If he couldn't walk then he couldn't move forward and grab Roy.
"RIN!" Roy cried as his son fell to the ground. The demon began to growl again as he tried to get up.
"Alphonse! Keep him down!" Riza cried. The suit of armor immediately clapped his hands and touched the ground. Rin's body suddenly was surrounded by the concrete, causing him to be stuck to the floor. The demon screamed and thrashed. At first the concrete was effective, but the more Rin thrashed, the more cracks formed.
"He's breaking free!" Al cried in distress, "What do we do?!"
Roy's mind raced. He knew a few demon containment circles...maybe one would work..."Al I need you to reinforce him," he said, pulling out some chalk from his pocket, "Hughes I need you to help me-" How ever he was cut off before he could finish by Rin breaking the stone encasing him. He was seething as he forced himself onto his feet and stumbled towards Riza, flame covering his hand.
"NO!" Roy suddenly shouted. His mind went blank as he acted on instinct. He threw his arms around the demon's waist to hold him back.
"ROY DON'T!" Riza and Hughes shouted at once. However, he didn't listen. He clung to the demon boy for dear life, holding him back. The demon roared and screamed as he tried to break free of the man's grip. Flames that had been clinging to Rin were now scorching Roy's clothing, but he still didn't let go.
"Rin..." he hissed into the boy's ear, pleadingly, "Stop this! Stop this now! You're attacking your friends!" He had been desperate. he didn't think his plea would do anything but it did. Rin paused as he recognized the voice. Everyone in the room was surprised, especially Roy.
"D-dad?" a choked and raw voice said. It took a moment for Roy to realized it hand been coming from Rin.
Roy felt his heart swell in relief. "Yes," he said, "It's me...I'm here. Now just calm down." Roy carefully relaxed his grip a little. Everyone watched in a mix of wonder and fear.
"But Lust..." his voice cracked with pain, "She killed you..."
Roy smiled. "Do you really have so little faith in me that you thought I'd die so easily?" he said soothingly, "Now just calm down...everything's alright. I'm alive. Maes is alive. Havock is alive. We're all alive. It's ok..." Roy attempted to turn him around slowly. As he did so, he saw that while Rin's eyes were still demonic and unfocused, there were tears streaming from them.
"I thought..." he choked up, partially from emotion, partially because it was hard to control his speech pattern in this demonic state, "I thought you were...gone..."
"I'm fine," Roy assured, "I'm right here. See? Nothing's happened to me. I won't be leaving you any time soon...Ok?"
Rin didn't respond. He suddenly wrapped his arms around Roy in a bone-crushing hug as he wept harder. Literally bone crushing. The force cracked two of Roy's ribs. His demon claws tore the back of Roy's uniform as he clung to him.
The others practically leapt into action as they saw this. Maes put a hand on Roy's shoulder and Riza put one on Rin's. Rin let out a warning growl; shoulder's becoming tense as the flames around him returned. Looks like he wasn't quite back to normal yet. "Rin! Calm down!" Roy gasped. They both backed off slightly and Rin relaxed. Everyone stood around awkwardly for a moment, not sure what to do...that is until Rin suddenly became extremely heavy and went limp on Roy, completely collapsing from exhaustion.
"Alright..." Roy said, slowly laying him on the ground, "Now we just have to figure out a way to fix him and get him out of here."
Maes kneeled next to the boy, a look of pity on his face. "Is that possible?" he asked, knitting his brow together with worry, "how would we even go about doing that?"
"I don't know, but we have to try," Roy said, "I refuse to leave him like this. He showed that he's still in there somewhere so I doubt all hope is lost..." Roy then turned to Riza. "Thank you," he said, "For not killing him. I appreciate it more than I can say."
Riza nodded. "You can repay me with an explanation," she said, "I want to know what happened to him. Why did he become like this? Was he some sort of human lab rat of some kind? Is he even human?" She paused before continuing. "Is he...one of them?" she questioned more quietly, "A creature created through alchemy? Is that what he and his brother really are? Did you or some other alchemist create those boys?" It wasn't hard to believe. After all, they had come out of nowhere with very little explanation and she knew Roy had been considering human transmutation for a short while after the war had ended. Who's to say he hadn't tried to create life to make up for what he destroyed?
Maes looked surprised by the suggestion, but Roy didn't. "No," he said, "I assure you that both Rin and Yukio were born the same way any human is."
"But they aren't human, are they?" she inferred from his words.
"...Not entirely, no," he said, "They're half human."
Riza furrowed her brow. "And what's their other half supposed to be?" she questioned.
Roy was about to respond when the scent of decay filled the air. His eyes widened in fear. "I'm afraid we don't have time to explain!" he said scooping up Rin, "We need to get out of here. NOW."
"What? Why?" Riza questioned, "What's going on?" The sound of barking filled the air.
"No time to explain! Just move!" he said moving as fast as he could towards the exit. "Al! Grab the sword and sheath!" he demanded, "Make sure you pick up any and all stray pieces!"
"Ok!" the suit responded. He picked up the half broken sword and sheath and stored them in his armor. He ran after Roy, who was struggling to carry Rin in his current state. "Colonel, you're injured!" Al said, "You're going to over exert yourself. Here, let me take him." Roy didn't have time to protest as Al scooped the demon boy from his arms. As he did so, Roy felt a weight lift off him. Roy sighed before nodding and motioning for them to leave. Just as they were about to make it out of the Room, the barking got louder. A pack of ten ghouls burst into the room.
Riza nearly gagged as she saw them and Al gasped at their state. "What the hell are those?!" she hissed, pulling out her gun.
"Our reason to get out of here!" Roy growled, pulling a holy water grenade out of his coat. He threw it at them and it exploded, dousing them in in holy water, causing them to writhe in pain. "MOVE!" Roy cried, tugging her arm slightly as he headed towards the exit. Riza nodded before heading out after him, firing once at the ghouls before doing so.
She quickly caught up to them. "So," she said, "Are those more of those experiments from the lab?"
"Possibly," he grunted, clutching his side as he ran. They turned the corner, and as they did so, a giant mushroom sprouted up in front of them mouth split across its top and opened into an angry maw. "Maes? Holy oil!" he demanded. Maes pulled a jar from his pocket, uncorked it, and threw it at the creature. It growled as it was doused but screamed as it was set alight by Roy's fire. They trampled over the charred remains as they continued on their way.
"What was that?!" Riza breathed.
"No time to explain, just keep moving!" Roy said before suddenly tripping and falling over. They all did as their legs were suddenly snagged by something. They looked down to see some kind of black vine of some kind. Roy tried to burn it off, but couldn't. Riza tried to use her swiss army knife to cut it but couldn't.
"What the hell?" she growled, "What is this stuff made of? Iron?"
"Actually...it's chitin..." a deep voice called from the darkness, sending a chill down Roy and Maes's spines. A deep, dark chuckle rumbled through the air, causing Riza to pull out her gun. Her eyes widened as she saw Shou tucker enter the light...but he didn't look like him. there were horns sprouting from his head. his mouth was full of sharp teeth and their was a tail swinging behind him.
"Roy...Is that really Shou?" she questioned.
"Yes but..." he said, "Let's just say he isn't exactly human anymore."
"I told you couldn't escape me Roy..." he said, "Now you have the pleasure of watching your friends die..." A black, swirling mass of bacteria encased his hand. "Oh, which pathogen should I use..." he said, "Oh I know! I think I'll use one native to this world: Fossil disease! I'm sure you've heard of it."
Roy's eyes widened at this as he began to reach for Jean's limp form. "Don't touch him!" he shouted. He began rummaging through his pocket trying to find what he was looking for to stop Astaroth. Riza intervened, firing two shots into his head.
Astaroth stumbled back, head lolling for a moment. However, to Riza's horror, he snapped back to attention moments later grinning like a maniac. He chuckled at her shock. "Sorry little missy," he said, "But it's going to take a lot more than that to do me in!"
"H-how..." she whispered. Then she remembered what Roy had said. Was he a homunculus too? How was that possible? She didn't have time to ask as the vine gripping her leg suddenly dragged her towards him.
"LIEUTENANT!" Roy cried continuing to try and find what he needed.
"Thank you for volunteering, my dear," he said, starting to stretch his hand out towards her, "I'm sure your friends will enjoy the front row seats!"
Roy's fists shook with anger as he gripped the bottle in his hand. "YOU GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" he shouted, lighting the handkerchief he had stuck inside the small vile of holy oil and chucking it at the demon. He had used most of it in killing the naberius, but there was just enough left to cause a decent sized explosion. Astaroth screamed as it exploded in front of him, burning his upper left side, including his face.
Riza had managed to escape any burns as Roy contained the fire around the demon king, who was now stumbling back in agony. Maes used this opportunity to grab his last dagger and cut them all loose from their demonic tethering. "COME ON!" he shouted, grabbing Havock and pulling a very shocked Riza to her feet. She blinked before recovering from her shock, chasing after them. They ran as fast as they could, the angry demon hot on their trail.
"HOW DARE YOU!" he roared, "YOU WILL SUFFER FOR THIS! I WILL TURN YOU ENTRAILS INTO SAUSAGES FOR MY PETS!" This pushed them to run faster.
"Get to first floor!" he said, "I doubt he'll risk revealing himself to civilians!"
The others did as they were told and pushed onwards. They ran as hard and fast as they could, blood pumping and adrenaline rushing through their systems. They sprinted upstairs and down hallways with the demon king not far behind. When they reached the first floor, they burst through the door and forced it closed. In that moment, it was as if any danger they had been facing suddenly dispersed into smoke.
They leaned against the door, painting in the bright, florescent light. Light music played over a radio in the hall. they glanced around to see scientists staring at them in confusion.
"Well, I guess it appears my assistance isn't needed after all..." a voice said. They turned to see the Fuhrer standing there with a worried expression. "Are you alright? What exactly happened down there?" he questioned.
Roy huffed as he strained to come up with a lie. His head was too dizzy. His side was once again damp with blood as the struggling and running had reopened it. "We..." he started before falling over onto his face.
"Colonel!" Riza cried, kneeling down next to him.
"I suppose I can ask questions later..." the Fuhrer muttered, before turning to one of the staff members, "Go call them an ambulance." The young man nodded before running off. The three remaining conscious members of the group slumped to the ground in exhaustion.
"Thank god that's over..." Maes sighed. He then turned to Riza and Al. "Are you two alright?" he asked.
Both were silent. Riza bit her lip before speaking. "Hughes...I just saw a man I thought was dead get up from two bullet wounds to the head, undead animals, what looked like a killer mushroom, and watched a boy I knew since he was seven turn into some kind of...monster!" she said in a low voice, looking at him, "Do you really think I'm ok, right now?!"
Maes looked away shamefully. "I'm sorry," he said, "We should have told you about all of this sooner...Roy just didn't know if you'd believe him or not."
"Why wouldn't I?" she questioned raising an eyebrow.
"Because I've experienced half this shit first hand and even I'm still having trouble wrapping my mind around it entirely..." he said.
She stared at him for a moment before looking away. "Roy said he wasn't human, or at least not entirely," she said, "What is he then, a chimera?"
"No…yes...sort of..." Maes said before taking off his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "He's a mix between creatures, but he wasn't experimented on in a lab, not is he a mix between any kind of animal," he clarified.
Riza's brow furrowed. "If he isn't any kind of animal, then what is he?" she asked.
"Honestly?" he whispered, "Not of this world."
Riza blinked before glaring at him. "If this is some kind of stupid joke-" she started angrily, but maes cut her off.
"I'm not kidding," Maes said, turning to her with a serious expression, "He isn't some googly-eyed space alien or anything crazy like that, if that's what you think I mean," he corrected, "But...He's from another plain of existence. Apparently, there are multiple universes out there, similar to ours, but still different. Rin and Yukio come from one where humans live with monsters called demons, and Rin, well he's half one on his father's side."
Riza turned to Rin, almost analyzing him. His tail had been tucked away and his elongated ears were hidden due to the way Al was holding him. Still she could see his sharp teeth peeking out from his open mouth and she shuddered.
"Is he only like this when he opens the sword?" she questioned, "How does to work? And how did he as his brother get here?"
"I'm afraid I can't answer all of your questions right now," Maes said glancing at all the people in the hallway. Riza frowned but nodded.
She looked back at Rin before speaking again. "Do you think we'll be able to get him back top the way he was?" she asked.
Maes looked down in worry. "I honestly don't know," he admitted, "I only just found out about all this a little over a month ago. I don't know how this demon stuff works. But like Roy said, we have to try."
"Excuse me you three," the Fuhrer said, causing them to look up in surprise, "But the ambulance is here." They nodded and said thank you. They were about to look away when he continued, "Here, why don't I take Spitfire to it for you."
Riza froze. She couldn't let them do that. They'll find out about his tail and ears! They'll know something is wrong and he'll be carted off as an experiment. "With all due respect, Sir," she said, "he doesn't need an ambulance. He simply passed out due to exhaustion. If anything, the lieutenant colonel over here needs an ambulance more than him." She nudged her head in Maes' direction.
He blinked in surprise before he realized she hadn't had temptants explained to her. He couldn't exactly do that right now with the leader of their country standing in front of them. Besides, they knew the government was some how involved in all this with that giant transmutation circle and the homunculi. The last thing he wanted right now was to leave his friends alone in the back of a vehicle with someone he didn't know driving, even if it was an ambulance. "She's right," he said, "Rin's pretty much clean of wounds. Meanwhile, I have a stab wound that probably needs to get looked at. Also, I don't know if you can fit all four of us back there on stretchers. Riza, why don't you drive him?"
Riza nodded and the Fuhrer's mouth twitched. "Very well," he said as he began to walk away. This wouldn't have been the perfect opportunity to take the boy. They could have had mustang under their thumb as well like Marco was currently. But they were obviously on to them. Even if they just took Roy now, it would be too suspicious. Riza would figure out what had happened and reorganize with the Elrics and the two boys, and if they managed to survive Lust so well, the last thing he wanted to do was give them more of a reason to be after them or give them a reason to suspect him. Speaking of, he still had yet to learn how they managed to do that. He'd have to question her later. "Drive safely. Lieutenant Colonel, if you'll come with me I'll show you where the ambulance is parked," he said.
Hughes nodded before wincing as he got up. He began to follow Bradley out of the building when he turned to look behind him at Riza. "Call Yukio," he mouthed. Riza nodded as she watched him leave. She then got up and walked over to the receptionist, asking where the nearest payphone is. She was directed down the hall. After inserting a few coins she dialed Falman. "Hello?" his voice rung out.
"Falman, it's me," she said, "Is Yukio still there?"
"Yeah, he just got done taking care of your dog," he said, "The kid's a miracle worker, he got the little guy back on his feet in no time."
Riza smiled briefly. "That's good to hear," she said, "But I need to speak to him." Falman complied and handed the phone off to him.
"Hey is something wrong?" he said.
"A lot of things are, I'm afraid," she said, "We were investigating Lab three when we were attacked. We need you back at the hospital asap. Hughes, Havock, and the Colonel are all injured...and your brother..."
"What's wrong with him?!" Yukio questioned, voice tense, "What happened to by brother? Is he..." He couldn't bring himself to say it.
"He's not dead, don't worry," Riza assured, "But...he thought your father had died for a while and went ballistic...his sword broke." Riza could feel him freeze up on the other end.
"Wh-what?" he breathed, sounding like he was about to break down.
"We managed to calm him down, but we need you the hospital to figure this out. Can you get there quickly?" she continued.
"Of course!" Yukio said, "I'll leave right now!" With that, he hung up.
Riza turned back to Alphonse. "Come on," she said, "We have to go meet Yukio at the hospital." The suit of armor nodded before heading after her. After they got into the car, they began driving after the ambulance. It was mostly quiet. Every so often, Riza would glance back at Al and Rin in the back seat. Her gaze would linger on Rin. He looked so peaceful but at any moment she knew that he could just explode at them again. For some reason though, she wasn't afraid. At least, she wasn't afraid he would attack them. She was more afraid whether he'd be stuck like this forever.
Well I guess I was able to get this done sooner than I thought. Sorry if the scene between Roy and Rin was overly sappy. I kinda wanted to go grimmer with this chapter, but honestly, I'm a sucker for cute parent-child moments. anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you think!