Let's see, I have time to answer my reviews today. And about time too, I have been running around so much that I have literally made myself mentally dizzy.
oruchuban: It is now. You have invented your own word, hurrah!
mutantpenguins: Yes, I was just a little busy yes... biggest understatement of the world, but anywho. I'm very glad you like my emperor -hugs him-
Rose: Long doesn't even begin to describe the past 72 hours.
Ria: Shoot him, skin him, mount him on the wall. ...only joking, of course.
Shawn: Of course the panda comes back, we need comedic relief. And I personally love the mud.
Paon: Very true, you and all the others shall make fine Edward's one day should a bounty hunter ever come after you.
Ethereal: Trouble follows him like a shadow. And I'm glad you like that comment, it's so fitting coming from the person who loves Roy.
dontwaitup: Congratulations! I'm pleased to hear you're ready to hop on the daily release bandwagon with the others now that you're all caught up.
Yesterday and today, and Friday were just too long for words. So I'll not even attempt it right now.
Enjoy the chapter! I was so glad to hear from so many of you again yesterday, I actually miss you guys on the days I don't find the time to get online and update. You're probably one of the best bunches of reviewers I've ever had.
Chapter Thirty Six
"You needn't get out. You'd only be in my way." Edward said as the truck parked at the vaguely familiar place. He'd only seen it at night, and now with daylight streaming in, he could truly see the damage caused. Sections of forest were missing, the mud was blackened by soot, and several spots on the ground were missing large sections leading him to believe that if the mud drifted that way it would form a very lovely sinkhole until it dried and compacted.
Now Edward got out of the truck, and his lovely shined boots soon gained splatters of mud. He winced for the maids, but knew that they'd not mind and do it anyway. It was habit for them.
He picked his feet up high, feeling much like a horse that had gotten shoes for the first time, and began to pace around the area. His eyes flitted from ground, to trees, to sky as he muttered nonsensical things to himself. Several times he reached down to scoop a glob of sooty mud in his hand, examine it closely, and then let it slop to the ground and fling through the air as he shook off his hand.
After several minutes spent scouring the area for things only he knew, he finally started to examine all the sites where he knew blasts had occurred. He found the areas without much trouble, and then walked towards the place he had trapped the bounty hunter, and where she'd failed to launch her explosive in time.
Having actually been there, he found the correct place easily enough, and considered the spot. He nudged the mud around with a boot for a few minutes, clearly considering some unspoken theory.
And then it dawned on him.
"Oh." He said, and suddenly looked towards the trees on the opposite end of the road. Then he looked over to the captain, still sitting in the truck as bade. "Which of your men was first over in this area?"
"A patrol guard, Hayes." Was the called back reply.
"Where is he now?"
"When we disembarked the truck I ordered him to help with the debris back at the yard."
"And you saw his face?"
"Yes, sir."
Edward nodded to himself, and looked to the tree line opposite the road again. "Stay put, this shouldn't take long."
The captain blinked, but did stay put, as Edward suddenly bolted into a run and vanished beyond the tree line.
Blurred brown and green, and lingering wetness from the rain blurred by in a fast paced instant. Ending with a clash of reds, blacks, browns and golds, and the flashing of light against steel. A sickening crunch and clang ripped the air, and the hiss of sharply exhaled breaths.
Epithets uttered from a raspy, feminine voice.
"Good morning." Edward said in cruel return, not pausing his assault.
She stumbled back from the blow, knocking up against a tree and biting back a cry of pain.
It was too easy to see why. Yet Edward had seen worse before, and his resolve remained unwavering as he watched his overtaxed opponent. Or rather, what was left of her.
Most of the recognizable features were gone, including skin and chunks of what lay under it. Bone was evident in several places along the once pretty face, and down the rest of the entire body ending only at the knees. The clothing was at best, tatters, but Edward was hardly going to be distracted by the somewhat naked and mutilated feminine body in front of him. Her hair was only remaining in a few ringlets, the rest gone and leaving only charred scars behind. The dominant arm that had thrown the explosive was missing up to mid bicep, and wrapped in some of what had remained of her clothes. Her remaining arm was missing pieces, but the charred slender fingers still gripped the hilt of her iaito, shortened on the blade by the blast leaving it half the length and jagged at the point.
The whole woman was covered in a mixture of blood, soot, mud, and the feel of a desperate aura.
Edward struck her blade away again, using just his automail arm. "The chances of what happened to cause you to survive are nearly one in ten thousand. I've only seen it happen once before. And yet you did not impale yourself, which would have been the smartest thing. You're beyond saving, disease will have already entered your body, and you will die a much more painful death than had you taken your own life." And Edward once again knocked aside her fruitless stab towards his chest. "You're selfish enough to force me to end it."
The bounty hunter lunged forward away from the tree she had been knocked up against, pain blinding her into another desperate act as she again tried to skewer Edward upon the blade she'd only just managed to draw in time before he'd dashed at her. This man, he had inhuman speed it seemed, even now.
Edward quickly and easily edged around the thrust, and watched her stumble forward uncontrollably as she still fought to turn and pursue him. He was not one to feel pity, nor sympathy for those who would kill him. But he was one to show mercy. This was not something that should continue.
He would have to end this now, before this became another nightmare.
His hands came together, and his knees bent to the ground as he shoved palms to the wet earth. Blue light surged up around him to answer his transmutation, and the ground below his hands obeyed the request of the alchemy. He could feel the instant rumble under his hands, and a second later the skewer of sharp earth sprang up to impale the hunter through the chest.
Edward watched as blood trickled down from her chest and onto the earthen object that had taken her life, his eyes hard and utterly devoid of any emotions. He kept them firmly in the back of his mind right now. After a moment he got to his feet, brushing off hands and knees as he walked towards the bounty hunter who had fallen limp and this time, very much dead, to the ground as the earthen spear vanished back to where it had come from.
Reaching down, he grabbed her by her feet, and began walking.
When he reached the road again, the captain immediately drove the truck over to him upon seeing he was dragging a body along with him.
"Sir? Are you all right?" The captain asked, clearly out of sorts now as he saw there had most definitely been something going on beyond his sights.
"Fine." Edward said, and jerked his head backwards. "This is called a bounty hunter. This is something you'll probably never see again, she managed to survive because of an anomaly. I've only seen it once before in my life, and that poor bastard didn't live as long as her. He was smart enough to take his own life. The blast shot her back into the opposite tree line."
"She's dead now?" The captain asked, clearly flinching at the sight of what was left of the bounty hunter.
"Very much so." Edward said, and began dragging her around to the back of the truck. "I'll let your men dispose of this as well."
He noticed the captain was reluctant to help with the remains of the body, after all, it was a gruesome sight. So he didn't ask for aid. He didn't need any anyway. And he was sorry to say that this was hardly the least mutilated body he'd ever seen. But it was sad, really, to think that he was this used to the sight of a cruel death.
He managed to get the dead woman into the bed of the truck, and grabbed a tarp from the supply case mounted to the bed to lay over her and secure with rocks he found in the muddy ground. It wouldn't do for the people in town to see her.
Edward then performed a transmutation to clean himself off, but knew he'd be taking another bath once he got back. He opened the truck door and got in, slamming the door shut in his wake. "We're done now. Thank you for you and the work of your men taking care of this."
"If only we had thought to check those woods as well on the other side of the road. We could have prevented you the trouble."
Edward shook his head. "No, you would have all been met with a nasty shock. You probably would have even lost a few men. What do you think they'd have done, seeing someone that looks like she does now, running at them with a jagged weapon and intention to spill your blood?"
"Some might have frozen up." The captain replied honestly. He knew his men had never seen anything like this, he himself hadn't.
"And then they'd be dead." Edward agreed rather calmly. "Better I come to handle any possible situation, unfortunately, I can take it."
No one needed to say anything about "it" being the mental assault of seeing what books commonly glorified as "the horrors of battle."
The captain said anything nor questioned Edward anymore during the drive. Somehow sensing that the man wished for a moment to just be left to his own thoughts.
Edward sat in the seat, inwardly shaking his head. He hated death by this point, hated being the cause of it. Yet if he was to survive it was necessary. It's what he had become in order to survive. But it didn't mean that he had to like it, in fact, his very not liking of it was the only thing that kept him from growing depressed or angry.
Only when the truck pulled through the main gates to the palace, and parked where the other trucks were still being unloaded, did Edward speak again. "Warn your men." Were the only words he said as he got out of the truck, and the captain needed no clarification as to what he had meant.
It was only to clear what his men would need warning about.
Edward meanwhile began to walk back to the palace, looking more withdrawn than he had this morning. And certainly just as withdrawn as he had been before Kang was thrust into his life.
He made his way back up to his room, only half seeing the others about him. And once he'd locked the door to his given quarters he made his way to the bathroom once again.
As soon as the tub was filled with steaming hot water Edward slipped down into the soothing warm liquid. And he stayed there for nearly an hour just soaking while he pushed all thoughts from his mind.
An hour later found him summoning a maid so lunch could be brought to his room. To say he didn't much feel like going downstairs to the large dining room where other important guests or generals would be taking lunch was an understatement.
Once his meal of donburi and rice had arrived he sat down on the bed to eat while he stared at the phone. He actually wanted to call Al now as well, since he could. He was sure that both his brother and Winry were concerned about him. It would probably be best to talk to his brother first, and then call Roy.
It was barely even noon yet in Central, and he was sure that Mustang was still busy with other work. He'd get in touch after he spoke to Al. And then he could talk about bounty hunters, and what information they had so far for him.
He finished his meal, rung for the maids to come retrieve the dishes, and only then did he reach for the phone.
He pressed first the number that would relay to him the direct number to this room, memorized it, and then dialed to get in touch with Al. The phone lines connecting the countries may be old, but they still functioned, and the ringing began almost immediately.
Edward waited only for five rings before the line was picked up.
"Hello?"
Ed felt a smile slip onto his face at the sound of his brother's voice. "Hey Al, remember me?"
There were two swear words in German, one in French, and something about fuck accompanied by what sounded like a falling chair.
Edward pulled the phone away to give it a strange look, before pulling it back to his ear just in time.
"Brother?!"
"Yeah, um, Al? You better hope Winry never learns German or French, or she'll throw a fit if she knew what you just said." Edward smirked, thinking briefly on the image of Winry blowing a gasket and chasing her husband about the house with a wrench and violent intentions.
"Screw that! Where the hell are you?!"
Edward flopped down backwards onto the bed. "In Xing, laying low for a while at the palace while I do some research. I'm going to call Mustang after this, but I wanted to talk to you first."
"Well that's safer than some places right now. Amestris is still being turned over trying to find you. Of course no one hardly notices, but to people like us who have seen covert operations happening? It's pretty obvious. Mustang's been keeping in contact with us though when he's able, giving us updates about you once he's heard from you."
"Well I'm glad Mustang's got them chasing their tails." Edward replied, silently congratulating the Fuhrer on a job well done. "They won't be able to find me here, I have imperial reassurances that not a word of my being here will be breathed to anyone outside the country. Not that this place exactly has tourists, or goes off touring themselves. Though Xing might be getting into a spotlight within a week."
"What'd you do now?"
Edward didn't even bother fathoming at how Al correctly guessed he had something to do with it. "I'm sending Mustang a panda, but it obviously can't be from me. And you know how valuable the pandas are to these people."
"O-oh. I get it now."
"Yeah, so I'll have to keep hidden nicely. And don't breathe a word to anyone but Winry and Pinako that you heard from me and I'm here."
"What about teacher?"
"Izumi?" Edward frowned, "she's there?"
"Yeah, she's staying around for a few more days. I had to stop her from wanting to go bash Mustang upside the head after this whole mess started."
"Well thanks. I'd rather he not lose any brain cells, he seems to take his time developing them it seems."
"If he had the amount he should, he'd have realized you care for him by now."
"Yes well, my life isn't exactly cakes and roses." Edward groused.
"True. Now tell me how you are, what has happened. Mustang never goes into details much."
And so Edward began, starting from the beginning of the very first bounty hunter. An hour later he'd covered everything up to this afternoons slaying of the latest bounty hunter.
"And how are you holding up? You know how I mean."
The tone of voice was enough to say it all, and Edward passed his free hand over his eyes wearily. "You remember when we were in Romania that one October? And the box we learned to keep all this stuff in?"
"Every night." Was the soft, almost hollow reply.
"My box is starting to fill up. After this is all over, I'm not sure how long I'll be able to continue in the military. I plan to tell Roy how I feel for him when I get back, so no matter what, there won't be anything more tying me down to staying in the military. I need to get out, and try and find some measure of peace in my life before it's too late for me to recover."
"Mustang would be able to help you heal. Winry helps me, just by being there. And in time it does start to go away until you are strong enough to bear those memories as just that, memories."
"Because the Gate only knows we never want to forget." Edward uttered softly, and heaved a weary sigh that should have come out of a man three times his age. But it was time to move away from that darker subject. It was something neither liked to think about, but both recognized as one thing they shared in common that tied them together in an even stronger bond."Anyway, tell me how everyone there is doing? Am I going to be an uncle yet?"