Oh snap! Look at this! Two updates in one month? I'm on fire.
I've actually been able to write tons for this story lately and I'm super happy about my sudden burst of writing inspiration.
Thank you to my amazing editor who got this edited so quickly and thank you to every who read and reviewed last chapter. Sorry if there was a problem with the annon reviews, accidentally switched it so that they weren't allowed but I fixed it!
Enjoy.
"What the hell is this?"
Edward was woken up roughly from his weak slumber by the loud shout and the bright light that poured into the room from the doorway. He cracked his eyes open and was greeted to the sight of one of the largest and most intimidating men he had ever seen in his life. With black hair shaved into an impressive Mohawk that trailed down into a braid, hard features, body muscles upon muscle, and a what appeared to be some sort of chainsaw-automail contraption for a right arm, this guy was the epitome of not to be fucked with. And Edward was right within firing range.
Edward opened his mouth in a sort of unconscious response but only a low gurgling noise came out. He had no idea what to say or do. All he knew was that they were all completely and utterly screwed.
"Hey!"
Edward looked around the massive man and saw Rollan's brother as he skidded down the hall, looking white as a sheet and more terrified than Edward has ever felt before. The young man stopped at the end of the hall and look up at the large man, who was now glaring at him instead of Edward, which suited Ed just fine; he was too exhausted to deal with this man.
"Neil! What the hell is this?" the large man roared as he turned to Rollan's brother. "What are you doing? This isn't a place for stowaways."
"I know, I know… but," Neil said in what Ed could only assume was his attempt at a calm voice, "they aren't taking up any real space here. They've got their own supplies. And most of them are recoveringautomailpatients. What are we supposed to do? Throw them out?"
"Yes. That is exactly what we're supposed to do and that is what we're going to do," the man said in a strong voice. "How did they get in here anyhow?"
"I helped them," he admitted bravely.
"They could be spies!" the man snarled. "Drachma is right up our ass and this is no time to allow house guests! They'll be lucky if the only thing that happens to them is that they get tossed out of here on their asses."
"They aren't spies, Buccaneer!" he yelled. "They are patients from the war down south! They're my own brother's patients! They are obviously not spies!"
"You're brother, ehh?" the Buccaneer asked as he looked about the small room.
Edward watched as Rollan stood up and walked over to the bear-sized man. His face looked calm but as he passed him, Ed could see his hands shaking ever so slightly. He didn't blame him.
"Our temporary recovery place for our patients was invaded by Aeurgo soldiers," Rollan informed the Buccaneer. "We had many patients who were in different stages of recovery and we needed to get them somewhere safe. My brother told me that the people up here also experiment with automail and so we decided to come up here, where we might be able to get some proper care."
The buccaneer glared down at Rollan for a moment before he pointed at him, with his rather menacing piece of automail, and asked, "You're the main mechanic here?"
"Actually," Winry spoke up from behind Ed as she stood up, looking completely relaxed and not the least bit intimidated by the man, "I'm the main mechanic here."
"You?" he asked skeptically.
Edward could see Winry puff up, clearly feeling indignant to the man's skeptical voice. She placed her hands on her hips and gave the Buccaneer a harsh and determined stare.
"Yup. Designed and built them all from scratch," she said, her voice dripping in self-pride. "Every last one of them."
The Buccaneer continued to stare at Winry with a skeptical expression on his face for almost an entire minute. Finally, after what seemed like forever, he opened his mouth to speak but he was quickly cut off by the loud wails of a siren. A bright yellow emergency light started shining in the corner of the room and the siren seemed to be coming from every corner of the room.
"What the hell is that?" Edward asked as he clamped his hands over his ears.
"Those damn Drachmans," the Buccaneer growled.
He turned to leave the room but paused for a moment to glare at the stowaways before he added, "I'll be back to deal with you all later." The Buccaneer then turned around and began running down the hallway, leaving the stowaways alone once again.
"You know where Ed is?" Alphonse asked the dark-haired boy slowly before something in his brain seemed to kick into place and suddenly, a million questions were pouring out of his mouth. "How do you know where he is? How do you know him? Why isn't Ed here like that lady said he was supposed to be? Where is he now? How-?"
Alphonse was sure he still had a million more questions to ask but before he could continue, Mei cut him off. The small, usually quite young woman sprang forwards, pushed Alphonse out of the way, and yelled out as she pointed an accusatory finger at the boy.
"Ling! What are you doing here?" she shouted, looking angry.
"I could ask you the same question, Mei," the boy, Ling, said in an almost bored voice.
"You will keep your distance from him if you know what's good for you," growled the young woman who was sitting next to Ling as she sprung up, looking ready to fight.
"Ah, Lan Fan, of course you'd be here," Mei sneered. "Can't go more than a foot without your trusty guard dog at your side, eh Ling?"
"Wait, how do you all know each other?" Russell asked, looking just as confused as Al felt. This wasn't making any sense.
"I am Mei's elder brother," Ling informed them all after a pause.
"Half-brother," Mei corrected with a small bite in her voice.
"Ah yes, let's not forget that half that unfortunately tethers you to me," Ling sighed as he rolled his eyes.
"The brat is lucky she shares common blood with the young prince," the girl, Lan Fan, snapped back as she glared daggers with Mei.
"Wait,prince?" Fletcher asked as he stared at them all with curiosity written all over his face. "You're a prince?"
"That is correct," Ling said as he smiled a slightly smug smile at them. "One of many prices of the mighty kingdom of Xing."
"If it's so mighty, why don't you go back there?" Mei spat.
"Oh, with all those assassins running about? I wouldn't want to waste my time fighting them all off," he said with a wave of his hand.
"Wait, wait, wait," Alphonse said, stepping forwards while he let his confusion wash over his face. "If Ling's a prince and he's your half-brother, does that mean that you're a…"
"A princess? Why yes, it does," Mei said, sounding proud. "I am one of the many princesses of Xing."
"What?" they all exclaimed in surprise.
"Did I not tell you I was royalty?" Mei asked.
"Uh, no," Russell said. "I think I would remember something like that."
"If you're all royalty, why are you here?" Fletcher asked.
"Never mind that," Al said as he cut across the younger boys question. "What about Edward? You said you knew where to find him. We need to get to him as soon as we can."
"Ah, yes, of course, your brother," Ling said with a nod as his face returned to a calm and pensive expression. "He is currently on his way to Fort Briggs of the North with several other automail patients."
"What?" the group of men all exclaimed once again.
"Yes. He might have already arrived there, now that I think of it."
"Automail?" Alphonse asked, feeling confused.
"Ah… yes, I'm sorry to be the one to inform you of this, but your brother was wounded badly during a battle he was fighting in the war," Ling started in a somber voice.
"Wait, is… is he okay?" Al exclaimed as his golden-brown eyes popped out of his skull slightly.
"He is now, or at least, he was when he left the area about a week ago," Ling said.
"Well then… what happened to him?" the younger Elric continued, although part of him was not sure if he wanted to hear the true extend of Edward's injuries.
"He lost his right arm and part of his left leg," Ling informed them.
"What?" Al cried, feeling as if he might get sick any moment now. "He lost… brother lost… hisarm… and aleg?How does that sound alright to you!"
"He was equipped with automail prosthetics and is very capable of getting around on them."
"Automail?" Alphonse repeated. "I don't know what that is."
"Lan Fan," Ling said as he motioned for his companion to come forward. "Show him."
The young woman raised her covered left arm for a moment before she pulled the sleeve back in one swift motion, revealing to all the shiny and carefully crafted piece of metal that attached to her flesh at the shoulder.
Alphonse stared down at the metal contraption, feeling awe and something akin to fear brew inside of him. The prosthetic was clearly crafted perfectly and was something to marvel at… but it just made him sick to his stomach as he tried to imagine the similar piece of metal on his brother as it replace two of his limbs. He just couldn't picture it. He didn't want to picture it. Alphonse turned way from the girl and looked directly at Ling as he felt a need so powerful he could not properly explain well up inside of him.
"How can we get up north?"
"I can take you there," Ling said confidently. "We'll travel up north with you."
"You will?" Hohenheim asked.
"Yes, we've been cooped up here long enough waiting for people who never showed up," Ling said with a heavy sigh. "We need to stretch our legs. We just need to do one thing before we leave."
"Drachma's attacking us?" Goran asked in a stunned voice.
"Why are they attacking us?" Winry asked, looking immensely pissed off.
"I thought we had some sort of treaty with them so that they wouldn't attack us," Edward barked, feeling irritated at the fact that his country was fighting once again, especially when Amestris's last battle hadn't even ended yet.
"Drachma was one of the only countries that wasn't fighting us," Rollan muttered as he scratched his chin.
"Yeah well, the treaty has gone right out the window it seems," Neil shouted as he lit a cigarette and inhaled.
"Why?" Winry asked in a quieter voice.
"Who the hell knows," Neil exclaimed, sounding exasperated. "Drachma's always been itching to get us. I was always surprised that they had signed a treaty with us at all. I always knew that this would happen eventually though."
"So that's it then. We're just stuck in yet another war?" Winry barked.
"It seems to be the general consensus that if we don't do something quickly that yeah, we're gonna be trapped in two wars at once," Neil informed her.
"Figures," she sighed before she turned away and muttered something that Ed couldn't quite catch.
"What did you say?" Ed asked as he walked over to the blond girl.
"Nothing, nothing," she mumbled as she waved her hand about. "Just something that… that my mom told me, alright?" Her sentence ended with a harsh snap but Edward sure it was more to stop her voice from breaking from grief than anything else. Winry turned away slightly for a moment while she collected herself before she turned back to face Edward. "My mom used to say this one line after she came back from Ishval. This saying some patient kept telling her. It was something like, 'There will always be the perpetual circle of hate as long as man is alive, and thus we create perpetual conflict and-'."
"'And a perpetual war is created'," Edward finished as he thought back to the one day long ago back in the underground hideout. Winry gave him a questioning look but Edward shrugged. "Your mom told me that one day when she came to check on me. It always just kinda stuck with me, seeing as this country really is trapped in a perpetual war."
Winry nodded her head before she turned away and retreated to the far corner of the room where she could sit alone with her thoughts. Edward felt an urge to join her, but he resisted and stayed put where he stood. Winry needed time alone to grieve still. He would let her be.
Edward turned to look at the other men, who were still talking about the approaching Drachman army, when he noticed an odd crackling noise coming from somewhere in the room. He questioned Neil and Rollan if they heard the noise as well.
"The radio!" Rollan exclaimed as he ran for his pack that sat across the room and began digging inside of it. After almost a minute of digging, he pulled out the small radio, which was sputtering as someone's broken voice crackled into the room.
"The radio?" Winry asked, having recovered temporarily. "But who would be trying to contact us here?"
They all watched as Rollan fiddled around with the radio for almost a full minute before the voice that was sputtering out became a clear and coherent sound. They all paused to listen to the message that was spoken in a rather familiar voice.
"…Can you hear me?"
"Yes we can hear you, what's the message?" Rollan asked.
"And who the hell is this?" Winry snapped as she ran over and bent close to the radio, looking confused and possibly even a little hopeful.
"It is Ling, from the hideout back at the border."
"Ling?" Ed exclaimed as he stared at the radio from across the room.
"Yes, yes, what's the message?" Rollan asked again. "What's happening."?
"We are informing you that me and Lan Fan are going to make our way north," Ling said as the reception on the radio began to fail once again. "We… going to… corting some people."
"Escorting people?" Rollan asked as he attempted to fix the failing radio transmission. "Who?"
"'phonse …ric," Ling's voice crackled incoherently through the radio.
"What?"
"Al…se El….c. Ho…hiem… ric…"
"I can't understand you, Ling, say that again," Rollan ordered as he frantically tried to fix the faulty radio.
"A…ph…nse…ic…hiem el…" Ling stuttered as his voice began to fade away. "Ed's…"
The transmission cut off. Rollan swore and persisted to mess with the knobs and antenna for several minutes after, although everyone informed him to stop. Told him that it was not worth working so hard to find out exactly who Ling and Lan Fan would be bringing up.
Edward, however, was still rooted in the same spot he was minutes before when the radio first went off. The crackling voice of his friend rang through his ears and with each passing minutes, he grew more and more sure of what he heard on the fractured radio waves.
He was sure he had heard his own name at the end of the message but more importantly than anything else, Ed was sure he heard another name that Ling was trying to say. He knew who it had to be because who else would be at the secret hideout? Who had just escaped a prison in Central and was said to be headed south, where he was thought to be? Who would be smart enough to figure out where he was now?
There really was only one answer to these questions.
"Alphonse."
Oooh, Ed and Al are getting closer to their big reunion! Who else is pumped? Cuz I am, and I know what's gonna happen.
And return of Ling and Lan Fan; who doesn't love them?
I'm working on the next chapter and hopefully I'll have it finished and up soon.
Thanks for reading, please drop off a review. :)
-FSK