THE OUTSIDER

by Iland Girl

"For those without 'purpose'."

A Fullmetal Alchemist Fanfiction

I don't own anybody but my OC's!

Chapter 34

"Resistance"

"It has been said that something as small as the flap of a butterfly could create the largest of windstorms on the other side of the world."

― The Chaos Theory

"This is all of them?" Fuhrer Bradley asked one of his suborninates. The soldier nodded before soluting to him.

"Yes sir, all of the men involved in the raid are here." The soldier said with a stern tone.

Bradley looked over them, contempt and disgust clear on his face, before turning away and walking to his car.

"Shoot them."

As he closed his car door he could hear the pleas to be spared; those were soon overcome by the sounds of gunshot. Bradley didn't even flinch as he shut his door and the driver slid away from the curb.

"That was awfully callous of you." Lust said from her seat next to him. The driver could not see nor hear into the back of the cab; Bradley glared sharply out the window. He recalled the sight of the girl running away. The smell of her skin, the height, build. No doubt, it had been her.

"They almost killed the Azoth. As far as I'm concerned, that's grounds for dismissal." He said in a sharp tone.

"Greed left with her, there's a very likely chance he'll tell her everything. And whhen he does she'll come running right back to Dante," Lust said before her eyes slid over to Wrath. A mischevious smile spread across her lips. "Is that the reason you let them go?"

"Regardless," Wrath brushed off her comments. "Dante will want her put away soon."

"I agree," Lust began. Her tone darkening. "This human can't be running around too much longer. Then we'll take care of the Fullmetal boy and his tin brother as well."

Bradley glared out the window in contemplation.

It was only a matter of time...

(Erin)

It was completely quiet for a moment.

I looked between Greed, his henchmen, and Hadley for a moment. This was the start of a resistance? Against what?

"Hang on, just what are you resisting?" I asked. Hadley smirked at that.

"Well I'm glad you asked," she began in a smug voice. I got the feeling she'd been waiting to say this for a while now. "We are resisting against the Fuhrer himself."

My eyes widened slightly. They were rebelling against the leader of this coountry? Was this right? Why were they doing this? Greed seemed to realize my panic and stepped in.

"Why don't we go back inside?" He offered, motioning for Hadley to join us. The three of us came back inside and sat at a table. Greed stared at me for a moment before sighing.

"Normally I don't like to admit my age, but I guess the only way we'll get through this properly is to do so." He said. I raised a brow in confusion; what did his age have to do with any of this?

"I was born around the time this whole thing started," Greed explained. "Back then, Dante had already created two other Homunculi. Envy and Pride. There's seven of us that used to work for her by the way, keep up with that. Anyway, as long as I can remember, Dante has always been fueding with another. His name is Father."

"Father?" I asked without realizing it.

"Yeah, and the guy is absolutely nuts. I never really got into the politics of it, but basically those two have been in an all out brawl for centuries." Greed said, rubbing his face.

I just about lost it when he finished his sentence and it all sunk ?!

"Yeah," Greed began- did I say it outloud? "They both transfer their souls into new bodies to evade death."

Had I not been sitting I may have fallen over. Yet at the same time this information did not surprise me. Al was proof ennough that it was possible to bind your soul to another body. Organic or not.

Something else came to mind then. It was about something Dante had said during our visit.

"Dante told me that that Azoth hasn't been seen in 300 years. Can you explain?" I asked. It really hit me just how old this guy was. How much he must've seen.

Yet he still acted like a thug...

I guess some people really do never change.

"Oh I remember that," Greed said with a wide, shark toothed grin. Hadley glowered at his expression. "She was definitely something."

"But what happened?" I implored. Greed chuckled.

"Well, as I'm sure you are aware now, being an Azoth yourself, the implications. This was already nearly two centuries into their feud. Both Dante and Father wished to end it. That was when the Azoth appeared. From what I recall, Father was the last one to see her, but you'd have to ask Envy that one."

The way Greed finished, with such a sleezy grin, it unnerved me. Ask Envy? What did he mean by that?

"Why did they want to Azoth anyway?" I asked with slight hesitation.

"Why? That's a pretty simple answer." Greed said with a slight flourish before giving me a once over. Then he grinned and leaned closer to me.

"You're able to create anything from raw energy. You can affect the very soul itself. Who wouldn't want to do that? I must admit it's quite alluring to myself as well." A large and wicked grin settle on his face as he fell back in his seat. His eyes never leaving mine. Feeling brave, I turned to Hadley and deadpanned to her.

"And you're into this kind of thing?"

Greed snorted while Hadley chuckled. It was then that I realized we had come full circle in this. So due to my abilities I was wanted by both of these people. I hadn't met Father yet, that I knew of, but I had met Dante. Dante had 7 Homunculi working for her, and chances are Father was matching with 7. This still left my first question out...

"So why is this a rebellion against the state? Wouldn't they be on our side for this?" I asked.

"Actually, that's quite the reverse." Hadley began. I waiting for her to continue.

"Here's a history lesson. Once there were three kingdoms. The Xing Dynasty, the Valley of Xerxes, and Amestris. Amestris had originally been a collaboration of multiple provinces. They joined together under one title in 1550 shortly after the demise of Xerxes. The legend says that following the demise of Xerxes, a wander came to Amestris and taught Alchemy. This was said to be the start of the birth of Amestris. Surprisingly, a similar story of a wander traveling to Xing is also told."

Hadley cleared her throat and let it all sink in for me before continuing.

"Anyway, following the creation of Amestris, the country had been a relatively peaceful place. Wars broke out from time to time, however in the last thirty years there has been more bloodshed than ever before in the country. That was when the current Fuhrer came into power. Fuhrer King Bradley."

"So you're saying that the Fuhrer is in on this scheme?" I asked. Greed chuckled then before giving me a very smug look.

"Well I should presume as much, considering he too is a Homunculus working for Dante." Greed said.

I jumped to my feet at that.

"WHAT?!" I shouted. My thoughts scrambling at this information. Fear instantly doused me. This man was working for Dante. How many times had I been alone near him? Too many, this wasn't good.

Which brought the curiosity of why he hadn't caught me before. To keep his cover, obviously, but was it possible that they had not known of my powers before?

"Which brings us full circle." Hadley stated. I refocused on her as she continued on.

"When Anatol went missing, I joined the military in hopes of finding out why. However, to my surprise, all information on him vanish. He wasn't even in the registry. So I took it upon myself to hunt some more. That was when Mustang caught me. I explained what my concerns were, he too had theories. So we searched together. Then recently he told me to stop looking and to lay low. I get the feeling he found something but doesn't want to tell."

Greed sneered.

"So Mustang knows?" I asked with surprise.

"Oh he definitely knows." Greed said, irritation evident in his voice. Hadley glared at Greed before looking at me.

"And that's where you come in."

"Me? What am I? Your go-fer?" I asked in an off put tone. Hadley chuckled.

"The daughter of the Zephyr Alchemist is no go-fer, but I do need someone important to tell Roy what is going on." Hadley explained. I paused for a moment at the title given to my father.

"The Zephyr Alchemist... I take it he was talented with the particles in the air." I muttered. Hadley smirked.

"He gave Roy a run for his money. Those two were evenly matched. But yes, as you probably figured out from Fullmetal, we are given titles based on our talents." Hadley said.

Before I could ask, she continued as though she knew my question.

"My talents are to do with my taming of animals. I use the pheromones in the air to confuse animals into trusting me." She said. That would explain the mass dog attack that happened earlier too then. With a sigh, I relented.

"So what do you want me to do?" I asked. Hadley glanced at Greed, both nodded, then she looked to me.

"Well firstly, you should know one more thing. All of this country's wars have started and ended on the exact same day each century. January 8th. Liore started an uprising on that day, but I think the military has already taken care of that issue."

My eyes widened in slight surprise.

"That day..." They both looked to me. "That was the day I came to this side of the gate. Eleven months ago. That was when I first came here."

It was silent for a moment before I asked the question out loud.

"Is it... coincidence?"

Again more silence.

"I don't think so." Hadley said out loud. I winced at the sound and took a defensive stance.

"I just fell down a hole and mistakingly activated a transmutation circle. Nothing more! There's no way I came here on purpose!" I defended, feeling a chill. The days matched up though; it all was in a line.

Something brought me here, intentionally, on that day. Which meant that something was going to take me back on that day too.

Just... who or what was it?

In three weeks, I will have been here for one year... what did this mean for me? Would something happen on January 8th?

I might not reach my 18th birthday...

Suddenly January 13th seemed a lot further away; an impossible goal that I would not be able to reach. Time then became a factor in my livelihood. I might not have very long.

"Just calm down," Greed said. It snapped my from my funk and I looked at him. "It's just a day, doesn't mean something bad's gunna happen. Who knows? Maybe it'll be something good."

He looked rather bored with the situation, and for some reason it calmed me down for a bit. He was right; this didn't change anything. I always had a time limit, it was just more restricted than I first anticipated. Who knows though? Greed could be right; perhaps this would be nothing.

Still, I couldn't help the strange feeling in my gut.

"I need you to go to Roy and tell him my plan," Hadley began again. "Tell him about the Fuhrer, and that I plan gather everyone in Liore December 3rd of this year."

"December? That's a year away!" I exclaimed.

"Trust me kid, whatever Dante and Father are planning, it's gunna be big. And I doubt this will be ready anytime soon." Greed added in.

"And in the mean time you need to keep safe. Mustang will be able to protect you from the Homunculi and their boss'," Hadley explained. "But whatever you do, don't trust anyone who claims to know your father. And don't use your real name whenever possible."

I nodded in clear understanding.

"Also..." She pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket. "This is the location of our old home. If you ever get the chance, you should visit it sometime. See what our lives were like."

I looked up to her then and recalled that this woman was in fact an adoptive aunt of mine. Suddenly I didn't feel so alone.

I smiled.

"Thank you, Feral Alchemist."

She chuckled.

"Hopefully we won't need to give you a title."

As I left the house, I couldn't help but linger on that last comment.

"WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU THIS WHOLE TIME?!"

This was the first fling of comments shouted at me as I entered the Curtis' home. Al, Ed, and Izumi all crowded around me and were screaming. Let me tell you, when all three of them came at me I just about keeled over from fear and melted into the floor.

Then I sat them down and explained what I had done and found out, save for anything pertaining to the Azoth. A few large screams from Ed for saving Greed were followed by Izumi saying I shouldn't trust people so easily.

Then finally, they all stayed silent for a little while.

"Well I don't think we'll have to worry about telling Mustang. He's already got a plan going." Ed said finally. Without missing a beat, Al filled me in.

"While you were in Resembool Brother and I found the homunculus Desire. She had been trying to tell Colonel Mustang that it was Ross, one of Major Armstrong's men, had been the one to kill Maes Hughs. The Colonel faked her death and sent her to hide in the south for now. Apparently they plan to hide her until this all blows over."

"But why would Mustang do that? If this Desire told him wouldn't he believe it to be a lie?" I asked.

"The point is that the Homunculi wanted him to kill Ross. So he did. It was only afterwards that we discovered Desire was a homunculus when we confronted her on this knowledge." Ed added in.

This made sense, but we needed to let Mustang know about the Fuhrer. He wasn't safe, even with his alchemic abilities. He couldn't take on someone of such high standing.

"Regardless of what we do, there is one thing that should be taken care of first." I said, glancing at the stairs from where we all sat in the living room.

Winry.

She needed to go home.

"I'll take her, you guys should go and tell Mustang what's going on." Ed said. I nodded, but Al thought differently.

"Ed! We shouldn't split up. If we do who knows how long before we all get together again." Al said.

"Al, it's okay," I said. He looked over to me. "Winry needs to go home, but the Colonel needs to know what's going on. If we waste time who knows what might happen. You can go with Ed if you really want, I don't mind."

"No, you're not going anywhere on your own anymore. You lost that right when you vanished on a blimp." Ed said in a very sharp yet sarcastic tone. I glowered, that little...!

"If I don't go then Mustang won't know about this! What if he gets himself into big trouble?" I challenged.

"That doesn't matter, he can fend for himself." Ed said dismissively, looking away from me.

"Oh and I can't?" I snapped. He looked at me then, really looked at me. There was a pause before he took in a breath.

"No," I felt taken aback by the comment. "You couldn't from the first day you came."

I frowned before balling my fists. I wanted to punch him, I wanted to yell. Yet the adamant look on his face said it would do me no good.

So I was still at square one.

"Brother...!" Al muttered.

My stare down with Ed continued until I loosened my hands and looked away.

"I'm going to go check on Winry." I said calmly before walking to the stairs. As I climbed the stairs, I let my anger dissipate.

Ed was looking out for me...

Ed was making sure I was safe...

Yet no matter how many times I told myself that, it all came back to the fact that I couldn't protect myself.

January 8th was fast approaching.

I was running out of time to prove myself too.

Closing my eyes, I let out a breath.

When I got to the top of the stairs, I paused to look outside. It was dark now, but I couldn't see the stars just yet. It would be a little while still before they began to shine.

...

The stars...

I quickly walked to Winry's room. There she sat on her bed. She looked much healthier and more alive than the last time I had seen her, but my excitement had me overlooking that fact.

"Winry! I need you to do me a little favour."

READ THE DAMN Author's Note!

...

It's been a while...neh?

Sorry guys... Life became an ass and... well... I'm on spring break?

This is the first day in over a year I've stayed in bed past 7... feels weird, but I like it...

Well, I'll probably be saving that special chapter for later, but I did want to get this out before my inspiration died. So now we know a lot more about Erin and how she fits into this whole thing! Any thoughts on this? I cut it off a little soon, but a special someone will be showing their faces next chapter! I am hoping to write some more tonight after my first shift!

Thank you to everyone who continued to read this story, and again, sorry for such a ridiculously long wait!

Please let me know what you think of this story. I really really do love it when I get feedback.

Also I am looking for a Beta Reader! Would anyone be willing to go back and edit the chapters for spelling/ grammar/ plot holes?

Also, anybody have a clue what Erin's going to do? I must admit when I thought of it I got all warm and fuzzy at the gesture. ;)

Cheers!

Iland Girl