T_T I know it's taken me forever to get this uploaded but it's taken me forever to write! I'm sooooo sorry for the wait but I've suddenly run into a huuge brick wall with this story and I still don't know how to get over it T_T On another note, I have been busy over the Christmas period with Pantomines and Law Exams. Luckily all of them are over now and I have a week off before Uni starts once again. While I have a week full of nothing, I shall try to get a few more chapters done so I can update a bit faster!
Disclaimer: I don't own FMA.
Behind Bars
Roy's face became the only thing I focused on as I was pushed through the prison cells. He glanced up and jumped to his feet, instantly surprised I was there.
"Riza!" he yelled. The guards opened the cell next to his and pushed me roughly into the metal cage. I stumbled and fell against the cold, hard bars. Roy rushed over to me, taking my hand and holding it tightly.
"Enjoy what's left of your time together," one of the guards sneered before he locked me in my prison and walked off with his companion. I looked at my husband. His expression was grim.
"Are you alright?" he asked me. His features visibly relaxed when he turned his gaze on me.
"They didn't do anything to me," I told him, "But I'm not alright."
"They caught up with you?" Roy asked.
"No," I answered, "George betrayed me."
Roy swore loudly. He let go of my hand and walked round his cell. I watched him for a few seconds before I sat down on a hard metal bed.
"What do we do now?" I asked. Roy let out a long sigh.
"Pray?" he suggested, "I don't know what has happened to the others. Maybe they'll be let off, maybe not. Maybe they've already been killed."
"They took Kit," I told Roy, "I don't know where he is but they dragged him off. I was helpless."
"We all were," Roy said, "I didn't see it coming. None of it."
"The worst part is that I still hope, in the pit of my stomach, that George is only playing along," I admitted, "But I know in my heart she's left us to die."
"We can't rely on anyone," Roy said, "Not even the guys."
"Ed and Al?" I asked but Roy shook his head.
"Not even your grandparents," he replied, "Not even Chris."
"Havoc," I said. Roy looked up to see Havoc walking towards us. He was watching the floor rather than anything else. George wasn't far behind him. She was smirking at Roy and I. Havoc stopped in front of our cells but refused to look at us.
"Is this them?" George asked.
"Who else is it?" Havoc snapped in reply. Slowly he raised his head and looked at me. "Confirmed."
"Havoc, what's going on?" I asked. He refused to answer.
"I'm sorry," he muttered before quickly leaving us. I watched him go before looking again at George.
"Why are you doing this, George?" Roy asked with venom in his tone. George looked at him with her eyebrow raised.
"Simple," she replied, "Because I can. Enjoy yourselves."
"Where's Kit?" Roy yelled. George paused. A smile crept onto her face.
"He's going to be so useful," she told us before walking away like Havoc had done.
"Dammit, George!" Roy yelled but his voice fell on deaf ears. George continued walking away from us, her pace never faltering. Roy's shoulders sagged. He leant his head on the bars in front of his face. I reached through the bars between us and gently stroked his shoulder. "We've failed."
"I know," I said calmly, "but we can't give up. Not if Kit's in danger."
"How we going to get out of here?" Roy asked, "They took my gloves. It's not like we can magically transport ourselves out of these cells."
"We'll wait for an opportunity," I replied. Roy nodded slowly. "For now, we wait."
"I already hate this plan," Roy muttered.
A few days crept by and there was no sign of freedom. There were no chances at escaping. No opportunities to send a message for help. No familiar faces coming to visit. No reassuring news from our allies. We were left in our cells most of the time. Occasionally we were let out to get refreshed but that would only be for a few minutes. The rest of the time we sat waiting.
Roy was awfully quiet as we sat waiting. There were no sarcastic comments, no humour or planning coming from him. It worried me to see him this way, but there was a side of me which preferred the silence. It was calm and peaceful even with the thought of impending doom lingering around us.
There was a noise somewhere down the hall. I glanced towards the exit, wondering what was going on. Gradually the noise got closer. Roy stood up and walked to the front bars.
"I wonder what's happening out there," he muttered. I stood up and walked to the bars, peering down the corridor with some interest. The noise, whatever it was, stopped suddenly. The doors at the end of the corridor swung open. I couldn't help myself but gasp.
I recognised the face before I remembered the name. The red eyes and x shaped scar across his face were unmistakeably his.
"Scar," I heard Roy whisper. Scar walked towards our cells. He glanced around cautiously like he didn't want to be caught there. Finally his eyes settled on Roy.
"The Flame Alchemist," Scar mumbled.
"Did they send you to kill me?" Roy asked. Scar remained silent but he glanced at me. He reached out at Roy's head but at the last second his hand went to the lock. A spark of energy later, Roy was free. Confused Roy stepped out of his cell. Scar placed his hand on my cell and did a similar thing. I slowly walked out of my cell, closing the door behind me. Roy was still confused.
"What's going on here?" he asked.
"Come, before they realise we have gone," Scar replied walking back towards the door. I looked at Roy who merely shrugged.
"For my defence, I said we couldn't trust our allies," he muttered before we followed Scar.
Outside the prison there seemed to be a lack of guards. It seemed to unnerve both Roy and Scar but I was glad. Getting into a fire fight now would be lethal.
"Where are we going?" Roy muttered to Scar. Scar neglected to reply once again and sprinted across the corridor. He checked round a corner before telling us to follow.
"We need to get out of here," Scar told us in a hushed voice, "There are some people waiting."
"Who?" Roy asked.
"You will see when we get there," Scar replied. Roy rolled his eyes as Scar sprinted once again.
"Why does he have to be so cryptic?" Roy asked me. I offered him a small smile as an answer.
We followed Scar down several floors until we reached a room far below the prison. Scar carefully walked towards the back of the room where a cabinet was. He pushed it to one side, revealing a large hole behind it.
"Well, that's not suspicious at all," Roy commented as Scar entered the hole. I followed the Ishvallan with Roy close behind me. Scar pulled the cabinet back over the hole once we were inside.
"We are almost there," Scar told us. Roy put his hand on my shoulder as we walked on wards. A few minutes later we had reached a good sized room with two other tunnels. The tunnels caught my immediate attention but I then saw the people in the room.
"Havoc?" Roy asked, stepping forwards. Havoc saluted Roy with Breda, Falman and Fuery copying him.
"Good to see you, Colonel, Hawkeye," Havoc greeted with a goofy smile.
"We were worried," Fuery said. I turned to see Ed and Al stood beside one of the tunnels.
"Trust us to have to bail you out, Colonel," Ed said. Roy glared at him.
"Brother," Al moaned.
"So what's going on?" I asked before Ed and Roy could start a fight.
"We're not entirely sure," Breda replied. He looked at Havoc expectantly.
"Hey, I only know half of it," Havoc told us, "I was told to bring you guys here with weapons and gloves for the Colonel."
"We were told to bargain with Scar," Ed explained, "And get him to help us."
"I was also instructed to go to the stockade camp and talk to a man named Bulldog and request his help along with some others," Scar said. We all looked at each other, confused.
"So who's behind this?" Roy asked.
"That's a very good question, Colonel."
Everyone turned around to see George stood at the entrance to the tunnel we'd just come through. She was leant on one of the walls with her arms folded across her chest, a smirk on her face. She straightened up.
"Looks like a good turnout," she remarked looking at all of us.
"So you're the one who got us all together?" Breda asked.
"I'm not so sure about that," Havoc muttered.
"Yeah," Ed agreed.
"Believe what you want," George said, "I'm here for my prize."
"Prize?" Roy asked.
"I still can't believe you trust me," George said with a shake of the head, "I just can't understand it. I've betrayed you once and killed a friend or two of yours."
"A friend or two?" Ed asked.
"Yeah," George replied, "Two in front of their best friends, they were the funnest, and one when you didn't realise. That one was boring. I couldn't claim anything on that one. Such a shame because you'd have really missed that one. You would have cried so much."
"What are you talking about?" Roy asked, a snap in his tone. "There's no one else who's missing apart from Hughes and Rebecca."
I glanced at Havoc. He was biting his lip hard. I glanced at George once again, then back at Havoc.
"You know?" I asked him.
"I had my suspicions but I couldn't see how it would've worked," Havoc muttered. Everyone turned to Havoc, demanding an explanation. Even George looked interested. "Ever since she came back there's been something off with her. We had an argument before she left for the North but when she returned, she didn't have any memory of it. I expected her to say something when she returned but nothing and when I asked her about it, she didn't have a clue."
"All because of something so small, Havoc?" George asked, raising an eyebrow, "I should've done my research better, I guess."
"Research?" Ed asked, "Then that means-!"
Ed didn't have time to finish his sentence. Hayate bounded down the tunnel and leapt on George. George yelped as she tried to stop the dog attacking her.
"Zis iz your dog? E's such a cute ting!" echoed down the tunnel. Tserkov poked her head into the room and offered all of us a smile. "Vow, I vos not expecting zuch a turn out."
"OK," Roy moaned, "That's it. I have no idea what the hell is going on."
"Join the club," Ed agreed.
"Hayate, down," Tserkov ordered. Hayate jumped off George and trotted over to me. George glared at Tserkov.
"So you're behind all this?" George yelled, "I should have known!"
"Never trust a person you cannot understand," Tserkov replied, "One more ting."
In one swift movement Tserkov pulled a sword from her belt and plunged it into George's chest. George screamed as the metal pierced her skin. She collapsed on the floor. Tserkov plunged the sword into her side as if she nailing George to the floor.
"Zer, all better," Tserkov remarked. She turned to us. "Zer is very little time to explain. Fuery ave ou got ze telephone linked up?"
"Yes," Fuery replied nervously.
"Tell Bulldog and ze Glaciers to stand by," Tserkov ordered, "Falman and Breda could you please go get the weapons and bring zem here? And Al? Can you finish of zat tunnel?"
"Yes, ma'am," Falman and Breda replied before they hurried off with Al. Tserkov looked towards the rest of us.
"We need to move out," Tserkov told us, "So get ready."
"I'm not going anywhere until you tell us what is going on," Ed said stubbornly, "We got half an explanation from George before you came and killed her."
At that minute everyone turned to look at George. She was laid with the sword through her side. She was propping up her head with her hand while the other was across her chest. She looked at us in a bored sort of way. My eyes trailed to the sword. There was no blood. Tserkov didn't look surprised at all.
"Finally," George said, "They seem to be getting it. Finally I can gloat."
"You're not George?" Roy asked.
"Wait, if it's not bleeding it must be a homuncolous," Ed said, "Envy!"
"Well done, shrimp," George said as she pulled the sword from her side. She got her feet and put a hand on her hip. "A bit late now though."
"So when you said you kill two people in front of their friends and another without us knowing, you meant…" Havoc said, trailing off as he became unable to continue. George nodded slowly.
"She did put up a fight," George went on, "Right to the very end she was telling me I wasn't going to get away with it. Then I pushed her and she died. So sad."
"You monster!" Roy roared. He stood in front of me protectively. I had been watching Tserkov very carefully over the last few seconds. She had pulled out a small blade and had been waiting for George to stop speaking before she plunged it into her left hip. Tserkov twisted the knife sharply making George scream in agony.
"Ze problem with taking on a form of a person is zat you also take on zer veak points," Tserkov said, "Poor you."
Tserkov grabbed George's wrist gave it a sharp pull and a twist before pushing it back towards her body. Again, George screamed.
"Colonel," Breda's voice seemed to come out of the blue. He rushed up behind Roy and I and handed Roy his gloves. He also passed me a gun in a holster. Roy slipped his gloves on and turned to George and Tserkov. Tserkov jumped out of the way as Roy clicked his fingers. George was suddenly on fire. We all watched in amazement as the flames died down. George was still there but she didn't look like George any more. Instead of brown her hair was green with a black bandana keeping the hair from her face. She wasn't wearing the state uniform any longer instead she was wearing a black top with what looked like a skirt with shorts underneath. On her hands she had fingerless gloves while on her feet she had black socks with the toes missing.
"Woah," Breda said, "That was George?"
"That's definitely Envy," Ed told us. Envy looked up at us before it burst into laughter.
"What I want to know is how you worked it out," Envy asked, looking towards Tserkov.
"It's really quite simple," Tserkov told Envy, "When you look at it. Anja Tserkov. In Drachma, Tserkov means church."
"What has that got to do with any of it?" Envy asked, as it got to its feet.
"Everything," Tserkov replied, her accent suddenly gone. Envy's eyes widened before it launched itself at Tserkov. Tserkov managed to move out of the way.
"Everyone, get going," she ordered before Envy launched at her once again. Slowly Scar began to edge towards one of the tunnels.
"We will go this way," Scar told us pointing down one tunnel, "You should go down that one to save your son."
"Fine," Roy said, "Ed, Riza, Havoc, you're with me."
"Take Breda," Havoc replied. I glanced at Havoc. He was watching Tserkov and Envy fight. He picked grabbed a gun off of Breda and clicked the safety off. "I'll stay here just in case."
"You sure?" Roy asked. Havoc nodded.
"Yeah," he replied, "Go save Kit. I'll meet up with you later."
"Promise?" I asked. Havoc gave me a smile.
"Promise," he replied, "Now move it!"
We quickly moved down the tunnels we needed to go down. I glanced back when I heard Havoc shoot his gun. I would have stopped to go back and help but my son was in danger. I had to go and save him. I kept up with Roy, Ed and Breda as we ran towards something. What it was was a mystery to us all.
I'll try to update as soon as I can. If any people can help me get through this brick wall that is writer's block, please lend me some TNT.
RSx
