The Waters of Lethe

Disclaimer: I don't own FMA, I just like to play around in it's world and torture Ed for awhile.

Author's note: post series. Some movie events will happen, but differently

Warning: may contain movie spoilers. Has and will contain violence, death and sex.

Beta: Jedimasterwithapen

50. Captured (Gefangen genommen)

Dublin, Ireland, October 30, 1934

Rudolph and the unremarkable man followed the bus to its stop in front of St. Padraic's Day School where they watched the Shambalan disembark and hurry through the school gates. But he didn't get too far inside before he was surrounded by a swarm of boys. The unremarkable man smiled fondly, the Shambalan who called himself Edward Murphy was very popular with his students . Taking him away from these children would be a pity, but Hitler's new government needed him more.

"That is enough, Rudolph," he said and the scarred man put the car into drive and took him back to their hotel room. They had finally caught up with the Shambalan a month ago and spent nearly every day following him and observing his habits. The unremarkable man walked into his bedroom and returned to the sitting room a moment later with a battered brown leather medical bag. He set it upon a desk, opened the top clasp, and took out two bottles of liquid, two syringes, and a small silver dart with four green feathers potruding from its back.

"The time for planning is done, Rudolph. Tomorrow, we will take the Shambalan. Will you call the airfield and reserve three seats on tomorrow evening's Zeppelin flight for Germany, bitte?"

"Jah wohl, Herr Doktor." Rudolph clicked his heels together, bowed, and picked the telephone off its stand, and took it into his own bedroom. His employer had been known as Dr. Schwinghammer back in Egypt, but that was really just one of his many aliases. He was technically an assassin, but this mission required him to capture a man alive and unharmed. It was a challenge, but he thrived upon challenges. And to be truthful, he had been getting bored. There are only so many ways to kill another human being.

But this was different and the unremarkable man applied his considerable intelligence to accomplishing his task. Such as the drugs he'd decided to use to subdue his quarry. A gentle tug on the feathers popped a plug off the back of the dart, revealing two tiny chambers within. He picked up one syringe, and unscrewed the cap off one of the bottles and upended it, then pushed the needle through the tiny hole in the top. Next, he pulled on the plunger and withdrew a small amount of the liquid before pulling the needle out. He set the bottle aside and pushed the plunger gently until liquid burbled out the needle's tip.

The unremarkable man smiled with satisfaction before he picked up the dart and expressed the liquid into one of the two chambers. He repeated the process with a fresh syringe and the other bottle before he reclosed the back of the dart. There was already a cap on the sharp end to prevent any leaking from that end. He had chosen these two drugs after much study and the dosages had to be exact. Next, he opened a drawer in the desk and brought out a flat, zippered case which he opened to reveal a small pistol, a silencer, and a single depression in the velvet lining. The dart fit into it perfectly, and he re-secured the case before replacing the drug bottles into the medical bag. The syringes he took into the bathroom to clean carefully before they too went back into the bag.

His last act was to pick up the case and place it upon the sofa next to their other "tools" assembled for the capture. The unremarkable man couldn't help but feel a little twinge of regret at the thought of wrapping up his mission. This hunt had been both diverting and amusing, but all good things had to come to an end.

October 31st

"Happy Halloween, Mr. Murphy!" the last of the students called out and waved before they raced off into the shadowy late afternoon. Edward echoed the good wishes and waved back to the excited boys. This would be his second Halloween in Dublin, and his desk would be covered with apples, oranges, nuts and chocolates tomorrow morning. Before leaving the classroom, he filled his briefcase with geometry worksheets to be corrected, then snapped it shut and slung the long strap over his head. Once outside, he stopped and took a deep breath of the cool air which smelled of dead leaves, and peat smoke. Edward had grown to love Dublin, or rather, Dublin had grown on him. Here in this wonderful city he truly felt safe from the Thule Society.

He strolled through the front courtyard of the school and out the gates just as the bus pulled up. He boarded and rode it till a few miles away from his apartment before he got out near his favorite bookshop. A translation of an old French text on alchemy had just come in, and he picked up the copy he had pre-ordered before he spent a pleasant hour browsing through the shelf of other new arrivals. He paid for the alchemy text and some other books he'd chosen and emerged into the darkening Dublin evening.

There wasn't much of a wind, so he decided to walk home. Already children were in their Halloween costumes and rushing up and down the street, trick or treating. Edward smiled at their innocence and enthusiasm. In a few hours, some would be groaning with tummy aches caused by eating too much candy, but right now was a magical time for them. He shifted the bag from the bookshop to his right hand and looked at his watch. It was going on for six o'clock and his landlady would be serving supper in a few minutes. She'd told him she was making lamb stew, and from experience he knew it meant succulent chunks of lamb in thick gravy full of carrots, potatoes, onions, and parsnips. His stomach growled and he began to salivate. A bowl of lamb stew served with crusty bread would be just the thing before he settled down to correcting those papers.

Edward was so intent on getting home and having supper, he didn't notice the costumed children had all gone past and away down the street, nor did he notice the large black touring sedan parked at the curb. He barely registered the man in the clown mask looking at him from an open back window, or the pistol pointing at him, until it was too late to react.

The gun fired with a soft phut and Edward gasped at the sharp pain that blossomed in his right leg. He looked down at the tiny silver dart with green feathers that was buried in his thigh just above the knee. He dropped the book bag, reached down and took a hold of the dart and pulled. His fingers slid right off, and Edward tried a second time, but his fingers merely scrabbled at the metal. His legs began to tremble and without warning, his knees gave way and he dropped hard to the sidewalk. The impact should have hurt, but his legs felt curiously numb. "Wha - what is happening?" he asked aloud.

Edward tried to get up, but his legs didn't seem to get the messages his brain was sending. He heard a car door open and footsteps approach him. "What - what did you do to me?" he rasped.

"Cease your struggles, Shambalan. I have shot you with a two-chambered dart of my own design. The first chamber has injected you with a paralyzing agent, and it's already taking effect."

Yet Edward kept struggling to get up, but his upper arms failed next. He supported himself on his elbows, which already trembled. With the last of his strength, Edward rolled over onto his left side so he could look up at the man. "Wh - why did you do this to me?"

His clown mask still in place, the man knelt down and gently stroked Edward's hair and the sensations filled him with revulsion. He had to get away from this man!

"Ngh!" he gritted his teeth and tried to push himself back up, but his fingers just twitched feebly. He panted from the exertion and tried to protest when the masked man slipped his hands underneath Edward's back and legs and began to lift him. Edward tried to shout "NO!", but his jaw and lips wouldn't move to form the words.

"Why, Shambalan?" asked the masked man, and up close the clown face looked distorted to Edward. "Because I felt it was the most humane way to capture you. Rudoph was all for just whacking you over the head with a club, but that is so violent. Ah, are your eyes having trouble focusing? The tranquilizing drug from the second chamber is taking effect now, and you will soon lose consciousness."

He stood up with Edward up in his arms and smiled fondly at him before he turned back towards the sedan. Now Edward could see another man, wearing a skull mask and holding the door open. The clown man bent down and stepped into the car before he set the paralyzed blond on the back seat. That door closed, and then he heard another one slam before an engine rumbled to life. The man in the clown mask threw a blanket over Edward as the car began to move down the street.

Edward couldn't move, nor could he speak. But he still was able to make a slight sound of protest deep in his throat. His kidnapper tucked the blanket around Edward's limbs and spoke in a soothing voice, "Shhh, Shambalan. We will take very good care of you, so go to sleep now. Everything will be all right."

The man removed his mask, but his face had already dissolved into an unremarkable blur before Edward's heavy eyelids fluttered closed and he slipped into a deep and dreamless sleep.