Tigger: Okay so I may have not updated in a long time. But I finally went on my e-mail and noticed all these messages from people asking me to update. Truth be told, I always meant to get back to this story. But one month turned to two months turned to six months and so on and so forth. As a person, I have also changed a lot since I started this story. I actually have this chapter and a next few chapters prewritten, but you may notice a change in writing style after that. I can't promise updates ever week, but I'll do my best.
Ed: Keh, only losers give up.
Tigger: YOU GOT SOMETHING TO SAY TO ME PUNK?
Ed: YEAH IF YOU REALLY CARED ABOUT THIS STORY YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN HERE!
Tigger: WELL SOME PEOPLE….wait did you miss me?
Ed: NO!
Tigger: YOU DID YOU MISSED ME! Aw Ed! (Hugs Ed)
Ed: YOU DO NOT OWN FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST!
Tigger: DIE ED! (hits Ed with hammer) Oh I've missed this.
Amy: -_- And amazingly we've missed you.
If Amy's mouth hadn't been covered she probably would have been screaming bloody murder. Her situation was catching up with her quickly. She was in an unfamiliarly place being held captive by an unfamiliar man. If that right there didn't scream dangerous, Amy didn't know what did.
"Breathe. Breathe. Breathe," she instructed herself.
She needed to calm down. She needed to think her way out. Panicking would not help. Repeat it would not help. Ed and Al were watching her date right? They would burst in at any moment and kick Milo's sorry ass. They could get him for kidnapping if not for murder. She had to remain calm though. She had to ignore the fact that her heart was pounding like a drum or that she could hear the blood rushing in her ears. She was not allowed to tremble or shake, and she had to pretend the adrenaline rushing through her veins wasn't there. She had to. She had to.
"Your friends aren't coming," Milo whispered in her ear.
A chill ran down Amy's spine and she froze in place.
"You can panic now," her brain informed her.
The spell over Amy broke at those words. Her limbs, which had been locked in place, began to move around frantically. She grabbed at the arms binding her and began to pull desperately. Her legs flailed around as she tried to kick Milo and elbow him in the stomach at the same time. Milo gave a sharp tug which threw her off balance. She stumbled as Milo dragged her away from the door and further into the house. Desperately she tried to scream through his hand but the sound was muffled and Amy was left feeling lightheaded.
There was a flash of light and Amy vaguely noticed an alchemy circle on the wall. An entrance formed and Amy felt herself being shoved in. Her limbs lacked the proper oxygen to work and Amy's clumsiness seemed to return full force as she fell down a flight of stairs. Various limbs smacked into hard surfaces until she reached the bottom of the stairs. She lay there in a crumbled heap, her head pounding, her limps aching, and her heart going a gazillion miles a minute. The sound of feet coming down the stairs snapped her back to attention.
Pushing aside the aching and the pounding Amy bolted to her feet and tried to run away. The only problem was that it was pitch black and Amy couldn't see a thing. Her fingers searched along the wall and Amy stumbled through the dark. No plans were forming in her head. No ideas on how to escape. She had only one thought right now and that was to get as far away as possible as fast as she could. Her foot hit something and Amy was sent sprawling on the ground.
A click could be heard and the sound of electricity humming through the walls reached her ears. Amy covered her eyes as the light overhead flashed on. Once the pain in her eyes dispersed she opened them. Squinting she peered around the room.
It was a basement. That was obvious by the stone walls and cement floors. There were no windows and only one exit, the door up the stairs which Milo was currently standing on. Around the room stood a few tall brass candlesticks that were used to light the darker corners of the room. Books lay in stacks around the edges of the room and at least twenty were piled high on a table that was pushed against one of the walls. None of this was all that peculiar or relative for that matter. What was strange, eerie, and downright creepy was the giant complex alchemy circle that spanned most of the floor. It was full of strange unknown symbols that only experts could even attempt to understand. And in the middle of this circle was a casket. A casket with a person in it.
Amy's stomach tried to escape out her mouth at the sight. She swallowed and began to tremble. Beads of sweat slipped down her face. Amy couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. Her brain was reeling. The only thing she saw was the casket. The casket and the person.
"I knew it the moment I saw you," Milo announced, "There's an expression that says everybody has a twin somewhere in the world, but I never believed it. Not even for a second."
He walked over to Amy and stood beside her.
"To look somewhat alike I can understand, especially if they're related," Milo continued, "But to look identical is impossible. To be the same height. To act the same way. To have the same mannerisms. Impossible."
He smirked at Amy whose eyes had yet to leave the casket.
"When I saw you at the diner, I knew it was no coincidence. You were the same down to the last atom in your DNA. The only difference was that you claimed you had a different past and you're accent was off. It all made sense though."
Milo's words were finally reaching Amy's brain and she turned to face him. The creepy smile that was spreading across his face did little to help with her already shot nerves. She had a feeling he had reached a conclusion. A conclusion that wasn't good for her.
"Amelia was my assistant," Milo chuckled, a bit of insanity leaking through, "She agreed to help if I would teach her more about alchemy. She had no idea what she was signing up for."
He reached down and grabbed Amy by her collar. He proceeded to drag her to her feet and then over to the casket.
"I had a theory that instead of bringing people back from the dead we could build an entirely new person. A person without a soul. A person whose emotions wouldn't get in the way. A person you could teach anything to," he explained, "I had all the proper ingredients too. Of course I had Amelia do the final experiment. I couldn't risk any backfires."
Milo held Amy's face over the open casket.
"As you can see there was a little mishap and Amelia was no longer a part of this world."
Amy stared down at…well her. Amelia lay in the casket. They hadn't been lying when they said she was identical. The hair was the same. The body shape was the same. The freckles, the scars, all of it were the same. She looked as though she was merely sleeping but there was no rise or fall of the chest. There were no little movements to assure that the person was just off in dreamland. No it was obvious that this person was dead and had been for a while.
It was strange feeling staring at one's own dead body. Amy felt as if she was there but she wasn't. An uncomfortable feeling had settled in the pit of her stomach and all she wanted to do was look away. But she couldn't. Milo was holding her head in place as he continued to rant.
"I thought all was lost and I couldn't continue with my experiments because of the police watching me. I was just giving up hope when you arrived. The answer to all my problems."
Amy didn't bother to ask what was going through this crazy man's head but instead focused on breathing, on looking at the dead body without really seeing. Her stomach was churning terribly and she had to repress memories of a certain headless soldier.
"Aren't you going to ask me?" Milo breathed into her ear.
Amy would have shivered if she could have moved. Her body wasn't reacting though. She could feel its utter numbness as she tried without success to keep the images from flooding her vision. She wanted to cry and scream. The insanity was all around pressing in on her. Amy was terrified beyond her wildest dreams but she couldn't act on it.
"You're her soul. The ingredients were used to make the body but a body can't exist without a soul, so it took the nearest one. And then the body began to build around the soul. It tried to recreate what it once was. Don't you see? Don't you see what I made? I cloned her and made you."
Amy was sure that this comment was supposed to have some sort of affect on her. That she was supposed to gasp or cry or something. Instead she felt angry. It was one thing to be kidnapped by a crazy man, but the way he was acting it was as if he owned her. Amy was owned by no man! And she was certainly no clone! Sure her situation may have been weird but Amy remembered her old life. She knew it was real. She knew the people were real and that her life was real. She was no imitation. Amy was not going to fall into the same trap Al had. She was her own person, God f-ing damn it!
"Wait till the government hears about this. Wait till the people hear. I'll be rich. I'll go down in history books! They'll give me my own lab and people will line up to be my subjects! And you!" he grinned at Amy while saying this, "You are the key to my success!"
It was then that Amy snapped. Her anger boiled over and she lost all control over her reasoning. How dare he! How dare this man! This killer! Ever think that she would cooperate for him! To think that he owned her! To have no remorse for the girl he killed without a second thought! To murder someone for no more then fame! To have no regard for the family that would miss her or the friends that would cry over the empty grave! And then to think that no one would care! That no one would punish him! That he would never suffer for his sins! It was too much!
The rage transformed itself into something stronger then she ever felt before. It raced through her limbs making her feel as if she could crush buildings. Every instinct screamed at her to react. To hit him. To make him pay. Every ounce of her being wanted to hurt this man. Raw power gave her strength. Power that came from hate.
"Yargh!" Amy shouted twisting around and punching Milo in the mouth.
He flew backwards and skidded a few feet away. But that wasn't enough for Amy. Her anger was still there. It grew stronger and stronger the longer she stared at the man. It was feeding her. Her breaths came ragged, not from being weary, but from restraint.
The second Milo moved Amy was on him. She punched and kicked and scratched with no regrets. She didn't hold back for one second. Instead she went from one form of attack to another, never tiring. Milo punched her in the jaw and she stumbled away from the man, but his action only proceeded to feed the raw anger in her. Amy grabbed a brass candle stick holder and gripped it with all her might. With another strangled scream, she attacked.
She swung her weapon and was satisfied to hear it make contact. Amy didn't stall as she continued to beat him mercilessly.
At one point, without even realizing it, she had begun to yell.
"How dare you! How dare you!" she howled at the man, "She had family and friends! How could you?"
Her screams were often broken by ragged breathing or blows she sustained. Milo was fighting back. His rage was nowhere as strong as Amy's and she therefore had the advantage. She seemed unable to feel the hits that landed on her and never stopped throwing swings of her own.
There was a loud snapping noise as Amy once again brought her weapon down. This time Milo intercepted it with his hand. It was obvious she had broken it, but the mere shock of doing such a thing made Amy pause. That pause was all Milo needed to take advantage of the situation. He gripped the candlestick with his good hand and threw it as far away as possible.
Amy looked up at him with wide eyes. For the first time she realized what she had been doing. She had been trying to kill him. The rage had boiled so intensely evaporated. Amy had almost taken another man's life. She stepped back, horrified with herself. How could she ever plan to do such a thing? Life was precious what gave her the right to take it away? Could she really have been so close to being a killer? To taking away another human life? To being no better then him?
Milo noticed her weakness and sent a strong kick to her ribs. Amy immediately doubled over in pain. Her previous injuries had yet to heal and her bruised ribs were still very sensitive.
A sense of hopelessness fell upon Amy. Her only chance of escape had been when she had been in a rage. Now he was the strong one. She could escape if she managed to get herself very angry again, but could she do it? What if this time she actually killed him? But then again how long could she hold off human instinct? The will to survive was strong and Amy wanted to survive more then anything.
"AMY!" a loud voice cried.
Amy's heart skipped a beat as she recognized that voice.
"ED!" Amy yelled back as loud as she could.
A sense of hope flitted through her. She would be alright. She would be alright. Then she caught a look of Milo's face and her hope faded slightly. He looked enraged. Amy quickly scuttled away from him.
"ED?" she shouted again while making sure to keep a good distance from the advancing madman.
"AMY!"
That time it was Al.
"AMY! AMY, WHERE ARE YOU?" Ed yelled.
Amy couldn't answer right away as she had to dart between several piles of books in order to throw off Milo. He was advancing much faster now, in an almost predatory manner. Amy tried to keep a level head as she picked up her pace. She grabbed a volume and threw it at Milo's head. It missed and she picked up another one.
"IN THE BASEMENT!" she screamed, "ALCHEMY CIRCLE ON WALL!"
Amy turned to run and flung the book behind her hoping it would make contact with its target. Milo dodged again. He was much closer now and Amy was running. Running where she didn't know, but she was scurrying away as fast as possible.
"WE'RE COMING AMY!"
Amy didn't respond that time. Her legs were backed up against the casket and she had no escape. She continued to grab everything in reach and throw it at Milo. A few of the books actually hit him and Amy heard the scrambling and stomping from upstairs. She only had to hold him off for a little bit longer…
A light could be seen from the corner of her eye but Amy was paying more attention to the hand reaching for her neck. In desperation she leaned back as far as she could go, as if she was playing some corny game of limbo. Her legs flew out from under her and Amy fell backwards into the casket.
"HEY! STAY AWAY FROM HER!"
It felt as if a thousand tiny static shocks hit her all at once all over her body and all she could see was a blinding light.
OMAKE:
Armstrong: DEAREST TIGGER WE HAVE MISSED YOU!
Tigger: STOP HUGGING ME! THE SPARKLES HURT! THEY BURN MY SKIN!
Armstrong: However, you have abandoned us and for that YOU EARN THE ANCIENT ARMSTRONG PUNISHMENT!
Tigger: NO SPARE ME! (Tigger manages to break free and run off)
Armstrong: ACCEPT YOUR PUNISHMENT TIGGER AND BECOME A BETTER MAN!
(Armstrong is running after Tigger)
Tigger: BUT I'M NOT A MAN AND I HAVE NO DESIRE TO BECOME ONE!
Amy: Uhmm Tigger will be updating immediately after this chapter in order to make up for her disappearance. If she escapes Armstrong that is.
Al: (is holding an unconscious Ed) Brother just started recovering from all his head injuries.
