DISCLAIMER: The only things I own are my OCs and my lazy ass. I don't own FMA/B.
Fifty-Three
"That bitch sent you here?" Pride seethed, lashing his shadows around, carelessly slicing through nearby branches and leaves.
Kimblee nodded, needing no clarification. "She said to attack the Elrics, and that you might be here." He glanced off into the trees. "Dr. Marcoh and Scar should be there, too."
Pride spat onto the ground. Truthfully, Gluttony's sudden death fueled much of his current foul mood, but rather than focusing on his fear, the childlike homunculus aimed his anger at his so-called sister. "Don't take orders from her anymore. Envy was always a coward, but now even more so."
"Gladly," Kimblee assented. He gestured back toward the road, where his men and car were waiting. "What now?"
Pride frowned in thought. They probably had too many members for Kimblee to take on alone, and he himself was reluctant to head back into the fray at such a disadvantage. Still… He eyed the man.
He would do well enough to exhaust them, or at least buy Father more time.
"They'll get to the underground eventually," Pride said slowly. "Likely they'll split up."
Kimblee nodded. "A sudden cave-in would trap them."
The homunculus nodded. "Fine. We'll head back to Central. Unless…you're interested in taking them on yourself and getting that Ishvalan out of the way for us."
Kimblee raised an eyebrow in consideration. "Sounds like quite the fun." He pulled a Stone from his pocket. "Obviously I'm not so dumb as to needlessly die, so I'll be careful."
Pride frowned as if in thought. "…On second thought, I'll give you backup." He smiled in that smug way he knew would gain even more of Kimblee's misguided trust. "You go in first, and as soon as they think they have the upper hand, I'll come right along. Just make sure you don't kill the sacrifices."
Kimblee tipped his hat. "What kind of heretic do you take me for?"
A stupid one.
()()()()()
"What?"
Alphonse did his best to look Marcoh in the eye. "I—I wasn't…couldn't protect…" His voice failed him.
Marcoh seemed to not breathe. He looked to Edward.
He vainly struggled to keep a semblance of composure. "She's…gone," he confirmed. "Dead."
May gasped, putting her hands over her mouth, her dark eyes watering.
Marcoh took a step backward. He looked to Alphonse. When the boy said nothing, the man's chest seemed to collapse. He choked out a broken sigh. A moment later his legs weakened. He fell to the ground, on his knees.
Alphonse hesitated. Then he approached the older man and sank to his own knees. He put his hands on the ground, trying to bow his hulking figure.
"I promised you I would protect her," he said. His eyes narrowed like he could cry and his fingers dug into the dirt. "I would never ask you to forgive me, but… I'm sorry I… I was too slow—she left without telling me—a-and when I got to Central…there was no trace of her. We just now fought against the homunculi and E-Envy… It was Envy."
There was a heavy pause.
"I'm sorry," Alphonse choked out. "I…"
Marcoh stared at the ground. His expression was hidden. Alphonse tried to gauge the man's reaction, but he had to look away.
"…I don't understand," Alphonse said brokenly. "I said I would go to Central with her. We agreed on it. And then she left that night by herself. And I…felt, I feel, so confused and—and betrayed, and useless…!" That came out as a whisper, but he was sure Marcoh heard it.
For several moments he couldn't speak. He reached into the pouch he kept around his leg and pulled out Delilah's notebook. "…She left letters and said she had to go for herself, but…but I don't understand how she could have put herself in danger—how she could have gone from laughing with me one hour and then gone the next…."
Alphonse had to stop speaking. Those words were more than he'd ever said about her disappearance and death. There were more words that would have to be screamed out, but he couldn't do it yet. Not here, not to this man.
He held out her notebook. "She knew how dangerous it was, so she wrote things for us. In here is yours. I haven't read it."
It seemed like Marcoh hadn't heard him. Then, slowly, an old hand reached out and grasped the notebook as if it were salvation. Marcoh did not speak, did not move from his spot as he opened up the notebook.
Alphonse had to look away as he stood to give the man privacy as he mourned in the middle of the clearing.
()()()()()
May seemed to be in some sort of shock. Edward watched, mute, as Scar forced her to sit and Hohenheim took a look at her, kneeling in front of her and speaking calmly. The chimeras were frowning, sympathetic and sad at the memory of the delicate girl, and the bodyguards were silent behind their masks. Even Yoki had retreated to the edge of the clearing and kept strangely silent.
When Al stood, Ed took a step forward and opened his mouth, but Al shook his head and went to stand on the outer edge of the clearing, in shadow. He silently watched Marcoh, like he was expecting to be called forward for some sort of rebuke.
Ed hesitated, then signed. He looked to Marcoh, then to Fu and nodded. The bodyguard returned the gesture and melted into the shadows. Ed almost began to speak, then thought better of it and walked out of the clearing.
"Bathroom," he muttered to Alphonse, who didn't respond. Neither noticed Hohenheim glance up in concern.
About five minutes later, Ed found himself sitting on a thick root, out of earshot of the others. The light was dim, but he didn't mind. He needed some sort of solace, some sort of true calm before fighting the storm.
"How're we gonna do this?" he muttered aloud, leaning back against a tree. He'd never gone into something with his brother so emotionally distant, broken. Al was usually the rock while Ed was the exploding rocket. And he'd been confident before in the team that was going underground, but now to Ed's crumbling resolve it looked like a ragtag group of varying levels of sanity. Not that Ed could say he himself were any better….
Ed almost missed the rustling in the undergrowth. Immediately he sat up, but he only managed a glimpse of something disturbingly white before something hit his head.
He rolled over onto the ground, reeling, but thankfully not unconscious. He opened his mouth to scream, but all that came out was a wheeze when a kick met his ribs.
"Well, this is astonishingly easy," a familiar, sleazy voice dripped. "Last time we met, you almost had me going."
Edward spat onto the ground, tasting blood, and struggled onto his hands and knees. "Not you," he groaned out.
He could hear the smirk in Kimblee's voice. "Well, I admit that I am also not keen on seeing you as well. But at least we meet on good circumstances."
Ed let out a laugh as he stood, trying to ignore the pain in his head and ribs. His laugh turned into a cough as he turned to look at the cruel man. "Today's actually been a terrible day so far," he croaked out. "So far you haven't made it any better."
Kimblee seemed mildly interested. "What's made it so bad?"
Ed scowled and clapped his hands, transmuting his automail. "I'd rather not—"
CRACK!
He froze, like ice had penetrated his heart.
"Al?!" He spun around. "Al—?!"
Ed heard the clap of hands, and the earth beneath him exploded.
()()()()()
The bullet became embedded into the bark of the tree beside Scar.
Lan Fan easily moved from her position of knocking aside the attacker's arm to almost wrenching his limb out of its socket. Quickly, she yanked the man forward, raised her automail arm, and with the back of her hand knocked him square in the nose. As he crumpled to the ground, she took his gun and, unused to the weapon, clicked what she assumed was the safety before holding it in her flesh hand like a blunt rock.
A second shot rang out, and she froze in shock as the bullet glanced off her automail. The forceful vibration rattled her still-hurting shoulder, and she hissed, grabbing the juncture of flesh and steel. She almost forgot about the attacker, but before she could recover, Scar dashed into nearby undergrowth; there was a flash of alchemy accompanied by the sounds of sloshing blood and a thud as a body hit the ground.
"What's going on?!" May shrieked, brought out from her earlier shock. She was on her feet, unconsciously moving toward Marcoh, who was still on the ground but now much more aware of his surroundings.
"Get down!" Alphonse suddenly called, rushing toward them. He just barely managed to deflect a bullet from hitting Marcoh with his arm.
Immediately, Lan Fan jumped into the bushes, easily confusing the attacker in the darkness. She came up behind him as he looked wildly around, then bashed him in the back of the head with his partner's gun. He collapsed, and once again she collected a weapon.
She hurried back into the clearing, looking for signs of danger, but there were none; the chimeras were making quick work of searching the immediate area, calling out "All clear!" and "Good God, Scar, remind me not to piss you off. You could've easily killed the guy." All that earned was an unhappy grunt and glare.
"Obviously there must be someone else around," the Ishvalan said, narrowing his red eyes at the darkness beyond the clearing.
"Brother," Alphonse said immediately, and he hurried off in the direction Edward had headed earlier.
"Al—" Marcoh started, but stopped, unsure. May looked at him, fear in her eyes.
Lan Fan hurried to Jerso and Zampano. "For you," she said, handing them the guns even though they each already had one tucked into their belt holsters. Despite their shared ability to fight quite well without weapons, they accepted the guns with thankful nods, and Lan Fan turned and dashed after Alphonse. It took her just a moment longer than she thought for her to catch up to the suit of armor.
"Alphonse," she said suddenly, sensing something—something strong—but he stopped short and she had to stop with him.
In front of them stood a white-suited man, radiating the immense chi—no, he had his own chi; he was just so near to the other chi that it was hard to differentiate between them.
"Alphonse," she repeated. "He must have—"
"A Philosopher's Stone?" the stranger finished. He pulled out something from his pocket that glinted in the dim light, but its shine was nothing compared to his outfit. He casually leaned against a large tree. "I won't hide the fact that I have one. It's not like it's a secret."
"Kimblee," Alphonse said, his voice low. "What do you want?"
"I'm so glad you asked, Alphonse," the man said smoothly. He rolled the Stone around between his fingers. "I have a proposition for you."
"You're not in the position to be making deals," Lan Fan warned, glaring at the man. She could make out the tattoos on his hands; knowing he was an alchemist with a Stone and not a homunculus increased her confidence that she could defeat him, though not easily. "Your three men aren't going to be in fighting shape anytime soon."
Kimblee shrugged. "All I wanted from them was a little diversion." His gaze turned to Alphonse. "What I want from you is your cooperation. Come willingly with me without any resistance, and I'll let—"
There was a sudden whack, and Kimblee's eyes rolled before he slumped to the ground, the Stone sliding into the dirt. In his place stood Hohenheim.
"Never lay a hand on my sons," he snapped at the man before turning quickly to the other side of the tree, where Lan Fan couldn't see. There was a groan, and Alphonse let out a "Brother!" before joining his father and kneeling down. Lan Fan hurriedly grabbed the Stone, tucking it into a pocket, and placed a foot on Kimblee's lower back, watching closely for signs of movement while listening to the father and sons trio.
"Brother, what happened?" Alphonse asked worriedly.
Edward groaned out weakly. "'Mblee…bastard…"
Lan Fan glanced over to see Hohenheim place a hand on Edward's stomach. The boy tensed, and Hohenheim frowned.
"How hard did he beat you?" he asked.
"Mmh, hard," Ed grumbled. "Ribs're broken. Know how tha' feels."
"Hold still," Hohenheim warned, and before anyone could protest, he firmly pressed his hand against Ed's abdomen. Ed suddenly shouted like he'd been hit, and he coughed harshly, even after his father finally pulled away.
"Brother?!" Alphonse asked, concerned, but Edward ignored him.
"Why," he coughed, then had to pause. As soon as he had enough breath, his brows furrowed and he glared at his father. "You used those human souls, didn't you?! To heal me! Why?!"
Hohenheim's expression became neutral. "You should know."
"W-what?!" Ed sputtered. "What kind of answer is that?! And I—No, the question was why did you use those—how?!"
Hohenheim leaned back, away from his son. His expression was unreadable to Lan Fan. "They and I have long understood each other. If they did not trust my decision, they would not go along with it." He paused. "That is the difference between me and the Dwarf—Father—under Central. Do not think that I am like him and the other homunculi. Please."
Edward hesitated, then angrily looked away. "…Fine," he said like it was anything but. "Just don't do it again. Not for me."
Hohenheim smiled but didn't answer. He stood, holding out a hand for his son. Edward stubbornly refused it and stood by himself, though he looked a little unsteady.
"Thanks, Lan Fan," he said, purposely ignoring his father. He glared with disgust at Kimblee. "…Can't believe the old man took `em out so easily…."
"Where's his Stone?" Alphonse asked worriedly.
Lan Fan pulled it out of her pocket. "I'll hold onto it," she said, making it clear in her tone that she wouldn't be letting go of it anytime soon, if at all. All I need to do now is find Grandfather and Master Ling, preferably without that homunculus attached to him….
Ed prodded the man rather roughly with his foot. "You don't think he got here in a car, do you?"
()()()()()
One transmuted rope later, Kimblee was trussed up far past a smidgeon on the tight side. Ed warned that Kimblee had a habit of hiding Stones in his mouth, so they made sure not only to keep his hands away from each other, but out of range of his face. Al easily carried him back and quite unceremoniously dumped him onto the ground, where Kimblee's far less dangerous men were gathered already. Kimblee grunted, stirring, but didn't wake.
"How hard did he hit him?" Al caught Ed muttering.
"So he's behind this?" Yoki said, startled, and Scar roughly pushed past him and grabbed at Kimblee's collar.
"Whoa, wait," Heinkel said. "We could get information out of him."
Ed scoffed at that, but the effect was lost as Scar hoisted Kimblee into the air. The man's head lolled. The hatred in Scar's stance, in his red eyes, was palpable even to Alphonse
"This beast," Scar spat, "killed my family. My people."
Immediately a silence fell upon them all.
"Mr. Scar."
Scar didn't seem to hear.
May's earlier tears had returned. She couldn't help but sniff as she came forward to touch Scar's hand.
Scar blinked. Slowly, he looked down at May. She looked up at him, and for a moment nothing happened.
Finally, Scar, scowling, turned back to Kimblee. His fist tightened for a moment, then he dropped him onto the ground. This time, Kimblee was jarred enough to groggily open his eyes.
"…Wh…"
Kimblee's eyes suddenly widened, becoming clearer, and he struggled to sit up. He glanced around, confused, looking as if he were searching for someone. At once, Alphonse understood.
"You thought you had backup."
Alphonse had never expected to see Kimblee look so startled and vulnerable. But then the man's gaze caught sight of Scar, and his eyes hardened, his body tensing like a snake about to strike.
Scar pushed May away, almost gently. He knelt down in front of the alchemist and placed his large hand over Kimblee's forehead. Several things happened at once—May gasped and started forward, and even Ed seemed ready to defend Kimblee's life; Kimblee himself tried to jerk away and bared his teeth like he would bite the Ishvalan, but Scar tightly gripped his head, and there was a burst of blood.
Scar immediately pulled away as Kimblee let out an involuntary cry. Blood was pouring down his face, blinding him and filling his mouth. Alphonse stood in shock as May darted forward, her duty as an alkahestrist overriding any feelings of distrust or anger she might have had toward the man who caused so much pain to the Ishvalan she seemed to care for as family. She quickly drew a circle on the ground and healed him, but before the transmutation was complete, Kimblee pulled away.
"Leave the hideous scar," he hissed, blinking to remove the blood from his eyes as best as he could. "I'd love a keepsake to remember him by after I obliterate him."
Scar only glared at Kimblee, whose scar seemed to be taking the shape of an ugly X.
()()()()()
No one really knew what to make of the ordeal. Nevertheless, they tried to question Kimblee, but the man responded to no threats; even when Ed threw a punch in frustration (which no one blamed him for), Kimblee only ended up replying with sly grins. The only thing he said was: "It's not like I'd know. Pride and the others seem to have abandoned me. But why should that concern you? Spending so much time on me will only give you less of it."
His logic couldn't be argued with. Taking Kimblee with them was out of the question due to his being quite the burden, but leaving him behind—even with a guard—was far too risky. They split into groups, one to find Kimblee's car and one to head straight to Central through the woods and plains. Once in Central, the former group would confine the man somewhere to be turned over to the authorities once the chaos of the Promised Day was over, and would then meet the latter either at the entrance to the underground or inside the sewers themselves. Kimblee's men were harmless without their weapons, so it was decided that they would be left in the woods until they awoke.
Marcoh stood off to the side as they regrouped, Edward beginning to list off the objectives of the mission and all the warnings that everyone already knew to follow. The old man wasn't really listening. Even with all that had happened in the last thirty minutes, his head still felt clouded. His heart felt like it had been physically struck.
"Doctor. Hey, Doctor."
Finally, he turned, his eyes focusing upon the blonde, mustached man, whose arm was in a makeshift sling. This was…Heinkel, he thought.
"I have something to ask you," the man said. He reached into a pocket and pulled out something small, red, and crystalline. He held it out toward Marcoh. "Kimblee dropped this in Baschool. Would you use it to heal my arm?"
Marcoh paused, then took the Philosopher's Stone from Heinkel. The Stone felt hard but warm in his hands, like it generated its own heat instead of just being warm from being in Heinkel's pocket. He recognized it immediately as one he had made during the war.
If it's for good…
A hard expression formed on the old man's face. He nodded, and without any warning he put the Stone and his hand on Heinkel's arm. There was a flash that lit up the whole area, and Marcoh felt the all-too-familiar sensation of energy slipping out of the Stone into his patient.
The light faded, and Marcoh pulled away. Heinkel tried moving his arm, then grew excited and quickly unwrapped the bandages around his arm. He flexed his muscles without any trouble at all.
Marcoh gave no care to the curious looks and odd stares others were giving him. His hand tightened around the Stone; Heinkel saw this and thanked the doctor, doing nothing to ask for the Stone back.
"Dr. Marcoh?"
The man turned to see that the hesitant question had come from Alphonse. The hulking boy of armor stood still, his eyes trained on Marcoh; the twin red lights somehow conveyed worry.
Somewhere deep inside, Marcoh wanted to scream out all his hurt onto the boy. He wanted to transfer all his pain onto someone else, but he knew it wasn't right. Alphonse already hurt, and he wasn't the only one to blame.
"Which group am I in?" Marcoh asked seriously.
Alphonse faltered only slightly. Marcoh knew that they must have wanted him to wait everything out. "With May, Scar, and Yoki in the car," he said finally, but strongly.
He understood.
()()()()()
Delilah blearily opened her eyes, seeing the souls upon souls cascading around her. They all screamed in agony, confused and terrorized and unable to remember who they once were. She understood that they felt themselves to be in Hell.
She weakly reached out, wanting nothing more to comfort one of them who would be able to comfort her in return. But they were no longer sentient, not like her and Envy; they were just like animals, vicious dogs or foxes, rabid even. Immense sadness and pity welled up inside her.
I wish there were a way to put you all to rest…and myself, she added silently.
The thought made her soul tremble. No, she didn't want that unless there was absolutely no other way. She wanted to get back to Alphonse, and she couldn't do that if she were dead.
She couldn't do that at the bottom of a homunculus's core.
I need a way out, she thought, and she watched the tumult of souls twisting and turning about in unending agony.
"…repeat…"
The wayward sense of hearing reached her. She couldn't recognize the voice; it certainly wasn't Envy's, at least the homunculus's normal voice or hers mixed in.
"…I repeat," the voice came again, and she was sure that Envy was listening to some sort of radio. "The squad transporting Mrs. Bradley is not responding. Their last transmission indicates a hostile takeover…."
She could hardly understand what was being said, but the words made her frown.
A…hostile takeover?
a/n: Um, where to begin? Been a bit over a month... ;; And no omake, forgive me!
First, I actually think I won't be doing any omakes for the time being, unless I get an inspiration or something. I might make omakes into oneshots if I get the feeling to do them. Sorry about making such a huge deal about it before and now not being able to do anything at all ;; But be on the lookout if I do decide to do a oneshot, because I kinda have an idea for something Delphonse, but just because I say I might do it doesn't mean I will. (I'm very lazy if you hadn't noticed.)
I feel like this chapter was really half-assed, but mostly I want to get to the exciting climax stuff. It'll be great 8D But yeah, taking out Kimblee was pretty easy. I didn't know what to do with the damn guy tbh .
Been having a good time in the last month, guys? Well, I did a bunch of stuff. During April vacation I hopped across the pond on a school tour of southern France and Italy 8D And I met a group of Japanese tourist women and I was able to have a conversation with them! 8D Though there were a lot of thought I hated onigiri when I was trying to say I've never eaten it before. At least they knew I loved sushi.
ALSO guess who got into Blue/Ao no Exorcist. Yes, me. *melts into a puddle on the floor* Yukio's pretty fucking amazing... Why do I fall for the perfect younger brother types? More reasons I don't have a boyfriend.
I also got accepted to college, not at my top choice but now that I think about it I don't think I would've been a good match at my top choice. I'll be going for Japanese language and literature ^_^
Thanks for waiting so long, guys. I'm sorry I always seem to make you wait :/ And then I give you half-assed "Kimblee fainted like a Magikarp" crap. (SPEAKING OF MAGIKARP GUESS WHO'S TOTALLY GOING TO GET THE GEN III REMAKES. ME.)
You guys are seriously the best ever, giving me 440+ reviews, 200+ followers and 200+ favorites. I never, ever thought I'd get to this point. I love y'all so much. I'll be doing my best on the next chapter~
