Chapter Eleven

Promised Day

Outskirts of Central

Daybreak (7:00 am)

Ed frowned at the dome that contained his brother and a monster. He knew that it was his brother's idea, and that it was the best option they had but he didn't like it. He didn't have time to dwell on it however. As it was he's missed the meeting time and hoped his Dad wasn't too worried. First and foremost, he was the Flame Alchemist and that was NOT someone you wanted panicking. Ed didn't see any massive fires, so he assumed all was well so far, and he would just have to be sure to arrive at the second meeting point without issue.

Forcibly he turned away from the dome and to the city. It was time to save the world. Lan Fan and Fu had appeared during the fight with Pride because OF COURSE he hadn't been out East (when had things ever been easy) however in the aftermath, Ed noticed that Greeling had slipped away. Ed wasn't worried, this was what was planned once they entered the city so he had just left a bit early. Ed had more important things to worry about. Like the controlled explosion that just erupted on the west side of town. It had begun, he needed to get into place.

Westside of Central

Daybreak (7:00 am)

Roy walked calmly down the street, not betraying any of the nerves he felt over his sons both missing the meeting point. He hoped it had just taken them longer than planned to get into place, rather an a attack that could leave them injured or worse.

The fighting had begun but his attention was divided between the fight at hand, what he arranged at the radio station, and if his children would live through this. He wasn't going to waste energy trying to find them. Either they were at the second meeting spot or he would see them after all of this was over.

He had instructed his fighter to avoiding shooting, to never shoot first, and to use no fatal shots, and to act as innocently as one could while corralling the civilians as calmly as possible far away from the command center.

Mrs. Bradley was still more than a little shocked that her husband's supporters would order her death rather than her rescue, but Roy had that handled as well. She was now a willing hostage, believing Roy that he had snatched her to save her and was currently busy telling the city just that. Everything was going according to plan. He hoped it was the same everywhere as he slipped away with Hawkeye to meet up with his sons.

Chamber under Laboratory Three

8:45am

Edward refused to say it out loud, but they were screwed. A legion of mindless monsters were surrounding them, and they were not inclined to die no matter how many times they were hit. This was Raven's army of immortals he had mentioned to Armstrong. They had to keep them from escaping into the city. Grimly, Ed sealed the doors and returned his attention to the fight. He had to keep everyone safe as long as possible. With Envy hiding around their testing issued for anyone echo their prior way of testing it seemed less effective.

Ed was moving through them as many as possible as quickly as possible and they were still coming. His dad should be here soon, as long as he didn't miss the window too. Either way Ed and his team were fighting as if they were all on their own because until Dad showed up they would be.

Just when Ed was beginning to falter slightly, Mustang and Hawkeye appeared with a large explosion and a smirk. Ed saw that his Dad was about to snap and froze in place. Seconds later the monsters were ash and his team was safe. Ed approached then, and was enveloped in a hug. :I missed you kid." Roy said pulling the boy tight against him.

"Sorry, we ran into a bit of trouble and I missed the first window." Ed said in return hugging Roy just as tight.

"I meant the last few weeks, not just this morning." Roy said with a huff.

"Oh. Yeah." Ed said hating to pull away, but the fight was just beginning. "Al is stuck with Pride, he'll catch up later. Those things, they can't get out into the city.

"It's already covered. We had teams in place to seal all of the labs and they've taken central command. Now let's go find these things trying to control us all."Roy said with a smirk.

Before anything else could be said, Mei, Envy, and some Chimera monsters fell into the room. They were able to take out the monsters quickly, but then Envy admitted to killing Hughes. Roy saw red. Envy mocked and then ran. Roy followed ignoring both Hawkeye and Ed.

Hawkeye sighed and ordered Ed to stay put as she rushed after Roy, but Ed followed behind reminding her that he outranked her. Hawkeye nodded once, before telling the boy to stick next to her then. The rest of the team trailed behind, then split up to go both directions at once.

Ed and Hawkeye followed the echoed footsteps and distance screaming from Envy, before finding Roy burning the creature over and over a manic look on his face. Ed slipped around behind them and scooped up Envy who seemed stuck in a tiny slug like form. Roy frowned, sparks still shooting off his gloves.

Hawkeye pointed a gun calmly at the back of his head and Edward held the creature in his hands. Roy had no choices but to stop. Seeing his child in front of him, vulnerable and exposed to his flames was not something Roy could stomach. Added to it was Riza demanding he stand down, threatening to kill herself after killing him.

Once Envy was gone, apparent suicide, Roy hugged both Riza and Ed and apologized for loosing his head. They assured him he was okay and that if he had they would have taken care of him. He was still hating himself for threatening his son even as they walked closer to the heart of the den.

Armestris Border

10:00 am.

Winry was frustrated enough to scream. She had managed to get on the train early enough that she should be well out of the country. Yet she was still sitting in what amounted to train gridlock. Yuery was as unhappy as she was, only he was willing to voice his complaints, adding to the groans from the car she was in.

Winry stood and went in search of an attendant to ask what was going on. As soon as she started walking Yuery calmed down, which at least fixed one problem. Well two if she counted the tiny ripples she could see in the window glass. She probably wouldn't have noticed the glass if Ed hadn't warned her to keep safe.

She found the conductor himself in the next car up. He was harried looking and she hated to add to his stress but she also needed to keep her promise to Ed. The man frowned before she could say anything, and said with a sigh. "I'm sorry ma'am I can't tell you how long it will be, they aren't saying. It appears they may be closing the border."

"What are we going to do then, just wait it out?" WInry asked as she gently juggled the baby on her hip.

"We are all be redirected, we just have to wait until our track is ready. Then we'll be redirected to Ishval outpost C."

"I see." WInry said, ignoring the sinking feeling in her stomach. Even if she walked fast the outpost was a three hour walk to the border. She wasn't going to make it out of the country in time. Perhaps if she got off the train now, and walked straight south, she might make it. It was about a two hour walk from here.

Without another word, Winry returned to her seat. She mentally went through her luggage to decide what had to come with her should they deboard. Yuery's diaper bag for sure, and her overnight bag, which contained their passage paperwork and a change of clothes for her, as well as some snacks to keep Yuery occupied and the baby sling. Her suitcase contained books and tools which was far too heavy to try to carry though she hated to leave it behind. She made sure to clearly label it with her return address if lost though, so it would be okay.

She reached up and took down her overnight bag to dig out the baby sling. She knew she would need both hands open to climb down off the train, and they were going to have to be fast about it. She put the sling on, then placed the baby in it, before shouldering the two bags she decided they had to have, leaving three others behind. With a nod and a muttered comment about needing to change to her seatmates she wandered off in the direction of the bathroom. Once there though she kept going instead she was in the space between cars. She thought about climbing down now but was worried about getting caught up in the train wheels.

When she got to the dining car she decided to go ahead and buy a couple bottles of milk and some snacks like apples in case Yuery got hungry. She told the waiter she would prefer not to try to cross gars when it was moving so it seemed a good time to get her child something to eat. He agreed and three in some ham and cheese as well in a paper bag for her and wished her luck.

Winry then made her way back to the last carriage. The caboose was locked, so she looked in the window to be sure no one was paying attention before she threw her bags down and quickly climbed down off the train. She gathered the bags quickly before swiftly walking to the tree line hoping no one noticed her behavior.

As soon as she was hidden by the trees she turned south and began walking. Yuery looked around and gave a disgruntled little sigh that made her giggle. Yuery frowned up at her and she said. "I know Buddy. You're sick of adventures at this point. I promise this will be the last time for awhile."

Yuery huffed up at her and said "Dadda bye Yeye abba Mama."

"Yeah Daddy's with Yeye back in the city Buddy…did you call me Mama?" Winry said, freezing when she processed that final part. She wondered how Ed would feel about it. She decided at least for now it worked in her favor. No one would give her too much trouble over him if he was calling her mom after all.

She continued on through the trees, doing her best to hurry over the uneven ground. She wasn't exactly sure how much time she had, but she felt like she was running short already. She had to get them over the border. Even if they were still inside the country as long as they got outside the circle they should be okay. Ed had shown her the map, and had given her a rough map to take with her that showed where she needed to be as quickly as possible. It was in the bottom of the diaperbag.

She would double check it once they sat down for lunch she decided. It wasn't the safest choice she had ever made to wander through a forest with just a child as company. If not for her promise, she would have stayed on the train… no she would have stayed with Granny. Granny had refused to come along stating that she would only slow Winry down.

Central

Directly Under Central Command

Roy watched in horror as first Hawkeye was injured, then Edward disappeared right in front of his eyes. He whirled on the doctor and demanded to know where his son had gone, only for the man to laugh. The princess healed Riza, and then he was attacked himself by Pride.

Before Roy knew what was happening he'd been pinned to the array and found himself in a white void before everything went black. He felt around, before standing carefully, as voices behind him yelled. He recognized those of his sons as rough hands grabbed his shoulders and Ed's voice gently said. "What did it take from him? Who did you try?"

"No one's dead Ed, Pride opened the gate with me in the circle. It's so dark in here, are you alright?" Roy said, a sinking feeling settling in his stomach.

"Dad, it's not dark in here. The Bastard took your sight." Ed said sadly.

"Oh no." A woman said sounding concerned, Roy knew he'd heard her voice before but couldn't place it.

"Teacher, can you check on AL please?" Ed said as he grabbed Roy's arm and was leading him somewhere, presumably somewhere slightly safer.

"Al's here? Is he alright?" Roy said as he almost jerked away before realizing he had no idea where Al was exactly.

"His armor is, he hasn't woken up yet though." Ed said and Roy could hear the frown on his face.

"I'm sure he'll be fine Ed." Said the woman-Izumi- from his left.

A voice he had never heard before came from his right and Roy stiffened before Ed confirmed this was the creature they had come to fight. How was he going to protect his boys like this though. Ed was screaming angrily about the unjustness of Roy's punishment. Roy wanted to assure the boy he would be alright even if he wasn't sure himself because he would live through this and so would Hawkeye and his sons.

He was doing his best to keep up with what was happening without his eyes, but it was hard to track at times. He knew the boys' birth father was there, and Al had recovered from whatever had happened because he heard him too. Then they were all grabbed and pulled into an array.

Southern Region Forested area

Winry had checked the map over, and was confident they would be there soon, but not soon enough she realized as she felt a terrible pain rip through her chest. She sat quickly so she wouldn't pitch forward onto the baby, and leaned back against the tree as she hugged the screaming child.

The pain grew worse, and there was a red light that seemed to come from the earth itself surrounding them as she clung to the baby and tried to comfort him. He went limp in her arms, terrifying her, then she saw a pearl gray wisp of smoke pulling away from him, and noticed another away from her.

As her vision faded, she was terrified to witness a second Charcoal Black tendril pull out of the scar on Yuery's forehead. Unlike the gray tendrils this one pulled back and forth as if it was resisting before it dissipated completely. Winry had no idea what that meant, but she didn't want to know either. Her final thought was that she hoped Ed was able to fix this so they wouldn't loose their baby.

Central

All around the city, the country, people collapsed. Only those directly above the chamber were safe, so Central Command. Scar had already gotten to work on the counter circle, which he would activate any second, even as the battle raged below their feet. Mustang/Armstrong group was doing a decent job keeping the situation at bay it could work.

Meanwhile down below Scar was ready to activate his array and Ed had defeated Pride. Roy had heard the whole thing of course, and it was a gift for Roy. He understood now. Using your own lifeforce was possible, though it could also rebound instantly.

The fight had migrated and he found himself with Riza at his side, which was a huge comfort but he had lost track of his sons. The battle was getting louder, harder to keep track of, but Riza was steering him and telling him when to snap. He heard Al in the commotion and was relieved beyond measure when Ed's voice joined the fray. His boys were safe then.

Riza told him to stay down, he did, as voices around them screamed and he asked what was happening. She quietly gave him a detailed description of the battlefield, which seemed to focus primarily on his sons, their birth father, that prince his son had befriended, some girl, and a monster that looked like a slightly older version of Ed from what Riza was describing. There would be time to sort that one out later he assumed.

Southern Forest

WInry woke with a gasp. Everything hurt. She didn't know where she was at first, but then the memories slammed back into place. She had been pulled from her body, watched helplessly as Yuery was pulled from his, and latched onto him to keep them together even as they were pushed together with millions of others.

Something had changed, they had been freed, she had made sure to keep tight to little Yuery as they soared back to where they had started, then she had gently let go and watched Yuery sail back into his form before she did the same. She sighed with relief when the baby tied to her chest gave a small pained cry. It had likely hurt him like it had her, but they were both fine.

The memory of their ordeal was already fading from her mind aside from the painful memory of something tugging from her body. She then remembered the other piece. The dark THING that had expelled from the baby. She remembered shoving it as far from them as possible even as she held onto the boy. She remembered it squirming as if pained, but unlike herself, Yuery, and millions of others it has disintegrated, disappeared completely without its host.

She was going to have to tell Ed about that, and that they hadn't made it across the border despite her best attempt. Hopefully he wasn't to angry with her for failing. For now, whatever had been happening seemed to be over. She turned back in the direction they had come wondering if she should try to get back to the train.

Even if she had missed the train, her best chance to quickly find a safe place to sit down would be that direction and she wasn't sure how much longer she could stand/ She began carefully making her way through the trees, the baby already asleep against her chest. Soon she would try to figure out what exactly had happened.

Central City

Under Lab Four

As all the surviving scientists returned to their bodies and regained their senses part of what had happened at least became clear. Whatever had yanked them away. Whatever that had been, and they all agreed it was probably one of those 'So classified you shouldn't even ask if it is classified' things, it had saved them in a way.

They had been sealed in down here by an alchemist, but then those things had started pouring in and most of them had been killed. A few of them had fought back but the monsters were next to impossible to kill. Luckily they had the armor men. Six suits of armor, housing the souls of very evil men, who had been given a second chance provided they guard these tunnels.

The armored men, and the white monsters were all completely still. None of them had come back, were able to come back even if they wanted to. Whatever had been done to unbind all of the people here from their bodies had done the same to these monsters, but unlike the humans they had not been able to return. Perhaps it was because this was not the body the soul belonged to so without a conduit to shove them back in like they were unable to return.

There was still fighting in the distance, but should they want to escape now was when they should have left. Something sounded like it was exploding over at Command HQ, and no one wanted to move. Whatever was happening, it was bad. The three men who had managed to survive decided to stay hidden in the lab they had locked themselves into when they had been chased by those monsters and just wait until everything was quiet.

Hopefully once night fell, they would be able to sneak out of the city, from what they had seen through the windows before they had been rushed into the basement that their had been soldiers everywhere fighting each other.