Hey, guys! Welcome back to Frost and Fullmetal!
No reviews this time around, so let's just jump right into the chapter!
~2~
Otherworldly Ice
Jack wasn't sure exactly what Edward was hoping to accomplish as he attacked the raven-haired newcomer with what were surely muffled insults. His mouth was still frozen shut, of course, so his long-winded string of shouting was completely up to the listeners' interpretations.
He figured he could guess the basic gist, though.
"Brother…" Alphonse said with an exasperated sigh. "We can't hear what you're saying…"
This apparently didn't stop Edward from trying.
Jack watched with an amused smirk on his face as the blond fought as hard as he could to shake the deadpan expression off of the features of the other man. He looked as though he wanted nothing more than to rattle him, but the stranger was far from impressed. Mostly out of curiosity for what the boy could possibly be saying, Jack subtly twitched his fingers, dispelling the ice over Edward's mouth.
"- so I don't owe you any kind of explanation, bastard!" Edward loudly finished his tirade. He took a moment to recover his breath, then paused a moment, blinking in surprise as he realized his mouth was no longer frosted over. "W-What the…?"
"...as...enlightening as that was, Fullmetal," the man said dully, "I am your superior officer, and it is completely within my power to order you to explain what's going on."
"Shut up!" Edward shot back immediately. "We're in the middle of something important, so don't interrupt!"
"Um...sorry, Colonel Mustang," Alphonse apologized meekly.
Jack's eyebrows raised at the sound of the man's title. "Hm…" he mumbled, too low for anyone else to hear. "Why are kids involved in the military…?" He had been perfectly aware, of course, that their current location was a building used for military dorms, but with everything else on his mind, he hadn't yet bothered with trying to figure out what exactly the brothers were doing in such a place. With his decidedly lacking height and questionable maturity level, Edward could not more obviously be a child, and while it was difficult to tell in Alphonse's case because of the imposing figure his armor granted him, his voice, demeanor, and status of being the younger brother all worked to give him away.
Both kids, and yet they were somehow part of the military? Jack admittedly didn't know much about how militaries worked, but he doubted that this particular situation was all that normal.
Although, granted, neither was he.
"Well?"
With a start, Jack realized that Colonel Mustang was addressing him, dark eyes narrowed slightly. The boy blinked. "Er…sorry, what was that?"
After a brief, exasperated sigh, Mustang repeated, "Who exactly are you, and what is your relationship with the Elric brothers?"
"Oh," Jack said with a slight snort, leaning back. "Name's Jack Frost, and I don't really know these two. I guess you could call them my kidnappers."
Mustang's eyes narrowed even further as his gaze shifted to the Elrics, specifically Edward. "Kidnappers?" he asked skeptically. "What's this about?"
Edward scowled. "Wouldn't you like to know," he spat irritably.
Jack raised an eyebrow in mild amusement, though he remained quiet.
Alphonse, meanwhile, let out a long-suffering sigh, then stepped forward to interrupt the two before they could begin arguing. "Colonel, we didn't really kidnap him...Brother's just...very forceful. Jack agreed to come with us and answer some questions...we thought he might be a lead."
Appearing to, unlike Jack, know exactly what such a phrase meant, Mustang's eyebrows lifted. "Is that so?" he mused.
It was at this point that Jack figured he should offer a bit of input. "But, I didn't know anything about what they were talking about," he said quickly. "So, if you were planning on...I don't know, dissecting me or something...don't."
Jack distinctly heard Edward mumble, "Dissecting you sounds like a great idea…" but decided to ignore it.
Having heard the blond's comment, Mustang smirked in Edward's direction. "Letting your...short temper get the better of you again, Fullmetal?"
Before Jack could even blink, Edward's anger flared. "Say that again, bastard, I dare you!" he shouted as the colonel simply chuckled in amusement.
An argument (or more accurately, a display of Mustang relentlessly teasing Edward while the boy screamed his rage at the older man) broke out between the two, leaving the other three occupants of the room to merely stand and watch. Jack leaned back against the wall and watched the scene unfold, his previously surprised expression slipping into one of dull annoyance.
"...I'm never getting to go home," he deadpanned.
()()()()
Six or seven noise complaints later, the five of them stood outside a few blocks away from the dorms, with Jack, Alphonse, and the blonde woman all entirely ignoring the colonel and the young alchemist, both of whom were still shouting at each other. Jack was tempted to throw a snowball at the two of them to see if they would shut up, but figured it wouldn't be the best idea to reveal his magic to too many more people in case he needed some sort of ace up his sleeve for getting out of...wherever he was.
The boy still wanted to ask multiple questions regarding his location, but decided to instead go with a safer, more casual approach. "So…" he drawled, leaning against his staff. "They do this often, I take it?"
"Only always…" Alphonse sighed.
The woman nodded in agreement. "It's become a routine of theirs to fight," she said. Then, she shifted her brown eyes to study Jack, her expression still kept carefully blank. "If you don't mind my curiosity...what exactly caused the brothers to want to question you?"
"Hm," Jack mumbled. "Straight to the point, I guess. That's a good question, but I've got no idea what's going on, so...not sure how well I can answer it."
"It's about our goal, Lieutenant Hawkeye…" Al whispered quietly. He evidently didn't intend for Jack to hear everything, for he lowered his voice even further, but the Wind helpfully carried his words to the teen's ears anyway. "We thought Jack might know something that could help us...we saw him jump off a building and land without a scratch, and he formed snowflakes without even - "
"We're telling secrets now, are we?" Jack interrupted in a teasing voice. "Really now, it's not nice to whisper about people right in front of them!"
The armored boy stood up abruptly. His helmet obscured any sort of expression he might have worn, but based on his body language and gratuitous use of "Um"s and "Uh"s, Jack could tell he was sheepishly trying to think of something to say. Lieutenant Hawkeye, on the other hand, had returned to studying Jack with a new sort of suspicion.
Jack simply couldn't help the groan that escaped from his lips. "Come on...don't look at me like that! I just want to go home!"
Hawkeye opened her mouth to speak, but before she could utter even a syllable, she was interrupted by a deafening disruption down the street.
Or, more accurately, an explosion.
Jack's instincts immediately kicked into overdrive at the sound of the blast. His muscles tensed and he gripped his staff tightly, eyes flicking around as he searched for the source of the earsplitting noise.
He didn't have to look far. It seemed as though half of the street had erupted in front of them, effectively separating Jack, Alphonse, and Hawkeye from Edward and Mustang. A newcomer had now shown himself: a man with darkish skin, hair as white as Jack's own, and sunglasses concealing his eyes. Most noticeable, however, was the strange scar in the shape of an X that was carved into his face.
The man appeared to have caused the sudden destruction, as he knelt by the street, hand placed directly on the beginning of the fissure. Jack's eyes narrowed. He wasn't sure exactly who the stranger was, but it didn't take a genius to figure that he was looking for a fight.
"It's Scar!" he heard Alphonse gasp beside him.
"Goddamnit!" Edward shouted in frustration. "I haven't even gotten to beat up Colonel Bastard yet, now I have to beat up Scar!?"
Mustang glared at the younger alchemist. "If I remember correctly, last time you faced him, he nearly destroyed you!"
"Yeah well you weren't exactly helpful either, what with the rain and all!"
"What!?"
The two both let out decidedly unmasculine yelps as Scar slammed his palm down on the ground again, causing another gaping chasm to cut its way though the center of the street directly between them. "Prepare to be sent to God, alchemists," he growled as he stood. Then, without much warning, he began running towards them on Edward's side of the gap, right arm outstretched.
"Brother, watch out!" Alphonse shouted in alarm.
Edward's eyes narrowed as he held up his hands, about to clap. "Don't worry, Al!" he called. "This guy's got another thing coming if he thinks he can mess with me again!"
Jack had a sneaking suspicion that this would not end well.
Hawkeye whipped out two guns and immediately began firing on Scar, but somehow, he dodged every bullet. As he rapidly approached the boy, the lieutenant was forced to cease her shooting, lest she accidently hit Edward.
The blond boy waited for the scarred man to come a bit closer, then quickly clapped and slammed his hands down on the ground. A wall, seemingly made from the ground itself, sprung up between them. Unfortunately for Edward and Mustang, however, it did nothing to deter Scar. He simply raised his right hand and slammed his palm into the wall, blue energy crackling around his arm as the barrier crumbled.
Though apparently, this had been expected.
To Jack's surprise, the moment the wall fell, there was a distinct snapping sound as a burst of flames suddenly whirled into existence, forcing Scar to duck to the side into a somersault to avoid being scorched alive.
Even from a distance, Jack could feel the hot air from the flames hit his face and immediately flinched, raising his arm so that his sleeve slightly blocked his skin. As it stood, he wasn't exactly built for sustaining heat of any kind, let alone raging fire.
"Do I even want to know what's going on?" he mumbled, not sure who exactly he was addressing.
It was Alphonse who answered. "That's Scar!" he exclaimed. "He's a serial killer...he wants revenge on the State Alchemists who massacred his people!"
"Yeah, except he doesn't seem to realize that I had nothing to do with that!" Edward shouted as he ran by.
Jack arched an eyebrow. "So...this guy's a little bit unhinged, is what you're saying."
"That's one word for it," Hawkeye confirmed as she reloaded her guns. "I'd suggest standing back if you don't want to get caught in the crossfire."
"He's not going to come after us?"
She shook her head. "He won't hurt you as long as you don't get in his way. Stay back, we'll handle things here." Without another word, she ran forward, taking a few more rapid shots at the scarred man.
Jack blinked. "So...what, I'm just supposed to stand here and watch?" He turned his head slightly, intending to direct his question at Alphonse, but the armored boy was already gone, jumping into the fray to assist his older brother.
"Sorry, Jack!" he called over his shoulder as he ran. "Please, don't leave! Just find a safe spot and wait until the coast is clear!"
"Huh. Didn't even bother giving me a bag of popcorn for my viewing experience," Jack mumbled. He sighed, stretching a little. "So...what do you think, Wind? Should I be a good little Jack and do as I'm told? Or...perhaps make a run for it?"
The Wind gently ruffled the boy's pristine white hair in an affectionate yet almost chiding manner. Jack merely shrugged in response. "Fair enough," he conceded. "No need to ditch them quite yet. And I guess I could help out if they end up needing me. Though I'd rather stay as far away from that fire as possible…"
Just as he finished speaking, another column of flames rose up from Colonel Mustang's hands, causing Jack to flinch slightly as the heat reached him. He was certainly curious as to how the man was able to perform such...an ability (he knew it wasn't magic. Alchemy, was it?), but he wasn't particularly inclined to run up and ask him at this time. Doing so would never end well for someone as flammable as he was.
As he had been instructed, Jack remained on the sidelines for the majority of the fight, and as promised, Scar blatantly ignored him. Then again, he supposed he was accustomed to such treatment. The only difference was that in this situation, it was actually beneficial to him.
As far as he could tell, neither party was inflicting much damage upon the other, but a few of them were beginning to tire, namely Edward. The small blond's movements were becoming clunkier and more uncoordinated by the second, and such developments did not go unnoticed by Scar.
"Damn it…" Jack heard Edward hiss, the shorter boy's voice brought over to him on the Wind. "It's gonna rain soon...damn it!"
Jack arched an eyebrow and lifted his head. Sure enough, dark clouds were building on the horizon, but he wasn't sure what that had to do with Edward's increasing difficulty with fighting. He was aware that some older people's bones would begin to ache with the change in air pressure that came with precipitation, but Edward was a child. There had to be a different reason…
Before he could figure it out, however, his attention was immediately drawn by Alphonse's horrified cry of, "Brother!" Upon looking over, Jack's eyes widened.
Scar had managed to get ahold of Edward, lifting him up by the right arm. Though only for a split second, Jack could see the flash of fear in the younger boy's golden eyes before an eruption of blue sparks engulfed them. When the light faded, a disturbing image was revealed before him.
The scarred man still held Edward's arm, but Edward himself was now on the ground. However, there seemed to be no blood flying through the air around them, only...metal?
Jack's jaw dropped in shock as he stared at the scene, whispering to himself, "A...prosthetic…?" He suddenly realized that he had never actually seen any of Edward's limbs up until this point. The younger boy had been hiding them under long pants, a jacket, and gloves the entire time. "But...the way it moved seemed so real…"
Suddenly, the Wind cut into his train of thought, trying to roughly push him forward towards the battlefield. Jack opened his mouth to protest, then stopped short when he noticed Scar now advancing on a prone Edward, arm outstretched.
"D-Damn it…" the blond hissed. "Not...not again!"
"Brother!"
"Fullmetal!"
"Edward!"
Alphonse, Mustang, and Hawkeye all attempted to take action, but each of their respective movements (drawing a circle, snapping, and loading a gun) were abruptly halted by a large shockwave caused once again by Scar slamming his palm into the ground. The three of them were sent tumbling back, but Jack, having been watching at a safe distance, was relatively unaffected. As Scar leaned down towards Edward once more, hand sparking with power, it became clear that only one course of action would result in the boy's survival.
"Alright…" Jack murmured. "Guess this is my cue to start acting like a Guardian."
()()()()
No less than a thousand curses ran through Edward's mind as he struggled to back away from the approaching Ishvalan. His situation was near-hopeless at this point. If he tried to take the time to stand up, he'd be dead. If he continued awkwardly scooting backwards at a pathetically slow pace, he'd be dead. If anything other than some sort of goddamn miracle occurred, he'd be dead.
"Can't you just leave me alone already!?" Edward spat, glaring at the frustratingly stone-faced man before him. "I didn't have anything to do with the war! I was a goddamn kid!"
"Regardless, you have chosen to follow the path of sin and corruption by signing your life away as a dog of the military," Scar intoned, scarlet eyes narrowed into slits. "And for that, you must repent."
"With death!?"
Scar, for his part, did an excellent job of blatantly ignoring Edward, and instead merely said, "Make your peace with God, for you will be meeting Him momentarily."
"N-No, damn it!" Ed struggled backward even further as the man's hand drew closer to his head. Panic began to set it as he realized that this time, the military would not suddenly show up and stop the murderer.
No one would be able to get to him in time.
With no other choice available to him, he flinched back and reflexively closed his eyes, expecting the final blow at any moment.
It never came.
Instead, there was a large gust of wind, a startled gasp from Scar, and a mischievous laugh from...Jack?
Sure enough, when Ed opened his eyes, he was met with the sight of the albino teen standing between him and the serial killer, arms crossed like an X over his chest in a protective stance. Scar had a tight grip on one of Jack's arms, but didn't seem to be having much success in performing his infamous destruction alchemy - and it didn't take long for Edward to figure out why.
Jack appeared to have covered both of his arms in a thick layer of ice that, though it was illogical as hell, seemed to be unbreakable. Edward stared at it in shock. Could it have really been the result of magic…?
No, that was impossible...right?
Regardless, it seemed effective enough, as Scar was stopped in his tracks, seemingly just as stunned as Edward was that his ability was rendered null and void.
"How…?" the Ishvalan breathed.
Jack smirked in response. "Hey," was all he said before a bolt of what looked like frost struck Scar in the abdomen, sending him reeling backwards.
"What the hell!?" Edward exclaimed, but his voice was lost in the quickly ensuing commotion as several military vehicles finally sped up to the scene. Soldiers soon ran forward into position, pulling out their guns and aiming them at the scarred man.
"Finally…" Ed muttered. He would have figured that their position a few blocks down from the dorms would have helped the military reach them faster, but evidently the sleeping soldiers had had a bit of difficulty waking up to a goddamn explosion down the street.
Unbelievable. Edward was surprised that they'd showed up at all.
Just as before, it took little time for Scar to decide that taking on such a large group of armed men and women - with the new addition of the "magical" guy - was less than a good idea, and before any of them could even begin to try to detain him, he was gone. With the imminent danger out of the way, the young alchemist turned his focus back to more important matters - namely, standing up.
"Hey," he heard Jack say. Ed looked up to see the albino teen looking at him with what seemed like concern. The ice was gone from his arms, and instead, he was holding out his hand as though offering assistance. "You okay?"
Ignoring the outstretched arm, the blond merely scowled and awkwardly pushed himself to his feet, teetering a bit at first, but eventually finding his balance. "Fine," he mumbled.
Then, a more welcome voice sounded. "Brother!" came Al's worried cry as he ran towards them. "Are you alright!? Are you hurt!?"
"Whoa, whoa, easy, Al, I'm fine," Ed assured his younger brother, holding up his remaining hand in a calming gesture. He glanced down at the shattered remains of his automail arm and gulped. "Though...that might change when Winry gets ahold of me…"
Alphonse sighed in relief, armored shoulders visibly slumping as he relaxed. Meanwhile, a certain icy annoyance decided to comment once again. "Who's Winry?" he asked curiously.
"None of your business," Edward retorted at the exact same time that Al replied, "Our friend and his mechanic." Ed shot his brother a glare, but the younger boy disregarded his irritation.
"Aha…" was Jack's only response. He opened his mouth to say more, but was interrupted by none other than Colonel Roy "Bastard" Mustang himself, approaching with Lieutenant Hawkeye at his side as usual.
"Fullmetal, are you alright?" he asked calmly, as though already knowing what the reply would be.
Edward rolled his eyes as dramatically as humanly possible. "I'm fine, as if you really care."
"Of course I do," Roy responded smoothly. "I rather like having a little errand boy at my beck and call. It would be quite a shame to lose him."
The Fullmetal Alchemist's infamous temper flared. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING LI - !?"
"You there. Jack," Mustang interrupted, gaze now resting on the magician, or wizard, or whatever the hell he was. "Tell me...how did you do that just now? It certainly didn't look like any alchemy I've ever seen…"
Jack shrugged. "Well, that would make sense. 'Cause it wasn't alchemy."
Mustang arched an eyebrow, but didn't question further. Instead, he glanced around briefly at the group of soldiers examining the scene, then lowered his voice slightly. "Let's discuss this somewhere else."
()()()()
"Magic?" Mustang mused as he studied Jack intently, dark eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You honestly expect me to believe that?"
"That's exactly what we said," Edward grumbled, crossing his remaining arm over his chest. "Magic...tch. There has to be some kind of science behind it!"
Jack shrugged, a bit too nonchalantly for Ed's liking. "I don't know what else to tell you," he said simply. "I have magic ice powers. Whether you believe me or not is your choice, but that's not gonna change the truth."
Ed couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Bullshit." He knew that there were many people out there that likened alchemy to magic, but anyone even slightly trained in the field knew damn well that it was entirely built off of scientific principles, equations, and reactions. "Magic" as people knew it from fairy tales simply didn't exist. That was just common sense.
"You have to admit, it does sound far-fetched," Mustang added, his expression far more guarded than Ed's was. "Are you certain you're not referring to a form of alchemy?"
"Pretty certain," the albino boy replied. "Although coming from the man who literally just snapped his fingers and made fire shoot out of nowhere, um...well I guess I'm not exactly sure why my ice is so 'far-fetched' to you."
"Mhm...tell me." The colonel removed one of his gloves and held it out so that Jack could see the transmutation circle on the back. "Do any of these symbols mean anything to you?"
The boy looked at the design on the glove for all of about five seconds, his expression noticeably blank, before shrugging once more and commenting, "The lizard's cute."
Edward's hand hit his forehead with a resounding smack. "Ugh, don't even bother with this guy, Mustang," he said with an irritated scowl. "He's clearly just a dumbass. Or delusional. Or both."
Jack gave him a dull look in response. "Whatever you say, blondie," he replied flatly.
"Blondie!?"
"Easy, Fullmetal," Mustang interrupted, holding up his hand as though that was actually going to do anything to calm the older Elric brother down. "Getting frustrated isn't going to solve anything. Given your track record, I'd have figured that you would have learned that lesson by now."
"Oh, shut up, bastard!" Ed snapped, shooting a glare at his superior officer. "And while you're at it, try minding your own business! I found this guy, so I get to question him, not you!"
Mustang, as usual, seemed wholly unimpressed. "And exactly how much information has your 'questioning' gotten you so far, Fullmetal?"
Edward faltered briefly. "That's...that's none of your business!"
"Mhm, I'm sure."
Before the two could once again fall into a full-blown argument, they were interrupted by the sound of Jack loudly clearing his throat.
"Yeah, uh...hey. Hi. Still here, in case you forgot," he said, once Edward and Mustang were both looking at him. "Listen, this has been fun and all, but clearly, I don't have the information you're looking for, and I really need to get back home, so...I'm just gonna start walking away. Like...now. So...bye."
With that, true to his word, he simply turned on his heel and began to walk off.
For a brief moment, Ed was too stunned by the boy's bluntness to speak, but he quickly found his voice a few seconds later. "HEY! Get back here!" he shouted, hurrying after Jack. "I'm not done with you yet, jackass!"
Jack snorted lightly in amusement, but kept walking. "That's not my name, blondie."
Edward scowled and dashed in front of Jack, blocking his path. "Yeah, well, it might as well be! And stop calling me 'blondie!'"
Jack stopped and looked down (though not too far down, seeing as Edward certainly wasn't short or anything) at the young alchemist, his expression dull. "I don't think you've called me by my name once since you met me. Why should I have to call you by yours?"
For the second time in the span of five minutes, Ed faltered, unsure of what to say. "Uh...well...never mind, it doesn't matter! You're not going anywhere until I get some answers out of you!" he insisted.
The older boy groaned, lifting a pale hand to rub at his forehead. "You have gotten answers out of me!" he exclaimed in frustration. "You just refuse to believe me!"
"Well, how could I not!?" Edward retorted, his own anger rising once again. "All you've done is spout bullshit about magic! Well guess what!? Magic isn't real, that's a fact! But clearly, there's something up with you! Something that's not normal! So tell me what it is!"
"I already told you, that 'something' is called 'magic.'" Jack said flatly. "I even showed you an example, so...I don't know what else I have to do to prove it to you."
"You don't have to do anything to 'prove' it to me, you just have to tell me the truth!" the alchemist demanded. "Everything in this world can be explained by science!"
Jack's electric blue eyes narrowed for a fraction of a second, then rolled dramatically. "You know what? Maybe you're right," he conceded with an exaggerated shrug as he began to step past Edward once again. "Maybe everything in this world can be explained by science."
His next words were apparently little more than an afterthought, seeing as he didn't even glance over his shoulder to face Edward while speaking them. He merely kept walking as he spoke, leaving Ed to gape after him, stunned into silence by the absurdity of his claim.
"But I'm not from your world."