SHONEN ALLIANCE
RE:BIRTH
OPENING THEME: GOLDEN TIME LOVER (Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood)
Far away from the rapidly escalating situation in Central, Edward and Alphonse Elric were just arriving in their hometown of Resembool. Their intention had been to enjoy a brief bit of R and R and have their friend Winry perform some routine maintenance on Ed's automail, however, they were unaware as they approached the Rockbell home that those plans were about to change.
Edward was about to call a greeting when the brothers entered the home, but the sight of Winry crying over a newspaper made the greeting die in his throat.
"Winry? What's wrong?" he asked instead.
"You need to see this," she sobbed as she offered Ed the paper.
As Edward scanned the front page, his expression skewed into a look of horror. The article detailed how now Brigadier General Vine had encountered a traitor to the Amestrian military and slain him. In and of itself, that wasn't cause for alarm, but the article also identified the traitor.
"This can't be… Vine wouldn't…" he gasped as Alphonse looked over the article.
"This has to be a lie, right?" the younger Elric asked, "Vine wouldn't…"
Edward crushed the paper, gritting his teeth as he tried to process what he had just read.
"I don't know what's going on, but we're going to find out," he hissed.
"I'm coming too," Winry declared firmly, "I have to know what happened, and make sure Gracia and Elicia are okay!"
Winry and the Elrics left immediately to catch a train back to Amestris. Less then twenty minutes after they had gone, Major Alex Louis Armstrong would knock on the Rockbell's door, with instructions from Vine to fill the Elrics in on the ongoing situation.
Apparently, fate had decided an already complicated dilemma needed further complicating.
/\/\/\/\/\/\
Vine's mind was focusing on a lot of things as he sat at his new desk in Central HQ, none of which included the papers he was haphazardly signing.
He hadn't heard anything from Kakashi, and thus had no idea what the out-worlders had decided on, though whatever the case, the fact his front door hadn't yet been kicked in by a rubber man with a straw hat probably bode well.
Hughes's puzzle was more concerning at the moment. It was clearly a Transmutation circle of some variety, but Vine couldn't be sure what it's purpose was, though "nothing good" seemed a safe bet.
It was, quite clearly, incomplete. On the one hand that meant it could be stopped, if they could get the pattern worked out. On the other, this meant more blood would be spilled in the distressingly near future.
Further concentration on the problem would have to wait, however, as his office door being violently thrust open returned his attention to the present.
He half expected to see a furious Luffy out for blood, so to instead see the Elric brothers caught him off guard.
"What are you two doing here?" he asked, immediately wondering if Major Armstrong had managed to get the essential information about the situation to the two. Edward's next words would make it clear he had not.
"It's not true, right!? Tell us it isn't true, Vine!" he shouted angrily. Vine felt his heart sink into his gut, but there was no other way he could play things now. It wasn't ideal, but as things stood, there was no other option.
"It's true," he declared, forcing himself to sound cold, "Hughes betrayed us, I eliminated him and his outworld collaborator." Ed's betrayed expression was heartbreaking to see, but for now, the hatred in his young friend's eyes was something Vine would have to endure.
After all, the alternative would likely get them both killed.
"How could you, Colonel… I don't believe you," Alphonse protested.
"I don't care what you believe," Vine replied, "I wouldn't expect children to understand. I did what had to be done, no more or less," he declared, rising from his desk and stepping around it to directly confront the Elrics.
"The truth is that I delivered Maes Hughes's head to the Füher. Whether you accept that or not isn't my concern.
Everyone present could feel the tension in the room quickly reaching a breaking point. The only question was how the building pressure would finally be released.
"Bastard!" Edward roared angrily, throwing a haymaker for Vine's head with his automail arm. The blow landed on Vine's cheek with a painful thud, flattening the Raging Blast Alchemist.
Vine was still dazed when Edward grabbed the collar of his military uniform and struck Vine again across the face. He pulled back to strike again, but Vine recovered and swung up his knee, striking Edward in the stomach, unbalancing the young man, long enough for Vine to throw him off, shoving him flat onto his stomach.
Pressing his knee into Edward's back and using his hand to pin Ed's head against the unforgiving wooden floor, Vine pinned the furious Fullmetal Alchemist.
"Really? Assaulting a superior officer? Are you actively trying to create trouble for you and your brother or can you just not help yourself?"
"Get off him," Alphonse ordered, a vicious tone to his voice.
"Don't make this situation work Alphonse," Vine pleaded, looking back at Al. Alphonse was about to respond, but something in both Vine's tone and the look in his eyes stopped him.
That was the moment when the Military Police arrived, responding to the commotion, and found Vine pinning Edward to the ground.
"What happened here?" one of the MPs demanded, causing Alphonse to panic.
That was the moment when Major Armstrong arrived, accidentally knocking aside the MPs as he barreled in.
That was the moment when, as though it were saying "oh to hell with this", the door to Vine's office broke clean in half.
"Oh, gosh damn it," Vine cursed, pressing the palm of his free hand into his forehead as he felt a throbbing ache begin to develop.
/\/\/\/\/\/\
The MPs were a pain to get rid of, but Vine was finally able to put enough stress on his lack of interest in a court marshal proceeding to get them to abandon the pursuit.
With them gone, Vine shot an annoyed glance at Edward.
Edward Elric was pissed, visibly so, but fortunately, the thick ropes with which he was hogtied meant all he could really do was violently thrash about on the floor. As for whatever obscenities he was surely shouting at the top of his lungs by now, the thick wash cloth shoved in his mouth meant the only sound that came out where a series of irritated "MMMMM"s and "GRRRMMPPHH"s.
"I swear, one of these days you really need to get a handle on that short temper of yours," he hissed. Even through the gag, Edward's protest about having anything about him referred to as "short" was clearly decipherable… mostly.
For his part, indecision and panic had Alphonse trembling and looking timidly between Vine and his brother.
"How do you want to approach this?" Armstrong asked Vine as the latter gently nursed his still sore cheek.
"No reason to drag this out further. It's clear the stress of the job is just getting the better of our Fullmetal friend here. A nice vacation should sort these two out nicely."
"A vacation?" Major Armstrong repeated, confusion registering on his features.
"That's right, a nice trip. Good chance to cool their heads, meet some people, come to grips with the reality of what's happened here."
The last line was ambiguous enough anyone listening in wouldn't be able to read much into it, but Armstrong's eyes lit up with understanding.
"Understood sir. I'll see to it," Armstrong promised, hefting the struggling Elric effortlessly, beckoning Alphonse to follow him, he departed to carry out the Brigadier General's orders.
Yet, Alphonse was slow to follow. Vine sat back at his desk before acknowledging the younger Elric.
"Is there a problem Alphonse?" he demanded as the younger Elric brother turned his head to look at Vine.
Vine was well aware of the Elrics position. Had been as long as anyone, save Mustang or the boys' friend, Winry. Alphonse Elric didn't wear a suit of armor, he was the suit of armor. By all logic, his metal features couldn't shift to form anything as mundane as expressions, which made the question of why his expressions were so easy to read that much more confusing. Everyone had their own theory on the matter, personally, Vine's theory was that since Al's soul was directly bound to the armor, the boy in fact could subtlety manipulate the otherwise cold metal, but whatever the truth, Alphonse Elric was not a difficult young man to read.
For the first time, Vine questioned this previously established fact, as he received no impression of anger from Alphonse. Alphonse's usual sincerity shone through as he spoke his next words so only Vine could hear.
"I don't believe you."
"That right?" Vine replied, glad no one could see the smile on his face, "well, believe what you want. You'll have to accept the truth soon enough.
Alphonse left and Vine returned to his papers, shaking his head as he finally wrestled his stupid smile back into the kind of scowl he figured was probably more appropriate for a bad guy.
"Sometimes, I genuinely wonder which one of those two actually deserves to be the State Alchemist," he quietly quipped to himself. He knew the answer. It was obvious after all.
They both did.
/\/\/\/\/\/\
If Vine's secret bunker weren't there and didn't house all of Vine's slowly progressing work on the puzzle Hughes had discovered, Vine likely wouldn't bother going home anymore. There really weren't many reasons left for him to return there lately. As it was, he arrived as the sun was just beginning its final descent behind the horizon, yawning as he prepared to follow a long, exhausting day of work with a long, exhausting night of work.
"Colonel…"
Nothing cleared away exhaustion quite like the cold grip of fear, and the sound of a young woman's voice behind him as he unlocked the door made his blood run cold.
Glancing back over his shoulder, Vine found himself faced with something he really hadn't expected.
"Winry," he sighed. The young mechanic stood behind him, a stern expression, bordering on angry, distorting her cute features.
"Gracia and Elicia… where are they?"
Vine cursed internally. He knew full well how dangerous a game his comrades were playing, but for those who knew, or would soon find out, they weren't facing anything they hadn't signed up for.
That wasn't the case for Winry. Involving her in this would needlessly endanger her. Best just to send her on her way. Let her think everything had happened exactly as she currently believed.
A plan now likely to backfire, since Vine had sent the Elrics away with Major Armstrong without realizing Winry was with them. The potential for problems arising when Winry couldn't find Ed and Al couldn't be ignored.
Besides, ultimately, Winry was involved, regardless of who liked it or not.
Sighing as he ensured no one was watching, Vine opened his door and stepped in, silently motioning for Winry to follow him.
When the door was closed behind them, Winry was about to speak again, but Vine held out a hand to silence her. Noticing the Raging Blast Alchemist had suddenly become worryingly tense, Winry complied as Vine cautiously inched into the house, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
A nearby broom closet seemed to be the center of his attention, and as he approached it, he used his thumb to unseal his sheathed sword. Standing beside the door, he grabbed the hilt with his right hand and drew his blade with the skill and certainty that only years of practice could teach, then grabbed the door knob with his left hand.
Ready to strike at a moments notice, Vine turned the knob and quickly pulled the door open!
First, Neptune tumbled out of the closet, landing flat on her face. Ruby came stumbling out of the closet right behind her. She might have been able to right herself, if her foot hadn't struck Neptune, tripping her and sprawling her out right on top of Neptune.
The final figure to tumble out of the closet was Aliasse, who simply dropped flat onto her butt out of the closet, looking up at Vine. The rope that tied her wrists and ankles combined with what looked like a sock shoved in her mouth told the story of how Ali hadn't been on board with… whatever this was.
"Not sure I even wanna know," Vine sighed, kneeling down to release his bound and gagged young friend.
"Hah, you walked right into our trap," Neptune gloated in a tone that was likely meant to sound triumphant. It might have worked better if she hadn't still been lying flat on the floor under a momentarily dazed Ruby.
"Is that what this was supposed to be? Not really one of the better traps someone's tried to spring on me," Vine sighed as he cut the ropes binding Aliasse's ankles. Free from her bondage, Ali rose to her feet, strode over to Neptune, and planted a painful sounding kick right into Neptune's posterior, prompting an alarmed yelp from the CPU.
"Jerk," she grumbled, sticking her tongue out at the gently sobbing Neptune.
"I'm sorry," Neptune cried.
/\/\/\/\/\/\
If Vine was hesitant to explain the developing situation to Winry, he was downright reluctant to explain it to Neptune. For the most part, he had the impression that Ruby was probably alright, but the short time he'd known her was enough to figure out that Neptune was a complete moron. It was easy to believe that she was as capable of blowing an otherwise solid plan full of holes as Kakashi had been concerned Naruto or Luffy were.
Unfortunately, at the moment, this fact only served to make Vine feel that much more like he was making a bad call as he showed Neptune and Ruby what Hughes had found.
"That's a relief," Winry sighed after Vine had explained the events surrounding the Hughes family to her.
"Had to run a couple fake corpses through an acid bath to sell the illusion," Vine explained, "but it worked. Right now Maes Hughes and his family are safe where Bradley can't find them, and I look like just enough of a bastard to be at least in the general vicinity of Bradley's inner circle."
"Not close enough, unfortunately, for him to tell me what this is, but where would be the fun if it was too easy to figure out what our enemies were planning."
"I see," Neptune said trying to sound more introspective then she actually did. She was on her feet, bent over the table with her hands planted either side of the map, taking in the marking Vine and Hughes had made, "I have no idea what any of this means."
She'd probably thought the position she had taken made her look clever and dedicated to her observations. In reality, it just put her rear end in the perfect position for another kick from Aliasse to draw another painful yelp from the goddess as she stood bolt upright.
"Thank you, Ali," Vine sighed, approaching the table, "it's some kind of Transmutation circle, but what it's for is a question we don't have an answer for yet."
"Transmutation?" Ruby repeated, "like that alchemy you guys use? So they want to use the entire country for alchemy? What could they create doing that?"
That had been the question tormenting Vine since Hughes had made his discovery, but something about hearing it voiced aloud served to bring a thought previously stuck in the back of his mind screaming to the front.
More accurately, the thought was a memory. The memory of the mortified look on the face of Edward Elric after the best lead the Elrics had found since their quest to regain their bodies had begun, had, rather then give hope to the brothers, revealed a dark, horrifying truth.
The dark, horrifying truth behind the Philosopher's Stone.
CLOSING THEME: KIMI NO NAMAE (Rising of the Shield Hero)