Ha ha haaa! Chapter 1 is up the same night as the prologue! W00t! Aaaanyways... Yeah. I have no clue what to say here, aside from the fact that muffins are good and Hughes is still God. Envy also still sucks. gets attacked by rabid Envy fans Nooo! dies Hmm... Now that I'm dead, I wanna see if I can become a kickass Hommunculus like Greed... bwahaha.
Chapter
1-
It was a rainy day on the trip to the
graveyard.
Colonel Roy Mustang and First Lieutenant Riza
Hawkeye drove in silence, each with their minds set on the same piece
of disturbing news: Last night, someone had snuck into the military's
graveyard and had dug up the coffin of their friend Maes Hughes, and
had stolen the body. The report had just come in about fifteen
minutes ago, and while the two had never done anything about
grave-robbing before, the fact that someone had stolen the body of
one of their best friends made it an entirely different matter. He
and Hawkeye had grabbed the first car they could find, and were now
racing across Central City to get to the scene of the crime.
When they arrived at the scene, they found it to be a swarm of
blue-clad military people, the crime investigation seemingly well
underway. Hawkeye eased the car to a stop, and she and Roy both
stepped out.
A soldier dashed past, and Roy caught him by
the arm. "Who's in charge here?"
The soldier
blinked in momentary surprise before giving a sharp salute to the
Colonel. "I believe its Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Falke, sir.
I last saw him at the grave, if you wish to speak with him."
He gave Roy another sharp salute before hurrying off. Roy groaned
inwardly. Not Falke. He was (in Roy's opinion) an eccentric slacker
who spent FAR too much time in the weapons development labs, creating
weird weapons that he lovingly named after his various girlfriends.
Plus, the two of them never really got along too well. Nonetheless,
Roy signaled for Hawkeye to follow, and the two hurried off to where
Falke might be.
Falke was easy enough to spot. Standing a
good head over everybody else, he had the tip of his rapid-fire rifle
sticking up over his shoulder like an odd flagpole. He was speaking
to another soldier, who was quickly jotting down notes on a
clipboard. Once she moved out, Roy stepped in.
"Lieutenant
Colonel," he said, glaring up at Falke. "Explain what's
going on here."
Falke's light brown eyes widened in
surprise at seeing Roy, but he still saluted the higher-ranking Roy,
even if it was halfhearted.
"Sir," he sighed,
brushing his reddish-brown bangs out of his eyes. "It's a
surprise to see you here..."
"Forget the
formalities, Falke." Roy snapped. "What the hell happened
here?"
"Not entirely sure." Falke replied
with a shrug. "Looks like a typical grave robbery. Someone broke
in late last night, dug up the coffin, stole the body, and
disappeared. We haven't found any witnesses yet, and whoever did it
managed to pull it off well. No discarded tools, no footprints, not
even a damned fingerprint..."
"How did you find
out about this?"
Again, Falke shrugged. "The
groundskeeper called about forty minutes ago. We've been here for
about twenty minutes or so, and I've got two teams combing the
graveyard for clues, and another three teams going around all the
tenant buildings and houses around here looking for more clues or
witnesses. If we find anything, I'll be sure to let you know,
alright? I know you and Hughes were pals and all..."
Nodding, Roy gazed thoughtfully at the open coffin that lay several
feet behind Falke. It was eerie, looking at the place where your
friend's body had been. "Do you know if this was planned?"
"I don't know," Hawkeye said, looking around. "What
I'm wondering is: Why Hughes? Why him, of all people?"
Roy glanced at Falke, who had moved off and was talking with another
soldier. "That's what I want to know, too."
"Could it be that he knew something?"
"That's
why he was killed, remember? But why take his body?"
Hawkeye frowned. "Perhaps because they wanted to find out what
he knew...?"
"It's a possibility," Roy
replied. "But it could also still be a random robbery, too..."
Their conversation was cut short by a loud curse from Falke."Oy!"
he called, turning to Roy and Hawkeye and waving them over. "Come
here. I think you might want to hear this, Colonel..."
"So
you're saying that I died and was resurrected, though I'm still not
quite human? And the same thing happened to you? So you're seeking
the Philosopher's Stone, which you think is capable of turning you
completely human again?"
Lust nodded. "That's
right."
"And I can join up with you if I want?"
"Yep," Envy responded, the ever-present annoying smirk on
his face. "There's always safety in numbers, and the other four
Hommunculus like working alone. Plus, I doubt they'd like working
with you..."
"Why?"
"Because
you ask too many questions."
"Oh..."
Sheepishly, Obsession scratched the back of his neck. "Sorry."
Envy shrugged nonchalantly. "Forget about it. All you have to
do is listen to what Lust and I say, and you'll be fine."
Obsession sighed. After Lust, Envy, and Gluttony had left the room
where they had found him, the four had moved to a secluded and
seemingly abandoned library, judging by the thick dust that covered
everything inside. There Lust and Envy had spent the last several
hours explaining everything to him on matters concerning the
Hommunculus, alchemists, and, naturally, the Philosopher's Stone. At
first he had been more than a little confused, but now things were
finally making sense. He also decided that he didn't like Envy, with
all of his arrogance and cocky nature. Lust was also arrogant
herself, but at least she was nicer than Envy. As for Gluttony... He
was just weird. Obsession hadn't figured him out yet.
"Anyways," Lust said, "our first order of business is
going to have to be getting you a disguise, since you used to live
here. Otherwise you'd probably be recognized fairly easily."
"Is that bad?"
"You died, remember?"
"Oh. Right."
Envy sighed in annoyance,
shrugging. "Damn, you're slow... Anyways, when we get you your
disguise, we're going to have to avoid the military as best we
can..."
"Why?"
"You were in
it," Envy replied blandly. "Now stop asking questions."
