dueling dragon ice- yup! I updated!
Shingo-sama- Thanks! Glad you like the story line!
Kumori domo-kun- continue I shall!
ShallowShadows- Really? Thanks! Yes you can borrow Roy.
Priestess kurumi inu's sister- Yes a cliffy. I'm evil.
SDF -glad you like the plot. I have written more.
I don't own
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Roy was running when he spotted a red lump lying in the street. He immediately recognized it.
"Edward!" Roy ran over to him and scooped the young boy up in his arms. Ed had blood and dirt caked on his clothing, and the side of his jacket was stained from an even deeper crimson from a deep gash. His face was a pale lifeless white besides a light stain of red just below his lower lip, and a stream of red something from his crown over his eye. He had dark bags beneath his eyes, and he was shivering like no tomorrow, "You stupid boy! What the hell were you thinking!" Roy screamed at his unconscious form.
"I guess the chimera failed," Roy looked up to see a tall-cloaked figure standing before him. His eyes went wide when he saw the scar on the mans hand.
"Eclipse!"
"Please move. The boy needs to die," Roy lay Edward softly on the ground and stood defiantly in front of Edward.
"Step away. The stone needs to die."
"I'm sorry but I can't allow you to do that. You see this boy is my subordinate. It's my job to make sure he's ok. If anything happened to him I can't tell you how much paperwork Hawkeye'd make me do," Roy said with a smirk, "Besides if the stone needs to die could you tell me why you couldn't find a better approach then killing innocents?"
"The stone is near indestructible so no physical means can destroy it, and I'm sure you've seen what happens when you try alchemy. The only way to destroy it is to starve it. It needs to be close to a living being or it'd die. It is nothing more than a parasite."
"So your approach is killing innocent 7 year old girls, and blond 15 year old boys?"
"Do you think I enjoy killing?" The cloaked man spat, "That stone means the end of the world as we know it. It knows only destruction." He readied his dagger, "That boy is unusual. He can perform alchemy that most people couldn't even dream possible. That is why the stone is particularly dangerous in his hands. He might open the nine gates." Roy quirked an eyebrow, "If you get in my way then you must die too!" With amazing speed the cloaked figure took toward Roy.
Mustang snapped his fingers letting out a wall flame toward eclipse making the cloaked being avert to the side.
"I see you're an alchemist. That changes everything." With great speed he scrapped a sigil on the ground with the tow of his shoe then stepped on it with great force. A huge stone spike appeared where Roy was standing. He rolled to the side and snapped. The flame licked at the man's cape, burning his sleeve off.
Eclipse was inhumanely fast. The burns didn't seam to affect him at all. Punch, avert, swipe, kick, swipe, roll. There were a couple times were Roy couldn't get out of the way in time. The force of the blow was almost bone crushing but he never hit any vital spots. Roy carefully laid out his trap as this continued.
"Tell me eclipse. That scar you have resembles Emily's greatly. Isn't true you must have once possessed the Whisper of Alchemy?" Eclipse faltered slightly. Roy took this opportunity to attack. He got right underneath Eclipse punch, snapped his fingers, but did something slightly different. The flame wrapped loosely around his fist and he slammed it into Eclipses gut sending him back some.
"Interesting. I wasn't aware you could do that with your glove. It's spark cloth right? Isn't it true that it's useless when wet?" Roy felt a small drop of water slide down his cheek. Then another. He looked up to see it started to rain.
"Oh," he said.
"Your defenseless now."
"Not really," he sighed. Roy bent down and touched the ground lightly activating a huge transmutation circle that he had been drawing during the fight with various movements, "You know what's sad? People get so wrapped up with my title the flame alchemist the often forget I can perform other kinds of alchemy." A stone cage started to form around Eclipse. He just laughed.
"To answer your question I did once posses the Whisper of alchemy, as you call it, and it taught me how to get out of this situation." He touched the transmutation circle. The blue light went green then disappeared completely.
"The stone used to be flawless, but it was tainted. I know a lot about it. I used to research it before the Ishbal revolution…"
"What are you talking about," Roy took an involuntary step backward. The man chuckled and lifted his hood.
"The stones real name is the Surrion Ancalime. How do I know this? I'm the one who found it. My name is Gate Trafalga." Roy gasped. The man had long white hair kept in a ponytail. He was also very old so it surprised Roy that this man was sending those hard fast attacks a while ago. He had piercing red eyes that took a large contrast to his light skin, "How ever a mistake was made I will fix before Armageddon is upon us." He threw his dagger…At Edward.
Roy was shocked. With out much thought he jumped in front of the dagger. It drove into his for arm, "You…stay away from him!" Roy yelled yanking the dagger out of his arm and violently tossing it to the side.
"Did you ever wonder what happened to the city of Faar?"
"The one completely destroyed during the revolution?" Roy said on edge.
"Yes. That was the stones doing. The stone not only holds the balance of nature, it is nature." The old man said slamming his palm on a near by wall. A chalk transmutation circle had been predrawn there. A spike, made from the clay wall of the building, came toward Edward. Roy quickly picked the injured boy up and jumped out of the way. That's when he realized how bad Edward was getting.
"Your trying to distract me while Edward bleeds to death aren't you?" Roy said as realization hit him.
"A smart one aren't you?"
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Edward was in a large white void. It was strange though. Everyone once and a while some strange alchemic circle would float by. He saw some he recognized, others he had never seen.
The more he walked the more he wondered if he was going anywhere. Heck, in this place he could have been upside down and he never would have known.
Creek…creek.
A small delicate red leaf floated past Edward. He looked to his left to see a large old tree sitting in the void. It's leaves were turning shades of fall and littering the white ground. He saw tied to a sturdy branch was an old-fashioned rope swing. There was someone in it but the person's back was facing him.
Curiously he walked up to the tree. Etched all over it's bark were strange transmutation circles. He was admiring them so much he didn't know the person stopped swinging. He looked up to see them sitting poignantly. He could definitely tell it was a young girl. She had extremely long messy brown hair that went past the seat of the swing. Slowly she turned her body to face Edward.
Edward gasped.
"Emily?" the young girl smiled sweetly.
"Would you like to swing with me?" Her voice had a small echo to. Edward looked and was surprised to find another swing appear next to hers. Still in a daze he sat in it and began swinging. They swung in almost total silence, besides the creak of the swing's ropes.
"Are you really Emily?" Edward asked. The girl stopped swinging and looked straight into his golden eyes. He saw her eyes were different. They used to be brown but now they were deep cobalt.
"No. I'm not." She said sadly, "I am a fragment of consciousness of the Surrion Ancalime and yourself. I'm taking the form of my last keeper." She said swinging again, "It was the same for Emily. I took the shape of her father when I spoke with her."
"Wait? You're the rock that's been giving me so much trouble? You care to explain why everything I touch turns to dust?" Edward was now standing in front of her.
"I think first to understand what's happening I should explain to you what I am exactly." Edward sat in front of her.
"I'm listening."
"The Surrion Ancalime…Is…slightly difficult to explain. It is an archive. It knows everything about alchemy. Even things about alchemy that people couldn't tell you. It finds patterns and theories and then stores them away. It was supposed to be a record of alchemy, not a tool for it."
"So it can perform alchemy but it's not ment to?"
"To put it in simple terms it's like putting a butter knife into a toaster to get your bread. You can do it but that doesn't mean you're supposed to. If you do anyways, in the end, you end up with a short circuited toaster, burnt bread, and a funeral." She shrugged, "the same with the stone. You can use it for alchemy, but it's against its properties and you end up with destruction."
"But why only destruction if it knows so much about alchemy?"
"It used to be perfect but it was flawed." She looked down at her hand, "You see, when Gate found it, it was not completely done crystallizing. It may have looked it, but the process takes years. Then the war hit…"
"What flawed it?"
"Blood. It touched human blood and absorbed it into its crystallizing process. That's why it is clouded and not clear. Not only that but the stone also absorbed the emotions of Ishbal…Fear, destruction, pain, anger…It also learned that it's own properties could do this," she looked up, "It has a conscious but it doesn't know emotion. It doesn't care if it lives or dies as long as it follows what it's made for. That's why it can only destroy."
"So the cloaked man had a reason for destroying it?" Ed looked at the girl gravely. She blinked.
"HELL NO!" she screamed at him. This shocked Edward. He wasn't excepting that from a seven year old, "Haven't you learned anything at all! It is THE BALANCE OF NATUUURE! You destroy it you destroy the balance! All you'll end up with is natural disasters!" she said poking Edward in the chest. She blinked then sat back down.
"Er sorry…Part of the emotion's the stone absorbed remember?" she coughed nervously into her hand, "Right.
Edward just stared at her strange.
"Let me get this straight. Destroy the stone; destroy nature's balance causing natural disasters that could destroy Earth. Keep the stone and I have an opportunity to destroy Earth my self. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. Care to tell me what I should do dear conscious of my misery?"
"I don't know. It's become out of control. That stone will bring the end of the world. Also, you've seen the other side of the gate…" she looked worried, "A normal alchemist could not do more then destroy a city. You, however, are different. You could fuel it enough to destroy everything…you've become the Armageddon alchemist." Edward felt like an Ice shard had stabbed him.
Just what he needed on his heavy list of things to worry about, the destruction of humanity. He was getting scarred.
"So is this why that cloaked man killed yo…ah, I mean Emily?"
"Yes, that's why Gate killed Emily," If Edward had been eating something he would have choked.
"You mean the guy that found the stone is the one that killed Emily!" He screamed.
"Yes. He's trying to get rid of the stone in an attempt to keep it from destroying everything. However he doesn't understand the flaw in that logic," Edward felt more scared. All the leaves on the tree instantly fell off leaving it bare. Emily looked at Edward with fear filled eyes.
"Edward! Don't feel fear! Your activating one of the sigils like you did with the Chimer…" It was like everything was violently ripped into a black hole. Leaving Edward in darkness. The void, the tree, the girl, the sigils... All vanished. That's when a large wave of pain hit him. He cracked open one eye to see he was on the ground. He looked up to see Roy fighting some old man…Wait Roy? The old man must have been… Gate!
Memories of his dream flooded his mind… along with fear.
His first mistake.
A circle similar to the one that appeared beneath the chimera appeared beneath Roy's feet.
"What the hell?" Roy said looking down. He tried stepping but he was stuck. He looked behind him to see a (somewhat) conscious Edward.
"This is interesting, "Gate said fixing his hood over his head again, "I'll let you see first hand the destruction of the stone. Then when you are disposed of by the one you tried so hard to protect the boy will be next to die by his injuries." Stone took a giant leap landing on top of a roof. He disappeared.
Roy panicked. So did Edward.
Edward had never seen a circle like this. If he was going to save Roy he'd have to solve the sigil first and he didn't have much time. That and he was seriously injured still and wasn't totally focused. Not to mention he was soaking wet from the rain.
Edward stared at the pattern hard. Earth 1, Fire 1, creation, water…and death? The symbols started locking in to place.
"Crap," He looked over the symbols searching for there meanings. Then it came to him. He took his automail arm and scratched a new symbol on the small version of the sigil beneath his hand, just as the last piece stopped moving. As he had hoped the smaller sigil affected the larger one.
A huge wave of water came from the circle drenching Roy and the surroundings. When the water stopped coming he just sat where the water swept him, trying to process what happened. Then he saw Edward lying on the ground unconscious again.
He picked the boy up, despite his own injuries, and ran.
He didn't know where he was going but he severally hoped it was toward a medical center. The forces of nature seemed to be against him as the wind and blinding sheets of rain pounded toward him. Edward felt colder and colder. Roy tried hugging him closer to his chest for warmth as he ran.
Stamina was never one of Roy's strong points. He was a fast runner but only for short distances. However he was pumped with adrenaline and didn't even notice the burning feel in his leg…Or really cared.
Roy knew the severity of the situation. If Ed didn't get help, he'd die.
He had lost one child under his watch and he'd be damned if he lost another.
"COLONEL!" He heard someone yell. He looked to his side to see a military vehicle coming toward him. Hawkeye was half out the window calling to him. The vehicle stopped running and parked next to him.
He hurriedly jumped into the back of the vehicle. The engine of the truck gunned then made a U turn.
Roy carefully laid Edward on the backseat propping his head up with his own coat. They used Armstrong's coat as a blanket over the shivering boy.
"What happened?" Demanded Riza.
"No time to explain. He needs help."
"Brother?" Al was terrified. He didn't want to lose his brother. He felt it his fault for leaving him with that thing.
Roy was scared too. They were in Ishbal and had no idea where the closest medical center was. The nearest hospital they knew of was east Ember.
And everyone else was afraid of Armstrong's driving. He had to have been pushing 140 in order to get to the nearest hospital fast. However they were silent and vented this fear by white knuckling.
"I can help some." Al looked up from Edward to see a woman with dark hair sitting sandwiched between havoc and Fuery. He met her earlier. Emily's mother, "Before I went blind I used to be an herbal healer." She brought out a satchel filled with herbs.
"I'm sorry for being blunt but…your blind. He's in to much of a critical condition to risk mistakes."
"I may not be able to see like you do but I have other ways. These leaves may just smell like plants to you but each of them has developed a distinctive aroma to me. I can easily distinguish them by sent. Besides he doesn't have much time." She started blending a remedy while Hawkeye tried cleaning his wounds. She spread the herbs on his wounds. Edward winced.
Hughes bound his wounds in a makeshift bandage.
"That will have to do," Kira-Kira said touching his arm. At the feel of cold metal her hand recoiled.
"He has an auto mail arm and leg," Roy said assuring her what it was, as he spread some of the herbal remedy on his own injuries.
They had been driving well over an hour. Ishbal's capital was somewhere near the side of the country so they had already crossed it's border but there were no signs of human activity.
For some reason the car lurched forward then stopped completely. Everyone was torn from their seats into a tangle mess of limbs on the car's floor.
"OW! Breda! Get your foot of my shoulder!"
"I would if someone's elbow wasn't digging into my back!"
"HOLY CRAP! I landed on Havoc's cigarette!"
"Could someone please get off me? My lungs are being crushed. "
"ACK! …Can't breath…Al's tail…wrapped around throat…"
"I'm sorry! Brother hasn't fixed me yet!"
After five minutes of chaos they were able to untangle them selves. Roy pulled himself up to the front drivers seat.
"Armstrong! Why did we stop?"
"It seems we have been caught in a mud pit caused by the erosion of land from the rain." Armstrong opened the door and went around back. Roy and Al followed. After much pushing the car was lifted from the mud but…
"It's broken. The car won't start. The mud ruined the back tires and that bump destroyed the clutch master cylinder," Fuery said after his analysis of the vehicle. He wiped off his wet glasses on his jacket to no avail, "I can probably fix it but not in this weather."
"I wish Winry was here," Al muttered sorrowfully.
"This can't be happening. This can not be happening," Roy began this mantra with his face in his hands.
"Sir, there's a building over there. It seams to be an abandoned farmhouse. We can stay there until the rain stops. Roy nodded in agreement.
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Now you know why the story's called Armageddon Alchemist!
Ok. To those who are confused about my symbols system it does and does not exist in some ways.
Fire 1, fire 2, earth 1, earth 2, air, water, creation and death really exist and are commonly seen in the FMA world. It's just they're never really noticed and no one really cares. I just felt like making something to show why Edwards a genius. The way I use them might not though.
To explain it further I shall use Roy's glove. The symbols it consists of are fire 1, 2 airs and 2 earths…I think… I'll have to check again later. Anywho I only have a couple chapters left. I currently have two endings in mind so we'll have to see which one I pick. However I am currently having writers block on how to get to the ending. PLEASE GIVE IDEAS!
Review please! Ideas and constructive criticism is smiled upon. Roy shall hurt flamers. See ya next chapter.