You know…Have you guys ever, in stories that you have written, thought something made sense during the writing and editing phase, but then realize it was kind of screwy? Well, yeah…that's what happened at the end of the last chapter (facepalm). I went back and adjusted it slightly so you guys would understand what the heck I was trying to get at. This chapter was equally as difficult to write, so I hope I made this one sound decent. Posting a couple tonight because of my screw-up and because there will be a couple of non-action (well, at least in the present sense…you'll see when I get there) chapters.
I also want to go ahead and apologize for the short sections. Sorry!
Chapter Twenty-Four
Edward and Alphonse jumped from rock to rock as they headed down the valley into their hometown of Rizenbul. They realized that the military would most likely go their first, but Ed insisted on returning there for at least a few hours. Since Al had now been turned into the Philosopher's Stone, he knew the homunculus would soon come after them both, and he needed something from Rizenbul before he would be able to face them again.
"Al, let's hide!" Ed said suddenly as the stopped on the rocks. Edward had barely heard a noise over the sound of the loud stream next to them, and he didn't want to take any chances in being caught. The two ran a few feet into the bordering forest and looked for places to conceal themselves. Ed, finally giving up, clapped his hands and transmuted some of the earth into a camouflaged sheet to cover his brother.
"Brother?" Al questioned quietly.
"Never mind, just hide!" the older brother huffed, as he threw the cover over the suit of armor. He crouched by the edge of the woods as he watched Second Lieutenant Breda and Warrant Officer Falman walk past on the rocks.
"So what?" spouted Breda, "Isn't he only doing that for a promotion?"
"I wouldn't say that it's the only reason," replied Falman, "Didn't he say it? If he lets the Elric brothers and Winry slip away, the Colonel will be held responsible for what happened in Lior!"
"Winry…" Edward said quietly to himself, "The Colonel? If that's the way things are, then it can't be helped." A sound of underbrush moving behind him caught the teen's attention. Looking over his shoulder after hearing the clicking of a loaded gun, Edward saw Second Lieutenant Havoc had one aimed towards him. Sergeant Fury stood next to him with a guilty look upon his face.
"Eh…Edward…" Fury said, trying not to look like a threat to the boy.
"It was as the Colonel predicted," said Havoc with his gun still pointed at Ed, "You used your old shortcuts to get to your hometown." Edward stood up slowly and faced the men with his head lowered. Believing he had given up, Jean lifted his aim and motioned for Edward to come closer, "Well, then. Shall we go?"
"Move…" came the boy's reply.
"Um…Edward?" came the nervous reaction from the Sergeant.
"I won't…" Edward continued as he lifted his head, "return to the military!" He lunged forward in time to hold the barrel of Havoc's gun with his automail arm. The surprised Lieutenant kept it pointing at him, but would rather not shoot him if it were necessary.
"Just try shooting," Ed spat out, "We'll see if you can pierce my automail and get away with it!"
"Edward, why!" Fury looked worried as the situation progressed.
"Just try shooting!" he yelled.
From what seemed out of nowhere a pile of earth lifted from the ground with Al's voice erupting from it, "Stop!"
The reaction surprised both officers, and Havoc, who still had the gun pointed at the older brother, accidentally pulled the trigger.
Breda and Falman heard the shot from a distance down the river, and looked at each other, knowing something was terribly wrong. They just hoped no one was hurt.
"Havoc…" Alphonse said quietly as the two brothers stared at what just happened. Jean was on his knees, cradling his right hand in his left, with blood dripping down onto the leg of his uniform. Fury sat on his knees also, holding his forehead with a hand, trying his best to stop the bleeding. The brothers stared as more blood trickled and splattered onto the ground in front of them.
"We won't go back," Edward finally said after a moment, then ran off towards the stream. Al stayed behind a moment, contemplating what he should do. He knows they didn't need to get caught, but it was because of him that two of his friends were now injured.
"Al! Let's go!" came Edward's voice from his side.
"I'm sorry!" he apologized quickly before taking off after his brother.
Both Ed and Al ran back towards the rocks that the woods bordered on next to the stream. As they began to run downstream, Breda and Falman stepped in their way.
"Please keep quiet!" ordered Breda as he ran towards the two. Edward quickly clapped his hands together and placed one on each of the men, inflating their bodies into round balls, not harmful, but enough to keep them busy for a while.
"Edward!" yelled Falman as the two bounced like a child's play toy on the rocks, "If you have something to say, we'll listen! We aren't your enemies! Until the conclusion of this investigation, you'll be considered innocent!"
"Well, for the time being, this should do," Mustang said as he finished bandaging Havoc's hand and creating a makeshift sling for him. Breda and Falman had finally deflated by that point and joined their group; Falman helped Fury to patch the gash on his forehead. Both Breda and Hawkeye stood by a tree to stay out of the way while they talked with Major Armstrong.
"Those two…Do they really plan on becoming our enemies?" questioned Hawkeye to no one in particular.
"We'll know…once we catch them," responded Roy as he turned around to look at his fellow companions. "You guys! Next time, don't hesitate!"
"Colonel…Um…" mumbled Havoc, "Could you grab the thing in my pocket for me?" Roy looked back and reached into the second lieutenant's front pocket to discover a pack of cigarettes and a matchbook from a local bar. Mustang looked at the items in his hand, then placed them into his own front pocket, eliciting a shocked look from his subordinate, "I'll confiscate this."
"They haven't moved that far yet," Major Armstrong finally spoke after a few moments of silence from the group.
"It's probably because he can't let Alphonse go in the water," the Colonel spoke as he stood up and walked over to where Hawkeye and the Major stood.
"It must be because of that blood seal," Armstrong thought aloud as he stroked his chin.
"Either way," Colonel Mustang said as he stretched, "Let's move out. The sooner we can catch them, the better."
Edward and Alphonse continued their way on the rocky path downstream in hopes of outrunning Mustang and his group of subordinates. They leapt from rock to rock in hopes of making faster time. Edward landed on a larger rock, and was about to launch to another one, when Al landed directly behind him. Not wanting to touch him in fear of activating the Philosopher's Stone within his brother, Ed leapt to the side quickly.
"Brother?" Al questioned. It was hard for him to remember to stay a distance from his brother.
"Don't touch me that carelessly! We don't know what would happen if--" Edward was interrupted by a sudden aerial assault including dozens of spike-shaped boulders hurtled towards them. The two jumped out of the way and began to run down the rocky path, only to be ambushed by a half dozen soldiers hiding amongst the rocks. Thinking quickly, Edward clapped his hands and transmuted the nearby rock into a giant boulder, which rolled down the hill. Somehow both brothers were stuck on top of the boulder as it rolled, knocking the helpless soldiers out of their way. They attempted to stay on top of the large boulder until it suddenly exploded out from underneath them, and they came crashing to the ground. As the dust settled, both brothers sat on the ground as Edward coughed from the amount of dust surrounding him.
"Why are you running away?" came a commanding voice from their side. Edward and Alphonse turned around to see the Colonel and his fellow soldiers standing just mere yards away. Instead of their prior tactic, this time none of the soldiers had their weapons out, rather wanting to let the senior alchemist take care of the problem.
"So you're the ones chasing us, aren't you?" demanded Edward as he stood up and faced the Colonel, "Dogs are quick to run, if you chase them…"
"A disciplined dog won't oppose his master's orders," Mustang retorted to the younger alchemist.
"Master!"
"If not, then when did you go back to being a stray dog?" the Colonel continued, ignoring the teen's outburst.
First Lieutenant Hawkeye stepped up slightly and spoke calmly, "Please calm down, Edward. You were the one who accepted being called a dog of the military to reach your goals, weren't you?"
Warrant Officer Falman and Second Lieutenant Breda finally caught up to the group and stood on the other side of the brothers, closing off their chance for escape.
"I quit being a dog of the military…" Ed said to his superior harshly.
"Do you mean that you will return to being an obedient and powerless child?"
"Yeah…whatever!" he yelled as he lunged to the side of the river and placed his hand on a nearby rock. The water exploded around the group and soaking them, rendering the Colonel's gloves useless.
"You were too soft on that one, Colonel," he said as he looked to his brother, "Al! Let's go!" The two brothers began to run past the Colonel to continue their trek downstream.
"Major!" Mustang called out, causing Major Armstrong to step forward. He reached back and swung his fist towards a large rock, transmuting it into more spikes that were sent in the brothers' direction. The Colonel pulled the matchbook he confiscated from Havoc from his pocket and quickly lit a match, then used his alchemy to explode the rocks, sending smaller shrapnel sized pieces toward the teenagers. Unable to dodge the projectiles in time, Al quickly stepped in front of Ed and took the brunt of the rocks.
"Al!" Ed said, looking at his brother to see if there was any damage.
"I made hollows rocks, using alchemy," explained Armstrong as he stepped up next to the Colonel.
"And by heating the air within them, I set them on fire," finished Mustang. "Quite an effective assault, wasn't it?"
"Being in Ishbal must have come in handy for you…" retorted Edward.
Angered at the teen's comment, Mustang lit another match and exploded the wall of rock directly next to the boys, causing it to fall upon them. Again, his brother unable to dodge them in time, Al quickly stood next to him and tried to cover him the best he could without touching him. The dust settled again to show the boys completely surrounded by large boulders; their only way to escape would be to fight past Mustang and their friends.
Mustang walked slowly up to the boys, stopping just a few feet from them. "I have done many things I would rather not have, but was ordered to. Ishbal was one. I have killed many people; most who didn't deserve to die, but had to for what they were." He put the matchbook back into his pocket since he no longer believed the boys would pose much of a threat. They knew he could do some major damage to them, and most likely wouldn't risk the chance.
"From that time on, I swore…that even if I was ordered to, I wasn't going to obey irrational orders. That I would obtain a position where it wouldn't matter if I obeyed or not." Silence surrounded the area for moments, as everyone strained to hear what would happen. "The reason I chased after you two wasn't because of my orders. It was because you guys made me angry! Why? Why did you run away without asking for my help?"
A tense moment played out as either side didn't want to give in. Major Armstrong slowly walked up and placed a hand on Mustang's shoulder, "Elric brothers…what on earth happened?"
Alphonse believed the moment of truth was upon them as he stood up to defend himself and Edward, "Fuhrer Bradley…is a homunculus." Stunned silence filled the area, as no one in the vicinity could believe what he or she just heard.
"When you say homunculus…" Falman asked after a few tense moments, "you mean he's a 'created human'?"
"Yeah," replied Edward, "They're after the Philosopher's Stone. And they're pulling the strings in this country."
"This can't be…" Mustang uttered, still unsure whether to believe the statement or not.
"But, the Fuhrer didn't know anything about the Fifth Laboratory!" exclaimed Armstrong. "The military was being undermined from the inside!"
"But I saw it!" Al said as he took a few steps forward, "The Fuhrer had the mark of the Ouroboros!"
"You mentioned a homunculus that could change shapes…," replied the Major.
"The Fuhrer's Secretary…is a homunculus too!" Edward said as he interrupted the older alchemist.
"And if…" reasoned Lieutenant Hawkeye, "If the Fuhrer and Ms. Douglas were homunculi, what purpose would they serve? Why would they have infiltrated the military?"
A noise from in the distance startled everyone as they had been so engrossed in the conversation. Mustang looked around and sighed, "We really need to get out of here. Are you going to cooperate with us Edward? We'll be heading back to the Rockbell house so we can hide you there until we can sort out all of this new information."
Edward narrowed his eyes at the Colonel. He really didn't want to cooperate with him, but in their current predicament, he and Al didn't really have a choice. He stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest and sighed, "Yeah, I guess…"
The rest of the trek didn't take very long to complete, and the group managed to get to the outskirts of Rizenbul. Everyone huddled in the bushes on the side of the road since there was a clear view down the hill to the train station.
"The military hasn't arrived yet," commented Falman after waiting a few minutes to see if there was any movement or arriving trains.
Moments later the group spotted a blond man walking down the road that their bushes bordered on. Everyone sank lower behind them so the man wouldn't know they were there. The man seemed to be crying to himself as he continued to walk down the path.
"Hey, is that Sergeant Broche?" questioned Breda, recognizing the man.
"Geez, another pursuer?" complained Edward.
Lieutenant Hawkeye looked over to the brothers and smiled slightly, "Don't worry. He's not…" Just as Broche was about to pass by the group's bushes, she stepped out from behind them to see why he was upset. "Broche, what on earth is wrong?"
The soldiers eyes filled with more tears as painful memories came flooding back to him, "Lieutenant Ross is…Lieutenant Ross is…" he couldn't get the words to come out of his mouth, so he grabbed the woman by her arm and began to walk back towards the Rockbell home. The walk wasn't very far, less than a quarter of a mile, but seemed much longer since the man wouldn't walk very fast. No matter what was said to him, he would not say exactly what was wrong with his comrade.