Halfmetal Alchemist

Chapter 39: Penultimate Chapter

Leroy and Anri were face down on the ground, struggling to get up again. As Anri lifted himself onto his elbows and tried to support himself with his knee, his one remaining automail leg creaked defiantly, the circuitry inside of it sparking and hissing ominously. The gem that had once been situated inside of it lay shattered on the burned ground some thirty feet away; he didn't think it was possible to fix it. The mechanics inside of his leg screamed out in defiance as he tried again to get up, but he sank back down, turning his mud and blood streaked face to his brother who lay, unmoving, on the ground just beside him.

"Brother... Leroy... get up!" Leroy moaned from the ground and his head moved. He was alive, at least. His right arm was bloodied and stuck out from his splayed out body at an odd angle. Leroy raised up his head from the ground and looked at Anri, pain practically screaming out at him through his eyes. "Glenn," he croaked. "I don't think... I'll last much longer."

The chimera that was Ultimus roared in the distance. Having wrecked enough havoc, he had retreated from the battlegrounds just a few minutes before. The others would probably have noticed that they were missing by now. Anri grunted and clapped his hand against his brother's left weakly, generating a spark with his other hand by scraping a bit of metal from his ruined leg against his nonfunctional but still intact leg. A fireball shot up high into the night sky and exploded, showering the landscape with light briefly before fizzling out. They heard thunder in the distance and Leroy grimaced.

"Rain soon," he murmured.

Vergo looked up from tending to his minimal wounds and got up, running around their small make-shift camp. "Mom!" he cried, ducking into her tent. "Mom, look! I think... I think Dad's sent off a signal!" She came halfway out of the tent and looked up as well, and a hand went to her mouth. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"He's... the signal... he says... he's dying."

Alphonse, Winry, Al and Alley were polishing guns and checking their weapons stores for the next assault when the flare exploded in the sky, and they tilted their heads backward. "A flare...?" Alphonse murmured. "A signal for help," Winry said, and Al and Alley looked at one another. "Help?"
Roy's one good eye turned to the sky as well and Riza shielded her eyes, while Leroy, close at her heels, bumped into her because of her abrupt halt. Faris stopped beside him and closed her eyes, then opened them again slowly, sadly.

"They're dying," she whispered. "They want us to come. Quickly."

Fullmetal saw the flare from afar, high up on the mountain, and he turned to Ed and nodded towards it. "Go, quickly." Ed transmuted a smooth slide to the bottom of the mountain and they slid down haphazardly, running towards it.
Roy kneeled next to his father and Vergo next to his. "Roy," Leroy groaned softly. "When I was still researching... I found an ancient transmutation circle; a circle for a chimera of unmatched strength." The blood from Roy's face drained and Leroy and Ed paled as well. "Why are you telling me this?" he asked, his voice shaking. Leroy lifted up his one good hand and, in his own blood, slowly drew a circle on the ground; one that was almost identical to the circle on Ultimus's chest, but more intricate.

"We've decided, Roy. Glenn and I... we'll be gone before long. We want you to... to..."

"Transmute us into one chimera, using that circle," Anri said, looking at Vergo and then to Roy calmly.

Roy's eye widened. "I can't do that."

Leroy shook his head fiercely. "Now is not the time to become sentimental, Roy."

"I still... I can't..."

"I told you to, now do it!" Roy flinched and Leroy's face softened. "I know... I haven't been with you for a lot of your life... but... this is just... this is just the way it's supposed to be. Do you think I want to be a chimera again, Roy? This is... the only way to kill a chimera is with a chimera."

"But I-I..." Roy's son put a hand on his shoulder. "This is the only way, Dad... we have to..." Vergo's head pulled up sharply and his eyes burned into Leroy's, and it took all of Leroy's willpower not to flinch at that stare. There was something in it... something unfathomable.

Roy took a long last look at the circle drawn on the ground and stepped back, rubbing it into the dirt with his boot. He waved everyone away and snapped his fingers, burning the circle, only a much larger version, into the ground around them, with Leroy and Anri at it's center. Anri hopped up on his good leg with difficulty, his brother's good arm around him, and waited.

"You'll need... four alchemists at the circle."

Leroy, Roy, Fullmetal, and Ed stood on four different spots on the circle and put their hands to it. "Now... just use the alchemy, and the circle... it will do the rest." Leroy and Anri closed their eyes and the circle erupted in light. Roy was expecting to hear screaming, screaming such as that when regular chimeras were made, and he closed his eyes, expecting... expecting... but it never came. He remembered only the light, a creature taking shape in the circle, then another roar as Ultimus came down from the plateau to fight.

Viciously blows with paws and claws were exhanged, screams and howls of pain and blood chilling ferocity, hate, but Roy didn't remember anything much, just light, light, light...

His mind seemed to collapse in on itself. What had he done? He had created a monster, a monster from his own father and his uncle; he had doomed them to their fate, doomed them to their deaths and suffering. He was on his knees, he had not realized it before, and he had also not realized that Riza's arms were around his shoulders, that he was shaking, that tears were falling from his eyes, slowly, soundlessly.

Slowly.

Soundlessly.

It had always been that way; life had been painfully slow, painfully soundless; there had been no laughter, no happiness after that fateful bombing, no happiness until recently. He had had the chance to bring his father back, but he had turned his father into a monster; condemned him to his cruel fate.

The chimera, his chimera, crashed back down onto the ground, it's sides heaving, bloody gashes spewing red, and he felt the urge to vomit. It struggled back onto its legs and tossed it's head, baying another challenge to it's foe.

Ultimus was not the same as before; he seemed stronger, more powerful, and the dark mind in the chimera knew why. Just moments before, he had finally silenced the hateful Envy, had swallowed him whole to become a part of itself. The deed was done, the enemy vanquished.

Little Maes finally touched down on the bottom of the mountain, remarking at the large beasts entangled in the air. He didn't understand what they were doing, not at all, but he knew he was supposed to be there. It was what Ultimus had requested, and he would do it.

Roy's chimera crashed back into the earth again, sides heaving even more than they had been before, coat stained crimson with it's blood. There was a shiver in the air and the blood disappeared from it's coat, and Ed cursed.

"This is useless!" he cried, and Alphonse picked up the remains of Anri's automail leg, lying on the ground in pieces. He transmuted it into a gun of sorts and aimed it at Ultimus, pulled the trigger and fired. A light bullet buried itself in Ultimus and he shrieked in pain. Alphonse smiled and shook his head sadly, then looked at Ed. Going through the gate had given hima gift and a curse. What he did now would determine the fate of the future, would determine which of those that stood together on this battlefield would live, and which would die. He handed the gun to Ed, his mind made up, and nodded to Leroy. "Get on the chimera," he said, "Get on it, and kill Ultimus."

Their chimera once again crashed downwards, and this time got up unsteadily, and Ed gulped. The chimera kneeled down, as if sensing his intentions, and let Ed clamber on with the gun, Leroy behind him holding his waist. Ed grabbed a fistful of the chimera's mane and closed his eyes tightly as they lifted into the air again, as the powerful wings beat and beast tangled with beast in a cloud of claws and jaws. Leroy gripped Ed tightly and Ed's unsteady hands fired the gun, each bullet burying itself into Ultimus's eyes, and Leroy sent it flying back with flames.

Maes ran towards his father with a bag in his hand, arms outstretched and crying for him, and Roy turned slowly, disbelievingly, and opened his arms to swoop Maes up. Alphonse shook his head slowly, sadly, again, and Maes opened the bag to reveal a crimson stone that shone like blood.

Roy took it from him, his mouth agape. "A... a..."

"A philosopher's stone..." Edward finished slowly, and he took the stone from Roy. He looked up at Ultimus, closed his eyes, and dropped the stone on the ground, and crushed it beneath his automail foot.

Ultimus roared from above and finally fell down from the sky, his form evaporating as he hit the ground and lay still. The other chimera landed and Leroy and Ed got off, and Leroy rejoined his family again.

Ultimus's prone form lifted itself up onto it's arms and slumped again, black hair disheveled, face dirt streaked and grimy. His amber eyes swept across the group, tired and with the appearance of having seen too much trial and tribulation. He managed to muster enough strength to sit up at least, and Ed and Maes approached him. He looked up at them tiredly and held out his hand, and Maes handed him the bag before Ed could protest.

He and Ed stared at one another and Ultimus smiled a ghost of a smile. "My brother," he said softly, and Ed's mouth quirked downward in indecision, the light gun poised. Ultimus shook his head and reached into the bag, withdrawing the dark emerald. "There's no need for that," he said. "I'll... do it myself." Ed's hand stretched out to stop him, breath and voice caught in his throat, but Edgar's hand closed on the emerald, and it shattered.

"N-no! Wait!" Ed cried, but too late, what was done was done and the emerald was broken on the ground, still shimmering faintly. Faris kneeled down to the emerald and picked up the pieces in her hands, and gasped as something... lifted from the emeralds. Three spots of light lifted up into the sky and one broke off from the rest, rocketing towards the south. "It's going... to the castle..."

Ed held his brother in his arms as he started to fade, shaking him roughly. "Why?" he screamed. "Why did you do it? Why couldn't you have just... have just... lived?"Edgar gave him a long look and stared at his leg as it started to fade away. "Why, you ask? I can't be happy, knowing what I've done, all the people I've killed... I can only be happy for one thing." He patted little Maes's head. "I spared... one little boy."

"But you can still live, you know? Come back home."

"What home have I in a society that I almost destroyed. No... it's better this way. This way, I will not live on the souls of others. They can be free."

Maes petted the pet fox in his coat pocket. It had not moved in a long time, it had become sick and weak as of recently. Ed held his brother's hand in his, his hands shaking, and Edgar finally disappeared into the air.

WOOOOOW, that took WAAAY too long to update. There is one final chapter, then Halfmetal Guardian will be posted up on the site.

-T A