Crimson Tears of Pain

Chapter five:Memories of a Broken Soul part 2

Hey everyone. I finally updated. Alright time to take this.

Also about the Envy torture. I couldn't decide because there were three great entries. So I' m gonna let you reviewers decide. The reviewers being voted for cannot vote.

1)Kikyo53:

2)The Teenage Writer:

CrazyAnimeFreak15:

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Disclaimer: If I owned Fullmetal Alchemist do you think this would even be on here.

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"I didn't think that was the reason that the Elrics were so different." Scar said as his eyes clouded over. "Don't worry scar no one can know what goes through ed's head. I am the only one and even I can't see what makes him tick." Hikari said calmly while watching the events unfold. "Let's get back to watching Ed's life." Hikari said while summoning popcorn. Roy stared at her. "How did you do that?" He asked her. "Ummm since i'm a spirit I can." Hikari said slowly.

Eighth Memory

The brothers are now travelling towards Central City and a meeting with Roy Mustang. While at a train station waiting for the next train to transfer onto, the brothers learn of an alchemist by the name of Majhal. However, there are bad rumors spreading about the town surrounding the station; the dead are coming back to life and attacking people of the village.

Intrigued by the rumors and the appearance of his name in one of their father's letters regarding human transmutation, Ed and Al head to the town to visit Majhal. By chance, they meet Majhal on their way into town. As they sit down to talk, Majhal immediately notices that Al's soul was affixed to the suit of armor. They go on to discuss human transmutation. However, Majhal shys away from the topic saying that he and Hohenheim (Ed and Al's father) discussed it purely out of youthful indiscretion.

While eating dinner, the brothers find out that the festival is to be held to honor the dead. Interrupted by a knock on the door, Ed and Al are surprised to find Klose. She is the girl who surprised Ed and Al on their way into town. Because of her older sister's death, she has chosen to become a tom boy to escape her past. On the day of the funeral, Klose and her father see an apparition of Karin staring at them from a distance. Klose accuses Karin of being responsible for all the strange events that have occurred recently. She begs Ed and Al, as alchemists, to avenge her sister's wrongful death for her and for the town.

From Majhal, they discover that Karin was a very beautiful woman who used to grow roses for a living. While trying to bring her rare blue roses to market in town, she fell off a cliff and died. At a tavern in town, Klose rallies her gang o capture Karin that night. In the meantime, Ed and Al have gone to the graveyard to see if the rumors have any truth behind them. There they fall into a trap set by Klose to capture Karin. However, Karin appears and is incinerated by Majhal.

Not satisfied, Ed and Al snoop around the mansion only to be confronted by an old woman. Having seen dolls used by Majhal to create "zombies", the two are bound in chains. Because Karin was the only woman Majhal every loved and he was never able to recover from her death, he decided to create something similar to Karin to ease his pain. Attempting to affix Klose's soul to a doll of Karin, Majhal is confronted by Ed and Al who have discovered that the old woman was Karin. She has lost her memory after the accident and returned 20 years later when her memory also returned. Unwilling to accept the truth, Majhal attacks Ed but is killed when he is impaled by his own sword. Until the end, Majhal is unwilling to accept that Karin has grown old.In the end, Klose returns to her old self and has started to dress more feminine.

Ninth Memory

While talking with Roy Mustang on the phone, Ed and Al are told to board a departing train. Puzzled, the two board the train and head to Central City. They have a pleasant encounter with a little girl on the train; however there are many suspicious looking passengers on board.

It just so happens that General Hakuro and his family are on the same train. While on patrol, one of the guards spots some suspicious passengers, Ed and Al. Confirming the presence of Ed and Al on the train, the guard is cornered by two train-jackers. Simultaneously, the General and his family are taken hostage as his guards are killed. Bard is the leader of the train-jackers and a member of the resistance fighting for East liberation. He demands the trade of the opposition's leader from the Eigth Prison to Central Station for hostages.

Even after Ed and Al knock out the two guards who have taken the train car, the other passengers remain frightened and would much rather have reached Central City without any trouble. Given the circumstances, Ed and Al decide to act on their own to defuse the situation.

From the top, Ed proceeds to the front car and Al from the bottom. Ed meets Hughes outside, and they proceed to advance on the front. With the help of the train operators, Ed and Hughes retake the engine room but are spotted by another of the train-jackers. Using alchemy, Ed creates a cannon that rides them of this nusance. Losing control of the situation, the train-jackers become nervous. With only the General's train car left, Ed issues an ultamatum to the criminals to release all hostages. He then proceeds to flood the car with water. Al, at the other end of the car, opens the door and cleans up the job.

Trying to sway Ed for the wrong reasons, Bard is defeated by Ed when Ed destroys Bard's auto-mail arm and Al knocks him out. With the situation resolved, the rest of the ride to Central City is a smooth one. At the station, Bard attempts one last rebellion but is quickly put down by Mustang's flame alchemy. Because of his accomplishment in rescuing all the hostages, the General has given Ed and Al special permission to take the National Alchemist Test.

Tenth Memory

Agreeing to take the National Alchemy Test, Ed and Al are sent to live with the Sewing Life Alchemist, Shou Tucker, who is the foremost expert in bio-alchemy. Ed and Al learn that two years ago, Tucker succeeded in transmutating a chimera that was capable of speaking human words. Because of this incredible feat, he was awarded the title of State Alchemist.

Upon their arrival at the Tucker residence, Ed is greeted by Alexander, the family dog. In the house, Ed and Al are formally greeted by Tucker, and Tucker offers his assistance in anyway possible. Wanting to see the chimera that turned Tucker into a State Alchemist, Ed is surprised to find that it died shortly after being transmutated. At the dinner table, Ed restates his intention of passing the exam this year. However, his converstation with Tucker is interrupted by Nina, his daughter. Astonished that Al has not eaten, she persuades him into eating, but it is clear that that the brothers are uncomfortable when it comes to Al's condition.

As time passes by, Ed and Al utilize Tucker's large library to gain knowledge regarding alchemy. Taking a break from their studies, the brothers spend time playing with Nina and Alexander. During their break, Hughes visits and congratulates Ed for its birthday. The party is interrupted when Glacier, Hughes's wife, goes into labor.

After the short respite, the brothers concentrated even harder on alchemy in order to prepare for the exam to obtain the power necessary to regain the bodies they were born with.As the exam draws nearer, the brothers learn that it consists of a writing, an interview, and a practical skills portion. They also learn that every year, only one or two people pass. At the night's end, Ed is worried about the practical skills portion of the exam while Al is worried about whether or not they will ask him for a physical exam.

Finally, the day of the exam arrived. While both passed the first section, they were both worried about the parts yet to come. However, Mustang asks Al to withdraw from the exam which Al eventually consents to. Ed enters the next part of the exam and is asked to sit on a golden tripod. Proving that he is indeed an alchemist, Ed sits. When asked of his reason for taking the exam, he answers truthfully that he promised his only living family member that he would become a State Alchemist. At last, the day of the practical skills exam has arrived. Given the materials to transmutate whatever they wish, Ed wonders what is necessary to pass the exam. The first candidate transmutates a spire but loses strength in the process. Using trees and water, the next candidate creates a hot air balloon. However, it pops and crashes into the spire. In order to save an imobile alchemist on the ground, Ed transmutates rose petals out of the earth, trees, and water of the previous two transmutations without a transmutation circle.

In the end, Ed passes the State Alchemist Qualification Exam and is able to continue to pursue his dream.

Eleventh Memory

Ed is tossed his pocket watch certifying his status as a State Alchemist by Roy Mustang and taken back to Tucker's house. On his way home, Ed learns that Mustang is busy trying to solve a case where the serial murderer only kills women. Arriving at Tucker's house, Ed shows off his pocket watch to Al and Nina only to have it taken away by Alexander.

At dinner, Ed and Al discover that Tucker is struggling to keep his State Alchemist title because he did not receive high marks during last year's assessment. Ed and Al encourage Tucker to recreate the talking chimera but his seems disturbed when the topic is brought up. After dinner, Ed and Al head back to their room and are joined by Nina a short while later. There they learn that Nina's mother left Tucker because she felt that he was a good-for-nothing. In the morning, Ed finds that Tucker had burned the picture Nina had drawn of her mother, her father, and herself.

Befuddled, Ed heads to the library where he discovers that Tucker's report on the chimera has been classified. On his way out, he stops a man with a heavily tattooed arm. Next, Ed heads to Hughes's house to ask for information but does not get much information. However, Ed is startled to learn that Tucker's wife died shortly before his coming to Central.

Ed and Hughes are interrupted by a phone call informing them that the serial killer has struck again making it the fifth one so far. At the scene, Ed passes out when he sees the body of the woman which cause him to have flashbacks of his mother and his failed attempt to bring her back. Shortly after waking up, Ed and Al are met by Basque Gran and asked to leave Tucker's house because of the nature of his research. With only two days left, Tucker must create something groundbreaking that will allow him to keep his lifestyle.

Having returned to Tucker's house, Ed and Al head to the basement where Tucker has recreated a talking chimera using Nina and their dog, Alexander. They also learn that he used his own wife to create his first chimera. The two brothers also find out how twisted Tucker's mind has become.

Infuriated by Tucker's disregard for human life, Ed punches Tucker repeatedly until he is stopped by Nina and Alexander. A few moments later, Gran enters and arrests Tucker and commandeers the chimera. Told to keep the events that happened at Tucker's house a secret, Ed retaliates by overturning the truck holding the chimera. Escaping, the chimera instinctively seeks out the man with the heavily tattooed arm. He frees Nina and Alexander in a blinding flash of red, un-doubtingly alchemy.

Soon after, Ed finds the blood-stained wall of the chimera. Understanding why his brother gave him such an arm, the man walks off into the city.

Twelevth Memory

Ed is distraught over Nina's and Alexander's deaths. However, Mustang tells him that in order for Ed to accomplish his goal, he must learn to move on even if he must force himself to do so.

While Ed and Al try to cope with the deaths of their friends, the brothers are ordered to organize Tucker's research in order to gain an understanding of what he was doing. In essence, Ed is asked to take over Tucker's research now that Tucker has been executed.

It is during this process that Al stumbles upon research regarding the Philosopher's Stone. Trying to rebound from Nina's death, Ed volunteers to help find the serial murderer but is turned down by Mustang. Angered by Mustang's attitude, Ed turns in his pocket watch and decides to investigate the matter by his own hands. Even though Al seems more level headed about the situation, Ed is unwilling to listen and runs off. In his time alone, he meets the man from the library who tells him that he is better off not being a State Alchemist.

Meanwhile, Winry has arrived by train to congratulate Ed on his achievement.

In Ed's absence, Al has gone about inquiring about the Philosopher's Stone. While Hawkeye shys away from the topic the Fuhrer offers what information he has about the Stone. At the cafeteria, Ed and Hughes discuss clues regarding the serial murder case. While waiting for Ed outside, Winry is drawn to a refrigeration machine. When Ed gets there, all that is left are Winry's bags. Connecting the dots, Ed deduces that Winry has been kidnapped by the serial murderer and dashes off.

Finding the refrigeration car, Ed enters the slaughterhouse only to be knocked out by the murderer. When he awakens, he finds his right arm missing and is introduced to Barry, the shop's owner. As a reward for tracking him down, Barry shows Winry tied and gagged to Ed.

With a screw he picked up earlier, Ed draws a transmutation circle and frees himself only to be attacked by Barry. While Winry watches in horror, Ed scrambles around on the ground avoiding Barry's deadly slashes. After painfully reinserting his right arm into its socket, Ed helplessly tries to defend himself.

Stopped by Al right before he can kill Barry, Ed slashes blindly only to find Al standing there before him. Truly shaken, Ed is confronted by Al as Barry is apprehended.

Brought back to reality by his close encounter with death, Ed decides with Al to search for the Philosopher's Stone that has the potential to make their dreams come true. However, in order to gain access to the military's information about the Stone, Ed must become a State Alchemist once again.

Ed is reinstated as a State Alchemist under the condition that he is given access to information regarding the Stone and allowed to search for it when not on a mission. Accepting these conditions, Mustang hands the pocket watch back and gives Ed the name of Full Metal Alchemist.

"More memories will be revealed soon but first a question to you Roy Mustang." Hikari said as she drew Roy aside. "I wanted to ask you about your feelings of Ed." She said to Roy as she saw roy blush. "ummmm" Roy said he thought. Then he opened his mouth to say something.

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Alright so far the longest chapter of the story. Woohoo a all-time record. Now thanks reviewers and remember to vote.

Ed: Yeah of else she hurts you.

No I won't hurt good reviewers. They are the light of my life. 'sparkles like armstrong's appear behind Queen'

Read and review.