Hazza! Another chapter for this story! Whoohoo! Ok I'm tired and it's only five in the afternoon…(pops in 'Waterworld') I think I'll finish watching this and type up some chapters. Yey for multitasking!

Chapter Twelve: Deal with the Devil

The two finally came to a stop in the foothills just outside the grand city. The white haired man rounded on Pride and snapped,

"Why are you following me boy!"

"So I could get away from that hellish palace," Pride sniffed irritatedly, "Who are you anyway? What were you doing in the palace?"

The man glared at him for a moment, he was debating if he should or shouldn't tell this kid the truth, lie, or kill him on the spot and be off. He decided he'd trust him,

"I am the thief king, Bakura." He replied. Pride raised a slightly skeptical eyebrow and heaved a small laugh.

"Thief king huh? Is that why you were in the palace? To steal stuff? Obviously…you stole that there pendent didn't you."

"So, you know about the Millennium Items? That's interesting…what is your name kid?" Bakura asked.

"Which one? If you mean in body, then my name is Edward. If you mean in mind, then you can call me Pride." Pride smirked. The thief gave him a half irritated, half-blank look then said,

"What did they do to you?"

"Nothing I couldn't handle, oh, do you mean why do I have two names? I guess it's because it's two minds to one body. But the stars know I hate to share, but that's none of your business. I have one question though, how did you get that item?"

"Those stupid priests tried to trick me, I was planing on robbing one of the tombs in the Valley of Kings. Only it was a fake, a trap to try and catch and kill me. That fool Mahaado tried to take me on but he died in the process…he was weak. So I ended up with his Millennium Item." Bakura explained.

"Hmmm…"

"Why do you ask?"

"I'm curious…can anybody use those items?"

"Yes…but I'm going to get all seven of them," Bakura then said, "The Pharaoh will feel the wrath of all those he killed."

"How about I make a proposition, I get you the Millennium Items in exchange you show me how to use them." Pride said crossing his arms in a business sort of way. When he did this some of the marks on his arms darkened, Bakura noticed these marks but didn't acknowledge it, he figured it didn't really matter who this kid was. If he was willing to get him the Millennium Items in exchange for just learning how to use them then it was all the better for him. But there was one last thing he had to clear up,

"Why do you want to learn to use the Millennium Items?"

"I too wish to get back at the Pharaoh and those priests of his. Don't ask me why, I just hate them and want them to suffer."

"Heh, you and me could get along very well…it's a deal then." Bakura smirked holding out his hand, he'd show him how to use the items but he wasn't going to tell him that if his soul weren't strong enough then the items would tare it apart.

--

Alphonse was sitting at the base of a large statue of the sun god Ra; he had his knees pulled up and his chin rested in them. He seemed to be thinking intently on something; Winry and Mana came walking up to him and sat down. Winry was the first to say something,

"Al, you ok?" she asked.

"I'm fine…"

"Hey, I miss him too. He was my teacher you know." Mana said, she didn't show it on her face, but her eyes gave away the fact that she was very upset about the passing of her teacher, Priest Mahaado.

"I just wish there was something I could have done," Al sighed, "I still haven't been able to summon my Ka yet."

"It just takes some time Al, you'll get it." Winry smiled, Al sighed again and replied,

"You can say that Winry because you were already able to summon yours. Mine is different though."

"How so?"

"I don't know, I hadn't told you about this before but a while ago I had a dream. There was this winged lady, kind of like the one my brother had, only half of her was all light and the other half was dark. She said she was the bar that separated my love for my brother and my hatred for the darkness that lies within him. It was strange." Al explained.

"You know, my teacher mentioned something about special Ka that sort of have duel abilities. They're called 'guardian' Ka or something like that." Mana said.

"Did he mention anything about them being difficult to summon?" Al said in a slightly cold manner. He didn't really mean to say it the way he did, he was just frustrated. First he wasn't able to help his brother, and then he wasn't able to help Priest Mahaado. Mana shrugged though and said,

"No, he just said that they only come out at certain times. I mean, it is possible to summon them but it's extremely difficult and it would be rather dangerous to the body. It's kind of like trying to take out the center of a stone without damaging the outside, it's possible but so difficult that it's been labeled impossible."

"I see…" Al stood up and brushed the sand off his pants, "I'm gonna go for a walk, maybe that'll clear my head." He then walked off. Winry stood up as well,

"I should probably follow him, make sure he doesn't do anything rash. Though that sounds more like something Ed would do, hmm."

"So, um…Winry. How long have you known Alphonse and Edward?" Mana asked. Winry sat back down and leaned back against the statue.

"We've been friends ever sense we were kids. We grew up in a small village called Risembool, our houses weren't to far apart from each other so we used to visit each other all the time." She sighed.

"Sounds nice, though, I've never heard of a village called Risembool." Mana said also leaning back.

"That's because it doesn't, well, exist here." Winry said.

"Ah, ok…" Mana rested her chin in her hands and asked, "So, what do you think would happen if your friend doesn't come back?"

"He'll come back."

"You know, he did run away from his sentencing. That's pretty bad, if he were to come back they would just change his sentence. I've seen it done before, most of the time they just have to wonder around the desert with a weight around their leg and if they set foot in the city again they'll be killed on the spot." Mana said.

"Hmm…"

"What about this darker half I heard about?" Mana then asked.

"He's just that, but the last time I saw him, back in the dungeon, he didn't seem all that bad. But now, it was kind of unnerving, just the way he spoke was chilling, there was no feeling behind it." Winry rested her chin in her hands now and starred out into the horizon, "Tell me more about this tomb robber, the one that…killed your teacher."

"Oh, he's a very bad man. His name is Bakura and he claims to be after the seven Millennium Items. He says that once he gets them all he'll cover the world in darkness." Mana said.

"I see…any particular reason why he'd do such a thing?" Winry then asked.

"Well…I remember over hearing him say something about a village called Kul Elna. But that village was destroyed years ago, back before the Millennium Items were created. I was told that everybody was killed and that it was just a waste land now." Mana sighed. Winry though seemed to be thinking, she then asked,

"You don't suppose that he came from that village do you? I mean, is it possible he was able to escape?"

"I doubt it, it was a village of thieves and the last Pharaoh had them all killed for their crimes, at least that's what I was told." Mana shrugged.

"Hm, that doesn't seem very fair to me." Winry said, "What if some of the people living there weren't thieves? They'd have died needlessly, and for a crime they didn't commit."

"I guess that's true…" Mana muttered. Winry stood up and brushed herself off, she then turned to Mana and said,

"I'm going to go find Al ok."

Mana just nodded and watched her leave.

--

Alphonse was walking along a sandy path; it was mostly deserted save for one or two people bustling about. He came to a small square where some kids were playing; Al sat down and watched them. It wasn't long before some of the children started heading home, one of them, a little boy about five or six, though walked over to Al and looked at him curiously.

"Hi…" Al sighed. The little boy laughed and said,

"You talk funny," Al just raised an eyebrow, then laughed too,

"Yeah, I guess I do."

"You look funny too," the little boy went on, "Why is your hair the color of gold? Are you a Pharaoh from another kingdom?"

"Heh, no not really." Al chuckled.

"A priest then!"

"Nope, I'm an alchemist." Al said lightly, the little boy though just raised an eyebrow at him and said,

"Sounds boring, what's your name?"

"Alphonse, what is your name?" Al said.

"Asa." The little boy answered. He then held up a ball and asked, "Do you want to play? All the other kids went home and my brother, Ezekiel, is off somewhere else."

"I guess I could." Al smiled standing up. Little Asa laughed and tossed the ball up in the air, Al caught it and tossed it back to the little boy. Asa, laughed and said,

"That's not how you do it. You're supposed to hit the ball not catch it. If you do that means you're out."

"Oh ok." Al sighed. The little boy then tossed the ball up in the air again, this time Al managed to bounce the ball off his head, and Asa laughed at this. Al continued to sort of juggle the ball up in the air, first letting it bounce off his head, then catching it in between his foot and shin. He kept this up for some time, all the while little Asa was laughing at how funny he looked. Finally another boy showed up, he was slightly older then Asa but not by much. He rushed over to the little boys side and said,

"What are you doing Asa? It's time for dinner, you have to come home now." The boy said, Asa though turned and pointed at Al, who had caught the ball in his hands now, and said,

"Brother, I was just playing ball with this guy. His name is Alphonse!"

The older boy looked at Al for a moment then grabbed the ball away from him saying,

"I've never seen you before, you can just leave us alone." He then handed the ball to Asa and led him away down the street. Al just sighed and put his hands in his pockets, he started down the sandy street in the opposite direction.

"I wish my brother was here right now…how on earth did all this happen?" he sighed. He had walked all the way back to the entrance of the palace when something caught his eye. There were two people milling about near the entrance, one of them was a man in his twenties at least and had shoulder length white hair, the other was wairing a brown hooded cloak, so Al couldn't tell who they were. He then figured they were probably just loitering town's folk and he continued in.

Winry had met up with him when everyone was gathering for dinner, she walked up to him and asked,

"Where have you been? I've looked everywhere in this palace and couldn't find you."

"That's because I wasn't in the palace Winry." Al sighed, "Sorry to have worried you though." He then added.

"That's alright, common, we're sitting over here." She said shaking her head and leading him over to a table, Mana was sitting there as well. Priestess Isis soon joined them, she seemed rather distressed though, Al looked over at her and asked,

"What's the matter?"

"I am sensing something very sinister. A shadow is drawing near to the palace, we should all be on our guard." She answered. Alphonse gave a rather shocked frown and looked over at Winry, who returned his frown with one of her own. Mana though didn't seem too flustered by this.

"If it's that tomb robber…I'll get him back for what he did." She muttered. Al over heard this and said,

"You know, revenge isn't the answer."

"Yeah I know…I just…can't let him get away with what he did that's all." she grumbled.

"Don't worry, he won't. Besides, I'm sure we all can handle whatever he throws at us." Winry smiled.

"Yeah!" Mana cheered.

-To Be Continued-

Whahaha! Yeah, ok…anywhozles, yey, another chapter done! Whoohoo! Now I must go and bow to my new FullMetal Alchemist shrine! (Walks off and does that, comes back) ok not really, though I did rearrange all my little action figures and manga and DVD collection (vol. 1-7) and my Ed and Al pillows. (Sigh) Oh! And I've come up with another story! (Gasp! Egad! OMG!) You see, that's what happens when you mix watching the movie 'Waterworld', typing up chapters for fanfictions that revolve around FullMetal Alchemist, and the fact that your (my) younger brother ATE THE LAST OF THE SOUR PUNCH STRAWS! ARG! NO! (Picks up t.v. remote and chucks it at his door screaming 'You'll get yours!')…I'm ok now! Review! –Hug-