Heheheh, I have a confession to make, this chapter has been written up for a while now and I've been putting off typing it…I know! Oh the shame! I've been using valuable updating time to work on a new story (one of which I may or may not put up…well yes I intend to put it up but not until I'm done with Hand in Hand…and maybe Millennium Awakening…). It's sorta popped into my head while watching the special features on X2: X-men United, you see, I love X-men and I can't wait for the next movie (this Friday, yey!). Nightcrawler is my favorite character XD. But anywhozles, yeah, here's that chapter I put off cause of sheer lazy/procrastinating/brainstorming/something elseness.
Chapter Thirteen: Millennium Rod…Stolen!
Dinner had started and everyone was chatting about the days work and such. Alphonse and Winry were sitting with Mana and, the now six, Millennium Item holders. Mana was talking with Priest Akhenaden, Priestess Isis looked down at Al and Winry, she had a slightly knowing look in her eyes as she said,
"You need not worry."
"Hm?" Al looked over at her curiously, Winry doing the same.
"You will be able to summon your Ka…when the time is necessary." She explained. Alphonse then looked down at his plate and started biting his lower lip in a rather sheepish manner.
"How did you know that I couldn't summon it yet?" he then asked.
"The Millennium Tauk revealed to me that in the not so distant future, you Ka will show itself to the world."
"Don't worry Al." Winry smiled, she knew that Al was worried he wouldn't be able to help his brother, she had to keep his spirits up or Ed truly be lost. Alphonse was about to say something when Priestess Isis stood up quickly, everyone turned and looked at her with surprised expressions.
"My Millennium Tauk has picked up a… disturbing…future." She said, her hands were held up around the necklace she was wairing, it seemed to be glowing faintly.
"What is it?" Priest Seto demanded.
"An evil shadow approaches this palace, someone with incredible powers of heka." Isis answered, her eyes were narrowed.
"What is 'heka'?" Winry asked Mana, who replied simply.
"Magic."
Alphonse now stood up; he had a look of sudden realization on his face. He seemed to become very irritated with himself for not realizing this sooner, Al looked down at Winry and said,
"He's coming…"
"Edward?" Winry asked.
"Yes but…what could he possibly do?" Alphonse seemed very myphed and somewhat aggravated, "When I was returning to the palace I saw two people standing outside the gate…I didn't recognized them but I had this strange feeling when I passed them."
"So, you think one of those people was Ed?"
"Yeah, cause I only saw the face of one of them, the other had a hood up over their head." Al nodded, he was about to go further into what he'd seen only to be distracted by a sudden gust of wind blowing through the large dinning room. All the torches went out casting the room and all the people in it into darkness.
One of the torches suddenly relight itself casting a small amount of light in the center of the room, two people were standing there now. Alphonse bristled as his eyes adjusted to the dark; he could see the faint outline of a very familiar figure. He rushed over to the center of the room and shouted,
"Brother!"
Something in the shadows lashed out and sent Al flying backwards, he hit the ground just in front of the table he'd been sitting at. Winry rushed over to him to check if he was ok, Al sat up hastily and looked around for whatever attacked him. The priests and the Pharaoh had all stood up and were glaring at the two new comers, each ready to fight if the situation called for it. Finally, one of the figures spoke,
"We've come here to take the Millennium Items!"
"If it's a fight you want, then so be it! Pass your judgements!" the other said, Al knew that voice, he couldn't remember any other person that could have such a cold and near emotionless tone. Mana tugged on Als' shirt and said,
"Look…the one that spoke first…look what's around his neck…"
Al and Winry looked, around the persons neck was the Millennium Ring, Al stood up and stormed forward. When he reached a reasonable distance from them he said,
"I know that's you," the closer of the two turned and looked at Al then lowered their hood, "What have you done to my brother?"
"Alphonse, tell me…what happens when a runt is born into a litter of puppies?" Pride smirked. Alphonse glared and didn't answer. So Pride answered his own question.
"It's a simple answer really, it dies…because it was too small and weak to hold its' own. How many times do I have to tell you that?"
"So…you killed him…" Al said dryly.
"I'm afraid so…"
"I don't think you did…"
Pride sighed and shook his head, then, looking up and glaring at Al he said,
"To end in denial is truly the most pathetic thing I've ever seen…well…that is until I see something more so."
That's when a giant of a Ka appeared, it had the torso of a man but where its' legs should have been was a giant snake. It lashed out and was about to strike Al again but was stopped; Winry had stepped in and had summoned her Ka. Her Ka was that of a young girl with short blonde hair and was wairing a suit of armor; she had her sward drawn and was fending off the giant Ka.
"St. Joan will hold that thing off, come on Al." Winry pulled Al away.
"Oh and dear brother! You can call me Pride from now on!" Pride sneered, all Al could do was clench his fist and bare it. The priests soon joined in the fight with their Ka. But, while they were distracted, Pride slipped out of sight and made his way around the room towards the six priests. The tomb robber had informed him that the priestess could see the future and that she would probably see him coming.
"I have to do something…" Al muttered as he watched the priests, Mana had even joined in but she was instructed by Priest Akhenaden to keep the Pharaoh safe. Alphonse watched with her and the Pharaoh, that's when the Pharaoh leaned over and whispered to Alphonse,
"I can tell, your brother used to be a very kind person and I'm sorry for having put him through all of this. Perhaps there is a way we can rid him of this dark spirit and bring him back."
"Heh…I understand, you were just following the laws, brother would probably understand too. But, how could we do that?" Al muttered.
"When that evil spirit said that your brother had died, I believe his soul was just taken to the Shadow Realm. That's a very dangerous place for souls not protected by Millennium Items. You see, once a soul enters the Shadow Realm it's very heard to get back, but, if we were to offer up another soul to replace the one we want to extract, then it just might be possible."
"You'd do that?" Al asked turning and looking at the young Pharaoh.
"I'm not completely misinformed, I didn't want to have your brothers Ka removed or any of that. I may have the most power in this kingdom but I sure seem to have trouble using it."
"You know…that just might work…" Al said sounding a little more enthusiastic. Alphonse turned his attention back to the fight; his eyes widened slightly when he noticed Pride wasn't standing next to his associate anymore. Pride was now standing within four or five feet of Priest Seto.
"I've got a bone to pick with you priest…" he hissed. Priest Seto spun around when he heard this and was shocked to see that someone had snuck up on him without anyone else noticing.
"What the…" he stepped back quickly but not quick enough, Pride swept his leg out and tripped the priest. With his guard down, Pride then took this chance to snatch the Millennium Rod away from the priest and vanish into the shadows again. The tomb robber saw this and smirked, he'd settle for just one item for now, he signaled to Pride and they made for the exit.
Alphonse jumped up and rushed ahead of them, he reached the exit before they did. When the tomb robber and Pride got there they stopped; Pride glared at Al for a moment then said,
"Get out of the way…"
"No…""Move or die!"
"No!"
"Stubborn…just like your weakling brother. You know, he actually hung around for sometime. He really was a pitiful sight; he wouldn't let himself die…so he died slowly. Looked kind of like a beaten dog if you ask me, fitting…no?" Pride figured that if threats didn't work he'd try something a little more personal, like saying how his weaker half died and such. This certainly struck a nerve in Al because he had a scowl on his face and seemed to be trying to hold back his rage.
"You…" Al couldn't talk straight, he was so angry, how could anyone just sit and watch someone die then talk about it like it was nothing.
"Me…yes…that's right." Pride took a few steps forward and smirked, "We are both without a Ka, but you see…I have the advantage, my associate here is more then willing to sic his Ka on you if you don't move."
Alphonse shook his head, he wasn't going to move, and if he kept them there long enough then maybe someone would catch them. It was just too bad that the tomb robbers Ka was so strong that the others were having extreme difficulties trying to hold it off.
"Yeah, and I'm getting impatient here," the tomb robber snapped, "Diabond! Remove this obstacle, crush him into the sand."
The giant snake man Ka suddenly appeared out of the shadows, it loomed over Al for a moment then the snake half of it wrapped around Al and constricting tightly. Alphonse was slightly shocked to see that even though the Ka was just a spirit, it was able to take hold of a physical object.
That's when Winry came running, St. Joan following close behind,
"Alphonse!"
"Wait! Let me handle this!" he shouted between gasps, he was starting to feel his lungs straining from the crushing force of the Diabond. Getting light headed he started nodding in and out of consciousness, he had to stay with it, he had to summon his Ka or else his brother would get away. Ker-snap!
"Al!"
Al's POVI only remember a few things after that, the brief moment of pain as something, I wasn't really sure what, broke. The sound of someone screaming my name, and then…her…the winged lady from before. My Ka…she said I could rest now and that I didn't have to worry anymore. What did that mean? What was she going to do?
--
Winry gasped in shock and horror as the Diabond loosened its' grip and slid away, Al fell to the ground like a rag doll. She ran over to him,
"Al? Alphonse? Say something!"
Nothing, there was a small trickle of blood coming from the side of his mouth and his breathing was heavy as if doing that simple task was putting a strain on him. Winry looked up at Pride and said,
"How could you do this! He's your brother!" St. Joan then attacked Diabond but was swept aside easily. Pride had a very mean smile on his face as he twirled the Millennium Rod around in his fingers.
"Ha! He's gotta toughen' up, he's almost as weak as I was…though now that weakness is gone."
Winry was about to retort but stopped when a flash of white passed by her. She turned to see what had done this and saw a winged lady hovering over Al, she looked like an angel but one side of her was dark. The lady held out her hands and a heart shape appeared there was a big flash of light.
"What the hell!" Pride shielded his eyes from the bright light, then blacked out. When he came too, he and the tomb robber were standing one the outskirts of the palace. Looking around franticly, Pride was trying to piece together what just happened, when he noticed he still had the Millennium Item he stole, all that didn't seem to matter anymore.
"Heh…so little brother isn't so useless after all." he smirked.
-To Be Continued-
Erm…uh…-hides from Al fangirls- please don't kill me, all is not what it seems! I swear! (Just had ta say that just incase people got the wrong idea). Anywho, this went in a totally different direction then I originally had in mind…I like this one better. Oh crud, I know there was something I was going to say…oh yeah! I noticed I kinda strayed from the whole Ed losing his memories thing and the Red Water thing…how did that happen! Oy Vey (that is so not how you spell it but oh well)…Review! Ask questions! That may help all of us out! Cause if I'm sorta strayin' from the path and don't know it…I'll keep strayin' till I get all confused and then I write myself into a corner and then all this other stuff and (hyperventilates again).