Chapter 8 – Abuse of Religion, part 2.

Ann Rose smiled at the priest. He was singing with her and the others in prayer. When they finished he walked off alone making sure no one was following him to enter a room full of bizarre ritual devices. He locked the door behind him.

He walked up to a black haired being with devilish eyes.

"Have you done your job yet?" It spoke as another creature with similar features walked up to it. This one was rather obese and had saliva running down its chin. "If you don't do it soon you'll be food for my friend here…"

The priest gagged at the thought.

"Why the heck do you call yourself Lust anyway, some sort of sex thing?" He perversely asked.

"Ugh…your lucky I have orders not to kill you," Lust warned.

"No matter, I'll kill them all tonight," The priest said.

"So I don't get to eat him…?" The fat one asked in disappointment.

-

"Do you think those boys will become valuable alleys?" Lisa Hawkeye asked. Ron looked at her showing no emotion like he always did. He always kept things as professional as possible.

"I don't know…Izumi is a good teacher. She'll defiantly teach them some valuable fighting moves," Ron Mustang explained.

"Well whatever, hey Ed seems confused about your code name," Lisa said.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, he thinks Mustang was a WW2 plane," Lisa smirked.

"Well from what we know he wasn't that good at History or School in general…"

"Despite their dabble in the dark arts, their case seems different. Usually people like them who perform those rituals aren't good people. These two…I think they just were guided by their father…" Lisa replied.

"Hmm…Do you think we should have told them more than Hues did?" Ron asked back.

"No…I think it would hurt them. It looks like they're going through enough already," Lisa said.

"They might find out eventually…" Ron warned. Lisa looked away in sadness. "So, we'll be back at Central in a few days?"

"Yeah, oh and don't forget about Tucker…" Ron warned.

"That creep? Ugh…I can't believe he did that to his own daughter," Lisa said.

"I was uncomfortable letting him do the robotics operation on Edward…" Ron warned.

"Those auto-machines freak me out…" Lisa replied.

"Why?"

"There's so few of them who use those, Thank God," She looked at the driver for a moment losing herself in thought. "Anyway, yeah I'll get the report from Tucker as soon as we get back to Central," Lisa replied. She smiled at Ron…

"What?"

"Oh nothing that was a nice thing you did for them…"

"What?"

"The fact you saved those brothers from dying"

"Those black creatures would have taken their souls, children needn't go to a place of death like that," Ron looked away in sadness.

"What is that place anyway?"

"Hoenheim's love child…"

"What do you mean…?"

"Heh…it's nothing. Forget I said that…"

-

Edward was sitting down during the prayer along with his brother. He didn't want to pray; he had never really felt like joining any religion. This made him extremely uncomfortable. What made things worse was a rather talkative tanned lady seem to babble too much. She would look at him and ask questions he didn't like to answer.

"Izumi do we really need to be here," Ed asked.

"This one has had time to work…we'll need to take our time too," Izumi looked around calmly. "Look at all these people," Izumi stated.

Ed didn't realize how many people there actually were until it was pointed out to him. This of course made him feel more uncomfortable.

"There's nothing wrong with believing in something as long as you have faith," She smiled warmly at the boys she had taken under her wing. Al seemed to be listening more intently than Ed. Edward however was blushing at the statements. How could this woman possibly teach him anything?

He suddenly remembered something his mother had told him a long time ago when he was really little.

Edward…Don't blame your father…

Their dog Roy died. He had died again…

You can bring him back can't you? Like last time…

What are you talking about?

I saw you, I saw you, I saw you…

Saw what?

You and dad are magic. You brought Roy back.

Trish's eyes widened in fear, did he see his parents performing the lost arts?

Oh honey, that's…we could only do that once.

She was at a loss for words. She had to tell him it wasn't Roy they had brought back. He didn't believe her one bit. He cried for a long time…

"Mother…" Ed thought to himself. Why didn't you and dad ever tell us anything? Ed began tearing up in his eyes. He couldn't help it…He'd seen his mother die right in front of him. Along with his little brother and his abusive father. Why couldn't it have been you dad?

A voice called him back to the present.

"So…will you be following in Cornelius's teachings?" Ann Rose asked again. Edward took a moment to remember what she was talking about.

"Oh…actually…I don't know," Ed said wiping a tear away.

Izumi got up out of the row and motioned for the boys to follow her. They fought through the crowded row to join Izumi.

"Sorry miss I've got to go…" Ed told the woman off.

"It's time…" Izumi stated.

-

"Someone's coming…" Lust warned.

"I'll attend to them momentarily. Probably just a couple of lost believers…" Cornelius said.

He waited for the creatures to disappear into the shadows. He opened the door quickly closing it behind him. "Hello…" The priest calmly greeted them.

Edward looked at the man to see if there were any scars hinting at the abuse of the lost arts. He didn't see any. Of course he was clothed up pretty good.

"I know what your doing…" Izumi stated.

"Oh?" He smiled.

"Drop the act, it won't do you any good!" Izumi raised her arm casting a spell even without chanting. She cast electricity at him. He of course jumped out of the way.

"Alfonso did you see that? She didn't even chant or use blood during the spell," Ed pointed out. Al shook his head as humanly as possible in acknowledgment.

"I see…you're a warlock too?" Cornelius asked.

"Yeah…I've been watching you for awhile. You claim you're a priest of a lost Sun God," Izumi explained. She paused for a moment. "Your in fact someone who is abusing these people, their faith by falsely fixing their problems!" Izumi finished. "The question is…why?"

"Why? I guess there's no harm in telling you…I've been promised immortality if I kill a mass majority of people by tonight," The priest smirked.

He hadn't seen Ann Rose however, who had followed Izumi and the brothers. She was listening to this conversation in disbelief.

"Hmm…Looks like I'm going to have more trouble tonight than I thought," The priest raised his hands to get ready to cast a spell. A blast of fire shot through the air. Everyone jumped out of the way but Ed had to grab the petrified Rose out of the way.

"Get out of here…" Edward warned her. She didn't seem to notice. Izumi and the priest were clashing fist to fist at this moment. "Al, help get her out of here…" Al followed the order in agreement.

"I'm really sorry about this," Al grabbed Ann by her hand. He had gloved his metallic shell up pretty well but he still might burn her if he wasn't careful. Ann was lost in disbelief…Surely she heard the words wrong.

Ed ran up to the battle trying to think of what to do. Should I use it now he asked himself. He was warned not to use his laser gun until it was absolutely positively necessary.

"Ed, look out!" Izumi warned. It was too late. The priest had somehow managed to get behind Ed during the struggle. The pain in the back of his head was great. His vision blurred before he finally fainted.

-

Lust was looking through a hidden hole in the wall, watching the battle take place.

"Looks like we've got trouble…" She looked down at her obese friend. "I think we should leave, that looks like a Central uniform that woman was wearing," She frowned at the thought. "Our master is going to be disappointed but furious if we take the chance of being discovered," She frowned.

"Master is scary…" The obese one said.

"I know Gluttony…I know…" She remembered her master liked torturing them. Their master was rather abusive and twisted especially towards her; the master loved killing her for fun. She would always come back of course, which was her curse. She was doomed to exist forever as nothing more than a toy for a demented master.

"I don't get to eat them?" Gluttony asked.

"No Gluttony…no deaths tonight," She smiled warmly at him.

-

"Come any closer and I'll kill this boy," Cornelius warned.

"Ed!" Izumi screamed. "Damn it…" She didn't move.

"Good…I'll be taking him with me for insurance," the mad priest said. Izumi tried thinking of a plan but couldn't think of anything. The priest disappeared in a flash of light.

-

Ed woke up from his nightmares to the sound of walking. Was he being carried? He tried moving but couldn't. He was able to barely see who was carrying him, it was the mad priest, Cornelius.

"What the heck are doing with me?" Ed shouted.

"Shut up, boy!" The priest intently continued as fast as he could down the corridor.

"I guess I'll have to come up with a plan to take care of that lady, but I'm almost out of power. You'll make a fine sacrifice…" The priest said.

"What?" Ed asked in fear.

The mad priest licked his lips. "I need to recharge my batteries, by killing you," he said.

"Let me go!" He struggled to get away. The priest let him down taking a knife out.

"I don't think I've ever killed someone as young as you before," The priest perversely warned. "Seeing innocence die turns me on," The priest said. Ed's eyes widened at the way the priest was talking. He was horrified and shocked. Did he get his kicks from killing?

"You're a sick bastard," Edward yelled as the knife came down. Ed blocked with his right arm. There was a clanging sound.

"What the…?" The priest was surprised the knife didn't mortally wound the boy like he had intended to.

"Too bad my innocence already died," Edward confessed.

---

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