A.C.: Damn school... I reaallly don't like this chapter...
Summary: Upon finding the diary of the legendary Phoenix Alchemist, Edward is thrown into a plot long since launched into motion by the fabled war hero...
Timeline: Sometime before Hughes is dead.
Warnings: oocness, grammar/structure/spelling mistakes, spoilers?
A letter comes through the chain of command, powdered with silky perfume to which Hawkeye takes a condescending sniff. Havoc jokes that maybe one of the higher ups are crushing on the dark eyed colonel, Fury naively bets a quarter of his next pay on it.
He has been promoted.
'Congratulations on your ascension to the rank of Brigader General, we request your presence as soon as possible'
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He hopes that Al is somewhere, safe. He approaches the ancient place, where a scant few minutes ago, blue light had flooded out through the blurred windows. He opens the door and calls out, he hears no one except the aggravated breathing of the Ultimate Shield.
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War is almost over, we call all feel it. Crimson expresses regret, I ignore him and take my daily dosage of sedatives instead. The lanky blonde I met earlier, thanked me for saving him earlier in combat. I wasn't aware I was saving anybody, but I took the thanks anyways.
Overheard Gran while replacing my red stone, apparently Crimson's antics are getting far beyond control to keep it covered up. It doesn't help that he's a natural show off, transmuting some poor soldier's body before throwing him to the sands.
Gran plans to arrest him on charges of felony, of killing his fellow soldiers. I'd like to see how that works out, you can't just kill an alchemist. No one can except another.
-Ryan
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Greed spills the secrets of the homunculi, their weaknesses, motioning to the seal aligning the floor and the ceiling.
He never mentions Dante's halved corpse.
"Homunculi can die..."
Homunculi were mortals, as demonstrated by Greed when he dissolved in to ashes.
The knowledge frightened him really, he had killed Greed.
He needed Al, desperately.
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They pick up Winry at the teachers with the hitchhiker Martel in tow. The blond is outraged they had left her out of such an adventure. As Al attempts to calm the raging girl, in private, Ed shows Izumi the journal.
She flips it over and finger the papers.
Conflicting emotions cross her face as she opens her mouth and fails the utter a word.
"You should get going soon."
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"Edward?"
"Yes?"
"His name was Ryan Mogust..."
The train's whistle blew loud in his ear.
"Ask the others... listen to what they have to say..."
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Thoughts...
They wove in to lines, then planes,
Snaked around like dragons,
Erupted into feathers and ashes.
If...
If one left a girl alone,
If...
If one had quelled the desire to conquer the unknown...
If...
He would not be here...
Passengers boarded the train, they were at the border, the massive wasteland of sand laid behind them.
A tall man walked past him, smelling of elegant perfume masking an sickly odor beneath.
He looked again,
the man was gone.
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All those ranking Major and above were gathered in a separate carriage, just in case of an ambush to which lesser foot soldiers would react and alert them to, giving alchemists enough time to deploy.
Roy stood up, face pale and sweaty, eyes darkening in shock and surprise.
"Kimbley... but how?"
His answer is a broadening smile.
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And so it has finally come to this point. With no more Ishivals to kill, Ironblood is just itching for more things to shoot. His favorite target these days seems to be the alchemists.
Yes, everyone knows alchemists are dangerous beings. Ironblood is painfully aware of how close we are from lynching him one quiet night in his tent. So he is putting us down one by one, like dogs we are, pulling his weight around with the surefire promise of promotion behind him.
Not that he needs to do so really, we're broken enough to do it by ourselves. What had once been proud men and women are now nothing more than fleshy shells. Alchemist mortality is the highest it has been, the only difference is that it's not the Ishivals this time. The enemy comes from within themselves.
Still, there are others who fight back. Kimbley, once Gran's favorite, now about to be tried and put down like a rabid animal. Others in depression, those who consider retiring permanently, me, who wants to die.
And yet the stone is so close to me, so close to its completion. The incomplete red stones have added to its strength, filling in gaps where there shouldn't be any.
-Ryan
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"Maes, I've thought a long time about this and it hasn't been easy... but Roy... Roy needs to know... Roy can't live in the shadows forever... Roy can't... he just can't..."
Gracia wraps her arms around the older woman, Maes is reminded of how delightfully kind his wife is.
"Roy is strong, very strong, but this secret... it will kill him. I trust that you know..."
Maes swallowed and nodded, once.
"He needs to know..."
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"How? You're supposed to be dead?"
A lazy drawl, and a slow rise of eyebrows.
"That's not the way you greet an old friend..."
"You're not my friend, my friend is..."
"Ahh yes, Lieutenant Colonel Maes, traitor to the Amestris army." Kimbley barked a laugh, Armstrong looked disapprovingly at him. "Never thought he'd have the guts to do it, family guy you know?"
"Lieutenant Colonel Kimbley," says archer slowly, putting an emphasis on the first two words, "has been reinstated into the army after proving his royalty at the Devil's Nest."
Roy sits down heavily down on his seat and spat,
"Dead men don't prove anything."
"Oh contraire, I hear you're some hotshot in the military now. What's wrong? ..."
Kimbley never got to finish his sentence as the tip of his hair burst into flames.
"I suggest you shut up Lieutenant Colonel."
Kimbley bats at his ponytail and examine the damage shrugging.
"Pulling rank now are we? Oh well, that was to be expected. After all you're the..."
"Quiet Crimson."
Kimbley clams up immediately, Archer raises a brow.
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I'm alive, it hasn't ended yet
-Ryan