Chapter 17

EVE's core processor sank a bit in her torso when she saw where they were headed. Right in the middle of town, looking like a giant upside-down light bulb was the Azure City Plant, the source of electricity for the entire city. It stood in the middle of a barren circle, a few hundred yars across. There would be no cover for her should she attempt to run. She was trapped by open space.

It was so cruel it was funny.


"Dammit dammit dammit!" Rosette swore. She couldn't just leave the kids here alone, but if she didn't, they'd lose their mother and be alone anyway.

'Where the hell is Vash?' She thought.

As if on cue, she heard a groan, coming from a nearby pile of rubble. She ran over and saw Vash struggling to sit up. A large piece of what used to be one of the walls lay over his leg, effectively immobilizing it. Rosette thought she saw the Paladin stiffen when Vash came into view above the debris, but she couldn't be sure.

"Vash!" she called. He looked at her, and he seemed to be fine for having had a building fall on op of him. "It's an emergency- Millie's gone after the Red Rogues gang and I need to stop her, but I can't take her kids with me into a battlezone. Could you-"

"Of course. I'll look after them." Vash said, and moved the boulder off his leg with little apparent effort. "We'll be fine. Go."

Rosette nodded and ran to the motorcycle, where the Paladin was waiting. He was looking at Vash oddly- at least, she thought he was; she couldn't tell because of the tinted visor. Then they left, to try and save a life.


"Come on… come on…" Edward pleaded with the protesting engine as he tried to start the car. It was a sleek black model-A with a crap engine, the polar opposite of the Angela, the jalopy with the heart of chrome.

He knew which he liked better.

"Edward! Are you coming?"

"Yeah, yeah, in a min- what is that?" He shrieked.

"What's what?" Meryl asked, confused.

"THAT!" Edward clarified. He pointed at the beast she was straddled upon. Sitting on two massive bird legs with an elongated neck and big enough to sit two people, it looked like a cross between a horse and an ostrich.

"It's a Thomas, duh." Lina piped up. She sat on another one, reins in hand. "You look like you've never seen one before."

'It's a chimaera,' Edward thought suddenly. It had to be- nothing that awkward would ever have evolved naturally, because predators would have made it extinct. Which meant that at one time or another, this world had to have supported alchemy, which meant-

'Worry about that later,' Edward scolded himself. 'Right now, get to the Plant.' He nodded. Once there, things would begin to fall into place.

He had no idea how right he was.


'There he is,' Millie thought grimly. She crouched in the mouth of a narrow alleyway, hidden in the shadows behind a pile of wooden crates. She watched as he tried to put his arm around the lady who had been with that scientist fellow. The woman was having none of it and pushed his hand away. Milly silently applauded, and Damien merely laughed. However, when he tried to put his arm around her a second time and she again threw him off, he became angry. He hauled back and backhanded her across the face, knocking her to the ground.

'I wish Nick was here,' she thought to herself. All she had was this gun to remember him by, a giant cross replete with a rocket launcher, machine gun and a small arsenal of handguns. She'd kept it well cared for in the years since his death, and now was glad she had. She turned the death's head in the middle of the cross to the left, which opened the armory of Glocks. She pulled two out and stuck them in the waistband of her apron. She pulled two more out and cocked them. She didn't want to die here, but if she did, it'd be fighting not only for the woman's sake, but so her kids could live in a place where there weren't people like Damien to scare them into doing what he wanted.

Then the side door to the alleyway was yanked open and she was pulled inside the building.

"Shh! Shh, Millie, it's okay. It's me." Rosette said. Milly's eyes darted around wildly before they settled on Rosette's face. When she looked like she was calming down, Rosette nodded for the Paladin to remove his hand from her mouth.

"S-Sister?" Milly croaked. "What are you doing here?"

"Saving you."

"I can take care of myself."

Rosette coloured. "Helping, then. Look, there's two kids back there who would cry if their mom got hurt, and I'm aiming to prevent that from happening. Now, do you have a gun I can use?"

"But you'll get hurt-"

Rosette smiled. "Trust me." Reaching over, she pulled a gun out of Millie's apron waist band, slid the muzzle back to load the bullet in the chamber, "sighting" the gun by holding it at arms length with both hands and staring down the muzzle and finally cocking it. The Paladin produced his own black cannon, and turned towards Millie. They seemed to be waiting for her. She simply nodded.

"All right," Rosette said. "Then here's what we're going to do…"


EVE didn't have pain receptors like humans did. She felt the pressure of the blow, but upon doing an automatic diagnostic of her systems and finding no damage, she paid it no mind. After all, given the right conditions she could withstand a tank- it all depended on the energy input. And right now it was not good- not good at all. She'd been maintaining the hologram for over twelve hours now, when it was only designed for eight max. If she didn't recharge soon, she'd shut down. Permanently.

"Bitch." Damien said contemptuously. "When I tell you to do something, do it. It's a whole lot easier on ya." Some of the gang members snickered at her helpless state because they knew that once their leader had had his fill, he'd throw the rest for them to enjoy, like a good pack leader.

"Then again…" Damien said thoughtfully, kicking her for good measure. "I have been getting bored lately. Maybe a little feisty like you is what I need to boost my spirits.

EVE lay on the ground, gasping to make them think she was winded. It wasn't hard; that kick would've easily broken her ribs if she'd had any, and at any rate every time he landed a blow it required more power for her to keep from going off-line. One more kick like that and she was finished.

Suddenly a shot rang out, then another. Two of Damien's goons flopped over, dead and another was the unlucky recipient of a bullet in the leg, it having gone in the one dead man's back, through his heart and neatly out between his ribs. Within three seconds a quarter of Damien's thugs were rendered inoperative. The remainder where left looking frantically around, guns gripped tightly in their sweaty palms.

"Put down your guns!" Milly called from the rooftop of the building she'd been hiding beside. It had been her and the Paladin that had shot. Rosette was waiting for a clear shot at Damien, and it was decided that she should remain hidden.

Damien was apoplectic. He had no choice but to nod and have his men drop their guns in the sand. They put their hands on top of their heads as well, just to show that they were completely trustworthy and defenceless. For now.


Millie and the Paladin appeared and crossed the distance between them and the Rogues in short time, guns at the ready and not looking away from a moment, even as EVE ran to meet them.

Rosette was just relaxing her finger on the trigger when a shout was heard. Coming from the direction of town was a figure, blurred in the distance. As he drew nearer, she saw it was Vash with the kids walking in front of him. But why?

She was answered as he raised the gun that had been digging into Daniel's back and shot the Paladin from twenty yards away before pointing the gun on the top of the boy's head.

"Anybody move, and I'll put out his lights for good." He snarled.

Ed and his group did not see this, however.

They had come to the Plant from the other side and couldn't hear over the buzz of the Plant's operations.

Edward slid off the Thomas. 'Never again,' he silently promised himself.

"So, now what?" Lina asked, gazing up at the huge structure.

"I wish I knew…" he muttered as he examined it. Why did that woman want him here? The scientist in him suspected the whole thing was just due to fever, and was quickly being proved right. But it didn't explain the- the rightness of being here. He put his hands on the glass bulb of the Plant and sighed.

Suddenly the area around his hands glowed blue. It quickly spread over the bulb part of the Plant, and Edward felt himself being pulled in, no matter how he tried to stop himself. It was if two strong men were on the other side, trying to drag him in by his arms. Lina and Meryl grabbed him around the stomach and tried to pull him back, but it was no use. As surely as if he were in quicksand, he sunk deeper and deeper into the blue until he was gone. Meryl and Lina pounded frantically on the glass, but it was futile.

He was gone.


He stood surrounded by blue light, softly undulating like a calm ocean. A figure appeared in front of him. It was the girl from his fever dream.

'Hello again, Edward. I'm glad you could make it.' Her mouth did not move, and yet it seemed as though the voice was coming from everywhere at once. Indeed, it sounded as though a multitude were talking in unison.

"What is this place?" he asked.

'You disappoint me, Edward. I had rather thought you'd have figured it out on your own. Very well, I shall tell you.' The woman smiled, and suddenly the background changed. He was now floating above the universe, indeed, all universes, which spiralled up in a vertical chain as far as the eye could see.

'This universe does not transmute the souls of the dead into alchemy, as your universe does, nor does it act like a spiritual cycle, as your friend Rosette's does, creating new life where old life failed and sending the rest to your world. It stores the energy released by Death in the Plants, which are beings made up of consciousnesses not quite dispersed by time and erosion. We are those plants.'

Faces began to appear everywhere- above, below, all around him. Young, old, pretty, homely, tanned, pale, male, female. When the Voice spoke again, Edward it was all of their voices, being condensed into one.

'We have abided here in this inanimate form for time immemorial, but now, as our representative has told you, something threatens our existence. He seeks to impose his will on all things, living or dead. But you offer us hope-we know much of you, Edward Elric, and of your abilities. You see, we do not wish to remain in this form any longer- quite frankly, it's boring. We know there's something more to death than this- this state of nothingness. We have seen our living families and friends toil in the harsh, unforgiving land that we have inherited, and could do nothing to help them. But you, Edward Elric, you could become the saviour of this planet and the people who call it home. Take our life-energies, our souls, and create a new Eden for them, so that they may live in comfort and peace. Will you do that, Edward Elric?'

Edward tried to look away, but no matter where he turned, he was looking into a face. He squeezed his eyes shut. "I- I can't," he said pitifully. "I can't perform alchemy in this world. And besides, you know as well as I do that if I could, and turned your planet from a desert to a paradise, what good would it do? Within a few generations people will have forgotten how hard life was and become greedy and corrupt. That's how it always is. I'm sorry, but I can't help you." He turned away.

"We are willing to take that chance." A single voice said behind him. The woman from the dream held out her hand. "We know the risk, but we have faith in our people. We believe in them, Edward. That they will make the right choices and not squander what they have been given. Please, won't you help us?"

Edward remembered what had happened when he performed alchemy, how it always led to pain and suffering for him and those he cared about. Al, their mother and father, Winry- and most especially himself. He had learned long ago not to chase after what you had lost, because you only stood to lose more. That lesson was engraved into his body and mind for the rest of his life. And yet, he thought suddenly, here he was, trying to do exactly that. Then he thought of Nina- the hell she had went through, and the hell she was going through even to this day, all because of him. If he could rectify even that, he would have hope for the future. Who was he to say who should try and who shouldn't? These people might have better luck than he.

He took the woman's hand.

The effect was instantaneous. It was like he held the sun in his hand- or maybe a black hole as everything, the faces, the planets, everything, was funnelling into him via his right arm.

'Edward!' The woman cried before she, too was sucked into the vortex. 'Tell Vash that Rem said to move on! Don't let him bury his head in the past! Please, tell him!' Then she was gone, never to be seen, nor heard from again.


"Now, put down your guns and put your hands where I can see them," Vash said. "And come out where I can see you, Sister Rosette." Reluctantly Rosette crossed the distance and dropped her handgun. Millie did the same, looking as though she wasn't sure to be afraid or angry- or both. Only the Paladin hesitated; Finally, he threw down his black cannon onto the top of the pile, as though disgusted to be in such a position.

"It took you long enough!" Damien snarled. He grabbed Vash's shoulder. "Hey, are you listening-" a deafening boom drowned him out as he fell backwards, clutching his stomach. Vash looked coldly on. "Don't ever touch me," he said. "Besides, new orders just came in from the Boss. You're dead weight." A second boom sounded and the lifeless form of the leader of the Red Rogues slumped backwards. "Literally." Vash smirked, before replacing the on the boy's head. Daniel cried out as the hot barrel touched his scalp, and it was all Millie could do to watch.

The goons looked nervously at each other before deciding their lives meant more to them than avenging the corpse that had been their boss and they picked up their guns, pointing them at the rescue team. Suddenly another squad of Rogues came into view from the Plant, bringing a struggling Meryl and Lina with them. They'd been sent to try to find any trace of Meryl and Edwards remains in the fire, and when they couldn't verify their demise they went out hunting. They saw Meryl, Edward and Lina leave the motel and followed them. When they had been dumped to the ground with the rest, Meryl spoke.

"You're not Vash the Stampede," she said, staring steadily at the man who held her children hostage. The gunman raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what makes you say that?

"You've taken Millie's children hostage, and killed a man, two things he'd never do, but most importantly," Meryl touched under the corner of her left eye with her hand, "The real Vash the Stampede has a mole right here- I traveled long enough with him to know that." Indeed, Rosette saw, the man didn't have a beauty mark there, or anywhere on his face.

The impostor-Vash gave a sudden, barking laugh. "It's always that damn mole…" Without letting go of the gun, he gave a hard shove to Danny's back, sending him stumbling towards Millie who grabbed him in a fierce hug. The impostor swung Diana around until she stood in the same spot where her brother had been. With his one hand he kept a firm grip on her while the other hand with the gun still in it swept up towards his face. He passed his hand under his eye and his skin-changed. Where there was once unblemished skin was now a small mole. Rosette gaped.

The impostor-Vash sighed. "Well, little misses," he drawled sarcastically, "Looks like I'm gonna have to dispose of ya's now that's ya's knows my secret." He cocked the gun, aiming at Millie, who was shielding Daniel with her body. Just as he was pulling the trigger the ground erupted.


Edward was struggling to keep up with the power flow. Once, long, long ago there had been a reaction like this, when he had stood in a room filled with Red Water. He'd nearly died then, but it was like comparing a pond to all the oceans on Earth to this- and if he did not find a way to siphon off this incredible energy, he would burst. All his senses were on fire- he could taste each individual water molecule under the surface of the planet, feel the dry sand that covered everything, smell the despairing determination of the people. But most of all, he could see- not in normal terms, but in energy.

Every living creature exuded light around themselves in an aura, all different shades of blue, depending on the age and character of the person. There were babies whose auras were the softest robin's egg blue, farmers who had a deep, rich navy about them, gangsters and bandits which were corrupted with red so that they were indigo. He saw auras around the Plant- Nina and Meryl, a strong cobalt blue and an equally determined, but softer sky colour, respectively. On the other side were four distinct auras- one that was similar to Meryl's, one a sickly purple, like that of a bruise and one that leaned more towards… yellow. And one, further back that shined forth like a miniature royal blue sun. 'Rosette,' he thought. From his short time traveling with the nun, he knew she was one have that kind of inner strength. Then he noticed something- a totally black aura coming nearer and nearer, with two smaller sapphire-lights in tow. Not good.

He needed to move, and fast.

He raised his right arm and pushed upwards with all his might, changing the particles in the upper layer of the atmosphere into rarefied oxygen, creating an invisible ozone layer around the planet, protecting it from the intense heat of the twin suns. But he did not stop there. As if he were Atlas himself, he gathered all the power at his disposal and pushed again, this time at the planet itself, moving it a fraction of its orbit. This would allow it to change orbits, going around only one sun instead of being mercilessly pounded by two. In time, these changes would allow for the planet to grow grass, then trees, and with them the water cycle of evaporation, condensation and evaporation again could take place, making it truly a paradise.

Edward decided to speed up the process. Buried deep within the sand, near where the soil lay, were seeds, sleeping away the eons. Gathering the remainder of his god-like power, he nudged them awake, encouraging them to dig their roots deep into the rich soil, promising the rains would soon come.

And come they did. Suddenly, from all over the planet, giant storm clouds appeared in the sky, much darker than anything the people of the dry and dusty world had ever seen, pouring forth their bounty of life-giving water. The trees erupted from the ground, the slender young saplings twining around themselves and branching out, their bare limbs rapidly filling up with deep green leaves, doing in seconds what would usually take years, maybe longer.

Exhausted, he could feel himself falling, getting away from the source of his power. As he fell, he could hear the Voice ring out one final time.

'Thank you, Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist. You and your companions will have many adventures before you find home again. A word of warning- Beware of those who bear the mark of the Rook, for they are the agents of Odin. Good luck.'


"What th-?" The Impostor-Vash yelled as the ground underneath them shook. All around the group tiny green seedlings sprouted up from underneath the omnipresent sand, becoming three-foot saplings and still growing in a matter of moments as they looked around each other in awe, all enmity gone. Diana used the distraction to scurry into the safety of her mother's arms who proceeded to hold her tight. The saplings had formed a rough circle around them, a dot of yellow in a sea of green.

Edward stepped into the clearing. The reactions ranged from Meryl's and Nina's utter shock, to Rosette's fuming that he couldn't have gotten there sooner to help them, to Millie's being too distracted suffocating her children in hugs to notice, to The Paladin's unreadable expression under the pitch-black visor.

One of the henchmen made to shoot him, but Vash waved him down. Edward took another step, then another. He stopped three yards away from Vash. Vash grinned. "Well, well. Guess I can't call you Fullmetal Shorty anymore, can I?"

Edward smirked. "Long time, no see, Envy."

Envy threw back his head and roared with laughter. When he looked at Edward again he had changed again, from Vash to a sort of caricature of Edward. In a way, Envy was Edward's older brother- but only in the sense they have the same father. Envy was a homunculus, not quite human and not quite beast, the result of their father's failed experiment to try to revive his stillborn son using human transmutation, a forbidden art.

For his failure, Envy had always hated his father and, by extension, his living brother, Edward, who was everything he was not. His hatred led him to use his special talent of being able to assume the voice and form of anyone he chose to forge himself a new, slightly androgynous form.

However it was his original form, aged to be in his prime that presented itself now. The white, open-necked V-collar shirt and faded blue jeans stayed the same, but there was a tattoo of a rook covering the left side of his face. Edward started. '"Beware of those who bear the mark of the Rook, for they are the agents of Odin,'" he remembered.

"What, did Odin promise to turn you into a real boy?" Edward asked.

Envy shook his head. "Odin's big time, Shorty. So big that I don't mind working for him- I've been his agent for a while now." Suddenly it seemed a large chunk fell into place.

Edward said, "It was you. You were the creature after me in the other world."

"Guilty." Envy shrugged and reached into his pocket. Edward knew what he was going to pull out, but was still dry-mouthed when he saw what Envy had in his hand.

"The Clock Seal!" Rosette yelled.

Indeed it was. Edward remembered now. (While in transit he and the devil were struggling for the Clock, biting, kicking, scratching. Finally, with a yank, the devil freed it from both Edward's hand and Rosette's neck as the string snapped, depositing them here.) Envy must've backtracked to finish them off.

"Tell you what, Full Metal Dopey, you defeat me and I'll give you this thing back." Envy said, and with that he cocked the gun and fired in one smooth motion.

Even after all the years of not being able to use alchemy, under fire Edward's reflexes did what had saved him so many times before: clapping his hands together to form a circle with which he could create almost anything. Edward knew even while his hands were speeding towards each other that it was a wasted effort, that nothing would happen-

But something did. Not alchemic in nature, but mechanical. His human left hand, touched, sent an electric current through his right forearm to open a spring-catch lock, popping up the forearm and two halves of a foot-and-a-half long blade sprang out to connect together to create a razor-edged blade that stuck out parallel to his arm. The bullet ricocheted off the blade and into the stomach of a nearby Red Rogue. The man fell moaning to the ground.

Envy looked at him. "How'd you do that?" he asked, startled.

Edward had no clue. He'd never seen his arm do that before- at least, not in quite that way. However, he couldn't let Envy know that, so he simply smirked- and hoped that he looked more sure than he felt.

Envy shrugged as if it were no big deal. He cocked and fired the gun, again, and again. Two bullets raced for Edward's torso. One he managed to deflect, but the other bounced off the metal plate connecting his mechanical arm to his body, and it hurt. He doubled over, clutching his chest. After that, everything seemed to slow to a crawl.

Thinking him mortally wounded and sensing victory, Envy made a fatal mistake. Tossing the gun aside, he turned his own hand into a blade, similar to Edward's and ran towards him, ready to deliver the killing blow.

"DIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEAAUGH!"

Edward lifted his arm and Envy ran right into it, impaling himself on the cold steel and coughing blood. The shocked expression he wore as he crumpled to the ground was horrible to behold, and Edward looked away as he got to his feet.

"Heh, Heh…" Envy wheezed as he lay in a pool of spreading blood . "You got me. As per our… agreement, this is yours." He attempted to give Edward the Clock, but was too weak. Edward bent down to take it.

"He's been watching you… for a while, now," Envy wheezed into Edward's ear. Edward stiffened. "He needs you… for something. A… 'catalyst', he said". Envy smirked, a pitiful expression on his dying face.

"See you… on the other side… Brother." Envy's face went still, and Edward thought he almost looked peaceful.


Authour's Note: The tattoo looks like the Iron Eagle of the Nazis, with the wings spread and head turned to the left. It's got nothing to do with the Nazis, it's just what I thought would best suit the rook (crow). The arm-blade comes out like Vash's boot-blade, for those who've seen Trigun.