Honiahaka - Little Wolf (Cheyenne, Native American)

Alchemist Chronicles

Chapter 33 - Pack Of Teeth

AJ and Al, who are cornered by a group of chimeras. She looks at Al who then nods his head at her as the both of them rush in to attack, killing each, one by one. Huffing and panting trying to catch their breath, back to back shortly thereafter, as the more and more chimeras keep coming. "Damn it! They just won't stop coming!" AJ shouts.

Upon the edge of the cliff, the pack howls before they join in the fight. As Artemis grabs onto a chimera's neck and Rontu latches his teeth onto another's. Luna and Ramia jump down right in front of Al and AJ. AJ walks forward then kneels with her hand out towards Ramia, who immediately places her head on top of Janine's hand. "Thank you. All of you." She tells them as Al pets Luna's head.

Fletcher claps his hands and transmutes some vines to contain the chimeras. Al shouts to him. "Great job, Fletcher!" He waves to his friend.

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In Kanama, Ed, Roy, and the others sit around at an extinguished campfire. (Except Winry, who returned to Rush Valley earlier that morning) contemplate on what to do next.

Ed asks. "So your plan, General? What is it?" Roy sighs. He then turns his head a little and notices someone walking towards them. He stands up and faces the person. Ed looks at the man that Roy is walking over to, noticing the tribal marks on his skin and marks all across his clothing. He can't help but chuckle at the insane amount of feathers that the man is wearing.

Roy - "It's nice to see you again, Rue." Rue and Roy shake hands. "You as well, Roy." Roy introduces Rue to the others. Once Rue gets to Ed, he says. "A Xerxesian, what a pleasure it is to finally meet one of you." "Yeah same here. It's nice to meet another Native." Rue looks at Ed with a surprised expression. "Who?" Ed looks at him confused. "Huh?" Roy grins at Rue. "Honiahaka."

Rue smiles. "Ah yes, Honiahaka," Ed asks. "Who?" "Janine, Edward," Riza says. Ed then looks at her confused. "Honiahaka is what her fellow natives call her, Edward," Roy tells him. "So what does it mean?" "Little Wolf," Roy replies.

Ed smirks and asks. "So is this an only native thing or ... " Riza asks him. "Why? Do want your own name?" Ed turns his head away shyly and quickly mutters. "Yes. Itwouldbereallycool." Roy smiles then looks back at Rue.

Rue - "Others are here as well." Roy nods his head and says. "Let's get going." "To where exactly? We don't know where they're at, remember?" Ed counters. "Honiahaka is past mountains with magic flowers," Rue tells him.

Ed - "Magic flowers? ... Wait, the etherflower. Hiessagart!" Rue nods his head.

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Trying to catch their breath, panting after just defeating the remaining chimeras, AJ drops to her knees and looks at Al. "Phew. That was insane." AJ says. "Yeah, insanely fun!" Al excitedly tells her. AJ looks at him with an exhausted expression. "Seriously, Alphonse?" "Yeah! I haven't had that much fun in a while. The rush! The thrill of battle! Man, that was so cool!" She smiles and chuckles at his exhilaration. Fletcher laughs.

He then lays down on the grass, grinning from ear to ear. After a brief moment of silence, AJ stands up and walks over to him. She smiles. 'Aww. He fell asleep' Leaning over him, she whispers. "Al. Alphonse. Wake up, sleepy head."

Al slowly starts to wake up from his nap. Groaning briefly before he rubs his eyes and sits up. She helps him stand and the three of them head back to the city.

Making it to the gate by nightfall, the security informs them that the mayor would like to see them. After being escorted to there, the mayor thanks them for saving the two boys and taking care of the beasts.

The next morning as she walks out of the bathroom, she sees Riza sitting in a chair, looking right at her. "Ed lockpicked the door and I helped myself in while you were in the shower. (She stands up) Show me where Janine."

As Riza and Janine are in one room, Al wakes up to his brother staring directly at him. Freaking out, Al jumps out of the bed backward and trips over the blanket, landing on the floor with a thud. Al quickly stands up and yells. "Ed! What the H-" Roy puts a finger to his own lips.

Ed quickly walks over and grabs Al by the collar of his shirt. "Why in the hell didn't you call us and told us where you were at?" Al looks Roy who nods his head in Ed's direction. Grabbing his shirt harder, Al looks back at his brother. Al then sighs and tells them why. "And you believed him, Alphonse?"

With tears starting to fall from his eyes and his voice starting to break. "She was dying, brother. I had no choice." Ed loosens his grip and stares with sadness at his brother. Ed then pulls Al into a hug as Al starts crying on Ed's shoulder.

When AJ and Riza are exiting her room in the hotel, they faintly hear Al's cry. She quickly turns back to Riza. "He's not the only one who should get blamed for everything. I-" Riza puts her finger to AJ's lips. "Don't. Say. Anything. Let's go on ahead and wait for them downstairs." AJ sighs and follows Riza.

An hour later, Ed, Al, and Roy meet up with them and they all head over to the train station, arriving into Central a short time later. As they are walking back to headquarters. Roy stops and turns to Janine. Everyone stops as well.

Roy - "Janine." She looks at him. "Did the bullet hit any organs? " She turns her head away. "It glazed my right kidney. I don't have the stone anymore." He grabs both of her arms, forcing her to look at him. "Tell me everything that happened to you." He whispers to her. She whispers back. "Are you sure you want me to answer that out in the open?"

Grabbing her arm, they start walking again but this time more quicker. Right as soon as they make it to the corner of the street...

Russell stands in the middle of the block. "It's about time all of you showed up. I'd hate to be the one to cut the reunion a little short but the carrier has to come with me if she wants to see her precious stone again."

Roy glares deadly at Russell while standing in front of Janine. "Over my dead body, she'll go with you." He says in a deep tone. Ed nervously looks at Roy.

Russell - "That can be arranged, pyro." Riza and the others point their gun at him. Smirking, Russell tells them. "Fine. Well, then I guess then I don't have a choice then, huh?" He snaps his fingers. Several portals open up and golems appear around the group and Russell.

Riza hands Janine a gun, who puts the gun in the back of her belt shelve and takes out her sword instead. Ed catches Al smile to Janine. Al looks back at his brother, who already has his own sword out. "When did you-?" Al asks, looking at his brother with confusion. Ed interrupts him. "Winry and I exchanged wedding gifts on our honeymoon. This was her gift to me. A Xingese Blacksmith helped her make it."

Al smiles and pulls out his own sword. While Roy is distracted by Russell's barrage of attacks, Janine heads over to where Al is at and helps him. With her back turned to Roy, she doesn't see a golem approaching her from behind until it slams into her, knocking her off of her feet.

Snap! Roy aims a flame directly at the monster, setting it on fire and killing it. She looks at Roy and nods her head as she slowly starts to get up. Just as she is finally back on her feet, a golem grabs her from behind, wrapping its arms around her. As she's struggling to break free, other golems nearby surround and enclose around her, dragging her into a portal. She closes her eyes just as Alphonse lunges forward and purposely jumps into the portal to follow them. As all of that is going on, Russell slowly backs up and teleports himself elsewhere.

Roy and everyone else yells and tries to reach them but its too late and the two kids disappear. "Damn It!" Ed and Roy shout. Glaring at each other, they point and yell. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! NO ITS NOT! YES, IT IS!"

Boom!

Hawkeye shoots her gun up into the air and scares the hell out of the both of them. "Enough! The both of you need to get a grip and stop acting childish. Ed, you are no longer a child and are married. And General, with all due respect, stop acting like a child and start acting like a grown man!"

Ed points to Riza. "Do it! And none of us here will rat you out. I mean it!" Roy stares at Ed perplexedly. Ed then turns to the other men in the group. "All of you have made a pact to have his back and follow his lead, am I right?" He asks Jean, Kain, Vato, and Breda. All of them nod their heads. "And whenever one of you including myself were in some type of danger, he'd always showed up just in the nick of time and save our asses, right?"

Again the men nod their heads. "So it's safe to say that if he does anything that could get him in deep shit, all of us would vouch for him and take any secrets that we know to our graves, right?" Ed asks them. "Well, wouldn't be the first time the General's done something stupid and reckless, I'm in," Jean tells Ed. Ed smirks. "Well, he did help me out with a favor not too long again, I'm in as well," Vato says.

Kain nods his head as well. "You've got my support." He tells them. All of the guys then look at Breda. "Well, it's not like I'm a traitor to my own kind so yes I'm in." Ed looks back at Roy. "So go on and get to it."

Roy then walks closer to Ed, staring him directly face to face. "If you don't get your shit together Elric and knock off these foolish games that you are trying to play. If anything happens to either of them, then, by all means, explain to your family and friends as well as to her mother on why we got there too late and how their deaths could have been prevented."

Ed stares back equally as hard. "What in the hell makes you think that the both of them will die so easily?" "This isn't the first time that she almost died." "Yeah and we all know that. I'm sure she knew what she was getting into the moment she put on that uniform or connected herself with that stone, Roy."

Roy then turns away from him, with his head down. "I can't ... I can't lose her like I lost Hughes, Edward." Placing his hand on his former superior officer's shoulder, he walks around to face him. "Then let's get moving then, They're counting on us." Roy makes a deep sigh and then looks back at Ed, nodding his head.

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Coming through the portal in Siam-Sid, AJ is immediately carried off by the golems. Al rushes out and kills them with his sword. He grabs her and pulls her to him before she falls. She then grabs his face with her hands and kisses him. Parting, she thanks him. "Of course." Al replies.

Jake notices and runs over to them. "Marisol." Al and AJ look at him. "I heard you got the bullet removed. That's good." Al thanks him for saving her. "Your welcome. I know where they're hiding the stone, Ari. I can take you to it." "Ok. Let's go." The three of them start walking.

Making it to the Grand Promenade, the stone senses Janine and it glows brighter in it's sealed confinement, the energy draws from its primary source and starts effecting AJ. She falls to her knees, wheezing and trembling, clutching her chest tightly. Jake falls to his knees as well, trembling.

Al grabs her just as she passes out. "So it's begun," Russell tells him. He looks up and glares at him. "Why?" Al asks him. "The stone is nearby, that's why it's affecting the both of them, mostly her," Russell replies. "This wasn't supposed to happen like this!" Jake yells before he passes out.

"Let's not waste any more time, Al." Al lifts her onto his back and follows Russell to the spire.

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Finally making it to Siam-Sid, the gang makes it Grand Promerade, walking through the debris of the center. "Jeez, this place is still a mess," Ed says. "Keep the place the same on the outside, make no obvious signs of tampering. Everything that they are doing must be underground or inside a building." Roy brings up.

Ed - "But where though?" A wolf's deep growl breaks them out of their focus. Greywolf, who is standing in a battle stance glaring at the spire. Ed looks up and walks towards the wolf. "Edward!" Riza yells, he, in turn, shushes her.

The wolf turns and looks at Ed, who stops and bends down with his hand out toward the wolf. Greywolf slowly walks to him, immediately recognizing Ed's scent. Afterwards, the wolf picks up on Al's scent and runs up the steps to the spire. The wolf disappears before reappearing holding onto Jake's helmet by its mouth, sitting at the top of the steps.

Once Ed makes it to the top, he catches his breath. "Damn! Those steps were alot easier to walk up from when I was younger." "Getting old on us, Fullmetal?" Roy sarcastically asks. "This coming from the guy with gray strands in his hair?" Ed shoots back. "I DO NOT!" Roy yells back at Ed, glaring at him.

Jake - "Can I get my head back?" He says as he sits up and stands, breaking them out of their squabble. Riza asks him. "Where are they, Jake?" "You know, this body is already uncomfortable enough as it is and at least I can try to pretend to be more human when the head is on this armor." Everyone stares uncomfortably at Jake.

Ed sighs and takes Jake's helmet away from Greywolf, who emits a low growl at Ed. Staring at the wolf with a glare. The wolf then looks away as Ed walks over to Jake, handing him his head. "Thank you." "Your welcome."

After fixing his head, Jake tells them. "Follow me." All of them including Greywolf follow him.

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Russell teleports them to the Temple Of Lebis. Laying her in the center, Russell leaves and exits towards the Cloister Of Devotion.

Janine then slowly wakes up. Groaning as she's holding her head and tries to sit up. Al helps her up. "Easy, easy." He says, wrapping his arms around her waist.

After a few minutes of recollecting herself once she's standing, she asks Al. "Where am I? Where are we?" He tells her. She freezes once she connects with the stone again. Blue Cloud tells him in a pained voice as she turns to him. "Get Her Out Of Here!" Al looks back at her with petrified eyes.

They hear a commotion outside and investigate it. Just as they open the doors and make it outside, A golem titan grabs Janine, pulling her into its body. Al pulls out his sword and rushes toward it, only to be stopped near it by the other smaller golems.

Back to Jake and the others, they finally make it just outside of the Temple Of Lebis. Ed points out as he turns to Roy. "This brings back memories of Crowley, Arlen, and Elma, eh General?" "Yeah as well as Phantom," Jean adds.

Jake, who is already ahead, yells back. "Are you guys and lady coming or what? They're inside." The group follows him inside where Ed hears something from the other door on the other side of the room.

Rushing towards it with everyone behind him, he tackles the door, forcing it open. Once they make it outside, they see Alphonse surrounded and against a wall, with a wound on his head, blood running down the side of his face, not moving.

Ed stares in horror and completely blanks as he rushes over to his brother, completely disregarding everyone else. Just as Roy tries to say something, Jake tells him. "The stone. It's underground."

Roy - "Is it in the King's chamber?" "I'll get it. It's not like anyone else that's here can touch it anyway." Roy stays silent. Jake then looks at Roy. "Oh and another thing, I saved her life after Dixon shot her and she'd saved mine with that stone that she's got. When you see her again, tell her that we're squared." Jake then takes off running towards and enters the spire.

As Ed kills the last golem (with Jean's and Riza's help) and makes it to Al. Realizing that he's still alive, just unconscious. He puts a hand on Al's shoulder, Al jolts up, startling Ed briefly. "Al! AL, You're Awake! Thank Goodness!" Groggy and exhausted, Al tries to look at Ed but drops his head. "Damn it," Al says. He looks at Ed again. "B-brother." He says in the middle of a gasp. Ed's heart drops. "She's in the g-golem. It grabbed her. (Al voice breaks) I tried ...but I failed. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Al starts shaking as he's crying. Ed pulls him into a hug. Al passes out shortly thereafter.

Riza - "It grabbed her."

Jean - "She's in the golem. What golem? The only one we've encountered were the-" At that exact moment, the titan golem breaks one of the side walls of the Cloister Of Devotion and roars at the gang.

Riza - "Spoke too soon, Captain." Jean makes a 'Really?' expression at her. Roy then shouts. "Havoc! Get Ed and Al to safety, NOW! Colonel?" Roy looks at her as looks at him. She nods as she runs back over next to him. Jean coves Ed's back as he's piggybacking Al to the exit. As Roy is putting on his gloves, she places her hand on top of his. She tells him what Alphonse said. He replies with shaky fists. "Aim for the head, only." She nods.

As they are about to attack, Roy notices something. He stops her with his hand right before they hear several gunshots coming from around the golem. The titan falls to its knees and screams in agony. As its legs are melting, Roy aims his flames at the golems head and Riza shoots it repeatedly. Greywolf unleashes a series of attacks with its teeth and claws once he senses Janine nearby.

Upon stopping, the creature lunges forward, right at the General and the Colonel. Roy instinctively protects her only to be covered with dirt and sand. Riza couldn't help but chuckle at his embarrassed expression. A fake Philosopher's stone falls out of the monster, onto the ground and disintegrates.

Looking past him, she sees AJ on the ground not moving. Gasping, Roy turns around once he sees her terrified stare. He stares at her with petrified eyes as the memory of her state in the mansion flashes back into his mind. He runs over to her, turning her over and sees Greywolf nudges his head on her cheek as he lets out a light whimper. She then opens her eyes slowly.

Roy - "Hey there. You had us all worried for a moment." She smiles at him as he picks her up and carries her in his arms as she passes out.

Making it back to the entrance of the desert city, Roy and everyone else head straight to the hospital. While on the way there, Hawkeye notices Janine's reopened wound. Roy grabs some medical supplies and quickly seals it.

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Watching and observing the stone in its sealed confinement, its glow slowly starts to fade.

Drake - "Damn it! Why won't this thing work anymore!" "Well trigger happy, you just had to go shoot the girl!" Marcello shouts back. "SHUT UP!" "DON'T TELL ME TO SHUT UP!"

Russell - "Gentlemen." Both Marcello and Drake look at him. Marcello says and asks. "Well if it isn't our disappearing friend? So have you-" "Drop the act, Marcello. That stone is obviously not gonna work unless we have its carrier with us."

Drake asks. "So what do you suppose we do then?" "In her condition right now, she's too weak to do anything with the stone at all, of course, no thanks to dumbass over there. We now have no choice but to go with the other plan then." Marcello smiles wickedly.

Marcello - "Then, by all means, let's get it started then shall we?"

End of Chapter 33

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(A.N.)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Due to a personal matter in my life, I temporary won't be updating the story on the regular. It doesn't mean that I won't write more or continue writing during the pauses in between. Thank you to all that have been reading and left me comments and kudos (likes). Also, thank you to the people who have bookmarked my story. It means alot when I get feedback from you guys and gals. Thanks for understanding.