Chapter 2
Cold as Stone
"Where are you?" A voice echoed off the broken and crumbling walls of an ruined desert town. "Where the hell did you go?" He wailed as he ran through the streets. He ran, filled with rage, without a care for anything in his path. He darted around a corner and spotted a dead end in his path, but rather than slow down or spin around, he sped up. "Show yourself! You are the only one who knows!" he boomed as he leapt into the air. He cocked his arm back, then shot it forward, clearing a path to the street on the other side with a loud clang.
"Where are you?" A voice echoed off the broken and crumbling walls of an ruined desert town. "Where the hell did you go?" He wailed as he ran through the streets. He ran, filled with rage, without a care for anything in his path. He darted around a corner and spotted a dead end in his path, but rather than slow down or spin around, he sped up. "Show yourself! You are the only one who knows!" he boomed as he leapt into the air. He cocked his arm back, then shot it forward, clearing a path to the street on the other side with a loud .He paused, as a cloud of dust blew around in circles. He wrapped his face in a tattered brown rag, which went well with the dirty poncho he wore. He took the time to scout the area from behind his shaded goggles, which are almost a must in such a relentless place. He scanned around, checking out the rooftops (or what's left of them), in windows, and behind rubble. "...Still nothing. Where the hell could he have hid?" he thought to himself. "He can't be too far..."
Suddenly, off to the young man's left side, there was a crash as rubble tumbled. He caught a blur of dark green out of the corner of his eye. "Gotcha, you bastard!" He fell back quickly into a fighting stance, then dashed toward the noise. He jumped a good ten feet into the air easily clearing the rubble, and whilst in mid-jump, clapped his hands together. He flipped forward, and slammed his palms into the cobblestone road. There was a quick flash of blue light, two rows of jagged rock shot up from the ground. They shot up in a strait path towards the green blur of a person, with blinding speed. As the got up just behind the runner, the split off to either side, and continued in front of them, shooting up even higher than the rest. The pillars of stone curved as they reached heights of about 25 feet, creating a dome wall and stopping the runner in there path.
"Envy!" The young man called out. "Turn and look at me, you bastard!"
"Oh, child, chill!" He said in a very cocky tone. "Won't you ever treat me as family?" He turned around to face the young man, but met a rather rude boot to the side of the head, tossing him off to the side.
"...You're no family of mine..." He said in a quiet tone. "You'll never be..." He slapped his hands together, then down to the ground once more. Envy became enveloped in a cover of shiny black stone, ensuring he would be running no longer. "And now you'll tell me where he is..."
Envy just laughed. "I have no clue what your babbling about!" The young man got closer and closer to where Envy lie. "Not that I would tell you anything anyway." He continued his stuck-up laugh.
"You will talk..." He glared at him through the goggles. "This time you will talk. Where is Hohenhiem?"
Envy fell dead silent. "Him? Why would you be looking for him? Thought you hated him..." A cold metallic fist landed hard into his face.
"Once more, I'll ask..." His voice was monotone, little emotion could be felt in his voice. Ed then mounted the rock covered Envy, fist raised.
"Dead! He's dead! Get it through your friggin' head!" His words were cut short by a barrage of punches, leaving Envy's face in a twisted, bloody mess. As the goggled man raised his fist for a final blow, the earth began to shake. Envy's eyes rolled back into his head as he began to twitch. His skin began to flake and turn a light shade of green. Fangs shot out of his mouth as his body expanded. The stone cover exploded, send shards flying in all directions. "Not even he could stop me now!" Envy's voice was deep and hollow. The man hit hard into the rock wall behind him. He shook off the blow and look up, only rather than Envy, in front of him stood a massive Dragon.
The dragon-shaped Envy spewed a large fireball, breaking the stone wall, and allowing him a hasty escape.
"Shit..." He coughed as he rubbed his head. "It's not you I'm worried about..." He said as he got up, brushed himself off, and continued his journey out of the ruined desert town. Just before he left, he clapped his hand, and touched a stone wall beside him. There was a flash of blue light as the rock formation transformed into a large ball.
Al and Winry rush down the dirt road, her giggling and him carrying on just as they always have. They came to a stop just before her home. "He's in here!" She said, calming herself down as she walked up towards the wooden steps. The smell of a home-made meal flowed from the open window, scents of cooked vegetables and fresh meat called out to Al. He rubbed his stomach as sit groaned loudly.
"Pinako made food, did she?" He asked, although he already knew the answer.
"With a guest this important, she had no other choice." She grinned as she opened the door, the smell now more than overpowering. "Come on!" He walked inside.
"Brother, your finally home!" Al thought to himself. "I can finally prove to you how strong I've become!" He jumped up the stairs and dashed inside. "Brother! Welcome Ho..." He was cut off by who he saw.
"Welcome back to town, younger Brother Elric." Much to Al's surprise, it was not the person he hoped it would be. "it's been quite some time." he said, fixing his eyepatch as he sat down at the table.
"Oh, Mr. Mustang. It's you..." Al's head dropped in disappointment. "I wasn't expecting to see you here... I was hoping..." He turned his back to the group of friends. But that was ended quickly by a flying wrench, it collided solidly with the back of his skull. Roy smirked slightly, almost as if he expected this type of reaction
"Is that any way to treat an old friend!" Winry scolded. "I mean, really. He's come all this way just to see you!" She pouted as she spoke. Roy seemed a bit confused as to why Winry was the one to defend him. It didn't seem to make much sense in his mind. But he brushed it off for now.
"And he does have something to tell you..." Pinako added, bringing a large plate of roast to the table.
Roy cleared his throat. "It's true. I know that what I'm going to tell you will change the way you're thinking. But first, we eat!" They all sat down, and filled themselves on the lovely feast Pinako and Winry created. Everything went rather well, other then the bickering between Al and Winry over the last piece of roast. Roy seemed rather content, as if he missed seeing Al. Years have past since their last meeting, not that it was on very good terms. But this night went rather well.
An hour or so later, they were sitting outside gazing up at the stars, by a bonfire Roy created, chatting and catching up on the last little while. It was mainly just small talk. "This is so much fun." Al said, showing a genuine happiness. "I never knew you this way, Mr. Mustang."
"I told you, it's just Roy now." He smiled, poking the fire with a rather large stick. "neither of us are with the military anymore. There's no need for formalities." He poked and prodded at the raging flames. "Since my departure from my duties, I've gotten time to reflect and think about a lot of things." He looked over at Winry and Pinako. "And I'm going to try to make up for my past mistakes, and make amens to certain people. There's no time to be depressed anymore..."
"...Something can never be forgotten..." Winry said darkly. "...but Forgiveness can be earned..."
Roy smiled slightly. "And I will thrive to achieve that..." He shook his head. "But that is not why I'm here tonight."
Al perked up. "Oh, I almost forgot, what is it? Is it about your investigation?" As a kind of hobby, and as a way to make up things to Al and the rest, Roy had bean looking into the where-abouts of the remaining Homunculi: Wrath, Gluttony and Envy. There and been little sightings of Gluttony and none of Envy over the last 5 years, and Roy had already discovered that Wrath was living on Yock Island, in a way his place of birth. "What news have you brought us this time? It must be important to come here in person. I usually get letters from you."
"I found out something really interesting." he stated as he continued to poke the fire. "There was a sighting in the east of a large creature flying overhead. Many thought it was a mirage, or some trick of the light but..."
"Envy..." Al cut in.
"Yeah, and that's not the best of it. I followed a trail of rumors back to an old busted village where there was what looked like a battle as of late."
"So, then, was it really him?" Winry questioned.
"More than likely. And alchemy was somehow involved as well." Roy added. "Huge spikes of stone, A massive rock wall, and..." He paused for a second.
Al had an intrigued look about him. "Must have been a powerful Alchemist he was up against."
Roy continued. "...And this part you'll find most important. Towards the outskirts of the town, just past where what must have been the main struggle, was a huge stone figure. Well not really a figure," he scratched his head. "It's kinda hard to describe, so I took a photo. " He reached into a poach he kept at his side,and removed the picture, handing it to Al.
The was a mixed expression on Al's face of confusion and excitement. "Oh my god..." He exclaimed, and he began to laugh.
Winry jumped up and nosed her way over to the see what he was looking at. "What? What's so funny?" She took the picture and looked it over. In it was a stone state of a round-shaped face with angry eyes, and a small round hand. It looked as if the statue was flipping off the camera. And then she spotted the stone antenna atop it's head.
Al grinned. "Brother? What are you up to?"
Authors Notes: I know where I want to go with the story, but I'm still working out how to get there. If you spot anything (spelling, grammar, etc) that my spell check missed, please point it out. It would be more than helpful. Reviews are neat! I'm going to try to make each chapter about this long, I just didn't know what to write for the first. Hope you enjoy and keep reading.
