RealNutcase: lol, isn't that funky!
Demon Lord Sesshomaru: Thank you!
Hanjuuluver: Hughes! Yey! –huggles Hughes- n.n. Yes, our dear Edo is psycho again…it's fun because…because…it's Ed! Whahahaha!
Epobbp: Ranger…yes…Risembool Ranger! That's me! Mwahaha!
Kuropuu: Yes…well…I sort of wasn't sure how to use him without having him kill Ed in the process if ya catch my drift. Though I guess he could have hugged him and crush his spine…though that may complicate future engagements (wink, wink…joking!).
Agent000: Indeed! I think it was something he ate. Okie dokie!
I think I'm in lobve…again…Genjyo Sanzo from Saiyuki…(swoon) I may only have volume two of the manga but…he's already my favorite. Yes…him and Sha Gojyo…
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Chapter Seven
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The taxi pulled up the Central Hospital, Hughes, Hawkeye and Alphonse got out the car followed by Armstrong who was carrying the two unconscious brothers, once they were inside they were able to get some medical attention for the two. That was about two hours ago, now, Alphonse and the three military officers were standing next to Liems' bed.
"Ow…" Liem slowly sat up and looked at them, "What happened?"
"You were shot, how's that for a souvenir." Al answered with a shrug.
"Shot! Wha…oh…yeah…" Liem flopped back into his pillow and gazed at the wall in front of him, "What about Edward?"
"Oh, he'll live…" Al answered again, "I think the most he suffered was getting blood on his clothes."
"What makes you say that?" Liem muttered.
"Tsk…you saw the look he had, his mind was focused on one thing and it wasn't caring about getting shot."
"Huh…" Liem glanced over at the bed next to his, Edward was still out cold, there was something calm and unthreatening about him when he was sleeping…though after what happened it was unlikely he was either.
"It would seem that our little encounter with big brother has caught the attention of said superior officer, Roy Mustang, guess he heard he was in town." Al added, he didn't look too happy about it either. Hughes took this opportunity to chime in,
"The least you boys could do is hear him out, he is after all paying for your hospital bill."
"And here I thought they were just being nice." Al grumbled, "He'd better make it fast or make it good cause we've got business to do."
"Hey, why not do it now?" Liem asked suddenly, "I mean, he's not moving, why not look into his mind now?"
"I could do that yes…" Al nodded, "Why not, I was only going to do that in a few minutes."
Liem sighed, he understood why he was like that but honestly, Al needed to work on his people skills a little more. Al walked over and sat down on the edge of his older brothers' bed, he appeared to be deep in thought until he looked over at the others and said,
"Ok, I'm going to do this now…" he aseptically looked at Liem as if mentally telling him something, catching on quickly Liem nodded.
"He's going to look into his mind by transferring his soul into Eds' body, or something like that, so if he appears to be asleep don't touch him ok?" Liem explained to the military officers.
"He told you this?" Hawkeye asked.
"No, he did it to me…only he transferred my soul into his body, it was a very interesting experience I'll give you that." Liem snickered, "I hope he finds what he's looking for though…"
"But, what if what he's looking for isn't what he wants?" Hughes asked, his eyes were on the two older brothers.
"Well…he said he wants to know what happened so that's what he's going to look for, I'm sure he already knows it's probably going to be something really bad."
"Why is that?"
"I don't think you'd understand."
"Try us."
"Well, Edward was already pretty… 'crazy'…to begin with, so, he wants to know what could have possibly made him THAT crazy. It's hard to explain, I guess his has to do with past experiences and an unpleasant childhood…if you could call it that." Liem crossed his arms gingerly, so's not to aggravate his bandaged wound. Als' head was lowered and his breathing had become slow and even, almost like he was sleeping only he wasn't.
Al's POV (inside Eds' mind)
I can't say for sure how long I was walking around in the dark, it seemed like forever. I'd never actually seen what my brothers' mind was like, I'd never really wanted too either, I knew it was filled with as equally bad things as mine. But I had to know what Dante did to him to make him act this way, even towards me, he was openly aggressive towards me even without somebody saying my name, and, since when did he enjoy hearing his name? He wasn't as bad as me but he still didn't like hearing it, especially from Dante, no, he hated her with a passion, even though there really wasn't anything he could do about it.
I paused when a memory appeared, that's strange; I've never seen that man before. He had short dark hair, with a hint of gray starting on the sides, he appeared to be in his late forties maybe early fifties. The man looked up and asked,
"Dante, are you absolutely sure you want to do this? Do you really want to go that far?"
Then the all too familiar voice of Dante could be heard answering,
"My dear doctor, don't you wish to study the capabilities of what you have created? Don't you want to see exactly what this Philosophers' Stone can do when used in different…environments?"
"Of course I do, though it's still imperfect, but I don't think it's right to use it in that fashion." He answered. Dante didn't sound happy when she said,
"I hired you for one reason and that was because you successfully created a Philosophers' Stone, also, the military has given me complete access and rights to all of your work."
"It's imperfect, if used in the wrong fashion it could kill somebody."
"If used properly, it could still kill somebody," Dante answered spitefully, "Now do it now or suffer the consequences."
The memory faded after that, an imperfect Philosophers' Stone? Why was Dante after that? Unless…
"Oh…my god…she didn't…" That's when the next memory appeared, I could see Dante this time, I must be seeing what he's seeing, she was standing alone and appeared to have a very triumphant look on her face. She said,
"Now, now, there's no need to fight this…Edward, you really shouldn't have come back here otherwise I probably wouldn't have found you." she was holding something, I couldn't see what it was though.
"You know, you're the best out of all the others we've tried, none of them have ever made it to this level."
"Shut up and die Dante…" That was my brothers' voice, my he sure didn't sound too happy…didn't sound angry either…no he was beyond that.
"Such manners, well I can fix that, with this," Dante seemed to disappear for a moment, did he just close his eyes? She reappeared, "There…we'll see just how tough you really are."
Now everything went black, it wasn't the end of the memory I could tell; no…it was something else.
'Crap…he's waking up' If he knew I was in his mind there was guaranteed trouble, if he tried to force me out of his mind then he could end up putting both of us in shock…or a coma…whichever happens first. I had to move quickly.
--
"What's happening?" Hawkeye asked, it had been at least a good forty to fifty minutes since Al had started poking around in Eds' mind. Armstrong and Hughes had left, Armstrong returning to Central HQ and Hughes having to head home. Hawkeye had volunteered to stay behind and keep an eye on the brothers until Mustang arrived. Liem was watching the two brothers, Ed was apparently trying to wake up but something was stopping him, Al had a slightly pained look on his face. Just then
Al quickly jumped up and staggered back as Edward sat bolt up in his bed wide eyed and gasping,
"What the hell was that?" he looked around until he spotted Al and Liem, his eyes narrowed and he frowned, "Hmph…" he then looked at Hawkeye, his glare grew more sinister and his frown turned into a scowl, "You've got some nerve shooting me like that."
"You've got some nerve to threaten military officers, either that or half a brain."
Both Liem and Als' eyes grew very wide, Al quickly hid behind Liems' bed and peeked just above the edge saying,
"Not a good idea lady."
"Oh, so I guess your tongue is as sharp as your shooting, what are you a shrew?" Ed snapped back. Hawkeye took out her gun again; she had her finger on the trigger and was ready to shoot him again, this time she'd get him in the head.
"You're wounded, I wouldn't want to have to hurt you…again."
"Where did the other nice, not scary, officers go when I was away?" Al asked in an almost whimper.
"They left just before you came out of it," Liem answered, "Why'd they have to leave…"
Very tense sparks were flying, leaving the poor younger brothers feeling very scared, for pretty much the rest of the night, at least nobody died by the morning. In the morning though, Ed appeared to be in higher spirits, he was only making one or two threats on their lives. Also, Hawkeye had been allowed to go home and Hughes arrived to take her place, the minute though he walked through the door he had to quickly scurry over to the corner Al and Liem were sitting in. The evil aura hovering around Ed was so thick you could almost see it, he was most definitely not the same as before…oh no…he was very evil.
"Well I have good news and bad news for you boys, which would you like to hear?" He asked.
"The good news." Al said quickly.
"All right," Hughes reached into his pants pocket, "My daughter Alicia is turning four this weekend, isn't she adorable!" he said pulling out a photo and flashing it in their faces. Alphonse nearly had a cow, Liem though just nodded and smiled…more or less just playing along until finally Al snapped,
"Fine! What's the bad news!"
"It would seem that Col. Mustang is already hear."
"Exactly how is that bad news?" Liem asked.
"Because, he was supposed to wait until I reported back to him on the situation." Hughes sighed, "Oh well, he's stubborn that way."
"So…where is he?" Al grumbled, that's when someone new walked through the door, the minute he stepped into the room Eds' evilness seemed to drop to zero, he was only doing that to get on everybody's nerves and to keep them away from him.
"It's been a long time…Edward and Alphonse." The dark haired man said crossing his arms. Both Ed and Al were eyeing him as if they'd seen a ghost or something, Liem though sat up again and said,
"So, you're Col. Mustang?"
"Yes," he answered, "Who are you?"
"Liem Elric sir, I'm their younger brother." Liem half smirked pointing to the still starring brothers.
"Really?" Mustang smirked, it was a very smug smirk, "So, you're the Elric brothers…this answers many of the questions I had."
"AH HA! I knew I've heard your voice from somewhere!" Al suddenly spouted.
"He's one of the men from the council, back in the beginning." Ed continued.
"Yes well, I was only a Lieutenant Colonel back then but I was invited." Roy said, "I must say though, I am shocked to see the two of you still alive."
"Why, so you can watch us kill each other again?" Ed said coldly.
"No need to be cold Edward, I am here to offer you boys a possible window of opportunity. To find the person responsible for separating you from your family and making you suffer all those years."
Alphonse raised an eyebrow and Edward scoffed,
"Idiot…I don't care about that…I've come to terms with what's happened."
When Al heard his brother say that, something snapped, he rounded on Ed and shouted,
"You're lying! How can you forgive her? You said you hated her! You said you'd make her pay for what she's done!"
"Stop crying…I only said that so you'd stop pestering me."
It all happened so fast nobody in the room truly saw what happened, all that can be recollected was Al charging straight at Eds' bed and tackling him. Several people tried to get him off of his brother only to find that he'd already locked Eds' mind away inside his own. At least that's what Liem said happened when they all tried to wake him up, Al was taken away to a different room.
"Hmm…" Roy crossed his arms, Liem though looked up at him and asked,
"You do realize that was your fault right?"
"Was it really?"
"Jerk, yes it was, Edward was recaptured by Dante and she did something to him to make him just forget hating her. And since you brought up trying to stop her, that drove him to say he didn't care anymore which drove Al to do what he did…so yes it's your fault."
"You're pretty observant."
"Yes I am, now Ed's trapped in Als' mind and Al's probably not in the mood to let him go." Liem said crossing his arms, wincing slightly since he'd forgotten about his own wounds.
"Tell me Liem, why are you here?"
"I came here with Al to help him find Ed and stop Dante."
"Yes…about Dante, do you know where she is?"
"Why?"
"She vanished a few days ago."
"What?" Liem had a bad feeling about all this, he knew he was going to be getting into something deep but this…this is way over his head.
-To Be Continued-
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Oh wow! That came out fast! I finished a chapter before midnight, w00t! Ok like seven minutes before but that's still before! Oh yeah! Well anyway, this chapter was mainly just to give a small intro to Mustang (he's got a better part in the next few chapters and such) AND to sort of hint, if you haven't already figured it out, at what's happened to Ed. Yeah I tossed in having Al lock his mind away but hey, he needs some cooling down time no! Well anyway, the next chapter will be really cool cause we'll be delving into the minds of Ed and Al. What will we see there? (Beep) If you wish to continue, please insert a review in the bottom button thingy, have a nice day n.n.