鋼の錬金術師 (FullMetal Alchemist)
Chapter 7 The Box
The fire was extinguished. The fire fighters were putting things away, and their commander, Roy Mustang, was giving a towell to Riza. Breda and Fuery were trying to tell people to go home, and Havoc was lighting a cigarrette. The husky dog, Hayate, jumped and took the cigarrette to the pool. Al hadn't transmuted it back to normal so that he wouldn't call attention.
Roy walked up to Ed, who was holding Winry, sitting in an ambulance. She was cold, and he was still trying to cheer her up.
"Hey, kid… Can I talk to you?". He said.
Ed kissed Winry, who finally seemed to be calm, and jumped off the vehicle.
"ARE YOU STUPID OR SOMETHING? HOW COULD YOU RAN TOWARDS A FLAMING BUILDING LIKE THAT? AND THEN JUMP OFF A WINDOW? AND HOW THE HECK DID THAT KID CREATE THE POOL? YOU MUST KNOW YOU ARE TOO LITTLE TO DO SUCH THINGS! THAT'S WHY I WAS HIRED!".
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A TINY FREAK THAT CAN'T OPEN A DOOR? I WENT IN TO SAVE HER, AND IF IT WEREN'T FOR ME, SHE AND MY FRIEND WOULD BE ROSTBEEF!".
"I NEVER SAID THAT YOU WERE A TINY FREAK!".
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A DIMINUTE ANT-LIKE PERSONIFICATION OF A BUG?".
"I NEVER-!". Riza used the hose on them, and they flew off ten meters, soaked.
"I hope that fire is out now".
o0o
"Now, let's begin, in a calm way, the introductions". Alex Armstrong said, while they were driven towards the fire station.
"I'm Alex Louis Armstrong, the Strongest Fire Fighter and Man in this city!". Ed thought that he could see a tiny crystal shine near Armstrong's forehead.
"Im Roy Mustang, leader of this brigade, and I'm usually called Flamer, since I'm sort of a pyromaniac".
"This must be a perfect job for you". Al said, smiling.
"He doesn't do so good on water. He can't even swim". Riza said. Roy lowered his head, and Winry thought she heard some sort of sobbing.
"I'm Riza Hawkeye. I'm in charge of the hose. The ones on the driver's seat are Breda, Havoc, Fuery and Falman. They may seem useless, but in the right situation, they are great men. And our dog is Hayate. I personally trained him".
The dog started smelling Ed's metal leg, and rose his leg. Once he saw his master's look (Dark sight, as if she were about to shoot him) he lowered both his head and his leg, and sat down.
"I'm Edward Elric. I got shot some days ago, and I got this metal limbs yesterday. I'm also known as the Fullmetal Alchemist".
"I'm Alphonse Elric. I'm also known as the Soul Alchemist".
"I'm Winry Rockbell. I'm sort of a machine lover, and I built Ed's arm and leg".
"I'm Ling Yao. I recently inherited the video game company my father own, and I'm usually called "The Emperor's Son", although my dad's dead".
"Ling… Where's Mei?".
Ling lowered his head.
o0o
"She's Mei Yang. She's my little sister… and that's pretty much it".
Mei Yang was being hold by Winry. She still hadn't forgive her brother for leaving her after the fire. She was scared, and all of her friends had already been taken away. Principal Bradley had left Gluttony in charge of her.
They arrived at the station ten minutes later. Maes Hughes came out to receive them.
"So, what was it guys?". He said, smiling.
"Fire, idiot". Mustang answered
"Oh! Why are these civilians here".
"I needed to bring them, to make some questions".
Maes walked up to Ling and Mei.
"What a cute little girl! I have a daughter about her age, she sooooo cute, here, this is her picture". He took out a picture of his wallet, and Roy looked at him disgusted.
"Please, leave this civilians alone. You are scaring them".
"I'm not".
"Yes, you are". Riza said when passed by him walking.
"Ok, ok, sorry".
"This way, please" Roy called them.
They went inside a big office, with many desks. Every desk belonged to one of the fire fighters. Ed looked at Armstrong's desk, wich was full of pictures of himself in the beach, showing off.
Roy's desk had many phone numbers, and a girls name on every paper. Also, he had pictures in which he appeared to be hanging around with his team, and many others of him with different girls. Most of them, with mini skirts.
"Just like the one at home". Al said.
"What?".
"Nothing".
o0o
"Well, how did the fire start?".
"We were in our chemistry class. I'm not pretty sure of what happened, but after our professor clapped his hands, everything bursted on flames…We fainted after that". Ling said.
Ed and Al were surprised by this. They looked at each other, and agreed on what was going on.
"He did alchemy". Al said.
"Alchemy? Alchemy dissappeared centuries ago. It evolved into modern chemistry". Roy said.
"It's hard to explain… Should we tell them?".
"We'll have to sooner or later, Al".
They lowered their heads.
"We come from another world".
o0o
"When we were young, we lost our mother. Our father had left us a long time before this happened, and he was a great alchemist. Mother insisted that we had his talent, since we always were good at alchemy. When she died, we went on a trip with our new master, and learned a lot…".
"Once we came back, we tried to bring our mother, and we violated the base of Alchemy". Al said.
"Human transmutation is forbbiden". Ed said.
"I lost my body and Ed lost his leg. After this, he attached my soul to a suit of armor, and he got metal limbs. Much like now. Our world is a lot like this world, but some places and names change. The people are all the same".
"You mean there is a Roy Mustang in your world?".
"He is one of the most powerful alchemists we have met, and he is one of the main heads in the military over there". Al answered.
"He is succesful with ladies". Ed said. As he had expected, Roy smiled and told them to go on.
"After loosing our bodies, Ed joined the military as a state alchemist to gain power and money to search for the philosopher's stone, and reatore our bodies. After four years traveling, we sort of acquired the stone. My own soul became the stone, in fact".
"We fought against artificial humans, called Homunculi. They obtained there powers from the stone, so we thought they would lead us to it. After killing most of them, I fought Envy, and got killed…".
"I transmuted my self to let Ed return with both his arm and leg. He decided to give up on his life, and transmuted himself, bringing me back in my ten year old body".
"I ended up in this world, by the time of the second world war. Our father was here, and so was Envy, who ended up being a giant snake. Our father explained to me that the energy of the souls of the people who died in this world became the energy for transmutations in our world. The only way to use alchemy in this world was to use blood to pay the price. I think Envy and our father were the price to open the door, while Al opened it by sacrificing an Homunculus named Gluttony. That opened the door. After a series of events, I came back to close the door, and he snuck in with me. We ended up searching for an uranium bomb, and suddenly were dragged out. We were about to go back to our world, when something went wrong and we ended up here. I think that something changed, and that's why we can use alchemy without using blood. All the rules of alchemy aply to this world now, and probably, don't work in our homeworld…".
o0o
Envy return to his usual black clothes. He jumped off the window and shapeshifted into a bird. He flew to the school, and descended. He shifted into a rat, and snuck in through the rests of the building, looking fo the principal's office. Once he found it, he shifted into himself again, and started looking at the archive.
"No… No… No… Kimbley, Zolf… Here you are, bastard…".
Once he found his adress, he became a bird again, and flew off.
o0o
Kimbley was packing his bag. He could only take away some clothes, and some of his old notebooks, in which he had what, he thought, were the keys of alchemy. He wanted to run away, before he was associated to the explosion.
A snake was on the bed. Once he saw it, he thought about transmuting it, but hold himself. Suddenly, the snake transformed into Envy.
"Hey, teacher…".
"What are you doing here!".
"Oh, you'll see… Long story short, I come from another world were I had this powers. Only recently, a turn of events made my powers work here, and I need your help on two things. First, there is a door I need you to open, and second, there's something I gotta get rid off".
o0o
"So… I find this hard to believe. Alchemy dissappeared. Show me it hasn't, and I'll start believing you". Roy said.
"Watching me create a pool full of water wasn't enough?". Al said.
"What do you want us to make?". Ed asked.
"Wait, I have an idea". Al said. He told Ed his idea in secret, and he smiled widely.
"We need to go out on the street".
They all walked out, and watched Ed and Al prepare a perimeter.
"Please, don't come any nearer". Ed asked. They clapped their hands, and laid them on the floor. A circle shined, and a statue began to grow from the floor.
The statue was very big. It had every member of the brigade in some sort of cool position. Roy was in the middle, next to Maes and Riza, and Armstrong was in the center, in his usual show off position. Al even added a tiny crystal next to his forehead.
They all were amazed. Roy couldn't believe what he was seeing, and even Riza had a startled look. Armstrong looked at his image engraved in the stone.
"You really knew how to capture my essence!". He said smiling, and started posing.
Al came close to Ed.
"Do you think we can teach them?".
"Well… I guess we could try… But lets ask Izumi for help".
"Roy, Alex… Would you like to learn alchemy?".
"Is it possible?". Armstrong asked, holding his pose.
"You were known as the Strong Arm Alchemist in our world". Ed said.
"You were really skilled". Al added, smiling.
"And you, Roy, were known as the Flame Alchemist".
"I can guess many things that way". He said. His smile widened.
"When do we start?". They asked.
"Once we convince sensei…" Ed said, loosing part of his hope.
o0o
He was sent flying across the window.
"NOT ONLY YOU WANT TO MAKE HUMAN TRANSMUTATION, NOW YOU WANT ME TO TRAIN TO ALCHEMISTS IN THIS WORLD!".
"But… sensei…". Al cut in.
"I TRAINED A COUPLE OF IDIOTS!". She smashed him next to his brother.
"SENSEI!". Ed clapped his hands, and captured her. She had her hands widely sepparated, so she wouldn't clap them.
"You needed a lot of people and a lot of power to bring us back and turn the door. We are going to need that power to take us back, and turn the door once more". Both Ed and Al looked at her in the serious way the used to.
"Fine… I will help you… But there is something I need to tell you…".
o0o
"More?". Ed shouted.
"Why?". Al asked.
"I'm not completely sure… I read an old tale… Pandora's Box… The seven Homunculi you fought were mentioned there, plus some others. Disease, Sorrow, Dispair, Poverty and Crime…".
"You mean… We can't leave until we kill them?".
"Not until we kill them. Once I allowed alchemy work in this world, I allowed this evil beings to exist. We can't leave them behind. Besides, their powers might become of help by the time we need to transmute ourselves to the other side. But there is something else to it. The last Homunculus is called Hope. It seems that it foresees the future, not in an accurate way, and is the most powerful of the Homunculi".
"It's impossible…".
"And… I found another book… 'The Divine Comedy'.
"WHAT?". Ed shouted again.
"It's a book that describes hell, and how the seven capital sins were killed. What's curious is that the seven Homunculi you fought have the same names in the book".
"Listen… It must be… It's just a theory, right? About the other six Homunculi".
"Well… There needs to be a philosopher's stone in this world for them to exist, and there have to be some failed human transmutations… So it's almost impossible".
"Holy shit!". Ed said.
"What?". Izumi asked.
"Kimbley… He found out he can do alchemy…He'll probably go after the stone".
Izumi kept quiet, and they were in silence for five minutes, thinking.
"I'll train them until I can't move anymore… You will need a lot of help for the Homunculi".
o0o
"Is that so? Great… Six more brothers… Well, Kimbley, it's a nice tale… I will need your help now".
"What for?".
"I have a theory…". Envy shifted his finger into a spike, and pieced his own hand. Instead of blood, a crimson coloured thing licked out. At first, it seemed liquid, but when it reached the floor it looked like a stone. Envy picked it up, and grabbed Kimbley by his jaw. He opened it wide, and tossed the philosopher's stone inside.
"Swallow it, it's good… I hope". He said, smiling evily.
Kimbly swallowed it hardly, and choughed for a while.
"You are such a wimp. I swallowed ten times more back in my day, and now look at me. I promise you will become a powerful alchemist".
"I… Don't need to listen to you". He slapped Envy on the chest, and it started becoming red. Envy laughed and shapeshifted himself into Kimbley. Then he acted desperate, and finally blew up.
Kimbley watched himself die, and kneeled. All the pieces turned into a red liquid, and joined back into one big mass. This grew, and the shape of Envy reappeared.
"If I ever feel like doing that to you, believe that I will".
He grabbed Kimbley by his neck, and made him stand up.
"Now get ready, we gotta go meet some people".
o0o
Roy and Amstrong met Izumi, and felt great respect for her. She also came from another world, and she had proven to be very strong. Ed and Al became students next to them, and Mei Yang joined them too.
"Im smarter than I look, and you started doing alchemy by the time you were my age!".
"But I didn't start training with Izumi when I was a little bean".
"You have always been a little bean!".
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MEANINGLESS VEGETABLE THAT CAN'T EVEN GROW RIGHT?".
"I never said that".
Izumi hit Ed on the head, rather softly. The floor didn't crack.
"Look at yourself Arguing to a five-year old girl. Leave her alone. Girls are easier to reason with".
Ed and Al had joined them because they wanted to be of help any time they could. Wrath joined them to spend more time with Izumi, and Winry and Ling came over to see how they were doing. Most of the fire brigade came the first class, and it was practically a party. Everyone was laughing.
Ed got a pair of gloves, and transmuted them into the sparkle gloves Roy had in the other side of the door. He also draw the cirlce, and gave it to Roy.
"Be careful with these. If you snap your fingers, it will create a spark. Out of that, you can use the circle to control the gases around the spark, and create flames".
Al, on the other hand, took care of makin Armstrong a pair of knuckles just like the ones he had on his world.
"These actually work sending the energy through this spikes, so you need to hit what ever you want to transmute".
"Oooooh, thank you sensei Al". He said, hugging him.
"Pleeeeease…hgghhhhh… My eyes-will-pop-out!".
After saving his brother's life, Winry asked:
"What happened to Envy?".
Ed thought about the Ouroboros tattoo he saw, and started suspecting, but immediately pulled himself off that thought.
"He was used as transmutation material together with Hohenheim".
o0o
A beautiful lady, in a tight dark dress walked into the bar. Her soft, black hair waved behind her, and many men turned around to see her. Greed saw her, and took a final drink before stepping onto dangerous ground.
"Hello, gorgeous". She said with a soft voice, getting close to him.
"Uh-huh! Hi". He said, acting calm.
"Listen, I would really like to talk with you… Can we go outside?". She said, getting her lips really close to his.
"Sure". Most of the men looked at him enviously.
They walked out, and she dragged him into a dark alley. There, a man was waiting. She walked into the shadows with him, and something went wrong.
Envy and Kimbley came out of the shadows.
"What are you two doing here together? Where's the lady?".
"There is no lady". Envy said, immitating her voice. "Do it".
Kimbley grabbed Greed's left hand, and transmuted it. It died, and started turning red. A second later, it exploded. Greed was crying in pain. Envy pierced his hand once more, and let the philosopher's stone drip into the wound.
Greed fell to the floor, and started shaking wildly.
"The most powerful being inside you will rise and take over. As it will with our next victims… Until then… welcome back, Greed".
Greed stopped shaking. His hand started to grow back, just like Envy's body parts shape shifted.
Greed cracked his neck, and looked down at Envy.
"It's nice to be back… I really got scared when the Fullmetal pipsqueak got me".